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They Don't Like Me?

With appreciation to Dan Kimball and his work on They Like Jesus, But They Don't Like the Church, I have to say that this may have been one of the most difficult sermon series I've ever been a part of.

I've found out first hand that people didn't like hearing this. It was almost as if people wondered why Jesus had so many fans. After all, what did He really ever do for people?

Perhaps one of the reasons we tire of hearing that people like Jesus and hate us is because we are arrogant in our lifestyle. We assume they don't really know Jesus. We claim they don't really know us. We start to get all out of shape when someone attacks our beliefs, our standards, our church, our book, and especially our Savior. So it becomes extremely disarming when someone likes what we stand for but doesn't like us. We don't even know how to respond to that.

Why can't they see our meager efforts and be changed by it?

The bottom line is that God's Spirit will change their lives, just as He changed our lives. Yes, we can do much to stay out of God's way and not muck it up while He is working. But we can also do much to further His work, as long as we understand that it is His work.
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