1)    God's Word

A.       Revelation

We believe that God in loving, merciful concern for mankind, has taken the initiative to reveal and communicate truth about his existence, His attributes, and His will through:

i.      His Son. (Hebrews 1:1-3.)

ii.     Creation. (Romans 1:18-21; Psalm 19:1-3.)

iii.    Preservation of the universe.  (Colossians 1:17.)

iv.    Miracles.  (Hebrews 2:1-4.)

v.     Direct Communication.  (Exodus 20:1-3.)

vi.    Conscience.  (Romans 2:14-16.)

vii.   Scripture.  (John 20:30-31.)

B.      Inspiration

We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.  By this we mean that all Scripture is "God-breathed" and that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the very word of Scripture (verbal inspiration).  (2 Peter 1:20-21.)

We further believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and full to all parts of the writings - historical, poetical, doctrinal and prophetical - in their original manuscripts (plenary inspiration). (2 Timothy 3:16-17.)

We believe that the Bible is both inerrant (it perfectly communicates what the author intended) and infallible (its words accurately communicate truth).

C.       Emphasis

We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read or understood, until it leads to Him. 

We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction and are to be the Christian's final authority in faith and practice.  (Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44; Mark 12:26-27; John 5:39; Acts 26:22-23; Acts 28:23; 2Tim 3:16-17.)

We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man's responsibilities in successive ages.  These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose.

2)      Godhead

We believe in the one triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit:  co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, coequal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.  Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14 (as explained in John Chapters 1, 14 and 15.)

A.       We believe that God's non-communicable attributes (those possessed by God alone) are: 

  i.      Omnipresence (free from the limitations of space); (Psalm 139:7-12. )

 ii.      Omniscience (perfect knowledge); (Isaiah 46:9-10.)

iii.      Omnipotence (absolute power); (Matthew 19:26. )

iv.      Immutability (unchangeable); (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17. )

B.      We believe that God's communicable attributes (those which can be assumed by man through God's Spirit) are:

i.      Holiness; (I Peter 1:15-16.)

ii.     Righteousness; (I Peter 2:24.)

iii.    Truth; (II John 3-4.)

iv.    Goodness; (Romans 15:13-14.)

v.     Love; (John 15:9-11.)

vi.    Mercy; (I Peter 2:9-10.)

vii.   Grace; (II Peter 3:17-18.)

3)    God the Father

A.       We believe that, according to the Scriptures, God the Father designed the program of redemption through His Son.  (Ephesians 1:3-6; John 3:16; Psalm 2:7-8.)

B.      He is the ultimate object of all praise, worship, homage and glory, as explained in (John chapters 15 and 17.)

4)    God the Son

A.       We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man.  (Colossians 1:15-18.)

B.      We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.  (Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5.)

C.       We believe that 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.  (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:33-34; I John 2:1-2; Colossians 3:1.)

5)    God the Holy Spirit

A.       We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment; and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the day of redemption.  (John 16:8-11; II Corinthians 3:5-6; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14.)

B.      We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and that it is the privilege of believers to be filled with, and their responsibility to walk in the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13; I John 2:27; Ephesians 5:18-21.)

6)    Man

A.       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 mature and became alienated from God; and, that man is totally depraved, and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.  (Genesis 1:27; Romans 5:11-12; Ephesians 2:1-3.)

B.      We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time that this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above the angels.  (Hebrews 2:6-10.)

7)    Salvation

A.       We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.  (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; 1 peter 1:17-19.)

B.      We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.  John 6:37-40; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8.

C.       We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word; which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to (gratify) the flesh.  (Romans 13:12-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15.)

D.      We believe that every born again person possesses an old and new nature, with the provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; that all claims to the eradication of the old nature is the life are unscriptural.  (Romans 6:13; Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 4:22-24; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:5-9.)

8)    The Church

A.       We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all the born again persons of the present age.  (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5;25-27; II Corinthians 12:12-14.)

B.      We believe that the body of Christ should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all sinful, worldly pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.  (II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1-2; Romans 14:13; I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1.)

C.       We believe that it is the obligation of the Church to witness by life and by word the truths of (the) Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind.  (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:1 8-20.)

D.      We believe in the establishment and continuance of local churches.  (I Timothy 3:1-13.)

E.       We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control.  (I Peter 5:1-4.)

F.        We believe that God the Holy Spirit is sovereign in the giving of gifts to the members of the body of Christ and that He has reason and purpose for each gift He gives.  We believe that He gave gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, to build up the Church and to equip its members.  (Ephesians 4:7, 11-16; Romans 12:6-8.)

G.       We believe that the Spirit of God has continued to emphasize those gifts that build the Church and that according to chapters 12-13 of I Corinthians, those gifts with other purposes became increasingly unnecessary as the authority of God's word became established and administered in love.

H.       We believe that God hears and answers prayer in accord with His own will.  (John 15:17; I John 5:14-15.)

I.         We recognize the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper as a scriptural means of testimony for the church and that water baptism is a public testimony by the recipient that he has personally trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.

i.      We believe that water baptism is the outward symbol of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the inward word whereby  each believer is inseparably joined to the Body of Christ, which is His Church and that immersion in water, in the name of the of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, best typifies the relationship between baptism by the Spirit and by water.

ii.      We believe the Lord's Supper is a memorial testimony of the Church, instituted by our Lord Just before His Betrayal and to be observed until His return as a sacred, symbolic and scriptural means of remembering His death for our sins.  (Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 11:23-26.)

9)    Angels

A)      We believe that Lucifer, son of the morning, the highest angel in rank, sinned through pride, was cast out of heaven and became Satan.  (Isaiah 14:12-17.)  As a result of this, a great company of the angels followed Lucifer in his moral fall.  Of these, some became demons and are active as Satan's agents and associates in carrying out his unholy purposes, while others who fell are preserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.  (Jude 1:6. )

B)      We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that he, through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power.  (Genesis 3:14-15; Romans 5:12-14.)

He is the enemy of God and the People of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped.  In his warfare, he functions as an angel of light and as a devouring, roaring lion, even countering the works of God by fostering religious movements and systems of doctrine, which in every case are characterized by a denial of the efficacy of the blood of Christ and the salvation by grace alone.  (II Corinthians 4:3-4; II Corinthians 11:13-15; I Timothy 4:1; I Peter 5:8.)

10)   Future Things

A)      We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His people, to establish His Millennial Kingdom.  (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Zechariah 14:9; Revelation 19:11-16; Revelation 20:1-6; I Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10.)

B)      We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment.  (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; John 11:25-26.)

C)      We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present what the Lord, where they wait to be glorified forever with the Lord.  (Luke 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; I Thessalonians 5:23.)

D)      We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery and shall appear at the Great White Throne of Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment.  (Matthew 24: 41-41; II Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:11-15.)