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I BELIEVE "in God" - January 3, 2016 - Pastor Bil Hood

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St. Paul's Lutheran Church Orange, CA

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grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen and again happy New Year we're going to start today with this sermon the new sermon series it's based on the Apostles Creed and before I get too far into the Creed itself I think I should maybe set the table a little bit as to what it is where exactly talking about the word creed comes from the Latin word Credo which means I believe and so Creed is a statement of what someone believes now this one call the Apostles Creed not because the apostles wrote it they did not but because it summarizes what the apostles in the apostles were those first fall where's of Jesus it's summarizes what they believed and taught  sometimes this one is called an ecumenical Creed ecumenical means Universal or applying to all and so an ecumenical Creed means that this is not a Lutheran thing or a Catholic thing or a Methodist thing the Apostles Creed summarizes the core beliefs that are common to all of these groups and to every Christian throughout the world and even throughout time  next to the creedal statements contained within the Bible itself the Apostles Creed is the oldest Christian are you that exists no one knows exactly when it was written or by whom it was written  but we know that it's old  you can find the roots of in the writings of the early church leaders one of them Ignatius of Antioch wrote in 107 ad and then listen closely to this because it'll sound familiar he wrote stop your ears there for when anyone speaks to you at variance with Jesus Christ the son of God who was Jesus Christ who was descended from David and was also of Mary  who is truly born and did eat and drink who is truly persecuted on her pain pilot he was truly crucified and truly died in the side of beans and heaven and on Earth and under Earth he also was truly raised from the his father quickening him even as after the same manner his father will so raise up us who believe in him by Christ Jesus I'm home we did not possess the true life  sounds very familiar it's important to know also that I have no intention of preaching the Creed but rather using the Creed to preach the Bible and here's why Creed's do not hold any of already in and of themselves but rather they Point outside of themselves to the ultimate authority of the word of God and may be helpful illest here would be this the Moon is awesome to look at it has no light of its own  but it tells me that there is a played out there  historically the Creed has been used in two ways in the first way is to correct error God's people have a tendon set times to drift into what is not true about God in the Creed corrects that  it's also been used in in primarily been used as a tool for Spiritual formation for God's people the Apostles Creed has been used by the church for two Millennia to shape the people of God around what true  now if you're here and you're not a Christian and you're not quite sure what to make of all of this let me save this quickly as well Christians do believe in incantations and here's what I mean by that saying this along with everyone else will not make you a Christian you knowing is Creed and memorizing this does not make you a Christian so with those things before us it's not the Bible has no Authority in itself but rather reflects the light and the Heat of the Bible it's been used to correct and shape God's people and it is not an incantation that can save you make you lucky get you a promotion or get you the girl you've been staring at it just doesn't work that way now let's dig into it it's a first I'd like to restate the Creed for us one more time I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and 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 died and buried he descended into hell and I want to stop there and let you know that that I hear that that week that's going to be a good one  on the 3rd play he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from then he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe Holy Spirit the holy Christian Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body in the Life Everlasting so first as we start into this I'll start at the beginning and we will start with i  I believe even get together and say it in a large group like this confessing our common faith we don't say we believe and why is that snooze no one can believe for you faith is personal it's not a private thing but it is a personal thing Romans 10 verse 9 till this this if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead we saved  the fact that your mom or your dad or your grandma or your grandpa was a really faithful believer in Jesus doesn't is anything for you when it comes to your salvation  and actually that's good news because it also means that if your mom or your dad or your grandma what was an atheist or hated God God is not going to hold that against you either  no one gets into heaven as a result of riding someone else's hotels  that's why we say I believe  maybe we should look at that word believe let's look again Romans chapter 10 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 and this is huge close attention for with the heart One Believes and is Justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved there's two pieces here and it's important that we see in the derstand and grab hold to both of them before we consider the Creed in anyway and here first one  we have here a confession the Jesus is lord it's a type of Pledge of Allegiance in the first part of this text from Romans if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord you'll be saved but you need to look at that in the context of all of scripture and even just in the words that holla when you do that here's what you find out  if you believe in your heart  I noticed the text does not say no it says believe it doesn't say I know Jesus is Lord it says I believe Jesus is Lord and why is that what's important because belief leads to action and knowing it may or may not  for example understand I better a quick survey of everyone in the room how many of you know things that you should be doing and shouldn't be doing  and it has not stopped you from doing them or not doing them  go ahead  I expect to see every hand in this room and those of you whose hands I you're probably Liars  to believe is to be moved to action in to know is to think maybe maybe not to the word here is not to know in your heart it's too believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord it's faith and faith is a gift Ephesians 2:8 tells us that by Grace you have been saved through faith in this is not your doing but a free gift of God  our faith or belief is a gift it's not something we create but it is what leads to justification to right standing with God which then ultimately leads to a confession with our mouth that Jesus is Lord we don't confess with our mouths and that saves us we believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord and then that leads to a confession with our mouths  in that order is imperative for you to understand what awful really is  it's important that Paul is saying that you believe not that you know  well then say God I believe in God and what does that mean exactly and really when we talk about what that means exactly we really should just put all my you right next to that I believe in God almighty  you who is God what is God like here are some things that the Bible tells us about God it really jumps out that the almighty part is important first the Bible says that God is omnipotent or all-powerful Jesus says in Matthew 19 With God all things are possible in other words there's nothing that God can't do well God is also omniscient he is all-knowing 1st John 3 says God is greater than our hearts and knows everything  so there's nothing God can't do and there's nothing God doesn't know God is also eater Psalm 90 says this the psalmist says from Everlasting to Everlasting you are God  in other words there never will and there never has been a time when God didn't exist which is really mind-blowing when you think about that God is also omnipresent it means that he can be and he is everywhere at the same time Jeremiah 23 tells us can anyone hide in the secret places so that I cannot see him declares the Lord do I not fill Heaven and Earth answer of course is yes he does God is everywhere  I could probably keep going on and on with many more attributes of God and they all very important but what I want you to see today is that in an ominous of themselves they are not sufficient if you want to know God because there's nothing really uniquely Christian about anything I just said every Jewish person believes that God is omnipotent and omniscient and eternal and omnipresent and so does every Muslim so do most people who believe that God exists don't really make any commitment to any particular Faith about God  and this is when it gets important for us I believe in God the Father Almighty  these days there's a huge interest in Islam most Americans before 9/11 had paid very attention to Islam and most Americans didn't know much about their Muslim neighbors or their faith  and suddenly everyone was asking what who are these people what do they believe a few months after that tragedy there was an article by a well-respected Christian scholar it was titled is the god of Muhammad the Jesus  in other words do Christians and Muslims believe in the same God  and this was his answer to the question I think it's very good so I want to read to you  is the father of Jesus the god of Muhammad the answer is surely yes and no in the sense that the father of Jesus is the only God there is he's the Creator and Sovereign Lord of Mohammed Buddha Confucius and every other person who has ever lived he's the one who before whom All Shall one day bow Christians and Muslims can together a firm many important truth about this God his Oneness eternity power Majesty as the Quran puts it the living the lasting the all high the all glorious  but the answer is also no for Muslim theology rejects the do you have Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit both essential components to the Christian understanding of God no devout Muslim can call all the god of Muhammad father for this in their mind would comprise Divine Transcendence but no faithful Christian can refuse to confess with joy and confidence I believe in God the Father Almighty apart from the Incarnation in the Trinity it is pot is possible to know that God is but not who God is  and that's why in our scripture reading today from John your Jesus Calling God his father over and over and over again  and I know what I'm about to say is probably not politically correct I'm going to say it anyway the painful truth is that any religion that does not acknowledge and confess that God has a son is a false religion they are worshiping a made-up God not The God Who made the heavens and the Earth  now they might be very nice people and they might do some very nice things but their faith is false  and by the way that's not just my belief that's exactly what Jesus says in our reading and John first 23 said he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him there's no method of Salvation other than God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son  the only pay for sin that God the father has accepted is the death on the cross and the resurrection from the grave of his son and yet one God himself reveals himself to us as father it means even more than that he's not just telling us that he's a trinity is telling us something about his heart and that's why Paul says in our reading from Romans that we're not just to think of him as father but Abba Father  ABBA is the Aramaic word that little children typically used to refer to their fathers add a Modern English version might be something like Daddy or Papa and you know for many of us it seems wrong to think about the almighty God that way almost disrespectful and if you don't believe me just try it try saying your prayers for a whole week like that oh daddy who art in heaven Hallowed be thy or with the family at dinner come now pop-up Be Our Guest and let these gifts to us be blessed  you do that for a whole week or even whole day and it will probably bother you but I can tell you this it won't bother God not one bit because the one true God the only that exists is not consumed with thoughts about his omniscience or omnipotence or omnipresence the fonts that consume him thoughts of you  do you understand that do you understand how deeply you are cared for and loved by God he is Abba Father  no matter who you are no matter how much you've messed up you are loved by God care what else you do I'm telling you that your life will never feel in tune until you understand and fully believe that it's the amazing unchanging truth that you can count on to build your life upon and that's what we mean when we say I believe in God the Father Almighty and so be it I'll men

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I BELIEVE "in God" - January 3, 2016 - Pastor Bil Hood

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