I tell you, I'm so thrilled, thrilled for all these messages. It's been so wonderful. This morning they've helped me, and I know they have you, Dr. Dennis Petty, coming to speak to us now, an evangelist out of Cornelia, Georgia, and we love him, and what a blessing. We appreciate you, Brother Dennis. God bless you. I appreciate the good word that's been shared with us already. Matthew chapter 16, if you turn there, Matthew chapter 16. A dear preacher friend of ours, my dad's best friend, just a mountain preacher, and he was telling me one time, he said, Dennis said, I woke up and said I was praying, And so I asked the Lord, Lord, what would you have me to do today? And he said, the Lord spoke back to me and said, I'd have you to get up. It's 9 o'clock. I hope that doesn't kill the meeting. If you know me, you know I never tell anything funny. Matthew chapter 16. After I pray, I want you to look with me at verse 18. Father, it's my desire that you would literally take my mind and thank your thoughts, my lips to speak your word, and give me your compassion to do it with. May I, Father, what I feel you've impressed upon my heart, that you would give me liberty to speak it, and that your precious will would be accomplished in Christ's name. Amen. Verse 18 said, and I say also unto thee, that upon the avowed Peter, And upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now look at that closing half of the verse. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell, that is the power of the infernal regions, shall not prevail against it, shall not conquer it. It seems to be that there's a good bit of discouragement about what is happening in our churches. So I want to talk about the Church of Christ. You see, it's of divine origin. It's the purchase of blood. It's formed by the Holy Spirit. It's the earthly habitation of God. It's not of human origin. You see, Its head is in heaven. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. It has no nationality. Its meat and drink is a book. You see, it's founded upon a rock. The Holy Spirit is its teacher. The mightiest weapon in its armor is prayer. Love is its driving force. It proclaims the greatest message this world has ever heard. Could I say to you that it passes through the water, but it's never been submerged? I'm talking about the church. Could I say to you that this church purchased with his own blood. It's been in the fire, but it's never been extinguished. I want to say to you that it's Christ's greatest treasure. Could I say that Job is the greatest task that's ever been aimed at. And that's for you and me to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every Christian. Here you see the greatest wonder of this age is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to say to you that what it is is assembly of called out ones by the gospel to worship according to the Word of God. Notice I said we worship according to the Word of God. You see, whose is it when he said, I will build my church? The church doesn't belong to you, it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I got a sneaking feeling he knows what's going on. And it could possibly be that he's purging the church. How do you get saved and become a part of the body of Christ? Do not love to fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. How can you be comfortable sitting at home when you know God's people have met together and God has something he wants to give to you? This Bible said it's the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Leviticus clearly tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood. You know as well as I do, Christ gave His blood. What He did was He poured out His life. And what He gave for me, He turned around and gave it to me. I'm not apologizing, but I'm not going to stay at home either. Just a week or so ago, I went to church. The wife and I did on Wednesday night. There was another man and his wife and my wife and myself and the preacher. Wasn't another soul there. I had been there just some months earlier when they was running over 200. But I want to tell you that Jesus said, I will build my church I'm not building it, I'm just a cog in the wheel. He's building the church. Absolutely, her dear brother was right. You preach on the Holy Ghost and God is speaking to her. I want to tell you, that ain't you doing it. There's a lot of times I wish I could do it, but I can't do it. He said, I bought it, I paid for it with my own blood. And I wanted to tell you, he's the builder. I got a feeling that none of this caught him by surprise. Where is this church? In first Thessalonians one in one, he said, it's in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we're positioned is in the Lord. We have a special position. Every believer has it. And you and I are a part of it. And I'm honored to be a part of it. What a joy to know that I'm a part of his bride. He said that I'm in God. You see, God has the power not only to protect us, he has the passion to do so. Can you imagine God? Wanted to protect the sorry rascal like me? God has the power to do it. He said, I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, Lord, he's the sovereign of the church, Jesus. He's the savior of the church, Christ. He's the servant of the church. You see, as Jesus, he is the savior for me. As Christ, he's a sanctifier in me. As Lord, he's the sovereign over me. I don't have any rights. You see, all of my rights are to be given to him. I'm under his lordship. There's so many things I'd like to do, but if I did them, they'd probably all be wrong. But I know one thing that's right, and that is that I'm in Him and He's in me. Just let me say two or three things about the church, and I'll be through. First of all, the price it was paid for it. This Bible said in Ephesians 5 in verse number 25, he said, Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He loved the church. Acts 20, the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood, the blood of God, the life of God that was poured out for you and me. I know there's been a controversy about that, but there ain't no way you can separate the blood of God and the life of God. No way in the world you can. Don't care what side you're on, you've got to be on the side of the blood and you've got to be on the life that God gives you through the blood. of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's his blood. And if it wasn't recorded in Holy Rite, you'd be nearly scared to even talk about the blood of God. But we preach that, and we get under the grip of the appreciation of what he has done for us. As a matter of fact, Paul said this. He gave himself a ransom for all. I don't know how you get anybody out of that word, all. At the cross, he paid the price for all. You know and I know that they ain't all going to be saved. We know that hell will be filled. But I want to tell you, he paid the price for all of them. There are sins that I literally, humanly speaking, hate. Yes, I literally hate him. I can't stand to be around some people. My human nature rebels against him. But he died for them. And I must go show the love of Christ to whosoever will. Oh, absolutely. You, you see. Paul declared that we're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. And if I had the power of speech, I'd do my best to tell you how precious that blood is, but I don't have the ability to do it. I just have to believe what Peter said, the precious blood of Christ. And I experience it in my innermost being, how precious the blood of Christ is. I want to tell you, my friends, This blessed Bible clearly tells us, in no uncertain terms, the price of the blood. But then there's the permanency of the church. He said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I don't care what the world throws against the church. You get what I'm saying? It cannot conquer the church. Whether I go and there's five or where I go and there's 500. Are you listening? I'm talking about the local assembly. I wanna tell you I'm gonna worship him because of the church. The body of Christ himself. You see, this tells me that it's gonna utterly triumph. He said the gates of hell cannot conquer it. It'll never prevail against the church. You see the vision that Christ had when he was looking down, and I use this terminology, the carters of the future. This was his confidence, certain victory for the body of Christ. It's not because of you and me. It's because of our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. all of the power of death, all of the power of hell, all of the power of the unseen world. He said it cannot conquer the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All that power. You see, if you had been standing there at the cross, watching what was happening, your opinion would make this like everybody else's. He's finished. You look at it, there don't seem to be no hope. I heard him say, it's finished. He gave up the ghost. But I want to tell him because of the displace, the power of God, that is ridiculous to even think that. Because he's fixing to get up. Amen? God himself is going to testify, I'm satisfied with what he did on the cross of Calvary. And I'm thrilled to be a part of the church. I don't care what the world thinks about the church in that sense. I'm proud to be a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. How ridiculous could we be to look at the resurrection and think the church is defeated? I want to tell you he's alive. Let me say it this way, he's alive again. Oh yeah, he died, but he's alive again. Oh yeah, they couldn't keep him down. They put him in a tomb, but the tomb lost. The tomb couldn't hold him. There ain't never been a tomb built that was built for somebody to get a pile of it. They built it to hold you, but the tomb couldn't hold him. The tomb fell. He just got up. What a wonderful God. The third thing I want to say is the preaching of the church. In the book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 14, it said, but Peter, but Peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice. And he said, listen to me. The Word and the King hearkened unto me. Listen to what I'm going to say. I've been preaching for 56 years. I've been saved for 58 years. And every time I go to the pulpit, So you'll listen or hearken to what I'm saying. I don't go to church and get in the pulpit when there ain't nobody there and start preaching. I hadn't said I didn't, hadn't been where I preached to myself. I've done that a lot of times. But he said he hearkened to me. You see, Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost is the first incident of Christian preaching in the church. You see, he commenced, he starts right here, he commenced by explanation. You see, back in verse number 12, they said, what is this? Get that word, this. What is this? That is the unusual manifestation that's taking place on Pentecost. Peter gets up and he said something like this. He said, he lifted up his voice and said to them, listen to me. And then he begins to explain what is happening. Verses 14 down to about verse 22. After he commences by explaining what is taking place, he continues by an exposition of Scripture. If you'll read from verse 22 on down to about verse 36, if you'll notice, it's packed with Scripture and all he had was the Old Testament. They didn't have the New Testament, but he's filling it With scriptures, he's quoting the word of God. Not only did he commence by explaining, not only did he continue by an exposition of scripture, but I want you to notice, he concluded with an exhortation. He said, repentance and faith. I believe every sermon ought to be based on the pattern God gave us. He started it this way, and he intends for us to keep it that way. And we ought to expound the scriptures in a way in which people can understand what it is that God is saying. Absolutely. You see, the manner of his preaching, the manner, that word means the way a thing is done. The manner of his preaching, listen to me now, was first of all structural. It had structure in it. We don't get them just throw stuff out. It has structure in it. Second of all, it had scripture in it. It's packed with scripture. And then finally, it had spirituality in it. When I say spiritual, I mean it is concerning sacred things. It's inspired by God. Because what we're preaching is something that's inspired and given to us. Absolutely. But what is the matter of this preaching? Well, is Christ the pattern of our life? Is Christ the pardon of our life? Is Christ the power of our life? You see, it ain't nothing here. It's all coming down through here. I'm talking about the preaching of Peter on that day. Verse 37, it produced conviction of sin. Verse number 38, it produced conversion of life. In verses 40 and 41 and 42, confession of faith. I'm talking about what the word of God will produce. It's not my personality, it's his word. You see the preaching here, you see the purpose here, you see the personnel here, you see the power here. You see the preaching was Christ. He's not preaching about the Jews and what they're going to do to save the nation of Israel. He's preaching Christ. That was his message here in this. And in that message he said, repent and believe. That's what God wants us to do. Tell him to repent and believe. Not only the preaching, but the purpose. He said it's worldwide evangelization. I love this. You see, you are witnesses of these things it says here in the scripture. You and I are to tell the story. That's the purpose. The personnel, you. You are witnesses of these things. And then, of course, last of all, the power. He said, the spirit of God, he said, it dwells in you. Now, we talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, yes. But you see, it's the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Absolutely. And when I say that, I'm saying it's His power working in and through us for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can go anywhere, it works! There's no place that you can go that God the Holy Ghost can't work for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm saying to you, the greatest mystery of this age is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling myself that the church ain't gonna lose. I'm gonna tell you my savior said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Are you still with me? Thank God for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.