Willow Ridge Sermons

Sunday, April 11th • Dustin Stottman, HopeValley Church

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." — Matthew 16:18

–
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Show Notes

April 11th, 2021 • "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." — Matthew 16:18

–
Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch

Creators and Guests

Guest

Dustin Stottman

Lead Pastor of HopeValley Church in Utah.

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

It is a great privilege to get to be with you guys today.

I am excited.

I am, first of all, thankful.

I hope that you know how grateful myself and my wife and those who are part of this new

church plant are for a church like Willow Ridge, who's willing to see the value and the needs

for the work that we're trusting in God to do in Utah, and to come alongside us and partner.

So thank you.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for the opportunity to share God's Word this morning, and to share a little bit

of our story and of what God's doing in Utah.

I'll start there.

If you have a card there, you saw a picture.

I've got another picture here of our family.

So unfortunately, they were not able to travel out with me, but that is my wife is Sarah.

Now they're all, she's not a lot taller than our oldest daughter now, but she's the one in the middle.

And Sarah is an incredible blessing in my life and to our family and to our church.

And she wanted me to make sure and share how much she wishes she could be here to meet you and how grateful she is for you.

We also have two daughters.

Ellie is on the right side, the one that is about to be taller than my wife.

She is our 10-year-old, and she is our mature, knows almost everything, beautiful daughter.

And we love her dearly.

She is amazing.

And then Sadie on the left side is our almost 8-year-old here in a couple weeks.

And she is our rotten, silly, goofball daughter.

And maybe you have both of those personalities in your house as well.

But as a family, God has called us to uproot our lives and move to Utah.

And I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

But first, I want to just go ahead and set the scene.

Bo described this.

So I want to tell you a little bit more detail about the place we live and a little bit about what makes this place so unique.

So there's another picture there.

This aerial view, this is what we call the Salt Lake Valley.

So on the right side there, you see some mountains.

That's the Wasatch Mountains.

They're beautiful mountains full of ski resorts and everything else.

And on the left side, you see some other mountains, smaller mountains.

On the top left side, you see some water there.

That is the southern end of the Great Salt Lake.

The Great Salt Lake is very large.

And it looks beautiful from a distance.

It looks beautiful at sunset.

There's a lot of beauty in it until you get outside and smell it or see all the dead animals that drank its water and stuff like that.

But it's worth seeing, okay?

Just don't get in it.

But that's our area.

And in the middle there, in the valley, that is home to over a million people.

Close to 1.2 million people live in the Salt Lake Valley.

And specifically that shaded-in area, that red area there, is the west side of a city called West Jordan, Utah, which is a suburb there in the valley.

And that's where we live.

That's where our girls go to school.

That's where Hope Valley Church will be meeting.

And that is the community that we are focused on reaching out to with the gospel of Jesus.

A few things about that community, though.

There are nearly 60,000 people living in that shaded area.

And it is quickly growing.

There is still land that is available for development out there.

But that is some of the only land left in the valley.

So it's quickly growing.

And among those 60,000 people, only about 2.5% of those people would profess to be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

That 2.5% of those people, and this would be true of the whole state of Utah, that 2.5% are evangelical Christians, believers of the true gospel of Jesus.

And further, in that shaded area, in that area that is home to these 60,000 people, there are zero evangelical Christian churches.

In fact, the only non-Latter-day Saint church of any kind in that area is a Spanish-speaking church.

There's a tremendous need for gospel-preaching evangelical churches.

And that's what God's called us to.

And that's why we are planting this church in the heart of this community and focusing our efforts on this community.

Some things you may or may not know about Utah.

You might already know that Utah is the kind of home and world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And that is very true, and that shapes the culture of our area.

It's also, though, home to a growing number of just non-religious people, whether they're agnostic or atheistic.

Most of our growth is coming in from California, and it's a lot of just non-religious people.

And so, while we, in some ways, see that the percentage of our population that is members of the LDS churches is decreasing,

it does not mean that it's becoming more evangelical, more Christian.

Because, in fact, it's actually just becoming a larger percentage of non-religious.

But here's what we have found, and here's what we want you to hear clearly.

These people, they're our neighbors, they're our friends, they're our community members that we love dearly.

And they are not an enemy, they are not a project, but that they are people created in God's image

who have been separated from God because of sin,

and need to hear the truth of how they can be reconciled and brought back into relationship with God

and find abundant life in Him.

And these people, our greatest hope, our greatest desire for them,

is that, as 1 Peter 1-3 says, that because of the great mercy of God the Father,

that they will experience new birth into a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That's our prayer, that's our hope.

Our hope is not to build a church full of a lot of people that makes us look good.

Our hope is to see people by the saving power of Jesus brought back into relationship with Him.

This morning, we're going to read from and be in Matthew chapter 16 here in just a couple minutes.

So I invite you, you can go ahead and turn over there.

And as you're doing that, I want to tell you a little bit more about my family's story

and what's brought us to where we're at.

And so you can know more about that and see how God is working in that.

For me, I have, up until July of last year, I've lived my whole life in the state of Oklahoma.

I, for about the last 15 years, have served a few different local churches across Oklahoma as a student pastor.

And I have always been known that I was called to do that work, and I was very content in that call.

I did not view it as something I was going to do for a little while and then church plan or pastor or something else.

But I viewed it as where God had me unless He showed me that He was doing something else.

And what happened in our lives is that about three years ago, in the summer of 2018, God showed us that He was doing something else.

And in my wife's heart and in my heart, individually, God showed us in a short period of time,

God stirred us that He was calling us to be a part of church planning.

And He stirred us that that was in an area that was outside of kind of the Bible Belt area where we had known most of our life.

And through a course of about six months, six to ten months, God began to really give us clarity and really continue to confirm that.

And through that course, He began to really show us that Utah was the place, that the Salt Lake City area was the place where He was calling us to.

Now, it was a place I didn't know much about.

But as He put it on our minds, and as we began to learn more about it and talk to people who were there doing ministry,

and see the incredible need, and become burdened for the incredible people that are there who have such limited access to the truth of the gospel, of the true gospel.

And as we took all that in, it became something we just could not shake.

And so, in the middle of everything that was 2020, a pandemic and everything else,

it seemed like the perfect time to go ahead and just add a little bit of change to our lives, right?

So, in July of last year, we picked up and left western Oklahoma to move to the Salt Lake City area of Utah.

And as we've settled in there and began to meet our neighbors and doing the work to prepare for what this summer,

we'll begin the first public worship gatherings of Hope Valley Church.

As we've worked towards all of that, trusting in God to work,

and we've found such peace in being where God has called us.

It's been hard, and it's overwhelming at times, and there's a lot of uncertainties about it.

But of knowing that it is what God has called us to has been a great joy for our family.

And so, today, as I just mentioned, like when we think about a task like I'm thinking about in our lives,

a task of starting a church in an area where there are none,

or you think about tasks that you have coming up in your life,

you think about things that God is calling you to,

and if you're like me, you can get overwhelmed with those things.

And I can think about in my life how in those busy seasons or in those seasons where there's a lot of uncertainty,

how I'm often prone to stress and just discouragement and wondering how is all this going to happen.

But today, I want to share a great encouragement with you.

And here's the encouragement is that the fact that God is the one who will do the work.

He is the one who will build His church.

He is the one who will save people, restore them into relationship with Himself.

And it's not just an encouragement for a church planner or a pastor or a church staff member or a missionary.

This is an encouragement that is for anyone who professes to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

It's an encouragement that you are not the one in control.

You are not the one responsible for the results, but our Lord Jesus is.

So let's read from Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13.

It says,

And when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,

Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they said,

Some say John the Baptist.

Others say Elijah.

And others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them,

But who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter replied,

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him,

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,

but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Then He strictly charged His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ.

Now there's a lot in this passage that we're not going to be able to speak in detail to this morning.

In fact, we're really just going to focus on verse 18 here.

But before we get to that, we do want to see what is happening here.

As Jesus is with His disciples, He says,

Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they say, well, some say Elijah or John the Baptist or Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And these are all accurate answers of what the people would be saying

as they think about the Jewish context.

But then He changes this, and He says,

But who do you say that I am?

And here we see Peter replies.

He says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

This is this first New Testament confession of Jesus as Messiah, as the Christ.

And it's such an important understanding for us to see here.

And as we get, like I said, we'll focus on verse 18 and spend our time there this morning.

Let's pray first, though.

Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your Word, and I pray that today You reveal Your truth to us.

You encourage us with it to continue in the work of the Great Commission,

to continue in the work of making Your Gospel known and walking faithfully,

being obedient to You.

Lord, I pray that You'll speak Your truth by Your power through Your Spirit today.

Amen.

So, first thing we want to see in verse 18 here is that Jesus will build His church.

It says that very clearly.

Jesus, in verse 18, says,

I will build my church.

Now, I want us to understand, though, that the pronouns are not unimportant here.

We see the word I and the word my, which tells us both who will do the work and who owns the product,

who owns what's being made.

Jesus will build His church.

The church does not belong to us.

We do not build it.

You are not the owners of Willow Ridge Church.

I am not the owner of Hope Valley Church.

It is not ours.

It is Jesus' church.

And when we understand that it is His,

we also understand and trust that He cares for it.

And that He is the one who has built it,

and He is the one who will sustain it,

and He is the one who will come alongside His people.

He is the one who's chosen to use us.

We'll talk more about that in a moment.

But that it's His church.

That God has not called us to do what only He can do.

He has called us to faithfulness.

As I was even just flying in yesterday,

I was reading a book,

and I came across this quote from a pastor named Paul Tripp.

He writes that,

In a sermon from David Platt,

he said it this way,

he said that a high view of God's sovereignty

fuels death-defying devotion to global missions.

So the higher that our view of God is,

the greater our faith will become

to risk everything for His glory.

And there's risk in it, right?

There's risk in what we're doing.

There's risk that we will do everything

we feel like we know we're called to do,

to plant this church,

and that nothing will happen.

That people won't get saved.

That people won't attend.

There's risk that it just feels like it failed.

There's risk.

There's risk in sharing Christ with your neighbor.

There's risk.

But the risk is worth it

when we understand that God is in control,

that He is sovereign,

that He is the one who goes before us,

that He is the one who wants the work to be done

infinitely more than we can even grasp.

Our desires, our kingdom,

gospel-focused desires,

those desires are given to us by God,

but they're so much smaller

than the vastness of those in the heart of God, okay?

He wants the work done.

And so in this, we understand,

and it keeps us going when we feel overwhelmed,

when we think about the things we can't do.

Some of those things I think about

is I can't create the resources

and the finances needed

for the work we're trying to do.

I can't on my own make other disciples of Jesus

decide to join us in this work.

I can't grant ourselves favor among our neighbors.

I can't cause people who are lost,

who are dead in their sin,

to know that the only way out

is through trusting in the grace of Jesus.

I can't do these things.

But what we know

and what Scripture tells us so clearly

and what the faithfulness of God shows

is that, but God can

and that He will.

And this truth is not exclusive

to pastors or church staff people

or missionaries.

It is a truth that is for every believer

in Lord Jesus.

It is a truth that is for all disciples.

It's that you can't do the work,

but that God wants to use you.

He wants to use you to do His work

as we'll see now.

Still in verse 18,

but we'll kind of go back

and look at the first part that we skipped.

And we'll see this,

that we'll see that He will build it

upon His disciples.

Talking about the church,

that Jesus will build the church

upon His disciples.

It says in verse 18,

He says,

You are Peter,

and upon this rock

I will build my church.

Now,

this verse

is a source of great,

has been over the centuries

in the church history

of great controversy.

Okay?

For the Roman Catholic Church,

this is a,

from this verse,

they look and they say

that Peter was the first pope.

And they take that from this.

Often as a reaction

to that teaching,

which we know is not true,

we often see this passage interpreted

as saying that this phrase,

upon this rock,

is in fact only referring

to Peter's confession

a few verses ahead

where he says,

You are the Christ,

the Son of the living God.

They say,

Well,

upon this rock means that.

Well,

in fact,

we see that

he is referring to Peter here.

And when he says rock,

that is the meaning

of the name Peter

that he's been given.

But that doesn't mean

we have to go to this view

that we talked about

from the Catholic Church.

We can understand it

a little bit better

as we look at other places

in Scripture.

One of those

is in Ephesians chapter 2.

I'm going to read

verses 19 through 21.

Here it says,

So then you are no longer

strangers and aliens,

but you are fellow citizens

with the saints

and members

of the household of God,

built on the foundation

of the apostles

and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself

being the cornerstone,

in whom the whole structure

being joined together

grows into a holy temple

in the Lord.

Christ has built the church

upon the apostles,

the disciples,

faithful believers.

Okay?

And so Peter,

as he is the first here

who has made this

public confession

that Jesus is the Christ,

that he's saying,

upon you,

upon those who have believed in me,

I'll build my church.

And we understand

that this is by his sovereign power,

that he'll save people,

he'll build his church,

but the obedient work

of his disciples

is his chosen,

tool,

it's his instrument.

God has called us

to be a tool

for my family

in planning

what we call

Hope Valley Church

in West Shore in Utah.

God has also called

Christians from across

the globe

to be his chosen instruments

to take the gospel forward.

One special way

that you,

as Willow Ridge Church,

are doing that

is through partnering

with us.

that even in a way

that you have not been,

I take it most of you

have probably not ever been

to Salt Lake City even,

but that you're able

to partner

in the gospel ministry

there through this partnership,

through finances,

through prayer,

which we do not just mention

as something that it seems

like we're supposed to say

because we're good Christians,

but I mentioned it as saying

that I know

we desperately need

your prayer.

Okay?

Through sending teams,

as Bo mentioned,

there will be students

out this summer,

through those things

you get to partner in that.

But we also,

for us,

I know firsthand

that the one way

Jesus builds his church

is by calling out people

to uproot their lives,

to be God's chosen instrument

in a place

that needs his gospel.

And so,

it might be that

while there is always

great commission work

to be done

wherever we are,

but it might be that

God chooses

and calls you out

to use you

in a place

that is not

your home,

a place that is not

where you've lived before.

And as we think

about all these things,

we also have to understand

and see

a really important part

of it.

Okay?

That this verse,

and it continues,

but that verse 18

doesn't end right there.

As the end of verse 18

says that,

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

That Jesus' church

will prevail

over darkness.

Because as you have encountered

in this life,

there is darkness.

As we encounter

what becomes really heavy

for us

is when we drive around

in our community

and we just look

at rooftops.

Or when I go

to my daughter's bedrooms,

which are on the top floor

of our house,

and overlook

the whole valley,

and I just look

at all the rooftops.

And when I think

about the fact

that over 97%

of those rooftops

are represented

by families

that do not know

the hope

that we have in Jesus,

it gets real.

And we understand

the darkness

of the place.

But darkness

is everywhere.

Hell is real.

We know

very clearly

from Scripture

that anyone

who has not

trusted in Jesus

for their salvation,

for the forgiveness

of their sins,

is bound for hell.

We also know

that Satan

and his demonic forces

are likewise

very real,

and that they are

in great opposition

to the work

of the one true gospel.

But Jesus promises here

that hell

will not win.

We know

that victory

was secured

when Jesus

took on

the penalty of sin,

all of our sins,

upon the cross.

That he triumphed

over death

by rising on the third day.

And in fact,

we're one week

from Easter.

We remember

we just celebrated

Easter

that Jesus

rose again.

And there is

no greater testimony

of God's sovereignty,

of his power

to save people,

than the resurrection.

There's nothing greater.

And as we think

about this,

we think about these

and trust

in these truths

that Jesus

saves sinners.

That Jesus

saves sinners.

We don't.

We're powerless

to do that.

We're a faithful witness

is what we are.

That Jesus

builds his church.

His church.

He builds it.

That he uses

the faithful obedience

of his disciples

to accomplish

his glory.

And that hell

opposes it.

But God

has already won

the victory.

And that is,

that's enough.

Whatever it is

that God's calling you to,

whatever it is

that God is

speaking to you

in your life,

whatever the things are

that you know

you need to be

obedient to,

those facts

are enough

to allow us

to walk faithfully.

To say,

God,

I am yours.

Use me.

I know I can't do it.

The greatest,

the greatest

source of

help for me

to trust in God

right now

is knowing

that there is

no way

that I can figure out

how to do

what I'm supposed

to do right now.

That I can figure out

how to plant

this church

apart from

the power

of God.

And so

when we reach

that point,

it's a good place

to be

because we can

choose

and embrace

and know

that it is

all because

of His power,

that He

is enough.

He will do it.

He has

called us

His faithful.

But I do

want to,

I hope

you're encouraged

in that.

I do also

want to share

just some

specific ways

in our lives

right now

and in the life

of Hope Valley Church

right now

in its very infancy

that you can be

joining us

in prayer

and praying

for God

to do this work

and praying

for God

to bring

the people

and the things

and everything

together for it.

The first

of those ways

is that

join us

in praying

for people.

Be praying

for other

Christians.

We have

some people

but we

desire

and hope

and are praying

for God

to bring other

Christians

to join us

in the work

at Hope Valley Church.

Whether those

are Christians

in another

church already

in the valley

who get

the vision

to help start

another church.

Or whether

those are Christians

who are living

in another state

right now

as we have

people we've talked

to who have

come out and visited

and are praying

about that

and we are also

praying for others

we don't even

know of yet

that might follow

God's call on that.

But also for

people who do

not yet know

Jesus.

People who do

not yet know

the gospel

of Jesus.

The true

gospel

that God

saves

by grace

alone.

Okay?

That is

hard in our

area

as for our

LDS

neighbors

and friends

they understand

the gospel

very differently.

Praying

that as we

proclaim

the truths

of the gospel

as we

talk about

the truths

of Jesus'

work

in salvation

that they

will hear

that.

We were

convinced

that we

our task

is not

to like

argue

people

out of

their

beliefs.

Our task

is not

whether

they're

LDS

friend

or an

agnostic

or atheist

friend.

Our task

is not

to convince

them

they're

wrong,

but our

task

is to

show

them

the truth.

It's

to show

them

what truth

is.

To show

them

who

Jesus

and

what

the

gospel

truly

and

show

them

that

there

hope.

That

they

can

trust

that.

Because

believe

that

the

truth

speaks.

Doesn't

mean

won't

deal

and

talk

about

hard

things,

but

want

the

gospel

to be

what

are

known

for.

want

the

truth

what

are

known

for.

want

any

offense

Jesus.

And

will

you

pray

for

those

people?

Will

you

pray

for

the

resources

get

equipment

and

things

that.

We'll

meeting

dance

studio

and

get

trailer

and

equipment

and

all

those

things.

Will

you

pray

for

the

resources

sustain

the

ministry

the

church?

Will

you

pray

for

our

outreach

efforts?

This

summer

will

one

those

make

sure

the

end

the

summer

that

every

home

that

area

that

home

60,000

people

that

every

home

will

receive

door

hanger

that

allows

them

know

that

are

here

and

shows

them

way

that

they

can

connect

with

kids

camp

and

block

party

their

neighborhood

park

and

our

goal

that

through

all

that

the

end

the

summer

our

whole

community

knows

that

are

there

and

that

through

those

things

pray

that

have

conversations

and

build

relationships

can share

the

gospel

that

people

will

come

Christ

and

that

God

will

build

his

church

thank

you

Willow

Ridge

pleasure

with

you

today

let's

pray

together

Lord

you

are

faithful

and

you

are

good

trust

you

and

thank

you

for

your

incredible

work

Lord

that

there

nothing

could

but

all

because

Jesus

all

because

you

that

have

life

and

Lord

pray

that

today

you

will

encourage

your

truth

your

word

that

will

know

that

just

walk

obedience

and

that

you

are

sovereign

the

work

Lord

that

you

will

draw

sinners

yourself

Lord

help

have

opportunities

show

your

gospel

walk

boldness

and

obedience

and to

take

risks

for

your

gospel

because

you

have

called

out

you

have

saved

and

you

are

faithful

love

you

Lord

Jesus

Amen

Thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening

to this

week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

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resources

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