G O D_ T H E _F A T H E R

There is 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, all loving, and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

Gen. 1:1; Ex. 15:11-27; 1 Chron. 29:10; John 4:24; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 1:17

J E S U S _C H R I S T , _T H E _S O N

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 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 provided the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to complete His redemptive mission.

Is. 7:14; Is. 53:1-12; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-18; Rom 1:3-4; Gal. 4:4-5; Col. 1:15

T H E _H O L Y _S P I R I T

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. Through illumination, He enables men to understand truth of God. 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.

Gen. 1:2; Ps. 139:7-24; Joel 2:28-32; John 16:7-14; 1 Cor. 2:10-14

S A L V A T I O N

“All have sinned sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), therefore, all people are separated from God, as He is perfect and cannot be in the presence of sin. For this reason, all people need salvation through Christ Jesus in order to be restored into a right standing with God. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Luke 1:68-69; Rom. 10:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; James 2:14-26

T H E _H O L Y _B I B L E

The Holy Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God through the Spirit. Scripture is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction, without any mixture of error. 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.

Deut. 4:1-2; Ps. 19:7-10; Is. 40:8; Rom. 15:4; 2 Tim. 3:15-17

T H E _C H U R C H

A New Testament church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes, where each member is responsible and accountable to Christ. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. The church is also referenced as the Body of Christ which, as a whole, includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Acts 2:41-42; 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Cor. 12:4-27; Eph. 2:19-22; Col. 1:18

B A P T I S M

Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water as an act of obedience to symbolize being buried with Christ as in death to their own sins and being resurrected with Christ to walk in the newness of life. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and the Lord’s Supper.

Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 8:35-39; Rom. 6: 3-5; Col. 2:12

T H E _L O R D ‘ S _S U P P E R

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby believers, through partaking of the bread and the cup, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. As explained in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, the bread represents Christ’s body as it was sacrificed on the cross, and the cup represents the new covenant under Christ’s blood.

Matt. 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16, 21