Our Beliefs

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God‑breathed (Matthew 5:18; John 16:12‑13; II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:20-21).

 

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – co‑eternal in being, co‑identical in nature, co‑equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14).

 

a. We believe that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our only means of salvation (Psalm 139:1-4, 7-16; Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:21; John 3:16).

 

b. We believe that God the Father is sovereign and calls the sinner. He becomes the believer’s Father at the new birth (John 6:37, 44).

 

c. We believe that God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to abide in the believer forever in response to the Son’s request, and that this takes place at conversion (John 14:16-17; Acts 10:44-45; Galatians 4:4-7).

 

d. We believe that God the Father answers the prayer of the believer when asked in accordance with His will (John 16:23-27; Hebrews 4:16; James 1:5-7; I John 5:14-15).

 

a. 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 the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14).

 

b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice for all mankind; and, that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24, 25; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3‑5; 2:24; I John 2:1-2).

 

c. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God, where, as our Great High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9‑10; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14; 9:24; 7:25; I John 2:1‑2).

 

a. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who 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 them 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; Titus 3:5).

 

b. We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and, that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (I Corinthians 2:12-14; Ephesians 5:18; I John 2:20, 27).

 

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. We also believe that man is totally depraved and of himself completely unable and unwilling to remedy his lost condition

 

(Genesis 1:26‑27; Romans 3:10-12, 22‑23, 5:12; Ephesians 2:1‑3, 12).

 

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8‑10; I Peter 1:18‑19).

 

a. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37‑40, 10:27‑30; Romans 5:8-10, 8:1, 38‑39; I Corinthians 1:4‑8; I Peter 1:5).

 

b. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word; however, the Word of God clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an opportunity for the flesh (Romans 13:13‑14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11‑15; I John 5:13).

 

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; however, believers still struggle with the old nature since it is not eradicated in this life (Romans 6:13, 7:14-25, 8:12‑13; Galatians 5:16‑25; Ephesians 4:22‑24; Colossians 3:10; I Peter 1:14‑16; I John 3:5‑9).

 

We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God (Romans 12:1‑2, 14:13; II Corinthians 6:14‑7:1; II Timothy 3:1‑5; I John 2:15‑17; II John 9‑11).

 

We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:19‑20).

 

a. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts. Gifted men holding the office of evangelists, pastor-teachers, and other gifted believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit, are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today. Speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.

 

(I Corinthians 12:4‑11; 13:8-10; 14:21-22; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7‑12).

b. We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with His own will, for the sick and afflicted. God is able to work miracles at any time and by any means He so desires (John 15:7; I John 5:14‑15).

 

a. We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born‑again persons of this present age beginning at Pentecost and continuing until the Rapture (Acts 2; I Corinthians 12:12‑14; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22‑23; 5:25‑27; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

 

b. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28‑32; I Timothy 3:1‑13; Titus 1:5‑11).

 

c. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control (Acts 13:1‑4, 15:19‑31, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; I Corinthians 3:9, 16, 5:4‑7, 13; I Peter 5:1‑4).

 

d. We recognize the ordinances of believer’s water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as a scriptural means of testimony for the Church in this age. We believe that immersion is the only method which adequately symbolizes baptism by the Spirit (Matthew 28:19‑20; Acts 2:41‑42; 18:8; Romans 6:1-7; I Corinthians 11:23‑26).

 

We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these – the age of law, the age of the Church, and the age of the millennial kingdom – are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture (John 1:17; I Corinthians 9:17; II Corinthians 3:9‑18; Galatians 3:13‑25; Ephesians 1:10; 3:2‑10; Colossians 1:24‑25; Hebrews 7:19; Revelation 20:2‑6).

 

We also believe that a dispensational approach to understanding the Scriptures establishes that:

 

a. God’s overall purpose in human history is to bring glory to Himself (Psalms 19:1; John 17:1-5; I Corinthians 10:31; Philippians 2:10-11).

 

b. God’s covenant with Israel is unconditional and thus still binding and will be fulfilled when the times of the Gentiles have come to fruition (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:12-18; 28:10-15; Ezekiel 36:22-23, 32; Romans 11:25-27).

 

We believe that Satan is a person, a fallen angel, the author of sin and instrumental in the fall of man. He is the open and declared enemy of God and man. He shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Job 1:6‑7; Isaiah 14:12‑17; Ezekiel 28:14-19; Matthew 4:2‑11; 25:41; John 8:44; Revelation 20:10).

 

The Scriptures reveal that when the Lord Jesus returns, it will first be to gather His Church which will rise to meet him in the air and return with Him to the Father’s house; subsequent to that, He will return to the earth with His Church & holy angels to establish His millennial kingdom.

 

a. We believe in that “Blessed Hope,” the personal, imminent, pretribulational coming of Christ for the Church known as the Rapture (John 14:1-3; I Corinthians 15:51-52; I Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9; Titus 2:13; Revelation 3:10).

 

b. The premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will be with His saints and holy angels to establish His Millennial Kingdom (Zechariah 14:4‑11, 19:11‑16, 20:1‑6).

 

a. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all mankind, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29; 11:25, 26; Revelation 20:4-6, 12, 13).

 

b. We believe that at death the souls of the redeemed are absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16‑17; Revelation 20:4‑6).

 

c. We believe that at death the souls of unbelievers remain in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire which was created for the Devil and his angels, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Daniel 12:1-2; Matthew 25:41‑46; Mark 9:43‑48; Luke 16:19‑26; II Thessalonians 1:7‑9; Jude 6‑7; Revelation 20:11‑15).

 

a. We believe that God the Father, along with His Son and Holy Spirit, created the heavens and the earth in six literal twenty-four hour days (Genesis 1-2; Exodus. 20:11; John 1:1-3; Colossians. 1:16).

 

b. We believe the genealogical record of the Scriptures shows the Earth to be thousands and not millions of years old. Much of the appearance of the age of the earth by its many layers is due to the global flood described in Genesis 6-8.

 

c. We believe God will create New Heavens and a New Earth after the Great White Throne Judgment (Isaiah 65:17-18; 66:22; Revelation 20:11-21:2).

 

Sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between a genetic man and a genetic woman within the love and bonds of marriage. Therefore, we believe that any other form of sexual intimacy is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift (Genesis 2:24-25; Leviticus 18:1-30; Proverbs 5:18; 6:32; Romans 1:26-27; I Corinthians 6:18; 7:5; I Thessalonians 4:3-5; Hebrews 13:4).