We Believe
1. WE BELIEVE...THE BIBLE IS INSPIRED BY GOD and declares His design and plan for mankind. It is final in authority and is completely sufficient in itself for all matters dealing with doctrine and practice (2 Tim 3:16, 17). His Word stands forever (Matt 24:35). All doctrine must be congruent with the Bible to be valid.
2. WE BELIEVE...THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD. He is, however, revealed in three persons...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (commonly known as the Trinity).
3. WE BELIEVE...IN THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST. As God's son Jesus was both human and divine.
4. WE BELIEVE...MAN WILLINGLY SINNED-ushering evil and death, both physical and spiritual, into the world. All sin consists in sinning. There can be no moral character but in moral acts. Human nature is sinful if men make it so by committing sin. Men are sinners because they voluntarily choose to sin. The Scriptures teach that men sin and corrupt themselves. (Gen 6:12; 8:21, Deut 32:5, Ps 14:1-3, Rom 2:3, Eccl 7:29).
Note that early in human history, men had become so corrupt that God sent a flood to destroy them.
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them (Gen 6:7).
Observe that God was angry with "man whom I have created." God was angry and His creation was lost because our ancestors (as all sinners do) had corrupted themselves. Note in the following that according to the Scriptures man had "corrupted his way."
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth (Gen 6:11, 12).
5. WE BELIEVE...ALL MAY BE SAVED AND ENJOY RESTORED FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER THROUGH THE SALVATION OFFERED IN HIS SON. Christ died for all people in the same sense. That is, His atonement on the cross provided for and made possible the salvation of all (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9). Each, however, must meet the conditions of repentance, faith and continuance in the life of faith.
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister (Col 1:21-23).
The salvation offered in Christ is twofold. The salvation He offers offers is freedom from sin. It is not freedom in sin. He offers freedom from the penalty of past sin only:
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Rom 3:25).
He also offers freedom from the commission of future sin:
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:34-36).
Salvation is by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8, 9). In other words, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 4:12; 10:43; etc.). Repentance, however, is necessary for forgiveness and salvation (Lk. 13:3; Acts 3:19; 20:21). Repentance is not merely a change of mind, for Jesus equated it to turning from one's evil ways (Matt. 12:41 cf. Jonah 3:10).
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24).
True grace teaches us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives (Titus 2:12). In contrast, there exists a false and dangerous "grace" message which gives a license for immorality (Jude 4) and breeds arrogance through a false security (Rom. 11:19-23).
6. WE BELIEVE...SANCTIFICATION IS IMMEDIATE AND PROGRESSIVE. A believer is sanctified initially when justified, but continues growing in grace and knowledge, thus, become more Christ-like, over the course of his entire lifetime.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10).
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).
This does not, however, necessitate the existence of known sin in the life of any believer, for the Bible teaches that we are to "go, and sin no more" (John 8:11).
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother (1 John 3:9-10).
Mistakes are not sin, biblically speaking. Sin is deliberate and may always be avoided. One never "falls" into sin as in an accident. For sin to exist there must be knowledge:
If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:41).
Sin is violation of a known law whether by omission or commission:
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17).
Sin is always preceded by temptation:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14-15).
7. WE BELIEVE...THE CHURCH HAS A MISSION TO PREACH, DEFEND AND CONTEND FOR THE GOSPEL. "The Church" is the body of Christ and consists of the people who, throughout time, have accepted God's offer of redemption through the sacrificial death of His son Jesus Christ.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4).
.I am set for the defense of the gospel (Phil 1:17).
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel (Phil 1:27).
13. WE BELIEVE...THERE WILL BE A BODILY RESURRECTION for all mankind-one for the saved and one for the wicked.
Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (Jn. 5:29).
Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath (Rom 2:6-8).
Only those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt. 10:22), reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12) and enter the kingdom of God (Rev. 21:1-7). The wicked (comprising the vast majority of mankind-Matt. 7:13, 14) will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).