Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.  (Mat 16:16-18)

“and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” – When Jesus builds the church HE MAKES IT HELL PROOF – THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IS UNSTOPPABLE! The church of Jesus Christ is eternal, she is the Bride of Christ, the reason He shed His blood (he wanted to redeem mankind and gather them together into God’s eternal family).

When you are a part of the church of Jesus – you are part of the greatest thing going on planet earth, the family of God!

The best thing we can do as parents is to REVOLVE OUR FAMILIES AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH because the local church is UNSTOPPABLE, THE LOCAL CHURCH IS HELL PROOF! IF YOU AND I WANT TO HELL PROOF OUR HOMES THEN WE MUST MAKE A COMMITMENT TO REVOLVE OUR LIVES AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH!

If you say you are passionate about following Jesus but you aren’t passionate about what Jesus is passionate about, then you aren’t passionate about following Jesus.

Jesus is passionate about His Church.

Jesus is passionate about the mission of His Church – to seek and to save the lost. If you don’t get passionate about sharing Christ’s love with others, inviting them to experience Him in the community of the local church, then you aren’t passionate about Jesus!

Make a decision today to REVOLVE YOUR FAMILY AROUND JESUS & THE LOCAL CHURCH!

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.  (Mat 16:16-18)

This passage is packed with so much meaning for us today.  Jesus says,

“I will build my church…” – Jesus Builds the church because the Church belongs to Jesus. Jesus is the Senior Pastor of this church; we will follow Him and do His will!

MY JOB AS THE PASTOR, IS TO LISTEN TO JESUS AND THEN LEAD HIS CHURCH ACCORDINGLY – ACCORDING TO HIS WORD!  There are always going to be a lot of opinions on how to best DO CHURCH and BE THE CHURCH, but ultimately I am committed to listening to Jesus and then doing exactly what He says, no matter how painful, how humiliating, how foolish it might sound to onlookers, or how unpopular it makes me.  Ultimately, when Jesus builds the church, THE CHURCH IS UNSTOPPABLE.  That is the kind of church we want to be a part of here at The Dialogue Church – an UNSTOPPABLE FORCE.

Knowing that Jesus is the Great Shepherd, or the Senior Pastor of the Church should cause each and every one of us to grow in our respect, loyalty, love, and honor towards the Church.  Here are a couple of thoughts on that:

• If you like to go for long walks by yourself, climb trees, build forts, and use a walking stick for no reason at all and that is your time with God – GREAT.  Sometimes I hear people say, WELL, I JUST LIKE TO WORSHIP GOD ALL BY MYSELF.  Maybe you can worship God all by yourself, BUT YOU CAN’T BE THE BODY OF CHRIST ALL BY YOURSELF, YOU CAN’T ENGAGE THE MISSION OF GOD ALL BY YOURSELF.  So, while you are walking around in the woods all by yourself, there is a lost world dying and going to hell and you can’t hear the Words of Jesus telling you to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPELBECAUSE YOU ARE CHOOSING TO BE ALL BY YOURSELF:-)
• Don’t be fooled, you can’t worship God and fail to witness.  To receive God’s love and then not reflect His love would be a shame.  Our witness and our worship go hand in hand.
• Our wealth and our worship go hand in hand.  You can either worship your wealth or worship God with your wealth.
• If you have given up on church because you’ve been hurt – I’M SORRY, REALLY I AM SORRY.  I have been hurt too, so I know what it feels like.  BUT I HAVE ALSO HURT OTHERS & I AM SURE YOU HAVE TOO.  Don’t throw away what Jesus gave His life for and what you are called to give your life to because someone acted like a sinner and sinned against you.  Jesus has forgiven them, maybe you can too.  In fact, that is called spiritual growth:-)  Its when we get hurt, turn the other cheek and start to forgive that the Holy Spirit of God begins to change us from the inside out.
• Some people say they don’t like church because there are HYPOCRITES IN THE CHURCH.  Well, yeah, Jesus called them SINNERS AND HE DIED FOR THEM ALL.  Thank God there are hypocrites allowed in the church or ELSE NONE OF US COULD BELONG TO ONE.  All of us have said one thing and then turned around and did something completely contrary; that’s called hypocrisy.  And no, God doesn’t like it, but that’s what He sent His Son to die on the cross for – sinners.  To say, “I love Jesus but I don’t love the church is hypocritical”.  OUCH!!

WHEN YOU HONOR UP, YOU HONOR ALL THE WAY UP. WHEN YOU HONOR YOUR PASTOR YOU HONOR THE GREAT SHEPHERD, JESUS CHRIST. WHEN YOU HONOR THE CHURCH YOU HONOR HER GROOM, JESUS CHRIST.  WHEN YOU HONOR ONE ANOTHER IN THE BODY, YOU HONOR THE HEAD, JESUS CHRIST.  SOME OF YOU DON’T HAVE A PASTOR, BECAUSE YOU AREN’T A PART OF A CHURCH, YOU HAVEN’T COMMITED TO A MISSION AND A VISION. YOU ARE JUST SHOPPING, AND YOU WILL KEEP SHOPPING UNTIL ITS TOO LATE and don’t be fooled, our kids already see what’s really in our hearts – they can’t be fooled!

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.  (Mat 16:16-18)

“you are Peter…” – Peter (Petros) means little rock. Jesus is saying, “You are a little rock, but I AM THE BIG ROCK.”  You and I are so little in comparison to Jesus Christ. He is God, and I am not.

IF YOU WANT TO STAY HUMBLE AND HAVE A RIGHT PERSPECTIVE OF YOURSELF, SURROUND YOURSELF WITH OTHER PASSIONATE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST YOU CAN RELY ON – revolve your family around the local church!

“and upon THIS rock…” – this ROCK refers to Jesus Christ, or Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. He is THE rock! There is no other foundation to build your life upon or to build your family upon than Jesus Christ!

YOU CAN’T SAY YOU ARE BUILDING YOUR LIFE UPON THE ROCK OF JESUS CHRIST IF YOU AREN’T REVOLVING YOUR LIFE AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH!

IF YOUR BEST FRIEND IS NOT A BELIEVER, THEN YOU AREN’T REVOLVING YOUR LIFE AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH. IF YOUR GIRLFRIEND OR BOYFRIEND IS NOT A PASSIONATE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST THEN YOU AREN’T REVOLVING YOUR LIFE AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH! IF YOU AREN’T BRINGING THE TITHE TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH, THEN YOU AREN’T HONORING GOD WITH YOUR WEALTH. IF YOU AREN’T IN A LIFE GROUP SHARING YOUR LIFE IN COMMUNITY WITH OTHER CHRIST-FOLLOWERS WHO ARE ATTACHED TO THE SAME LOCAL CHURCH, SHARING IN THE SAME MISSION, THE SAME VISION, SWEATING OVER THE SAME MINISTRIES, CRYING OVER THE SAME COMMUNITY, THE SAME CITY, GIVING TO THE SAME VISION, AND RALLYING AROUND THE SAME PASTOR AND HIS VISION THEN YOU AREN’T REVOLVING YOUR LIFE AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH!

AS A FAMILY WE HAVE CHOSEN TO REVOLVE OUR LIVES AROUND JESUS & THE LOCAL CHURCH!

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.  (Mat 16:16-18)

Let me continue to break down this powerful statement of Jesus…

“because My Father in heaven…” – Jesus is the Son of God, His Father is in heaven. Jesus never shirked from calling God His Father, claiming equality with God. I realize some people believe the Discovery Channel more than the Bible, but we can’t ever say that Jesus didn’t claim to be God.  He did over and over again.  And once again as Jesus calls God His Father, He is claiming equality with Him.

When I decided to follow Jesus I was in a bad place, but that wasn’t ultimately why I gave my life to Jesus Christ! Some people today think, “every person I know that has become a Christ-follower has been in some kind of trouble or tragic crisis, well that just isn’t me.”

First of all, don’t wait until you are in the middle of trouble or a tragedy to turn to Jesus.

Second, I didn’t turn to follow Jesus because I was in trouble but because HE IS THE TRUTH. I decided to follow Jesus because He is TRUE! JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO EXPERIENCE REAL & LASTING TRANSFORMATION!

“has revealed this to you.” – you and I don’t know anything about the truth of Jesus Christ unless God reveals it. What an awesome reality. We have a God who loves us so much that He chose to reveal Himself to us. He is not silent, He is not distant, He is not unloving or uninvolved. He is very much involved, so much so that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on a cross to save us from our sins. The Word of God is the written revelation of God’s Love to Mankind.

If you want to know Jesus, know His Word! The more you get into the Word of God, the more the God of the Word will get into you. If you have the Son, you have life!