1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Pastor Kyle continues that the local church preaches and professes the Gospel, so that people can recognize their sin towards a just and holy Creator, repent of their grievous inequity and trespasses, believing that almighty God provided a way to forgiveness, redemption and salvation by sending His Son, the Christ to pay the penalty in their place and is both willing, able and faithful to fulfill His promises. And Jesus will build His church on that confession. Whenever a Christian church begins to Theologically drift away from this Gospel confession, then it can lose focus. With the luring lies of Satan and the never-ending distractions in life, we have to continually re-center ourselves on that confession because it is our mission and what matters the most. Jesus builds His kingdom upon it still today.
The second clear ways in which Jesus builds His church one is that churches are built by disciples who know and consistently study the truth, then follow it. All Christian should experience incremental spiritual growth over the course of our lives as we learn more about God and apply the truth learned. Jesus said in John 6:44 that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” God reveals truth and understanding as we mature spiritually through spiritual discernment because as 1 Corinthians 2:14 states, “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” by the regenerated spirit in the born again transformed soul.
Today, we have the full counsel of the Word of God in the Bible. God still draws us to Jesus supernaturally as only God can do, but we also have the living Word of God which tells us who the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is, what they have done, are doing and going to do, and how to apply that knowledge of growth and obedience to our lives in order to live holy and righteous before the Lord, live it out daily and do the work to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ in a solid biblical worldview. That Biblical worldview becomes the filter in which we process everything that happens in our lives. We have more tools available today to build a solid biblical worldview than ever before in books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, Flash Drives, radio, television, Cellular phones, electronic tablets, computers, conferences, Bible study groups, and good old-fashioned Christian counsel. The more that you read and study your Bible, the more that you invest in your relationship with God and develop your biblical worldview. The more that you develop your biblical worldview, the more you will be able to discern what thoughts, words and actions lead to the Gates of Hell and what leads to the gates of Heaven, which leads to eternal life and blessing.
Knowing and consistently studying the real deal is the easiest way to spot a counterfeit. The US Treasury Dept. teaches bank workers to quickly identify counterfeit currency. You would think that they spend a great amount of time studying actual counterfeit bills to recognize fake money, but they actually handle and study real currency and familiarize themselves with the feel and every intricate detail printed on the bill. The more that they handle and familiarize themselves with the real deal, they gain experience and learn to quick distinguish what is genuine and what is counterfeit. The same is true with our biblical worldview. The more that we look at the truth of God’s Word, the quicker we get at spotting the counterfeit worldviews. We do not what to live our lives for a counterfeit truth (aka, an outright lie). Jesus doesn’t want His disciples to fall for damming lies, godless temptations and deceitful trickery either. That is why he brought the twelve to the Gates of Hell, a pagan temple in Caesarea Philippi to make this point. The worship of false gods is a counterfeit that leads to death, eternal damnation and destroyed lives. Christ builds His church on genuine and authentic faith.
Let's conclude Pastor Kyle's message on Christ's Church in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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