The Church That Overcomes Hell’s Gates

Church is an emotionally loaded word for many.  For some, it pulls forth feelings of inadequacy–of not measuring up.  For others, it engenders “ought to do” feelings: the doing sometimes creates pride and other times produces failure.  Church speaks to others of “Sunday best” and plastic facades that are left behind by Sunday afternoon.

None of that is what church really is.  In fact, those perceptions are the joy of Satan.  He loves to obscure the Church because he knows it is the tool God ordained for our day.  Jesus promised the gates of hell would not prevail against the church because it is built on the profession of faith in Jesus Christ!  (Matthew 16:18)

The word “church” in our Bibles comes from the Greek word ekklesia.  It means “the called out ones.” Sometimes IN church, everyone appears to have been called to conform to a specific image.  The real Church–the ones called out of the world–is a living, breathing body of believers.  We are the Body of Christ.  Church is an organism that needs the whole to be healthy and alive.  The New Testament Church did life together–helping one another to learn from each other and appreciate diversity.  Church is about unity, not sameness.  I love to hear the victory stories of individual believers, so I can see what a body powered by faith can do!  Together we are the Church that hell cannot withstand!

As movie goers prompted at the close of the movie send out, “God is not Dead!”  Indeed, He is not.  His life brings hope and life to thousands every day.  I am Second is a fantastic website that offers up those kind of life-inspiring stories every day.  NFL coach Jeff Fisher, AZ quarterback Matt Barkley, actress and model Kathy Ireland and renowned singer, Lecrae join dozens of others to tell their story of life-transforming faith in Jesus Christ.  Each of the stories on the site show how an individual member of the Body of Christ accepted the call to come out of the world–to join the ekklesia–to be the called out ones!

The truth of church is that it is the Body of Christ made up of those who declare that Jesus Christ is FIRST!

When have you seen the Body alive and well–bringing life to their sphere of influence?