Summary
We love our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! We hold to a Biblical based theology that is literal, Trinitarian, and reformed in its view of salvation.
Belief
As you probably believe in Benjamin Franklin, even though you have never seen him or heard him or read any original documents written in his own hand, so we believe in God. You have faith that the founder was real based on the evidence. We believe in God based on the evidence of Scripture, the witness of those who were before us, and because of God's indwelling Spirit.
Joy
We love to share the evidence, to expound the Biblical truth, and most of all to see God grace you with His indwelling Spirit. The transformation that He makes to people’s lives brings great joy to them and to us.
Bible
You probably have encountered an inspirational book, and no doubt it made you a different person in one way or another. The Bible, however, is the only inspired book, the compilation of 66 writings, unerring in their original manuscripts. The Spirit of God bore mere men along and inspired them to record the history, the poetry, the song, the instruction, and the encouragement that forms our view of Him and the world. We believe that the proper interpretation of God’s word is grammatical, historical and literal, and that God uses His written Word to transform people.
God
Almost everyone lives day to day life under the authority of someone else. So common is this leadership that, in most places, we don’t give it much thought. We are consumed with the needs of the day, and we work to meet them. Whether we dwell on it or not, God is the Sovereign over all, the physical and the spiritual. He is the Creator of all and, therefore, He has dominion over all. The singular God exists beyond all time past, present, and future. The one and only God is God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit simultaneously. Therefore, the one and only God is threefold.
Satan
Satan, a created angel, rebelled against God and seeks to bring glory to himself and therefore is at enmity with God. We do not believe there is a battle for sovereignty, as the finite created power that Satan holds is insignificant to the infinite power of God. We do hold that He is the enemy of humankind as he seeks to enslave all people for the obscene glorification of Himself.
Humanity
All of the human race is created in the image of God; both male and female, every color, every language and people group. The chief end of humankinds creation is to bring glory and honor and praise to the one and only truly worthy Creator God. All of humanity will bring glory to God; as will all the good and all of the bad of all life and all time.
Sin
We have all experienced an action, either by omission or by commission that directly resulted in grieving us. The first sin occurred when Adam disobeyed God’s commandment. That disobedience failed to bring God glory, honor, and praise; it grieved God. That act of disobedience is the progenitor of the sin nature and every descendant from the seed of Adam (you and me included) inherits the sin nature. Sin in our lives is the barrier to a family relationship between God and us.
Justice
Imagine if someone broke into your home. Maybe they took things that brought you joy or maybe they took a loved one from you. I know I would be distraught. Now imagine when the authorities you’ve called on for assistance arrive, and they tell you that because they only love, the perpetrator will not be brought to justice, and no payment for the crime will even be sought. You would be grieved and question the type of love the authorities had.
Today, people are quick to choose the attribute of love to describe God. It is true that love is an amazing attribute God exemplifies, but it is important to know that God’s love flows from his justness. God always does what is righteous and just. Because God is just, the loving thing to do is hold responsible the people that have grieved Him with their sin; and under the justice system humankind is guilty.
Salvation and Jesus
Imagine being in an unfamiliar town, you return to your car only to find a parking ticket on the windshield. The violation mandates a 1000 dollar fine for the infraction or forfeiture of the vehicle! To make matters worse there is a clamp on the front driver’s tire prohibiting you from leaving the scene of the crime. In this moment you think to yourself that you’ll just go down and have a word with the local magistrate. But, the end of it is, you are responsible for the fine. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know you were supposed to buy a parking pass, and you don’t have the 1000 dollars the justice requires. You do have a good friend that could help you and you give them a call. Your friend pays for the fine and is so glad to see you out of the mess, they tell you to consider the help a gift.
God’s just punishment for our sin is eternal die-ing. God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to humankind, conceived of the Holy Spirit and birthed as a child from a virgin so that He would not inherit the sin nature. He is fully God and fully human. This Jesus is the good friend who shed His blood, being crucified on the tree to make payment for our sin. The payment is sufficient for all humankind, but it is effective for only those who trust him to restore the broken family relationship between us and God.
Peace
That young child cradled in a father's embrace; warm and comforted, happy and secure, we’ve all seen it and it has brought us an encouraging smile. We ponder the sense of peace the infant has in that moment knowing the toil they will face throughout their adulthood. Because the believer is permanently indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, they experience peace similar to that of the child. This is not to say they will not have the stress of life in this world, because they will. Bad things still happen to them just like everyone else in this sin cursed world. It is to say that they are empowered to rest in the peace of the Father; knowing the fact that the Sovereign Father will work out every situation in their lives to bring about His glory. It is a peace that understands that nothing, not even the mistakes they make, can ever separate them from their Father’s love and fellowship. It’s a peace that is difficult to articulate but is none the less real and experienced.
Church
At the local golf course is an elite group that has paid the fees to be part of the club. For the most part, the people I know that are part of the club are decent folks. But, make no mistake they are not letting me in their club to use the building, equipment or pro services without the proper dues. Most folks believe that’s what a church is, too. It’s a club, or it’s a building for use by only the dues paying members.
The truth is that the biblical church is the believers themselves. These believers are compelled by the indwelling Spirit to gather together. They benefit one another, in the praise and worth-ship of God by educating themselves in the Bible, by praying for each other and the world, and by bearing each other’s burdens in various helps. In this activity the church is seen as a club, but in reality the believers are the actual church with the Lord Jesus Christ as head overall.
This means that in places without a meeting house, the church is still there. In places that vocal worship is prohibited by law, the church is still there. Wherever there are believers, there is a church.
Eternity
“So what” you say, “What does this have to do with me?”
Since the sinful fall of Adam, people have attempted to make themselves in right standing with God. Throughout human history God has granted times for people to exercise these attempts and to pass down the results. They have called out…
“God, if only you would give us the rules, then we would know them and live perfectly by them.” God granted the law and the result was sinfully corrupt people could not keep the rules perfectly.
“God, if only we had judges, then they would guide us to understand the law and we would live perfectly by it.” God granted judges and the result was no sinfully corrupt human judge could pass perfectly sinless judgments to the people, and the people could not keep them perfectly.
“God, if only we had a king, then he would guide us to righteous living.” God granted kings and the result was no sinful human leader can lead the people in a sinless path and the people were not able to follow.
The truth is that only the Lord Jesus Christ can give us right standing with God. Humankind, past, present and future will either spend eternity in the family relationship with God as faithful believers in His provision on their behalf; or in a state of eternal death separated from God having never been born a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternity is your destination.
Invitation
It’s not by accident you’ve spent the time here. If you sense the Holy Spirit’s moving to find out more, we would be delighted to share with you the LORD. Please visit us or contact us with your need and we will do our best to help.
