The personal Triune God of the Bible owns and controls all things according to His will.

…according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ephesians 3:11, ESV

²⁴When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ²⁶ The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.’ ²⁷Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.Acts 4:24-27, ESV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.Genesis 1:1, ESV

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.Hebrews 11:3, ESV

This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.Isaiah 44:24, ESV

Man did not evolve but rather was created by the Triune God. He was created with dignity in that he was made in God’s image and created in humility in that his aim is to glorify God.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.Genesis 1:26, ESV

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.Colossians 3:17, ESV

Believing that mankind bears the image of God leads us to believe in the sanctity of human life. Therefore, we oppose the practice of abortion and believe that there are no biblical grounds for abortion. Unborn children, as well as the newborn, the aged and the infirm, have a God-given right to life. We also believe that for those who have had an abortion in the past and are repentant, there is grace and total forgiveness from God.

The voluntary sin of Adam resulted in man’s total depravity. Total depravity does not mean that man is as sinful as he can be, but that he is fallen in his total person (his mind, emotions, will and body). Thus, men are sinners and are not able to please God on their own merit or save themselves.

What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.Romans 3:9, ESV

the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.Romans 8:7, ESV

God in his goodness chose to provide the means of salvation for mankind through the covenant of grace.

This takes place through a five-stage process:

• God begins the process by effectively calling his own to Himself convincing him of his sin and misery and persuading and enabling him to receive Christ by faith.
• This is followed by justification whereby He declares man righteous in His sight, based only on the merit of Christ (His perfect life of obedience, his death, and resurrection) which is imputed to him and received by faith alone.
• This is then followed by adoption, whereby the believer is received into God’s family, making him a joint-heir with Christ.
• Until death, the believer continues to be sanctified. This is the daily process of being enabled more and more to die to sin and to live unto righteousness.
• The final stage is glorification, whereby the believer is received at death and his body at the final resurrection.

It is especially noted that justification is by grace alone and through faith alone in Christ alone, so that God alone gets the glory. This grace and faith inevitably lead to sanctification—an evidence of justification.

who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.2 Timothy 1:9, ESV

¹⁴…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.Romans 8:14-17, ESV

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—Ephesians 1:5, ESV

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.Romans 6:11, ESV

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Ephesians 2:10, ESV

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.2 Corinthians 5:8, ESV

¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.I Thessalonians 4:11-18, ESV

The Bible does not present us with an either/or proposition regarding the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in salvation. It teaches both. God is sovereign in our salvation. It is His work. He receives all the glory. Christians are called His chosen or elect. He must draw us to Himself, and He preserves us when we trust Him. Yet we are also responsible before God for our actions. We must turn to Christ, trust Him, follow Him, and persevere. A belief in God’s sovereignty in salvation was the belief of the leaders of the protestant Reformation and has been the majority report of evangelicals for most of the past 400 years.

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.Genesis 6:5, ESV

¹⁰As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. ¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; here is no one who does good, no even one. ¹³Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. ¹⁴Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ruin and misery mark their way, ¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know. ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes.’Romans 3:10-18, ESV

²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.Romans 3:21-25, ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 6:23, ESV

Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’John 8:34, ESV

⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—Ephesians 1:4-5, ESV

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.Acts 13:48, ESV

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.Romans 8:28-30, ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.John 6:37, ESV

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.John 6:39, ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.John 6:44, ESV

¹I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. ³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.John 10:1-5, ESV

¹⁴I am the good shepherd; l know my sheep and my sheep know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.John 10:14-16, ESV

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.I Thessalonians 1:4, ESV

With this belief God’s grace is fully exalted and appreciated. Some have called this Calvinism since this protestant reformer in the 1500’s emphasized the biblical teaching of God’s sovereignty in salvation.

People have a radically depraved sinful nature and are spiritually dead in sin. If it were left up to themselves, people would never turn to God in repentance and faith. Scripture teaches that all born are born ‘spiritually dead.’

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sinsEphesians 2:1, ESV

God sovereignly draws people out of the fallen human race and brings people to faith by regenerating them. Nothing foreseen in the creature determines this saving love of God.

¹¹Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: ¹²not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ ¹³just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ ¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. ¹⁹One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ²¹Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? ²²What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath –prepared for destruction? ²³What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?Romans 9:11-24, ESV

Jesus Christ died to fully atone for the sins of his own—those who would believe in Him. His redeeming work actually secured the salvation of individuals by name that He would bring to salvation.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.John 10:14-15, ESV

²⁴The Jews gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ ²⁵Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.’John 10:24-28, ESV

God must overcome and does overcome the resistance of our sinful wills to bring us into a relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to faith in Christ. Luke 19 – Zacchaeus The never-failing grace of God, which brings people into faith and a relationship with Him, will also strengthen and keep Christians persevering in their pilgrimage toward glorification.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.John 10:27-30, ESV

…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.Philippians 1:6, ESV

Covenant theology views all of Scripture as an unfolding drama of how God established a people who would know and love Him as their God: By the glory of His grace! From Genesis to Revelation, we learn that long before the world and man was made that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) had already planned a people for God and His glory, who would come to experience the reality of this relationship in their appointed times, and that this relationship would be forever secure because of God’s everlasting love and sustaining grace. All the covenants God made with man (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the Prophets of Old), progressively revealed God’s eternal plan. They were promises of what had already been agreed upon among the Godhead to be carried out in time—promises of what God would do to make good his plan of making a kingdom of people of which He was their King. Thus, there is a unity and continuity between Israel of the Old Testament and the Church of the New Testament. One glorious eternal covenant of God’s grace worked out in time in order to establish one people of God, consisting of both Old and New Testament believers.

Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.Galatians 6:15, ESV

³¹Which of the two did what his father wanted? ‘The first,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. ³³ Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. ³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. ³⁵ The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷Last of all, he sent his son to them. They will respect my son,’ he said. ³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’’³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? ⁴¹ ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,’ they replied, ‘and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time. ⁴Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?⁴³ Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.’ ⁴ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.Matthew 21:31-45, ESV

¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.John 15:1-6, ESV

¹⁵The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: ¹⁶After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, ¹⁷that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things¹⁸that have been known for ages.Acts 15:15-17, ESV

²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ² But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. ²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. ²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.Romans 8:23-28, ESV

¹⁷If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”’²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.Romans 11:17-20, ESV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.I Peter 2:9, ESV

A little review: Baptism is the New Testament equivalent of circumcision in the Old Testament, which was designed by God to represent:

• Inward cleansing—spiritual realities (Deuteronomy 10:16, Leviticus 26:41, 1 Corinthians 12:13)
• Faith—outward sign/seal of possessing the righteousness of faith (Genesis 17:7-10, Romans 4:11)
• Repentance (Joshua 5:1-9, Acts 2:38)
• Identified with Christ/in union with Him (Colossians 2:11,12, 2 Corinthians 12:13, Titus3:5,6)

Baptism has replaced its equivalent, circumcision, Paul says in Colossians 2:11-12, where he interchanges the word “circumcision” with “baptism,” making them synonymous. And notice, too, that Scripture teaches in the New Testament that baptism, unlike circumcision which was only for men and their infant sons, has been extended to females because of the equal footing Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, males or females have at the cross (Galatians 3:26-29). What circumcision did for the OT believer and baptism does for the NT believer is reveal a great ‘motion picture’ which shows forth that great work of God whereby dead sinners (men, women, and children) are brought into LIVING UNION WITH CHRIST AND WITH THE TRIUNE GOD. We believe that “Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to Him; but the infants of such or members of the visible church are to be baptized” (Westminster Shorter Catechism #95). The Westminster Confession of Faith similarly states: “Not only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized” (XXVIII: 4). The historical position of the PCA church has been and still is to baptize infants, which is rooted in God’s covenant promises of grace to men and their “seed.”

• Genesis 17:9-14 – Circumcision is the “sign” of the covenant, which was to be passed on forever to each succeeding generation. It was and still is “an everlasting covenant,” never to be repealed. And it wasn’t. At Pentecost, when the Old Covenant was formally replaced with the New Covenant, some things were discontinued, while others continued. But that which remained was to be administered differently. The sacrament of baptism being a ‘sign and seal’ of God’s covenantal promises of temporal and eternal blessings was now baptism, not circumcision.
• Acts 2:38-39 – shows us that baptism did not repeal the “everlasting covenant” God made with Abraham and his offspring but reaffirmed it. Peter in these verses repeated the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 17: 9-14 to this newly converted Jewish audience. For 2,000 years the people had included male infants in the covenant based upon this promise. The audience in Peter’s day could not have understood the repetition any other way but to include the children in the New Covenant baptism. They would have been considered covenant breakers to exclude them (Exodus 4:24-26; Genesis 17:14). The people would have needed a lengthy explanation teaching why infants were no longer included. There was NONE!
• 1 Corinthians 7:14 – children of at least one believing parent are in some sense considered as special (holy, set apart) by God Himself. The word “unclean” is a ceremonial word similar to “unwashed.” But these children are not “unclean.” They probably had been “washed” (baptized).

Infant baptism, when properly understood, does exactly what it did for the Old Testament circumcised child: exposes the child to the benefits of God’s covenantal blessings—both temporal and eternal of which the parents now stand, and to the means of grace (the teaching and preaching of the God’s Word, prayer, worship, fellowshipping with others in God’s covenant community and being witnessed to by them with the truths of the Gospel), to the end that that child may come by God’s saving grace to a faith of his or her own.

Though we do not view sprinkling as the only valid mode of baptism, we certainly see it as taught in the Scriptures. The Greek word baptizo (though it can be translated immersed) is often used in the Scriptures to refer to sprinkling or pouring.

They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings external regulations applying until the time of the new order.Hebrews 9:10, ESV

The following verses use the word baptizo to refer to various washings done in the Old Testament. Each of these washings was done by means of sprinkling or pouring.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.Hebrews 9:13, ESV

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.Hebrews 9:19, ESV

In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.Hebrews 9:21, ESV

Jesus was baptized (baptizo) by John the Baptist. John asked Jesus why he should be baptizing Christ. The Lord’s reply gave only one reason – for the fulfilling of the law—to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).

Numbers 8:6,7⁶Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. ⁷ To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves., ESV

The above verses from Numbers tell us of that law requiring priests to be baptized. The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the word baptizo and the Hebrew word clearly refers to sprinkling. The word used in the New Testament for going “into” the water is misleading. For instance, in the chapter describing the eunuch’s baptism in Acts 8, the word in Greek eis (“into” or “in”) is used eight times. Seven times it is translated “in”. Only in the passage to describe the baptism is the word “into” used. It is possible to take the various accounts of baptism in the New Testament and argue strongly in many of them that the mode of sprinkling was used. It is also a strong argument, though based on silence, that children would have been included in many of the sixteen references to household baptisms. Certainly they would not have been immersed.

When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.Acts 16:15, ESV

³¹They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved –you and your household.’ ³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.Acts 16:31-33, ESV

(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)I Corinthians 1:16, ESV

Baptism is a sign of the washing that comes by the reception of the Holy Spirit. Sprinkling or pouring is a picture of the reception of the Spirit and the cleansing received thereby.

⁵…He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.Titus 3:5-6, ESV

To be safe, we can say that the mode of baptism is not so clear in Scripture so as to make it a major doctrinal issue as so many churches do. SAPC uses sprinkling as its expression of the covenant sign.

We believe in the second coming of Christ and a coming judgment by God.

Because all of mankind is in the image of God, he is therefore accountable (i.e., will face judgment). God will bring all things to consummation at the judgment, taking His own to be with Him forever and casting all others into hell forever.

²⁴Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’ Now when it says that ‘everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.1 Corinthians 15:24-27, ESV

We believe in eschatological freedom. We believe in the visible, bodily return of Christ.