What Will Control You?

This is the culmination of camp. This is our last message. We’re going to go from here to discussion group, so we are almost done. The end is in sight, and that’s sort of sad because I’ve had really a wonderful time with you. I’ve really enjoyed opening up God’s word. I’ve really benefited from the prep, and I’ve loved teaching you guys.

You guys have really been paying attention. I ask you to do that one last time: lock in and let’s think about where we’ve been and what we’ve learned. You guys might be sort of stirred up.

Some here might be feeling, maybe the word “camp high” is too much, but you might be feeling, yes, I want to live for Christ. I want to obey. I want to do better. I want to be salt and light. Or maybe you’re even thinking, hey, I want to give my life to Christ. I want to stop living for myself. You might feel more serious about the Lord than you did when you came, and that can be good.

But I want to tell you, the camp emotion won’t control you for very long. You’re going to go down the mountain, and resolutions to do better or try harder won’t control you for long. When you get home, the same phone will be there. The same friends, the same temptations will be there. Just the normalcy of life and the desire to fit in will still be there. The same sins that you hid, maybe the same sins that you enjoyed, will be there. They’re going to want you back.

So what’s going to determine which way you go when you get home? It’s not how bad you want it, but it’s who controls you. What controls you? And in that song that we just sang is the right prayer. So as you go home, what will control how you live, how you speak, how you treat people? Well, let me ask you, what controls you now? What has controlled you on the way up?

For some of you, desire for approval controls you. You say that you don’t care what people think, but yet you constantly adjust what you do to be liked by them. When you’re at camp, you fit in to do camp things. You look Christian when you’re up here with a bunch of Christian-looking people. And when you go to a different environment, your seeking approval will be what controls you.

For some, it’s comfort. If obedience is hard, if it’s awkward, if it’s costly, or if it’s embarrassing, you’ll avoid it. For some, it’s pleasure. Pleasure controls you. But ultimately, everyone is born with one master: self.

You remember what Ephesians 2 says? Turn there now. Ephesians chapter 2 describes everybody. Let’s look at verse 3. This is everybody where we started.

We were following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of flesh and mind.

What does this say controls you? We’ve talked about this verse a lot: your flesh, your mind. You said, “What do I want to do? What does my body want? What does my mind want?” And then you did that thing. Maybe you want approval. Maybe you want comfort. Maybe you want control. But ultimately, we all are born living for self.

But if you’re a Christian, there can only be one right answer to the question of what controls you, or more appropriately, who controls you. It’s Christ and his love. So let’s read our passage. Flip back to 2 Corinthians 5:14. I’m going to pray, and then we’ll read it.

God, I pray now. God, we have your word open on our laps, before our eyes. We’re tired. We’re distracted. These are your words. There’s power here: power to change our lives, power to change our hearts, power to know what would please you. God, I pray that you would use these words to mold each and every one of us into followers of you. God, I pray that you would be at work here this evening. In Jesus’ name we pray.

All right, let’s read 2 Corinthians 5:14. I’m going to read all the way to 21.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

And that he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So I have at the top that what this passage is all about is being compelled by Christ’s love. Christians no longer live for ourselves. We no longer see people according to the flesh because God has made us new creations. God reconciled us through Christ and sent us as ambassadors pleading, “Be reconciled to God.”

Christ’s Love Gives You a New Master

So first, if you are in Christ, Christ’s love gives you a new master. You see that in that first verse. Christ’s love controls us. The love of Christ controls us. The Christian is controlled by a new master. Our master is Christ’s love.

Our emotions are not ultimate. We don’t follow Christ merely when we feel like it. And it’s not our love for Christ that controls us. It’s not, I love Jesus so much that I live for him, because there are going to be days when you feel that love and days when you don’t. But what controls the Christian? It says Jesus loved me and gave himself for me. And therefore, because of Jesus’ love for me, the Christian can say, I am not my own.

Christ’s love for me controls me because it was through Christ’s love for me that I died to me. Every Christian can say that. So Paul’s not saying, I love Jesus so much that I live for him. He’s saying, Jesus loved me so much that my life is no longer mine. Jesus’ love now controls me.

And then he unpacks what he means by that. You see the word “because” in your Bible. This is a big one. When you can see in God’s word a “because,” that’s something you want to pay attention for. It’s going to help you follow the logic.

The love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. So let’s unpack that. Who’s the one who died for all? That was Jesus. And who’s the all? Is that every person in the world? No. That’s every person for whom Christ died. Jesus died for those who give their life to him in faith. And Christ died for all; therefore, all died.

This doesn’t say that everybody in the world has died because Jesus died for all. It says Christ died for all believers; therefore, all believers have died. What does it mean that all believers died?

His point is simple. This is the picture, by the way, that you see when somebody gets baptized. They’re showing this. It’s throughout the Bible. His point is simple, and it’s massive. What he’s saying is that there’s no such thing as a Christian for whom Christ died who has not also died with Christ to their old person. There’s not somebody who says, “Okay, I believe in Christ, but I’m still going to live for myself.” That can’t happen. That person is not a Christian. Christ died for all; therefore, all have died.

There’s no such thing as a Christian for whom Christ died who still belongs to themselves. You guys understand what it means when he says, “Therefore, all have died”? We’ve died while we still live. We’re still alive, right? You look around, somebody becomes a believer, and you’re watching them from the outside. They didn’t look very much different the next day in some superficial ways. Their hair color didn’t change. Their eye color didn’t change. They look effectively the same. But here’s one thing that did change: their master. Their master changed.

They’re still in mixed condition. They still have the flesh. They will still have to fight with sin. But everybody who believes in Christ, everybody who trusts him, has died to their old self. That old self we talked about in Ephesians 2, the one who controlled them, the one who said, “Hey, what do I want to do? And I’m going to do that thing.” That person’s dead. You’re not controlled by that master anymore. Your master is Christ.

And we see that we no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ.

Guys, Jesus did not die to become an accessory to your self-centered life. Some of you guys live like that. I lived like that for a long time. I thought Jesus just died so I didn’t have to go to hell, and I was treating him like an accessory for my self-centered life. He died so that your self-centered life would die, so that you could live for him.

This is the great divide in the world. There are only two types of people ultimately. There are the ones who are living for themselves, and there are the ones who are living for Jesus.

This is what Paul’s talking about in Galatians 2:20. Many of you have that verse memorized.

I have been crucified with Christ.

What happens when you’re crucified? You die. Paul says Jesus died. He was crucified. He died. When I put my faith in him, I died. Similarly, I also died to my own self. He said:

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in this flesh, I still live in this flesh. The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is why the first thing Christians do when they become believers is they get baptized. What happens when you get baptized? You go under the water. What happens to somebody when you go under the water and you stay under there? You die. And that’s what baptism is a picture of. Everybody says, “Hey world, hey church, look at me. You know that old person you knew? He went under the water. He was buried in baptism. He was buried in death through baptism.”

Baptism doesn’t do anything. It’s just a picture. Just like communion is a helpful picture of Jesus’ body and blood, baptism is a helpful picture of what Jesus does when you’re saved. That old person died, and a new person lives. A new creation kind of person lives, one who no longer lives for ourselves but lives for Christ.

Which is why, for the rest of your life when you’re a Christian, you can look back to the moment of salvation and you can look back to your baptism. You can say, even though I’m still fighting with sin, even though this is still hard, “Hey, self, old person, we used to live for sin. Remember? He is dead. I don’t have to live like that anymore. God saved me from that. I was darkness. Now I’m light.”

We read those verses. That was what the whole breakout session was. Do you remember how many verses there are in the Bible that talk about that? You were darkness, now you’re light, so walk as children of light.

There is no such thing as a Christian for whom Christ died who still ultimately lives for themselves. You get it? This isn’t about trying harder. This isn’t like, family, go down the mountain, I’m just going to try harder. What’s ultimately going to determine the direction of your life is who you live for. And how you live reveals who you live for.

So don’t step back and say, “Hey, I guess we’re just going to see how my life goes. We’ll see by next year who I’m living for.” That may be true. It will reveal itself. A tree is known by its fruit, right? You’re going to know if you’re salt if you’re salty. You’re going to know if you’re light if you show it.

But I beg you today, with each decision, ask yourself, what would somebody whose master is Christ do? Because my master is Christ. And then do that thing for the glory of your Father in heaven. When Christ died, you no longer live for yourselves, but for him, if you have faith in him.

Christ’s Gospel Gives You New Eyes

So number two, Christ’s gospel gives you new eyes. What do I mean by that? Let’s read it. From now on, verse 16, Paul says:

We regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

So through new gospel eyes, when he says we regard somebody, I’m saying eyes. When you look at somebody, you say, “What do they look like? Who are they ultimately?” When you look at people, you see them through these gospel eyes, and you regard them not according to what you see outwardly anymore.

You could look at a room of believers and non-believers and say there’s not that much of a difference. Or maybe you look at a room and you say, “Hey, there’s some tall people. There’s some short people. There’s some girl people and some boy people.” You could come up with all kinds of distinctions that we can see according to the flesh. But Paul says none of those really ultimately matter. We don’t regard people according to what we see anymore. We don’t see rich people and poor people. We say only one distinction ultimately matters.

We talked about it yesterday. We talked about it this morning. You guys might remember Smedly teaching on this passage at church too. But when you stand back and say, “Let’s imagine what all of these people with all of these differences are going to look like toward the end of that rope that never ends.” Right now we’re at the very beginning. It’s helpful to stand back and take the 10 trillion year view.

See that ultimately the distinction is, are you Christ’s? Do you have eternal life with him? Are you still living for yourself and going to face God as judge? In 10 trillion years that distinction will be obvious. And that distinction must be true here. It is true here.

We no longer regard anyone according to the flesh. We see instead from heaven’s perspective that there are only unreconciled people, people who are still in enmity with God, and reconciled people. There are only two categories of people ultimately.

So there are unbelievers who are image-bearers needing reconciliation. The Bible uses some sobering categories for unbelievers. We don’t judge them according to the flesh. You might look at them and say, “Hey, they’re not that bad.” Here’s what the Bible says about unbelievers. We’ve read some of this in the breakout session. Apart from Christ, we’re lost. We’re dead in sin. We’re alienated from God. We’re under condemnation, without hope. If you are not a Christian, that is who you are. And if you are a Christian, that’s who you used to be.

So when you look out in the world, not regarding them according to the flesh, if you’re a Christian, you look at them saying, “Hey, there are some people who want me to be like them.” And you see them not according to the flesh, but you see them from the eyes of heaven. With this kind of regarding people according to the flesh, you know what you don’t do? You don’t envy them.

You don’t envy them. You don’t imitate them. You don’t imitate these people who are darkened in their understanding, alienated from God, without hope, dead in their sins, following Satan, doing whatever their flesh, whatever their mind wants to do. You say, “I don’t want to be like that.”

You don’t seek their approval, and you don’t yoke yourself to them. Remember, that was one of the verses this afternoon. What fellowship has light with darkness? You couldn’t get two things more different than light and dark. What fellowship does Satan have with Christ? You can’t have two things more different. What fellowship, what union do believers have with unbelievers? None. Light and dark don’t mix. Christ and Satan don’t mix. Unbelief and believers don’t mix in fellowship. Don’t yoke yourself to them. Don’t envy them. See them for what they are: separated from God.

So think back to winter camp and what we learned about friendship, the importance of being close to those who fear God, and the danger of being too close to fools. If you’re a Christian, your view of non-believers and your relationship to them must not be according to the flesh, but with new eyes to see them the way the Scripture does: lost, condemned, dead in sin, darkened in understanding, alienated from God, under Satan’s power, enemies of God, and without hope as they are, as long as they’re without God in this world.

So you don’t envy them. You don’t imitate them. Do you know what? You don’t despise them. You love them. They are also image-bearers. They’re still people. They are neighbors to love. They are people to bless even if they hate you, especially if they hate you.

Remember what Jesus said at the end of Matthew 5? Be like your Father. What does my Father do to his enemies? He sends rain on the just and the unjust. He loves them. We see unbelievers as sinners that Christ came to save. And we see the unreconciled as potential future brothers and sisters.

You don’t envy them. You don’t imitate them. You don’t yoke yourself to them and be partners with them. You don’t despise them. You love them. We’re going to see in the next part: plead with them, be reconciled to God. You represent Christ as ambassadors to them.

But also, as we look out at the world with gospel eyes, we see believers as new creation family. All over the Bible, believers are called brothers and sisters. God is called our Father. You see believers, as different as they might be, and you say, “That kind of person isn’t my person. They don’t like any of the same things I like except God. They look so different from me. They smell funny. They don’t have money.” Whatever kinds of distinctions we would make in the church, the church is so tempted to do this.

So much of the New Testament is focused on saying, don’t make distinctions above yourself. Don’t see each other according to the flesh, but see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, as children of God, as holy ones, as fellow citizens of God’s kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, beloved by God, chosen and precious to him, those for whom Christ died. Think 10 trillion years in the future: future glorified saints and new creations.

We might look on the outside, according to the flesh, and look just like non-believers. But Christians and non-believers, unreconciled and reconciled, couldn’t be more different. Christian, remember, you are salt. You are light. You should demonstrate the difference that God saved you to have.

So we don’t regard anyone according to the flesh. Think of the kinds of things you could look around and split people up by. You could sort by rich and poor, cool and awkward, attractive or unattractive, athletic or unathletic, Apple or Android, smart or struggling, popular or ignored, funny or boring, stylish or unstylish, confident or insecure, public school or homeschool. I was just brainstorming: what are the things that we split each other up on?

And then you’re tempted to say, “Hey, I have more in common with the non-Christian who likes those same things as me.” And you’re using eyes. You’re not looking with these gospel eyes. You’re looking with fleshly eyes. Christ’s power gives you new eyes. In Christ, we see believers as made new, blood-bought, new creation family, loved by God and loved by me.

Third, Paul also says, if you look down at your Bible, that we regard Christ thus no longer. So we don’t look at Christ the same way. We don’t look at Christ with eyes of flesh, according to the world. What was Jesus? He looked like merely a man. Paul used to think that same way about Jesus. He was a man. He was a leader of a Jewish sect that he went and persecuted.

And then as he was on the road, something happened. Do you guys remember what happened? The light shone. Paul went blind. He got knocked off the horse. And Jesus said, “Paul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, Lord?” And Paul understood, the way that I was seeing Jesus as just a man, that’s not right anymore. I don’t regard him this way, even though I used to.

Instead, Christians don’t see Jesus as just a religious figure, just a man, or a concept, but you see him as your risen Savior and Lord. You see him as Lord. You see him as your master.

Let’s think of who Jesus is. I know that you know this, but who is this master? He’s the one on the throne. Do you guys remember when we went to Isaiah 6? The seraphim covered their eyes, covered their feet, singing, “Holy, holy, holy,” crying out, “Holy, holy, holy.” He’s the one whose glory fills the earth.

When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and his glory peeked through, they got a glimpse of it. He’s the one John saw in Revelation 1 and fell down at his feet as though dead. He’s the one who’s going to return not very long from now and defeat all of his enemies and rule on the earth, new heavens and new earth. He’s the one who loved you with all his heart. He gave himself for you. And he’s the one you love with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He’s the one whose love controls you. If you’re a Christian, he’s your master. And you could not have a better master.

So we Christians, along with Paul, no longer regard Christ according to the flesh.

Christ’s Reconciliation Gives You a New Mission

Christ’s reconciliation gives you, if you’re a Christian, a new mission. Paul says all of this in verse 18 is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.

So God reconciled people. What made that difference? It wasn’t you. You didn’t do it. God did it. When you look back and say, “All right, what makes me not part of that old group? If you’re a believer, what makes me part of this reconciled group and not the unreconciled group?” All of this is from God. You didn’t cause it. You didn’t remove your sin from you. You could not put yourself in Christ. You did not save yourself because you made yourself worthy, reached for him first, or earned his favor. All of it’s from God. All that’s a gift. And God reconciled us to himself through Christ.

God reconciled us to himself through Christ. Do you know what reconciliation means? When you have two enemies and then they’re made friends. Do you realize that was your position with God? You were his enemy. The relationship was broken by sin. God is holy. We’re guilty. We were alienated. Some of you still are.

God brings sinners back to himself. And what’s so great is we were made more than friends. We were reconciled and adopted as sons. We weren’t just made at peace, but we were made part of God’s family. Just worship him for that. Give him thanks.

And then God didn’t only reconcile you, but do you see that next part? Look at the end of verse 18. He reconciled us to himself in Christ, and then he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. God entrusted us with the message of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

So God doesn’t just take you and reconcile you again and say, job done. He reconciles us to him and says, live for me. And when you’re controlled by Christ’s love, living for him, if he came for you in love and reconciled you to him, he now sends you out into the world as salt and light, entrusting to you a message of reconciliation.

Every Christian is entrusted with that message, that we go out into the world as Christ’s ambassadors. What’s an ambassador? We are Christ’s ambassadors. What is an ambassador? Do you guys know? An ambassador is somebody who represents a king in a foreign place. We’re aliens and strangers here. This is not the kingdom of heaven. We are representing our King Jesus here in this world. He was here. He left. We work here as ambassadors. He’s coming back. They’ll see him for who he is. But while we are here, we need to accurately represent him with our actions, with our demeanor, and with our words. We’re his ambassadors with his message of reconciliation.

Pleading. You see what we plead? You see it in the text: be reconciled to God. The ESV says, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” This isn’t you just going into your school or a restaurant saying, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian.” Some of you don’t even say that. That’s hard to say.

But this is you going out and saying, be reconciled to God, speaking with words seasoned with salt, appropriate to each one, words of grace, pleading with them. Not just, hey, let me tell you about God. You guys have heard me today. You’ve heard me answer. You hear me over and over again. You must grow tired of hearing me. I plead with you. I beg you. I implore you. I’m not just up here saying it would be a good idea if you were reconciled to God. It would be. I can’t. There is nothing stupider for you to do than to stay unreconciled to God.

There’s the God of the universe who sent his Son to take all of your sins on him, to give you his righteousness, to reconcile you to him so that you can enjoy him forever. Why would you not turn to him?

But I’m not just logicing it out, saying, “Guys, it would be in your best interest to be reconciled to God. It really would be, rather than staying in your hardness of heart.” Some of you guys checked out. You stay checked out: “Oh, I’ve heard this message a hundred times. I’ll deal with it later. I don’t really care.” I plead before you: be reconciled to God.

It’s an emotional and caring word. You have to love people to plead with them this way. I love you guys. I do. Your leaders love you. This is why we’re here dressed up. This is why I’m wearing pink. It takes a lot to make me wear pink. I’m here playing games because I love you. Your leaders are here sacrificing in your lives because they love you, because every one of us wants to plead with you: don’t harden your heart. Don’t stay where you are. Just be reconciled to God.

And you Christians are out in the world among people. You look out in the world. You see there’s only two groups. There’s unreconciled and reconciled. And you look out at the unreconciled ones, and you don’t envy them. You don’t want to be like them. Instead, your heart breaks and you plead with them, “Let me tell you about this God. Let me tell you about this condition that you’re still in.” And you come up with every way you could possibly faithfully represent God’s word because you are his ambassador here. And you say, “Please, please be reconciled to God. Let me tell you about him.”

For our sake. Don’t you know? You need to know. For our sake, God made him who knew no sin to be sin. Because don’t you know your sin separates you from God? You’re his enemy. You could be reconciled because God made him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

That’s not just a truth to know. It’s a message to plead with. It’s a message for you to embrace and say, “If that is true, and if I have died to myself, Jesus is my Lord. I have to live for this one.” And it’s not merely that you live for this one, but you plead with others to be reconciled to him.

Christ’s Exchange Gives You a New Righteousness

In verse 21, number four in your outline, Christ’s exchange gives you a new righteousness.

Kids, you and Christian adults, we are sometimes tempted to bring our own righteousness to God, saying, “Okay, look at my good works. Look what I did. Will you accept this?” Seeing Christ on the cross giving himself for you in love should make you say, nothing I can do is righteousness enough. All of that is just like filthy rags. None of that means anything in terms of making you right with Christ or with God.

Instead, reconciliation with God comes only through one way. You must be righteous. And there’s only one righteous. It’s Jesus. God made that one, Jesus, who knew no sin. And that one was made to be sin. What does that mean?

It doesn’t mean that Jesus became sinful. He never was. Jesus never sinned. He remained perfectly holy. But you know what? When you become a believer, God treats you like you’re righteous. And when Jesus hung on the cross, God treated him like he had committed every single sin that every single person who would ever believe in Jesus committed. Every lie, every lust, every selfish thought, every angry word, every murder, even every self-righteous work. Every single one of those, which would take you eternity and still never could be paid back by you, went on Jesus, and God treated him as if those sins were his.

We can’t come near a holy God with sin still on us. We can’t be reconciled to God with sin still on us. The holy God can’t just ignore sin and say it’s okay. This is the great exchange, and it’s the only way to be reconciled to God. It’s the only way. Every other religion tries something else. There’s only one path to God, and it’s this gospel, and it’s only received in one way: by faith.

And you know what? God doesn’t merely require sinlessness. You can’t come to God with sin, so he forgives you of your sin and places it on him. But God also demands righteousness. The goal isn’t just to get back to zero. Okay, if I get all my sin off me, that’s good enough. No. God says you must be holy even as I am holy. You need a righteousness that you can’t get on your own. There’s only one righteousness acceptable to the Father. Whose righteousness is that? Jesus’.

Do you see this amazing exchange? Your sin placed on Jesus. Jesus dies. Jesus’ righteousness placed on you. You are declared righteous. And when that happens, your old you that lived for all that sin that was placed on Jesus, that old you died too.

That’s why when you confess your sins and you turn from them, he’s faithful to forgive you, take the sins off, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And if you sin, don’t despair. You have an advocate with the Father. Who do you have? Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He says, “Father, don’t treat them like they deserve, because you already gave me what they deserve. Instead, treat them like you would treat me, your Son; treat them like your son, like your daughter.”

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for our sake, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

How can this be? You can’t make up news this good. You can’t come up with anything better than this. And it’s true.

And if this is true, that this God isn’t just some far-off God who just wants to smite sinners, some zap God who says, “Don’t let them have any fun,” he’s the God who invented fun. He’s the God who for eternity wants to lavish the riches of his grace and kindness to us in Christ Jesus. He sent his Son in love.

Why on earth would you not say, “I want that. I want that more than anything. I would give anything to get it”? And you cry out, “God, take all my sins, all of them, and free me from their power. Be my master.”

When you cry out like that, God does it. If you say, “God, be my Savior,” and you say, “God, be my Master,” you turn to him in repentance and faith. Your old you dies. You’re a new creation. Your sin is taken off you. Righteousness is placed on you. And now you go down the mountain.

You’re not controlled by emotion, right? You’re not controlled by resolutions. You’re not controlled by yourself. You’re controlled by Christ. The love of Christ controls us. That’s how you’ll endure. That’s how you’ll endure.

So I’m pleading with you. Stop just listening. Stop waiting for later. Stop hiding behind being a church kid or saying, I come to student ministries. Repent and believe in Christ. Be reconciled to him. And if you’re a believer, keep living for him still.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

God, thank you for this day. God, I thank you for this word. You’ve given us a chance that we don’t deserve. Every breath that we just breathed while your word was being preached is undeserved grace.

I pray that we would not waste this time. This next moment, these moments in discussion, are moments that we’ll never get back. I pray that we would redeem them, that we would make the most of them. God, that you would help us be honest with each other. Where there’s conviction of sin, kids would turn to you in faith. Where there are believers who have the chance to obey, that you would have them express their faith through obedience. And where there are non-believers who do not have faith, God, grant them faith and make them turn to you even now.

God, be glorified in these discussion groups. Be glorified in us because you first loved us. In Jesus’ name we pray.