a. God’s Nature
We believe that there is one living and true God, who is self-existent and self-sufficient. He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. All that He does is the out-working of His righteous will and therefore demonstrates His glory, as He directs all things according to the good pleasure of His will. God is perfectly loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. He forgives iniquity and sin, and He abundantly rewards those who seek Him. God is, nevertheless, just and terrible in His judgments because He hates sin, and He will not spare the guilty.
Exodus 3:13-14; Exodus 34:4-7; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 5:4-8; Psalm 90:1,2; Psalm 115:1-3; Psalm 139:7-12; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 6:1-3; Isaiah 46:9-11; Daniel 4:35; Malachi 3:6; John 4:23-24; Romans 11:33-36; I Corinthians 8:4-6; Hebrews 11:6; James 1:17; Revelation 4:8.
b. God’s Tri-unity
We believe there are three persons in the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one in essence, equal in power and glory. Each person is fully God, yet the Godhead is one and indivisible.
Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 28:19-20; John 14:1-11; John 15:26-27; Acts 20:28; II Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:4-6.
1. God the Father
We believe in the Father, the first Person of the Triune Godhead, who reigns over His creation as Sovereign Lord and King and relates Himself to His people as Father.
Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 46:9-10; Matthew 5:16,48; Matthew 6:3,4,9,26; Acts 4:28; Romans 1:7; Romans 8:15; Romans 11:33; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 3:11.
2. God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God; He is absolute Deity; He is very God; existing from all eternity equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, He has never ceased to be God; as perfect Man He was miraculously begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of Mary, a virgin; and that He is both perfect God and perfect Man, the Son of God and the Son of Man. Central to His incarnation was the redeeming of a people given to Him by His Father. As the sinless sacrifice, He died, was buried and raised on the third day. He ascended into heaven where, at the right hand of the Father, He ever lives to intercede as Mediator for His people.
Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 28:6,7; Mark 16:6,19; Luke 1:34-35; John 1:1,14; John 6:38,39; John 7:26; John 17:2; I Corinthians 15:45,47; II Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; I Timothy 2:5; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 1:3,8; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 5:9-10; Hebrews 7:25-26; Hebrews 8:1,6; Hebrews 12:2; I John 3:5.
We believe that for the benefit of His people, Christ fulfills the threefold offices of prophet, priest, and king. They need Him as prophet to overcome their sinful ignorance, because sin has alienated them from God; they need Him as priest to reconcile them to God and to intercede on their behalf; and they need Him as king to rule over them because of their averseness and utter inability to return to God, and for their rescue and protection from spiritual adversaries until they enter His heavenly kingdom.
Psalm 2; Psalm 110:1-4; Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:32,68-75; John 1:15-18; John 10:27-29; Acts 3:22; Romans 8:34; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 7:25-27; Hebrews 10:11-14.
3. God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. We believe in the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to creation, the incarnation, the writing of Scripture and convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the supernatural Agent of regeneration, and simultaneous with regeneration, baptizes all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling, sanctifying, and sealing them unto the day of redemption.
Genesis 1:2; Matthew 1:18; John 3:5-7; John 14:16; John 16:8; Romans 8:9,15; I Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30; Titus 3:5; II Peter 1:20-21.
We believe that the present ministry of the Holy Spirit is not to glorify Himself, but rather the Person and work of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
John 16:13-15
We believe that the apostolic “sign” gifts revealed through special healers, miracle workers, prophecies, tongue speakers and interpreters were given in the first century to authenticate the authority of the apostles and their message. Because the Scriptures are complete and the apostolic age has passed, such sign gifts gradually ceased.
Acts 2:43; Acts 5:12; Acts 14:3; Romans 15:18,19; I Corinthians 13:8-10; I Corinthians 14:22; II Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:3,4; Revelation 22:18.
c. God’s Decree
We believe God freely and unalterably for His own glory decreed from all eternity all that should happen, according to His own wise and holy will. God’s decree is not based on mere foreknowledge of events but rather is independent of all such foreknowledge. He is sovereign over all His creatures, and He employs them as He pleases to accomplish His purpose. This does not, however, make Him the author of sin. His decree does not violate the wills of His creatures, nor does it negate the reality of secondary causes. God is completely sovereign, and human beings are entirely responsible to believe His Word and obey His laws.
Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:9-10; Daniel 4:35; John 19:8-11; Acts 4:27-28; Romans 8:28; Romans 9:14-29; Ephesians 1:3-14; Ephesians 3:11; James 1:13-15.
d. God’s Providence
We believe God, who is infinite in wisdom and power, has created all things, and governs them by His supremely wise and holy providence. He fulfills His purposes for His creatures, ruling them and all their actions for His own glory and praise.
Job 38:1-40:2; Psalm 135:5-12; Isaiah 46:8-13; Matthew 10:26-31; Ephesians 1:3-14; Hebrews 1:1-3.
Although, in relation to God’s foreknowledge and decrees, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by His providence, God orders them to occur through genuine secondary causes, either as fixed laws or freely by human volition. God’s providence extends to His entire creation, but He exercises it in especially benevolent ways on behalf of His people, to whom He has promised His fatherly goodness.
Genesis 8:20-22; Psalm 90; Proverbs 16:9,33; Isaiah 43:1-5; Amos 9:5-10; Acts 2:22-28; Romans 8:28-39.
e. God’s Creation
We believe it pleased God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power, wisdom and goodness, in the beginning, to create out of nothing, or to make out of His created material, the world, and all things therein whether visible or invisible, in the space of six literal days; and all very good. God created all creatures, each in its turn, and species did not evolve from one another. Human beings came last in the order of creation, and God gave them dominion over all the earth. God designed and made human beings for harmonious fellowship and relationship with Himself by endowing them with the “image of God,” that is, God-like qualities that made them distinctive and superior to all animals.
Genesis 1:1-2:2; Psalm 19:1-6; Psalm 90:1-2; Isaiah 40:25-26; John 1:1-3; Romans 1:18-20; 4:17; Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 11:3.
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III. Salvation