I Believe In God Series

Sermon Series “Belief and Faith Coming Together”

Week Two – “I Believe in God”

Pastor john Bright – delivered 7/12119

Genesis 1:1-5 “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.”

To believe something is to accept it as true, genuine or real.

We believe all kinds of things:

• A few years ago a video of an eagle picking up a small child and then dropping the child was all over the internet. It was actually a project created by college students in Canada – fake!

• There was a video on Facebook that showed a man with a large bulge on his leg. To see what happened you needed to share the video with your friends. Then a bunch of spiders came out. You actually sent a computer virus to your friends and the video was a fake!

• Social media has generated so many boycotts - all fake – and shown us every kind of disgusting thing in a fast food burger.

We believe all these because we are gullible – means we believe anything.

Today we start looking at The Apostles' Creed. It is rooted in the history of the Church. It can be traced back to a creed developed in Rome at the end of the 2nd c. AD. So why do we need this creed? We need the creed because we are a gullible people! Orthodoxy is "right belief". Last week we talked about beliefs as a boundary marker or fence

We start the Creed with “I believe in God the Father, Almighty maker of heaven and earth.”

In the Bible there are many names for God and each reveals a part of His character. In Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning…" e-lo-'hem" In this name our ancestors in the faith understood God to be the creator and ruler of all things. This name is used over 2,500 times in the Old Testament.

Elohim is the God who created women and men in His image. (Genesis 1:27)

Elohim is the God who led the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt.

Elohim is the unchanging God proclaimed in Psalm 102:27 "But You are the same, And Your years will have no end."

Elohim is the All-Powerful God that Isaiah promised would send a Savior for you and me - "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Is. 9:6

These people and the first Jewish Christians believed God to be active in creating the heavens and the earth. (This is not a sermon about “creationism” but I do want to share that I have a firm belief in “Intelligent Design.”) Maybe we have become too sophisticated to believe in Genesis as anything more than a “creation myth.” I’m concerned that if we take away God’s power to create, we will also deny God’s power to rule!

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What difference does it make if I believe 'this or that' about God?

"At the foundation of a person's life, we find his beliefs. These beliefs shape his values, and his values drive his actions." Dr. Glen Shultz, Biblical Worldview Institute

Did you go to the store this week? Buy something? If there was more than one option/brand - you based your choice on some belief. Not a big deal, right? But as a Christian it makes a HUGE difference what I believe because I put my faith in what I believe!

The classic illustration of this is “The Chair.” You are all sitting in pews. Did you think about “Will this hold me up?” before you sat down? Of course not. But if it collapsed and you fell – you would check the next one.

When we read the creation story in Genesis, we find foundational beliefs within Christian Orthodoxy - We are free moral agents (I have the power to choose) and we are created to live in relationship with an All-Powerful God.

Experience shows us that choosing my way turns out bad, but when we do it God's way - there is a blessing far greater than I could ever hope or imagine. This is where faith and belief come together. Do our beliefs cause us to take the path of least resistance? To be comfortable? To resist the leading of God?