Matthew 16:18–19 (NKJV)
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
There is a phrase that has lingered in my mind for months now—a line that captures the spirit of the true Church in every age of persecution, revival, and reform:
“We do not exist to maintain status. We exist to storm the gates of Hell.
We are not here to be tax-exempt but to be Spirit-filled.
Our Founder was not a bureaucrat.
He was a crucified King who rose in power and gave us a command: Go.”
That, in essence, is the mission statement of the Church Militant—the Church as she is meant to be: not safe, not silent, and certainly not stagnant. Christ did not shed His blood to found a nonprofit organization. He built a Kingdom that advances by truth, holiness, and the power of the Holy Ghost. The Church is not a monument but a movement, not a retreat but a revolution of redemption.
I. Built to Advance, Not to Retreat
When Jesus said, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,” He gave the Church her battle plan. We often read that verse as though Hell were attacking and we were hiding behind our sanctuary walls, but that is not what the text says. Gates do not move. Gates do not attack. Gates are defensive structures. Which means the Church is not the besieged—it is the aggressor.
Christ is not calling His people to survive; He is calling us to advance.
He built His Church to break through enemy lines. Every act of mercy, every word of truth, every prayer whispered in faith is an assault on the kingdom of darkness.
St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10–13,
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Notice, Paul does not tell us to take off the armor after Sunday worship. The assumption is that we are always at war—always advancing the light into the shadows.
In 2 Corinthians 10:4–5, he adds,
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”
We fight not with swords or politics but with prayer, truth, and holy living. Our victory does not come through worldly strategy but through divine strength. The Church is victorious when she remembers her posture—forward, never backward.
II. Spirit-Filled, Not State-Approved
The modern Church is often obsessed with approval—approval from government, from donors, from culture. But the Church that seeks the world’s recognition will always lose Heaven’s power. The Church that craves legitimacy will soon lose her authority.
The apostles faced the same temptation. In Acts 4, when the Sanhedrin commanded them to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, Peter and John replied:
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
They were not interested in tax-exemption; they were filled with the Spirit. Their concern was not compliance but conviction.
And so it must be with us.
Christ’s command in Acts 1:8 is not for comfort but for conquest:
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”
Power and witness—those are the marks of a living Church.
When the Spirit fills the Church, she becomes a fire that cannot be quenched, a light that cannot be hidden. But when she becomes preoccupied with bureaucratic safety, she turns into what St. Paul called “a form of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5).
The Spirit does not fill institutions; He fills people.
And through those people, He sets the world aflame.
III. Our Founder Was a Crucified King
The world loves its executives, its managers, and its systems—but our Founder was none of these.
He was a crucified King.
He held no office, drew no salary, and signed no decree. His only throne was a Cross, and His only crown was of thorns. Yet from that Cross, He conquered sin, death, and the devil.
Philippians 2:8–11 declares,
“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him… that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.”
Our King rules not from bureaucracy but from blood.
He did not send memoranda to the world; He sent men and women filled with the Spirit.
He did not establish a hierarchy of self-preservation; He established a mission of self-sacrifice.
We forget this too easily. The Church becomes comfortable, managerial, risk-averse. But the Cross does not permit us to play it safe. The One we follow did not die of natural causes. He was executed for preaching truth to power. And He told us plainly: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
The call of Christ is not to administration but to crucifixion.
And only those who die with Him will rise with Him.
IV. The Command Remains: Go
After the resurrection, Jesus did not tell His disciples to wait for culture to improve. He said, “Go.”
The Great Commission is not an optional project; it is the standing order of the King.
Matthew 28:18–20:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”
The word “Go” carries the force of command. It means movement, mission, and momentum.
It is as if Christ Himself is saying, “Do not wait for the world to come to you—take Me to the world.”
The Church stagnates when she forgets her marching orders.
But when she remembers them—when she rises in obedience—hell trembles.
The Church that goes will always meet resistance. But that resistance is proof of impact. Satan does not bother with a sleeping Church. He fears only a Church on the move—a Church that prays, preaches, baptizes, heals, forgives, and endures.
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us (Romans 8:11). That means the resurrection power of God is the power that drives us forward. We go not in our own strength, but in the authority of the risen Christ.
Conclusion: The Church Militant
We have forgotten who we are.
We have traded our armor for office chairs and our swords for surveys.
But the Church is not called to maintain; she is called to move.
Not to survive, but to advance.
Not to negotiate with darkness, but to dispel it.
We are not an organization—we are an army.
We are not here to balance budgets but to win souls.
We are not called to maintain status but to storm the gates of Hell.
And we go in the name of the One who conquered death itself—the Crucified King, who rose in power and gave us a command: Go.
