The Apostles Creed (God The Father)

[0:00] Thank you for choosing to listen to today's message by Rev. Dr. David Entry. We know you will be blessed as you seek and serve God. We believe that this message will stir up a desire for more of God even as you listen.

[0:14] Be blessed. Father, we thank you that the entrance of your word gives light and gives understanding to the simple. As we hear your word, let the heavens be open upon us.

[0:25] Let us encounter you. Let us see you in the pages of the scriptures. Open the eyes of our understanding that we will behold wondrous things in your word.

[0:38] Teach us what only you can teach us. Give us what only you can give us. Do what only you can do in our midst. Have the preeminence in our midst. Have the precedence in our midst.

[0:50] That at the end of the day, all glory comes to you in the name of Jesus. We thank you for a morning like this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

[1:01] Amen. Last Sunday, I started to explain the Apostles' Creed. So, last Sunday, I spoke about, I believe. Okay. The Latin credo.

[1:13] I believe. Someone say, I believe. I believe. Say, I believe. I believe. And what I explained was that our belief is not baseless. Our belief is not unreasonable.

[1:25] Our belief is not superstitious or just pure credulity. Our belief is factual. Our belief actually is scientific.

[1:36] Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And it's scientific. It's factual. It's reasonable. Because there is a reason and a provable condition of facts.

[1:47] Why we believe what we believe. So, I said, for belief to be believed encompasses three elements of our faith. How many of you remember? Number one. Noticia.

[1:57] Okay. What's noticia? Data. So, our belief. Our faith must have data. If you say, I believe. Believe in what? So, there's something.

[2:07] If you say, I believe. This pillar can move here. That's. That. It's a belief. And it's data. But that data is false. It's not scientific. All right.

[2:18] So, there must always be content to the belief. So, I believe. You must. You must believe in something. And then. So, noticia. And what's the second one? Ascensus.

[2:29] Ascensus means you believe it. And you must give ascent to it. This thing cannot move. All right. I believe. This light moves.

[2:40] It spins around. I believe it. Is it true? So, I lend ascent to it that, yes. I know it does that. But that's one. The last bit is whether we commit our emotions and our trust and our confidence in this.

[2:55] I believe that once this light turns, it can give me illumination in this place. Now, if you believe that the light may turn, but it doesn't give you illumination. Or you believe you can do that, but I can't be bothered.

[3:07] I'm living my life in spite of that. Then, that misses the last bit of it, which is called what? Fodukia.

[3:17] So, we have the noticia, ascensus, and Fodukia. Fodukia has to do with, I commit myself to these facts. That is what fundamentally makes the difference between a pure Christian and a nominal Christian.

[3:34] Nominal Christians believe Jesus died for us. Nominal Christians believe that it is true he died for us. They accept it. They accept Moses. They accept the story in the Bible, the facts about the scriptures.

[3:46] They accept that. But they have not committed their trust to that. So, you can be a believer or you can be a Christian. Some of us were baptized in our infancy and we grew up in what we call a Christian family.

[4:01] So, we accept the facts that we are told about the Bible. We accept it to be true. We accept the fact that Jesus died for our sins and there is heaven and hell. We accept it. But most of us, at this point in time, even though we accepted all these things, had not committed ourselves to it.

[4:17] And that's the Fodukia aspect. Now, why the Apostles' Creed? The Apostles' Creed was, we have the Apostles' Creed. It's not because the Apostles put some things together. It was put together centuries later.

[4:30] Because in the early church, people were being baptized. So, Acts chapter 2 verse 13, repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for permission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

[4:40] Alright? Of the Holy Spirit. So, he told them repent. Say repent. Repent and be baptized. So, what happens is that if you come and say, I want to be baptized, there are a few questions they will have to ask you. They have to ask you, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins?

[4:57] Now, if you don't believe that, then you can't be a Christian. And they were baptizing only Christians. And so, when you come and you say, I want to be part of a Christian, there are some basic things they want to check if you believe.

[5:09] And so, the basic things that they will check, they teach you the basic facts which you should believe to be a Christian. After a few years and centuries, they come asking everybody. So, what happened was that the believers have the set of, Christians have the set of belief.

[5:23] That's what it's called Apostles' Creed. Apostles' Creed that you cannot be a Christian if you don't believe in one of it. So, then, watch this. So, then, when we say, I believe.

[5:34] When we say, we believe. Well, it's not just we believe. It's more of an I. The Apostles' Creed. It's a personal thing. So, it starts with I believe. Believe what?

[5:46] So, I explained the belief. But now, we are now going to go into the not I or the noticia. The content of what Christians believe which makes us Christian.

[5:58] Say hallelujah. Yeah. So, Apostles' Creed start by. I believe in God the Father Almighty. Creator of heaven. One more time. I believe in God the Father Almighty.

[6:10] Creator of heaven. For the last time. Louder. I believe in God the Father Almighty. Creator of heaven. Amen. I want to take my time to talk about God the Father Almighty and creator of heaven and earth.

[6:24] So important. That's where it starts from. God the Father. Let's all say God the Father. God the Father. Say it again. God the Father. Say it for the last time, please. God the Father. I believe in God.

[6:36] Have you realized that there are a lot of people who, when you ask them, do you believe in Jesus? In our time, they say no, I don't. Even sometimes, if you ask people, do you believe in God?

[6:49] They tell you no. But if you ask them, do you believe there is something powerful beyond, beyond natural things? About 90% or even 98% or 90 intelligent people will tell you that, yeah, I believe there's something beyond, but I don't believe in God.

[7:08] For some reason, they are like theoretical tastes. There's theoretical things that believe in God. They believe there's something. But as to who it is, whether it's a person or what is his name, that is a different question altogether.

[7:22] So many people may tell you, well, I'm not religious, but I still believe there's something. Some people call it different, some say an energy. Some of them call it the Jigs bosom.

[7:37] Is that it? And some also call it the big back. There's something beyond. They can't identify what it is. Because it will be very imbecile or, excuse me, stupid for you to say there's nothing beyond.

[7:51] Because everything on earth points that there's something beyond. So if you have to be a little bit intellectual or intelligent, you will know that there is something beyond. There definitely is something.

[8:03] So the scientists call it a big bang. Which created what we just emerged from the slimes. We are a cosmic accident. Something just happened and we all showed up.

[8:14] They believe that there must be something. Because everything didn't just start now. Something started something. So we say, I believe in God.

[8:26] I believe in God. Now when we talk about God, before I go to the father. When we talk about God, there is this, in the 19th century, scholars and philosophers came up with something, a philosophical thought pattern called evolution.

[8:49] In the 19th century. Listen to this very carefully. Many people think evolution is just a way of belief which is contrary to Christianity or faith. No.

[9:00] Evolution, when evolution was propounded, the idea of evolution is that everything starts from the bare basic. and develops and becomes so, from very basically simple to becoming complex.

[9:15] And so evolution believes that the theory of evolution is not just some biological ideology. It covers biology. But it's a philosophical way of thinking, philosophical pattern, which covers every aspect of our life.

[9:31] And so social life. The way, we have to think about the way society develops, politics develops, even to the extent of what we practice here, democracy.

[9:46] And all the, they have philosophy. So it's like, we just didn't start. Something led to something. Something led to something. And so in the same way, they believe religion started somewhere. But maybe someone, sometimes, and people started somewhere.

[9:58] They thought that, oh, this is interesting. So let's look into it. And so they started with some basic bare minimum. And then they migrated into something more complex and more complex and more complex and more complex.

[10:11] So evolution actually in the religious circles believe that religion starts by something just basic. And how do they believe religion starts? That religion starts by animism. Okay.

[10:22] So they believe that we all started, religion actually started through animism. What's animism? Animism is where, you know, currently some people still practice animism.

[10:33] Animism is when you look at inanimate objects like stones, like water bodies, like the sun, like trees.

[10:44] They credit supernatural powers to objects that don't have life. And believe that demons, in fact, those times they believe that spirits inhabit it.

[10:54] And most of them, it's for the negative purposes. So that's why they revere these things and they fear these things. So that's how it started. The evolution, the evolutionary theory of religion believes that it started from there.

[11:09] Animism. Then it went to what they call polytheism. What is polytheism? Many gods. So then you have discovered that this is your god.

[11:20] This other person said this is our god. This other person said this is our god. So they believe like the Hindus. There are many gods. They believe there are different types of gods. So when Paul goes to Mass Hill, Acts chapter 17, he says that when he went there, he realized that these people are philosophers.

[11:36] And they have so many gods, different, different gods. And they believe so much that there are so many gods and it's possible there's a god they don't know about. There's one of them. So there definitely must be so many gods.

[11:47] So they built an altar and dedicated it to this god we don't know, to the unknown god. So Paul says, I like the way Paul. Paul says, the god whom you worship unknowingly, he's the one I'm coming to declare to you.

[12:01] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's so nice. So polytheism came and then from polytheism, they believe that it's migrated or evolution. It evolved to what we call henotheism.

[12:16] Henu. H-E-N-U. Henotheism. Henotheism is like a transition between polytheism and monotheism. I'll explain what henotheism means. Henotheism is when they believe that there is one god for the Jews.

[12:31] Because in those days, polytheism is maybe there's god of fertility. There's a god for war. There's a god for families. Maybe there's a god for victory.

[12:42] So in those times, everything they're doing, they had what they attributed, they had a god they attributed it to. Now, that's polytheism. Henotheism is when, so like a nation, there is one god.

[12:54] Say one god. One god of the Jews or one god of the English who is in charge of war, in charge of everything. So it's not so much as poly.

[13:06] Do you understand? But it's one. But it is based on a group of peoples. So every group of people have their own god. So among them, there's one for you. There's one. So then, they believe, then it evolved to that level of sophistication so long as godness is concerned or theism is concerned.

[13:24] And then the final level is what they believe is called monotheism. Monotheism is one god overall. One god overall.

[13:34] So, philosophers believe that, you see, this whole thing about one god, many gods, is just as human beings developed, they created it so bad they appeared. But, and they believe, in fact, some believe that Abraham didn't believe in one god.

[13:49] Some believe that Moses believed in polytheism. But the truth of the fact is Moses believed in one god. Abraham believed in one god. Because there has always been one god over all creation.

[14:03] Over all creation. Now, we believers and Christians must understand this and know that it's not some human philosophy, but it is a god thing.

[14:15] God gave it to us. God reveals himself to us. And it's, I like this. Someone will say, prove god. Disprove god. When you tell me to prove god, I will ask you to disprove him.

[14:27] Because the Bible said everything created tells you, points to something great. You may not want to call him god. But you disprove that there is no day. No one can and has ever been able to disprove that there is no god.

[14:40] Why? Because there is god. It's scientific. It's factual. So, say, I believe in god. Say, I believe in god. Say, I believe in god.

[14:50] I believe in god. Now, what did he say? I believe in god the father. Woo! Say god the father. God the father. Say god the father. Now, when we talk about god the father, it's loaded with strong theological significance.

[15:06] Or, let me particularly put it this way. The early church, they were very self-consciously trinitarian. Trinity, they believed father. As soon as you hear the father, it connotes trinity.

[15:20] All right? It sends a trinitarian message. It conjures trinitarian consciousness. Because we talk about father, son, and the Holy Spirit.

[15:31] So, when we say, I believe in god the father, right there, we are talking about the trinity. It's very important. So, when you say, I believe in god the father, what we, in effect, what we are saying is that, I believe in the father, son, and the Holy Spirit.

[15:43] But I believe in god, who is this father. He is the creator. Right. Now, let me take you a little bit into Jewish history. Because, there is this philosophical thinking that also developed in the 19th century, which said that, you know, all these things, the basic essence of religion.

[16:09] So, they tried to, okay, Islam say this is what they believe in. Hinduists say this is what they believe in. Judaism, this is what they believe in. So, what philosophers try to do is, let's bring their belief in this religious system to the barest minimum and find the essence of it.

[16:25] So, that they will see how they all look alike and see the common grounds for all religions. So, when they thought about Christianity, what they propounded was, Christianity, the barest minimum is the universal fatherhood of all.

[16:42] And the universal brotherhood of all. So, Christianity suggests God is father of everybody. And everybody is somebody's brother.

[16:57] And you know the scriptures, they stand on. But it's not true. It's not scripture. God is not the father of all. Yes. God is not the father of all. So, the scripture they stand on similarly, for instance, in Acts chapter 7.

[17:11] Now, let's go to the text now. Acts 17, verse 28. This is when Paul was having the discussion with the guys on Mass Hill. Acts 17, 28.

[17:22] It says that, For in him we live and move and have our being. As also some of your poets have said. For we are also his offspring.

[17:34] So, he was telling, quoting what their poets have written. The poets of those guys he was preaching to. He was quoting them. He says that they said, some of your poets have actually said, for we are his offspring.

[17:45] Paul was not disagreeing with them. But, many poets say, because Paul said that they said we are his offspring. That means that we are, God is all, is the father of us all. Because we are all his offspring. But, no.

[17:58] That we are his offspring is more, it connotes more the fact that no one just came by himself. God is the creator of all. God is the creator of all. Now, secondly, in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14.

[18:11] When he says that, for this reason, I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Go to the next verse.

[18:21] Verse 15. From whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named. Alright. So, means that God is the head of all the families. Now, that's not what he's saying. God is not like the head of everyone.

[18:33] He's the father of everyone. No, that's not what he's saying. He said from whom, verse 15. From whom the whole family in heaven and on earth. Okay. So, it's the whole family in heaven and on earth.

[18:45] That stands to mean that we, everyone came from him. It doesn't make him the father of us all. God is the creator of us all, but he's not the father of us all.

[18:57] In Judaism, in the whole of the Old Testament, every Jewish boy, every Jewish child is trained to pray. Every Jew is trained to pray.

[19:08] Every Jewish child is trained to pray. And then they show you how you should pray. The contents of your prayer. Now, watch this. Some of us may have the privilege of addressing the queen or the king. And some prime ministers in few years to come.

[19:23] You didn't say amen? Amen. Amen. Amen. But you would, you'll be told when you go to the palace and you're addressing the king or you go to Downing Street or you go to White House, there are protocols.

[19:34] Yes. So, when the queen is shaking hands with you, there is a way you have to, you know, the curse say. There is a way you have to, if you want to address it, even those of you who have been to court and you're addressing the judge, my lord, my lord, my lady.

[19:49] It's very important. And so, every culture trains people, protocols, and how to address authorities. And so, the Jews were also trained how to address God.

[20:00] So, when you are coming to God, there are several names and titles the Jews knew God by. So, Almighty God, Yahweh, or Omnipotent, the God of mercy, the God of, they were trained to know how to address Him.

[20:14] But when He appeared to them, Moses said, I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were trained to know how to address God. So, they don't go and say, hey, my, hey, God. That's why I actually told them, that's why I don't use the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.

[20:26] He had a name. They taught them how to approach God, how to address God, by what titles to address God. And there were quite about between 30 and 40 titles that were given to the Jews to address God appropriately.

[20:39] Hallelujah. But, interestingly, there was not one of the titles that addressed God as Father. You don't address God as Father. Check. None of the, nobody ever addressed God as Father.

[20:52] It was, it was not right. You couldn't do it in Jewish times until, until in the first century, a, a, a young Jewish rabbi, a Galilean rabbi, started addressing God as Father.

[21:05] And do you know what they did? Look at John chapter 5. Let me show you something. Look at John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Let's read from verse 16 so that we can have a good picture of what I'm trying to talk about. Verse 16.

[21:15] For this reason, the Jews persecuted, do you know why? Because he healed somebody on the Sabbath day. Watch this. For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him. Why? Because he has done these things from the Sabbath day.

[21:26] He has done these things. Sabbath day, you don't do these things. And he's done. So they wanted to kill him for breaking the Sabbath day. Now, watch this. But, verse 17 says, but Jesus answered them, my father has been working until now.

[21:39] And I have been working. So he said that God is working. Daddy, that is working. That's why I also work. So he can't tell me I shouldn't do anything on the Sabbath day. Why did he work on the Sabbath day? And how did he address God?

[21:51] My father. How did he address God? My father. How did he address God? My father. Look at verse 18. Therefore, the Jews sought all them all to kill him.

[22:02] Because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said God was his father. Making himself equal with God. They said, hey, you call God your father? How dare you call God your father?

[22:13] You've broken the Sabbath day. We want to kill you. Now he said God is your father. We have to kill you more. We have to actually kill you more. So double life sentence. Because they said he was blaspheming. Blaspheming.

[22:24] For calling. So you can understand in those times how revolutionary it was for Jesus to call God father. And then in Matthew chapter 6 verse 9, the disciples said, teach us how to pray.

[22:35] And he said, when you pray, say our father. Now, who remembers what John 3 16 says? Oh, let's say it together. Let's say it. For God so loved the world, and he gave only God's son, and who shall believe his name.

[22:52] Should not perish. For God loves the world that he gave what? Only. God had only one son. So he was the only one who could call God father.

[23:04] No human being could call God father. Because they understood what it means to say God is your father. It's a serious statement. That is why no Muslim, no religion can dare say God is father.

[23:16] Check Islam. Islam cannot call God father. It can call God father. Because it is blasphemy to say God is your father. And so Jesus was said, I'm the son of God. Now, in John chapter 14, he told the guys, if you have seen me, you have seen the father.

[23:30] Verse 9. He said, if you have seen me, you have seen the father. John 10 30. He said, I and the father are one. And Bible says that they wanted to stone him because he's blaspheming. All right. And so Jesus proved to them, told them, I came from the father.

[23:43] And so he was the only one who could call God father. But guess what? So what gives us the audacity to call God our father? Because we, watch this, we have been adopted into the family of God. In Ephesians chapter 2 quickly.

[23:55] Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18. Let's look at this quickly. Ephesians 2 verse 18. For through him, we both have access by one spirit to the father. Did you see that? Toward the father.

[24:06] Go to the next verse. Go to the next verse quickly. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers or foreigners, but your fellow citizens with the saints and the members of what? God's household. God's family.

[24:17] We are, when you read Adash translation, it said, we are members. I think the, the, uh, Philip's translation or New Living Translation also. So we are members of God's family. We are members of his own family. And so we are members of God's.

[24:29] Did you see that? You are members of God's family. That's why we call him father. Now, on what grounds do you become members of God's family? In John chapter one, verse 12, it says that for as many as believed in him, to them he gave right, the right to become the sons of God.

[24:43] So the reason why we call God our father is because we have become sons of God. How do you become a son of God? By believing in Jesus. So when you believe in Jesus, you also become the son of God.

[24:54] Let's look, watch, watch. Let's look at Romans. Romans chapter eight, quickly. Romans chapter eight, verse 14. Romans eight, 14 tells us for as many as are led by the spirit of God.

[25:05] These are the sons of God. We are sons of God. Go to the next verse. Watch this. Verse 15 says that for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of what?

[25:16] The spirit of what? So you were not originally a child of God, but you have been adopted into the family of God. Hallelujah. By Jesus Christ, we have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry, Abba father.

[25:28] Abba father means that when the baby is so daddy and mommy, it's from deep within. It's not just a terminology. They mean it mommy. And so we cry daddy.

[25:38] We identify him as father. And so he says that because of Christ, we can also call God our father. Not because we are calling him because we called him, but we are calling him because now we are also the sons of God.

[25:51] We are also in the family of God. In Galatians chapter four, verse five, he says, because you are sons, Galatians four, five, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son, which Christ, Galatians chapter four, those who are the Lord that he must receive the son of God, go to the next verse.

[26:12] And because he has sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son in your heart, which Christ, Abba father. So watch this. Ah, when he says to them, when you pray, Jews were not taught to pray and address God as father.

[26:23] But he said, now when you pray, because you are a child of God, when you are, hallelujah, hallelujah. Because you are a child of God, approach God as a child of God, approach God as your father and talk to him as a father.

[26:40] Daddy, you don't need sets of rules. You just need a relationship. In Romans chapter eight, verse 29, he said, for those he foreknew, he also predestined, he was, he also predestined to be conformed in the image of his son.

[27:01] That's Jesus. Why? That we might be, he might become firstborn amongst. Now, so the universal fatherhood of God is a fallacy. God is not the father of all.

[27:12] He's the father of Jesus and his brothers. So that we become, watch this, he becomes firstborn amongst many brothers. So there's nothing like universal brotherhood of man. Bible didn't teach universal brotherhood of man.

[27:25] Bible teaches universal neighborhood. Neighborhood is different from brotherhood. Your neighbor is not your cousin. Hallelujah. And so, and so you can tell that when we start by saying, I believe in God the father, that statement is loaded.

[27:41] That statement is loaded with, with, with serious theological significance. No one on earth can say God is my father. But thank God for Jesus. Thank God for Jesus.

[27:53] Yes. In, in first John chapter three, verse one, this scripture just jumped into my head. Let me just quote it to be free. First John chapter three says, behold, what manner of love the father has been, has given unto us.

[28:04] That we should, that we should be called. So it's, it's, God has given us. It's in, in Ephesians. And when you read the scriptures very carefully, watch this. I was, I did on, in all the epistles.

[28:17] In all the epistles of Paul. The Pauline, it's called Pauline epistles. Epistles written by Paul or letters written by Paul. It's not pistol. Okay. Epistle written by Paul. In all the epistles written by Paul, every one of them, apart from Hebrew, which is, whose authorship is disputable.

[28:33] All right. But many good theologians like me believe that it's Paul who wrote it. Now watch this. But apart from Hebrews, all the, all Romans, first and second Corinthians.

[28:45] So Romans chapter one, verse eight says that, blessed be God our father. That it talks about a grace be unto you. It talks about a tango through that you are, verse seven, sorry. Verse seven, verse seven.

[28:56] That to whom a believer called to be said, grace to you and peace to God, peace from God our father. That's how he saluted the people. He said, grace to you, peace from our father.

[29:07] In first Corinthians chapter one, verse three, it talks about the same thing. Grace from our father, God our father. And first Corinthians chapter one, I think verse eight, it talks about our father.

[29:17] In Ephesians chapter one, verse three. Blessed be God our father. In Philippians chapter one, I think verse four, it talks about God our father. Grace and peace be to you from God our father.

[29:28] In Colossians chapter one, verse four, I think verse two rather. It talks about between verse four, verse two and verse four. It talks about God our father. First Thessalonians chapter one, verse three, God our father.

[29:38] First Thessalonians chapter one, verse two, God our father. First Timothy chapter one, verse three, God our father. verse 3, God our father. No, verse 2. First Timothy chapter 1, verse 2, God our father. Titus chapter 1, verse 4, God our father. Philemon, God our father. So throughout all the epistles, he presented, he started by saying God our father. That means he was writing to brothers. And now, even Hebrews, where he didn't salute them and bring greetings, in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1, look at Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1, he talks about our brotherhood.

[30:08] He says that, therefore, Jesus, therefore what? Therefore what? So we are family. Therefore what? We are not just ordinary brothers and sisters.

[30:21] Brethren means brothers and sisters. We are holy brethren. We are holy because God has given birth to us and we are in one family. And so when we say, hey, listen, now when we come and stand and say, I believe in God, the father, we know what we are talking about.

[30:38] Shout out. Shout out. Shout out. Hebrews chapter 2 talks about how because his brethren were flesh and blood, he himself took, Hebrews chapter 2, I think verse 11 or so, he himself shared in the same.

[30:54] Because we are brothers. Now, quickly. So, one, I believe in what? God. In these times, we have said in so many, our father who art in heaven, our father, so, we don't know how weighty that statement is.

[31:06] It's so heavy. It's loaded. Our father who art from childhood, some of us who grew up in good, good environment. Our father who art in heaven, I love you, I need, that kid, that kid, that will be, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Diabit, which is sonship.

[31:49] They didn't have it. And Jesus said, my father, they said, we will stone you. And now Jesus tells us that you are my brothers. In fact, I didn't read it in Romans. But Romans, it says that, Romans chapter 8, verse 17, it talks about, it continues to talk about, verse 16, yeah, 16 and 17.

[32:04] It continues to talk about, we are as, as. So it said that for the spirit of God, best witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. All right? It's a witness. That thing is inside. I can't fake it. You can't convince me that I am.

[32:15] No, I am. It's a witness. It's a witness in my spirit. It's inside my spirit. You can try and say all kinds of things in my mind, but I know.

[32:28] It's like when you are born again, you sin. Someone say, it doesn't matter. But you know that I can't pray. You know. You know, because it's not your mind. It's your spirit.

[32:38] The spirit of God, best witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God. Watch this, verse 17. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God, and joins heirs. Whatever Christ, whatever shared Christ as God.

[32:51] He used to be the only begotten of the Father. But now, God has got many sons. Shout, hallelujah. Shout, I believe in God the Father. I believe in God the Father.

[33:03] Say it again, I believe in God the Father. I believe in God the Father. Say for the last time, I believe in God the Father. I believe in God the Father. So, it's loaded with so much theological significance.

[33:14] And then quickly, let me end by saying, God the Father, almighty. All right? Almighty. There are so many names of God, titles of God. But the almighty is very significant. God, in Genesis chapter 17, verse 1, appeared to Abraham, and he says that, when he was done, God appeared to him and said, I am almighty God.

[33:31] Walk before me, I am a prophet. He calls him almighty. Which means, that's El Shaddai. El Shaddai. Let me tell you exactly, I wrote it down, exactly what El Shaddai means.

[33:42] El Shaddai means the one who overpowers. It points to monotheism. It points to that there's only one God. When you talk about God, there's really one God. He's almighty.

[33:53] No one is mightier than me. I am the overall. I'm the final authority. So, when we say, I believe in God the Father, almighty. He's our father, and yes, he's the almighty.

[34:04] He's the almighty. There's one God we are talking about. I believe in God the Father. And yet, when you say the Father, it's loaded with Trinitarian significance.

[34:15] God, Father alone. It's loaded. At the same time, God the almighty. Then it goes on to say, creator of heaven and earth. Creator of heaven and earth. Many people in those times, they taught. There's some people who, in fact, there's some philosophers and theologians who said the New Testament God is different from the Old Testament God.

[34:30] They called the Old Testament God Demiurge. D-E-M-I-U-R-G-E. Demiurge. He said that. They said Demiurge. He's a very wicked God. He's a God who likes to fight.

[34:42] He's a God who is very aggressive. But he's not the overall God. The overall God sends Jesus. Oh, that's all that kind of thing.

[34:52] That's why you have to know what we believe in. Because the one we believe in is the same God who was operating in the Old Testament. He's the same. He applied to Abraham. He said, I'm the God almighty. And he's the creator of heaven and earth.

[35:04] He created everything. He's not like Hanothen is the God of the Jews. Okay, so the God of the Christians. The God of these people. No, no, no. He's not a God of a group of people.

[35:15] He's the God of heaven and earth. He's the creator. We thank God for using the servant Reverend Dr. David Entry to share this awesome word. If this message has blessed you in any way, please spread the word by sharing it and send us an email to amen at caris.org.

[35:31] Remember to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter for regular updates on what God is doing here at Caris Ministries. Stay blessed.