What We Believe

There is Only One True God who Created All Things
  • We believe that there is only one true God.

    "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NASB95).

  • God created all things and He is the only One who should be worshipped.

    "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1 NASB95).

    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men" (John 1:1-4 NASB95).

    "Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only' """ (Luke 4:8 NASB95).

  • We believe that there is only one true God.

    "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NASB95).

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Truly Human and without Sin
  • We believe that Jesus is the Christ (or Messiah).

    "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31 NASB95).

  • Jesus is the Son of God and was also truly human and was born of a virgin.

    "Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:34-35 NASB95).

    "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world" (1 John 4:2-3 NASB95).

  • Jesus was without sin

    "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:14-15 NASB95).

Jesus Died and was Raised from the Dead
  • The Lord Jesus died an actual physical death on the cross, was laid in a tomb and was raised from the dead by the power of God on the third day. He rose in bodily form and was seen by over 500 witnesses at one time and then later ascended into Heaven.

    "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;" (1 Corinthians 15:3-6 NASB95).

    "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9 NASB95).

Jesus is the Only Way to come into a Right Relationship with God
  • We believe that there is only one way to be reconciled to God and that is through repenting and believing in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and believing in His death and resurrection. There is no other religion that teaches the true way to eternal life and there is no other means to receive the forgiveness of our sins.

    "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, NAS95).

    "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me'" (John 14:6, NAS95).

Apart from Christ Man is Separated from God because of Sin
  • We believe that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory.

    "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…" (Romans 3:23, NAS95).

  • Our sins separate us from having a right relationship with God.

    "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear" (Isaiah 59:2 NASB95).

  • No one is good enough to merit salvation based on their good works because we are all guilty of sin and the wages that our sins deserve is death; both physical death and spiritual separation from God.

    "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23 NKJV).

Salvation is by Grace through Faith
  • Salvation is a gift that God has graciously made available to each and every person through Christ dying on the cross for our sins.

    "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14 NASB95).

  • Salvation is given in accordance with God's undeserved favor (grace). Salvation cannot be earned by church attendance, family background, religious duties or rituals or by obeying the Law. It can only be received through repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus.

    "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7 NASB95).

  • Salvation is by grace because we do not deserve it. Even if we never sinned again from this day forward and we did many good deeds, we would still not deserve to be saved because we have already sinned against God and these sins have made us guilty before God on judgment day (Rom. 6:23). Nothing we can do can make up for this guilt that our sins have brought upon us and that is why salvation is by grace.

    "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB95).

  • The only way we can have right standing with God is if He chooses by His grace to no longer count our sins against us.

    ""Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. 8 "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account"" (Romans 4:7-8 NASB95).

We Must Repent and Believe to be Saved
  • God desires a relationship with all people and genuinely desires for all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:3-6). God loves the whole world and has no desire for any to perish (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9).
    Eternal life comes through having a right relationship with God.

    "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3 NASB95).

  • We have two problems that separate us from this right relationship with God. The first problem is that we have sinned against God and this sin separates us from God (Isa. 59:2).
    The second problem is our heart attitude of rebellion where we desire to live in sin and we desire to live for ourselves and live the way we want to live instead of living for God and His ways (1 John 2:15-17, Gal. 5:16-21, James 4:1-4, Rom. 8:5-14).
    Jesus came to invite us to be restored to a right relationship with God and to become a part of His Kingdom. Jesus calls us to do two things to respond to His message; repent and believe.

    "Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel""" (Mark 1:14–15 NASB95).

  • To have this right relationship with God and become a part of His Kingdom, we are to believe in the Gospel. We are to believe that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead and that He is the only way to have our sins forgiven and to be brought into this right relationship with God (1 Cor. 15:3-4, John 14:6).
    We are also called to repent. To repent means to change your mind and agree with God that living for yourself and living in sin is wrong and so you now desire to change your heart attitude of rebellion and turn to submitting to God and living according to His ways.

    "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance" (Acts 26:19–20 NASB95).

  • Repenting and believing are inseparable parts of the message of the Kingdom.

    "... how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20–21, NASB95).

  • Jesus taught that repentance was the message that was to be proclaimed to bring the forgiveness of our sins.

    "... and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46–47 NASB95).

  • Jesus also taught us that if we don’t repent, we will perish.

    "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3-5 NASB95).

  • God is inviting us to be restored to this right relationship, and He is also calling us to turn from sin and turn to following Him and His ways. Jesus' disciples preached a message of repentance as the only proper response to His message.

    "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. 22 "Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. 23 'And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' 24 "And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 25 “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'' 26 "For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways"" (Acts 3:19–26 NASB95).

  • Saving faith is more than simply professing to believe facts about Jesus and claiming to be a Christian. The Bible tells us that demons believe in God and shudder in fear (James 2:19).

    "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:19 NASB95).

  • The demons that Jesus cast out of people knew exactly who He was and believed it with certainty (Luke 4:34, 4:41).

    "Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ" (Luke 4:41 NASB95).

  • We are saved by faith, but saving faith according to the Bible is more than just intellectually agreeing with facts about Jesus. Saving faith is a choice of our will to submit to God, and this faith should lead us to turn from practicing sin and turn to living according to God’s ways because faith should lead us to love God and desire to please Him. If we truly believe Jesus, we should follow Jesus. If we say we believe that Jesus is Lord and yet continue on living in sin and do not live to do God’s will, Jesus says that we will be rejected by Him on judgment day.

    ""Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'"" (Matthew 7:21–23 NASB95).

  • Jesus teaches us that if we want to be one of His followers, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross each day and follow Him.

    "And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it" (Luke 9:23–24 NASB95).

  • If we truly believe who Jesus is, then we should now follow Him with our life and turn away from living in sin and rebellion against Him.
    We do not have to remove all sin from our life or do any amount of good works in order to earn the right to enter in to this right relationship with God. God loves us and wants to help us change. He knows that we cannot do this on our own. He doesn't call us to fix ourselves to be saved. Instead, He calls us to repent, to admit that we are wrong, to agree that He is right and now desire to turn from living for ourselves and turn to living according to His ways. As soon as we make the choice to repent and believe in Jesus, we enter in to this right relationship with God. God then sends His Holy Spirit to live inside of us and He makes us into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The Holy Spirit then works in our heart and mind to help empower us to now live for God and to do the things that are pleasing to Him as we follow Him by faith.
    The evidence that we now know God and are living by faith and have this right relationship with Him is that our lifestyle is defined by living according to His ways.

    "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked" (1 John 2:3–6 NASB95).

  • We may still make mistakes as a true Christian, but as a consistent style of life we should now seek to obey God’s commands because we love Him and desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him (John 14:15-23).
All who Repent and Believe Receive the Holy Spirit
  • We believe that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they choose to repent and believe.

    "Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38, NAS95)
    "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13–14 NASB95).

  • The Holy Spirit sets us free from sin and makes us into a new creation.

    "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:1–2 NASB95).
    "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

  • The Holy Spirit is God’s presence coming to live within us.

    "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NASB95).

  • The Holy Spirit helps empower us to follow all of God's ways. He works in our heart and mind to lead us to put sin to death and to walk out the fruit of the Spirit.

    "So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:12–14 NASB95).
    "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22–23 NASB95).

  • God gives full access to the supernatural power of His Spirit to everyone who chooses to repent and believe. The Holy Spirit gives each believer supernatural gifts to empower us to love one another, to serve one another and to help us fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples of all the nations and teaching them to obey all of Jesus' commands (Matt. 28:18-20).

    "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:4–7 NASB95).

  • Our role as followers of Jesus is to choose each day to deny ourselves and put off our desires and seek to be filled full with God's Spirit and walk in intimacy with Him.

    "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16 NASB95).

The Authority of the Bible
  • The Bible is the inspired word of God. It is the written record of His supernatural revelation of Himself to man. It contains all teachings that are needed for salvation. It is our foundation for teaching, lifestyle and ministry. It is absolute in its authority and without any error in its teachings.
  • We hold to the 66 books of the Old and New Testament; Genesis through Revelation.

    "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NASB95)
    "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:20–21 NASB95).
    "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17 NASB95).

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.""

Matthew 28:19-20

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