On This Rock by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Theme: Ecclesia. It is one of the most important things we as a body can understand

There has to be a radical shift in how we have been doing church for the last few years. I am talking about the body of Christ

Church is the people, not the building

Illustration: the water bottle

I asked for water and was handed a bottle. The moment the content is finished, can you still call it water? The container is not water

When I say welcome to church, you think of the building. I am talking about what the building contains

The people around you are the church, not just the building

Some think church is the program: opening prayer, praise and worship, the word, giving, then home

Some people have not experienced church in years

You can sing, dance, listen to the word and take notes copiously, and you have not experienced church until you experience people

In the 21st century we have found a way to maintain our anonymity as we come every single week. Some people, no single person knows who they are

Illustration: one year at the back

Somebody notable in this country told my wife they had been attending church for one year, just sitting at the back and going

Public figures may want to hide in the crowd and worship in peace. I advocate for that. There are things I deliberately don't do if I know you are a public figure

But that mode of worship must not be normalized. We must find a way to be interactive because that is God's design for people

Church doesn't end when the program ends. As you walked into church with the people around you, church had started

When the benediction is taken and you walk out, that is still church. Church doesn't end when you leave the building

The meaning of ecclesia

The Greek word for church is ecclesia. It means an assembly or a congregation. It has never been the building

In the Old Testament the church referred to the congregation of God's people, the Jews, in the wilderness

The New Testament, talking in retrospect, calls it the church in the wilderness Acts 7:38

The metaphor carries into the New Testament. They were called out of Egypt, through the Red Sea which the Bible calls a metaphor of baptism 1 Corinthians 10:1 to 1 Corinthians 10:2

They were gathered to the Lord in the wilderness, with a tent of meeting. Church also defines where they are coming from, not just what they gather on

Ecclesia is from ek, out of, and kaleo, to call. It means to call out of

It is a gathering of people who had history: a place they used to be, an attitude and a belief system they used to have

They were called out of that, and because they now have something new in common, they gather. That is the meaning of church, implicit even in the name

1 Peter 2:9

Called out, as it is in the Greek

It is not just about coming to a building and saying you are doing church. It is not just experiencing praise and worship and saying you are doing church

For it to be true church there must be a consciousness, a unanimous understanding that we are here because we belong to something

There was something we used to belong to that we no longer belong to

These lines have been so blurred that now anyone can step into the building

Illustration: the worker who remained a Muslim

I have a spiritual son who pastors a church, very gifted spiritually. Because of his gift and flow, somebody joined the church and became a worker, but remained a Muslim

People think we gather for programs. They don't understand there has to be a stark difference between where you are coming from and where you are now. The gathering is a gathering onto an identity

Before you call yourself a member of the church: where are we coming from? From what were we called out? Into what are we called?

To truly be part of God's church there must be a new theological identity that marks you

The foundation of our gathering is that we believe God took on flesh, dwelt amongst us, died our death, and rose again the third day

The church becomes the gathering of people who have that in common Romans 10:9

Illustration: the algorithm

The moment the algorithm picks your interest, it brings people who share it. Pick up a friend's phone, same app, totally different experience, curated to what he is interested in

You are not into sports, he is, and you keep swiping up. You see different hot takes on his timeline. You are into music and you see musicians

The physical gathering must keep that identity at the center

One way you know something is wrong in a local assembly: they don't repeatedly mention the theological foundation that brings us together

Some, in a bid to be accommodating, avoid hot topics. They say let's keep it light, keep it simple. That is not what church is for

Church is corporate and needs oversight

We come together to experience God with each other. It is not just vertical, it is horizontal. I am aware you are here

When people say I don't have to go to church, I can worship God at home, it is because they don't know what church is

When you know church is the people, you know you can't have church alone. Anywhere you go, you are a representative of the body of Christ

God commands corporate worship. It doesn't have to be big Matthew 18:20

But if it is a local assembly, there must be spiritual oversight

You and your friends can have fellowship, but if there is no pastor and everybody is saying the way I see it, that is fellowship

What marks a local assembly: other people who share your conviction, and spiritual oversight over that assembly. That is part of God's will and God's plan Jeremiah 3:15

The marks of the church

1. Identity and differentiation

   After that corporate understanding, look for a clear-cut, definite theological conviction, a conviction that separates you from the rest of the world. The gathering is onto something

   Colossians 1:13

   He delivered us from somewhere and took us somewhere. The church came as a result of a supernatural transportation

   There must be a consciousness of where you come from and where you are now

   I am not saying you have to be perfect. There is room for growth. But at a foundational level, church by identity differentiates you from something

   It is not a social club where we come, have fun, sing some songs, say some things and go. The church literally marks a separation from something

   Belief system

   You believe in the final authority of scriptures. No negotiation

   You don't belong to Jesus and say, the Bible says this but I don't quite agree. Who are you again? That is not how to do church. You have not read the terms and conditions

   To be part of the church you confess the lordship of Jesus. It means he will tell you how to live your life Romans 10:9

   His belief system has become your belief system. His truth has become your belief system. That is how to do church

   Attitude

   To be part of the church is to be translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light

   Claiming the light while hating your brother is darkness until now 1 John 2:9

   That is not to say you must be perfect or can't have moments of imperfection. But there are minimum standards, minimum entry requirements, a cut-off mark

   There are some things we ought not to see in your life, otherwise you are not a believer and we can judge

   There are opinions about sex you shouldn't have if you are a believer. Opinions about money. Opinions about revenge. You can't be so vengeful

   Have you seen so-called Christians hate? It could be over the slightest things, simple doctrinal disagreements, and some doctrinal disagreements are not sin

   Why is a child of God sounding like a serpent? It is proven in behavioral science that people who lack the intellectual bandwidth to state their point and make logical arguments respond with insults

   People use insult to cover low IQ. State your point

   So to be part of the church, your belief system marks you. Your attitude marks you

2. Revelation

   The first time the word church is mentioned in the New Testament is Matthew 16:13 to Matthew 16:18

   The place is Caesarea Philippi. Don't forget that, there is a reason the Bible tells you where they came to

   The word church followed after the revelation of Christ. By the Spirit Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus said, on this rock I will build my church

   So the purpose of the church foundationally is revelation

   The revelation of Christ to us and through us is what makes us a church

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   Apostle Emmanuel Iren

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   God has made his church his embassy. We are ambassadors for Christ 2 Corinthians 5:20

   Whatever God wants to do, he does in and through his church

   Ephesians 3:20 to Ephesians 3:21

   To him be glory in the church. The agency, the platform for the glory of God is the church. Forever and ever, not just in Bible days

   The world sees the glory of Christ in the church

   Ephesians 3:10 to Ephesians 3:11

   The manifold wisdom of God is made known by the church to principalities and powers. Even spirit beings learn about God by the agency of the church

   We are supposed to model to all creation, seen and unseen, who God is, his virtues, his perfections 1 Peter 2:9

   Even angels look at us and marvel Psalm 8:4

   There are two sides to this revelation: Christ revealed to us, and Christ revealed by us

   Christ revealed to us

   A lot of people have reduced church services to pragmatism. If I started telling you how to make more money, you would be more interested

   The church is about Christ. If Christ bores you, we need to check the foundation you are standing on. Something is wrong

   If Christ is not your fascination, respectfully, you don't belong here. We don't need other additions

   Sometimes truth is for truth's sake, whether you know how to apply it immediately or not. Don't join the extreme blasphemous pragmatism that asks how this will move my pocket forward

   The revelation of Christ is the definition of greatness in this kingdom, not pragmatism

   Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest prophet born of a woman, greater than Moses Matthew 11:11

   It is more than pragmatic accomplishments. Even if you stretched your hand to an ocean and it divided, that is not how greatness is reckoned in the kingdom

   Not even Elijah. What miracle did John the Baptist perform? By what standard was he greatest? It could be nothing else but the revelation of Christ

   The fact that he could point with certainty and say, behold the Lamb of God John 1:29

   That action is greater than bringing people out of Egypt into the promised land. Greater than calling fire. Greater than raising the dead

   As important as those things are, the most important thing is the revelation of Christ. It doesn't matter what else you gain in church

   Illustration: you never know who is beside you

   I saw a video on best places to get connection. Number one was the gym, then the club, then golf courses. Then he said one of them was church

   We have had great testimonies here. You don't know who your neighbor is

   A young man came to our church, simple shirt, not Nigerian, taking notes. After the service he was brought to me

   Of the top 10 tech companies in Nigeria, he had put seed money in six

   I don't think the people beside him greeted him

   One of our seniors, a dear mommy who greets me as I step out of church, came to share a testimony. She had reached a particular position in the army, and she mentioned the rank

   I met someone at the gym who asked for a picture to show his mentor, a CEO. The CEO is a member of our church

   Last month there was something the church needed and we were trying to reach high-placed people. We traced it and the person in charge of protocol is a member of our church

   The lady had been standing there every Sunday, and nobody knew

   An application that should have taken about seven months took two weeks

   I know all that happens. But to make it your yardstick for coming to church, that is a shame

   Maybe you come and size up the people beside you. Until you are comfortable honoring everybody, there is a lot you will miss. You just never know

   What brings us to church is the revelation of Christ

   If all we discuss is who Christ is, what he came to do, the death he died, how he rose, and the advent of his Spirit in our lives, we will leave fully fed

   You come to a point where you want nothing other than Christ and him crucified 1 Corinthians 2:2

   Nothing else satisfies you

   With due respect, I can attend business seminars and entrepreneurship conferences. That is not the purpose of church

   Some take it to another extreme. There can be special services to meet people's needs within the confines of the gospel. But to make that the purpose of the church, never

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   That would be an error

   Christ revealed through us

   2 Corinthians 3:2 to 2 Corinthians 3:3

   You are our epistle, the epistles of Christ. To a large extent the church becomes the Bible that many people read

   Many people won't turn the pages of John or Second Peter. It is how you act, how you behave, your attitude, that gives them perspective

   So there must be, for lack of a better expression, PR conduct as the church of Jesus Christ. It matters

   The prophet told David that because of what he did, the name of the Lord was blasphemed among the heathen 2 Samuel 12:14

   Look at the church divided, making a mess of itself. The devil is happy. We don't even have to divide you, you can divide yourself

   There must be a consciousness of our standing and the impression that standing gives

   Saul made a mistake but he is God's anointed. When he fell, David said, tell it not in Gath 2 Samuel 1:20

   Not every conversation, as valid as it is, should be had in public. Saul was stupid, he shouldn't have done what he did

   And this is David talking, the one at the receiving end of most of his abuse

   Many people don't understand there is spiritual PR. There are opinions I have, and my response depends on who is asking. I will never side with the enemy about a brother

   Illustration: the pastor of the thief

   A man of God told of a church member who misbehaved and was arrested, I think over theft or something very silly. The pastor went to the police station

   The police asked, so you are the pastor of the thief? He said, yes, I am the pastor of the thief. I won't deny him. I have come to pay his bail

   Do you think I should cut him down to size publicly to prove to you I am a good pastor? No

   In a great house there are many vessels 2 Timothy 2:20

   It is still a great house, but there are many vessels. I won't describe the vessels. Read your Bible first

3. Movement

   Matthew 28:19

   The church is supposed to move, not just stay. For some of us, church is that we come every week, not that we go

   What defines the church is movement. We are light, we are not afraid of the dark. We go into territories

   Paul did not want to plant on another man's foundation Romans 15:20

   Deliberately, I don't want us to create echo chambers. Let us look for places where Christ is not being named and prove real apostolic work

   Movement is influencing new territories for the gospel, challenging ideas and bringing them subject to the dictate of God's Word

   For this you must not be afraid of confrontation or insults. Don't think the church and doctrine are so fragile that the moment somebody attacks, they fall like a pack of cards

   Have you read church history? Once, if they caught you preaching, you were thrown to the arena to be devoured by lions. Some were burnt on stakes singing worship songs

   The church survived that age, before the Christian emperors and the Edict of Milan ended persecution. Persecution was once backed by the state and Christianity still didn't die

   And here you are losing sleep over something your colleague in the office did. Do you think this kingdom is fragile? He said, I will build my church

   Why Caesarea Philippi matters

   Jesus had this conversation about the church at Caesarea Philippi. Most of his ministry was by the Sea of Galilee, Chorazin and other places. This place was mentioned for a specific reason

   It was Roman, pagan territory

   Every other place Jesus did ministry, people were not strangers to the foundational concepts. They knew Moses and Elijah. It was interpretation, pointing them to what was coming. That was not still radical

   It was like Paul in Athens telling them not to think God is an idol Acts 17. That evangelism was still foundational

   Even Jesus going there was a statement. By Judaic practice there were some places you shouldn't go. This place was regarded as one of the spiritually darkest places in the world

   Jewish tradition held that Mount Hermon was where the first batch of fallen angels landed, took on daughters of men and gave birth to giants Genesis 6

   When God was giving Israel the promised land, one of the people they had to contend with was a giant in the region of Bashan. I think Deuteronomy 2. The same region

   There were a lot of extraterrestrial forces associated with that place

   There was idol worship. They built temples to a god named Pan, where we get the word panic, because Pan was believed to inspire fear. Half man, half goat

   The specific place was a high rock with a cave that went down, called the underworld, recognized as a spiritual portal

   It is not really established, but some used to say it was the bottomless pit

   They would throw animals in there, and sometimes children, for sacrifice

   Not far from there was the statue of the Roman emperor, called son of God. You were to pay allegiance to him as son of God

   It was political influence gone too far, crossing the line, beginning to seem like a religion of its own

   And Jesus there asked, who do you say I am? How radical that Peter, by the Holy Ghost, said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God

   That was in sharp variance to the political culture

   It was a confrontation of both political culture and pagan religion. On this rock, in the place where politics and pagan religion are against the dictates of Christ

   Not some other place, where we build our own small cute thing, hold hands, say kumbaya and go home. On this rock. It was confrontational

   Some estimate that where Christ usually did ministry was 25 miles away. They must have walked a long time and said, on this rock. There was a literal rock there

   In cultures hostile to the gospel, backed by governance responding against the church: on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail

   The church is on the offensive

   Growing up we thought the church was on the defensive and the gates were trying to prevail against us. But gates don't move

   It was Jesus who went to their territory and confronted their gates. The church is the one moving, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it

   Somebody said in 10 years Christianity will not exist in Nigeria. They said that 10 years ago. 10 years from now, not only will we be here, we will be bigger, stronger, many

   Don't have a jellyfish kind of Christianity that loses sleep. It is not even everything you should defend

   People can ask you questions. It is allowed. Stop being sensitive 1 Peter 3:15

   There are churches that would excommunicate you for asking how we know the Bible is the word of God. Don't be that sensitive

   If they are asking objectively, give a response. Don't be fidgety as if the church is standing on three toothpicks

   Be respectful, but don't be less evangelical just in the name of accommodating people. If you have friends that don't know Jesus, preach to them

   Illustration: the neighbor on the balcony

   I still evangelize. There was someone I used to see around my house, and I had told him one day I would come to his house

   Days ago I packed my car and went to his house, in a compound of flats. I sat on the balcony. He couldn't believe it. I preached to him and prayed with him

   Don't get to a point where you just want to stay. As for me and my house must be interpreted in context Joshua 24:15

   The person who said it had witnessed to everyone and they would not believe. Don't have that kind of mentality

   With some people you can tell it is the god of this world who has blinded their eyes 2 Corinthians 4:4, or they genuinely do not understand

   The questions you don't have answers to, say I will get back to you. Ask one of the pastors. It is an opportunity for growth for you too

   Go back until the whole world hears. We will shout it from the mountaintops and in the valleys

   There are things in the church that will be corrected. There are plants our heavenly Father has not planted that need to be rooted out Matthew 15:13

   But somebody wants to throw away the baby with the bathwater. The church is here to stay until Christ comes for it in the rapture

   When Christ comes, some people will be intact. The variable is whether you will still be there. To say we will not be here is a lie

   Your part to play

   He said go. Every time you come to church, we arm you so that you can go

   If you can't think of people you are encouraging in the things of God, you are doing something wrong

   Despite my preparations for service today, there were people I called last night, explaining and arguing. Some you have to be patient with

   You are not a Christian just to come and receive from God. You are supposed to take what you have received into the world

   When you do, what you had in the first place will be multiplied

   A lot of people measure love for Christ by what Christ can do for them. Christ is asking, do you love me? If you love me, feed my sheep and feed my lambs John 21:15