ARTICLE I: THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
We
believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be
the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God and inerrant in
the original writings. The sixty-six books of the Bible are the
complete and divine revelation of God to man, and therefore, are
the final authority for faith and life. The scriptures shall be
interpreted according to their normal, literal, grammatical-historical
meaning (II Tim. 3:16-17).
2
Peter 1:20-21: But know this first of all, that no prophecy of
Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy
was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy
Spirit spoke from God.
ARTICLE
II: THE GODHEAD
We
believe in the one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons
-- Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each co-eternal in being, co-identical
in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes
and perfections (Gen 1:1; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3-4).
John
10:30: Jesus said, "I and the Father are one."
Deut. 6:4: The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
ARTICLE
III: THE PERSON & WORK OF JESUS 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 pay for the freedom of sinful men (2 Peter 2:1).
Isaiah
7:14: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold,
a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call
His name Immanuel."
John
1:1-2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
B.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the full price for
our sin through His death on the cross as a representative, substitutionary
sacrifice; and that our justification before God was made sure
by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:18).
Romans
3:24-25: God in His gracious kindness declares us not guilty through
Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God
sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy
God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe
that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us.
C.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is
now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest,
He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.
(Acts 1:9-10; I Cor. 15:1-4, 20-25; Heb. 9:24; I John 2:1-2)
Romans
8:34: Christ Jesus is He who . . .is at the right hand of God,
who also intercedes for us.
1 John 2:1-2: If you do sin, you have someone to plead for you
before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
D.
We believe in the blessed hope -- the personal, bodily, pretribulational,
premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. We believe that all believers will be transported to heaven
by Christ before the seven year period of Tribulation on earth
and that Christ will come again after the Tribulation to set up
his kingdom on earth for a literal thousand year reign. At the
end of the thousand years, God will judge all people accordingly,
keeping believers with Himself for eternity and separating unbelievers
from Him for eternal punishment (Matt.24:44; I Thes. 4:14-18;
Titus 2:11, 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 20-21).
John
14:3: . . . I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that
where I am, there you may be also.
ARTICLE
IV: THE PERSON & WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
A.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity
who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement;
and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing
all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing
them unto the day of deliverance (John 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9; I Cor.
12:12-14).
John
16:8: "And He (the Holy Spirit) will convict the world concerning
sin, and righteousness, and judgment"
B.
We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who empowers the preaching
and teaching of the gospel, and assists believers to understand
and apply the scriptures. It is the privilege and duty of all
the saved to be filled with the Spirit (Eph.1:17-18, 5:18; I John
2:20, 27).
1
Cor. 2:10: For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for
the Spirit searches all things. . .
C.
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual
gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses pastors and teachers
to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the
work of the ministry (Rom. 12:3-8; I Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph 4:7-12).
Romans
12:6: And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace
given to us, let each exercise them accordingly:
D.
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking
in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. The 'tongues'
in Acts and 1 Cor. refer to known foreign languages not ecstatic
speech. We believe that speaking in tongues never has been a common
or necessary sign of the baptism or filling with the Holy Spirit
and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness and death
awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection,
though God may choose to answer the prayers of believers for physical
healing (Acts 2; I Cor. 1:22, 13:8; 14; Heb 2:3-4).
ARTICLE V: CREATION
We
believe in the direct creation by God of the physical universe,
all spirit beings, man, and the lower forms of life, without the
process of evolution. All creation was completed in six (6) literal
24 hour days then God rested on the seventh day. We believe the
book of Genesis to be literal and accurate history. God sustains
all creation but exists in no necessary relationship to it (Gen
1, 2; Col. 1:15-17; John 1:3).
Gen.
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
ARTICLE
VI: SPIRIT BEINGS
We
believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit
beings. One of these, though created holy by God, sinned through
pride, thereby becoming Satan, the Devil, the enemy of his Creator,
leading a host of angels in rebellion against God. Satan became
the god of the world system and the ruler of all the powers of
darkness and is destined to the judgement of eternal punishment
in the lake of fire (Ezek. 29:12-17; Matt. 25:41; II Cor. 4:3-4;
Rev. 12:7-9; 20:10).
Matt.
25:41: "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart
from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared
for the devil and his angels"
Colossians
1:16: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens
and on earth, visible and invisible.
ARTICLE
VII: MANKIND
We
believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned
and thereby incurred not only physical death but also the spiritual
death which is separation from God, and that all human beings
are born with a sinful nature and are now sinners by birth and
by choice, positively inclined to evil, and therefore under the
just condemnation to eternal ruin without defense or excuse (Gen
1:26-27, 2:17; Rom. 5:12-21).
Psalm
58:3: The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak
lies go astray from birth.
Romans
1:20: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made, so that (mankind is) without
excuse.
ARTICLE
VIII: SALVATION
A.
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by
grace and received by personal faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood
was shed for the forgiveness of our sin (John 1:12; Eph. 1:7;
I Peter 1:18-19).
Ephesians
2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works,
that no one should boast.
B.
We believe in eternal security: that all the redeemed, once truly
saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever
(John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8).
John
6:37: ". . . the one who comes to Me I will certainly not
cast out."
C.
We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in
the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's
Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian freedom
to justify worldly sinfulness (Rom. 13:13-14; Titus 2:11-15).
Galatians
5:13: For you were called to freedom; only do not turn your freedom
into an opportunity for the flesh.
ARTICLE IX: FINAL DESTINIES
A.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to
eternal life, the unsaved to judgement and everlasting punishment
(Matt. 25:46; Rev. 20).
John
5:28-29: "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in
which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall
come forth; those who have done good to a resurrection of life,
those who have continued in evil to a resurrection of judgment."
B.
We believe that the souls of believers in Christ do, at death,
immediately pass into His presence, and there remain until the
resurrection of the body at the rapture when soul and body reunited
shall stand before Christ to be judged of their Christian works
for the giving of rewards; and they shall then be associated with
Him forever in glory (I Cor. 3:11-15; II Cor. 5:10; 1 Thes. 4:13-18).
C.
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in
conscious misery until the final resurrection at the end of the
millennium for judgement; the result of this judgement is that
all will be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated,
but to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Luke 16:19-26; Rev.
20:11-15).
2
Thes. 1:6-9: It is only just for God to repay with affliction
those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted
. . . when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those
who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus.
ARTICLE
X: THE LOCAL CHURCH
A.
We believe that the local church is an assembly of confessing,
baptized believers in Jesus Christ; locally organized, Holy Spirit-united-and-empowered
for the purpose of glorifying God through 1) evangelism, which
includes proclaiming the gospel and baptizing new believers, 2)
edification thru the ministry of the Word, participation in the
Lord's Supper, fellowship and discipline and 3) worship, which
includes praise, song and prayer (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8, 2:41-42,
10:47-48; Phil 1:1; I Tim. 2:12, 3:1-13; Heb. 10:25).
B.
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches
is clearly taught, defined and exemplified in the New Testament
(Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32; Titus 1:5-11).
C.
We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external
authority or control (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Rom. 16:1,
4; I Cor. 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4).
ARTICLE
XI: ORDINANCES
We
recognize Baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper as the scriptural
ordinances of obedience for the church in this age.
A.
Baptism --
We believe that immersion is the only form of baptism revealed
in the scriptures, that it has no saving power, but is only for
those already saved; and that the new birth, which comes through
repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is the scriptural
prerequisite to baptism; therefore, only those old enough to believe
for themselves should be baptized (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:38,
10:47-48; Rom. 6:3-5).
B.
Lord's Supper --
We believe that the Lord's Supper is a memorial of the death of
Christ and that only those who have been saved through faith in
his atoning blood and are walking in obedient fellowship with
Him ought to partake of it. We do not believe in closed communion
(Acts 2:41-42; I Cor. 11:23-32).
1
Cor. 11:24: "Do this in remembrance of Me."
ARTICLE XII: SEPARATION
We
believe that separation is a doctrine as well as a biblically
normative practice. We believe that true spiritual fellowship
is the result of common faith and practice. There are several
aspects of biblical separation.
A.
Political separation --
The separation of the church from the state.
Luke
20:25: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and
to God the things that are God's."
B.
Personal separation --
The separation of the believer from the world and sin in order
to serve God. We believe that all the saved should live in such
a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord.
Therefore, personal separation involves a separation from acts
of sin, the world system, heretics and false teachers (Josh 24:15;
Rom. 12:1-2, 14; II Cor. 6:14-7:1; Eph. 5:15-18; Titus 3:10; I
John 2:15f).
James
4:4: You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the
world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be
a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
C.
Ecclesiastical separation --
The separation of the church from apostasy. While recognizing
the unity of all true believers, it is also evident that unbelief
and error in many organized fellowships has developed to the point
where recognized apostasy exists. We believe that loyalty to Christ
also demands separation from those groups content to walk with
or tolerate religious unbelief (II Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11-15;
II Tim. 4:2-4; II John 10-11).
D.
Familial separation --
The separation of the believer from an erring brother, when doctrinal
or ethical compromise creeps into their lives or ministries. We
believe that we must separate from those brethren who continue
in disobedience to the Word of God (Rom.16:17; I Cor. 5:11; II
Thes. 3:6, 14-15).
2
Thes. 3:6: Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that you stay away from every brother who leads
an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received
from us.
ARTICLE XIII: MISSIONS
We
believe that God has given the Great Commission to proclaim the
Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude
from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ we
must use all available means to go to the foreign nations with
the message of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke
24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Cor. 5:20).
Matthew
28:19-20: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..."
ARTICLE
XIV: CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We
believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting
of three basic institutions: 1) the home; 2) the church and 3)
the state. Every person is subject to these authorities but all
(including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and
governed by His Word. God has given each institution specific
biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities
with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe
upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal
and sovereign in their respective biblically assigned spheres
of responsibility under God (Rom. 13:1-7; Eph. 5:22-24; Heb 13-17;
I Peter 2:13-14).
Romans 13:1: Let every person be in subjection
to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except
from God, and those which exist are established by God.
ARTICLE
XV: GIVING
We
believe that every Christian, as the responsible party of that
portion of God's wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support
his local church financially. Every Christian should give offerings
systematically, proportionately and cheerfully to the support
of the local church, the relief of those in need, and the spread
of the Gospel (Gen. 14:20; Acts 4:34-37; I Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6;
Eph. 4:28; I Tim. 5:17-18; I John 3:17).
Proverbs
3:9-10: Honor the LORD from your wealth, And from the first of
all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty, .
. .
1
Tim. 5:17: Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of
double honor, . . . For the Scripture says, "You shall not
muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer
is worthy of his wages."
ARTICLE
XVI: MORAL ISSUES
A.
Abortion --
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn
child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified,
unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We
reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape,
incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control,
or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable (Job 3:16;
Psa. 51:5, 139:14-16; Isa. 49:1, 5; Luke 1:44).
Jeremiah
1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before
you were born I consecrated you..."
B.
Human Sexuality --
We believe that sex is a gift of God between a husband and wife,
and that, within marriage, it is honorable (Heb. 13:4). However,
God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged
in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe
that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality,
incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions
of God's gift of sex (Gen. 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30;
I Cor. 5:1, 6:9; I Thes. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4).
Romans
1:26-27: For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions;
for their women exchanged the natural function for that which
is unnatural, and also the men abandoned the natural function
of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men
with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons
the due penalty of their error.
C.
Divorce and Remarriage --
We believe that marriage is a divine institution and God intends
marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. We believe divorce
is a distortion of God's institution of marriage. Scripture does
teach that there is one circumstance in which divorce can be initiated
(though not required) -- in the case of sexual immorality. God
forgives divorce just as He does other sins, therefore, divorced
or remarried persons may hold positions of service in the local
church and may be greatly used of God for Christian service. They
may not be considered for the offices of pastor or deacon (Mal.
2:14-17; Matt. 5:31-32, 19:3-12; Rom. 7:1-3; I Tim. 3:1-7, 12).
Matthew
19:9: "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except
for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
ARTICLE
XVII: AUTHORITY OF THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
This
statement does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible
itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We
do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately
represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore, is binding
upon all members.
