Statement of Faith
Section 1: The Bible
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, supernaturally inspired, written by holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, so that it is without error in the original manuscripts and preserved by God in its verbal and plenary inspiration. We believe the Bible is a divinely authoritative standard for belief and behavior for every age and every person and shall remain to the end of the age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man. It is the standard by which the Lord governs His Church. All scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. By the “Holy Bible” we mean the collection of sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation, this as originally written does not contain and convey the Word of God, but is the very Word of God. We teach the literal, Grammatical- Historical interpretation of scripture.
Gen. 1:31; Ex. 31:17; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Ps. 119:105, 89, 130, 160; Luke 24:25-27; John 5:39, 45-47; 17:17; Heb. 1:1-2, 4:12; Rev. 22:19
Section 2: The Triune God
We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and earth, inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor. We believe the eternal triune God reveals Himself eternally in three persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are equal in divine perfection, and executing distinct, but harmonious, offices in the great work of creation and redemption.
Ex. 20:2-3; Gen. 17:1; 1 Cor. 2:10-11, 8:6; 12:4-6; Eph. 2:18; 4:6; John 4:24; 10:30; 15:26; 17:5; Ps. 83:18; 147:5; Rev 4:11; 1 Tim. 1:17; Mark 12:30; Matt. 28:19; Phil. 2:5-6
Section 3: God the Father
We believe there is only one living God who is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal being. He is the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in His holiness, all powerful, all knowing, and all present. We believe God reigns with providence and sovereignty over His universe and is carrying out His divine plan. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Gen. 1:1; Ex. 3:14; 6:2-3; Lev. 22:2; Ps. 19:1-3; Is. 43:3, 15; Matt. 6:9; 28:19; John 4:24; 5:26; Acts 1:7; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:6; 1 Peter 1:17
Section 4: God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became flesh as both God and man. He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. We believe He worked many miracles exactly as revealed in the four gospels. We believe he was the perfect sacrifice as He died on the cross for the penalty of our sins, was buried, and was raised bodily on the third day for our justification. We believe He is seated at the Fathers right hand where He pleads and intercedes for believers as the head of the church. He is the only mediator between God and man.
Gen. 18:1; Is. 7:14;53; Matt. 1:18-23; 3:17; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; John 1:1-18, 29; 12:44-50; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Eph. 1:20; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Heb. 1:1-3; 1 Peter 2:21-25; Rev. 1:13-16; 19:16
Section 5: God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the God-head and possesses all the divine attributes. He was active in creation and restrains the evil one until God’s purposes are fulfilled. He convicts of sin, of judgment, and of righteousness; that He bears witness to the Truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer. He baptizes believers into the body of Christ and indwells and seals all believers at the moment of salvation. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He fills believers with the power of the Spirit as they confess sin and yield to His control and anoints them for service. Finding ones role in the body of Christ with their giftedness is essential to full joy and spiritual growth. It is the will of God that every Christian grow toward Christ-likeness as they obey the Word of God and yield to the Holy Spirit.
John 1:33; 3:5-6; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:8-11, 13; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 9:14; Luke 1:35; Gen. 1:1-3; 2 Thess. 2:7, 13; Acts 5:30-32; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; Rom. 8:9-11, 14; 26-27; 1 Peter 1:2
Section 6: The Creation
We believe in the Genesis account of creation, and that it is to be accepted literally, and not allegorically or figuratively; that man was created in God’s image; that man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary changes of species, or development through interminable periods of time from lower to higher forms; that all animals and vegetable life was made directly, and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only “after their kind.” We believe the creation was in six literal twenty-four hour days.
Gen. 1:1, 11, 24, 26-27; Ex. 20:11; Acts 4:24; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 11:3; John 1:3; Rev. 10:7; Rom. 1:20
Section 7: Satan
We believe that Satan was a created angel who was once perfect, and enjoyed heavenly honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels. He is now the prince of the power of the air, and the unholy tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, the chief power behind the present apostasy, the lord of the anti-Christ, and the author of all the powers of darkness; destined, however, to final defeat at the hands of God’s Son, and to be judged and cast into eternal hell, a prepared place for him and his angels.
Is. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:14-17; Matt. 4:1-3; 25:41; Mark 13:21-22; Luke 22:3-4; 2 Cor. 11:13-15; 1 Thess. 3:5; 2 Thess. 2:8-11; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 3:8; 4:3; Rev. 2:10; 12:7-9; 13:13-14; 19:11, 16-20; 20:1-3, 10
Section 8: Man and Original Sin
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. Man was innocent of sin in the beginning, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but of choice, and therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship.
Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 1:18, 20, 23, 32; 3:10-19; 5:12, 19; Eph. 2:1, 3; Gal. 3:22
Section 9: Salvation
We believe that God, by His sovereign choice, and out of His divine love for men, sent His Son into the world to save sinners. Man is in a state of total depravity and unable to save Himself. We believe that salvation with its forgiveness of sins, its impartation of a new divine nature and its hope of eternal life, is entirely apart from good works, baptism, church membership, or man’s effort, and is of pure grace. We believe faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross is the only way to salvation, heaven, and the Father. The salvation of a repentant believing sinner is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. God declares the believing sinner righteous when we repent and believe in Jesus Christ. We believe salvation produces works, but works don’t produce salvation. The sinner is saved by faith, and works demonstrate the evidence of saving faith. We believe that by His death and shed blood; the Lord Jesus Christ made a perfect atonement for sin, redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. We believe that a true believer is eternally secure; that he can’t lose His salvation, but that sin may interrupt the joy of his salvation with God and bring Gods loving discipline into his life. Those who are truly regenerate will persevere and are kept by the power of God unto eternal salvation.
John 1:12-13; 3:3, 8, 16; 5:40; 10:8, 28-29; Phil. 1:6; 2:7-8; Rom. 3:25; 4:18; 5:9; 8:1, 29-39; 10; 9-11, 13; Heb. 2:14; 7:25; 10:38; Acts 2:37-38; 1 Cor. 15:3, 20; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4; Titus 3:5-7
Section 10: Death and the Afterlife
We believe that all who receive Christ as Lord and Savior become joint-heirs with Christ, and at death, their spirits depart to be with Christ in conscious blessedness; and at the rapture their bodies will be resurrected and transformed to the likeness of His glorious body, rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ for our works, and will be forever in His divine presence in heaven. Those who reject Christ as Lord and Savior, at their death, their spirits depart to Hades where the body will be raised at the Great White Throne judgment, judged as to degree of punishment, and then cast alive eternally into the lake of fire in conscious suffering forever in literal flames of torments.
Luke 12:47, 48; 16:19-31; Matt. 10:14, 15; 11:21-24; 2 Cor. 5:8-11; Phil. 1:23; I Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; Heb. 10:29; Rev. 20:11-15; Rom. 14:10; 20:11-15; Acts 7:54-60
Section 11: The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local body of baptized believers, associated by faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinance of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and seeking to extend the growth of the church to the ends of the earth. The New Testament also speaks of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Matt. 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-47; 1 Cor. 5:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 2:9-14; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Rev. 2:1-29, 3:1-22, 21:2-3
Section 12: Church Officers
The churches scriptural offices are the office of pastor and the office of deacon. The office of pastor has a four-fold duty: as a preacher, to proclaim the whole counsel of God’s Word; as bishop, to superintend the work of the church; as pastor, to be shepherd of the flock; and as minister to serve the people for Jesus’ sake. He shall have general oversight of the church in all departments if its work, to be moderator for all church meetings of the church. We believe the scriptures teach abstinence in regard to “Not given to much wine” [1 Tim. 3:3]. We also believe “The husband of one wife” [1 Tim. 3:2], is to be interpreted as no divorced man is to serve as pastor [1 Tim. 3:1-7].
1 Tim. 4:13-16; 2 Tim. 4:1-5; Titus 1:5-9; Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1- 4
The office of deacon serves the pastor and the church in a temporal and spiritual ministry. Only scriptural qualified men occupy this office [Acts 6:1-4; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8-13]. We believe the same reference to “wine” and “husband of one wife” in regards to the office of pastor, apply also to the office of deacon. Prospective deacons who meet the Biblical qualifications will be recommended by the Pastor and deacons for their affirmation by the church. The Pastor Search committee will consist of the deacons and any other men they recommend in case of the pastors resignation or removal. They will secure pulpit supply and present to the church the man whom they believe God wants to be their pastor.
Section 13: Church Ordinances
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 the final resurrection of the dead. It is a prerequisite to church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience through which the members of the church memorialize the death of Jesus and look forward to His return. The observance is always preceded by solemn self- examination.
Matt. 3:16; 28:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-39; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 11:23-28
Section 14: The Lord’s Day
The first day of the week [Sunday] is the Lord’s Day which commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Jesus was raised on Sunday, all his post- resurrection appearances were on Sunday, Pentecost was on Sunday, and the early church met on Sunday. The Sabbath Day was fulfilled in Christ, who is our Sabbath.
Matt. 12:1-12; 28:1; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3, 33-36; John 20:1, 19-28; Acts 2:7; Rom. 14:5-10; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Col. 2:16; 3:16; Rev. 1:10
Section 15: Last Things
We believe Jesus is coming for His church in the air at the rapture and seven years later after the tribulation with His church to earth to set up His Millennial kingdom on earth. After the thousand year reign we will reside forever in the New Jerusalem on the new heavens and the new earth. We believe in a resurrection of the just in their glorified bodies to receive their reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. The unrighteous will be raised at the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the Millennium and will be cast into the lake of fire, a place of everlasting punishment.
Matt. 24:27, 30, 36, 44; 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-26; 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; Rom. 11:25; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thess. 1:10; 4:16; 5:1-11; 2 Thess. 2:1-12; James 5:8; Rev. 4:1; 6-19; 20:1-6, 11-15; Gen. 6:5-8; 7:1; 19:1-29
Section 16: The Family
We believe that God instituted the family as the foundational institution of human society and it is composed of persons related by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman for a lifetime till death do they part. We believe the husband is the head of the wife by divine order and is to love His wife as Christ loved the church. The wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord, and both are to mutually submit to Christ and each other. Children from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them to Christ. Through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, they try to lead them to make choices based on Biblical truth. We believe that all life is sacred from its conception in the mother’s womb and that abortion and euthanasia are murder.
Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15-25; Deut. 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; Ps. 78:1-7; Matt. 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 1 Cor. 7:1-40; 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; 1 Peter 3:1-7
