Bible Study #2, Christianity 101 - The Apostle's Creed Series- "I Believe In God The Father"

Bible Study #2,
Christianity 101 - The Apostle's Creed- "I Believe In God The Father"

Teacher: Dr. Fletcher Law, Fletcher LAW and GRACE Ministries
Redeemer Bible Studies
Redeemer Bible Fellowship

A Bible study on The main Topics Of The Apostles' Creed
(as usually recited today)

The basic creed of churches, as most familiarly known, is called the Apostles' Creed.
We view it as a concise declaration or affirmation of orthodox or solid Christian historical teaching. It is under the authority and not equal to Scripture. It has received this title because of its great antiquity; it dates from very early times in the Church, a half century or so from the last writings of the New Testament.

THE APOSTLE"S CREED

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.html

Jesus Christ is The only Son of God, the First and Last. Unlike all the prophets of the Old Testament Jesus Christ consistently referred to God as Father.
1. This was not normative in Hebrew tradition or religious practice.
2. This leads us to the intimacy we crave and must have to be complete.

Why is there a negative view of "God The Father" today?
1. Some have no father or a negative view of their father.
2. Some are convinced by their own thoughts and anti-biblical theology that God is
gender-less and that gender does not matter. God is Spirit as He describes in
His Word. He choose to in Scripture to consistently refers to Himself in masculine terms.

Jesus Christ choose to be a male. So- many take the wrong non-biblical
view that masculine reference to God is anti-female.

Our view of fathers today relates to our personal relationship with our own male parent. But Scripture tells us we have a perfect Father-
1. Who is loving.
1 John 4:8 English Standard Version (ESV)
"8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."
2. Holy
Revelation 4:8 (ESV)
"8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"
3. Accessible.
Matthew 7:9-11 (ESV)
"9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"



Can we have intimacy and the so called "personal relationship" with God like Jesus did?
YES
1. Jesus in his greatest distress went to His Daddy/Abba.
Mark 14:36 (ESV)
"36And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

We, who are born again children of God, we can go to Daddy/Abba.
Romans 8:14-16
English Standard Version (ESV)
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,"

The Holy Spirit brings this wonderful opportunity to us to commune and participate with with our Daddy/Abba with a result in mind.
Galatians 4:5-7
English Standard Version (ESV)
"5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

We believe in God The Father -Creator of Heaven and Earth
We need a balanced view of the intimate, but yet not demeaning or lessening view, of the creator of all we can ever know.


So we Christians have a Daddy.
How does this change how we act?
How does this change how we live?
Who are we accountable to?

John 1:17-19(ESV)
"17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known."


John 14:6-9 (ESV)
"6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus describes how to live as a child of The Father.

Matthew 6 (ESV)

1"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

(Edited Note-The So Called Lord’s Prayer Or Model Prayer)

5"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

(Edited note About Fasting)

16"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

(Edited Note -Lay Up Treasures in Heaven)

19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

(Edited Note-Do Not Be Anxious)

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

(Look to God as your Father and how to please Him.)

Jesus clearly said in John 3 that you must be born again by God's Holy Spirit .
Are you? that is how God becomes your Father.
Believe that Jesus Christ, who is the image of the father. lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay for the sins of believers, he received the wrath of God as he became sin. We are saved from the father by the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit for us to follow. This third person of the God Head, or Trinity, Holy Spirit, bears witness of our new birth and parent child relationship with the Father by the work of His first and only son Jesus Christ. We are adopted and gain peace with God, forgiveness of sins, entrance into a kingdom and family, and eternal life in the Kingdom of our family.
I pray you have an eternal Father in our mighty God.

In Christ Alone!

Fletcher Law

Fletcher Law and Grace Ministries
FletcherLawandGraceMinistries.com
FletcherLawandGrace@yahoo.com