The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail

I shared this briefly on Sunday morning but wanted to elaborate just a litte.

In Matthew 16 Jesus told the apostle Peter, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." A quick couple of points to ponder as men who belong to Christ's church.

1. First of all Christ will build the church. It is not something he might do, or is thinking about doing. He will his church. So the question for us is this: Is Christ building his church with me or without me?

2. Next notice that Jesus said my church. That means the church belongs to him and not to us. That takes a ton of pressure off of us because we aren't the owners of church. The pressure comes back though in a different form...while we are not the owners of the church we are it's managers. Christ has put every man in charge of a his family, and some of us to be leaders of small groups, and some of us to be shepherds of flocks. Knowing that the church belongs to him helps me trust that he's in charge, but reminds me of the seriousness of our charge as leaders. What are you doing with your little corner of Christ's church?

3. Hell has gates. My mentor Bob Wood pointed out that the church doesn't have gates that are withstanding the attacks of Satan's forces. That would make us on the defense and Satan on the offense. But things are the other way around. Satan's territory is gated because it's being attacked by God's Kingdom. Let's never become "Fort Adventure" where the Christians hide out from the world in fear of the enemies attacks. We're the attackers. We're the ones who are supposed to be attacking. That's sword (Bible) in hand, attention focused, locked in combat, life and death on the line, souls in the balance, battering the gates of hell and rescuing people who've been held captive! (like the P.O.D. song "snuff the punk") Are you playing offense or defense?

4. The gates of hell will not prevail. Meaning? We win. Do you think, act, and speak victoriously regarding Christ's church?

5. Recap: The church of Christ is being built. It isn't ours it's his. The church is crashing the gates of hell with the truth of God's Word. They lose, we win.

Cool verse right? It's the theme of our men's ADVANCE this year...watch for info coming out the next couple of weeks. August 8-10. Be there.