About Us

Mission Statement & What We Believe

Mission Statement

Jesus’ words to us in the “Great Commission” as found in Matthew 28:18-20 make our responsibilities very clear. To ‘go and make disciples’ means to tell the Gospel of Jesus to all the world, close and afar. We are to tell of God’s love and His desire for all mankind to be reconciled to Him in salvation, which occurs when we repent of a sinful life and by faith believe in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and in His resurrection from the grave. Those who believe in this truth and make that commitment to Jesus are then to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, by a local church, uniting with them in fellowship with God and one another becoming a  member of that local church. Since God desires all people everywhere to be saved, we can easily say, ‘you belong’!

The next part of the Great Commission is Jesus saying, ‘teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’. A new believer, one who is saved, is a ‘babe in Christ’. And just like a newborn baby needs love and nourishment to grow, so do we as a new disciple in Jesus Christ. We grow in several ways: in faith, in knowledge and wisdom, in love for and closer to God and one another, in maturing in our life with Jesus - which will show in how we live life; the way we talk, the way we act. In the maturing process, learning to be obedient to Jesus’ commands, we learn that we are to be servants as well. Jesus said that He didn’t come to be served but to serve and  that we are to be servants too! We serve one another, we serve the community, we serve whenever and wherever we can, giving all glory to God!

Our mission is the Great Commission and we carry that out knowing and understanding that ALL of us “belong, grow, and serve” together and for Jesus!

What We Believe

1. We believe that love one for another as Jesus loves the believer manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the LORD Jesus Christ upon which all others are dependent (Matt. 22:35-40; John 13:34, 35; John 15:12; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-3; Rev. 2:4, 5).
2. We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice (Psalm 119:160; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17).
3. We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection (Matt. 28:19).
4. We believe in the Genesis account of Creation (Gen. 1; 2).
   
5. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:10-17; Rev. 20:10).
   
6. We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).
   
7. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19).
   
8. We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches (Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4, 5, 8; Acts 2:1-4).
   
9. We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope and Love are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. chapters 12-14).
   
10. We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3:6-24; Rom. 5:12, 19).
    
11. We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe (Isa. 53:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:2).
    
12. We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints (Matt. 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:42-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).
    
13. We believe in the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ as the crowning event of the Gentile age. This event will include the resurrection of the righteous to eternal heaven, and the Millennium will be followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous unto eternal punishment in the lake of fire and that the righteous shall enter into the heaven age (John 14:1-6; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19; Rev. 20:4-6; Rev. 20:11-15; Rev. 21:8).
    
14. We believe that the depraved sinner is saved wholly by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3-5; John 3:16-18; Acts 20:21; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8, 9), and that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners, regenerates, seals, secures, and indwells every believer (John 3:6; John 16:8, 9; Rom. 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Eph. 4:30; Titus 3:5).
    
15. We believe that all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation are eternally secure in Him and shall not perish (John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39; Heb. 10:39; 1 Peter 1:5).
    
16. We believe that God deals with believers as His children, that He chastises the disobedient, and that He rewards the obedient (Matt. 16:27; Matt. 25:14-23; John 1:12; Heb. 12:5-11; 2 John 8; Rev. 22:12).
    
17. We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and each church is an independent, self-governing body, and no other ecclesiastical body may exercise authority over it. We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His churches (Matt. 4:18-22; Matt. 16:18; Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-51; Eph. 3:21).
    
18. We believe that there are two pictorial ordinances in the Lord's churches: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:12, 38; Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:11-13; 1 Cor. 11:1, 2, 17-20, 26).
    
19. We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy.
    
20. We believe that all associations, fellowships, and committees are, and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches (Matt. 20:25-28).
    
21. We believe in freedom of worship without interference from the government and affirm our belief in civil obedience, unless the laws and regulations of civil government run contrary to the Holy Scriptures (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-15).
    
22. We believe the Bible definition of marriage is the union between a man and a woman (Gen. 2:21-24; Matt. 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Cor. 7:2-4; Eph. 5:22-31).
    
23. We believe God designates each individual their gender. God ordained two genders, male and female. Mankind does not possess the authority to identify themselves differently than their biological sex assigned by God, and any attempt to alter one’s gender is sin (Genesis 1:27; 5:2; Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6; Job 40:8; Jeremiah 13:23).
    

WHAT’S ALL THIS TALK ABOUT BEING “SAVED”?

I’m sure you have heard that word used in good circumstances, or bad, but the Bible is clear that all of us need to be rescued, or “saved”!
Saved from what exactly?
 
It all began, of course, in the Garden of Eden with Adam & Eve. Everything was perfect when God created, including them. Then, as the Bible tells us, Adam & Eve were tempted by Satan to sin against God, and they did sin against Him, by eating of that forbidden fruit. Adam & Eve fell from that perfect state of being into a fallen state of sinfulness and were now in a new state of being, sinners! 

The good news then, and even for us now, is that God had a plan of redemption, rescue, & salvation for them, and it is for us too. We need it also because we are all descendants of Adam & Eve, and their fallen state as sinners is passed on to all of us. We were born in that sinful state and are indeed sinners by nature! Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

Now, salvation is about us being rescued from the eternal consequences of sin, which is eternal separation from God, which will be spent in a place called Hell that was created for Satan and the fallen angels that we call demons. It wasn’t created for us, but for them. It will however be the eternal home for all those who reject God and the salvation that He offers to all people everywhere! John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world through Him might be SAVED. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Notice how Jesus explains how we are condemned already but also how we can believe upon Him and be saved. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
 
Adam & Eve, although they placed blame elsewhere, had to confess to God that they had sinned; we have to do the same. They knew they they had to repent, which is to have a change of mind about sin (we live how we think), and embrace a life with God and being obedient to His commands, living by faith, trusting in Him for all things, especially for salvation from their sin and the consequences of it; we have to do the same. 

God promised to one day send a Savior for them and all other people too. He did this by performing the first blood sacrifice, and covered the nakedness of Adam & Eve with the bloody skins of it. The innocent sacrificed for the guilty. The Savior who would come one day would also be sacrificed and shed His blood for all our sins!
God loved Adam & Eve and wanted them to be saved, so He did what was necessary for their sin to be paid for and covered. God loves us too, and He has sent the Savior to be sacrificed for us, His Son, Jesus Christ! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus, lived a sinless life, was innocent, and was crucified upon the cross, and His blood was shed to cover the sins of the whole world! The sin-debt has been paid! The only way you and I could pay it is to spend eternity in Hell, and that is exactly what God doesn’t want. We don’t want that either! God did it for us, because He loves us and He wants a relationship with us that will last all the rest of eternity. He wants us to be “saved”! 

But we must believe in Jesus as that sacrifice for our sins; we must repent and turn away from a sinful life; and we must believe that Jesus rose from the grave, conquering death. You see, even though Jesus had to die, for us to be given everlasting life through Him then He also had to rise from the grave. And He did! Jesus is not dead, He’s alive, and now He sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Because Jesus rose from the grave into life, we also, as saved believers, will rise to life when the resurrection of believers happens. 

Everyone will live forever, even those who are not saved but are “lost”. The difference is, we, believers, those who are saved, will live in paradise with God; those who are lost, or unsaved, will live in an eternal state of dying in that terrible place called Hell which, again, was not created for us but for Satan and his demons.
When we repent and believe upon Jesus as our Savior, the life we now live, and that which is to come, is totally changed! Romans 8:1, “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk (live life) according to the flesh (sinfulness), but according to the Spirit.”
So now, you have to make a choice! Will you choose to remain in condemnation, rejecting God, rejecting Jesus as your Savior? As you have seen, we are ALL sinners and need to be saved!; or, will you choose to repent and believe upon Jesus and be SAVED?

Now, you may be asking, “How do I get saved?” Let’s let the Bible tell us: Romans 10:9-13, “That if you confess with you mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Because with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Because the scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ Because there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (anyone not Jewish), because the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. Because whoever calls upon the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be SAVED.”

So, if you are, by your own free will, choosing to accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus, then here is what you should do:
Admit that you are a sinner and that you need to be saved; repenting of a sinful life and turning to a life of faith and obedience to Jesus;
Believe in your heart that Jesus’ sacrifice paid for your sins when He died upon the cross; and believe that He rose from the grave, conquering death;
Confess all this to God in prayer calling upon the name of Jesus as Savior of your soul and as Lord of your life.
There are no set words, no set prayer for you to say - it has to come from your heart and it should be worded how you feel you should say it! You are calling upon the Creator of the universe and the One who created you in the womb of your mother, to SAVE you!
If you have done this, then we here and the angels in Heaven are rejoicing because you have been SAVED and you are now a citizen of Heaven and most especially a child of God!

What happens now? What should you do next?
You should unite with a local church body. Tell them of your salvation experience and that you are now saved and a follower of Jesus. The first thing is that you need to be baptized (by immersion) as Jesus instructs, which is the first step of obedience in following Him. Then, be a faithful member of that church family, learning, growing, and serving at all opportunities! We would be honored to help you here at Cypress Avenue Baptist Church, but we will be just as honored to help you wherever you are! Just contact us at your convenience.
We are proud of you and we are praying for you in this new life with Jesus!