Statement of Faith
We believe in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture.
We
believe that all "Scripture is given by inspiration of God" and extends
equally and fully to all parts of the writings, as they appear in the
original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals
is without error (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16).
We believe in the Trinity.
We believe that the Godhead
eternally exists in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit—and that these three are one God, having precisely the same
nature, attributes, and perfections, and being worthy of precisely the
same homage, confidence, and obedience (Matt. 28:18–19; 2 Cor. 13:13).
We believe in the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ.
We
believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, and received a human body and
a sinless human nature. He became and remained a perfect man, and was
sinless throughout His life. He retained His absolute deity, being at
the same time very God and very man (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil.
2:5-8).
We believe in the total depravity and the spiritual lostness of the human race.
We
believe that man was originally created in the image and after the
likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of
his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins,
and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We believe that
this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been
transmitted to the entire human race of man, the man Christ Jesus alone
being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the
world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life,
but is essentially and unchangeably sinful apart from divine grace
(Gen. 1:26; Rom. 3:10-19; 8:6-7; Eph. 2:1-3).
We believe in the substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We
believe that according to the Scriptures Jesus Christ died for our sin
and arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He
had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of
that body which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20;
Phil. 3:20-21).
We believe in salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
We
believe that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again and
that no degree of merit can be gained or earned to help the sinner to
take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above,
a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely
essential to salvation. The new birth of the believer comes only
through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:7-18; Rom. 5:6-9).
We believe in the assurance of salvation.
We believe it
is the privilege of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith
in Christ to be assured of their salvation from the very day they take
Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is based wholly upon the
testimony of God in His written Word (Luke 10:20; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6-8).
We believe in the Christian walk.
We believe that we are
called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit so that we
will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Rom. 6:11-13; 8:2, 4, 12-13;
Gal. 5:16-23).
We believe in the premillennial, physical return of Christ.
We
believe that the present age will be climaxed by the return of the Lord
Jesus Christ to the earth as He went, to restore Israel to her own land
and to give her the realization of God's covenant promises and to bring
the whole world to the knowledge of God (Deut. 30:1-10; Ezek. 37:21-28;
Matt. 24:15-25; Rev. 20:1-3).