BELIEFS

 THE BIBLE: We believe the Bible to be the only inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 2:13; Mark 12:26,36; 13:11; Acts 1:16; 2:4)

GOD: We believe that there is one God, who eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that these three having the same nature, attributes, and perfections, are worthy of all worship, confidence and obedience. (Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Mat. 28:19,20; Acts 5:3,4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)

JESUS: We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ; in His Virgin Birth; in His sinless humanity; in His miracles; in His perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people through the shedding of His blood and death on the cross; in His bodily resurrection; in His ascension to the right hand of the Father; and in His personal return in power and glory. (Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:14, 8:40,58, 11:33; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 5:8-10; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:8)

HUMANITY: We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through Adam’s sin all of mankind has fallen and inherited a sin nature, thus man in his natural state is lost, alienated from God and incapable of attaining salvation by any personal effort or merit. (Genesis 1:26; Romans 3, 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:18-19)

SALVATION: We believe that salvation is a free gift of God offered to all humanity by grace and received through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This faith is expressed in works pleasing to God. (John 3:16, 14:6; Romans 3:28, 8:31-39; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26-27,36-39; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6)

HOLY SPIRIT: We believe in the promise of the Holy Spirit, not as an influence, but as a Divine Person, who was sent at Pentecost to unify all believers into one body, the Church, whose indwelling is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service. He is our abiding Comforter and Helper, and is ever present to testify of Christ. Not only was He sent to empower the church, but to convict the world of sin. (John 7:38-39; 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:8,13-14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 3:3)

THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT: All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the endowment of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31)

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe in the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that the charismata did not cease after the Apostolic age. The purpose of the gifts is to equip the Church to carry out its mission until Christ returns, as well as to be a foretaste of the life to come. Believers should seek God in prayer for the gifts of the Spirit to operate in their own lives and ministries and should not only agree to them theoretically but practice them outwardly as the Spirit leads (Rom. 1:11; 1 Cor. 1:5, 7; 12:1, 31; 1 Cor. 14:12; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; Heb. 6:5).

RESURRECTION: We believe in the physical resurrection of both the saved and the lost: those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation. (Rom 8:23; I Cor 15, Psalm 90:3-4; Rev 20:12-15; Mat 25:31-46)

CHURCH: We believe in the Church which is the body and bride of Christ, that we are a spiritual family united by the Holy Spirit, and thus being members one of another we are responsible in good conscience to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, loving one another with a pure heart. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head over all the church, commanded His people to hold to the practice of water baptism and the regular taking of Communion. We do not believe that either of these practices is essential for salvation, but that they serve as a demonstration of our living faith in Him.

MARRIAGE: We believe God has ordained marriage and defined it as a covenant relationship between one man, one woman, and himself. Hence, we only recognize marriage between a biological man and a biological woman. As a result, the staff and faculty of HOUSE 27:4 will only participate in weddings and the solemnization of marriages between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4; Eph. 5:25; 1 Pet. 3:7).

RACE: We believe that God loves all races of human beings equally and without preference or favoritism. Racism, which is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, is evil and is the result of sin. We believe that the authority for approaching racism is Scripture and, therefore, our approach to racism centers around such. (Mk 12:31; Acts 17:26; Rom. 2:11;: Rev. 7:9-10; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

GENDER: We believe that from the beginning God created two separate and distinct biological sexes: male and female. Moreover, we believe that Scripture does not permit any difference between biological sex and gender identity or expression. Humankind has been created by God and any attempt to misconstrue the difference between male/female and/or biological sex/gender identity is an attempt to self-create and is a result of sin and the fall. We also acknowledge that there are rare instances where people are born with an indiscriminate biological sex. Yet, these cases do not involve an attempt to self-create nor deny the dignity of how they were born (Gen. 1:26-27; Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6-7; Psalm 139:14).

ONE HOLY CHURCH: We believe in unity among the essentials and liberty among non-essentials. We embrace fellowship in our differences, finding it more edifying and Christ-like to build bridges when it comes to peripheral doctrinal matters (i.e., eschatological interpretations, Calvinism/Arminianism, etc.) versus drawing lines of division. (Ps. 133:1; Acts 15:1-21; Eph. 4:3; Phi. 2:2; 2 Cor. 13:11).

RIGHT TO LIFE: We believe that all human life is valuable and sacred, and that human life and full personhood begins at conception and continues until death. As stewards of life, we are endowed by God with the responsibility to protect the worth and dignity of human beings from the moment of conception until the moment of death. Therefore, we oppose taking innocent life in all forms, including abortion and euthanasia. (Gen. 1:26-27; Job 31:15; Ps. 22:10; Ps. 127:3-5; Ps. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5; Acts 17:25).