::1-11, Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:1-12; Isaiah 59:1-2; Acts 4:24; 17:24; Romans 3:231. About God
God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the Universe. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, mercy, goodness, and truth, knowing all things and everywhere present. There are three 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; although distinguished by their personal properties. God alone is the one true god; the gods of other religions are non-existent and any religious system based upon them is false.
Scripture reference: Psalm 90:2; 100:5; 147:5; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 4:24; Acts 17:24-25; 2 Corinthians 13:14; James 1:17
2. About Jesus Christ
Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. He became a man by taking to Himself a human body. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her, yet without sin. and so was, and continues to be both God and human, in two entire distinct natures, in one person forever. He lived a sinless human life and offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of people by dying on the Cross of Calvary as the only Mediator of the covenant of grace between God and mankind. After His death and Resurrection, He ascended and is waiting for the time when He shall return again.
Scripture reference: Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 1: 22-23; John 3:16-18; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 1:3-4; 1 Timothy 6:14-15; Titus 2:13-14
3. About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, who is present in the world and in the believer and is the source of all good thoughts, pure desires, and holy counsels in believers, living on in every Christian from the moment of salvation assuring all believers of their salvation. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Sanctifier, providing Christians with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, guidance for doing what is Biblically correct and energy to do ministry. This same Holy Spirit gives all believers spiritual gifts when they are saved.
Scripture reference: John 16.7-13; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 1:13; 5:18.
4. About the Bible
The Bible alone and in its entirely, in the original autographs, is God's unique, inerrant and infallible written Word to mankind. It is God breathed (inspired) and thus it is God who is its ultimate author. This inspiration extends to all parts alike and is "verbal," including the actual language form and "confluent," being the product of two free agents, human and divine. It was written by human authors, under the direct supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. As such it is the only authoritative source of faith and practice for all people.
Scripture reference: Psalm 12:6; 19:8,9; 119:89,97-100; 105; Proverbs 30:5; Jeremiah 1:4-9; 26:2; Matthew 1:22-23; 2:4-6; 5:17-19; John 6:63; 10:35; 16:13-14; Acts 4:24-25; 2 Timothy 1:13; 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21
5. About the Resurrection
We believe it to be a fact of history, that on the Sunday morning following the death and burial or our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God did actually raise Him from the dead, physically and bodily. Indeed, if Christ be not raised, then our preaching is in vain and so is our faith. Furthermore, the hope of our own resurrection is based upon this fact. We are promised in Scripture that Christ was thus the first fruits in this regard.
Scripture reference: Matthew 27:62-66; 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20:19-23; Acts 10:39-43; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8,35-57
6. About Sin, the fall of mankind and the resulting curse
Sin means "missing the mark." It is any action, inaction or thought that is not pleasing to God. Sin first came into the world when Adam and Eve, our first parents, willfully disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit. From the time of this original sin, it has been inherent in the human nature. It resulted in God's curse being placed upon our first parents, the serpent, and the ground (all of nature). Sin separated us from God, but the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the Cross opened the Door for us to be reunited with God again. There is coming a time, at the end of all the ages, when sin, death and sorrow will be no more.
Scripture reference: Genesis 3; Psalm 51:5; 143:2; Matthew 27:45-50; Luke 23:32-46; John 19:23-30; Romans 3:10-12,23; 5:12-21; 8:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4; Revelation 21:1 through 22:5
7. About Human Beings and the Creation of all things
God did in the beginning, by the word of His power, make of nothing the world and all things therein for Himself. As the concluding act of this creation, God did especially create man and woman in His own spiritual image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, having the law of God written in their hearts and power to fulfill it, yet subject to fall. Thus, although we are the supreme object of God's creation and every person has tremendous potential for good, we all sin. We therefore need forgiveness for our sins, which is offered to each one of us by Christ's death on the Cross.
Scripture reference: Genesis 1:1-27; 3:14-19; Job 38
8. About Salvation
Salvation is God's free gift to us, through Jesus Christ but we must accept it. It cannot be earned, nor is it deserved. Only by trusting Jesus Christ can we be saved. God has chosen to accomplish this through the Holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation through the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. God has allotted unto mankind the high calling of taking this gospel message to the ends of the earth.
Scripture reference: Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; John 1:12; 14:6; Romans 5:15; 6:23; 10:14-17; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5
9. About Eternity, Heaven and Hell
People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through Jesus Christ. Therefore we believe in a literal Heaven and a literal Hell. Just as Heaven is a place of eternal bliss and communion with God, being led in worship by our Lord Jesus Christ, so is Hell (or the lake of fire in Revelation) a literal place of eternal suffering and separation from God. The literalness of these two places is not only taught in Scripture but specifically by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture reference: Matthew 18: 3-4; 24; John 2:22; 3:16-18; 1 John 5:11-13; Revelation 20: 11-15
10. About the Mission of the Church and Evangelism
The mission of the church, both as individuals and collectively, is to: (1) glorify God, (2) edify itself, (3) purify itself, (4) educate its constituency, (5) evangelize the world, (6) act as a restraining and enlightening force in the world, and (7) promote all that is good. These seven aspects of the church's mission are furthermore an interrelated and cohesive whole.
We take seriously Christ's great commission to evangelize the world; however, we recognize that our part is limited to the prayerful presentation of the gospel message to the unsaved. It is God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who effectually calls individuals, convicts them of sin, drives them out of themselves, drawing them to Christ, convincing them of the truthfulness of God's salvation message, thereby subduing them to God's will and working to conform them to the image of His Son.
We praise and glorify God for entrusting to us, the Church, this role of evangelizing the world, and seek to fulfill this commission as God enables us.
Scripture reference:
(1) Romans 15:6,9; Ephesians 1:5,6,12,14,18; 3:21; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; 1 Peter 4:11
(2) 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 14:26; Ephesians 4:11-16; Colossians 2:7; Jude 20
(3) Matthew 18:17; John 15:2; Acts 5:1-11; Romans 12:1-2; 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:6Ð8,13; 11:28-32; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 5:26-27; Titus 3:10-11; Hebrews 12:10; 1 John 3:2
(4) Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:11-12; Philippians 4:8; 2 Timothy 3:16
(5) Matthew 9:36-38; 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 4:28-38; Acts 1:8; 13:1-4; Romans 10:15; Philippians 4:15-18
(6) Matthew 5:13-16; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Galatians 2:7; Philippians 2:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7; Jude 3-4
(7) Acts 10:38-43; Romans 12:1-2, 9-15, 17-21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 6:10; James 2:14-20; 1 Peter 2:11-15