This is not intended to be a comprehensive “doctrinal statement” to satisfy the curiosity of the church police.
Although I think the best way for someone to know what I believe is to actually read and listen to what I teach, I offer the following for those who feel like they can’t possibly hear me out until they know where I stand on certain issues they think are important. So here you go.
1. Scripture
The Bible is the written Word of God and is infallible in its original languages. All Scripture is profitable, contains the revelation of Christ, and is to be studied, taught, and obeyed. It is the objective standard against which all other teaching and utterance is to be measured.
2 TIM. 3:15,16; LK. 24:27,45; MT. 22:29; JN. 5:39; ACTS 17:11; ROM. 15:4
2. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
There is one God, the Creator of All things, Who has revealed Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are distinctive in attributes but are one in essence and in deity.
1 JN. 5:7; MT. 28:19; JN. 14:26; 2 COR. 13:14; 1 PET. 1:2
3. The Preeminence of Christ
God’s declared Will and Purpose is that His Son, Jesus Christ, must have the preeminence in all things; meaning that Christ must have the first, highest, and best possible place in the position of supremacy and ascendancy over all created things.
COL. 1:18; EPH. 1:10,22; 1 COR. 15:27; PHP. 2:9-11; PS. 2:6-12
4. Salvation
None are righteous, and none can be saved, apart from faith in Jesus Christ, Who alone is the only Way, Truth, and Life. All who call on the name of the Lord can be saved by grace, not by works, and this salvation is freely available to all who believe. Scripture declares that God desires “all” to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth.
JN. 14:6; ACTS 2:21, 15:11; EPH. 2:8; ISA. 45:2; 1 TIM. 2:4
5. The Cross
There is a two-fold work of the Cross: the objective work, where Christ died for the sins of the whole world; and the subjective work, where the disciple of Jesus denies Self and takes up the Cross daily. “Getting saved” is the Gate, but “getting discipled” (i.e., growing spiritually) is the Path. The first is not complete without the second.
GAL. 2:20; MT. 16:24; MK. 8:34; LK. 9:23; 1 PET. 2:2, 21
6. The Ekklesia
Jesus has called His followers to live in spiritual fellowship with Himself and with one another, and this spiritual fellowship constitutes one Body in Christ, without regard for membership, attendance, or support of any religious system, church, denomination, or movement.
MT. 16:18; ROM. 12:25; 1 COR. 12:27; EPH. 2:19-22, 4:11-16; 1 PET. 2:5
7. The Return of Christ
There will be a literal return of Christ to gather His followers to Himself, to establish His Kingdom on earth, and to judge between the righteous and the unrighteous.