Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART III: P LANTING U RBAN C HURCHES • 321

II. The Revelation of Peter: “You are the Messiah!”

Matt. 16.16 – Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

A. Affirmation One: “You are the Messiah” (i.e., the anointed Servant of Yahweh foretold by the prophets who alone will rule over the Kingdom of God forever). B. Affirmation Two: “. . . the Son of the Living God!” (i.e., the divine Son of God who reveals God’s glory to us, and redeems us from the curse of sin and death)

III. On this Rock: The Centrality of the Church in the Cosmic Struggle for Humanity

Matt. 16.17-19 (ESV) – And Jesus answered 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 tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

A. Christ’s Messianic identity occurs through divine revelation.

1 Cor. 12.3 (ESV) – Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

B. Christ’s affirmation of “on this Rock”

1. On the Rock of the confession that Jesus of Nazareth is Messiah and Lord of all

Rom. 10.8-9 (ESV) – But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.