Friday 23 Nov 2018

November 23: Matthew 16:13-20

Key Verse: Matthew 16:18
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.

Devotion:
This is one of those statements in our bibles some churches will take to mean that this is where their own particular church started and was built upon Peter rather than on Christ. How wrong we can be by supposing anything could ever be built upon a human other than Christ Himself who is also God. Each of the disciples showed themselves to be men of faith who upheld Christ’s teachings but each of them also had their own issues and problems. Just as they did, we have our own problems we have to fight against, things which will tempt us away from Christ back into the world.

It is Christ Himself who reminds the disciples it is not just anyone’s words here on earth which tell us that Jesus is God but it is the very words from God Himself that reveal such truths. It is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of the truth and guides us through our lives. So long as we are willing to listen to Him and not to be misguided by man own teachings, we will be able to remain in the absolute truth. But, as is the case most of the time, we are led astray by things which sound good or make us feel good at the time. We need to be careful to make sure we do follow God’s Word and keep His Word close to our hearts.

That is why God gave us the bible, so we could know the truth and discern that truth as well. It is no good reading all the books of man and drawing conclusions from them if we are not going to compare them with the truth which God gave us. If the teachings of man will uphold God’s Word, then we can trust them. If they cannot be confirmed with God’s Word then we should not be entertaining them. Christ made sure the disciples would understand evil would not prevail against His Truth; His truth would stand forever and was established through Him, God. Peter was just one of the disciples who would carry that word forward and make sure others knew the truth! But that was not the end of it because Christ knew what still lay ahead for Him to do in order that all believers could receive eternal life...

Points to Ponder:
When was your church building established?

God is The Alpha and The Omega!