Hey there, I’m Stafford Beasley, Pastor at Cashie Baptist.

If you’re watching this video, that means someone who knows Jesus tried to give you just a glimpse of God’s love. And if you give me just a couple minutes, I want to tell you about that, because it’s the greatest story the world has ever known. And the best things about it are 1) it’s totally true, and 2) God wants to write you into it.

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See, in the beginning God created everything–from the galaxies to the groundhogs. But the crowning glory of His creation was people. God made the first man and woman, He looked around at everything, and He said it was very good. Everything was in harmony—nature, animals, humanity. The man and woman knew God, they walked with God, they loved God.

But then they disobeyed God. They broke the command that He had given them for their own good. God calls that sin. 

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And because humanity sinned against a good God and was separated from Him, from that point on in the world there’s been disease, disaster, destruction, and death. You don’t have to look very far to see that–just turn on the news. Or maybe you’ve been touched by it in your own life recently.

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And people try all sorts of things to get out of that brokenness–maybe if I get enough money, maybe if I do enough good things, maybe if I find the perfect spouse, I’ll finally fix what’s broken in life. 

Some people turn to more destructive things–drugs or sex or alcohol–anything to numb that feeling.

But the problem is, we know that none of these things can ultimately fix what’s wrong. They might seem to help for a little while, but they can’t pull us out of it.

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We all live in that brokenness, and we’ve all contributed to that brokenness–we haven’t loved God like we should, we haven’t loved each other like we should. We’ve all sinned, we’ve all been separated from God.

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But He’s a good Judge. No matter how caring and loving a Judge may be, if He doesn’t uphold justice and punish wrongdoing, then He’s not doing His job.

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So the brokenness in the world–the destruction, disaster, and death are part of that judgment for humanity’s rejection of Him. But there’s a further judgment that we’ll face.

One day each of us will stand before God and give account to Him for everything that we’ve done. Every word we’ve said. Every thought we’ve had.

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And none of us stands a chance on our own, because we’ve all disobeyed. And so on that day He’ll give us what we’ve asked for–separation from Him. He’ll cut us off from Himself and all His goodness and all His joy–the life that He gives… permanently.

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But I said that this is a radical love story. Because God loved us so much that even though we were still fighting against him and disobeying His good commands–even though He knew we would never clean up our act and come to Him, He came to rescue us. To make us whole.

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He sent His Son Jesus into the world to live a perfect life. He didn’t sin at all. He obeyed all of God’s good commands, so that what He deserved wasn’t condemnation or death, but glory and reward. He didn’t deserve to die.

And yet He chose to. He loved us so much that He volunteered to die on the cross and take all of our sins, all of our judgment. Death was our punishment for disobeying God, and He died in our place.

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And the great news is that God took His punishment on our behalf–they’re paid in full, and He proved that by raising Jesus from the dead. He walked out of the tomb on the third day, defeating sin, defeating death, and offering forgiveness and wholeness and everlasting life to anyone who will receive it.

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And how do we do that? It’s as simple as A,B,C.

Admit that you’re a sinner and you need God’s forgiveness.

Believe that Jesus died in your place and rose from the grave so that you can be forgiven.

Commit to following Him with your whole life.

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Turn from your sins and trust in Him. The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. That’s a promise.

One day this same Jesus will return from heaven and we’ll see Him face-to-face. And everyone who has trusted in Him will live in a new world, one that has no more disease, disaster, destruction, or death. And we’ll be with Him, our Savior, forever and ever.

It’s the greatest story the world has ever known. The story of God’s radical love.

It’s totally true, and God wants to write you into it.

So if you have any questions about any of it, feel free to get in touch. Our contact info is on the website.

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And one of those next steps is joining a church. If you don’t have a church home, come join ours. Bible Study, Worship Service–We’ll be glad to see you, glad to love you in the name of Jesus.

(Thanks for letting us do that today.)

Hope to see you soon

God bless.