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.

I Believe!

Mark 9:19-23

19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

1. Your Belief system is the thing that dictates your lifestyle and outcomes.
2. The problem is we do not know what we believe. If you watch your lifestyle, what you do reflects what you actually believe. This is why belief is different than information.
3. Your belief system has nothing to do with your thinking.
4. Your thinking, without constant influence from the Word of God, will always contradict the Word of God. You did not have to think when you sat down in your chair. Why? Because you had a belief in the chair that it would hold you up as you sat down. You had that belief because of prior experiences sitting in a chair.
5. Your belief system has nothing to do with your feelings or emotions.
6. Some of you may remember this old song, “I am not moved by what I feel, or I see I have the Victory living in me." This is why some of your prayers aren't getting answered: you're praying out of emotion and feeling, not faith.
7. What does your Belief system depend on?
8. Something solid that does not change, not moved by emotions, something that has the proper way of thinking. It has got to be on the Word of God.

John 6:28-29

Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works that God requires?” (Vs.29) Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”

Genesis 15:6

“Abram believed God, and He credited (accounted) unto him as righteousness.”

If you believe Jesus Christ, it is credited unto you as righteousness. When you believe in the one He has sent, you believe in everything He lived for and died for.

How many people are on a football field at one time? 22. How many can fit in a stadium? Some hold over 114,000 people; every one of them wants to get in and play. You cannot read one verse a week, or come to one service a week, or pray one time a day, and expect to be on the all-star team.

II Corinthians 4:7-13

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

I believe, therefore I speak. You will find out what you really believe when you listen to what you say.

• I’m about to go crazy...you have the mind of Christ
• I'm broke...Tithe, and I'll throw open the floodgates of heaven on you
• I'm sick...By the stripes of Jesus, you WERE healed
• I’m just out of luck... I am blessed coming in and blessed going out
• You’re killing me... with long life I will satisfy you and show you my salvation
• My marriage is on the rocks...What God has joined together
• My children are out of control...Train up a child in the way they should go. Notice it says “Train up, not Try up.”

It is time to put your mouth where your belief is.