Rev. Tommy Carr

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 100
• Hymn
• Prayer of Invocation
• Corporate Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 103:11-13
• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 18:1-16
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Sermon
• Hymn — Wonderful Words of Life
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Church as Pillar and Foundation of Truth

Scripture: 1 Timothy 3:14-15

I. The Household of God

A. The church is not a building — it is the people of God

1. The New Testament places no emphasis on buildings or architecture
2. Wherever the people of God are, there is the church — in worship, in community service, in evangelism

B. Because God is our Father and his Spirit dwells within us, we are called his household

1. Every gathering of Christians carries within it resurrection power — Ephesians 3:20
2. Illustration: The Jesus film shown in a Mozambique refugee camp — spontaneous mass repentance and 500 new believers worshiping the following Sunday

II. The Church of the Living God

A. Paul's phrase was a deliberate contrast to the lifeless idol at the Temple of Diana in Ephesus — the center of pagan worship in the Roman Empire

B. The living God is the source of all life and vitality

1. Paul declared in Athens: "In him we live and move and have our being"
2. Every human being draws breath by the grace of the living God

C. God has committed himself exclusively to working through the church — his chosen instrument of world change

1. Jesus promised: "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it"
2. The church is equipped with spiritual gifts, wise guidance by the Holy Spirit, and powerful non-violent weapons: faith, hope, love, prayer, righteousness, compassion, and mercy

III. The Pillar and Foundation of Truth

A. The church's great calling is to introduce truth into a world saturated with error and confusion

1. Secular authorities never possess the missing truths that make human life function as God intended
2. In every generation, humanity repeats the same mistakes because it refuses access to God's truth

B. People hunger for answers the world cannot give — Who am I? Why am I here? — and God has chosen to dispense those answers through his church

C. Illustration: The prayer of Rev. Joe Wright before the Kansas Legislature (1996)

1. Named specific ways society has called evil good — pluralism, multiculturalism, moral inversion
2. Demonstrated the power and necessity of speaking God's truth plainly in the public square

D. Application: Every believer — individually and corporately — is charged with bringing this truth to the world

1. Nothing will heal our world apart from God's truth
2. The church must own its identity as the household of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of truth