What We Believe

The Bible

The Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God preserved in 66 books.
Biblical preservation is God preserving the books of Scripture.
Biblical canonicity was determined by judging the writings of the Bible to be of apostolic origin, accepted as Scripture by the early church, and consistent with the Regula Fidei.
All other books that claim to be from God are false.
We disavow the apocrypha as being Scripture.
Gnostic “gospels” are false.
The Bauer-Erhman position on the Bible is heresy.
We interpret the Bible literally, historically (in context), and grammatically.
The Bible is authoritative.

God is the supreme Being.
He exists in three Persons: Father, Son, and Spirit.
He does not have a body like man.
He is eternal, supreme, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.
God is love.
God is holy.
God is sovereign over all things.
He is not the author of evil.
Everything God does is for the highest possible good resulting in His own glory.

He was created innocent, without sin.
He was created in the image of God (both male and female).
Both man and woman were given dominion over the earth.
In Adam, man fell from innocence into sin.
The results of Adam’s sin are:
- Death (which is transcreational)
- Sin is past from father to children
- A curse upon the earth
- Difficulty in childbearing

It is the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.
Salvation comes by grace through faith.
It is evidenced by confession that “Jesus is Lord” and by belief that “God raised Him from the dead.”
Salvation is a permanent state of being “in Christ.”
The Holy Spirit is given immediately to those who trust in Jesus.
Sin is eternally forgiven (past, present, and future) for those who are “in Christ.”

A church is a group of believers who gather together to worship God, follow Christ, and help each other in the process.
A church must worship God.
A church must emphasize the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.
A church must love each other.
A church must share the gospel with the unbelieving world.

The Church will be caught away to meet Jesus in the air—this can occur at any moment as the Rapture is signless.
After the Rapture of the Church, God will bring judgment upon the earth in what is called the Tribulation.
After the Tribulation Jesus will return to earth. This is the Second Coming.
Those who have trusted in Jesus as Savior during this Tribulation and are still living will join Him in a thousand year reign upon the earth.
Those who rejected the gospel will be damned in the Lake of Fire.
During this thousand year earthly kingdom rule Satan will be bound.
At the end of the thousand years Satan will be released and will cause a final rebellion. Jesus will destroy those who follow Satan and consign him to the Lake of Fire eternally.
God will remake heaven and earth.
A Great White Throne will appear and a final resurrection will occur where death and hell deliver up the unsaved dead. They will be judged according to their works and cast into the Lake of Fire.
A new Jerusalem will come down out of heaven onto the earth.
Another resurrection will occur where the Old Testament saints along with the Tribulation saints will be resurrected to enjoy eternity with Jesus on the earth.