The Apostles Creed: I Believe

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(Address the Catholic Wording in the creed

The Word Catholic comes from the Greek word  katholikos (CAtho-lick-kos) which mean in the greek Universal, which in the 1st century means all the Church

Today We are launching into a new 7 part series called the Apostles Creed

Near the end of each year I seek what God is laying on my heart for the next year, and I felt like He answered me with foundations.

See a foundation is the most important part of a building process, if the foundation is off, the whole building is wrong and unsafe, and often unusable

Likewise this year we are going to be building a foundation that can launch your faith to the next level.

This is not to say you do not already have a good foundation, but something I learned in a very humbling way is that we can always improve our foundation and make it stronger.

Think about it this way, the hoover dam was completed in 1936, so the foundation of hoover dam was done 88 years ago, however experts say that some of the concrete that is in hoover dam will not be completely cured until the 100 year mark.

Likewise our foundation can continue to be made stronger.

The Apostles Creed is something that has become near to my heart, this is something that we have in common with Christians as far back 1800 years.

When we speak these words, we are professing the same thing that so many of the great contributors to Christianity and and martyrs have spoken.

The Apostles’ creed is the oldest statement of faith in the Christian church, written sometime in the second century AD. The creed defines core Christian beliefs about God, Jesus, the church, salvation, and more.

Like I just said the creed was first recorded in the second century, however, most writings from that time period meant that is was already being used for a while before

Some believe that the apostles wrote out the original, many believed this throughout Church history, even today.

The earliest written form of the creed predates the Bible from 100 to 180 years.

Let’s get into the creed

I Believe In God The Father Almighty

When we say I believe in God the Father, we are saying that we believe in the Christian God, this is not a philosophical claim, but a declaring in whom we trust

The word almighty here is an important word here used, The creed was first recorded in Latin and the word here is Omnipotentem, is where we get the word Omnipotent , which is the word we use for having unlimited power, and able to do anything. We can see this in the Bible in verses like

Daniel 4:35 NIV

All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

and

Jeremiah 32:17 NIV

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

one more

Psalm 115:3 NIV

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

From the very beginning of the creed we are positioning ourselves into a place of humility and understanding that God is all powerful and there is nothing He cannot do.

Being in a place of being humble is where we are suppose to be as followers of Christ

Colossians 3:12 NIV

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Humility is part of the character we are called to wear as followers of Christ.

Before we can get to God as our redeemer, or savior we must start with God the almighty and sovereign. it is how He capable to save and redeem. We must never diminish who He is

Something that we can do to help set up ourselves up is to add almighty to our prayers.

Now that the beginning of the creed identifies that God is Father and Almighty, now moves on to identifies the creator aspect of God

Creator Of Heaven and Earth

This is a direct reflection of Genesis

Genesis 1:1 NIV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This mean literally everything,

Think of it this way, if I were to say, “I worked day and night” it is everything

It starts with God, this is not to say that the trinity was not apart of it but showing God is almighty and made everything

Since God is the creator we are Not self-made, it is not us that brings life, it is God. When we try to be who our flesh wants us to be, we deny what God designed us to be.

To often I believe to we separate God into the Old Testament God, and New Testament God. God is the same as He was in the Old Testament as He is now

Malachi 3:6 NIV

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

so many times we treat God has something He is not.

We treat Him buddy, buddy

like a vending machine

like He owes us something

Like He should bow to our Will

This is not who God is

God is THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

The beginning of the creed is setting ourselves in a place of humility and reverence before God. The same way we should be in our lives, and in our prayers.

How do we humble ourselves before God

Acknowledge God's Sovereignty

James 4:10 NIV

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Isaiah 55:8–9 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God is Almighty, we must acknowledge this not only with our lips but with our hearts as well

Confess and Repent of Pride and Sin

We can be prideful in our lives, thinking that we know better then God, and some times we do not even see it, but we must take moments to seek out this pride and confess it and repent it.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Pray with Dependence on God

Philippians 4:6 NIV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Matthew 6:9–10 NIV

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

We need to put ourselves dependent to God. Our prayer life is no exception, “thy kingdom come, your Will be done.

This is how we should be praying and living our lives,

when we become anxious we should be praying, giving it to God, depending on God, trusting in God

This is not just going to happen overnight, but in time we will get closer and closer, until one day we are just trusting Him with everything we have and are.

Lord’s Supper

Luke 22:19–20 NIV

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.