Tag Archives: Apostles’ Creed

God the Father, Almighty Creator

I. Even without the Bible God’s existence is obvious.

A) Something or Someone has always existed because nothing cannot produce or become something.

B) Whatever begins to exist has a cause for its existence. Hard evidence points to the reality that the universe began to exist. Thus, the universe has a cause.

C) The cause must be uncaused, ore we have a vicious infinite regress of causes.

D) The cause must exist outside the universe or it would be subject to universal causation.

E) The cause must be immaterial or it would be subject to universal causation.

F) The cause must be unimaginably powerful to bring a universe with 200 billion galaxies into existence.

G) The cause must be an intelligence beyond compare to arrange for a universe that develops into a home for intelligent life such as you and me.

H) God fits all of these qualifications:

  1. By definition God is an uncreated Being who has always existed.
  2. God is the initiator of existence, and the creator of everything, which is to say He is the Father of the universe.
  3. God is all powerful.
  4. God is personal and therefore able to act apart from a prior cause.

I) The order and fine tuning of the universe is evidence of a Creator. Design evinces a Designer.

  1. The universe did not order itself.
  2. The laws of physics are not the result of chance.
  3. The essential factors for life present on earth are not a happy accident.

II. The God of the Bible fits the description of God the Father, Almighty maker of the universe.

A) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

B) “Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (Psalm 90:2, NASB 2020)

C) “By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3, NASB 2020)

D) “God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” (John 4:24)

III. God is personal.

A) God is not an idea or concept. 

B) God is not the universe. 

  1. We must reject pantheism.
  2. Don’t pray to the sky, the stars or the universe.
  3. The universe isn’t telling you anything other than the reality that God created it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky speaks His praise” (Psalm 19:1).

C) God is not a force. 

Sorry, Star Wars got it wrong.

IV. You are not God (nor am I or any other created being).

A) Don’t confuse your conscience with God.

B) “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD (YHWH), He is God; there is no other besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).

C) “I am the LORD (YHWH), and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5).

D) “Know that the LORD (YHWH) Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3).

V. The divine Name revealed in the Bible aligns with the essential nature of God.

A) “Then Moses said to God, ‘Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” Now they may say to me, “What is His name?” What shall I say to them?’ 

And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”’” (Exodus 3:13–14, NASB 2020)

B) YHWH means God is eternal and self-existent.

C) YHWH is the ground of all Being; the source of existence.

VI. Jesus Christ is the One who we must go to in order to meet and know God personally.

A) “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory of the One and Only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

B) “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me.

VII. The Only Begotten Son offers you and I the privilege of calling the Father our Daddy!

“Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:6–7, NASB)

The Apostles’ Creed Introduction

Apostles’ Creed Teaching Points

1- Pastor D believes the Apostles’ Creed to be the best brief ancient summary of what C.S. Lewis wrote about at length in his book Mere Christianity.

“Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbors was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times…. what Baxter calls ‘mere’ Christianity.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

2- Pastor D will venture to make the case that the Apostles’ Creed is a trustworthy summary of what Jude calls “the faith once for all passed down to the saints.” (Jude 1:3)

3- Each point made in the Apostles’ Creed is clearly backed up in the inspired Bible, which is where we must always go to determine the authority, authenticity and value of any statement of faith, even one as universally accepted and ancient as this creed.

4- Pastor D will use the Apostles’ Creed as the basic outline for the teaching series: What We Believe and Why We Believe It.

5- To be sure, there are those who would call themselves “Christian” who may reject various statements in the Apostles’ Creed. 

a) “And this is true even of those articles which have been most assailed in recent times, as the supernatural conception of our Lord (comp. Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35), the descent into Hades (comp. Luke 23:43; Acts 2:31; 1 Pet. 3:19; 4:6), and the resurrection of the body (1 Cor. 15:20 sqq., and other places)….’ (ibid. Schaff)

b) The Apostles’ Creed is so basic, so biblical, and so closely aligned with the teaching of the primitive church that we may reasonably question the authenticity of the faith of those who deny any part of it.

“The rationalistic opposition to the Apostles’ Creed and its use in the churches is therefore an indirect attack upon the New Testament itself.”  (ibid. Schaff)

Apostles’ Creed (updated language)

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary

Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hades

The third day he rose again from the dead

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead

I believe in the Holy Spirit

I believe a holy universal church; the communion of saints

The forgiveness of sins

The resurrection of the body

And the life eternal. Amen