Living In a World That Thinks They Hate You

How are we supposed to interact with people today that seem angry with us just because of who we say we are following? How can we still show them the love of Christ even though they seem so mean spirited?

How are we supposed to interact with people today that seem angry with us just because of who we say we are following? How can we still show them the love of Christ even though they seem so mean spirited?

Situation

Many people we come in contact with today, when they find out I am a follower Jesus, can become mean spirited and even begin to make stereotyping decisions about how I think and the way I feel about others.

Complication

This makes it almost confrontational out right from the start.

Implication

I become somewhat defensive when people act like that right away. It also makes me nervous because I don’t like to be disliked by other people, especially people I respect or people that I would like to hope they think highly of me.

Proposal

When we learn what Jesus did and we prepare our minds, reactions, and desires to his purpose, we find ourselves aligning to God’s purpose for that person and ourselves in that moment.

Summary

How in a world where as a follower of Jesus I am stereotyped in a negative way do I engage people in a Christlike manner.

The Feast of Dedication

History Lesson about the Feast

Starts typically in the months of November and December.

AKA Hanukkah

Celebration of the rededication of the desecrated temple from 164BC.

Josephus documents it as well

December in Jerusalem is very nice. Average high is 73F and low is 46F.

Will want to describe what it was like to walk up into the Temple. What it might have been like to walk around the Portico and see all that was going on and what was being taught.

Jesus Confronts Hate

These people wanted Jesus to stop talking. It opposed what they believed to be right and holy. They thought that their way of living was what was ultimately the best for mankind and that speaking what Jesus did, did not fit within their view of God.

The Scripture says that they were ready to stone him again. This means they had tried to once before already. Jesus new this and yet was still speaking the truth. He never condemned the, in this setting, bbi