I Got Hurt

Matt 18:21-22

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. KJV

Intro: "I got Hurt" is almost a standard saying for those that leave a church or an organization. Some never get over it and some use it to they will never be hurt again. No matter how hard we collectively try, there will always be those that get hurt or offended. There are over a thousand promises in the New Testament alone from God but nowhere do I find that He promised that we would never be offended or have our feelings hurt. If you can find one please contact me immediately. The truth is just the opposite. We are assured that if we walk with Him we will be offended or have our feelings hurt at some time or another. (Matt 24:10. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.) KJV I deeply believe that the KJV is the word of God for the English speaking world today. I have had many hurtful words thrown at me because of the stand I take. I learned to over-come that hurt by loving those folks just as Christ did. I learned to never treat them any different than any other. There’s an old saying, “Is that hill worth dying for?”

1. Hard to get over it:

Over the past several years of being a pastor I have been approached by several persons that at one time in their adult life they were offended or was deeply hurt. Some never forgot the incident. They would not or maybe could not forgive the guilty party or parties. Actually they have let one incident control them, and cause them to make bad decisions that change the path in which they were traveling. Offensives and hurt feelings can be a mighty powerful and destructive weapons that Satan uses to his fullest. Just the sight of the person that offended you will refresh the whole incident and the hurt rises up.

2. Where do these offenses take place?

Far too many offenses happen in the church. Why the Church? Cause church offenses have the longest and deepest effect. That's because, that kind of hurt goes deeper into the heart and therefore are remembered longer. We have the ideal that folks aren't supposed to get hurt in the church. But sad to say, it does happen more frequently than it should. I'm not talking about those that carry their feeling around on their shoulder or dragging them ten feet behind them, I speaking of a sure-a-nuff hurt.

3. What to do?

As I said at the beginning of this message, "I got Hurt" is almost a standard saying of those that quite the ministry or a church member left the church. Well, "Just pray about it" is the standard answer heard from many friends or even in some cases the pastor. Well I don’t mean to be harsh or brasses but to me, "just pray about it" is a cop-out, unless you are asking God to search you and create in you a clean heart and a renewed mind.

The answer is a hard one but it worked for me and I believe it will do the same for others.

Several years ago a preacher friend of mine told some pretty harsh and hurting lies about me which made it very difficult to participate in organizational meeting we both attended. A bitterness grew in my heart toward him.

I was sitting in a congregation one Sunday morning when the pastor said, “There is someone hear today that has let bitterness grow in his heart toward a fellow minister, and if he will stand, I’m going to pray for him and God will deliver him. There was no earthly ways that this pastor could have known anything about this but I knew he was talking to me. Along with several others I stood and as the pastor prayed I lifted my hands toward God and I felt a defiant release of pressure from within me. The following Thursday night I was scheduled to preach at a church out in the country. As I started my message the preacher that I had the problem with walked in the side door. No way was this a coincidence. This same preacher had problem with the pastor of this church also and he had never visited this church. As he walked to a pew directly in front of the pulpit I stopped and without hesitating I walked toward him, by the look on his face, he didn’t know whether to duck of pucker. I looked him straight in the eye, both eyes, and ask him to forgive me for the way I had treated him. Today we are closer than we ever were.