What We Believe
GOD
We believe there is only one God, the Creator of all things, visible and invisible. He is infinitely perfect in holiness and love, and has eternally existed in a loving unity of three equally divine and glorious persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Sermons: Our Magnificent God, Our Triune God
SCRIPTURE
We believe that God has spoken through the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. As the God-breathed Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings. It is thus the complete revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and to do. It is therefore the ultimate authority for his people. It is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
Sermon: God’s Sure Word
JESUS CHRIST
His Person: We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person with two natures. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, fulfilled the Old Testament promises, did miracles, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he sits at his Father’s right hand, as our Advocate and High Priest. In a time known only to God, he will return for his people and to complete God’s plan of redemption. His return will be personal, physical, and in great power and glory.
His work: We believe that he died on the cross for our sins, as our representative and substitute. He shed his blood as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins, fully bearing the penalty for our sins, and satisfying God’s righteousness. His atoning death and victorious resurrection are the only basis for our salvation.
Sermons: Truly God, Truly Man, The Wonderful Cross
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that he does, glorifies the Lord Jesus. He convicts the world of its guilt. He personalizes the work of Christ by giving new life to sinners who believe. In him, believers are baptized into union with Christ, adopted as heirs into the family of God and sealed and secured for salvation. The Spirit also indwells, illuminates, gifts, guides, and empowers believers, enabling them to live lives pleasing to God.
Sermon: Our Inside Helper
HUMANITY
We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his image, as the climax of his very good Creation. However, Adam and Eve, when tempted by Satan, rebelled and sinned. As a result, human beings are sinners both by nature and by choice, alienated from God and under his just and holy wrath. Unable to save ourselves, we can only be rescued, reconciled and renewed through God’s saving gift of Christ.
Sermons: Image Bearers, What’s the Problem?
Marriage: God’s image is revealed in this creation of humans as male and female, of equal dignity and value. We believe God ordained marriage to be the union of one man and one woman in a covenant relationship, where they are committed to each other in steadfast love, devotion and marital fidelity as representatives of Christ’s love for His bride, the Church. Sexual intimacy is only acceptable within the covenant relationship of marriage.
Sermon: Marriage Matters
SALVATION
We believe that the gospel is the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. Salvation is the free gift of God’s grace, received through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior. Through such faith, believing sinners are declared righteous by a holy God, on the basis of Christ’s work on their behalf. A believer becomes a child of God, his sins are forgiven, new life in Christ begins, and eternal life with Christ is assured.
Sermon: Singing “Sola”
THE CHURCH
We believe all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are members of the body of Christ, the one true Church universal. They are united by the Holy Spirit to Christ, the Head of the body. The true church is manifested in local churches, composed of professing believers in Christ. Believers are each gifted by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts for service to others, and they gather as a community of faith for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, and as a witness to the world, making disciples of all nations. Sermon: Body Building
Baptism and Lord’s Supper (Communion): We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances given by the Lord Jesus himself. Baptism is an initiatory act that witnesses to our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper symbolizes the new covenant and enables us to remember and proclaim the Lord’s saving work. Neither are means of salvation but God-appointed means of declaring and deepening our relation to the Lord. We practice believers’ baptism.
Sermon: Portraying the Gospel
LAST THINGS
We believe in the personal, bodily and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will come to complete the salvation of his people, as they receive their resurrection bodies. He will defeat the forces of evil and establish his kingdom on the earth. He is appointed by God the Father to judge the living and the dead, granting eternal life to those who belong to him by faith, and subjecting those outside of Christ to condemnation and eternal, conscious punishment. Believers will enter into eternal blessedness with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth.
Sermon: When Our King Comes
CHRISTIAN LIFE AND MISSION
We believe that God commands us to love him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our·faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. In obedience to our Lord’s commission, we are to make disciples among all·people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed. As Christ-followers, we care about all human suffering, especially eternal suffering.·
Sermons: A God-Honoring People, Following Well