What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of our church.  We are an independent, self-governing, and non-denominational assembly of believers.  We are dispensationalists and interpret the Bible literally.  The doctrines that we believe and teach are based on these two tenets.  Although we declare and recognize Paul's distinctive apostleship as outlined in his epistles, we warmly welcome anyone from any background to come fellowship and learn.

We believe that the entire Bible is verbally inspired by God and that God has providentially preserved His completed Word for us today (Ps. 12:6-7, Col. 1:25, Is. 40:8). We believe the Word of God has been preserved through the Authorized (King James) Version and that it is infallible and without error.
We believe in the literalist method of study and thus observe Paul’s command to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:5). This literal, dispensational approach is the only way to correctly understand the differences in God’s various dealings with mankind throughout the Scriptures and it plays a crucial role in establishing the believer and maintaining a well-defined, clear-cut gospel message (Rom. 16:25-27). We believe that every word of the Bible is inspired (2 Tim. 3:16); but we also recognize that the Apostle Paul’s writings contain the revelation of the mystery that is God’s purpose during this current dispensation of grace.

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Duet. 6:4, Matt.28:19, 1 Jn. 5:7, Eph. 4:4-6). The Father is the Creator and originator of all things and it is from Him that comes the life that is found in all the world. The Son, the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is completely God and completely man—not only the Son of God, but also God the Son (Lk. 1:35, Rom. 1:3-4, Phil. 2:5-11). We believe that Jesus Christ never sinned in word, thought or deed and therefore was the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God (Heb.9:26).

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, all men are by nature evil, inexcusable, under God’s wrath, and are inescapably accountable to Him, their Creator (Rom. 1:18, 2:1, 3:10-12, 5:12, 14:12). Man can do nothing to satisfy God’s righteousness and rejecting God’s free provision for salvation results in everlasting destruction of the soul (2 Thess. 1:7-9, Rev. 21:8, Heb. 9:27). We believe the unsaved dead will continue to exist forever in a state of conscious suffering (Lk. 16:23-28, Rev. 14:11, 20:12-15) and that the teachings of universalism, purgatory and annihilation of the dead are unscriptural (1 Cor. 15:19, 32-33, 2 Cor. 5:6-8).

We believe that man is saved from eternal punishment and is justified freely by grace through faith in the sacrificially shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary (Rom. 3:21-26, Eph. 2:8-9, 1 Cor. 15:1-4). Salvation is completely undeserved and free and bestowed on all those who simply believe in Jesus Christ and His completed work on the cross. During the current dispensation of grace, whoever believes this message of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24) is eternally saved from God’s wrath.

We believe that all those saved under the present dispensation of grace are eternally saved and complete in Christ (Rom. 5:1, Col. 2:10). Salvation is the work of God, not of man, and therefore it is impossible for anyone who has trusted in Christ to be lost again. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit upon belief and are not our own—Christ bought us with a price (Col. 3:1-4, Rom. 8:29-39, Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30, 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

We believe that Christians today are to live their lives under grace and not the law (Rom. 6:14). This means that the sole functional principle in the saints’ relationships with God, others and themselves is grace.  Because of Christ’s victory over sin and by His indwelling Spirit, all saved people can and should experience deliverance from the power of sin in their daily lives (Rom. 6:11-14). All saints still possess the old sin nature and the ability to sin; this inherent part of humanity is not eradicated during this life on earth (Gal. 5:16-25, Rom. 7:15-25).
We believe in the practical sanctification of all members of the body of Christ (Rom. 12:1-2) and that all Christians should glorify God in all their thoughts, words and deeds (1 Cor. 10:31). Saints should detach themselves from all forms of worldliness, humanism and religious apostasy (Eph. 5:3-12, Tit. 2:11-12). All saints should demonstrate their love and forgiveness to all men because Christ has first forgiven us (Eph. 4:32).
We believe that, as believers, we should follow Christ’s example and be subject to those with higher powers such as governmental authorities so that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (Rom. 13:1-7, Eph. 2:10, 1 Tim. 2:1-2). We are in this world but not of it; while here on this earth, the local church should comply with all of men’s laws except those that violate the clear teaching of Scripture (Acts 5:29).

In the dispensation of grace, there is only one true church composed of all the saved in the world, and it is called the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12;13, Eph. 1:22-23, 2:11-16). The body is made up of both Jews and Gentiles who are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:6). The Body of Christ was not prophesied of (Eph. 3:3-8) and is separate and distinct from the earthly kingdom of Christ, which is a continuation of His Jewish program and is yet to come (Dan. 2:44, Acts 3:19-21). The Body of Christ is not spiritual Israel and has not replaced Israel in the purposes of God (Rom. 11).
We believe in the local church—an assembly of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that unite around the seven unities of Ephesians 4:4-6 and that are associated for worship, labor and fellowship in the Lord. We believe that the primary task of the local church is preaching the gospel of the grace of God to a lost world.

We believe that the current dispensation of grace (Eph. 3:2) was a mystery hid from all ages and generations until the heavenly Jesus revealed it to the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 2:7, Eph. 3:2-9, Col. 1:25-26). The church of this mystery dispensation, the Body of Christ, has a heavenly purpose and future that is separate from God’s earthly purpose for the nation of Israel. We believe that the Body of Christ began in Acts 9 with the miraculous conversation of Saul and will end with the rapture, or catching away of the church.

Spiritual Baptism
All those who are saved have been made members of the Body of Christ by one divine, spiritual baptism (1 Cor. 12:13). By this one baptism, every saint is identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4). Paul’s statements concerning this one baptism (1 Cor. 12:13, Eph. 4:5, Col. 2:12, Rom. 6:3-4) explain his declaration in 1 Corinthians 1:14-17 concerning water baptism, that “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel”. Water baptism was practiced temporarily in Paul’s early Acts ministry as part of the transition period from the earthly kingdom program to the present grace program, but the need for practicing it ceased along with other signs and miracles, such as the gifts of tongues and healings (1 Cor. 13:8-12). We believe that water baptism is not needed for salvation or for sanctification and has no place in the dispensation of grace that we obey and live under.

Rapture/Catching Away of the Church
We believe that the church, the Body of Christ, will be caught up in the clouds by Jesus Christ Himself, when He descends from heaven at the conclusion of the dispensation of grace (1 Thess. 4:13-18). This coming event was kept secret by God and is a distinctive part of the mystery revealed to the Apostle Paul for the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:51). We believe this blessed hope (Tit. 2:13) is found only in Paul’s epistles and concerns only the Body of Christ. It will take place before the prophesied tribulation time begins (Rom. 5:9, 1 Thess. 5:1-9), which in turn precedes the second coming of Christ to set up His earthly millennial kingdom in which He will rule and reign with His chosen people, the nation of Israel, as has been prophesied all throughout scripture.