Statement of Faith
The Holy Scriptures:
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the complete and divine revelation of God to man, and we accept them as our infallible guide in matters pertaining to conduct and doctrine (II Timothy 3:16; I Thes. 2:13; II Peter 1:21).
The Godhead:
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfection’s (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 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 the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (Isa. 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:12, 14; II Cor. 5:19-21; Gal 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8).
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and, that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:18-36, Rom. 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5).
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ 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, Advocate, and Baptizer in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 7:25, 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2; Matt. 3:11).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit:
- 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 and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; II Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14).
- We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 1:17-18, 5:18; I John 2:20, 27; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 2:38-39).
- We believe that God is sovereign to the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. Among these gifts are the ministry gifts, manifestation gifts and motivational gifts. God uniquely uses ministry gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry. We believe that the manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the Holy Spirit for the profit of all believers and that the motivational gifts of the Holy Spirit are the basic personality gifts given to all and purified through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling (Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Phil. 4:7-12; I Cor. 12:6-11).
The Total Depravity of Man:
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; and, that man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23, 5:12, 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19).
Salvation:
- 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; Eph 1:7, 2:8-10; I Peter 1:18-19).
- Salvation is the gift of God to man, separate from works and law, and is made operative by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, producing works acceptable to God (Eph. 2:8)
- Man’s first step towards salvation is Godly sorrow that worketh repentance. The new birth is necessary to all men and when fulfilled, produces eternal life. (II Cor. 7:10; I John 5:12; John 3:3-5).
The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers:
- 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; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5).
- We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).
Sanctification: The Bible teaches that without holiness no man can see the Lord. We believe in the doctrine of sanctification as a definite, yet progressive work of grace, commencing at the time of regeneration and continuing until the consummation of salvation (Heb. 12:14; I Thes. 5:23; II Peter 3:18; II Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:12-14; I Cor. 1:30).
The Second Advent of Christ: We believe that “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent return of Christ who will rapture His church. At the end of the Tribulation and wrath of God, Christ will personally and visibly return, with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom which was promised to the nation Israel (Ps. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Zech. 14:4-11; I Thes. 1:10; I Thes. 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Rev. 3:10, 19:11-16; 20:1-6).
The Eternal State:
- We believe in bodily resurrection to all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matt: 25:46; John 5:28, 29; 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5-6, 12-13).
- We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, where spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23, 3:21; I Thes. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6).
- We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment 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, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thes. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).
The Personality of Satan: We believe Satan is a person, the author of sin and the Tempter of Man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Job 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11; 25:41; Rev. 20:10).
Creation: We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin (Genesis 1-2; Ex. 20:11).