Apostles Creed 5 - He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried

Watch the sermon on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OQbzgMu4u-0

READ JOHN 18:36-38

1. What do these Bible verses say about what Jesus came into the world to do?

2. Why is it important to believe in Jesus as more than an abstract, vague,  philosophical idea? Why is it important for us to believe together that Jesus Christ is the Truth of God incarnate?

3. Why is it significant for the Apostles’ Creed to emphasize the biblical accounts of Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial as historical facts?

4. How is the cross a picture of God’s love for us? How is it a picture of God’s hatred of all sin? What sins do we treat as more or less hated by God?

5. Where in the Bible does it say, “All sins are equal in the eyes of God”? Why has this “Christianese” statement been so poopular? 

6. If we believe no sin has more power than the cross, why do we struggle with feeling forgiven? Why do we struggle with forgiving others?

7. Why is the death of Jesus foundational for Christian community?

8. In what ways are you striving to feel lovable and worthy rather than accepting the free gift of grace through faith in Jesus?

9. What does it look like for you to rest in the accomplished work of Christ?

10. Suffering is an inevitable part of the human experience. The degrees of suffering might differ from person to person, but everyone experiences periods of suffering. What emotions, thoughts, or questions have you had when suffering?

READ ISAIAH 52:14; 53:4-5.

11. These verses prophesy the suffering Jesus would endure in His crucifixion. List the words used in these verses to describe Jesus’ suffering.

READ MATTHEW 27:24-26.

Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36. This mention of Pilate in the Apostles’ Creed may seem odd, but it highlights Christ’s suffering as a historical event. The eternal Son entered our world, and a human court convicted Him of crimes He didn’t commit.

12. Why is it important for faith to be rooted in historical facts? How does it change your perspective in day-to-day events—especially in suffering—not only to look to the future in faith but also to remember what Christ has already done for you?

READ ROMANS 5:1-11.

13. List the words used to describe in past tense what Christ has done for you.

14. Believing in Christ doesn’t exempt you from suffering. In fact, some suffering may result because of your faith (see John 15:18-21).

What hope do you have as a Christian in the midst of suffering?

The crucifixion was the ultimate display of human animosity toward God’s authority in our lives. Our sinful hearts rejected Christ, in spite of all His displays of love, because we hated His claim of lordship. If He’s the rightful King over our lives, we must confess and repent of our rebellion, surrendering our lives in submission to His rule. But instead, we demanded that Jesus be executed.

READ MATTHEW 27.

15.  What does this passage say about People? About God? What will you do about what you just learned?

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For Further Study: 

Matt Chandler. The Apostles' Creed reading plan: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/11335-the-apostles-creed-12-day-plan

Matt Chandler. “The Apostles' Creed - Bible Study Book.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-apostles-creed-bible-study-book/id1222607689

Who was Pontius Pilot? https://www.gotquestions.org/Pontius-Pilate.html

Apostles Creed 4 - who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

Watch the full service on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NEBaptistChurchSATX/videos/765080784176527

THE APOSTLES’ CREED WILL HELP US WITH:

1. Symmetry—a robust understanding of the God of the Bible

2. Clarity—who God is

3. Community—whom we belong to and whom we are with

4. Counsel—to ourselves and to others

READ EXODUS 40:34-38.

*In the Old Testament the glory of the Lord was seen as a cloud that rested on the tabernacle, the portable temple of God’s people, the place where they worshiped God. This visible representation of the glory of the Lord was called the shekinah. In Ezekiel 10 the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord, the shekinah, leave the temple, but Ezekiel also had a vision of God’s glory returning to a new temple, recorded in Ezekiel 43:1-5.

READ LUKE 1:35.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit would “overshadow” Mary to enable her to conceive a son. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the same word for overshadow is used to describe the cloud of God’s glory in Exodus 40:35, where the Bible says, “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD [shekinah] filled the tabernacle.”

Luke connected the shekinah glory of God to the conception of Jesus. His overwhelmingly glorious presence in the tabernacle and the temple now manifested itself through Mary as she conceived, carried, and gave birth to her firstborn child, the only Son of God.

What do you think would be lost if the creed said “born of the virgin Mary?” without saying “conceived by the Holy Spirit”?

*Excerpt From: Matt Chandler. “The Apostles' Creed - Bible Study Book.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-apostles-creed-bible-study-book/id1222607689

For Further Study: 

Matt Chandler. The Apostles' Creed reading plan: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/11335-the-apostles-creed-12-day-plan

The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger https://www.christianbook.com/christmas-journalist-investigates-identity-child-manger/lee-strobel/9780310340591/pd/340591?event=AFF&p=1011693&

This Picture has 25 mistakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95XtOBYpQ1Y

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

      and born of the virgin Mary.

      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died, and was buried;

      he descended to hell.

      The third day he rose again from the dead.

      He ascended to heaven

      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

      From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

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.

*that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places

CH Spurgeon ~ “I may know all the doctrines in the Bible, but unless I know Christ, there is not one of them that can save me.”

Apostles Creed 1 “I Believe” 

Watch the full service on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NEBaptistChurchSATX/videos/779378722692651

Watch the sermon o YouTube: https://youtu.be/RykIOjKWqc0

THE APOSTLES’ CREED WILL HELP US WITH:

1. Symmetry—a robust understanding of the God of the Bible

2. Clarity—who God is

3. Community—whom we belong to and whom we are with

4. Counsel—to ourselves and to others

Creeds do not hold any authority in and of themselves, but rather, they point outside themselves to the ultimate authority of the Word of God.

Hope, hope, hope, hope. If you repeat a word too many times, it might lose meaning. The word becomes empty air on your tongue, without texture or a tie to anything real.  Has the word “HOPE” lost meaning in your life?

Christ had a mission, while everyone else had an agenda.