God

We join the historic church in affirming the Trinitarian Godhead. There is one God, who eternally exists as three Persons; the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; Jesus Christ the Son, our Savior, who is of the same essence as the Father, begotten and not made, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God; the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the Prophets, and who is to be worshipped and glorified with the Father and Son.

Creation

In the beginning, God created all things out of nothing to put His glory on display for the delight of His created beings, that they might share in His joy as they magnify and declare His greatness. God spoke all of creation into existence. All things were made through the Word of God, and when He was finished, God decreed that all He made was very good; nothing was evil or bad.

Man

God created man as the pinnacle of His creation and placed him in the Garden of Eden where they had fellowship. He then created the first woman from the first man. God created the first humans male and female and gave them the command to be fruitful and multiply, to subdue the Earth. Man was created in God’s image and his task was to spread the glory of Eden over the entire world. Therefore, man’s primary purpose was to magnify God’s glory in His material creation.

Rebellion

Man was blessed by God and given one command to obey. His obedience to the one command would result in everlasting life, but his disobedience would result in death. The Tempter and Accuser, who was/is a created spiritual being, convinced the woman to disobey God’s one command. She, in turn, convinced the man to disobey God’s command; suddenly bad and evil were in material creation for the first time. 

Curse

God did not immediately destroy man for his disobedience. He cursed the Tempter, woman, man, and all of creation, (man’s dominion); but at the same time God promised a Savior would one day rise from among man’s descendants to defeat the Tempter. Therefore, the age of grace began because God bestowed unmerited favor on mankind. God’s plan for man to spread His glory over all creation
was not changed. Man would now be required to complete his task of subduing the Earth, and magnifying God’s glory in a fallen world where the tempter was given authority to kill, steal, and destroy. Although now he would have to contend with sin in his nature, and in the world around him.

Sin

Sin is an evil and depraved condition of the human heart that ultimately presents as violations of divine moral law. Sin entered God’s creation through man’s rebellious partnership with the Tempter, or Satan. All parties deserved to be destroyed or condemned to everlasting punishment for sin. Sin earns nothing but death. The first humans’ sin nature passed to all their descendants so that all humans share in same depraved condition; all humans sin and fall short of the glory of God.

Chosen

Man began populating the Earth and became increasingly evil in God’s sight. To deal with the evil and rebellion, God flooded the Earth saving only a few and later divided mankind into separate nations. The nations all rejected the One True God and offended Him by pursuing their own idols. God called a man named Abram out from the evil nations. Through Abram, God made His chosen nation Israel. Israel was chosen not because of anything special about the people, rather their election was solely due to God’s sovereign choice. God used His chosen people despite their wickedness, to set the conditions for the coming Savior promised in the Garden of Eden.

Covenants

God revealed and effected His redemptive plan for mankind through various covenants with His chosen people. He also elected a man to represent and lead His chosen people into and through every covenant He made. Each man gave into temptation and failed to achieve what God had commanded the first man in the garden, proving himself to be insufficient and therefore not the savior God promised. Man cannot save himself. Man cannot save others.

Revelation

Man was blinded by sin, so God revealed Himself and spoke through prophets who wrote down what God had ordained for His chosen people. God’s revelation increased man’s knowledge about the nature of God and the purpose of man. Through revelation, God gave His chosen people a law, a system for atonement, and an eternal monarchy. God also spoke through the prophets of Israel about a Messiah or Christ that He would send to fulfill the requirements of the law, effect an unconditional atonement, and establish an eternal monarchy. Major revelation ceased for nearly 500 years prior to the fulfillment of God’s prophecy. God’s chosen people waited.

Incarnation

At the appointed time, and as foretold in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit came upon a willing Israelite virgin named Mary who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. Mary conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit and bore that child who at once was truly divine and truly human. Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man.

Ministry

Jesus grew up and lived among God’s chosen people as an obedient son to Joseph and Mary. He started His ministry at the age of 30.
He taught with divine authority for three years, and He proved His divinity through miracles which demonstrated He had power over sickness, death, evil spirits, and all of creation. Despite His power, He was opposed by the religious elite among God’s chosen people, who sought to silence and later kill Him.

Fulfillment

Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Savior or Messiah. He was the fulfillment of the promise God made to the Tempter when He cursed all of creation and foretold of a day when the first woman’s offspring would bring forth a savior who would defeat the Tempter and all evil with him. Though He lived in the same cursed world, Jesus was the only man who never sinned.
 He obeyed the moral law God gave man perfectly. Jesus fulfilled man’s obligation in God’s covenant with the first man Adam, the obligation that no other man was able to fulfill.

Atonement

As was prophesized in the Scriptures, evil men rejected Jesus as the Messiah of their people and they conspired to kill Him. They seized Jesus and pressured the Roman overlords to put Him to death on a cross, claiming He broke the law. Jesus went willingly to the cross, and there He satisfied or propitiated the divine mandate for justice with His death at the hands of evil men. While on the cross,
Jesus willingly accepted the sin of His people, and became the curse for His people. On the cross, God made Him to be sin even though He had never sinned. He died in the place of many who deserved death and everlasting punishment. He redeemed a people for Himself by His blood. He calls the redeemed His bride, and her bride price was paid at the highest cost.

Resurrection

For a short time, it appeared evil had triumphed; but on the third day after Jesus died, He physically and bodily rose from the grave and appeared to His disciples, proclaiming victory and triumph over Satan and death. He never sinned, He was completely obedient, even unto death; therefore, death had no claim on Him.

Ascension

After appearing to His disciples, Jesus sent them into the world to teach and baptize people from every tribe and nation. Then He ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father as One who has all authority over heaven and earth.

Pentecost

Before Jesus was crucified, He promised He would send the Holy Spirit to dwell inside His disciples. After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned His disciples to take His Gospel to the whole world, but He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem together for the promised Holy Spirit to come and cloth them with power from on high before beginning their mission and ministry. Most of the
disciples at this time were uneducated fisherman who were not classically trained to preach and teach. God loves to use people in their weakness to display His power. The day of Pentecost came with the power of the Holy Spirit descending upon the disciples who began speaking the mighty works of God in the languages of many nations. Visitors from all over the world in Jerusalem, heard the Gospel preached that day in their native tongue because of the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in the disciples. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Son, who glorifies the Father.

Redemption

After Pentecost, the disciples went out with the power of the Holy Spirit to share the message of redemption with the entire world. They proclaimed what is true in all generations. They proclaimed; the Father sent the Son (Jesus) into the world to save whoever believes in Him. The Son died for His people; and rose from the grave to defeat death; He offers salvation and forgiveness to all people
when they repent of their sins and place their faith/trust in Him as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit applies the atoning work of Jesus to all who truly believe; He regenerates, indwells, and seals the believer, keeping him or her in faith for the day of judgment. All people who receive redemption in Christ, are saved by grace through faith, not based on their own work, rather their salvation is a gift from God. All whom God calls He justifies (i.e. declares righteous), and all who He justifies, He will ultimately glorify. This message is properly called the Gospel.

New Covenant

Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and created a new one, which He inaugurated as a New Kingdom typified by a Renewed Creation. Unlike the Old, full New Covenant membership is offered to people from every tribe and nation. New Covenant inclusion is actuated by turning away from self and embracing faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. All New Covenant members are adopted as Sons
of God in Jesus Christ and united to Him.

Apostles

Jesus chose and called certain men to be Apostles. Apostles were witnesses to the resurrected Christ. Jesus equipped Apostles with a unique anointing and sent them to establish His church. The marks of a true Apostle were demonstrated in signs, wonders, and miracles.The Apostles, along with the prophets, became the foundation of the church.

Scriptures

Holy Scripture is composed of the 66 books of the Bible which are the inspired Word of God, and inerrant in their original form. God spoke through men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit to produce the Scriptures. Scripture is special revelation, and it accomplishes what God intends for it to accomplish. Scripture is the sole infallible rule for faith and practice in the church today because it is all that we have that is God-breathed. Scripture is both necessary and sufficient to make the man and woman of God complete, (restored to one’s created purpose), and equipped for every good work.

The Church

The church proper includes everyone who Christ has received, and the Holy Spirit has sealed into His New Covenant. This church is often understood as universal and invisible; the invisible church is universal and transcends the boundaries of any denomination or tradition. The local church is the visible manifestation of the invisible universal church. The local church is the institution that God chose to advance His already consummated, yet not fully realized Kingdom until He comes again. Therefore, the local church continues the mission of the Apostles to make disciples of all nations. Conversion is immediate, but discipleship takes time and accountability. God intended the local church to be led by elders and served by all. Deacons are called to a particular service within the church to assist the elders so that they may focus on teaching, preaching, and prayer. To accomplish His purposes, God gives all New Covenant members spiritual gifts to build up the church and glorify God.

Sanctification

God sanctifies all who He has called and made regenerate in order to destroy the sin nature which hinders New Covenant members from living into the fullness of their purpose, (i.e. glorifying God and enjoying Him forever). Sanctification is a process that occurs over a lifetime and its purpose is not a work that earns salvation, but rather a witness that the Lord’s glorious salvation is already wrought in the one who has faith. This witness indeed glorifies God because it is the manifestation of His good purpose in a world that opposes Him.

Ordinances

Jesus gave two ordinances to the church which have historically been called sacraments. The two ordinances are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is a sign and seal of New Covenant membership. The proper recipients of Baptism are those who have made a credible profession of faith and desire inclusion in a local church. The Lord’s Supper is a covenant renewal where New Covenant members come together to proclaim the Lord’s death and resurrection until He comes again. The proper recipients of the Lord’s Supper are New Covenant members who have been baptized and made a public profession of faith.

Judgment

All New Covenant members look forward to the day Jesus will return. He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end. No one knows the hour of Christ’s return, nor has He ordained that man should know. All the dead will be raised to face judgment. All those who have been brought into the New Covenant by grace through faith will be kept through judgment, having their sin debt paid by the blood of Christ. All those who are not part of the New Covenant will be consigned to everlasting punishment.

Eternal State

At the appointed time, and after the judgment of the dead, cursed creation will give way to a New Earth coming down from heaven.
All those who are raised in Christ will reign with Him in glorified bodies in the New Earth that is come, which will at once be perfect and eternal. Man will finally be returned to His full potential and purpose, glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

Doctrinal Distinctives

• We emphasize the sovereignty of God in salvation and sanctification.
• We emphasize the power of God working through His Word (ie the Scriptures), to save all He
chooses, to change lives, and to ultimately bring Himself glory here on Earth and in eternity.
• We emphasize the necessity of the local church in discipleship and discipline.
• We emphasize the Great Commission and the calling to make disciples of all nations.
• We emphasize the Five Historic Solas of the Reformation: We are saved by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone; and Scripture alone is the infallible rule of
faith in the church today

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