Our Values
When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus gave this statement, which is called the Shema: ‘Love God, Love Others, Love Self.’ We are called, first and foremost, to love God. The focus is not primarily to obey or believe in a certain way, but to love God. Next is to love others. In the same way that God loved us right where we were, that is how we are to love others. Though God loves us exactly where we are, He loves us too much to let us stay there. God loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to continue living a life of destruction and turmoil. Finally, God wants us to learn to love ourselves, not to worship ourselves, but to learn to love what He loves. We cannot give what we do not have.
In the Old Testament, people would bring their sacrifices and lay them on the altar before God. This was their form of worship. God tells us that WE are a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), and that we are to present ourselves to God in all that we do: our words, our motives, our jobs. Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17). Everything that we do as believers is worship.
Jesus said that He was the Word made flesh. Our goal is to follow Christ in every area of our lives. God has given us the Bible as the plumb line, the light, and the standard by which to live. In it, we find comfort, truth, direction, encouragement, correction, and training (2 Timothy 3:16). We desire to align our church and our lives with the Word of God.
If we are going to be like Christ, we are going to be generous givers of our time, treasures, and talents. God has set the standard. You can give and not love, but if you love, you must give.
John 10:10 speaks to God’s original design. We desire to learn to walk in all that God has designed for us. That means learning to walk in healing, learning to walk in freedom, distinguishing the lies from the world, flesh, and enemy, and walking in not our truth, but THE truth (John 14:6). To live abundantly means to walk in the fullness of all that God has for us.
In all that we do, we do it as unto God, because He is always with us. We also do life with others. We were not created to do life alone. Even when God was with man in the Garden, He said, “It is not good that you be alone.” We are created for community – with God and with others. Everything together.
What We Believe
God the Father
God the Father is the Creator and sustainer of all things, who created the universe in love to respond to Himself. He created man in His own image for fellowship and calls man back to Himself through Christ after the rebellion and fall of man.
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The Son
Jesus Christ is eternally God. He was together with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning, and through Him, all things were made. For man’s redemption, He left heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and henceforth He is forever one Christ with two natures, God and Man, in one Person.
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The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God, the Lord, and giver of life, who was active in the Old Testament and given to the Church in fullness at Pentecost. He empowers the saints for service and witness, cleanses man from the old nature, and conforms us to the image of Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, subsequent to conversion, releases the fullness of the Spirit and is evidenced by tongues, joy, praise and other inward and outward manifestations and gifts.
We affirm that the Bible containing the Old and New Testaments is alone the only infallible inspired Word of God and that its authority is ultimate and final and eternal. It cannot be added to, subtracted from, or superseded in any regard. The Bible is the source of all doctrine, instruction, correction, and reproof. It contains all that is needed for guidance in godliness and practical Christian conduct.
The Word of God declares clearly that salvation is a free gift of God, based on the merits of the death of His Son, and is appropriated by faith. Salvation is effected by personal repentance, belief in the Lord Jesus (justification), and personal acceptance of Him into one’s life as Lord and Savior (regeneration). The new life in Christ includes the privileges of adoption and inheritance in the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Salvation is an act of free will in response to God’s personal love for mankind. It is predestined only in the sense that God, through His omniscience, foreknew those who would choose Him. It is secure in the eternal unchanging commitment of God, who does not lie and is forever the same. However, the security of His nature does not remove the individual’s free will to renounce the love, and the grace he has received. Salvation is not a one-time event that frees us from hell, but an active lifestyle of loving obedience, and service to Jesus Christ our savior.
We believe that the Scriptures portray the life of the saint in this world to be one of balance between what is imputed to us as Christians and what is imparted to us according to our faith and maturity. Hence God’s provision for His children is total and the promises are final and are forever. The shortcomings of the individual and of the Church are because of the still progressing sanctification of the saints. The Christian life is filled with trials, tests, and warfare against a spiritual enemy. For those abiding in Christ until their death or His return, the promises of eternal blessing in the presence of God are assured. To remain faithful through all circumstances of life, it requires dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and a willingness to die to personal desires and passions.
The Word of God enjoins on the Church two perpetual ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first, baptism, is the outward sign of what God has already done in the individual’s life, and is a testimony to all that the person belongs now to Jesus. It is an identification with Jesus and is effected in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of the death of the Lord and is done in remembrance of Him until He comes again, and is a sign of our participation in Him. Both institutions are restricted to those who are believers. 1.8 – Eschatology We affirm the bodily, personal, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the Saints, the Millennium, and the final judgment. The final judgment will determine the eternal status of both the saints and the unbelievers, determined by their relationship to Jesus Christ. We affirm with the Bible the final state of the New Heavens and New Earth.