Statement Of Faith

    

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

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

THE GODHEAD

  • 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. (Deut. 6:2; II Cor. 13:14)

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 man. (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:35)
  • 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 was made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 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, and advocate. (Acts 1:9,10; Heb. 9:24; Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1,2)

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 1:8-11; II Cor. 12:12-14; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13,14)
  • We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth and that it is a privilege and duty of all saved to be filled with the Spirit. (John 16:13; I John 2:20,27; Eph. 5:8)

TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

  • We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin that 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; Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3,12

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. (Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 1:18,19)
  • We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through their 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)

THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

  • We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin, and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (John 1:6,7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-14,25,41; Rev. 20:11)

SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

  • We believe in the "Blessed Hope”: the personal, immanent, pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for his redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom. (1 Thess. 4:13,18; Zech. 14:4-11; Rev. 19:11-16;20:1-6; I Thess. 1:10;5:9; Rev. 3:10)

THE ETERNAL STATE

  • We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:4b; John 5:28,29; 11:25,26; Rev. 20:6,12,13,20)
  • 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 with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; Rev. 20:4-6; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; I Thess. 4:16,17)
  • We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they appear at the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting punishment. (Luke 16:19-26; Matt. 25:41-46; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6,7; Mark 9:30-48; Rev. 20:11-15)