The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: Upon This Rock

Episode Date: August 2, 2020

The Church of Eleven22 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you have a relationship with Jesus? How do I begin a relationship with Jesus? A - Admit that you are a sinner in need of a Savior B - Believe or trust that when Jesus died on the cross, that somehow counted for you C - Confess Jesus as your Lord

So yeah, I've been rebellious and I've been, I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. And I mean, I was happy for five minutes. And then I was sick and miserable and regretful and embarrassed. And then as soon as I started getting to know Jesus and like realizing what he's done for us. That despite all those foolish things that I've done in my life, he just loves you. He's just waiting for you. I'm Christina Ept. I met Jesus when I was 14 through a friend and she basically invited me.

to her Bible study youth group or whatever. And then you fast forward, I got married at 31, divorced 16 years later, and realized that I had been missing, having God in my life, and started searching for a church. Christmas Eve, 2015, I was like, oh, there was that 1122 that I always heard about

or saw bumper stickers. I said, we go check it out. I spent basically my whole married life I knew God, I knew who he was, and I really thought I was hiding from God, and I had it. And then realizing that despite all my mistakes and despite all the bad choices, God still loves you. And, you know, being rebellious only hurts yourself. When Jobby announced the one initiative, it was a big push to write down that scary number. So if you would, would you grab your commitment card?

And I want you to respond as the Holy Spirit is leading you to respond. I just was kind of like, okay, well, if I look at the numbers, this is what I should do. And I kind of, I don't think I can really do that. But I feel like, you know, once you write down that number that you're really not comfortable with it, and you say, well, it'll happen. It'll work. Somehow, it'll all work. And, yeah, as we get closer to the deadline, I'm like, it's not easy. It's just a commitment, and you make adjustments.

Once we hit this year, kind of COVID started happening. I started trying to figure out some security, that security of having a home that has some equity. I'm renting. So, and I started looking to buying. We said from the very beginning that our number one goal is that everyone that considers 1122 to be there at church would answer this fundamental question. Is he the one thing that drives everything?

And we have a choice. Do we pass by? Or do we participate? And so maybe you are moved by compassion, sphitsomai, when you see your one more. Or maybe you see the people of North Jacks, because that's where our next campus is going. I found this house that's perfect for me, and it's 10 minutes from the new campus. So I'm so excited because I am a disciple group leader. I'm on the reach team, and part of the house is like having this space to have group,

whatever my group is going to be like then. And I just know that God's going to be, he has a plan for me somehow involved with that campus. And I can't wait to see what that's going to be all about. The one thing that has become important to me is, okay, I made that commitment. And driving across the bridge was not the plan. But for me to do what I need to do, that's where I could afford it. I used to think that it was me in charge of me.

That didn't work out really well. But when I started putting God first and letting God be the one thing that drives everything, it's a relief to just let him be in charge. Amen and amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? It is so good to see you. Henry, I'm glad you're here, buddy.

That's my guy right here on the front row. I'm glad that you are worshipping online. If you've got your Bibles, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 16. And as you saw in the video, our next campus is, we think, is. North Jack's, our original plans were to try to be open by Christmas Eve and then 2020 fell apart, but God did not. And so we are pushing pause on that right now. We don't know exactly when the date we will open will be, but as soon as we need it, it will be ready, okay? We've already hired the campus pastor. We are ready to go, and as soon as buildings begin to

fill back up and all that kind of thing, then we will launch that thing. And I'll just go ahead tell you. I mean, I don't know what's going on. I'm just in charge. Anybody else feel that way in 2020? Right. So, so we've also, we're trying to secure land in St. John's County. So all you St. John's people, we're trying to come your way to. And then also all the way down to St. Augustine. And so even though a lot of our world is shutting down, the kingdom of God does not. Amen. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men and women take hold of it. And so be people.

praying for that, but as soon as we need it, we will open the doors on that place and be ready to go. So, speaking of church, I want to ask you this, we're going to talk about church in our time together, all right? What comes to mind when you think about church? I'm sure the ideas are all over the place. I think some of you probably have very, very good memories. When you hear about church, when you hear church, I mean, you begin to smell like potluck and fried chicken and deviled eggs and, you know, you used to sit in pews and have dinner on the grounds and all those kind of things. And you have very warm memories when it comes to church. And you're very appreciative of the church you grew up in. Some of you have very recent

positive memories that the first church you've ever really been involved in was this church. And you met Jesus here and you got involved in a disciple group or you went on your first mission trip or lots of positive things that happened in your life. And we, When you think church, you have a lot of those positive experiences. And probably for everybody to have a positive one, there's some of us. When you hear church, your mind doesn't go to a positive place. Maybe you grew up in a church that was really defined by the laws and legalism and the rules, and you found yourself in trouble all the time.

I talked to a girl at our church one time, and she said that when she was growing up in church, she's my age-ish, when she was growing up in church, they told her you can't wear jeans. because jeans, blue jeans, were a sign of rebellion. She was like, how's that? It's very clear. In the 60s, hippies started wearing jeans, and now we have terrorism. Cause effect. How do you argue with that?

Okay? One girl, another girl, was talking to us about her experience in church, and in her church, she got in trouble because she went trick-a-treating. And her pastor made it very clear. Anything that had to do with Halloween was of the devil. And then the next year, the pastor's wife had a baby on Halloween. A little spawn of Satan. I think the way it worked is the Lord was like, y'all come here and watch this.

This is going to be hilarious. You know? So maybe it wasn't just like that. Some people have been like legitimately wounded and hurt at church. And some of you have had recent bad experiences. The reason that you're worshiping with us online is because you don't go to your church anymore. And now you're checking out this church. Church, some of you, your bad experiences is here at 1122.

And I will tell you, if you stick around this place long enough, you will have a bad experience. I mean, I will let you down, I will say something to offend you, I hope to in our time together. Do you understand? Because here's the crazy thing about church. It's led by sinners. I work here. I work with these sinful people all the time. And look around, like look at your neighbor.

Tell them, sinner. That's it. Now look at the one, look at your second choice. And tell them, and you're a sinner too. It's just true, okay? And in fact, when you think about church, has your idea of church in the last four months changed? Because ours has a lot.

I mean, we always said that church isn't a building, it's a people, but for the last four or five months, we have begun to experience this in a real, real way. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, hundreds of years ago had this to say. By the way, he was preaching,

he was kind of like the first megachurch in London before it was even a thing. He was preaching to thousands of people before there was amplification. In fact, he had a preacher school where when you came in, the first day of preacher school, they would measure your chest, and if it wasn't big enough, you couldn't be a preacher.

So by that, Pastor Stone and I would be the only, could never preach and Brits may be on the fence. I'm not sure where he is stoned and I'd be crushing it. Okay, but anyway, he's a big fella. Spurgeon, not stolen. Spurgeon said this. Spurgeon says, give yourself to the church. You that are members of the church have not found it perfect and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I would have never joined one at all. At the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I became a member of it.

Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. All who have first given themselves to the Lord should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord's people. How else is there to be a church on earth? if it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the church, it is right for everyone. And then the testimony for God would be lost to the world. The church is not an institution for perfect people. It is a sanctuary for sinners, saved by grace, a nursery for God's sweet children to be nurtured and grow strong.

It is the fold for Christ's sheep, the home for Christ's family. The church is the dearest place on earth. And our time together, we're going to talk about church. Now, I love to talk about church. But I work here, and it's what I do. That's what I can give my whole life to. And you may be thinking, are you serious right now? I have got some serious issues in my life.

I need some real help in my marriage and in my finances and how to pay my bills. And I would say to you, God's primary means by which he helps his people is through his people. And that is called the church. And so in Matthew chapter 16, I want you to get your head around this, we are going to talk about the first time in human history the idea of church was ever discussed out loud through the words of Jesus. So Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. It says this. Now, what has just happened is Jesus has just had a conversation with the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and they're missing it. The Pharisees think life is all about self-denial and the saddice.

think life is all about self-fulfillment and Jesus is trying to lay the gospel out for them and said no no no no no no it is about it is about surrendering yourself to me and then after that conversation you pick it up in 13 now when Jesus came into the district of cesarea philippi and if you read this in the first first century you'd be like what they went where to cesarea philippi you don't know where it is so you're just looking at me weird but you would freak out here when he went to the district of cesarea philippi he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is? You see, Cessori of Philippi was like, it was Sin City. It was some shady stuff going on in Cessarie of Philippi. It's about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. And there was all kind of awful things happening there. We'll talk about it a little bit more in a minute, but there was this big, there was this temple to this sex god named Pan.

And because we got some kids in the room, I'm not going to talk about all that was going on there, but he was part man and part goat, and there was child sacrifice that happened there. In fact, that men would come from all over that region to come and worship in that temple with one of the temple prostitutes. It also contained a portal to the underworld. It was a grimy, grimy place. And in fact, I am almost positive.

I mean, this is some speculation on my part, but I'm pretty sure. that none of these Jewish followers of Jesus, the 12 guys going on on this camping trip with him up to Cesareo Philippi, had ever been there before. Because this would make them ceremonially unclean just to be around this kind of filth and grime. And yet, what's crazy to me is that of all the places where Jesus is going to introduce the idea of church,

he does not do it in the holy city of Jerusalem, but he does it in sin city at the edge of church. of the gates of hell. You see, the church is always supposed to be a little grimy. Always supposed to be a little grimy. And if it's not, then I don't think we are being the kind of church that Jesus is talking about here. So he takes them to Sin City, Sessori of Philippi, and says, all right, so who do people say the son of man is?

Verse 14, and they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. By the way, this is what people would say today. if you ask people who is Jesus they would say he's a good moral religious teacher that that's it and you know it's politics season and have you ever noticed everybody wants Jesus to be on their team they just reject most of what he said which is evidence that they haven't read the words of Jesus and so then what Jesus is going to do here he's going to shift gears he's like all right it's fine what everybody else thinks.

Verse 15, he's going to go very, very personal. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? This is the most important question you will ever deal with in all of your life forever and ever and ever. The answer to this question determines not only your identity, but also your destiny.

Not how did your grandma raise you, not what school would you grow up in, but what do you say about Jesus? Who do you say? that Jesus is. And so before Jesus talks about the church, look, the kingdom of heaven is not just this kind of nebulous idea out there. It starts in the very individual and personal heart and soul of people who then come

together to be a body of Christ. But there are no grandchildren in the kingdom of heaven. There's no last names in the kingdom of heaven. It's just you. You've heard me say this 100 million times before. going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than putting your head in the oven makes you a biscuit that's not how it works but that's how a lot of people believe and jesus says to every individual but what say you what who do you say that i am one of my favorite books mere christianity

by c s louis c s louis starts with just the idea of good and evil and starts from there and then builds an argument or this idea that if you even believe there is such a thing as good and bad, then there must be something above us, beyond us, that has established this universal good. And he starts from that tenet, and he makes his way all the way to the person of Jesus Christ. And at the end of the first section,

when he's closing things down, he says this. He says, I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish things that people often say about Jesus. I am ready to accept him as a great moral teacher, but I do not accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is, son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to

us. He did not intend to. And so Jesus looks at his disciples. Who do people say that I am? and they say what C.S. Lewis is saying that is not an option. Because how are you a good moral teacher and claim to be God? How are you somebody just tell people how to do right and then tell everybody no one's right? I'm the only righteous one and I have to die in your place. And then, verse 16. Simon Peter replied. All right.

This is where we get the title of our series, Loudmouth. Because who's going to talk first? Who's going to talk most? it's Simon Peter. Now I did get some emails and I knew as a church person because it starts out dear pastor when I found out we were calling the Apostle Peter a loud mouth. My heart was grieved that we would dishonor such a man of God. Are we disrespecting the Apostle Peter? My answer would be no more than the Bible does. No more than the Bible does. You see in fact, in fact that we're fact, when historians of ancient text are looking at the validity and historicity of that ancient

text, one of the measurements that they use is the foolishness of its leaders. And if that text contains places where the leaders that are purported in that text look foolish, then it is evidence that this must have actually happened. because if you were making up a new religion and you wrote the book on it, would you include all the places in it where you have screwed up? And Peter is a royal screw-up.

I mean, the apostle John wants us to know that he's not that fast. John outruns him, lets us know three times on the day of the resurrection. It is the apostle Peter that shuts down the mountain of transfiguration. We know this one well.

There's Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses. I mean, the transfigured Christ is talking to two prophets that have been dead for 1,500,500 years or so. And then Peter sticks his head in there and says, what? It is good that we are here. Right after that, God himself, the father shows up and says, listen to my son, which means shut up. Okay? This is what Peter does. He opens his mouth over and over and over.

Last week, Pastor Stone did a great job of letting us know that, yeah, Peter was awesome to get out on the water but then Peter takes his eyes off, Jesus begins to sink, and Jesus says to Peter, you of little faith. I mean, can you imagine Jesus saying that to you? You of little faith? Peter's a guy that cuts a guy's ear off, which means two things. First of all, he didn't pay a lot of attention

to what Jesus was about because he takes out his sword and he chops this dude's ear off, and he's a bad aim. Nope, I watch a lot of MMA. Nobody's ever been like, go for the ear. The ear is not a vital part. of the body. He's not even good at that, okay? Jesus puts the guy's ear back on like Mr. potato head and looks at Peter and is like, are you even being serious right now? Okay, this is what we find out. And that happens right after Peter proclaims to Jesus, I will never

leave you, I will never forsake you, I will never deny you. And then that very night, after the ear-chopping situation, he denies Jesus three times. And one time is to a middle-school age girl that couldn't even report it in a court of law. That's how afraid he was. This is who we were talking about. That kind of guy. And yet, even after Pentecost, even after Pentecost, when Peter has eaten breakfast with Jesus, the resurrected Christ, we'll talk about that next week, and he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Even after Pentecost, the Apostle Paul has to come to Peter and publicly rebuke him because of his racism towards the Gentiles. That's the Apostle Peter.

And yet, and yet, even though he may be the king of all screw-ups, God uses him, a surrendered fisherman in mighty, mighty ways. He's going to use him right here. Not only that, he's going to use Peter to preach the very first church service in the history of church on the day of Pentecost. The very thing that got Peter in trouble over and over and over and over that we've been studying is the thing that God used, his mouth. to preach the very first Christian sermon at a, like in a church service, and that day,

3,000 people got saved. And then not only that, this ordinary, uneducated fisherman goes on to write first and second Peter, which are included in our Bibles. This should give people like me and you great hope. Great hope. You think you're a screw up? It's probably worse than you think if you want to hear the truth. But God could use you in mighty,

mighty ways. This is what he does with Peter. So Peter replied. He goes, he's going to talk first. It's going to talk most. And he nails this one. He says, you were the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven and I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever. you loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. If that don't pump you up a little bit, then you are dead on the inside, okay?

I'm telling you, this is the first ever proclamation out loud church has ever been talked about. And he starts this way. Jesus says, you are, or Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. This is the gospel in one statement. When Peter says, Jesus says, who do you say that I am? and Peter says you are the Christ. That is not Jesus' last name.

I know some of you are new to church, and H is not his middle name. You should take that whole situation out of your vocabulary unless you're praying passionately, okay? It is not a last name. It is his title, Christ or Christos. A translation of this is the Messiah or the anointed one. When he says you are the Christ,

he is saying, you are the one that has come to die for the sins of all mankind. When he says you are the Christ, he's saying, you're the one God the Father talked about in Genesis chapter 3. When he looked at Eve and says, I will put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, this snake, and this enemy one day will bruise the heel of your offspring, but he will crush his head.

Peter's saying that's you. Peter's saying, you are the one that we were celebrating at the Passover, the lamb that was slain and the blood put on the doorpost of the house so that when the angel of death came over, he would pass over anybody that had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house. He's saying, you are the Christ, you are the one that the prophet Isaiah said, by your stripes, we will be healed. That you would be crushed by the Father, and we would be credited with your righteousness. That you were the one that Malachi was talking about when he says the son of righteousness will come on healing in his wings. You are the lamb that was slain for the forgiveness of sin for all mankind.

You are the one that the temple is about. You are the ones that the prophets talked about. You are the Christ. On every page of the scripture, Peter is saying it has been talking about you, and here you are. The Messiah. And it's not just a title, you are the Christ, but the son of the living God. And there's a relational term. Not only have you come to die for our sins, but you have come to call us under yourselves

so that we could know you and know the Father. That's his declaration. You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And then Jesus answered him, blessed. That word there is Macarius. Remember the beatitudes a few months ago? Same word. What he's saying is not you are blessed because you said these things,

but because the blessing of God has like started from the inside of you what has overflowed out of your mouth is the truth. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. Church, we don't need more information. We need divine revelation. This is why when I preach, when we preach,

whoever preaches here, when we preach, we preach the gospel. That we don't do like, hey, here's five steps for you to be a better version of you. You know why? Here's why. Here's why. They're debilitating.

because you would apply them all five steps, and they'd be brilliant. I mean, they'd be brilliant. And that's not funny. I don't know where you're laughing, man. Okay. You hurt my feeling. And then you would apply the steps,

and then you'd be no better than you were before, and then you just feel defeated. This is why, like, if we talk about mental health or depression and you get, like, the three steps to not be depressed, then what happens when you apply the steps and you're still depressed? You're more depressed from the depression sermon.

It's not what we do. You see, in fact, The day I got saved, no new information. No new information. I mean, I'm from the South. I had heard that Jesus died on the cross for me forever, you know, and I thought I believed, like I believed in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and NASCAR and college football, all right? I believe like that, but something happened, something happened, and God took the scales off of my eyes,

ripped my heart of stone out, gave me a heart of flesh, which is his heart, and for some reason that day it made sense, and I believed. This is what Jesus is saying to Peter. You see, this is why when we teach the Bible around here, we just teach big chunks of the Bible. It's called expository preaching. But let me be clear about this. I can expose you to the scriptures, but only the Spirit of God can expose the Scriptures to you.

I'm not the real preacher here. The Spirit of God is the real preacher here. Okay? So if it's a good sermon, you should tell me. The Bible says you should encourage one another as long as this called today. So no problem there. Just understand what's actually happening is that while I am doing my best to just teach verse by verse by verse and try to keep it engaging for you to hang in here, that if anything is convicting or comforting or happens in here, it's because the same thing that just happened to Peter happened to you.

This didn't come from flesh and blood, not my flesh and blood or your flesh and blood. but the father has revealed himself to you through his word. And this is why he says, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Petros, and on this Petra, I will build my church.

Now, it's a little play on words there, and people have been confused about this forever. First of all, he changes his name. His name used to be Simon, son of Jonah. Bar means son of. And now he's changing it to Rocky. All right, that's what he's changing it to. And then a little play on words, he says,

and I tell you, you are Petros, and on this Petra, I will build my church. Now, for about, I don't know, a couple thousand years people have argued over, so what is the rock upon which Jesus built his church? Now, Catholics believe, or the main one's in charge, not all of you that come here now, we always know who the Catholics are when we do communion and you try to take our cup

and we're like give me the cut back okay so get off it we can't do that anymore so so is the rock peter the person well i would i would ask you to look down at verse 23 we're going to get there in a minute and jesus turned to peter and says get behind me satan so if your theology is that the church is built on the infallibility of the person that is the pope. Well, in this text, he goes from pope to devil in about a half a page on my Bible. And if you look at the rest of Peter's life, there was nothing infallible about his life at all or any other human who has ever followed. So the rock that he is talking about is the thing that Peter is saying. The rock is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the prevailing church is the one that is built on

the gospel, that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. In fact, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20, when the apostle Paul is talking about the building of the church, he says it is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. In other words, that the church is built on the foundation of God's word, this book, and that the cornerstone, like we just saying, that the cornerstone is Jesus. So if you ever find yourself in another church for whatever reason, all right, you move or you don't live here, or whatever it is, and they are not teaching the Bible, you should gather your things, get your kids, and don't go back to that place. Because what the church of Christ is built on the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why

here at 1122, we preach the gospel over and over and over and over. Sometimes people have tried to insult me by saying, you really only have one message, to which I say, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. One of the things I love to do as a human, particularly as a pastor, is to tick off church people by reflecting their criticism back to them as a compliment, especially if somebody here gives you like a kind of a half-hearted, you know, backhanded compliment. you ever get that? Like, you don't sweat much for a fat guy. You know what I'm talking about?

That kind of thing. One time I was preaching at Beach, and I was the youth guy there, and I preached my brains out, and this guy comes up, and it was like, not too bad for a youth pastor. And I just leaned into the not too bad part. I was like, you know what? I think you're right. I felt like that was one of the best delivered sermons.

I've been working on it. I could see it on your face. You appreciate it. So thank you for saying that so much. I believe God has given me this gift. Because what I think happens is when that guy goes home, he goes home frustrated because he's like, I don't think he heard what I said.

Okay. That's what I like to do. So, do I have one message? Yes, it is the gospel. It is the message of the scripture from beginning to end. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ. But the gospel is not just the like starter fluid on how to get into heaven. It is the bumper-to-bumper vehicle by which we all live.

The fact that God loved you so much that he would send his only one and only son, second person of the Trinity, to live a perfect life, to die our death on the cross, to be resurrected on the third day, and then whoever believes in him, not only do we get a ticket out of hell and into heaven, but we get credited with his perfect life. So when the father sees us, he sees his perfect son, Jesus. It changes everything about everything about everything.

Because if you really believe that God loved you, not the future version of you when you get your act together, because I'm just going to tell you, he ain't going to get it together. You know what you're going to think of you 10 years from now? You're going to be highly disappointed. You know what? I've known some of you for 10 years.

I thought you'd be way better than this by now, okay? And yet the Father never looks at you that way through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It changes everything. And so you say, like, no, but man, I need some tips and tricks on my marriage. No, you don't. You need to know the gospel. And the gospel would say, husbands love your wife,

like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That'll fix it. And you're like, damn, my finances were jacked up. It's because your understanding of the gospel is jacked up. God is first, and he went first, and he loves first. And what you do with your money is a response to what you think about that. You get that in order, and it'll all get in order. And you're like, no, my relationships are all jacked up.

That's because you think you bring merit to it. What if you began to treat everybody the way Jesus treated you? It'd fix a lot of them. Or there's this addiction that you just can't seem to shake. It's a gospel problem. if we began to treasure him above everything else on this planet, if he was more beautiful than every substance and every relationship and everything,

then it would change all of our desires and all of those things. You see, the answer is always the gospel no matter what the problem is. And so Jesus says the church built on the gospel, it'll prevail. Not a church built on strategies, because it won't really be a church, it'll be some weird pyramid scheme. and a church built with a great marketing situation. It's not really a church. It's just like a news feed on social media.

And not built on tradition. It's not a church. It's a museum. And it's not built on money because it's not a church. It's like a fundraising organization. And not build on numbers and popularity. Then you're not a church. You're a political party.

And it's not built on programs because then you're not a church. You're basically a YMCA. And it's not built on personalities. Because then you're not a church. It's just a docudrama based on the life and time. of the preacher. That's sad. And it's not built on what you're against. Then you're just, you're not a church, you're cable news. That's what you are. But it's built on the gospel and Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You see, Jesus says he will build his church. Did you see this?

On this rock, I will build my church. There's a lot here. First of all, Jesus says he will build the church. That's why if you look at the org chart here, I'm the lead pastor. Okay, that's my job. I'm the lead pastor. And above me on our org church is Jesus. And we're not trying to be cute. It's because it's his church. It's not my church.

Look, in 100 years, a lot less than that. I'll be dead and done and gone. Nobody don't know who I was. No problem, okay? And there will be many, many, many lead pastors here. But there's only one senior pastor. There's only one chief shepherd, and his name is Jesus. It's his church.

Which, by the way, this is why you are not allowed to come to me out in public and say, I go to your church, because it ain't my church. It's his church, but I know you don't want to look goofy in the restaurant and be like, we go to Jesus' church, so we can just say we go to church together. Because we're all a part of his church. It's just true. And Jesus promises that he will build his church. He never promised he'd build a Christian school.

He never promised he would build a hospital. He never promised he'd build a para church organization. He never promised a Christian country. But he promised that he would build his church. And I don't build the church, and our programs don't build the church, and buildings don't build the church, and you don't build the church. Jesus builds his church. About 10 years ago, I think, Gretchen and I have this dinner with Billy Graham.

that I like to talk about a lot. And at the end of it, the whole thing was awesome. And at the end of it, I was like, Dr. Graham, will you pray for our ministry and our church? And we were a service at Beach at that point. I don't think at that point we had any idea that we would ever be doing this. And he held my hand and he held Gretchen's hand,

and he prayed that I would make disciples and that I would love my wife. That's it. He prayed for our marriage, primarily what he prayed for. And then when he said amen, he looked at me and he said, you make disciples, you love your wife. Jesus will build his church. You see, we can trust that Jesus will build his. I'll tell you this too.

When he prayed that over us, something changed in our atmosphere. And here we are today. Jesus says, I will build my church. The Greek word here, you probably know this, you're smart people, is ecclesia. It was not a religious term at this point. All it means is a group of people on purpose. A group of people. It could be a political party, it could be just a party party,

whatever it is. It's a group of called out ones that are there together with a common purpose. Jesus says, upon this rock, I will build my ecclesia. And then a really sad thing happened in about 300 AD. when Constantine makes Christianity the national religion of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire is formed and they were way more Roman and empire than holy and they began to use a German word

Kirche to translate this word instead of and I will build my congregation I will build my movement I will build my called out people in my name they began to use the word Kirche, which means the Lord's house. And Kirchay in English, obviously, is church. And people began to think like, well, where do you go to church? And did you go to church as if church was a thing to go to? As if it was a building with steeples and organs and stained glass or Walmarts and sports bars or whatever. And I don't think that's what Jesus was talking to, talking about in this moment.

You see, Jesus says, and I will build my ecclesia. When we started this church, and we were trying to say, okay, so what's this whole thing about? The reason we wrote the word movement in our vision statement, 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was because it was the closest English word I could figure out to what Jesus is talking about here. and I have been to this place. I've been Ascariah Philippi a bunch of times now, like four or five times.

And here's a picture of Ascariah we have. It's kind of hard to get a really great one. That little kind of whole thing over on the right side was where a temple was and that big hole there is actually a cave and it was like a deep water cave in there. And the first time I ever went to that place, I was overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed. I don't know if you've ever seen pictures of famous places.

You know, I've seen this picture 100 million times in seminary and all that stuff. And I walked up to that place and I thought, oh my goodness. This is the first place and time that Jesus ever said out loud, the idea of church. And I was overwhelmed because I work at one. And I was very concerned, Jesus, okay, when you were talking about church 2,000 years ago to your disciples, did you have in mind what all I mean did you have like cathedrals and guys with funny hats and like smoke and oh yeah oh did you have that in mind and did you have like you know screens and blue lights and LED screens and internet and face mics and I mean oh I don't know if you've ever thought about I don't know why you

have like a life and raising kids you got stuff to do but people like me we have nothing to do so I'm sitting around thinking about this stuff man am I giving my life to this thing that we just up that doesn't have anything to do with what Jesus is talking about here when he's talking to to the Apostle Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. And I looked around and I thought, all right, one of these rocks he was standing on, he's standing on this rocky place, talking to a guy he names Rocky, and he says, upon this rock, I will build my church. By the way, Sessaria Philippi at that point was a booming city, big old booming city. And I go over, there's this little, there's this little path I thought the left side of where that big hole was.

And there was a little sign there that said, do not cross the rope. So where I'm from, that means hop over it because that's where the cool stuff is. And so I, boop, poop, and I went up this little hill. I just sat on a rock and just prayed, Lord, if that thing we're doing at Walmart in Jacksonville, and I don't know if we had other locations at that point,

if that's not what you were talking about, you got to tell me, we'll turn it into a skating rink or something productive. If we are not, being who you have called us to be. And I prayed there. I shut down the rest of our tour for the day and just spent time with the Lord for a few hours.

And the thing I just kept coming back to is simply this, that we are built on the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And when you're built on that, all of the details of it can be vastly different depending on where and when you are in the world. And I think that reflects the, the creativity of God himself, but the thing that matters most is, is this thing about Jesus.

Because Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church, and then he goes on to say, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And where I was sitting, I could look into the gates of hell. This is one of the most misunderstood passages anywhere. That big hole that you saw in the cave, they built a temple there to this sex god named Pan. And a couple of times a year, they believed that was the portal by which demons would enter and exit our world. And the reason they believed that is because there was like a deep well there, and there's a river that runs right in front of that big cave. And at certain times of the here, when the water from inside that mountain would spew out into the river,

all this smoke and steam would come up, and then there began to be this tradition. Oh, that's when the demons are entering our world. And so they built this. this pagan temple there. And the way they would worship there again, there were temple prostitutes, and it was just more than I want to go into right now. And then also there was child sacrifice.

They would take babies, and they would chunk the baby into the cave. And if blood came out into the water, that meant that the gods did not receive the sacrifice, so they would keep doing it until the blood didn't show up in the water. And that's where Jesus is standing somewhere. And he says, upon this rock that I am the Christ, the son of the living God, I will build my church. And he's pointing, I believe.

And the gates of hell. I've read so many commentators where guys are like, gates keep things out, and it's defensive. And I go, you've never been to Israel. It doesn't mean gate, like the thing in front of your neighborhood. It means, like, portal. Like, we just watch Avengers. my guy over here, okay? When the big hole opens up in the sky

and those weird alien things from whatever that place is called or entering our place, that is what the gate means. It means portal by which evil would come after us. And Jesus is pointing at this city, at this gate of hell, and he says, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now listen, we will be attacked by Satan, sometimes overtly. But one of Satan's greatest attacks in American history

is to just loll the church asleep by letting it be dominant in culture. John Piper says this, the church in America, as I, John Piper, have watched her now for a long time is slowly awakening from the distortion of about 350 years of dominance and prosperity in America. Look, man. Yeah, those days are over. Those days are over. And when people say, like, what is going on, I can't

believe what's happening. Can you believe what's happening in our culture? I begin to go, you know what it actually kind of is resembling more of the culture in which the church flourished in the first century. And Jesus says his church will prevail. Think about this. The Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, the largest empire in the history of the world that ruled for the longest amount of time in the world. And they believe that their Caesar was God. With all of its strength is trying to squish this little thing called followers of the way, followers of Jesus in the Roman Empire with their chariots and their soldiers and all of their power, they couldn't make it stop.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees with all of their religious authority are trying to stamp out the gospel and they can't make it stop. And Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And you've got to think there's 12 kids, probably 11 teenagers and one 20-year-old. I think Matthews probably in his 20s. And Jesus says, this thing you just said, Peter? Yeah, I'm going to start a movement. I'm going to start a movement based on who I am, the Christ, and my relationship with you.

And the world can't stop it. And these 12 guys are probably like, yeah, right. Yeah, right. Matthew can't even rent a car yet. We're so young, you know what I mean? You can't even buy a beer. What are we going to do? Nobody listens to us. Look at us. Can't even get a room here. This place is crazy. You've seen what's going down there in this huge city. Imagine you're overlooking Vegas and you got a couple teenagers with you and be like, we're going to start a movement and the whole world's going to know about it. And this whole place is going to be shut down. And they're probably like, you've got to be kidding me. And now 2,000 years later, I've been there. I have seen the prophecy fulfilled every time.

I show up. Now, if you go to Sessaria Philippa, you saw the pictures. It's just rocks laying on rocks. There's no temple, there's no pan, there's no child sacrifice, and guess who the only people on the planet are showing up to that place? There are followers of Jesus standing on the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and the church prevails all over the world, and that city is no more. It's just true. And what's crazy is that you and I are a part of it. Like when he was talking, about that thing then, he had in mind us now. And he says, and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Here's what he's saying. He's like, look, boys, and when you do this thing in my name, when you are this movement founded upon the gospel, the things that you do change the eternities of people, Do you realize if you're a part of this year, if you're part of any gospel preaching church, then you are a part of changing eternities

that we're filling up heaven and we're expanding the kingdom? I mean, it's crazy. Since we opened the doors here in 2012, 9,143 people have signified a first-time decision to follow Jesus as their Savior. Amen? That this year alone, 618 people in 2020,

Maybe they thought it was the apocalypse and they thought maybe I need to get right. I'm not sure exactly the why. But 618 people so far this year have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ. And when everybody's jabbing about his church open or closed, Jesus is still saving people because 393 of those people got saved by attending 1122 online. The church will prevail. Period. You see, and to confuse the church with a building,

would be like to confuse an aircraft carrier with the Navy. You wouldn't see an aircraft carrier and be like, that's the Navy. Well, it's a part of it. But what everybody does there, everybody takes a ride on the Navy boats, right? And I'm saying that because, you know, we're in Jacksonville, baby. We've got Navy people here. But everybody needs a ride, and they get there, right? And they go there and they eat and they're trained and they get ready.

And then from that aircraft carrier, they go wherever they are sent to do the job that their commanders have commanded them to do. And the church is the gathering of the people of God and we should gather and then scatter. And we should get here and we should get all filled up on the Word of God and we should get all juiced up by worshiping him together. We should love one another. Make sure everybody's okay. Take care of one another. And then when you wake up in the morning, then your orders are now go and make disciples wherever the commander has sent you. And you get out there and you get all beat to death because it's the world, all right? It hate Jesus. It's going to hate you too, and then you come back in here, and we get all juiced up again like an aircraft carrier,

and then boom, we're out again and out again and out again. I think this is what Jesus has in mind. I think Jesus has exactly this in mind. And then I've got to go real fast. And that's doing all this. He's strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Here's a while. He's like, I've got to pull off Easter and then it'll make more sense. And then post-easter, he's like, all right, go get them. Go tell everybody. somebody. Now, the next thing that happens, it says from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. What's that called? If you don't say gospel,

I'm going to discipline you. That is the gospel. From that time, Jesus says, all right, don't be confused. This isn't about feeding 5,000, this isn't stories about what seeds do. This is what it from that time he began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Pay attention, church.

After Peter's high holy moment, things are going great in his mind. He says, Simon, barred Jonah, blessed are you? You know Peter was like, John, you heard that, huh? He didn't bless you. Blessing me. I'm Rocky. Doubting Thomas, you got the worst nickname among us all. I'm Rocky.

Let's hum it together. Dun, dun, da, da, da, da, da. He's feeling pretty high, right? Pay attention, church. It is so easy to move away from the gospel. And move to therapeutic self-help, to move to personal best practices, to move to whatever social agenda you might have, to confuse the symptoms of the gospel with a gospel-infected life.

Those are different. The church is not built on our, work, the church is built on his finished work. And when you were run over by the grace train of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it changes everything about the way because he loves you. Now we can love our neighbor

like he commanded us to do. And then what Jesus is going to do, in the rest of this time, I just don't have time to do it all here, is he gives a gospel invitation. He gives a gospel invitation. Jesus just says, for what will it profit a man if he gave

whole world and forfeits its soul. What will it profit a man if you build your life on your own agenda instead of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And then he says, because I am coming back and I'm going to judge everybody. And essentially, the options he is giving in the rest of the text is this. You can either be judged by what you have done or you can be judged by what I will do on the cross. It's up to you. You will be judged by works. You can be judged by works. You can either be judged by your works, good luck. The standard is perfection. And in fact, if you feel good about your works right now, you're prideful, and the Bible says that's the worst one of all. You fail before the test started. You can be judged by your works, or you can be judged by the

finished work of Christ. After he unleashes this idea of this world-wide gospel movement, the people from all nations and all tongues and all tribes and all people groups will one day know and understand and bend their need to Jesus in humility, then he brings it down really, really personal and says, but what about you? What about you? You see, the Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen. The most important part, ready, a relationship with Jesus Christ. So who do you say that he is? if in answering that question

you don't know what it means to have a relationship with Jesus then his invitation is no matter who you are or what you've done then right now in this very moment you could begin to be a part of that worldwide global eternity shaking movement

and it starts with you in your heart by saying yes to him and you say well how do I have a relationship with Jesus? I don't understand that maybe you grew up in church and you know about rules you know about religion you just don't know about this relationship with Jesus thing. It's as simple as ABC. I'm not saying it's easy. It's simply the hardest thing you've

ever done in your life, but it is simple. It's that you admit it. Jesus, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I'm not a mistakeer that needs to try harder. That's a different thing. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I need a Christ. I need a Messiah. I need an an anointed one. I need a substitutionary atonement. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And I believe that when you died on the somehow that counted for me that when you said it is finished my sins are paid for and the adoption papers are signed sealed and delivered and somehow I still even if you can't comprehend it all nobody can't I believe I trust that when you died on the cross that counted for me and see I confess I confess I ain't the boss of me anymore you are I ain't got this I surrender you are my Lord

I admit, I believe, I confess. And you and you will be saved. Your life will be transformed, and your life, like his church, will be built on the rock, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I did it when I was a teenager. God saved me when I was a teenager. And here's what's crazy. That night I had no new information.

There's a whole bunch of you here and all of our campuses listening online. I have not said one thing that you haven't heard a hundred times before, but what you need is not new information. You need a divine revelation. I believe there are maybe dozens of you. And for the very first time, you're ready to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe somehow when Christ died on the cross, that counted for me.

And right now, for the first time, I want to confess him as Lord. I want to ask you to bow your head, close your eyes. And if that's you, right now, no matter where you are, would you just pray that prayer to him? admit it I'm a sinner Jesus I need you tell him I believe when you died on the cross it counted for me and in your own words right now confess him as Lord and if that's you if you've done that for the very first time would you simply lift your hand up and say here I am I am surrendering my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ it's not a hand in the air that saves you it's Christ's finished work on the cross that saves you and if you're watching online there is a button that you can click and the only reason we want you to do

that's because we want to follow up with you so that you could be a part of his church family. Our good and gracious heavenly Father, Lord, we'd love you more than anything. And Lord, we thank you for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, in these days, a lot of us feel like we are standing right outside of the gates of hell. With what we see on the news every day, with the division in our country, in our society, with just the hate that is spewed all over the place in every direction. And Lord, may we be reminded that your church is not built on anything but the gospel. And anything built on anything else is being built on sinking and sand and it will fall and great will be that fall.

But God, we thank you that we can build our church, that you build our church, as we build our lives on the rock, the solid rock of the good news of the gospel. of Jesus Christ. And God, I thank you, and I praise you, that you would save people, men and women, and students, even in this moment right now. And that every time you do that, it's a supernatural declaration that the church is prevailing. And when you give you all the praise and glory for it, in Jesus' name, amen. Church, would you please stand? We're going to respond to the gospel. It's what we do. We do this every week. We're going to join our voices together, and we are going to sing. We're going to make much of the one who gave his life for us.

And if you're a regular here, we're going to bring. We do that primarily electronically now. You can do that through the app. You could do that online. And we are going to pray. We're going to come and kneel before our great and mighty king, who through Jesus Christ has torn the curtain so we get to enter into the very presence of God because he knows us as sons and daughters.

So let us pray, let us bring, let us sing, let us respond. Thank you.