Annual Back to School Prayer Walk
August 12th @ 9:00a
The Bridge Church Reno
Please consider joining us on the morning of August 12th at 9am.  We will send teams of 2-4 people out to several school campuses in our area to pray.  We will pray for the students, teachers, and administrators for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.  This is a great opportunity to come together as a church and ask God to provide safety, wisdom, and his leading for the upcoming school year.
 
Young Adults Small Group Interest Meeting
August 13th @ 11:45a
The Bridge Church Reno - Learning Center
We are interested in starting a young adults small group this fall, so if you are between the ages of 18 and 30 we would love for you to join us for an interest meeting.  We will discuss what days and times work best for everyone to meet weekly for studying God’s word and having fun and fellowship together.’’
 
Worship and Tech Team Volunteers
The Bridge Church Reno
The Bridge Church Worship and Tech team is looking for musicians, and vocalists.  As well as people interested in running tech equipment behind the scenes.  If you or someone you know is interested, please use the connection card to let us know.  We will be in touch with you about these opportunites. https://thebridgereno.com/connect  

July 30, 2023

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” (Luke 16:19–21)

Jesus Teaches…

The reality of both Heaven and Hell.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. (Luke 16:22–23) 
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Mt 25:41, 46)
 
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Heb. 9:27)

Hell is a self-chosen destination.
 
So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. (Luke 16:24) 
 
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’   (Luke 16:27–31)
 
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:36) 
"Scripture sees hell as self-chosen . . . [H]ell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually chose, either to be with God forever, worshipping him, or without God forever, worshipping themselves." (J.I. Packer)

Hell assures me of God’s justice.

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. (Luke 16:25–26)
The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. (Ps 145:17, 20)
 
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19)
 
 
Hell tells me how much God loves me.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)
 
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice…  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
 
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (Ezekiel 18:23, 32)

Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever wrestled with this question of Hell for yourself?  What is your biggest struggle with it today?

2. What does the fact that Jesus talked more about hell than any other person in Scripture say to you?

3. Read and discuss Luke 16: 19-31: What stands out to you?  What is confusing and what is helpful?

4. How would you respond to someone who says, “How Can A Loving God Send People to Hell?” Does God send people to Hell or do they choose it?  What difference does it make?

5. Does the teaching of Hell fit in with our idea and demand for justice?  Can love and justice co-exist?  Give examples.

6. Discuss this Miroslav Volf quote that Pastor Bill shared: “My thesis is that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance …But imagine speaking to people (as I have) whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned, and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers sand brothers have had their throats slit…Your point to them–we should not retaliate? Why not? I say–the only means of prohibiting violence by us is to insist that violence is only legitimate when it comes from God…Violence thrives today, secretly nourished by the belief that God refuses to take the sword…It takes the quiet of a suburb for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence is a result of a God who refuses to judge. In a scorched land–soaked in the blood of the innocent, the idea will invariably die, like other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind…if God were NOT angry at injustice and deception and did NOT make a final end of violence, that God would not be worthy of our worship.” (Read Romans 12:19)

7.What part does the cross play in dealing with the issue of Hell and God’s love for us? Read John 3:16-17, Matt. 27:46.

8.How can a person come to a place where they know for certain that they will not have to face hell?  

9.Pray for people you know that do not yet know Jesus.

10.Pray that we at the Bridge would truly embrace our mission of “Building Bridges for People to Come to Jesus and grow in His Grace.”  What we do truly matters.