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Joshua 5:13-15 “Are you for us . . .?”

Joshua is one of my favorite biblical characters. I love the character that he lived with, how he was always willing to serve, that his leadership was birthed by following Moses into God’s presence and that he didn’t let frustration, disappointment, a lack of experience or even the unwillingness of those that he was leading...

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I Chronicles 13:1-14 “Uzzah’s Life Mattered”

What does it mean to be a shepherd? In the literal it’s to tend sheep. A shepherd leads, protects and provides for the flock that is left in his care. He fights off enemies, he leads to safety, he sets boundaries that keep each sheep and all the sheep within his sight and he teaches...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “For Our Sake, Again”

Three and a half months ago we started studying this passage with the same verse that we will end with today, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Everything that has ever been done for mankind, from our...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “The Compassion of Reconciliation”

In the last weeks we have talked about God’s pursuit, we have talked about God’s pleading, we have talked about the ministry of reconciliation and we have talked about the heart that is required to rightly deliver the message of reconciliation, today we will talk about the message itself. In Luke 6:45 Jesus said “The...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “The Heart Behind the Message”

In verses 18 and 19 of our text Paul said that God has given “us” the ministry of reconciliation and that He has “committed” to “us” the message of reconciliation. As those who have been reconciled to God through the work of Jesus we have not just had our sin removed and the Holy Spirit...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “Are We Living as if God is Pleading?”

Two weeks ago we started this verse and discussed being ambassadors. An ambassador for Christ must be compelled by the love of Jesus, must follow the example of Jesus and must be fully committed to the message of Jesus. For me personally, the most compelling statement made in this entire passage is “as though God...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “Pleading Ambassadors”

In today’s text Paul makes a declaration of identity about himself that also points to all of us. He writes “we are ambassadors for Christ”. This passage that we have been studying for the last couple of months is coming to a crescendo, it is reaching its highest point. Paul has told us who he...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “The Ministry of Reconciliation”

By the desire of God, through the work of God and because of the love of God we have been reconciled to God through Jesus. I know we have talked about this a lot throughout this study but I believe we can’t overstress the fact that from the beginning, every single action that God has...

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II Corinthians 5:14-21 “Reconciled”

Today we finally get to the word “reconcile”. God “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ”. What does that mean? Our reconciliation with God is an act of God. God has taken all of the initiative, done all of the work and made all of the sacrifices. We have not reconciled ourselves to God,...