It's Me Again God

175. I Will Build

It's me again God,

It's always so wonderful to meet together with other Christians at church, to see You at work amongst these special brothers and sisters and to worship You together. Yesterday I was in awe of the way You were changing people's lives and bringing new hope to Your precious children for the first time. Seeing people being baptised in Your Name is always such a joyous event!

It made Jesus' words about the church seem so much clearer as I saw You at work:

"Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it."
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:18 NLT‬‬

This is the first time that 'church' is mentioned in the New Testament. It was quite some time before the beginnings of the church in Acts 2. Jesus was talking about what would come from His disciples and those who would believe in their message that Jesus is the Christ, Your very own Son. 

I find it fascinating that the ancient Greek word for church, 'ekklesia' was not necessarily a religious word —it actually just meant 'group' or 'called-out group'. It's interesting that Jesus chose a word without a religious meaning, to give to the group of believers that would be established after His death and resurrection. I am so thankful that being a Christian is not a religious activity but in fact a lifestyle —a relationship with You!

I love the way Jesus says 'my church', reminding me that I belong to You, along with all other gathered believers. This statement tells me a lot about Jesus as the owner/builder of the church. How special it is that Jesus says 'I will build my church', reminding me that He is the One who brings people together! It's all too easy to think that we are doing well when numbers in our gatherings are growing but Jesus is doing the building —we just serve and give all glory to Him!

How wonderful that Jesus builds the church on a very firm foundation - 'upon this rock I will build my church'. Simon, who Jesus had renamed Peter meaning 'the rock', would play a big part in establishing the church after Jesus returned to heaven but whatever Peter did or said was all established on what he had learned from Jesus and of course by then he would have also received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

It's also a important for the church to know that 'all the powers of hell will not conquer it'! Although forces of darkness may come against the church, they will not prevail. This is a comforting promise I can always hold onto!

Thank You so much for this reminder and for the privilege it is to be part of a group that is called by Jesus and built up by him! Everything I see when we meet together is Your handiwork —calling people, adopting them into Your family, giving them a new identity, filling people with Your Holy Spirit, giving them gifts to use and fruit to bear, making them ready to serve You and help in the task of making more disciples! No wonder I am always so excited when I leave church! I am so blessed in every way to be part of this special group that Jesus established —the church!

In His Name,
Amen.