What we believe
I. The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, and the final authority for faith and life, inerrant and infallible in the original writings.
II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20,21; Isaiah 8:20; Psalms 119:105
II. The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—co-equal in power and glory.
Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14
III. The Person And Work Of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man.
John 1:1,2; John 1:14; Luke 1:35
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.
Romans 3:24,25; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
Acts 1:9; Hebrews 9:24; Romans 8:34; I John 1:1,2
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ shall return to the earth at an hour known only to the Heavenly Father, and that because the time of His coming is hidden, believers should live in a state and attitude of constant readiness for His return. We believe that in God’s proper time there shall be a Tribulation period, and that the Lord Jesus Christ shall set up His Millennial Kingdom on the earth.
Titus 2:15; John 14:3; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:1-6; I Thessalonians 4:13-18
IV. The Work Of The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement, and that He indwells the souls of all believers, sealing them unto the day of redemption.
John 16:8-11; II Corinthians 3:6; I Corinthians 12:12, 13; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13, 14
We believe that He is the divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth, speaking in the Scriptures, and that it is the privilege as well as the duty of all the saved to be filled with and controlled by the Spirit.
John 16:13; Ephesians 5:18
We believe sanctification in the Holy Spirit to be the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled step by step to live unto righteousness and true holiness.
Ephesians 4:23, 24; Romans 6:6; 6:14; 8:4; II Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14
We believe that the spiritual gift of tongues as an evidence of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit ceased with the close of the Apostolic period of church history, and that any so-called charismatic utterances in this present age are not ordained of God.
I Corinthians 14:20-22; I Corinthians 13:8-11
V. Creation
We believe that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the beginning, by the word of His power, made from nothing the heavens and the earth and all things therein within the space of six days, and all very good.
Genesis 1; Exodus 20:11; Jeremiah 10:12
VI. The Personality Of Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin, and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.
Job 1:6,7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; Revelation 20:10
VII. The Total Depravity Of Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. We believe that man is, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 3:22,23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 5:12
VIII. Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by repentance from sin and by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood.
Ephesians 2:8,9; John 1:12; I Peter 1:18, 19; Hebrews 10:19; 12:24; 9:25, 26; Revelation 1:5
IX. The Assurance Of Believers
We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh and clearly warns believers to avoid unbelief and licentiousness.
Romans 13:13, 14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 3:12, 13; 6:9
X. The Two Natures Of Believers
We believe that throughout this earthly life every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We believe that final and complete victory shall be accomplished at our glorification after this life is spent.
Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10; Romans 6:13; I John 3:5-10
XI. Obligations Of Believers
We believe that it is the obligation of the redeemed to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. All believers are under obligation, therefore, to sustain established witnesses and to contribute by prayers, gifts and personal effort to the extension of the Gospel throughout the whole earth.
Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:19,20
We believe that the saved should live in such a manner that they should not bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord, and that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations is commanded of God.
II Timothy 3:1-5; II John 8-11; I John 2:15-17; II Corinthians 5:19, 20
XII. The Church
We believe that the Church, which is the body of the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons.
Ephesians 1:22, 23; 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12-24
We believe that the establishment and continuation of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures.
Acts 14:27; 20:17; 28:32; I Timothy 3:1-13
XIII. The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved unto eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment.
Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29; 11:25, 26; Revelation 20:5, 6; 12,13
We believe that the spirits of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection.
Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16,17
We believe that the spirits of the unregenerate remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment.
Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6,7; Revelation 20:11-15