The Believers Victorious Confession

Yes. We have our conservative Jesus. He's cloaked in an American flag and he wears a red cap. We have our genie Jesus. He's just simply there to give me health, wealth, and prosperity. We have our pride Jesus. He's ultra liberal and he waves a rainbow flag. Come on, somebody. We have our activist Jesus who's there to fight for justice and social change, but he fails to make disciples. But I want you to know in an age of religious confusion where distractions are amongst us, we what would distinguish us from the rest of the pack is a clear cut bold confession that Jesus is the Christ. [00:58:47] (40 seconds)  #JesusIsTheChrist

Jesus is saying the gates He's using gates here as a metaphor so as to describe the chains of death. You remember in certain Psalms and maybe the book of Jonah where he's describing himself being ebbed away and locked up in the chains and the throws of death. In essence, Jesus is saying that the grave has released its stranglehold on us because Jesus has conquered sin and death once and for all at the cross. Therefore, there is now victory in Jesus name and not even death itself can stop us. [01:16:39] (30 seconds)  #VictoryOverDeath

He is the Christ and as such, he's not a cosigner for my ideological cause. No. He's not an endorsement of my own personal endeavors. Jesus Christ is the king of kings and the lord of lords and as such, he deserves preeminence in all of my passion, in all of my praise, and he should be the final focal point in all of life's pursuits. I'm talking about Jesus this morning. I'm a little bit happy about Jesus. I don't know about you. [00:59:27] (31 seconds)  #JesusPreeminence

But you know what else it is? Our confession is a spiritual confession. In fact, so utterly spiritual is this confession that you can't even confess it from the heart and mean it without help from the holy ghost. Follow me into this text. In verse 17, notice what what Jesus says and does as a result of Peter's confession. Jesus was a little bit excited here because he says in verse six seventeen, Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah for this was not revealed to you by man but by my father who is in heaven. [01:03:25] (39 seconds)  #SpiritRevealedFaith

Reporter says, okay, well, what's the difference between Hinduism and Christianity? The guy says, Jesus Christ. By now, the reporter is getting agitated. He says, well, what did you gain then by becoming a Christian? And you guessed it, Jesus Christ. Yes. I want you to know that when it comes to Christianity, Jesus Christ is the point of it all. He is the reason we sing. He is the reason we celebrate. [01:00:55] (28 seconds)  #JesusIsCentral

And with this faith my friends, and this testimony that we have, we become a church of irresistible influence and irresistible impact right here in the Reisterstown, Owings Mills area and across the globe if we stay focused on Christ. That's the promise from today's word. In fact, you could summarize it again. The church Jesus builds carries irresistible influence because simply because of the confession that it possesses. And our confession is Jesus above all gods. Jesus above all kings. Jesus, the king of kings, the lord of lords and the one who saves souls even today. [01:20:47] (46 seconds)  #IrresistibleInfluence

We may be persecuted for our beliefs, but at the end of the day, we win. This text tells me that come hell or high water, the church that Jesus builds cannot be stopped. It's gonna persevere to the end. First of all, I want you to notice something again in this text that's pretty interesting and if you read past it too fast, you'll miss it. Jesus says, I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church. [01:11:30] (33 seconds)  #UnstoppableChurch

Keys mean access. And what Jesus is saying is that you and I have access to the father, access to the kingdom of heaven, access to his authority, and even through prayer we have access to partner together with Jesus to bring heaven's agenda down to earth. Praise God for kingdom access. For kingdom access. Do you know what kind of power you hold as a child of God, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? You hold incredible power and it's simply through your confession of faith in Jesus Christ. [01:19:47] (39 seconds)  #KingdomAccess