What We Believe
Click on any of the boxes below to see our position on different doctrines
God
We believe God is a Good God and IS the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He exists, eternally, in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Although difficult to comprehend, the Bible is clear that God is One yet exists in three distinctive personalities, co-equal and co-eternal.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:1, 26, 27 ESV
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:2 ESV
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Matthew 28:19 ESV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-3, 14 ESV
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV
Jesus
We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. He is both fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life on earth and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He rose from the dead as foretold in Scripture to demonstrate His power over death and sin. He ascended to Heaven and will return again someday to earth to bring judgment and ultimately rule as King and Lord over those who follow Him.
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
Matthew 1:22-23 ESV
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11 ESV
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV
9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:9-11 ESV
Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God and present in the world to make men aware of their need for a Savior, Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in every Christian from the moment of becoming a Christian and provides the Christian with power for living, understanding for applying spiritual truth, and guidance in making God-honoring decisions. He also equips believers with spiritual gifts to use for building and serving the church.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:16-17 ESV
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
John 16:7-13 ESV
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 ESV
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18
Bible
We believe the Bible is God’s word to us. It was penned by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the words of the Bible are truth from God without any mixture of error. They are the supreme source of truth for Christian belief as well as God’s guidance for daily living.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.160 The sum of your word is truth,
Psalm 119:105, 160 ESV
and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
20 Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV
Man
We believe people are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. Although we have tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by attitudes and actions of disobedience toward God which are called “sin.” It is “sin” that separates us from God and causes many problems in life. It also prevents people from having an intimate relationship with God as well as from having eternal life without the help of God Himself.
27 So God created man in his own image,
Genesis 1:27 ESV
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
Psalm 8:3-6 ESV
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
Isaiah 53:6 ESV
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23 ESV
Salvation
We believe salvation is God’s free gift to man but it must be received. We can never make up for or do enough good to do away with our sin. Self-improvement and good works (even religious works) can never restore us to sinlessness. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death can we be forgiven of our sins. This “trust in Christ” isn’t merely an intellectual acknowledgment of His life and death on earth, it is a turning from self-rule to Christ-rule. Only then is the relationship with God restored and our eternity in heaven is assured. Since salvation is a gift from God accomplished solely by the work of Jesus Christ, we believe the keeping of that salvation is also secure in His power and grace.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
John 10:28-29 ESV
12 Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
2 Timothy 1:12 ESV
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 7:25 ESV
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:10-14 ESV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV
Eternity
We believe people were created to Exist Forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through the forgiveness and salvation offered to us through God’s Son, Jesus. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is heaven and eternal life. We also believe the Bible teaches heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence.
25 And needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
John 2:25 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 ESV
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13 ESV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 ESV
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:15 ESV
