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The Biblically defined Church is not a building people go to on Sundays. You don't go to church. If you are a born-again, Spirit-led follower of Jesus Christ, you are the Church! If you are a new believer, we advise you to become familiar with the Bible before you join a local fellowship. Mouse over and read all the Scripture below for a starting point. Most of the visible church today is apostate and you will need to be able to discern truth from error before you get involved with an assembly. If you are currently involved with an apostate fellowship, get out now! You won't change them, but they will change you. The Bible defines the Church as the body of believers living daily under the Lordship of Jesus Christ:
The Bible teaches unity in the Lord Jesus Christ as realized by all who hold fast to the Scriptures and walk in holiness before the Lord. Man made unity at the expense of sound doctrine and practical Christianity is rejected as unscriptural (Romans 16:17). The Bible teaches that worship of God should be spiritual, and remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 4:23-24). Worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshipping Him (John 15:1-11). The Bible teaches that God is the personal (Romans 8:15), transcendent (Romans 11:33-36), eternal (Isaiah 57:15), sovereign Creator of all things (Psalm 115:3). He alone is God (Isaiah 43:10). He is the first and last, there is no other (Revelation 22:13). God is eternally self existent (Exodus 3:14) and has revealed Himself as three persons in the Godhead and yet one Lord God Almighty (Matthew 28:19, Colossians 2:8-9). The Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21). The Bible is sufficient in and of itself to provide us with all that pertains to life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:2-3). The Bible teaches the Lord Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). He Himself is God incarnate (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, John 1:1, 1 Timothy 3:16, John 1:14) and in Him the fullness of the Godhead is revealed to man (Colossians 2:9). Therefore, He is appropriately called God the Son. Jesus Christ is the only Savior and that all who wish to come to God must come through Him (John 14:6, John 10:9). Therefore, any and all who reject Jesus as both Lord and Christ have no possibility of acceptance by God the Father (John 3:18, 1 John 2:22-23). Jesus Christ came in the flesh as both God and man. He never ceased being God and yet in His humanity was fully man (Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus Christ was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23), lived a sinless life (1 Peter 2:21-22, Hebrews 7:26-27), worked miracles (Acts 2:22), provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious death on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:20-21), after three days and three nights in the grave was physically raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), ministered to (Acts 1:2-11) and commissioned His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), ascended bodily back to the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34) and ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). The Bible teaches that after Jesus ascended to heaven He poured out His Holy Spirit upon the believers, His Church, at which time they were empowered to live a godly life and fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world, an obligation shared by all believers today (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit is present and active in the world today. Jesus said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11). He works in regeneration (Titus 3:5), sealing the believer unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13), teaching (John 14:26, 1 John 2:27), empowering for service (Acts 1:8) and guiding the believer into maturity and fruitfulness (Galatians 5:22-25). The gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to operate in the Church today. The purpose of these gifts is to edify the body of Christ, His Church, to equip us for the ministry and above all to glorify Christ. We believe these gifts are to be disciplined as prescribed by the scriptures, should never be used to draw attention to or to glorify man, should be practiced in a decent and orderly fashion, and must always be operational in a spirit of love (1 Corinthians 12:1-14:40). The Bible teaches that all people are by nature sinful (Romans 3:10-12), separated from God (Isaiah 59:2-3) and responsible for their own sin (Ezekiel 18:20-23). The Bible teaches that man in and of himself has nothing to offer God in exchange for his soul (Matthew 16:25-26) and will spend eternity in hell should he reject the provisions provided for him in Jesus Christ our Lord (Matthew 10:28, Revelation 20:12-15). Salvation (Romans 1:16), redemption (Ephesians 1:7), justification (Romans 4:25-5:1), forgiveness (Colossians 1:14) and sanctification (Hebrews 10:10) are freely offered (1 Corinthians 2:12, Revelation 21:6) to all (John 3:16, Titus 2:11) through the grace of God by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). When a person repents of sin (Mark 1:14-15, Luke 24:46-48, Acts 3:19) and makes Jesus Christ the Lord of their life (Philippians 2:10-11), recognizing Him as Savior (Isaiah 45:22, 1 John 4:13-15), trusting in His finished work (John 19:30, Hebrews 10:1-14, Colossians 2:8-9); that person is immediately born again (John 3:3-8, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 5:1-5) and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:4-14), all sins are forgiven (Colossians 2:10-13, Isaiah 55:7, 1 John 1:9) and becomes a child of God (John 1:12-13, 1 John 3:1) destined to spend eternity with the Lord (John 3:16-17,36, John 14:1-4). Salvation is offered by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not granted by any human merit or offering of good works. Any offering of salvation granted by human achievement, be it all or in part, is not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and should be rejected as heresy (Galatians 1:6-9, Galatians 2:16). The Bible does not teach Calvinism. The Bible teaches obedience to the Lord is the outflow of true conversion. A life of personal holiness is the experience of all believers (1 John 3:3-7, 1 Peter 1:13-16, Ephesians 2:10). The ordinance of baptism in water by immersion is a public expression of our faith and identification in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). The ordinance of communion is the Lord's supper, consisting in the elements of bread and wine, representing the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This serves as a memorial to His suffering and death, is a prophecy concerning His second coming and is to be enjoyed by all believers until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). The Bible teaches the pre-tribulation catching away (rapture) of all believers (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-57). This "catching away" is the imminent and blessed hope of the Church (Titus 2:13-14, Philippians 4:5, Revelation 22:12-13). The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The Great Tribulation is a judgment upon Israel (Jeremiah 30:3-11) and the unbelieving world who have rejected the offer of Salvation (Revelation 2:21-23, Matthew 24:36-51). During this seven year period, God shall pour out upon the inhabitants of the earth, terrible judgments and afflictions such as the world has never known (Revelation 6:1-17, 8:1-9:21, 16:1-21). Those who have heard and refused the Gospel shall be blinded from the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) and damned to destruction, while those who have never heard the Gospel shall have an opportunity to respond to the preaching of the 144,000 chosen sealed Jews (Revelation 7:4-8), the two prophets (Revelation 11:3-12) and the angel who proclaims the truth from the heavens (Revelation 14:6-10). Many of these who turn to the Lord shall be murdered by the Anti-Christ, the False Prophet, and those of his kingdom (Revelation 6:9), but shall be raised up again by the Lord to life everlasting (Revelation 20:5). There will be a visible second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:29-30, Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 1:7, 19:11-14) at which time the battle of Armageddon shall occur (Revelation 19:17-21). Jesus will then set up His millennial kingdom and will reign here on the earth for 1000 years. We, His blood-bought Church, will reign with Him (Revelation 20:6). At this time Jesus will be recognized by national Israel as Messiah (Zechariah 12:10, Romans 11:1-24). Many Jews will then turn to Jesus as Lord (Romans 11:1-36). As the Prince of Peace, Jesus will, by His rod of iron rule the nations (Revelation 19:15-16). Satan will be bound for the 1000 year period (Revelation 20:1-3) and universal peace will be established (Isaiah 11:1-12:6). There will be a final judgment of the living and the dead. The believer will appear before the judgment seat of Christ where we shall be judged according to our works and rewarded accordingly (2 Corinthians 5:10). The unbelieving will be raised and judged according to their works and whoever is not found written in the book of life, together with the devil and his angels, the beast and the false prophet, will be consigned to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10-15). Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). We who have trusted in Christ as Savior will live with Him there forever (Revelation 21:1-7). The Church is the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:21-22), the habitation of God through the Spirit. Every born-again believer is an integral part of His body. Jesus said: "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." |