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Our Doctrinal Beliefs About:
..:: The Bible
We believe that the scriptures, the sixty-six books
of the Old and New Testaments, are the complete and
authoritative Word of God. We believe that the scripture
in its entirety originated with God, and that the
writers of the scriptures were supervised by the Holy
Spirit. Therefore, the Bible speaks with the authority
of God and reflects the backgrounds, styles and
vocabularies of the human authors. We hold that the
Bible is infallible and inerrant in the original
manuscript and the complete and final authority on all
matters of faith and practice for the believer. II
Timothy 3:16,17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:20,21; Rev.
22:10, 18; Mt. 5:18; John 17:17
..:: God
We believe that there is one true Holy God, eternally
existing, one essence, in three co-equal persons –
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each of whom posses
equally all the attributes of deity and the
characteristics of personality. We believe that the
Bible reveals God to be holy, sovereign, all powerful,
all knowing, everywhere present, eternal, and
unchanging. The Bible also reveals that God is loving,
just, good, merciful, and true. In the beginning God
created out of nothing the world and all the things
therein, thus manifesting the glory of His power,
wisdom, and goodness. By His providence, God is
operating throughout history to fulfill His redemptive
purposes. Ex. 20:2,3; Is. 44:6; Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19;
Mk. 12:29; Jn. 4:24; I Cor. 8:6; II Cor. 13:14; I Jn.
5:7
..:: Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus Christ is the pre-existent and eternal
Son of God who became man in order to reveal God and
redeem man. Although He is of the exact same essence, we
believe He is a personality distinct from the other
members of the Godhead. We believe Jesus Christ was
supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of
the virgin Mary. In His person, we believe that Jesus
Christ combined forever full and undiminished Deity with
true and perfect humanity to become the God-man. Jesus
Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to God the
Father and voluntarily atoned for the sins of all
mankind by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus
satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation
for all who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in
the same yet glorified and supernatural Body in which He
lived and died. We believe Jesus Christ ascended into
heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father,
where He, being the only mediator between God and man,
continually makes intercession for those who trust in
Him for salvation. We believe Jesus Christ will come
again to earth, personally and visibly, to complete
human history and fulfill the purposes of God. Matthew
1:21,23; John 1:1,18, 8:58; Colossians 1:15-17; 1
Timothy 1:15, 3:16; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 John 2:2
..:: The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the
Trinity, fully equal with God the Father and God the
Son. Although He is of the exact same essence, we
believe He is a personality distinct from the other
members of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit, we believe, has
an active ministry to the world in general which
includes the restraining of evil and bestowing God's
goodness on all mankind. We also believe that the Holy
Spirit has many ministries to every believer in the Body
of Christ. These ministries are permanent and
irrevocable for the purpose of assurance, strength and
wisdom for the believer. The Spirit convicts of sin,
bears witness to the truth, is the agent of the new
birth, seals, guides, teaches, prepares, comforts,
sanctifies, and indwells every true child of God. We
believe the Holy Spirit guides believers in
understanding and applying the truth of scripture to
everyday circumstances. The Spirit's power and control
are appropriated by faith, making it possible for the
believer to lead a life of Christ-like character and to
bear fruit to the glory of God.
..:: Salvation
We believe that it is God's desire for all men to spend
eternity with Him, but man since Adam, is born into sin
and spiritual separation from God. In order to provide a
way for man to find acceptance, restoration, and
fellowship with God, Jesus Christ paid the price for
man's sin (death) by offering Himself as the perfect and
complete sacrifice. This provided a way of restoring the
broken a relationship between God and man. The only way
for a person to find eternal salvation is to have a
personal faith in Jesus Christ as his/her substitute and
Savior from sin. God makes this salvation available to
all who trust in Christ as Savior. There is nothing a
person can do to attain this salvation through good
works, moral achievement or religious status. The death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ also provided
reconciliation between God and man, propitiation
(turning away) of God's wrath toward man, justification
(declaration of righteousness) of the believer and
eternal salvation for all who believe. We believe the
Bible is clear in its teaching that salvation is
available to all who trust in Christ. We also believe
the Bible clearly teaches that when a person accepts
Christ as Savior, he becomes one of God’s elect and is
predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. This
election is an eternal act of God that is not based on
any foreseen merit of man, but on the inner work of
God’s Spirit within man. Romans 5:1, 8:29-30; Romans
9:14-16; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:4-12, 2:8-9,
4:32; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:24
..:: The Church
As a result of a union with Jesus Christ, all believers
become members of His Body, the church. The church began
on the day of Pentecost and will continue its distinct
purpose until the rapture. We believe that the church
exists in both a universal aspect as the Body of Christ,
and in a local sense in individual assemblies of
believers. The scriptures command the local church to
gather to devote themselves to teaching of the Word,
worship, prayer, fellowship, serving the Body through
the development and use of talents and gifts, and
observance of two ordinances. These two ordinances are
believer’s baptism, which we generally practice by
immersion, and the Lord's Supper. We believe that each
believer should participate in these ordinances, but
that in no way do they (the actions or the elements)
impart saving grace or become a pre-requisite for
salvation. They are outward symbols which help us to
testify to and remember the truth of what God has
already done inwardly (at the time of our conversion) in
our hearts.
These ordinances are to be readily available for all
true believers in Christ, regardless of church or
denomination.
We believe the local church is to be under the watch
care of elders and other supportive leadership; its
members are to work together in love and unity, intent
on the one ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ.
Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28,
12:13; Ephesians 4:4-7; Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians
4:13-17
..:: Human Destiny
We believe that death seals the eternal destiny of each
person and that all mankind will be resurrected at God's
appointed time with new bodies. The people who accepted
Jesus Christ as their personal Savior during their life
on earth, will spend eternity in communion with God, and
will be rewarded for their faithful service on earth.
The unsaved will be sent to eternal condemnation in the
lake of fire with Satan and his evil spirits. We believe
that the next event in God's prophetic calendar is the
rapture of the church, when living and dead Christians
will be caught up to meet the Lord and receive rewards
at the judgment seat of Christ. Following the rapture,
we believe a seven-year period of tribulation will
commence upon the earth, at which time God's wrath will
be poured out on mankind. Then we believe God's
millennial kingdom will be ushered in by Jesus Christ
when he returns to the earth in power and glory to rule
sovereignty over the world for a thousand years. After
being loosed for a season Satan will organize one final
rebellion which will climax with his ultimate defeat and
judgment. The unsaved dead of all ages, we believe, will
be raised after the millennium to face the judgment of
the great white throne and will be cast into the lake of
fire where there will be eternal punishment. We believe
that following the millennium, the redeemed of the ages
will exist in an eternal state of joy and bliss in the
new heavens and new earth where they will worship and
serve God forever. Matthew 24:21-31; John 14:3, 2
Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 22:20
..:: Angelic Beings
We believe God created an order of spirit beings known
as angels before the formation of the world for the
purpose of worshiping and serving Him. We believe angels
possess individual personalities, are intelligent,
powerful and are inferior to God, but superior to man.
Lucifer, we believe, was one of the highest in rank of
all the angelic beings in eternity past, but he sinned
through pride and rebelled against God, thus becoming
Satan. We believe the Devil's proclaimed purpose is to
oppose the plan of God and to promote his own evil
program by deceiving and attacking men. In carrying out
his work, we believe Satan is aided by other fallen
angels known as demons or evil spirits. We believe these
demons can influence, tempt and control all men and even
"possess" unbelievers. We believe there are un-fallen
angels, known as elect or holy angels, who carry out the
will of God by ministering to men. Job 38:6,7; Isaiah
14:12-15; Acts 5:3; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:16;
Hebrews 1:6; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 2:11
..:: Dispensations
We believe God administers His purpose in the world
through man under varying dispensations, such as the
period of Mosaic law, the present age of grace, and the
future millennial kingdom. We believe that these
dispensations span the entire history of mankind, but
that the dispensations are not different ways of
salvation; rather, they are ways of life which test the
obedience of man to God's revealed will during a
particular time. We believe that it is necessary to
understand the dispensational distinction in order to
properly interpret the teaching of the scriptures. Luke
12:42; 1 Corinthians 10:32; Galatians 4:2-5; Ephesians
1:10, 3:2; Hebrews 12:22-24
..:: Faith & Practice
We believe God's Word/Scripture is the final authority
in all matters of faith and practice. This church
recognizes that it cannot bind the conscience of
individual members in areas where the scripture is
silent. Rather, each believer is to be led in those
areas by the Lord, to whom he or she is ultimately
responsible.
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