Sunday 18 th December

It is an unfortunate condition that our fallen human nature is stained and geared towards separation.  Hurtcitis (By what is said, unsaid, done, not done, take offence, real or imagined wrong)  Rightus  Bitterallian & Hateosseism  Getevenitis & Lierasm  Rightoffosis These ailments infect families. Left undiagnosed and untreated it leads to a belief that there is…irreconcilable differences. Without help and an operation this spreads and leads to...the death of relationships.

How do you know when (not if) you are suffering from one or more of these ailments?  Listen to your thoughts. ◦ Justifying (‘how dare he/she’), revenge orientated, making lists.  Listen to what you say to them. ◦ ‘You never’, ‘You always’, ‘ You’re this/that…’ or the opposite…the silent treatment.  Listen to what you say about them. ◦ Rubbishing the other person with put downs, accusations, seeking support from others, going over the same ground and same issues.  Watch what you do with your actions. ◦ Passive or active resistance against another person. ◦ The Crowd test.

 14 Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused centre: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat.  15 He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.  16 Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore.

 17 Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!  18 All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.  19 God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing.  20 We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them.

 Reconciliation is the fruit of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the destination of Christmas.  Asking and giving forgiveness requires a huge amount of personal ◦ Strength ◦ Awareness ◦ Intuneship

 Forgiveness believes that restoration is possible.  Forgives reveals hope, a longing to be in right relationship again.  Forgiveness is love in action.  “Sorry, please forgive me” is akin to saying “I love you. You are special to me.”  Ephesians 3:20