“And I say also 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.” —Matthew 16:18
The
sin-fighting preacher, baseball player, man of God and legend,
BILLY SUNDAY
(1862-1935).
Billy Sunday was a fighter, a preacher of the truth and a fervent man of God. Most ministers today can't preach their way out of a paper-bag! God give us some Billy Sundays! 2nd Timothy 2:3-4, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
A man once sent a video of himself preaching like Billy Sunday in an empty church auditorium. He asked for my opinion. I wrote back and told him to preach the exact same sermon on a busy street corner in front of hundreds of people and then send it back to me and I'd be impressed. He never wrote back. The most eloquent words and ability to preach life-changing sermons is totally useless if we don't take the message of the gospel to the lost.
The truth is that very few believers view the Christian life as a spiritual war that we are engaged in as soldiers for Christ. We won't win every fight, but the battle has already been won when Jesus raised up from the dead triumphantly. We are on the winning side in Christ Jesus. We already know from the Scriptures how the future is going to happen. All of the hardships, afflictions and heartbreaks of this life will soon be over for Christians, and we will be in the presence, provision and safety of our loving Savior in Heaven (John 14:1-3). What a day that will be!
Our text verse says that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church. Jesus is the Rock (Petra, foundation, 1st Corinthians 3:11) upon which the Church is built. The phrase “I will build my church” in Matthew 16:18 means that the Church is on the offensive (not the receiving end). The word “build” here is the Greek word oikodomeo and means “to be a house builder.” That is, the Church is proactive, earnestly contending for the faith, having done all to stand, aggressively fighting against evil by doing good, and storming into Hell's kingdom and rescuing the perishing with the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Please understand that the New Testament Church is NOT a 501c3 organization, which is a state-licensed business. The true Church is a gathering of local born-again believers. There is a worldwide Body Of Christ, composed of every Christian; but that is not the Church. The New Testament Church has always been a local assembly of believers, gathered together for the work of God—elevating the Savior, evangelizing the sinner and edifying the saints. The Church will be gathered together for the first time in history at the Rapture, which will occur BEFORE the 7-year Tribulation period.
The Church has the ball and we are on the winning team in Christ Jesus. The gates of Hell cannot resist our efforts to build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. 1st Corinthians 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Amen! Peter is NOT the foundation of the Church as Roman Catholics errantly teach. Jesus Christ is the foundation as we just read. Peter is called petros (a pebble stone) in Matthew 16:18; but Jesus is called Petra (a mountain). The authority of the Church is the Word of God. When men are in charge, then you have a demonic religious cult like Mormonism, Jehovah's witness or the Amish culture.
The Bible calls every believer a “soldier” of Jesus Christ. Every Christian believer is enrolled in God's army against the flesh, the world and the Devil. Those are every Christian's three enemies in life: the flesh, the world and Satan. We are at spiritual war! Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The Devil works to destroy every Christian, roaming about as a roaring lion seeking whom to devour (1st Peter 5:8). The Devil doesn't want young ladies to learn how to be good mothers and wives. The dirty, Communist, Socialist crowd doesn't want young men learning how to be decent fathers, husbands and citizens. Satan wants illegitimate babies, adultery and homosexuality. Satan's only agenda is to steal, kill and destroy your life, marriage, family and happiness (John 10:10).
There are many churches today who are glad not to have a rebel-rouser for a pastor. They'd never call a man of God like Billy Sunday, Jack Hyles or Harry Ironside to be their pastor. Instead they call a deadbeat minister to tickle their ears—a wimp who avoids preaching the truth, a compromiser who avoids being controversial, a milquetoast pansy who goes along to get along!!! God pity the wimp who answers to a pulpit committee! It would be a cold day in Hell before I'd ever allow any pulpit committee to tell me what I could or couldn't preach. Pulpit committees are of the Devil. When Korah and his men tried to interfere with Moses' leadership, God opened the ground and swallowed them into Hell...
Numbers 26:9-10, “And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.”
A true man of God is not for sale. A true man of God can't be told what to preach; but rather, he walks with God and preaches the truth. All across the world, cowardly ministers deliver pathetic sermonettes, restricted by a pulpit committee that dictates what he (or God forbid, she) can say. All women preachers are false prophets!!!
The great need of the hour is preaching preachers!!! 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Soul-winning is a command, not a calling or a method. We're supposed to go soul-winning whether church attendance increases or decreases. God's plan is preaching the gospel, not singing the gospel in a musical ministry. America is DEAD spiritually because it's churches are DEAD, because its pulpits are DEAD, because its men of God are DEAD. It all starts and ends with the INDIVIDUAL, that is, one man. Ezekiel 22:30 “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” Are you that man? Will you be the mother of that man? Behind nearly every great man of God is a godly mother. Are you the wife of that man, or are you a ball and chain that continually drags him down by your laziness, gossiping and emotional episodes?
Groups don't do great things for God, individual men do, leading other men and women to serve God. Likewise, behind every evil organization and work is one evil person. The Bible was written to the INDIVIDUAL. That means you. That means me, as individuals. The New World Order tries to destroy individualism, teaching that the greater good of the group far outweighs the value of any one individual. This is the underlying mindset behind war killings, the abortion industry and every form of manipulative evil on the planet.
In sharp contrast, Jesus left the 99 sheep to reach out and go find that ONE lost sheep...
Luke 15:4 and 6, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? ...And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
That ONE SHEEP meant the world to that loving shepherd. Oh my friend, YOU are so special to God. That's the one compelling thought that has sustained me through my tribulations over the past several years, which have been worse than death. I know the inexplicable mental anguish which cannot be expressed in words. I know the horror of soul that is worse than death. I know the feeling of total helplessness and the sorrow of my soul being in prison. It is only God's Holy Spirit Who indwells me, knowing that He has a purpose for my existence, that has sustained me through my darkest hours. . I can truly say with the apostle Paul...
2nd Corinthians 1:8-10, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.”
God Who raises the dead hath raised me up also, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior. The realization that I am a soldier of Christ, at spiritual war in this evil world, helps me to have a fighting mindset. We are at war!!! It's not time to rest, play and sit idle. There is much work to do while it is still day, for the night cometh Jesus said when no man can work (John 9:4). Most churches are entertainment centers and social clubs. It is sad that the New York Times Bestsellers are dictating, and have become the blueprint, for our churches today... Max Lucado, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Joyce Meters, Pat Robertson, et cetera. The Word of God is the only Final Authority of the Church.
Every Christian should value the
importance of each individual person. I CARE about those 2,745 who
were murdered on that dreadful morning of 09-11-2001 in New York. I
CARE about those few individuals who are murdered by drunk drivers,
in comparison to the 99% who can handle their alcohol (so they
deceitfully think).
Good Is Both The Cause And Cure For Evil
The following life-changing information is from Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) awesome Bible-study on JUSTICE - Part 16.
Evil doesn't attack the BE GOODERS, it attacks the DO GOODERS! The doing of good is what makes evil workers attack you! Evil is caused by doing good. That is, evil comes by doing good. Romans 7:21, “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” That means good causes more evil, and evil causes more good, and good causes more evil, and evil causes more good, which means doing good will always overcome evil, and evil cannot overcome doing good, so evil becomes the motivation for doing more good. Good is whatever overcomes evil. The doing of good is both the cause and the cure for evil.
Evil can make you or break you, depending how you respond to it. Psalms 119:67 and 71, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. ... It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” Hence, affliction is good for us, driving us closer in our walk with God as His children. Evildoers cannot triumph over us. That which does not defeat us can only make us stronger. When evil befalls you, go do good, do good, do good. You don't overcome evil with sympathy, but with good. Go find somebody to help, to feed, to cloth... DO GOOD!!! Boy this is good stuff!!! Is anybody listening?
Don't be surprised if people try to ruin you. Don't be surprised if evil people conspire against you. Evil is an organized system to destroy good. That's what the New World Order is, pure evil intended to stop good. A lot of people don't know that the Devil is inspiring them, but the Devil uses them to stop good. The Devil doesn't mind you stopping the being of good. Deeper-life churches sit around doing nothing, just being good, but never doing good.
Good is what overcomes evil. Romans 12:21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” If a church is dead, then they won't have any enemies. The Devil leads people to conspire against them. You destroy the evil by doing more good. You don't destroy the evil by attacking the evil.
1st Peter 3:8-9, “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.” And again we read in 1st Thessalonians 5:15, “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”If you spend your life doing good, you are going to be the object of evil people. Don't render hurt for hurt. Don't render conspiracy for conspiracy.
Evil always attacks good, but good is what conquers evil. Evil men conspire against good men. As God's children we are not to conspire against evildoers, lest we become evil and be as rotten as they are. So what do we do? DO GOOD! Keep on soul-winning! Keep on helping people! Keep on lifting the fallen! Good is the only conqueror of evil. Amen!
The Bible says that Jesus was a friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19), but not a friend to evil people. The evil people were the one's that Jesus railed on the most. The evil people were the one's trying to hurt others. The Pharisees and scribes were evil, conspiring to kill Jesus.
The Devil has nothing new. Every church has a majority of good people. 3rd John 1:10, “Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”
