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Our Beliefs:
I. The Inspiration of Scripture:
We believe the Bible is God’s Word to us written by men as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Simply put: It’s not just a number of documents compiled together. The Bible is God-breathed. Inspired. Perfect in it’s orginal manuscripts. The 66 books of the Old and New Testaments tell the greatest story about the greatest Person who paid the greatest price. The Bible is complete and clear. It’s the final authority for what we are to believe concerning God, our salvation, and how we are to live a life that pleases God.
II. The Trinity:
We believe that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead is the same in substance and equal in power and glory. Each person of the Godhead has different roles in our salvation. The Father authored redemption; the Son accomplished redemption; and the Holy Spirit applies this accomplished redemption to all those who repent and believe in Christ alone. Jesus Christ, having lived perfectly under the law, through His once for all sacrifice upon the cross, did purchase His people by His blood, reconciling us to the Father. The Holy Spirit regenerates us and brings us to Christ in repentance and faith and preserves us to the end.
III. Creation:
We believe the Genesis account of creation to be a trustworthy and historical account of the creation of the world. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and it was all very good. He created everything out of nothing (“ex nihilo”) by the Word of His power. God is not creation, but He rules over His creation, for the entire universe is sustained by Him alone. God created all things, whether visible or invisible, for His own pleasure and glory to reveal His power, wisdom, and goodness.
IV. The Doctrine of Man:
We believe that mankind was brought into existence by a sudden, supernatural, and sovereign act of God. We did not evolve gradually in a self-contained process, but God created mankind, both male and female, in His own image and likeness. In this image they were endowed with true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. In this state we enjoyed perfect communion with God and were commanded to rule over all creation. God entered into a covenant with mankind (The Covenant of Works). The conditions of this covenant required perfect obedience to the commands of God, forbidding them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, lest they receive the penalty of death. Left to their own free will, our first parents (Adam and Eve) chose to sin against God by denying His goodness and eating of the forbidden fruit.
In so doing our first parents died spiritually and fell from their original righteousness and the image of God in mankind was defaced. Adam’s sin also resulted in guilt and corruption which was imputed to us and passed on to all people born of ordinary generation. The effect was total depravity which indicates that all mankind is born with original sin and that all areas of man’s life have been affected by sin (evidenced in their evil thoughts, words, and deeds) and the penalty of this sin is death. It is only in the redemption accomplished by Christ that the image of God is restored, though partially in this life, mixed with sin, and then ultimately complete in the life to come.
V. The Person and Work of Christ, His Death and Resurrection:
The Person and Work of Christ: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is eternally God, the Second Person of the Trinity. Who, being the only begotten of the Father, and when the fullness of time had come, became man by taking upon Himself a human nature with a human body and a reasonable soul being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. As our Representative in the Covenant of Grace, Christ has two distinct natures – fully God and fully man, the only Mediator between God and man. Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life fulfilling the law of God in every point. Christ executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King: Prophet as He reveals, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God to the people of God; Priest as He has once offered up Himself as a sacrifice for sin and now intercedes for us in heaven; and King as He subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all of His and our enemies. He reigns in the hearts of His people as the Head of the Church, which is His body.
The Death and Resurrection of Christ: We believe that in His love for us and obedience to the Father, Jesus Christ gave Himself of his own free will to die a sacrificial cursed death upon the cross as an atonement for the sins of His people. On the cross, God the Father put our sin upon Jesus and He was punished in our place. Jesus felt the full wrath and judgment of God upon sin in our place. He died, was buried, and continued under the power of death for three days. After paying the penalty for every sin, death could no longer hold Him. On the third day He physically rose again from the dead. He physically appeared to his disciples and other eyewitnesses. Jesus then physically ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father in power and glory.
VI. The Final State of Man:
We believe that the physical human body returns to dust and awaits the resurrection at the last day. However, the souls of the elect do immediately pass into glory, are made perfect in holiness, and behold the face of God. Their sins being covered by the blood of Christ, and their bodies being united to Christ, the elect are welcomed into the presence of God and there await the resurrection of their glorified bodies at Christ’s second coming. The reprobate, on the other hand, not being united to Christ, their souls are to participate in the miseries of sin and death and the pains of hell forever. Their bodies do await the resurrection at the second coming for judgment and being found apart from Christ will be cast into the outer darkness together with the devil and his angels to suffer eternal torment forever.
VII. The Second Coming of Christ:
We believe that human history had a beginning by the will and Word of God and it will, at the Father’s appointed time, culminate in Christ’s physical and bodily return to earth in power and glory to judge the living and the dead (both believers and unbelievers). The Scriptures assure us that our Savior will return and warns that this return may occur at any moment. Christ’s appearing will be sudden, everywhere visible, personal, and triumphant. At the time of His coming the dead in Christ will be raised in glory and will enjoy God for all eternity. The unbelievers will be raised for eternal damnation and will suffer the torments of hell. At the final judgment Satan and all his fallen angels will be judged and sentenced to eternal darkness.
VIII. The Doctrine of the Church:
We believe the church is the people of God, drawing her identity from being God’s possession and finding His presence in her midst and her redemption in Christ alone. God has only one people and that church consists of both Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free – all who by a faith like Abraham are called by God’s grace out of the darkness and into God’s marvelous Kingdom of light. The invisible church are the elect in Christ who, since the beginning of history, have been, are, or will be gathered into one body, of which Christ is the Spouse and Head. The visible church consists of all those throughout the world that profess Christ and trust in Him alone for their salvation, along with their children. Christ has given the church two perpetual offices: the elder and the deacon. The Holy Spirit gives particular gifts to each member for the edification and common good of the body. The church has a singular mission, both in this life and in the one to come, and that is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
VIV. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit :
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth that bears witness to Jesus Christ, convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates us, baptizes us, indwells us, seals us, sanctifies us, and fills us to give us the power to witness and persevere to the end. The Holy Spirit also empowers the people of God with gifts to be used to serve God and build up Christ’s church for the glory of God. During the time of the apostolic period, the Holy Spirit equipped some with extraordinary, authoritative, miraculous gifts to quickly propagate and confirm the truth of the Gospel. We believe the Holy Spirit still works wonders today seen in healings and various miracles. However, with the close of the canon, these authoritative gifts along with authoritative revelation have ceased.
VII. The Doctrine of the Person and Work of Satan:
We believe that Satan is a fallen angel who is a real being that rebelled against God. He is known as the Tempter and the Accuser of the brethren. He has been a liar from the beginning and deceives mankind in order to draw people away from worshipping the one and true God. He is not infinite in power as God, in that he has been created by God, but he is more powerful than men. Christians are to resist the Devil and stand strong against the various schemes and attacks in the spiritual realm by using spiritual weapons as they are equipped by the Holy Spirit in their new life found in Christ. Although Satan was defeated at the cross, his influences are still destructive and extensive and will continue until Christ’s return.
XI. The Doctrines of Grace:
We believe the Scriptures clearly teach the doctrines of grace. |
