What We Believe
The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally and plenary inspired, preserved Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the final authority for faith and practice. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the complete and divine revelation of God to man; thus they are sufficient in every particular for the believer to live fruitfully and victoriously before God and man. The King James Version is the official and only translation used by our church.
(Psalm 12:6-7, II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21)
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14; John 14:10,26).
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 a virgin, Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-8).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and accomplished our complete redemption through His substitutionary death and shed blood on the cross; and, that our justification is wholly on the grounds of His sacrifice and shed blood, and is made sure by His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:21-36; Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:6-11; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, having risen from the dead, is 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 1:9-11; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians. 1:13-14).
The Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and, that man is depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition apart from the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19).
Salvation
We believe in salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, that salvation is the free gift of God and is neither merited or secured in part or whole by any work of man. We believe that salvation is received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and is based solely on the merits of His sacrificial death (the shedding of His precious blood on the cross), burial and bodily resurrection. In salvation, the believer in Christ is justified, not by his works, but by the grace of God through his faith in Christ. In salvation, the believer is regenerated, that is, he or she is born of the Spirit and becomes a child of God and through regeneration is made a new creature in Christ (Acts 13:38-39; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; Romans 5:1; I Peter 1:18-19; John 3:3-7, 16; Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:8-11; John 1:12; II Corinthians 5:17).
Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe that a person, once saved, receives eternal life at that moment and is kept by God’s power and is thus secure in Christ forever (John 3:16; 6:37-40; 10:27-28; Romans 8:1, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5).
The Priesthood of the Believer
We believe in the priesthood of all believers; that Christ is our great High Priest and through him every born-again person has direct access into God’s presence without the need of a human priest, and that the believer has the right and responsibility to personally study and interpret the Scriptures guided by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:13-18; Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-22; I Peter 2:2-5; I John 2:27; John 14:26).
The Local Church
We believe in the importance of the local church; that a New Testament church is a local assembly of born-again, baptized believers, who worship, obey, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines, principles, ordinances and ethics of the Scriptures (Acts 2:41-47; I Timothy 3:5; Acts 11:26; Hebrews 10:25).
Separation
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you,” II Corinthians 6:17. Saved people are to shun any and all worldly activities or entanglements which would draw the focus of their attention or affection away from Christ or would replace Christ on the throne of their heart. The above would especially include any activity or speech which would bring reproach on the Lord Jesus Christ, or give the unsaved cause to blaspheme the name of the Lord. (Romans 12:1-2; 14:13; II Corinthians 6:14-17:1; Titus 2:11-14; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11).
The Second Advent of Christ
We believe in the second coming of Christ, which has two distinct phases. First, we believe in that “blessed hope”, the personal, pretribulational, premillennial return of Christ in the air to rapture His elect (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 24:29-31).
Secondly, we believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth as the righteous Judge and King to establish the Millennial Kingdom of Christ on the earth (Matthew 25:31-34; Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-6).
The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
We believe in a literal place called heaven where God’s immediate presence is manifested, where His Throne is, and from where His Son descended in His incarnation and to which He ascended after His resurrection. Heaven is where the holy angels are, and where the redeemed shall ultimately be in the eternal state (John 14:1-6; Hebrews 1:1-3; Ephesians. 1:20-23; Revelation 21-22).
We believe that the spirits of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment in a literal place called hell until the second resurrection when, with spirit, soul, and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death; not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting punishment and torment (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15).
The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan, the devil, is a created being who fell from his original state through pride and became the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man. He is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air. He is the open and declared enemy of God and man, and is the adversary and accuser of the brethren. He was conquered by Christ on the cross and is under condemnation. He will 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).
Missions
We believe that God has given the church a great commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ, we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations, as well as to those at home, and not to wait for them to come to us (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:20).
This doctrinal statement does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.