You ever wonder just where these false prophets get their information? I mean besides then air?
Where Did We Ever Get the Notion that People Shouldn’t Like Us?
Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew…in favor with God and men.
Acts 17:6 …These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
Somehow we have gotten the notion that the world shouldn’t like us. And if we think that way, they won’t! But people liked Jesus! It was the religious people of His day that hated Him. The religious rulers were intensely jealous of Jesus’ popularity. So many multitudes followed Him that they feared that their whole nation might turn to Him!
Jesus said, “If I be lifted up…I will draw all men unto Me.” We should be growing in favor with God and with man. People should like us! Of course we don’t partake of the sin the lost do, but we love them in spite of their sin.
Has anyone reading this message lived a perfect life this past week, or did you fall short of the glory of God? Be encouraged, you are not alone. I don’t know of any saint who doesn’t struggle against sin. If they say they don’t, they are struggling with lying or have given up the fight.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I believe our struggle against sin as Christians helps us to relate to and to have mercy on the lost.
How far did Jesus allow the lost to stretch Him into their world, to touch them? Jesus was constantly blowing the minds of His disciples as He kept stretching them in showing love to people. I believe the disciples often thought that Jesus was going too far in reaching out to the lost. They were right. In every case He was found guilty of love in the first degree, in loving people and reaching out “too far”! Even when crucified, His arms were nailed wide open!
Well, Bill, let’s see – where did we get that notion?
“Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. (Mat 24:9-11 NLT)
And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. (Mat 10:22 NLT)
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the One who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’ (Joh 15:18-25 NLT)
I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (Joh 17:14 NLT)
Well, Bill, seems to me that Christ actually said that the world – and not just the religious leaders – would hate us. Now, since you missed such a wide open truth here, and essentially called Christ a liar, why should we believe anything else you have to say?
When the world loves your Christianity, you might not be doing it right, but that doesn’t mean we do things just to have them get mad at us. If we live like we are supposed to, and people, believers and non-believers will find plenty to dislike about us. Oh, and please don’t go about trying to be persecuted or hated, it’ll come naturally.
