God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is a
spiritual, intelligent, and personal
Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of
the universe. God is infinite and existing in three Persons-
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-each of Whom possesses equally
all of the attributes of deity and elements of personality.
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; John 14:6-11,
17:11, 22; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians
4:4-6; Revelations 1:4-6)
Jesus
Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and perfect man,
deity incarnate, born of a virgin, He did not sin nor
choose to sin. By His death as a substitute for sinners
He infinitely satisfied divine justice and provided
salvation for all who believe in Him.
He
arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified,
in which He had lived and died. His resurrection body
is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be
given to all believers. (John 20:20; Phil 3:20-21)
The
Lord Jesus Christ, in His glorified body, is now in
Heaven, exalted at the right hand of God the Father,
where He presently fulfills the ministries of Representative,
Intercessor and Advocate for the saved. (Romans 8:34;
Ephesians 4:4-6; Hebrews 7:25, 9:24; 1 John 2:1-2)
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity.
He always has been, is and always will be fully God,
with intellect, emotion, and will. He has been intimately
involved in all that God does, including creation, justification,
and sanctification.
The
Holy Spirit gives each believer a spiritual gift. He
gives these gifts "for the common good," also
that believers might serve one another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. (Acts 1:7-8, 2:4, 10:47,
11:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19)
We
as disciples of Jesus Christ are the temple of the Holy
Spirit where He dwells in us.
The
Word of God (The Bible or The Scriptures)
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired
and is the record of God's revelation of Himself to
man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction.
It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and
truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and
therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world,
the true center of Christian union, and the supreme
standard by which all human conduct, creed, and religious
opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the
Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ, therefore
we should only use the Bible to interpret the Bible.
(2 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
Eternal
Security
Any person who believes in Jesus Christ for eternal
life receives that gift which, as the words of eternal
life suggest, can never be lost. Every child of God
possesses this eternal (or everlasting) life and, being
regenerate, justified, and sealed by the Holy Spirit,
is safe and secure for all eternity. The believer is
eternally secure since Jesus Christ guarantees it (John
6:35-40, 11:25-27). Therefore, it is inconsistent with
the Gospel and with Scriptures to seek to gain or keep
eternal salvation by works of godly living. (John
6:28-29; Romans 8:33-39; Ephesians 11-14)
Assurance
of Salvation
The assurance of eternal salvation is sufficiently grounded
on the promise God makes in His Word that everyone who
believes in Jesus Christ possesses eternal life (John
5:24; 1 John 5:9-13). Since a person can know whether
or not he believes the gospel, no other basis for assurance
is needed. Good works which can and should follow regeneration
are not an indispensable verification of saving faith,
even though they may have a secondary, confirmatory
value (Ephesians 2:10; Titus 3:8).
The
Church
We believe that the Church, that is, the body and future
bride of Christ, is a spiritual entity made up of all
born-again believers of this present age despite their
affiliation with churches and organizations. The Church
was born on the day of Pentecost. Since Pentecost all
who believes in Christ are members of the universal
church.
The
universal Church is visibly functional through groups
called local churches, which meet regularly in identifiable
locations. These should be autonomous and governed by
their own leadership (1 Corinthians 1:1-2; Phil 1:1;
1 Timothy 5:17; Hebrews 13:17). The congregation
is responsible to submit to its leadership (Hebrews
13:17).
The
Word of God commands believers to gather together in
local congregations to devote themselves to worship,
prayer, the teaching of the Bible, observance of the
ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper, edification
of the body, and an active witness to the unsaved world.
A local expression of the church is found wherever Christians
meet regularly in obedience to these commands. The Lord
gave the church two ordinances to be practiced until
He returned. The Lord's Supper is to be conducted regularly
by believers in remembrance of Christ's death on our
behalf. The other perceptual ordinance the Lord gave
the church was Christian baptism. We are to urge those
whom we lead to faith I Christ to publicly manifest
their faith in Christ by being baptized. Since only
believers are to be baptized, one who was baptized prior
to regeneration has not yet undergone Christian baptism
and should submit to baptism even though he or she was
sprinkled or immersed in the past. Church discipline
should be a vital part of church life. The primary purpose
of church discipline is for restoration to the body.
Steps of church discipline may include confrontation
by one person, by two or more of the church Elders,
or by the church body, and finally, if the person refuses
all efforts to bring him to repentance, exclusion of
the individual from the local church until he does repent.
(Matthew 1:15-17)
The
Great Commission
The Lord Jesus sent His apostles out to make disciples
of all the nations. This was to include evangelizing
the unsaved and then baptizing and instructing those
who came to faith in Christ, establishing the saved
through follow-up, and equipping the committed for a
life reproductive and fruit bearing. The Lord wishes
all believers o carry on this work until Christ returns.
The key to this work of disciple making is faithfulness
to the mandate by going, baptizing and teaching others
to obey all Christ commanded. (Matthew 28:16-20;
Ephesians 4:11-12; Colossians 1:28-29)
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