Pentecost 2015 (The Doctrine Of The Church)

INTRO: You will not remember this, but in 2004 I began on Pentecost Sunday to preach through the doctrine of the Church. The Church has been God’s greatest work on earth for the last 2,000 years. The Church is an incredible living organism created by God. It began on Pentecost day in Acts 2. Over the years, as I have pondered the Church, I have marveled at how it keeps going. The Church is nothing less than a divine institution and safeguarded by a divine hand. Anyone with any discernment that keeps up just a little with the modern church and sees the enemies both within and without the Church must marvel at how it keeps going. But it does. You can’t kill it. It is a divine organism. Many a worldly leader who was against God has sought to put the Church to death, but always the Church lives. The very first time the Church is mentioned, it is mentioned by the Lord Jesus just before He was crucified. Look at it in Matthew 16 (read 13-19). The gates of hell will not prevail against it.