What We Believe

The Holy Scriptures

 

  • We believe in the Holy Scriptures; accepting fully the writings of the Old and New Testaments as the very word of God, verbally inspired in all 66 books and therefore wholly without error in the original text, altogether sufficient in themselves as our only infallible rule of faith and practice (Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 12:48; 17:17; II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21).


The Triune God

 

  • We believe in the one Triune God, who is personal, spirit, and sovereign; perfect, infinite, and eternal in His being, holiness, love, wisdom, and power; absolutely separate and above the world as its creator, yet everywhere present in the world as the Upholder of all things; self-existent and self-revealing in three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each of whom is to be honored and worshipped equally as true God (Mark 12:29; John 4:24; 14:9; Psalm 135:6; 18:30; 147:5; Deuteronomy 33:27; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 104; John 5:23, 26; Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14; Acts 5:3,4; John 10:30; John 20:22-28; Colossians 1:15-18).

 

 God the Father

  • We believe God is eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is the sovereign God of the universe and is perfect in holiness, righteousness, justice, and love. He is the source of all things outside of Himself. He sustains and holds together by His will all things outside of Himself, and all things exist to bring Him glory and for His pleasure. He hears and answers the prayers of men, saving from sin, death, and judgment all who come to Him in faith through the blessed name and perfect merits of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19;  John 3:16; 5:23; 14:26; 1 Corinthians 8:6).


 

The Lord Jesus Christ

 

  • We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; who is the second person of the Triune God, the eternal Word and only begotten Son, our great God and Savior that, without any essential change in His Divine person, He became man by the miracle of the virgin birth, thus to continue forever as both true God and true man, one person with two natures; that as man, He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin; that as the perfect Lamb of God He gave Himself in death upon the cross, bearing there the sin of the world and suffering its full penalty of divine wrath in our stead; that He arose again from the dead as our great High Priest and was glorified in the same body in which He suffered and died; that He ascended into Heaven, there to appear before the face of God as our advocate and intercessor (John 1:1; 3:16; Titus 2:13; Romans 9:5; Hebrews 13:8; John 1:14; Matthew 1:23; Colossians 2:9; Revelation 22:16; Hebrews 4:14, 15; 9:24; John 8:46; Isaiah 53:5, 6; Matthew 20:28; Galatians 3:13; John 1:29; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:25-28; I John 2:1).

 

The Holy Spirit

 

  • We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Triune God, the Divine agent in nature, revelation, and redemption; that He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; regenerates those who believe, and indwells, baptizes, seals, empowers, guides, teaches, and sanctifies all who become children of God through faith in Christ (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3, 4; Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30; I Corinthians 2:10; 6:11, 19; 12:13; II Corinthians 3:18; John 16:8-11; 3:5; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:14; John 14:26).


Creation

 

  • We believe the Genesis account of six 24-hour days of creation, that God spoke into being the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. Man was created perfect in the image of God, by a special act of God, and wholly apart from any process of evolution (Exodus 20:11; Genesis 1-2; Psalm 33:6-9; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3; Mark 10:6).


The Fall of Man

 

  • We believe in the fall of man; that by personal disobedience to the revealed will of God, man became a sinful creature and the progenitor of a fallen race, universally sinful in both nature and practice, alienated from the life and family of God, and has within itself no possible means of recovery or salvation (Genesis 3:1-24; 5:3; Ephesians 2:3; Romans 3:23; 5:12; Ephesians 4:18; John 8:42-44; Romans 3:19; 1:18; Mark 7:21-23; Matthew 19:26; Romans 7:18).


Salvation by Grace Through Faith

 

  • We believe in salvation by grace through faith; that salvation is the free gift of God, neither merited nor secured in any part nor in whole by any virtue or work of man, but received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all true believers have as a present possession the gift of eternal life, a perfect righteousness, justification, sonship in the family of God, and every spiritual resource needed for life and Godliness; that this salvation includes the whole man, spirit, soul, and body; and apart from Christ there is no possible salvation (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:4, 5; 11:16; John 3:16; 6:28, 29; Acts 16:30-31; Ephesians 2:8-9; I John 5:13; Romans 3:22; Galatians 3:26; John 5:24; Romans 5:18; Ephesians 1:3; II Peter 1:3; I Thessalonians 5:23, 24; John 14:6; Acts 4:12).



Eternal Security

 

  • We believe in eternal salvation; that every individual who receives the Lord Jesus as personal Savior is kept by the power of God alone and is thus secure in Christ forever, sealed by the Holy Spirit, Who is the down payment of our inheritance (John 5:24; Ephesians 1:13-14; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:35-39; Philippians 1:6; I Peter 1:3-5). We believe that it is the privilege of every believer to rejoice in the assurance of his salvation through the testimony of God's Word; however, the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for careless living is clearly forbidden by God (Romans 13:13, 14; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 4:1; I John 2:1; II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:5; John 8:31-34; Hebrews 10:26-31; I John 2:6; 3:3, 6-10).


Righteous Living and Good Works

 

  • We believe in righteous living and good works, not as the procuring cause of salvation in any sense, but as its proper evidence and fruit; that therefore as Christians we should keep the Word of the Lord, seek the things which are above, walk as He walked, be careful to maintain good works, especially accept as our solemn responsibility the duty and privilege of bearing the Gospel to a lost world in order that we may bear much fruit; remembering that a victorious and fruitful Christian life is possible only for those who have learned that they are not under law but under grace, and in gratitude for the infinite and undeserved mercies of God have presented themselves wholly to Him for His service (I John 3:9-11; 4:19; 5:4; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:14; Matthew 7:16-18; I Corinthians 5:10; John 14:23; Colossians 3:3; I John 2:6; Titus 3:8; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:29; John 15:16; Romans 6:14; 12:1, 2).

 

The Return of Christ

 

  • We believe in the personal, visible, glorious Pre-Millennial return of Christ in power and glory when He will exercise His role as final Judge, consummating His earthly kingdom during which time peace and righteousness will cover the earth, Satan will be bound, and Israel will be established in her own land. At the end of this 1,000 year reign, Satan will be released, will lead a rebellion against Christ, shall be defeated, and shall forever be banished to the Lake of Fire. God’s eternal plan culminates in the New Heaven and the New Earth. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust – the unjust to judgment and eternal punishment in hell and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of the Lord (Acts 1:11; Revelation 1:7; Mark 13:33-37; Titus 2:11-13; Revelation 22:20; I Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 6:1-18, 24; 19:1; 20:6; Matthew 13:41-43; Revelation 20:11-15; I Corinthians 15:24-28; Luke 1:32, 33; Revelation 21:1-5; 22:6).

 

Eternity

 

  • We believe in the future life, bodily resurrection and eternal judgment; that the spirits of the saved go at death immediately to be with Christ in Heaven, where they abide in joyful fellowship with Him until His second coming, when their bodies shall be raised from the grave and changed into the likeness of His own glorious body, at which time their works shall be brought before the judgment seat of Christ for the determination of rewards, a judgment that may issue in the loss of rewards but not the loss of the soul; that the spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades where they are kept under punishment until the final day of judgment, at which time their bodies shall be raised from the grave, they shall be judged according to their works, and cast into the lake of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment (Philippians 1:21-23; II Corinthians 5:8-15; Philippians 3:20, 21; I Corinthians 15:35-38; I John 3:2; II Corinthians 3:8-15; Luke 16:19-31; II Peter 2:9; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8; Mark 9:43-48; Jude 13).

 

Baptism and the Lord's Supper

 

  • We believe in two scriptural ordinances; baptism and the Lord's Supper; that Christian baptism is the single immersion of the believer in water (thereby excluding infants) unto the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to show forth in solemn and beautiful emblems our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Lord, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. That the Lord's Supper is the partaking of the bread and the cup by which believers commemorate together the death and Second Coming of Christ, preceded always by solemn self-examination (Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 3:5, 6; John 3:22, 23; 4:1, 2; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-41; 8:12; 16:32-34; 18:8, Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12; I Corinthians 11:26; Luke 22:14-20).