*Family Matters
Live Like Jesus
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**Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. *
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*BIG IDEA: Let the designer and His design to define the relationships that we desire. *

*1. Live Like Jesus. *

a. If Jesus would have been here today He would have…

b. A lot of times our picture of Jesus’ love matches our desires, wants and opinions of what He would do.

c. The problem comes when we represent Jesus in causes, values, decisions and ideas that don’t match His heart, His ideas and His values.

*Matthew 24:10-14 ESV
And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.*

d. Has the lawlessness around you caused the love through you to grow cold?

*John 13:34-35 NLT
34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”*

e. Our relationship with God is inseparable with our love and relationships with others in our lives.

*2. Who do I need to Love, and who can I not love? *

*Matthew 22:36-39 ESV
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.*

a. When someone asks us, “how is your relationship with God”, we have to ask ourselves, how am I doing with others in my life?

b. Why do we struggle with loving the unlovely?

a. Wrong Understanding of Forgiveness
i. Forgiveness is not minimizing the offence.

ii. It doesn’t justify what was done to you.

iii. It doesn’t make the person more right.

b. Forgiveness is not reconciliation.
i. It’s making things right so that relationship can be restored.

ii. Reconciliation requires that I have your cooperation.

iii. Forgiveness without reconciliation is possible.

iv. Reconciliation without forgiveness will lead to bitterness.

*c. Forgiveness is my attitude and condition to God about them. *
i. Knowing what happened and still have the peace of God in your heart.

*d. We don’t think what went down was fair. *

*Colossians 2:13-15 NLT
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed[a] the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.*

i. Forgiveness > Fair

*Matthew 18:21 ESV
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?*

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Matthew 18:28 ESV
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii,[j] and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’*

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Matthew 18:33ESV
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’*

i. “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”- CS Lewis

**3. How do we live like Jesus with some difficult people and situations.

*a. Pray for them. *

**Matthew5:44 ESV
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, *

*b. Bless them. *
a. To speak well of them.
b. To speak well to them.

*Luke 6:27-28 NIV
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.*

c. Do good to them.

*Romans 12:17-21 ESV
Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[a] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.*

a. If they are wrong, God will settle the account.

b. God’s ways are counter cultural. Not just in our values, but in our hearts.