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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!

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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?