Deconstruction Doesn't Have to Be the End of Your Faith

Hey, we're Todd and Julie Mullins, Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And He hears your prayers, and He knows your name, and He's right here for you today as you call out to Him. Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you, and we're praying for you. God wants to exceed your expectations this year. What are you expecting God to do this year in your life? Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. We are a church for the one who is lost, that they will be found, and they will find their purpose in Jesus. The one who gave it all so that we could experience life and life to the full. God is more in store than you have in mind, and I believe so much more that it's going to blow your mind. So if you've got air in your lungs this morning, you've got a reason to praise the Lord, amen? I'm sure I'll praise when I'm doubting, I'll praise when I'm numbered, I'll praise what's surrounding. Because praise is the waters my enemy's drowning. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul. I'll praise when I feel it, and I'll praise when I don't. I'll praise because I know you're still in control. My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound. My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul. And I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Oh, give thanks today, oh, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, oh my soul Praise the Lord, oh my soul Praise the Lord, oh my soul Praise the Lord, oh my soul I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Come on church, praise the Lord Oh I will praise the Lord always Oh I will praise the Lord Come on Christ Fellowship, all together today When I was lost and all alone Your presence was where I found home You were there and You're here right now Oh yes He is In every high, in every low You never left me without hope You were good and You're good right now Yes He is, all together I've witnessed Your faithfulness I've seen You breathe life within

So I'll call out my praise again You're worthy, now You're worthy of all of this Your promise is never failing I've got stories that lift You there So I'll call out my praise again You're worthy, now You're worthy of all of this You lift the throne and chose the cross Made down Your life to rescue us The Saviour then, the Saviour now Amen, amen Oh sing it again I've witnessed Your faithfulness I've seen You breathe life within So I'll call out my praise again You're worthy, now You're worthy of all of this Your promise is never failing I've got stories that lift You there So I'll call out my praise again You're worthy, now You're worthy of all of this You're good and I've witnessed it You're strong and I've witnessed it You're constant and I've witnessed it I'm so confident I'll see it again and again You love and I've witnessed it You heal and I've witnessed it You save and I've witnessed it Oh, I'm confident I'll see it again and again Oh, I'm confident in the power of the Lord today Hey, I want to invite our prayer team forward I'm so thankful that I don't have to stand in the confidence of my own strength or my own good deeds today I stand in the confidence of the work of Christ I stand in the confidence of thousands and thousands of witnesses to His kindness today You are a witness of the work that happens in your Father's house

This is your Father's house today And if you're new with us, we want to say welcome We're so glad that you're here This is your invitation today To experience the kindness of the Lord through His church One of the things that we love to do in prayer, in worship is to pray for one another And I love what the Bible says in Philippians 4 It says, shed off anxiety Don't be anxious about anything But in everything with thanksgiving and prayer, come to the Lord Make your requests known before Him And so today I would love just to make this invitation For those who may have a need in this house And for those who have thanksgiving in this house If there's something in your life today that you just want to give thanksgiving for You want to come and say, God, I want to thank you for something Our prayer team would be honored to praise God with you That He's doing a work in your life And then there's others of us who today We came in with courage in our hearts For this moment right here That we would be prayed over and prayed with and prayed for And so today I want to go ahead and let us know Even online, we've got prayer partners available And even now, right now, if you need prayer today for anything at all Would you come? We've been praying since this morning that God would give you courage and endurance today Oh, we are confident in our Lord Nothing is too hard for Him So if you've got thanksgiving And if you've got a need

Your God is willing and ready You can come now Thank you Lord for your goodness Thank you for the kindness that we've witnessed Today your church worships you in your house Together For the rest of us church, let's sing together You're good and I've witnessed it You're strong and I've witnessed it You're constant and I've witnessed it I'm so confident I'll see it again and again You love and I've witnessed it You heal and I've witnessed it You save and I've witnessed it And I'm confident I'll see it again and again You're good and I've witnessed it You're strong and I've witnessed it You're constant and I've witnessed it Oh, I'm confident I'll see it again and again You love and I've witnessed it You heal and I've witnessed it You save and I've witnessed it And I'm confident I'll see it again and again I've witnessed your faithfulness I've seen you bring life within So I call out my praise again

You're worthy God, you're worthy of all of it Your promise is never failed I've got stories I live to tell So I call out my praise again You're worthy God, you're worthy of all of it Oh, you're worthy of all of it God, you're worthy Come on, keep giving Him thanks today God, you're worthy of all of it God, you're worthy of all of it God, you're worthy of all of this God, you're worthy of all of this All of it Yes, we praise You today Bless Your Name Only You are worthy Only You, only You Our Father Everlasting The All-Creating One O God Almighty And through Your Holy Spirit Conceive in Christ our Son O Jesus our Savior I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ our Son I believe in the Holy Spirit Our God is three in one I believe in the resurrection

That we will rise again For I believe in the Name of Jesus Oh, we put our trust in You, Jesus We believe, we believe, yeah Our Judge and our Defender Suffered and crucified Forgiveness is in You Oh, You descended Descended into darkness You rose in glorious light Forever seated high Oh, I believe I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ our Son I believe in the Holy Spirit Our God is three in one I believe in the resurrection That we will rise again For I believe in the Name of Jesus I believe in You, yeah I believe You're almost again I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord Oh, we adore You, Lord We believe, yeah I believe in only You I believe You're almost again I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord You are Lord of all

I believe in life eternal I believe in the virgin birth I believe in the saints' communion And in Your holy Church I believe in the resurrection When Jesus comes again For I believe in the Name of Jesus I believe in God our Father I believe in Christ our Son I believe in the Holy Spirit Our God is three in one I believe in the resurrection That we will rise again For I believe in the Name of Jesus Come on! That's what we believe today Can I tell you that what you believe matters? Because what you believe changes you It changes things It changes how we live It changes how we pray Right? Because if you believe that God is who He says He is and you believe that God can do everything that He says He can do If you believe that God is for you, not against you Man, you're not going to pray prayers because we don't serve a puny God we serve a big God who can do anything so we pray bold prayers today we believe in faith we believe it in Jesus name Hebrews 11 1 now faith is the confidence of what we hope for and the

assurance of what we do not see and so it's with faith we gather today it's with faith that we pray it's with faith that we make these declarations would you pray with me father God we believe that you are God Almighty father creator of heaven and earth Jesus we believe you are his one and only son who was born of a virgin raised after being crucified to bring us life we believe in the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit you are welcome here today to do what you want to do in our lives to teach us and draw us to yourself and so we celebrate God this opportunity just to be in your presence it's in Jesus name that we pray and everybody said amen amen amen we are glad you are with us today at church want to welcome everybody joining us online before you're seated just turn and greet somebody that you're standing next to singing next to we're glad you're here today we are so glad you're with us today welcome to church we've been praying for you and we've been praying for this moment as we begin to tune our hearts into the Word of God as we kick off this new series today so just lean into the what the Lord wants to show you today I believe all of us are going to grow stronger in our faith in this time that we have together looking to the Word of God God bless Oh a thousand generations great is the Lord and most worthy of praise his greatness no one can fathom one generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts day and night they never stop saying holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come just to sing the song of ages to the at all times his praise shall continue beyond my mouth Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together Oh

Praise the Father. Praise the Son. Praise the Spirit, three in one. In heart of glory, majesty. Praise forever to the King of Kings. And the morning that you rose, all of heaven held its breath. Till the stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death. And the dead rose from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe. The souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored. ♪ First the Christ was born ♪ ♪ Then the spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of old ♪ ♪ Shall not kneel, shall not faint ♪ ♪ By His blood and in His name ♪ ♪ In His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ Who has resurrected me ♪ ♪ Hey hey hey hey hey ♪ ♪ And praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ Amen, amen. Hey, I wanna welcome everyone joining us at all of our Christ Fellowship locations and everyone joining us online, everyone joining us around the world and our armed forces for our men and women. We're with you, standing with you. It's a great day to be in church. At all of our locations, I know most of you are standing so you can have a seat.

So we are in a brand new series today called Reconstructing Our Faith. And this is such an important series because it's all about answering the questions, what do I really believe? And how do I know that what I believe is true? And why does this even matter? And can I tell you that whether or not you know it or not, we are all living our lives every single day based on the things that we believe. I mean, what we believe, actually, it shapes the decisions that we make. It shapes the way that we spend our time and the way we spend our money. It actually determines the way that we're gonna treat the people that we love and the people that we don't love. So what we believe is gonna determine how we handle crisis and life's disappointments when they come our way. And so this series is such an important series because we need to know what we believe because what we believe really matters, right? And if you have someone that might have some questions about their faith, I would encourage you, I would actually challenge you to get them here every single week. And I wanna challenge you to be here every single week because I really believe this is gonna be a marker in the life of our church. So as I was preparing for this series,

we went out to dinner Friday night with a couple in our church. We were celebrating that they were on staff for 20 years. And if you saw Greg and Dana, you would think they're barely 20 years old. But Greg came to us as a summer intern when he was 19 years old and he never went home. And so we've done a lot of life and ministry together. And even though Greg might not be someone that you see on the platform, actually a lot of what you see on this platform is a direct reflection of Greg Reed's leadership. He's amazing. And so, yeah, you can give him a hand. And we have just done so much life and ministry together. And so we began to review the last 20 years and like just in awe of just the thousands of lives that we have seen saved and stepped into freedom. And Greg used to be in student ministry. So we started reflecting and talking about some of the students back in the day and he knew everyone. And so I said, what about Jeff? What's he doing? And he was like, oh, he is crushing it. He's doing amazing things in the professional world and just loves Jesus and his family is amazing. And then we talked about this young couple that we both love so dearly and how the enemy tried to take them out before they even got started

because their marriage didn't start exactly how they thought that it should and how now today, 10 years later, they're raising their kids in the church, they're discipling others. And it's this beautiful testimony, story after story of kids that grew up in our house and are now serving Jesus. And man, we were just celebrating. And then we kind of turned the corner and we were talking about some other stories. And so I would ask about so-and-so and he was like, well, you know what? When his dad left, he just never could make it back to church and he just wandered away. And then some others that when they went off to college or started. making a lot of money, they kind of walked away from the church, walked away from their faith. And even though there were like several stories, they all kind of had the same theme of young people, sons and daughters. These aren't just like church members. These are like spiritual sons and daughters that either intentionally or unintentionally through some life circumstances, that they had deconstructed their faith and that deconstruction led them to a totally different life and a life of devastation. And as we were around that dinner table,

it just struck me that on one hand, as pastors, we are so hopeful and excited. I mean, when we look around at the spiritual hunger, not just in our church, but around the church, the spiritual hunger, like never before, thousands coming to Jesus, we're so full of hope. And on the other hand, we're so heartbroken because there are so many stories of those that are walking away from their faith. And we hold this tension and heartbroken yet hopeful. And so as we started talking about, as we started to talk about this whole idea of deconstruction, some of you, you may be very familiar with that term. It's kind of a hot topic in the church world today of deconstruction. And some of you might be thinking, what does that mean, deconstruction? There's lots of definitions, but I'm so glad that you asked. What is deconstruction, right? What is it? There's a lot of definitions, but when we talk about this, it can be emotionally charged in the church world because it ignites fear in us. Because when we see people walking away from the truths that we hold dear, and we see what happens as a result in their lives, it's heartbreaking.

So it strikes fear in us. But for some, it's not just about walking away from churches, it's walking away from God altogether. And this whole idea of deconstruction isn't a new idea. It's a new term, but it's not a new idea. And there's no really one single definition of deconstruction, but I'm gonna give you a pretty simple one that we can work with over the next few weeks, because I want us to be in position, and as a church, that we would have a posture to be able to help others to deal with the real questions and the real heartache that they have experienced so that we can help rebuild their faith. And so this is the definition of deconstruction. Let's look at that. It's the process of reexamining beliefs, practices, and assumptions that you've inherited about God, Scripture, and Christianity. So this isn't anything to be afraid of. It's this process of taking a look at our beliefs and reexamining them, some that you may have just inherited and never really tried and tested them. And when we started to begin to prepare for this series, and we were calling it Reconstructing Faith, I was a little bit nervous, because I knew it would be filled with some construction metaphors, and I didn't know if I could do that with integrity, right? Manual labor is not my strong suit,

but construction hats and saws and whatever this is, I don't know. My construction experience is limited to everything I've watched on HGTV, so I decided to go with something a little bit more my speed. I love games, and so this is a little bit more my style. So I was thinking about this whole idea of deconstruction and how people begin to deconstruct their faith. And it might be that you grew up in a brand of Christianity that was filled with thou shalt nots. Thou shalt not drink, thou shalt not dance, thou shalt not wear that, thou shalt not hang out with them, and it's this brand of Christianity that was like legalism. And so you have this skewed view of who God is. He's like this harsh judge that's trying to kill every bit of joy that you might experience in this life. And you also see the contradiction that you hear that God is love, but you've met a lot of mean Christians, and it just doesn't make sense. And so you kind of take that, it kind of impacts your faith. Or maybe you have a friend at work or at school, and you're talking to them, and they're a Buddhist or maybe an atheist or an agnostic, and you're like, but they're a really, really good person, right?

They're a good person, and maybe they have some religion, and you're thinking, wow, they actually are nicer than some Christians that I know, and you're thinking, is there really only one way to God? Is Jesus really the only way? I mean, isn't that a little bit narrow? And it leaves you with questions. Or maybe you're on. TikTok, and you hear this guy who's really, really smart. And in three minutes, he actually unpacks scientifically why the Bible isn't true. And it actually rattles your faith. Because he says that if science, if you believe in creation, then you're an idiot. So you don't wanna be an idiot, so you're like, wow, he sounds really smart, and that's a little bit challenging, and you're not really sure what to do with that. So it kinda like starts blowing holes in your faith. Or maybe you prayed some prayers, you prayed for your marriage to be restored, or your parents' marriage to be restored, or for someone that you love to be healed, and it didn't seem like God answered your prayer, and you see what's happening. There's some holes in our faith. Or maybe, maybe that somebody that you looked up to as a mentor, they seemed so strong in their faith, and they blew up their family, walked away from God, and you're like, man, if they can't make it,

how am I ever gonna make it? Or maybe, maybe there was some church hurt. One church, one person in one church hurt you, so it makes you question, can I really trust? Can I really trust, and do I have to go to church to believe what I believe? And you see how all of these things begin to rattle our faith, and you start chipping away one by one questions and disappointments, and over time, this is what happens, right? This is what happens, because over time, your faith becomes fragile. Your faith becomes fragile, and one more disappointment, and the whole thing falls down. But can I tell you that when we look at the questions that we have and the disappointments that come, that deconstruction and asking those questions, when it ends in demolition, it's destructive. But there is a better way. There is this better way. Deconstruction doesn't have to damage our faith. It can actually make it stronger. It can actually make it stronger, and in construction, deconstruction can be valuable, but it's only valuable if the goal of deconstruction is actually reconstruction, right? You guys have watched Chip and Joanna enough to know that in order to reconstruct, sometimes you have to go all the way back to the foundation,

and when you're preparing for reconstruction, because deconstruction without reconstruction just leaves a pile of rubble, but deconstruction with reconstruction is actually can be really healthy, and reconstruction isn't just tearing down your faith. It's examining your faith to make sure that it can hold the weight of real life, and for some of you today, you might be here, and you're thinking, I'm not actually deconstructing my faith, and my faith is pretty solid. Well, can I tell you that you know someone who is. You know someone who's struggling with their faith right now, and it might be a son or a daughter or a brother or a sister or a friend, and you know what? God loves them so much that he put you in their life so that you can help them to rebuild, and that he put you in this place over the next four weeks so that you can help them navigate real questions, and by the way, even if you're not reconstructing your faith every one of us is gonna face circumstances and disappointments and some disillusionment that is going to rattle our faith. It's gonna make us, maybe we won't walk away from our faith, but we might start operating from a weaker faith, and I have been absolutely blown away over the last couple of years, and some people that I've known that have walked with Jesus for 20, 30 years, and one day, they blew up their family,

they walked away from God, everything that they had built their life on, and it was mind-blowing. There were some cracks in their foundation. See, everything up top looked pretty good, but there was something wrong at the foundation, and I may not know much about construction, but I do know that when the goal is reconstruction, that we have to go all the way back to the foundation, and we have to rebuild the foundation. By checking the foundation, we know that reconstruction can then begin to be, that reconstruction can begin a healthy process of building back the faith that is gonna keep us strong, no matter what life brings our way. And so today, when you came in, you received this card, and you're probably wondering what this was all about, because over the next four weeks, we are going to be digging deep into the foundations of our faith. We're gonna be checking for some cracks, right? We're gonna return to this timeless truth that has actually withstood world wars, plagues, and persecution. These truths that have been sung in prisons and proclaimed in palaces and recited in churches all over the world. And what I'm referring to is something called the Apostles' Creed. And this creed has shaped Christianity

for over the last several centuries. And if you were to Google the Apostles' Creed, you would see like different versions of the creed, maybe slight variations of a word here or there. But at the foundation, these are the foundational beliefs that the Christian faith is built upon. And you may have grown up like I did in a church that actually recited a creed every Sunday. In the Catholic Church, we recited the Nicene Creed. And I knew that at that point when we were done reciting it, I had exactly 15 minutes to go before church was over. But you may have recited the Apostles' Creed or a creed, or some of you like this may be completely new to you. But let me tell you, this is the goal. The goal is that by the end of this series, that you would not just know this creed, but you would believe it deeply. That it wouldn't be just a ritual, but it would be a declaration of a faith that you would feel confident to build your life on. And I wanna read this together across all of our locations. And as we read it together, just knowing that we are uniting our hearts to believers all around the world, and we're uniting our hearts to our spiritual forefathers who actually gave their lives. Many of them gave their lives so that we could experience the purity

and the power of the gospel. So across all of our locations, would you stand with me? And you can hold that card in your hand. And for those of us seasoned saints in the room, we're gonna have it on the screen in larger writing for you. So let's say this all together at all of our locations. 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 power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day, He rose again in accordance with the scriptures. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Universal Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen, amen. Okay, you can be seated. But to fully understand the weight of the words we just spoke together, you have to go back to its origin. And there's a reason that this is called a creed, and it's not called a statement of faith. The word creed has a much deeper meaning.

It comes from the Latin word credo, and that word credo means to believe wholeheartedly. But a credo is much more than just believing and agreeing to a set of facts. This is really what a credo was in the richest meaning of the word, that a credo is not merely what you think is true. It's what you trust enough to build your life on no matter the cost. It's not just what you think is true. It's what you are willing to build your life on no matter what it's gonna cost you. And a creed doesn't tell us everything that Christians believe, but it gives us the foundation on which all of our beliefs are built. And so the Apostles' Creed, there's a couple things that you need to know about it. First of all, this might blow some of your minds, okay? The Apostles' Creed was not written by the apostles. I grew up Catholic, and I believed the legend. I heard the legend at one time that every apostle had contributed one line. But that is not true. The church fathers based the Apostles' Creed on the apostles' teaching. And it was written about everything the apostles taught us. And the earliest edition of the Apostles' Creed was written somewhere between 150 and 160 AD. And the original was called the Roman Creed. And it was, remember, there's no Bibles laying around.

And there was some Old Testament scrolls that they could read from, but many people didn't read. There weren't church buildings or church bylaws. And so the early Christians were. still under great persecution, so they needed a way to be able to communicate the foundations of faith. And so what they did was they went back to what the early church, what were the basics of the early church, and if you look in Acts chapter two, it says that the early church, the Christians would gather in the temple courts every day, and they would gather in homes, so they functioned more like a family than actually an institution. And then it says in Acts 2.42, that they devoted themselves, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship of the breaking of bread and prayer. And so this creed was like this compilation of the apostles' teachings. It could be easily memorized and understood so that they could combat false teaching and equip new believers with a strong foundation. And so there were a few reasons that a creed gives so much strength to the faith and why it was necessary and important. First of all, it gave the Christian faith validity. The first reason was because of the validity

to the teachings, that the teachings of the church were true. And it actually, if you look at the one line where it mentions Pontius Pilate, and this would have been unusual because most creeds wouldn't mention a political leader. But what this did, why they did this was because this would actually anchor Christianity in history, that this, that Christianity, that all of this happened in a real place at a real time in history under a real Roman governor. So in other words, that Christianity is not mythology. It's based in fact. And this was important because all of the gods of the Roman times were from mythology. They were in the spirit world. And so this would give validity to the Christian faith. Secondly, the apostles' creed gave clarity. The creed brought clarity to new converts. So they had a clear understanding exactly what they were giving their lives to, that this would give clarity, that it was customary that when someone would convert, they would spend several months learning the foundations of the faith. So when it was time to get baptized, they would actually recite, they would memorize and recite the apostles' creed, knowing that when they did, it could actually, it could actually cost them their lives. And that this creed of beliefs,

it not only was going to give impact the way that they lived every day, but it would actually determine what they may have to give their lives for. Many were martyred just for speaking these words. See, they were prepared to give their lives and even die for the cause of Christ. So this wasn't just a head knowledge. These were deep convictions. This impacted how they lived every single day. And this is what it does for us. It gives us clarity of what we are willing to give our lives to. And the third reason was unity. That this creed unified believers from all different nations all around the world who spoke different languages. It united them as one family. It reminded them that the church of Jesus Christ isn't based on opinion, but it's actually based on this timeless truth. And this unity was really, really important and still is really, really important. It's what Jesus prayed for, that the church, that his followers would be one as he and the father were one so that the world would believe that he was sent to bring hope back into humanity. And so this unity was vital. And unity is actually the church's superpower.

A united church would be an unstoppable church. And so this unity was at the core, but unity didn't mean and doesn't mean uniformity. I mean, you don't have to be a Christ follower for very long to figure out there are some different brands of Christianity, right? I mean, we've got different denominations. You got Methodists and Presbyterian and Baptist, all different kinds. Because we're a non-denominational church, we have all kinds, right? We have like some of y'all, we've got our crazy charismatics. Are you out there? Fort St. Lucie, I know, crazy charismatics. Then we've got some of you who are like, it's a stretch. Like while we were singing, it's like a stretch to maybe lift your hand, you know, a little bit of posture. And then you've got the people in the middle, the Baptocostals, you know. You've got a range of people from all different backgrounds. But here's the power of the creed. It actually keeps the main thing the main thing, right? I mean, it doesn't matter what you think about UFOs or end time theology or whether or not dinosaurs made it onto Noah's Ark. This creed answered the question, you know, what must remain if Christianity,

what must remain true if Christianity is to remain Christianity? So it answered that question. The Apostle Paul put it this way when it came to unity. He said this in Ephesians chapter two. He says, you're citizens along with all God's holy people. You are members of God's family. Together we are his house built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets and the cornerstone is Jesus Christ himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. And when we declare and live by this, these foundational truths, we're actually uniting with brothers and sisters all around the world. This anchors, this also anchors us to our forefathers that came before us. And we realize that we are just one part of this holy relay race. And we're anchored to the past, but we also realize that we have this responsibility right now as the church to pass on these beliefs to the next generation, to pass on a faith worth living for and worth dying for. And this is what this creed does. It actually unites us to the past and unites and prepares us to equip the next generation for the future. It anchors us.

And each line of this creed is so, so powerful. And we're gonna be looking at a lot of it over the next few weeks, but I want you to look at this very first line. The very first line, the foundation of the foundation. It says, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. It starts out, I believe. A lot of times we talk about what we believe. This is personal. This is what I believe. I believe this so deeply that everything I do and everything I am, it flows from this place. I believe this. This is not about what my mom and dad believed or what my friends believe or what culture tells me to believe. This is what I believe at my core. And it's not just about a head knowledge about what I'm giving my life to. And it's not about preference. You know, it's not what I prefer. It's not what my opinion is. This is what I believe. Because this is the deal, what you believe will determine how you behave. When I was a kid, I remember that someone told me that if you swallowed watermelon seeds, that you would grow a watermelon plant inside of you. And for years, I stayed away from watermelon,

and to this day, I will not swallow a watermelon seed, just in case, right? And I remember when I was about eight or nine years old and I was going through kind of a lying phase as some kids do, and my mom told me, she caught me in something that she knew was a lie, but I was, you know, I was not backing down. She said, you know, that when you lie, over time you begin to grow hair out of the palms of your hand. And I was like, I'm not lying. I'm not lying. And so when I walked out of the room, as soon as I thought I was out of sight, I was like, and she caught me. See, what I believed determined how I behaved, even if it was false. Our false beliefs can determine how we behave, right? But what I believe, what we believe determines how we behave, and what we believe about God will determine how we live out our everyday lives. That first sense, I believe in God, the Father. See, this doesn't just tell us what to believe. It doesn't just say, I believe in God. It actually tells us who He is, that He is not karma. He is not the universe. He is not what I decide He is. He is not what culture tells me He is. He is God. He is God, the Father, Almighty, Creator.

He is who He says He is. He is not who culture decides He is. And so I believe it. I believe it. When Jesus, we start with, He was a good father. When Jesus was with His disciples, His disciples said, you know, how, I wanna pray like you, how do I pray? And Jesus answers him by saying, this then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. That word Father would have been just like groundbreaking. It sounds common to us, but Father means, translated Abba means disclosed, relational. See, Roman culture, all the gods, they were cruel and they were distant to be feared. And this was a powerful statement, that your God, He's relational. He loves you. He wants to know you. And I know this can be difficult for some of you who may not have had the best earthly father. But can I tell you that even if your father was distant, your heavenly father is close. Even if your earthly father was cruel, your heavenly father is kind. Even if your heavenly father was critical, Your earthly father was critical. Your heavenly father is full of compassion. And these are not my words.

Like, I'm not just telling you this to encourage you. This is found in God's word. This is who he is for all of us. God is a perfect father who cares about you. He cares about every detail of your life. It says that his thoughts of you outnumber the sands in the sea. He thinks about you. He pursues you. John 3, one says it like this. He says, how great is the love of the father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God. You're his child that comes with an identity and security and inheritance of freedom. It comes with so much. You are loved by a good father. I love that he's so personal, but he's not just personal. He is so powerful. He is almighty. He is the God. He is the God who parted the Red Sea. He is the God who caused walls to tumble to the ground so that his people could find victory. He deployed angel armies so that his people could win battles. This is the God. So there is no battle that you're gonna face that is too great for our God. He is God, the father almighty. He is the creator.

He spoke the words and all the heavens and the earth came into order. And he created you a masterpiece. He is God, the father almighty creator. And you might be thinking, why does this even matter? Why does all of this even matter? And it matters because when you realize that God is a good father who loves you and he's not up there with just a bunch of rules, he wants a relationship with you, you can trust a God like that. And so it begins to build your faith. It matters because when you're faced with questions, when you're faced with questions or unanswered prayers, and all of us will experience this, that he is a good father who hears and answers every prayer, but he is almighty and powerful. His ways are above our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. And I can trust his character, that my foundation is not built on my circumstances. It is built on the character of a God who is a father and all powerful. And I will not allow, I will not allow what I do not understand about my circumstances, rob me of all that I do know about God, that he is a good father, that he is working all things together for my good. And that someday I may leave this earth

with lots of questions, but someday he will wipe every tear. And I will live in eternity and have all the answers then, but I don't need to know them all now. It's also that if I believe that Jesus, that Jesus was suffered, was crucified, died and rose again so that I could be in right relationship with God, it changes the way I have that conversation with my Buddhist friend. Because if I really believe that, like why wouldn't I want him to know about that? Why would I want him to miss out on this life that I've experienced? It changes, it shapes the conversations that I have. And when I've been disappointed by somebody else, that I recognize that my faith is not in people, but is in God, the father almighty. It's in Jesus. When I'm faced with questions, or when I, if I really believe, like if I really believe in the church, the universal church and the communion of the saints, wow, that kind of changes things a little bit. Because I won't allow that one person in that one church keep me from God's plan for me to step into my purpose and my calling. It's just not gonna happen because I know that my foundation is here and it's going to build something beautiful up here.

And when I know, when I know that this faith, that the foundation is strong, when I'm faced with a situation or a sickness that's just too big for me, I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit that I'm not limited to my own strength, that I have the power of the resurrected Lord, the Holy Spirit living in me, working through me, and I'm not left to my own devices. I can call on the Holy Spirit who will help me to win every battle and to face every situation with the confidence of the Holy Spirit in me. And all of this matters because when we have a strong foundation, we have this strong foundation and we really believe, when we really believe. that in the resurrection, in life eternal, that this isn't all there is, that's at our foundation, it changes the way I live every single day. Like, I realized that I was not created for this world. Like, that I am a citizen of heaven. I have been put on this earth for a purpose, an eternal purpose, and it changes everything. Like, I'm gonna live my life differently knowing that I was built for eternity. I was built, built for something more than the here and now. It changes the way that I speak to others because I want to take as many people with me as I can.

Our foundation changes everything. See, our lives have this higher purpose, and it's built on this foundation that has been centuries old, but we can build our lives on it today. And what we need to, we need to know what we believe because what we believe matters. And I hope that you're as excited about this series as I am because I believe that this is gonna be a strengthening for our church. And I love this quote by A.W. Tozer. He said this, he said, a church will only be as great as its conception of God. And our conception of God cannot be based on the shifting opinions of culture, it has to be based on the foundation of the truth of the word of the God. And so this week, this week as we go out from this place, and what do you do with this message? First of all, you've got that card with you. I have one challenge. This week, you're gonna read the creed. You're gonna read the creed. And when I say read the creed, what I mean is, is that you're gonna, you're not only going to just read it aloud every day, I want to challenge you to read it aloud every day, but you're gonna study it, learn about it. We've got a daily devotional in our app, so you can tap the app and the disc in front of you.

We've got a daily devotional that's gonna unpack every line of the creed to be able to help you walk through it so you clearly understand what you're building your life on. Because what you're building your life on matters, and you matter, because what we believe will shape everything about our lives. And I want to make sure that we're building a faith that is going to be able to withstand the questions that we might have, or the storms that may come our way. As a church, I want to pray for us as we go from this place, and we're gonna each memorize this creed at the end of this four weeks again, that it's not just a recitation or a reciting, but it's actually a deep personal knowledge and credo, something that we're willing to live our lives for, and to give our lives for. Let me pray for you. And as we pray, I want to pray for each of you, that you would stand firm in your beliefs, and then over these coming days, that it would be the foundation, all the cracks in the foundation would be filled in so that you can build a strong faith in the days ahead. God, we thank you, for you are God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. We thank you that you're a good God who loves us, who knows us, and God, we trust that we can build our lives

on this faith, God, and when we build our lives on you, that you go before us, that there is no situation that we face that is too big for you, and there is no question that we have that is going to intimidate you. And so in the coming days, we pray, God, that you would give us wisdom and courage to be able to stand firm in the faith that we believe. It's in your name we pray, amen, amen, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.