What We Believe
holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Titus 1:9
The Scriptures
The Holy Scriptures are verbally and entirely inspired by God, and are complete and preserved in the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. The Scriptures are inerrant and infallible, and therefore are our final authority for faith and practice. The Scriptures are the divine revelation of God to man and must be interpreted according to their literal and normal grammatical sense and in their contextual and historical setting. I use the King James Version of the Bible in all English-language preaching and teaching.
God
There is one God, and He is the creator, sustainer and judge of all things, eternally existent in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Person and Work of God the Father
God the Father has His abode in Heaven. He is Light and Love in His essence. He sent His Son to die for us, and He answers prayers that He hears from His Son.
The Person and Work of Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He was born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life, He worked miracles, and He died to atone for our sins, cleansing us with his precious blood. After His bodily resurrection, Christ ascended to the Father’s right hand and now ministers as our High Priest and intercessor. He will return to gather to Himself His Bride the church, and again with His saints to judge the nations and establish his millennial reign.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
God the Holy Spirit restrains Satan and his demons until the rapture of the Church, convicts sinners, and regenerates those who believe. He indwells, seals, illuminates, instructs, reproves and guides the believer, and he fills and leads every saint who is wholly yielded to God.
Salvation and Security of the Believer
Salvation is a free gift by God’s grace, and it is received through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, plus nothing and minus nothing. There is absolutely no other way of salvation than the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross of Calvary. New believers are born into the family of God at the moment of Salvation. Salvation cannot be taken away or lost. Once a sinner is saved, he is saved forever.
The Church
The body of Christ
The church is the body and bride of Christ, comprised of all the redeemed. Christ loves the church, and he gave himself for it. He is its head, its founder and its builder, and He is the rock upon which it stands. The gates of hell will never overcome the church of God.
The Local Church
The local church is a body of baptized believers who, through the power of the Holy Ghost, assemble together for worship, preaching, Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and to carry out the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel and send missionaries throughout the world.
The Ordinances of the Local Church
The ordinances of the local church are believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper.
The Personality of Satan
Satan is a spiritual creature, fallen from grace in rebellion. He is the prince of the power of the air, and rules an earthly kingdom of evil. Satan seeks to destroy each believer. Still, he is limited by the Father’s sovereign will, and he awaits eternal destruction in the Lake of Fire.
The Eternal State
At death, the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and remain there in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body when Christ comes for His church, when soul and body reunited will be with Him forever in glory. The souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until their final judgment of the Great White Throne, when soul and body reunited will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.
The Second Coming
Christ is coming quickly to gather (Rapture) to Himself His Bride, the church, before the appointed tribulation. After the tribulation, he will return with his saints to conquer and judge the kingdoms of this earth and set up his millennial kingdom.
The Great Commission
After his resurrection and before his ascension, Christ left his followers specific instructions to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. His commission included a mandate to reach all.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20