Reconciliation - From Wrath to Resurrection - Sermons - JT English - 10.11.26

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Glory, amen.

JT English (0:01)

You can have a seat.

Good morning, Storyline, how you doing? Hey, I want to invite you, if you have a Bible, to open up to 2 Corinthians chapter five. That's where we're gonna be, 2 Corinthians chapter five, beginning around verse 16 If you don't have a Bible, it'll be up on the screen, but I really want you to see it in a Bible. Even if you didn't bring one with you, you can grab one in the seat in front of you. Man, it's just important to me, what we just read there, do you, you might not realize this, but God's word is unshakable. It endures from generation to generation. Storyline, we're not trying to preach self-help advice. We're not trying to preach kind of what will work for you for this generation or like, you know, just kind of quick hit advice. We believe that God's word endures from age to age. It stands, nothing can come against it and prosper. And so I want you to have God's word in your heart, in your soul, in your mind. And I want you to see that it's just right here. I'm just trying to show you what it sees itself. And as you're turning there, just a couple of quick announcements first. And one of the things I'm just so thankful for in the life of our church is a vibrant college ministry. If you don't know about our salt ministry, it is just a vibrant, Jesus-loving, word-centered ministry, which is worth celebrating. I know that there's lots of salt students here today, which is awesome. I'm so glad that you're here at church, but most of our salt students are up on our fall retreat up in the mountains. I just got a text this morning. You know, I didn't do this in the last service, but I'll just go ahead and read it. I got a text because I know the guy who's preaching there. He's a pastor of a church in Lincoln, Nebraska, called City Light Church. Awesome, awesome church, a lot like Storyline. And I just texted him. I said, man, how's it going up there? We got about 200 students up there. He said, man, it's been wild. The students are so hungry for the word.

What a great text for a pastor to get. They're passionately worshiping. They're praying for each other. But obviously, the competitions are crazy. He says, I've preached a good amount of retreats like this. I don't think I've ever seen students so engaged with the word. Also, the staff team is 10 out of 10, killing it, joyful, passionate, and loving Jesus. So, isn't that just so cool? Yeah, that's worth celebrating. And know that they're there right now. Like, they're up there, they're hearing the word of God this morning, and there's non-Christians who they invited. They invited their teammates, their dorm mates, their roommates. So, just pray that God would do a work up in the mountains today, even as we're here together, be mindful of them. I also want to invite you, if you're a member of Storyline Church, to be here tonight for our member meeting. We do three member meetings every single year, and this is kind of our fall member meeting where we're trying to wrap up a year well. You might have some questions. We spend a lot of time just praying for each other too. So, if you're a member, come back up here tonight, because the Broncos game will already be over. They're already gonna have won, and you can come up here and do the better thing. Love Jesus. And then if the Broncos have lost, you can come and just be consoled with us. So I'm going to be up here tonight at five o'clock. It'll be, I think, a sweet time, so please consider joining us. I'm gonna orient you to the sermon series, kind of orient you to where we've been. I just really believe that one of the things, I've said this every week, I'm gonna say it every week, that I'm preaching this series. I just think a lot of us have unintentionally thinned out the gospel. You know, the gospel is meant to be beautifully simple.

The simple good news of John chapter three, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave, that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him won't perish but have everlasting life. That's simple. It's good news. Amen? That's what we're gonna hear about today. But I also know that as a pastor, sometimes we unintentionally, because the gospel is simple, we've maybe thinned it out a little bit. And one of the things I'm trying to do, the example I've used every week is, I think the gospel is kind of like a diamond, and I want to pull it out, and I want to, because it has so many facets, spin the diamond for you, so that you can see the light of Christ, the light of God's glory shining on this diamond, and you can see that not only, for example, our first week, not only has God's wrath been propitiated, I know that's a big word, but it means God's wrath absorbed. Not only has your guilt, like the guilt that's on you, been removed, but in addition to that, you have been declared righteous or declared just. So like those two doctrines of propitiation and expiation and then justification, they are not synonyms. Does that make sense? They're certainly not antonyms, but Paul's trying to show you different sides of the diamond. Are you with me? And similarly, last week, we looked at redemption. It's almost like a financial metaphor. It's that not only were we guilty before God and in need of a declaration of righteousness or innocence, we also had a debt. It's almost like a financial metaphor. So last week, we looked at redemption. You have been bought. You have been ransomed. And so I need you to see that something like justification and redemption, though pointing to the same diamond, are showing you different facets of God's love for you. Are you with me? So this week, we're looking at the next facet. So do you remember being a kid? Maybe this was in a home, your home. Maybe it was in like your first grade class. For some of you, maybe it was in like high school, and you looked through a kaleidoscope for the first time. You know, you like, you pulled it out. I remember, I remember the first time I did it, there was like, it was like this tube on the ground. And I saw other kids looking through it, and you grab it, and you're like, whoa.