Our Faith
WHAT WE BELIEVE
• In essential beliefs we have unity.
“There is one Body and one Spirit...there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of us all...” Ephesians 4:4-6
• In non-essential beliefs we have liberty.
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters... Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls... So then each of us will give an account of himself to God... So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.” Romans 14:1,4,12,22
• In all our beliefs we show charity.
“...If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love – I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)
THE ESSENTIALS:
1. ABOUT GOD
We believe in the one and only, living and true God, eternally existing in three persons: FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT. These three, being one God, possess precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. Mark 12:29; John 1:1–4; Matthew 29:19–20; Acts 4:3–4
GOD THE FATHER - We believe in God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom and measureless in power. In Him we live and move and have our being. He is a God of truth and without iniquity, He is just and right, and He will judge the world. We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. Matthew 5:48; Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 9:8; Hebrews 11:3; Nehemiah 9:6; Acts 17:28; Hebrews 1:2-3; Psalm 103:19; Ephesians 1:11; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 90:2
2. ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
THE SON - We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in His life, and making atonement for the sin of the world by His shed blood and death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and His high priestly intercession for His people. We believe that He will return again someday to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:14; Hebrews 10:9; John 1:29; 1 John 2:1-2; John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; and Acts 1:11; Matthew 1:22, 23; John 1:1-5; 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14,15; Titus 2:13
3. ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE HOLY SPIRIT - We believe that the Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son, and that His primary ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ by convicting men of their sin, of God's righteousness and of judgment to come. He regenerates the sinner upon belief in Christ, baptizing the believer into one body of which Christ is the Head. He indwells every Christian from the moment of salvation. He guides, instructs, fills, comforts and empowers the believer for godly living. He gives every believer a spiritual gift when they are saved. As Christians, we seek to live under His control daily. Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13–14; John 15:26; John 16:8-11; 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16 ,17; Acts 1:8; Romans 5:51 Corinthians 2:12 , 3:16 ; Ephesians 1:13 ; Galatians 5:25 ; Ephesians 5:18
4. ABOUT THE BIBLE
We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired of God, and inerrant in the original writings. We believe the 66 books of the Old and the New Testament were written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is God's complete and sufficient revelation to man, therefore, it is the supreme and final authority for faith, life and the total well-being of mankind. Psalm 119:97–104, 160; Matthew 5:18; John 5:46–47; John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Acts 17:11 ; and Isaiah 8:20
5. ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
We believe that man was created in the image of God, in a state of innocence under the law of His maker but, he voluntarily sinned and fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, he incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. We believe that all human beings are sinners not only by inheritance, but by choice, and are, therefore, under God’s just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man and every woman is totally depraved and needs a Savior. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-6; Romans 1:18, 32; 3:10-19, 23; 5:1-2)
6. ABOUT SALVATION
We believe that, “God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV) We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that each person who receives, by faith, Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is born again of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, becomes eternally secure as a child of God. We believe that justification means that a person is declared righteous in the sight of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation and that there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit. John 1:12; Romans 3:21-26; 8:37-39; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:13; 2:8-10
7. ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY AND PERSEVERANCE
We believe that because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot “lose” it. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security. However, this is not a license to sin and live disobediently. Those who are born of God’s Spirit through Jesus Christ persevere in the faith; they will not fall away because God is faithful to His people and has promised them the necessary grace and strength to persevere in the faith. Matthew 13:13; John 15:4–8; John 10:29; I Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:16; 2 Timothy 1:12, 2:10–13; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 John 4:13; 2 John 9
8. ABOUT HEAVEN, HELL AND THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the “blessed hope”: the personal, pretribulational, premillenial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. His imminent return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal, conscious bliss in heaven while the lost will be raised to judgment and eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God. Matthew 8:11; 10:28; 13:49–50; Matthew 25:34; Mark 9:47–48; Luke 12:5; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Revelation 20:11–15; 21:8
