WHAT WE BELIEVE
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Our desire is that we as a church have a relationship with God. We believe God exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Isaiah 44:6
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:5-6
God the Father
We believe that God spoke the world into existence and that he sustains all things to this day. God in his position as father has absolute authority over all.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2
You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. John 14:28
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:6
God the Son
God sent his son Jesus to live as a man for a period of time. Jesus when he was a man submitted his way of life to fulfilling all that God commanded of him. He was God’s sacrifice on the cross so that through this act of love all could be saved. Jesus is the way for us to have access to the Father who gives eternal life.
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:35-36
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 8:19
“I [Jesus] am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
God the Holy Spirit
God’s Holy Spirit is given to all those who are in Christ to indwell in them. He also makes intercession for us in our time of prayer.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:9
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 4:13
Man
When God created the world man was the pinnacle of his creation and made him in his image. God made man with an eternal spirit.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:27
What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. Psalm 8:5-6
You have put all things under his feet,
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Sin
Sin separates us from a holy God. We sin when we give in to our own desires. We believe that all have sinned and that the wages of sin is death.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:15
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Salvation
Salvation comes through the cross. At the cross, Jesus took the penalty for our sins therefore reconciling us to God.
We are saved when we decide to respond to the grace shown at the cross by accepting in faith the free gift of salvation. True faith requires action and we are asked to repent and be baptized calling on the name of Jesus.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Act 22:16
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Baptism
which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus. 1 Peter 3:21