the Bible tells us that there is one name above every name and that is the name of Jesus at the name of Jesus demons flee the name of Jesus saves the name of Jesus heals the name of Jesus holds all authority on heaven and in earth so it shouldn't surprise you that the name of Jesus is under attack right because the devil knows he can't erase the power of the name above Jesus of Jesus so the devil tries to strip the name of his honor and takes the name that should be lifted high and tries to drag it culturally through the mud and that might be one of the reasons why perhaps the name of Jesus is like the only name that's used as a curse word if you could imagine and so why is the name of Jesus under attack because the enemy knows if he can get you to throw around the name of Jesus carelessly then you won't call on the name of Jesus when you really need to so who is Jesus what did Jesus do for us well according to God's word Philippians chapter 2 Jesus made himself nothing the very son of God God in the flesh made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant god being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he is God but he came as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross the Bible says "Therefore God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord make no mistake about it one day every single knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all and at that moment no one will take the name of Jesus lightly so Father today we honor your son Jesus god we honor you for becoming flesh we thank you that Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves that you raised him from the dead so we could know you now God empower us by your spirit to live the truth that Jesus is Lord of all lord of our lives Lord of the heavens Lord of the earth god empower us to live for your glory through the lordship of Jesus and all God's people said "Amen and amen. " Um we are in a message series called the Creed and what we're doing is we're looking at the foundational truths of the Christian faith and we're studying the Apostles Creed now if you missed last week let me give you a little history on the Apostles Creed the Apostles Creed was written in the 2 century and early on it was actually used in baptisms whenever um a new believer would come to faith in Christ uh they would go to what was called a catechum it was kind of like a extended class and they would learn and then publicly declare the apostles creed so before their baptism they would stand up and front of all the church and all their friends and loved ones and declare publicly it's like they're like a line in the sand i'm not what I was i am now I now belong to Jesus and they they would say I believe in God the father almighty creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ and this what they they would say before they were baptized to declare the foundational truth that changed their lives and over time the apostles creed uh became more than just a baptismal statement but it became a confession unifying believers across different nations and languages and generations all the way to today so if you can imagine the Apostles Creed has stood the test of time endured persecution in the body of Christ through doctrinal debates and cultural changes it reminds us that Christianity isn't built on shifting opinions but on the eternal truth of the one true God of the Bible so if you're ready to declare it again today at all of our churches if you're able to stand would you mind just standing to your feet and together along with people throughout the generations we're going to declare what we believe would you say it with me i believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontious Pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven is seated at the right hand of the Father and will come again to judge the living and the dead i believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Universal Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting and all God's people said "Amen. " Amen turn to the person next to you and tell you did good turn to your second choice and say "You didn't do bad either.
" You can go ahead and have a seat it's powerful to declare together as the body of Christ and so as we're looking at the creed what I want to do is I want to ask you the question we're talking about Jesus today who do you say Jesus is like what he call Jesus you can ask a lot of people today who is Jesus some people say well he was a historical figure we know that he was a very wise and powerful teacher he he he taught great things he was loving he was he was a role model some people say "No Jesus is actually the son of God or the Lord of all. " And so I'm going to ask you who do you say Jesus is and like what do you call him and why does it matter what you call him it matters because what you call someone reveals how well you know them right what you call someone reveals how well you know them for example I mean you might call me different things many of you call me nice things some people don't but hopefully if you stick around here you'll at least be neutral to positive or whatever and so you know like what do you call me some people say "Hey you know you're you're Pastor Craig. " And that might mean like you've followed me on social media or you read a book or you go to live church or you've got an annoying friend that won't stop inviting you to live church and say "Hey you're Pastor Craig.
" Um if we're friends we're on a different level and so more informal more casual you might just say "Hey Craig. " Because you know that's what you you call me uh if you went to college with me you might call me gross and if you went to college with me and call me Gross we might have gotten drunk together but that was before I was a Christian and so you might have called me G uh if you're one of my kids you don't call me Pastor Craig and you don't call me Craig and you don't call me G what what do my kids call me dad daddy right my grandkids they know me in a different way they call me pops which it could be worse there's a lot of other things that are much worse than that now Amy knows me in a different way than anybody and so she's got about 17 different things that she calls me and I'm not going to tell you any of them because 16 of them are very meaningful and one is for those times when she's correcting me and then she actually calls me Pastor Craig during those times pastor Craig pastor right and so what you call someone reveals how well you know them what do you call Jesus what you call Jesus reflects how well you actually know Jesus um we said the first part of the creed last week let's say all of this section again uh say it with me say "I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth. " Now who is Jesus i believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord i believe in Jesus Christ God's only son our Lord i believe in Jesus Christ the son of God God's only son our Lord now I want to tell you right now that Jesus Christ our Lord that is perhaps the most important and most controversial statement made in the history of the world most important Jesus Christ is Lord if that's true it matters more than you can imagine and it's controversial to say he is Lord above all in this world and heaven on earth jesus Christ is Lord i'll show you this phrase in the Greek this word in the Greek is yes Christos curios and it means Jesus Christ is Lord type that in the comment section if you will online say it aloud with me jesus Christ is Lord jesus Christ is Lord now to be really really clear because some people don't know this jesus Christ Christ is not Jesus's last name just want to clarify right jesus is his name christ is a title um it comes from the Greek Christos and it means the anointed one jesus the anointed one is what it means now it's been said and you know this is true that if you want to keep the peace if you go to um a meal after church and you don't want to get in a fight with people there are two things you don't talk about what do you not talk about you don't talk about religion and you don't talk about politics although some of you do and you do it quite a bit and I see you on social media and of course you're right because you are right but to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord this was both religious and it was very very political if you lived in 2nd century 3rd century um in the Roman Empire and you said Jesus is Lord you weren't just making a faith statement you were actually making a very controversial political statement and the reason is because Caesar was known as a god and Caesar was called Lord and so if you called Jesus Lord that was considered a direct attack against Caesar and it was considered treason and could cost you your life so to declare and is still true in many parts of the world today to declare the lordship of Christ this is not just about worship but it's about allegiance of your heart and for someone to say this in the second century they were saying that there's no emperor no ruler no government no earthly system that has ultimate authority over our lives only Jesus does and it is true today in many parts of the world that if you declare you're following Jesus you belong to Jesus you are devoted to Jesus in many parts of the world you're going to lose your job people lose their freedom to this day people even lose their lives for declaring the lordship of Jesus but in the early days they'd go to their baptism and they'd stand up knowing they could be tortured for this and they would say "I believe in God the Father Almighty creator 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 Pontious Pilot died and was crucified buried and they they'll go through this whole thing and they they declared it and kept declaring the lordship of Christ because they knew the truth truth that Rome's power was temporary and Christ's reign is eternal jesus Christ is Lord the most important and perhaps the most controversial statement literally in the history of the world now a little side note just for fun who do you think was the first to recognize Jesus as the son of God in the Bible who do you think was the first one in the Bible to look on and say "Oh that man's that is the son of God.
" Let me tell you who it wasn't it wasn't Peter that would be a good guess it wasn't James it wasn't John who was the first to recognize Jesus was the son of God in the Bible the answer is the demons were the first to recognize Jesus as the son of God uh in Mark 3:11 scripture says this whenever the impure spirits saw Jesus when the demons saw him they fell down before him and cried out "You are the son of God. " If you can imagine the supernatural realm recognized the lordship of Jesus before the natural realm did and the demons the the powers of darkness recognized that is the son of God so calling Jesus Lord back then was controversial calling him Lord today is controversial and it's becoming more controversial by the moment and calling Jesus God's only son that was considered defiant and even heretical and the reason is the Romans believed in demigods a demigod was a half god half human but as followers of Jesus we don't believe he's like part god and part man we believe he is fully God and fully man all at the same time jesus is God in the flesh god literally stripped himself of the glory of heaven to come to earth in the person of the son Jesus Christ and so if you want to know what God is like you look at Jesus and what did Jesus do he loves the broken he loved those who were who who were hurting he didn't come to condemn but he came to seek and save the lost jesus is not part God part man he is fully God and fully man who do you say he is what do you call him because what you call him reflects how well you know him now there are those of you that do not know him let me just say this as pastorally as I can there are those of you who've been in church a lot of your life and you do not know him there are those of you that have a very real head knowledge and can answer questions about him but you do not know him and God wants you to know him and what I want to do is I want to show you 12 verbs from the Apostles Creed that will help you know him if you don't know him these are the verbs in the Apostles Creed jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontious Pilot was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead some virgins say descended to hell what does that mean oh you're going to have to come back on Easter to find out what that means he descended to the dead he rose again he ascended into heaven is seated at the right hand and will come again to judge the living and the dead conceived born suffered crucified died buried descended rose ascended seated come and judge those 12 verbs explain completely the whole gospel of who Jesus is and why he came and those 12 verbs show us his full humanity and his full divinity that he was all God and all man all at the same time humanity he was conceived he was born like a baby's born he suffered like you whatever pain you experienced he experienced he knows that pain he crucif was crucified his physical body died he was buried this also shows us the divinity how was he conceived not like you he was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary why does that matter he didn't inherit the sin nature of an earthly man but had the divine nature of the heavenly father therefore he could live without sin and be the lamb of God the perfect one who gave his life conceived born suffered died buried descended but not like a normal person god raised him from the dead he's now ascended in heaven is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and one day the trumpet of God will sound and the dead in Christ will rise and those who are left alive and remaining will be caught up with him in the air and he will come again to judge the living and the dead and when he does those who know him will worship him and those who don't will regret it for all eternity who is Jesus to you who do you say yes i mean this really matters this isn't like hey I go to life church and if we can and you know kind of we're trying to be a good group no no no no this is everything who do you say yes like if he's Lord if he's Lord that demands our lives if he's not do your thing if he's Lord it demands it all so you say like who is Jesus to me and what I want to tell you I want to contrast this i want to show you who he was to me growing up and I want to tell you who he is to me now um who was he as a kid we went to church and I had a head knowledge but I didn't know him crazy i don't know why I remember this but in our garage we had the traditional picture of Jesus the blondhaired blue-eyed Jesus you know the American Jesus we had that in our garage the one that when you walk by him his eyes follow you it's creepy like you walk by and Jesus Jesus is always looking at you so I would go and get in my my parents Buick Lasabra get in the car and drive off and Jesus was watching i don't know why I remember that but that's who Jesus was he was in my garage watching me then around Christmas time the nativity scenes about the baby Jesus for some reason I would see those and I just felt drawn to the story of Jesus then when I was on a car date one time I might have been making out with some girl and I thought to myself Jesus is probably watching me right now that's creepy i know it but that's what I thought that's who Jesus was to me the guy on the wall the baby in the manger and the guy that didn't want me parking with my girlfriend then I went to college and like many of you I kind of hit bottom and I started to look up and so I started to wonder is this Jesus i kind of knew about is he anybody special and I started reading about him in the gospels and I read about him in Matthew and I read about him in Mark and I read about him in Luke and and there was this unbelievable love that he had for broken people like me not this judgment or this hatred or these impossible standards but this this invitational love and then it was when I got to Ephesians chapter 2 that I read that you could be saved not by your good works because I always knew no matter how hard I tried I'd always mess it up i tried not to cuss i'd cuss twice as much the next day i tried not to look at girls and I and I tried to be a good person and I wouldn't be I couldn't couldn't do it on my own and I recognized that I'm not supposed to do it on my own that it's by my faith in his perfect work and when I tell you he changed my life the Bible calls it you become a new creation i'm telling you like the people who called me gross after that like the de's different changed new the old is gone it's gone forgiven transformed jesus didn't just forgive my sin he saved my life he He freed me from addictions that had held me hostage he stopped me from living a lie he didn't just give me a second chance he gave me a new identity he changed who I was from the inside out so he's more than my savior he's my comforter when I'm hurting he's my healer when when I'm broken he is my peace when I'm overwhelmed and so I don't just follow Jesus because I'm an American and because I grew up in church and because I don't believe in Buddha no no i follow Jesus because I know what I was without him i know who I am with him and I refuse to go back he is the Lord who transformed me and made me into the person I could never become on my own so who is he who does who does the word the living word in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh in the person of Jesus full of grace and truth who does the word say Jesus is he is the light of the world he's the living water once you drink of him you'll never thirst again he is the bread of life that satisfies your soul and nourishes you to become who God created you to be he is the good shepherd he is the prince of peace he is the lion of the tribe of Judah and he is the lamb of God who is slain jesus is the one who touched lepers befriended prostitutes and ate with sinners he fed the hungry he opened blind eyes he healed the sick jesus raised the dead and if you know him he carried your sin he took your shame he conquered the grave and he defeated death i ask you please if you are under my care as a little shepherd under the Lord's shepherd you cannot sit here with without me asking you who is he to you not just in words but in how you live how you live reflects what you really believe and Jesus asked us this piercing question and he could ask you this today jesus asked this question why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I say why do you call me Lord Lord can you imagine with love and heartbreak him asking "Why do you call me Lord Lord and still gossip all the time? " "Why do you call me Lord Lord and still watch shows that take my name in vain?
" Why why do you call me Lord Lord and you're harsh with your spouse and distant from your kids why do you call me Lord Lord and not honor me with the things that I've trusted to you you don't give you not Why do you call me Lord Lord and you're not sharing the truth of the Lord who saves why do you call me Lord Lord but don't do what I say and Jesus said this in Matthew 7:21 and this is haunting he said this "Not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord not everyone who goes to church and says I'm a Christian I'm America God bless the US. " Not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter on judgment day one day he'll come again to judge the living and the dead on judgment day many will say to me "Lord Lord we prophesied in your name we cast out demons in your name we performed many miracles in your name you know we did good things for people in your name we gathered the Red Cross in your name we let help the lady cross the road in your name we did these good things. " And Jesus will say "But I never knew you.
" But I never knew you and so I would just like ask you as your pastor who loves you who knew me knew about him years ago but didn't know him do you know Jesus do do you know Jesus as your Lord and if you believe it just kind of quietly where you are would you just say it with me i believe in God the Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth who is Jesus i believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord let me tell you if you really believe he is the son of God if you really believe he is the Lord of your life it'll show in the way that you live let me just say it again i want you to I want you to hear this lovingly if you really believe he's the son of God if you really believe he's Lord of all it will show in how you live when you say Jesus is Lord you're not making a casual statement you're declaring your ultimate allegiance to the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords because Jesus is the name above every name therefore it should not surprise you that the spiritual enemy is attacking the name of Jesus because the enemy knows if he can belittle that name then you may not call on the name because he knows what that name represents at the name of Jesus demons tremble at the name of Jesus darkness fleees at the name of Jesus chains break at the name of Jesus those who are broken are healed at the name of Jesus sinners are saved and one day promise you one day at the name of Jesus every single knee including yours will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord so you can do it then when it's a little late or you can do it now and if you do it now and if you believe it then it will impact how you live and so as lovingly as I can because this is so serious with every bit of pastoral love that I have I just want to ask you this is Jesus your Lord not just in words but in how you live because if he's Lord it will change your life so Father do a work in our [Music] church god convict us of our sinfulness god convict of us our complacency and draw us with your loving kindness into the fullness of a relationship with your son our Lord who came not to condemn but to save and to set us free today as you pray at um all of our different churches those of you online I want to talk directly to those of you that know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know him you know that you know him and you want to know him better and represent him bolder if that's you today and you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know Jesus and you want to know him better and represent him bolder would you lift your hands up right now all over the room god thank you for those who've been made a new that they are new in Christ that the old is gone and that they become new and God just as your body as your bride as your church God we want to seek you to seek you through your word God to know you to be conformed to the image of Jesus that no one would ever be surprised oh well you're a Christian no that they would know and God that they would see who you are by the way we love one another god for those of you that truly know you God help them to know you more intimately through fellowship with other believers in life groups and through serving using our gifts in the church and as the church in the world and through your word and through worship god help us to know you and if we know you we'll obey you if we love you we'll obey you and God help us be even bolder even bolder even bolder even bolder even bolder because you are the light of the world as you keep praying today um we're going to do it different let's go let's go bold with everybody look up here all of our churches go and look up if you will i was going to say heads down let's just be bold with this um there are those of you that have been around you've been a long time you've been in church some of you like you're way far from God like not everybody knows you're not following God everybody but something's happening to you and you're being drawn to him right now what's that that's the Holy Spirit you're not here by action that's the Holy Spirit drawing you so what do you do what we do is we step away from ourselves we step away from our sin and say "I can never be good enough. " And we surrender our lives to the lordship of Jesus and when you do when you call out to him he's enough he forgives you he makes you new like all the filth the guilt all the shame is gone he forgives you and he makes you brand new there are those of you this is a big deal you everybody thinks hey you're kind of you you you've been calling him Lord but you don't know him so what I want you to do is I want to give you the chance just like boldly let's just go bold right if we're going to follow him let's just follow him because he actually said this Jesus said "If you confess me before my father in heaven I'll confess you before people but if you don't if you're embarrassed me I'll I won't confess you publicly. " So today at all of our churches nobody thinking about it no emotionalism just like if you know that you maybe don't know him and you want to know him you want your life to reflect him we're stepping away from our sin we're surrendering our life to Jesus we're doing it in front of everybody because we're not joking around we declare "Hey our baptism this we stand up i believe in God the Father Jesus Christ his only son our Lord today by faith I don't just know about him i want to know him jesus Christ I give you my life be my Lord.
