The Seed Of Promise (1 of 10)
Series: Upon This Rock
Jeff Strite
Acts 1:1-14
There's a true story about a young boy named ''Greggy'' who was playing on beach. He spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath his hands. But then one day, some bullies came along and the kicked and smashed them all. And they did this day after day after day.
Now, Greggy wasn't big enough to fight back, but one day he thought of a solution. He built his sand castles as before... but this time he placed them on top of a foundation - a foundation of cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of cement. Then when the bullies came along, he ... disappeared... and he watched from safe distance as the bullies kicked at what they thought was only sand. (A personal story related by Gregory P. Elder)
Jesus said He was going to do the same thing. He told Peter, ''on this rock (Peter's confession) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'' Matthew 16:18
You see, Jesus came to do two distinct things:
1. He came to save the lost
2. And He came to build His church
Now the church Jesus came to build (of course) is us. Jesus came to take sinful folks like you and I (the LOST He'd come for) and build a church even the gates of hell couldn't stand against. Peter told the early Christians: ''... you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house...'' 1 Peter 2:5
WE... ARE... THE CHURCH. And Jesus died to put us together (like living stones) into a living church. Do you remember that thing they taught us in Sunday School ''Here's the church, here's the steeple. Open it up there's all the people''? (For the uninitiated, you can see it at https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CX-XmNjVAAAhzuk.jpg). But it's not true. This (holding up hands to form the church with the steeple) isn't the church. The Church is not a building. - it's ''the people (you and me).
And Ephesians 5:25 tells us this church was ...
Series: Upon This Rock
Jeff Strite
Acts 1:1-14
There's a true story about a young boy named ''Greggy'' who was playing on beach. He spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath his hands. But then one day, some bullies came along and the kicked and smashed them all. And they did this day after day after day.
Now, Greggy wasn't big enough to fight back, but one day he thought of a solution. He built his sand castles as before... but this time he placed them on top of a foundation - a foundation of cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of cement. Then when the bullies came along, he ... disappeared... and he watched from safe distance as the bullies kicked at what they thought was only sand. (A personal story related by Gregory P. Elder)
Jesus said He was going to do the same thing. He told Peter, ''on this rock (Peter's confession) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'' Matthew 16:18
You see, Jesus came to do two distinct things:
1. He came to save the lost
2. And He came to build His church
Now the church Jesus came to build (of course) is us. Jesus came to take sinful folks like you and I (the LOST He'd come for) and build a church even the gates of hell couldn't stand against. Peter told the early Christians: ''... you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house...'' 1 Peter 2:5
WE... ARE... THE CHURCH. And Jesus died to put us together (like living stones) into a living church. Do you remember that thing they taught us in Sunday School ''Here's the church, here's the steeple. Open it up there's all the people''? (For the uninitiated, you can see it at https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CX-XmNjVAAAhzuk.jpg). But it's not true. This (holding up hands to form the church with the steeple) isn't the church. The Church is not a building. - it's ''the people (you and me).
And Ephesians 5:25 tells us this church was ...
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