Episode 006 – If the Rock wasn’t, then the dove wouldn’t have

Welcome to Frequent Apostolic Questions. This is the sixth episode and we are moving right along each week here. Thank you Jesus!

The segments for today are:
Grab Bag
Wide Open Word
Definition

Grab Bag Segment

What was the rock Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16:18?

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 hell shall not prevail against it.

To understand this we need to look above and see why the “And” is at the beginning of the scripture. We will start in verse 15:

Matthew 16:15-18
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.

So, looking at the context of what Jesus was talking about. The “rock” is in verse 16, Jesus being “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus is the rock, just like the one of the old testament. The one which followed them noted in 1 Corinthians 10:4

What is the “five-fold ministry”?
I am not quite sure, though I know Ephesians 4:11 is the verse the phrase was coined from.

Ephesians 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;

So here, it’s talking about what was said in verse 8 of the same chapter. Particularly the gifts part, which are for the perfecting of the saints (verse 12) and the work of the ministry and for edifying the body of Christ.

But to answer the question, I don’t know the scriptural answer. I think mainly because there probably isn’t one to explain it. At least, none which I have found.

What descended upon Jesus after he was baptized by John the Baptist?

Luke 3:22
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

The Holy Ghost descended upon him. It was in the bodily shape of a dove, but it was the Holy Ghost.

Wide Open Word Segment

Little Foxes

Song of Solomon 2:15
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Destroys the structure, removing the things which sustain the vines. And this is how the little foxes spoil the vine.

Definition Segment

IF!
Means it’s conditional.
If what?
If this, then that. Right?

John 14:15, 21
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

If you love God, then he will love you back.
How do you love God? He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me
This is really the best IF example given from the bible.

Using the Bible Mantis app (no affiliate links here), I did a search for “if”. Results? 1000 results in 40 books. It seems 1000 is a max for the app.

Another good one to show God is conditional.

Matthew 19:21
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

I hope this makes things clear about the “if” definition.

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Thank you for listening to this episode of Frequent Apostolic Questions. You all have a blessed day and let God be magnified.