Let all things be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40)
Let all things be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
Let all things be done to edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 3:17)


ARTICLE I


PURPOSE


The purpose of The Church of the Servant King (TCSK) is to provide Bible teaching and encouragement from Scripture to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. TCSK is committed to the proclamation of the Gospel of our risen Lord to those who have not yet placed their trust in the work of Jesus Christ alone for their eternal salvation. TCSK will support the training and sending of missionaries, evangelists, pastors and teachers whose views are consistent with its doctrinal statements and its interpretation of Scripture.


ARTICLE II


DOCTRINE AND BASIC TENETS


Doctrines derived from Scripture form the spiritual framework within a believer’s soul that provides the believer with the means to properly relate to God and to his fellow man. The foundational doctrines that TCSK accept from the Scriptures include the following.


The Scriptures

We believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. We understand that the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings as those writings appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error. We believe that the central focus of Scripture is our Lord Jesus Christ in His first and second Coming (Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2-3; 18:28; 26:22-23; 28:23; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).


The Godhead

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and is worthy of the same adoration (Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).


Angels, Fallen and Unfallen

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “Lucifer, son of the morning” – the highest in rank – sinned through arrogant pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his campaign to establish himself above his Creator as the object of worship, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Isa 14:12-17; Ezek 28:11-19; 1 Tim 3:6; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6).

We believe that while the sentencing of Satan was pronounced in eternity past and while the destiny of Satan and the angels that followed him is certain, there is a close relation between the delay in the execution of that sentence and the course of human history which shall culminate in the restoration of the earth to the domain of the Creator.

We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permissive will of God, he, through subtle deceit, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that he is the enemy of God and the people of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; and that he who in the beginning said, “I will be like the most High,” in his warfare appears as an angel of light, even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering religious movements and systems of doctrine, which systems and religions in every case are characterized by a denial of the efficacy of the blood of Christ (a reference to His spiritual death which preceded His physical death on the Cross ) and of salvation by grace alone through faith alone (Gen 3:1-19; Rom 5:12-14; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; 11:13-15; Eph 6:10-12; 2 Thess 2:4; 1 Tim 4:1-3).

We believe that Satan was judged at the Cross, though not then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the “god of this world”; that, at the second coming of Christ, Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand years he will be loosed for a little season and then “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” where he “shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Col 2:15; Rev 20:1-3, 10).

We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Lu 15:10; Eph 1:21; Heb 1:14; Rev 7:12).

We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that, in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above the angels (Heb 2:6-10).


Man, Created and Fallen

We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone is the exception; and that as a result every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace (Gen 1:26; 2:17; 6:5; Pss 14:1-3; 51:5; Jer 17:9; John 3:6; 5:40; 6:35; Rom 3:10-19; 8:6-7; Eph 2:1-3; 1 Tim 5:6; 1 Jn 3:8).


The Dispensations

We believe that the dispensations are stewardships by which God administers His purpose on the earth through man and that within each dispensation, a different category of man is charged with different responsibilities to include the charge to serve as the repository of divine revelation and the mechanism by which the Gospel of eternal salvation through faith in Christ is communicated to the remainder of the human race. We believe that the changes in the dispensational dealings of God with man depend on changed conditions or situations in which man is successively found with relation to God, and that these changes are the result of the failures of man and the judgments of God. We believe that different administrative responsibilities of this character are manifest in the biblical record, that they span the entire history of mankind, and that each ends in the failure of man under the respective test and in an ensuing judgment from God. We believe that three of these dispensations or rules of life are the subject of extended revelation in the Scriptures, i.e. the dispensation of the Mosaic law, the present dispensation of the Church, and the future dispensation of the Millennial kingdom. Other dispensations are the subject of a less amount of revelation in Scripture. We believe that each of these dispensations are distinct and are not to be intermingled or confused, as they are chronologically successive.

We believe that the dispensations are not ways of salvation or different methods of administering the so-called Covenant of Grace. They are not in themselves dependent on a covenant relationship with God, but they are ways of life and responsibility to God which test the submission of man to God’s revealed will during a particular time. We believe that if man does trust in his own efforts to gain the favor of God or attempt to secure his salvation under any dispensational test, then his condemnation is certain due to the fact that his inherent sin will fail to satisfy fully the just requirements of God.

We believe that according to the “eternal purpose” of God (Eph 3:11) salvation in the divine reckoning is always “by grace through faith,” and rests upon the basis of the shed blood of Christ. We believe that God has always been gracious, regardless of the ruling dispensation, but that man has not at all times been under an administration or stewardship of grace to the extent that is true in the present dispensation (1 Cor 9:17; Eph 3:2, 9; Col 1:25; 1 Tim 1:4).

We believe that it has always been true that “without faith it is impossible to please” God (Heb 11:6), and that the principle of faith was prevalent in the lives of all the Old Testament saints. However, we believe that it was historically impossible that they should have had as the conscious object of their faith the incarnate, crucified Son, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) Who we now know to have been Jesus Christ. However, we believe that they had sufficient revelation to have known that there would be a coming Messiah Who was to suffer for their sins (e.g. Gen 3:15; Psa 22 cf. 2 Sam 7:15-16; Isa 53; Zech 3:6-10; 9:9) while at the same time, due to the progressive nature of revelation from God, they did not fully understand the redemptive significance of the prophecies or types concerning the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet 1:10-12) as believers after the completion of the Canon. We believe that their faith toward God was evidenced by various actions as documented by the long record in Hebrews 11:1-40. We believe further that their faith thus manifested was counted unto them for righteousness (cf. Rom 4:3 with Gen 15:6; Rom 4:5-8; Heb 11:7).


Eschatology or The Doctrine of Last Things

We believe that physical death is the separation of the immaterial portion of man from the physical body so that one’s existence on this earth ceases (Phil 1:22-24; Jas 2:26). The destiny of one’s immaterial nature depends upon whether he has placed his trust in Christ during his life on this earth (John 3:15-16; Rom. 3:23-24). The immaterial nature of the believer is transferred into the presence of Christ where he is eventually united with his resurrection body at the Rapture (if a Church Age believer – 1 Cor 15:35-49; 1 Thess 4:13-18) or at the Second Advent of Christ (if an Old Testament or Tribulation believer – Dan 12:2; Isa 26:19; Rev 20:4, 6). The unbeliever goes to the torment of Hades (Matt 10:28; Lu 16:23-28) where he awaits the receipt of his resurrection body at the end of the Millennium (Lu 16:23-26; Rev 20:1-5). Other passages that support this doctrine include Luke 23:42; 2 Corinthians 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; and Revelation 20:11-15.

We believe that when the believer receives his resurrection body, he is given eternal rewards based upon his faithfulness to the Lord in time. The Church Age believer is evaluated at the Bema Seat of Christ during the period of Tribulation on the earth (Rom 14:10; 1 Cor 3:13-15; 2 Cor 5:10) and the Old Testament and Tribulation believer is evaluated at the time of his resurrection at the Second Advent of Christ (Matt 16:27; 22:1-14; 25:10; Rev 19:7-9). Believers will then participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9) and reign with Christ in the Millennium (Rev 20:4-6). The works of unbelievers will be evaluated at the Great White Judgement Throne (Rev 20:11-13); however, the names of unbelievers will not be found written in the book of life and they will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15).

We believe that the Rapture of the Church is the next event on the prophetic calendar (John 14:3; 1 Cor 15:51-52; Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; Rev 3:10). At the Rapture, Christ will gather His Own from those who lived during the Church Age. The Church Age dead will precede the Church Age living (1 Thess 4:15-17). After the Rapture, the final week of Daniel’s prophesied seventy weeks (Dan 9:24-27) will occur (Dan 9:24-27). Its duration will be seven years and is also known as the Tribulation (Dan 9:27; Matt 24:15-31; Rev 12:6). It is the final seven years of the Age of Israel (Dan 9:26) during which Israel will be persecuted to an unprecedented degree (Matt 24:15-24; Rev 12:13-17). It will be a period of judgment upon the earth (Rev 6:15-17; 15:1, 7; 16:10) in conjunction with which a counterfeit of the Triune Godhead will be established between Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet (Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:4; Rev 13:3-15).

We believe that when Christ returns to the earth with His saints at the Second Advent the Tribulation period will end and Satan will be defeated (Rev 19:11-21). Satan is bound for 1000 years (Rev 20:1-3) and Christ establishes His rule over an earth that has had the effects of the fall of man reversed (Isa 11:6-9; 35:1-10; 65:20). The reign of Christ will fulfill the promises God made to Abraham (Gen 12:1-7), David (2 Sam 7:1-17), and to the Jews (Deut 30; Jer 31:31-33) recorded in the Old Testament. The establishment of Christ’s kingdom on earth will also restore the earth to the dominion of Christ, a status that was lost to Satan at the fall of man (John 14:30; Isa 9:6-7; Zech 14:9; Rev 19:16). Other passages supporting this truth include Ezekiel 37:21-28; Matthew 24:15-25:46; Acts 15:16-17; Rom 8:19-23; 11:25-27; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 20:1-3.

We believe that at the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released for a short period to gather the unbelievers of the Millennium to revolt against Christ in the battle of Gog and Magog (Rev. 20:7-8). Satan and his followers are defeated. Satan is cast into the lake of fire to be followed by the unbelieving of all time after the Great White Judgement Throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Christ delivers His Kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28) and the old heavens and earth are destroyed (2 Pet. 3:10-12) and a new heaven and earth is established with a new Jerusalem in which the righteous will dwell with the Lord forever (2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 21:1-22:5).


The First Advent

We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as preannounced in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end He was born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18; 3:16; Heb 4:15)

We believe that, in his humanity, He became and remained a perfect man, but sinless throughout His life; yet He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time God and man, and that His earth-life functioned within the sphere of that which was human while retaining His diety (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil 2:5-8).

We believe that in fulfillment of prophecy He came first to Israel as her Messiah- King, and that, being rejected of that nation, He, according to the eternal counsels of God, gave His life as a ransom for all (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim 2:6).

We believe that, in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, bearing the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense – the just for the unjust – and by His death He became the Savior of the lost (John 1:29; Rom 3:25-26; 2 Cor 5:14; Heb 10:5-14; 1 Pet 3:18).

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20; Phil 3:20-21).

We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted of His Father and that His acceptance is a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished (Heb 1:3).

We believe that He became Head over all things to the Church which is His body, and in this ministry He ceases not to intercede and advocate for the save (Eph 1:22-23; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1).


The Extent of Salvation

We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises that faith in Christ which is illustrated and described as such in the New Testament, he passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life, and from the old creation into the new; possessing the righteousness of God judicially imputed to him by a gracious God as a result of his faith. He is, on the basis of grace through faith, accepted before the Father according as Christ His Son is accepted, loved as Christ is loved, having his place and portion as linked to Him and one with Him forever. Though the saved one may have occasion to grow in the realization of his blessings and to know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God, he is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete in Christ, and is therefore in no way required by God to seek a so-called second blessing, or a second work of grace (John 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom 5:1; 1 Cor 3:21-23; Eph 1:3; Col 2:10; 1 John 4:17; 5:11-12).


Sanctification

We believe that sanctification, which is a setting-apart unto God, is threefold: positional, experiential, and ultimate. It is already complete for every saved person because his position toward God is the same as Christ’s position. Since the believer is in Christ, he is set apart unto God in the measure in which Christ is set apart unto God. We believe, however, that he retains his sin nature, which cannot be eradicated in this life. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian in Christ is perfect, his present state is no more perfect than his experience in daily life. There is, therefore, a progressive sanctification wherein the Christian is to grow in grace and to be changed by the unhindered power of the Spirit. We believe also, that the child of God will yet be fully or ultimately sanctified in eternity when he shall see his Lord as he is now sanctified in his standing in Christ (John 17:17; 2 Cor 3:18; 7:1; Eph 4:24; 5:25-27; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 10:10, 14; 12:10).


Eternal Security

We believe that those who have placed their trust in the work of Christ alone are once and forever saved. We believe the divine gift of eternal salvation of the believer is consistent with God’s purposes from eternity past and is provided by God the Father based upon the propitiatory sacrifice made by His Son; the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven; the immutability of God; and the regenerating and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in those who are saved. However, we also believe that God’s holy nature is offended by sin in the life of one of His own; therefore, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them with a view toward the day when they are each presented faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son (John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 6:19; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:13; Jude 24).


Assurance

We believe that it is the privilege of all (not just some) who are born again through faith in Christ alone as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the very day that they accept Him as Savior and that this assurance is founded entirely upon the testimony of God in His written Word rather than any sense of personal worthiness or acceptability. When the believer understands the Scriptures that form the basis for this truth, there is excited a filial love, gratitude, and obedience born from the Holy Spirit’s ministry to that believer (Luke 10:20; 22:32; 2 Cor 5:1, 6-8; 2 Tim 1:12; Heb 10:22; 1 John 5:13).


The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, even though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense in the Church by permanently indwelling every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ in one body. As the Indwelling One, He is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service. We believe that He never takes His departure from the church, nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ; seeking to occupy believers with Him and not with themselves nor with their experiences. We believe that His abode in the world in this special sense will cease when Christ comes to receive His own at the completion of the church (1 Cor 6:19; Eph 2:22; 2 Thess 2:7).

We believe that, in this age of the Church, certain well-defined ministries are committed to the Holy Spirit, and that it is the duty of every Christian to understand them and to be adjusted to them in his own life and experience. These ministries include the restraining of evil in the world consistent with the sovereign purpose of God the Father; the convicting of the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment; the regenerating of all believers; the indwelling and anointing of all who are saved, thereby sealing them unto the day of redemption; the baptizing into the one body of Christ of all who are saved; and the continued filling for power, teaching, and service of those among the saved who are yielded to Him and who are subject to His will (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4:30; 5:18; 2 Thess 2:7; 1 John 2:20-27).

We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues and miraculous healings were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism nor the filling of the Spirit, and that the deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection (Rom 8:23; 1 Cor 13:8).


The Church, A Unity of Believers

We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the church which is the body of Christ, which is completely distinct from Israel. Its members are constituted as such regardless of membership or nonmembership in the organized churches of earth. We believe that by the same Spirit all believers in this age are baptized into, and thus become, one body that is Christ’s, whether Jews or Gentiles, and having become members of another, are under solemn duty to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian differences, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently (Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:12-27; Eph 1:20-23; 4:3-10; Col 3:14-15).


The Christian Walk

We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But the flesh with its fallen, Adamic nature, which in this life is never eradicated, being with us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept by the Spirit constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence in our lives to the dishonor of our Lord (Rom 6:11-13; 8:2, 4, 12-13; Gal 5:16-23; Eph 4:22-24; Col 2:1-10; 1 Pet 1:14-16; 1 John 1:4-7; 3:5-9).


The Christian’s Service

We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Spirit upon all who are saved. While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized by the same Spirit, and each is called to his own divinely appointed service as the Spirit may will. In the apostolic church there were certain gifted men – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the saints unto their work of the ministry. We believe also that today some men are especially called of God to be evangelists, pastors and teachers, and that it is to the fulfilling of His will and to His eternal glory that these shall be sustained and encouraged in their service for God (Rom 12:6; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Eph 4:11).

We believe that, wholly apart from salvation benefits which are bestowed equally upon all who believe, rewards are promised according to the faithfulness of each believer in his service for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at the judgment seat of Christ after He comes to receive His own to Himself (1 Cor 3:9-15; 9:18-27; 2 Cor 5:10).


The Church’s Responsibility to Evangelize

We believe that it is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus Christ to those whom He has saved that they are sent forth by Him into the world even as He was sent forth of His Father into the world. We believe that, after they are saved, they are divinely reckoned to be related to this world as strangers and pilgrims, ambassadors and witnesses, and that their primary purpose in life should be to make Christ known to the whole world (2 Cor 5:18-20; 1 Pet 1:17; 2:11).