What do we believe?
summary of beliefs:
We believe that the Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God, written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is truth without error, trustworthy, and the supreme authority for all matters of faith and practice.
God has revealed Himself to be the living and true God, perfect in love and righteous in all His ways, one in essence and eternally existing in the three Persons of the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
For His glory, God created the world out of nothing. He made man and woman in His own image to be in relationship with Him forever. Only in living for Him do we find unending joy and complete satisfaction. Thus we may say that our chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Starting with Adam and Eve, people have defied God by sinfully going their own way and rebelling against Him. All people have sinned, are inwardly depraved, and justly deserve condemnation and eternal separation from God. We are helpless and powerless to change our sin condition and end our separation from God, apart from His grace.
The good news is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, God in the flesh to save people from their sins. Through Jesus' perfect life and by His death in our place, He upheld God's justice and demonstrated His perfect love.
Through His death on the Cross, He satisfied the righteous anger of God and bore the punishment for our sins. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death and to assure that all who turn from sin and trust in Him will have their sins and guilt removed and be reconciled to God forever.
This good news of salvation for sinners comes only through God's saving grace — not human effort — (i.e. no one can be good enough or religious enough) and must be received personally by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as gifts from God and part of His good purpose. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is accepting Christ as Savior and trusting Him as the new and superior leader for life.
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of God's grace as part of regeneration, or the new birth, where sinners become new creations (who are 'born again') in Christ Jesus. Regeneration is a change of heart caused by the Holy Spirit through the conviction of sin and the revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Those who are born again (regenerated believers) have new affections for God and a new ambition to live for His glory. The believer is enabled by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit to walk in a growing relationship with the living God, to cultivate Christian character, and to serve Christ and His Church through spiritual gifts. All true believers persevere to the end, being kept by the power of God through faith.
Regenerated believers become members of God's eternal and universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head.
The local church is a unified and organized community of regenerated believers seeking to love God and one another by obeying the His Word, yielding to His Spirit, and making Him known to the ends of the earth.
The local church also administers the two ordinances of Christ: baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is immersion of a believer in water as an act of obedience to Christ that outwardly and publicly symbolizes the believer's death to his/her old life, cleansing from sin, and new life under the leadership of God. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience that illustrates the death of Christ and its benefits to believers and anticipates the second coming of Christ.
According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to earth to establish His kingdom.
Links:
- Baptism: (May 13, 2009) (Sept. 4, 2007)
- Lord's Supper: (Aug. 30, 2011)
- Am I Really a Christian: (March 5, 2009)
- Repentance: (Oct. 1, 2011)
- Membership: (August 16, 2011)
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