"I Will Build My Church"

“I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not over power it.” (Matthew 16:18)

I want us to consider this morning, that if Jesus Christ said He was going to build His church, that’s exactly what has been going on, since He said it!  He hasn’t stopped building.  He hasn’t said, “That’s enough!  Enough already!”

No, He’s building, isn’t He.  And not just here in Savannah, but all over the United States, and all over the world, in spite of all that’s going on.  This is still the age of grace, where anyone can turn to Christ for the salvation of their soul, at any moment.

You and I can still witness for Jesus and know with certainty, God’s going to build His church.  One day, He’ll stop building, but not now, and He’s declaring to His Church, “Keep right on building.  Tell them the Good News.  Save souls!!!”

Every day, in every place, you can expect it.  And what may come as a surprise to some of us, is that God’s is going to keep right on building, even after the church has been raptured.

“After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands…These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple…” (Rev. 7:9, 14)

Now, I want to make sure that we know what this means, that our Lord is building His Church.  I know I could get into all sorts of theology here, on how He’s doing it, but I want to keep it simple and to the point this morning.

“So then, those who had received His word were baptized, and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” (Act. 2:41)

“Praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)

“But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4)

“All the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number.” (Acts 5:14)

“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose…” (Acts 6:1)

“The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”

Nothing has changed.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t have a new agenda for building the church of Jesus Christ.

Now, these are just a few examples of Jesus building His church, like He said He would.  In other words, their numbers were increasing, and the word of God kept on spreading.

Now, I think we all would agree, this was a supernatural happening, and that God was in charge, and actively involved in the daily affairs of church activities.  He was there to direct things, and to see to it that things were progressing, according to His plan.

For example, God told Peter in Acts 5:20,

“Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”

And so, Peter did what the Lord had told Him to do. 

In Acts 8:26, we see Philip getting new marching orders, telling him to leave the revival that he was in the middle of in Samaria, and go somewhere else.  Let’s turn there.

Turn to Acts 8:26-38

This is the way Jesus was building His church.  He directed everyone’s footsteps and they all rejoiced in what God was doing through them, everywhere they went.  Notice, in verse 39, that after the Ethiopian eunuch got saved, God picked Philip up, and put him somewhere else. 

“When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.  But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.”

These are a couple of examples of where God was literally speaking and sending His disciples forth, as He was building His church.  But let’s look at another example.  This time, God was building His church through persecution, and scattering His flock.

Read Acts 8:1-4

In this case, it wasn’t the apostles, going about preaching the word.  They had stayed in Jerusalem.  No, it was everybody who had the Good News.  The Church was going forth to reproduce itself, by the power of God.  Everyone was involved.

Now, I’d like for us to backtrack.  What was it that was enabling the Church to keep going forth like this, even in the face of persecution?  I know, everyone will say, “It was the Lord!”  Well, yes it was.  But let’s be specific.

There was something special about these brothers and sisters, that we are lacking in our day, and I want to get it back.

There are two primary elements involved with church building in the Book of Acts, that if only you and I could get it from God, man would things change.  Things would radically change here at Life Church of the Islands.  Turn with me to

Acts 1:8.

Notice, there is no mention here that God was going to sent them some great anointed Preacher or Bible teacher.  God didn’t say He was going to send a group of Prophets to prophesy over the church. 

He wasn’t sending another Christian TV show or movie to use for evangelistic purposes.  There was no mention at all of a world renown evangelist holding meetings nearby, or a really talented Christian recording group, coming to town.

There is nothing wrong with any of these things, and we have certainly all experienced them over the years.

But the answer for us, in our generation, to our boredom, our confusion, our dissatisfaction with church, our impatient longings, our fears and anxieties, is exactly what God promised and gave the early disciples.

Can you imagine, God sending that confused and fearful and disillusioned bunch of believers, out into Jerusalem, and Samaria and into the utter most parts of the world, to preach the Good News, in the state they were in?

No, God had a surprise for them, and He told them to wait for it, so they did.  And how did they wait?  “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” (Acts 1:14) Then, at last, on the day of Pentecost, the Surprise from God came.

Let’s read about it.  Acts 1:1-4

This is exactly what God had spoken of, that He had told them to expect.  And while they were waiting, they had been praying together, with one mind, for what God said He was going to send them.

Church, it’s exactly what we need today.  Nothing has changed.  And it’s the only thing that will send us forth into these days of growing deep darkness, that’s rapidly spreading all over the world.

Jesus says to us today, Life Church of the Islands:

Wait on Me in prayer, together, with one mind, and you will receive power from on high, and you shall be my witnesses.  God is building His church, and these two things are exactly what we need to build with God.

POWER AND TONGUES OF FIRE!

Let’s get personal for a moment.  Are you walking in this power today?  Do you have these “tongues of fire” that were set on fire to preach the Gospel with.  Do you have power and tongues of fire?

Well, let me put it another way.  How many people have you and I led to the Lord in the last month?  The last year?  This is what the early church was doing, all the time.  This is the way Christ was building the church.  We’ve already read:

“All the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number.” (Acts 5:14)

Brothers and Sisters, I want this.  I want to walk in this power!  I want tongues of fire!  I want it to be the most natural thing to boldly share Christ everywhere I go.   I want to save souls!  This is what you and I should be doing!

“And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22,23)

“I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22)

Now I know the Church is not the Savior.  Only Jesus can save a soul.  But if you look at it like Paul did, “That I may by all means save some.”… Paul didn’t say Christ, he said I.  Paul knew he had to go forth, he had to save them, in Christ!

Church, Jesus is not saving souls, without you and me working with Him and in Him.  He’s saving souls, and so are we, in Him.  Paul just said it!  This is how Christ is building His church.

“Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (1 Cor. 5:18,19)

Can we do this?  Yes, a thousand times yes!  This is God’s finest hour.  He’s getting things ready for the rapture.  Even as deep darkness covers the earth, the glory of God is coming upon the church.  We are going to shine for Jesus, and win souls for Christ!

Revelation 12:11 says that we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, and what else????  Yes, the word of our testimony going forth.

I’d like for us to look at one last Scripture.  Please turn with me to Ephesians 6:13, 14:

“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace…”

Isn’t it interesting that Paul would refer here, to us having shod our feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

This is referring to you and me sharing the Gospel with others.  In so doing, we are offering peace between man and God:

“Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News of good things.’” (Rom. 10:15)

But as we do this, we are also receiving a blessing from the Prince of Peace for ourselves.  There is a certain peace, a satisfaction for a job well done, that God gives us, when we witness and lead others to Christ.

When you and I get dissatisfied with “church as usual”, or perhaps our Christian walk seems disturbed by restlessness and even impatience, there’s a God-given cure for what ills us.  This is it!  Get together with the church and pray for what God said we needed.

Power from on high, and Tongues of fire!

There is nothing boring about winning souls for Christ.  There is a tremendous satisfaction in working hard at leading people to Christ who don’t know Him.  It’s not easy.   Friendship evangelism takes time.  But it’s worth it.

You keep on praying for them and witnessing to them and hoping and believing, until at last they come around.  Boredom and discontentment is not what will describe your emotions at that point.

You will be filled with the joy of heaven!  One last Scripture.  Luke 15:4-10.

Notice two things, and then we’ll close.  One, they both “looked hard” for what they were looking for.  They didn’t just make a token effort.  We must, with the Lord, look hard for those He has appointed unto salvation. 

And the other thing God wants us to see, is the emotion that is involved in soul winning.  Saving souls brings joy to all of heaven, especially to God.  And the Lord will be generous with us with this joy.  We will all celebrate with heaven.  Hallelujah!