The region of Caesarea Philippi had lots of religious connotations. Herod Philip, who governed in this area from 4 BC to 34 AD, was the third of Herod the Great’s sons to receive a portion of his kingdom. Herod Philip’s capital was at Paneas. It was named Paneas in honor of the god of shepherds named Pan. This god was half goat and half man.

Herod the Great had built a temple at Paneas in honor of Augustus Caesar. Philip developed the city and changed its name from Paneas to Caesarea. To distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima, on the coast, this city was known as Caesarea Philippi. The coins which Philip minted in his own honor also had the façade of the temple of Caesar on the reverse.

The Jordan River has one of its headwaters in Caesarea. The river literally flows from the side of the mountain. The cave from which it flows was known in ancient times as the gate of hades.

In this highly "religious" context with temples of Pan and Caesar in full view, Jesus asks the question, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter responds that Jesus is the Christ. Upon that confession of faith, Jesus establishes his Church. With that confession Jesus confers upon his disciples the authority of binding and loosing.

The early church was very clear that this was not a unique promise to Peter alone. Origen says this statement was made to "every Peter":

In Origen’s view, this was not unique to Peter but was given to the Church. That this promise was given generally to the Church and not uniquely to Peter became an exceptionally important issue in Church history, particularly in the Reformation. If it was not given exclusively to Peter, then any claim fails that suggests the keys to the Kingdom belong to Peter and his unique successors in some sort of Papal authority. Origen is quite clear on this subject:

A generation before Origen, Tertullian made it clear that the keys came to those who make the confession of faith and is not transmitted personally by those who are supposedly successors to Peter’s "office".

For our purposes today, I would like to note that Jesus is interested in building his church.

Building the Church is one of our four Core Purposes as a congregation. You are going to be quizzed in June to see how well you know these Core Purposes. Our Pastors are all going through a leadership training right now and one of the main ways we will be evaluated is how well the congregation knows our main purposes. Our four Core Purposes are as follows. First, learning to fully love God. Second, increasingly love others by acts of mercy especially for the poor, bruised and broken-hearted. Third, refreshing our faith by regular acts of devotion such as prayer, fasting, worship, and the spiritual disciplines. Fourth, joining others to build the church through giving, involvement, and evangelism. Here is how you can remember those four purposes. Did any of you every learn the childhood song, "Jesus, and Others, and You, What a Wonderful way to spell JOY." J is for Jesus for He has first place, O is for others you meet face to face. Y is for you and whatever you do. Put yourself third and spell JOY. J-O-Y.

Our word is GOMU. It doesn’t have quite the slogan appeal that JOY has, but it will have to work for now. G is for God. Love God. O is for others, same as before. M is for me. I want to use disciplines to develop my own life. U is for us. We are a church. We want to use the first three to accomplish the fourth, to build the Lord’s church. Bear in mind that I am a preacher not a marketing guy.

We have identified three elements in building the church. There is giving, involvement, and evangelism.

It would be great for each of you to invite a foreign-born neighbor to join us for that dinner and maybe ask them to bring a dish as well. Wouldn’t that be a simple way to invite new friends to join us?

The story we heard last week about the Moslem lady has really touched me. I have not met her yet, but this is what has been related to me. She had a dream that she should go to a church and be prayed for to have a child. That dream was very clearly from the Lord. Three days later, a co-worker invited her to a Presentation Sunday service to be prayed for. She was prayed for and has ended up pregnant. We are accustomed to celebrating those kinds of stories as miracle-baby stories, which, of course, it is. It is a familiar story of a woman who had "suffered many things of many physicians." She had spent lots of money on fertility treatments to no avail. God supernaturally sent that woman here. Did God only have in mind that a woman’s cry should be answered with a baby’s cry?

I believe God has a plan in mind for the church through all this. He is bringing the world to our neighborhoods. It has never been easier to reach the world than it is right now. Furthermore, as a Pentecostal church, we are a natural for this type of ministry. Isn’t this the very root of our church. All those many nations were represented on that first Pentecost. The book of Acts is really the story of the Gospel leaving its single-ethnic roots into an international religion. Judaism is obviously Jewish. Islam is mainly rooted in Arab peoples. Hinduism is mainly Indian. Buddhism is mainly Asian. But Christianity’s background and vision is universal. It is the religion best suited for the 21st century. If this is God’s program, let’s get on with it. There are two kinds of people who belong at Cedar Park. We want those who ancestors are Native American and those whose ancestors came from somewhere else.

If you are not part of Cedar Park already, I would like to invite you to join with us. We have programs to minister to you and opportunities for you to help create something to be a blessing. Even though we are a larger church, we have the places where you will be known and where you can make friends. God has given us incredible tools for ministry here. Yet there are so many more things that need to be done. Some of you could fund those ministries. Others would find their key role in helping run things. With such diversity of ministry, there is really a place for everyone.

FOOTNOTES:
1. John Patrick, D.D., "Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew," Book XII, Chapter XIV, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9.
2. John Patrick, D.D., "Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew," Book XII, Chapter XI, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9.
3. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., "Scorpiace," Ante-Nicene Fathers; Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian; vol 3 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) 643.
4. Rev 5:9-10 "And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."