Our Beliefs

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Ex. 24:4; Deut. 4:1-2; 17:19; Josh. 8:34; Ps. 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Is. 34:16; 40:8; Jer. 15:16; 36:1-32; Mt. 5:17-18; 22:29; Lk. 21:33; 24:44-46; Jn. 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Rom. 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:25; 2 Pet. 1:19-21.

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and  personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is  infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His  perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future  decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and  obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,  with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.  

1. THE FATHER 
   God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and  the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.  He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to  those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in  His attitude toward all men. 
   
   Gen. 1:1; 2:7; Ex. 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Lev. 22:2; Deut. 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chr. 29:10;  Ps. 19:1-3; Is. 43:3,15; 64:8; Jer. 10:10; 17:13; Mt. 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mk. 1:9-11;  Jn. 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Rom. 8:14-15; 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 4:6;  Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:6; 12:9; 1 Pet. 1:17; 1 Jn. 5:7.
   
   
2. THE SON 
   Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was  conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed  and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and  necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He  honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary  death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He  was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as  the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven  and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully  God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and  man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His  redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present  Lord. 
   
   Gen. 18:1ff.; Ps. 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Is. 7:14; 53; Mt. 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33;  16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1- 6,19; Mk. 1:1; 3:11; Lk. 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; Jn. 1:1-18,29;  10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9;  2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Rom. 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2:2;  8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; 8:9; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Phil. 2:5-11;  Col. 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thess. 4:14-18; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Heb. 1:1-3;  4:14-15; 7:14- 28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Pt. 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 Jn. 1:7-9; 3:2;  4:14-15; 5:9; 2 Jn. 7-9; Rev. 1:13-16; 5:9- 14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16. 
   
   
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT 
   The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to  write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth.  He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He  calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration  He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian  character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve  God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.  His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into  the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer  and the church in worship, evangelism, and service. 
   
   Gen. 1:2; Judg. 14:6; Job 26:13; Ps. 51:11; 139:7ff.; Is. 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Mt. 1:18;  3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mk. 1:10,12; Lk. 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; Jn.  4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39;  10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Rom. 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Cor. 2:10-14; 3:16;  12:3-11,13; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thess. 5:19; 1 Tim. 3:16; 4:1; 2 Tim.  1:14; 3:16; Heb. 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Jn. 4:13; 5:6-7; Rev. 1:10; 22:17.  

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male  and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the  goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was  endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against  God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man  transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his  posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as  they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under  condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable  man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is  evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man;  therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and  Christian love.  

Gen. 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Ps. 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Is. 6:5; Jer. 17:5; Mt. 16:26; Acts  17:26-31; Rom. 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Cor. 1:21-31;  15:19,21-22; Eph. 2:1-22; Col. 1:21-22; 3:9-11.  

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who  accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal  redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration,  justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from  personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.  

1. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby  believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought  by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in  repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith  are inseparable experiences of grace.
   
   Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of  Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.
   
   
2. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His  righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings  the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
   
   
3. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which  the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward  moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit  dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate  person’s life.

    

4. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and  abiding state of the redeemed. 

Gen. 3:15; Ex. 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Mt. 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Lk. 1:68-69; 2:28-32;  Jn. 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31;  17:30-31; 20:32; Rom. 1:16- 18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13;  13:11-14; 1 Cor. 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; Gal. 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Eph.  1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; 2 Tim. 1:12; Titus  2:11-14; Heb. 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; Jas. 2:14-26; 1 Pet. 1:2- 23; 1 Jn. 1:6-2:11;  Rev. 3:20; 21:1-22:5.

Grace is God’s favor towards the unworthy and undeserving. Election is the  gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and  glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the  means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign  goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and  promotes humility.  

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and  sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere  to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they  grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of  Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of  God through faith unto salvation.  

Gen. 12:1-3; Ex. 19:5-8; 1 Sam. 8:4-7,19-22; Is. 5:1-7; Jer. 31:31ff.; Mt. 16:18-19; 21:28-45;  24:22,31; 25:34; Lk. 1:68-79; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; Jn. 1:12-14; 3:16; 5:24; 6:44-45,65;  10:27-29; 15:16; 17:6,12,17- 18; Acts 20:32; Rom. 5:9-10; 8:28-39; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1  Cor. 1:1-2; 15:24-28; Eph. 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Col. 1:12-14; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:12;  2:10,19; Heb. 11:39–12:2; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:2-5,13; 2:4- 10; 1 Jn. 1:7-9; 2:19; 3:2.  

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local  congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and  fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His  laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and  seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates  under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation  each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church,  the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.  

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all  of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and  nation.  

Mt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28;  Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32;  Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Heb. 11:39-40; 1 Pet. 5:1-4; Rev. 2-3; 21:2-3.

1. BAPTISM
   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 the resurrection to walk in newness of life in  Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.  Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church  membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
   
   
2. 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 the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. 

Mt. 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mk. 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Lk. 3:21-22; 22:19-20; Jn. 3:23; Acts  2:41-42; 8:35- 39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Col. 2:12.

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is  composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage  is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is  God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for  the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the  channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for  procreation of the human race.  

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s  image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband  is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to  provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the  servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has  the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in  managing the household and nurturing the next generation.  

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the  Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents  are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through  consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical  truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.  

Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Ex. 20:12; Deut. 6:4-9; Josh. 24:15; 1 Sam. 1:26-28; Ps. 51:5;  78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Prov. 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15;  23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecc. 4:9-12; 9:9; Mal. 2:14-16; Mt. 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9;  Mk. 10:6-12; Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 7:1-16; Eph. 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Col. 3:18-21; 1 Tim. 5:8,14; 2  Tim. 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Heb. 13:4; 1 Pet. 3:1-7.