“We 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; He descended into hades; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen”

We’re continuing to look at the first phrase of the Apostle’s Creed - “We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth...” Of course, it all starts with belief - “We believe in God...” That phrase must be allowed its full Biblical implication. It’s not enough just to admit that there is a God. Belief in God implies trust in God. The relationship is personal and committed. We don’t just believe in some eternal principle. We trust in a living, personal God. We know Him through Jesus Christ.

After this belief is settled, we must define the God we believe in. Not just any God will do. And we should be grateful the creed starts with the most inviting characteristic possible. The God of the Christian is first defined as our Father. Jesus said He came to give those who trusted in Him the right to “become the children of God.” We aren’t God’s children just by physical birth. We are all God’s creatures by physical birth. But we become God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ: - John 1:12 - “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God....”

Today we’re moving on to the second and third defining characteristics of the Biblical God. The creed affirms He is Almighty, and He is Maker of heaven and earth. The creed is only doing what the Scriptures consistently do themselves. It is emphasizing, not everything about God, but what is especially unique about Him. We can’t possibly know everything there is to know about God. That is never going to happen. But there are certain characteristics about God that have been clearly given to us.

WHY have they been revealed? They’ve been revealed to turn our hearts from idols and false Gods. We’ve been given enough to separate the God of the Scriptures from all other false gods and religions. The creed emphasizes what is unique and distinct about our God so we will be able to separate truth from error and recognize His right to call us to allegiance and loyalty and worship.

This is the pattern laid down right through the Old Testament. The people aren’t just called to some blind commitment to God. God constantly identifies Himself and proves Himself to His people. They aren’t just called to believe and follow God. They’re called to believe and follow the God of “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” In other words, God calls them to recognize, not only His existence, but the things He has done. The Children of Israel, after their crossing of the Red Sea, worship the God who has “delivered them from their enemies by His strong arm.” In this way God constantly puts actual content into their description of Him. And, in the Apostle’s Creed, after the Fatherhood of God is acknowledged, the two characteristics we’re studying today and next Sunday are perhaps the most significant things you can know about the God we worship:

1) GOD IS ALMIGHTY - The word Almighty occurs 56 times in most English Bibles. It is only used for God. The word Almighty is never applied to anyone else. It would be very hard to overstate the prominence this truth is given in the Scriptures: Psalm 62:11 - “Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God....”

Note, only God actually possesses power. Everything else from light-bulbs to people runs on borrowed power. Everything but God is dependant on something or someone else for it’s power. God puts oil and coal in the ground. He gives the sun it’s heat and light. He sustains the animals and plants. But, given enough time, everything - absolutely everything - will decay and wear out: Hebrews 1:10-12 - “....You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;[11] they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, [12] like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end."

It is God’s power - His almighty power - that distinguishes Him from every other object of possible worship. God’s power is different from the delegated power He has temporarily sewn into the fabric of this present creation: Isaiah 40:28-29 - “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.[29] He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” God’s power is never diminished. A.W.Tozer used to say that God gives His power, but He never gives it away. His power is never diminished by His supplying power to others. That, more than anything else, is what the Psalmist meant when he said, “Power belongs to God.”

The important point in all this theology is that God calls worship to Himself on the basis of His almighty power. It is simply idolatrous to ascribe worship to anything less than almighty when an almighty God is present and recognized: Isaiah 40:25-26 - “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. [26] Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.” The point is obvious. If God is Almighty then He has no equals. There can’t be two Almightys. And if there are no equals to God there are no other Gods to worship.

a) Because God is almighty there are no impossible situations or problems. We are brought face to face with impossible situations in the Scriptures. For some people this rules out the credibility of the Bible. But this only betrays a lack of understanding of the God to whom the Scriptures point.

Imagine Mary, the virgin who is told she is going to give birth to the Savior without ever experiencing sexual intercourse. The chances of her giving birth to the Savior without sexual relations are about the same as a man giving birth to the Savior. Her reaction is the same as any of ours would be: Luke 1:34 - “And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" That’s what you’d expect Mary to say. That’s what anyone would say.

Now, you’ve probably never had that experience before. But I’ll bet you’ve spoken those very same words - or at least had those very same thoughts: “There is absolutely no way anything good can come out of this situation.” “There is no way someone that sick can be healed.” “There is no way I can overcome that habit.” “There is no way this marriage can be saved.” “There is no way God can resurrect long decayed bodies from five thousand years ago when Jesus comes again.” “There is no way God can reach my stubborn son or daughter with His grace.”

Cut it any way you like. There are situations all over the place that have “Impossible” stamped all over them. And it’s in those hopeless situations God tells us something very important about Himself. We are never to forget it: Luke 1:37 - “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

b) Because God is almighty He is able to complete and fulfill all His purposes for creation. There comes knocking at our hearts when we least want it the nagging suspicion that because God hasn’t accomplished all His purpose for creation yet, He may not do it at all. The passing of time can cause us to think that God has somehow grown slack (that’s the actual word the Bible uses) in keeping His promise of the coming of Jesus and the renewal of this present age.

Is anyone able to do something that wildly powerful and unprecedented? Are we just victims of wishful thinking? Those questions can come to the very best of Christians. The only answer the Bible gives rests down on the foundation of our God being almighty in His power: Philippians 3:20-21 - “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

This is the word of the Lord to this church today. We will grow weary in the waiting if we confine the future working of God in this world by the limits of our own imagination. God is not tied to the confines of what we are able to picture or expect. Paul says God will wrap up the course of this age, not according to my ability to conceive of it happening, but according to His almighty power to accomplish His will. Your ability to speculate is limited. God’s almighty power isn’t.

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