We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in his virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings. We believe in his substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for his people, and personal, visible return to earth. As part of his universal church, we seek to help people know and obey Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Salvation is God’s deliverance of people from his wrath through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of mankind has rebelled against God and is condemned to eternal death and separation from him. Jesus, God's Son, was sent to die in the place of condemned sinners to make it possible for them to be brought back into a right relationship with their Creator. Through faith in Jesus, who was raised from the dead, people can experience his forgiveness and have hope of eternal life with him.
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. The Holy Bible is God‘s revelation of Himself to man and is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth – without any mixture of error – for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us – therefore it is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
(Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons, equal in every divine perfection. Together, they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence and redemption.
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all people.
(Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7)
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin, Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.
(Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21- 22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14- 15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16)
We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer of Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables people to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls people to the Savior and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer for the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
(Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28- 32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17)
We believe in the universal church as the Body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We believe in the local body of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, maturing in wisdom and character, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation and each member is accountable to Jesus Christ and His will as revealed in Scripture. The scriptural officers of a local church are elders and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in ministry, the office of elder is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
(Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3)
The Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the triune God. The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The universal church of Jesus Christ is made up of every person who has been “born-again” (John 3:1-8) by God’s grace through their faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:3-7). Water baptism is an outward act of obedience and a symbol that signifies that a person has in fact received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Jesus Himself modeled submission to water baptism at the hands of John at the beginning of His public ministry (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:19-34). In the Scriptures, water baptism always immediately followed a person’s conversion experience. Though water baptism does not “save” a person it signifies that they have been “saved” and shows their desire to be identified with Christ and affiliated with a local expression of His church.
Before, during and after the time of Jesus and the Apostles, the meaning of the Greek word used for Baptism in water is immersion. It is also evident in the New Testament accounts of persons being baptized that they were immersed. (Acts 8:38-39) A person being put under the water symbolizes their death to sin and self, the old way of living, and coming up out of the water symbolizes their resurrection with Christ to a new way of life. (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12)
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.
(Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12)
We do not regard tithing as a command, but we do see it as a very valuable teaching tool and guiding principle for God’s people to grow in generosity and resist the love of money.
As Christ followers, we must view all of our resources, including money, as good gifts from God that are to be used for his purposes. Thus we do not command, but rather strongly encourage people to give at least a tithe, and indeed for most to give more. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” To love God with all of yourself means that everything is for Him. If we view our money as being solely or even mostly for us, we are not loving God with all of our heart, and we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves.
At Mercy Hill, we do not command people to give any specific amount, but we do urge people to be financially generous as we see a life of generosity as consistent with the teachings of scripture and an essential practice as we seek to find our greatest joy in Jesus. Because of this, we see financial generosity not as a duty to be obeyed, but as an opportunity for joy as we say with our money that Jesus is our greatest treasure.
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. Christ will establish His kingdom, and the righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell there forever with the Lord.
(Isaiah 2:4; 11:9; Matthew 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38; 9:43-48; Luke 12:40,48; 16:19-26; 17:22-37; 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 15:24-28,35-58; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 1:5; 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 5:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:1,8; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:27-28; James 5:8; 2 Peter 3:7; 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14; Revelation 1:18; 3:11; 20:1-22:13)
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. It is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that God's Kingdom may come and his will be done on earth. The full consummation of the New Creation awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.
(Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Matthew 3:2; 4:8-10,23; 12:25-28; 13:1-52; 25:31-46; 26:29; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:2; 12:31-32; 17:20-21; 23:42; John 3:3; 18:36; Acts 1:6-7; 17:22-31; Romans 5:17; 8:19; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 11:10,16; 12:28; 1 Peter 2:4-10; 4:13; Revelation 1:6,9; 5:10; 11:15; 21-22)
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