Daily Dose of the Word of God - Matthew 16: 17-19

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey 0:09 

Good morning friends and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. It's Thursday, January 23 and this is Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor at the church. God is inviting us during this Mission week to get more of his word into our hearts and lives. Today's reading takes us back to powerful words from Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew - chapter 16, verses 17 to 19.

Gregg DeMey  0:34 

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Gregg DeMey  1:02 

In this scene, Peter (previously known as Simon) has just testified that he knows that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Son of the living God. And it's on this truth that the church is built. Jesus identity is a firm foundation. Then some amazing things come out of Jesus' mouth. First, that the church is like a strong battering ram that will surely bash down the gates of Hades. Notice that it's not the gates of hell that are attacking the church. The gates of hell are meant to get wrecked by the Jesus empowered church. Second, Jesus talks about entrusting his church with the keys to the kingdom. Now I have some childhood memories of important people at school and church (even my dad)who had seemingly dozens of keys on their these big fat key chains. Most of us carry far fewer metal keys in the ages of fobs, IDs and digital access, but the truth remains: keys are a sign of trust and responsibility that are meant to be used to access to open and close. Jesus is entrusting his followers to discern what needs to be set loose and free on earth so that good can run rampant. And similarly, Jesus entrusts his followers with the keys to bind throttle and stop the powers of evil from following through on their male intention schemes. In both cases, being entrusted with keys means that we are people of action on the lookout for how to catalyze the works that the Holy Spirit begins. And, on the lookout to call out, thwart and stop the devil's nonsense. Can you identify where the Holy Spirit is up to something in our midst and then turn some keys so that the spiritual momentum can really get going?

Gregg DeMey 3:04  

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we worship you today as Messiah, Christ, Son of the living God. Fill your church anew with the gifts of your Spirit so that in these days, the bulwarks of hell may totter and fall before your will and your coming kingdom. For Jesus sake, amen.