| The church in its community
and around the world is a clear and concise presentation.
The witness of the church to the world is summarized in
the following basic beliefs of the Christian faith:
We believe in the Bible as God’s only inspired,
inerrant and authoritative revelation of Himself to
man in written form (2 Timothy 3:16,17).
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three
persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit (1 John 5:7).
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ (John
1:1), His virgin birth (Matt 1:18), His sinless life
(2 Corinthians 5:21), His miracles (Acts 10:38), His
vicarious death as the only sacrifice for the sin of
the world (1 John 2:2), His bodily resurrection from
the dead (Luke 24:39), His ascension to the right hand
of God as our intercessor (Hebrews 4:14), and His future
return in glory, first to rapture His church (1 Thessalonians
4:16-18) and second, to establish the kingdom of God
upon the earth (Revelation 20:6).
We believe in the finality of Christ’s mediatorial
work for the redemption of humanity and the present
freedom of access to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews
7:25).
We believe in the new birth as the only means of receiving
eternal life. The new birth involves a cleansing and
deliverance from the penalty and power of sin. It is
effectuated through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance
from sin (John 3:3,5,7; Ephesians 2:8,9; 1 Peter 1:18-20).
We believe in divine healing for the total man, spirit,
mind and body and that this healing is accomplished
in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and appropriated
in the believer’s life through prayer (Isaiah
53:5; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24; James 5:13-15).
We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as an
enduement of power for all believers (Acts 2:4,38-39;
10:44-46; 19:1-6; Ephesians 5:18). This baptism results
in a deeper expression of spiritual fruit (Galatians
5:22,23), a greater growth in Christ-likeness (2 Corinthians
3:18), a genuine manifestation of spiritual gifts (1
Corinthians 12:1-11), and a more effective prayer life
(Romans 8:26, 27).
We believe in the process of spiritual development
(sanctification) wrought in the believer’s life
by the Holy Spirit. The growth involves daily dying
to sin and living unto righteousness (Romans 6:1-23),
finds expression in a holy life (Hebrews 12:24) and
will be culminated at the return of Christ (1 John 3:2).
We believe in the resurrection from the dead. First,
the righteous unto eternal life and second, the ungodly
unto eternal damnation (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28,29; Revelation
20:4-6, 11-15).
We believe in the sacraments of the church established
by Jesus Christ our Lord; the Lord’s Supper (Matthew
26:26-30; 1Corinthians 11:23-26) and baptism by immersion
as a symbol and witness of the new birth (Matthew 28:19;
I Peter 3:20-22).
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