What We Believe

THE BIBLE
We believe the Holy Scriptures, composed of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, are the verbally inspired Word and Revelation of God. The Bible is inerrant, infallible--God-breathed. We believe that God has providentially preserved His Word so that we can unashamedly say, "Thus saith the Lord." Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Luke 24:13-28; John 16:12-16; Psalm 12:6-7; Isaiah 40:8; Psalm 138:2

THE TRINITY
We believe in the Triune God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit--coequal and coeternal. Each has His individual identity and separate responsibilities for the purposes of redemption, yet they are perfectly united as three Persons in One. 1 John 5:1-8; John 16:7-18; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26

THE DEITY AND VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST
We believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten, virgin-born Son of God, truly God and truly man. He is the second Person in the Trinity, God the Son, God manifest in the flesh. 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-14; John 14:9; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 10:36

THE BLOOD ATONEMENT
We believe in the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man, and all must be born again or be forever lost. Hebrews 2:9; John 6:44-69; John 3:1-18; Romans 3:25; Revelation 1:5; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19

The Lord's atonement is not limited with respect to whom God's salvation is offered, i.e., His shed blood is sufficient for all sin and, therefore, whosoever will may believe and be saved to the uttermost. 1 John 2:2; Hebrews 7:22-25; Revelation 22:17

THE RESURRECTION
We believe in the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He ascended bodily into the heavens and is now at the right hand of God as our Mediator, Priest, and Advocate. Acts 3:12-26; John 20; Hebrews 9:24; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; 1 John 2:1

THE RAPTURE AND SECOND COMING
We believe in the Rapture--the personal, premillennial, pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ "in the air." This has been the "Blessed Hope" of every born-again believer in the Church Age. At that time He will receive to Himself the resurrected bodies of those who have "died in Christ" and also all those who are presently alive and "in Christ." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:6-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50-55; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13

After the Tribulation, He will come "with His saints". . . to execute judgment upon the ungodly nations before the inauguration of His earthly millennial reign at His second coming to the earth. Jude 14,15; Matthew 25:31-46

The Lord will cast the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the lake of fire, send Satan into the abyss and establish His earthly kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign one thousand years, thus literally fulfilling the covenant promises made to a believing remnant of Israel through the Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Isaiah 11:1-16; Revelation 19:19- 20; 20:1-6

After the earthly reign of one thousand years, Christ will bring all the unsaved dead to the judgment of the Great White Throne, and all who stand before that Throne will be cast into the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:11-15; Matthew 7:21-23 Satan will also be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10

THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN
We believe in the personality of Satan, "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." He is actively opposing the cause of Christ on every hand and is the archenemy of every true believer. His warfare incorporates the deception of mixing error and truth as well as promoting that which is flagrantly vile and evil. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; 2 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 12:9-10; Mat- thew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17; John 8:24

HEAVEN AND HELL
We believe that Heaven is a real place of eternal blessedness prepared by God for those whose garments have been "made white" through faith in the shed "blood of the Lamb." Hell is a real place of eternal suffering for those whose names are not written in the "book of life." There is no intermediate state like purgatory in which the unsaved person can atone for his own sins. John 14:1-6; Revelation 7:13 -17; 20:11-15; 21:22-27; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 16:19-31

CREATION AND MAN'S FALL
We believe God created all things in six literal, twenty-four hour days. We believe in the universality and exceeding sinfulness of sin. In Adam all have sinned and, therefore, all are guilty before God by nature as well as by deed. Man was created by a direct act of God and subsequently fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. Romans 5:12-21; Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 3:10-26, 6:23; Psalm 51:5; Genesis 1-3

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
We believe that man is justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood and bodily resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9

The all-sufficient and completed work of redemption accomplished through Jesus' death and resurrection is fully appropriated to the sinner at the moment he responds in faith to the free gift of salvation offered in the one true Gospel. The adding of works, baptism, sacraments, or any other condition placed upon man in order to obtain God's gift of salvation results in "another gospel" that is under God's curse. Galatians 1:6-10; Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 5:24; Ephesians 5:8

ETERNAL SECURITY
We believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. Once a lost sinner has become a "new creature in Christ," he can never lose his new position in the family of God which is based upon Christ's imputed righteousness and not his own. The life that God imparts to the believing sinner is "eternal life" and cannot ever be terminated. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; John 10:25-29

Sin in the life of the believer affects his fellowship with the Father, but not his sonship. All who are truly born of the Spirit and who continue in sin will be dealt with by the chastening hand of God. 1 John 1:5-10; Hebrews 12:6-13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

All who are in Christ are sealed unto the day of redemption and will be glorified. We are to "work out" our salvation, not "work for" our salvation. Philippians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 3:8-15; 2 John 8; Revelation 3:11; Romans 8:29-30; 1 Timothy 1:12; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE BODY OF CHRIST
We believe all regenerated people are baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit the moment they receive Christ as their Savior. 1 Corinthians 12:13, 10:32; Ephesians 2:13-18

The Holy Spirit indwells all who have been born again. Also, the baptism of the Spirit happens at the moment of salvation and is not a separate event that happens sometime later. Acts 15:6-11; Galatians 3:2,14; Romans 10:13-17; Romans 8:9

The Church, which is Christ's Body, consists of all Spirit-baptized believers from the time of Pentecost until the Rapture. Romans 8:14-27; James 1:18; John 1:12; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Matthew 16:16-18

SEPARATION
We believe that all Christians are first to be separated wholly unto the Lord, and as a necessary result, they must be:

1. Separated from worldly and sinful practices. They are to be holy, even as He is holy; and this desired behavior will always be diametrically opposed to the course of this present age. 1 Peter 1: 13-16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17

2. Separated from apostasy and unbelief. A believer must not be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers," thereby being identified with unbelief by association, whether in ministry, worship, or by joint religious activities. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; I Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:19-22, 3:1 -5; Amos 3:3

3. Separated from disobedient brethren and doctrinal compromise with respect to all ministry and service. A believer is identified with the doctrinal positions and practices of those he is in fellowship with, both before God and man. Separation from those who are not walking according to truth deters the leavening effect of compromise and gives a faithful warning to the erring brother. Romans 16:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14-15; 2 John 10-11; Galatians 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:33

THE LOCAL CHURCH AND ITS MISSION
We believe God has ordained local churches as independent, indigenous assemblies of believers to accomplish His work. The church's membership is to be composed of regenerated, baptized believers. The two ordinances of the local church are believer's baptism by immersion, and the memorial of the Lord's supper until He returns. The church is to be missionary-minded and evangelistic in spreading the Gospel into all the world. It is not the mission of the church to "bring in the Kingdom," work for political or economic justice, major on social improvement, or "Christianize" society. It is to strive together for the faith of the Gospel, proclaim and maintain purity of doctrine and practice, and worship and serve the Lord in "spirit and truth." Acts 2:41-47, 20:17-32; Matthew 28:16-20; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34

GOOD WORKS
We believe that all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should maintain good works. A "good work" is that which is done in obedience to the will of God, out of love for God and faith in God and His Word. Works will determine the reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ before which every Christian will stand. Every believer must realize that he is responsible before God to "maintain good works," i.e., walk in the light of the Word of God. The Bible is the believer's absolute Standard of faith and practice, his perfect Counsel. The Word provides him with "all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:3-4; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14, 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 1:18-29, 3:8-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11