Statement of Beliefs

A statement of faith is a declaration of what a church believes the Bible teaches. With these declarations, it must always be understood that they are not substitutes for the Word of God. The Bible is perfect complete and without error -  a declaration of faith is not. It is only an exponent of what is conceived to be the fundamental doctrines of the word of God.

 

What a person believes the Bible to teach is their statement of beliefs, either written or unwritten. What follows is our statement of beliefs…

 

THE BIBLE - the Old and the New Testaments are the inspired word of God, the final authority for faith, and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed.(II Tim. 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20-21 ; Matt. 5:18; John 16:12,13).

GOD- there is only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the entire universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. God is a compound unity. God is not fully within our mental capacity to fully understand - it is man’s hope to apprehend, yet never fully comprehend, God.

THE FATHER- God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men. (Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11; 20:1; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.)

JESUS CHRIST - Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of mankind from sin, reestablishing our relationship with God. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

(Genesis 18:1; Psalms 2:7; 110:1ff; Isaiah 7:14; 53; 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; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 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 Corinthians5:19-21; 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 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 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.)

THE HOLY SPIRIT- the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write God’s Word. Through illumination He enables man to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects a reestablishing of a relationship with God. He brings every follower of Christ into the Body of Christ, at the moment of that reestablishment of relationship. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the follower of Christ unto the day of final redemption (freedom from sin’s penalty). His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the follower into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

(Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11;139:7; 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; 2:1-4,38; 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; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 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 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17)

THE HUMAN RACE - Mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, but through Adam and Eve’s sin the race fell from the condition in which they were created by sinning against God, inherited a sinful nature, and therefore became alienated from Holy God; and man in and of himself is utterly unable to remedy this lost condition

(Gen. 1:26,27; Rom. 3:22, 23, 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3, 12).

SIN-Is wrong-doing, disobedience; rebellion against God; choosing to do things our own selfish way instead of God’s way

(II Peter 2:4; Jude 5-7; Genesis 3:16-24; Isaiah 59:1)

SALVATION-salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on the Cross for those that believe in Him, and who actually became sin for those that would be saved, so that they would become the righteousness of God. Salvation is not obtained by any works, but by genuine faith in Jesus Christ & His death on the cross for our sins

(Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:21).

SECURITY FOR ETERNITY, AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS-all the redeemed (those bought back by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross), once they are a follower of Christ, are kept by God’s power and thus your relationship with Christ is secure forever. (John 6:37-40,10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38, 39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5). It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to satisfy their selfish desires (Rom.13:13,14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).

MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS-God is sovereign in the bestowing of spiritual gifts and gives to His children spiritual gifts at the time they become a follower of Christ. A spiritual gift is a God given gift (talent) to be used to further His Kingdom work. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside you at conversion and is the placing of thebeliever into the Body of Christ. Also, particular spiritual gift(s) are neither essential (proving the presence of the Holy Spirit), nor an indication of deep spiritual experience (I Cor. 12:7,11,13 & Eph. 4:7-8). We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accordance to His own will, for the sick and afflicted (John 15:7 & I John 5: 14, 15). It is the privilege and responsibility and joy of every believer to minister according to the gift(s) and grace of God given to him, all to the glory of Our Holy, Perfect and Glorious God. (Rom. 12:1-8; I Cor. 13, 10:31; I Peter 4:10-11).

THE CHURCH- the church, which is the body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all followers of Christ of this present age (Eph. 1:22,23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2). The establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament (Acts 14:27, 18:22, 20:17, I Tim. 3:1-3 & Titus 1:5-11). We believe in the autonomy of the local churches, free of any external authority and control (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Rom. 16:1,4; I Cor. 3:9, 16, I Cor. 5: 4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4) We recognize believer’s baptism and the Lord’s supper as biblical means of testimony for the church in this day

(Matt 28:19,20; Acts 2:41,42; Acts 18:8; I Cor. 11:23-26).

 

 

Finally, when one considers the decision of taking a stand of faith in God and his Word, the following words are appropriate to consider…

“We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago-but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers had said, “The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.” Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous gobs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on…

It is today as it was in the Reformer’s days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitor, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it…Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word”

-Charles H. Spurgeon, 1888