Wednesday, October 06, 2010 

Detailed Statement of Faith

Use these links to jump to any section referencing our Detailed Statement of Faith.

 
Bible
God
Jesus
Holy Spirit
Man
Salvation
The Church
End Times

 

The Bible

We believe that God has given man His complete revelation (the Bible), which consists of 66 books, and that it is the God-breathed, verbally and plenarily inspired (2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:1; Acts 3:21), thus completely infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts (Mt. 5:18; Jn. 10:35). The Bible is the believer’s only source of truth concerning faith and practice (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

We believe that the Bible should be interpreted literally by means of grammatical/historical hermeneutics. We believe that the natural result of literal interpretation is a dispensational outlook upon Scriptures. 

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God

We believe that the God of the Bible exists and has revealed Himself to man (Jn. 1:18; 5:39). He exists in three divine persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each being eternal (Gen. 1:26; Ex. 3:14; Isa. 48:16), identical in essence (Mt. 3:16,17; Jn. 10:30), equal in power and glory, and sharing the same attributes. Nowhere does the Scripture attempt to prove God’s existence, rather it is an a priori (Gen. 1:1; Jn. 1:1; Heb. 11:6). God is an infinite and perfect spirit who can only be known by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:3-8). He created all things, which exist (Jn. 1:3) ex-nihilo in six solar days (Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11; Heb. 11:3).

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Jesus.  

We believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity existing eternally (Jn. 1:1-2; 17:2; Titus 2:13), equal in essence with the Father (Jn. 14:9-11; Col. 2:9), and having neither beginning nor ending (Heb. 1:8; 13:8). In the incarnation Jesus Christ became the God-man (Jn. 1:14,18: Phil. 2:5-7; Heb. 1:3), possessing in one person a complete and perfect human and divine nature (1 Tim. 2:5). The incarnation was accomplished through His supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary (Mt. 1:18-25). Following Christ’s earthy ministry He voluntarily died as a substitutionary sacrifice for all men, providing atonement for the sins of the whole world (Isa. 53:5-6; Mt. 20:28; Rom. 5:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26). His body and blood were the propitiation, which satisfied the demands of God’s holiness so that all men may be saved from the penalty of sin (Rom. 3:25-26; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Jn. 2:2). Christ’s death was followed by his physical resurrection, His bodily ascension into Heaven, and His present work of mediation on behalf of believers (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25).

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Holy Spirit 

We believe that the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the Trinity is God (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 3:16). The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world is to convict lost men of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8-11); and to restrain the development of evil (Jn. 16:8; 2 Thes. 2:7). We believe that the Holy Spirit performs a vital ministry to the believer at the time of conversion, which includes regeneration (Titus 3:5), baptism into Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:13, permanent indwelling (1 Cor. 6:19), and sealing (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30). The Holy Spirit also performs post-conversion ministries, which include the control of one’s life (Eph. 5:18), illumination (1 Cor. 2:12-14), guidance (Acts 16:6-10), assurance (Rom. 8:16), and intercession (Rom. 8:26-27).

We believe that spiritual gifts are also a ministry superintended by the Holy Spirit upon individual believers to be employed in conjunction with the local Church (1 Cor. 12:8-11). Some of these gifts were temporary while others are permanent (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 13:8-10). Temporary gifts were available during the process of inscripturation and after the New Testament was complete, these gifts ceased to function within the body (1 Cor. 13:8). 

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Man

We believe that man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27): that through the one man, Adam, all mankind has sinned (Gen. 3:1-7: Rom. 5:12-19) and thereby have incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death from God (Gen. 2:16-17; Rom. 5:12) that resulted in man, by nature, being the object of God’s wrath (Jn. 3:36; Eph. 2:3) Therefore, all mankind is born in sin (Ps. 51:5), separated from God, possessing a sinful nature (Eph. 2:1-3), and incapable of saving themselves (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9).

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Salvation

We believe that God has not abandoned mankind to sin (Rom. 5:8; 2 Pet. 3:9) but in love has provided a way of salvation through Christ’s shed blood on the cross (Jn. 3:16; 14:6; Heb. 9:22,26). As the substitute for mankind salvation is a free gift by the grace of God (Rom. 6:23; 10:13). Salvation may be appropriated only after hearing the gospel and yielding to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 10:9-10,17: Jn. 6:44). We believe that those who personally repent of their sins and receive Christ as Lord and Savior are eternally secure forever (Jn. 5:24; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:35-39). 

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The Church

We believe that the Church is made up of all true believers from Pentecost to the rapture (Mt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:12,13). We believe that the Church is unique to this age and the instrument God has chosen to perform His work during this age (1 Tim. 3:15).

We believe in the two ordinances for the Church today: baptism and the Lord’s supper. Baptism is by immersion only and represents the believer’s spiritual union with Christ’s death (Rom. 6:2-9). The Lord’s Supper is a memorial commemorating the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary (1 Cor. 11:24-26). 

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End Times

We believe that those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming when body and soul reunited shall be associated with Him forever in Glory; but, that the soul of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne, cast into the lake of fire from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Lk. 16:19-26; 2 Cor. 5:8; 2 Thes. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:11-15). 

We believe the next event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord in the air to rapture the Church (1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thes. 4:13-17). We believe Christ’s return is imminent, pretribulational, premillenial, and personal (Titus 2:13; 1 Thes. 5:1-10; Acts 1:11).

We believe that the seven-year tribulation follows the rapture (Dan. 7:24-27; Rev. 4:1). We believe that the tribulation will conclude with the second coming of Christ to earth (Zech. 14:4; Mt. 24:27-31) and He will, at that time, set up His kingdom for a literal 1,000 years (Rev. 20:4-7) during which Satan will be bound and righteousness will prevail world-wide (Isa. 2:1-4; Zech. 14:16-21). 

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