After making all other creatures, He created man (male and female) with rational and immortal souls, being made after the image of God.  They were fit for worship and communion with God, having the law of God written on their hearts, with the ability to remain faithful and yet the liberty to act unfaithfully.  Rather than submitting to and recognizing the declarations of God, they instead submitted to the creation, listening to the serpent and then declaring for themselves that the fruit was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and able to make one wise. (Gen. 3:5) And in so placing their judgements above the judgements of God (who had already declared all creation to be very good) they incurred for themselves and their progeny, a nature inclined towards sin (unfaithfulness, disobedience, and rebellion against God). And are now wholly unable to reconcile themselves to God apart from His grace which is now offered freely in the Gospel of Christ.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. -Hebrews 11:3

Therefore, God was pleased to reveal Himself throughout history, the fullness of His revelation being in the person of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. The New Testament contains eyewitness accounts of the life and teaching Jesus Christ. (John 1:6)

Though we value church history, tradition, and the teaching of the Church Fathers; we hold that the New Testament is the only place we find a secure deposit of apostolic teaching that has been preserved throughout history. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

We believe the Scripture does not become or contain God’s Word, but is itself God’s Word. The only place we can discover the objective meaning from the Scripture is within the text of Scripture itself. The objective meaning of the text of Scripture is not found in the mind of the author nor is it supplied by the mind of the reader.

We believe that fallen humanity is separated from God and in need of rescue. (Romans 3:23 & 6:23). God sent His only Son Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless and perfect life, to take the penalty of sin upon Himself by willingly dying on the cross. On the third day after He was buried, He victoriously rose from the grave defeating both sin and death. Then for a span of forty days, He was witnessed by many people until He ascended into Heaven where He currently sits alive and well at the right hand of the Father until the day when He will stand up to come judge both the living and the dead. To be saved, we repent and believe in Jesus as Lord, which means we acknowledge our guilt before God as sinners and turn away from the world and our sins. We then turn towards God through faith in Jesus Christ placing our trust in Him alone. Anyone who believes in Jesus is saved from eternal punishment, will stand righteous before God at the final judgment (Jesus’ righteousness is credited to the believer), and will be with The Lord forever!

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep”. -1 Cor. 15:1-6

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. -2 Corinthians 10:4-6

We believe that faith is a concept which is misunderstood in both the local church and in society. When the Bible speaks of “faith” it does not mean “blind faith”. Neither does it mean “wishful thinking.” Instead, the Bible uses the word faith to refer to a belief that is based on authority, which is an extension of reason, and in which one places active trust.

With reference to Jesus, this means that Jesus can be established as an authority by reason, but we must trust things Jesus says which even the people that were with him could not confirm. A good example is found in Mark 2 and the story of the paralytic lowered through the roof. In this event Jesus first tells that man “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The scribes are unhappy with this claim. Jesus perceived this and says, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?” Jesus does this in order to prove that He has the power to forgive sin (which can only be done by the power of God). He will do something else that can only be done by the power of God (healing a man paralyzed from birth).  The man rises and walks out before everyone’s eyes.

If we talked to a person that was in the room when this event happened and asked them, “How much faith does it take to believe that Jesus can heal a paralytic?”  The answer would be, “None, all you need to have is eyes to see the proof that He can.”  However, the same cannot be said regarding the man being forgiven of his sins.  This can only be believed by taking Jesus at his word.  You cannot see sin being forgiven or perform a test to know that the man is forgiven.  However, this does not mean you must “blindly” trust that the man is forgiven.  Instead, Jesus using the miraculous healing to prove the power He has.  It is then “reasonable” to believe He can forgive the man’s sin even if you can’t prove it.  Further, merely believing, that Jesus is God and that He can forgive sin is not enough for salvation.  Instead, we must actively trust in this knowledge and willingly submit to what Jesus says about us.