The Everyday Faith Steps:

• Born-again / Saved
• Water Baptized
• Holy Spirit Activated
• Healed + Set Free
• In Community
• Contributing
• Personal Growth
• Reproducing

Faith Scripture:

II Corinthians 5:7: For we walk by faith, not by sight.

The Apostles' Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe 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 was buried;

He descended into hell;

on the third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended to heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father;

From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy church,

The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

The resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen.

The Apostles' Creed dates back to the 2nd century and was formalized into what we read today around 710AD.

What is a Creed?

A creed is a concise, formal statement of the shared core beliefs of a religious community. The English word comes from the Latin credo, meaning “I believe”. In Christianity, creeds summarize essential doctrines drawn from Scripture. They are used for public confession of faith, baptismal rites, instruction of new believers, liturgy/worship, and as a standard of orthodoxy to distinguish true teaching from error. They are secondary to Scripture. It is a “rule that is ruled” by the Bible rather than an equal authority.

A Creed is a set of beliefs that shapes behavior and identity.

• The Creed answers what it means to be a Christ Follower.
• The Creed informs our communal identity.
• The Creed helps clarify who God is.
• The Creed does not replace Scripture, but it binds the church to Scripture's saving pattern and guards it against distortions.

Why is it important?

To safeguard orthodoxy against early heresies, especially Gnosticism, which denied the goodness of the material creation, the true incarnation, and the physical suffering/death of Christ. Gnosticism is an ancient collection of religious and philosophical movements that taught salvation comes through secret or esoteric spiritual knowledge (gnosis) rather than faith or church authority. Nearly every phrase affirms what Gnostics rejected: God as Creator of heaven and earth, the real birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, his suffering under Pontius Pilate, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, etc.

Gnosticism is an ancient collection of religious and philosophical movements that taught salvation comes through secret or esoteric spiritual knowledge (gnosis) rather than faith or Church authority. Nearly every phrase affirms what Gnostics rejected: God as Creator of Heaven and earth, the real birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, his suffering under Pontius Pilate, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, etc.

Orthodoxy - The word comes from the Greek word orthos meaning "right" or "straight" and doxa meaning "belief".

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Genesis 1:1-2

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

John 1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Deuteronomy 6:4

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Footnote: Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

Terms that describe the Sovereign Actions of God

1: Trinity - God Is

2: Revelation - God Speaks

3: Creation - God Makes

4: Image - God Loves

5: Fall - God Judges

6: Covenant - God Pursues

7: Incarnation - God Comes

8: Cross - God Dies

9: Resurrection - God Saves

10: Church - God Acts

11: Worship - God Transforms

12: Kingdom - God Reigns

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of Heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

What is the Trinity? (Or better said, "Who" is the Trinity.)

The word Trinity is a shorthand way of summarizing complex biblical truth. It was likely first used by the church father Tertullian (AD 155–220).

The Trinity is one God who eternally exists as three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Spirit—who are each fully and equally God in eternal relationship with each other.

While the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, the concept of One-who-is-Three clearly does. (A side note: the word Bible doesn’t appear in the Bible.)

To say that each member of the Trinity is a “person” does not mean that God the Father or God the Spirit became human beings. It means that each person of the Trinity thinks, acts, feels, speaks, and relates because they are persons, not impersonal forces.

Each member of the Trinity is equally God, which means they share all the divine attributes of eternality, omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), and omnipresence (all-present).

The Father, Son, and Spirit are equally declared throughout Scripture to be God.

Importantly, being one God, the Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct persons.

Therefore, the Father and Son are two unique persons. This is frequently addressed in salutations of letters in the New Testament and other Scriptures.

Scripture is also clear that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not the same person. Jesus was repeatedly clear that He and the Father are distinct persons but one God, saying, “I and the Father are one” and “we are one.”

Likewise, the Father is not the Holy Spirit.

God the Father:

God the Father is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. By His Word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world. Through the same Word, He daily sustains all His creatures. He rules overall and is the only Sovereign God. His plans and purpose will come to pass. He is faithful to every promise, works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, and in His unfathomable grace gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind's redemption. He made man for fellowship with Himself, and intended that all creation should live to the praise of His glory. (TWBC Statement of Faith)

Scriptures clearly and emphatically declare the Father to be God.

In the history of Christianity and all the cults and religions that have erred from Biblical truth, there has never been any noteworthy false teaching denying the deity of God the Father. However, there has been an underemphasis on God the Father in many Christian circles because of a father wound.

The father wound is an unhealed hurt from a physical or spiritual father or father figure in our life. Fathers fail us, and unless we forgive them and invite God the Father to heal our Father wound, we remain burdened instead of unburdened, broken instead of healed, and made bitter instead of made better.

People with an unhealed father wound can have a wrong and warped view of God. Our view of God is often a projection or rejection of our imperfect earthly dad onto God.

Here are some specific examples:

· Atheism says I have no Father.

· Agnosticism says I may or may not have a Father, but I've never met Him; I don't know who or where He is, and I don't care to find out.

· Deism says I have a Father, but like my dad, who abandoned me when I was little, He lives far away, and we don't have a relationship.

· Extreme Reformed theology says I have a Father who is a distant, controlling, and not very relational, domineering dad.

· Extreme Arminian theology says I have a passive Father. I make my own decisions and do whatever I want. He is like my earthly dad, who stayed on the sidelines of my life.

· Extreme liberal theology says I have a Father who acts more like an enabling older sibling and does not tell me what to do but helps me do whatever I want, even if it’s foolish or rebellious.

· Extreme feminist theology says that we don’t need a Father since men are dangerous and harmful, so we should instead move on and be happy to be spiritually raised by a single parent and worship God as Mother.

God the Father is often forgotten or viewed as an old Grandfather who is distant and unknown, rather than as a loving, engaged Dad who will move Heaven and earth for his kids.

Sadly, the Mormons and Muslims are the ones filling the gap with counterfeit views of their "god" as Father.

This might explain the growth of the Mormon cult and the allure of Islam to young men worldwide.

According to the Bible, when we look at Jesus, we see God the Father revealed. Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

God the Son - Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. He is perfect in nature, teaching, and obedience. He is fully God and fully man. He was always with God and is God. Through Him all things came into being and were created. He was before all things, and in Him all things hold together by the Word of His power. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the only Savior for the sins of the world, and having shed His blood, He died a vicarious death on Calvary’s cross for all mankind. By His death in our place, He revealed divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day He rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness. For a period of 40 days He appeared to more than 500 witnesses, performing many convincing proofs of His resurrection. He ascended into Heaven where, at God’s right hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head of His body, the Church, and should be adored, loved, served, and obeyed by all. (TWBC Statement of Faith)

The Bible says that Jesus and we, as Christians, are God's image-bearers (Latin: imago Dei). It means that people are made to mirror God.

A mirror does not exist to create an image but only reflects it. Therefore, a mirror's only job is to reflect the image in front of it accurately.

When the Bible says Jesus "is the image of the invisible God," it means that the character of the Father is reflected perfectly in the life of the Son. In Jesus, we see the Father's heart.

For example, during his earthly life, Jesus frequently spoke about the deep love between him and God the Father in terms that convey to us the concept of God (3 in 1) as a loving family:

• “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”

• “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.”

• “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, He persuades men to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit, a person is led to trust in divine mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the regenerated. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son, who in turn came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into right understanding and rich application of the truth of God's Word. He is to be respected, honored, and worshiped as God, the Third Person of the Trinity. (TWBC Statement of Faith)

The Holy Spirit is not merely an impersonal force but a person who can be grieved, resisted, and insulted. The personhood of the Holy Spirit explains why Jesus speaks of Him as a personal “He” and not an impersonal “it.”

3 Working in Unity

1. The Spirit convicts or opens your eyes to the realization of sin and brings you to Jesus for the forgiveness of sin.

2. Jesus forgives your sin and then brings you to the Father for healing.

3. Many Christians understand conviction and forgiveness but have not yet experienced the Father’s healing.

4. To be a Christian is to experience the fullness of “adoption as sons” with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.