I Believe: God
What beliefs make up the foundation of the Christian faith? How do these beliefs shape and transform people’s lives? Kicking off this special five-week series exploring the essential doctrines of Christianity, Pastor Chris Baselice will unpack who God is, what we believe about Him, and how knowing Him changes everything!

NICENE CREED

"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

“And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

“And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic (universal) and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

APOSTLES' CREED

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hades; the third day, He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us . . . For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

"We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God”—A.W. Tozer

TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT:
The term teleology refers to explanations that appeal to design and purpose. The teleological argument claims that the appearance of design and purpose in nature implies a designer.

Every design has a designer + the universe has a highly complex design = The universe has a Designer.

Omnipotence: All-powerful; God is in complete, total control over everything.

Scripture affirms God’s omnipotence by saying that God does whatever He is pleased to do (Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 55:11 and Jeremiah 32:17). Nothing is too hard for Him (Genesis 18:14). His word is never void of power, so when He speaks, everything in creation obeys Him (Isaiah 55:11).

Omniscient: All-knowing; God is the ultimate criterion of truth and falsity, so that His ideas are always true.

Everything God does has an intelligent purpose, a definite goal. And since, as we’ve seen, God’s power is universal, so also is his knowledge. In knowing his own intentions, God knows everything in himself, in his creation, and throughout history.

Not only does God know what is true, but he is the very nature of truth. Truth is what he is (as John 14:6). So it is inconceivable that he could be wrong about anything.

Omnipresent: Ever-present; since God’s power and knowledge extend to all parts of His creation, He Himself is present everywhere.

To say that God is “present” is to say that he is here with us, really here, not absent. Sometimes we connect a person’s presence with his body, as when a teacher takes attendance and says that Jimmy is “present” because his body is in his seat. But God does not have a body; he is immaterial. So how can we tell when God is present or absent?

Scripture’s answer is that God is present everywhere, because, as we have seen, his power and knowledge are everywhere. If every event, everywhere, takes place by God’s power, and if he has exhaustive knowledge of everything his power has brought to pass, then certainly he is not absent, but present in each event, though his presence is not quite the same as the presence of physical beings. So God’s omnipotence and omniscience imply his omnipresence.