I Believe...

A dead creed is of no use; we must have our creed baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Charles Spurgeon

The moon is awesome to look at, but has no light of its own.

The creed has no authority, but does reflect the light of scripture.

It is a set of biblical values, that corrects error.

Not a magic set of words that gets you into heaven.

341 AD- Historians identify it as written by 12 Apostles after Pentecost, before they disbursed.

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell

and the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting, Amen.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Does not say knows in heart, but believes in heart. We know lots of things that we don’t do. Something that is believed moves us toward action.

Belief is birthed in the heart.

Moral religions, set a bar, and you have to measure up. Our faith is based upon “I believe!” Not “We do these things.”

Symmetry

Leg Day

Clarity

Survey by Lifeway and Ligonier Ministry of evangelical beliefs:

Deny Jesus is God in the flesh. Deny the deity of Christ. Deny that the Holy Spirit is a person.

50% do not believe the Bible is God’s Word, or that it is true.

Many evangelicals feel that worshiping alone is just as valid as attending corporate worship.

Pragmatism rules in the Church currently. Pragmatism- What I need right now. I don’t need spiritual formation, I just need my problems fixed. It is all about NOW!

Creates in us an entertainment mindset.

Children’s Church- Did you have fun? If fun becomes the bar we set, we will never create rootedness in joy.

Community

Our faith has existed for thousands of years, by people that fought incredibly difficult battles, and yet never lost their faith.

Hebrews 12:22–23 ESV

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

Our family is a lot bigger than we think it is! It’s historic, global and multi-ethnic!

Counsel

The Creed effects how we counsel ourselves and how counsel others!

Example: The Forgiveness of sins...

The Creed for the Church has become its greatest act of rebellion and their greatest act of allegiance.

We do not believe the story our culture is telling us, this is what we believe!

Illustration: Crab Apple Tree

We become deep rooted in our faith and are not easily knocked over.