Transcript for:
Understanding the Church and Apostles Creed

all right good morning good morning let's start our lovely friends let's go to the Lord in prayer Lord we do thank you for your word uh we thank you for your church God that you build um we thank you Lord for just these people here um that you just continue to grow this area of Hemet and S this Valley Lord I pray that you will go before us today thank you Lord for the baptisms that are going to occur today and baby dedications and just Lord I pray that we are a church that just professes and our faith in you we pray this in your name Jesus amen well good morning if you are uh coming in and you're not sure which week we're on we're on week six so we only have this week and one more to go and so today we're going to talk about the church what is the church who is the church and then next week we'll talk about um some little bit of controversial statements within the Creed which you guys have probably seen a little bit and I'm going to cover one of those today uh and you'll you'll know what I'm talking about when we get there and then I have some questions for you at the end of the week that is going to be for you guys to be prepared to discuss next week okay and so I know you guys enjoy your new seating arrangement today we have a a lunch in after church today yeah so don't fall out of the chairs that would be bad so today what we're going to cover is this statement here where it says I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting amen but really especially we're going to cover the part where it says the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints and for some of you if you have a Roman Catholic background you may be thinking what's going on in this statement here and so we'll talk about that today and that is one of the controversial statements within the Creed we'll answer some questions on that and um you'll you'll feel a little more comfortable understanding that especially being a Protestant Evangelical uh a little bit of homework recap how are you guys doing on the coloring book I see some of you guys have them out there good it's looking nice we're missing some of our like you know celebrities that are really good at coloring lo I bet is really nice over there blank he's color blind this one right here is looking beautiful though look at that that's a nice yeah I like that show it off show it off yes there we go she's like oh don't be bashful now your homework has been the last couple weeks to share the gospel with somebody and what I want to encourage you to do and what I've been trying to encourage you guys to do is continue witnessing to others does anybody have any maybe a brief little story about you sharing the gospel this week with somebody I got a text message this morning from a Mormon as inviting me to church so those gentlemen who I had they don't give up yeah that's okay neither does our God I so I may be out for a Sunday just to let you guys know I may actually visit just to keep that relationship going yes Larry yeah just briefly briefly um I went to my dentist the other day go pay my bill and the door was locked it would open so I figured okay it's closed but it didn't say close time then I looked at the part I'm the only car or parking lot I didn't I didn't notice that so as I was walking away few steps the door opened and look back there is a female right there so I went back go yes and I said yes I come see it's close are you close uh yes and no she goes I'm the only one here she said but you come to pay your bill I go yeah okay fine come on in okay I go you take care of business you know the thing and well it came down to where uh something came up to where I said something spiritually right um have a blessed day or something like that I I can't anyway thank you very much something just told me to ask are you do you have a religion or she goes no you don't you don't have she goes no I am I believe in God you know she said but no do you want to you know the Lord and she says like it was a surprise to her you know and she looked at she go I would love to let pray cool I'm a Christian let PR and yeah we prayed everything and she accepted the Lord W right then and there and she she's like shaking her head like she she can't believe what just happened you know just nobody has ever came me like that you know nobody I'm just a that's cool you know from the Lord you know I don't know why but she was apparently so I said okay why you have a bless she goes can I have a hook that's cool you know so sure I stood right there she would came around you know her whatever I her the lord loves you he must that's cool he must thank you very a i nice that made my cool thanks Larry thank you yeah we are called to be witnesses to the Lord thank you Larry for sharing that yeah continue doing um the work of an evangelist our heart as Christians is to share the good news not to just keep it to ourselves uh and also so next week I'm going to ask some of you guys if you want to tr to recite the entire Apostles Creed to the group you don't to stand up here to do that but just to share and to recite the entire thing does anybody feel comfortable maybe in saying the entire Apostles cre not today but maybe next week couple of you okay I'm going to quit Leonard okay I might quiz my children and have them come up here so we'll see you'll see them next week well she's shaking her head we'll see now just a reminder the four things of the Apostles Creed we've talked about this many times we've said it every time but it's brief it is drawn out of the Apostles teachings found in the New Testament and in the Scriptures it is ancient meaning it's been around for a long period of time it is trinitarian again if you look at the structure of it it's I believe in God the Father I believe in his son and I believe in the Holy Spirit and today we're going to cover in the church as well and then it is christocentric the bulk of it is about Jesus it is about the work and person of Jesus Christ then the purpose uh we've talked a lot about combating heresies we've listed off a bunch of heresies and we've just kind of seen how they are in a cyclical motion where they're just kind of the same heresies is just a different phrase We also talked about using them in catechism and how to properly Define terms now today since we're covering the church where it says this it says I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints it's implied there that we believe the word creed remember in Latin means to believe I believe in the Holy Catholic Church in the communion of the Saints now this is a work of the Holy Spirit he is the third person of the Trinity He is building up the church in a lot of ways he is where the church is continuously um experiencing the things of the Lord he pours out his spiritual gifts to us but I want you to think about this question right now is what is the church what is the church a people okay Bel a community of Believers I heard the body of Christ the body of Christ good okay anybody who has made Jesus their Master anybody who's made Jesus their Master okay else are you at the church right now Church bu in a church building okay are we are the church okay so if we're not here is this still a church it's a building okay good so there's some things we got to kind of work through like what's the difference between building and people we obviously know there is a difference between those things okay I'm not a building and you're not a building but when we gather together we are the church I also want you to think about um this question here as well the heidleberg catechism says in number 54 it says what do you believe concerning the Holy Catholic Church what do you believe concerning the church so by the end of this we will be able to answer that question and I'll give you the answer to what the HG catechism says but I want you to think about that throughout this this class today what do you believe concerning the Holy Catholic church now as I've said before we have to def find some terms especially the word Catholic because we have some things in our mind going on with that a small yeah just we'll get there I promise so what I want you do is think though what it means to believe in the church and that's what we want to answer today so as we do that let's continue here in Matthew chapter 16 go to Matthew 16 together and we're going to ver turn to verses 13 to 19 girls I want you Tessy Tessy I can't do that right now okay you're good Matthew 16 vers 13-9 can I get two volunteers to read Matthew 16 vers 13-9 okay we got one volunteer right here thank you Dave and then we need one more Chris thank you sir Matthew 16 ver 13-19 thank you Miss Joyce Jesus came theion cesaria Philippi he who do people say the son of man is they repli some say John the Baptist others say Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets but what you what about you who do you say say and Peter answered you are the Messiah the Son of the Living God Jesus replied blessed are you Simon son of Jonah for this is this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my Father in heaven and I tell you that you are here and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of P will not overcome it I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven whatever you find on Earth will be find will will be find in heaven whatever you lose on Earth will be Lo in all right thank you and then Chris when Jesus came into the region of cesaria Philippi he asked the disciples saying who do men say that I am who who do men say that I the son of man am so they said some say John the some Elijah others Jeremiah or one of the prophets he said to them but who do you say that I am Simon pet Peter answered and said you are the Christ son of the Living God Jesus answered and said to him blessed are you Simon barah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of shall not Prevail against it and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on heaven will be found in heav and whatever you loose on Earth we Lo in heaven all right thank you Chris thank you Dave So In this passage right here we see Jesus say this to Simon son of Jonah he says he's blessed and he says that the only way that Peter could have answered the question by saying you are the Christ the son of the Living God is Jesus says the Father in Heaven he's the only way that Peter could have known this no man could have told him this but the father reveals it to him and then Jesus says this Jesus says I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it so in our mind as we're trying to answer the question what is the church we have that in mind that Jesus is the one who builds the church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it and so this is why when sometimes we hear people who are just kind of upset with the church or they problems within the church and those things are true the reality is Jesus is the one who builds the church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against it and so the things that are going on within the church big CA the global Church Jesus Christ is building the church now I want you to just just to understand this passage for a moment he does say that Peter is going to receive the keys to heaven now this is where the Catholic church because we're going to talk about some Catholic things this is where they get the idea of the papal Authority of Peter and that he was the overarching person number one of he was the first pope they would claim to have now we actually know that this is not entirely accurate because in um in Galatians 2: 9-10 if you want to just flip there for a moment in Galatians 2 9-10 uh Paul speaking to the church at galatia says that John James and sephus which is Peter were called the pillars of the church those three men were considered to be pillars of the church it's not that Peter was rece was the only one who had What's called the he Jesus says the keys to Heaven here it's not that Peter is the only Authority and the only one that was important within the church or the head over the church he's not he was just given a specific Authority and we know that Peter actually was really in a lot of Senses the first one to go about speaking and being a part of the church Authority but we also see that James and John were hugely important as pillar Galatians says in chap 2:9-10 pillars of the church are multiple people and so we see that there's a plurality of very important people and so to this day Church governmental structures that are working properly and really lined up biblically will have a plurality of Elders that's why our church has a plurality of Elders there will always be multiple men who are continuously leading and teaching the church and that is their calling and that is what the Lord has affirmed in them now also in Revelation CH 21 it says in verse 14 of Revelation 21 it says that the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 Apostles of the Lamb which again is giving an idea that these pillars these very important people even in heaven have a very important sort of reverence that is given to them by the people who are in heaven as well but these are just regular Sinners just like us but they were given a special anointing from the Lord to say hey these are the apost OST Les they are going to do specific things that are unique for this time period and that they're going to do things that are just not happening amongst you and I they have the ability and were the ones that actually wrote scripture through the Holy Spirit they were given certain things now Peter actually interestingly this idea of it says verse 19 back in Matthew 16 it says I will give you the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven that idea is saying whatever you prohibit on Earth and then whatever you loose on Earth will mean whatever you permit on Earth so meaning this in later on um Peter in the book of Acts Acts chapter 5 has a vision and he realizes that the Gentiles are going to be a part of the church and so what he does is he looses or permits he tells people hey the we don't need to worry about eating these other things that are unclean we don't need to say that the Gentiles are not part of the church or part of the assembly we're going to include them in these things and so this is the idea that Peter does actually loose or permit something that had not been going on beforehand because before the idea of the assembly or of the church was coming from just the Jewish people who were not dealing with the Gentiles who were not eating unclean things like bacon which I had a bunch yesterday and things like that okay so the just also the idea of plurality of Elders just to speak on that for just a moment um plurality of Elders are in Acts chapter 14 and also Acts chapter 11 and plurality of Elders are in Philippians 1:1 and plurality of Elders are in 1 Timothy 5:17 and and plurality of Elders are in Titus 15 so if you come upon a church that just has one person running the show you should be a little hesitant for a little bit of time and if there's a specific reason like God forbid something occurred that I could understand that but the reality is the church is supposed to be amongst a plurality of Elders multiple people so that um the church runs well now in our church we have several Elders I think there's six right now and also but one of them Bears a different responsibility than the other Elders Robbie the pastor runs a different he has a different responsibility than the elders predominantly that is his vocation but also that does not mean that the other Elders are not important the other Elders are super valuable if Robbie did not have the other Elders he'd just be running around doing whatever he desires and thankfully we have all of the elders who are working together wholeheartedly together in order to see the church being built and that's why plurality of Elders is so important so let's go back to what is the church well here's some things we just talked about the church is built by Christ of all the things that you want to understand is the church is built by Christ we see that in Matthew 16 Jesus says himself that he will build the church that is very important to understand that it's not that you and I get together and we make these cool little events like we're going to do after church today and then we're like okay we're we need to have 20 more people by the end of the service because we could do stuff like that couldn't we we run just a sweet business model but that is not what is the church we're not just trying to Crunch up numbers and tithes we're trying to see soul be changed and so the reality is the only person who is a part of Salvation is the Lord he is who gives salvation to us is by grace through faith that we receive salvation and that is also how we see the church being built we also know that we're going to talk about in a second the definition of the church we are a called out Gathering and I heard several of you guys as you answer that question earlier Joyce and Linda we were saying how it is a called out body of people a gathering of people okay that is a really important part now we're also going to say the church is Catholic but we got to Define what that word means a lot of words we don't understand what they mean and again going back to how words work and again why we have some so succinct like the Apostles Creed is with few words we can explain important things but words are jam-packed with meaning sometimes by saying Catholic it's jam-packed with a certain definition that we just want to understand by saying the word holy it's jam-packed with a certain definition that we want to understand by even saying the word church it's jam-packed with a certain definition that we want to understand these things so we're trying to say it in a succinct way also the church is a continuation from the Old Testament now this is very important a lot of people will say well the church didn't come around until acts 1 and two at the day of Pentecost but actually we will see in a moment that the church is just a continuation different in certain areas but of the same tree of the same root we are a branch grafted in we are a continu ation of the Old Testament and as you read the Old Testament you will actually start to see the picture of they were looking forward to this day happening and we are Looking Backward seeing these words through the holy spirit that we now see especially if you want to read on like the book of Hebrews you'll find out so much good information about how the church is just formulated and that the connections between the Old and New Testament also we um say that the church is Holy what does it mean to be holy what does it mean to be separate and different what does it mean to be anointed and very different than what the world says and lastly we will say that the church um is administers of communion and so there would be several different meanings to the word communion there we'll talk about that in the broadest sense we could say this this is from third Mill Ministries they would say that the broad a sense the church is God's Kingdom on Earth the congregation of his special people the central means through which he dispenses Grace and critical to establishing and maintaining our relationship with God the church is critical to establishing and maintaining our relationship with God if you are going to grow as a Christian and you are not in a church you will not grow as a Christian and I say that confidently you may have some things going on your life and you just a Christian on an island is a dangerous place to be so we're going to talk about the idea of needing to be a part of a communion of Believers so let's define the church eklesia is the Greek word meaning church congregation assembly or a group of people gathered together in the New Testament and this is what you guys talked about it is never once referred to as a building eaia is never once referred to as a building and actually for the longest time where were people meeting outside you guys want to do that maybe it's kind of hot outside it's kind of cold well the reality is nowadays churches are a little different in the sense that we have buildings we also do have larger congregations than prior times we also know that um people were meeting in homes but it would be very difficult to meet in homes nowaday for lots of reasons for some Churches like a local church like ourselves we would have to meet in a very large Church a very large home excuse me for us to even be able to do this so it is not a building we the people are a called out one it is an assembly or a group of people who have been gathered together it is from it's a compound word e in Greek and C e meaning like out of and K meaning to call so we are being called out of something what are you called out of what are you called out of as the being yeah the world Darkness you were brought into light you were called out of you called out of the darkness and brought into light so to be a part of the church to be a part of eklesia the assembly the congregation of Christians of Believers you've been called out of something called out of that life that you once lived and you know that too if you think of your life your testimony of prior to you being saved you should probably think I've been called out of a lot I've been drugg out of a lot probably it might have been your grandma who dragged you out of somewhere for me it was purely the Lord just working on me reminding me of just the filthy sins of my life and people witnessing and evangelizing to me preaching the gospel reminding me of how salvation occurs now here's uh Bill Mount to he's he's a Greek scholar he's still live um phenomenal if you ever want to study Greek Bill Mount is excellent this is what Bill Mount has to say about the word eklesia he says this where the gospel is taught rightly the sacraments served properly and church discipline exercised that's how he would Define the church but then he says this of course this definition has virtually nothing to do with Biblical text and more to do with reformers attempt to distinguish themselves from the Roman Catholic church and then he continues and he elaborates more he says the community of Believers whove been called out of the world world to belong to King Jesus that is what we are as Christians and then he continues it is never identified with a building but always with the people the church may meet in a building but is not the building the home the church is the people fiman 2 talks about to the church in your house to Lydia in Colossians 4:15 it says greet the Brethren who are in leoda and also nyha and the church that is in her house it does not call her house the church it says in her house the true church Bill Mount continues to say is the visible expression of the expanding kingdom of God there is only one church the church Universal the word Catholic there the church Universal and there are local expressions of the church in various places at various times like right now there are various churches meeting at various places and at various times he continues the church is never to be equated with buildings or institutions or denominations even the church is the community of believers who meet together regularly and irregularly to love one another care for one another carry one another's burdens stir up one another to love and good works and to confess their sins to one another I love that bill Mount expands on this so if you want to read some Greek you want to learn about eklesia Bill Mount Bill Mount is a phenomenal dude um I still have his flash cards I think buried in one of my backpacks continuing this uh let's go to Acts chapter nine I want you to kind of see some things going on about this about the idea of being called out because you know about the man named Saul and was Saul called out of something what was Saul called out of what's that Jud Judaism that's right good I love that yeah he was called out of being a Pharisee he knew he was zealous as a Pharisee but he was attacking the church Acts chapter n I'll read this for you Acts chapter 9 I want you to look at verses 19-31 Acts 9: 19-31 talking about Saul for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus this is after Saul has already been converted so he's with the disciples and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the Son of God so Paul excuse me Saul Paul same guy he gets saved he's converted and he asks for some wisdom he goes to the apostles and says hey can you guys teach me some things and then immediately he proclaims Jesus in the synagogue saying he's the son of God and people say this and all who heard him were amazed and said isn't this not the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name and has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priests they knew what Saul had been doing but Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ he was using the Old Testament scriptures to show that Jesus is the Christ verse 23 when many days had passed the Jews plotted to kill Saul but their plot became known to him they were were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him but his disciples took him by night and led him down through an opening in the wall lowering him in a basket talk about people hating him that's what he was called out of just a wicked group of people and when he had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples and they were all afraid of him for good reason right can you imagine just finding out like hey this dude who hates Christians who's been murdering Christians is a Believer now you'd be a little apprehensive with good reason that'd be discernment potentially you want to see some time go by is this really for real when he come to Jerusalem they were all afraid of him for they did not believe that he was a disciple but Barnabas the one who encourages took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord who spoke to him and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus so he went in and out among them at Jerusalem preaching boldly in the name of the Lord and he spoke and disputed against the hellenists but they were seeking to kill him and when the brothers learned this they brought him down to cesaria and sent him off to Tarsus verse 31 so the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit and multiplied the church multiplied meaning the global Church Capital C the entire body of Believers was multiplying but it says in different locations so eklesia meaning meaning that this the assembly the Gathering we meet at different times and at different places and different areas even in different languages we meet this was in Greek you're not speaking Greek I'm barely I'm not speaking Greek I just read it yes and I can eat Euros every once in a while the people here were meeting at different times in different locations throughout this region but the church was being built up it says here it says in Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it the church multiplied it continued to increase this is important Paul was called out of his fic life and brought into Christ and obviously through the working of the Holy Spirit the church was being continued to be built now here's what I wanted to discuss at this point is this idea of the church being Catholic okay because this is important so uh for my own personal uh just testimony is my mother was grow grown growing up in Ireland and so her family was Roman Catholic which is very common every Ireland's Catholic and except for the orange side of the flag if if you didn't know that the orange side of the flag wearing green on on St Patty day is nice but actually orange represents protestantism so I try to wear orange on those days but it's really hard to find a lot of orange shirts that I like I'll just wear like a button next time so here here's what I want you to understand is uh if you have a background of Roman Catholicism this word is different for you and if you've come into the Evangelical Protestant Church you may think I don't want to say that I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church you you don't want to say that and I understand that but here's what the word Catholic means okay it is from the Latin word catholicus okay and it's from the Greek word Kata and Halas meaning the complete or whole or Universal so when we say Catholic we mean the universal all of them we mean all of the Christians together that's what we mean by this we are not saying this has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church it is just a word that means the same thing okay when they say they're the Roman Catholic Church they're saying that they are the Church of Rome and they are Universal amongst their doctrines that's what they mean by that for example the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a Church of Jesus Christ it's not they claim that but they're not those words just happen to be words and so we it's very clear that we can see denominations have certain meanings and so we don't have to have that and I'll talk a little bit about my heart on Catholicism in a moment but I want you to understand is just when we say we believe in the Holy Catholic Church you don't have to put a Aster on that or wipe out that word on your Apostles Creed what you can say is you firmly believe in the Holiness of the church and the universality of the church that the togetherness the whole assembly you do believe in that as Christians we believe in that there are churches meeting right now that you do not attend that you would firmly agree with their doctrines Not only would you firmly agree with their doctrines if you were to travel you would firmly want to be sitting in their congregations if you ever travel we have friends who are snowbirds it's wonderful to go back and forth between churches it's important to be able to supplant yourself in ones that are united that are Catholic meaning that they're a part of the church that's key to this so that word is a little tricky I understand that but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use words because of their meanings okay any questions on that before I move on because I know this is a part a good time to pause yes ma'am I mean I was taught it was the Holy Christian church because they would not say Catholic yeah right and part of the the whole issue with that is when people on whole think of the word Catholic they do not think of it the way you're defining it is over the years it has the meaning of it has changed and that makes it almost a confusion for people who are NE yes believing so it's kind of a thing is do you say it with the Catholic church or do you say the Christian Church good question I personally say the Christian church because then I don't have to explain for 40 minutes why you can yeah no I totally get that I understand that I can sympathize with that too I understand how words kind of have like nuances at times and we kind of kind of be technical I I totally understand and how words have unfortunately made some switches in their meanings my mother-in-law would not say that phrase yeah that's common especially amongst Baptist churches for a long time they would not include include the word Catholic in the Apostles Creed but remember the Apostles Creed was written in the 2nd through the 7th century when the Roman Catholic church had not gone through the things that they are now so we're just kind of referring back to the word that it meant at the time and especially in the 16 Century at the Protestant Reformation we know that the word Catholic was still being used within the church fathers there the reformers to mean the universal church so I I understand that and I get that depending depending on who you're speaking to it makes sense okay sweetie thank you okay you can go bab thank you anybody's watching YouTube like who is he talking to now I'm going to tell you a couple things why I'm not a sympathizer for the Roman Catholic Church okay so just so you understand I don't uh affirm the the Roman Catholic Church as a part of the church that would be my personal ideas and I'll tell you some doctrines as to why if you want to ask me more questions about this afterwards you're welcome to I have a lot of information on that and that's just something that I've had to study just because of my friend friends and family and and just the desires to have conversations but here here's what I would say is at the Council of Trent in 1563 the Roman Catholic Church declared specific doctrines opposing the Protestant Reformation so when Martin Luther banged a nail through the church in Germany and he said that his 95 thesis and said hey these are the things 95 of them that I have a problem with well the church then the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent rejected those things and especially then began to affirm other doctrines such as the apocryphal books in the Bible so your book your Bible has 66 books of the Bible theirs has additional ones called the apocryphal so between the New and Old Testament at the Council of Trent those books were affirmed as scripture why because it had things like Penance in them and it had other things like Maran dogmas and things like that that's why at the Council of Trent those books were affirmed so if I said hey I know of a religion that has extra books than the Bible you would have a huge red flag right off the bat so again that would be one of the reasons why I would say no I also would say this that at the Council of Trent they also started the foundation laying the foundation for Marian dogmas meaning this now they didn't call them dogmas yet but Maran doctrines meaning the the mariology the teaching of Mary and the things about her so they started laying foundations of her um by saying that she was free from personal sin so at the Council of Trent they affirmed that she was free from personal sin we would reject that we would say that that's not true Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but in 1854 uh Pope pasus the9th he declared Marian Dogma to say that the Immaculate Conception occurred and then in 1950 Pope pasus I 12 called what's called Mary's Assumption meaning that she when she either died or didn't die was assumed into heaven because she was free from sin like Elijah and Enoch those are really serious things that I would reject wholeheartedly also at the Council of Trent not only did that happen they affirmed that you must follow with the seven sa seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic church and some of those things are like penants which if you sin you now have to pay something or you have to do something say 10 Hil Mary things like that those in my mind are not Christian doctrines those are not Orthodox and those are not Catholic they're not Universal within the church those are important that I would say I don't agree with those things it also confirmed transubstantiation now I would consider transubstantiation potentially still within the church doctrine although I would reject it wholeheartedly so I don't think that's necessarily something within salvation it can be a discussion within the church however it is something that I would full heartedly reject transubstantiation meaning that when you take the body and the bread of communion that it actually becomes the physical body and blood of Jesus that's what transubstantiation means I would reject as well okay they also rejected the idea of grace alone through faith alone and they affirmed that scripture and Authority are at the same level meaning that the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church is of equal Authority as scripture and again we as Christians as Protestants would say that Sola scriptura meaning that we believe that the scripture alone produces those things if this church here if we ever start teaching false doctrines we can't just say hey we're the church we have authority no we submit ourselves to God's word and not the other way around and not that they are equal Authority so those are some doctrines you can talk to me about that later we can argue if you want that's fine um I still love you here's what I will say about that though is you have friends who are Catholic I'm sure you do uh pray for them talk to them about the gospel okay there definitely possible people have a Bible they read about they have a lot of ads on TV now yeah yeah they have a lot of ads on TV I I would just consider speaking to these people in love preaching the gospel to them just like you would anyone else just like you would a Christian to remind them of the Gospel just like you should hear to yourself it's so important you need the gospel we don't just move on past the gospel because you're in the church no you go back to it we need it it should be sweet to our lips it is important okay so if you want to talk about that more we can do so also there is a concept um called the visible and invisible church now the first time I heard about this years ago I was like what what does that mean so here's what I mean by visible would you agree that sometimes on Sundays there are people within our congregation that are at the church but are not a part of the church they're here sitting they're visiting they're curious or inquiring or they're just dragged to church they're part of the visible Church they're here they're may be even considered a member they're maybe even been baptized they may even partake in communion they may even profess to be Christians but they're not a part part of the church now we're just I'm just assuming and we are assuming that there are people within every local church that are not Believers for example Judas was there he was a part of what's visible wasn't he he was even doing Miracles it's pretty crazy but Judas was a part of the visible church he was not a part of the invisible Church meaning this he was not a part of the actual church so the who's the only person that can actually say that hey I know you are saved besides yourself God okay I can judge you by your F your fruits and say I think that you're a Christian I've witness those things I've heard the things you've said I've seen your growth I've seen you walk by by the spirit I can judge and assess your fruits and that is what I should do as a Christian I can say ah you look like a Christian but at the end of the day the only one that understands the entirety of Salvation that's between you and the Lord but don't get it twisted yourself salvation is not just a personal thing it's not just me and Jesus man cuz I see that a lot from people just me and Jesus we're Bros okay then go to the church it's his bride it's so important to him he died for it so that's what I want you to hear and understand the idea of visible and invisible Church the visible church is us here together on Sundays the invisible church is all of the global church across the world that people are meeting in China or Haiti or wherever they're meeting right now who follow and love Jesus that's the invisible church and that's also the people from all time from the beginning until the end when we're all together in heaven that's the invisible church and we will be visible together in heaven that's what's amazing about it so in the end at the end of the day the people who are not actually part of the church will no longer be visible in it and we will simply be a part of the visible and invisible church will come together in heaven we will only see the people who are a part of the church so this is a weird Doctrine if you want to talk more about that me I understand that just the idea of saying invisible is kind of confusing at times but just understand the difference between those things now um I also want you to look with me and understand that the church is a continuation from the Old Testament a continuation from the Old Testament this is very important as I said earlier it's very common for people to say that I think that the church started at the day of Pentecost however the church really began when the covenants were given to God's people when Abraham at the Abra a covenant received the Covenant saying hey I will build about a nation for you that's what God Said to Abraham the church was beginning there we continue to see a continuation and actually the Greek word eklesia is used in the septu agent remember the Old Testament written in Greek eklesia is used for the Assembly of the nation of Israel the same exact word that is used for church is used for the Assembly of the nation of Israel and we actually see that in Deuteronomy 9 10 we see that in judges 22 we see that in 1 Kings 8:14 and we see that in Psalm 22:22 we see that in the Old Testament the Assembly of Believers those people were called the assembly the eklesia the called out ones in the Old Testament this is important to catch Stephen actually at his martyrdom turn with me to Acts chapter 7 because you might be in Acts chapter 9 still turn to Acts chapter 7 if you want to learn a amazing sermon just read through Steven's sermon and this is a beautiful thing about the Lord he says this acts 7:38 he says this is the one who was in the congregation he's talking about Moses who is in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Si and with our fathers what is the word congregation it's Ecclesia he's referring all the way back to the Old Testament saying when Moses was in the Wilderness at the assembly those people were the visible Church they were the assembly so the continuation through Old Testament doctrines and through Old Testament time periods is laid upon even here in Acts chapter 7 where Steph is about to be stoned to death he recognizes that the Old Testament continues into the New Testament it is an beautiful flow of how the church continues it is not that the Old Testament is past and old and foreign and something we don't we as uh we unhitch ourselves from we don't do that no it is a flow of the Bible it is a totality of his scripture the old and new the New Testament Church is simply a continuation of the Old Testament nation of Israel okay Peter actually does the same thing he talks about it in first uh Peter chapter 2 verse 9 this is such this is he's talking about you guys here this is amazing to talk about Christians this way he says but you Christian are a chosen race do you think the people of the nation of Israel would understand those words a chosen race of course they would they were considered a chosen race they were chosen so are you you've been chosen before the foundations of the world to be saved a royal priesthood would Jews understand that verbiage as well of course they would they understood about the priesthood they understood that you were being called a part of the royal priesthood a holy nation the Church of Christ is considered a holy nation of course there would understand this a people you are a people called out to be a part of the church for God's Own possession look what this says so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out look at that word right there called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light the Christian has been Ecclesia called out of this Darkness Into His Marvelous Light I mean that's beautiful right there and then also if you go to Romans 11 look at me with me at Romans 11 this is an amazing analogy Paul describes this analogy of us being grafted in to the nation of Israel Romans 11 I want you to look at verse 13 we're going to go through 24 Romans 11 be mindful of what this analogy is talking about in the context Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he is telling them that you get grafted into the nation of Israel you get brought into this people group and that's why he's connecting the Old and New Testament throughout the Book of Romans you will see so many quotes of the Old Testament because what Paul was doing was the explaining the continuation of the Old and New Testament here's what he says verse 13 now I'm speaking to you Gentiles in as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles I magnify my Ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead and here's what he says here's the here's the analogy verse 16 if the dough offered as first fruits is Holy so the whole lump the analogy is that people would give their first fruits of their bread that they were making of the grain they were making they would give a lump of it to the priests they're saying that this whole thing is Holy and if the root is Holy so are the branches is so if the Old Testament is Holy so is the new if the people in the nation of Israel were holy in the Old Testament so is the church here verse 17 but if some of the branches were broken off and you although a wild Olive Chute that's you you're a wild Olive Chute you're the Gentile and some of you wild much more for than yeah wild underline wild in my my Bible a couple dozen times you were grafted in among the others you're grafted in you're grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the Olive Tree this is what you get as part of the church you get to share in the nourishing root do not be arrogant towards the branches if you are a member it is not you who support the root you don't support the root but the root who supports you then you will say branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in that is true they were broken off because of their unbelief but you stand fast through faith so do not become proud but fear you're part of what's called out you are grafted into the olive root okay that is super important so we see throughout the Old and New Testament this idea of the church is a continuation of the Old Testament we also know that the church is Holy this is very important to say that the church is Holy uh hagas is the word meaning holy and it also means separated so we talked about hagos and Holiness before when we talked about God the Father father and we know that this is separated from a common condition meaning that Christians people who are called out to be holy where it says is that my children screaming the Holy Catholic church the church is Holy separated from commonness so people who in the Old Testament were considered to be holy they were called out away from the other people so the people that were um as the Hebrews were wandering around in the desert they were actually told to be s separate from the other people they were told to not have Idols like them they were given very very certain things don't even intermar with these people because they had pagan gods and likewise the Christian is then later on told don't be unequally yolked in marriage the same sort of Concepts the continuation still abound so holiness is to be dedicated or to be from separated okay and this is all the way also last week we talked about communicable attributes this is a communicable attribute meaning that God shares this with his creatures God is Holy and he produces Holiness in us he makes things holy because he is Holy Leviticus 19 says that be holy for I the Lord your God am Holy that's what Leviticus 19:2 says and he sets people apart Jeremiah 1: 15 says that he sets you apart before you while you're in the womb even and that's pretty wonderful now I want you to turn to Isaiah 6 with me for just a second Isaiah 6 we know that God makes things holy wouldn't it be awesome if you could make things holy but you can't you just can't you're not you're not holy it's a communicable attribute that God shares with you he creates a Holiness Within You by the death and by your belief in Jesus we can become holy and here's what Isaiah says in verses 3-7 of chapter 6 one of the seraphim called out to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke imagine Isaiah freaking out here and then I said woe is me for I am ruined Isaiah knew I'm not holy I should not be in this place this is why people like Moses even take their shoes off when they're around the burning bush because they're so afraid because they understand I'm not holy I should not be here and yet the Lord is one who makes people holy he calls them out he separates them from what is unclean he says this continuing in Isaiah 6 I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is Forgiven we receive our sins forgiven as we are called out into the church we receive forgiveness of our sins when we become a part of the global or the invisible Church the entire church when we believe in Christ and repent of our sins and become saved we receive our iniquities being taken away and our sins being forgiven and this is why in Isaiah 6:3 he talks about holy holy holy three times said father son holy spirit is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory that is beautiful continuing here I want you to see this the church administers communion okay the church administers communion we mean that in a couple ways uh the church receives What's called the means of Grace means of Grace are his word every Sunday you should be hearing a preaching of God's word if you're not something's wrong okay so talk to us we also you're going to see baptism with churches and actually interestingly today we're going to see some baptisms that's pretty cool we have a baptismal not every church has that and a lot of churches for the longest time had to do it outside or at a river or something like that and we're blessed to have the ability of having a building even yeah yeah exactly um we also get the Lord's communion or the Lord's Supper The Lord's table communion there coia talking about we share this amongst the Believers that's what it means to be a communion we are sharing it with one another we also have prayer together so the means of Grace his word baptism communion and prayer those are things four things you should always see happening within the church all the time all the time all the time those are things you should be seeing within the church we also know that the church communes with one another so this is again the idea of Coria fellowshipping you guys do this very well our church is Grace Fellowship Bible Church and we Fellowship well we want to pour out Grace to one another well we want to know the Bible very well we want be part of the eklesia the church well those are our desires as Grace Fellowship Bible Church those names were there for a reason now you do Fellowship incredibly well continue to do that let me encourage you in this when you see the new person go up to them be a part of them join them commune with them it is an assembly of Believers some of the most wonderful times I've ever had in a church have been When I visit some random little tiny little church and there's just this beautiful Fellowship when you go to other places and you have this Unity of Jesus together and you don't know anything about them it's wonderful now we also have a one of the marks of of a healthy church is what's called church discipline and so I'm going to talk just briefly about that um church discipline is found in all of these verses I'm going to say them to you in a second church discipline meaning somebody who's unrepentant of sin and is continuing in their sin does not want to be uh called out of their sin Matthew 8 18 Jesus especially highlights in verses 15-2 he irons out the actual ways to conduct church discipline okay Matthew 18: 15-20 Galatians 61 talks is an account of a church discipline that's occurring Titus 3:10 is an account of church discipline occurring and 1 Corinthians 5:1 is also an account of church discipline happening okay now God forbid that this occurs we want Christians to confess their sins and not to remain in their sins it's not like we want to just bring up people and say hey you're get under church discipline no that is a hurt the goal of church discipline is always to Simply Point people back to the Lord and to recreate a communion together to have corinia with one another if we're continuing in sin though that Fellowship is not going to happen if we're continuing sin we won't even have fellowship with the Lord how can we have fellowship with people and so that's why church discipline is something that is a mark of a healthy Church um also this is a good time to just kind of pause and talk about church structures Church like governmental structures not like government meaning like presidents things like that but what we mean is church discipline is a part of church governmental structures the plurality of Elders as I mentioned early earlier deacons are to serve widows and to be serving to the rest of the church so you'll see us running around over here some days um like today uh members are committed to one another Acts chapter 4 members you as a part of the church are to commit yourselves with the church as well it doesn't mean that just elders and deacons serve the church and we do everything no it means that we are communion 100% together we are committed to each other when you hurt we hurt when you rejoice we rejoice when You Weep we weep together one anothers yes the one and another that's right that's right thank you and then also we have baptism communion prayer and the dedication to the teaching of God's word those are things that you should continuously be seeing within the church Acts chapter 2 says this this is a just a beautiful little story going on so then those who had received his word were baptized and that day so they're receiving the word of Peter and that day they were added about 3,000 Souls they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to Fellowship to the breaking of bread and of prayer cons continue yourself to be a part of devoting yourself to the apostles teaching such as the Apostles Creed or the teachings within the Bible and to Fellowship coin Andia with one another and to the breaking of bread which is so fun to have lunch together right can we disagree with that it's a a simple thing breaking bread with each other just having time together in food and also to prayer be a church of prayer now going back to this I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the togetherness of us the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting amen the heidleberg catechism remember it said what do you believe concerning the Holy Catholic Church well this is what it says I believe that the Son of God through his spirit and word out of the entire human race from the beginning of the world to its end gathers protects and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and United in true faith and of this community I am and always will be a Living member I am and always will be a Living member we are part of the church you are part of the church you Christian you Saint you're a part of the church you will be always and forever so your homework next week is our last week I know what a bummer we're all we'll have to do something again soon I need a week off though uh next week is our last week finish the coloring book with your family uh if you have a coloring book done I will definitely uh we maybe get you something uh share the gospel with one or more people just go about evangelizing to people um recite the apostles Creed to someone else you're going to be held accountable to someone else easier I'm not going to ask you and you better have your no just try to memorize it it's good memorize scriptures attached to it of course and here's what I want you to notice and you can take a picture of this might be helpful or it'll be on the church YouTube uh Monday at 9ine here are some questions that we're going to talk about and I'm going to have you discuss next week so be prepared to potentially go through this now I am going to talk about this concept of he descended to Hell next week as well that's like the last little cont veral part of the Creed that we kind of got to iron out but also I have a bunch of questions for you so here's one of them in what areas do you most need the spirit's continuing s sanctification in your life okay I'm taking a whole bunch of these questions from this ministry third Mill they have great questions on their uh on their little Journal about the Apostles Creed number two how can Jesus's Divinity give us greater trust in him how can Jesus's Divinity give us greater trust in him number three how can the Creed the Apostles Creed come us as we look forward to the final judgment so remember you're going to be get getting ready to have some dialogue next week to kind of chew through all the things we've talked about over these seven weeks number four how can the Apostles Creed help you relate to Christians from different backgrounds or beliefs so I'm going to give you a week to just kind of work through these things so you have something to say as you come here next week and if you don't ever look at that picture back on your phone then you'll be reminded next Sunday number five what benefits can church discipline have in a congregation that one would be hard to talk about number six what is the most significant Insight that you have learned from this study overall what's that significant thing that just clicked in your mind number seven how can you how can our present sufferings increase our hope for everlasting life our present sufferings increase our hope for everlasting life these are questions just drawn out from the Creed number eight how can the father's unlimited and matchless power Comfort us as his children and here's what I want you to understand as well if you have questions throughout this week I want you to get my number today you're welcome to text me shoot me a text or an email whatever you need to do call me and say hey can we discuss this next week as well or if in the middle of next week hey I have a question if we want to go through something we've spent six full weeks going through very very key core important foundational doctrines of Christian Christianity we want to be able to answer things if you want to talk more about this thing let's do that okay and if I need to talk to you outside also we will continue doing that just if you have questions that you really think need to be brought up let me know we're going to go over these we'll prioritize these unless we need to prioritize the ones that you ask as well okay all right let's pray together Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for your church that you built we thank you that you are a God who loves us so much that you would send your son to die for us and you would not leave us alone so you would send your spirit to comfort us and to continue to give us Aid as we see the church being built bless this church here Lord at Grace Fellowship Bible Church let it be your church let us preach your word let us love one another let us reach out to an unsaved World pray this in your name Jesus amen all right guys have a wonderful week