Stand Alone Sermon

When Jesus said, “I will build my CHURCH,” what was He talking about? What did the disciples think He was talking about? The Old Testament had already been translated into Greek and the word, “ekklesia,” was at times used to describe the assembly of Israel. Jesus was declaring that He was going to build a “called-out assembly” … a gathering of people who would be HIS, and who would confess Him as Savior and Lord. The actual English word, “church,” may be derived from a combination of Dutch and German words that are based on another Greek word that means, “the Lord’s house.” Jesus explained in John 17 that He came for those whom the Father had given Him. These, and only these, would be part of His Body, the Church, the “ekklesia,” the “called-out assembly.” Believers are a “holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21), a “spiritual house” (I Peter 2:4). It is this gather, this group of people, who are referred to throughout the rest of the New Testament as Christ’s “Body,” the Church! All of this is important because this gathering of people is GOD’s idea, and His plan to create this Body through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit began before the world was created and continues today!! Jesus is the HEAD of the Church and only He can determine what the Church IS and what it is sent into the world to be and to do. All the efforts of people today to make the “church” something other than what God tells us in His Word fail at some point to be all that God calls us to be. What do YOU think of when you hear the word, “Church”? Are you part of what God is doing in the world today??