Title: The Power of the Great Church
Contents
Bible Text: Matthew 16:16-20
great power of the church
If you look at the human Peter, it's interesting. As an ordinary fisherman was washing his nets, he accidentally overheard Jesus. When he heard the saying, "Go out into the deep and cast your nets for a catch!", you go and cast your nets, and a lot of fish are caught. He knelt before Jesus and said, “I am a sinner, leave me.” Hearing the word to follow me, I made a bold decision and followed Jesus and became an apostle.
Sometimes he was bold (Luke 22:33), and sometimes he was a coward (Mark 14:66-67). Sometimes he was a hero, sometimes he was like Satan. Sometimes he was a servant, and sometimes he was a traitor (John 18:10-25,27). But he had the knowledge of what no one knew, and he was a rock that no one could compare with, and he was the one who received the key to the kingdom of heaven. He was the authority of the Lord's Church. I hope that all of you who listen to today's message will become the great authority of the church just like Peter.
There is a great knowledge of Jesus.
Many people know Jesus, but few know Him properly. When Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, many were amazed to hear it. Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom that this man has received, and the power of his hands? Is not this the carpenter, son of Mary? Aren't his sisters here with us? They rejected Jesus (Mark 6:2-3). They are people from the hometown of Jesus who live in the neighborhood. All they know is the man Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph. It is knowledge that makes people great.
The knowledge of knowledge is the knowledge of God. Ignorance of ignorance is ignorance of God. The knowledge of God is the foundation of knowledge. It is said that the fear and service of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). People perish because they don't know what they need to know. “My people perish for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being my priest; and since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children” (Hosea 3:6).
Those who truly know know that they do not know. Socrates said, "All I know is that I know nothing." Anyone who claims that there is no God with clumsy knowledge or experience is a fool. Atheists knelt before God and raised their hands as they rushed to argue that there is no God.
The Apostle Paul persecuted the church and was cruel toward the saints, confessing that he did it without knowing it. That is a sin committed ignorantly.
Who do people say the Son of Man is? When Jesus asked his disciples, some said John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Who do you say I am? “Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verses 13-16). He knew Jesus fully. He knew that he was the son of Mary and Joseph and at the same time the son of God. His knowledge was not from man, but from the knowledge of the soul, taught by God.
Jesus said, “Blessed are you, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (verse 17). The more you know the knowledge God has given you, the happier you are. The knowledge of Jesus makes you happy. It is the knowledge that makes you human. If you know him, you know the way of life, you know the truth, and you have life. The blessing of the womb is the right knowledge of Jesus. This knowledge is the power of the great teaching. I hope that you too will gain this knowledge and become an authority for the great church.
There is a great power to overcome the powers of Hades.
“And I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (verse 18).
What is “the powers of Hades”? The concept of the word Hades comes from the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Hades is the place where the rich man is in suffering, looking at Lazarus in Abraham's bosom from afar. Hades, where the rich are, is a cruel judge where not even a drop of water is given to cool a burning tongue. He begged the five brothers living in the world to send Lazarus to him, but he was rejected. This is where everything is blocked and any requests are denied. Hades is the final lake of fire where those who have no more opportunity or hope will be judged.
It is easier to pull down than to lift. The kingdom of heaven is above, and hell is below. If you pull it down from a low place, it will roll down. But there is a place where no one can bring it down. The powers of Hades cannot prevail. It is a rock. Those who hear the word and do it are the Rock. A house built on a rock will not fall. It doesn't matter if it's raining heavily, if a typhoon hits the wall, or if the flood hits the main grass.
“Whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock... and it will not fall, because the foundation is laid upon the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).
The power of Hades is the power of bringing down. It is a force that leads to destruction. The powers of Hades are alienating, causing them to fight each other. If they bite and eat each other, they will both perish. It is the power of Hades to destroy.
"There are people trying to divide us," Barack Obama said in his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech. There is no liberal America and there is no conservative America. There is only one America.” But Obama has his father's blood. His father, Obama Sr., came to Hawaii from Kenya, Africa, and was drinking at a pub when he was studying abroad, when a white man jumped up and said, "You can't drink next to a nigger!" and shouted. Everyone looked at Sr. Obama. It was an atmosphere that was going to take place. But when Obama walked up to the white man and smiled, explaining the folly of prejudice, the American dream, and the universal rights of human beings, he pulled out a hundred dollars to see if the white man was sorry. With that money, I paid all my alcohol bills and paid the rent for the month. His son, the blood of such a father, rules America. With the blood of Jesus, we will overcome the powers of Hades. The blood of the Passover Lamb defeated the plagues of death. May you possess the power to overcome the powers of Hades.
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome them” (verse 18). I hope you will overcome the powers of Hades with the power of the name of Jesus. Jesus power, my power! The power of the great church overcomes the power of Hades. Please stand firm on the rock and become the authority of the great church.
There is a great key that unlocks the gates of heaven.
I carry three keys. Home key, office key and car key. You have to open the house door to enter the house, and you have to open the office door to enter the office. You must open the car door to enter the car and start the car.
“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate that leads to destruction is wide, and the road is wide, and many people go through it, but because the gate is narrow and the road that leads to life is difficult, there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). He said that the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the gate that leads to life is narrow. The problem is the key. Even if you have a house, you cannot enter without a key.
Pastor Robert Schuller of the United States wrote a book called “The Key to the Future.” What is the key to unlocking the future? The first is “dream”. It must have been a dream to open the future.
Everyone who opened the future had a dream. In 1963, Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream. I dream of the day when blacks and whites hold hands and dance.”
I dreamed of a country that competes based on ability, not skin color. His dream has come true.
Colin Powell became Secretary of State as a black man. That position was followed by Condoleezza Rice, followed by Black President Obama. Dreams can come true at once, or they can come true in the future.
The key to unlocking the second future is “longing”. It's what I desperately want. Craving is thirst. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is taken by violent men.” In the prayer of the Korahites, they said, “My soul thirsts for you, O God; my soul longs for the living God…” (Psalm 42:1-2). If you really want it, it will happen.
The key to unlocking the third future is “adventure”. If you don't venture out, you won't get wealth. As Kiehlkegol said, “There is no faith without adventure.” Nothing can be achieved without adventure. There is a saying called fire rate (入火拾栗). It means going into the fire and gathering chestnuts. It means taking a big risk even for a small profit.
“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 in the party will be loosed in heaven” (verse 19).
The key to heaven is prayer. Whatever it is, if you believe and pray in the name of Jesus, it will be given to you. The key to heaven is faith. It becomes what you believe. The key to heaven “Jesus name” is the hope of the world. We enter the kingdom of heaven through the name of Jesus. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Please command and proclaim in the name of Jesus. Hearing the name of Jesus, the disease will go away. Please open the gates of heaven in Jesus name.
Great churches keep great commandments. It is to love God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40).
Great churches obey great commands. The great commandment is, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me; therefore go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20) In a word, it is a command to evangelize.
A great church must have a great dedication. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).
The great knowledge of Jesus, the great key to opening the kingdom of heaven, and the great power to overcome the powers of Hades are the great powers of the church. Let's have the power of the great church!