Sermon Title: The Church You've Always Longed For - Anticipates a Great Future
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 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. 18 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.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
A Bible teacher once wrote this about the passage: "The Jews were expecting a political leader to build a kingdom for them. Matthew wrote the Gospel especially to the Jews. He presented Jesus as the long awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. He said about the kingdom of Heaven.Matthew’s Gospel is a link between the Old Testament & the New Testament. After about 400 years of silence after the Book of Malachi written about 430 B.C),John the Baptist was sent to announce the coming of Messiah.(Matt.17:10-13). Jesus has told the disciples that it had been written about Him in The Law of Moses,Prophets & the Psalms.(Luke 24:27,44). From Genesis to Malachi,there are many prophecies about the coming of Messiah. They were fulfilled in Christ. And here in this passage Peter was making a public declaration of what was true - that this Jesus of Nazareth was truly the one and only Christ, the Savior of the world."
Without Christ, the future is bleak. But because of Christ, and the fact that the Church is built on Him, the future of the church and individual Christians is as bright as a midnight star. Our hope is not on wishful thinking or positive thoughts, but it is on the Living God, Jesus Christ, who has conquered sin and death and will one day return to rule on this world. Because of Him, we can anticipate a great future - and we will talk more about this on Sunday as we conclude our series of messages, "The Church You've Always Longed For..." Hope to see you then!
