I Believe

Text: Matthew 28:18–20
Preacher: Pastor Alex
Date: September 20, 2026

Sermon Summary

This opening sermon set the terms for the series: we are not preaching the Apostles' Creed, we are preaching the Word of God, using the Creed as an outline of the faith. It met the Baptist hesitation head-on. Scripture remains our final authority, but our faith did not come from nowhere; it was handed to us by believers reaching back to Jesus himself. The weight rested on Matthew 28:19: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Creed was born not at a council but at the water's edge, as converts were asked what they believed before they were dipped, the same questions our brother and sister answered in the Puntledge River. The verse's grammar carries the doctrine: "the one name that is three." God is one essence in three persons, a mystery we could never have known unless Jesus had made the Father known.

The landing was that the Trinity is not an academic point but an invitation. God has made himself known as he truly is, and we exist only because the love between Father, Son, and Spirit overflowed. We were never necessary. That belonging runs two directions: because I am in Christ and you are in Christ, we belong to each other, one body with Christ as head. So "I believe," spoken together, is not a private opinion. It joins our voice to the whole body's, the way a couple speaks vows they did not invent. Alex told two stories about his son who made it practical: the Creed was his footing against a cult at VIU, and is an outline for gospel conversations he is having while scraping boats. The Creed teaches us what we believe and tells the message of the gospel to others as well.

Discussion Guide

Ice Breaker

Light: What's the most mind-numbing job you've ever had, the kind where your hands are busy and your mind is somewhere else entirely? What kinds of things did you talk about?

Deeper: Who first taught you something about God that has stayed with you?

Discussion Questions

1. Remember the Truth: The Creed-at its heart-is Matthew 28:19. It was born not at a council but at the water's edge, as new believers were asked "Do you believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?" before they were baptized. What struck you about that history, or about hearing people answer those same questions in our church?

2. Understand the Truth: Read Matthew 28:19 alongside John 14:8–9 and hold them next to the phrase we learned: "one essence, three persons." What goes wrong in our picture of God if we keep one half of that phrase and lose the other? Can you explain this to someone?

3. Testing the Truth: A common view here in the Valley is that God is whatever you experience him to be, and every path leads to the same place. How does that idea fit with what Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20 or in John 14:6–9?

4. Be Changed: We were never necessary; we exist because the love between the Father, Son, and Spirit overflowed. What does it do to the way you see your own worth to know you were loved into being rather than needed?

5. Be Changed Together: The Father, Son, and Spirit act with one will and one love, yet remain distinct persons. What could our families and this church learn from that about being truly united without everyone being the same?

6. Be Sent: Think of someone you work or spend long hours beside–where is that? If they asked you what it means to be a Christian, where in the Creed would you start with them?

Supporting Scriptures

1. Deuteronomy 6:4: Israel's foundational confession that the Lord is one, the monotheism the Trinity never abandons.
2. Matthew 3:16–17: At Jesus' baptism, the Son stands in the water, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks, all three present in one scene.
3. John 1:14–18: The Word becomes flesh, and the only Son, who is himself God, makes the unseen Father known.
4. John 8:58: Jesus claims the divine name for himself, existing before Abraham.
5. John 14:8–11: Philip asks to see the Father, and Jesus answers that to see him is to see the Father.
6. John 17:20–23: Jesus prays that believers would be one as he and the Father are one, and be brought into that fellowship.
7. Acts 5:3–4: Peter treats lying to the Holy Spirit as lying to God, showing that the Spirit is God.
8. 1 Corinthians 12:12–13, 27: Baptized by one Spirit into one body, we are Christ's body together and members of it individually.
9. 2 Corinthians 13:14: Paul's closing blessing names the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit.
10. 2 Peter 1:3–4: God's promises call believers to share in the divine nature, the invitation at the heart of the sermon.

The 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 hell;

the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead;
And in the Holy Spirit;

the holy universal church, the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and life everlasting.
Amen.