IS CHRIST REALLY GOD

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IS CHRIST REALLY GOD?
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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Session Objective
• To explore the relational meaning of the
  Incarnation (Christ coming to earth) and to
  prompt the realization that God through Christ
  accepts us unconditionally, loves us
  sacrificially, understands us intimately, and
  relates to us continually.
• Today, through Joshs personal testimony as well
  as scripture, we will see how a relationship with
  Christ is fundamental to our belief system.
• We are building to see the EVIDENCE that Christ
  is GOD.

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Ephesians 28  for by grace have ye been saved
  through faith and that not of yourselves, it
  is' the gift of God
• 29  not of works, that no man should glory.
• 210  For we are his workmanship, created in
  Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore
  prepared that we should walk in them.
• 211  Wherefore remember, that once ye, the
  Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
  Uncircumcision by that which is called
  Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands
• 212  that ye were at that time separate from
  Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of
  Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the
  promise, having no hope and without God in the
  world.

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Romans 324  being justified freely by his grace
  through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
• 325  whom God set forth to be' a propitiation,
  through faith, in his blood, to show his
  righteousness because of the passing over of the
  sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Hebrews 218  For in that he himself hath
  suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them
  that are tempted.
• 415  For we have not a high priest that cannot
  be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
  but one that hath been in all points tempted like
  as we are, yet' without sin.
• 416  Let us therefore draw near with boldness
  unto the throne of grace, that we may receive
  mercy, and may find grace to help us' in time of
  need.

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• John 1416  And I will pray the Father, and he
  shall give you another Comforter, that he may be
  with you for ever,
• 1417  even' the Spirit of truth whom the world
  cannot receive for it beholdeth him not, neither
  knoweth him ye know him for he abideth with
  you, and shall be in you.
• 1418  I will not leave you desolate I come unto
  you.
• 1419  Yet a little while, and the world
  beholdeth me no more but ye behold me because I
  live, ye shall live also.

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Now the DVD
• IS CHRIST
• REALLY GOD?

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER THEATER
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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• The Distortion 
• 64 of our young people believe Jesus came to
  earth to teach them how to be good enough to earn
  their way to heaven. 
• The Truth 
• When God took on human form he revealed a very
  important thing about his heart motivation He
  wants a relationship with you.

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• What are ten of the deepest desires of the human
  heart and rate their Importance.

• (to be accepted)
• (to feel secure)
• (to belong)
• (to experience approval)
• (to be loved)

• (to be known)
• (to feel understood)
• (to feel appreciated)
• (to feel respected)
• (to be wanted)

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• "How would you respond to the suggestion that the
  greatest fear of the human soul can be summed up
  as a
• total, complete, and absolute aloneness
• with no hope of ever connecting to another human
  being?" Discuss

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• How would you respond to the suggestion that the
  deepest desire of the human soul can be summed up
  in the word relationship - a connectedness, a
  bonding, and an intimate attachment of oneness
  with another-and we fear not having it? Discuss
•  

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• The redemptive heart of God motivated him to send
  his only Son to earth as a sacrifice for sin and
  to remove human. . . (pick one)
• Odor
• Debt
• Creativity
• Suffering
• Laziness
• Aloneness

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• The Incarnation Expresses Four Characteristics of
  the God of Redemption
• 1-God Accepts You Unconditionally
• Romans 56  For when we were yet without
  strength, in due time Christ died for the
  ungodly.
• 57  For scarcely for a righteous man will one
  die yet peradventure for a good man some would
  even dare to die.
• 58  But God commendeth his love toward us, in
  that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
  us.
• 59  Much more then, being now justified by his
  blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
• 510  For if, when we were enemies, we were
  reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
  more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
  life.
• 511  And not only so, but we also joy in God
  through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
  now received the atonement.
• 512  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
  the world, and death by sin and so death passed
  upon all men, for that all have sinned
•  

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• 2 - God Loves You Sacrificially
• 1 Peter 118  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
  not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
  and gold, from your vain conversation received by
  tradition from your fathers
• 119  But with the precious blood of Christ, as
  of a lamb without blemish and without spot
• 120  Who verily was foreordained before the
  foundation of the world, but was manifest in
  these last times for you,

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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• What do you think God's sacrificial love for you
  meant to the heart of the Father?
• It broke God's heart. The price God paid was the
  death separation - of his Son from his Father.
• Matthew 2746 says Jesus cried out. "Mv God, my
  God. why have you forsaken me?" The agony of that
  separation and the torturous crucifixion were the
  price God paid to redeem us.
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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• 3 - God Understands You Intimately
• Can Christ actually identify with the relational
  and human pain you go through? 
• Did Jesus ever feel rejected? Yes Q No
  If so, by whom?
• (his people)
• Did Jesus ever feel abandoned? Yes Q No
  If so, by whom?
• (his disciples) 
• Did Jesus ever feel misunderstood? Yes Q
  No If so, by whom?
• (his own followers)
• Did Jesus ever feel betrayed? Yes Q No
  If so, by whom?
• (his close friend)
• Did Jesus ever feel criticized? Yes Q No
  If so, by whom?
• (religious leaders of his day 
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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• 4 - God Relates to You Continually
• Romans 55  And hope maketh not ashamed because
  the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
  the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
• Matthew 2820  Teaching them to observe all
  things whatsoever I have commanded you and, lo,
  I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
  world. Amen.
• How does God express his availability to you?
• (He gives us his verv own Holv Spirit to live in
  us and promises never to leave us. )
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Our Deepest Desires and Greatest Fears!

• Christ didn't come to earth to teach bad people
  how to be good.
• Christ came to earth to raise dead people to new
  life in relationship with him. 
• How will you reflect some aspect of God's
  redemptive heart to a (young) person in your life
  this week.
• "What if during this week we make ourselves
  available to another person. being especially
  understanding. accepting, and sacrificiallv
  loving? Bv doing so. will we be reflecting the
  meaning of God's redemptive heart with that
  person? Let's look for opportunities to do that
  this week. especiallv with our families."
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