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Celebrate Recovery is a safe place with kind people who are working together to deal with hurts, habits, and hangups. Have questions? Contact our CR Leader - Tim Hughey
Check our website for upcoming events and over lots of past teachings on many different topics.
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TODAY'S TEACHING
Are you confident in where you stand with God? Join us as we unpack the greatest message ever given—one that offers hope, redemption, and the urgent call to be reconciled with God before it’s too late!
Somebody has to tell others that they need to be reconciled - made right with God. What a blessing to know that God is making his appeal through us! We are…Ambassadors for Christ who Warn of God’s Wrath & Offer God’s Peace
The Ambassador’s Message
“For God” - The Greatest Being
“loved” - The Greatest Need
“the World” - The Greatest Impact
“He gave” - The Greatest Act -
“His one and only Son”
“everyone” - The Greatest Invitation
“who believes in Him” - The Greatest Decision
“will not Perish” The Greatest Deliverance
“but have eternal life” - The Greatest Promise
There really IS an eternal realm, beyond existence in this body. And according to John 3:16, everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish, but Everyone who does NOT believe in Him…WILL PERISH.
BIG TRUTH
The Biblical term for believe is referring to TOTAL TRUST. Those who trust Jesus acknowledge Him;
Those who don’t TRUST Jesus deny Him;
Have you genuinely TRUSTED Jesus with your life or NOT? Does this passage give you COURAGE or CONCERN?
So far the spotlight wasn’t on God’s justice, but on God’s mercy. God is JUST and when He judges it is RIGHT, but He is also MERCIFUL. It was AT THE CROSS that God’s Justice and Mercy are best seen. Sin is a direct affront to His holy standards and MUST BE PUNISHED. And at the CROSS, JESUS took the punishment that should be ours. We hear God’s merciful heart through the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 18:23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?
Trust in Jesus means we have moved from condemned to cleansed. Those who do NOT trust Jesus are currently condemned.
At the final judgment, Jesus WILL judge all. Jesus will judge YOU, and…Your response to Jesus is His response to you.
- This is a HARD TEACHING and is hard for people of our day! None of us want to believe that our DEFAULT position with God is condemned, in need of a Savior.
Those who RESPOND to the good news that God sent His one and only Son to people like US, to go to the cross for US; those who TRUST Jesus with their lives have this great promise we looked at last week:
And then just a few lines later Paul writes about the Ambassador’s Message,
What are you waiting on? Today is the day of salvation!
Imagine the day that you stand before Jesus, the Righteous Judge, the One who went to the cross, and imagine when He confirms the fact that you’re forgiven and enter eternal life, OR…confirms the fact that you are condemned and enter eternal punishment.
Have questions and need some help? …real soon…how about now? Please call or text us soon!
These open-ended questions are designed to help you LIVE what you LEARN with your Family, Friends, or Small Group.
- What questions, answers, or challenges did today’s teaching stir in you?
- Read John 3:16-18. How does reading this whole thought (not just verse 16) give the reader great courage or great concern?
- According to John 3:18 & 3:36, what is the current spiritual condition of those who have yet to truly trust Jesus? Why should this concern the believer & non-believer?
- Read John 3:19-21. Why is it that people run from Jesus instead of run to Jesus? Give an example from your own life and then share how you came to see that turning from sin and running to Jesus brings forgiveness, hope, & purpose.
- To the best of your ability, explain how God’s mercy & God’s justice were demonstrated at the cross. Which characteristic (mercy or justice) does our culture most focus on, and why is it important that we recognize both equally?
- Read Matthew 10:32-33. How does knowing that “your response to Jesus is His response to you” change the way you live out your faith?
- If you had one opportunity to explain the gospel to someone who has never heard it, how would you do it?
- Why do you think people resist being confronted with their sin? How can we approach this conversation with love & truth?
- What would you say to someone who believes that simply being “good” is enough to be right with God?
- Read 2 Cor 5:21-6:2. Why is this great exchange - how Jesus took our sin & gave us His righteousness - so significant? How does understanding that “today is the day of salvation” create a sense of urgency in sharing the gospel?
- Take a moment to pray for & encourage each other.
