SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together, family church.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we bow before you, acknowledging you as our creator, as our King, as our Lord, as our Savior, as our friend.
SPEAKER_00: We've gathered to meet with you, and we need to hear you speak to us.
SPEAKER_00: God, this morning, as we open your word, as we study the ancient truths that we believe as Christians, would you open our minds?
SPEAKER_00: Would you strengthen our hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Would you strengthen our faith?
SPEAKER_00: And I pray for some in the room who may not know Jesus personally today.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that today might be the day that they put their faith and their trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But we pledge to receive everything you have for us from your word this morning, and we receive it all.
SPEAKER_00: We receive it by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And we receive it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people say, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome again to Family Church.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jimmy Scrogins.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the pastors here.
SPEAKER_00: If I've never had a chance to meet you before you leave today, I hope I get a chance to meet you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad all of you are here.
SPEAKER_00: I know we have a lot of family church regulars.
SPEAKER_00: This is your church.
SPEAKER_00: We have some new people who are checking us out.
SPEAKER_00: We have some people from out of town.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you just wandered in.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad all of you are here.
SPEAKER_00: And what we do every Sunday at Family Church is we have a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have our Bible study right now.
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to get your Bibles out.
SPEAKER_00: Turn your Bibles on on your devices.
SPEAKER_00: Grab a Bible from the pew in front of you and open up to the book of Acts, chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Acts, chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Acts is in the middle of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And we've already had a great time together gathering as a church family in this room.
SPEAKER_00: We've had uh babies dedicated up here on the platform, which is a sign of God's blessing and God's favor on our church, and we're very grateful for it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's our uh weekly reminder that if you're thinking of having another baby, no time to get started like today.
SPEAKER_00: I also want to just uh cheer for all of you who have teenagers here and elementary kids here, all of you who were in uh college and you're connected with our church.
SPEAKER_00: This church is made for you.
SPEAKER_00: This church is here so we can pass our faith on to new generations.
SPEAKER_00: This church has stood here since 1901, right here in this neighborhood, and we're going to be here until Christ comes back, passing our faith on one generation uh to the next.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're studying a series for five weeks on the Apostles' Creed.
SPEAKER_00: Normally we teach through books of the Bible at Family Church, and in this series, every message will have a foundational text, for instance, today from Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: But we're studying through the Apostles' Creed.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how many of you guys grew up memorizing the Apostles' Creed?
SPEAKER_00: Would you raise your hand?
SPEAKER_00: Some of a few of you guys, right?
SPEAKER_00: Uh, how many of you guys grew up uh Catholic?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody grew up Catholic, right?
SPEAKER_00: We got a lot of Cat.
SPEAKER_00: I know, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Proud of all of you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Really good.
SPEAKER_00: Because uh in the Catholic Church they do a lot with the Apostles' Creed.
SPEAKER_00: Now I grew up Baptist, and in Baptist churches like I grew up in, we didn't recite anything, we didn't learn any creeds.
SPEAKER_00: I did not know the apostles' creed existed until I was in my 20s.
SPEAKER_00: But now here we are because it's so important.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great summary, it's like an executive summary of the most important teachings of all of the apostles that you can find in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Pastor Derek kicked off our series last Sunday, and I'm so grateful that we have a leader and a pastor at Family Church downtown like Pastor Derek, who can teach the Bible as powerfully as he did last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: And Derek, that was really, really good.
SPEAKER_00: And I love watching it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I love watching it myself, and if you haven't seen it, you should go back on our YouTube channel and check it out.
SPEAKER_00: But our focus this morning is the part of the creed that talks about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The creed opens up like this I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just ask you, people on the floor and people in the balcony, what do you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: You might tell me what your mom believes about Jesus, or you might could tell me what your grandfather believed about Jesus, but the real issue is not that.
SPEAKER_00: The real issue is what do you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Not even what you used to believe about Jesus, or what you wish you could believe about Jesus, what do you believe about Jesus right now?
SPEAKER_00: Why, if you're a Christian, is what you believe about Jesus more true or more important or superior to what someone else may believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: If somebody asked you, because you're a Christian, hey, can you just explain to me what you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: If I asked some of you that question right now, it's you do believe in Jesus, but if I said, well, what do you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: You would say, Ah, I don't know, there's like uh some prophecies about him, and then he's born of a virgin, but then uh feed the 5,000, and then uh he got crucified, but then uh I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I love Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't it be better as a Christian if you could summarize to anyone who asks you the most important things you believe about Jesus and say it in a concise way that hit the most important things.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Apostles' Creed does for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to help you do that today.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna read from the Bible from Acts chapter 10 in just a moment, and then we're gonna recite the Apostles' Creed, and then we'll take notes and hopefully we can learn something.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you get to Acts chapter 10, let me set the stage for you before we read this text.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 10 is about Saint Peter.
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to read is a sermon that Saint Peter preached in somebody's house.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Peter in Acts chapter 10 was uh in this little town in Joppa.
SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of persecution in Jerusalem where he lived at the time, and he got forced to leave, and he went to this little town called Joppa, right on the Mediterranean Ocean.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is 10 years or so after Saint Peter started, he helped to found the first church in the world, the church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And at this time in the world, the only church in the world was in Jerusalem, but Peter was over there in Joppa.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Jerusalem was a big church.
SPEAKER_00: It was what you would call a megachurch.
SPEAKER_00: So from time to time I meet people, they say, I don't like megachurches.
SPEAKER_00: I hate mega churches.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you would have hated St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's church in Jerusalem because it had thousands and thousands of people in it.
SPEAKER_00: And they, all the people in the megachurch in Jerusalem, the first church, all of them were Jewish.
SPEAKER_00: They were either ethnic Jews who had been born Jewish, or they were Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, but the only way you could get in to that church was you had to convert to Judaism.
SPEAKER_00: So when you got saved back then, you say, I became a Christian, I turned from my sins, I put my faith in Jesus, same way you do now.
SPEAKER_00: And then they say, okay, we need to be baptized by immersion in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, same way that you do now.
SPEAKER_00: And then they would say, but before you can do that, we got, if you're a guy, we got one more important conversation to have with you.
SPEAKER_00: At our church, we have a class when you want to join family church.
SPEAKER_00: It's called First Connection.
SPEAKER_00: They had a class, first disconnection.
SPEAKER_00: You had to have surgery, guys, before you could join this church.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Peter had been leading this church for a decade.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles were leading this church, but they hadn't figured out what to do with the Gentiles yet.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the Christians in Jerusalem, they believed you had to convert to Judaism before you could become a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Gentiles were seen as, you know, uh uncircumcised, uh, hand sandwich eating, uh, mixed fabric wearing, uh, unclean people.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this guy that Peter's gonna meet today, his name's Cornelius.
SPEAKER_00: Cornelius was an Italian.
SPEAKER_00: Cornelius was a Roman soldier, and he had a lot of authority, and he had a house in a little town called Caesarea, not too far from Joppa.
SPEAKER_00: And Cornelius had was a really good man.
SPEAKER_00: He had rejected the gods, the Roman gods he was raised on.
SPEAKER_00: He had actually embraced the God of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: He feared God, he was trying to learn about God, he gave money to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: He was a good, good, good man.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you would think of yourself like that.
SPEAKER_00: But he could never fully be accepted by the Jews because he wasn't circumcised, because he was a Gentile.
SPEAKER_00: But God wants to do a work in Peter's life to change Peter's mind about who can become a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to do a work in Cornelius' life to help him understand what it takes to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: So God sends Peter to the house where Cornelius lives.
SPEAKER_00: And Cornelius knows Saint Peter is coming, and so he gets all of his family, his kids, and his grandkids, and his wife, and he gets all the people who work for him, all of his employees, and they gather in Cornelius' house.
SPEAKER_00: And Saint Peter arrives and he's about to preach this sermon to all of Cornelius' family and all of his employees.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter's gonna preach this sermon to people who don't know anything about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So when you read this text, you're gonna see the most important things to say about Jesus, because Peter is preaching to people who don't know anything.
SPEAKER_00: So what did he say?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the word of God says Acts chapter 10, starting in verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.
SPEAKER_00: But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
SPEAKER_00: As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.
SPEAKER_00: You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
SPEAKER_00: He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
SPEAKER_00: And we are witnesses, we are witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
SPEAKER_00: But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the people, but to us, who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the word of God, and we receive God's word at family church, and all God's people say.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We receive it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now let's recite the apostles' creed together.
SPEAKER_00: And as we recite the apostles' creed, I want you to notice the similarities between the apostles' creed and the sermon that we just read that St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter preached in Cornelius' house.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Let's all say it out loud together.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and 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, dead, and buried.
SPEAKER_00: The third day he rose again from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, let's uh let's restate that Jesus part, because that's what we're focusing on today, right?
SPEAKER_00: Here you go.
SPEAKER_00: Say the Jesus part.
SPEAKER_00: Let's say it out loud.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: We'll highlight it for you here.
SPEAKER_00: And 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, dead, and buried.
SPEAKER_00: The third day he rose again from the dead, he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: This is so powerful.
SPEAKER_00: If all of the people at Family Church would get a grip on what is taught and summarized by Peter's sermon and the Apostles' Creed, we would be a lot further down the road, understanding the power of Christianity, the core beliefs of Christianity, and we would be able to articulate those beliefs to others, and that's really important.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to show you side by side the similarities between the Apostles' Creed and St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 36, St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, uh, Jesus and Christ, and he's our Lord, just like the Apostles' Creed does.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 39, the Apostles' Creed says Jesus is crucified.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says he's put to death on a tree.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 40, the Apostles' Creed said he was rose on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Peter says he was raised on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 42, the Apostles' Creed says Jesus will judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Jesus will judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: So you can see that this creed contains the most important things we believe about Christ, but the Apostles' Creed isn't just made up, it is drawn directly from the teaching of the Apostles.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a Christian, this Bible study will help you summarize your beliefs about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a believer yet, and I know there are some of you in this room, you say, Well, I kind of I'm not mad about Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: I showed up today, didn't I?
SPEAKER_00: I I know, but you're not a Christian yet.
SPEAKER_00: You've never come to the point where you turn from your sins and turn to Jesus and receive Jesus by faith for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You believe some things about Jesus, you like some things about Jesus, but you've never made a decision where you turn from your sins and turn to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe today it'll give you some food for thought, and maybe you should do that.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you do.
SPEAKER_00: But at Family Church, we take notes when we have a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're in the habit of doing that.
SPEAKER_00: We've given you a program where there's some fill-in-the-blanks and a place for you to write things down for this Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: Here's some things I would like for us to learn this morning from Saint Peter's sermon and the Apostles' Creed.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostles' Creed declares certain things about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, first thing I want you to see, the Apostle Creed shows us that Jesus is fully man.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is fully man.
SPEAKER_00: When you read St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's sermon, you see the humanity of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It jumps out at you.
SPEAKER_00: Look what St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says in verse 37 of Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: He says, hey guys, you know what happens in Judea and Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's where Jesus is from.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus grew up in Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter grew up in the same region, in Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: This would be like a guy from South Florida saying, Come on, guys, we grew up here in South Florida.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's happened in South Florida.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's happened to the dolphins every year in South Florida.
SPEAKER_00: You know this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: This is real life.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't things that you don't know about.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's saying.
SPEAKER_00: You know what happened in Judea and Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Man, Jesus grew up in Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus grew up in Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: Today, uh, when I was walking in, I met a guy.
SPEAKER_00: He came and reconnected with a guy in the room right now.
SPEAKER_00: And he and I went to the same high school, the Soto County High School, Arcadia, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, that's just a dumpy little town over there in Southwest Florida.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: I went there, I would have lived there.
SPEAKER_00: But man, we were connecting back in and back.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, only so many people know what happened in Arcadia, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said.
SPEAKER_00: He's from Nazareth, that little town out there outside of the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: We know what happened out there.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 39.
SPEAKER_00: We're witnesses to this.
SPEAKER_00: We saw it.
SPEAKER_00: We saw him get crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And then to our shock and surprise, we saw him after he was raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: We saw it.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says in verse 41.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did we see him after he was raised from the dead, man, we have meals with them.
SPEAKER_00: We were eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't a ghost.
SPEAKER_00: When he ate the food, it didn't fall on the floor.
SPEAKER_00: He ate the food, he died.
SPEAKER_00: He was a human being.
SPEAKER_00: He's fully man.
SPEAKER_00: So you can see how important the humanity of Jesus was for the apostles like Peter, and how important it is for Christians of all time.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Apostles' Creed emphasizes the humanity of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look what the Apostles' Creed says.
SPEAKER_00: When you recite it, you're saying, we say, I believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is just a normal human name.
SPEAKER_00: That's a human name.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of kids back then named Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of kids now named Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not that unusual.
SPEAKER_00: It's a human name.
SPEAKER_00: He was born of Mary.
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: Every kid in the world was born.
SPEAKER_00: He's born human.
SPEAKER_00: He had a mom who carried him in her belly for nine months.
SPEAKER_00: And she pushed him out of her body with all of the messiness and the pain of doing that.
SPEAKER_00: He was born like every other human being.
SPEAKER_00: He suffered.
SPEAKER_00: He suffered uniquely for sure, but every one of us suffers.
SPEAKER_00: You, some of you have suffered a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have suffered a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are suffering right now.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have tremendous suffering in your future and you don't even see it coming.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what suffering is like.
SPEAKER_00: He was crucified to death.
SPEAKER_00: He died.
SPEAKER_00: His death certainly had a special purpose.
SPEAKER_00: But he was crucified like many other people back then that were crucified by the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: He was dead like all men die.
SPEAKER_00: He was a human.
SPEAKER_00: He was buried like all dead humans.
SPEAKER_00: He was a human.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is fully 100% a flesh and blood human being, a man who was born.
SPEAKER_00: He had a mom.
SPEAKER_00: He had brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: He grew up.
SPEAKER_00: He had to learn how to read and write.
SPEAKER_00: Just like these little kids up here on the stage will have to learn.
SPEAKER_00: He grew up and he asked questions about God.
SPEAKER_00: He had friends that he loved.
SPEAKER_00: He got tired when he'd been up too long.
SPEAKER_00: He got hungry when he hadn't eaten.
SPEAKER_00: He got thirsty when he hadn't had any water.
SPEAKER_00: He was tempted.
SPEAKER_00: He was really genuinely tempted, just like you and I are.
SPEAKER_00: He got sad when he went through hard things in life.
SPEAKER_00: Think about, you know, Pastor Derek this week after he preached so good on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: This past week he had to take his oldest daughter to college in Ohio.
SPEAKER_00: You think that made him sad?
SPEAKER_00: I know Pastor Derek's a tough guy, but man, even Pastor Derek got sad.
SPEAKER_00: And this week I'm going to take my daughter to college in Virginia.
SPEAKER_00: You think that makes me sad?
SPEAKER_00: I went and gave her a big old hug sitting right here on the front row while we were singing those songs.
SPEAKER_00: I thought, man, this is her last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: But I've been counting it down.
SPEAKER_00: Like six weeks ago, I was like, well, only six more Sundays.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually it's got to happen, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus got sad when things happened in life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus died when his body gave out.
SPEAKER_00: And in his dead human body was buried, just like yours would be buried one day.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible teaches, and the apostles' creed affirms, and Christians affirm that Jesus is fully man.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Jesus is still fully man.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was raised from the dead, fully man.
SPEAKER_00: He ascended to heaven, fully man.
SPEAKER_00: He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, fully man in his human body.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says when he returns to judge the living and the dead, he will not come back as a spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He will come back as a man, a human being in his flesh and blood body.
SPEAKER_00: He was fully man, he is fully man today.
SPEAKER_00: Christians believe that Jesus is fully man.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not all that Christians believe about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, on your notes, Christians believe that Jesus is fully God.
SPEAKER_00: He's fully man, but he's fully God.
SPEAKER_00: Look what his Apostle Peter says about Jesus in Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said, verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: He says, listen, guys, Jesus is Lord of all.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38, Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit and with powder.
SPEAKER_00: Verse power.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 40, Jesus is raised from the dead, no one else.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 42, Jesus is appointed by God to be the judge.
SPEAKER_00: So you can see what in the apostles' creed talks about Jesus, it's coming straight from the teaching of the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: And look at what the creed says about the divinity, the deity of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It calls him Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostles' Creed is that we believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He's King of all, like St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said.
SPEAKER_00: The creed notes that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin.
SPEAKER_00: The conception was miraculous and one of a kind in all of history.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was raised from the dead according to the creed.
SPEAKER_00: He ascended to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's seated with God.
SPEAKER_00: All of these pointing to the unique status of Jesus, different from other men.
SPEAKER_00: Fully human, yes, but also fully God.
SPEAKER_00: And one day he will return to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is fully God.
SPEAKER_00: Now some of you are thinking, hey, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not great at math.
SPEAKER_00: But a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God, that doesn't work for me.
SPEAKER_00: He's not 200%.
SPEAKER_00: He's only one man.
SPEAKER_00: How can we have one man, fully God and fully man?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Christians have wrestled with this for 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: People have written a lot about it over the years.
SPEAKER_00: And here's how Christians have come to summarize what we believe about the way that Jesus is fully man and fully God.
SPEAKER_00: We say that He is.
SPEAKER_00: One person, but he has two natures.
SPEAKER_00: One person with two natures.
SPEAKER_00: His divine nature, because he's fully God, and his human nature, because he's fully man.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is one person with two natures.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, that I'm still not sure I can get my mind around that.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad that there is God who is bigger than your mind can comprehend?
SPEAKER_00: Because if your mind could fully comprehend everything about God, he would be a lot less impressive, wouldn't he?
SPEAKER_00: So to recap, to be a Christian, to be a Christian, you must believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man.
SPEAKER_00: But the fully God part is what separates Christians from other religions.
SPEAKER_00: Now look, I want to go ahead and tell you guys.
SPEAKER_00: This is America.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we have the freedom of religion.
SPEAKER_00: I am not for taking away American citizens' freedom to worship as they choose or not.
SPEAKER_00: However, I will articulate that I believe Christianity is superior to all the other religions.
SPEAKER_00: Our ideas and beliefs are superior.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if I like that.
SPEAKER_00: I know, but that let me let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_00: This is different.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody who tries to tell you all religions believe the same thing, they're not telling you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: All religions do not believe the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: They believe contrary things.
SPEAKER_00: You can believe this or you can believe that, but you can't believe both.
SPEAKER_00: For example, Islam says that Jesus was a great prophet, but they deny that he was crucified at all, and they deny that he is God.
SPEAKER_00: Judaism, a lot of Jewish people will agree that Jesus is a good teacher, but they deny all the central claims about Jesus in the Apostles' Creed.
SPEAKER_00: They don't believe that he is the Messiah, and they certainly don't call him Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Jehovah's Witnesses kind of present as Christians in a way, but Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the Trinity and they don't believe that Jesus is God.
SPEAKER_00: And Mormons also like to pasture themselves as evangelical Christians, but they don't believe in the Trinity either.
SPEAKER_00: And they reject the historic apostolic teaching about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the Mormons are especially tricky because they they they they use the same vocabulary as you do, but they use a different dictionary.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not saying that to like, I know you have Mormon friends and Mormon relatives.
SPEAKER_00: I got Mormon friends too.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not mad at them for being Mormons.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying what they believe is fundamentally different from what we believe.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: You can't believe this and also believe that.
SPEAKER_00: It's different.
SPEAKER_00: So you see that many other religions do have beliefs about Jesus, and some even try to honor him in their own way, but they don't believe what the Bible teaches, and they certainly don't believe what the Apostles' Creed declares, and they can't affirm it.
SPEAKER_00: So anyone who tells you that these religions believe the same thing is not telling you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because these religions deny what Christians believe on the most important question.
SPEAKER_00: And the most important question for Christians is what do you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And we believe that Jesus is fully man, but we believe that Jesus is fully God.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, what's the implications of that?
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna stretch some of you.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, on your notes.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus can save.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Christians believe.
SPEAKER_00: And the apostles' creed affirms that everyone needs to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't see that in there.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it says he's coming to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: If he's coming to judge the living and the dead, you better be ready for that day because everybody's gonna meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Muslims are gonna meet Jesus, and the Jehovah's Witnesses are gonna meet him, and the Mormons are gonna meet him, and the Jews are gonna meet him, and you're gonna meet him too.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the fundamental issue.
SPEAKER_00: He's coming to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible teaches in the creed affirms only Jesus can save.
SPEAKER_00: Look what St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter preached in Cornelius' house, verse 36, chapter, Acts chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is Lord of all.
SPEAKER_00: You mean just the Baptists?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: You mean just the Americans?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you mean just the white people.
SPEAKER_00: No, you mean just the straight people.
SPEAKER_00: No, Lord of all, St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 38, he has power over the devil.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the devil, don't we guys?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, God is a good God, but the devil is a bad devil.
SPEAKER_00: The devil's just as real as God is, not as powerful as God is, but just as real.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 42, we're going to meet Jesus and we'll all face judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 43, here's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who believes in him has forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: So who has forgiveness of sins?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who believes in him, who does not have forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who does not believe in him.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Yeah, but you're kind of cherry-picking.
SPEAKER_00: You just got this one little sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Peter preaching Cornelius' house.
SPEAKER_00: He probably wasn't ready.
SPEAKER_00: He probably didn't study real hard for that sermon.
SPEAKER_00: He might not have gotten it all right.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not the only time St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said that.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 4, there's another sermon that Peter preached in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what he said.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 4, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
SPEAKER_00: No other name.
SPEAKER_00: No other way.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, but I don't think Jesus would agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter got it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 14, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to the apostles, Peter was there, I am the way and the truth and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: So that means that Christians believe historically.
SPEAKER_00: Other religions can't save, other gods can't save, atheism can't save you, agnosticism isn't good enough to save you, paganism cannot save you, and being Christianish can't save you either.
SPEAKER_00: You have to come to the point where you turn from your sins, receive Jesus by faith for yourself, and follow him as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you are thinking, who are you?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think you are to say that only Jesus can save?
SPEAKER_00: That only Christians can know God, that only Christians will be able to stand in the final judgment.
SPEAKER_00: That's a narrow way of thinking, Pastor Jimmy.
SPEAKER_00: That's intolerant.
SPEAKER_00: You are not being inclusive right now.
SPEAKER_00: Plus, it doesn't seem fair.
SPEAKER_00: And I know why you would say that.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't blame some of you for thinking it for these are new ideas to you or near ideas that challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: But I actually think that Christianity is totally transparent and upfront and fair because Christianity is wide open to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Number four on your notes.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is invited.
SPEAKER_00: This is the good news about being a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is invited.
SPEAKER_00: Remember who Peter is preaching to.
SPEAKER_00: A bunch of people he thought the gospel would never connect with.
SPEAKER_00: He thought they were uncircumcised, shrimp cocktail eating, unclean Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: But God was teaching something important to St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter.
SPEAKER_00: That's why, right out of the gate, what is the first line of St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 10?
SPEAKER_00: He said, I've come here and I've come to realize, first line of the sermon, I've come to realize God shows no partiality, not to Jews, not to Gentiles, not to white people, not to black people, not to American people, not to people born in other places, not to straight people, not to gay people, not to married people, not to single people, not to young people, not to old people.
SPEAKER_00: God shows no partiality.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because everyone's invited to turn from their sins and turn to Christ, and if anyone will do that, they can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get confused about what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying, as long as you're a good person, you're gonna get to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Because if that was true, what's he doing at Cornelius' house?
SPEAKER_00: Cornelius was already a good person before St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter showed up.
SPEAKER_00: The reason he showed up was St.
SPEAKER_00: Peter was a good person who had never received Jesus for himself by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because being Christianish and being a good person is not enough.
SPEAKER_00: But Cornelius, turns out, Gentile, Roman soldier, Italian guy, turns out he's invited.
SPEAKER_00: And he was wanted.
SPEAKER_00: And not only was Cornelius invited and wanted, he was invited and wanted just like his children were invited and wanted, just like his employees were invited and wanted.
SPEAKER_00: Just like you were invited and wanted.
SPEAKER_00: Just like God wants you and your kids and your grandkids.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you.
SPEAKER_00: You're invited, and your neighbor and your employee and your relative, they're invited.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who believes in him says.
SPEAKER_00: So this is why Christianity is fair.
SPEAKER_00: When I think about it, this is how I summarize why I think Christianity is fair.
SPEAKER_00: You ready?
SPEAKER_00: First thing, I think it's fair because everyone is invited.
SPEAKER_00: No exclusion.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, I think it's fair because everyone can meet the requirements.
SPEAKER_00: All that's required to be a Christian, turn from your sins, receive Jesus by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody can do it.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, everybody gets in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: Faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If everyone's invited and everyone can meet the requirements, and everybody gets in the same way, I don't see what could be more fair and wide open than that.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the Bible teaches.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Christians believe.
SPEAKER_00: And people do this.
SPEAKER_00: There's a teenager named Victoria, and she's a teenager, she's a young kid, and then her parents got divorced.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you know what that feels like.
SPEAKER_00: And it just rocked her world, and she began to try to numb the pain and escape the pain with all kinds of decisions.
SPEAKER_00: But while she was doing all that stuff, Victoria was looking for something.
SPEAKER_00: She was actually looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: And she began to realize she was looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: And so Victoria goes down to the store.
SPEAKER_00: She's never been to church.
SPEAKER_00: She buys herself a Bible and she starts reading it, trying to find God.
SPEAKER_00: And then someone invites her and her dad to come to family church.
SPEAKER_00: And Victoria and her dad come to family church, and Victoria's looking for God.
SPEAKER_00: She meets a lady named Jacqueline.
SPEAKER_00: And Jacqueline builds a friendship with her and begins explaining to her the truth about Jesus from the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And pretty soon Victoria makes a decision to turn from her sins and turn to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Victoria, who's excluded, not a church kid, who's hurt because of what happened with her family, who wants to know God but doesn't know how to know God.
SPEAKER_00: And God put Jacqueline in her life, so Victoria could become a believer in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Same thing happened to Cornelius, man.
SPEAKER_00: Cornelius wants to know God.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to find God.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know how to connect with him because he doesn't know about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And God sends Peter into his house to preach this sermon so Cornelius can become a believer in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So let me just ask you, what about you?
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about your mom, I'm not talking about your dad, I'm not talking about your spouse, I'm talking about you.
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you stand?
SPEAKER_00: What do you believe about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe he's fully man?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe he's fully God?
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that only Jesus can save you?
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that you're invited and you're wanted?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's why family church is here.
SPEAKER_00: Family church is here, but the truth is I cannot believe for you.
SPEAKER_00: If I could, I would.
SPEAKER_00: Your spouse can't believe for you.
SPEAKER_00: Your friend who invited you cannot believe for you.
SPEAKER_00: Number five on your notes, last thing.
SPEAKER_00: You must believe for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You may have noticed that in the apostles' creed, we recite it together as a group.
SPEAKER_00: But the pronouns in the apostles' creed are singular, personal.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ as only Son, our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's not she believes, it's not my grandmother believed.
SPEAKER_00: I believe.
SPEAKER_00: Every person has to believe for himself.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we put all this music together this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We do an incredible job.
SPEAKER_00: We have an amazing kids' program here.
SPEAKER_00: We got all these parents up here dedicating babies.
SPEAKER_00: We got all kinds of hospitality out here in the welcome area.
SPEAKER_00: I prepare the best Bible study that I can all week.
SPEAKER_00: But at some point, after all the music and all the kids' programming and the donuts and the coffee and the talk, eventually it comes down to you and God, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, eventually it's you and God.
SPEAKER_00: But eventually you have to make a choice.
SPEAKER_00: You have to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: Will you turn from your sins and turn to Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Will you believe?
SPEAKER_00: And you should believe.
SPEAKER_00: Because the reason that you can be saved by Jesus, he was crucified on the cross for your sins, he was buried in God, raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And you're invited, and you can believe.
SPEAKER_00: And to remind us of how powerful the invitation of Jesus is, every Sunday at Family Church, we take the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to take the Lord's Supper right now.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's Supper is a way we remember the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus that we confess in the Apostles' Creed and that Peter preached about.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's Supper is a way that we remind each other and encourage each other that in this room there are hundreds and hundreds of people who believe what you believe.
SPEAKER_00: Not perfectly, but we're going for it.
SPEAKER_00: Family church, we understand that the Lord's Supper is for Christians.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today, you're not a Christian, you shouldn't take the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: No shade on you, no one's gonna care, no one's gonna make fun of you or think less of you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian, it's really not for you.
SPEAKER_00: But you can pray along and follow along and be a part as much as you can.
SPEAKER_00: And a family church, we believe and we teach, it's best for you to take the Lord's Supper after you become a believer, after you've been baptized by immersion in water, and after you become a part of a neighborhood church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today, you say, Well, Pastor Jimmy, I'm a Christian and I've been baptized like that, but this isn't my church.
SPEAKER_00: Understand?
SPEAKER_00: If you're a baptized believer, you're part of another church, you would take the Lord's Supper at your church.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you take it with us this morning as part of the extended family of Jesus that goes around the world?
SPEAKER_00: But right now, let's bow our heads.
SPEAKER_00: Let's confess our sins to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's draw close to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let's reaffirm our faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then in just a moment, we'll all eat and drink together.