Our Beliefs
In John 8:31, Christ said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." I strongly believe the Bible plainly teaches the stability and longevity of the individual in the Christian life is in direct proportion to the depth of knowledge and hunger for the Word of God (Ps. 1:2-3, Col. 1:21-23, 2:6-8, 3:16). Below you will find my doctrinal statement that was formulated with months of labor and much prayer in purposefully searching the Scriptures for every point. My prayer is to be in a constant state of learning as I seek to continue to grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord through His precious Word and His Holy Spirit’s leading to properly interpret the Scriptures.
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BIBLIOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURES
It is impossible for our limited minds to exhaustively describe and comprehend the limitless and incomprehensible God of all creation. However, God has chosen to reveal glimpses of Himself to us through His precious Word. This is only a partial list of what we call His attributes. God is divine and we are his finite creation and cannot fully understand Him. With that stated, I believe God is a triune being. Three distinct persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet all three are One. I believe each person of the God-head are equal, eternal and identical in power and having the same equal attributes. I believe God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. I believe God is sovereign and immutable. I believe all His attributes exist in his eternality and infinitude and cannot be fully understood or comprehended. I believe He is the only, one true God. I Kings 8:27; Job 21:22, 34:21; Psalm 33:13-15, 113:4-6, 139:2-3, 7-10; Proverbs 15:3; Isaiah 9:6, 40:13-14, 57:15, 66:1-2; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Daniel 2:22; Matthew 3:16-17, 18:20; John 1:18, 4:24; Acts 17:24,27; Romans 11:33-34; I Corinthians 2:10-11, 16, 8:6; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:15-17; I Timothy 1:17, 6:15-16; James 1:17; I John 5:7
THEOLOGY PROPER: THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity, is the eternal God and only begotten of the Father. I believe He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, all God and yet all man. I believe all the fullness of the God-head dwells in him bodily. I believe Jesus Christ is our only Redeemer, Justifier, Savior and Propitiation for us and accomplished all this as our substitutionary, perfect sacrifice with his death on the cross, burial in the grave, and by the literal and physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I believe He ascended into Heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father. I believe he is our Prophet, Priest, King, Intercessor and Advocate of the believer. I believe, when the trumpet sounds, the Lord will return in the clouds to rapture His Church away with him. Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14, 3:16-17; Acts 1:3, 2:18-36, 9:11; Romans 3:24-25, 8:34; I Corinthians 15:4; II Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:3, 7:25, 9:24-26, 13:12; I Peter 1:3-5, 19-21, 2:21-24, 3:18-22; I John 1:1-3, 2:1-2
CHRISTOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity, is the eternal God and only begotten of the Father. I believe He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, all God and yet all man. I believe all the fullness of the God-head dwells in him bodily. I believe Jesus Christ is our only Redeemer, Justifier, Savior and Propitiation for us and accomplished all this as our substitutionary, perfect sacrifice with his death on the cross, burial in the grave, and by the literal and physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I believe He ascended into Heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father. I believe he is our Prophet, Priest, King, Intercessor and Advocate of the believer. I believe, when the trumpet sounds, the Lord will return in the clouds to rapture His Church away with him. Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14, 3:16-17; Acts 1:3, 2:18-36, 9:11; Romans 3:24-25, 8:34; I Corinthians 15:4; II Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:3, 7:25, 9:24-26, 13:12; I Peter 1:3-5, 19-21, 2:21-24, 3:18-22; I John 1:1-3, 2:1-2
PNEUMATOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I believe the Holy Spirit is the third person not just an active force in the Trinity. I believe the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer and is our Comforter that the Father sent in Jesus name. I believe He guides us into all truth as He is called the Spirit of truth and recalls to our minds the things He has taught us. I believe He has adopted us into the family of God and are no longer in bondage but free from the law of sin and death. I believe the Holy Spirit seals us unto the day of redemption and He is the earnest of our inheritance. I believe the Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, righteousness, judgement and sanctifies us through the Word of God. I believe He divinely gives us the ability beyond our natural abilities to accomplish the Fathers Will. I believe the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ and gives us gifts to help edify the body of Christ. I believe the wisdom of God and the receiving of the deep things of God are given by the Holy Spirit of God by the illuminating of our minds and hearts through the Scriptures. John 14:17, 26, 15:26, 16:7-14, 17:17; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:2-16, 12:4-13; I Corinthians 2:4-16, 12:3-13; Ephesians 1:13-14, 17-18, 4:11-16, 5:18-19; I John 2:27
ANTHROPOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF MAN
I believe that man was created in the image of God by God himself in the garden, but Adam sinned and plunged man-kind into a fallen, sinful state. I believe we, in our fallen condition, are made in the image of our father Adam and are totally depraved, separated and alienated from God. In that state, we are in the bondage of sin and cannot free ourselves by our own strength, merit or ability and thus we are unable to remedy our sinful lost condition. Genesis 1:26-27, 3:1-6, 5:1-3; Romans 3:10-18, 23, 5:12, 6:23; Ephesians 4:17-19, 22
HAMARTIOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
I believe all have sinned and are sinners by birth. Sin is a transgression against God and means to miss the mark or to fall short of the glory of God. I believe as a child of God, we have two natures that are battling against each other - the carnal sin nature and the new man made alive by Christ. I believe whatever is not of faith is sin. Sin is fulfilling the lust of the flesh by not walking in the Holy Spirit. I believe sin is rooted in three areas, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. I believe we are tempted when we are drawn away of our own lust from within and enticed. Romans 3:23, 5:12-19, 7:15-25, 14:23; Galatians 5:16-17; Hebrew 11:6; James 1:14-15; I John 2:16
SOTERIOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
I believe salvation is a gift of God's grace, not of works, accepted by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. I believe salvation is free to us in our acceptance but cost God his only begotten Son’s life and shed blood on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. I believe, in our depravity, we cannot approach God without God first drawing us to him but God gives us the choice to either accept or reject his offer of salvation in His precious Son. John 1:12,3:15-17, 6:44, 65, 12:32, 44-48, 16:8; Romans 8:3; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10; I Peter 1:18-21; I John 2:2
ECCLESIOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
I believe the local, visible church is the body of Christ made up of born again, baptized believers. I believe the church is the espoused bride of Christ who will one day be united together with Him at the rapture. I believe in the autonomy of the local church, Christ as its head, the pastor as its under-shepherd/overseer, free from external authorities or entities that would attempt to control the direction of the church. I believe it is the responsibility of the local church to fulfill the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and to carry out the Great Commission. I believe there are two offices of the church, the pastor and deacon. I believe the pattern for the local church is established and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. Matthew 18:17, 26:26-28, 28:19-20; Luke 22:19-20 Acts 2:41-42, 6:2-4, 16:4-5, 20:28; I Corinthians 11:24-29, 12:12-18; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:20-23, 5:23-27; Colossians 1:14-18; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9; I Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3
ANGELOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF ANGELS
I believe angels are a spiritual, created being for the sole purpose to serve and worship the Lord as his ministering servants. I believe there are stated ranks and roles in the angelic realm indicated by titles given - arch angel, anointed cherub, cherubim, seraphim and appears that Gabriel served in a capacity as messenger. Angels seem to take the form as adult male humans, as well as visible, radiant beings that strike fear in the hearts of those who look upon them. I believe Satan, a created being who was the anointed cherub, rebelled against God while being filled with pride and tried to usurp His authority and was cast out of Heaven. In his fall, the Bible seems to indicate that he took with him a third of the angels. Genesis 3:24, 18:2, 19:1-3; Psalm 103:20; Isaiah 6:1-3, 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-18;Daniel 12:1 Matthew 18:10, 28:1-4; Luke 1:19, 28-38; Hebrews 1:14; Colossians 1:16; Jude 9; Revelation 12:4
ESCHATOLOGY: THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS
I believe the Bible teaches a pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture of the church. I believe at the last trump, the Lord will descend with a shout and the dead in Christ will rise first then those that are alive and remain will be caught up together with Christ in the clouds. I believe following the rapture will be a seven year tribulation period where the Antichrist will be set up as leader of the known world. After the tribulation, Christ will return visibly with His saints to set up His earthly kingdom and will reign with a rod of iron for a thousand years. I believe Satan, after the millennial reign of Christ, will be loosed for a season but ultimately will be cast into the everlasting lake of fire . I believe those who have placed their faith in the finished work of the cross will live together in the presence of God for all eternity. Daniel 9:25-27; Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 25:31-46; I Corinthians 15:51-52; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Titus 2:13; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-6, 10 21:1-4