Essentials of Our Faith
All Scripture is self-attesting and, being Truth, requires our unreserved
submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six
books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness
to God's redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living
Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by
the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on
which it speaks.
On this sure foundation we affirm these additional Essentials of our
Faith:
- We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer
of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor glory and praise forever!
- Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His virgin birth.
He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He
died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins and according to the Scriptures.
On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven,
where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High
Priest and Mediator.
- The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and
to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of
sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new
life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs
and guides us into all truth and seals us for the day of redemption.
- Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation
is wholly dependent upon the work of God's free grace. God credits His
righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their
salvation, thereby justifying them in His sight. Only those born of
the Holy Spirit and who receive Jesus Christ become children of God
and heirs of eternal life.
- The true Church is composed of all persons
who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ and sanctifying work of the
Holy Spirit, are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds
her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where
the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered
in their integrity, where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where
loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the
return of her Lord.
- Jesus Christ will come again to the earth - personally,
visibly, and bodily - to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate
history and the eternal plan of God. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," (Rev.
22:30).
- The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim
the Gospel throughout the world and make disciples of all nations. Obedience
to the Great Commission requires total commit-ment to "Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us". He calls us to a life of self-denying love
and service. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them"
(Eph. 2:10).
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