Our Beliefs

The Scriptures
- We believe the Bible to be the verbally inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, and the supreme and final authority in doctrine and practice.
  § (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, John 17:17, Matthew 5:18)

The Godhead
- We believe in one God eternally existing in three equal persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), who have the same nature and attributes but who are distinct in office and activity.
  § (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14)

The Person and Work of God the Father
- We believe God the Father is the Creator of all things. In His nature He is, among other things, completely holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, eternal, just and loving. He is totally sovereign in all that has or shall come to pass. As such, He is the author of election, through which He chooses a people for Himself. He was the begetter and sender of His only Son, Jesus Christ. As the Father of the elect, He is also their provider and disciplinarian.
  § (Acts 17:29, Romans 11:25-29, 1 John 1:5, John 3:16, Matthew 3:17, Galatians 3:26, Ephesians 1:3-6, Matthew 6:30-32, Psalm 139:1-18)

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. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God to and redeem sinful man.
- We believe that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that our redemption and salvation is guaranteed by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.
  § (John 1:1, John 14, John 18; Romans 3:24-26, Romans 4:25; Luke 1:35)
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where, as High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of intercession and advocacy for His people.
  § (Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 7:23-25, 1 John 2:1-2)

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
- We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, is that person of the Trinity who restrains evil in the world and convicts people of sin. He also regenerates those who receive Christ as Savior, baptizing them at the moment of salvation into the Church (the Body of Christ), indwells them permanently, seals them unto the day of redemption, gives to them spiritual gifts, and empowers those yielded to Him. It is the Spirit's ministry to lead, instruct, and fill (i.e. control) believers as they are yielded to Him and are steadfast in the study of Scripture and in prayer.
  § (John 16:7-11, John 3:8, John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 13; Ephesians 4:30, 5:18)

Angels and Satan
- We believe that angels are spiritual beings who were created in a sinless state and that they occupied different orders and ranks. They presently exist in both fallen and unfallen states, the former including Satan and his angels.
  § (Hebrews 1:13-14, 2 Peter 2:4, Revelation 7:12)
- We believe that Satan, by his own choice the enemy of God and of the people of God, is the originator of sin. We believe he led our first parents into sin and now rules as the god of this world. Satan was judged at the cross and ultimately he will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity.
  § (Isaiah 14:12-14, Genesis 3:1-19, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 20:10)

Creation and the Fall
- We believe that all things in heaven and on earth were created by God and exist by His power and for His glory.
  § (Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:16-17)
- We believe that man was created innocent and in the image of God but that he sinned, bringing both physical and spiritual death to himself and to his posterity. We believe that man has inherited a sinful nature, is alienated from God, is incapable of redeeming himself, and is in need of salvation.
  § (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:17, Genesis 3:19, Romans 3:10-12, Romans 5:12, Romans 17, 18, 19)

Salvation
- We believe that every man is lost in sin apart from Christ and in need of a Savior. We believe that salvation is a gift of God and is received by man only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that man is justified by grace through faith alone, apart from works.
  § (Acts 13:38-39, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 3:23-24)
- We believe that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever.
  § (Romans 8:1, Romans 38, 39; John 10:27-30)

Sanctification
- We believe that sanctification, which is a setting apart of an individual unto God, is positional, progressive, and ultimate:
- Positionally, it is already complete, since the believer is in Christ and is set apart unto God as Christ is set apart unto God.
- Since the believer retains his sinful nature, however, there is need for progressive sanctification (or spiritual growth) whereby the Christian matures in grace by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Ultimately that child of God will be sanctified when he is taken to be with Christ and becomes like Him.
  § (John 17:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 5:25-27, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 10:10, 14; 1 John 3:2-3)

The Church
- We believe that the universal church, the Body and Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism, made up of all born-again persons of this age. We believe that the church began at Pentecost and that a believer is placed into the church by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the church is distinct from Israel.
  § (Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 5:25-27, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 11:16-17)
- We believe that the local church is an assembly of professed believers in Jesus Christ, who are voluntarily joined together in one locality for the purpose of worship, study of the Word of God, observance of the ordinances, Christian fellowship, and prayer, thereby to be equipped for Christian service and evangelism.
  § (Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:11-13)

The Ordinances
- We believe that Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper, which are to be observed by believers until He returns.
  § (Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
- We believe that by water baptism a believer is publicly identified with his Savior in His death, burial and resurrection, and that immersion is the scriptural mode (Acts 8:36-38). We believe that the Lord's Supper is a memorial of Christ's death by which He established the New Covenant, the elements being symbols of His body and blood. Every Christian has a right to partake of the elements of the Lord's Supper, but participation should be preceded by solemn self-examination. - (1 Corinthians 11:23-24, Luke 22:17-20)

Events of the End Times
- The Blessed Hope: We believe in the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself all those, dead or alive, who belong to Him. This event, the rapture of the Church, is the blessed hope for which we should be constantly looking.
  § (John 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Titus 2:11-14)
- The Tribulation: For seven years at the end of this dispensation the earth will undergo a time of judgment know as "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" or "The Tribulation." During this period many will turn to Christ and be slain for their faith.
  § (Jeremiah 30:7, Matthew 24:14-22, Revelation 6:1-19, 21; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12)
- The Second Advent: The culmination of the Tribulation will be the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth to establish the Millennial Age, during which He will reign, Satan will be bound, Israel will be restored, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
  § (Isaiah 11:9, Ezekiel 37:21-28, Matthew 24:23-25; 46; 2 Timothy 3:1-5)
- The Eternal State: We believe that the spirits of believers in Jesus Christ in this age pass immediately in to His presence at death and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the church. At that time the spirit and body shall be reunited and shall be associated with Him forever in glory. We believe that the spirits of unbelievers remain in conscious torment in Hades after death until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium. At the time spirit and body shall be reunited and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be destroyed but to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord.
  § (Luke 16:19-26, Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 20:11-15)

The Interpretation of Scripture
- We believe that the Bible is to be interpreted according to the historicogrammatical canons of interpretation. Historical interpretation necessitates a recognition on the reader's part of the age to which any given writing is addressed, and that its meaning within that age is the basis for interpretation and application for today, with the exception of specific futuristic prophecy which at times was not understood even by the prophets (1 Peter 1:10-12). Grammatical interpretation is to be according to the normal rules of grammar of the original language.

God's dealings with men have always been gracious, and the principle of faith has always been prevalent in the lives of saints (Hebrews 11:6). However, because of the nature of progressive revelation, mankind has not always been responsible toward God for the same details of behavior. Each stage of revelation represents a different dispensation or stewardship for man, of which three are the subject of extended revelation in Scripture: The Mosaic Law, the present age of the Church, and the future age of the millennial kingdom. These ages are to be distinguished in the interpretation and application of Scripture. Abiding principles related to the nature of God and His working are to be separated from specific details of revealed requirements, which were binding upon one age alone.
§ (Ephesians 3:1-10, Galatians 3:23-25)
We believe that according to the "eternal purpose" of God, salvation in the divine reckoning, is always reckoned by grace, through faith, and rests upon the basis of the shed blood of Christ.
§ (Romans 3:28, 5:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; Titus 3:5-7)