Jesus promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the church that He would build. How would Jesus build His church? He would do so by going to the cross and dying for our sins. While the death of Christ was necessary for the salvation of our souls, it was not enough. In order for Jesus to be our Savior, God had to raise Him from the dead. If Jesus had not been resurrected, the devil would have won and Hades would have prevailed, but Jesus knew that was not going to happen. Thank God, Jesus was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25).

Shortly after the resurrection of Christ, He fulfilled His promise to build His church, which came to pass on the first Pentecost after Jesus ascended back to the Father (Acts 2:1-47). The church is made up of all the saved who have obeyed the gospel of Christ. If you are a Christian, you were added to the church the day you were baptized into Christ. It is now your responsibility to stay true to the church for the rest of your life (Revelation 2:10).

To stay true to the church, is to remain faithful to Christ. If you ever leave the church, you are walking away from Jesus at the same time. We hear a lot these days about the church not being important; in fact, many believe it is not even necessary. To think that is to fail to realize the close connection between Christ and His church. The church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the head of the body. Let me ask a question with an obvious answer. What would happen to a physical body if its head was severed? Every knows that the body can-not survive without its head. This is just as true with the spiritual body of Christ.

The inseparable connection between Christ and His church was on full display when Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. At the time, Paul was greatly persecuting the church (Acts 9:1-2). Jesus confronted Paul and asked him, “…why are you persecuting me?” When did Paul personally persecute Jesus? We have no record of Paul ever even meeting Jesus, let alone persecuting Him. It is obvious that Jesus was referring to what Paul was doing to His church, which is His body. When Paul persecuted the church, he was persecuting Christ because they are a part of each other. Jesus is the head and the church is His body.

Knowing the close relationship between Christ and His church, it should be clear that you cannot be unfaithful to one and not the other. So, as I stated previously, to stay true to the church, is to remain faithful to Christ. Satan knows this; thus, he is doing all he can to sever members of the body from Christ. Paul said of those who become unfaithful, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4).

The devil uses counterfeit churches to draw disciples away from the church Jesus built. These counterfeit churches can be recognized because they wear names other than Christ (Romans 16:16), teach doctrines other than what the apostles taught (Galatians 1:6-9), and, on a local lev-el, are organized in ways that are not according to the New Testament pattern (Philippians 1:1).

If you are a member of the Lord’s church, do not allow the glamour and glitz of denominationalism draw you away from the church and sever you from Christ. Stay with the church that you can read about in the Bible—the church that wears the name of Christ and follows His Word. Remain faithful to Jesus by staying true to the church of Christ.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.