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1. We believe
that love one for another as Jesus loves the believer manifests our
discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as
New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the
LORD Jesus Christ upon which all others are dependent (Matthew 22:35-40;
John 13:34, 35; John 15:12; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-3; Revelation 2:4, 5).
2. We believe in the verbal inspiration and infallibility of the whole Bible
as originally written, and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice
(Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:21).
3. We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
equal in divine perfection. (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:32-35; John 14:16;
Hebrews 1:7,8).
4. We believe in the Genesis account of Creation (Genesis 1; 2).
5. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and
man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal
lake of fire (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matthew 25:41; 2 Corinthians 4:4;
Ephesians 6:10-17; Revelation 20:10).
6. We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ
(Matthew 1:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).
7. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2
Corinthians 5:19).
8. We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus
Christ in His churches (Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4, 5, 8; Acts
2:1-4).
9. We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done
away when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope and Love are the vital
abiding Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12; 13; 14; Micah 7:15).
10. We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in
innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless
state, the result being that all mankind are sinners (Genesis 1:26;
Genesis
3:6-24; Romans 5:12, 19).
11. We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was
substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who
believe (Isaiah 53:6; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9; 1
John 2:2).
12. We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and
the bodily resurrection of His saints (Matthew 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1
Corinthians
15:42-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
13. We believe in the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ
as the crowning event of the Gentile age. This event will include the
resurrection of the righteous to the Millennium and to the eternal heaven,
which will
be followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous unto eternal
punishment in the lake of fire and that the righteous shall enter into
the heaven age (Matthew 25:46; John 14:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2
Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19;
Revelation 20:4-6 and 11-15; Revelation 21:8).
14. We believe that the depraved sinner is saved wholly by grace through
faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to regeneration are repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3-5; John
3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8, 9).
15. We believe
that the moment a person repents of his sin and places his faith in
Jesus Christ as Savior, he is born again, becomes a child of God, is
personally indwelt by the Holy Spirit, receives forgiveness of all
his sins and receives eternal life. He is also assured that from the
moment of his physical death he will forever be in the presence of
Christ, that he will be in the first resurrection and that he will
not suffer any punishment in Hell or the Lake of Fire, regardless of
the degree of his faithfulness to God. This is because he is saved
and kept wholly by God's Grace, apart from works (John 3:6; John
3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; John 16:8, 9; Romans 8:9-11; Romans 8:35-39; 1
Corinthians 6:19, 20; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:5; Ephesians 2:8-9;
Ephesians 4:30; Titus 3:5).
16. We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He
chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient (Matthew
16:27; Matthew 25:14-23; John 1:12; Hebrews 12:5-11; 2 John 8;
Revelation 22:12).
17. We believe that Jesus Christ established His church, the Body of Christ, during His
ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of
scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out
the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each church is an
independent, self-governing body, and no other ecclesiastical body may
exercise authority over it. We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great
Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that there has been a
succession of true churches adhering to the doctrines and practices of
the New Testament from the time of Christ to this day, and that the
churches of this Association are so identified (Matthew 4:18-22; Matthew 16:18;
Matthew 28:19, 20;
Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Ephesians 3:21).
18. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will choose His Bride from the
faithful members of His New Testament Churches (2 Corinthians 11:1-3;
Revelation 19:7, 8).
19. We believe that there are two pictorial ordinances in the Lord's
churches: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Scriptural baptism is the
immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority
of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the
members of that local church observing the ordinance (Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts
8:12, 38; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13; 1 Corinthians 11:1, 2, 17-20, 26).
20. We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a
church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications
are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy (Titus 1:6-9; 1 Timothy 3:1-13).
21. We believe that all associations, fellowships, and committees are,
and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches
(Matthew 20:25-28).
22. We believe in freedom of worship without interference from the
government and affirm our belief in civil obedience, unless the laws and
regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures
(Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15).
23. We believe that
God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside
of a marriage between a man and a woman . We believe that any form of
homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication,
adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex. We
believe that God disapproves and forbids any attempt to alter one's
gender by surgery or appearance (Genesis 2:24, Genesis 19:5, 13, Genesis
26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 1
Corinthians 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4).
24. We believe that
the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman
(Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23). |
