Our 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 final authority for faith
and life.  The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the
complete and divine revelation of God to Man.  We believe in God’s preservation of His pure
Words to every generation.  The King James
Version of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the
church.  (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Psa. 12:6-7)

 

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, coequal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and
perfections.  (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John 14:10, 26; 2 Cor. 13:14)

 

The Person and Work of Christ
1.  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 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal.
4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8)

 

2.  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; Eph.
1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Peter 1:3-5)

 

3.  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, and Advocate.  (Acts 1:9-10; Rom.
8:34; Heb. 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2)     3.  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, and Advocate.  (Acts 1:9-10; Rom.
8:34; Heb. 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2)

 

 

 

1.  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; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)
2.  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;
1 John 2:20, 27)
3.  We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual
gifts to every believer.  God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and
teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work
of the ministry.  (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph. 4:7-12)

 

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. 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.  We believe that all
sins, except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, are forgivable.  (Matt.
12:31-32; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:9)

 

 

 

1.  We believe that the local church, which is the body and the
espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again, baptized
believers.  (1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27)
2.  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; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
3.  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; Rom. 16:1, 4; 1
Cor. 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)
4.  We recognize water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the
Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age.  (Matt.
28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-38; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)

 

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 and not wait for them to come to us.  (Matt. 28:19-20;
Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20)

 

Separation
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to
bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord. God commands His people to separate
from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and
associations, and to refrain from all immodest and immoderate appearances,
piercings, and bodily markings.  (Lev. 19:28; Rom. 12:1-2; 14:13; 1 Cor.
6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 9-11)

 

The Second Advent of Christ
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of
Christ, Who will rapture His church prior to the seven-year tribulation
period.  At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly
return with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom which was
promised to the nation of Israel.  (Ps. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Zech.
14:4-11; 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)

 

The Eternal State
1.  We believe in the bodily resurrection of 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)

 

2.  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, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be
glorified forever with the Lord.  (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23;
3:21; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6)

 

3.  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 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15)

 

 

1.  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; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Pet. 1:4-5)

 

2.  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)

 

The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of
the Fall 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;
Isaiah 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.  (Gen. 1-2; Ex.
20:11)