Our Beliefs: We Believe

WE WANT TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL THAT WE ARE BECAUSE…

WE BELIEVE that the everlasting God, who created everything and everyone, wants to have a relationship with each of us. We believe in the Holy Trinity; in other words, there is only one God and He is eternally existent in three coequal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our desire and main goal is to have a great relationship with Him. (Dt. 6:4-5; Is. 44:6-8; Mt. 28:19; Jn. 1:1,14; Acts 5:3-4; I Cor. 8:4,6; II Cor. 11:3; 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 2:4) WE BELIEVE that God is the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and omnibenevolent Ruler of the universe. He is holy, His ways are just, and His work is perfect. He demonstrates an everlasting love for mankind through His creation, redemption, and restoration. We have been created for His pleasure and glory. In describing God's nature and attributes we've used theological terms that mean all-knowing (omniscient), everywhere in time and space--huge (omnipresent), all-powerful (omnipotent) and completely loving (omnibenevolent). (Isa. 6:3; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 11:36; I Tim. 1:17; I Jn. 4:8; Rev. 4:11)

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the Head of the Church. While all believers are adopted into God’s family, Jesus is intrinsically the eternal Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He is God revealed in human form. He is fully God and fully man. Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross for us, resurrected physically from the grave, and ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. He will personally return to earth to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will never end. Another way of saying this is that because of our sinful nature, we are separated from God, so Jesus took care of that. Being fully God, He is in charge of the Church, and when He returns, He will be fully in charge of all things. (Mt. 16:27; Lk. 1:35; 2:40; Jn. 1:1; 3:16; 19:32-37; 20:28; Acts 1:9-11; Rom. 3:25-26; I Cor. 15:1-3; Col. 1:19; I Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 2:14-18; I Pet. 3:18; Rev. 20:1-10; Dan 2:44; Is 9:7)

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit is not just a force or influence but the third Person of the Trinity. He is active in the redemption and the restoration of humanity. He is the giver of life. He convinces individuals of their need for Jesus, imparting eternal life at the point of salvation, indwelling and spiritually baptizing each believer into the body of Christ, sealing us until Jesus returns, illuminating the written Word of God to us, and empowering us to live the Christian life in purity, power, joy, victory and fruitfulness. All these theological terms essentially mean that the Holy Spirit is very active in our daily lives. He helps us recognize our faults, gives us strength to do that which is right, helps us better understand God’s written Word, the Bible and gives us amazing power to further God’s Kingdom. (Jn. 3:5; 16:8-15; I Cor. 6:19; 12:13; Gal. 5:16, 22-23; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5)

WE BELIEVE that the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is the infallible Word of God. It is fully inspired by God and therefore serves as our authoritative guide. We believe God loves us enough to have written a book that helps us make sense of the life He gives us. It reveals the principles that make life work best. (Ps. 19:7-11; 119:105,160; Rom. 15:4; Heb. 4:12; I Thess. 2:13; II Tim. 3:14-17; II Pet. 1:20-21)

WE BELIEVE that humans were created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, we deeply value the sanctity of human life. Life begins at conception. We oppose the destruction of human life through abortion on demand, infanticide or euthanasia. Life is precious and is in God's hands. We also affirm God's design for biblical marriage to be the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. We believe that heterosexual marriage is the only legitimate and acceptable biblical context for sexual relationships. Through the original sin of Adam, we fell from our creator and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. Humans became corrupt in their whole nature. We are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Jesus. There will be a final judgment for all those who reject Jesus, along with Satan and the other fallen angels, to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire. We believe that the bottom line is that God is in charge; He created all things, and He has given certain order to creation. When we are outside of His order, not only are we in a sub-natural state, but we are also subject to negative consequences. That’s why Jesus came to Earth, so that He could put things back in order and give us a chance to align our lives with God. (Ps. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5; Lk. 1:39-44; Gen. 2:18-25; 7:6-9; Mt. 19:4-9; Gen. 1:26-27; 2:16-17; 3:6; Jer. 17:9; Mt. 25:46; Mk. 9:43-48; Jn. 3:3-7,19; 6:44; Acts 4:12; Rom. 3:10-18,23; 5:12,16-17; Eph. 2:1-3; Rev. 19:20; 20:10-15; 21:8)

WE BELIEVE that personal faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood on the cross is the only condition and hope for our salvation from sin. Salvation is the free gift of God when we turn from our own ways, receive the living Jesus, and make Him Lord by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that His death was the payment for our sins. This is the only way to be saved. Following salvation we believe in a public profession of faith by water baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This salvation provides spiritual healing for our fallen condition and makes us the adopted children of God. Through the process of salvation God declares the believer righteous (justification), makes us holy (sanctification), and will glorify us in a literal heaven (glorification). The shortcomings of believers and of the Church are due to the still-progressing sanctification of the believers. The Christian life, although joyful and fulfilling, involves overcoming trials and warring against a spiritual enemy. We believe that our relationship with God, which is only through an authentic faith in Jesus, is the only thing that saves us from ourselves and from eternal punishment due to our sin. Our relationship with Jesus causes us to become more like Him, but this is a life-long process. So it is normal, because we are all “in-process,” for us to still be imperfect even as we strive for God’s best in our lives. (Jn. 1:12; 3:3-7, 16; Acts. 4:12; 16:31; Rom. 6:23; 8:29-30; I Cor. 15:50-57; Gal. 3:22; Titus 3:3-7; II Pet. 1:2-4)

WE BELIEVE the baptism in the Holy Spirit is available to all believers in Christ and empowers Christians for life and service. Speaking in tongues is the most common initial manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We also believe there are many other spiritual gifts available to believers through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We believe that the same spiritual gifts and miraculous powers seen in the New Testament church are available to present-day believers through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is clear on this, and because God never changes, we believe He is still at work today, both in the everyday average stuff of life as well as out-of-the-ordinary and miraculous aspects of life. (Acts 1:5,8; 2:4; 2:38-39; 10:44-48; 19:1-6; I Cor. 12,14; Heb. 2:4)

WE BELIEVE in the resurrection of those who have died as believers. At the return of Jesus, believers who have died will rise first. Then those believers who are alive will rise with them to meet the Lord in the air, to be with Him always. We are instructed to build for future generations while eagerly anticipating His return, which is the great hope of the Church. Jesus promised that one day He would return to Earth to gather those who love Him. Part of that promise includes the idea that we will be made like Him. It makes sense that because Jesus was physically resurrected, those who love Him will be resurrected as well. (Mt. 25:14-30; I Cor. 15:12-57; I Thess. 4:16-17; Titus 2:13)

WE BELIEVE that Satan is a spiritual being who rebelled against God and took a great company of angels with him in his fall from heaven. However, his power cannot compare to the strength of God Almighty. Along with his demon followers, Satan uses his deceptive powers to harass, torment, and deceive humans. Our battle as believers is not against people, but against spiritual satanic forces. God has equipped His Church with spiritual weapons and armor to take authority over these demonic forces and to set people free from their power by the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that there are spiritual forces at work in our lives every day. We believe that spiritual beings, like angels, demons and Satan, are real. Satan’s ultimate goal is to distract from God receiving glory, but God is vastly more powerful. (Is. 14:12-17; Ez. 28:11-19; Acts. 26:18; II Cor. 4:3-4; 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-20)

THEREFORE WE DEVOTE our lives to passionately worship the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We participate in group or community and individual prayer during services and throughout our daily lives. In addition to providing a source of intimacy with God, another sometimes unseen, yet valuable byproduct of prayer is to assault the kingdom of darkness. Because God built us for relationship and community, we recognize accelerated power in corporate prayer and find individual strength from participation in the community of faith and communion with God. (Dt.6: 5; Ps. 27:4, 73:25; Song of Sol. 8:6-7; John 17:24; II Cor. 11:3; Is. 56:7; Mt. 18:19-20; 21:13; Acts 1:14; II Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:18; I Pt. 4:7)

WE CHOOSE to daily connect with Him through spiritual disciplines. So we gladly give our time to activities like prayer, fasting, reading the Bible and meditating on it. Because people reflect the image of God, by doing good to others we are also connecting with Him. As believers, being generous to people and giving of our time, energy and finances to the mission of the church and to those less fortunate than ourselves are the types of things that should occupy or lives. We believe, similar to prayer and spiritual disciplines, that all aspects of our lives present an opportunity to honor God. (Ps. 119: 11; Mt.6:1-19; Lk. 18:1; I Cor 10:31; Col. 3:16; II Tim. 4:7b, Heb. 13:16; I John 3:17)