What is the Church?

The first scripture that I would like to mention is II Peter 1:20-21.
It says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of may: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." There is should not be any private interpretations, you should read the Bible and understand it as I do. But as many of us know that is not the case. On a website I found 338 different denominations! If you think about it, it makes no sense to contradict because in the end, what standard are we going to be held to if we do? Would God make things that confusing and in a way, that easy? I suggest that we should look at following the church that is mentioned in the bible. This is the one that Christ established himself, the original church that set the standards that we will be judged by when the world comes to an end. Don't you agree?
Having that said I want to look at the church that is mentioned in the Bible. Many of us know the scripture of Matthew 16:18, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hates shall not prevail against it." But I have a question, when Christ said, " The gates of hates shall not prevail against it, did he mean the devil, or hell, or the devil's angels? NO!! Look at where we are today, with 338 plus different takes on what the bible says!! Did God make it that way? NO, the devil did! The devil wants us to disagree and cause confusion. But what does it mean by Hates then? Hates is also translated as death, in which we know that Christ died for the church but was raised from the dead. He prevailed against death and is living for his church at this very moment.
So Christ built his church in Matthew and we are able to read the first gospel sermon in Acts chapter 2, which was preached by Peter. In Acts 1:1-3 we are told of Christ being raised from the dead. Verse 3 says, "To whom (the apostles) also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining tot he kingdom of God." So we know that in Acts chapter 1 Christ had established his church and died for it, making it ready for man to be a part of his church, of which we are to follow today. In Acts chapter 2, Peter preaches in the first gospel sermon about Christ and how the man that was on the cross was God's only son. Acts 2:36 says, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, thta God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." He let them know that they have just killed God's son, the one who is to save us and give us hope of Heaven. Verse 37 says, "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and bretheren, what shall we do?" They were convicted in their hearts. They knew that they had done something terrible and wanted to know what they needed to do to make it better, what they needed to do to be saved and to get into Heaven. Verse 38 says, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." This was Christ's plan for us. This is what we are supposed to do to be saved. We need to repent and be baptized, not as a show or as a symbol, but for the remission of our sins. In verse 41 it says, "They they that gladly received his word were baptized" and the same day there were added unto them about 3000 souls" Can you imagine? 3000 people! That must have been incredible to see.
So this is where the church began, this was the original intent of it, and this is what we should follow today, right? Do we really follow it today? Even in the bible we can read of churches who once proclaimed the name of Christ who didn't follow Christ's plan. Perfect example, if you get the chance to read and study, is the church of Corinth. I Corinthians is a letter from Paul telling them that they are doing things they should not. Gladly in II Corinthians things look much better and they have gone back to the way of Christ. What kind of things are we doing in church that Paul would write us about today? Would he write to us telling us we are not following Christ's plan? Or would he say good job and keep up the good work?
Please send comments to me and let me know what you think of this new blog idea. I'm excited about it and can't wait to hear what you guys think!
With Love,
Heidi