We Believe in God

Series: We Believe - Faith in an Age of Uncertainty

Holy Week & Easter - Not just a celebration of Jesus’ victory…but also an invitation in following the path of Jesus for our own lives.

Palm Sunday - Jesus enters Jerusalem to shouts of praise

Maunday Thursday - Jesus gives the new commandment

Good Friday - the crucifixion

Holy Saturday - the silence of the grave but the anticipation of resurrection

Easter Sunday

Apostles Creed

“The word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin word credo, meaning ‘I believe.’

These were the early and lasting essential confessions of the church…a concise list of the foundations for our faith.

We believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

We believe 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, died and was buried;

He descended to hell. On the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

He will come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

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

An Age of Uncertainty

If you look around the world today, you likely feel like the foundations of our world, even of the church, are being shaken.

Nearly all of Scripture, particularly the New Testament, is written to a people living in an “uncertain age”…

Uncertain when or how God was going to deliver them

Uncertain when Jesus would return

Uncertain how to face persecution and evil in the world

It’s the time between promise given and promise fulfilled…that tension we live in called the “already…but not yet.”

It seems common for the church today to live with a sense of uncertainty…You can easily check facebook and see a list of all the things church folk are up in arms about!

Wars and rumors or wars

corrupt politicians & leaders

manipulative agendas

corrupt media outlets

attacks against the church from outside

attacks against the church from inside

the perversion and corruption of sexuality

attacks against life

the attacks against family

and more!

All that is true…

Here’s the problem:

Too often the church gets pulled in to playing the “games” of the devil on his terms with his rules, instead of standing faithfully & confidently in our place of authority high above all principalities and powers.

Ephesians 1:15–23 (CSB)

This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Principle: The power of the church lies not in our idealogical battles…The power of the church lies in our profession that Jesus is in fact lord and king of all!

What is the gospel? = Jesus is Lord.

I wish the church would do more weeping, more praying, and less ranting and cussing!

How are we to live Faithfully?

Romans 10:5–10 “since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

*Never underestimate the power of speaking the truth over your life, over the world, over your nation, over your family, and over your troubles!

**That’s what the creed is about. It has been the way the Church says over and over, “Despite what may be happening in our world, or what others may say, we confess that Jesus is Lord, we are his people, and he will deliver us!”

<Over the next several weeks we are going to look at these lines of confession and stand on the truth of God’s word.>

It all begins with the first statement in the creed: God is Creator and Father of all.

Two observation concerning this opening statement of our creed…

1. Knowing God as creator saves us from our own arrogance.

One of the most dangerous beliefs of modern man is the belief that by our knowledge and technologies we have become self-sufficient. We no longer need God, or worse, God is a fabrication of the weak (Marxism).

Hebrews 11:3 (CEB)

3 By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.

2. Knowing God as Father saves us from our own stupidity.

Stupidity is the complete belief in a fabrication of our own making. It’s believing a lie so much that we build our life around a fantasy.

-or- being blissfully unaware of our own ignorance.

A loving Father will not allow you to remain in blissful ignorance…

I remember one day in my early 20’s in ministry…my spiritual father was making a decision that, in all my great twenty-year-old wisdom, I thought was wrong…so I pointed it out…I remember him calling me on the phone, saying, “David, I’m sorry before I made this decision that I did not consult with you in all your great wealth of experience and wisdom!”

Principle: Wherever we remain unsurrendered to the father, we remain in bondage to the work of the enemy over our lives (a stronghold).

Hebrews 12:6 “for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.”

Psalm 103:13–14 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.”

What part of your life still needs to be surrendered to the voice of the Father?

Jesus said to his disciples: “I only do what I see my Father do. I say what I hear my Father saying. To go where my Father tells me to go.”