WHAT WE BELIEVE

 

We accept the Scriptures as our only authority in matters of faith and practice, and the interpretation of Biblical doctrine leads us to believe:

  1. The Scriptures of the Old & New Testament as being verbally inspired by God and inerrant and infallible in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority.
  2. In one God eternally existing in one essence, yet co-equal persons, the Trinity: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
  3. That Jesus Christ was begotten by God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to the virgin Mary.
  4. In the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the life of the believer and He empowers the preaching and teaching of the Gospel.
  5. That mankind was created in the image of God, sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death, but spiritual death, which is separation from God, and that human beings are born with a sinful nature.
  6. That the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the basis of His shed blood
  7. In the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into heaven, and His present life there as High Priest and Advocate for us.
  8. In the blessed hope, which is the personal, visible and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
  9. That all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
  10. In the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in hell, and the fellowship of the saved in heaven.
  11. In the existence of a personal devil, who is still working in the world to destroy the souls of men, and that he and all his angels and all who do not receive Christ as their personal Savior will eternally perish in the lake of fire.
  12. In the Church, whose mission it is to preach the Scriptures to all the world, all of its endeavors being guided by multiple leadership and supported by the wise stewardship of God’s people.

That the ordinances of the Church, given by the Lord, are Baptism and the Lord’s Table (Communion).

 

SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATION FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE PREACH AND TEACH

 

THE BIBLE

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

 Exodus 24:4Deuteronomy 4:1-217:19Joshua 8:34Psalms 19:7-10119:11,89,105,140Isaiah 34:1640:8Jeremiah 15:1636:1-32Matthew 5:17-1822:29Luke 21:3324:44-46John 5:3916:13-1517:17Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11Romans 15:416:25-262 Timothy 3:15-17Hebrews 1:1-24:121 Peter 1:252 Peter 1:19-21.

 

GOD

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
 
A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:12:7Exodus 3:146:2-315:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2Deuteronomy 6:432:61 Chronicles 29:10Psalm 19:1-3Isaiah 43:3,1564:8Jeremiah 10:1017:13Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:1123:928:19Mark 1:9-11John 4:245:2614:6-1317:1-8Acts 1:7Romans 8:14-151 Corinthians 8:6Galatians 4:6Ephesians 4:6Colossians 1:151 Timothy 1:17Hebrews 11:612:91 Peter 1:171 John 5:7.

B. God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14Isaiah 53:1-12Matthew 1:18-233:178:2911:2714:3316:16,2717:52728:1-6,19Mark 1:13:11
Luke 1:354:4122:7024:46John 1:1-18,2910:30,3811:25-2712:44-5014:7-1116:15-16,2817:1-521-2220:1-20,28Acts 1:92:22-247:55-569:4-5,20
Romans 1:3-43:23-265:6-218:1-3,3410:41 Corinthians 1:302:28:615:1-8,24-282 Corinthians 5:19-218:9Galatians 4:4-5Ephesians 1:203:114:7-10
Philippians 2:5-11Colossians 1:13-222:91 Thessalonians 4:14-181 Timothy 2:5-63:16Titus 2:13-14Hebrews 1:1-34:14-157:14-289:12-15,24-2812:213:8
1 Peter 2:21-253:221 John 1:7-93:24:14-155:92 John 7-9Revelation 1:13-165:9-1412:10-1113:819:16.

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Genesis 1:2Judges 14:6Job 26:13Psalms 51:11139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3Joel 2:28-32Matthew 1:183:164:112:28-3228:19Mark 1:10,12
Luke 1:354:1,18-1911:1312:1224:49John 4:2414:16-17,2615:2616:7-14Acts 1:82:1-4,384:315:36:37:558:17,3910:4413:215:2816:619:1-6
Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-271 Corinthians 2:10-143:1612:3-11,13Galatians 4:6Ephesians 1:13-144:305:181 Thessalonians 5:191 Timothy 3:164:1
2 Timothy 1:143:16Hebrews 9:8,142 Peter 1:211 John 4:135:6-7Revelation 1:1022:17.

 

MAN

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Genesis 1:26-302:5,7,18-2239:6Psalms 18:3-632:1-551:5Isaiah 6:5Jeremiah 17:5Matthew 16:26Acts 17:26-31
Romans 1:19-323:10-18,235:6,12,196:67:14-258:14-18,291 Corinthians 1:21-3115:19,21-22Ephesians 2:1-22Colossians 1:21-223:9-11.

 

SALVATION

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Genesis 3:15Exodus 3:14-176:2-8Matthew 1:214:1716:21-2627:22-28:6Luke 1:68-692:28-32John 1:11-14,293:3-21,365:2410:9,28-2915:1-1617:17Acts 2:214:1215:1116:30-3117:30-3120:32Romans 1:16-182:43:23-254:3ff.; 5:8-106:1-238:1-18,29-3910:9-10,1313:11-141 Corinthians 1:18,306:19-2015:10
2 Corinthians 5:17-20Galatians 2:203:135:22-256:15Ephesians 1:72:8-224:11-16Philippians 2:12-13Colossians 1:9-223:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-242 Timothy 1:12Titus 2:11-14Hebrews 2:1-35:8-99:24-2811:1-12:8,14James 2:14-261 Peter 1:2-231 John 1:6-2:11Revelation 3:2021:1-22:5.

 

THE CHURCH

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Matthew 16:15-1918:15-20Acts 2:41-42,475:11-146:3-613:1-314:23,2715:1-3016:520:28Romans 1:71 Corinthians 1:23:165:4-57:179:13-1412Ephesians 1:22-232:19-223:8-11,215:22-32Philippians 1:1Colossians 1:181 Timothy 2:9-143:1-154:14Hebrews 11:39-401 Peter 5:1-4Revelation 2-321:2-3.

 

ORDINANCES: BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

Matthew 3:13-1726:26-3028:19-20Mark 1:9-1114:22-26Luke 3:21-2222:19-20John 3:23Acts 2:41-428:35-3916:30-3320:7Romans 6:3-51 Corinthians 10:16,2111:23-29Colossians 2:12.

 

 THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.

Genesis 1:1Isaiah 9:6-7Jeremiah 23:5-6Matthew 3:24:8-10,2312:25-2813:1-5225:31-4626:29Mark 1:14-159:1Luke 4:438:19:212:31-3217:20-2123:42John 3:318:36Acts 1:6-717:22-31Romans 5:178:191 Corinthians 15:24-28Colossians 1:13Hebrews 11:10,1612:281 Peter 2:4-104:13Revelation 1:6,95:1011:1521-22.

 

THE FAMILY  

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-282:15-253:1-20Exodus 20:12Deuteronomy 6:4-9Joshua 24:151 Samuel 1:26-28Psalms 51:578:1-8Psalms 127Psalms 128139:13-16Proverbs 1:85:15-206:20-2212:413:2414:117:618:2222:6,1523:13-1424:329:15,1731:10-31Ecclesiastes 4:9-129:9Malachi 2:14-16Matthew 5:31-3218:2-519:3-9Mark 10:6-12Romans 1:18-321 Corinthians 7:1-16Ephesians 5:21-336:1-4Colossians 3:18-211 Timothy 5:8,142 Timothy 1:3-5Titus 2:3-5Hebrews 13:41 Peter 3:1-7.

 

STEWARDSHIP

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. We are therefore under obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

Genesis 14:20Leviticus 27:30-32Deuteronomy 8:18Malachi 3:8-12Matthew 6:1-4,19-2119:2123:2325:14-29Luke 12:16-21,4216:1-13Acts 2:44-475:1-1117:24-2520:35Romans 6:6-2212:1-21 Corinthians 4:1-26:19-201216:1-42 Corinthians 8-912:15Philippians 4:10-191 Peter 1:18-19.

 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.

Genesis 1:272:7Matthew 6:6-7,2416:2622:21John 8:36Acts 4:19-20Romans 6:1-213:1-7Galatians 5:1,13Philippians 3:201 Timothy 2:1-2James 4:121 Peter 2:12-173:11-174:12-19.

LAST THINGS

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

Isaiah 2:411:9Matthew 16:2718:8-919:2824:27,30,36,4425:31-4626:64Mark 8:389:43-48Luke 12:40,4816:19-2617:22-3721:27-28John 14:1-3Acts 1:1117:31Romans 14:101 Corinthians 4:515:24-28,35-582 Corinthians 5:10Philippians 3:20-21Colossians 1:53:41 Thessalonians 4:14-185:1ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:7ff.; 21 Timothy 6:142 Timothy 4:1,8Titus 2:13Hebrews 9:27-28James 5:82 Peter 3:7ff.; 1 John 2:283:2Jude 14Revelation 1:183:1120:1-22:13.