The Holy Scriptures.
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the final authority for faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their literal, grammatical, historical, and contextual meaning, and all issues of interpretation and meaning shall be determined by the pastor. We further believe that God gave the Words of Scripture by inspiration without error in the original autographs, and that He has promised to preserve His Words. (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matt. 5:18)
The Godhead.
We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons- —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 14:10, 26)
The Person and Work of God the Father.
We believe God the Father to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe in God the Father as the initiator of the Gospel by the giving of His Son Jesus Christ for the redemption of man. It was the Father that was declared unto man in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He possesses all the attributes of God, including righteousness and mercy, and is the forgiver of sins. It was the Father’s will that Jesus Christ fulfilled, in the name of the Father, and He alone knows the return of Jesus Christ. We believe that God the Father currently reigns over all in His sovereignty and providence with Christ at His right hand. (Matt. 24:36; Mark 11:26; Luke 6:36; John 1:18, 3:16, 5:43, 8:19; Acts 2:33, Heb. 12:2; Rev. 3:21)
The Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
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 men. (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8)
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. (Acts 2:18-36; Rom. 3:24-25; Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 2:24; I Peter 1:3-5)
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. (Acts 1:9- 10; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; 7:25; I John 2:1-2)
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)
We believe that He is the divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 1:17-18; 5:18; I John 2:20, 27)
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry. (Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph. 4:7-12)
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. Speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit. Ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing. (I Cor. 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22)
Mankind.
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God; but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. Man is a sinner in thought, word, and deed, and so is without excuse before God. (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Eph.2:1-3; 4:17-19)
Salvation.
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. We believe that all sins, except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, are forgivable. (Matt. 12:31-32; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; I Pet. 1:18-19; I John 1:9)
The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers.
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; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1; 38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Pet. 1:4-5)
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 the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)
The Second Coming of Christ.
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of Christ, Who will rapture all true believers prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom, which was promised to Israel, in which He will literally rule for one thousand years. Following this one thousand year reign is the Great White Throne judgment and then the new heaven and the new earth. (Ps. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Zech. 14:4-11; I Cor. 15:51-58; I Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18; 5:1-9; Titus 2:13; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6; Rev.19-22)
Eternity.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28, 29; 11:25-26; Rev. 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 in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 3:21; I Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6)
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment 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 and torment. (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15)
Creation.
We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin. (Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11)