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In Israel's northern city of Caesarea Philippi, among the ruins of a worship centre dedicated to the Greek god Pan, a cave exists that was long believed by those who worshipped there to be the doorway into the netherworld. It was in the vicinity of this grotto, the alleged gateway to hell, that Jesus promised: "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18).

From Pentecost in the first century to the present day, Satan has attempted to destroy Christ's Church—yet it endures. From a small group of Jewish outsiders in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, Christ built His Church to reach even the remotest parts of the world. Despite controversies, wars, and denominational splits, the Church continues to be the means through which God announces to a dark and dying world that light and life have come in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

For these reasons, and many more, we learn about and appreciate the body of Christ, the Church.

Resources on this Topic

A Passion That Stays Balanced

Date: 
April 15-17, 2015
Series:
Scripture: 
1 Corinthians 9:16-24
Topic:

Jesus certainly comes to mind when one thinks of passion, but so does another person in the New Testament: the Apostle Paul. He was a man with intense, driving convictions. His enemies would curse him, beat him, and stone him nearly to death, and he’d keep on preaching the gospel. He refused to run scared, to take it easy, or to play it safe. As long as there was breath in his lungs, the name of Christ would be on his lips, and the passion of God would throb in his heart.

Flexing with a Future in Flux

Date: 
April 8-10, 2015
Series:
Scripture: 
Isaiah 43:18-19, 48:6-8Acts 11:1-5, 11:9-13, 11:15-18
Topic:

The church has always been known for its resolute spirit. Problems occur, though, when we think that because the church’s message is changeless, the church’s methods must be changeless too. How can we expect to make a difference in a rapidly changing world if we’re living in the past? Are we ready for the changes the future will bring?

Ministry: Movement or Monument?

Date: 
March 26-30, 2015
Series:
Scripture: 
2 Chronicles 26:1-21Isaiah 42:5-8
Topic:

How tempting it is to claim the credit ourselves for the mighty works God does in and around us. Perhaps no one feels that temptation more than those who serve God in a public ministry—those who have been called to hold His glory in sacred trust. Whether their work becomes a movement of God or calcifies into a monument to themselves depends on one crucial factor: who gets the glory.

Being a Church That Makes a Difference

Date: 
March 23-25, 2015
Series:
Scripture: 
Revelation 2:1-3, 2:8-10, 2:12-13, 2:18-19, 3:7-10, 3:17
Topic:

“You can’t judge a book by its cover”—that’s a phrase we’ve all heard before. What’s true of people is also true of churches—you can’t tell the effectiveness of a church by its building. To discover the traits of an effective church, we have to examine what’s on the inside. Fortunately, Jesus Himself shows us what to look for.

The Truth That Set Us Free

Date: 
March 17-18, 2015
Series:
Scripture: 
Psalm 46:1-2Romans 1:16, 4:5
Topic:

To illustrate how God uses ordinary people, let’s travel back in time to a period of history called the Reformation. The Reformation’s heroes and battlefields may not be as recognizable as the American Revolution’s George Washington and Valley Forge. Yet the soldiers who led a religious revolution from the 1300s to the 1500s made a tremendous difference in what matters most to us—our understanding of God, the Bible, and salvation.

Prevailing through Prayer

Date: 
November 28-December 2, 2014
Series:
Scripture: 
Acts 12:1-17
Topic:

God’s miraculous power might seem distant or theoretical at times, but it’s not. It is real! The Acts of the Apostles proves it, teeming with true stories of supernatural encounters and glorious surprises. In this lesson, we discover how God used intercessory prayer to perform an incredible miracle in the life of Peter, the fisherman-turned-apostle.

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