A. THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as originally written were God-breathed, both verbally and in every part. We believe God, Who is Truth, communicated through Spirit-controlled men so that the Scriptures are without error and therefore authoritative in all they teach and in all matters they touch. We believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of God's will for man and constitutes the only infallible guide for faith and life.
Matthew 5:18; 15:4,5,6; Mark 12:36; John 10:34,35; Acts 1:16; Romans 3:1-4; Galatians 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Revelation 22:18,19
B. THE TRINITY
We believe there is one, and only one, true and living God; that there is indivisible unity in the Godhead, yet existing in three separate persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - equal in every divine perfection and of the same essence, yet executing distinct, but harmonious offices in the great work of both creation and redemption.
Matthew 28:19; 3:16-17; John 6:27; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:9-14; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:6; Hebrews 1:8
C. GOD THE FATHER
We believe God, the Father, is a Spirit - infinite eternal and unchangeable in all of His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the universe and Giver of all life in sovereign authority over all His created beings, the Keeper over the nation of Israel, and the Father and Disciplinarian of His chosen in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 139:7-10; Isaiah 46:9; Romans 11:33; Revelation 19:6.
D. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary as no other man ever was nor can be born of a woman. He is very God of very God, being "God manifest in the flesh". He lived a life of absolute sinlessness and in His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins, dying not as a martyr, but as a voluntary substitute in the sinner's place. He rose bodily from the dead on the third day and ascended into Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the father as our High Priest, interceding and preparing a place for us. He shall appear in the air to rapture born again believers and, after seven years, shall come again with the saints to set up the throne of David and establish His millennial kingdom.
Matthew 1:18-25; 28:6; John 1:1; 14:3; 20:27; Acts 15:16; 1 Corinthians 15:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; II Thessalonians 2:6-8; Hebrews 7:25; 8:6; 12:2; 1 Peter 2:22; 3:18; 1 John 2:1; Revelation 3:21.
E. THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person possessing all the attributes of personality and of deity. He is God just as much as the Father and the Son. His relation to the unbelieving world is that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the agent of the new birth, and His work among believers includes His sealing, indwelling, infilling, guiding, and teaching them the ways of righteousness. He will glorify the Son. A post-Old Testament era function of the Holy Spirit is to baptize believers into the body of Christ. This baptism is not to be confused with the false teachings of the charismatic movement which would equate the baptism with "speaking in tongues". We believe that the sign gifts (Matthew 10:8; Mark 16:17-18) and the revelatory gifts (1 Corinthians 13:8-10) were temporary and are no longer given by the Holy Spirit.
John 7:39; 14:16, 17, 26; John 16:14; Acts 1:5; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 13:8-10.
F. CREATION
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of the Trinity without any evolutionary process.
Genesis 1:27; Psalm 33:9; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2.
G. MAN
We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created by a direct act of God and not from any previously existing form of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race. By voluntary transgression, man fell from his sinless state, in consequence of which all men are now sinners by nature and by choice, utterly devoid of the holiness required by God's law, positively inclined to evil, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal judgment and everlasting existence separated from God without defense or excuse - until such time as salvation through faith occurs. (See next paragraph for specifics.)
Genesis 1:27; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; 5:12-19.
H. SALVATION
We believe the Scriptures teach that Christ died for the whole world and that salvation of sinners is divinely initiated, wholly of grace, and accomplished only through the mediatorial work of the Son of God. It is wholly apart from works and is upon the sole condition of placing one's faith for salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ as one yields his/her life to God's control. This never occurs apart from genuine repentance from sin. The believer who has exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is completely justified and in possession of eternal life which is eternally secure.
John 1:11-12, 3:3-6 & 16, 10:28-29; Acts 13:39, 16:31; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 5:24; 1 John 5:11-13.
I. THE CHURCH
We believe the Scriptures teach that the church of Jesus Christ began at Pentecost and will be completed at the rapture. The church must be considered in two aspects: the local church and the "Church which is His body".
The "Church which is His body" is composed of all born again believers of this age and that Christ is the only head of that church. (Colossians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22-23)
Local churches are organized manifestations of the universal church which are characterized by the following Scriptural distinctives:
B - Believers' Baptism by immersion
A - The Autonomy of the local church
P - The Priesthood of the believer
T - Two officers: Pastor (elder, bishop) and Deacon
I - Individual soul liberty
S - Sole authority of the Scriptures for faith and practice
T - Two symbolic ordinances - baptism and the Lord's Supper
S - Separation of church and state
Matthew 28:19,20; Acts1:5; 2:1-4, 41,42; 10:44-45; 11:15-16; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22-23; Titus 1; Hebrews 12:23.
J. BAPTISM AND COMMUNION
We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The act of baptism does not save a person; it is an act of obedience to the Scriptures which enables the believer to declare his/her identification with the crucified, buried, risen Savior, thus illustrating the believer's death to sin and his resurrection to a new life. It is a prerequisite to membership in the local church.
Romans 6:1-5; Matthew 28:19-20.
We believe that Communion (Lord's Supper) is a symbolic ordinance, picturing Christ's body broken for our sins and His blood shed for our redemption. It is not a saving ordinance, but helps us remember His death, and inspires us while looking forward to His coming. It is to be observed only by regenerate (born again) believers and only after a solemn self-examination and (if relevant) confession of known sin.
1 Corinthians 11:23-28.
K. COMING EVENTS
1. The Righteous and the Wicked
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between spiritual condition of the righteous and the wicked as well as in their ultimate eternal ends. All who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in the sight of God considered wicked, under the curse of sin, and destined for a place separated from God and existing in a place of eternal torment. Those who come to a right relationship with God through repentance from sin and genuine faith in God enjoy the everlasting happiness of living in the presence of God in Heaven.
Genesis 18:23; Proverbs 14:21; Malachi 3:18; John 8:21; Matthew 25:34-41; Romans 6:17-18; and 1 John 5:19.
2. The Rapture of the Church
We believe in the "Blessed Hope", the personal, imminent, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial -appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His redeemed ones of the church.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:19.
3. The Judgment Seat of Christ
We believe that every saved person of the Church Age will appear before the "Judgment Seat" to be judged by the Lord in regard to his service and receive rewards according to his works.
Matthew 6:2; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10.
4. The Millennial Kingdom
We believe that Christ will return to earth after the tribulation with His saints to establish the Millennial Kingdom which literally will be on earth and will be ruled by Christ from the throne of David.
Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:29-30; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-12; Revelation 20:1-6, 12-14.
5. The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire. The souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and new body are reunited to be forever glorified with the Lord. The souls of the unbelievers after death remain in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with spirit, soul, and body reunited they shall appear before the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment.
Matthew 25:46; Luke 16:19-26; John 5:28-29; 2 Corinthians 5:8-10; Philippians 1:23.
L. ISRAEL
We believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God's eternal covenant people, that she is now dispersed because of her disobedience and rejection of Christ, and that she will be regathered in the Holy Land and, after the completion of the Church, will be saved as a nation at the second advent of Christ.
M. ANGELS
We believe in the personal existence of angels who were created by God to bring honor and glory to His name and to serve Him. Those angels who maintained their allegiance and obedience to God continue to minister on behalf of them who are God's children by salvation. Another group of angels chose to become loyal to Satan rather than God and are now functioning as Satan's servants and as fellow "rulers of darkness", to be resisted by the born again believer through the spiritual armor provided by God.
Isaiah 6; Matthew 17:18; Ephesians 6:11-12; Colossians 1:16; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; Hebrews 1:14; 1 Peter 1:12; Jude 6.
N. SATAN
We believe that the Scriptures teach that there is a personal devil, a created angel who, through pride, became the enemy of his Creator, who is "the god of this age" and "the prince of the power of the air", who is full of all subtlety, who seeks continually to frustrate the purposes of God and to ensnare the sons of men, and who was conquered by Christ on the cross and condemned to everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire.
Isaiah 14:12-15; Luke 10:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 11:13-15; Ephesians 2:2; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 12:9
O. THE LORD'S DAY
We believe that the New Testament pattern is for the first day of the week to be set aside unto the Lord for worship, fellowship with others of like faith, instruction in the Word of God, and rest from the cares of the world as a testimony both public and private. It is a day of rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord.
P. MARRIAGE AND THE HOME
We believe that the home was the first institution God provided for man, and that marriage is a sacred relationship between a man and a woman. “For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24) "What God hath joined together let no man separate." Human marriage is also a picture of the beautiful union of Christ (Biblical “male”) and His church (Biblically figurative “female”). Therefore our church will only perform and acknowledge Biblical marriages – between a male and a female, and will not sanction marriages between two people of the same birth gender. All forms of sexual expression other than in a marriage between a male and female, including but not limited to premarital sex, homosexuality, bestiality, adultery, and pornography, fall outside of the Biblical structure of marriage.
Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-31; 1 Corinthians 7:2
Q. CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that our civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society; those in authority are to be prayed for and conscientiously honored and obeyed - except and only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Acts 5:29; Romans 3:1-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-3; 1 Peter 2:13-18; Revelation 19:16.