What does it really mean to be a peacemaker in a world filled with conflict? The answer might surprise you. When Jesus declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He wasn’t calling us to avoid conflict at all costs—He was inviting us into a revolutionary way of engaging with a fractured and hurting world.

The Greek word for peacemaker (eirēnopoios) appears only once in Scripture and describes someone who “bravely declares God’s terms and makes others whole.” This definition challenges the passive view of peace many of us hold. Jesus Himself said He came not to bring peace but a sword, revealing that true reconciliation sometimes requires confrontation. As the ultimate peacemaker, He overturned tables in the temple and rebuked religious leaders, showing that addressing injustice is essential to genuine peace.

This teaching explores three dimensions of biblical peacemaking. First, peace within ourselves, modeled by Jesus sleeping through a raging storm while His disciples panicked. Second, peace between people, demonstrated when Jesus crossed cultural boundaries to speak with the Samaritan woman at the well. Third, peace between humanity and God, accomplished through Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Each dimension shows that real peace demands courage, intentionality, and a readiness to step into difficult conversations for the sake of restoration.

The early church embodied this radical approach to peace through its diverse leadership and inclusive fellowship. From Pentecost onward, God’s people were called to break down racial, social, and cultural barriers through unity in Christ. Like leaven working through dough, this Kingdom peace transforms from the inside out—changing hearts, shaping communities, and ultimately influencing the world. As James writes, “A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

This session invites you to embrace that calling—to step beyond comfort, speak truth in love, and become an active participant in God’s redemptive work of reconciliation.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Prayer often feels like the spiritual practice we “should” be better at and secretly avoid. In Red Letters, Pastor Mark Medley takes us into Matthew 7:7–11, where Jesus reduces the complexity we put on prayer to three verbs: ask, seek, knock. Mark shows that this isn’t a technique but an invitation. The Father already knows our needs, yet He tells us to ask because prayer is relationship with His heart and partnership in His mission. Asking confesses our poverty of spirit. Seeking pursues God with hunger. Knocking persists when doors don’t open on the first try, not to wring blessings from a reluctant deity but to stay near a generous Father. Mark addresses delayed or denied requests through the lens of adoption and abiding: the Father sometimes says no, slow, or grow before He says go, shaping us for joy. Through the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, we see that God remembers prayers we’ve forgotten and weaves answers into a larger plan. This message urges holy discontent in spiritual things, a renewed appetite to be with the Lord and then be sent by Him. In Jesus’ own words, the way forward is simple and sturdy: ask, seek, knock.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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What if you could stop struggling to feel “spiritual enough” and start experiencing God through simple, honest connection? In this transformative session on Matthew 5:8—“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”—Brian Durfee unpacks Jesus’s radical redefinition of spiritual blessing and shows how purity of heart is rooted not in perfection, but in relationship.

When Jesus spoke the Beatitudes, He wasn’t addressing the religious elite. He was speaking to the common, overlooked people of Galilee—those who had been dismissed as spiritually unqualified. By calling them blessed, Jesus shattered conventional religious thinking. He revealed that God’s favor isn’t reserved for those with external success or spiritual credentials, but for those whose hearts are open and aligned with Him.

The key revelation in this teaching is liberating: purity is not something we achieve by religious effort, but something we receive through relational abiding. Drawing from Jesus’s words in John 15 about the vine and the branches, Brian reminds us that branches don’t struggle to produce fruit—they simply stay connected to the source. In the same way, “we become pure by staying close, not by trying harder.”

This insight changes how we view spiritual disciplines. Reading Scripture becomes less about fulfilling a checklist and more about encountering God in His Word. Prayer becomes less formal and more honest—an ongoing conversation with the One who already knows what’s in our hearts. Even small prayers like “God, give me the want to”—prayed in moments of dryness—can spark real transformation and renew our desire for His presence.

This session invites you to stop pretending with God and start being present with Him. It’s in those real, unguarded moments that we begin to see Him more clearly. As Brother Lawrence observed in Practicing the Presence of God, acknowledging Christ’s presence in the ordinary moments of life can reshape our entire spiritual experience.

Through this class, you’ll discover that a purified heart comes not from striving, but from abiding—and that the promise of “seeing God” is not only about eternity but about recognizing His nearness in the present. The door to experiencing Him is not locked by your past or your performance; it is opened through your presence with Him.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Subscribe to our Podcast & YouTube channel to find past sermons, classes, interviews, and more!
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