What We Believe

What We Believe About the Fundamentals of the Faith:

 We believe in the inspiration and preservation of the Scriptures. II Timothy 3:16-17 II Peter 1:21

 We believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ; Luke 1:35 Isaiah 7:14

 We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, Philippians 2:5-9 Romans 1:3-4

 We believe in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross as

the means for forgiveness of sins; Ephesians 1:7 Colossians 1:14

 We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; I Corinthians 15:3,4,20

 We believe in the triune Godhead, that God is manifest as Father, Son and

Holy Spirit; Deut. 6:4 I Timothy 2:5 Ephesians 4:4-6 Matthew 28:19 II Cor. 13:14 I John 5:7

 We believe in the eternal security of the believer and the eternal

damnation of the lost; Colossians 3:1-4 Philippians 1:6 Ephesians 1:13-14 Romans 8:1, 8:29-34

Romans 8:38-39 and II Thessalonians 1:9

 We believe that the sign gifts of the Acts period where temporary in nature and have ceased;

I Corinthians 13:8-13

 We believe all believers are made members of the Body of Christ by one Divine baptism;

I Corinthians 12:13 by which they are identified with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.

Romans 6:3-4 In light of 1 Corinthians 1:17, Ephesians 4:5 and Colossians 2:12, we affirm that

water baptism has no place in God’s spiritual program for the Body of Christ in this dispensation

of Grace

 We believe in the Pretribulation rapture of the Church; I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Titus 2:13-14,

I Corinthians 15:51-53 Philippians 3:20-21

 We believe the “Mystery, hid in God” was to make of Jews and Gentiles a whole new thing, the

Church which is Christ’s Body, the Body of Christ. The revelation of this Mystery was committed

to Paul, and it is in his writings alone that we find the doctrine, position, walk and destiny of the

Church. Galatians 1:11-12 Ephesians 3:1-9 Colossians 1:24-27

 We believe that it is the privilege and duty of the saints to walk by faith as children of light.

Ephesians 5:8

What We Believe About the Bible:

 The Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant, eternal word of the Living

God without mixture of error; Psalms 12:6-7 I Peter 1:23-25

 The word of God is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice;

 We believe that the Bible has been preserved for us without error and

currently exists today for English-speaking people in the Authorized

Version, commonly called the King James Version, which is, at the present

time, the only version translated from the Majority Text (MT). Every other

translation, being translated from corrupted texts outside the Majority

Text are corrupted replacements for the true word of God, testified to by

additions, deletions of words, phrases, verses, corrupted word substitutions

and other means of tampering with the text;

 We believe that in order to properly handle the word of truth, the Bible

must be rightly divided according to 2 Timothy 2:15;

 We believe that only the 66 books of the Bible constitute the sole and

complete revelation of Scripture; Colossians 1:25

 While the entire Bible is for us to know, it is particularly the 13 epistles

(Romans-Philemon) written by Paul that are written specifically to us and

about us, that comprise our doctrine for living in this dispensation of grace.

What We Believe About Doctrine:

 We are dispensational, which is to say that we believe there are 2 separate

and distinct programs at work in history and presented in the word of God:

the program with Israel for the purpose of reconciling the world, and the

program with the church, the body of Christ for the purpose of reconciling

the heavenly places, both of which were usurped by Satan in his attempt to

be like the most High; Colossians 1:16-20

 We believe we are presently living in the dispensation of Gentile grace

which interrupted God’s program with Israel when it was ushered in at the

conversion of the apostle Paul; Believing Jews and Gentiles are both being reconciled unto God

in one body by the cross. Ephesians 2:13-16 Ephesians 3:1-9 Romans 11:11-12

 We believe the apostle Paul was given a unique calling to be the apostle to

the Gentiles, being separate and distinct from the “12 apostles” in message,

audience and program; Romans 11:13 Galatians 2:6-9

 We believe that “there is none righteous, no, not one” and it is impossible for man to

save himself; Romans 3:10-12

 We believe salvation is a free gift made available by grace through faith in

the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross; Ephesians 2:8-9, 1:13 Romans 5:15-18

 Man cannot be saved or remain saved by works of any kind, at any time; Romans 4:5 Titus 3:5

Colossians 2:6

 Our standing before God as sons of God is not based on our performance but

was secured for us in Jesus Christ at the moment of our salvation; Ephesians 1:6,7,12-14

 We have a future vocation in the heavenly places in accordance with God’s

purpose for the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:1 II Corinthians 5:1 Colossians 3:1-4

What We Believe About the Local Church:

 The local church is to function as the pillar and ground of truth and as

such is charged with the proclamation and defense of biblical truth; I Timothy 3:14-16

 The preachers in the local church are to be engaged in teaching the word of

truth so that the “man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto

all good works”; I Timothy 4:13-16 II Timothy 2:1-2 and 3:16-17

 The proper function of the local church is that of a classroom that is meant

to follow the pattern of the “form of sound words,” set forth in the word of

truth, for the edification of the saints; II Timothy 1:13-14

 The primary job of the preachers is (as prescribed in the pastoral epistles of

1 Timothy – Philemon) to lead the members of the local assembly through

the sonship curriculum which is laid out in the Bible for the dispensation

of grace (Romans – 2 Thessalonians).

The above list does not constitute the entire body of our beliefs, but is sufficient

to distinguish us from those with differing beliefs.