The Unstoppable Church: Built on Christ and Mission

This morning I want to talk to you about a spiritual unstoppable force. Jesus said that his church would be a church of such momentum that it would crash through the very gates of Hades themselves. Nothing can stop the spirit filled bible centered Christ exalting church of Jesus Christ. That's the beauty of this passage. This morning we're going to focus a lot on our church and what we believe God, what we know God has done. We're gonna rejoice in that. We wanna look forward to what we believe God is going to do. The church was meant to be an ever advancing body of believers with a spirit of conquest for the gospel. That's what Jesus intended for us. [00:35:20] (59 seconds)  #ChurchOnTheMove

Pan was the god of the underworld, the god of the dead, the abode of the dead. There was a cave near Caesarea Philippi that was, sort of reputed to be the the gateway or the portal to the underworld. And so that cave was named the Gates Of Hades. That was a it was a real geographic place. It was it was a feature of that region. [00:37:13] (28 seconds)  #GatesOfHadesLocation

Now let's talk about this passage this morning and walk through it for the next few minutes. First of all, there is a question we must clearly answer. As a church in our generation, there is a question that we still must answer. There is first of all the question in this passage of popular opinion. Jesus says, who do the people say that I am? Jesus asked his disciples to give him some feedback on what the crowds thought of him, and Jesus then listens to their responses. [00:39:04] (39 seconds)  #PublicOpinionVsTruth

but I'm in the checkout line and there was a magazine that had Jesus. I should have bought it and brought it. There's a magazine that had Jesus on the cover, but here's why I didn't buy it. Because I know this, when Jesus makes the cover of a magazine, it's usually not good news for Jesus, not the biblical Jesus. There's always gonna be something in that article that undermines the biblical Jesus. There's gonna be something in that article that does not portray him as who he is, as lord, as savior, as king. There is something about every culture that wants a Jesus that they can manage. [00:42:35] (40 seconds)  #DefendBiblicalJesus

As a church, we have made a decision and that decision is that we are going to believe that every word of this book is true. We stand on the authority of the word of God. We stand in the lordship of Jesus Christ and that is where our church has been historically and I say to you that is the state of our church today, that we are going to continue to stand on the word of God. [00:43:19] (30 seconds)  #ScriptureIsAuthority

when I look at the church in America today, I see I don't see a strong church. I'm talking about the church at large. I see a weakened church, a church that was weakened because of the COVID pandemic when churches were shut down, and that that deeply affected some churches. I'm happy to report to you that our church has done more than bounced back. [00:43:55] (26 seconds)  #ResilientChurch

See, every church, every local church, there there is a sort of a a life cycle to churches, and there are people who have researched these things that are much smarter than I am, but obviously it always starts with with a man, with Jesus. And then there is a gathering of people, there's a movement, And then those people begin to live on mission together. And and and when we live on mission together, that's when the gospel advances. That's when ministries of compassion take place. That's when the next generation is reached for Christ. That's when families are put back together. That's when we see people saved and baptized. [00:44:32] (38 seconds)  #LiveOnMissionTogether

But something happens inevitably in the life cycle of a church that if you don't focus on the mission, if you don't keep the gospel at the center, then it moves into maintenance. Now by maintenance, I I don't mean, and these people who write about this don't mean, doing maintenance on the facilities. That's just good stewardship. That's not what they're talking about. A maintenance mentality is we gotta just hold on to what we got. We don't wanna offend anybody and and anybody leave our church and and well, you know, we'll have five people die this year, so we need to reach a family to kinda replace those five. We just need to hold on to what we've got. [00:45:10] (38 seconds)  #MissionOverMaintenance

And a maintenance mentality will always move even farther down, and that is to a monument mentality. When we we've got monuments everywhere. We've plaques on things. You can't change anything, and that leads to the final stage and that is to a museum. I've been in some of the great cathedrals of Europe and they are museums to the past. [00:45:49] (25 seconds)  #AvoidMonumentMindset

Well, I'm gonna tell you that one of the ways you do that is by intentionally investing in the next generation. If our focus is on making sure that boys and girls and teenagers and college students are coming to faith in Jesus, then we'll stay at the top of that wave. We'll stay on mission for Christ. Let me give you some examples of what God has done and is doing in the life of our church. [00:46:27] (25 seconds)  #InvestInNextGen

His, For King and Kingdom Summit, Summit, that retreat is life changing for so many of these men, and essentially it is leading men out of the mundane and the routine to say I'm gonna live every day for my king and to advance his kingdom. As a matter of fact, five out of the six guys on this stage, and I won't point out the guy who wasn't, but but five out of the six guys on this stage went through that retreat [00:49:54] (30 seconds)  #LiveForTheKing

We don't mention numbers to brag. I always struggle with this sermon because it sounds like that. I I want you to know it's not that, but behind every number there is a name, there is a face, there is a person for whom Christ died and whom God loves. [00:50:35] (17 seconds)  #NamesNotNumbers

don't ever believe what some people say about and and and put it on our church which is called the Pareto principle. Some of you know this. There's an Italian philosopher named of any organization or will produce 80% of the results. If you have a business, 20 of your sales force will make 80% of the sales, that sort of thing. And some people put that on churches and say, 20% of the people give 80% of the money, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. That is boulder dash. You can look that word up. [00:51:00] (34 seconds)  #ParetoMythBusted

I'm gonna tell you this, this church functions every Sunday, every Wednesday, and through the weekdays on an army of volunteers. Those people out there in the parking lots, they deserve a pat on the back as much as anybody else, especially as it is feeling today. The people at the front doors, the people who serve in our preschool and children's student ministries, the people who lead your life group, the people who work on this stage, the people behind the scenes, this place does not function on the paid staff. [00:51:35] (27 seconds)  #VolunteerPowered

there is an obstacle however that we must constantly attack. Jesus says, who do you say that I am? And Peter speaks up in response. If you read your bible, you kinda hold your breath when the bible says Simon Peter answered because Peter could speak and it would just be spirit inspired brilliance. [00:52:37] (26 seconds)  #ConfessChristBoldly

``And for Jesus, he explains this is the very foundation of the church. Now there is a play on words in which Jesus responds. He says, you are Peter. You are Petros. You're a small stone. And upon this rock, Petra, I will build my church. Petras is little little stone, pebble. Petra is massive foundation stone. The church is not or on or on a pope or on any personality or on a pastor. The church is built on the foundational truth that Jesus Christ is the living God. That that's the foundation of the church. [00:53:29] (56 seconds)  #JesusIsTheRock

His church isn't a building. His church is a body. It is a body of believers, and we believe that it is our responsibility to join Jesus in building his church, to be the tools in his hands that build his church. [00:54:55] (22 seconds)  #ChurchIsABody

We do that sometimes through ministries of compassion. This past year, our church blessed those in the Texas Hill Country, and you gave offerings that we were able to to, send to bless those folks. Texans on missions were there, and you were a part of blessing that region of our state. In North Carolina, there was a horrible hurricane, and we sent a team of men who served there and, began the clean out and the cleanup of some of those areas, and you were part of that. We believe in ministries of compassion. [00:55:16] (37 seconds)  #CompassionInAction

You see, when we focus when we focus on spreading the gospel, on sharing the love of Christ, we become an unstoppable force and that's why Jesus said, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Gates don't attack anybody. We advance against the gates. Nothing can stop the church of the Lord Jesus Christ on mission. Let me tell you something. The Venezuelan dictatorship tried and praise God this week over a 100 evangelical pastors were released from prisons in Venezuela. [01:02:51] (47 seconds)  #GospelOnMission

But what you don't know is this, that there is an undercurrent of the gospel and Paul Chitwood says that the fastest growing Christian movement in the world is the church in Iran. It has happened underground and it is moving, and my prayer is that that Islamic totalitarian dictatorship falls and that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has a freedom in that country to proclaim the gospel. [01:04:01] (32 seconds)  #UndergroundChurchRising