Article 3: DOCTRINE
Section A The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in their original writing, infallible and God-breathed.
(II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18)
Section B The Godhead
We believe in the Triune God eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Co-eternal in being, Co-identical in nature, Co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience.
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19-20; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3)
Section C The Person and Work of Christ
(1) 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.
(John 1:1,2,14, 3:16; Luke 1:35; Philippians 2:5-8)
(2) 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.
(Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 3:24-25; I Corinthians 15:17-20; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7)
(3) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
(Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2)
Section D The Work of the Holy Spirit
(1) We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Spirit, who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. We believe 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. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or the filling of the Spirit.
(John 16:8-11; II Corinthians 3:6; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:1314)
(2) We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who along with the Holy Scriptures guides believers into all truth, and that it is the privilege of all saved to be filled with the Spirit.
(John 16:13; I John 2:20, 27; Ephesians 5:18)
Section E The Total Depravity of Man
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 nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
(Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)
Section F Salvation
We believe that Salvation is a gift from 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 our redemption is accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who was made to be sin for us, and that no repentance, no feeling, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any Church can add in the very least degree to the value of the blood.
(Ephesians 1:7: 2:8-10, John 1:12; I Peter 1:18-19; Romans 5:7-9; II Corinthians 5:21)
Section G The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
(1) We believe that all of the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever.
(John 3:16; 5:24; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; Ephesians 4:30; Jude 24)
(2) We believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but all who are born again by the Spirit through Faith in Christ to be assured of their Salvation from the very day they take Him to be their Savior. However, the scriptures clearly forbid the use of Christian Liberty as an occasion to give in to the flesh.
(Romans 8:15-16; I John 5:13; Galatians 5:13)
Section H The Two Natures of the Believer
We believe that every saved person possesses two natures with provision made for victory of the spiritual nature over the sinful nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural.
(Romans 6:13; 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:5-9)
Section I Separation
We believe that all that are saved should live is such a manner as not to bring reproach unto their Savior and Lord, and that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly practices and associations with sinful pleasures is commanded by God.
(II Timothy 2:19-22; Romans 12:1-2; 14:13; I John 2:15-17; I Thessalonians 4:3-7; II Corinthians 6:14; 7:1)
Section J The Great Commission
We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word, the truths of the Holy Scripture, and to seek to make Jesus Christ known to the rest of the world.
(Matthew 28: 19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:19-20)
Section K Spiritual Gifts
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts and that the purpose of these gifts is for the edification of the Church. Some gifts are designated to be permanent, while others were temporary in nature. Speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed. We believe that God does answer prayers of faith, in accordance with His own will.
(I Corinthians 12:4-11; 13:8; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-12; John 15:7; James 5:14-16; I John 5:14-15)
Section L The Church
(1) We believe that the Church, the body and espoused bride of Christ is a spiritual organism made up of all born again Christians of the present day.
Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II Corinthians 11:2)
(2) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local Churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures.
(Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
(3) We believe in the autonomy of the local Church, free of external authority or control.
(Acts 13:1-4; I Corinthians 5:4-7, 12-13; I Peter 5:1-4)
(4) We recognize the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as a scriptural means of testimony for Christians in today’s Church.
(Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 11:23-26)
Section M Angels
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings known as Angels, that one of those Angels, known as Lucifer (Also known as Satan), sinned through pride, and that a great company of Angels fell with him, some of whom became demons and are active in the world today. We believe that Satan is the originator of sin and that, under the permission of God, he, through subletting, led our first parents into transgression. We believe that Satan was judged at the cross but is permitted by God, to rule as the prince of the world.
(Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Genesis 3:1-19; Romans 5:12-14; Colossians 2:15; Revelation 12:4)
Section N The Second Advent of Christ
We believe in that “Blessed Hope”, the personal, imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones, and in His subsequent return to earth with His saints to establish His millennial kingdom.
(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 3:10-13; 19:11-16; 20:1-6; I Thessalonians 1:10)
Section O The Eternal State
(1) 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; 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-14)
(2) 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; Revelation 20:4-6; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17)
(3) We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection when soul and body reunite. They shall appear at the Great White Throne for judgment and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment.
(Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 14:10-11; 20:11-15)