Our Beliefs

Our Beliefs

THE BIBLE

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally (every word) and plenarily (completely) 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 Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to man (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21). [Note: For reasons of textual reliability, we promote and use the King James Version of the Bible in our English-speaking services.]


THE GODHEAD

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe God the Father is perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayers; and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His Son. We believe He is worthy of all our honor, confidence, and love. (Based on Deuteronomy 6:4; Exodus 20:2-3; I Corinthians 8:6; II Corinthians 13:14; I John 5:7; Revelation 4:11)


GOD THE SON

  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 man. (Based on John 1:12,14; Luke 1:35.)
  2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished 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. (Based on Romans 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I 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. (Based on Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2.)
  4. We believe that the promise of His second coming includes the personal, premillennial, and pretribulational return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to rapture His church according to I Thessalonians 4:13-18, and His return with His saints to set up His millennial reign.


THE HOLY SPIRIT

  1. We believe the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, and He is equal with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit convicts men of sin, regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and sets believers apart to a holy life, and seals them unto the day of redemption. (Based on John 16:8-11; I Corinthians 3:6; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14.)
  2. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher Who guides believers into all truth, and is now restraining the evil one in an unbelieving world until God’s purpose is fulfilled. (Based on John 16:13; 14:16-17)


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


SATAN

We believe in the personality of Satan and that he is the unholy god of this age, and the author of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (Based on Matthew 4:1-3; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10)


SALVATION

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who by faith receive Him as their Savior are justified on the grounds of His shed blood on Calvary and His resurrection from the dead and are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming the children of God.  We believe that those God saves by His grace, He keeps by His power. (Based on I Corinthians 15:3-4; Ephesians 2:8-9; II Timothy 1:12; I Peter 1:3-5) [Note:  We are neither Calvinist nor Arminian.]


THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS

  1. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever.  (Based on John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 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. (Based on Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)


THE CHURCH

We believe that the church exists in two aspects:

An Organism

We believe that the church as an organism is the body and bride of Christ, composed of all the redeemed. We believe that Christ gave Himself for the church, and that He is its only true head. (Based on I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:20-23; 3:3-11; Colossians 1:18)

An Organization

We believe that the establishment and continuation of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament.  We believe that the church as an organization is an assembly of baptized believers, voluntarily associated by covenant in the faith for fellowship, worship, and service; and that its mission is to spread the Gospel to all men and to earnestly contend for the faith.  We believe that its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualifications and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures.  We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that its only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; and that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and methods of its cooperation.  On all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, and benevolence, the will of the local church is final. (Based on Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 14:27; I Corinthians 16:19; II Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:2; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)


ORDINANCES

We believe that Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as a testimony to be observed until He comes again. (Based on Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 10:47; 19:5; I Corinthians 11:23-26)

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. As a Scriptural ordinance of obedience for the church in this age, it is prerequisite to the privilege of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of our Redeemer and anticipate His coming again.


SEPARATION

We believe that we are mandated by God in the Scriptures to separate ourselves unto Christ and, as much as possible, from any participation in or endorsement of sin; from ecclesiastical organizations and religious personalities that deny the faith or compromise its message; from brethren that walk disorderly or who unrepentantly continue in sin or engage in the compromise aforementioned.  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.  Each member shall seek to live a holy life, separating himself from and forsaking all that might weaken his personal testimony, dishonor God, or cast discredit on God’s cause. (Based on Romans 12:1-2; 14:13; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; II Timothy 3:1-5; II Thessalonians 3:11-12; I Peter 1:15-16; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; I Corinthians 6:19-20)


THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

We believe in the personal, imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His millennial reign for 1,000 years on earth. (Based on Matthew 24:29-31; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 1:10; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)


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. (Based on Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Revelation 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 resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Based on Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17)


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; Exodus 20:11)


HUMAN SEXUALITY

  1. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. (Based on Genesis 2:24; 19:5,13; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4)
  2. We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. (Based on Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; I Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23)
  3. We believe that homosexual acts (whether engaged in by male or female) are sinful, unnatural, and perversion. These acts emanate from man’s sinful and unregenerate nature. Therefore, we take our stand, based on the infallible Word of God, against any and all forms of sexual perversion. If any person who is in any way connected with the ministry of this church is guilty of advocating or practicing homosexuality, that person shall be disciplined and dismissed from service in the ministry of the church. (Based on Genesis 19:1-11; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Judges 19:22-25; Romans 1:26-28; I Corinthians 6:9; I Timothy 1:9-10)


FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

  1. We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home, and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church. (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:18; I Timothy 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12)
  2. We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The wife is to submit herself to the Scriptural leadership of her husband as the church submits to the headship of Christ. Children are an heritage from the Lord. Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and leading them through consistent lifestyle example and appropriate discipline, including Scriptural corporal correction. (Based on Genesis 1:26-28; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; Mark 10:6-12; I Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; Hebrews 13:4; I Peter 3:1-7)


TONGUES MOVEMENT

We stand irrevocably opposed to the  present day “Tongues Movement,” believing it not to be of God.  We will not permit its teaching, either directly or by inference, in the church, Sunday school, or  any other meeting sponsored by this church. (Based on Acts 2:7-11; I Corinthians 13:8-10)


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. (Based on Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:20)


GIVING

We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially.  We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. (Based on Gen. 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; I Corinthians 16:2; II Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; I Timothy 5:17-18; I John 3:17)

Share by: