The Bible

The Bible is God’s unalterable source of revelation to people (1 Peter 1:24-25). The sixty-six books of the Bible were given by the inspiration of God’s Spirit and are not the product of human creativity or ingenuity (2 Peter 1:20-21). Every word of the Bible is inspired by God in the original manuscripts (2 Timothy 3:16, Matthew 5:18). The Bible in its original manuscripts is without error and is completely accurate in all that it affirms (John 17:17, Psalm 19:7). The Bible will stand as God’s reliable source of revelation eternally for all people (Isaiah 40:8). The remarkable transmission of the biblical text through the ages has done very little to blur the exacting picture of the original documents. We believe that the meaning of the scripture is found when one uses a literal interpretation, keeping in mind the historical context, grammatical and genre considerations, for any given text. It is the responsibility of believers to diligently discover the true intent and meaning of scripture under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-15, 1 Corinthians 2:7-15, 1 John 2:20). Although there may be a variety of practical applications for any given passage of scripture, there is only one true interpretation (2 Peter 1:20-21). We believe the Bible is the supreme source of truth and the foundation for all theology.

God the Father

There is only one true and living God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 45:5-7, 1 Corinthians 8:4). God is a sovereign (Psalm 115:3), eternal (Isaiah 44:6), all-knowing (Psalm 139:4), all-powerful (Job 42:2), holy (Isaiah 6:1-7), unchanging (Malachi 3:6), just (Psalm 97:2) and loving (1 John 4:8) being that exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is one essence that is truly God, existing in three distinct persons. We believe God the Father to be our sovereign creator over all, making people His creation and accountable to Him.

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is coequal with the Father, possessing all the glory of the Godhead (John 14:9, Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is God in very essence and pre-existed as God in all His glory before His incarnation in time and space (John 8:57-58, Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus Christ became a man, virgin born (Matthew 1:23), to redeem mankind and at that time accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity without violating or detracting from His divine essence (Hebrews 2:14-15, Philippians 2:5-8). Jesus represents humanity and deity in indivisible oneness (Colossians 2:9).

Jesus accomplished redemption through His willing, sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross (John 10:15, Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:24) and was raised physically from the dead as proof and guarantee of our justification (Romans 1:4, 1 Corinthians 15:16-20). Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and mediates as the Advocate and High Priest of those who are His (Acts 1:9, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 9:24, 1 John 2:1). Jesus has promised to return to receive the church and will establish the earthly millennial kingdom (Acts 1:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Revelation 20:1-6). We believe Jesus Christ is our only means of salvation. His death, burial and resurrection provide forgiveness and eternal hope for those who place their faith and trust in Him.

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit possesses all the attributes of God (Hebrews 9:14, Psalm 139:7-10, Isaiah 40:13-14, John 16:13) and is a distinct personality of the Godhead having intellect (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), emotions (Ephesians 4:30), and will (1 Corinthians 12:11). The Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19, Acts 5:3-4, 28:25-26, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14). The Holy Spirit regenerates the Christian at conversion (Titus 3:5-7, John 3:3-8), places the Christian into the body of Christ at conversion (1 Corinthians 12:13), indwells the Christian at conversion (1 Corinthians 6:19), is guarantee of the Christian’s redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14), and leads the Christian on a daily basis as he or she submits to His leadership (Galatians 5:16-25, Ephesians 5:18, Romans 8:14).

The Holy Spirit executes the ministry of the church by manifesting Himself as He wills through individual Christians in a variety of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) and placing them in offices within the church (Ephesians 4:11-12). We believe the Holy Spirit indwells, guides and leads believers on a daily basis to become more like Christ, when they are obedient, yielding and dependant on Him.

People

The human race began by the direct and instantaneous creation of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Men and women are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27) possessing all the necessary attributes of personhood (i.e. intellect, emotion and will) and exist to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7).

People forfeited the intended fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:2), incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death (Genesis 2:16-17, Romans 5:12), became subject to the wrath of God (John 3:36) and lost the ability to be independently acceptable to God (Romans 5:6-10) through Adam’s one act of disobedience (Romans 5:12). People exist relationally separated from God and express that sinfulness in a variety of sinful acts (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 3:10-18). We believe that all people are sinful and fall short of God’s standard for perfection, thus needing salvation and God’s mercy.

Salvation

Salvation of individuals is wholly carried out by God’s grace, based on the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross and is in no way contributed to or accomplished by the merit or work of the individual (Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, 1 Peter 1:18-19). Those who repent and put their trust in Jesus as their provision for the sinful condition (Mark 1:15, Luke 24:46-47, Acts 3:19, 11:18, 20:21) are declared righteous by God (Romans 3:21-22, 8:33).

The work of God in justifying those He has called will not be thwarted by anything (Romans 8:28-39). Since the work of salvation is initiated and carried out by God, those who are being saved will never lose their standing before God (Romans 8:1, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, John 6:37-40) and will persevere in the faith (2 Timothy 2:19, 1 John 2:19, Hebrews 3:6, 14).

From a human perspective one is saved after hearing the message of the gospel (Romans 10:14), being convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin (John 16:8-9), mentally turning from sin to God (2 Corinthians 7:9-11), and placing one’s trust in Jesus as the complete and sole payment for sin (John 3:14-15). At this point God’s Spirit indwells the individual (Romans 8:9), resulting in new birth (John 3:3) which is often referred to as conversion (Matthew 18:3, Acts 15:3, Romans 16:5). Each step in the process of salvation is granted by God including repentance and faith (Acts 11:18, Ephesians 2:8).

The converted individual then naturally bears fruit in keeping with the internal transformation that has taken place (2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 3:8, 7:17-23, John 3:36). We believe salvation is only accomplished by faith in Christ and His work on the cross. Salvation is a work of God, granted by grace and cannot be lost or forfeited.

The Church

The universal church is composed of all Christians from Acts 2 to the rapture and is considered the complete body of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33, Matthew 16:18, John 1:12-13). The church is not to be confused with the covenant relationship with, nor the promises to Israel (Romans 11:1-2, 25-29).

Christians gathered in geographical locations around the world, meeting the requirements of the local church, would be what the Bible most often refers to as the church (1 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1). The local church has a biblical purpose (Acts 2:42-47). The church is to worship God through Christ (Philippians 3:3), to build up one another (Hebrews 10:24-25), to equip one another (Ephesians 4:11-12) and to communicate the gospel to non-Christians (Acts 1:8). The local church has biblical leadership (Titus 1:5) responsible to instruct (1 Timothy 3:2), serve (1 Timothy 3:10), discipline (Matthew 18:15-18), oversee (1 Peter 5:1-3), and administrate (1 Timothy 5:17) the local congregation.

The local church practices the water baptism of new disciples (Matthew 28:19) as an external sign of their inward baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13, Acts 10:47), and the Lord’s Supper as a continual reminder and proclamation of Christ’s death (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). We believe the Church is the body of Christ, a living expression of the values and love of God on earth. We also believe that every Christian is placed into the Body of Christ spiritually when they become Christians and are called to live this out by growing and serving within the local church.

Last Things

All people will be physically resurrected (Acts 24:14-15, 1 Corinthians 15:22-23, John 5:28-29), the saved to blessing and reward (2 Corinthians 4:14), the unsaved to torment and punishment (Revelation 20:13-15, Daniel 12:2). God has appointed Jesus to judge the world (John 5:22), both Christians, concerning rewards (1 Corinthians 3:11-15), and non-Christians, concerning punishment (Revelation 20:6, 11-15, Matthew 8:12, 25:14, Revelation 14:10-11, 21:8).

Jesus will return for His church and rapture her from earth at which time the dead in Christ will rise and those who are alive will meet the Lord in the air (Acts 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This will initiate the celebration in honor of the awaited union of Christ and His church (Revelation 19:7-9). On earth, the rapture will allow for the beginning of the great tribulation (Revelation chapters 4-19), and the rise of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). During this seven year period (Daniel 12:7, Revelation 11:2-3, 12:14) God will righteously judge mankind (Revelation 16:5-6) and prepare Israel to receive her Messiah (Jeremiah 30:3, 7, Daniel 9:27, 12:1, Revelation 7:3-8, 11:3-13).