PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 16

What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?

“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)
What is the rock that Jesus builds his Church on?
Romans Catholics say it is Peter, whose name means ‘rock’.
This verse is where they support their submission to the Pope.
It could also be Peter’s confession, who he says that Jesus is.
The Church is made up of those who, like Peter, confess Jesus as the Christ.
The Church is not built on Peter, the Church is built on Jesus.
Those who put their confidence in Jesus become a part of that solid structure.
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:4-5)
This Church is not a specific denomination, centred in Rome or Grand Rapids.
There is one, holy, universal (catholic) Church; those who confess Jesus belong to it!
I am not confident in one denomination over another, or one church over another.
All are flawed and limited, and yet all include members of Jesus’s Church.
Jesus’s Church cannot be stopped, even if our churches can!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank you for reminding me that you are secure, and that whatever happens in our churches, your Church is secure. And I am secure in you, the Living Stone that cannot be overcome!