GOD

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. In the Trinity God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.


God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.


Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; 17:13; 

Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15


God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind, yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and, in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.


Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9;  Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16


God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.


Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16, 26-27

THE BIBLE

The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and, therefore, is and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.


Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; 

Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11, 89,105, 140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21

SALVATION

Everyone has heard about Jesus, whether you are a Christian or not. Some think that He was a great teacher, but nothing more. Maybe you think He didn’t exist at all. Whatever you believe, we can probably agree that Jesus changed things. We believe He wants to change you, too.


GOD'S PLAN: ETERNAL LIFE

  • WE RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE AS A FREE GIFT. "THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD" ROMANS 6:23.
  • WE CAN LIVE A FULL AND MEANINGFUL LIFE RIGHT NOW. "I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL" (JOHN 10:10).
  • WE WILL SPEND ETERNITY WITH JESUS IN HEAVEN. "I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME BACK AND TAKE YOU TO BE WITH ME THAT YOU ALSO MAY BE WHERE I AM" (JOHN 14:3).
ETERNAL LIFE GIVES MEANING TO LIFE. YET OUR SINFUL NATURE KEEPS US FROM FULFILING GOD'S PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES.

OUR PROBLEM: SIN

  • WE ARE ALL SINNERS BY NATURE AND BY CHOICE. "ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD" (ROMANS 3:23).
  • WE CANNOT SAVE OURSELVES. "NOT BY WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST" (EPHESIANS 2:9).
  • WE DESERVE DEATH AND HELL. "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH (ROMANS 6:23). IT IS TRUE THAT GOD IS HOLY AND JUST AND MUST PUNISH SIN, YET HE LOVES US AND HAS PROVIDED FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SIN. JESUS SAID, "I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME" (JOHN 14:6).
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR SINS.

GOD'S PROVISION: JESUS CHRIST.

  • JESUS IS GOD AND BECAME MAN. "IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD....THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND MADE HIS DWELLING AMONG US" (JOHN) 1:1, 14).
  • JESUS DIED FOR US ON THE CROSS. "FOR CHRIST DIED FOR SINS ONCE FOR ALL, THE RIGHTEOUS FOR THE UNRIGHTEOUS, TO BRING YOU TO GOD. HE WAS PUT TO DEATH IN THE BODY BUT MADE ALIVE BY THE SPIRIT" (1 PETER 3:18).
  • JESUS WAS RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD. "HE WAS DELIVERED OVER TO DEATH FOR OUR SINS AND WAS RAISED TO LIFE FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION" (ROMANS 4:25). THAT IS GOOD NEWS, BUT THE ONLY WAY JESUS CAN AFFECT OUR LIVES IS FOR US TO RECEIVE HIM. THE BIBLE SAYS, "YET TO ALL WHO RECEIVED HIM, TO THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIS NAME, HE GAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD" (JOHN 1:12).

THE CHOICE IS OURS.

THE FAMILY

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in a covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.


Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; 

Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; 

Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7

END TIMES

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to an appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus will return personally and and visibly in glory to the Earth, and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be condemned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. The end may come at any time, and no man knows when, so don’t believe the stuff you see on TV.