God, Humans, Hatfields and McCoys

2 Corinthians
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
June 25, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:18-21: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sermon Outline

1. Hatfields and McCoys

  • Who were they?

  • The Civil War

  • The hog incident

  • Roseanna and Johnse

  • Other incidents

2. Our distance from God is like the Hatfields vs. McCoys in that there is real hostility from both sides

  • Hostility from humans toward God

  • God at odds with humans

3. How our distance from God is unlike the story of Hatfields and McCoys

  • H&M hated each other for the other's wickedness; humans dislike God for his righteousness

  • Because of his love, God's desire is to restore friendship with us

Benediction

To every follower of Jesus

Colossians 1:21-22: Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

To every not-yet follower

Revelation 22:17: Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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