The purpose of this Church is to stand unequivocally for the fundamentals of the Faith as contained in the Holy Scriptures;
To present the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ at home and abroad to those who have not accepted Him as their personal Savior;
To teach the Holy Scriptures for the edification of those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior;
To do all things in the name of and for the honor and glory of our Savior; the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, even Jesus Christ.
Doctrines
1. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
We believe the Holy Scriptures: in the original languages, to be the inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12-13).
2. THE GODHEAD
We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14).
3. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God but in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, and is totally unable to retrieve the condition he lost (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:12)
4. THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished our redemption through His death (which was for all mankind, 1 John 2:2) on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (John 1:1-2; John 1:14; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24-25; Romans 4:25; I Peter 1 :3-5); that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in Heaven, exalted and seated at the right hand of God where, as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1).
5. THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who ministers to mankind in these ways:
- The unbeliever is convicted of the sin of unbelief, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8-11);
- At the moment of salvation, the believer is permanently regenerated, baptized into the body of Christ, indwelt, and sealed unto the day of redemption (John 3:3-7; 1 Corinthians 12:13; I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13);
- The believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5: 18), but the Spirit is grieved or quenched by sin in the life (Ephesians 4:30; I Thessalonians 5: 19). Control (filling) by the Holy Spirit is restored by confession of sin (I John 1:9; I Corinthians 11:31), the result is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
- Spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit on every believer (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; I Corinthians 12:28-30; Ephesians 4: 11). Some spiritual gifts (such as apostleship, tongues, and prophecy) were temporary in nature, used by God until the completion of the canon of Scripture (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).
6. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose spiritual death on the cross paid for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:17) that from the moment of salvation, the believer shares the election of Christ (I Peter 2:6); that this election is from eternity past (2 Thessalonians 2:13); and is based on God’s foreknowledge of those who would believe on His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-33); Ephesians 1:4-5); that only believers are predestined, and this destiny is to be conformed to the image of Christ; that, although God is sovereign in the affairs of man (Daniel 4:35; 1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Psalms 75:7; Proverbs 21:1), He does not overrule man’s free will in accepting or rejecting His provision of salvation (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16; John 3:18).
7. THE ETERNAL SECURITY OF BELIEVERS
We believe that all believers are kept secure forever, that is, that the believer’s salvation cannot be lost (Romans 8: 1; Romans 8:38-39; John 10:27-30; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8).
8. THE CHURCH
We believe that the Church, which is the body and bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14).
9. THE CREATION
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth instantaneously from nothing. (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 45:18); that Lucifer (now Satan) sinned and was judged, cast out of Heaven and cursed(Isaiah 14:12-15); that this curse extended to the earth and the earth changed its form and became desolate and void; that God packed the earth in ice and stored it in space; that God restored the earth to its natural beauty in preparation for man, a process that took six literal days. (Genesis 1:2 through 2:3; Psalm 104:30)
10. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN
We believe that Satan is a real created being, a fallen angel, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man (Job 1:6-7; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:14-18).
11. THE BLESSED HOPE
We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the rapture and translation of the Church (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; Philippians 3:20).
12. THE TRIBULATION
We believe that the rapture of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week, the latter half of which is the time of Jacob’s trouble, the great tribulation (Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6:1-19; Revelation 6:21).
13. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
We believe that the great tribulation will be climaxed by the (pre-millennial) return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:15-25; Matthew 24:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6).
14. THE ETERNAL STATE
We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation do, at death, immediately pass into His presence (2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23), and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory (1 Thessalonians 4: 17) but the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery (Luke 16: 19-26) until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the Millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 67; Revelation 20: 11-15).
15. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BELIEVERS
We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior and that separation from worldly pleasures and practices is commanded of God (Romans 12:1-2; Romans 14:13; 2 Corinthians 6: 4- 7; 2 Corinthians 1); that it is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1 :8); that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:7).
16. CHURCH ORDINANCES
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinances of Baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12-13; Acts 8:36; Acts 8:38) and the Lord’s Supper to be observed until His return (Luke 22:19-20; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).