THERE IS ONLY ONE LIVING AND TRUE GOD. THE SCRIPTURES REVEAL TO US THAT HE IS ETERNALLY EXISTENT IN THREE PERSONS - FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. HE IS THE CREATOR, REDEEMER, PRESERVER, AND RULER OF THE UNIVERSE.

GOD THE FATHER CREATED, SUSTAINS, AND RULES OVER THE UNIVERSE. HE CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND PROVIDED REDEMPTION FOR MAN THROUGH JESUS CHRIST AFTER THE FALL. 

HE IS TRULY FATHER TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. HE LOVES ALL MEN.

JESUS CHRIST IS ETERNALLY GOD AND THROUGH HIM ALL THINGS WERE MADE. TO ATONE FOR MAN'S SIN, HE LEFT HEAVEN AND BECAME INCARNATE, BEING CONCEIVED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 

HE MADE PROVISION FOR THE REDEMPTION OF MAN THROUGH HIS DEATH, WHICH HE DIED IN OUR PLACE, ON THE CROSS. HIS DEATH TOTALLY SATISFIED THE DEMANDS OF THE LAW. 

JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD WITH A GLORIFIED BODY AND APPEARED TO MANY WHO WERE EYE WITNESSES OF HIS RESURRECTION. HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. HE IS THE ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD. HE CONVICTS MEN OF SIN, OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND OF JUDGMENT TO COME. HE BRINGS GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST AND CALLS MEN TO JESUS AS SAVIOR. 

HE SEALS THE SAINTS BY HIS PRESENCE AS A GUARANTEE THAT GOD WILL BRING THE BELIEVER INTO THE FULLNESS OF THE STATURE OF CHRIST. HE EMPOWERS BELIEVERS FOR WITNESS AND SERVICE.

THE SIXTY-SIX BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, IS ALONE THE ONLY INFALLIBLE, INSPIRED WORD OF GOD, AND ITS AUTHORITY IS ULTIMATE, FINAL, AND ETERNAL. IT CANNOT BE ADDED TO, SUBTRACTED FROM, OR SUPERSEDED IN ANY REGARD. 

THE BIBLE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL DOCTRINE, INSTRUCTION, CORRECTION, AND REPROOF.  IT CONTAINS ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR GUIDANCE IN GODLINESS AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN CONDUCT.

MAN WAS CREATED BY THE SPECIAL ACT OF GOD, IN HIS OWN IMAGE, AND IS THE CROWNING WORK OF HIS CREATION.

IN THE BEGINNING, MAN WAS INNOCENT OF SIN AND WAS ENDOWED BY HIS CREATOR WITH FREEDOM OF CHOICE. BY HIS FREE CHOICE, MAN SINNED AGAINST GOD AND BROUGHT SIN INTO THE HUMAN RACE. 

THROUGH THE TEMPTATION OF SATAN, MAN DISOBEYED THE COMMAND OF GOD AND FELL FROM HIS ORIGINAL INNOCENCE, AND THEREBY INCURRED NOT ONLY PHYSICAL DEATH FOR ALL MANKIND TO FOLLOW, BUT ALSO SPIRITUAL DEATH, WHICH IS SEPARATION FROM GOD. 

ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN WITH A SINFUL NATURE AND ARE IN NEED OF REDEMPTION, WHICH CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD BY FAITH IN THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST.

THERE IS NO SALVATION APART FROM PERSONAL FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS LORD. SALVATION IN CHRIST IS A FREE GIFT OF GOD, BASED ON THE MERITS OF HIS SON, AND IS APPROPRIATED BY FAITH. 

THIS SALVATION IS OFFERED FREELY TO ALL WHO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR, WHO BY HIS OWN BLOOD OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION FOR THE BELIEVER. 

IN ITS BROADEST SENSE, SALVATION INCLUDES REGENERATION, JUSTIFICATION, SANCTIFICATION, AND GLORIFICATION. THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST INCLUDES THE PRIVILEGES OF ADOPTION AND INHERITANCE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD'S BELOVED SON.

GOD GIVES THE BELIEVER ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL HAS MADE A GENUINE COMMITMENT OF FAITH IN JESUS, HE/SHE CANNOT LOSE HIS/HER SALVATION. 

SALVATION IS MAINTAINED BY THE GRACE AND POWER OF GOD, NOT BY THE SELF-EFFORT OF THE CHRISTIAN. GOD'S GRACE AND POWER ENABLE US TO PERSEVERE IN FAITH UNTIL THE END.

THE CHURCH WAS PURCHASED WITH CHRIST'S OWN BLOOD AND IS GOD'S INSTRUMENT IN THE PRESENT AGE. 

ALL CHRISTIANS SHOULD BELONG TO AND BE ACTIVE IN A LOCAL NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH, THE CHURCH BEING A BODY OF SCRIPTURALLY BAPTIZED BELIEVERS IN WHOM JESUS CHRIST LIVES AND OVER WHOM HE LORDS. 

THE CHURCH BODY IS TO LIVE UNDER THE DIRECTION AND DISCIPLINE OF THE WORD OF GOD, UNITED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR THE PURPOSE OF EVANGELIZING THE LOST, EDIFYING THE SAINTS, AND GLORIFYING THE LORD.  

EVERY BELIEVER IS A PRIEST BEFORE GOD. CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, WITH THE PASTOR SERVING AS THE SPIRITUAL LEADER (UNDER-SHEPHERD) OF THE BODY.

SCRIPTURE ENJOINS ON THE CHURCH TWO ORDINANCES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.  CHRISTIAN BAPTISM IS THE IMMERSION OF A BELIEVER IN WATER IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.  

IT IS AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE SYMBOLIZING THE BELIEVER'S FAITH IN A CRUCIFIED, BURIED, AND RISEN SAVIOR, THE BELIEVER'S DEATH TO SIN, THE BURIAL OF THE OLD LIFE, AND THE RESURRECTION TO WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS.

THE LORD'S SUPPER IS A SYMBOLIC ACT OF OBEDIENCE WHEREBY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, THROUGH PARTAKING OF THE BREAD AND THE FRUIT OF THE VINE, MEMORIALIZE THE DEATH OF THE REDEEMER AND ANTICIPATE HIS SECOND COMING.  BOTH ORDINANCES ARE RESTRICTED TO THOSE WHO ARE BELIEVERS.

MANY YEARS AGO THE LORD BEGAN TO DEAL WITH ME ABOUT THE CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. I WAS GREATLY CONVICTED THAT WE HAD SOMEHOW ALLOWED THE CELEBRATION OF THIS BEAUTIFUL ORDINANCE TO BECOME SOMEWHAT LESS THAN WHAT OUR LORD INTENDED IT TO BE. 

JESUS NEVER INTENDED THIS REMEMBRANCE OF HIS DEATH TO DEGENERATE INTO A MUNDANE RITUAL, AND IT APPEARED TO ME THAT WE WERE JUST "TACKING IT ON" TO THE END OF THE SERVICE BECAUSE IT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. 

IN MY PRAYER AND STUDY I FOUND THAT THE TRADITIONS IN VARIOUS CHURCHES RANGED FROM OUR "TACKING IT ON" ONCE A QUARTER, TO "TACKING IT ON" EVERY SUNDAY, TO "IT CONTAINS SAVING GRACE," AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN. 

JESUS NEVER TOLD US HOW OFTEN TO CELEBRATE THE LORD’S SUPPER, HE MERELY SAID, "FOR AS OFTEN AS YOU EAT THIS BREAD AND DRINK THE CUP, YOU PROCLAIM THE LORD’S DEATH UNTIL HE COMES" (I CORINTHIANS 11:26). 

HE CERTAINLY NEVER SAID IT CONTAINED  SAVING GRACE, BUT HE DID SAY THAT WHEN WE PARTOOK OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER WE WERE TO REMEMBER HIS DEATH, IN WHICH WE DO FIND SAVING GRACE. 

IN MY EFFORT TO KEEP THIS SHORT LET ME JUST SAY THAT WHEN WE CELEBRATE THE LORD’S SUPPER WE TRY TO DO SO IN SUCH A WAY THAT OUR HEARTS ARE STIRRED WITH REMEMBRANCE OF THE SACRIFICE THAT JESUS MADE FOR US. HE IS THE FOCUS AND HE IS TO BE GLORIFIED, NOT SIMPLY RITUALIZED. 

WITH THAT IN MIND WE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO CELEBRATE THE LORD’S SUPPER IN A WAY IN WHICH IT IS PLANNED, EXPLAINED, AND EXECUTED WITH PURPOSE AND MEANING. IT IS A TIME OF SELF-EXAMINATION, CONFESSION, THANKSGIVING, AND PRAISE.

EVERY PERSON IS IMPORTANT TO GOD AND GOD DESIRES A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH EVERY INDIVIDUAL. HE HAS ENTRUSTED BELIEVERS WITH THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION. 

THEREFORE, IT IS THE DUTY OF THE BELIEVER TO ENDEAVOR TO SHARE THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION WITH ALL PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF RACE, ETHNICITY, OR ECONOMIC STATUS BOTH AT HOME AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.