Young Adults' Group

Building A Strong Church

by Pastor Mark
July 13, 2023

The strength of the church

God’s wonderful plan for the church is to be strong. There is every potential for the church to be built sturdy and immovable. But it is not because of the human strength of man.

The Lord’s promise to build His church assures us that His glorious church will be strong. This is His church. The Lord has personal ownership of the church and will not allow anything, no matter how powerful, to overcome it. The church must be strong as there are great difficulties that it will have to face.

The great challenges of the church

“And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

1. The Lord knows the difficult challenges that the church would have to encounter.
2. The very gates of Hades would open up and attack the church.
3. This would be a reference to Satan, his demonic forces and their works.
4. They would do everything they can to attack, hurt and weaken the church.
   1. They would send persecution against the saints of the church.
   2. Another kind of attack would be through false teachings and teachers.
   3. The spread of the “doctrine of demons” would cause the church to be deceived.

Given such adverse challenges, how do we know that the church will be strong enough?

A sufficiently strong church

1. Christ has sought to build a church sufficiently strong to withstand all challenges.
2. The word “prevail” means to “have power over”.
3. The phrase “shall not” indicates a future idea that will never happen.
4. Satan and his demons will never overpower the church.
5. The church has great power to overcome and triumph over all spiritual battles.
6. We will be victorious because we have Christ as our Chief Cornerstone.
7. Nothing will tear the church down.
8. We will remain strong…strong enough to stay steady and withstand any attack.

The strength of Bethany

1. Over the years, we have seen how Bethany has been built on Christ and the Word of God.
2. We thank God for making us a strong church in the face of many challenges.
3. There have been people who have spoken out against our church. As we grew larger as a church from Bethany I to Bethany II, we did not remain in the confines of “traditions” and “norms”. We initiated new and fresh approaches in our worship and service. We also developed new areas of ministries locally and overseas. But not everyone was accepting of our new developments and we received words of criticism, opposition and disdain. Yet, Bethany prevailed.
4. People have come into our midst to spread wrong teachings. Some came to spread false doctrines and practices threatening the Biblical stance of our church. We were able to withstand all attempts to deceive, corrupt and bring us down. Again, Bethany prevailed.
5. Thank God that, as a church, Bethany continues to remain steady and immovable.

Let us be challenged to stay strong and resolute to face and overcome the many challenges ahead.

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