1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:59,980 Let's pray. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:29,980 Let's pray. 4 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:59,980 Good morning. We are glad to be able to gather to worship this morning. And as we do, we're going to begin with a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we just ask this morning that you would turn our eyes to you, that we would see your goodness, your greatness, that we would see how you care for us in times that are good and times that are difficult. As we turn our eyes to the church, we ask that you would correct us, that you would correct us. 5 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:23,000 That you would encourage us, that you would strengthen us. Be with us this morning in our worship. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to begin this morning by reading from the 61st Psalm together. So if you would go ahead and stand as we read together about how God is our solid foundation and our rock. 6 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth, I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge. A strong tower against the enemy. 7 00:09:46,000 --> 00:10:03,000 Let me dwell in your tent, for let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. And that word, Selah, we're not 100% sure what it means, but it is likely a musical connotation for a pause. 8 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And in the Psalms, it's often used to, as the psalmist brings to our attention and to our mind, something about the goodness and the greatness of God to cause us to pause and reflect. 9 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:28,000 And so as we sing this morning, we want to reflect on the fact that God is the one who is our rock, that he is bigger, he is greater, he is our refuge, he is our strong tower, and he is our shelter. 10 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,000 We're going to start by singing, "How Great Is Our God?" 11 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,000 The splendor of the King 12 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Hold on. I stopped it. Are you ready for me to start again? 13 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:58,000 I tried moving up that master. 14 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:07,000 The splendor of the King 15 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,000 Hold the majesty 16 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,000 Let all the earth rejoice 17 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,000 All the earth rejoice 18 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:24,000 He wraps himself in light 19 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 How are you in this novel? 20 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 The darkness tries to hide 21 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,000 And it turns out the face we put into that 22 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,000 He of itself was 23 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:41,000 All right, I'm going to restart this song. Go ahead and turn that on. 24 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:47,000 The amp down at the bottom under the... 25 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,000 The splendor of the King 26 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:12,000 The cloth and majesty 27 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Let all the earth rejoice 28 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 All the earth rejoice 29 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 He wraps himself in light 30 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:30,000 The darkness tries to hide 31 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000 He trembles at His voice 32 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,000 He trembles at His voice 33 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,000 How great 34 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,000 is our God 35 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:43,000 Sing with me 36 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 How great 37 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000 is our God 38 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 All will see 39 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000 How great 40 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000 How great 41 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 is our God 42 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And age to age He stands 43 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:11,000 And time is in His hands 44 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Beginning and the end 45 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,000 Beginning and the end 46 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:23,000 The Godhead through and one 47 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:29,000 The Father, Spirit, Son 48 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,000 The Lion and the Lamb 49 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,000 The Lion and the Lamb 50 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:40,000 How great is our God 51 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Sing with me 52 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,000 How great is our God 53 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,000 Oh, see how great 54 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 How great 55 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:55,000 Is our God 56 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:02,000 How great 57 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Is our God 58 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,000 Sing with me 59 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000 How great 60 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Is our God 61 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,000 Oh, see how great 62 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,000 How great 63 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,000 Is our God 64 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Name above all names 65 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:32,000 Worthy of all praise 66 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:37,000 My heart will sing 67 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,000 How great 68 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,000 Is our God 69 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Name above all names 70 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,000 Worthy of all praise 71 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,000 My heart will sing 72 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,000 How great 73 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,000 Is our God 74 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,000 How great 75 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000 Is our God 76 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 Sing with me 77 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,000 How great 78 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,000 Is our God 79 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Oh, we'll see 80 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000 How great 81 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000 How great 82 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Is our God 83 00:15:45,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Blessed be your name 84 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,000 In the land that is plentiful 85 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:11,000 Where the streams of abundance flow 86 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000 Blessed be your name 87 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Blessed be your name 88 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,000 When I'm found in the desert place 89 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000 Though I walk through the wilderness 90 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Blessed be your name 91 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000 Every blessing you pour out 92 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000 I'll turn back to praise 93 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,000 When the darkness closes 94 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000 And Lord, still say 95 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 96 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:53,000 Blessed be your name 97 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 98 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:03,000 Blessed be your glorious name 99 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,000 Blessed be your name 100 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000 When the sun's shining down on me 101 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,000 When the world's all as it should be 102 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,000 Blessed be your name 103 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,000 Blessed be your name 104 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000 On the road marked with suffering 105 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,000 Though there's pain in me offering 106 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,000 Blessed be your name 107 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Every blessing you pour out 108 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,000 Turn back to praise 109 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,000 When the darkness closes in door 110 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,000 Still I will say 111 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 112 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,000 Blessed be your name 113 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 114 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Blessed be your glorious name 115 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,000 You give and take away 116 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,000 You give and take away 117 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,000 My heart hurts you in 118 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Blessed be your name 119 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,000 You give and take away 120 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000 You give and take away 121 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,000 My heart hurts you in 122 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,000 Well, blessed be your name 123 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 124 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Blessed be your name 125 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 126 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,000 Blessed be your glorious name 127 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 128 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,000 Blessed be your name 129 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,000 Blessed be the name of the Lord 130 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,000 Blessed be your glorious name 131 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,000 You may go ahead and be seated. 132 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Blessed be your name 133 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,000 Blessed be your name 134 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000 Blessed be your name 135 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000 Let's pray. 136 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000 Let's pray. 137 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000 Let's pray. 138 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,000 Amen. 139 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000 Let's pray. 140 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000 Let's pray. 141 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000 Let's pray. 142 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,000 Amen. 143 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Amen. 144 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,000 Amen. 145 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Let's pray. 146 00:28:50,000 --> 00:29:19,000 As we begin to prepare our hearts to gather around the table, I want us to draw our attention to hope, specifically to answer the question, "What is our hope in life and death?" And the historical answer to that from the church is that my one hope in life and death is that I am not my own, but I belong body and soul to Jesus Christ. 147 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:27,000 And so we're going to sing that, we're going to read a little bit from Romans, and then we will celebrate that with the Lord's Supper. 148 00:29:49,000 --> 00:30:11,000 What is our hope in life and death? Christ alone, Christ alone. What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him, Christ alone, Christ alone. 149 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:40,000 What is our only confidence? That our souls to Him belong. Who holds all days within His hand? What comes upon from His command? And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand. 150 00:30:40,000 --> 00:31:09,000 Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. 151 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:38,000 What truth can cause the troubled soul? God is good. God is good. Where is His grace and goodness known? In our grave, Redeemer's blood. Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial? 152 00:31:38,000 --> 00:32:07,000 Who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore, the rock of Christ. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess. 153 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:14,000 Christ, our hope in life and death. 154 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:36,000 Unto the grave, what will we sing? Christ, He lives. Christ, He lives. And what reward will heaven bring? Everlasting life with Him. 155 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:57,000 There we will rise to meet the Lord. Then sin and death will be destroyed. And we will feast in endless joy. When Christ is ours forevermore. 156 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:20,000 Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now whatever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope in life and death. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope in life and death. 157 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:43,000 Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now whenever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death. Now whenever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death. 158 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:50,000 Now whenever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death. 159 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:14,000 It is, I think, so easy to put our hope in so many things that ultimately will not satisfy the needs of our hearts. 160 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:24,000 And I think maybe God's been teaching me that lesson a little bit this morning because it seems like in all the things we've tried to do from our Bible study this morning, 161 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:33,000 there's always been something that says to me, "Maybe, Brandon, you're not as in control of things as you would like to be." 162 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:38,000 And that's what our world does to us, right? And it's been a lot of small ways this morning. 163 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:50,000 But think about all the big ways in life: the surprise illness, the struggle in a job, the relationship problems that arise, 164 00:34:50,000 --> 00:35:00,000 the difficulties, the sickness, the hurts, and difficulties of just living in this world are a constant reminder to us 165 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:09,000 that we need to hope in something that is bigger than ourselves. Our best efforts ultimately come up short. 166 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:16,000 In Romans, the fifth chapter, it begins like this: "Since, therefore, we have been justified by faith, 167 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:25,000 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace 168 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:35,000 in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope and glory of God. And Paul begins Romans 5 by saying, "Your hope is not in yourself, 169 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:44,000 but it is in the glory and the greatness of God." And then he's going to begin to unpack the road 170 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:49,000 that this hope leads us down, the road that sometimes walks through suffering. 171 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:55,000 And Paul will say, "Suffering will teach you endurance as you trust in the hope of God." And that endurance 172 00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:00,000 is going to help lead you into character, and then that character is going to lead you back into hope. 173 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:08,000 That hope is both the beginning, but it's also what sustains us in the midst of the storm, and it's also what's 174 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:14,000 produced in our character as we come out the other side. 175 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:21,000 And then he says this, "And our hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our 176 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:28,000 hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." And I hear that, and I say, "Well, how is God 177 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:34,000 pouring the hope through the Holy Spirit into our hearts?" And Paul, in a way that I love so much, 178 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:43,000 will give us the answer to that. He will say this, "Because, or for, while we were still weak, 179 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:49,000 at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, 180 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:57,000 though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, 181 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:07,000 and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While I was at my weakest, and while I was 182 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:16,000 at my most hopeless, God didn't look at me and say unworthy and unbroken, even though, and broken 183 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:24,000 even though I was. He sends Christ into this world to take my brokenness, to give me his righteousness. 184 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:33,000 You see, for us as Christians, the hope that we see, whether in good times or in trials, as 185 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:40,000 we move through life, is not found in us. It's found in the good news of the gospel, that God 186 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:48,000 shows his love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so as we remind 187 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:53,000 ourselves of the foundations of this hope, we are going to partake together in the Lord's Supper. 188 00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:03,000 Let's pray. Father, bring us to hope this morning. Calm our troubled and weary souls. Give us strength. 189 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:12,000 Give us peace. Help us to see your goodness. Point us to Jesus as we break this bread and drink this cup. 190 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:22,000 Remind us of your love for us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would, take the bread with me as we are 191 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:37,000 reminded of how Jesus' body was given for us. And if you would, take this cup together as we are 192 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:48,000 reminded of the blood of Jesus that was given for our sins. As we partake of this meal together, we 193 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:55,000 proclaim our hope, not in ourselves, but in Jesus. And we proclaim it together with our brothers and sisters in 194 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:02,000 Christ. And to sort of cement this into our hearts, before we dive into Matthew, the 16th 195 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:11,000 chapter, let's stand. We're just going to sing very quickly, "Jesus Loves Me." So let's go ahead and be standing. 196 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:28,000 Maybe. 197 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:36,000 So we're going to dive into the Word of God. This is what I was talking about this morning when I said a 198 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:43,000 constant reminder of our hope is not in ourselves and in our technology, kind of a silly reminder, but one that 199 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:49,000 I think is so necessary to our hearts. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and grace. Thank you for 200 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:56,000 your Word. Be with us this morning. Help us with this text. We just thank you for the grace that you have poured 201 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:02,000 out in our lives. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated, unless you want to stand for the 202 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:08,000 sermon, and my monitor up here also is still stuck on the very first slide, so we're going to leave it 203 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:14,000 there, unless they want to follow along back there, but that can be difficult sometimes. So, one of the 204 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:23,000 interesting things about watching kids learn to read, specifically when it comes to words, and I have 205 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:31,000 always forgotten how confusing English can be, because we have a lot of words that kind of mean the 206 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:37,000 same thing. They're spelled the same way. They sound the same way, sound the same, but they mean something 207 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:44,000 different. And so our kids, last week were getting ready to go play dodgeball for the first time, and so some 208 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:51,000 of you will understand this, some of you won't, so I was giving them the proper schooling for dodgeball, right, the 209 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:59,000 five D's, like dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge for dodgeball. And when I wrote the word duck, one of our 210 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:06,000 kids goes, "Dad, that's not how you spell duck. Duck is a bird that goes quack, quack," right? And it's spelled 211 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:13,000 the exact same way, right? But it means something very different, right? So if you yell at somebody, duck, 212 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:18,000 and they look around going, "Where is my aquatic feathered friend?" And then they get hit in the face 213 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:24,000 with the baseball, right? You've misunderstood the word. Although if you go duck and they drop to the 214 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:32,000 ground and they miss the duck walking along or waddling along the street, right, those words, while they're 215 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:40,000 spelled, they're spelled the same, pronounced the same, they mean very, very different things. And so this 216 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:48,000 morning we are going to attempt to begin an answer to the question, "What is the church?" And one of the things 217 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:55,000 about the word church is that it can mean a lot of different things depending on the context in which 218 00:41:55,000 --> 00:42:00,000 it's used. And when I say that, I don't mean necessarily biblically, I mean in terms of our 219 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:07,000 understanding. So for us, when we use the word church, we use it in terms of . Sometimes people 220 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:11,000 will call me and say, "Hey, are you at the church or are you at home?" I say, "Well, it's kind of the same thing. 221 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:17,000 I can be either place depending on where you need me to be." We view the church as a location. But we also 222 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:25,000 sometimes view the church as a gathering at a specific time in a specific day of the week where we get 223 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:32,000 together and worship. So we say, "Well, what time is church in the morning?" Or, "Are you going to church? 224 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:37,000 Are you going to be at church tomorrow?" And then we can use it in kind of a general 225 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:44,000 religious sense for sort of summing up an entire system of belief. We see it oftentimes in the news 226 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:50,000 or in politics where we talk about the church and the state or the separation of the church and the state. 227 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:55,000 We use "church" in a lot of different ways. In fact, if you go to the dictionary, 228 00:42:55,000 --> 00:43:03,000 there's like 14 variations. A lot of them similar. But we use the word "church" in a lot of different ways. 229 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:12,000 And so what I want us to try to do this morning is to begin to clarify what we mean when we say "church." 230 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:18,000 Right? And this is important for us as a church, as we think about what it means to be the church, 231 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:25,000 as we seek to grow together in the church and reach out as the church. We need to understand 232 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:32,000 and to be on the same page with what we are talking about. And throughout church history, 233 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:39,000 people have brought up a lot of different and very good and very biblical definitions of the church 234 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:46,000 and patterns by which we can identify what the church is and things the church should have. But I want to start 235 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:53,000 this morning in the very first place that you find the word church mentioned in the New Testament. 236 00:43:53,000 --> 00:44:01,000 And that place is in Matthew, the 16th chapter. And I love this text. And at the same time, 237 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:07,000 as I'm preparing to preach through it, I'm a bit frustrated by this text, not because it's necessarily 238 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:15,000 difficult, but because this is a deep well of wonderful truth about the church that Jesus' bell, 239 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:25,000 Jesus' bell, Jesus sends out, that Jesus strengthens, and there is so much here. I'm just, 240 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,000 there's a lot happening in this text, and it's all good, and it's all wonderful. So let's read it, 241 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:34,000 and then I'm going to try not to say everything that I'm thinking about in these verses. 242 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:43,000 Matthew 16, beginning in verse 13. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his 243 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:50,000 disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they say, some say John the Baptist, others say 244 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:58,000 Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 245 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:06,000 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, 246 00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:11,000 Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is 247 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:18,000 in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall 248 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:24,000 not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth 249 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:29,000 shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And then he strictly charged 250 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:37,000 his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. And so we begin this morning in a remote location in the 251 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:46,000 district of Caesarea Philippi. This town is 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, near the base of Mount 252 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:57,000 Hermon, at the base of this river, which becomes one of the sources for the Jordan River. And the question that is 253 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:04,000 raised about this location is why is Jesus here? And I think there's a very good reason for it. We'll see it in 254 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:09,000 here in just a minute, but Jesus likely, in the midst of preaching and teaching through 255 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:14,000 all the towns of Galilee, comes to this region that is very small, not a lot of 256 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:18,000 people, but there is a lot of idols and a lot of false worship, and brings his 257 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:25,000 disciples here in part for a break from the strains of ministry, but also 258 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:36,000 founded by spiritual opposition. This is a thoroughly pagan region. In the Old 259 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:41,000 Testament, the towns in this region all had the prefix Baal for the false gods that 260 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:48,000 the tribes of Canaan worship. In the 4th century before Jesus, there was a shrine 261 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:55,000 belt to the pagan God Pan in this cave out of which where the river flowed. Some 262 00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:59,000 viewed this as the gates to the underworld, which shines some light on what 263 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:04,000 Jesus is saying about the gates of hell. He's standing in this region where 264 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:09,000 people believe the gates of the underworld went, surrounded by pagan religion, going 265 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:14,000 all the way back to the beginning of the Canaanites in this land, and in the 4th 266 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:18,000 century with the Greek God Pan, and then later on a temple is going to be 267 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:24,000 built to worship the Roman Empire, and about the year Jesus was born, 268 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:29,000 and then Philip, the ruler of this region, will rename this town Caesarea 269 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:34,000 Philippi after the Roman Empire, Emperor, and after himself. It is a 270 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:39,000 thoroughly pagan place. And in the midst of this place, the worship surrounded 271 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:44,000 both the temples of the emperor and this shrine, which is a cave cut into the 272 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:48,000 walls, and if you go back and look at this, you can see the ruins of temples 273 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:53,000 built on either side, and the giant rock or the giant cliff that surrounds this 274 00:47:53,000 --> 00:48:01,000 cave is filled with little niches where idols were placed, right? This is a 275 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:08,000 and a pagan region that is filled with false gods. And I think it is no accident 276 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:17,000 that it is in this place where the church is first mentioned. And Jesus starts 277 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:22,000 with a difficult question. He actually starts with an easy question, because he'll say 278 00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:26,000 to the people as disciples to say, "Who do those people say that I am?" 279 00:48:26,000 --> 00:48:30,000 And it's always easy to answer for somebody else. And they'll begin to answer 280 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,000 with what they've heard from the crowd. Some say you're John the Baptist. 281 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:38,000 Some say Jeremiah. Some say Elijah. Some say this prophet or that prophet. 282 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:47,000 And then Jesus is going to ask the hard question, a personal question, a question 283 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:52,000 that for his disciples requires a decision and also a commitment. 284 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:57,000 He's going to say, "Who do you say that I am?" 285 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:01,000 Right? It's harder to answer for ourselves. 286 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:07,000 Especially a question like this because when we say it, it's our belief. 287 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:13,000 When we say it, it's our commitment. And Jesus answers this question. 288 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:18,000 And Peter simply replies this in Matthew 16:16. 289 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:22,000 "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 290 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:26,000 And what Peter is doing in this very simple confession, 291 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:29,000 what's known as the good confession or the great confession, 292 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:32,000 that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, 293 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:36,000 he is declaring that in Jesus there is hope. 294 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:42,480 And not just a hope, but in Jesus is the hope for all people. 295 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:48,000 We bring it back to Adam when the snake crusher came. 296 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:52,000 The first gospel who would come and crush evil. 297 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:58,000 The one to whom Abraham said, "Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed." 298 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:03,000 The descendant of David who would sit on the throne of his father forever, 299 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,000 and of his kingdom there will be no end. 300 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,000 When Peter says, "You are the Christ." 301 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:11,000 He's saying, "You are the Messiah." 302 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,000 "You are the promised one." 303 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:17,000 But Peter goes even further than saying that Jesus is the promised one. 304 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:21,000 He says, "You are the Son of God." 305 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:26,000 That you are God in the flesh. 306 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:30,000 In Isaiah chapter 9 it says, "For unto us a child is born, 307 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:34,000 and unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, 308 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:39,000 and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, 309 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:44,000 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace." 310 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:50,000 And Peter says, "You're not just the one sent to save, but you are God in the flesh." 311 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,000 And then he goes a step further. 312 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:56,000 He says that you are the Son of the Living God. 313 00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:58,000 And understand what Peter is saying. 314 00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:03,000 He is in this region that is utterly and thoroughly saturated 315 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:11,000 with false worship to the emperor, to these idols, maybe even to the old Canaanite gods. 316 00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:17,000 A giant mountain of a boulder surrounding a cave. 317 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:21,000 And Peter says, "You are the living God." 318 00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:24,000 This amazing contrast. 319 00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:32,000 That these idols sit in their little holes, in their little shrines, and nothing happened with them. 320 00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:41,000 Isaiah will say this, "They do not know, they do not discern these idols that do nothing." 321 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:51,000 And in the midst of these false, deaf, dumb, blind idols, Peter says, "You are the living God." 322 00:51:51,000 --> 00:52:01,000 And I want you to understand this morning, this is not just a remarkable and wonderful confession of the truth. 323 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:06,000 It's not just a theological exercise. This is transforming. 324 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:13,000 Right? Peter's confession is not simply a theological statement for us to repeat, 325 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:24,000 but it is a world-changing, life-changing, transforming truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. 326 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:33,000 And Jesus then begins to address Peter's confession. In doing so, he's going to tell us something about the church. 327 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:45,000 The first thing we see in these verses is that Jesus is the center of the church. The church is built on Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus. 328 00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:53,000 Jesus is the foundation of the church. When Jesus says, "This rock," and we'll talk about this more in a minute, 329 00:52:53,000 --> 00:53:01,000 he's not referring to Peter, although Peter is incredibly important. He's talking about this confession. 330 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:11,000 That he is the one who comes to save God in the flesh, in the power of a God who is alive, in contrast to these dumb, 331 00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:22,000 broken, blind, lifeless idols. That this is the foundation that the church is built upon. That Jesus is our savior and that he is 332 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:34,000 God in the flesh. Not simply existing, but living and active. And in Romans 8, we see Jesus interceding for his people. 333 00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:43,000 And in Revelation 1, walking among the church. The church must be built upon the foundation that Jesus is our savior. 334 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:51,000 And he is the living God. The second thing that Jesus says is that I will assemble or build my church. 335 00:53:51,000 --> 00:54:02,000 The word ekklesia here that is used for church. In fact, it's pretty popular in churches naming themselves, you know, ekklesia. 336 00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:09,000 And if you Google churches near you with that name, you'll find churches all over name this. It simply means assembly. 337 00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:20,000 A group who is gathered together. And Jesus says, "I am gathering together a group." Not just throwing out a loop and dragging 338 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:29,000 people in, but this assembly is those who have built their lives upon the truth that I am the Savior, that are built upon 339 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:41,000 the rock of Christ. This assembly is made of those who are saved by Jesus. And so Jesus is the foundation of the church, but 340 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:49,000 Jesus is also those who save those who are gathered together in the church, and then he doesn't just save and 341 00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:58,000 gather, he then builds the church. And I don't know how we can say this any more clearly. Jesus says, "I will build my 342 00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:09,000 church." That the church belongs to me. This gathering of people that I have saved, I will then build. And this has such 343 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:22,000 incredible practical implications for us in our church. It's not about us. We're not the foundation. We're not the 344 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:31,000 gatherers. We're not the builders. It is Jesus. He is our rock. He is our savior. And he is the one who empowers and strengthens 345 00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:38,000 the church. Now there's two things about this. One is that for us, this truth can be a little bit difficult. 346 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:46,000 Because our tendency and the world in which we live reinforces this in so many ways, telling us that we are the 347 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:55,000 center, that it's about me and my abilities and my opinions and the things I like and the things I've always done. And in this 348 00:55:55,000 --> 00:56:07,000 picture of the church, we see that we are not the center, but that Jesus is. And in one sense, this is humbling and is 349 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:19,000 difficult for us. But in another sense, this is remarkably freeing. It's not all on my shoulders. I don't have to worry 350 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:26,000 about all of it. I fix my eyes on Jesus. He's the one who saves me. He's the one who helps me. He's the one who 351 00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:34,000 gives me strength, direction, and purpose. And in one sense, understanding that Jesus is the center is an attack on our 352 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:43,000 pride. And it's also encouragement for our weakness. So to the proud among us, Jesus says, "I'm the center, not you." 353 00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:54,000 And to the weak and discouraged among us, Jesus says, "I'm the center, not you. It's on my shoulders and my strength. I will be 354 00:56:54,000 --> 00:57:03,000 the one who builds the church." And so the church, centered on Jesus, is also empowered by Jesus. 355 00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:13,000 Jesus's statement that I will build my church is a testimony that the strength of the church does not come from us, right? 356 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:22,000 It's so easy for us to rely on our own strength. And I love the story of Gideon, and it's such a familiar story to many of us. 357 00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:32,000 But it is a picture of the strength of God in the life of a person who is not strong enough. And Gideon, as they're being oppressed 358 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:41,000 by those nations outside of Israel, is hiding in a winepress threshing wheat, the angel of the Lord comes and says, 359 00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:49,000 "Hail, mighty warrior." And Gideon says, "You have the wrong address," and immediately lists all the reasons why he's not a mighty warrior. 360 00:57:49,000 --> 00:58:01,000 The angel of the Lord will deal with those, and Gideon will be sent on a mission, first to pull down an idol and then to face the opposing army. And as Gideon gets ready 361 00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:13,000 to face this opposing army, he draws up an army of Israelites, thirty-five thousand, or thirty-two thousand men. 362 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:22,000 Alright, that sounds like a good army, to stand there with thirty-two thousand men at your back, about to go into battle against the enemies of God. 363 00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:30,000 The problem is, the army that faces him is a hundred and thirty-five thousand men. 364 00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:36,000 And, I'm not great at math, because I went to Bible college, but I can use a calculator. 365 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:46,000 And if you go into battle with thirty-two thousand men, versus a hundred and thirty-five thousand men, and you're using hand-to-hand combat and bows and arrows, 366 00:58:46,000 --> 00:58:54,000 that means each of those thirty-two thousand men is basically going to have to kill, and I'm rounding up, four and a quarter enemy soldiers, right? 367 00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:59,000 So you have to go into battle, and before you die, because you're overwhelmed by the amount of people coming at you, 368 00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:05,000 you have to kill four and a quarter enemy soldiers. And you know what God does? 369 00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,000 He looks at Gideon and this army, this army that I'm sure Gideon goes, is far too small. 370 00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:15,000 And God goes, "You know what? Your army is too big. Anybody who's scared gets to go home." 371 00:59:15,000 --> 00:59:28,000 And twenty-two thousand people leave. He's now left with an army of ten thousand. And so now, if you're part of that ten thousand, you've got to kill thirteen 372 00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:40,000 dudes before you die in order to win. And then God goes, "That's still too many." And they reduce the number all the way down to three hundred men. 373 00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:57,000 What that means is these three hundred men facing an army of one hundred and thirty-five, you have to kill four hundred and fifty enemy soldiers before you die in order for Israel to not be defeated. 374 00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:07,000 It's overwhelming. We don't have enough strength. You know why God does this? He says it at the beginning of Judges chapter seven. 375 01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:19,000 I did this so at the end of this battle you won't say, "My hand saved me." He does this because our tendency is to look at us in our victories and say, "Look what I have done." 376 01:00:19,000 --> 01:00:28,000 And God says, "I'm going to put you in an impossible battle, so at the end of it you know that I am your only hope and I am your only strength." 377 01:00:28,000 --> 01:00:41,000 And when Jesus says, "I will build my church," He is testifying to this fact that the strength of the church does not come from us, but it comes from Him. 378 01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:50,000 Jesus is saying, "I am your strength, I am your hope, I am the one who fights for you in the face of overwhelming odds." 379 01:00:50,000 --> 01:01:03,000 What you find is that Jesus is at work. Jesus then makes this statement, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." 380 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:12,000 And now this, not only is Jesus our strength, He's empowering the church, He's now going to give the church authority in terms of the keys of the kingdom. 381 01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:25,000 And we think about this, we understand this pretty well. Keys unlock stuff, and they lock stuff. And when you are given keys, you are given a measure of authority and a measure of responsibility. 382 01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:37,000 If it's your house, it's your responsibility to lock and unlock your door. If you're working at a business, and you're given a key to the door, right, it's your job to lock and unlock and to be responsible. 383 01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:48,000 And so when we hear keys to the kingdom, God is giving the church authority. So two things, right? What does it mean when Jesus says these keys bind and loose in the kingdom? 384 01:01:49,000 --> 01:01:56,000 Jesus is using legal terms from the Jewish people that speak of allowing or forbidding. 385 01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:02,000 Just like we unlock a door to allow people to enter, or we lock a door to forbid people from coming in. 386 01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:08,000 And this is not the church acting on its own accord, saying we're going to allow this, we're going to forbid this. 387 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:17,000 What we are doing is acting in accordance with the will of God, just like you pray in the Lord's Prayer that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 388 01:02:17,000 --> 01:02:29,000 The church, through these keys to the kingdom, is allowing or forbidding, not of our own preferences, but through the will of God making his will known on the earth. 389 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:38,000 And when we talk about loosing with these keys, that simply means proclaiming the good news of Jesus. 390 01:02:38,000 --> 01:02:45,000 When we proclaim the good news of Jesus, what we are doing is we are unlocking a door and throwing it open, 391 01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:57,000 and inviting people in. But when we are binding with these keys, what we are doing is talking about 392 01:02:57,000 --> 01:03:13,000 the judgment of God. We're saying that sin is not a part. It's used in church, in the gospel. It's not judging someone. It's simply saying that there is a standard. 393 01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:26,000 And when the church exercises this judgment of locking or unlocking, we're declaring the gospel, or we are declaring God's judgment. 394 01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:35,000 And we look at these keys to the kingdom, and we say, "Isn't this just for Peter?" Right? Peter gets the one who gets to unlock, and he gets to lock. 395 01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:45,000 What's interesting is two chapters later, Matthew chapter 18, Jesus will say the same thing to the church as a whole. 396 01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:55,000 In Matthew 18, 17 and 18, he will say, "To the church, you can bind and you can loose, because to you who are given the kings of the kingdom." 397 01:03:55,000 --> 01:04:04,000 What that means is, as a church, we've been given the authority to say the things that Jesus says, not to add to it, not to make it our own opinions, 398 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:12,000 but rather to declare the good news of the gospel, and to declare the judgment of God. 399 01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:22,000 The church is centered on Jesus, empowered by Jesus, and sent by Jesus. We're given a message to proclaim. 400 01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:33,000 As you hear Peter's declaration of who Jesus is, it's not simply his own conclusion. Jesus says, "Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, 401 01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:43,000 but my Father who is in heaven." Peter's message about who Jesus is, is a declaration of God's truth by God's power. 402 01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:51,000 And God has done this in the church, that we are called to declare the message of who Jesus is. 403 01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:58,000 And then we are given a plan for advancing. "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. 404 01:04:58,000 --> 01:05:02,000 And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 405 01:05:02,000 --> 01:05:10,000 Over the past couple years, I have gotten a whole bunch of experience with gates. 406 01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:17,000 And what I have found is that some gates are easy to unlock. Some gates are harder to unlock. Some gates kind of stick. 407 01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:21,000 Some gates you have to lift. Some gates you open and the horses are trying to get out. 408 01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:26,000 Some gates you open and they simply don't care. Here is what I have never had happen. 409 01:05:26,000 --> 01:05:31,000 I have never had a gate try to attack me. I have never woken up with a gate. 410 01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:38,000 Beating on the front door of my house. Gates are simply there in general to keep things in. 411 01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:53,000 And when we hear this about the gates of hell, one of the ways the church has taken this is that we are to hide and we are to hunker down because the gates of hell are coming for us. 412 01:05:53,000 --> 01:06:00,000 That's not the picture of a gate. A gate doesn't attack you. Gates are passive. 413 01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:06,000 Don't worry that a gate is waiting outside to bring its revenge. 414 01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:10,000 Right? We've gotten this verse so very backward. 415 01:06:10,000 --> 01:06:15,000 We frequently see this as a promise that hell won't overwhelm the church. 416 01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:21,000 That's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying that the message of the church is to overwhelm hell. 417 01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:27,000 That the gates of hell will not and cannot stand against the church. 418 01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:36,000 The church has a mission that's not to be hidden in and hunkered down, but charging the very gates of hell. 419 01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:45,000 And the promise is that when the church gets there, those gates burst open. 420 01:06:45,000 --> 01:06:51,000 The gates of hell are not attacking the church. The church is attacking the gates. 421 01:06:51,000 --> 01:07:06,000 I want you to see in all of this, centered on Jesus, empowered by Jesus, given a mission by Jesus, I want you to see the marvelous power of an unshaking foundation. 422 01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:15,000 In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, "As I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 423 01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:26,000 And what Jesus is doing is he's using this kind of funny, very clever play on words to tell Peter and us something wonderful. 424 01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:40,000 What he is saying is that you are Peter. The Greek word is petros. It means a small stone. If you walk in the gravel around behind the church, those little rocks that make up the driveway, 425 01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:55,000 that's a petros, a little stone or a little pebble. And Jesus is saying, "You are Peter, Petros, little pebble, and on this rock, Petra, 426 01:07:55,000 --> 01:08:07,000 which is a cliff or like a giant house-sized boulder, I will build my church." Jesus looks at Peter and says, "You little pebble, 427 01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:22,000 I'm going to build my church on this big rock." And Peter, this little pebble, is remarkable. He proclaims the solid rock 428 01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:34,000 of Christ, like ours, and sometimes march with his faults like we do. For example, just like five verses down, 429 01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:39,000 maybe more. Don't quote me. It's just like the next section down. Jesus is going to look at Peter and go, "Get 430 01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:47,000 behind me, Satan." And he's not like, "Hey, hey, you're acting like Satan." In a word of judgment, Peter will deny 431 01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:57,000 Jesus three times. Peter in Galatians will turn his back on the gospel. But this same pebble, this little 432 01:08:57,000 --> 01:09:04,000 Peter, with all his faults, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the pebble, he is going 433 01:09:04,000 --> 01:09:11,000 to throw open the door of salvation in Acts 2 to the Jewish people, and a little later to 434 01:09:11,000 --> 01:09:16,000 the Samaritans, and then to the Gentiles, that Peter will throw open the door of the 435 01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:25,000 gospel. This little pebble to the Jews, to the Samaritans, and to the Gentiles. And this 436 01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:32,000 little pebble on top of a big rock is such a powerful picture of God working in the brokenness 437 01:09:32,000 --> 01:09:40,000 of our life. It's not just a promise for Peter. Two chapters from now, these keys to the kingdom 438 01:09:40,000 --> 01:09:46,000 are given to the church. And Peter, later in his life, in 1 Peter 2, will write to the church 439 01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:53,000 saying that you're a bunch of little stones, built upon the living stone of Christ. There 440 01:09:53,000 --> 01:10:02,000 is this marvelous power in the unshaking foundation that is found in the cliff and the rock of 441 01:10:02,000 --> 01:10:09,000 Christ, that he takes all of our little pebbles, and he makes our little pebbles strong for 442 01:10:09,000 --> 01:10:17,000 the good news of the gospel. Our world can seem pretty stormy. One of my core memories, I have 443 01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:25,000 absolutely no idea how old I was. I remember that we were going on the ferry that crosses Lake Champlain, 444 01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:31,000 which is a pretty good-sized lake, and it was night, and we were in our car, and I don't know if we were 445 01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:37,000 going toward New York or coming back to Vermont, but all I remember was that it was dark, and it was 446 01:10:37,000 --> 01:10:44,000 stormy, and it was really wavy, and we're sitting in this car in a boat, and the whole boat is shaking 447 01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:49,000 and rocking, and I imagine my dad was probably enjoying it, and I'm sitting in the back terrified 448 01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:55,000 because I know cars don't float, and I don't know if I said anything to my parents, but I just remember 449 01:10:55,000 --> 01:11:04,000 in the darkness of that storm being so absolutely terrified, because you can't tell which way you're 450 01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:08,000 going to rock. You look next to you, and there's a tractor-trailer truck, and you're like, "Well, 451 01:11:08,000 --> 01:11:15,000 that's not going to help us float." And there is this uncertainty, and I remember the depth of 452 01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:20,000 that feeling. I don't remember any of the other details other than the storm and how I felt 453 01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:29,000 in the midst of it. And here we are as a church. We live in a pretty stormy world, a world just 454 01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:36,000 like Caesarea Philippi that is filled with false gods and false hope and the darkness of sin 455 01:11:36,000 --> 01:11:45,000 and the brokenness of the world in which we live. And the call for us is there is 456 01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:52,000 a rock of Christ, and he will take us and he will build us and he will empower us and he 457 01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:58,000 will send us out on this mission. But there's also a call for those who are lost 458 01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:04,000 in the storm without Jesus. And it seems like you're about to go underwater and 459 01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:10,000 everything you've tried doesn't work. And it seems like no matter how hard you try, it 460 01:12:10,000 --> 01:12:16,000 never gets lighter and it never gets calmer. The invitation is here if you are 461 01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:22,000 not a Christian. In the midst of that storm, let me tell you, there is only one rock that 462 01:12:22,000 --> 01:12:29,000 can take the weight of your brokenness and your fears and your sins and your hurts. And 463 01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:38,000 that rock is the rock of Christ. It's Jesus, the Messiah, Son of the living God, come to 464 01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:47,000 save, restore, and build, both in our lives and in our church. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank 465 01:12:47,000 --> 01:12:54,000 you for Jesus and for hope. It's easy for us sometimes to be discouraged in the darkness of 466 01:12:54,000 --> 01:13:03,000 the world to feel small, to feel underpowered and overwhelmed. May you direct our 467 01:13:03,000 --> 01:13:09,000 eyes to you, that you will see that you have a mission for your church, and that 468 01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:18,000 mission is found, and the strength is found in you. Help us this morning. Direct us to 469 01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:23,000 your goodness and to your grace. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 470 01:13:23,000 --> 01:13:28,000 We're going to stand and sing "Cornerstone." 471 01:13:50,000 --> 01:14:17,000 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. 472 01:14:17,000 --> 01:14:42,000 Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in the Savior's love through the storm. He is Lord, Lord of all. 473 01:14:46,000 --> 01:15:15,000 When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. 474 01:15:15,000 --> 01:15:44,000 Christ alone, cold as snow, weak made strong, and the Savior's alive through the storm. He is Lord, Lord I am. 475 01:15:44,000 --> 01:16:13,000 When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless than before. 476 01:16:13,000 --> 01:16:42,000 I stand alone, call us low, weak and strong, in the same as love through the storm. He is Lord, Lord of all. 477 01:16:42,000 --> 01:17:11,000 Christ our Lord, call us low, weak and strong, in the same as love through the storm. He is Lord, Lord of all. 478 01:17:11,000 --> 01:17:40,000 Thankful that you are here with us this morning. We are here Wednesday night for our Wednesday evening Bible study. If you are unable to make it on Wednesday night, we also meet Sunday mornings at 9:15. So if you would like to join us for that, we'd love to study the Scriptures together with you. 479 01:17:40,000 --> 01:17:55,000 Today is our monthly kids' church, and so we are excited and thankful for that. I'm going to pray and read just a couple verses from 1 Peter 2, and we will sing the doxology. 480 01:17:55,000 --> 01:18:09,000 Father in heaven, thank you for hope and strength. May our lives and our church be built upon Christ as we seek to live out practically the mission that you have given us, and as we think about that and pray about that 481 01:18:09,000 --> 01:18:19,000 and talk about that in the coming weeks. May you guide us to act and work in your guidance and wisdom and strength, and not in our own. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 482 01:18:19,000 --> 01:18:38,000 1 Peter 2 says this, "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. To be a holy priest, to offer spiritual sacrifices 483 01:18:38,000 --> 01:18:42,000 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 484 01:18:42,000 --> 01:19:07,000 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. 485 01:19:07,000 --> 01:19:12,000 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 486 01:19:37,000 --> 01:19:39,000 Amen. 487 01:20:07,000 --> 01:20:09,000 Amen. 488 01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:39,000 Amen.