Matthew 16:18
And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
If
the question were raised, How do we define the church? Over the next several
topical discussions we will look at the church from different points of view;
in today's discussion we defines the church as a congregation of believers who
have accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and is now members of
God's kingdom. The church is both visible and invisible where the physical
church is the structure or local congregation where believers assemble to
worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The invisible is the faith
component where all believers are united with Christ through their faith.
Jesus
Christ is the rock who is the great foundation of the church (1 Corinthians
3:11) and it was Peter's faith in Jesus Christ that Christ's church is built.
Peter solidified his faith as recorded in 1 Peter 2:4, 6-7 when he stated that
Christ is the "living stone…the chief cornerstone which the builders
disallowed." Peter's faith allowed him to become part of the living stones
as do all believers become living stones
and part of the spiritual structure of
the church that in turn make up God's spiritual house He is building (1 Peter
2:5).
It
is noteworthy to say that regardless of how hard Satan may try to destroy
Christ's church, it will stand forever.
Christ's
bride-the church.
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