Scripture

The Bible, consisting of both Old and New Testaments (66 books), is the verbally inspired Scriptures, and is the final authority for faith and life. It is inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed. Its message can be plainly understood by applying the grammatical-historical method of biblical interpretation (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Matt. 5:18; John 16:12-13).

God

There is one 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, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).

Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ, eternally God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary so that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (John 1:1-2, 14; Luke 1:35).

The Lord Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His bodily resurrection from the dead (Rom. 3:24-25; 4:25; Heb. 2:9; Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2:24).

The Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God the Father, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9-11; Heb. 9:24; Rom. 8:34 1 John 2:1-2).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; revealing Christ to the world and enabling men to believe; 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; 2 Cor. 3:6; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Rom. 8:9 Eph. 1:13-14).

The Holy Spirit guides believers into all truth, anoints and teaches them; and it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (John 16:13; 1 John 2:20,27; Eph. 5:18).

Creation and Man

The book of Genesis presents a historically factual account of the origin of man, the fall of Adam and Eve, and consequently the entire human race, the worldwide flood, the call of Abraham, and the origin of God’s chosen people, Israel. God accomplished the special creation of the world and filled it with all manner of self-replicating life, after its kind, in six literal, twenty-four-hour days out of nothing (ex nihilo), as recorded in Genesis chapter one (Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:22; Gen 7:17-24; 12:1-3; Deu. 7:6-8).

Man was created in God’s image and likeness, but when man sinned, the human race fell and became alienated from God. Man, therefore, is totally depraved and of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Gen.1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23; 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3, 12; Ps. 52; Gen. 5:2).

Salvation

Salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received through personal faith in the substitutionary death and bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on the cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Cor. 15:1-5; Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

The death and resurrection of Christ is sufficient provision for the salvation of all men, nevertheless, only the elect who exercise saving faith, receive forgiveness of sin and are regenerated, baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit, and granted every spiritual blessing in Christ ( 1 Jn 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:8-9; Tit. 3:5; Rom. 6:3-4; Eph. 1:3).

Eternal Security

All who have been placed in Christ Jesus are kept by God’s unfailing power and are thus eternally secure in Christ. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1,38; 1 Cor. 1:4-8;1 Pet. 1:5).

Assurance of Believers

It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in their assurance of salvation through the testimony of the Word of God; However, one who maintains unbroken patterns of sin and unfaithfulness, which evidence an unregenerate life, should find no consolation in this. (1 John 5:10-13; James 1:22-27; 1 John 2:19; Tit. 1:16).

Two Natures

Every saved person possesses two natures, an old corrupted one inherited from natural birth and a new redeemed one by virtue of spiritual birth. Operating according to the new nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the only means for victory over the old nature; and all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural (Rom. 6:13; 8:12-13; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 John 3:5-9).

Christian Living

Believers are called to live a manner that does not bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; this includes separation from all religious apostasy, as well as sinful pleasures and practices that are prohibited in Scripture (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rom. 12:1-2; 14:13; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 1:9-11; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).

Sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between one man and one woman (as genetically defined), within the love and bonds of marriage (Gen. 2:24-25; Matt. 19:4-6; 1 Cor. 7:3-5; Heb. 13:4). Any and all forms of sexual intimacy outside of the confines of marriage, as it is defined by Scripture, is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift (Lev. 18:1-30; Prov. 6:32; 1 Cor. 6:18; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Thess. 4:3-8).

Missions

It is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind and to make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:19-20).

Ministry

God is sovereign in His bestowal of spiritual gifts to believers, which are given for the edification of the universal and local body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:4-11).

Each believer has a spiritual gift that is to be exercised in service toward others (1 Peter 4:10).

Not all of the same spiritual gifts that were essential for the establishment of the New Testament are continually dispensed through the history of the Church. Some of these, commonly referred to as “sign gifts,” include: apostolic, prophetic, speaking in tongues, miracles, healing, etc. Such gifts we understand to have ceased with the finished work of the apostles and prophets, and the completion of the New Testament Scriptures, by the close of the first century (Eph. 4:11-16; 2:19-20; 1 Cor. 3:9-11; 13:8-13; Heb. 2:1-4).

The Church

The church is the Body of Christ, and all who are saved have been baptized by the Spirit into the Body. The local church is the visible expression of the invisible universal Body of Christ and consists only of the saved in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:22; Col. 1:24).

The Body of Christ, the Church, began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5, 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 12:13).

We believe in the autonomy of the local church (Acts 13:1-4; 10:28; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 3:9,16; 5:4-7,13; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

The ordinances of water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper are a Scriptural means of testimony for the church today (Matt. 28:19-20: Acts 2:41-42; 18:8; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).

There are two Divinely appointed church offices: Elders and Deacons.

1. Elders are responsible for shepherding the flock by preaching, teaching, leading, and praying over the spiritual growth of the church (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9).
2. Deacons are responsible for leading and ministering to the temporal needs of the church (1 Tim. 3: 8-13; Acts 6:1-5).

Dispensationalism

The Scriptures interpreted according to the grammatical-historical method, reveal a distinction between God’s plan and purposes for Israel, the nations, and the Church. The Church has not replaced Israel. Instead, God has divinely determined dispensations or rules of life, that define man’s responsibilities with respect to God. These dispensations are divinely arranged stewardships by which God directs men, in whole or in part, according to His expressed purpose (John 1:17; 2 Cor. 3:6-18; Gal. 3:13-25; Eph. 1:10; 3:2-10; Col. 1:24-25; Heb. 7:19; Rev. 20:2-6).

Second Advent

Scripture offers Christians the “blessed hope” of the personal, imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the church; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His millennial Kingdom, which will begin only after the second advent (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Zech. 14:4-11; Rev. 18:11-16; 20:1-6; 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rev 3:10).

Eternal State

All people will experience bodily resurrection, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to condemnation and everlasting punishment (Matt. 25:46; John 5:18-29; 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5-6; 22:12).

The souls of the justified 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; Rev. 20:4-6’ 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 3:32; 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

The souls of unbelievers remain, after 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 the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matt. 25:41-46; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Rev. 20:11-15).