Doctrinal Statement

Section 1: The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the plenary-verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original writings, and the only infallible rule of faith, doctrine, and practice. (II Tim. 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:20, 21; Matt. 5:18; John 16:12, 13; I Thess. 2:13)

Section 2: The Godhead

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - and that these three are one God; having precisely the same attributes, power and glory, and deserving the same homage, confidence and obedience. (Matt. 28:18, 19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; II Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)

Section 3: The Person and Work of Christ

A. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. We believe that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. (John 1:1, 2; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24, 25; Romans 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5)

B. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven exalted at the right hand of God, where as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1, 2)

Section 4: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

A. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers of this age into the body of Christ, indwelling, and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:7-15; II Cor. 3:6; I Cor. 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Eph. 1:13, 14)

B. We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth; and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. (I John 2:20, 27; Eph. 5:18)

Section 5: The Person and Work of Satan

We believe that Satan is a personal being, the originator of sin and cause of the fall, the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that his destiny is everlasting punishment in the lake of fire. (Job 1:6, 7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 4:2-11; 25:41; Rev. 20:10)

Section 6: The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, and that in Adam’s sin the race fell; inherited a sinful nature; and thus every person has become alienated from God, totally depraved and unable of himself to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26, 27; Rom. 3:22, 23; 5:12; Eph. 2:12)

Section 7: Salvation

A. We believe that 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 Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.

B. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever; that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, but that such privilege does not give liberty for occasion to the flesh. (Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:18, 19; John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38, 39; II Cor. 5:19; I Peter 1:5; Gal. 5:13)

Section 8: The Believer’s Two Natures

We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. But the flesh with its fallen Adamic nature, which in this life is never eradicated, being with us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept by the Spirit constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence in our lives to the dishonor of our Lord. (Rom. 6:11-13; 8:2, 4, 12, 13; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22, 32; Col 3:1-10; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:5-9)

Section 9: The Believer’s Walk

A. We believe that the saved should live a godly life and walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon the Savior, or cause others to stumble.

B. We further believe that entering into marriage or other entangling alliances with unbelievers is contrary to Scriptural truth. (Rom. 6:5-11; 8:5-10; 12:1, 2; 14:13; Gal. 5:16; I John 2:15-17; II Cor. 6:14; 7:1)

Section 10: The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts

A. We believe that all the saved are equipped for spiritual service through divine enabling gifts, bestowed sovereignly by the Holy Spirit; that the gifts of evangelists, pastors and teachers are sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today; and that the gifts of apostles, prophets, speaking in tongues and other sign miracles and gifts, being necessary only for the foundation of the church, gradually ceased with the completion of the New Testament Scriptures. (Rom. 12:4-8; I Cor. 12:12; 13:8-10; Eph. 2:20, 21; 4:7-16)

B. We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with His own will, for the sick and afflicted, but that He does not now answer through the public display of His power. (John 15:7; II Cor. 12:9, 10; James 5:10-16; I John 5:14, 15)

Section 11: Dispensational Revelation

We believe the Scriptures are to be interpreted in their natural and literal sense, thus they reveal certain divinely determined dispensations, or rules of life. Three of these (the age of the law, the age of the church, and the age of the millennial kingdom) are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. (Deut. 29:29; John 1:17; I Cor. 9:17; II Cor. 3:7-16; Gal. 3:13-25; Eph. 1:10; 3:1-6; Col. 1:24, 25; Heb. 1:1, 2; 7:19; Rev. 20:2-6)

Section 12: The Church

A. We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the church which is the body and bride of Christ, which began at Pentecost and is completely distinct from Israel. Its members are constituted as such regardless of membership or non-membership in the organized churches of earth. We believe that by the same Spirit all believers in this age are baptized into, and thus become, one body that is Christ’s whether Jews or Gentiles, and having become members one of another, are under solemn duty to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian differences, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently. (Matt. 16:16-18; Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:5; I Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:20-23; 4:3-10; Col 3:14, 15)

B. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17; 28:32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

C. We believe that the two ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and water baptism of believers are designated in Scripture as a means of testimony for the church in this age; but that each person’s convictions regarding water baptism are to be left as a matter of personal liberty of conscience. (I Cor. 11:23-26; Acts 2:41, 42; 18:8)

Section 13: The Second Advent of Christ

We believe in the personal, imminent, pretribulation coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones and His subsequent premillennial return to earth to set up His kingdom. (I Thess. 4:13-18; I Cor. 15:51-53; Titus 2:13; Zech. 14:4-11; Rev. 20:6)

Section 14: The Eternal State

We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious joy until the resurrection of the body unto its glorified state at His coming when spirit, soul and body, reunited, shall be associated for ever with Him in glory; but that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious torment until the final judgment before the great white throne at the close of the millennium when their spirit, soul and body shall be cast into the lake of fire to continue in everlasting and undiminishable punishment from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6, 7; Rev. 20:11-15)

Section 15: Marriage

We believe that God has commanded that no sexual intimacy be engaged in outside of the marriage bonds between one man and one woman. (Exodus 20:14; Acts 15:20; Hebrews 13:4) We believe that any form of sexual perversion, including but not limited to homosexuality, lesbianism, bi-sexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex. (Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 22:22; Leviticus 18:7-17; Romans 1:26, 27; Matthew 5:28) We believe that God can and does forgive these sins when asked, but that we must not do or say anything that would endorse them in any way. (I John 1:9)

We believe that a man and a woman are married when they are joined by God's minister, in the presence of God's people as witnesses, regardless of whether they have obtained a legal license for such from the civil authority, and that a license from the civil authority does not constitute grounds for recognition by this church of any so-called marriage. (Genesis 2:24: Ephesians 5:31; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 19:6) We will only recognize marriages between one man and one woman, regardless of civil recognition or the recognition of any other eccleasiastical body. (I Timothy 3:2, 12; 5:9; Titus 1:6; I Peter 3:1)

No Pastor of this church shall ever be required to perform any marriage ceremony under any circumstances, for any reason, or for no reason. No Pastor of this church will be permitted to perform any marriage ceremony other than those between one man and one woman, nor will this church's facilities ever be permitted to be used for any marriage ceremony except between one man and one woman.

In this statement, "man" means a natural born man and "woman" means a natural born woman. The issue is not how they identify themselves, but which chromosomes they have.