Matthew 16:13-19

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven.”

For those of you who are offended by the title of this article, may I suggest to you that you have been bewitched into thinking that hell was a curse word or a word that is used frequently by unbelievers. Let me help you understand that hell is not some vocabulary word but an actual place prepared for satan, the angels that followed him, and those who choose not to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives.

Now that I have given my 2 minute disclaimer (smile lol), let’s get into this. Jesus asked a question which I believe is relevant for today, “Who do you say that I am”. Many of you could not answer His question because there would be a automatic to spewing out what you heard about Him from everybody else and not from what you know from the inner depths of your spirit. Peter rises up and answers this question not from what he’d received from flesh but what he had received by a divine revelation from God.

God help us to stop preaching and teaching from what we heard from flesh and start receiving and releasing the divine revelation of God. Souls will not come to the Lord, people will not get healed, and miracles will not happen by fleshly preaching and messages. Ok that was just a side note. “You are the Messiah (Christ), the Son of the Living God”! Another translation says the Son of the God who is alive. You see, the responses to Jesus first question reduced him down to only flesh but Peter’s response revealed that He was not flesh but the word in flesh. Now you may be saying what in the world does this have to do with the title? Just stay with me because everything I’m saying is important and are pieces to the puzzle.

Jesus goes on to say that upon this rock (the revelation given by God the Father),I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail or overpower it. Ok! He is another side note. This scripture gives a clear distinction between the house that Jesus built and the house that man built. You will know the difference by the foundation. The true church is built upon the revelation by God where as the religious church is built upon a foundation called flesh and works.

Let me give you some comparisons between the true church and the religious church. The true church not only believes in healing, miracles, signs and wonders, they operator in healing, miracles, signs and wonders. They don’t just talk about it, they move in it. The religious church on the other had is only interested in talking a good game, following a agenda rather than the Holy Spirit, doing programs, having conferences to scream at each other and pass out their ministry cards so they can be the next top preacher, doing only 15 minutes of worship so they can get to the skit they do every year, and being out by 12:00, 12:30, or 1:00 so the people won’t be mad and leave the church for being held in service too long.

The true church understands that they are the church where as the religious church believes that the building is the church, they refuse leave it, and will fight to the death if someone or something try to take it away from them. The true church embraces change but the religious church fights it.

Jesus said my church will not be overpowered by hell. Please understand that when you are facing demonic opposition, you have the keys or authority to tell that spirit to go to hell and the gates from where it came to be shut up in the name of Jesus. When you tell these spirits to go to hell, you are not only tell them to go back from where they came but you are reminding them of their future. Come on now! If the devil uses his little freaks to torment you about you past, then you have the right as a kingdom ambassador to remind him of his future.

When your mom or dad wanted you to stop talking or stop making noise, what would they say? Shut Up! They were commanding what was coming out of your mouth to cease by telling you to close up the gates of your face, lol. You have the same authority to command the gates of hell to be shut up now, so that there is no access to your marriage, finances, relationships, children, family, mind, body, and spirit. You see religion is teaching people how not to walk in authority but how to walk and live as a beggar. Jesus said that my church shall not be overpower or controlled the gates of hell. Can I keep it real? Jesus said that my church shall not be punked by whats coming from hell and here is how. I will give you keys of the kingdom of heaven so that whatever you disallow on earth, it will be disallowed in heaven and whatever you allow on earth, will be allowed in heaven. Jesus is saying that because I am in you and you are in me and you have my heart, I will back you up. If we really understood this, there would be no need to come out to a building five days a week praying or begging over things. Lord let our intercession change from begging to commanding in the name of Jesus.

The keys of the kingdom will never be given to a ministry that is built upon a religious foundation. My prayer today for you, is that you will build upon the right foundation so that you can receive the keys to shut the gates hell up that has access in your life in Jesus Name, Amen.