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1
The Apostles Creed – Week 1
~ I Believe in God the Father ~
Series Introduction
What do you believe when you don’t know what to
believe?
Where do you go – what do you say – how do you think – when
the gravity of sin is hanging on your heart…. When the weight
of the world is weighing on your shoulders… when your mind is
in pieces from living in a broken world…
Have you ever been in a place like that…where your heart is
just so crushed that you don’t know what to believe?!?
Many saints in the history of the Church have felt the blight of
living in broken world – even to the point that their
hearts & minds can't go to the places of Scripture they so
dearly love…
And so where does your faith rest in times like this?!?!
What do you believe when you don’t know what to believe?!?!
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Well throughout the ages & throughout Church history –
one of the places the people of God have turned, are to
Creeds & Confessions of the early Christian Church!
Throughout the centuries (in fact) Creeds & Confessions have
served the people of God in a foundational way, by shaping &
moulding the Church by giving them great comfort when
life seems utterly beyond repair!
When you don’t know what to believe and you’re so kicked in
the guts that you need to be reminded of truth!
So Creeds & confessions are just one place the early Church
has turned in order to know what they believe – Why they
believed it – & why it even matters!
And so because of this – it is with great joy that we here at
Grace begin a brand new series in the Apostles’ Creed that I
have thoughtfully titled The foundation of Our Hope… X2
Not because the creed itself is the foundation of our
hope – but rather the truths within the Creed are the
foundation of our hope!
3
The creed itself is NOT Scripture – nothing within the Creed
was inspired by the Holy Spirit!
But in so much as the Creed points us toward Scripture
(toward the Gospel) – we’re going to use the Creed to launch
into the Bible!
And this is how the early Church has always used Creeds 7
Confessions…
So it’s important to know that I have no intention of
preaching the Apostles’ Creed – but rather using the creed –
I’m going to preach the Bible!
Because I want us to get a real taste of what the early Church
confessed & believed – what they bled & died for – when
it came to Who God is – What He has done – & Why it even
matters for our everyday life!
3 Reasons And so in light of this – I simply want to give you 3 short
reasons as to why we’re doing the Apostles’ Creed in the next
several weeks here at Grace…
3 reasons as to why the apostles Creed…
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The Oldest Creed
First of all – the Creed helps us to identify our Christian heritage
X2
This Creed is the oldest and most widely accepted creed in the
early Church – it was sort of the very first of the creeds to arise
from the people.
Most of the other Creeds in Church history are based off of this
Creed – and the Creed reflects the Apostles’ teaching!
So it wasn’t written by the Apostles themselves, but it’s called
the Apostles’ Creed because every line of the Creed conforms to Apostolic doctrine!
And so really – the Creed is recognized by all branches of
Christianity – because for over 2,000 years the Apostles’ Creed
has served as the irreducible minimum of the Christian faith.
At minimum this is what we believe – Christians believe
more than what is said in the Creed – but no Christian can
believe less!
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And so just by looking at this creed (& preaching on the creed),
it places us (Grace Bible Church) in a historic Christian faith
grounded in the Bible!
That’s the first thing – The Apostles’ helps us to identify our
Christian heritage!
Safeguards
Secondly the Creed itself safeguards us from falling into error!
In Scripture, God’s people have this bizarre tendency to drift
off into falsehood & deception regarding what is not true about
God – which leads them into sin!
And so most of the time in Scripture – when God’s people fall
into sin & error, it’s generally because they have either
forgotten a specific truth about God; or because they have
affirmed a false belief concerning God…
And so what the creed does in formulating these basic truths,
is it helps us to correct error & to expound the Gospel in such a
way that you & I stay within the barriers of the Christian faith –
The Apostles’ Creed is our guardrail (on the side of a mountain)
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that helps us to protect ourselves from falling off into heresy &
false belief!
The Creed protects Grace from going into the wrong places!
Certainty Thirdly & lastly – the Creed offers a radical kind of challenge
to the skepticism of this age…
There are men & women walking around these streets in
Brisbane today who don’t believe in absolute truth!
Men & women who deny that Christians can have any kind of
absolute truth or certainty when it comes to God, religion, or
the bible!
They aren’t used to hearing people say the words from the
Creed “I believe…” I believe in absolute, objective,
unshakable, irrefutable truth!
Because we live amongst a generation of skeptics who are
walking around hopelessly in sin not knowing what to
believe!
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And so when we come along as a Church and we confess to the
world – I believe in God the Father almighty – I believe in Jesus
Christ – I believe in the Holy Spirit… what we are doing is
offering a radical kind of certainty & assurance to a
generation of people who are desperate for the truth!
We are offering hope to a hopeless generation!
And so the Creed (over the next several weeks) is going to
challenge us (here at Grace) to ask the most fundamental &
challenging questions:
Do I really believe in a God who is Father?!?!
Do I really believe in Jesus Christ His Son?!?!
Do I believe in the Holy Spirit?!?!
Do I believe in eternal life?!?!
Do I believe that heaven & hell are real!?!?
Do I really believe that this is the foundation of my faith?!?!
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So I am really excited about this new endeavor that we’re going
to be tackling over the next several weeks here at Grace…
Introduction On December 7th, 1988, an earthquake had devasted the entire
Northwestern sector of the country of Armenia, killing an
estimated 25,000 people…
In one small town, just after the quake, a father rushed to his
son's school in order to see if his son was still alive!
When he got there, the school (where his son was attending) had
been utterly flattened! There was no sign of human-life
anywhere to be seen…
But although there was no sign of life – this father had always
told his son one thing:
“No matter what, I’ll always be there for you when you
need me the most!”
And so the father that day went to the school to dig…
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For 8...12...24...36 hours the father dug in the ruins of the school
searching for his son amongst the rubble & ruins of the rocks –
this is literally a broken situation…
But because the father had always been a father who loved his
son, he dug!
And so finally after hours of searching – can you believe there
was a small young voice yelling out from amongst the bottom
of the rubble – a voice that was screaming Father! X2
And so moments later, the dad was helping his son (Armand)
and 13 other children climb out of the heap, because of a small
pocket of air that had preserved their life from literally being
crushed to death!
And so when the townspeople asked the father why he never
gave up hope in the midst of a hopeless situation – his
explanation was both stunning yet basic:
“I made a promise to my son that I would always be there
when He needed me the most…”
A Heavenly Father
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What is it…about stories like this that move our hearts to hope
& to joy knowing that there are still fathers willing to go to such
lengths?!?!
What is it about stories like this that soar our souls to sing & to
celebrate the redemption & reunion found in this very scene!?!?
Why do we love stories of redemption & hope & love & joy?!?!
Well I think…it’s because…in a very real sense – stories like
this reflect a greater story…situations like this reflect a greater
situation father’s like this…reflect a greater Father!
One who is found on the pages of our Bible…
This father’s love reflects another Father’s love – this father’s
joy reflects another Father’s joy – this father’s power reflects
another Father’s power; one seen on the pages of Scripture…
And that’s the Father that we see here in our text today…
So as we come to start of the Apostles’ Creed – and the very
first line found within it…I just want to spend the next several
minutes convincing you of this one truth – that:
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God (Our Father) is intimately personal yet infinitely
powerful to those who are His! X2
And to do that we’re gonna go to Matthew chapter 6 where
Jesus prays the famous words of the Lord’s Prayer to His
disciples…
So if you have your bibles please look with me at Matthew
chapter 6 beginning at verse 9 – Jesus says this:
Therefore, (when you pray), you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven X2
In the words of the Creed:
I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven &
earth!
Opening Gambit Now for us sitting here today… as we open up our bibles & we
come to the start of Jesus’ Words here in Matthew 6… We
don’t fully weight of what Jesus has said…
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Because we’re so familiar with the contents of the bible – far too
often we don’t stop & consider what exactly is being said!
But for those hearing this Sermon on the Mount that day, these
words coming out of the mouth of Jesus would have been a
revolutionary way to consider the God of the Bible!
Pagans See it was not uncommon for people in the Ancient Near East to
think of God as a Father…
The Pagans would consider certain gods like Zeus to be their
father… and then from there, the Pagans would also consider
Roman Emperors like Caesar to be another kind of Deity to
whom they would call their father…
But see, Zeus was the kind of Father-like God who lived in the
sky, was all-powerful, kind of grumpy, very impatient, and
when you stuffed up Daddy Zeus was there to make sure you
got what you deserved!
He wasn’t a good father… he wasn’t a gracious Father… He
was an angry father, an impatient father, and a very un-joyous
father…
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Jews And then you come over to the Jews (who would have been
listening that day) and even they would have understood God as
father-like when they thought back to all the times in
Scripture where the nation of Israel was referred to as God’s
son…or when God referred to Himself as the Father of all life!
But even in those times – God was only ever known as Father
in a corporate kind of setting – it was always in the collective
kind of way!
He’s a Father but you would NEVER approach Him in a
personal kind of way!
He’s a Father but you would never approach Him face to
face…
God was too holy – He was too seperate – He was too
transcendent to do that!
Dearest Father “Abba” And so what makes this phrase that Jesus uses here such a
revolutionary thing in the mind of His listeners… was that when
Jesus uses this phrase, He uses the common Aramaic
expression we know as “Abba Father…”
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Now I’ve said this before – Abba Father was reserved for little
Jewish boys and little Jewish girls who would run home and call
out to their earthly fathers sitting in the living room… it was
reserved for little children to call out to their earthly fathers who
were walking in the streets of Jerusalem!
It was NOT, what you would call the God who created the
heavens & the earth!
It was NOT what you would call the God of the bible!
It was far too disrespectful (in the mind of a Jew) to call God
“Abba!”
So when the Jews heard Jesus use this phrase – they would have
gone absolutely nuts in their minds because it was totally
foreign for them to do this – far too disrespectful in the mind of
a Jew!
And I mean, the Pagans… they could NOT conceive of a God
like this!
The gods of Athens were always distant – too disinterested in
the affairs of human beings!
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This is a stunning reality that Jesus puts forward here!!!
God is NOT distant And so the first thing that I think Jesus is wanting us to see in
the Lord’s Prayer (and what the authors of the creed are trying
to get across to us by using this phrase “God our Father”) is the
fact that that only the Christian God was One who loved
His people, and sought their good!
That only the Christian God was a Father to the broken – An
Abba to the orphan – & tender to the lost…
He loves His people & He seeks their good!
This is a stunning reality that Jesus puts forward…
Deism So that as Christians (here’s why this maters!) – so that as
Christians we don’t believe that God is DISTANT from
the world – that God is DISTANT when it comes to suffering!
He’s NOT DISTANT when it comes to our lives!
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He is NOT detached from the reality of a broken world!
And this is what the bible has always said concerning God –
that God is infinitely powerful the Creator of all things YET
Right in the middle of it!!!
Right in the thick, of the mess, of our lives!
See if He’s just a Father who is infinitely powerful but
never actually able to come down into our lives; then I can
learn some principles about God – I can learn some great
theological truths but I don’t know how take those truths and
get them on the ground!
If He’s just the Pagan God of Athens… floating around in the
atmosphere but NEVER actually here! In the muck – in the
mire – in the brokenness – then this God may be all powerful
but He’s never gonna be able to help me in my broken marriage!
He might be the Creator of all things but He’s never gonna be
able to help me with a wayward child!
See if He’s just the God of Athens then that pornography
addiction you have isn’t going away!
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And that’s why the authors of the Creed were careful when
writing this line, to communicate & paint a picture of a God
that’s right in the middle of it!
In the muck – in the mire – in the grit where it hurts!
Like a father digging out his son in a flattened school – we have
a heavenly Father who comes to us in our pain – in our lives that
we cry out to!
We can call out And so, Jesus says that for the Christian – for the child of God
trusting in the death of the Son – we can call out to our heavenly
father from the muck – from the mire… and He turns to us
where it hurts and He says:
What do you need! X2
Just as a little Jewish child would come home hungry &
thirsty, weary & worn…. And they would lock eyes with their
father and they would say “Abba Father!”
That’s the kind of access we have in Christ!
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That’s the kind of delight this Father has in us!
God our Father is an intimately personal & always present Father!
This is a stunning reality!
Infinitely powerful
And then from there – Jesus takes this thought from the
personal to the powerful and he says that God our father is a
Father; but He’s a Father who is all powerful – a Father who is
in heaven – He is an infinitely powerful Creator God!
And as we have said time & time again from this very pulpit – friends this is a distinctly Christian way to think about God –
this is a distinctively Christian way to speak about God!
To say that God is above us (He is transcendent) but that God is
among us (He is immanent)…
Self-Defining And so when we say that God is above us – that He is
transcendent – & all powerful…one of the things we mean by
this is to say that:
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God is self-defining! X2
Now we live in a day and age when the whole world wants to
re-define Who God is & what God is like!
I mean we saw this last week in Acts 17 – the philosophers in
Athens thought that they had the right to define God & set the
parameters of worship!
That God is the unknown God – or that God lives in this
temple over here – or that temple over there – on & on they
would go trying to redefine God…
But see here’s what the Creed & specifically Matthew Chapter 6
is getting at when it says “Our Father in heaven – You don’t
get to define God!
Because our opinions about God they don’t matter!
They just don’t matter – because God is not defined by us!
You cannot de-crease His God-ness or in-crease His God-
ness by your thoughts about Him!
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So I can’t just go into my office this week – sit down in my
chair & think:
“What do I want to say about God this week – what makes
me feel good about God – how do I make others feel good
about God…?”
That’s NOT how God has revealed Himself – that’s not how
pastors are to preach the bible – that’s not how Churches grow
in the knowledge of Christ!
And so because God is all powerful – infinitely transcendent –
above & beyond us:
HE TELLS US what is truth!
He tells us Who He is!
The Creator of heaven & earth And again – this is what the authors of the Creed are getting at
by writing the line God – “ALMIGHTY – Creator of
heaven & earth!”
That Creator of heaven & earth is there to remind us that:
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There is a God & you are not Him! X2
This is the very first assumption of Holy Scripture… When we
open up our Bible to Genesis 1:1 & we read:
In the beginning God
That is there t remind us that:
There is a God – the Creator of heaven & earth & you are
NOT Him!
Which means the only reality that makes sense…is the reality
found in the Christian worldview – the only truth that exists is
the truth that reflects Holy Scripture!
God is God & our opinions about Him don’t matter – because
God is self-defining!
He is intimately personal yet infinitely powerful!
He’s the Creator of heaven & earth!
2 qualities of Fatherhood
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And so as I was thinking through the implications of God as our
heavenly Father, I realize that we could spend a number of
weeks on this verse alone – that God is our Father and what that
means for us, but for now, I just want lay before you 2
application points that I believe will really encourage our hearts
as we go out into our weeks thinking about God as a Father & a
Father for us…
So 2 ways that the Fatherhood of God plays itself out in the life
of the believer…
1. Defends
And the first one is this – if God is our Father (who is infinitely
powerful yet intimately personal) then that means that:
The Lord always defends His children in Christ X2
Deuteronomy 32 verse 4 says this:
“The Lord is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all
His ways; Your God is faithful and true; He does what is
right and fair…”
Psalm chapter 18 echoes this truth as it begins with these words:
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“The Lord is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My
God is my protection, and with Him I am safe…”
God Hates everything & anything that would seek to rob His
children of their joy & affection in Christ – X2
See God knows that the fullness of joy is found in the fullness
of Himself…
That the fullness of joy is found in the fullness of Himself –
which means that when His children are not walking according
to the purposes & plans that He has told them they must walk;
He will destroy anything that seeks to rob them of their
affection & joy in Christ!
So the best way I can explain this – & really the only way to
explain this… is to say that:
I hate everything that would seek to rob my son or wife of all
the fullness of joy & life!
That I hate anything in this world that would seek to steal, rob,
harm, or destroy Salli or Isaiah in any way.
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Like I’ll just say – when Isaiah was born I think I found a new
level of violence within my heart!
This is church – I’m the pastor I have to be honest – I found a
new level of violence when my son was born… I remember
sitting on the couch, feeding him milk, staring at his face with
tears in my eyes thinking to myself:
I could physically harm someone right now! I could
physically take a life if they ever tried to harm or destroy
this little child…
Anyone who would seek to harm this child is a person that I
myself would physically harm!
I remember thinking that!
Why?!?!
Because I love him so deeply, and because I love him so
deeply I hate everything that would bring him harm!
And in the same way friends – God Hates everything &
anything that would seek to rob His children of their joy &
affection in His Son!
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Because He is a jealous Father who loves so deeply – &
because He loves so deeply He hates so deeply!
That’s the kind of perfection we see in the Person of God as our
Father!
He always defends & protects all those who are His in Christ!
Now that doesn’t mean that you won’t have physical harm in
this life – it doesn’t mean that you’re always gonna live your
best life now & never have trouble in this world…
Rather what it means is that, God will always make sure He is
enough when bad times come!
That His fatherly hand will NOT let you go in times of
suffering…
He will destroy everything & anything in your life that seeks to
rob you of your affection in Christ because our Father is a
defender of His children in Christ!
Having God as father means that:
He will always spiritually defend His children in Christ!
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He will NOT let you go into destruction!
2. Disciplines
And so from there, we see a second quality of God as Our
Father… that if God is our heavenly Father (who is infinitely
powerful yet intimately personal) then that means that:
Sometimes He will discipline His children in love X2
One of my favourite Scriptures on this very topic is found in the
book of Proverbs chapter 3 verse 12 which says:
“For the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as a father
disciplines the son in whom He delights…”
So 2 things:
1. The Lord only disciplines the ones that He loves!
2. And He only disciplines them because He delights in His
children!
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See our natural disposition is to always believe that God is
angry with us – that God is frustrated with us – that He’s just
tolerating us until we get to heaven!
But the book of Proverbs tells us that God delights in His
children – that He loves His children!
So when I think of God as My Father, I can’t help but think of
how it is a good thing for a father to lovingly chastise and
discipline those who belong to Him…
It is a good thing for a father to chastise a son or daughter when
the father can see the child starting to go wayward…
Because God loves you and because God cares for you, then you
should at times expect His loving chastisement when you are
not walking according to His ways and commandments!
When you try to walk your own path, God will discipline you
because He loves you…
I heard a fantastic quote recently that said this:
“God will NOT rest content where His people cling to sins
that he has clearly told us to forsake! God is NOT in the
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business of bringing unchanged, self-centered sinners into
the joys of eternal life. God calls us to obedience [and joy
in Him], and when we resist His call, we should expect to
come under His loving [Fatherly] discipline that refuses to
let us go…”
What a fantastic reality for the Christian here this morning:
“When we resist His call, we should expect to come under
His loving discipline that refuses to let us go…”
God loves you too much to let you walk down your own path of
self-destruction!
God’s fatherly love for you is too strong, too jealous, and too
holy for you to remain in an undisciplined state of rebellion and
insurrection against Him!
God lovingly disciplines those who belong to Him!
Bad Fathers Now I know…that in a sermon on the fatherhood of God, there
are some people in here who have all kinds of different
relationships with their earthly fathers…
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I know there are some of you in here this morning who have
experienced abusive fathers…selfish fathers…hurtful fathers…
And I know there are others in here this morning who have had
good fathers, gracious fathers, loving fathers, compassionate
fathers…
And so no matter where you are on that spectrum of fathers…
What a wonderful thing it is to know that this passage & many
other passages in Scripture exist…
That although your earthly father failed you
miserably…perhaps hurt you in ways that are too deep to even
think about... that there is a heavenly Father who will never
hurt you, never leave you, and never forsake you!
Psalm 27:10:
Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord cares
for me. X2
Friends – your experience of having a hurtful or abusive father,
exposes you to the reality that you know what you are longing
for… you know that bad fathers are not the way things are
supposed to be…
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And therefore it gives you a hope that there is something beyond
an earthly father that you can one day experience…
Bad fathers are not what our God is like… God is nothing less
than a loving and compassionate Father…even when your father
was NOT…
Conclusion Now…I want to spend the last few minutes of our time here
today thinking about the word “Our” (O.U.R) in the Lord’s
Prayer – Our (Hour) Father!
See this word Our (Hour) here implies that this prayer is NOT
only a personal prayer – but a corporate prayer!
One that is to be prayed in relationship with Jesus Christ!
In other words – I think what Matthew chapter 6 is implying
here today is that We. Can’t. Know…God as Father except
through knowing Christ as Lord!!!
Jesus is praying this prayer in the context of being His disciple!
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You see what the bible teaches about the human race is that we
are NOT by nature children of God!
We are NOT (by nature) born into the family of God – rather what the bible teaches concerning the human race is that we
are all enemies of God & rebels because of our sin!
We are all naturally born sons & daughters of our first father –
Adam!
And because we are all born in Adam; the bible declares
that we are all dead in our trespasses and sins – we are all (by
nature) children of God’s wrath NOT children of His grace
(Ephesians chapter 2)… so that if you do not know
Jesus…if you have not trusted in His death for your sin
on the cross, then the only title you have to your name here this
morning is rebel against God!
See the bible would declare that no amount of good works,
righteous deeds, or praying can get anyone into heaven…we are
not good enough to have God as our heavenly Father because
we all choose sin over God…
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And so if we cannot work our way into heaven, if we cannot
earn our way into heaven, if we are not naturally born sons and
daughters of God… how then can anyone be saved?
Well I’m glad you asked because this is what Christians call the
good news of the Gospel – the Good News of salvation in
Christ!
That although you & I can never ever ever be good enough –
that Jesus Christ is! He was the only perfect Son of God – the
only natural One born of God!
Jesus came as a human (fully God and fully man) lived a sinless
life and died a sinless death on the cross…And that by simply
trusting in His death (NOT your good works; not your ability
to live for Him; not your ability to be a good person) but trusting
wholly in the death of Christ and Christ alone can you ever be
considered righteous in God’s sight!
So that when you trust in Christ, the bible says that God the
Father looks at you as if you had been the perfect Son or
daughter of God… as if you had lived a sinless life…because
Jesus is in your place!
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All of your sin laid upon Jesus and all of His righteousness laid
upon you!
So that you are considered absolutely guiltless!!!
That’s the Good news and that is the Gospel!
And so the only way that we could ever have the privilege of
calling God our heavenly Father (like Jesus teaches us here) is
through God adopting us into His family by faith in Christ! (By
trusting in Christ and His death)
& until you come to Jesus and trust in Him (alone) as Lord
and Saviour of your life, then simply saying the Creed each
week – or singing the songs each week – or hearing the
sermon each week isn’t going to do anything for you but
only increase the wrath of God upon your head! Until you
come to the Son – the Apostles’ Creed is merely a potential
reality for you, and NOT something that can be confessed by
a Non-Christian…
You need to be saved – you need to trust in Christ!
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And what we’re going to see over the next several weeks as we
come to the Apostles’ Creed – and we study this ancient
document of faith; is that we have a heavenly Father – who
sends His son – to bring the Spirit – that builds the Church – for
everlasting life!
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The Apostles Creed ~ God The Father Almighty ~
Main Point: God Our Father is intimately personal yet
infinitely powerful to those who are His.
Q1. Read the Apostles’ Creed together. What stands out to you
most? – Why do you think it is important to know what we
believe and why we believe it? In what ways have Creeds &
Confessions shaped the people of God in the history of the
Church? – What experiences have you personally had with
Creeds?
Q2. What were 3 good reasons that Churches should read,
recite, & preach through Creeds & Confessions? – Can you
think of any others?
Q3. Why do you think the Apostles’ Creed lacks other
theological truths (i.e. doctrine of Scripture; justification;
sanctification; etc.)? – What would you have added to this Creed
if you were helping to write it?
Q4. What was the common conception of God according to
Ancient Pagan philosophy? – How does this differ from the
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Christian conception of God? – Why is the Aramaic expression
“Abba” so controversial in the mind of a Jew?
Q5. Why is God’s immanence (personal nature) such an
essential element for our everyday life? – What would happen if
God was only transcendent (above & beyond us) but not
immanent? – What would happen if God was only immanent
(personal) but not transcendent (beyond)?
Q6. What are 2 ways the Fatherhood of God applies to our
everyday lives? (Read Psalm 18:1-2; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews
12:6) – What does the discipline of the Lord look like in the life
of a Christian? –
Q7. What is our natural assumption when it comes to God
delighting in us? – Why do we struggle to believe the idea that
God loves us & delights in us? – How would you use the
Apostles’ Creed to help counsel a brother or sister who has had
a bad earthly father? (Read Psalm 27:10)
Q8. Why do some people struggle with the idea that God is a
good Father who seeks our good? – What does the Gospel
promise us in helping with this struggle?
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Application Questions
Q1. What is your relationship with your earthly father like? –
How has this impacted your relationship with God? – How can
we help others who have had bad relationships with their earthly
fathers?
Q2. Do you find it difficult to believe that God is for you and
your good? Why or why not? – Read Matthew 6:9-13. What is it
in this passage that helps you to believe that God delights in
you?
Q3. What helps you to relate to God as father? What is it about
God’s transcendence (Greatness) that brings you comfort? –
What is it about His immanence (closeness) that brings you joy?
Q4. Read Proverbs 3:12. What aspect of God’s Fatherhood is
being expressed here? – Does the discipline of God bring you
comfort or grief?
Q5. How does God’s tenderness encourage you to approach
Him in prayer?
Q6. How should this passage impact the way we parent our
children?
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