Scripture:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. Mathew 16:24 AMP
Scripture:
Do you still not understand or remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up? Mathew 16:9 AMP
Scripture:
I will give you the keys (authority) of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth will have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth will have [already] been loosed in heaven. Mathew 16:19 AMP
Scripture:
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. Then Peter began to speak and said unto Jesus. Mathew 17:3-4a AMP
Scripture:
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. Mathew 16:18 KJV
In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul the Apostle tells us we are the temple of the living God. A temple we know, is a building used for religious worship; a place God meets with us. In effect, Paul is likening us, our human frame, as the temple or church of God. If we are the church, then God in-dwells us; if God in-dwells us, then we can never be disadvantaged, never be disgraced. And we can never walk alone. In other words, we are a living-breathing-carrying God's presence and sanctuary everywhere we go. We are God's cathedral. We can worship and hold communion with God at any time because we are his holy temple and he can be found in us. In our scripture for today, Jesus said he will "build the church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". Do you see why we can never be disadvantaged? He has issued a decree and nothing can stand against it. 'He will build' shows us that we're not perfect because he's not finished with us. Where we've written ourselves off, Jesus is just beginning. He will perfect everything that concerns us. As the church, we also need to live pure and holy. We cannot allow filth into the place where God dwells. When we keep God's church as a true church, the gates of hell will never prevail against us.
Let's pray: Father, remember your word. You said we will never be disadvantaged because hell will not be able to stand against your church. Protect us, deliver us and take us out of any evil. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen
Scripture:
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God." Mathew 16:15-16 AMP
