Our Doctrinal Beliefs

The Scriptures

The Old and New Testaments of the Bible are God's direct revelation to man of Himself, of His will, and of His truth. The entire revelation was given supernaturally by God and is free from error and fault. It is the final authority for doctrine and life.

The Triune God

The Scriptures clearly reveal that that there are three eternally existing persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. God is the direct creator and sustainer of the universe. We believe that the Scripture teaches that the earth was created in six literal twenty-four-hour days and that God rested on the seventh day. All three persons of the Godhead were active in the creation of the world and in the redemption of sinful man.

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He willingly took on literal humanity according to His Father's will. He came to seek and to save the lost by fulfilling the law on our behalf as the second Adam and by taking upon Himself the penalty of eternal death due to us for breaking God's law.

He was born of a virgin and lived a perfect life. As the greatest prophet, He preached the Gospel and performed miracles. As our great high priest, He offered up Himself as a sacrifice and literally died to satisfy Divine justice and to bring us to God. Three days later, He physically rose from the dead and later ascended into Heaven. Someday He will return and reign as King over the earth. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King, and is therefore the final authority of every believer.

Sin and Judgment

Because of Adam's original sin, mankind is inherently depraved and sinful. We are born selfish, rebellious toward God, full of pride and desire for unnatural and harmful pleasure. Since man is born with a sinful nature, he actively chooses to sin and is totally unable in himself to choose Christ.

Someday God will judge all men according to His Word, and those who remain outside of Christ, dead in trespasses and sins, will be punished in Hell for eternity.

The earth and its inhabitants are currently under the curse of sin and therefore experience death, sickness, tragedy, and injustice.

Salvation

Jesus Christ died on the cross as the substitute for sinners. He is the only way for sinners to be saved from their sin and eternal condemnation.

All mankind is born in sin and is deserving of judgment. We do not have the ability in ourselves to stop sinning or to atone for the sins we have committed.

As Charles Spurgeon once said, "If the Gospel could be summed up in one word, that word would be substitution." The just did die for the unjust, in order to bring us to God. In his death, Jesus took the punishment for our sins - He was our substitute, being punished by God in our place. It is important to note that in His life, also, He is the substitute for His people, as He lived a perfect life of obedience to all of God's commands with all His heart, with all His soul, with all His mind, and with all His strength. His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. It has been wonderfully said, "We are saved by a life we did not live and a death we did not die." We are justified (not only pardoned by his death and shed blood, but also declared righteous by his perfect life) in the sight of God because Christ fulfilled both the the precepts and the penalty of the law for His people.

God invites us to receive His free gift of salvation through faith in the death, resurrection, and Lordship of Jesus Christ. When a person is born again of God's Spirit and made alive in Christ, he is able to repent and believe the Gospel. He then receives full and unconditional forgiveness for his sin, is clothed with the spotless robe of Christ's perfect righteousness, and therefore "in Christ" is fully acceptable in God's holy sight. He is adopted into the family of God and empowered by His Spirit to overcome the bondage and power of sin in his life. When a believer dies, his soul immediately goes to Heaven to be with God.

When Christ comes again, He will reunite soul and body. God's children will then live forever with Him, free from the presence of sin. This second coming of Christ will ultimately bring full restoration to the earth, renewing it from all the effects of sin.

The Church

Those who receive Christ become part of the body of believers called the Church. The Church operates today through local churches - assemblies of believers, acting as individual bodies, with God-ordained and God-gifted leaders.

The Spirit of God lives in the heart of every member of the church and equips him with specific gifts to serve in His Church. The Church exists to continue Jesus' work on earth, to edify believers, and to proclaim the Gospel.