1.
The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, equally in all
parts and in the whole and is totally inerrant in the original manuscripts.
We further believe it is the supreme revelation from God and of God, superior
to conscience and reason, though not contrary to them; and it is therefore
our infallible rule in all matters. We believe that all Scriptures center
about the Lord Jesus Christ and hence that no portion is properly read
nor understood until it leads to Him. (John 5:39; II Timothy 3:16-17;
I Peter 1:23-25; Hebrews 4:12)
2. The Godhead
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that these three are one
God, having the same nature, attributes and perfection, and are worthy
of the same homage and obedience. (Matthew 28:18-29; Mark 12:20; John
1:14; Acts 5:3-4; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6)
3. The Lord Jesus
We believe in the pre-existence, incarnation and virgin birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ who came into the world to reveal the Father, and was the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person; that the
Lord Jesus Christ was the Creator of all things, for by Him the worlds
were made. We believe that in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and that He was all God and all man, the I AM, the Jehovah of
the Old Testament. We further believe in the sinless life of our Lord
Jesus Christ, His Miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily
resurrection, His bodily ascension into Heaven, and in His coming again
as revealed by the Scriptures. (John 1:1-2, 14; I Timothy 3:16; Acts 7:37-38;
Philippians 2:9-10; Hebrews 7:25)
4. The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit though omnipresent from all eternity,
after the glorification of Jesus Christ was sent on the day of Pentecost,
dwells in every believer, unites all to Christ in one body, and is the
source of all power and acceptable service. We believe that the work of
the Holy Spirit includes the restraining of evil in the world; the convicting
of the world in regards to sin, righteousness, and judgment; the regeneration
of all believers; the sealing of all believers unto the day of redemption;
and the continuous filling for power and service of these among the saved
who are yielded to Him and to His Will. We believe that the fruit of the
spirit is the manifestation of the character of Christ in the believer’s
life. We further believe that all the gifts of the Spirit should be and
must be operative in the church for the church to manifest her full glory
under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. (John 3:6, 14:16-17; Romans 8:9, 12:10-11;
I Corinthians 6:19, 12:8-11; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 2:22, 4:11-13)
5. Angels, Heavenly and Fallen
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spiritual
beings known as angels; the one, identified in scripture as "Lucifer",
sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a company of the angels
followed him in his moral fall and have now become demons and are active
as his agents in opposing all that is godly, holy and united in building
the kingdom of God. (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; II Peter 2:4;
Jude 6)
We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permission
of God, he, through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression,
thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity
to his own power and that he is the enemy of God and His people. However,
we also believe that Satan was defeated by Jesus Christ at Calvary, through
the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus, and that Jesus delegated this
authority over Satan to His body, the Church, and to each born again Christian
in the church. At the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, Satan will
be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand
years he will be loosed for a little season and then cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone, where he shall be tormented day and night forever
and ever throughout eternity. (Genesis 3:1-19; Romans 5:12-14; II Corinthians
4:3-4, 11:13-15; Ephesians 6:10-12; II Thessalonians 2:4; I Timothy 4:1-3;
Colossians 2:15; Revelation 20:3,10)
We further believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate
and are before the Throne of God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering
spirits, flames of fire, to minister to those who are heirs of salvation
and who hearken to the voice of God to do His bidding. ( Luke 15:10; Ephesians
1:21; Hebrews 1:14)
6. The Creation of the World and Man
We believe that God sovereignly created the world out of nothing. We further
believe that man was created in the image of God and by a direct and immediate
act of God. (Genesis 1:1, 26-27, 2:4)
7. Man's Fallen Condition
We believe that man by willful transgression fell from a state of righteousness
and holiness, in which he was first created, into total spiritual depravity,
a state of death in trespasses and sins in which he is held as a slave
of sin and an enemy of God, being unable to attain divine righteousness
by his own efforts, but must be redeemed and delivered by the power of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:23-25, 5:12-21; I Corinthians 15:1-4;
II Corinthians 4:3-4)
8. Salvation Only Through Christ
We believe that repentance and faith toward God produces the work of justification
in the believer through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Further,
we believe that, owing to universal spiritual death through sin, no one
can enter the kingdom of God unless born of the Spirit. We also believe
that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the shed blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us as our substitute and that there
is salvation in no other name. (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-10)
9. The Walk of the Believer
We believe that a continuous walk in grace should be the emphasis of heart
righteousness and purity, believing in the keeping power of God, walking
after the spirit and not after the flesh, in conduct that demonstrates
the character of Jesus Christ, not being conformed to the world, but being
transformed by the renewing of the mind. We further believe that each
believer must lay a foundation of Biblical truth and experience upon which
he builds his life.
Through the Lordship of Jesus Christ, these foundation stones are established
in the new birth and include repentance from dead works, faith toward
God, doctrines of baptisms, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the
dead, and eternal judgment. (Romans 4:1-5, 8:25, 12:1; I Corinthians 3:11;
Galatians 5:26-25; Hebrews 6:1-2; Jude 24)
10. The Doctrine of Baptisms
There is the baptism whereby the repentant sinner, upon trusting Jesus
Christ as his/her Savior is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body
of Christ. (I Corinthians 12:13)
There is water baptism by immersion for believers only. This we believe
to be an ordinance of the church, whereby the believer is buried in the
likeness of Christ as he was in the earth, and raised to walk in the newness
of life with the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:37-38; Romans 6:3-6)
There is the filling or baptism in the Holy Spirit by the Lord Jesus Christ,
which may occur at or subsequent to conversion.We believe that speaking
in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is the normative evidence
of this baptism.Further, we believe that by the believer’s continued submission
to the Holy Spirit, his very weakness is transformed into strength to
witness for Jesus Christ in power and to live according to the will of
God. (Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:5, 8; 10:46; 11:28:19:6)
11. Divine Healing
We believe in divine healing for the whole man through the atoning death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, we believe that the stripes laid upon
the back of Jesus during His scourging are counted by God as full and
final payment for all sickness, pain, and infirmities of this life which
may from time to time come upon mankind.
We therefore believe that sickness has no valid claim to bodies which
are the temples of God and that every believer’s part is to resist sicknesses,
pains, infirmities, and other such common enemies of man through prayer,
the laying on of hands, and/or anointing with oil all done by faith and
in the name of Jesus. (Isaiah 53:4-5; Matthew 8:16; Acts 4:30, 19:11;
I Corinthians 12:9; James 5:14; I Peter 2:24-25)
12. The Church
We believe that all who are united by the new birth to Jesus Christ are
members of the universal Church, the body of Christ. We also believe that
the local congregation of Christian believers is divinely instituted and
is the chosen instrument of God for the furtherance of God’s work upon
the earth. While appreciating the work of para-church groups, we believe
that the local church is God’s chosen vehicle for world evangelism, the
nurturing of Christians and the equipping of the saints to work the ministry
thereby building the body of Christ. We further believe in the spiritual
unity of all believers and in working together with others who believe
in salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the causes of
evangelism, missions, and benevolence. (Matthew 16:16-18; John 17:21;
Romans 12:5; Ephesians 1:20-23; 4:3-10; Colossians 3:14-15)
13.
The Ordinances
We believe that water baptism is for believers only and should be administered
by the mode of immersion and in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ
to the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We further believe
that water baptism is the means whereby we receive the New Covenant sign
of circumcision of the heart. We also believe that we identify with Jesus
Christ in His death, burial and resurrection through water baptism. (Matthew
28:10-20; Acts 8:16; Romans 6:4)
We believe and practice the ordinance of communion as described by Paul
the Apostle in his letter to the church at Corinth. We further believe
that the sacraments of communion are holy when accepted by God and represent
the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that
the receiving of the communion sacraments is a serious matter, not to
be taken lightly, nor in sin or insincerity, and is for believers only
who have examined themselves before God. (I Corinthians 11:20-34)
14. Worship
We believe that the whole purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy
Him forever. Therefore, we believe in the act of worshipping God with
one’s total being as set forth in the Holy Scriptures. (Psalm 150; Mark
12:29-31; Ephesians 5:18-21)
15. Ministers to the Church
We believe in the divinely called, commissioned, and equipped five-fold
ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as given
to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ after His ascension. We further
believe that all Christians are called to be ambassadors for Christ and
that all believers have been given the ministry of reconciliation. (Ephesians
4:11-13; II Corinthians 5:20)
16. Laying on of Hands
We believe in the doctrine of laying on of hands for:
The confirming of
believers to commitment and ministry in the local church.
(I Timothy 4:14; Acts 6:5-6)
The confirming of
one’s call of God to special ministry in the local church.
(Acts 13:13; Ephesians 4:1,7)
The imparting of
spiritual gifts.
(I Timothy 4:14; II Timothy 1:6)
The experiencing
of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 8:17-18)
The ministering of
healing to the sick through the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Mark 16:16)
The blessing and
dedicating of children to the Lord.
(Mark 10:16)
We further believe that in obedience to the Holy Scripture, we should
lay hands on no man suddenly, but that the laying on of hands confirms
a ministry which is already observable and proven. (I Timothy 5:22)
17. Evangelism and Missions
We believe that it is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus Christ to
those whom He has redeemed, that they are sent forth by Him into the world
to be witnesses of His saving grace and that their primary purpose in
life should be to glorify God by obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ’s
command to preach the Gospel to every creature and to make disciples of
all nations. (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; John 17:18; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians
5:18-20)
18. The Eternal State
We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted
in the Lord Jesus Christ pass immediately into His presence and there
remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body,
when Jesus Christ comes for His own, whereupon the soul and body reunited
shall be with Him forever in glory, but the spirits and souls of the unbelieving
remain after death conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final
judgment of the Great White Throne, 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 of the Lord, and from the
glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26, 23:42; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians
1:23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)
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