Because there are so many different “grace” doctrines floating around in cyberspace, it is important to us that you know what we believe:
The Scriptures Inspired
We believe the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, to be verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit in the original manuscripts. We accept the Bible in its entirety as the sufficient and final authority for guiding man to faith in Jesus and new life in Him. (John 5:39-40, 10:35; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
The Trinity
We believe there is one true God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfection. (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:18-20; John 10:30; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18)
The Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus is God, the living Word, who became fully man without ceasing to be fully God, through His miraculous conception and virgin birth. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily took away the sins of the world by dying on the cross as a substitute. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, the Father, as the Advocate of those who trust Him for salvation. (Matthew 1:16, 20, 23; Luke 1:34; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15, 10:12, 12:2; 1 John 2:1)
We also believe that Jesus Christ will come again to the earth, personally, visibly and bodily, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. (John 14:3; Acts 1:10-11; Titus 2:13; Revelation 22:20)
The Holy Spirit
We believe God the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person who has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ. He convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. His present ministry to believers also includes empowering, teaching, and leading into all truth. (John 16:8, 14, 26; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Galatians 5:18, 22-23; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30; Titus 3:5, John 16:13)
Man
We believe that man was originally created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin, the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became spiritually dead – separated from the life of God. As a result, man is totally depraved and, of himself, is utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. Apart from faith in Jesus Christ, each person remains in Adam, separated from the life of God. (Genesis 1:26-27; John 3:3, 6-7; Romans 3:10, 20, 23, 5:12; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift of God brought to man by grace (apart from any works) and received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. Upon receiving salvation, the person receives eternal life, and becomes a partaker of Christ’s life. At the moment of faith, Christ begins to indwell that person and that person begins to be in Christ. He becomes a new creation and obtains a new identity as a child of God. (John 3:16; Romans 3:24, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10, 13; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-8; Hebrews 9:22; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 3:1)
Church
We believe the Church universal – the body of Jesus Christ – consists of every person who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit through saving faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus reigns as Lord and Head over His church. We believe that God through the Holy Spirit has arranged and gifted each member for the building up of the church to carry out her eternal purpose of ministering reconciliation and life to the ends of the earth through the proclamation of the Gospel. (Acts 1:8; Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 18, 27; 2 Corinthians 3:6, 5:18-21; Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:18)
Satan
We believe that the highest of created angels, Lucifer, aspiring to displace God, fell from heaven, became Satan, and caused man’s fall into sin, thus introducing sin into the entire human race. He is aided by a host of evil spirit beings called demons and his objective today is to thwart the plan of God, blind the lost to the gospel, and create confusion among believers. We believe that through the sacrifice of Christ, Satan is a defeated enemy who will be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Isaiah 14:12-17; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:11-12; Colossians 2:15; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9-10, 20:10)
Daily Living
We believe that each believer partaking of eternal life (Christ’s life) was united with Christ and thus was spiritually crucified, buried, raised and enthroned with Christ. The old man died at that point in time. The results of co-crucifixion are enjoyed by each believer as he or she chooses to walk by the indwelling Spirit of Christ and not by the flesh. We believe that the new covenant message of God’s grace inspires the believer to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. (Romans 6; Galatians 2:20, 5:16-24; Colossians 3:3; 2 Peter 1:4; Titus 2:11-12)
Eternity
We believe that the believer, upon physical death, enters immediately into conscious fellowship with the Lord and that at the return of the Lord, the physical body will be resurrected as a glorified body to everlasting glory and blessing. (Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 15:12; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Philippians 1:23)
We believe that the unbeliever, upon physical death, enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation from God and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment and condemnation. (Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:12; Revelation 20:11-15).
