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We believe in the
plenary verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, which are without
error in the original manuscripts, and which are the final authority
of faith and practice (II Timothy 3:16, Romans 15:4, and II Peter
1:21).
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We believe in one
God who eternally exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, who share the same essence and attributes, and are
alone worthy of worship (Matthew 28:19-20, John 4:24, Acts 5:3-4,
and Hebrew 1:3,8).
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We believe in the
deity and virgin birth of Christ, thus being truly God and truly
man, His substitutionary death for all mankind, His bodily
resurrection, His present high priestly ministry and mediatorship,
and His personal, visible, imminent, and pre-millennial return
(Matthew 1:20-25, John 3:16, John 20:20, Romans 3:21-26, Philippians
2:5-8, I Thessalonians 1:10, I Timothy 2:6, and I John 2:1).
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We believe in the
personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, and His ministry of
convicting and regenerating sinners, and indwelling, anointing,
sealing, and empowering all believers (Acts 1:8, Acts 5:3-4, Romans
8:9, I Corinthians 6:19, I Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:30, and I
John 2:27-28).
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We
believe man was created in the image and likeness of God, and
subsequently fell from the state of innocence, and became dead in
sin. We believe that this sin nature was passed to the entire human
race and as a result man inherits a nature that is one of total
depravity in which he is devoid of spiritual life, and incapable,
apart from divine grace, of pleasing God (Genesis 1:26-27, Romans
3:10-12, Romans 5:12, and Ephesians 2:1-3).
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We believe in the
justification of the sinner solely by grace through faith in the
work of Christ on the cross, the election of the believer, and the
eternal character of his salvation in Christ (John 1:12-13, John
3:16-18, Acts 13:48, Romans 5:1, 6-9, Ephesians 1:7, Philippians
3:9, and II Timothy 1:12).
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We believe that
the Church is the body of Christ, uniting all believers from
Pentecost to the rapture at which time it will be caught up to be
with Christ. We believe in the independence of the local church as
an autonomous company of baptized believers which is to function in
keeping the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's table,
bringing believers to maturity in Christ, enjoying fellowship,
training believers for the work of ministry, and evangelizing the
lost (Matthew 16:16-18, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:42-47, I
Corinthians 11:26, I Corinthians 12:12-27, and Ephesians 4:11-13).
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We believe in the
personal, imminent, and pre-millennial return of Christ for his
church. We believe in the literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on
earth following the 7-year tribulation in fulfillment of the Old
Testament promises to Israel (Jeremiah 30:7, John 14:1-3, Romans
5:9, I Corinthians 15:51-52, I Thessalonians 1:10, I Thessalonians
4:13-18, Revelation 20:1-3).
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We believe in the
bodily resurrection of the saved and unsaved. The saved will have
immortality and eternal joy in the presence of God, and the unsaved
will have eternal conscious suffering separated from the presence of
God (Daniel 12:2, II Corinthians 5:8-10, II Thessalonians 1:5-10,
Jude 1:6-7, and Revelation 20:11-15).
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