Biblical truth matters

We believe in the verbal and plenary (complete) inspiration of the Bible, that the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God (the Bible is without error of any kind in the original autographs), and the exclusive and sufficient guide for salvation, doctrine (what the Bible teaches on any subject), and the spiritual life of the believer. Men under the direct supervision and supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit wrote the Holy Bible. By this we mean that God superintended human authors so that, using their own personalities, they composed and recorded His revelation without any mixture of error. The canon of Scripture is complete and closed. It consists of the historically accepted thirty-nine Old Testament books and twenty-seven New Testament books and no other book or books either ancient or modern can now or ever be inspired Scripture. We believe that the Bible alone is the source of absolute truth and the Bible defines reality. There is a progression of the revealed truth of God, such as the contrast between the earlier Mosaic Law and the present age of grace so that later revelation in Scripture expands and replaces earlier as the standard of faith and practice without contradicting it.

References: Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

We believe that God is the eternal, uncreated Creator of all things. There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, self-existent, self-sufficient, unchangeable, and personal Being, not an impersonal force. God is absolute in nature, perfect in attributes, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite in holiness, the maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. We believe God exists in one being yet three persons and these three are one and co-equal with distinct personal attributes, yet without division of nature, essence, or being. This is the Triunity of God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, their co-equality and eternality.

References: Genesis 1:1, 21; Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; Job 38:4-11; Psalm 90:2; Isaiah 44:6-8, 45:5, 14, 18, 21-22; Joel 2:27; Matthew 3:16-17, 17:5, 28:19; Luke 1:25-30; John 1:1-3; Acts 17:25; Revelation 4:8-11.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), the second Person of the Trinity, is God the Son from all eternity and He is without beginning or end. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He became fully man without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus lived a sinless life. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience and sinlessness. In His substitutionary death on the cross, bearing our judgment, He made provision for the redemption of man from sin. He made the unique, once and for all substitutionary sacrifice for the personal sins of all mankind. Three days after His death and burial, He rose from the dead with a glorified body, demonstrating His power over sin and death and signifying the acceptable completion of His salvific work by God the Father. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father. There He is the one Mediator between God and man as the believer’s High Priest, fully God and fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and Man. He will return some day for His Church to gather them as promised (the rapture of the Church), and later He will reign on the earth as King of King and Lord of Lords. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.

References: Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 2:26-38, 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 3:16, 36, 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2, 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine, the third Person of the Trinity, not merely a principle, force, or power, as He possesses all the qualities of personhood. He inspired men of old to write the Scriptures. He exalts and glorifies Christ and not Himself and so should the Church. When Jesus Christ is emphasized, magnified, and glorified then the Spirit of God is at work. He calls individuals to the Savior and effects regeneration. It is by the means of the Holy Spirit that Jesus baptizes into the body of Christ (positional truth), indwells, and seals all believers when He is given to them at the moment of salvation. We believe in the universal full indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every believer at the moment of salvation. This is the only Spirit baptism. The Holy Spirit seals the believer until the day of redemption. He guides and teaches the willing believer to godly living and He comes alongside the in-fellowship believer to influence the believer to live pleasing to God. His goal is to bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ; He gives gifts to every believer to serve in the building up of the body of Christ. These gifts are to be used in accordance to biblical guidelines and priorities. The miraculous sign gifts were for the time period of the founding of the church before the completion of the written Scriptures and are no longer functioning in the church today. This includes the sign gift of spontaneously spoken unlearned human languages or tongues. The other sign gifts no longer in effect today are: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, prophecy, discerning of spirits, interpretation of tongues, Apostles, individuals with the gifts of healing (although the Lord still can and does heal today according to His will), and workers of miracles. The filling of the Holy Spirit occurs as the individual believer confesses sin in accordance with 1 John 1:9. The believer matures in the faith with the learning and application of Bible Doctrine under the filling of the Holy Spirit.

References: Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,6-11, 38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 6:19, 12:3-11,13, 13:8-10, 14:9, 20-23; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:7-12, 30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John1:9, 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

We believe man is the supernatural special creation of God wherein He formed man Himself out of the dust of the ground, in a single action, not using any process of evolution or any other method. He made in His own image. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image and in that Christ died for man. Therefore, every person of every skin color and ethnic background possesses full dignity from conception and is worthy of respect and Christian love. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation (there are only two genders). The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. Sexual relations between individuals of the same gender is a rebellion against God’s gift. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin and death into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. We believe person is born in sin, spiritually dead, and needs personal spiritual life from a Savior who is, and only is, Jesus Christ (Messiah).

References: Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 13:41-42, 16:26; 25:41, 46; Luke 16:19-26; John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 17:26-31, 26:18; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29 ;Ephesians 2:-221; Colossians 1:21-22, 3:9-11; 1 John 5:11-12; Revelation 20:11-15

We believe that the free gift of eternal life is freely offered to all and is not limited only to a select few. Salvation is made possible only by the action of Jesus Christ, who by His own blood (His substitutionary death on the cross), made atonement for sin and obtained eternal redemption for all who will believe. The free gift of salvation is the work of God based wholly on His grace and is the freely offered, unconditional, unearned, gift of God. Any individual can exercise their God-given free will to believe in Jesus for unconditional eternal life. Jesus Christ and He alone is the only One who can grant eternal life to all who believe Him for it. He alone is the One qualified to do this because He died for their sin and rose again. By placing their belief in Christ alone for unconditional eternal life, they are immediately given that life. To believe simply means “to be convinced it is true.” To believe and receive eternal life is to be convinced it is true that Jesus Christ freely gives eternal life to all who believe in Him alone as their only means of being made right with God. Justification happens at the moment of faith alone in Christ alone and cannot be either increased or decreased. Justification means: “to be declared right with God” and it is forensic (legal). All who so believe are “born again,” and become a new creation in Christ Jesus, possessors of a new human spirit. Man is not saved through human good works or merit, self-improvement, rituals, or ceremonies of any kind; the church is not the means whereby one receives eternal life. There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ as He and He alone is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” If people do not have eternal life it is because they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. The reason why anyone goes to the Lake of Fire is because they do not have eternal life. This excludes all boasting and promotes humility. We believe that a person receives eternal salvation through faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone as a gift and that this gift is absolutely, unconditional, and free.

References: John 1:12, 5:24, 6:47, 11:25-27, 20:30-31; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 3:21-26, 4:4-5, Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Timothy 2:11-13; Titus 3:5; Revelation 22:17

We believe that eternal life is exactly that: eternal; it is the only kind of life that Jesus offers thus eternal security is of the essence of salvation. Jesus is the one who promises to give eternal life to the believer and He will forever keep His promise. Because salvation is God’s gift to all that believe, the believer is eternally secure in His phase one gift of salvation. Salvation is about Who and what Jesus is and what He did, not who and what we are and what we do. All believers will go to heaven because salvation is unto everlasting life and is a present possession as well as a future reality. A believer can do nothing to diminish or lose his or her everlasting life. Since individuals can do nothing in performance to be saved, security in phase one salvation is based solely upon the performance of Jesus Christ. However, believers may sin through failure to advance in the spiritual life, neglect their call to spiritual growth, and follow temptations to their sin nature and sin. Through sin they grieve the Holy Spirit and, though the relationship is enduring, the joyful fellowship can be interrupted. Such believers impair their grace and comforts and may bring reproach on the cause of Christ and bring loving discipline upon themselves from God; yet, they shall be kept in God’s family by the power of God.

References: John 1:11-14, 3:3-18, 36, 5:24, 6:47, 10:9, 27-30, 11:25-26, 20:30-31; Acts 4:12, 16:30-31; Romans 8:38-39; 1 John 5:9-13

We believe that spiritual rebound (the technique of 1 John 1:9 - the believer's confession of sin to God the Father) is absolutely all that is necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Spiritual maturity comes as the believer progressively advances in the faith through the learning and application through obedience of Bible Doctrine. This is called sanctification. The believer is transformed into what God desires them to be by the renewing of the mind which is simply Bible Doctrine learned and believed; transformation is Bible Doctrine obediently lived out in daily life.

References: Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16-17; Ephesians 4:22-24, 5:18; 2 Peter 5:17-18; 1 John 1:9

We believe the New Testament Church is the living body of Christ on earth, the visible representation of Christ to the world, and includes all of the redeemed that have believed in Jesus Christ and received eternal life. A local church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. We believe a New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers. The church began on the Day of Pentecost. The church is organized under the authority of Jesus Christ who alone is the head and Chief Shepherd of the church. The Pastor-teacher is the under-shepherd and as such holds the primary responsibility for oversight of the church and the spiritual development of the believers through the careful teaching of the Word of God. Any Christian who is not a functioning, learning, serving member of a local church is outside the will of God. It is God’s intention that all believers publicly identify with a local assembly and be faithful to that assembly through attendance, financial support, and helping the congregation to achieve the purposes of the church. Such a congregation seeks to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. They cultivate personal spiritual growth in themselves by the learning of Bible Doctrine followed by loving obedience to the Word of God. Each believer is to lovingly encourage others to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the learning and application of Bible Doctrine. They joyfully worship and celebrate God together making Jesus Christ the center of such celebratory worship. They minister to the needs of others, but especially to those who are of the household of faith. The only two offices of the church are those of pastor-teachers and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the offices of pastor-teacher and deacon are limited to men only, as qualified by Scripture.

References: Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 10-17; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 4:11-16; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.

We believe Jesus Christ will return personally to take up all true believers, the church; this event could occur at any moment. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and those that are alive shall be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air. At that moment all believers in the Church Age shall all receive a glorified body that is like that of Christ’s. The believers are then taken to heaven. This event is called the “rapture” and it is the “blessed hope” of the church. We believe in the pre-tribulation, premillennial rapture of the church and the physical resurrection of all church age believers at this time.

References: 1 Corinthians 15:50-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10