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Guin First United Methodist Church
I Will Build My Church
Jesus took his disciples to the area at Caesarea-Phillippi where the pagan shrines were. There was a temple to Caesar Augustus and to the pagan deities worshiped by the locals. There was even a deep cave where the ancients sacrificed their infant children by throwing them into the bottomless pit just to please the gods. It was there that Jesus declared to his disciples, "... upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." What is the church Jesus is building, and what is the rock upon which he builds? Today we'll take a good look at this first mention of church in the Scriptures and discover what Jesus meant by it.
Locations & Times
Guin First United Methodist Church
8390 US-43, Guin, AL 35563, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
Peter's name means "rock"
(nickname = Rocky)
No reason to doubt Jesus had Peter in mind
Peter addressed the congregation > Acts 2
Peter seen as leader of the church
Given keys of the kingdom > authority
Binding and loosing = remission and retaining (John 20:21-23)
Whatever you bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven.
Whatever you loose on earth shall have already been loosed in heaven.
Peter and others given authority to represent God's kingdom
Hades = Sheol, place of the dead
Place to await the resurrection (Hebrew thought)
usually gathering for town meeting (debate and voting)
Hebrew thought "kahal"
gathering of God's people for war or worship.
They were summoned by blowing the shofar ram's horn.
Church means action and movement.
Church people gathered together as one for common interest.
Here the congregation are gathered for worship at the temple wall.
Here the soldiers are gathered to make war as they destroyed the temple in AD 70.
shrines and bottomless pits to the gods
to declare that he would build a church that would prevail.