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The Keys of Heaven

What are we doing with them?

Matthew 16:
13	When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14	And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15	He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16	And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17	And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18	And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19	And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Jesus Christ used the Greek word petra referring to himself to describe the rock upon which the church is built. Jesus Christ is our foundation. He used the Greek word petros meaning stone to refer to Peter. The church is not built on Peter or his confession. Isaiah 28:16 prophesied, "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." 1 Peter 2:6 speaks of the fulfillment, "Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." Ephesians 2:20 points the chief, "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" Without Jesus Christ, the apostles don't matter. So what does this all mean?

It appears that what happens in the church happens in the world to a greater extent.

It uses unfaithful Bible translations and Bibles translated from incorrect texts and wonders why the world does not believe the Bible.
The Bible study teachers add to the Old Testament, explain away the New Testament and then want the want the world to study the Bible.
It ignores the sabbath pushing traditional Sunday worship only to see the world ignore the church, not honor the sabbath and seek its own way.
The church corrupts Old Testament chronology then has do deal with the old earth evolution taught in our schools.
It mocks believers who call for faithfulness to God's word and in return is mocked itself.
To a small extent it tolerates partial nudity but then wonders why the world won't dress right.
Deacons won't remember to break bread for the Lord's supper and find the world forgets the sacrifice of Jesus.
The church disregards God's new year in the spring and complains about the world's new years eve parties.
It teaches that people can't get saved in the Tribulation and runs into a snag when some people don't think they can be saved today.
Pastors from time to time the respect wrong teachers and fail to receive respect themselves.
Churches enable some couples to make huge expensive weddings with much fanfare that take long time to prepare and wonders why the world just wants to live together.
Should churches tithe? I do not know but I see churches that won't give ten per cent to missions that feel the pain when member refrains from giving the church ten per cent.
Christians won't tithe on employer provided or partially provided insurance and then seek reform when the insurance costs to much.
Christians won't tithe on employer matching FICA or social security benefits and then joke about social security being neither social nor security.
Christians won't tithe on the tax benefit of giving to the church but then complain about high taxes.
Pastors aren't faithful to the Bible but complain about politicians not being faithful to the Constitution.