Sunday Recap On A Tuesday

On Tuesday's I hope to post some thoughts from the lesson that was previously taught at Merge the Sunday before...

Series: Other People
Lesson: Other People Need Acceptance
Text: Luke 5:27-32

Some Thoughts:
---A major factor in us being "successful" at Merge has to do with your willingness to engage "other people" in hopes that those who are far from God will find life through Christ.

---One of the things we find in the Gospel's is people who looked nothing like Jesus... actually liked Jesus, and He liked them in return. It didn't really matter what kind of baggage they were carrying around or what their ailment was. These people flocked to Jesus and seemed to hang on His every word. And unlike most of the church, He accepted them and it changed their lives.

---Luke 5:27-28...Apparently no one taught Jesus the ever so important societal rule that like sticks with like and different stays different.

---v29...Jesus shared a meal with with a large crowd of tax collectors and others and He didn't explode, or turn to a life of crime, or led into a moral failure. Jesus engaged these people and He didn't grow horns and start selling drugs to little kids. (and all the church people say...NO WAY!!!"

---I caught myself this week having to own up to the fact that I have way too few people who look nothing like Jesus in my life. My bet is that same can be true for you. It is so easy to surround ourselves in a Christian bubble unaware of the fact that we have cut ourselves off from the people who need the love of Jesus the most.

---v.30...A major question we will need to address before we can be the people God is calling us to be: "When will I stop looking at people based on their sins and start seeing them through the scope of the cross?"

---Messy people came to Jesus messy. We should expect them to clean up their act, then go to Jesus. He is the only way they will be able to be healed from what is destroying their lives.

---v31-32...Jesus teaches us there is a way to accept people without championing or condoning their choices.

---When it is a matter of life or death all that matters is life or death.

---Some thoughts on helping Merge become a more accepting place:
1. Refuse to let guests go by unnoticed.
2. Refuse to stop praying that God would move in this city through us.
3. Refuse to accept Consumer Christianity.

---Some thoughts on becoming a more accepting person:
1. Ask God to let you see "other people" with His eyes, not yours.
2. Ask God to give you opportunities to make a difference daily.
3. Ask God for the Strength, Courage, and Desire in being willing to get uncomfortable in "other people's" lives.
4. Ask God to reveal things in you that aren't of Him.

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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