What we believe about Jesus, the Bible, and the Church
There is one living and true God, infinite in glory, wisdom, holiness, justice, power and love, one in His essence but eternally substantial in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Bible is God’s Word, accurate, authoritative, and applicable to our lives. It is plenary inspired and free from error, making it the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Jesus Christ is the eternal Son, co-existent and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, fulfilled the requirements of the law, suffered under Pontius Pilate, poured out His blood as a vicarious and propitiatory atonement for sin, and was raised from the dead in the same body. He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, interceding in glory for His redeemed. Devotion to Him is where the human heart is most satisfied.
God sovereignly created the world out of nothing, so that His creation, while wholly dependent upon Him, neither comprises part of God, nor conditions His essential perfection.
Although man was made in the image of God, he rebelled voluntarily, became guilty, corrupt, and vulnerable to divine wrath. The corrupted and without a volition free from the control of the sin nature are known as the unregenerate.
Salvation consists of the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal life, and all the benefits that go along with it. God’s gift is undeserved and can only be accepted through faith. By being submerged in water and being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, believers must publicly declare their identification with Christ.
Gifts of the Spirit in 1 corintians 4-11
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
The Kingdom of God is a present reality and a future hope, forcibly advancing through the agency of the church.
The Church is the body and bride of Christ and is the point of worship. It is people, not a building, and is not just a teaching center or training center. It was intended to be a church without walls, and outreach is the heartbeat of the Church. It is not just a teaching center, but a training center.
At death, the souls of the redeemed are made perfect in holiness and immediately enter into the presence of Christ, enjoying conscious fellowship with Him, there to wait the resurrection of the body.
The Lord Jesus Christ will return bodily, visibly, and personally to conform believers to His own image. He will judge the quick and the dead and will effect a final separation of the redeemed and the lost, assigning unbelievers to eternal punishment and believers to eternal glory.
