Entrusted "the gates of hell shall not prevail"

1 Timothy 3:14-16
Vrs 14-15a (stop at “household of God”) Paul gives directives on the churches structure…bottom line of what we learned in the last few weeks is, the leaders and those who serve should be of Godly Character. Truthfully it does not matter what we do, as much as who we are in Christ.

Vrs 15 “which is the church of the living God”

This begs the question... what is the church?
Start with what the church is not…
-A building
-A social gathering -Hypocrites-the only hypocrites in the church are the ones that say they don’t sin. –Deep relationships- don’t substitute deep relationships with others to fill the void that only Christ can fulfill in your life.
-A place to go to pay your dues. (not works)
-A place to come after you get your act together (one side people become judgmental, on the other people are shamed or scared away its Satan’s lie)

Problem is people try to make what the church should not be…the church corporately loses focus

So what is the church? Matt 16:13-20
Vrs 15 “a pillar and buttress of truth”

The truth of Jesus (GOSPEL) is the foundation and the work of what the local church does is the pillar and buttress. (holds things up and together)

The church is the avenue in which the truth of Jesus is communicated and lived out to the glory of God.
It is the responsibility of the local church to hold up the truth for all to see

Donald Norbie says “The local church holds up the truth in a corporate way the isolated believer cannot”

Here is the foundation…
Vrs 16 “Great Indeed” We serve a God hat is much greater.

Line 1 The incarnation John 1 Jesus always was then came as the God man into human history.
Line 2 “Vindicated” = to uphold or justify or prove. The Holy Spirit proved Jesus was who he claimed to be.
-At His baptism
-At His resurrection Romans 8:11
Line 3 This is to illustrate that this was a spiritual and was observed by spirit beings throughout history.
Angels learn from us
Angels rejoice over one sinner who repents
Line 4 The message of the Gospel is for everyone
Line 5 The avenue of salvation
Line 6 Refers to Jesus’ ascension but also ours as a result of belief, one day we will be taken up.

This is what the church “confesses” and this is “the mystery of Godliness”

Do you want to be Godly? Trust this message. Do you want to be Godly spread this message.
Proof that it is God’s message “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it

Jesus is best served when we as the church of God work together to bring the message to the world around us and live the message to our fellow believers within the local church.