麻豆约拍

The Message of Reconciliation听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
Presenter: Canon听Steve Williams听

2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2

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So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.听So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat 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.

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, 鈥楢t an acceptable time I have listened to you,听and on a day of salvation I have helped you.鈥� See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

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鈥淓verything has become new鈥� writes, St Paul.听 As I wander around the shops or through the internet wondering what to give people for Christmas, my eye is caught by the way ordinary things like shampoo and shower gel are repackaged to look extra special.听 If we鈥檙e honest, we鈥檙e probably all tempted by glittery packaging and when it comes to wrapping presents, we want them to look beautiful as well as to contain a gift that will delight the person receiving it.听 The Advent message of reconciliation is about people who are made up of all kinds of good and not so good experiences and characteristics can be changed into something new by God鈥檚 love.听 For now, we do our best as ambassadors for Christ by repackaging and binding each other together with the beautiful things we have at our disposal and let God take care of our renewal and re-creation.