WHO WE ARE
Core Beliefs
Based on Verse by Verse Teaching
Bible: We believe that the Bible in its original documents, is the only inspired Word of God, the written record of His supernatural revelation to men, absolute in its authority, complete in its revelation, final in its content, and without error in its statements.
God: There is one God, eternally existent, creator of the heavens and earth. He is manifested in three Persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, completely God and completely man. He was sinless and perfect and gave Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice by shedding His blood on the cross. He was bodily raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and will return bodily to earth.
Holy Spirit: He is a Person with all of the divine attributes. He is God. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. He indwells and seals all believers at the moment of salvation.
Man and Sin: Man was created in the image of God; he sinned in Adam and thereby incurred both physical death and spiritual separation from God. He is now a sinner, by nature and by choice, and in need of salvation.
Salvation: Salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is saved by undeserved mercy through faith and nothing of man enters into his salvation; it is a free gift. Repentance is necessary for salvation, but the word does not mean “to turn from sin.” Repentance for salvation means a change of mind from man’s ideas of salvation and religion to acceptance of God’s way of salvation. Man’s efforts, before or after salvation, regardless of how good or well-intended, do nothing to secure or guarantee salvation. Nothing can be added to the finished work of Christ. God is absolutely sovereign yet He holds man responsible for accepting or rejecting the salvation He has provided.
Church: The purpose of the local assembly is to bring honor and glory to its Head the Lord Jesus Christ by gathering for instruction, worship, fellowship, and scattering for evangelism in our community and unto all the world.
Eternity: There will be a resurrection of the saved and the lost; of the saved unto eternal conscious life and the lost unto eternal conscious punishment.
Sign Gifts: The “sign gifts”; tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings, and miracles, were temporary gifts designed to confirm the message of the Apostles and to lay the foundation of the first century church. Although God can and still does miracles and miraculous healings in response to the prayers of His people, these gifts, through human agents, are not in operation today.
Creation: We believe in a literal six-day creation, with God resting on the seventh day. We believe that the animals and plants were created after their own kind and that which God created was not over a lengthy period of time, but a sudden appearance, as ordained by God. We believe that man is unique amongst God’s creation, in that man alone is created in the image and likeness of God. God breathed His spirit into man and man became a living being.
Marriage: We believe marriage is between one man and one woman, as evidenced in the creation account in Genesis. We believe marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ, the Bridegroom and His church, the Bride, and as such, is intended to be permanent.
Statement of Faith
- The Bible in its original documents is the inspired Word of God, the written record of His supernatural revelation of Himself to man, absolute in its authority, complete in its revelation, final in its content, and without error in its statements.
- There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-existent in power and glory and executing distinct yet harmonious duties in the work of redemption. Each equally possesses all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
- Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.
- Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitutionary sacrifice and in doing so satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone.
- Jesus Christ rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died.
- Jesus Christ ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.
- The Holy Spirit is a Person possessing all the divine attributes. He is God. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. He regenerates, baptizes, eternally indwells, and seals all believers at the moment of salvation. At the moment of salvation, He sovereignly gives every believer at least one gift for service to the Body of Christ.
- Man is created in the image of God. All have sinned thereby disobeying God; thus, man is alienated from his creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.
- Man’s nature is corrupted and he is totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of salvation by regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- Salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is entirely the work of God’s free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation and thereby justifies them forever in His sight. Nothing can be added to the finished work of Christ. God is absolutely sovereign yet holds man responsible for accepting or rejecting the salvation He has provided. It is God’s will that all should be saved and that none should perish.
- Every Christian possesses eternal life and is therefore, safe and secure for all eternity. Being justified by faith, sanctified by God, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, he cannot lose his salvation. However, a Christian can, through sin, lose his fellowship, joy, power, testimony, and reward, and incur the Father’s chastisement. Relationship is eternal, being established by the blood of Christ. However, fellowship is dependent upon obedience.
- The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power, and control are appropriated in the believer’s life by faith. Every believer is called to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that he might not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God.
- Satan is a person, the author of sin, and the open and declared enemy of God and man. He and his angels shall be eternally punished.
- Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith.
- God admonishes His people to assemble together in local churches for worship, for participation in the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.
- At physical death the believer immediately enters into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing.
- At physical death the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation in Hades away from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgement and condemnation in the Lake of Fire.
- Jesus Christ will come again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
- We believe in the personal, pre-tribulational and pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will come before the seven-year tribulation period to “catch away’ His Bride, the Church, coming only in the air. He will return to earth with His church at the close of the tribulation to judge the living and to set up His Kingdom. There will be a physical, bodily resurrection of the saved and the unsaved; the saved unto eternal life and of the unsaved unto eternal, conscious punishment.
- The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation in the context of the local church. The fulfillment of the Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.”
- We acknowledge that the above statements of faith in no way exhaust the content of our faith, which is the entire Word of God. We do believe, however, that these statements accurately represent the sound doctrine taught in the Scriptures.