We are the Church

Matthew 16:15–18 KJV 1900

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Pretty new concept at this point...

What is the church?

Club?

Social gathering?

Place to appease the conscience?

Personal growth environment?

There have always been ideas of what a church is and what it should be…

One thing we know from this scripture passage is that it can expect to have Hell attack it...

Because it was prophesied from the very beginning that the gates of hell would not prevail!

Here are some simple things we know:

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Church

Greek word ekklesia refers to any assembly, local bodies of believers, or the universal body of all believers.

Local

Group of individual who unite around a common theology.

Universal

Bride of Christ -

Every obedient believer who has ever lived, living and will live!

What makes up the church?

God

And His people

What makes up a church?

When everyone focuses on the right thing...

When the people of God focus on God, then God begins to focus on his people...

Who in turn focus more on God, who in turn focus more on his people!

Creates this beautiful cycle in which each bless the other!

We like to think about God blessing us BUT when we serve him, we bless Him!

David talked a lot about blessing God!

So what is a church?

A group of people who come together to bless God and be blessed by God!

In a crystal cathedral or a small apartment!

On Sunday morning or Thursday evening!

100’s in one place or a small handful

We are the church of God gathering to bless God and be blessed by God!

The devil don’t like it...

But he won’t win!

The virus may try and stop us...

But Jesus is the antidote!

We are the Church!