Matthew 16:16-19
The Church on the edge
The last few weeks we talked about being the church on the edge and how to get there and on the edge of what. What it show us even though it might be scary or way out of our comfort zone.
We talked about how the church has no walls. We can not worship the place we meet at but we can worship at the place we meet.
We talked about not owning the church—it is Jesus’ Church
We also talked about knowing where we were in Christ- in Him, clothed with Him. Last week we talked about being on the edge of eternity and how to be there with Anticipating, Expecting and Rejoicing, at His return and the edge of intimacy as we must be intimate with ourselves, Be intimate with others and Be Intimate with God.
This weeks Verse we will concentrate on is verse 18B the gates of HELL will not prevail against it (the Church).
But today I wish to talk to you about what we are on the edge of still.
Announcing itself with shrieking, 145-mph winds, Hurricane Katrina slammed
into the Gulf Coast just outside New Orleans on Monday, submerging entire
neighborhoods up to their roofs, swamping Mississippi’s beachfront and
blowing out windows in hospitals, hotels and high-rises. The night before
landfall, I remember the Mayor of New Orleans saying that this was the One.
The One we had all feared. The perfect storm. And it nearly was. He even
described it, on Sunday night, as a catastrophe of biblical proportions.
Even though the storm just missed New Orleans and slowed down just enough
before landfall, the financial tally of this storm may end up being more
than Hurricane Andrew. South Mississippi and Alabama were swamped by the
rising coastal waters and have been devastated. It is, at times like these,
that we need to take heart and remember these words: "For where two or three
come together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."
When we come together in pain: There He is with us. When we come together to
pray. He is with us. When we come together in compassion to help others. He is with us. Where do you find Jesus? That’s our question for the day. In Matthew’s
Gospel Jesus makes an incredible promise to us: "Where two or three come
together in my name, there am I with them."
Think about that. When a married couple kneels together beside their bed in
prayer, Jesus is there. When a family bows their heads to give thanks at the
dinner table, He is there. When a preacher has a prayer beside a bed in a
hospital with someone who is suffering, He is there. When storms destroy our
communities and we, Christians, bind together, He is there. Want to know where
to find Jesus? Here’s the secret: Get together with someone else who is a
follower of His for the express purpose of studying His word, or worshiping
His name or lifting up petitions in prayer, or binding the broken hearted,
and He will be there, guaranteed! (ILL. Is from an E-mail I received on Friday, Thank you Mike)
Jesus also said in Matthew 28:20 He will be with us always
You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good
luck, gifts from angels, etc. This is the first time I’ve ever heard this
twist on the story. Gives you something to think about. The story goes:
Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend
the weekend at the husband’s employer’s home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on
the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.
The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this
rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband’s employer was
quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene
knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of
extravagance again so was enjoying herself immensely.
As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that
evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.
Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the
ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few
cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.
He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a
great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny?
Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?
Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand
it no longer. She causally mentioned that her daughter once had a coin
collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.
A smile crept across the man’s face as he reached into his pocket for the
penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?
"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says."
She read the words "United States of America."
"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?" "Yes!" "And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I
find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United
States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in
front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a
coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick
the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time,
at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God’s way of
starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies
are plentiful!
When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped
and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.
It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the
last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient...
Beloved we are on the edge of the incredible …
To be on the edge of Incredible…..
1. We must understand God, Jesus is always with us.
He is with us to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), and when we gather together. (Matt. 18:20)
He knows the plans he has for us, Plans to prosper not to harm us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
When God does what He says we are astounded!!
We know God will keep His promises, like the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church, yet we seem to forget that means we must go to the gates of hell and storm them for Christ, and remember we are not alone He is there with us all the way.
A. What are the gates of hell? Good question! I believe that the gates are all the evil man does to man, hatred, greed, rejection for his skin color, looks, place of birth, you get the idea, and all types of evil and sin, Because it all separates us from God. Gates are used to separate or to keep something out of a place or in. So Jesus is saying that evil will not prevail and keep good out, putting it in very simple terms. (My paraphrase)
To be on the edge of Incredible…..
2. We must be ready for God to do His marvelous wonderful things,
When they do a crusade (like the ones we see on TV. Or like Billy
Graham does) They are ready for people to respond to the messages they
have herd, (Though I believe he leaves them a little short of what Gods word
says about salvation.) They have people ready to help with the needs of those
coming up and when we share Gods message do we believe anyone will
respond to us? Maybe that’s why we sometimes do not get any response;
Sometimes we are not ready or prepared for them. We cannot be on the edge
of incredible if we do not know about our incredible God and how He
operates. We must believe God can and will still do things like He did on the
day of Pentecost, where 3000 where Baptized for the forgiveness of sins and
the gift of the Holy Spirit and added to his Church. We know God is working
now for our future if His Son, Jesus should tarry at His return. I wonder if
we are ready for what He has in store for us. Will we idlely sit by like the
People and there leaders in New Orleans waiting for the worst to happen and
yet they never did anything to be ready for it. We are on the edge of
incredible let us not set by waiting for Gods great things and do nothing to be
ready for them! LET US PREPAIR FOR THEM!!!!!!
To be on the edge of Incredible…..
3. We must be moving in that direction.
We can not get to the edge unless we are moving in that direction.
A. What would God have us do?
Look at things the way God does.
How do we worship Him?
How do we welcome new people?
How do we help each other?
How can we reach the lost?
How can we be the church He wants us to be?
What ever we do we can always be better at it.
In conclusion:
We are on the edge of INCREDIBLE! But we need to move to the very edge, get so close we see all that God wants us to do and be!
ARE YOU READY FOR THE JURNEY?
