Some people claim that Jesus Christ didn’t start His kind of church, but that isn’t what this verse says. It is clear that Jesus is God and that God is the Rock of Ages, not Peter or some other man. Anybody that tells you the church of Jesus Christ was started on the Day of Pentecost is either sadly mistaken, or is an outright deceiver. The Bible clearly states that Jesus will build His kind of church.

But the question this morning is not who started the church that Jesus built, but why did He start it?

A church, and being a member and a part of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ is very important. God knows it, that is why Christ organized his kind of church during His personal ministry. Satan knows it, that is why he has caused so much confusion about what the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is and which church is the right church to join and be a part of.

Why is there so much confusion about which church is the right church? Because Satan knows where the power is, and Satan desires saved people to lack the power to properly worship and serve God. Satan has filled this world with false ideas about the church.

Listen, have you ever heard this statement - "One church is as good as another"? One church is not as good as another. Is one job the same as another? Is one car the same as another? Is one house the same as another? Is one doctor the same as another? Is one operation the same as another? (Operations are different - If I need an ingrown toenail removed, I don’t want brain surgery! If I have a heart attack, I don’t want to go to the dentist for a tooth exam.) Is one kind of medicine the same as all the other kinds? (If you have a headache, you need medicine for a headache. You don’t need medicine for polio.) Is one preacher the same as another? Is one pastor the same as another? Of course not. All things are different from all other things. That is why there are so many kinds of things. Churches are different, but God is the same.

Why are churches different? And why are there so many different kinds of churches in this world? Because Satan is the author of confusion. Satan knows that He can’t get God’s people to be lost once they are truly saved. He knows he can’t get the souls of saved people, but he knows he can get their lives. He knows he can cause a lot of confusion in the lives of saved people. Satan knows there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth. There is joy in the presence of God, great contentment, lasting pleasure and endless happiness. Satan knows he cannot stop the church of the Lord Jesus Christ from continuing, because that is based on the promises of God, so he has decided to establish his own kind of church.

The church Jesus established is a local assembly of saved, scripturally baptized people. The church Satan established is a universal church that never meets together. Jesus knows His children need companionship with other believers. Satan knows that too. Jesus knows that believers find strength to fight Satan from other believers. Deut 32:30,31 states, "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." Because there is so much strength in believers gathering together to worship God and share with one another how God has blessed them, Satan does all he can do stop this fellowship. He has created his own universal invisible or universal visible church where believers cannot assemble.

Some folks will say, "I, or our church, believe in the local assembly, but we also believe in the big universal church." There are some people who say this, but have you ever noticed which is these two churches is the most important? The local assembly is never as important as the big universal church, right? Isn’t it true that the local assembly must always give in to the demands of the "big" church?

I only have time for one example of the power that is available when God’s children assemble together. Acts 4:23 - Peter and John, by the power of God, have healed the lame man by the gate beautiful. They have been brought before the Pharisees and Scribes of the land, where they have been threatened with physical harm if they don’t stop preaching and healing in the name of Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 24-30 the reaction and subsequent prayer of the church. Verse 31 records that they were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoke the Word of God with boldness.

Why is all this confusion going on about which church is the right church? Because Satan knows the strength individual saved, scripturally baptized people can have when they assembly with each other. Satan understands the fellowship of believers is greatest in a local assembly.

How can I tell if a church is one of the kind of churches established by Jesus Christ? Now listen, the church Jesus build during His own personal ministry didn’t start at Pentecost. This is one way you can tell if a church is a true church or not. If a church claims to have started on the Day of Pentecost, they are actually saying they were not started by Jesus Christ during His own personal ministry. And Matthew 16:18 says that Jesus will build His own church, and that He will keep that church alive and well until the rapture.

Christ has started His kind of church, during His own personal ministry, and has promised this kind of church a continued existence until He comes back at the rapture.

It is not a building. Some folks say, "I am going to the church" when they actually mean they are going to the church building.

There can be a church without a building.

There can be a church without a pastor.

There can be a preacher who is not a pastor, but there can’t be a pastor without a church. A pastor must have a church.

A church is an assembly. Without an assembly, there is no church.

A church is a special kind of assembly. Not every assembly is a church. Some assemblies are simply family gatherings. Other assemblies are business related, or recreational related. A church is a special kind of assembly of saved, scripturally baptized people who have covenanted together by the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God for the explicit purpose of worshipping and glorifying God, who is their eternal Saviour.