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Our Statement of Faith [Extended]
STATEMENT OF FAITH / WHAT WE BELIEVE
1: The Bible
We
believe the Holy Scriptures (Holy Bible) of the Old and New Testaments
to be the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God (Matthew 5:18; 2
Timothy 3:16-17). We hold the Bible to be inerrant in the original
writings, infallible, God-breathed, and the complete and final
authority for faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit
was the divine author of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21). While still using
the individual personalities of the human authors, the Spirit
superintended them to insure that they wrote precisely what He wanted
written, without error or omission.
2: God
We
believe in one Triune God , who is Creator of all (Deuteronomy 6:4;
Colossians 1:16), eternally existing in three distinct Persons –
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14), yet one in being,
essence, power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections
(John 10:30). God is our creator (Genesis 1:1), is eternal (Psalm
90:2), infinite (1 Timothy 1:17), sovereign (Psalm 93:1) and
unsearchable (Romans 11:33-34). God is omniscient-He knows the past,
present, and future (Psalm 139:1-6), omnipresent-ever-present,
everywhere (Psalm 139:7-13), omnipotent-all-powerful (Revelation 19:6),
and unchanging (Malachi 3:6). God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), just
(Deuteronomy 32:4), and righteous (Exodus 9:27). God is love (1 John
4:8), gracious (Ephesians 2:8), merciful (1 Peter 1:3), and good
(Romans 8:28).
3: Jesus Christ
We believe in the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is fully God, the expressed image of the
Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became man in order that He
might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Matthew 1:21; John 1:18;
Colossians 1:15).
We believe that God the Son became incarnate
in the person of Jesus Christ; that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit
and was born of the virgin Mary; that He is truly God and truly man;
that He lived a perfect, sinless life; that all His teachings are true
(Isaiah 14; Matthew 1:23). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died
on the cross for all mankind (1 John 2:2) as a representative,
vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice (Isaiah 53:5-6). We hold that His
death is efficacious for all who believe (John 1:12; Acts 16:31); that
our justification is grounded in the shedding of His blood (Romans 5:9;
Ephesians 1:17); and that it is attested by His literal, physical
resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6; 1 Peter 1:3).
We
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven in His glorified
body (Acts 1:9-10) and is now seated at the right hand of God as our
High Priest and Advocate (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). He is the only
way man can be saved! (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8, 9)
4: The Holy Spirit
We
believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4).
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin,
righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). He regenerates sinners
(Titus 3:5) and indwells believers (Romans 8:9). He is the agent by
whom Christ baptizes all believers into His body (1 Corinthians
12:12-14). He is the seal by whom the Father seals believers unto the
day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). He is the Divine Teacher who
illumines believers’ hearts and minds as they study the Word of God (1
Corinthians 2:9-12). We believe that the Holy Spirit is ultimately
sovereign in the distribution of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11).
We believe that speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles
gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed, their
authority upheld, and the early church firmly established (1
Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:20; 4:7-12).
5: Angels and Demons
We
believe in the reality and personality of angels. We believe that God
created an innumerable company of these sinless, spiritual beings who
were to be His servants and messengers (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2;
Hebrews 1:14).
We believe in the existence and personality of
Satan and demons. Satan is a fallen angel who led a great company of
angels into rebellion against God (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-15).
He is the great enemy of God and man, and the demons are his agents in
his unholy purposes. He and his demons shall be eternally punished in
the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
6: Man
We
believe that man came into being by direct creation of God and that man
is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We believe
that the human race sinned in Adam (Romans 5:12), that sin is universal
in man (Romans 3:23), and that it is exceedingly offensive to God. We
believe that all mankind, because of Adam's fall, has inherited a
sinful nature. Humanity is utterly unable to remedy its lost estate
(Eph 2:1-5, 12). We believe that all men are guilty and in a lost
condition apart from Christ (Romans 2:1).
7: Salvation
We
believe that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in the
finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ
shed His blood to accomplish justification through faith, propitiation
to God, redemption from sin, and reconciliation of man. Christ died for
us (Romans 5:8-9) and bore our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24).
We
believe that all those who have truly placed their faith in Christ are
eternally secure in their salvation, kept by God’s power, secure and
sealed in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39;
Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24).
We believe in (Eternal Security, Once Saved always Saved)-Christians CANNOT lose their Salvation (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24 )
8: The Church
We
believe that the Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ, is a
spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of the present
age (1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23;
5:25-27). We believe in the ordinances of believer’s water baptism by
immersion as a testimony and the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of
Christ’s death and shed blood (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 18:8; 1
Corinthians 11:23-26). We believe in the priesthood of all believers (1
Corinthians 1:1; Revelation 1:6). We believe that the saved should live
in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior,
and that separation from sinful pleasures, practices, and associations
is commanded by God (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 2 Timothy
3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17). We believe in the Great Commission as the
primary mission of the Church. It is the obligation of believers to
witness, by word and life, to the truths of God’s Word. The gospel of
the grace of God is to be preached to all the world (Matthew 28:19-20;
Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20). New believers are to be taught to
obey the Lord and to testify concerning their faith in Christ as Savior
and to honor Him by holy living.
9: Things to Come (Last Days)
We
believe in the blessed hope / the rapture (Titus 2:13), the personal,
imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ to rapture His saints (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in
the subsequent, visible return of Christ to the earth with His saints
to establish His promised millennial kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; 1
Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6). We believe in
the physical resurrection of all men – the saints to everlasting joy
and bliss-heaven, and the wicked to conscious and eternal torment
(Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13). We believe
that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and
present with the Lord, where they await the first resurrection when
spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the
Lord (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4-6). We believe that the souls of
unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second
resurrection when, with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at
the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of
Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious
punishment (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2
Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).
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