SCRIPTURES

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, and inerrant.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 5:18)

PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST

We believe:

A.  The Lord Jesus Christ, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, became man in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man.  (Jn. 1:1-2, 14; Lk. 1:35)

  B.  The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice.  Our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.  (Rom 3:24, 25; 1 Pet. 2:24; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:3-5)

  C.  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, 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1 Jn. 2:1-2)

GOD:  We believe in one God existing and manifesting Himself to us in three persons:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that these three Persons are eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections.  (Deut. 6:4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Isa. 43:10; Mat. 28:19)

PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:: 

We believe the Holy Spirit is a person who possesses all the divine attributes of God.  He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the one body of Christ, indwelling, and sealing them unto the day of redemption.  To the Christian, He is the Comforter who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto him.  (Jn. 14:26; 16:7-15; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13, 14).  


We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the action by the Spirit which places the believer both in Christ and in the Body of Christ, His Church (1 Cor. 12:13).  It occurs at the moment of salvation and is neither based upon nor derived from experience.  The filling of the Holy Spirit is His continuing work in the believer by which the believer is empowered to live and serve in the Christian life.  As the believer is obedient to the Word and yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, he shows the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Believers are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit as an ongoing or continuous experience (Eph. 5:18).


We believe that speaking in tongues is not the necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit.

ORIGIN AND NATURE OF MAN:  We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.  (Gen. 1:26, 27; Rom. 3:22, 23; 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3, 12)

SALVATION:  We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace, and is received only and altogether by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins, and that we are kept by His power.  (Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Jn. 1:12; 5:24; 6:47; 10:27-30)


CHURCH:  We believe the Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism composed of all born-again believers of this age and that it is the mission of the Church to evangelize the lost.  (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13; Eph. 1:22-23; Mat. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:18-20)


SECOND COMING OF CHRIST:  We believe the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the personal coming of the Lord Jesus in the air to receive, to Himself, the dead in Christ and all believers who are alive at His coming.  (1 Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; Jn. 14:1-3; Tit. 2:11-14)


THE ETERNAL STATE:  We believe the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His second coming when soul and glorified body unite and shall be associated with Him forever in the glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment, when they shall stand before the great white throne of judgment for everlasting, conscious punishment.  (Jn. 5:28-29; 2 Cor. 5:8; Luke 16:19-26; Rev. 20:11-15; Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17)