Sermon Notes: · Admit we are powerless.· Realize God is greater than us and he can restore us to sanity.· We make a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God.· We make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.· We admit to God, ourselves, and another person the exact nature of our wrongs.· We are ready to have God remove all the defects of our souls.· As long as you are fighting the defects, joy is elusive.· We are afraid of a new way of living.· Our destructive behaviors reward us.· Our previous efforts to change left us defeated.· Romans 7:19 – For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing!· Hebbs Rule – Neurons that fire together, wire together.· 2 Corinthians 5:16 – Therefore, we now know no one according to the flesh. Even if according to the flesh we knew Christ, now we no longer know him that way. wcs· Who is that person to Jesus?· Who am I to Jesus?· Are you ready for Jesus to do some soul building in your life?· We embrace a new possibility for our lives.· 17 Therefore, if a person is in Christ – a new creation! The old has passed away; look, the new has come! wcs· We embrace our new identity.· 18-19a All of this is through God, the reconciler of himself to us through Christ, and the one who gives us the service of reconciliation. For God in Christ reconciled the cosmos to himself, so our stumbles would not be charged to our account… wcs· We enjoy a new relationship with our Heavenly Father.· 19b…but instead he placed in us the word of reconciliation. wcs· We embark on a new mission.· Are you ready?· John 5:6 – Do you want to get well?· John 5:8 – Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.· John 5:9 – At once, the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.· Are you ready and willing for God to remove all the defects of your soul?LIFE Group Discussion QuestionsOpener: Do you find it hard to break old habits? What makes breaking a sinful or harmful pattern hard for you to break?1. Read 2 Corinthians 5:162. What advice would give to someone about seeing people as Jesus sees them?3. Read 2 Corinthians 5:174. In what ways have you seen Jesus make someone into a new creation?5. Being a new creation means the old has passed away. Have you had a funeral for the old broken, sinful, painful defects of your soul? What might that funeral look like.6. Read 2 Corinthians 5:18-19a.7. What does the word reconciliation mean to you?8. What does God’s reconciliation efforts through Jesus tell you about God’s character?9. Read 2 Corinthians 5:19b.10. What would a ministry of reconciliation look like to you?

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