
1. We believe that love one for another, as Jesus loves the believer, manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the LORD Jesus Christ, upon which all others are dependent. (Matt. 22:35-40; John 13:34, 35; John 15:12; I John 4:7-21; I John 5:1-3; Rev. 2:4, 5)
2. We believe in the
infallible, verbal inspiration of
the whole Bible, and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith
and practice.
(Psalm 119:160; II Tim. 3:16,17)
3. We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection. (Matt. 28:19)
4. We believe in the Genesis account of Creation. (Gen. 1; 2)
5. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire. (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:10-17; Rev. 20:10)
6. We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 1:18-20; II Cor. 5:21; I Peter 2:22)
7. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; II Cor. 5:19)
8. We believe the
Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator
for Jesus Christ in His churches.
(Luke 24:49;
John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4,5, 8; Acts 2:1-4)
9. We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope and Love are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts. (I Cor. 12-14)
10. We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners. (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3:6-24; Rom. 5:12,19)
11. We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe. (Isa. 53:6; Heb. 2:9; I Peter 2:24; I Peter 3:18; II Peter 3:9; I John 2:2)
12. We believe in
the bodily resurrection and ascension
of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints.
(Matt.
28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; I Cor. 15:42-58; I Thess. 4:13-18)
13. We believe in
the premillennial, personal, bodily
return of Christ as the crowning event of the Gentile age. This event
will
include the resurrection of the righteous to eternal heaven, and the
Millennium
will be followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous unto eternal
punishment
in the lake of fire and that the righteous shall enter into the heaven
age.
(John 14:1-6; I Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:8;
Rev. 19; Rev. 20:4-6; Rev. 20:11-15; Rev. 21:8)
14. We believe that
the depraved sinner is saved wholly
by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to
regeneration
are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke
13:3-5; John 3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8, 9),
and
that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, regenerates, seals, secures, and
indwells every believer.
(John 3:6; John 16:8,
9; Rom. 8:9-11; I Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5).
15. We believe that
all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation
are eternally secure in Him and shall not perish.
(John
3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39; Heb. 10:39; I Peter 1:5)
16. We believe that
God deals with believers as His children,
that He chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient.
(Matt.
16:27; Matt. 25:14-23; John 1:12; Heb. 12:5-11; II John 8; Rev. 22:12)
17. We believe that
Jesus Christ established His church
during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible
assembly
of scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry
out
the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each church is an
independent,
self-governing body, and no other ecclesiastical body may exercise
authority
over it. We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the
New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His
churches.
(Matt. 4:18-22; Matt. 16:18; Matt. 28:19,
20; Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Eph. 3:21)
18. We believe that
there are two pictorial ordinances
in the Lord's churches: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Scriptural
baptism
is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the
authority
of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.
The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of
the church observing the ordinance.
(Matt. 28:19,
20; Acts 8:12, 38; Rom. 6:4; I Cor. 5:11-13; I Cor. 11:1, 2, 17-20, 26)
19. We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and I Timothy.
20. We believe that all associations, fellowships, and committees are, and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches. (Matt. 20:25-28)
21. We believe in freedom of worship without interference from the government and affirm our belief in civil obedience, unless the laws and regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures. (Rom. 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-15)