What We Believe

The Bible

 

We believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible which means God the Holy Spirit so moved upon the writers of Scripture that what they wrote was the Word of God without error. Therefore, the sixty-six books of the Bible are the final authority for our faith and practice.

We believe God’s Word is sufficient for all things that pertain to life and godliness.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
2 Peter 1:20-21

2 Peter 1:3

THE TRIUNE GOD

 

We believe in the Trinity of the Godhead. There is one God eternally existing in three equal but distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 6:4
Matthew 28:18-19

2 Corinthians 13:14

GOD THE FATHER

 

We believe God the Father is a person separate from the Son and the Spirit and invisible to man in this life. He concerns himself with the affairs of men, elects and draws men unto salvation, has a paternal relationship to all believers, and is the functional authority of the Godhead.

Matthew 28:19
1 Timothy 1:17
Daniel 2:21, 4:17
Matthew 5:45

1 Peter 1:2
John 6:44
Romans 8:15,
John 4:34, 6:38

GOD THE SON

 

We believe in the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His nonparticipation in sin and His incapacity to sin, His shed blood for atonement for the sins of mankind, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His present intercession and His personal coming in the air for His church prior to the seven-year Tribulation period. He will then return at the close of the Tribulation to establish His millennial kingdom on earth.

John 10:30-33
Isaiah 7:14
Matthew 1:23
Luke 1:35
Hebrews 7:26
Ephesians 1:7

Colossians 1:20
1 Corinthians 15:20
Acts 1:11
Hebrews 7:25
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Revelation 19:11-16,
20:1-6

GOD THE
HOLY SPIRIT

 

We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit by Whom believers are convicted, regenerated, baptized into the body of Christ, indwelt, sealed, and filled for life and service. The Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts upon believers, some of which were temporary and some of which are permanent for the entire church age. The temporary gifts are not applicable today (e.g. speaking in tongues). The gifts were given to prepare the saints to do the work of the ministry and to build up the body of Christ.

Acts 5:3-4
John 14:26
John 16:8-11
Titus 3:5
1 Corinthians 12:12-13
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Ephesians 1:13
Acts 4:31
Ephesians 5:18
1 Corinthians 12-14
Romans 12:4-8
Ephesians 4:12

CREATION

 

We believe in God’s direct creation of the physical universe, all spirit beings, man, and lower forms of life in six literal days without the process of evolution.

We also believe the chapters of Genesis are to be interpreted literally and are an accurate history, and God sustains all creation.

Genesis 1-2

Colossians 1:15-18

ANGELS

 

We believe God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings. One of these, though created holy by God, sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan, the Devil, the enemy of his Creator, the leader of a host of angels in rebellion against God. He became the god of this age and the ruler of the powers of darkness and is destined to the judgment of an eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire.

Colossians 1:16
Ezekiel 28:12-15
Revelation 12:7-9
2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Ephesians 2:2
Revelation 20:10
Matthew 25:41

MAN AND SALVATION

 

We believe man was holy in his original state, but all men are guilty of Adam’s sin and are by nature sinful and lost.

We believe Holy Spirit regeneration is absolutely essential for salvation.

We believe the Bible does not teach God created anyone for the purpose of condemnation.
We believe men are justified on the single ground of the blood of Christ, and on the sole condition of faith in Christ, and the message to believe is Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day, and appeared to others.

We believe in the eternal security of the believer.

Genesis 1:31
Romans 5:12, 3:9-23
John 3:1-7
1 Timothy 2:4
2 Peter 3:9

Acts 16:30-31
Romans 5:1, 9,
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
John 10:28-29

SANCTIFICATION

 

We believe Scripture teaches four aspects of sanctification. Preparatory sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit where He moves in a special, sovereign way in the life of an unbeliever resulting in the person believing the gospel and trusting Christ unto salvation. Positional sanctification is the act of God where believers are eternally set apart as belonging to Him at the time of regeneration and are placed into God’s family as children.

Progressive sanctification is the process by which we are made partakers of His holiness. It progresses as the believer is yielded to the Spirit’s control and is carried on in the life of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, self-examination, watchfulness and prayer, and the personal discipline of putting off sinful habits of thinking and actions and replacing them with biblical thinking and actions.

Perfect, ultimate sanctification will be realized when every believer is in the presence of the Lord with redeemed soul and resurrection body united, free from every trace of sin and rebellion.

1 Peter 1:1-2
2 Thessalonians 2:13
John 6:44
1 John 3:1
Romans 8:14-17
1 Corinthians 1:2
Hebrews 10:10-24
1 Thessalonians 4:3
Proverbs 4:18
1 John 2:29
Philippians 2:12-13

Ephesians 5:18, 6:18
Galatians 5:16-24
John 17:17
1 Timothy 4:7
Ephesians 4:22-24
1 Corinthians 15:52-53
Ephesians 4:30, 5:27
1 John 3:2
Philippians 3:20-21
1 Peter 1:9

THE CHURCH

 

We believe the local church is a group of immersed believers who are observing the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper and are organized for the purpose of edification, fellowship, prayer, ministry, care for one another, and the promotion of worship and evangelism through its membership. The local church has the right of self-government, and the will of the local church is final in all matters.

We believe in the unity of all believers of this dispensation in the church which is the body of Christ.

We believe that God’s promises and program for the church are distinct from His promises and program for the nation of Israel.

Philippians 1:1
Matthew 28:18-20
Acts 2:41-42, 10:47-48
1 Corinthians 11:23-24
Ephesians 4:11-12
Acts 6:1-6

1 Corinthians 5:1-13
Ephesians 1:22-23
John 17:23
Genesis 12:1-3
Romans 11:25-26
Acts 15:14-18

FINAL DESTINIES

 

We believe the souls of believers in Christ immediately pass into His presence at death, and remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when the reunited soul and glorified body shall stand before Christ for judgment of their Christian works and the giving of rewards – and they shall then be associated with Him forever in glory. The souls of unbelievers remain in conscious misery in hell after death until the final resurrection at the end of the millennium for judgment; the result of this judgment will be that all unbelievers will be cast into the Lake of Fire – not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting torment and separation from the presence of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8
Philippians 1:23
2 Corinthians 5:10
1 Corinthians 3:11-15

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Luke 16:19-26
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9
Revelation 20:11-15

PERSONAL SEPARATION

 

We believe the scriptural goal for every believer is personal conformity to the image of Christ which includes personal separation of the believer from sin, worldliness, conduct unbecoming to the Savior, unequal yokes with unbelievers, and spiritual compromise with apostates, heretics, and false teachers.

Colossians 3:1-4, 10
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 6:11-13
John 2:15-17
Philippians 3:12

Colossians 3:17
2 Corinthians 6:14-15
1 Timothy 6:3-5
Romans 16:17
2 Corinthians 10:5

ECCLESIASTICAL SEPARATION

 

We believe in the separation of the church from the state which means there should be no government sponsored churches, and government should allow the free expression of religion.

We believe the local church is to separate itself from all affiliation, cooperation, or fellowship with all organizations which deny, or by their practice, compromise the cardinal doctrines of the Word of God, and tolerate religious apostasy within their membership.

We also believe in the separation of the believer from erring believers who continue in willful sin while rejecting the reconciliation attempts of the church. This includes doctrinal divisiveness, the trouble makers, the disorderly, and the immoral believer.

Luke 20:25
John 17:14-16, 18:36
Romans 13:1-7
1 Peter 2:13-17
Ephesians 5:8-11
2 Corinthians 6:14, 7:1

Galatians 1:6-9
Titus 1:9-16
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
1 Timothy 6:3-5
2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14

MARRIAGE
AND GENDER

 

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as either male or female. These two distinct genders together reflect the image and nature of God.

We believe that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union.

We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other.

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful behavior or attitudes towards anyone is not in accord with Scripture. Expressing a difference of opinion is not in and of itself hateful behavior.

Genesis 1:26-27
Genesis 2:18-25
1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5

Hebrews 13:4
Mark 12:28-31
Luke 6:31