Beliefs
Having heard the message of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ and having found mercy at the hands of God, in delivering us from the power of darkness, and translating us into the Kingdom of His dear Son through the saving blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and having been baptized by immersion since our conversion, we do now most solemnly and joyfully enter into this covenant with one another as a local body of believers in Christ.
Having searched the written Word, in order that we may know how to act, as well as what to believe, and sought unto God by prayer for divine direction, we heartily approve of and mean to follow the revealed Word and Will of God therein delivered.
We do engage to assure that our actions toward one another will be motivated by brotherly love. We will pray regularly for one another as well as those leaders of our assembly, and will as much as is possible, aid one another in sickness and distress.
We agree by the help of the Holy Spirit to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and confidence to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, to sustain its doctrines and discipline; to give it sacred preeminence over all institutions of human origin; and to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry and expenses of the church the relief of the poor and the spread of the Gospel both at home and abroad.
We further covenant to maintain with our lives a testimony that will neither bring reproach to our Lord Jesus Christ, nor to the testimony of the church; to religiously educate our families; to seek to win souls to Christ; to handle all of our private and public affairs to the glory of God, and to be careful to give preference and aid to the weaker brother that we may be to the praise of His glory; to exercise such discipline as is warranted according to the instruction of our Savior as revealed in the Scriptures. We engage to abstain from all vice that would bring reproach such as the sale and use of intoxicating beverage, tobacco, the hollywood influence, recreational drugs, and ungodly music (including Contemporary Christian Music [CCM], Gospel Rock), and other devil induced fads that may attack our membership.
We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written is verbally and plenarily inspired and the product of Spirit-moved men, and therefore is truth without any admixture of error for its entire matter. We believe the Bible to be the center of true Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried.
We use only the King James Translation of the Scriptures in all official ministries of the church. This includes the Pulpit, Sunday School, 2:52 Clubs, Youth Work, Children's Church and Vacation Bible School, as well as any other official church-sanctioned ministry.
(2 Timothy 3:15-17; John 6:63; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Romans 2:12; 1 John 4:1)
We believe there is one and only one living and true God as infinite, sovereign Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
(John 4:24; Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11; John 10:30; Ephesians 2:18; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:30)
We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God, and God the Son.
(Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:8)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.
(John 14:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 9:14; John 14:26; Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-3; John 16:8-11; Acts 5:30-32; John 3:5-6; Ephesians 1:13; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49; Romans 8:14, 16, 26,-27; Romans 15:19; Hebews 2:4; 1 Corinthians 13:8)
We believe in the personality of Satan, a created and fallen angel; that he is the unholy god of this age, and the ruler of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.
(Matthew 4:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10; Isaiah 14:12-16).
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but the literal, historical account of the direct, immediate, creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man, spirit, soul and body, was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
(Genesis 1-2; Colossians 1:16,17; John 1:3)
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of His Maker; but by voluntary trangression Adam fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him, in consequence of which all men are totally depraved, are partakers of Adam's fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and conduct; and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
(Genesis 3:1-6, 24; Romans 3:10-19; 5:12, 19; 1:18, 32)
We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ and in His ascension into Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest.
(Matthew 28:6-7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 2:17; 5:9-10; 7:21)
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Jesus Christ; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and sins is made partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner above comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that it is motivated and received by the gracious unwarranted love of God, and that its proper evidence appears in the Holy fruits of repentence, faith, and newness of life.
(John 3:3, 6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; 1 John 5:1; Acts 16:30-33; 2 Peter 1:4; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1,5,8-9; Colossians 2:13)
We believe that justification is the judiciial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ Jesus; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the imputation of God's righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer's finished work upon the Cross.
(Acts 13:39; Isaiah 53:11; Zecharaiah 13:1,11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5:1,9; 8:1)
We believe that human repentance is a change of mind and purpose towards God prompted by the Holy Spirit; that it is characterized by Godly sorrow for sin as offensive to God and ruinous to the soul; and that true repentance is inseparably related to true faith.
(Luke 13:1-3; 15:7; Acts 8:22; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Acts 20:21)
We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work upon the Cross is the only condition of salvation.
(Acts 16:31)
We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner: first, an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Chrsit, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts Christ as Savior; second, a continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the life; third, the final accomplishment of the process at the Lord's return.
(Hebrews 10:10-14; 3:1; John 17:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 5:25-26; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; 5:23; Ephesians 5:27; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24-25; Revelation 22:11)
We believe that adoption is the gracious act whereby the Father, for the sake of Christ, places new believers into the honored position of mature sons. This contrasts with regeneration whereby the believer receives the nature of God and becomes a child of God. The full benefit of the position accorded by adoption as the sons of God await the glorification of the believer of the believer at the coming of the Lord.
(Ephesians 1:5,13; Galatians 4:1-7; 1 John 3:1-2; Romans 8:23)
We believe that all who are truly born again are kept or preserved by God the Father for Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6; John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35,29; Jude 1; 1 Peter 1:5)
We believe in the unity of all true believers in the Church, which is the Body of Christ, which was established on the Day of Pentecost, and that all believers, from Pentecost to the Rapture, both Jew and Gentile, are added to this Church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that this Church is manifested through the local church which is a congregation of immersed believers associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; and that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute rights of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; and that on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
(Ephsesians 1:22-23; 3:1-6; 4:11; 5:23-24; 1 Corinthians 11:2; 12:12-13; Acts 2:41-41; 11:15; 15:13-18; 20:17-18; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Colossians 1:18)
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, under the authority of the local church, to show forth a solemn and beautiful emblem of our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, through Whom we died to sin and rose to a new life; and that baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of local church membership. We believe that the Lord's Supper is observed in remembrance of the sacrificial death of Christ and should always be preceded by solemn self-examination.
(Acts 8:36, 38, 39; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-38; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42)
We believe in obedience to the Biblical commands to separate entirely from worldliness and ecclesiastical apostasy and compromise unto God.
(2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; Romans 16:17; 2 John 9-11)
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests of good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience and the coming King of kings.
(Romans 13:1-7; 2 Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21-22; Acts 23:5; Matthew 22:21; Acts 5:29; 4:19-20; Daniel 3:17-18; 1 Peter 3:13-14, 17)
We believe in the imminent premillennial return of Christ for His Church, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seventieth week of Daniel. We believe that the Great Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church, will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of Davied and to establish the millennial reign.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 51-54; Philippians 3:20; Revelation 3:10; Daniel 9:25-27; Luke 1:30-33; Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-9; Acts 2:29-30; Revelation 20:1-4, 6)
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only those who are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelieve are in His sight wicked under the curse; and this distinction holds among men and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the lake of fire.
(Malachi 3:18; Genesis 18:23; 1 John 5:19; Romans 6:17-18, 23; 7:6; Proverbs 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matthew 25:34-41; John 8:21; Revelation 20:14-15)