Statement of Faith
Section 1: The Word of God
I believe the Bible, as comprised of both the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative message of God to mankind (Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). I believe, by faith in God's protection, the Bible to be inerrant in the original sources, God-breathed, and the complete and final authority for our instructions and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit perfectly guided chosen men of God and ensured they wrote precisely what He directed, without error or omission, while still maintaining individual writing styles of the human authors (2 Peter 1:21).
Section 2: God
I believe in one God, who is Creator of all (Deuteronomy 6:4; Colossians 1:16), who has revealed Himself in three distinct aspects — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14), yet who is one in being, essence, and glory (John 1: 1-5; John 14:9). God is eternal (Psalm 90:2), infinite (1 Timothy 1:17), and sovereign (Psalm 93:1). God is omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-13), omnipotent (Revelation 19:6), and unchanging (Malachi 3:6). God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and righteous (Exodus 9:27). God is love (1 John 4:8), gracious (Ephesians 2:8), merciful (1 Peter 1:3), and good (Romans 8:28).
Section 3: Jesus Christ
I believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God incarnate, God in perfect human form as the Son of Man, the expressed image and logo of the Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became man in order that He might demonstrate who God the Father is and provide the means of salvation for humanity as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the worlds." (Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; Colossians 1:15).
I believe that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23); that He is fully God and truly fully man (John 1:1,14); that He lived a perfect, sinless life (1 John 3:5); that all His teachings are true (John 14:6). I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all humanity (1 John 2:2) as a substitutionary sacrifice (Isaiah 53:5-6). We hold that His death is sufficient to provide salvation for all who receive Him as Savior (John 1:12; Acts 16:31); that our justification is grounded in the shedding of His blood (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7); and that it is attested by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6; 1 Peter 1:3).
I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven in His glorified body (Acts 1:9-10) and is now seated at the right hand of God as our High Priest and Advocate (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).
Section 4: The Holy Spirit
I believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). He regenerates sinners (Titus 3:5) and indwells believers (Romans 8:9). He is the agent by whom Christ baptizes all believers into His body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). He is the seal by whom the Father guarantees a believer's salvation until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). He is the Divine Teacher who illumines believers' hearts and minds as they study the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).
I believe that the Holy Spirit is ultimately sovereign in the distribution of spiritual gifts as He pleases (1 Corinthians 12:11). I believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, while by no means outside of the Spirit's ability to empower, function to the same degree they did in the early development of the church (John 14:12-14; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-12).
Section 5: Angels and Demons
I believe in the reality and personality of angels as non-human spiritual entities. I believe that God created the angels to be His servants and messengers (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2; Hebrews 1:14).
I believe in the existence and personality of the created being renamed as Satan and his demonic forces. Satan is a fallen arch-angel who led one-third of creation in rebellion against God (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-15; Revelation 12:4). He is the enemy of God and mankind, and the demonic forces are his evil servants. He and his demons will be eternally punished in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
Section 6: Humanity
I believe that mankind came into existence by direct creation of God and that humanity is uniquely made in the image, form, and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-30). I believe that all humanity, because of Adam's disobedience, inherited genetically a corrupted nature, that all mankind prefers coming short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and that "missing this target" is incurs the payment of eternal separation (Romans 6:23). Mankind is utterly incapable to remedy this fallen its state through self-achievement (Ephesians 2:1-9).
Section 7: Salvation
I believe that salvation is a free gift of God's grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ's death fully accomplished justification through faith and redemption from sin. Christ died in our place (Romans 5:8-9) and bore all of mankind's sins from all the eons of time in His own body (1 Peter 2:24). On the third day after His physical completed death, Jesus physically rose from the dead again, demonstrating His victory over sin and death (Romans 14:9).
I believe salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Good works and obedience are the pursuing results of salvation, not requirements for earning salvation. Due to the greatness, sufficiency, and perfection of Christ's sacrifice, all those who have truly received Christ as Savior are eternally secured, justified, and positional sanctified resulting in eternal life (aka salvation), maintained by God's power, secured and sealed within Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24). Just as salvation cannot be earned by good works, neither does it need good works to be maintained or sustained. Good works and changed lives are the inevitable results and justification to mankind of the internal working of salvation and regeneration of the new creation. (James 2).
Section 8: The Church
I believe that the Church, the Body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all believers of this current dispensation (1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27). I believe in the ordinances of believer's water baptism by immersion as a physical testimony of obedience and identification with previous inner workings of what Christ has already performed (baptism does not grant salvation, justification nor sanctification), and the Lord's Supper as a symbolic memorial of Christ's death and shed blood without transubstantiation or consubstantiation (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:8; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Through the church, believers are to be taught to obey the Lord and to testify concerning their faith in Christ as Savior and to honor Him by their conduct. I believe in the Great Commission as the primary mission of the Church to all creation. It is the obligation of all believers proclaim their testimony, by word and conduct, to the standards decreed in God's Word. The gospel of the grace of God is to be preached to all creation (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20).
Section 9: Things to Come
I believe in the return of Christ (Titus 2:13), the personal and imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture all of His saints prior to the accrued wrath of God's judgment on mankind (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). I believe in the visible and physical return of Christ to the earth with His saints to establish His Kingship and promised millennial earthly kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-6). I believe in the physical resurrection of all human beings — the saints to everlasting joy and bliss on the New Earth, and the wicked to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
I believe that the souls of believers are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where they await their resurrection when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; 1 Thessalonian 4:16-17). I believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until their resurrection when, with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting punishment if their names are not found in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15).