Shall Not Prevail

Today we are going to analyze something that all of us know. Today we are going to examine the church. With this I am not saying that we will be talking about this church or congregation, but we will be analyzing the foundation of Christ's church. We will be analyzing not only the base but also the power that it has. Before we go on to the scriptures that we will be reading today I want us all to do something. I want all of us here to use our imagination. Let’s all imagine that the world is nothing more than a great city of antiquity. A city not built by man, but built by the demon himself. A city completely fortified by impenetrable walls just like the ones in Jericho. A city that has been built through time with the cement of religion, jealousy and envy. With walls that have been fortified with the steel of vain glory, pride and violence. In other words, walls and doors that are meant to detain or stop the penetration of the Gospel. Are you using your imagination? Can you see that great city? An impenetrable city. With this in mind let’s now turn to the word of God and let’s analyze the role of the church and it’s infinite power.

Matthew 16:13-20 - When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 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 Barjona: 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. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

The first thing that we see here is that Jesus asked His disciples what the people were saying about Him. He asked them this because at this point in His life He had performed miracles and had obtained the interest of many. His works and teachings had reached the eras of not only the people, but also the eras of the leaders. Looking at the answers that they gave Him we see that the opinion of the people was one of confusion. Many of the people saw Him as one of the prophets that God had sent back to the world. I ask you, aren’t we seeing the same thing happening today? I tell you that we are seeing this same thing happen today and that we are not only seeing it in the world or in all of those that the demon has deceived, the ones that the demon has trapped behind the fortified walls of religion, but we are also seeing it in the people of God. Yes brethren we are seeing it in the people of God. I say that we are seeing this in the people of God because there is a great number of people that have not yet received a revelation of the true identity of Christ.

I am sure that if we start asking the believers "who is Christ," all would say that He was the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins, everyone would say that He died for us on the cross that we may have eternal life. We would all say that He is the son of the living God. In other words we all have the basic knowledge of who He is, but in reality we have not had a revelation from God of His true identity and power. Look carefully at what Jesus answered them once they recognized Him as Christ.

Jesus said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." He answered them in this fashion because they did not believe that He was the son of God because of something they had seeing. They did not believe in Him because they had been present when He performed a miracle, but they believed in Him because God himself had revealed it to them. I tell you that here is where things begin to get complicated for some believers. I say this because all that profess to be believers know the basic principles of Jesus, but the reality of it all is that a great majority has not received a revelation from the Father, in all reality what has happened is that they have not had a personal encounter with Jesus. I say this because once we have a personal encounter with Jesus, once the Father reveals to us His power and glory, our lives change completely. Our lives change so rapidly and in such a way that many people that knew us when we lived in the world no longer recognize us.