Our Beliefs

The thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament make up the completed Canon of Scripture and it is the only absolute authority for Christian faith and practice (Proverbs 30:5-6; Revelation 22:18-19). I believe the Bible is the verbally (each word) and plenary (completely) inspired Word of God as originally written (Matthew 4:4; John 14:26; II Timothy 3:16). God communicated through Spirit-controlled men (2 Peter 1:21) so that the Scriptures are without error and therefore sufficient in all its teaching and in all matters that it touches (Psalm 119:140,160; John 10:35; John 17:17).

There is one God eternally exists in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26; John 1:1; I Timothy 3:16). Each person in the Godhead is equal in being and in power but different in His respective function. God is self-existent (Exodus 3:14; I Timothy 1:17), infinite (Romans 11:33-36), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-11), omniscient (Acts 15:18), omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:27; Matthew 19:26), unchangeable (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17), and holy (Isaiah 6:3; I Peter 1:15). God is a spirit who can only be known by the regeneration work of the Holy Spirit (John 4:24) and that He has chosen to reveal different attributes of Himself in His Word. God is Good (Psalm 25:8). God is Love (1 John 4:8, 16). God is Righteous (Psalm 145:17). God is Just (Deuteronomy 32:4). God is Truth (John 14:6). God is Merciful and Gracious (Exodus 34:6; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:31). That God created in six solar days (Exodus 20:11) all that has ever existed and today sustains His creation (Colossians 1:16, 17, Hebrews 1:3; 11:3, Ephesians 3:9).

Jesus Christ pre-exists as the second person of the Godhead (John 1:1,14). His deity is proven by the act of creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). That without any change in His divine Person He became fully man by miracle of the virgin birth (Matthew 1:25), that He lived a sinless life, (Hebrews 4:15) and that He died, was buried, rose bodily the third day (I Corinthians 15:3-4), ascended into heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:9; Hebrews 9:24). Today He ministers as a mediator on behalf of all believers (Hebrews 4:14; 1 Timothy 2:5). That Jesus Christ will appear in the air to rapture His Church, the Body of Christ (I Thessalonians 4:16-17), and that after seven years He will come to this earth to establish His Millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 7:13-14).

The deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26). ). He is co-equal with the Father and the Son and possesses every attribute of God (Acts 5:3, 4) and is uniquely distinct in His person and Work. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11) and is the agent of the new birth (II Thessalonians 2:13; I Peter 1:2). At the moment of conversion every believer receives the Holy Spirit and is baptized into the Body of Christ, is sealed unto the day of redemption, and receives a spiritual gift for service (I Corinthians 6:19; 12:13; Ephesians 1:13; Romans 12:6-8). The Holy Spirit ministers to the believer by leading (Romans 8:14), teaching (I John 2:20, 27), empowering (Acts 1:8), interceding (Romans 8:26), producing fruit (Galatians 5:22), and filling those who surrender to Him (Ephesians 5:18).

All men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve who were created in the image of God with respect to intellect, emotion, and will, and that man is a living soul and thus an eternal being (Genesis 1:26-27). God created Adam and Eve in an upright and sinless state, but they voluntarily fell into sin and brought sin and death (both physical and eternal) to the whole human race (Genesis 3:1-8; Romans 5:12). All people inherit a sinful nature from Adam and voluntarily sin individually as fallen creatures who are separated from God (Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:10, 23; 5:12). Every believer should be separated unto God from the world and, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, should walk in a way that glorifies God (I Corinthians 10:31), does not harm one's testimony as a Christian (Romans 13:14), or offend one's brother (Romans 14:13; I Corinthians 8:9, 13).

Sin originated in the Angelic realm when Satan rebelled against God (Isaiah 14-12-17; John 8:44). Sin was passed on to man through Adam because of the temptation of Satan, and man willingly and knowingly entered into sin (Genesis 3:1-6). Sin is the missing of the mark (Romans 3:23), anything that comes short of God’s perfect standard (1 John 3:14), or anything not conforming to the glory of God. The results of sin reach to all men (Romans 3:23) and to every part of the man; his attention (Acts 28:27), his understanding (Ephesians 4:18), his affections (Matthew 13:15), his walk (Isaiah 53:6), his mind (Romans 8:7), his intellect (1 Corinthians 2:9-14), his tongue (Romans 3:13), and upon his labor (Proverbs 21:25). The penalty for sin is death, both physical and spiritual (Romans 5:12), and the punishment for sin is the separation from God in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14).

Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-10). Faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation from sin and that all who take Christ as their Savior are born from above and are kept by God's power and are eternally secure in Christ (Acts 16:31; John 1:12; 10:28, 29, Titus 3:5-7; I John 5:11-13). The basis of our salvation is the blood of Christ (I Peter 1:18-19) and that the scope of salvation includes forgiveness of all past, present, and future sins; a righteous standing before God, and eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 6:23). God has given a universal call of “whosoever will” (Romans 10:13, Revelation 22:17) to each individual. Each individual is able to accept or reject Christ. He must repent of his sin (Acts 17:30) and ask God to save him (Romans 10:9, 10, 13), trusting only in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). The continuing work of salvation, called sanctification, is present in the life of each believer. At conversion the believer is set apart to God and from the power of sin (Hebrews 10:10, 14). This sanctification continues as a process which is transforming the believers mind and life (Romans 12:1, 2) into conformity to Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:12, 13) as the believer is obedient to the Word of God (Philippians 2:12, 13). This work of sanctification is not completed until the believer receives a glorified sinless body like Christ at the time of the rapture (1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:21).

The Church was established by Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18) and is composed of all believers in Christ called out of the world between Pentecost and the Rapture (I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 1:24). The Church is manifested through the local church, which is composed of baptized believers in Christ of the same locality who organize and assemble themselves together for worship, prayer, instruction, evangelism, and observation of the ordinances instituted by Christ (Matthew 18:15-17; Acts 2:41-47; Romans 12:5; Ephesians 4:11-16).

The existence of angels who are immortal, spirit-beings created by God as real persons with great, but limited, powers (II Kings 6:5-18; 19:35; Daniel 8:16-18; Matthew 22:29-30). God created all angels good, but God's anointed cherub Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:14) and his followers chose to rebel against God, and therefore are destined to eternal condemnation and will be cast into the lake of fire (I Thessalonians 4:16; II Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Satan is a person; that he is the god of this age; that he was defeated and judged by Christ on the cross; and that he can be resisted by Christians (Isaiah 14:12-15; II Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 2:14; James 4:7).

The eschatological events in the book of Revelation to be literal. Those who are saved experience conscious, eternal bliss in heaven, and those who are lost experience conscious, eternal punishment in hell (Matthew 25:46; Luke 16:19-31; II Corinthians 5:6-8). The imminent, personal, appearance of Jesus Christ to catch away His Church prior to the seven-year tribulation period, the dead in Christ first and those who are alive after (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; II Thessalonians 2:1-2; Titus 2:13). Following the rapture, every saved person of the Church Age will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; II Corinthians 5:10). After the seven-year tribulation period, Christ will return to earth with His saints to establish the Millennial Kingdom, which literally will be on earth for one thousand years (II Thessalonians 1:6-12; Revelation 20:1-6). After the thousand-year reign of Christ, every lost person will bodily appear at the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46; II Corinthians 5:8, 10; Revelation 20:1-15). Ultimately, believers will spend eternity in a New Heaven and New Earth with God forever (Revelation 21).

Baptism by immersion (Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-6), The Lord's Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-34).