Homepage > What We Believe

Bibliology: (About the Bible.)

We believe that God has given to mankind all specific revelation about Himself in His Word the Holy Scriptures (John 5:39; Romans 1:2; II Timothy 3:15), that Scripture is the sole authority for mankind’s faith and practice (Matthew 7:24; Psalm 119; II Timothy 2:15), that the Holy Spirit used human authors whom He divinely inspired to record His Word (II Peter 1:21; II Timothy 3:16), that God has preserved His Word and will preserve His Word for each generation (Psalm 12:6-7), that God has preserved every word in Scripture (Matthew 5:18), that Scripture is unchanging (Psalm 119:89), that Scripture is complete (Revelation 22:18-19), that Satan pointedly attacks God’s Word (Genesis 3:1), that God’s Word is the source of all true teaching and preaching (I Timothy 4:16).

Theology Proper: (About God.)
We believe that God is God alone (Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 45:6), Who created the world (Genesis 1:1), Who reveals Himself to mankind through His Word and through His creation (Psalm 19:1; 97:6), Who is three in one; God the Father (Matthew 6:15; Luke 23:34), God the Son (Matthew 8:29), and God the Holy Spirit (John 15:26), Whose attributes include holiness (Psalm 93:5), immutability (Malachi 3:6), justice (Psalm 89:14), omnipresence (II Chronicles 16:9), omniscience (I John 3:20), omnipotence (Jeremiah 32:17), love (I John 4:8,16), and compassion (Psalm 112:4).

Anthropology: (About Man.)
We believe mankind was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27; 9:6), that God made woman to be a help meet for man (Genesis 2:18, 24), that mankind is to have dominion over God’s creation and is to reproduce to populate the earth (Genesis 1:28), that mankind can bring pleasure to God (Proverbs 16:7; Isaiah 56:4), that God desires a relationship with mankind (Romans 5:8), that mankind has a will (Joshua 24:15), that sin has corrupted mankind’s heart (Jeremiah 17:9), that God can transform mankind’s life by Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:17), that God desires mankind to bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:16), that mankind is God's vessel to proclaim the Gospel and lead men back to an eternal relationship with Him (John 7:38; Acts 8:30-31; Mark 16:15).

Harmartiology: (About Sin.)
We believe that sin is the breaking of God's law (I John 3:4; Romans 3:19-20), that Satan seeks to deceive mankind and lead them into sin (I Peter 5:8; Genesis 3:1), that Adam and Eve sinned and brought God’s curse against His creation (Genesis 3), that all men have inherited Adam’s sin and God's curse (Romans 5:12; I Corinthians 15:22), that all men have sinned (Romans 3:10, 23; I John 1:10), that sin has corrupted mankind’s heart and mind (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 1:28), that the second death is God's punishment for sin (Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8), that Christ's blood alone can cleanse men from sin (I Peter 1:2; I John 1:7), that one's faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection takes away the eternal punishment of sin (Romans 6:23; John 3:16), that confession of one's sin to God brings God's forgiveness and cleansing of that sin (Proverbs 28:13; I John 1:9), that believers can live in victory over sin (Romans 6:14; I Corinthians 10:13).

Christology: (About Christ.)
We believe that Jesus is the Messiah (John 20:31; I John 2:22; I John 5:1), that He is God, (Matthew 1:23; John 1:1), that He existed from eternity past (Revelation 22:13), that He is the Creator (John 1:3), that He was God's plan for redemption of mankind before the creation of the world (Revelation 13:8), that He was placed into the womb of Mary by the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:18), that he did not come of Himself but that God the Father sent Jesus into the world (John 8:42), that He did not have an earthly biological father but only an earthly biological mother (Matthew 1:18), that He, as God, humbled Himself and became fully man in human flesh (John 1:14; Philippians 2:5-8), that He grew from a baby into a man (Luke 2:12; 2:52), that He, as a man, was tempted and yet did not ever sin (Hebrews 2:18, 4:15; II Corinthians 5:21), that He was dependent upon the Father in prayer (Matthew 17:21, Matthew 26:53; John 11:42), that He ministered in dependence upon the Holy Spirit for power (Acts 10:38; Matthew 12:27-32), that His purpose in His life and death was the redemptive plan of the Father (John 4:34, 6:38, 6:40), that He was rejected by those He came to save (John 1:11; Isaiah 53:3), that He was crucified according to God's redemptive plan (Matthew 26:2, 27:35), that He died for our sins (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 4:25), that He did not stay dead but rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (Matthew 28:6; I Corinthians 15:4), that He is the only way of salvation for lost mankind (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), that He lives forever to make intercession for the saints (Hebrews 7:25), that He will be acknowledged as Lord by all mankind (Philippians 2:10-11).

Pneumatology: (About the Spirit.)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is God (Luke 12:10; Genesis 1:2, I Corinthians 12:6-8), that He is a person (Acts 20:23; Ephesians 4:30), that He was active in Creation (Genesis 1:2), that He inspired the human authors of Scripture (II Peter 1:21), that He illumines Scripture (I Corinthians 2:10; John 16:13; I Corinthians 2:14), that He lifts up Jesus (John 16:14), that He is the Comforter (John 14:26), that He is the Giver of spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:7-8), that He convicts the world (John 16:8), that He baptizes believers into the body of Christ (Mark 1:8; Acts 1:5; I Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27), that He seals believers (Ephesians 1:13), that He indwells believers (I Corinthians 6:19), that He fills believers (Ephesians 5:18), that He has fruit which can be seen in a believer's life (Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9; Acts 6:3; I Corinthians 2:4), that He assures believers of their salvation (Romans 8:16), that He is the power for all spiritual work (Zechariah 4:6; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 2:4; I Thessalonians 1:5), that He descended on Jesus as a dove (Matthew 3:16), that He is described as living water (John 7:38), that He changes believers into the image of God (II Corinthians 3:18).

Soteriology: (About Salvation.)

We believe that mankind's sin brought God's condemnation and eternal judgment (John 3:18), that mankind in his fallen condition has nothing to offer to God for forgiveness (Isaiah 64:6; Mark 8:37), that mankind cannot be good enough to gain entrance into Heaven by his works (Ephesians 2:8-9), that mankind's only hope is that there is Someone who is accepted by God who willingly paid for his sin (II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:9-10), that Jesus willingly and lovingly took our punishment and our sin upon himself as He died on the cross (Isaiah 53:4-5; John 10:15, 15:13), that Jesus on the cross declared the sin debt paid in full (John 19:30), that Jesus rose again and was victorious over death and proved the sufficiency of His salvation (Acts 2:24), that God the Father desires every individual to be saved from Hell (II Peter 3:9), that all men can be saved (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13), that men can not be saved without hearing about Jesus (Romans 10:14), that salvation is a command (Acts 3:19, 17:30; II Thessalonians 1:8), that God actively seeks to draw men to salvation (John 6:44, 12:32; Matthew 23:37), that all who trust in Jesus' death and resurrection will be saved (John 3:16; Acts 16:31), that all who are saved are purchased with the payment of Christ's death on the cross (I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23), that all who are saved will never lose their salvation (I Peter 1:5), that all who are saved will have a new nature (II Corinthians 5:17), that all who are saved will have outward evidence of that inward reality (Matthew 7:20; John 13:35), that all who are saved will desire to take in the nutrients of the Word of God (I Peter 2:20), that all who are saved will receive the Holy Ghost (John 7:38-39), that all who are saved will enter into a relationship with God as their Father (Romans 8:15-16), that all who are saved enter directly into the presence of the Lord at death (II Corinthians 5:8).

Ecclesiology: (About the Church.)

We believe that the church is an institution ordained by Jesus (Matthew 16:18), that the church began at Pentecost (Acts 1:5, 2:47; I Corinthians 12:13 ), that the church is the body of Christ (Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 1:22-23), that Christ is the Head of the church (Ephesians 5:23), that the apostles and prophets are the foundation for the church with Christ as the corner stone (Ephesians 2:20), that salvation places a person into the church, the body of Christ (Acts 2:47), that the term “church” is used in God’s Word when speaking of Christ's spiritual body as well as of when speaking of the local assemblies of believers (Acts 13:1), that every believer has a gift to be exercised within the local church (I Corinthians 12:7; Ephesians 4:11-12), that there are two ordinances given to the local church; baptism and the Lord’s supper (Acts 2:41; Romans 6:3-4; I Corinthians 11:24), that pastors are given the primary human oversight of the local church (I Timothy 3:2; 3:5), that the pastor’s first responsibilities are prayer and diligent study to preach and teach the doctrine of the Word of God (Acts 6:4; II Timothy 2:15; 2:24-25), that deacons are to help direct the ministries of the local church. (Acts 6:3), that pastor's and deacons must meet the requirements of God's Word to be qualified to fill those offices (I Timothy 3, Titus 1), that church members are to function together to accomplish the work of the local church. (Ephesians 4:12; Romans 12), that the local church carries the responsibility of evangelizing the world (Mark 16:15; I Corinthians 15:34; Matthew 5:14).

Angelology: (About Angels.)

We believe that angels are perfect created beings who do not procreate (Ezekiel 28:15; Luke 20:35-36), that they worship God continually in Heaven (Revelation 5:11-12), that they are ministers to those who are saved (Hebrews 2:14), that they are messengers of God, (Luke 2:10, 13), that angels can look like men (Hebrews 13:2, Genesis 18:22, 19:12), that the angel Lucifer fell from his position in heaven when he sinned in pride (Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:15), that the demons are the angels who joined with Satan in His rebellion against God (Luke 8:30; Acts 19:16; Matthew 25:41), that Hell was created for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

Eschatology: (About the Future.)
We believe that the next event on God’s calendar is the Rapture of the church (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; I Corinthians 15:51-54; John 14:3), that the Rapture may come at any time (I Peter 5:2), that God’s mercy is evident in the Rapture having not yet come (II Peter 3:9-10), that following the Rapture will be the 7 year Tribulation on earth as the Antichrist is revealed (Matthew 24:21; II Peter 3:10; II Thessalonians 2:3-12; Revelation 6-11), that immediately after the Tribulation the Lord Jesus will come a second time to gather the elect (Matthew 24:27-31), that at this time He will fight a great battle and cast the antichrist and the beast into the lake of fire, (Revelation 19:11-21), that after the Tribulation Jesus Christ will reign on earth over Israel on the throne of David for 1000 years while Satan is bound (Jeremiah 30:9,11; Revelation 20:1-3), that Satan will be loosed for a short season after the Millennium (Revelation 20:3, 7-8), that he will gather the nations to fight against God and be destroyed by fire from God (Revelation 20:8-9), that Satan will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever (Revelation 20:10), that all dead unbelievers will be delivered up and taken to the white throne judgment to be judged out of the book of life and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

Practice: What we do.

Separation from the world: We believe that a Christian should have a life that is characterized by holiness (I Peter 1:15-16), that he should take a stand against the world (Ephesians 5:1), that every activity he participates in should bring glory to God (I Corinthians 10:31), that love of the world violates God's will for his life (I John 2:15), that any activity that violates his conscience is sin (James 4:17; Romans 14:23), that embracing the world brings destruction (Psalm 1), that embracing the world hides the light of the Gospel (I Corinthians 15:34, Matthew 5:16), that being separate from the world does not necessitate coming "out of the world" but does necessitate being "not of the world" (John 15:19; 17:14,16), that the best witness for Christ is a holy witness (II Timothy 2:19b-21), that separation is motivated by a love for the Lord (Romans 14:6).

Ecclesiastical Separation: We believe that there will be false teachers (Jude), that preachers are to expose them by the light of the Scripture (Titus 1:9-11), that we are to separate from them (Romans 16:17; II John 1:10), that the ecumenical movement violates the Biblical position of ecclesiastical separation.

Two Church Ordinances:

Baptism: We believe that baptism is commanded by the Lord (Matthew 28:19-20), that it is to follow saving faith in Christ (Acts 8:37), that candidates for baptism must show evidence of true salvation (Acts 10:47), that baptism is to be by immersion (Mark 1:9, Acts 8:36, 38), that baptism is a memorial of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4).

Lord's Supper: We believe that the communion service is commanded by the Lord and is to be regularly observed by the church until He returns (I Corinthians 11:26), that this ordinance is to be done with thanksgiving (I Corinthians 11:24), that it is not to be a feast to satisfy the flesh (I Corinthians 11:21-22), that it is a memorial service of the Lord's death on the cross (I Corinthians 11:24-25), that believers who eat without purifying their heart will be judged physically (I Corinthians 11:27-32), that all believers are to partake (I Corinthians 11:28).

Obeying Government: We believe that a believer is to put himself under the authority of government (Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:1-2, Titus 3:1), that governors are minister's of God to maintain civil obedience (Romans 13:4), that government should only be disobeyed when to obey him is disobedience to God (Acts 5:29, Daniel 3:18).

Charismatic Movement: We believe that tongues were a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit given as a sign to unbelievers (I Corinthians 14:22), that tongues are not the pinnacle of spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 14:5), that there are many warnings and much instruction about the dangers of speaking in tongues (I Corinthians 14), We believe that tongues have ceased, (I Corinthians 13:8), that other sign gifts such as workers of miracles and the gifts of healing have ceased as well (I Corinthians 12:28-30), that in our day false teachers have counterfeited these wonderful gifts of God's Spirit for personal gain, that Satan has used this to attack the church's dependence in faith upon the doctrine of the Holy Ghost (Ephesians 5:18), that Satan has used this to attack the doctrine of salvation by leading men to pursue an experience rather than accepting Jesus by faith (Acts 8:18), that God still miraculously heals men by His great power through the prayers of His people (James 5:14).

Standing for truth: We believe that the fundamental truths of the Word of God are worth fighting for (Jude 1:3), that men have given their lives for the sake of this truth, that men's eternal lives depend upon the clarity of that truth, that willfully allowing error to be taught whether by permission or silence is a gross negligence of one's duty to Christ.

Doctrine

Practice: What we do.