The Scriptures
The Holy Bible is the inerrant, supreme, complete, inspired word of God, consisting of 66 books, both Old and New Testaments. It is divine, perfect, true, infallible and complete for instruction and salvation. It reveals God’s principles, desires for His church, supreme conduct to be followed by man, and is the basis for trying all religious opinions.
God
There is only one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All eternal, all knowing, all present, all powerful, Holy, Righteous, Loving and to be feared. He is creator and ruler of all. All perfections and righteousness is found only in Him. All glory and honor are due to Him.
God the Father
God is the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. As Creator He is Father to all men, but is the Spiritual Father only to all who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is neither author nor approver of sin.
God the Son
Christ is the second person of the Trinity. He is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, having received a human body and a sinless human nature, retained His deity and perfect harmony with the Father. He died in our place for our sins, though sinless Himself, thereby making an acceptable substitute and atonement to our Holy Father and purchasing all who will believe in Him for Himself forever. On the third day, He was raised in a glorified body and was seen by His disciples and many others before ascending to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and became the Head of the Church, where He intercedes for believers. We are assured by Scripture of Christ’s return and fulfillment of God’s purpose.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is divine, equal with the Father and Son. He inspired men to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He bears witness of Jesus Christ so that through repentance and faith believers are immediately reborn to God’s glory. He baptizes the believer in the body of Christ and makes them ready for Spiritual growth and use for His church. He is the Comforter, present with the believer unto the day of final redemption, sealing the believer from the Evil One until God’s purpose is fulfilled.
Man and the Fall
God created man in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race, incurring God’s penalty of spiritual and physical death. All mankind became inherently corrupt, desiring his own pleasures, forsaking the glory due God. Because all men were in Adam, a nature corrupted by Adam’s sin has been transmitted to all men of all ages, Jesus Christ being the only exception. All men are thus sinners by nature, by choice, and by divine declaration.
Salvation
Salvation is given by grace from God to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who died on the cross for our sins, shed His sinless blood for our offenses, died, was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead. He later ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, being glorified by God, and awaits His bride. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification and glorification.
Regeneration – A new birth, conviction of sin, genuine repentance of heart, and turning from self desires and becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Justification – by the receiving of Jesus Christ as our Lord, and His work on the cross, our sins are paid for in full and we can receive God’s grace and mercy by being cleansed by the Lord’s blood. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.
Sanctification – a life set apart for God. From regeneration until glorified, the believer is set apart and sealed for God’s purpose. The believer is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace is a continual journey of desire to fully know the Lord, worship God, love your neighbor, and further Christ’s church.
Glorified – is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and eternal state of the redeemed.
The Church
All who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual body, the church, the bride of Christ, of which Christ is the head. The church began at Pentecost and remains until His coming for His own at the Rapture. All believers should associate themselves in local assemblies. The biblically designated officers serving under Christ are pastors, teachers, and deacons, all of whom must meet biblical qualifications. The local church is free from any external authority or control. The purpose of the church remains to glorify God by building itself up in the faith, by instruction of the Word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that two ordinances have been committed to the church; baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism by immersion is the solemn and beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and his union with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life. It is also a sign of fellowship and identification with the visible body of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of His death until He comes and should be always preceded by solemn self examination. The elements of communion are only representative of the flesh and blood of Christ, the Lord’s Supper is nonetheless an actual Communion with the risen Christ who is present in a unique way, fellowshipping with His people.
Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both were created in God’s image. They are to love each other as Christ loves the church. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate God’s pattern for marriage, thereby teaching spiritual and moral values based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
Last Things (Eschatology)
In death, the soul of the redeemed passes immediately into the presence of Christ, and continues until the Rapture, the first resurrection. The souls of the unsaved are kept under punishment until the final resurrection, when they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment, be cast into hell, and cut off from God forever. Believers are to always be looking for Christ’s imminent return.
The righteous judgments of God will be poured out upon an unbelieving world, the tribulation, climaxed by the return of Christ in glory to the earth and establish His messianic kingdom for a thousand years. This reign will be preceded by the overthrow of the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and by the removal of Satan from the world.
Satan will be released after the thousand year reign, only to be devoured by fire from heaven and thrown into the eternal lake of fire.
Jesus will judge all men, will resurrect and judge the great and the small at the Great White Throne judgment.
The saints will enter the eternal state of glory with God, after earth is no more and a new earth is created wherein only righteousness dwells.