1. The Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible, composed of the sixty-six books from
Genesis through the Revelation, is the very word of the living God. We believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the original manuscripts of the Scriptures and hold that the Bible is correct regarding any subject it addresses. We believe the Bible is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; John 10:35: Psalm 119:89
2. God
We believe in one personal God, both immanent and transcendent, who exists in three personal distinctions, known respectively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is the infinite and perfect Spirit in whom all things have their source, support, and end.
Genesis 1:1-2, Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:14; Isaiah 45:5-7; John 4:24; Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 11:33-36; Acts 17:24-27; 2 Corinthians 13:14
3. Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the virgin-born son of God, the only begotten of the Father by a miracle of the Holy Spirit. He is the second person of the triune God. He is God incarnate and perfect man in one person, wholly without sin. He came into the world in his
incarnation to reveal the Father, to be the only Savior of men, and rule over God’s kingdom as the perfect King. We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected bodily from the grave on the third day. We believe that he ever lives as our perfect High Priest and is at the right hand of the Father today.
Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:14; 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:3; 7:26; 10:12
4. The Holy Spirit
We believe in the eternal deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the triune God. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict of sin, bear witness to Jesus Christ, and baptize the repentant, believing sinner into the Body of Christ. At the new birth the Spirit imparts spiritual life (regeneration), permanently indwells the believer, and becomes the seal of divine ownership and the earnest that guarantees the final salvation of the believer. We believe in the filling of the Holy Spirit – the controlling of the believer by the Spirit in proportion to the believer’s yielding and obedience to God and the Word – that is evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life. We believe that it is also the ministry of the Holy Spirit to instruct men.
John 16:7-11;15:26; 16:13-15; Acts 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; John 3:3-5; Titus 3:5; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; Romans 6:13; 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 2:13; John 14:26; 1 John 2:27
5. Creation
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of direct, immediate, creative acts of God without any evolutionary process. We accept God’s creative acts to be with days as twenty-four-hour periods, man
created in God’s image, and animals and plants created to reproduce after their kind.
Genesis 1:2; Colossians 1:16; John 1:3; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 4:9-11
6. The Fall of Man
We believe that man was created by God with the divine intention that man should glorify God, enjoy his fellowship, and live forever in God’s will. We believe that man sinned against God by his own free choice. This sin resulted in the fall of the human race and in the
inherited depravity of all mankind, ending in physical, spiritual, and eternal death. Mankind is incapable of obedience to God apart from salvation and is in need of redemption.
Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-19; John 3:36; Romans 3:23; 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:1-3; James 1:13-15; Revelation 20:14-15
7. Salvation
We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, accomplished through the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary for sin. We believe that repentance and faith are granted by God for salvation. We believe that all who have been chosen by God and written in the Lamb’s book of life from before the foundation of the world will be drawn by God unto salvation, and that one who is saved possesses eternal life and can never forfeit that salvation. Neither baptism nor any other personal work has an efficacious part in salvation. We believe that one who is truly regenerated will live a life that gives evidence of God’s work in his life.
Luke 24:47; John 3:16-18; John 3:36; 6:35-47; 10:27-29; Acts 11:18; 16:31; Romans 10:9-13; 1 John 1:6-8; Romans 9:6-24; 10:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Ephesians 1:3-10; 2:1-10; Philippians 3:9; 2 Timothy 1:9; 2:25; Titus 1:2; James 2:14-26, Revelation 3:5; 13:8
8. Personal Sanctification
It is the will of God that each believer should be led by the Holy Spirit and live a holy life. The believer is to be separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service. This is both a struggle and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion.
2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 5:23-24, Romans 6:1–14, 2 Timothy 2:1-13
9. Satan
We believe that Satan is a personal being, a fallen angel, and prince of the power of the air, the god of this age, murderer, liar, the adversary of Christ and his people, and the accuser of the brethren, whose destiny is eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Job 1:6-7; Matthew 4:1-11; 25:41; John 8:44; Ephesians 2:2; 1 John 3:10; Revelation 20:10
10. Eternal Retribution
We believe that all the unredeemed shall suffer eternal damnation with no hope of deliverance from Hell, and ultimately, the lake of fire.
Mark 9:47-48; Luke 16:19-31; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9; Revelation 20:14-15; 21:8
11. The Church
We believe the New Testament church was established by the Lord Jesus Christ which consists of believers in Christ who are called out of the world and unto God. Each individual, local church is an autonomous body composed of individual believers associated for the worship and glorification of God, propagation of the faith, administration of the ordinances, mutual edification, and the spiritual oversight of individual members, including teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. We believe in the biblical offices of pastors/elders and deacons.
Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:1-21, 38-47; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:11, 15; Colossians 1:15-23; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1; 1 Peter 5:1-5
12. Giving
We believe the Scriptures teach that giving to God’s work is a Christian grace, done willingly and according to the measure of prosperity God has allowed. We believe Christians have an obligation to help financially support the local church and to give to missionary projects outside the local church.
Luke 6:38; Acts 4:32-37; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17-18
13. Prophecy (End Times)
We believe the Scriptures teach the imminent return of Jesus Christ for his church. We believe the Lord will return with his saints, in power and great glory, to ultimately destroy the forces of Satan and to set up his kingdom. We believe the wicked will be finally and eternally destroyed in the lake of fire while the redeemed will enter the eternal state of bliss and perfection.
Matthew 24-25; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 19-22
14. Baptism and The Lord’s Supper (Communion)
Believers are “baptized into Christ” (Romans 6:3), immersed into union with Christ through Christ’s death and burial, and are “united with
him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5), regenerated and raised to walk in new life with Christ. We believe the ceremony of Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with the authority of the local church, to represent the believer’s faith in Christ, and the believer’s death to sin and resurrection to a new life in Christ. Obedience to the ordinance of baptism is prerequisite to the privilege of church membership. We believe the Lord’s Supper is ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ for believers by the sacred use of bread and the fruit of the vine, to be preceded by solemn self-examination, then to commemorate together the dying love of Christ, and anticipate celebrating the supper with him anew in his Father’s kingdom.
Matthew 3:6, 16; Matthew 26:26-29; 28:19; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; Acts 8:34-38; Romans 6:1-6; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
15. Personal Separation
We believe every Christian is to keep himself unstained from the world, and to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. A Christ-like example must be presented to the lost world and to weaker
Christians.
Romans 6:11-13; Titus 2:12; 1 Peter 2:11-12; 2 Peter 3:14; James 1:27; 1 John 3:1-3
16. Doctrine of Civil Government
We believe civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society – to protect those who do good and punish those who do evil; and those in authority area to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things opposed to the direct and revealed word and will of God.
Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-3; Acts 4:19-20; 5:27-29; 1 Peter 2:13-17