What We Believe
The purpose of this church is to glorify Jesus Christ by preaching the gospel, disciplining believers and evangelizing the unsaved.
THE SCRIPTURES
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We believe that the Bible in its original writings (consisting of the 66 books of the Old Testament and New Testament) was given by Divine inspiration and is the complete, inerrant Word of God (1 Thess 2:13, 2 Tim 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21). The Bible is the only perfect rule and final authority in all matters pertaining to Christian faith and practice (Isa 8:20, Acts 17:11, Heb. 4:12).
THE FATHER
We believe that God the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit; the Father glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father; and the Son reveals and declares of the Father; and the Father blesses believers with all spiritual blessings (Matt 11:27, John 1:18, John 14:26, John 15:26, John 17:1, John 17:25-26, Cor 8:6, Eph 1:3-5, 1 John 4:14).
THE SON
​We believe that God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the only way of salvation. We believe in Christ’s deity, His conception by the Holy Spirit and birth of the virgin Mary, His sinless life, His miracles, His infallible teachings, His substitutionary sacrifice through His shed blood on the cross, His literal bodily resurrection, His literal bodily ascension to the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to make intercession for His saints, His coming for His saints, and His return to reign in power and glory (Zech 14:4-9, Matt 1:18-23, Matt 28:6, John 1:1, John 1:14, John 7:18, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Thess 4:13-18, Heb 4:15, Heb 7:25).
THE HOLY SPIRIT
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We believe that God the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, He quickens believers in the new birth, He seals believers and is the earnest of their inheritance, He indwells the believer, He baptizes the believer into the body of Christ at salvation, and He fills the believer with power for holy living and service, and He illuminates the believer to understand Scriptures. We believe that the Holy Spirit moved holy men to write the Scriptures (John 3:5-7, John 14:16-17, John 16:8-11, John 16:14, Rom 8:11, Eph 1:13-14, Eph 5:1, 2 Peter 1:20-21).
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe that the Holy Spirit bestows gifts on each member of the body of Christ according to His will (1 Cor 12:4-11, 1 Cor 12:28-30, 1 Peter 4:10). Initially, some of these gifts were for use as signs for confirmation of the spoken word of the disciples (Mark 16:20, Heb 2:4). With the completion of the written Word of God in the New Testament Scriptures, these miraculous gifts (such as the ability to speak in other languages without having learned these languages, the power to receive and communicate divine revelations, and the ability to perform supernatural healings and other miracles) were no longer necessary and were gradually replaced (1 Cor 13:8-10, Rev 22:18-19) by permanently needed gifts such as those of pastoral guidance, evangelism, teaching the written Word, and others (Rom 12:6-8, Eph 4:11-12). This does not imply that God can no longer answer prayer in miraculous ways when it is His will.
ANGELS
We believe that God created an innumerable host of spirit beings (the majority of whom remained faithful to God and were confirmed in holiness) who are now serving as ministering spirits, worshiping God, and executing His will on earth (Psalm 103:20, Luke 15:10, Col 1:16; Heb 1:14, Heb 12:22).
SATAN
​We believe that Satan was created the highest of angels, but fell through the sin of pride and became the author of sin, the god of this world, the enemy of God and man, and is destined to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Gen 3:1-1, Isa 14:12-15, Ezek 28:11-17, John 8:44, 1 Cor 4:4, 1 Tim 3:6, 1 Peter 5:8, Rev 20:10).
THE GODHEAD
We believe in the one God who created the universe in six literal day. He is eternally existent in three co-equal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having the same attributes and perfections. This one God is True Holiness, Eternal Power, Infinite Love, Perfect Justice, and Absolute Truth (Gen 1:1, Lev 19:2, Matt 28:19, Rom 1:20, Rom 3:26, 1 Tim 2:5, Titus 1:2, I John 4:3,9).
MANKIND
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We believe that man was created by God in His own image and likeness as recorded in Genesis, and not by process of evolution; that, through Adam's disobedience to God, mankind fell and thereby became sinful in nature, and that since that time every man, except Jesus Christ, is conceived a sinner, spiritually dead, alienated from God, and is of himself totally incapable to remedy his sinful condition (Gen 1:26-27, Gen 3:1-24, Rom 5:12, Rom 3:23-24 Psalm 51:5, Eph 2:1, Eph 4:18, Col 1:14-21, Col 2:13, Heb 9:1).
SALVATION
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace, not by human works but by personal faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on cross to provide forgiveness of our sins (John 1:12, Rom 6:23, Rom 10:9-10, 1 Cor 15:1-4, Eph 1:7, Eph 2:8-10, Col 1:13-14, 1 Peter 1:18-19).
SANCTIFICATION
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We believe that sanctification is both instantaneous and progressive. At salvation, the believer is covered in the righteousness of Christ. Sanctification is the continuing work of grace revealed in the believer’s growth in Christ toward holiness. The believer strives to continually submit his will to the will of God (John 17:19, Rom 8:32, Rom 12:1-2, 2 Cor 1:2, 2 Cor 1:30, Eph 5:25-27, 1 Thess 4:3-7, 1 John 1:8-10).
THE SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER
We believe that all true believers are kept by God's power, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40, John 10:27-30, Rom 8, 1 Cor 1:4-8, Eph 1:13, 1 Peter 1:5).
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, but rather instructs us to live soberly, righteously, and godly (Rom 6:1, Rom 13:13-14, Gal. 5:13, Titus 2:11-13).
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CHURCH
We believe that the church is the body and bride of Christ. (Eph. 1:22-23, 1 Cor 12:12-14, Eph 5:25-27).
We believe that the local church is clearly taught in the New Testament Scriptures, with its mission defined in our Lord's Great Commission to evangelize, baptize, and teach believers to observe all things He has commanded (Matt. 28:19-20, Acts 14:27, Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 4:17, 1 Tim. 3:1-15).
THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH
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Water Baptism
We believe that baptism is by immersion, and not necessary for salvation, but is for believers, a symbol of what already has taken place in the heart; that is, of our having died with Christ and our having been raised with Him unto newness of life. We believe that it is the privilege and duty of every believer as a confession of his faith in Christ. (Matt 28:18-19, Acts 2:41, Acts 8:38-39, Acts 10:47-48, Acts 19:5, Rom 6:4-5, Col 2:12, 1 Peter 3:20-21).
​​The Lord's Table
We believe that the Lord's Table is commemorative, to be observed often in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, showing forth His death till He comes, and picturing our union with Him and our life of dependence upon Him. We believe it is for believers who are walking in obedience to their Lord and should always be preceded by solemn self-examination (Matt. 26:26-29; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16, 1 Cor. 11:23-34).
SEPARATION
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Personal
We believe that all the saved are ordained to walk according to good works, living in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord, having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, abstaining from any appearance of evil (Eph. 5:11; 1 Thes. 5:22; Eph. 2:10).
Ecclesiastical
We believe that the Bible requires that the local church separate from liberalism and any of its compromising forms, as well as from those churches and organizations deviating from sound doctrine; and, at the same time, requires separation unto God in faithfulness and obedience to His Word (Rom 12:9-21, Rom 16:17, 2 Cor 6:14-7:1, 2 John 10-11).
CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is ordained by God for the punishment of evildoers and for the protection of the good. We ought, therefore, to be obedient to their authority except in things opposed to the will of God. We believe that, as the salt of the earth, we should actively promote and participate in the maintenance of godly government whenever possible (Matt. 22:21, Matt. 23:10, Acts 5:28-29, Rom. 13:1-7).
THE RAPTURE AND SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
We believe in the personal, imminent, premillennial, and pretribulational coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His saints at the Rapture. After the Tribulation, we believe in Christ’s subsequent return to earth with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom at His second coming (Zech. 14:4-11, Titus 2:13, 1 Thess 4:13-18, 1 Thess 5:9, 2 Thess 1:7-10, 2 Thess 2:1-8, Rev 3:10, Rev 19:11-16, Rev 20:1-6).
THE ETERNAL STATE
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, John 11:25-26, Rev 20:5-13).
We believe that the souls of the believers are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection when soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43, 1 Cor 5:8, Phil 1:23, Phil 3:21, 1 Thess 4:16-17, Rev 20:4-6).
We believe that the souls of the unbelievers are, at death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when, with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into everlasting conscious punishment in the lake of fire (Matt 25:41-46, Mark 9:43-48, Luke 16:19-26, 2 Thess 1:7-9, Jude 6-7, Rev. 20:11-15).