6-17-12 Sermon

Today's sermon was shared by Rhonda Rose, as Pastor Frank took it easy following his heart attack Monday, June 11th. He is doing better but appreciates continued prayers for him to regain energy. To listen to Rhonda's Father's Day message, click here.

6-10-12 Sermon

I apologize that there is no audio this week. There was a problem with the program used to record during the service and it could not be resolved in time to record the sermon. The manuscript option is below:

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR FAITH'S ON TRIAL

Living God's Way -- Part 9

I Peter 4:12-19  06-10-12 Sermon

           

A question I'm asked often as a pastor is the question "Why is this happening to me?"  So we've been looking at the book of I Peter which majors on how we handle suffering in life. 

Peter tells us that there are three kinds of suffering in life.  You are usually experiencing one of the three at any point in your life. 

Common suffering -- happens just because I am a human being, things go wrong.  We live in a fallen world.  Our bodies get sick and wear out.  Accidents happen.  There are tornados, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.  As a part of life in this world we have suffering as human beings.

Carnal suffering -- suffering that happens because I sin.  I cause some suffering myself by the choices, the dumb decisions that I make.  If I get drunk and then have a hangover, that's carnal suffering.  We bring a lot of suffering on ourselves.  If I cheat on my taxes and the IRS comes to my door, that’s carnal suffering.  The Bible says, "A man reaps whatever he sows."

Christian suffering – This is suffering because I am a believer.  It’s when you suffer for doing good.  When you suffer for the right thing, you suffer redemptively.  Jesus is the best example of this.  Did He suffer because He did wrong or because He did right?  He suffered because He did right.  We are going to be looking at this kind of suffering.

[video clip on suffering for the faith?]

I Peter 4 says that there are five things you need to do when you suffer as a Christian, when you suffer for your faith, when you are harassed because you are a believer --whether it's at work, at school, in your neighborhood, or by relatives who don't understand, or when people ridicule you because you stand for certain things and they don't like that.  What do you do?  Peter says you do five things:  First, you  REALIZE THAT SUFFERING IS BOUND TO HAPPEN.  [You may not suffer like those on the video but you will suffer as a believer if your life is different enough from the world for people to notice.]

I Peter 4:12 "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trials you're suffering, as though something strange were happening to you."  He says don't be upset by it when this happens, when people put you down, when people challenge your faith.  He says don't be frightened, don't be shook up, don't be caught off guard.  Be prepared.  If you're going to be a believer there are times in your life when people won't like that.

Jesus was very realistic about this.  Jesus was honest and He said you need to consider the consequences of commitment to Me.  He said, "If you're going to follow Me count the cost first."  If you're considering becoming a follower of Christ, you need to hear this message first.  It's not always a bed of roses, being a believer in Jesus Christ.  Jesus said if you follow Me there will be people who get upset with you, that don't approve of you, who don't like it. 

John 15:20, Jesus said, "No servant is greater than his master.  If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also."  Did they persecute Jesus?  Sure they did.  "If they do it to Me they will [not "if"] do it to you."  There's a myth that says, if I have everything right in life then things are going to go smoothly.  Wrong.  You think if I did everything right, life will be pleasant.  That's not true.  You can do everything right in life if you could, and you would still have problems.  Jesus was perfect but they crucified Him. 

We forget that we're in a spiritual battle.  Once you decide, "I'm going to be on God's side" then you become the enemy of the devil.  The Bible says, Ephesians 6:12 "We're not fighting against human beings but wicked spiritual forces."  The Bible calls the devil the accuser of the brethren.  Satan would like to hurt God, but he can't.  So he does the next best thing.  He tries to hurt His children, you, because you are a believer.  If you really wanted to hurt me, the easiest way is to hurt my kids.  You hurt my kids you hurt me.  Satan tries to get back at God by hurting His children, those who put their faith in Christ. 

The second thing to do when you face suffering for being a Christian is  REJOICE WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN.

Peter says, realize that this is going to happen, still he says rejoice when it does happen.  v. 13 "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ..."   He says, don't complain, celebrate.  Don't have a pity party, have a party.  That sounds like masochism, a martyr complex, something ridiculous. 

But the key word is the word rejoice.  It doesn't say "enjoy when you're put down for Christ," it says "rejoice".  There's a big different between enjoyment and rejoicing.  Enjoyment means getting pleasure out of something.  Rejoicing means choosing to have a positive attitude in spite of it.  God doesn't say enjoy persecution; He says rejoice in it.  Keep a positive attitude.  It's a choice to rejoice. 

Reasons To Rejoice:  Why?  Why should I rejoice?  Peter lists three reasons.  1.  Suffering draws me closer to Christ.

He says, "These trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering, and afterwards you will have the wonderful joy of sharing His glory."  The word "partner", in Greek, is the word koinonia, that's the word for fellowship.  Fellowship means you get to know somebody up close and personal.  Closeness, intimacy, commonness.  It says when you suffer for Jesus' name you have fellowship with Christ.  It draws you closer to Him.  When you go through suffering with anybody, you bond with them.  Ask any war veteran.  The suffering that they went through binds them together.  Or when people go through a disaster, it brings them closer together.  Or when families experience the same problem, it brings them closer together.  It says when you suffer for doing the right thing it draws you closer to God, to Christ.

Philippians 3:10, Paul said, "I want to know Christ and the fellowship of His suffering."  It's the same thing, koinonia.  I want to know, not only about Jesus, but I want to know Him personally.  How do you get to know Him personally?  There's a difference between knowing about God and knowing God.  Big difference.  How do you get to know Christ as a personal friend?  You've got to go through the fire.  And when you go through the fire for Jesus, you're going through the fire with Jesus.  It draws me closer to him.

2. Suffering is a reason to rejoice because It means that God can be seen in my life.

When you're having a tough time for Jesus' sake, it means God can be seen in your life.  I Pet. 4:14 "When people insult you because you follow Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of God is with you."  Why can I be happy when people put me down for my faith or they challenge me?  Because it just means "Congratulations, somebody sees something different in your life."  Obviously they noticed the difference.  If you're never challenged for your faith, what does that say about your faith?  It means it's pretty flabby, puny. 

Paul told Timothy, "All who live Godly lives will suffer persecution."  If I don't have ever anybody challenge me, it means I'm not living a Godly life.  When people put you down, harass you for your faith, congratulations, it means you are a person of character, you have conviction. You stand for something rather than fall for anything. 

Take a stand.  Don't be a secret agent.  Jesus said, "Anyone who is ashamed of me in this wicked and adulterous generation of Him will I be ashamed before My father when he cometh in glory."  God says, if you're ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of you.  Jesus Christ was not ashamed to die for you.  Don't be ashamed to live for Him.

3.  Suffering is a reason to rejoice because God can trust me. 

When you're harassed for your faith, handling a problem because people say, he's a goody-goody, or she's a Jesus nut, it just means God can trust you.  Peter and the disciples were literally beat up for being a believer.  It happens all around the world.  Millions of believers are killed every year for their faith.  Some states, countries, areas you can be killed, hanged, given the firing squad for being a Christian.  Nobody is going to do that to you in America.  I wonder if God can trust American Christians?  We want Jesus as long as it's comfortable and convenient.  But if Christianity were outlawed would there be enough evidence to convict you?  How many people know that you're a believer? 

Why did God allow Job to lose everything he had?  Because God could trust him.  He knew he wouldn't turn on Him.  Why did God allow the three young Hebrew men to go through the fiery furnace?  Because God knew He could trust them.  Can God trust you?  What does your faith cost you?  Does it cost you anything?  We get upset about having to wait for a parking spot.  He says God can trust you when you have trials in your life because He knows you can handle it.

III. When you face suffering for your faith REFUSE TO BE ASHAMED.

He says when you are put down for your faith, refuse to be ashamed.  Don't be intimidated by cynics, by critics, don't run from situations that put your faith on trial.  People are watching you every moment of the day.  We've talked about this before.  People watch you all the time.  If you claim to be a believer, unbelievers will throw stuff at you just to see how you react.  They will.  They want to know if your faith is genuine.  Does your walk match your talk?  Do you really believe what you say you believe?  People are going to throw stuff at you to see how you react.  Is this person a person of integrity? Is this person a person who really has convictions?  Is it real to them; if it's not I'm not interested in them.  He says, don't be ashamed.

How you respond when you're personally attacked is a powerful witness.  I Peter 4:16 "If you suffer as a Christian."  He's not talking about suffering because you're obnoxious.  Some people are just goofy, and they act strange and then they say, "I'm suffering for Jesus."  No, You're just being a jerk.  Don't blame God for your personal hang-ups.  We've all got them, I've got them, you do too. 

"If you suffer for being a Christian,"  Peter says.  The word "Christian" is only used three times in the Bible.  It wasn't a popular term when the Bible was written.  Christian was a slur, like an ethnic slur, a racial slur.  When the Roman empire would refer to people as Christians they meant "those little Christs" -- little Jesus people.  It was a slur.  Today, we say, "I'm a Christian", it doesn't have the same connotation. 

Peter says, "If you suffer as a Christian, don't be ashamed, but praise God that you bear His name."  I know a lot of good Christians who would never think of doing certain wrong things, but they are ashamed to admit that they do the right thing when they're around unbelievers.  There are men who would never cheat on their wife.  But sitting around with other men, like in a card game, and everybody starts bragging about their affairs, the Christian men just keep silent because they didn't want to admit that they had never known anybody but their wife.  As if that's something to be embarrassed about.  That's how sick society has become.  There are Christian young people who would never take drugs, but they are embarrassed to admit that to their friends.  There are single people who have remained sexually pure and they are embarrassed to admit that they're a virgin.  Since when did that become something to be ashamed of?  Do you see how our values have gotten turned around. 

Peter is saying, it's not a matter of just not doing bad things, it also means being proud and being honest and admitting that you do the right things, and not being embarrassed to admit it.  Don't be embarrassed for you faith, for your values.  Stand firm.

The problem really is the fear of rejection.  We're afraid of what other people will think of us.  What's the antidote?  The antidote to the fear of rejection is two fold:

         1.  Realize that you don't need the approval of everybody in order to be happy in life.  Whether you approve of me or not has nothing to do with my happiness. 

         2.  Be more concerned with what God thinks about you, than what other people think about you.  That's called spiritual maturity.  When you think more about what God thinks about you than what other people think about you, that's what's going to last.  "Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the kingdom of heaven belongs to them."

IV.  When you suffer for your faith REMEMBER THE REWARD I'LL RECEIVE.

II Corinthians 4:17 "These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won't last very long.  Yet this short time of distress will result in God's richest blessing upon us forever and ever!"

If somebody doesn't like you, if somebody puts you down because of your faith, that's small potatoes.  This isn't going to last.  It's only temporary.  But the reward for standing up for your faith is going to last for eternity.  Keep the long perspective.  You don't have to be popular with everybody right now.  But you can reap the rewards for eternity.

Look at that phrase "richest blessing".  Notice that that is a comparative term.  "Richest" like "most of all".  The Bible teaches very clearly that there are going to be levels of rewards in heaven.  I'm not talking about salvation, but after you get there some people are going to be rewarded more than others in heaven.  It's very clear about that in Scripture.  It says that the richest blessings go to those who stood up for Christ in spite of sufferings.  That's where the richest blessings are going to come from. 

Nobody is going to kill you, in America, for your faith.  But do you ever find anybody challenging you?  Or are you just so wishy-washy so much of a chameleon that nobody knows what you believe?  Nobody knows your values.  Nobody knows where you stand on anything.  You're so afraid that somebody might look at you funny.  Peter says, you're caring too much about the wrong thing.  You ought to be caring about what God thinks of you and you ought to be caring about the reward you're going to receive in heaven for doing the right thing in spite of the fact that it's not the most popular. 

Romans 8:17 "Since we are God's children, if we share in Christ's suffering, we will also share in His glory."  When we get to heaven, God isn't going to look at how much money you saved in your bank account, He's not going to look at how many trophies you have on your shelf, He's not going to look at how many awards or plaques or degrees you put on your wall.  God's going to look at the scars you have.  Did your faith cost you anything? 

It says, if we share in His suffering we will share in His glory.  Imagine getting to heaven and there's this giant billboard 100 miles long lit up like Las Vegas and it says, "Starring for eternity, Jesus Christ" and underneath it it says, "co-staring ..." and it has your name.  That's what it means to share in His glory.  Any persecution you might possible experience because of your faith, because you stood up for it, is so insignificant to the lasting reward it's not even comparable. 

V. Lastly, when you suffer for your faith REMAIN FAITHFUL TO GOD!

How do you do it?  There are two ways.

"So then, those who suffer according to God's will..." Underline "suffer according to God's will". Do I mean that suffering is sometimes according to God's will?  I'm not telling you this, God is.  Sometimes suffering is exactly God's will for your life.  Why?  Because God is more interested in your character than in your comfort. 

There is a certain brand of Christianity out there today that says God wants everyone to be healthy, wealthy and comfortable and you should always be healed, and you should always have every prayer answered and you should always have everything you want and never have any problems.  If you do have problems it means you don't have enough faith.  The spiritual term for this is "Baloney!"  Obviously those people have not read I Peter 4 where it says sometimes we suffer according to God's will.  That's Christian suffering.  Suffering that's redemptive, for our growth and the blessing for other people.  If God answered every prayer you ever made, and gave you everything you ever wanted, and took away all your problems, you'd be a spoiled brat.  God isn't interested in raising spoiled brats.  He says remain faithful even when the heat's on.

Ask yourself these two questions:

1.  Do people notice Christ in my life?  Do the people who you're around all the time know where you stand?  Have you shared the good news of Jesus Christ with them?  It's not like you're trying to give them cancer or something!  We've got the greatest news in the world.  The world is far more ready to hear about the good news of Christ than we are ready to share it. 

2.    Have I been ashamed to take a stand?  Take a stand for Jesus Christ.  If you can't even do that, how much is your faith worth? 

"I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.  It is God's powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven ... everyone is invited to come to God in this same way."

            Rom. 1:16 (LB)

6-3-12 Sermon "Hidden Wounds"

To listen to the sermon "Healing Your Hidden Wounds", click here.

HEALING YOUR HIDDEN WOUNDS

            Living God's Way -- Part 8

            I Peter 4:1-11  06-03-12 Sermon           

1 Peter 4:1-11  New International Version (NIV)  Living for God

4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. ² As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. ³ For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. ⁴ They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. ⁵ But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

           

Have you ever had a broken bone?  Have you ever had stitches?  Have you ever had more than 30 stitches?  Have you ever had surgery?  Have any of you ever had a knife wound?  In the kitchen or the alley?  Have you ever gotten a gunshot wound?  Has anyone been wounded in a war? 

We are going to look at "Healing your Hidden Wounds".  Not the external ones that everyone can see when you've got the cast or the stitches or the band aid, but the internal hidden wounds.  What are the hidden wounds of life? 

Peter talks to us about this in I Peter 4  when he says when you undergo suffering here's how you find healing.  Hidden wounds are hurtful memories, recollections that you keep secret but cause you pain.  The hidden wounds of rejection.  The hidden wounds of abandonment, of unfaithfulness.  The hidden wounds of feeling like you didn't matter, that somebody ridiculed you, that you were insecure.  The hidden wounds of one who refuses to forgive you for something in your past.  Those are the hidden wounds that you don't see on the outside of people's lives.  They have a beautiful face and a life that seems well put together but inside they're hurting.  

Where do we get the hidden wounds of life?  From everywhere.  You get them in society.  Some of you have been wounded in society through prejudice or through injustice.  You can be wounded by your family and those are probably the wounds that hurt the most.  You can be wounded at school by other children.  You can be wounded by a friend who betrayed you.  You can be wounded in your workplace.  You can even be wounded in the church.

Probably everyone has a hidden wound.  It may be different for each person but probably everyone has a hidden wound.  Today Peter tells us in this passage four keys to healing those hidden wounds regardless of how you've been hurt. 

FOUR STEPS TO HAVE YOUR HIDDEN WOUNDS HEALED:  First,  Forgive the offender

                 

I Peter 4:1 "Since Christ suffered while He was in His body, strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that Christ had." 

Jesus understands what it means to be hurt.  It says, "He suffered".  How many wounds did Jesus have?  Seven physical wounds -- nail prints in his hands and feet, stripes on his back, spear pierced his side, crown of thorns on his head.  But He also had hidden wounds.  Those hurt even more.  The wounds of betrayal, rejection, hatred.  It takes longer to get over an emotional hurt than it does a physical one.  When you hurt Jesus understands your hurt.  He says "I've been there.  I can relate.  I can sympathize".  He knows what it's like to be maligned, to be mistreated, to be rejected. 

Peter says when you go through a hurt you need to have the same attitude that Jesus had, have the same way of thinking about it.  What was his thinking?  The next verse on your outline, Jesus on the cross said, "Forgive them for they do not know what they're doing."  He could have blown them away.  Jesus didn't have to hang there on the cross. He could have called 10,000 angels down.  He could have stopped the whole thing.  But instead He hung on the cross and said, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing."  You must forgive the offender if you're ever going to be healed of your hurt.

You say, "I don't want to forgive those people who've hurt me.  They don't deserve it."  You're right.  Forgiveness is never deserved. 

Then why should you forgive those people who have hurt you? 

1.  Because God has already forgiven you.  You'll never have to forgive anybody more than God's already forgiven you. 

2.  Because You're going to need forgiveness in the future.  He who won't forgive burns the bridge he has to walk across to get to heaven.  A man told John Wesley "I could never forgive that man."  John Wesley said, "Then I hope you never sin."  When you pray the Lord's prayer "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who've sinned against us" you're saying "Lord, forgive me as much as I've forgiven everybody else."

3.  You're never going to stop hurting until you learn to forgive.  It's the only way to release the hurt.  For your own sake, not for their sake, you need to forgive.  Heb. 12:15 "Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives."  Resentment always hurts you more than it does the other person.  You may still be resentful over things that happened ten, 20, 30, 40 years ago and every time that thought comes up it still makes you upset.  That other person has totally forgotten it.  They're going on with life or they may even be dead by now.  Resentment doesn’t hurt the other person as much as it hurts you.  It's like taking hot coals in your hand, you get burned.  Job says "You're only hurting yourself with your anger."  Don't allow people who've hurt you in the past to continue to hurt you today, by holding a grudge against them.

STEP ONE -- FORGIVE THE OFFENDER.  Why?  You'll never stop hurting until you do.  Step two, FOCUS ON GOD

I Peter 4:2 "From now on, live the rest of your lives controlled by God's will, not by human desires." 

He says get your attention off yourself, off your hurts and get it on to God.  From now on.  For the rest of your life, regardless of what happened to you, regardless of the hurt in your past, it doesn't matter so much what happened to you, as what direction your feet are headed in right now.  From now on focus on God's will. 

This requires a mental shift.  It's a choice that you've got to make.  "Are you telling me to ignore my past?"  Of course not, you can't.  It's OK to feel sadness over things that have happened to you that have hurt you.  The Bible calls that mourning and the Bible says, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted."  It's OK to mourn, but there's a big difference between mourning and moaning.  Mourning says I'm sad about that incident that hurt me.  Moaning says, I'll never get over it.  That's not true.  That's a choice.  Whether you choose to get over a hurt or not. 

We get stuck in our pain and we can't get on with the present or the future.  How do I get unstuck?  You focus on the Healer not your hurt.  Focus on God Who wants to heal you.  God can bring a positive purpose out of your pain.  Somehow He can take even bad things that happen to us and bring good out of it.  That's just the way God is. 

What's the secret?  How does God turn a negative into a positive?  How do you take a minus sign and turn it into a plus sign?  You make a cross out of it.  This "t" -- a cross -- also stands for trust.  You trust God.  The way you get over hurt is you first, forgive the offender, second, you focus on God and say "God, I'm going to let you settle that score.  I've got to get on with my life.  So I'm going to trust You to balance the books.  Instead of me trying to get even, I'm going to let you balance the books."  That's called Trust.  That's what Jesus did.

I Peter 2:23 "When Jesus suffered, He did not threaten to get even.  He left His case in the hands of God who always judges fairly."  The problem is with us is that we forget that God sees everything we go through.  We forget that God knows about all those hurts that we've had.  Subconsciously we hold on to a hurt because we think somebody's got to remember how bad this was.  We think if we forget it the offender will get off scott free.  No they won't.  God remembers.

Psalm 56:8 "You God, know how troubled I am.  You have kept a record of my tears."  Do you know that God has kept a record of every tear you've ever cried?  He's even kept a record of the tears you couldn't cry because you were so pained inside, they were internal tears.  God has kept a record.  Your pain matters to Him.  He feels it and wants to help you.  You can stop rehearsing the pain because God is going to remember it for you.  Let Him settle the score.  Let Him balance the books.  Nothing has ever slipped by God's watchful eye. 

What is the result of giving my hidden wounds to God, to committing my life to Christ?

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." 

There are three benefits of giving your hidden wounds to Christ:  Hope, Joy, Peace.  Would you rather be filled with Hope, Joy and Peace or Misery, Depression, and Resentment?  It's your choice.

A third step in healing your hidden wounds is to  FACE THE FUTURE.

Job says the same thing, Job 11:13-16 "Put your heart right, reach out to God, then face the world again, firm and courageous.  Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more."

Would you like all those painful memories to fade from your memory.  He says, Put your heart right -- forgive the offender.  Then Reach out to God -- focus on God.  Then Face the world again -- face my future, firm and courageous.  Courage isn't the absence of fear it's moving ahead in spite of your fear.  He says Move ahead.  Stop living in denial, pretending it doesn't hurt, stop trying to fake it, to mask it, to cover it up.  Get in touch with where you are and get on with your life.  Don't keep reliving the past over and over again.  Get on with your life.  Face reality.  Move forward. 

It says, "They will fade away".  How is it that when I focus on the future, my hurts from the past fade away?  Because there is a universal law that goes into operation:  When you focus on one thing it tends to cause you to forget something else.  The key to forgetting is refocusing.  If you want to get rid of those memories, to let them fade, he says focus on the future.  Don't say "I'm not going to think about that..."  because the whole time you will focusing on "that".  Think of the future. 

You say, "I don't want to focus on the future, it scares me."  Tell God about it.  David did.  Psalm 34:17 "The Lord hears good people when they cry out to Him, and He saves them from all their troubles."  If you're afraid of the future, tell it to God.  God says, cry out to Me.  Be honest about your feelings, be honest with God.  Tell God, "I hurt.  I'm depressed.  I'm afraid.  I resent that person.  I don't like what they did to me."  Go ahead and pour out your feelings to God.  Be honest to God.  Why?  So that God will know how you feel?  No.  He already knows how you feel.  For your own sake -- it's cathartic.  You just get it out.  The healing wounds must be opened up to the love of the Father. 

Most people, instead of doing this, look for a quick fix when they hurt.  Have you noticed that when people are in pain they'll do almost anything to avoid it?  Or to remedy it?  Or to mask it?  If they have this painful memory about the past that keeps coming back up, they just go get drunk, then they forget it.  Or if the stress becomes unbearable, just pop some pills.  Or if there's an aching loneliness inside that just won't go away, they go settle for some one night stand and pick up somebody at a bar.  The world only has cheap, temporary pain killers to offer.  They work for a while.  You forget your troubles for a while.  But afterwards the troubles come back. 

How do you spell "relief"?  Some people spell relief "drugs".  Some people spell relief "booze".  Some people spell relief "sex".  Some people spell relief "TV".  Some people spell relief “shopping.” You really want to know how to spell relief?  JESUS.  That's the lasting solution, not some quick fix.

There are three problems with the pain killers that the world offers.

1.    They don't last.  They keep you high for a while.  They take away the pain, whether it's a relationship or a drug or whatever, but they don't last.

2.    They can become addicting.   And over time it takes more and more to kill the pain

3.  They never solve the problem.  You can get high but when you come down you've still got your problem.  You can get drunk but after the hangover you've still got your problem, and maybe more problems.  You're aching with loneliness, you go out and pick up some date but afterwards you're still lonely. 

They don't get to the real problem in your life.  Peter says, don't mask your pain with a quick fix; that's a waste of time.  v. 3:  "In the past you wasted too much time doing what nonbelievers enjoy:  sexual sins, evil desires, drunkenness, wild and drunken parties..."  These are fun while they're going on but they're really a waste of time because they don't take away the pain.  They don't solve anything. 

You need to face your future, and focus on God, and forgive your offender.  And the fourth step toward healing inner wounds is to  FIND A SUPPORT GROUP.

You'll never fully recover by yourself.  You're not alone in this world.  God never meant for you to have to solve your hurts on your own.  When he made Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden He said, "It's not good for man to be alone even in the perfect environment."  We need each other.  God never meant for you to be a Lone Ranger.  You'll never fully be healed until you're able to share your hurts with somebody else.  Hidden wounds heal quicker when you get support from other people.

V. 8:  "Above all love each other deeply because, love covers over a multitude of sins."  Then he says, "Offer hospitality to one another..."  Hospitality means loving concern.  Care about each other.  "Love covers" -- what does that mean?  There is enormous, tremendous, powerful healing power in love.  Love is the antidote to fear.  Love is the antidote to guilt.  Love is the antidote to resentment.  When your life is filled with love it doesn't have room for these other things that eat you up on the inside.  God is love.  Fill your life with God and you're filled with love.  That is the ultimate healing power there. 

Why do I need supportive relationships?  Eccl. 4:9  "Two people are better than one...If one falls down, the other can help him up."  We need each other.  Where is the best place to get supportive relationships?  Church.  That's why God made the church.  It's to be a family of supportive relationships. 

Heb. 10:25 "You should not stay away from your church meetings, [instead] meet together and ..." put each other down?  hear a sermon that makes you feel guilty?  judge each other?  Rate the pastor or the choir?  No.  He says "Meet together and encourage each other."   That's one of the purposes of a church family; it's to be an encouragement place.  Life is tough.  We all need a boost.  Encouragement is not just me standing up here and encouraging you.  It's you encouraging the people sitting around you.  And they encouraging you.  The Bible says that we are to encourage each other.

How is this possible?  Pastors can't do all the personal encouraging, especially when your pastor is only ½ time.  God never meant for it to be that way.  He meant for all of us to encourage each other. 

1.  We do it through small groups.  You need to be in a small group, a place where people know your name and when you're not there, they miss you.  Where you can share and be shared with and where you can pray and be prayed for.  The value of a small group is you realize "I'm not in this alone.  Other people have the same problem I have.  Some of them have already gone through it and can give me some advice."  Get in a group, work on those issues together.

2.  We do it through lay ministry.  God never meant for the church to be a one man super star show where the pastor flies in in his Superman cape and does his holy blessing and then flies out.  [Although that would make for an interesting worship service, one that would be talked about for quite some time, I am sure. ] If you look in your bulletin, on the first page, under church staff you will see me listed as the pastor, but the ministers are all of you, the entire congregation.  There's no way I could meet everybody's needs.  The UM Book of Discipline affirms this.  It says that there are some in the church called to become ordained clergy, but every Christian is called to be a minister. 

Fifty-eight times in the New Testament the Bible uses the phrase "one another".  Love one another, care for one another, greet one another, pray for one another, counsel one another, help one another, support one another. . .  It is the mutual ministry of the body to itself.  That's why we need a church family.  We are to help each other.  Not just come and sit and hear a message and walk out.  God means for you to be involved. 

I saw this happen this past week.  Jay Hogeland and I were visiting Thelma Brown in the Statesman Nursing Home.  We came to visit with her and take her communion.  The first thing she said to us when we walked into her room was, “Oh, you just missed Dot Holland.  She came and visited with me and rolled me outside in my wheelchair so I could get some fresh air and sunshine.   She just brought me back in a little while ago.”  We have around 30 shut-ins scattered around from Evangelical Manor to our South all the way to Buckingham to our north.  In addition we have people go in and out of hospitals.  I as the pastor visit all our shut-ins with communion four times a year.  I don’t have the time to visit them every month.  But we have faithful lay people who have decided to adopt some of the shut-ins and visit them on a regular basis.  And the shut-ins tell Jay and I how much that is appreciated.  They also greatly appreciate getting the cards that you pick up off the communion rail on communion Sundays.  This is just one example of lay ministry in our church.  It is lay people encouraging other lay people. 

If you want healing from hidden wounds you need to forgive the offender, you need to focus on God, you need to face your future, and you need to find a support group. 

Probably everybody has a hidden wound.  What's yours?  Would you like to be healed from it?  Would you like to get over it?  Then take the first step. 

Jesus:  "Come to me if you are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest."  Jesus says, just come to Me.  You don't have to understand it all.  I'm not going to put these rules and regulations and more guilt on you.  I will give you rest -- mental, spiritual, physical, emotional rest.  The communion service is a great time to come to Jesus and unload your burdens and receive his rest and peace. 

If you are hurting don't suffer in silence.  There are many people who have already gone through what you've gone through and they've got Christ in their life, they've got into a support group, gotten help, gotten healed.  They will help you if you let them and let your need be known.

Peg sent me a story from the internet this week I want to close with:

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job.

His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him.  He remembered family that had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment and frustration.

Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed:

"Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot I don't know how. It is not fair Lord. I didn't deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn't have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don't know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray that you teach me to do this one thing I cannot do - Teach me To Forgive."

As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt.

He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground. He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them. He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man's tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.

"Have you ever told a lie?" He asked? The man answered - "yes, Lord."  "Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?" The man answered -" yes. Lord." And the man sobbed more and more. "Have you ever taken something from work that wasn't yours?" Jesus asked? And the man answered - "yes, Lord."  "Have you ever sworn, using my Father's name in vain? " The man, crying now, answered - "yes, Lord."

As Jesus asked many more times, "Have you ever"? The man's crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - "yes, Lord."

Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder. He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.

Jesus said, "I didn't deserve this either, but I forgive you."