Statement of Faith

III. God the Father
We believe that God the Father orders and orchestrates all things according to His own purpose and for His own pleasure (Psalm 145:8-9; Ephesians 1:11; & 1 Corinthians 8:6). We believe that God the Father is the creator of humanity, and made humanity in His image (Genesis 1:27) by sharing, on a limited scale, attributes with humanity such as, but not limited to; personality, rationality, spirituality, morality, love and compassion, that He chose to withhold from all other forms of creation. We believe that God the Father is the Spiritual Father only to those who have put their trust in Him to save them from their due penalty for sin (Romans 8:14-15 & 2 Corinthians 6:18).

IV. God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ has always been and will always be God (John 1:1) and demonstrated His deity before His incarnation through His agency of creating creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:15-17; & Hebrews 1:3). We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who took upon Himself human flesh, through the miraculous conception of God the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary (Isaiah 7:14, fulfilled Matthew 1:23). He who was fully God added to His deity full humanity eternally uniting the human nature and the true God nature in one person. We believe that Jesus lived a
sinless and perfect life (Hebrews 7:26 & 1 Peter 2:22), performed many miracles (Acts 2:22 & 10:38), was crucified on a Roman Cross in the place of sinners as their atoning sacrifice (1 Corinthians 15:3 & 2 Corinthians 5:21), literally rose in physical form from the dead (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:39; & 1 Corinthians 15:4), and ascended into Heaven and is exalted at the Right Hand of the Father (Acts 1:9-11; 2:33; Philippians 2:9-11; & Hebrews 1:3), where He currently serves as our: High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16), sole Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and Head of His body the Church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; & Colossians 1:18). We anticipate His return to the earth as the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords, which will be physically and visibly seen before He sets up His Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:1-6).

V. God the Holy Spirit
We believe that God the Holy Spirit is a person not a thing, it or a mere force, as He demonstrates the characteristics of a person through His intellect (1 Corinthians 2:10), will (1 Corinthians 12:11) and emotions (Ephesians 4:40). We believe that God the Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration (John 3:3-8), baptizes believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), indwells all believers (Romans 8:9-13), and seals all believers until the day of full redemption when the state of glorification is received (Ephesians 1:13-14). We believe God the Holy Spirit is eternal (Hebrews 9:14), and is co-equally God with the Father and Son (Acts 5:3-4 & 2 Corinthians 13:14) and distributes gifts to the Body of Christ as He determines (1 Corinthians 12:11) and empowers believer to put to death the misdeeds of their flesh (Romans 8:9-13).

VI. The Sinfulness of Man
We believe that man was created without sin and in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This does not mean that man was created equal with God, but rather that man is set apart from the rest of God’s creation and given the responsibility to represent God by ruling over creation under the obedience of God’s command to do so (Genesis 1:28). We believe that Adam, who represented all of humanity (Romans 5:12, 18), willfully disobeyed God’s command and sinned against God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7). The result of Adam’s disobedience introduced sin and death to this world (Romans 5:12), spiritually contaminated humanity by placing us under God’s judgment (Romans 5:18) and therefore separated Adam, Eve and all of their offspring from God
(Genesis 3:23-24; Psalm 51:5, 58:3; & Romans 3:23). We believe that because of sin, the mind, will and emotions of every human being is equally enslaved to sin because every human being has sinned individually and corporately in Adam(John 8:34). We believe that sin is the one universal disease that has infected every human being regardless of ethnicity, culture or race therefore every human being is equally in need of salvation that is provided not by ethnicity, family heritage, culture or race, but by the grace of God alone (John 1:12-13).

VII. The of Salvation of Man
We believe that the salvation of sinners is given by God by His extension of grace through faith (Ephesians 2:1-10), and not by the efforts or man’s attempts at religious obedience or his good works. We believe salvation was secured through the person and work of the God man, Jesus Christ, who voluntarily submitted Himself to the will of God the Father, by becoming the ransom payment for sin (Mark 10:45) by offering Himself upon a cross in the place of sinners, in love as their substitution, while they were still sinners (Romans 5:8) to bear their sins (1 Peter 2:24) so that they may die to sin (Romans 6:1-14), become reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20), know God and live in right standing with God for all of eternity (John 17:3). We believe that everything that was needed to be done to save sinners was accomplished through the perfect life (Hebrews 7:26), death (Matthew 27:35-50; Mark 15:32-37; Luke 23:33-46; & John 19:18-30), burial (Matthew 27:57-65; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-55; & John 19:38-42) and resurrection (Matthew 28; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-11; & John 20) of Jesus Christ. We believe there is no salvation outside of the person and work of the God man, Jesus Christ (John 14:6 & Romans 10:9).

VIII. Justification
We believe that God legally declares unrighteous sinners to be righteous (Romans 8:30,33) after they have by faith, placed their trust in the finished work Christ has done on their behalf, repented of their sins (Acts 2:38; 11:18; & 2 Corinthians 7:9-11) and confessed Jesus Christ to be their Lord (Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 12:3; and Philippians 2:11). We believe this legal declaration of righteousness is known as justification. Justification is not earned or deserved by man, but has been given to those who have embraced the person and work of the God man Jesus Christ. In order to accomplish the justification of sinners, God in His goodness, placed our sins on Christ (Colossians 2:14 & 1 Peter 2:24) so that when we embrace Christ as our Savior, God in His justice accredited the perfect life of Jesus Christ to we who have embraced Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (2 Corinthians 5:21; & Philippians 3:9).

IX. The Freeness of Salvation
We believe that the blessings of salvation have been made equally available by God to sinners from every culture, ethnicity, gender, race, and socio-economic status (Romans 1:16-17 & Galatians 3:28). We believe that outside of a sinners depravity which leads to the willful rejection of the gospel message, which declares the God man Jesus Christ to be the sole means of salvation (John 1:11; 3:19; & 5:40), nothing prevents a sinner from receiving salvation. The penalty for rejecting the gospel is an eternal, conscious enduring of being the recipient of God’s wrath (2 Thessalonians 1:8 & Revelation 20:9-15), in which all sinners are deserving of (Romans 6:23).

IX. Grace in Regeneration
We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated, or born again by God the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8 & Titus 3:5). We believe that regeneration brings about a newness in the way we think and live due to our God-given new nature and indwelling of God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-13 & 2 Corinthians 5:17). We believe that our newness of life will be demonstrated  by us living Spirit-Filled, or under the influence of God the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) as we; allow God’s word to live in our hearts (Colossians 3:16), enjoy our fellowship with God (John 15:1-11) in addition to other believers (John 15:12-17; Ephesians 5:20; and 1 John 4:7-8), and bear fruit that resembles the actions of Christ (Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 5:1-3; & 2 Peter
1:5-11).

XI. Repentance and Faith
We believe that Repentance and Faith together, a part of God’s package of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10). Repentance takes place when the gospel is preached and sinners recognize they are in need of a savior and for their entire life have been unable to save themselves (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; & 26:20). We believe that because every sinners mind, will and emotions are bound and enslaved to sin, that every sinner is dependent on God to grant them the ability to repent (Acts 11:18; Romans 2:4; & 2 Timothy 2:25). We believe that genuine repentance that has been granted to the sinner by God will bear genuine evidence of a changed lifestyle (2 Corinthians 7:9-11) with the believer receiving assistance by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9-13). We believe that Faith is a gift that comes from God, meaning we do not work to earn faith and neither do we deserve it (Ephesians 2:8-9). We believe that once we have received the gift of Faith from God we will diligently seek after God so that we may please Him (Hebrews 11:6). The evidence of our faith in God is seen by our demonstration of joy and gratitude towards our Lord for saving us (1 Peter 1:8-9).

XII. God’s Election
We believe that Election is the eternal purpose of God that realistically took place in eternity past in which God reserved, or set aside a specific population of sinners that it pleased Him to save (Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; & Revelation 13:8; 17:8). This reservation was not based on the merit of man, his ethnicity, physical heritage, educational level, social status, physical build or even his will (John 1:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 & 2 Timothy 1:9), but by the sovereign choice of God, for His glory alone as it pleased Him to do so.

XIII. Sanctification
We believe Sanctification begins at conversion when the new believer is Justified they are also instantaneously declared to be holy as their position before God is now one of a “set apart one”, or “saint” (1 Corinthians 1:2; 30; & Hebrews 2:11; 10:10). We believe that Sanctification is the process where God, according to His will, daily labors in diligence while extending patience with His children drawing them step by step closer to holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1 & 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23). We believe the evidence of progressive sanctification is seen through each saint individually by a demonstration of fruit bearing in their lifestyle according to the Scriptures (Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 5:1-3; & 2 Peter 1:5-11).

XIV. Eternal Endurance
We believe that God the Holy Spirit indwells every saint (Romans 8:9-13& Ephesians 1:13-14), and therefore seals and secures every believer until they reach the state of Glorification (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; & 1 John 3:2). We believe that God who foreknew and predestined every saint realistically in eternity past (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:3-6 & Revelation 13:8; 17:8) also chose to call each saint individually out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9-10). We believe that every saint is justified and will never be declared by God to be ‘unjustified, therefore guaranteeing each saint Glorification (Romans 8:30).

XV. The Harmony of the Law and the Gospel
We believe that the Law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government (Matthew 5:17 & Romans 3:20); and served in a previous dispensation as a tutor that pointed out humanity’s imperfections when compared to God’s perfection (Leviticus 11:44) until the appointed time of the incarnation of the God man Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24) whose finished work produced for His church, the glorious gospel message that we proclaim (Romans 1:16-17). We believe the current dispensation we are in is one of grace (John 1:17) that brings about a harmony of God’s moral law, which exposes man’s sinfulness and the Gospel message which exposes man to God’s only means of salvation that is given by grace through faith solely because
of the finished work of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10).

XVI. A Gospel-Centered Church
We believe that the church is a new and unique work of God that is a separate from His work with Israel (1 Corinthians 10:32) as it was a mystery that remained concealed through every previous dispensation and was not revealed until this current dispensation of grace (Ephesians 3:1-6). We believe the Head of the church is the God man Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23 & Colossians 1:18). We believe the church began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and that it was prophesied to be a future work that would be accomplished by the God man Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18-20). We believe the church is a living spiritual organism that is made up of every person saved between the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38-47) and the date of completion of Jesus’ work with His church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe the observance of the ordinances of Christ; Baptism of the believer through the biblical mode of immersion (Acts 2:38-42 & 8:36-39) in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:28) that serves as an outward symbol of ones inward conversion and the Lord’s Supper which is a remembrance of our Lord’s finished work on the behalf of His church that is regularly observed until His coming and proceeded by a time of self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:23-32). We believer the only scriptural officers are Bishops (i.e., Elders), or Pastors, and Deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy (1 Timothy 3:1-7 & 1 Timothy 3:8-13) and Titus (1:6-16).

XVII. Civil Government
We believe that all persons serving in civil government have been placed in such positions by God to assist with the interests and common good of our society (Romans 13:1-7); and that local, state and national overseers of our local body are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed (Matthew 22:14; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; & Titus 3:1-4), except only in things opposed to the will and word of our Lord Jesus Christ (Daniel 3:15-18; Acts 4:18-20; & 5:26-29) who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the Prince of the kings of the earth (Matthew 23:10; Romans 14:4; Revelation 19:16).

XVIII. The Eternal State
We believe that it is appointed for every person to die physically (Hebrews 9:27 & James 2:26) and receive judgment by Jesus Christ who is judge of all people (John 5:22), both over the saints (2 Corinthians 5:9-11) and the sinners (Revelation 20:11-15) , for those who receive the latter, they will endure what is known is the ‘second death’ consciously through all of eternity. We believe that those whom it pleased God to save, will dwell in righteousness with God for all of eternity (Revelation 20:15, 21-22), in a state where fellowship with God and His people will never become interrupted by sin or its effects.

XIX. The Last Things
We believe in the “Blessed Hope,” which is the personal, imminent, and glorious pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; & Revelation 3:10), and in His subsequent return to earth, known as His “Second Coming” (Revelation 19:11-16), with His saints, to establish His millennial kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11) in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-16).