Beliefs

I. Revelation and the Bible

We believe the Holy Scriptures (both the thirty-nine Old Testament books and the twenty-seven New Testament books) are the verbally inspired Word of God, complete and without error in the original writings. The Bible is the sole, supreme, authoritative guide for faith and practice, and the sufficient, authoritative testimony concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
(Psa. 119:105; Jhn. 5:39; 8:31-32; Act. 20:32; 2Ti. 2:15; 3:16-17; Heb. 1:1-2; 2Pe. 1:3, 21)

II. God

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-coequal in essence, power, and glory. God is a Spirit-infinite, eternal, and unchangeable-in His Being, wisdom, power, and character. God has an eternal, sovereign, foreordained purpose that all things work together to the praise of His glory. Out of nothing, God created all things, by the word of His power, in six days, and called His creation good. God continues to be active with regards to His creation, sustaining and governing all things by His providence.
(Gen. 2:1-2; Deu. 6:4; Psa. 90:2; 103:19; Isa. 45:5; Mat. 28:19; Jhn. 4:24; Heb. 11:3; Rev. 4:11)

III. Christ

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might execute the offices of Prophet (who reveals God and delivers from ignorance), Priest (who reconciles God and man and delivers from guilt), and King (who delivers from bondage).
(Luk. 1:35; Jhn. 1:1-2, 14; 14:9-10; 2Co. 5:18-19; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 1:8; 4:14; 7:24-28)

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His perfectly obedient life and through His sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross. Our justification is made sure by His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead and His ascension to heaven to be exalted at the right hand of God. As our High Priest, Christ continually ministers on our behalf as Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
(Mar. 16:19; Rom. 1:3-4; 3:24-26; 5:15-17; Eph. 1:7; Php. 2:5-11; 1Ti. 3:16; Heb. 9:24; 1Jn. 2:1 )

IV. Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is, eternally and unchangeably, the third Person of the Trinity. The Spirit of God reveals to the world the guilt of sin, particularly of rejecting the righteousness of Christ, and He lays out the just case for judgment. He illumines the hearts and minds of unbelievers and brings about the regeneration of the individual by granting the gifts of repentance and faith and by enabling those gifts to be exercised.
(Psa. 139:7; Jhn. 3:5-6; 16:7-11; 1Co. 2:4-5, 10-13; 2Co. 3:6; Tit. 3:5)

We believe the Holy Spirit permanently indwells believers and unites them to Christ, providing believers the guarantee of all future blessings. The Spirit continually ministers to believers, teaching them by revealing Christ in the Scriptures and interceding on their behalf. His empowerment is key to the sanctification of believers and His gifting is key to the unified functioning of the Church.
(Jhn. 14:17, 26; 15:26; 16:13; Rom. 8:26; 1Co. 12:4-13; 2Co. 3:18; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 1:13-14)

V. Satan

We believe Satan is the chief of all demons and the foremost adversary to the purposes of God and work of Christ in the world. He is the instigator of sin and the Fall. Though Satan is powerfully wicked, he is a created being who is already under the control and judgment of God. His final, eternal judgment will come when Christ returns to crush him and cast him into the lake of fire with all who follow him.
(Gen. 3:1-15; Job 1:6-12; Isa. 14:12-17; Mat. 4:1-11; 25:41; Heb. 2:14; 1Jn. 3:8; Rev. 20:10)

VI. Man and Sin

We believe man and woman are created in the image of God, but in Adam’s sin as our representative, the entire human race has fallen under sin and its consequences of alienation from God, judgment, and death. Thus, the image of God in man has been severely marred by sin so that no sinner is capable of pleasing God, even by his best actions. Man’s nature consists of both material and immaterial aspects.
(Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 2:5-8; 3:10-12, 23; 5:12-21; 1Co. 15:21-22, 42-53; Eph. 2:1-2)

VII. Salvation

We believe salvation is the free gift of God brought to man by grace and received by repentance from sin and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary bloodshed death as sufficient alone. Salvation is thus granted only to those who have been united, by faith, to this second Representative who has fulfilled all righteousness. All those who have been genuinely saved (justified) are being saved (sanctified) and will be saved in the end (glorified).
(Isa. 53:5-6; Jhn. 1:12; Rom. 3:24-26; 8:29-30; Eph. 2:8-9; 1Pe. 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5; 5:9)

VIII. The Church

We believe the Church is a universal spiritual organism made up of all regenerate persons, who belong to one body, of which Christ is the Head. Local churches are responsible in this age for carrying out God’s purposes in the world through worship, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, mercy, and the administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
(Mat. 28:19-20; Act. 2:41-47; 1Co. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; Col. 1:18)

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IX. Future Things

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth at an hour known only to God. Christ will defeat every enemy and gather believers to be forever with the Lord.
(Mat. 24:4-31; Jhn. 14:3; 1Th. 4:13-17; 5:1-10; 2Th. 2:1-10; Tit. 2:13; Rev. 19:11-20:6)

We believe every person will be bodily resurrected-the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to eternal punishment. All believers who die before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ are immediately present with the Lord. After the resurrection, the eternal state of every believer is life in the presence of Father, Son, and Spirit in heaven, called the New Jerusalem. All unbelievers are immediately subject to conscious judgment at death. After the resurrection, all unbelievers will face the Great White Throne Judgment, and will be cast into the lake of fire, where their eternal state is conscious judgment.
(Luk. 16:19-31; 23:43; Jhn. 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Rev. 20:11-15; 21:1-22:5)

X. Responsibilities of Believers

We believe it is the privilege and responsibility of every believer to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed with the unsaved. Every believer is a vital part of the ministry of making and maturing disciples of Christ through personal prayers, tithes and offerings, the exercise of spiritual gifts, deeds of mercy, personal witness through redemptive relationships, and teaching and admonishing other believers.
(Mat. 28:19-20; Act. 1:8; 1Co. 16:1-2; 2Co. 5:18-20; 8:2-5; 9:6-15; Jam. 2:15-17)

We believe the saved should live in a manner that is worthy of the Lord who has called them to faith. Grace teaches the believer to deny ungodly, fleshly, worldly desires, and to live instead as Christ lived. There is liberty in Christ that was not afforded under the Law, but that liberty is never to be used as an occasion to the flesh, but rather to love and serve others. God has called believers to remain set apart from worldliness-whether it appears in the world, in religion, or in other professing believers.
(Rom. 13:13-14; 2Co. 6:14-7:1; Gal. 5:13-14; Eph. 4:1; Php. 2:5; Tit. 2:11-15; 1Jn. 2:15-17; 3Jn. 11)