What We Believe

 

 

There is one God (1) who is infinitely perfect (2) existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son &   Holy Spirit (3).

Jesus Christ is fully God & fully man (4).  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit & born of the virgin Mary (5). He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust (6), as a substitutionary sacrifice (7), & all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood (8). He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures (9). He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest(10). He will come again to establish His Kingdom, righteousness & peace(11).

 

The Holy Spirit is a divine person (12) sent to dwell, guide, teach, & empower the believer (13). He is sent to convict the world of sin, of righteousness & of judgement (14).

The Old & New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God & are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men.  They constitute the divine & only rule of Christian faith & practice (15). Man was originally created in the image & likeness of God (16): man fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical & spiritual death.  All men are born with a sinful nature (17), separated from the life of God, & can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ (18).  The portion of the unrepentant & unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment (19); & that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss (20).

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; those who repent & believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, & become the children of God (21).

 

It is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit & be sanctified wholly (22), being separated from sin & the world, & fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving the power for holy living & effective service (23).  This is both a crisis & a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer subsequent to conversion (24).

 

The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His Blood, & are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church (25), which has been given the commission by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations (26).  The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for the edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, & observance of the ordinances of Baptism & the Lords Supper (27).

 

There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just & of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto    life (28);   for the latter, a resurrection unto judgement (29).

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent (30) & will be personal, visible, & pre-millennial (31). This is the believers blessed hope & is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living & faithful service (32).   

References: (1) Deuteronomy 6:4, (2) Matthew 5:48, (3) Matthew 28:19, (4) Philippians 2:6-11, (5) Luke 1:34-38,  (6) I Peter 3:18, (7) Hebrews 2:9, (8) Romans 5:9, ( 9) Acts 2:23-24, ( 10) Hebrews 8:1, ( 11) Matthew 26:64, 12) John 14:15-18,  (13) John 16:13, Acts 1:8, (14) John 16:7-11, (15) 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:15-16, (16) Genesis 1:27, (17) Romans 3:23, (18) I Corinthians 15:20-23,  (19) Revelation 21:8, (20) Revelation 21:1-4, (21) Titus 3:4-7, (22) I Thessalonians 5:23, (23) Acts 1:8, (24) Romans 6:1-14,  (25) Ephesians 1:22-23, (26) Matthew 28:19-20 (27) Acts 2:41-47,  (28) I Corinthians 15:20-23,  (29) John 5:28-29. (30) Hebrews 10:37,  (31) Luke 21:27,  (32) Titus 2:11-14