"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." In the first service, Lady Pastor Nicky Boadum turns Matthew 16:18 personal: put your own name where Peter's stands, and recognize that the rocky situation in front of you is not there to stop you — it's the very place Christ builds and the place God commanded honey and oil to flow.
The seven movements
- Upon this rock — your name here. Peter (Petros) means rock; the promise lands on persons. Upon this Peter, this Nana, this Ethel, this Nicky, Christ builds His church — and you and I are that church, Christ dwelling in us (Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:16).
- The gates will form — but not prevail. "Gates," plural: temptation, trials, betrayal, hardship will come. They prevail only when you turn back and drop the towel. A gate forms in the mind, the spirit, through what you hear, even through a loved one — but the overcomer walks past the stone.
- Bitterness is the master gate. Of all the gates, when bitterness opens, every other gate marches in with ease. Deal with that one first.
- God builds on rocky ground. Calvary was a place of rocks; the rejected stone became the cornerstone. If your life is full of rocky situations, you are the perfect candidate for God's glory — He doesn't need a prepared vessel, He needs a willing one.
- Honey and oil from the rock. Deuteronomy 32:13 — He made them draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock. Honey makes life sweet; oil makes it easy and smooth. The rock you're facing carries both: "that rock is beneficial to me."
- You've circled this mountain long enough. Deuteronomy 2:3 — an 11-day journey took 11 months because everyone goes around the generational rock instead of confronting it. Pray northward: name the rock, and draw from it instead of detouring.
- Be specific — and draw. "We have a very detailed Satan and a very reckless community of Christians." Name what you are drawing from the rock — healing, promotion, stability, answers for generations unborn — and tell the mountain not just to move, but where to go. The service closed in extended prayer and personal prophetic ministry.
Walk away with this
Stop treating the rock as the end of the road. Jesus saw a rock and saw His church; see your rock and see your harvest — then draw the honey and the oil out of it, by name.