What We Believe
Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church; nor are we opposed to denominations, but we shun emphasis on non-essential doctrinal differences that often lead to division in the Body of Christ. We have an expository teaching model and strive to teach the Bible in its entirety for two reasons:
- We want the Bible to define morality. While good morals are certainly important and desired, we don’t want to use the Bible to justify our (or any other person’s) moral position; instead we look to God’s Word as the source of objective truth.
- We strive to give proper emphasis to the things God emphasizes. By walking through the Bible line by line, we seek to avoid only teaching those things that are our own pet ideas and beliefs.
SECTION 1: THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, to be the completely inspired Word of God. We hold the Bible to be inerrant, infallible, eternal, God-breathed, and the complete and final authority for faith and practice (Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
SECTION 2: GOD
We believe in one Triune God, who is Creator of all (Deuteronomy 6:4; Colossians 1:16), eternally existing in three distinct Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19-20), yet one in being, essence, power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections (John 10:30).
SECTION 3: JESUS CHRIST
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is fully God, the expressed image of the Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became a man in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:18; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3).
We believe that God the Son became a man in the person of Jesus Christ; that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:22-23); that He is truly God and truly man; that He lived a perfect, sinless life; and that all His teachings are true. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all mankind (1 John 2:2) as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:5-6; Hebrews 7:26-27). We hold that His death is sufficient for all who believe (John 1:12; Acts 16:31); that our justification is grounded in His blood (Romans 5:9); and this is attested by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6; 1 Peter 1:3).
SECTION 4: THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of God’s righteousness and of coming judgment (John 16:8-11). He regenerates the sinner upon belief in Christ, baptizing the believer into one body of which Christ is the head. The Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, fills, comforts and empowers the believer for godly living (Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 3:16). We believe that the Holy Spirit is totally sovereign in the distribution of spiritual gifts (John 16:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 8:9-17; Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
SECTION 5: SALVATION
We believe that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9); that Christ shed His blood to accomplish justification through faith, propitiation to God, redemption from sin, and reconciliation of man with God. Christ died for us (Romans 5:8-9) and bore our sins on His own body (1 Peter 2:24).
We believe that all those who have truly placed their faith in Christ are eternally secure in their salvation, secured and sealed in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 1:5).
SECTION 6: WORSHIP SERVICE
We believe worship of God should be spiritual, (John 4:21-24) so we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The worship of God should be inspirational, so we give great place to music in our worship. We believe worship of God should be intelligent, so our services are designed with great emphasis upon the verse by verse teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshipped. Worship of God should be orderly (1 Corinthians 14:40) and should strive to give all focus and attention to Jesus Christ.
SECTION 7: HEAVEN, HELL, AND THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the blessed hope; the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved will be raised to eternal, conscious bliss with God (Matthew 25:34; John 14:2-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7). The lost are raised to eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God (Matthew 8:11-12; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation 21:8).
Still have questions?