what we believe
- The Bible
- The Bible is God's complete written revelation, and the sixty-six books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired in all parts) word of God and cannot be added too or subtracted from (1 Corinthians 2:7-14; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 22:19; Proverbs 30:6).
The Word of God is an objective, propositional revelation (1 Corinthians 2:7-14; 1 Thessalonians 2:13), verbally inspired in every word (2 Timothy 3:16), infallible, and absolutely inerrant in the original manuscripts. We also hold to a grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture which affirms the belief that the opening chapters of Genesis present creation in six literal days (Genesis 1:31; Exodus 31:17).
The Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice, being fully sufficient for every human need and all that pertains to life and godliness. (Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35; John 10:35; John 16:12-13; John 17:17; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Peter 1:3; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
God spoke in His written Word by a process of dual authorship. The Holy Spirit so superintended the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing, they composed and recorded God's Word to man (2 Peter 1:20-21) without error in the whole or in the part (Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16).
Whereas there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is but one true contextual and/or prophetic interpretation. The precise meaning is to be found as one diligently applies the literal, grammaticalhistorical method of interpretation under the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 7:17; John 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-15; 1 John 2:20). It is the responsibility of all believers to give themselves to the diligent study of the word of God in order to be able to ascertain the true intent and meaning of the Scripture, recognizing that proper, accurate application is binding on all generations. Yet the truth of Scripture always stands in judgment of men; never do men stand in judgment of it. - God
- There is but one living and true God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7; 1 Corinthians 8:4), an infinite, all-knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes and substance, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Isaiah 48:12-16), each equally deserving worship and obedience.
God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). He is the Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1-31; Ephesians 3:9). As the only absolute and omnipotent ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36). His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator He is Father to all men (Ephesians 4:6), but He is Spiritual Father only to believers (Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 6:18). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Ephesians 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chronicles 29:11). In His sovereignty He is neither author nor approver of sin (Habakkuk 1:13), nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (1 Pet. 1:17). He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Ephesians 1:4-6); He saves from sin all those who come to Him; and He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9).
God the Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, being co-equal, consubstantial, and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 10:30; John 14:9).
God the Father created all things according to His own will, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom, and for whom, all things continue in existence and in operation (John 1:3; John 1:10; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Corinthians 8:6).
The incarnation (God becoming man) Christ surrendered only the status and privileges of deity but nothing of the divine essence, either in degree or kind. In His incarnation, the eternally existing second person of the Trinity accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and so became the God-man (Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 2:9).
Our Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23 Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35); that He was God incarnate (John 1:1, John 1:14); and that the purpose of the incarnation was to reveal God, redeem men, and rule over God's kingdom (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:29; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 7:25-26; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
In the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity laid aside His right to the full prerogatives and privileges of coexistence with God. The eternal Son of God took on an existence appropriate to a servant while never divesting Himself of His divine attributes (Philippians 2:5-8).
Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood and sacrificial death on the cross and that His death was voluntary, a payment for the penalty of sin, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (John 10:15; Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24).
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is efficacious. That is Christ's death accomplished it's intended purpose which is freedom from the punishment, the penalty, the power, and one day the very presence of sin; and that the believer at the point of saving faith is declared righteous, given eternal life, and adopted into the family of God (Romans 3:25; Romans 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18).
Our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and that He is now ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He now intercedes as our Advocate and High-Priest (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:38-39; Acts 2:30-31; Romans 4:25; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1).
With the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, God confirmed the deity of His Son and gave proof that God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Jesus' bodily resurrection is also the guarantee of a future resurrection life for all believers (John 5:26-29;John 14:19; Romans 1:4; Romans 4:25; Romans 6:5-10; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Corinthians 15:23).
Christ will return in His own way and His own time to establish his kingdom (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20). We teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one through whom God will judge all mankind, both the saved and unsaved in every generation, at the Great White Throne Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:22-23; Revelation 20:11-15).
God the Spirit is a divine person, eternal, not created, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity including intellect (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), emotions (Ephesians 4:30), will (1 Corinthians 12:11), eternality (Hebrews 9:14), omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-10), omniscience (Isaiah 40:13-31), omnipotence (Romans 15:13), and truthfulness (John 16:13).
In all the divine attributes He is co-equal and having the same substance with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; Acts 28:25-26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 10:15-17).
We teach that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to execute the divine will with relation to His elect. We also recognize His sovereign activity in creation (Genesis 1:2), the incarnation (Matthew 1:18), the written revelation (2 Peter 1:20-21, John 14:25-26), and the work of salvation (John 3:5-7; John 6:63).
The Holy Spirit was given by the Father as promised by Christ (John 14:16-17; John 15:26) to complete the building of the body of Christ, which is His Church (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 2:21-22). The broad scope of His divine activity includes convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, issuing the call of God in the hearts of men, effecting the regeneration and conversion of the elect, and transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; Acts 2:4; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:22).
The Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ at the moment of conversion (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers for service, and seals the saints of God unto the day of redemption (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Peter 1:3-5).
The Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the church. The Holy Spirit glorifies neither Himself nor His gifts, but glorifies Christ by revealing Him to His people, implementing His work of redeeming the lost, and building up believers in the most holy faith (John 15:26; John 16:13-14; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 3:18). - Man
- Man was directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness. Man was created in all spiritual, moral, and physical perfection, with a rational nature, intelligence, emotion, will, self-determination, and moral responsibility to God (Genesis 2:7, Genesis 15-25; James 3:9).
God's intention in the creation of man was that man should glorify God, enjoy God's fellowship, live his life in the will of God, and by this accomplish God's purpose for man in the world (Isaiah 43:7; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11).
Adam's disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, which is sin, man lost his innocence, incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death, became subject to the wrath of God, and became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace. Man has no recuperative powers that enable him to recover himself, and thus he is hopelessly lost. Man will never seek after God on his own (Romans 3:10-11), he is a slave to sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:17), spiritual things are complete foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 2:14), his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and will only do evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Therefore, man's salvation is nothing of himself, but wholly by the sovereign act of God through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:13; John 6:44-45; Ephesians 2:1-9; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 13:48; 1 John 1:8).
Because all men were in Adam, his guilt was justly imputed to every man, and a nature corrupted by Adam's sin has been transmitted to all men of all ages, Jesus Christ being the only exception (Romans 5:18-19). All men are thus sinners by nature, by choice, and by divine declaration (Psalm 14:1-3; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:9-18, Romans 3:23; Romans 5:10-12). - Salvation
- Salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in the merit of His shed blood, and not on the basis of human merit or works (John 1:12-13; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Election is the act of God by which, before the foundation of the world, He chose in Christ those whom He graciously regenerates, saves, and sanctifies (Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 1:4-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 1:1-2).
Sovereign election does not contradict or negate the responsibility of man to repent and trust Christ as Savior and Lord (Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 18:32; Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:18-19; John 3:36; John 5:40; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12; Revelation 22:17). Nevertheless, since sovereign grace includes the means of receiving the gift of salvation as well as the gift itself, sovereign election will result in what God determines. All whom the Father calls to Himself will come in faith and all who come in faith the Father will receive (John 6:37-40; John 6:44; Acts 13:48; James 4:8).
We believe that the unmerited favor that God grants to totally depraved sinners is not in any way dependent on any initiative of their own part nor to God's anticipation of what they might do by their own will, but is solely of His sovereign grace and mercy (Ephesians 1:4-7; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:2).
We teach that the Christian does not know who God has elected to salvation, so he is responsible to evangelize or share the gospel with as many people as he has opportunity to share with. God has established the Christian's duty and privilege to evangelize because He has elected some to salvation and He has determined to save sinners through the preaching of the gospel. "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:13-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18-21, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14). The gospel therefore should be offered to all people indiscriminately (Matthew 28:19-20).
Regeneration is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit by which the soul is quickened and divine life is imparted (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5). It is accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Word of God (John 5:24; Romans 10:13-17, 1 Peter 1:23). Having been regenerated, the sinner, as enabled by the Holy Spirit, is brought to repentance and responds in faith to the gospel. (1 John 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 1:29).
Genuine regeneration will manifest itself in fruits worthy of repentance as demonstrated in righteous attitudes and conduct (1 Corinthians 6:18-20; Galatians 5:17-25; Ephesians 2:10) as the believer submits to the control of the Holy Spirit in his life through faithful obedience to the Word of God (Ephesians 5:17-21; Philippians 2:12b; Colossians 3:16; 2 Peter 1:4-11).
Justification of sinners is an instantaneous act of God (Romans 3:21-26; Romans 8:33) by which He legally declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, repent of their sins (Isaiah 55:6-7; Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Acts 11:18; Romans 2:4; Galatians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 7:10) and confess Him as Sovereign Lord (Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Philippians 2:11). This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man (Romans 3:20; Romans 4:6), and involves the imputation of our sins to Christ (Colossians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:24) so that our sins are forgiven, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). By this means God is enabled to be "just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
All the redeemed once saved are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 5:24; John 6:37-40; John 10:27-30; Romans 5:9-10; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:31-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; Ephesians 4:30; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Peter 1:4-5; Jude 24). It is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word, which however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an excuse for sinful living and carnality (Romans 6:15-22; Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 5:16-17; Galatians 5:25-26; Titus 2:11-14).
We teach that believers should be separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:17-24; Hebrews 12:1-2) and affirm that the Christian life is a life of obedient righteousness demonstrated by a continual pursuit of holiness (Matthew 5:2-12; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 3:1-10). However, a believer is not to withdraw in isolation from the world; the world is his God-ordained place of ministry (Matthew 5:13-16, John 17:15; 1 Corinthians 5:9-10). Rather, he is to expose the deeds of darkness as one who is in the world but not of the world (Ephesians 5:1-17). - The Second Coming
- We believe in the personal and premillennial coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that all true believers will join Christ in everlasting glory and that all unbelievers will face judgment and everlasting conscious punishment. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Titus 2:11-13; John 14:1-6; Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Peter 3:10
It is our prayer that you will come to know how sinful you truly are in the sight of a holy God and that you deserve Hell for eternity. It is only at this point that you will see the need for repentance (a whole-scale turn from your ways to God) and to put your trust in Jesus who has taken your penalty for your sinfulness. Through the blood of Jesus and your trust in Him to save you are you reconciled to God. Not so sure you are an evil person? Take the Good Person test. Are you going to die? Ask Death Beth.
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