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What
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I.
Of the Scriptures
- We
believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible, consisting
of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as originally
written; that it was verbally and plenarily inspired and is the
product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is infallible
and inerrant in all matters of which it speaks.
- We
believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian unity and
the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creed and opinions
shall be tried. 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
II. The True God
- We
believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite
Spirit, the Maker and supreme Ruler of Heaven and earth; inexpressibly
glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence
and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine
perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the
great work of redemption. Exodus 20:2, 3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation
4:11.
III. The Holy Spirit
- We
believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God
the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was
active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving
world He restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled;
that He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; that
He bears witness to the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony;
that He is the Agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues,
guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer.
We believe that the sign/revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit have
fulfilled their purpose and are not applicable to the work of
the Holy Spirit today. John 14:16, 17; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews
9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts
5:30-32; John 3:5, 6; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33;
Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49; Romans 8:14, 16, 26, 27; 1 Corinthians
12:8-10, 28-30; 13:8-10; 14:1-40; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews
2:2-4.
IV. The Devil, or Satan
- We
believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; and
that he was created by God as an angel but through pride and rebellion
became the enemy of his Creator; that he became the unholy god
of this age and the ruler of all the powers of darkness and is
destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of
fire. Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10.
V. Creation
- We
believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe,
angels, and man; that this account is neither allegory nor myth,
but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative
acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man was created
by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms
of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam
and Eve, first parents of the entire human race. Genesis 1; 2;
Colossians 1:16, 17; John 1:3.
VI. The Fall of Man
- We
believe that man was created in innocence (in the image and likeness
of God) under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression
Adam fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned
in him, in consequence of which all men are totally depraved,
are partakers of Adam's fallen nature, and are sinners by nature
and by conduct, and therefore are under just condemnation without
defense or excuse. Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; 5:12, 19; 1:18,
32.
VII. The Virgin Birth
- We
believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous
manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born
or can be born of-woman, and that He is both the Son of God and
God, the Son. Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke
1:35; John 1:14.
VIII.
Salvation
- We
believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and
wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father, voluntarily
took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and honored the
divine law by His personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself
to be our Savior; that by the shedding of His blood in His death
He fully satisfied the just demands of a holy and righteous God
regarding sin; that His sacrifice consisted not in setting us
an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution
of Himself in the sinner's place, the Just dying for the unjust,
Christ the Lord bearing our sins in His own body on the tree;
that having risen from the dead He is now enthroned in Heaven,
and uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with
divine perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable,
a compassionate and an all-sufficient Savior.
- We
believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition
of salvation. Repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward
God prompted by the Holy Spirit and is an integral part of saving
faith. Jonah 2:9; Ephesians 2:8; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24, 25;
John 3:16; Matthew 18:11; Philippians 2:7, 8; Hebrews 2:14-17;
Isaiah 53:4-7; 1 John 4:10; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians.
5:21; 1 Peter 2:24.
IX. Resurrection and Priesthood
of Christ
- We
believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ and in His ascension
into Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father
as our High Priest interceding for us. Matthew 28:6, 7; Luke 24:39;
John 20:27; 1 Corinthians 15:4; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6, 51; Acts
1:9-11; Revelation 3:21; Hebrews 8:6; 12:2; 7:25; 1 Timothy 2:5;
1 John 2:1; Hebrews 2:17; 5:9, 10.
X. Grace and the New Birth
- We
believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again;
that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it
is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the
one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine
nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the
new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner
above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit
in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary
obedience to the gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the
holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life. John 3:3;
2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 5:1; Acts 16:20-33; 2 Peter 1:4; Romans
6:23; Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13; John 3:8.
XI. Justification
- We
believe that justification is that judicial act of God whereby
He declares the believer righteous upon the basis of the imputed
righteousness of Christ; that it is bestowed, not in consideration
of any work of righteousness which we have done, but solely through
faith in the Redeemer's shed blood. Romans 3:24; 4:5; 5:1, 9;
Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9.
XII. Sanctification
- We
believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the
believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner; first, an
eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing
the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts
the Savior; second, a continuing process in the saint as the Holy
Spirit applies the Word of God to the life; third, the final accomplishment
of this process at the Lord's return. Hebrews 10:10-14; 3:1; John
17:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 5:25-27;
1 Thessalonians 4:3, 4; 5:23, 24; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24, 25; Revelation
22:11.
XIII. The Security of the
Saints
- We
believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the
Father for Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6; John 10:28, 29; Romans
8:35-39; Jude 1.
XIV. The Church
- We
believe that a local church is an organized congregation of immersed
believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the
gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws;
and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them
by His Word; that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose
qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures.
We believe the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing
of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the
local church has the absolute right of self-government free from
the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations;
and that the one and only Superintendent is Christ through the
Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate
with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance
of the gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the
measure and method of its cooperation; that on all matters of
membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence,
the will of the local church is final. 1 Corinthians 11:2; Acts
20:17-28; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Acts 2:41, 42.
- We
believe in the unity of all New Testament believers in the Church
which is the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13; Ephesians
1:22, 23; 3:1-6; 4:11; 5:23; Colossians 1:18; Acts 15:13-18.
XV. Baptism and the Lord's
Supper
- We
believe that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer
in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our identification
with the crucified, buried and risen Savior, through Whom we died
to sin and rose to a new life; that baptism is to be performed
under the authority of the local church; and that it is prerequisite
to the privileges of church membership.
- We
believe that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration of His death
until He come, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination.
We believe that the Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism
first and then the Lord's Supper, and that participants in the
Lord's Supper should be immersed believers. Acts 8:36, 38, 39;
John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians
11:23-28; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41, 42.
XVI. Separation
- We
believe in obedience to the Biblical commands to separate ourselves
unto God from worldliness and ecclesiastical apostasy. 2 Corinthians
6:14--7:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; Romans 16:17;
2 John 9-11.
XVII. Civil Government
- We
believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the
interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are
to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed; except
in those things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ Who
is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming King of kings.
Romans 13:1-7; 2 Sam. 23:3; Exodus 18:21, 22; Acts 23:5; Matthew
22:21; Acts 5:29; 4:19, 20; Daniel 3:17, 18.
XVIII. Israel
- We
believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God's eternal
covenant people, that she is now dispersed because of her disobedience
and rejection of Christ, and that she will be regathered in the
Holy Land and, after the completion of the Church, will be saved
as a nation at the second advent of Christ. Genesis 13:14-17;
Romans 11:1-32; Ezekiel 37.
XIX. Rapture and Subsequent
Events
- We
believe in the premillennial return of Christ, an event which
can occur at any moment, and that at that moment the dead in Christ
shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ
shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all
shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven
years of the Tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians
15:42-44, 51-54; Philippians 3:20, 21; Revelation 3:10.
- We
believe that the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the
Church, will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power
and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish
the millennial kingdom. Daniel 9:25-27; Matthew 24:29-31; Luke
1:30-33; Isaiah 9:6, 7; 11:1-9; Acts 2:29, 30; Revelation 20:1-4,
6.
XX. The Righteous and the
Wicked
- We
believe that there is a radical and essential difference between
the righteous and the wicked; that only those who are justified
by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit
of our God are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as
continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and
under the curse; and this distinction holds among men both in
and after death, in the everlasting felicity of the saved and
the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the lake of
fire. Malachi 3:18; Genesis 18:23; Romans 6:17, 18; 1 John 5:19;
Romans 7:6; 6:23; Proverbs 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matthew 25:34-41;
John 8:21; Revelation 20:14, 15.
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