The Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail | Ps Glenn Bleakney

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Newman Church podcast. Wherever you are in the world, we are so glad that you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our heavenly Father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Thank you, Sarah. Right, well done. Hey, good to see everyone. Thank you, guys. Worship team, that was amazing. Really appreciate everyone who's serving. We have so many amazing volunteers here that serve and give their time each week. Thank you so much. We really appreciate that, guys. Well done. And just want to say for those of you, if you like to be involved in serving, there's still opportunity for that. You can do that. Scan the QR code, even when you're leaving, you'll see there's a sign out there, it says, join a team. Also, you can register your visit with us as well, so we can make sure that we follow up with you, give you lots of information as well. So good to be back. It seems like it's been forever that we've been here. I think it was just two Sundays for me. Oh, okay. Yeah, Lynn was here, I guess, one time, but, yeah, great to be back and such an honor to really serve Jesus in this time. And I really feel this week I've been reflecting on the, what Jesus says in his word about his church. And, you know, the word church is actually, obviously it's an english word, but it's derived from a german word, and that's the word kirke. And it literally speaks of a building. So to actually understand church, we have to move into the original context of what Jesus was saying. And the word he uses is actually ecclesia. Some people say ecclesia. Ecclesia. Ecclesia is a very different word. It actually even means more than assembly sometimes. I think it was William Tyndale who actually was the first person to translate the Bible from the original languages into English. He refused to translate the greek word ekklesia church. The reason why is he did not want people to equate it with kind of the institutional church of that time. And he used the word assembly. And even in acts 19, that word assembly, or ecclesia, is used at least three times, not referring to the church, but referring to a gathering and assembly of the citizens during that time. So it's a very powerful word. We're going to dive into that today. And I just want to remind us of something that Jesus said in Matthew, chapter 16. And a lot of times if you are a person who's prophetic or a student of the word, you just love to unpack the word and teach the word. Sometimes what happens to us? And these creative people are like this, too. They get bored easily. And it's like, hey, we've done that song three times already. Do we have to do it again? No, but it's like, yeah, but the congregation's like, hey, new songs all the time. And so what happens is literally, if we're that type of person that literally is looking for something new and fresh and novel all the time, that's okay. We need to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to constantly be leaning in and experiencing fresh revelation from the word. But ultimately, there's something else that Jesus said, and that is this, that we have to be reminded of the promises of God. You know, it's true that sometimes the reason why we don't receive breakthrough and fresh revelation and hear the voice of God is because we've not been obedient to what he's already told us to do. So why should he entrust us with more blessing, with more breakthrough, if we've not been obedient to what he's already given to us? Scripture is very clear about that. To he who has more will be given. To he who does not have even what he has will be taken away. So there's a place of stewarding the word in our lives. You know, James talked about it. Jesus mentioned it. You can be a hearer of the word, but if you're not a doer, he actually says, you deceive yourself. So blessed are those who know the teaching, but then obey it. Jesus said in John 13, so there's a place of being obedient. So I want to remind us this morning of an amazing promise that comes from God. And this promise is found in Matthew 16. And it's this. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church. If you look at what's happening around the world right now, there is definitely a shaking. There's a sifting, there's a purification that's happening in the church. But I want to remind you that this is not the enemy prevailing. God actually has a role. Can I say that? That God is actually the one who is using even what the enemy means for evil. He will use it for good. And we are in a time where God is purifying his church. And the reason why he is purifying his church is because he wants to prepare us for an amazing outpouring of his holy spirit. Remember, Peter the Lord said to him, Peter, Satan desires to sift you like wheat. And he said, but I prayed for you that your faith would not fail. And then he commented, he said, and after you're restored, go and strengthen your brothers. So there was a work that God was doing in Peter's life to sift him in the sense that it would prepare him for a greater weight of glory. God was preparing him for a greater weight of glory. So there is a purification work that God does in his church. And I believe now more than ever that's happening. I believe that in 1987, there was a word released by a prophet in the UK by the name of David Minor. And David Minor spoke about what he called the two words, winds of God. The two winds of God. And the first wind that he referred to is actually a work of purification, a work in which God would bring cleansing and purging to his church. And it's not just a superficial change, but a deep, transformative move that would purge the church, especially its leaders. It's a divine purging aimed at preparing a pure people to carry his glory and advance his kingdom. And this process is essential as it sets the stage for a great revival that's imminent. Do we want revival? At what cost? If we want revival, how many know that it may cost us more than perhaps we're willing to pay, but God knows exactly what it's going to take for us to become the people he's prepared us to be in order to see what he wants to do in this season. And I feel that one of the greatest enemies in the church right now is complacency. Complacency. People that are in settled. You know, it actually says it's in Zephaniah one. I think it's verse 14. The Lord speaks about a people that are settled in complacency. And that word is literally uses the analogy of, like, a bottle of wine and the sediment that literally will be at the bottom of that. That bottle of wine. And how in order to see it, you know, no longer sit, like, settled on their dregs, is what it says. There has to be what? A shaking. A shaking. So I really believe that God is doing a shaking because he doesn't want us to be settled on our dregs settled in complacency. And I want to just encourage us that if we want to go to the place that God wants us to go to, and some of us may not even understand what he's requiring of us, it's going to depend on our response. It will depend on our response. God will always have a paper that he will use. God will always have a remnant. But what about us? What about you? What about me? As an individual, will we see what God wants to do in our lives and through us for the glory of his name? In these last days, we're called to stand in the gap for others. We're called to literally contend, to intercede, to prevail, in order to see breakthrough, even for the lives of others. And God is doing an amazing work in that the very words of David Minor, I believe today are coming to pass more than ever before. See this winding, this wind, sorry. Is destined to penetrate every institution, every ministry, every church established in God's name. And any ministry, church organization that has replaced God's purpose with its own will collapse as flimsy as cardboard shacks in a storm. God is doing an amazing work and I really believe that the call in this season is to come up higher, to go deeper and to become all in. And we're not looking here at Numa, Melbourne, north, to attract a crowd. We're not looking for a big audience. We believe God's called us to raise up an army. I want to remind us of the prophetic word that literally was spoken when David and Lenny Chaka were with us back in April. David, who himself literally from Singapore, was part of the special forces or the commando unit, as he's, when he served in Singapore, prophesied that this house is called to raise up commandos. This is a house where God is called is literally. There's a grace to raise up people. There's a grace for you to step into God's purpose and attention for your life. And don't waste your life. Please don't waste your life. God wants to use you. He has something so significant and powerful for your life. He has such a future plan for you. But don't disqualify yourself by refusing to engage in what he wants you to do. See, a lot of times we think, oh, it's my ability. You know, if a person is gifted, if they're super anointed, if whatever they carry, if they're eloquent or maybe very charismatic or even flow in the gifts of the spirit, they can do all these things. We think, well, that person God can use. But what about me? I want to tell you, it's not about our abilities, it's about our availability. Are we available? Will we make ourselves available for what God wants to do? I am telling you that God chooses the foolish to confound the wise, the weak to confound the strong. And he doesn't care about who we are in the natural, our education, our eloquence, our expertise. He's looking for people that will lean into his presence, will seek him and will give their yes to him in increasing measure, David Minor continued, he said, those who withstood the first wind will be carried forward by the second. What is the second wind? He said, the second wind is named the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. This wind will bring divine government and order along with God's power. The supernatural will manifest, bringing miracles among God's people and instilling the fear of God across nations. From the wreckage of the first wind, where pride, lust, greed, competition, and jealousy are blown away, God will establish his kingdom. Wow. Wow. God is serious in what he's calling us into. You see, God is looking for a people who will submit to the process in order that we can be raised up to see and experience revival and the return of the miraculous. The church in its current form, David Minor says, cannot contain God's power, but is that it turns to the wind. Turns to the wind of God's holiness, it will be purged and transformed to contain his glory. So, God, let's turn our faces toward the wind. Let's turn our faces toward the wind. Allow him to blow, allow him to purge. Allow him to challenge us. Allow him to deal with those things in us. Blowing into wine, blowing out, purging, separating the wheat from the chaff so that we can be prepared for what it is that he wants to do. And I want to say to us that it's not just about God making people who have, you know, bad people good. Okay, we can say, well, you know, I love God. I go to church. I do this, I do that. Great. But he's calling us to a place of deeper consecration and surrender. There's a place where he's saying, I want to move you beyond presence into glory. A lot of us experienced his presence, but very few of us have experienced his glory. Remember Moses crying out to God, show me why? He said, unless your presence goes with us, don't send us up. But God said, all right, I won't send the angel. And he said, I will actually go with you. And he said, my presence will give you rest. And Moses said, that's great. We want your presence. We need your presence to take us forward. But, Lord, more, show me your glory. Show me your glory. How many this morning? You actually are wanting more than his presence. You want his glory. I can tell you, you're in the minority. You're in the minority. But God wants to reveal his glory. He wants to restore his glory to his people. We were created for glory. Isaiah 43 seven says, everyone who's called by my name, whom I created for my glory, created for his glory, created to carry his glory. You see this passage where Jesus spoke about the gates of hell not prevailing against the church? It's very interesting. It's found in Matthew 16. I'm not going to actually walk through this. Last Sunday morning in city in Numa, Richmond, I preached this message in both services. But it's interesting because today is very different. I'm just trying to follow what holy spirit is saying right now. And I don't feel led to necessarily preach this verbatim the way I did before. But I feel that God is saying there is a couple things that he wants us to look at in the context of this passage. So let's jump in at Matthew 16 starting at verse 13. We'll read it quickly. Then I'm just going to kind of give some high level perspective on what's happening here. So here we are, Matthew 16. Jesus takes his disciples to a place called Caesarea Philippi, and we'll pick it up in verse number 13. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they say, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. Simon Peter answered and said, you are Simon Peter answered, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father, who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell or Hades shall not prevail against it. I'll 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. All right, here's what I want us to focus on this morning. Please. The Bible says the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. The ecclesia. That's a promise. Okay? That's a promise. Come on, now. Isn't that amazing? That no matter what, the gates of hell will not prevail against the ecclesia. Now, there's a condition. How many know that for every problem we have in life, God has a promise, right? Isn't that awesome? Over 8000 promises in the Bible. But for every promise, there's a process. That process could be faith just coming into agreement with faith. But it can be, at times, more than faith. So more than believing, more than just saying, yes, lord, I believe, I expect. No, sometimes it's actually more than that. What we see in this passage is that Jesus intentionally takes his disciples to a place called Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea philippi was a beautiful place. It had waterfalls. Still to this day, it's called today banias in northern Israel. And it literally is a place with waterfalls. It's the source of the river Jordan. It has mountains. I mean, it's beautiful, it's lush, it's greenhouse. It's amazing. But it's a place steeped in darkness. A place steeped in darkness. So no devout jew would go and visit Caesarea Philippi. They wouldn't go there. So Jesus actually breaks protocol and intentionally takes his disciples to this place called Caesarea Philippi. And while he's there, he poses a question. See, it's a place where there was baal worship in the Old Testament. The Greeks worshiped the God pan, which was half goat, half man. And then in the days of Jesus, it was a place of emperor worship. In fact, Herod the great built a temple, I'm sorry, a shrine to Caesar Augustus there. And carved on the walls, there literally were inscriptions and statues of the emperors. And carved on the walls was this inscription that Caesar was literally the son of God, king of kings and lord of lords. So here Jesus is standing at this place, and there's actually a cave. I'm not sure if we have that photo. We'll put it up. There we go. So this is what it looks like today. That cave was considered the abyss to the underworld, and in that day was known as the gates of hell. Jesus, come on now. He's not afraid. You know, I remember when we used to itinerate all the time. We go into cities, we go into different countries. And, you know, the really spiritual christians would say, hey, Glenn, what spirit do you detect at work or spirits at work here? And I said, oh, man. He said, God has given me clear revelation. I know exactly what's happening. Really? What spirit is it? What spirit's hot. I said, holy spirit. Oh, really? Greater is he that is in us. I don't care about what the principalities of the powers are. We have the power of the Holy spirit, which is greater. So Jesus shows up, this is a dark place. Don't go there. I mean, and Jesus intentionally takes his disciples there, and he drives a stake in the ground. He says, upon this rock, notice it's all rock. I will build my ecclesia, and the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. You see, he's making a startling but very bold declaration that the kingdom of God is greater than the kingdom of the enemy. And he's actually speaking to us about our place as being part of God's church, or ecclesia, today. So what is the ecclesia? As I mentioned in the very beginning of this message, it's not just a gathering. It's not just. It's certainly not a church building or church organization, but it's actually a very powerful word that was very common in the day of the disciples. Initially, it spoke of the Greeks in their, what they would call an ecclesia. And you can read in acts 17, when Paul is at Mars Hill and Athens, you can read all about that. But in the greek context, in ecclesia referred to a legislative assembly of free citizens gathered to deliberate and make decisions on matters of civic importance. It was a body entrusted with the authority to shape the course of the city and state, enacting policies and rendering judgments. Listen to this. That affected every sphere of society. Woo. That's what ecclesia was. Now, in the roman days, ecclesia literally speaks of extending imperial rule. The ecclesia in roman times represented an official assembly convened to carry out the decrees of the emperor Caesar. It was an instrument of imperial power, an extension of the ruler's authority to every corner of the empire. And in roman times, when the ecclesiast spoke, it was as if Caesar himself had spoken. Whoa. Can you see the implications here? Jesus says, we are the ecclesia. I want to remind you, there was a word in that day, both in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, that Jesus could have chosen. There were different words. In Greek, it's the word synagogue. We get synagogue. He didn't use that word. He used a different word, a word that was not familiar to the jewish people in the sense it wasn't part of their vocabulary. He used the word ekklesia to describe his disciples, his family, his community. And it literally speaks of being a. It's literally a governmental assembly that's established by heaven's king to manifest his rule on earth as it is in heaven. Now, please note that after the question was asked, you know, Jesus takes the disciples here, they're standing at the gates of hell and he says, who do men say I am? Very important. Why did he say that? Well, some say Elijah, others John the Baptist, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. Then Jesus personalizes it. But who do you say I am? In the plural, in Greek, who do you all say I am? Okay, Peter answers. Peter is always answering. Right said, hey, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. Wow, very profound. First of all, you're Christ. You're the messiah, the king of the Jews. You are the coming one that was prophesied about. But he takes it further. You're the son of the living God. Remember on that grotto there was an. [00:27:02] Speaker C: Inscription that said, thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and we realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or us simply missing the mark, entered the world and separated us from God. Romans chapter six, verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he, Jesus, demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 316 says, for God so love the the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus. The son of God who came, lived, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of goddess and to have life forevermore with him. Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord. And we do that through a simple prayer. Follow along with me. Dear Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Numa church. Thanks for listening.