WHAT WE BELIEVE

The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the record of God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. Its author is the Holy Spirit. The Bible is perfect, inerrant and infallible in the original writings, without any mixture of error. It reveals the principles by which God judges us and, therefore, is the only standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be examined. The purpose of the Bible is to point people to Jesus Christ. The Bible will stand forever. We deny that other books are inspired by God in the same way as the Bible.

There is only one God, the I AM, eternally existing in three persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-equal in their essential nature, attributes and perfection. Each of the three persons of God is to be honored and worshiped as God.

Jesus Christ is God the Son, the promised Messiah, conceived in the flesh by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, completely God and completely man. He lived a sinless life and is the only mediator between God and mankind.

Through His perfect, sinless life and His death on the cross, Jesus Christ paid for all sin, completely satisfied the righteous wrath of God against sin, and provided redemption and forgiveness for all who trust and commit their lives to Him as Savior and Lord. After His death, Jesus Christ arose bodily from the dead, was seen by many witnesses during a period of forty days, and then ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God as our Advocate and High Priest. From there, Jesus will return someday to establish His kingdom on earth.

The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts human beings of sin, causes spiritual birth, indwells, seals, sanctifies, guides, equips, teaches, reveals, bestows spiritual gifts, and baptizes (or fills) true believers – thereby enabling them to walk in obedience to God and His Word.

Man was created by God in His own image and is not the product of evolution. Man fell into sin through personal disobedience to the Word of God. As a result, all men are sinful in nature and in practice, are unable to save themselves, and face eternal separation from God.

Eternal salvation from sin, death and hell is the gift of God’s grace. It is based, first and foremost, upon God’s love and decision to extend His resources to mankind and upon man’s acceptance by personal faith, trust and commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Salvation is not received by and is not based upon any ritual, merit or good works on our part. The blessings of salvation are made available to all by the Gospel. It is the duty of all to accept salvation through faith, by repentance and a desire to obey Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Nothing prevents the salvation of even the greatest sinner except his own refusal to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Once saved, all true believers are marked by a desire to please Jesus Christ as Master and Lord. Their continuance in well-doing distinguishes them from those who profess falsely. All real believers endure to the end of life, and God’s grace cares for them in all circumstances.

Each human being lives only one life. There is no reincarnation. During a person’s single life, God extends the opportunity to receive or reject Jesus Christ, His Son. At death, there are only two places of eternal destiny. The saved go to heaven, and the unsaved go to hell.

All who trust and commit their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are united by the Holy Spirit into the universal body of Christ. In addition, all who trust and commit their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are commanded by the Bible to belong to local churches. All true believers have been given spiritual gifts to enable each local church to function as the body of Christ in their community. These local churches have been given the needed authority, Scriptural guidelines and necessary spiritual gifts for advancing the kingdom of God through proper order, discipline and worship. The biblically designated officers of the church serving under Christ and shepherding the church are pastors (or elders) and deacons.

Two ordinances have been committed to the local church: water baptism and the Lord’s supper. Only those who are committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are Scriptural subjects for baptism. Immersion (full submersion under water) is the only proper mode of baptism (because that is what the Greek word in the Bible means). Being a command of Jesus Christ, water baptism is recognized as an important outward declaration of an inward decision to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Lord’s supper was instituted by Jesus Christ as remembrance of His atoning death. The bread symbolizes His body, which was given for us. The fruit of the vine symbolizes His blood, which was shed for us. These two ordinances are to be observed until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is the source of all things – temporal and spiritual. All that we have and that we are, we owe to Him. Therefore, Christians are commanded by God’s Word to serve Him with their time, talents, spiritual gifts and material possessions. Christians should recognize all these things are entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. God’s method of financing His earthly work of spreading the Gospel and of caring for people is done by the tithes and offerings of His people. Tithes and offerings are to be given to the Lord through the local church (storehouse) to be distributed as directed by the Holy Spirit.

We believe that God established civil government. Christians must obey civil laws, provided they do not conflict with God’s commands. We believe in the separation of church and state in its original intent – that is, that government cannot endorse or force a particular religion or denomination on citizens and that government cannot impose its beliefs/doctrines on the church.

One of the coming great events in the fulfillment of Scriptural prophecy concerning the church is the removal from the earth the awaiting church of Jesus Christ. The exact time of this event is not revealed. It is the duty of all believers to live in readiness for His coming and by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives to make obvious to all people their need for Jesus Christ.

Another great event yet to come is the seven-year period of tribulation during which the judgements of God will be poured out upon the world. These judgements will climax with the return of Jesus Christ in glory to the earth. He will destroy His enemies. Jesus Christ will then establish His thousand-year kingdom in which true believers will reign with Him over all the earth and will be rewarded according to their works. At the end of the thousand-year reign, the unsaved will be cast away to eternal punishment, and the saved will enter into eternal glory with God.

Our church considers the Bible to be our ultimate authority and guide for behavior. When civil laws are in conflict with biblical teachings, we believe we are bound to observe and obey the Bible more than the laws of our secular society. We believe that the Bible dictates the standards of sexual behavior. The Bible clearly teaches homosexuality is a sin and that God’s pattern for romantic relationships should be between a male and a female. Any homosexuality or gender identity issues are a sin and violate the teachings of the Word of God. Being involved in or not adhering to the biblical view of homosexuality will result in immediate termination of employment and/or dismissal from any position of authority in our church. Furthermore, our church will not perform any marriages or wedding ceremonies for any couples involved in homosexuality.