ESSENTIALS OF OUR FAITH
All Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God's redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these additional Essentials of our faith:
1.
We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things. infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
2.Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh (took on human nature) through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High. He now is our High Priest and Mediator.
3.The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. He indwells our hearts. He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.
4. We are estranged from God by “wicked works.” Those are deeds done by our free human volition that contradicts the laws of God. The guilt of those sins is upon us until we come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. At that time the guilt of those sins is erased by an act of God’s Grace since he has promised to grant eternal life to those who turn their hearts to Him. Salvation is a two-fold process consisting first of God’s bestowing upon us undeserved forgiveness, and second his giving us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live a new life.
5.The true universal Church is composed of all persons who through repentance, their saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained.
6.Jesus Christ will come again to the earth-personally, visibly, and bodily-to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. "Even so, come. Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). After he returns he will reign from Mount Zion in Jerusalem for 1000 years. After that the elements will melt with fervent heat and the New Heavens and New Earth will be made for us to live in for eternity.
7.The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to "Him who loved us and gave Himself for us." He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. "For we are His workmanship. created in Christ Jesus tor good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10)
