The 3 Foundations of a Healthy Church

We’re kicking off a brand new series through the book of First Epistle to Timothy called Building a Healthy Church.

What actually makes a church healthy?

Is it the building? The size? The programs?

In this message, we walk through the opening of Paul’s letter and uncover three foundational truths that define a healthy, thriving church:

The authority of God’s Word
The importance of deep, Christ-centered relationships
The daily need for God’s grace, mercy, and peace

This letter was written to a young pastor facing real challenges—false teaching, lack of leadership, and confusion in the church. And yet, the encouragement Paul gives is just as relevant for us today.

A healthy church isn’t about the building—it’s about the people.

If we want to grow, we must ask:

Are we aligned with Scripture?
Are we walking in real relationships?
Are we depending on God’s grace daily?

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:1–2

If this message encouraged you, share it with someone and join us as we walk through this series together.


At River Oak Church, we are a welcoming family of imperfect people who share a passion for God, a passion for others, and a passion for graciously sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.  We enjoy an informal environment and Christ-exalting modern worship, and we are committed to following the truth of God’s Word.  We welcome you to come as you are, from wherever you’ve been, and join us!

To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: https://riveroakchurch.org/give/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy. We're starting a new series today, beginning Paul's letter to Timothy. And if you were with us in the beginning of the year, we finished Mark's gospel and then we jumped into Titus. And now, having gone through Easter, we are now kicking off another series through 1 Timothy, which should take us all the way through the summer. So we're really excited about this to dive into this book, to dive into this letter with you. You know, we're calling this series Building a Healthy Church. Building a healthy church. And that may seem like a silly idea, you know, when you look around at this place. This sanctuary is beautiful. This sanctuary is amazing, isn't it? I remember in 2020, 2021, when this part of the building was finished. I remember for the first time seeing the coffee bar, seeing the lobby out there, and seeing how amazing and how huge it is. We kind of grow numb to it, right? But I remember seeing how amazing it was. And I remember just when they built the children's wing. You just think about the building. This is this is amazing. And a lot of you do know the history of River Oak, but a lot of you don't. Uh for the first seven, eight years of River Oak, uh, it was God's people setting up wherever they could on a Sunday, whether it be in a school and setting up a place to gather, to worship the Lord, and then that same Sunday, they took they tore everything down. And that was the weekly pattern, not for a season, but for years. And so we can see God has been so kind, He has been so good and so faithful, but we also have to be careful with this, with this beautiful space, this beautiful building, because the church is not a building, right? The church is the people, God's people who gather physically. It's the people, and so we do have to be careful. We cannot say, oh, we're we're we are, we've reached the pinnacle. We cannot say we we've made it. No, we have not made it until we see Christ face to face. Amen. But while we are here, we want to constantly grow. We want to constantly be growing to be more like Christ. We want to constantly be growing as a church. Really, this is what you see as we look at, these are called the pastoral epistles, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, because they're not written to a whole church, but rather they're written to a pastor, leader in the church, but it's for the church. And it's really special because they give us a glimpse of God's heart, his desire for the local church, and what the local church should be like, what the local church should do, how the local church should worship him. We get insight into these letters about those things. And so that's what we are looking at this morning. When we talk about a healthy church, it's not a building, it's the people. So if we're asking about how healthy are we, we should be asking questions like, well, how how aligned are we with God's word? Or we should be asking questions like, how's our marriages doing? We should be asking, how evangelistic are we as a people? We should ask, how how devoted are we to holiness? Are we growing in holiness? Are we becoming more and more like Christ and less and less like our old self? Are we committed to holiness? These are questions we have to ask. Are we worshiping God in spirit and in truth? Those are the questions that we think through as we think about being a healthy church, about building a healthy church. We see really Paul's heart for the church laid out in 1 Timothy chapter 3, really quick. Look at chapter 3, verse 5 14 and 15 of the letter. You can see what Paul is writing about. In verse 14, he begins. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and a buttress of the truth. How we should be, how we should do life, how we should live as a local church. This is why Paul is writing this. Paul is concerned about the church in Ephesus. Timothy is there in Ephesus. He's leading the church in Ephesus, and Paul is writing because he's concerned about the church in Ephesus. And he's writing to encourage Timothy, but also to instruct Timothy about how to navigate some of the tough situations that Timothy is dealing with. And I want you to feel, if you can, what Timothy is feeling. Timothy is in a very tough situation. So I want you to think for a minute about your own life. Think about a very hard situation that you have been in in your life. Perhaps you're in a very hard situation right now. Think about that moment. You know, you may be in this room and you may be in a very hard situation with your family or with a family member. Or you may be in the military and you may be overwhelmed, realizing what's happening in the world, and it's just different for you than it is for a normal civilian. And you're in a hard situation. Timothy is in a tough spot. While Timothy is in Ephesus, the tough situation that Timothy is dealing with is that there's a church here, but the church is being filled with false teachers. We're going to see that next week, how false teachers have infiltrated the church. He's also in a tough leader, tough situation because there's a lack of biblical leadership. Paul's going to write about that. And also because there's improper worship happening, and Paul's going to write about that. And throughout this letter, Paul's instructing him, encouraging him, building him up, but charging him. Charging him to lead, to lead well. And you know, when we're in these tough situations, what do we need? We need encouragement, don't we? We need encouragement. We need guidance from the Lord. And this morning, as we look at this passage, we're going to see three encouragements. This letter is like a letter from a father to a son. And you're going to see their closeness of relationship here in the very beginning. But hear it like you're Timothy. Hear these opening words like you are Timothy in this tough spot. The first encouragement that Timothy receives is the encouragement of God's authority. The encouragement of God's authority. Look at verse one of the letter. Says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope. So in letters back in the day, they didn't start with the recipient, you know, dear Bob, and then you write your letter, and then it's at the very end. No, it starts with the author. So right out the gate, Paul addresses himself, acknowledges that he's the author. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. And I want to fill you in. Some of you don't know the test Paul's testimony, not familiar with the author of the letter that we're going to dive into over the next few months. Well, Paul has an amazing story and his amazing testimony of God's mercy and God's grace. And I want to give you a scan of that really quick. Turn in your Bible to the left, go to Acts chapter 7. The very end of Acts chapter 7, verse 58. This is where Paul, who we're going to see his name here, is referred to as Saul. This is where he is first referred to in our Bible. In Acts chapter 7, the early church has begun. The Holy Spirit has come down on the church, empowering them. And now the word is going forth. And there's a man named Stephen, who's a deacon in the church, a servant in the church. And Stephen in Acts chapter 7 is proclaiming God. He's proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, God's Messiah, the king who has been promised. And they end up, the Jews and the Pharisees, they end up stoning him. The people stone him. And in verse 58 is where we're introduced to Saul. Look what it says. Verse 58. They cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. This is Paul. And so essentially what that shows us is that Paul was the one in this moment who's rousing the crowds to stone Stephen. We see the Bible tells us that Paul was a Pharisee, and not just any Pharisee, devout, well trained, and very zealous. And so here he has Stephen stoned. He plays a part in the stoning of who we know to be the first martyr, who we think of as the first martyr, Stephen. Go to verse 3 of chapter 8. Go to verse 3 of chapter 8. We see more about this Saul. Who is he? But Saul was ravaging the church. And entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. So not only is he responsible in a part for Stephen's martyrdom, but now he's the point person for rousing up Christians, for gathering them, for putting them in prison. Not just men, but men and women. This is who we're looking at. In Acts chapter 9, everything changes. Flip over to chapter 9, verse 1. In chapter 9, verse 1, we see the start of what is going to be his major turnaround when he's about to meet Jesus on the road to Damascus. But just so you get a clip a glimpse while he's on this travel to Damascus, it's not like he's been getting better. Look at Acts 9, verse 1. But Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. Still breathing threats, still breathing murder. That's his heart condition before he's about to go on the road to Damascus. And then look what happens. If you are in this room and if you do not understand the mercy and patience of God, if you don't understand the grace of God, if you are weighed down by your past, look what Jesus does in verse 3 of chapter 9 and on. Look at verse 3. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. Paul encounters Jesus, and everything changes in his life. Everything. Never the same. Never to be the same man. Isn't God merciful? Isn't he amazing? I want you to think about this and just feel the weight of God's mercy for a minute. We said earlier that the church is a people, and it's true to say that the church is a people, but that's too generic. The church is the bride of Christ. That is what the church is. Now think about this. Paul ravaged the church. You get what I'm saying? He ravaged the church. He ravaged the bride of Christ, the very bride of Christ. And yet God not only saves this man, but he befriends this man. And not only does he befriend this man, but he calls him to a special calling, a unique calling. Look at verse 15 of Acts chapter 9, and then we'll go to Timothy. Verse 15, Ananias is very suspicious about going to meet this Saul for good reasons. And then we see God say to him, verse 15, but the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name. Isn't that amazing? This is what God does. He saves, he befriends, and he calls. And so Paul, the one who persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, became an apostle of Jesus Christ. That's a transformation that only the gospel can do. Only the gospel, nothing in the world can bring about that type of transformation except for Jesus. Only him. And this is what we see in Paul's life. He says here, back to 1 Timothy. Go to 1 Timothy 1. Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean that he is an apostle specifically? Well, an apostle was somebody in the early church who, number one, they had to be a direct eyewitness of the resurrected Christ. A direct eyewitness. Not only that, though, but the apostles were also those who you who uniquely carried the authority of Christ behind them. They had the authority of Jesus at their back. Think of an ambassador. What is an ambassador to a king? When a king sends his own ambassador as a representative to a foreign nation, well, that ambassador goes to such a foreign nation with the authority of the king behind him. Likewise, this is what an apostle is. Now, Ephesians 2 tells us that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. So the Bible makes clear that there are no more apostles today. So if you're watching YouTube and if you listen to somebody and they say, hey, I'm Apostle Fred, turn it off. There's no more apostles today. Why is that a big deal? It's a big deal because they're coming with the authority of God Himself. That's a different kind of authority. And this is the authority, though, that we see in this letter. Because this here, we know this is a letter written by Paul, but ultimately it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. That's why we call it Scripture. This is God's own breathed-out word that we're holding. And this is encouragement for Timothy. Look how Paul describes his position as an apostle. He doesn't just say Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, but he says how that came about. By command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope. In other words, Paul is saying, look, I'm in a position of an apostle, not because I worked hard for it, not because Peter thought I'd be really good fit for the job. No, by command of God. God is the source. God is the reason why Paul is an apostle. It's rooted in God's appointment of it. It says, by command, literally, the ordering of God. This was God's order. This was God's design. This was God's unique purpose for Paul. And it shows us that everything we see in this letter is from the authority of God's word. You know, I believe, I'm convinced that the authority of Scripture is the most important thing in a church. Holding to the authority of Scripture. You may say, well, no, no, Jesus. Jesus is the most important thing in the church. What they say about Jesus, well, yes, but consider, if you lose the authority of Scripture, you're gonna lose Jesus. You're gonna get the wrong Jesus in a matter of time. The authority of Scripture is so key and it's so important. And this is what Paul is writing this letter with from the authority of God, knowing that there's actually false teachers in the church in Ephesus, reminding them of who's in charge, reminding them of the authority of God. That when it comes to teaching, there's one authority, and it's this. And this is the authority that we have to stand on and focus on. You know, today there are so many ways we can erode the authority of Scripture. And even us in this room, so many ways we can erode the authority of God's word. There's a temptation, and I've heard this countless times. You approach a passage of scripture, and some people will say, Well, hey, look, one person says that means this, another person that says that means this, and it's just, ah, who can know, right? And now you approach the same thing a different scripture. Oh, one person says this, another says this, oh, who can know? And it's this constant, simply because there's different opinions means who can know, eroding the authority of God's word. Or then there's the other way this can happen. There is the way that you can read a book of the Bible and you're reading through your quiet time, and you read something that pricks your conscience. Or you read something from God's word that actually has a is a different worldview than your current way of thinking. And what is the temptation? Explain it away, right? How many times do we see that? Explaining away what is so simply clear in God's word, dangers of eroding the authority of scripture. There's another one, uh perhaps a more subtle way. There's a temptation for us to marvel at God's word, but not move on God's word. I vividly remember when I was in about eighth grade or so, I had a sleepover at my house, and I had some friends over, and we were very disruptive this night. And we finally got to bed around 4 a.m. Very disruptive, and I remember my dad walks in the room at about 7 a.m. and he says, Blake, get up, we're mulching today. And I deserved it. Now I'll remember and think about that moment. I'll never forget that moment. I'll never forget that day. But suppose in that moment my dad coming to me saying, get up, we are mulching today. You're landscaping with me today. Suppose I were to say, Dad, wow, you are something else. Dad, you know, you are a wordsmith. The way you said that, wow. And then I go back to sleep. Or suppose, suppose I were to respond, Dad, that was special. Like your, you just have a way with words. Dad, I loved what you said so much. I am going to write that on paper, frame it, and put it in my room and repeat it over and over. That is how good that was, Dad. And then go back to sleep. There's a real tendency, as dumb as that is. There is a real tendency to do that with the Bible. There's a real tendency to do that on a Sunday morning. Wow. Look what's in Timothy. Look at how rich this is. Look at how good this is, and then walk away and forget what we've read. Walk away, and it doesn't change the man or woman that you are, whatsoever. We have to be careful that we do not marvel at the word and not move on the word. We must move on it. We must obey it. Take God at His Word and submit to His Word and live it out in our lives. We must, Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's not merely being in awe of his word. It is that, but it's doing his word. We don't want to just be hearers of the word. We want to be doers of the word. And so it bids us to ask the question: how do you approach the Bible? How do you approach the Bible? Both individually in your own life, but even corporately as we gather here. How do you prepare your heart to hear God's word? What do you do with the word after you go home? What do you do with the word after you've read it in the morning? How do you approach it? God's word for yourself. You know, I want to just scan a few scriptures and just consider this. Psalm 112, verse 1 says, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. Do you delight in the word? Do you jump out of bed in the morning to get in the word? Do you delight in it? Do you eagerly come on a Sunday morning, ready to feed and hear God's word? Do we delight in it? Not only Psalm 112, but think about Isaiah 66, verse 2. God Himself speaking says, But this is the one to whom I will look. In other words, God is saying, This is the person that I'm going to pay attention to. This is the one that I'm going to look. What does he say? He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Do you tremble at the word? Do you tremble before it? Knowing that the power of God's word is the same power that simply spoke and the universe came into existence? That's the power of God's word. That's the power that you're sitting in your lap. This is God's word. Not only do we delight in it, but we tremble before it. Not only do we tremble before it, but we can be confident in it. Psalm 12, verse 6 says, the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You want to know how you get perfect, pure silver? You refine it over and over and over. This is the picture of what he's saying is God's word. The words of the Lord are pure. The words of the Lord have no mixture of air in it whatsoever. It's pure, it's inerrant, it's true, it's trustworthy, it's dependable. When you approach God's word, you should approach it with the utmost confidence in every aspect of your life. How do you approach God's word? Do you approach it like it is completely perfect in every area? You want to know the best book on the market for parenting? Right here. You want to know the best book on the market for marriage? Right here? You want to know the best book on the market for what a church should be like? There is an infinite amount. If y'all don't know this, there's an infinite amount of books on what a church should be like, on the secrets to growing a big church, etc. etc. You want to know the best book on what the church should be like? God's perfectly pure word. This is it. Is that how we approach God's word? Is that how you approach God's word? Both the church and Ephesus that Paul is writing about, and River Oak Church have this in common is that our health, our health, our strength depends on adhering to God's authoritative word. This is the first encouragement that Paul writes to Timothy. The encouragement of God's authority. I want you to see the second thing now. Look at verse two. We have the encouragement of God's authority, and then number two, we see the encouragement of close Christian relationships. Of close Christian relationships. Verse 2, he addresses Timothy. He says, To Timothy, my true child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He says, To my true child in the faith. Paul is writing this like a father would write to his son. You see their relationship here? You see their close relationship in here? And look what their relationship is founded on. To my true child in the what? In the faith. Notice how Paul called God the Father earlier. He said, God, our Savior. Christ Jesus, our hope. Remember, put yourself in Timothy's shoes. If you just got a letter when you get home and you're reading a letter that's to you, think of how you would read that. Paul's saying, Timothy, God is our Savior. Think about the encouragement that it is. Hey, he's our Savior, church. God is not just reigning in the heavens distant from us. No, he's our savior. Christ Jesus is alive, and guess what? He's our hope, the unique hope for believers who trust in him. He's our hope. This is what the relationship is founded on. Paul is more than just a mentor to him, he's a spiritual father to Timothy. He loves him, he encourages him. My true child in the faith. You know, this is not flattery. This is not flattery. Think about what flattery does. Flattery praises from a place of ignorance. It's praising somebody even though you don't really know them. It's not flattery. Paul knows Timothy. They have done life together. They have wept together. They have been persecuted together. They've struggled together. This is not some surface-level relationship. This is a deep, intimate relationship that they are enjoying, that they are being blessed by and benefited by in their walk with Christ, in their service to the work of the kingdom of God. This is what they're doing. We see that relationships are essential. And I want you to see just what Paul thinks of Timothy, even beyond what we see here, calling him my true child in the faith. I want you to see what Paul writes about Timothy when he's writing to the Philippian church. In Philippians chapter 2, 19 to 22, it'll be on the screen. Look at what it says. Paul writing to the Philippians says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. That is what Paul says of him. You know, he says, My true child in the faith, that word true is the same word we just read. That word genuine. He's genuine. He's a man of character. He's the same man in public that he is in private. He's trustworthy, he's dependable. And writing to the Philippians, he says, I have nobody like him, Philippians. He will be so concerned for your welfare. He is focused on God's people. This is Timothy. This is his faithfulness that we see, his reputation. And we see from God's word. Relationships are everything, aren't they? Even think about who God is. God is one God and three persons. There is a perfect relationship within the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This perfect relationship, our God is a relational God in his being. Not only that, we see when God created the world, he created Adam. What was the very first thing he said? That was not good. It is not good that man should be alone. And that's true of marriage, but even beyond marriage, we were made for relationship because God is a relational God. The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes just the importance of close relationship, companionship. What does Ecclesiastes say? A threefold cord is not easily broken. Relationships are such a big deal. We see that in all the stories of the Old Testament. Imagine if Moses did not have Aaron. Imagine if Ruth did not have Naomi. Imagine if David did not have Jonathan. Imagine if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego going faced with the fiery furnace. Imagine if they did not have one another. Think about the New Testament. Think about Jesus. You remember when Jesus sends out the 72? He sends out 72 of his disciples on what would be a short-term mission trip. How does he send them out? It's not one by one. Well, you say they could cover more ground if he just sends them out separately. They cover more space one by one. No, Jesus is much wiser than that. How does he send them out? Two by two. We're made for relationship. We're made for relationship. We see that in Paul and Timothy. This close, intimate relationship. This is not surface level. This is deep. And it's very personal. My question for you is who are you walking with in your life? My question to you is who are you corded up with? Who are you corded with? Think about the closest people in your life. Are the closest people in your life those who would encourage you in God's word? Are they those who would pray for you, challenge you at times in a godly way? Are they those who love you from a Christ-centered love? Are they those who point you to the truth of God's word? This is what they get to enjoy, and this is where we see our usefulness. Who our close relationships are matters. Young people, it matters a big deal who your close friends are. But for the rest of us, that's not just true of young people. That's not just true of teenagers. Who we are close with is a big deal. And this is what we're called to. Who are we walking with in our life? Christian faithfulness often goes hand in hand with Christian companionship. Where there's deep companionship, you often find faithfulness flow as a result of that. Who are we walking with? That's the second encouragement that you see. You see Paul writing, and he encourages Timothy, my true child. This close Christian relationship. And then lastly, we see the third encouragement. And it's the encouragement of God's grace. The encouragement of God's grace. Verse 2 again. He says to Timothy, my true child in the faith. And then here's the blessing. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I want grace, mercy, and peace. Look where he says that comes from. Do you want grace, mercy, and peace? Where does it come from? He says, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. These blessings come from God. God is not only the source of our authority, but God is the source of the blessings of grace and mercy and peace. This is how Paul often starts his letters. When he starts his letters to a church, he'll often say, Grace to you and peace to you. That's how he starts. That's how he blesses them out the gate. But this is unique. He adds something to Timothy here that he doesn't add elsewhere. He adds mercy, grace and mercy and peace. That's interesting. I think it points to the reality that Timothy is in a tough spot. Timothy is in a hard situation. Timothy uniquely needs the mercy of God. Not just the mercy and grace that saves us, but the mercy and grace that we need in a day-to-day life. The mercy and grace that we need for tomorrow. I want you to think about each one of these words. Grace. Grace is this love, this compassion that would lead God to act in favor and kindness to one who doesn't deserve it. You know, for you in your Christian life, or if even you're here today as a guest, and if the word grace has just been this Christianese word that you're not really sure what it means, if you just understand it with one word, it's just undeserved. Grace is undeserved. When we talk about salvation, we don't deserve it because it's by grace. It's not by works. Even our Christian life. We need God's daily grace to sustain us, to strengthen us. I don't know what you have going on this week, right? Sometimes there's days, there's weeks that you're looking forward to that you just know this is gonna be heavy. This is gonna be tough. I know what's happening on Tuesday, I know what's on the schedule on Thursday, this is gonna be tough. This is the grace that God gives us, that the grace that we're called to depend on. He says, Grace and mercy. You think about mercy, you think about loving kindness. You think about mercy, you think about how God in this love and pity for us. How he comes to us, how he blesses us. You think about God and his mercy, how God withholds the punishment that we deserve. He withholds the punishment. You think about peace, all of these things are only things that can come from the gospel. Only things that can come from being in a relationship with God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Grace and mercy and peace. Peace pointing to this close personal relationship with God that encourages us. You know, the Bible makes clear that not a single person in the world is born neutral, right? No one is born neutral. No one is born just in this middle ground territory between God and the world. No, the Bible makes clear that we are born with a sinful nature. We're born with a nature that is utterly opposed to God. Romans 8 would say that this is a nature that is actually hostile towards God. That's the nature that we enter into this world with. It's not neutral. And the Bible says that in our sin, we're separated from God, but not just separated. You need to know what that separation looks like. It's like two armies who are at war. Enemies in this state of sin, we're not just opposed to God, we're rebellious against him. That's the predicament. And that's a big predicament. Because if you don't feel, if you don't understand the weight of our predicament of being in sin apart from Jesus, then we won't understand, we won't feel the gratitude for what Christ has really done for us. They go hand in hand. Paul had gratitude for what God had done for him. A lot of gratitude because Paul knew the depth of his sin. He would say it in another place that I am the most wretched of all. He knew his sin. And so the good news of the gospel is that God came to us in mercy and in grace on a mission to bring us into a peaceful relationship with him. That is the good news of the gospel. When you see this peace, don't think this inner peace so much as you think being at war, and now the war's over, and now there's peace. Think about that peace. That is the peace that salvation brings. That is the peace that the death on the cross brings. That's the peace that God makes a way for us to enjoy because Jesus lived the perfect life, died on the cross as our substitute, and then walked out of the grave three days later. That's the root of our peace. The root, the way God made a way for us who are opposed to now be in relationship with Him. And what is the message of the gospel? What is the invitation? It's not jump through 15 hoops, it's not saying 10 prayers. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. Ask, knock on the door, and it will be answered. Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you do not follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you have not raised that white flag of surrender, turn to Him. Trust in Him. Don't delay. Come to Him, and you will have peace with God. You will have eternal life. And for God's people, every single day we recognize we are not just saved by grace, but we need to depend on God's grace every day, right? We depend on His grace. We depend on His grace to sustain us, to strengthen us for tomorrow. And we do that with one another. Would y'all pray with me? Heavenly Father, we recognize that we don't deserve you. We don't deserve being in this close and wonderful and intimate relationship with you that we get to enjoy. Father, thank you so much for being merciful. Thank you so much for being gracious to us. Thank you so much, Father, for sending your son to die in our place, to take our punishment that we deserved, so that we could have life, so that we could be at peace with you. Lord, I pray that as we go out today, I pray that the aroma of Christ, the joy of the Lord, would fill us today. And not just today, but throughout this week. May your spirit fill us. May we be strong in you, full of faith, trusting in your promises, doing life together and depending on you every day. Father, help us to be people committed to your word and help us to rejoice in you even now as we sing with praise to your name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

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