15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, " You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, " Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 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...
As Christians, we are the church. We may belong to different bodies and church families, but we are all responsible for carrying out the will of God and sharing the gospel with the world. Peter, in this passage, is very confident in who Christ was (overlooking the fact that Peter would deny Christ in just a couple of chapters). Nonetheless, at the same time Christ was very confident in Peter. Christ would use Peter as not only a disciple, but a cornerstone for sharing the faith with the world. The best thing of all is found in verse 18...not even the gates of hell can stop God's people when their intentions are set on glorifying him and preaching the gospel to the dying world. Satan cowers at even the sound of Jesus' name.
In everything we do, we should be confident in Christ and his word, just as he is confident in us. Yes, we fall. Yes, we sin. Yes, we are selfish at times (a lot of times). Christ has a purpose, a direction, a plan, and is willing to back us 100% of the way...as long as well are fully committed to making him known to the world. If we are ashamed of the Word or of Christ's name, how can we expect him to back us up. Strange thing, even if we do act foolish and try to avoid sharing him with others, he still loves us.
Romans 1:16
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...
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