Articles of Faith
The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures, in the original autographs,
to be the Word of God, God-breathed, authoritative, and inerrant. (2Tim
3:16-17; 2Pet 1:20-21; Matt 5:18; John 16:12-13; Heb 4:12).
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, equal in power and glory, and
having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut 6:4; Matt 28:19;
2Cor 13:14).
The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the immaterial image and
likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a
sinful nature, and became alienated from God. (Gen 1:26-27; Rom 3:22-23;
Rom 5:12; Eph 2:12).
The Person and Work of the Father
We believe the Father is the sovereign planner of creation
and redemption and that His plan for the human race is one of grace,
eternally centered in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. (1Cor. 8:6;
Eph. 1:11)
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 being conceived
of the Holy Sprit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that he might
reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished redemption for
all mankind through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice;
that eternal life is made real to us by His literal physical resurrection
from the dead (John 1:1-2,14; Luke 1:35; Rom. 3:24-25; 1Pet. 1:3-5);
that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted and seated at
the right hand of God, where, as the High Priest for His people, He
fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate
(Heb. 9:24; 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1John 2:1-2).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who ministers to mankind
in these ways:
- The unbeliever is convicted of the sin of unbelief, of righteousness,
and of judgment (John 16:8-11) and restrained from maximum evil
(2Thes. 2:6-7).
- At the moment of salvation, the believer is permanently regenerated,
baptized into the body of Christ, indwelt, and sealed unto the
day of redemption. (John 3:3-7; 1Cor. 6:19; Eph. 1:13; 1Cor. 12:13)
- The believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph.
5:18), but the Spirit is grieved or quenched by sin in the life
(Eph. 4:30; 1Thes. 5:19). Control (filling) by the Holy Spirit
is restored by confession of sin (1John 1:9; 1 Cor. 11:31); the
result is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), which becomes
more apparent as the believer grows in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet.3:18).
- Spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit on every believer
at the moment of salvation (Rom. 12:6-8; 1Cor. 12:7-11,28-30; Eph.
4:11). These spiritual gifts are the means by which every Christian
fulfills their full-time ministry in the Christian way of life.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to men by grace
and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins (1Pet.
1:18-19; Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7). God does not overrule
man’s free will in accepting or rejecting His provision of salvation
(2Pet. 3:9; John 3:16,18). Man appropriates this salvation on the
simple basis of belief (Acts 16:31; 4:12; John 20:31; 1John 5:11-12).
The Eternal Security of Believers
We believe that all believers are kept secure forever; that is, that
the believer's salvation cannot be lost or taken away. (Rom. 8;
John 10:27-30; 1Cor. 1:4-9; 1Pet. 1:3-5; Jude 24; 1John 5:11-13).
The Church: Universal
We believe that the Church, which is the body of Jesus Christ, is
a spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of the
Church Age irrespective of affiliation with Christian or ecclesiastical
organizations. (Eph. 1:22-23; Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 1:18; 1Cor. 12:12-14).
The Church: Visible, Local, Autonomous
We believe that the body of Christ is visibly functional through
autonomous organizations called local churches. The establishment
and continuance of autonomous local churches is clearly taught
and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:17; Acts
20:17,28-32; 1Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; 1Cor. 1:1-2; Phil. 1:1).
The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan is a real created being, the fallen
angel, Lucifer, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
(Matt. 4:2-11; Job 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:14-18).
The Blessed Hope
We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of
prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to
receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at
his coming, otherwise known as the Rapture of the Church. (1Cor. 15:51-57;
1Thes. 1:9-10; 1Thes. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14).
The Tribulation
We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed
by the fulfillment of Daniel's Seventieth Week, the Great Tribulation,
the latter half of which is the Time of Jacob's Trouble. (Dan. 9:27;
Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:15-21; Rev. 16:1-19, 21).
The Second Coming of Christ
We believe that the Great Tribulation will be climaxed by
the Premillenial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up
His kingdom. (Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 24:27-31; 2Thes. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:6).
The Eternal State
We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus
Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence
(2Cor. 5:8; Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23) and there remain in conscious
bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul
and body, reunited, shall be associated with Him forever (1Thes.
4:17). But the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious
misery (Luke 16:19-26) until the Final Judgment of the Great White
Throne at the close of the Millennium, when soul and body, reunited,
shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but
to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and
glory of the Lord (2Thes. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).
The Responsibility of Believers
We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such
a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior, which
includes Biblical separation, but not isolation (1Cor. 5:9-13; Rom.
12:1-2; Rom. 14:13; 2Cor. 6:14-7:1). We believe that it is the obligation
and privilege of every believer to witness by life and by word to the
truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all
the world (Acts 1:8; 2Cor. 5:20); that it is the responsibility of
all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and support
it with their means as the Lord has prospered them (1Cor. 16:2; 2Cor.
9:7). |
