STATEMENT OF FAITH

(A)       The Holy Scriptures.  We believe the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God.  The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed and are, therefore, the final authority for faith and life.   The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man.  The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning.  The King James Version of the Bible shall be the official translation used by the church.  (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Matt. 24:35)

(B)       The Godhead.  We believe in the one triune God, eternally existing in three persons:  the Father, the Son, and the 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; John 14:10; II Cor. 13:14)

            (1)  We believe God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing by His spoken Word. (Heb. 11:3)

            (2)  We believe God created the entire universe in six literal, twenty-four-hour days. (Gen. 1:1-27)

(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. (Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2,14; II Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 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. (Acts 2:18-36; Rom. 3:24-25; Eph. 1:7;

            I Peter 2:24; I Peter 1:3-5)

(3)        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)

(D)       The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

(1)        We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convict 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; II Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)

(2)        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)

(3)        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 church to do the work of the ministry. (Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-11,28; Eph. 4:7-12)

(4)        We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and 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, although God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing. (I Cor. 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22)

(F)       The Doctrine of Man

(1)        We believe God created Adam and Eve in His own image and likeness, distinct from other living creatures; but that in Adam’s sin the humankind fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God.  Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19)

(2)        We believe God created Adam and Eve, male and female; that male and female are the only two sexes, or genders of all mankind;  that marriage was instituted by God and is the union of one man and one woman who are legally married to each other; and that the Scriptures forbid any other sexual union, whether between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, or among more than two persons.

(G)      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 Peter1:18-19; I John 1:9; John 3:16)

(H)       The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers.

(1)        We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God’s power and remains secure in Christ forever.  (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5)

(2)        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)

(I)        The Church

(1)        We believe that the local church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again believers.  (I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27)

(2)        We believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the church and has commanded believers to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to the whole world.  (I Tim. 3:15; Col. 1:18; Matt. 28:18-20)

(3)        We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or controls, and any affiliations, societies, organizations, associations, or agencies this church affiliates with to further the objectives stated in the Purpose Statement are not authoritative in matters of church practice or belief.  (Acts 13:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28; Rom. 16:1,4; I Cor. 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4)

(4)        We believe in two ordinances of the church:

(a)        Baptism by immersion in water, and that this is a symbol of a believer’s union with Christ (not the taking away of sins) in His death, burial, and resurrection. (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-38)

(b)        The Lord’s Supper that it is shewing the Lord’s death till he come. The Lord’s Supper shall be open to all born-again believers living in fellowship with and obedience to God.  The Lord’s Supper shall be on the first Sunday of each month. (I Cor. 11:23-26)  

(K)      The Second Coming of Christ.  We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of Christ, Who will rapture His church 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 the nation of Israel.  (Psa. 89:3-4; Dan. 2:31-45; Zech. 14:4-11; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6)

(L)       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.  (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5-6, 12-13)

(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; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 3:21; I Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6)

(3)        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; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15)

(M)      The personality of Satan.  We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the Fall of Man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire.  (Job 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11; 25:41; Rev. 20:10)

(N)       Creation.  We believe that the Genesis account of creation is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of God’s creation of 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)