OUR BELIEFS
WHY DOCTRINE?
Doctrine is not dusty, cold, and inscrutable. It is Truth-telling. It is the crucial content that makes a great story coherent, a body of treasured knowledge that warms the soul. It is a foundation: faulty doctrine causes lives to crumble in the slightest breeze whereas true doctrine allows one to weather any storm. It is a pair of spectacles: either warping reality or allowing one to finally see. In all things, Jesus Christ is our precious cornerstone and His gospel is our vision.
We believe in the one true God, eternally existing in three equally divine persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, who created all things, and revealed Himself ultimately in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and in Scripture which testifies to Him.
(Genesis 1:1-2; Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 139:7-8; Job 33:4; Matthew 12:32; Luke 24:27; John 1:1, 5:39, 8:58, 14:16; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10, 3:16, 8:6, 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 1:3, 9:14)
We believe the sixty-six books of Scripture are alone the inspired Word of God, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient to reveal His will for salvation.
(Proverbs 30:5; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 4:4, 5:18; John 10:35, 14:26, 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18; 2 Peter 1:19-21, 3:16; Revelation 22:18-19)
We believe that humanity was made in the image of God for loving relationship with God, but through rebellion broke that relationship and is therefore under God’s just condemnation. Humanity’s only hope of reconciliation is God’s gracious intervention.
(Genesis 1:26-27; 3:1-24; John 15:4-5; Romans 3:10, 23-25; 2 Corinthians 4:4, 5:18-20; Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 1:20; 1 John 3:4-5)
We believe that, in love, the Father authored salvation and sent His Son Jesus who, being fully God and fully man, accomplished salvation, defeating sin, Satan, and death through His sinless life, substitutionary death on the cross, and bodily resurrection. Jesus then ascended to the right hand of the Father to send the Holy Spirit to apply salvation by graciously uniting sinners to the Son through their faith in the Son.
(Isaiah 53; Luke 24:51; John 3:5, 36, 12:31; Romans 3:25, 4:25, 15:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13, 4:4; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:1-10; Colossians 2:13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:14-15, 4:15, 9:22, 10:10; 1 Peter 1:2-5, 3:22; 1 John 3:8, 4:2)
We believe that God has created His church by His Word and Spirit, and that His Spirit indwells the church individually and corporately, empowering them to live godly lives and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all people in word and deed.
(Genesis 12:1-3; Matthew 5:13-16, 28:19-20; Acts 1:8, 2:38-47, Romans 1:6; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 10:10-15, 12:12-13; Galatians 3:2, 7-9, 27-29; Ephesians 4:4-16)
We believe that God has given His church baptism and communion, the signs and seals of the New Covenant, to be received by faith as visible declarations of the gospel.
(Matthew 26:26-29, 28:19-20; Luke 22:14-20; Romans 4:11-12, 6:3-6; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:11-12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; 1 Peter 3:21-22)
We believe in the bodily return of Jesus Christ as King and Judge, the future arrival of the new heaven and new earth, and the bodily resurrection of the unjustified to eternal condemnation and the justified to eternal glory.
(Matthew 24:29-31, 27, 44, 25:31-46; John 3:36, 14:3; Acts 1:11; Romans 2:6-8, 6:23, 8:30, 34; 1 Corinthians 15:12-57; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:27; Jude 14; Revelation 1:7, 19:11-16, 21:1)