Grace and Grins is an electronic devotional written by Christopher A. Faria
(see disclaimer below). All Bible quotations are from the New American
Standard Version, ©2000 Lockman Foundation and used by permission. To
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He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"16 And Simon Peter answered
and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."17 And Jesus
answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and
blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.18 "And I
also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My
church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. (Matt 16:15-18) Imagine a scene like this at your friend's wedding: The minister
looks at the lovely couple, turns to the groom and says, "Do you promise to
have and to hold, to love and to cherish..etc, as long as you both shall
live?" The groom gulps and replies, "Uh, you mean her?.uh, well, you know,
there are other women out there, yeah, but.okay, sure- as long as I'm happy
with her yeah, I'll go for it." I can tell you the congregation, in their
shock, would be as silent as a morgue at midnight. But this is how much of
the church of Jesus actually lives.
This is the first mention of the church in the gospels. Though
there is quite a controversy over the exact meaning of ".upon this rock,"
grammatically it refers not to Peter but to the confession Peter made; i.e.,
Jesus is THE Christ, THE Son of the living God." That's pretty exclusive.
Peter, unlike our fictitious groom, confesses unswerving belief in Jesus
Christ as Savior (yes, he does deny Christ later due to fear, but repented
and went on to minister effectively).
I'm often asked about what I look for in a church. The very first
thing Christ taught concerned exclusive confession and allegiance to Him
alone. If that church believes there are other ways to God, if that church
believes it Jesus PLUS something, or someone else, then you can count on
that church is really not a biblical church because Jesus is not building it
on some other foundation. It's a club and nothing more. Look at the church
's doctrinal statement. Do they have a litany or list of prohibited
activities as a precursor to salvation? On what or whom do they base
salvation. It's a simple question and should be a simple answer, as simple
as. "I do."
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