St. Mark M.B. Church, Pastor Brian K. Brown
Matthew 16:18
Today’s sermon was a continuation in last week’s text. Jesus lets us know that church or kingdom life will not be without issues. The question asked of the text was ‘why hell can’t stop us. Hell was defined as a state of chaos, where when evil starts to rise, it causes chaos in our world, people are against one another, there’s chaos in government, school, race relations, chaos is everywhere.
Pastor Brown presented three reasons why hell can’t stop us. First our foundation is firm. As long as we stay on the foundation even while there’s sinking all around us, we can have confidence that we cannot be stopped. In Luke 6:40 we find a man who built his house on a rock. Though the rain and wind blew nothing could move it because it was built upon a deep and solid work. Likewise, when we encounter trouble, sickness or any storm of life we cannot be stopped because we are built upon a solid rock, Jesus. We must remain firm upon the foundation called Jesus.
Secondly, our fight is fixed. We will be in a fight. We cannot stop the chaos from coming around us, but the fight is fixed. Jesus says He will build His church. Hell may rage but Jesus will keep building His church. The only way we can be stopped is if we stop. As long as we stay in the race we can win because the fight has been fixed. God the Father fixed this fight a long time ago. He saw that we are no match against all of the ills of the world so God fixed the fight, not with money but by the giving of His own begotten son who died on Calvary but rose on the third day. This is a fixed fight, and we shall not need to fight in the battle. All we need to do is show up. We win because we’re not in control of keeping our lives alive. So, we don’t have to retaliate when people do us wrong, we can smile in the face of adversaries because it is a fixed fight. Therefore, we should not worry about anything and know that if God is on our side, then the devil in hell cannot stop us and everything will be alright.
The last reason, our friend is fierce. In John’s gospel Jesus said He no longer calls us servants but friend. We have a friend in Jesus who is a warrior. He has the power to do all but fail. Jesus is so fierce that he doesn’t have to lift His hands or do warfare He can speak and have evil be dismissed. Jesus is our friend and knows how to turn obstacles into opportunity. In our play of life, you and I have a big Jesus and there is nothing that comes our way that Jesus can’t overcome. We should walk with confidence because God gave us Jesus who gave His life for us. Don’t be consumed by the present-day conditions of our lives because God is working something for our good. We don’t know how, when or who but Jesus has already done it. Remember our foundation is firm, the fight is fixed and our friend I Jesus.
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