ARTICLES OF FAITH

I. GOD

We believe that there is one, and only one, true and living God; that He is absolute in nature, perfect in attributes, holy in character, the maker and supreme ruler of Heaven and earth; that He is infinite in wisdom, marvelous in power, and amazing in love, that He is holy, righteous and true, worthy of all confidence and love, that He unites in Himself the infinite, the eternal, and the almighty three---God, The Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; that the three persons of the God-head subsist in the same divine nature, essence, and being; and that they are co-existent and co-equal in every divine attribute, and each one executing distinct and harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Genesis 17:1; Exodus 3:14; 20:2-3; 15:11; Psalm 83:18; 90:2; 147:5; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:30; John 4:24; 10:30; 15:16,26; 17:5; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 1:20; 11:23; 1 Corinthians 12:10-11; 8:6; 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18; 4:6; Philippians 2:5-6; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 3:4; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 4:11

II. THE DIVINE TRINITY

A.      GOD THE FATHER. We believe that God, the Father is the first person set forth in the Divine Trinity; that He is almighty, merciful, and just; that He is holy, righteous, and true, that He is eternally existent, glorious in nature, possessing the attributes of omnipotence omniscience, and omnipresence: and that He, in harmony with His divine office, loves, provides, and protects, thus exercising providential watchcare over the sons of men, and especially a fatherly care over the children of God.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11 ff.; 20:1 ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3, 15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9 ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7

B.      GOD THE SON---VIRGIN BORN. We believe that God the Son is the second person set forth in the Divine Trinity: that He is very God of very God: that He is almighty, merciful and just: that He is holy, righteous and true, that He is eternally existent, glorious in nature, possessing the attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence: that God, the Father, through the Holy Spirit, is actually and eternally His divine Father and that Mary the Virgin, is actually and innocently His human mother, and that He, in harmony with His divine office, mediates, seeks, and saves, thus exercising the mediatorial office of redemption.

Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 7:14; Matthews 1:18-25; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Galatians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 15:47; 1 John 5:20

C.      GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT We believe that God, the Holy Spirit is the third person set forth in the Divine Trinity; that He is almighty, merciful, and just: that He is eternally existent, glorious in nature, possessing the attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence: that He restrains the world, the flesh, and the devil; that He witnesses to the truth, convicts the lost, extols the Christ, and testifies to the divine office, comforts, teaches, testifies, preaches, guides, regenerates, empowers, sanctifies, and anoints thus exercising the quickening role in the works of saving the lost, and the supervising role in the life of the saved.

Matthew 3:11; 28:19; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:35; 3:16; 24:49; John 1:33; 3:5-6; 14:16-17,26; 15:26-27; 16:8-11,13; Acts 5:30-32; 11:16; Romans 8:14,16,26-27; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:7,13; Hebrews 9:14; 1Peter 1:2

III. THE DEVIL

We believe that Satan is an actual person and not an imaginary influence; that he once enjoyed high heavenly honors and glorious heavenly privileges; that he, through pride ambition, and self-will attempted to betray the Almighty and brought down upon his head the judgment of God: that he operates today as the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air: that he is a diabolical inventor, arch-deceiver, and the father of all lies: that he is the greatest enemy, the mightiest tempter, and the most relentless accuser of the saints, and that he shall one day be incarnated in the person of the Anti-Christ, and in that role will finally meet the Christ in the battle of the Armageddon; that there “the seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpent’s head”; and that he shall eventually be cast into the lake of fire, the eternal place of punishment, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:14-17; Matthew 4:1-3; 13:25; 25:41;; Mark 13:21-22; Luke 22:3-4; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 2:4; 1 John 2:22; 3:8; 4:3; 2 John 7; Jude 6; Revelation 12:7-10; 13:13-14; 19: 20:1-3,10

IV. THE HOLY BIBLE

We believe that the Holy Bible is a supernatural Book; that it is the very Word of God; that it is the full, the final, and the complete revelation of God’s will to man; that it has God, the Holy Spirit, for its author, salvation for its end, the truth in the original without any admixture of error for its matter; that it was written by holy men of old under the immediate and direct dictation of the Holy Spirit: that it is verbally inspired and a perfect treasure of holy instruction: and that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us, and is, therefore, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried.

Psalm 19:7-11; 119:89,105,130,160; Proverbs 30:5-6; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:31; 24:25-27,44-45; John 5:39,45-47; 12:47-48; 17:17; Acts 1:16; 28:25; Romans 3:4; 2:12; 15:4; Ephesians 6:17, 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:23; 2Peter 1:19-21;; Revelation 22:19

V. CREATION

We believe that the Genesis record of creation is literal, and not allegorical or figurative; that God personally created the Heaven and the earth; that He miraculously brought forth all original matter out of nothing, that He actually fashioned changes within the species; that He definitely ordained each species to bring forth after its kind; that He finally formed man out of the dust of the ground, not by any process of evolution but by instant action, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became immediately a living soul; that His every creative act was complete and perfect in itself; and that not one of His creations was conditioned upon antecedent changes naturally wrought during interminable periods of time.

Genesis 1:1,11,24,26-27; 2:21-23; Exodus 20:11; Nehemiah 9:6; Jeremiah 10:12; John 1:3; Acts 4:24; 17:23-26; Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 10:6

VI. THE FALL OF MAN

We believe that man, originally created in holiness and actually associated with God in innocence under His law, did by voluntary transgression of the Lord’s command fall from the high and happy state in which he was created, and brought upon himself and all man-kind just condemnation; and that he is now, by virtue of his fallen nature, utterly void of holiness, positively inclined to evil, and actually condemned to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse.

Genesis 1:27,31; 3:1-24; 6:12; Psalm 51:5; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Isaiah 53:6; Ezekiel 18:19-20; John 3:6; Romans 1:18,20,28,31-32; 3:10-19; 5:12,19; Galatians 3:22; Ephesians 2:1,3, 13

VII. THE BLOOD ATONEMENT

We believe that the lost sinner is guilty and already under just condemnation; that he is by nature alien to God and because of sin condemned to die; that atonement for sin was effected through the mediatorial office of the Son who by divine appointment, freely took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin; that He through obedience during His earthly walk, personally honored the divine Law by keeping it, and through His death on the cross, actually satisfied the penalty of the offended Law by suffering in the sinner’s stead; that He through His obedience and sacrificial death, made full and vicarious atonement for all sin: that He died, the just for the unjust bearing our sins in His body on the tree; and that He through the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary, evidenced eternal provision for cleansing, for pardon, for peace and for rest.

Isaiah 53:4-7,11-12; Matthew 18:11; John 3:16; 10:18; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24-25; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:14; 7:25; 9:12-15; 12:2

VIII. REPENTANCE AND FAITH

We believe that repentance and faith are solemn and inseparable prerequisites of salvation; that they are inseparable graces wrought in the heart of the quickening Holy Spirit; that the alien sinner, being deeply convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, by the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit; and by him having his understanding enlightened so that he can see the way of salvation through Christ, does actually repent, running to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication, and does actually believe, surrendering himself wholeheartedly to the Lord Jesus, immediately receiving Him as personal and all-sufficient Savior and openly confessing Him before all men.

Psalm 51:1-4,7; Isaiah 55:6-7; Mark 1:15; Luke 12:8; 18:13; John 16:8; Acts 2:22-23,37-38; 11:18; 16:30-31; 20:21; Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8; James 4:7-10; 1 John 5:1

IX. SALVATION BY GRACE

We believe that grace is elective and saving; that it embraces the personal triune and redemptive ministry of God, the Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit; that it comprehends all of the labors forth by the Almighty in the interest of perfect righteousness and the salvation of the lost soul; that it encompasses foreknowledge, foreordination, and predestination; that it and it alone, saves even unto the uttermost all who repent toward God and believe toward God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that salvation thus wrought is wholly by grace, “the free gift of God,” requiring neither culture nor works in any form to secure it or to keep it.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-8; 33:18-19; 1 Samuel 8:4-7,19-22; Isaiah 5:1-7; 55:1; Jeremiah 31:31 ff.; Matthew 11:28; 20:15; 21:28-45; 24:22,31; 25:34; Luke 5:27; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; John 1:12-14; 3:2,6-7,15-18,36; 5:24,40; 6:37-40,44-45,65; 10:16,27-29; 15:16; 17:6,12,17-18; Acts 13:48; 20:32; Romans 5:9-10; 6:23; 8:28-39; 9:23-24; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2,26-31; 4:7; 9:12; 15:10,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:17,19; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 1:3-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 1:12-14; 2:13; 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 1:8-9,12; 2:10,19; Titus 1:1; Hebrews 11:39 to 12:2; 1 Peter 1:2-5,13; 2:4-10; 2 Peter 1:10-11; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:19; 3:2; 5:1; Revelation 22:17

X. REGENERATION

We believe that in order to be saved lost sinners must be regenerated, or born again; that regeneration is a recreative act, far beyond comprehension, wrought in the believer’s heart by the direct personal ministry of the Holy Spirit; that it is instantaneous, miraculous, and non-evolutionary or cultural; that it embraces the divine acts of cleansing the heart from all inward sins and of pardoning the soul of all outward guilt, in connection with the work of begetting a new creature in Christ Jesus: that the dead sinner is made to live through the new birth, which comes  after the Holy Spirit secures voluntary repentance and belief in the gospel: that it is the actual impartation of the divine life, not a mere transformation of the human life; and that the proper evidence of regeneration appears in the holy fruits of the obedient and willing faith of the followers of the Lord Jesus.

Ezekiel 36:26; John 3:3,6-8; Romans 2:28-29; 8:9; Galatians 5:16-23; Ephesians 3:14-21; 5:9; 4:20-24; James 1:16-18; 1 Peter 1:22-25; 1 John 55:1

XI. JUSTIFICATION

We believe that justification is one of the great gospel blessings secured through Christ for all who trust Him: that it is a legal and divine decree, declaring the believing sinner just: that it is thus a state of being free from condemnation, including forgiveness for inward sins and pardon for outward sins: that it through faith secures freedom from legal bondage, exception from the wrath of God, and possession of peace which passes all understanding: that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely upon the evidence of faith in God and the Redeemer’s blood; and that it brings us into a state of unchanging peace and favor with God and secures every other blessing needful for time and for eternity.

Isaiah 53:11; Habakkuk 2:4; Zechariah 13:1; Matthew 6:33; John 1:16; Acts 13:39; Romans 1:17; 4:1; 3:24-28; 5:1-9,11,17-19; 8:1; Galatians 3:11; Ephesians 3:8; Titus 3:5-7; Hebrews 10:38

XII. THE SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER

We believe that salvation wrought by grace is everlasting; that the saved soul journeying through the valley of the shadow of death need fear no evil: that the Holy Spirit begotten and born are kept by the power of God; that the believer in Christ Jesus shall not be brought into judgment; that no one can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect; that they are securely held in both the hand of the Father and Son; and that the age-old doctrine, “Once in grace, always in grace,” is Heavenly and gloriously true.

Psalm 121:3; Matthew 6:20, 30-33; 13:19-21; John 8:31-32; 10:28-29; 16:8; Romans 8:28,35-39; Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13; Colossians 1:21-23; Hebrews 1:14; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 2:19,27-28; 3:9; Jude 24-25

XIII. SANCTIFICATION

We believe that sanctification is a divine work of grace; that it is not a state of sinless perfection attained through a “second blessing” or through a special “Baptism of the Holy Ghost”; that it is an act of grace by which the believer is separated unto God and dedicated to His righteous purpose; that by it we enter into divinely appointed privileges and thus become larger partakers of His holiness; that it is a progressive work, begun in regeneration, and carried on in the life of every believer by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God: and that it is nurtured only by Heaven’s appointed means, especially by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the saved through his self-examination, obedience, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.

Proverbs 4:18; John 6:29; 17:17; Romans 8:5; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:11-12; Philippians 2:12-13; 3:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 5:23; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 1:5-8

XIV. THE LORD’S RETURN

We believe that Christ Jesus is coming back to earth again, that His return shall be personal, audible, visible, and bodily; that it shall mark the advent of the “day of the Lord” and usher in the millennium: and that He shall in that day turn the tables of Satan, take up the throne of His father David, put down all his enemies, rule with a rod of iron, triumph over sin, and give the world an example of righteous government during His thousand years of righteous government during His thousand years of personal reign on the earth.

Matthew 13:37-43,49; 24:30-35; 25:31-41; John 5:28-29; Acts 1:11; 24:25; Romans 2:2-16; 3:5-6; 6:22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 7:29-31; 15:12-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 5:1-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-12; Hebrews 1:10-12; 6:1-2; 9:28; 1 Peter 4:7; Revelation 1:7; 22:11

XV. THE RESURRECTION

We believe that Jesus Christ arose bodily from the grave on the first day of the week which day we now observe as the Lord’s Day, a day of worship, that His miraculous emergence from the tomb forecast a like bodily resurrection for every member of the Adamic race; that the dead in Christ shall rise first and in glorified bodies like His, that they shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; that the dead in trespasses and sins, or the dead out of Christ, shall rise at the close of the millennium, and that they shall be brought before the Great White Throne Judgment and there face the judge of the quick and the dead.

Psalm 72:8; Isaiah 11:4-5; Matthew 24:27,42; Matthew 28:6-7; Mark 16:6,19; Luke 1:32; Luke 24:2,4-6,39,51; John 14:3; John 20:27; Acts 1:9,11; 1Corinthians 15:4; Philippians 4:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17; 5:9; 8:1; 9:28; 12:2

XVI. INDIVIDUAL REWARDS

We believe that reward and salvation are not one and the same thing. We believe that the Lord shall reward His own: that He Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout; that the dead in Christ shall rise first: that a solemn separation shall take place; that the blood-washed and Holy-Spirit begotten shall be caught up to meet Him in the air, and there be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body; and that the place called the New Heaven and the New Earth is ordained the everlasting dwelling place of the children of God. We believe that the wicked are the children of the devil; that they are rebels against God; that they reject the free offer of salvation through Christ; that they ignore the wooings of the Holy Spirit: and that they as a consequence are hell bound, being under a death sentence; that they shall spend eternity in the Lake of Fire which burneth with fire and brimstone where the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet shall ever be.

Psalm 23:6; Matthew 5:29; 10:28; 25:31-46; Luke 13:28; 16:24-28; John 14:2.3; 17:22; 1 Corinthians 3:15; 9:25-27; 15:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 2 Timothy 4:7-8,17; Hebrews 2:9; 11: 10,16; 12:22; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1: 3-5; 5:1-4; 1 John 2:28; 2 John 8; Revelation 20: 5-15; 21:1-21; 22:3,11-14

XVII. THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked. We believe the righteous are they who believe in Christ Jesus, the justified by faith, and the sanctified by the Holy Spirit and the Word; that the righteous are heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ: and that eternal life, the gift of God, is the matchless possession of the just.

Genesis 18:23; Proverbs 10:24; 11:31; 12:26; 14:32; 21:27;; Malachi 3:18; Matthew 7:13-14; 25:34; Luke 9:26; 16:25; John 3:36; 8:21-24; 12:25; Acts 10:34-35; Romans 1:17; 4:6; 6:16-23; 7:6; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Galatians 3:10; 1 Peter 4:18; 1 John 2:7,29; 3:7; 5:19

XVIII. THE LOCAL CHURCH

We believe that a New Testament Church according to divine purpose and plan, is a visible local organized body; that it is composed of baptized believers associated together by a covenant of faith and fellowship in the Gospel; that New Testament validity flows from strict obedience to essential principles of New Testament Law: that it is a sovereign, independent, democratic, and militant body; that its ministry is gloriously blessed with the presence and leadership of the Holy Spirit and the light and revelation of the Written Word; that its work should ever be from within to without and never from without to within; that it is a self-governing body and is the sole judge, under the limitations of the Scriptures, of the measure and the method of cooperation; that it is the only ecclesiastical tribunal the Lord has on earth; that its judgment concerning membership, missions, benevolence, cooperative alignments and support is final; that it is subject to His  laws and is the custodian of His ordinances; that the perpetuity of our faith, our doctrines and practices, ordinances, and ordinations, has been effected through the Holy Spirit personally planting and preserving local Baptist churches of like faith and order down through the centuries even until now.

Leviticus 27:31; Malachi 3:10; Matthew 18:17; 28:19-20; John 14:15,21; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11; 6:5-6; 8:1; 14:23; 15:22-23; 20:17-28; Romans 16:17-20; 1 Corinthians 1:1-13; 5:11-13; 6:1-3; 11:2; 12:4,8-11; 14:12; 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:5; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:7,11; 5:23-24; Philippians 1:1;,27; Colossians 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 John 4:21

XIX. ORDINANCES

We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances personally set in the Church of the Living God by the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that Baptism is the burial of a believer in water by the authority and instruction of the local Baptist Church; that it symbolizes the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; that it also typifies the believer’s death to life and that it is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We believe the Lord’s Supper is a memorial spread and administered by the authority and instruction of the local Baptist Church; that it symbolizes the broken body and the shed blood of the Son of God; that its observance points backward to the crucified Lord on Calvary and forward to the returning Lord in glory. We believe that these ordinances are not sacraments, but are sacred symbols, pointing to the world’s only Savior, and bidding the sons of men look into an everlasting fellowship with the King of kings and the Lord of lords when He shall return to take over the reigns of the government.

Matthew 3:5-6; 3:16; 26: 26-29; 28:19-20; Mark 14:22-25; John 3:22-23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-39; 10:47-48; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 5:1,8; 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12

XX. CHURCH ADMINISTRATION

We believe that the Churches of God and the state should be kept completely separate; that civil officers should be prayed for conscientiously honored and obeyed; that diligence should be had in seeking the will of God in all Church matters; that missionary endeavor should ever be executed from within the local Church to without; that pastors and deacons, the only divinely appointed Church officers, should be duly ordained and brought to understand the sacred duties devolving upon them; that the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, should be constantly and consistently fostered by local Church bodies: that members should be deliberately and prayerfully voted into the fellowship of the local body: that unruly Church members should be prayerfully and Scripturally disciplined by the local Church; and that Church letters should be granted to sister local Churches of the same faith and practice.

Exodus 18:21-22; 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalm 72:11; Daniel 3:17-18; Matthew 10:28; 22:21; 23:10; Acts 4:19-20; 23:5; Romans 13:7; Philippians 2:10-11; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14,17

XXI. CHURCH COOPERATION

We believe that it is the privilege and the right of local Churches to cooperate with each other in carrying out the commission of the Lord: that such cooperation is righteously effected only when the principles of Christ are preserved in the work fostered: and that all associated endeavor of local churches should be carried on in such a way as to preserve the sovereign integrity of each local body in all matters of faith and practice.

Matthew 10:5-15; 20:1-16; 22:1-10; 28:19-20; Mark 2:3; Luke 10:1 ff; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1 ff; 4:31-37; 13:2-3; 1:1-35; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:5-15; 2 Corinthians 8-9: Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Philippians 1:15-18