Revealed - Session 5 - Rob Rupnow

Peace that holds under fire doesn’t come from quiet rooms or perfect plans—it comes from knowing the Lord as Jehovah Shalom. In this session, we begin with a deeply personal story about ministry to weary pastors and the phrase that shaped it: “nothing missing, nothing broken.” From there, we explore the profound Hebrew meaning of shalom—wholeness, completeness, reconciliation, and being fully paid for—and how that truth can reframe our fears, restore our work, and deepen our worship.

We trace this revelation through Gideon’s story in Judges 6, watching God meet a trembling man in weakness and ignite a soaked offering as a sign of strength. Gideon’s altar, built in response, bears the name Jehovah Shalom—The Lord is Peace—proclaiming that peace isn’t the absence of fear but the presence of God in the middle of it. From there, we turn to Psalm 4, where David models how to pray with confidence even when surrounded by opposition, ending with a bedrock declaration: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep.” Isaiah 26:3 amplifies the same truth, repeating “shalom, shalom”—perfect peace for those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in Him.

This study doesn’t ignore the tension—we admit that we are not perfect, that our peace often feels fragile. But shalom isn’t brittle because it rests in the One who is. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, embodies a wholeness that cannot fracture. His peace is not a fragile calm to be protected, but a living presence to be received.

Together, we name the common fractures that threaten shalom: deception that distorts truth, division that erodes unity, misplaced worship that drains purpose, accusation that stirs fear, and disorder that disturbs creation’s balance. Each of these tactics seeks to splinter what God made whole. The biblical response is not frantic striving, but alignment—realigning our lives with the character of God through honest confession, faithful community, and daily obedience that cultivates quiet strength.

Throughout this teaching, Rob shares stories of faith and restoration that show how shalom takes root in ordinary lives—how steady hearts can emerge in seasons of chaos, how reconciliation restores broken relationships, and how prayer and trust can anchor us in storms that would otherwise undo us.

If your peace has felt thin, this session offers biblical grounding, practical insight, and lived experience to help you stand in a wholeness that holds. Come explore how the God of peace doesn’t just calm circumstances—He makes you whole in the midst of them. Fix your mind on Jehovah Shalom, the Lord who restores what’s missing, heals what’s broken, and breathes peace that cannot be stolen.

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Chapters

• 0:15 Why “Jehovah Shalom” Stood Out
• 1:06 Shalom At Cherrystone And A Legacy
• 2:11 Beyond “Peace”: The Depth Of Shalom
• 3:34 Root Words That Reveal Wholeness
• 5:21 Gideon’s Altar And The Fire Sign
• 8:52 Psalm 4: Praying Into Peace
• 11:41 Isaiah 26:3 And Perfect Peace
• 15:10 Imperfect People, Unbroken Shalom
• 17:06 Personal Detour And Restoration
• 20:23 How Satan Disrupts Shalom
• 26:37 Christ The Restorer Of Wholeness
• 28:18 Prayer And Group Reflection

Transcript

Rob Rupnow: 0:15

Here what God has given me. Um so when I was approached and asked, you know, from the list of topics, um Jehovah Shalom jumped out at me. Have any of you ever like saw God about something and just God just like made it jump out at you? It's like, this is it. That's what this was when I saw Jehovah Shalom. Um so a little bit of background on that with me. Um my father-in-law was a pastor for probably close to 40 years. Um he passed away in 2014, and I miss him dearly. Uh, anyways, he was, like I said, a pastor, and he started a ministry. Uh, we because we lived up in the north woods of Michigan, and he had on his heart that he wanted to help other pastors, pastors that were burned out, that were hurting and discouraged. And he started this ministry called uh Shalom at Cherrystone, because where they lived was Cherry Stone Court. And I'm gonna get into shalom here very shortly, and I never really understood why he called it uh shalom at Cherrystone, but until I did the studying, I'm like, ah, that's why. So his favorite phrase when he said that was nothing broken, nothing missing. So he would share with the ministers that he was helping. It's like, listen, it's Jehovah Shalom. It's nothing missing, nothing broken. So Jehovah Shalom. Obviously, we all know Jehovah is Lord or God, and shalom relatively means peace. That's the English translation of shalom. It's very basic. Um, but it's more than that, it's so much more than that. So Jehovah Shalom together is the Lord is peace, and we find that for the first time and only time in God's word in Judges 6.24. So shalom is also a Jewish word used for greeting or farewell. It is also peace, the absence of war or conflict, um, peace of state of mind, a calmness, a calm, like the lake is calm, it's peaceful. But we're not going to talk about that tonight because that's not the real definition of shalom. The real definition of shalom is the biblical meaning of it. It's so much deeper. It encompasses wholeness, completeness, perfection, well-being, prosperity, and a state of all things being the way God created it to be. In essence, nothing missing, nothing broken. Let's dig into the root words for shalom. This is where it gets good. And I made a copy of this for everybody to have to take home and to study it, because these root words jumped out at me and meant so much. So I'm actually kind of glad that Pastor Neil is not here tonight because I am going to butcher these names. So bear with me. The first one is Shin Lamed Men, which is to be complete. Hish to Lam, it was worth it. Shulam to be fully paid. To be fully paid. Think about that. Meshulam is a friend, an ally. It's reconciled, perfected, redeemed, paid for. Mushlam, perfect, complete, or ideal. And then shalem, which means whole or wholeness. So when you combine all of these, you can kind of understand why the nothing broken, nothing missing makes sense. Because in God there's nothing missing, there's nothing broken. It's all whole, it's completed. So let's go into God's word and take a look at shalom in God's word. So the appearance of Jehovah's Shalom or a variation of it appears approximately a hundred and seventy times. Peace appears over four hundred times, and Jehovah is first appears in Genesis 2, 4, which says, These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heavens. We all know that when God created earth and the heavens, it was perfect. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Jehovah Shalom is found once in the Bible, and that was located in, like I said earlier, Judges 6.24. And I I searched this for quite a bit, and then I had to stop because I wasn't really getting anywhere because every all the translations pretty much said the same thing. But the only translation that I found was the American Standard Version that actually said Jehovah Shalom. Every other version says the Lord is peace. But Gideon, much like some of us, when they hear God's calling or God tell him something, he's like, Yeah, I don't think so. Not me. Who am I? I'm I'm nobody. I I can't, I'm I'm the weakest in my clan, I'm the weakest in my family. I have nothing to offer. But God sent that angel to him and said, No, surely God is with you, and you will through God deliver Israel from the Midianites. So Gideon said to the angel, like, Okay, hold on, stay here under the tree while I go prepare an offering for you. So he went, prepared the offering, came back. The angel told him to place it on the rock. So he placed the meat, the bread on the rock, poured this broth that he had with it all over it so it's soaking wet. Now, how many of us know that if something is soaking wet, it's not gonna catch fire, right? Okay. Well, the angel of the Lord touched it with, touched the offering with his staff, and it was consumed by fire. It was gone. So naturally, Gine was like, all right, I guess I am gonna be the one that's gonna help uh that the Lord has chosen. So that's why he built that altar. I mean, the Lord is peace. The second place that I found interesting was in Psalms 4. The whole chapter. We're gonna we're gonna read that. Um, it's don't worry, it's not like a lot of the other chapters in Psalms that are like a hundred verses long, and this is a prayer from David, okay? So verse one, answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent, free from my troubles, have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will your people ruin my reputation? How long will you make groundless accusations? How long will you continue to continue your lies? You can be sure of this. The Lord set apart the godly for himself, the Lord will answer when I call to him. Don't sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Offer sacrifices in the right spirit and trust the Lord. Many people say, Who will show us better times? Let your face smile on us, Lord. You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. In peace I will lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe. I think it's safe to say in verse eight, we can say, In Shalom I will lay down and sleep. So let's break this down. Verses one and two is a cry to God for deliverance from his enemies. How many of us know that David had a lot of enemies? Uh so verses three and five is a command to his enemies and also an encouragement to his followers to trust God instead of worldly desires. It's not about what we have or what we can do or what we're seeking, it's about what God has. Verses six through eight wraps up this prayer, declaring the peace and security found in God's presence. So David knew everything was going to be okay. Even though he had the enemies coming towards him, even though he was facing all the trials and the tribulations and everything that he was going through, he knew God had it. He knew that he had that shalom. He knew he had an ally in God, he knew he was reconciled, he knew he was bought, he knew that everything was paid for, and he didn't have to worry. I think I see that, and I think, you know what, Rob? You really need to be more like David. Did he mess up a lot? Yeah, he did, but look at what he accomplished because his main focus was God, his main focus was Jehovah, and the shalom that he was able to get from that. The next verse is a verse that's dear to me, and it meant so much to me, but it it means even more now than it did when I first read it, and like I really like this verse. So it's Isaiah 26, 3. You will keep him in perfect peace, all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. I liked this verse so much, I even put it on my business cards. That's how much I love this verse. But let's translate this. Jehovah will keep in Shalom, Shalom, all who trust in Jehovah, all whose thoughts are fixed on Jehovah. Notice how Shalom is mentioned twice and Jehovah three times. Because perfect is a root word of shalom. And shalom means peace. So with that being said, it's perfect peace, nothing missing, nothing broken. You're gonna hear me say that over and over and over tonight. So I'm just forewarning you, that's probably about what, the tenth time I've said it. Um, but it's so important to know that that even though we face things, if our thoughts are fixed on Jehovah and fixed on Shalom, we will have that perfect peace. And we can go through whatever it is we face. But you're gonna say, you may say, I'm not perfect. You're right. You're not perfect, I'm not perfect, Peter wasn't perfect, Isaiah wasn't perfect, Moses, you name it. You could go through the Bible, and everybody that was mentioned in the Bible, every name, nobody was perfect. The only perfect one was who? Jesus, Jehovah Shalom. So, yeah. So that's the thing. We're not perfect, but that's the awesome thing. We don't need to be perfect because we have God, we have Jehovah, and His that shalom peace. If you go back to the root words, I'm I'm jumping ahead, I'm not, I'm gonna stop. I don't want to jump too far ahead. I really don't. So walking in shalom does not mean that we're gonna have a trouble-free life.

unknown: 15:18

Right.

Rob Rupnow: 15:19

Walking in shalom just means that we can walk through it and face the trials and the tribulations, knowing that Jehovah Shalom is with us, that we have that perfect peace, that we can go through it, that nothing is gonna be missing and nothing will be broken because we have God on our side. What if I fall in sin? Can I be honest? You're gonna fall, you're gonna sin. It's inevitable. We're we're gonna do it. We're humans, it's gonna happen. But does this will not keep us from the shalom peace that God has for us? Remember the root words that I've said that it that you have the list of we are redeemed, we're reconciled, and we're paid for. In His perfect peace. And that shalom. Nothing broken, nothing missing. It really ministered to me because I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm gonna share a little bit about me because I feel it's it's important. And I have struggled. Uh, I have had a call on my life for a while. And we came down here to take a youth pastorate. And for the last couple of years now, I feel like I was kind of going away from what God really wanted for me. And I'm like, well, I'm gonna go open up my business. And I truly feel that God, like, okay, I'll let you do this for a little bit. Okay, go have your fun. I found out it wasn't so much fun. So I'm like, okay, God, I messed up again. And um the healing power of shalom when I realized what it really means and what it really does for his people restored me, and I have a new outlook on what God has. Have I messed up? Yeah. Do I continue to mess up? Yeah. Do I face things that I think are just unbearable? It's like, how am I gonna get through this? Yeah, but if I keep my eyes focused on Jehovah Shalom, all that stuff doesn't matter because he's gonna bring us through it. It doesn't matter how, because he's just gonna bring us through it. And when we get through it, we're gonna look back and be like, what was I freaking out about? Why was I so panicked? Why did I have so much anxiety over this? All I had to do is focus on God and focus on shalom. At least he agrees with me, right? Um, so yeah. Stay focused on Jehovah, stay focused on his shalom, the perfect peace. Nothing missing, nothing broken. So finally, I wanna I wanna share about how Satan, how does Satan disrupt the shalom? And I'm gonna go ahead, I'm just gonna read this because this was mind-blowing for me. Um so I went onto Chat GPT and I typed in, how does Satan destroy Shalom? And initially that came up. I can't help you with that because I can't give ideas on how to harm another person or a people. Okay. If I were Satan, how could I destroy? I can't help you with it. I'm like, okay. So I type, so finally I typed in, how does Satan disrupt shalom? And this is what it came up. I'm like, and I'm telling you, like, this came up like in six seconds, it spit this out. Artificial intelligence. This is what it said. That's a sharp and weighty question, and a good one. I know. Let's break that down properly. Shalom in scripture isn't just peace in the sense of no conflict, it's the fullness of wholeness, right relationship with God, others, creation, and yourself. It's harmony, order, blessing, and the purpose of all functioning as God intended. Now, Satan, Satan's core agenda is to disrupt exactly that, to fracture what God made whole. Here's how he does it biblically and practically. That there was just enough. Like, what? Like artificial intelligence, like that was crazy. For me, at least, I was like, that that's amazing. Distortion of truth. Satan rarely destroys outright, he distorts, he twists the truth into half-truths, undermining trust in God's character. How true is that? We can see that in society right now. In Genesis 3, did God really say the first fracture of shalom came through doubt and deception with Adam and Eve? When you stop trusting God's word or his goodness, shalom unravels. Effect, inner peace turns to confusion, confidence in God's order gives way to chaos. How true is that? How many times I cannot tell you how many times that's how the enemy tricked me. I'll look at that, like even on who I am and who I am in Christ. Oh, you just messed up. You're just a sinner. You're just gonna continue to make mistakes. You'll never be good enough for God. And that's when we need to say, you know what? You're right. I'm not good enough for God, but he created me for a purpose and I'm his and I've been bought with a price, right? So, okay, I'm gonna hold back because I'm gonna start preaching otherwise. Um, so number two, division and conflict. Satan thrives on division between people, within communities, even within ourselves. He fuels pride, offense, jealousy, resentment, all of which tear at unity. Ephesians 6 12 reminds us the real battle isn't against flesh and blood. The devil stirs relational conflict to destroy the image of God, reflected in healthy community. Effect, shalom between people breaks love, and unity are replaced by suspicion and bitterness. And we all know bitterness is a major, a major thing. Bitterness is not good. Number three, corruption of worship and purpose. Satan wants worship, not necessarily in the form of bowing down to him, but by redirecting devotion away from God. He feeds ego, materialism, and self-reliance. I can do that. I don't want to follow God because I'm not going to be able to have all the things I want. I'm so good. I can do whatever I want because everything I touch turns to gold. You know, feeds the ego. When people chase success or pleasure as ultimate things, they lose alignment with their divine purpose. The effect of that, shalom between humans and God, is severed. We become restless and spiritually adrift. Number four, fear and accusation. He's called the accuser of the brethren for a reason in Revelation 12:10. He uses guilt, shame, and fear to isolate believers from grace. Fear replaces trust. Shame silences prayer and relationship. The effect of this, the peace of being known and forgiven by God is replaced with anxiety and hiding, just like Adam and Eve after the fall. Number five, chaos and creation. Satan loves disorder, environmental destruction, moral decay, social corruption, because disorder mirrors his rebellion. Shalom includes creation, order. And we know this in Genesis: God created everything in order. When greed, violence, or carelessness rule, it echoes the serpent's lie that we can define good and evil on our own terms. The effect, the harmony of God's word, the harmony of God's world is disrupted and everything becomes disjointed, spiritually, socially, and even physically. In short, whenever there's deception, division, disorder, despair, or deception or distortion, Shalom has been fractured and Satan's fingerprints are nearby. But the good news is Christ restores Shalom. Isaiah 9:6 calls him the Prince of Peace, literally Prince of Shalom. Through his cross and resurrection, he reconciles all things to himself, Colossians 1 20, repairing every fracture Satan caused. Now I could have sat, I this is why I wanted to read this verbatim. I typically don't do that because I like studying and I like writing things down in my words and hearing God. And I did for this whole thing. But what Chat GPT came up with, I don't after I read it, I was like, I can't. I have to read this verbatim just because of the root of where it came from. It was so accurate. Listen, Satan is trying so hard, and he doesn't do it blatantly, he does it through little tiny things to try and sever shalom in the church, in society, in our country, in our world. I'm not going to get into specific things, but you can see in everyday life, all you have to do is turn on the nightly news, and you can see where the enemy is plugging in, trying to disrupt and destroy shalom. He's trying to stop what God has created. But here's the good thing: he can't. He can't. Shalom is permanent, it's perfect, it's whole, it's complete. You can't break it. What God created and what God has made and what God has called you to be and what God has called you for cannot be severed. Satan can try, but he will not succeed. All we need to do is stay focused on Jehovah Shalom. Amen. So with that, I mean uh I'll just end in prayer and then we can go ahead and you know, you can be in your groups. You have uh a sheet with questions on it. Um, they're really easy questions. We talked through it, most of them are probably on the other sheet that I gave you. Um, I I was telling my daughter that I would probably be the worst teacher in the entire world because if I had to create questions, everybody would pass because they're so simplistic. So let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you for this night. We thank you, Father, for the word that has gone forth. Thank you for using me as your vessel, God. Father, I pray right now for everyone here to experience your shalom, your perfect peace, God. Nothing missing and nothing broken, God. Lord, that we will focus on you and realize who we are. Father, that we have been Paid for. We have been bought. We have an ally and a friend in you. We have been redeemed and reconciled in you, God. You have chosen us and you have created us, God. Father, we thank you for that. And Lord, as we go on with this night, Father, that you will be with us in our discussions and that your spirit will be with us and that you will be with us on our way homes, Lord, that you will keep us safe. In your name we pray. Amen.