Our Beliefs

What we believe at LBC

  1. God

There is only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Psalm 19:1; Isaiah 43:15; 64:8; Matthew 6:9; Hebrews 11:6.

  1. Jesus Christ

Jesus 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. In His substitutionary death on the cross, He is the only provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator 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.

Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 1:18-23; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-18,29; 14:7-11; 16:15-16: Revelation 1:12-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 19:16; 22:21

  1. Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired men of old to write the Holy Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men 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 unto 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; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

  1. The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. God is its author. All Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12

  1. Man

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. Man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.

  1. Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Genesis 3:15; John 3:3-21; 14:6; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; Romans 1:16-18; 3:23-25; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 10:9-10,13; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:17-19.

  1. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, 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 operates under the Lordship of Christ. Each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its two scriptural offices are that of pastor and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor and deacon is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

Matthew 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.

  1. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

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; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.

  1. The Lord’s Day

The first day of the week (Sunday) is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.

Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-12; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:23-25; Revelation 1:10.

  1. Evangelism and Missions

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. Missionary effort on the part of all believers is repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 10:1-18; John 14:11-12; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:13-15; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Revelation 22:17.

  1. Stewardship

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. We are therefore under obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to us to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

Leviticus 27:30-32; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 6:1-4,19-21; Luke 12:16-21; 16:1-13; 2 Corinthians 8-9.

  1. The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; Joshua 24:15; Psalms 127; Psalms 128; Proverbs 1:8; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.