9.28.2025 - Church Isn't For Me // I've Been Hurt

Well, amen and amen. Good morning, church family. Are you well?

All right. Praise the Lord. Glad that you are here today. so glad that you have decided to join us for worship and

excited to see what God has in store for us this morning. If you brought a

Bible, and I hope that you did, Romans chapter 5 is where we will be. Romans chapter 5. We'll look there in just a

moment. want to say thank you so much to Wayne and Emily and Trey. Trey for

being here when you didn't think you would. Emily for doing what you always do and Wayne for just coming on out,

man, and jumping right in. very grateful for the way that you guys led us in worship this morning., and then

I just want to say, I'm I'm really excited to get to preach God's word to you today from Romans chapter 5, which

that really probably shouldn't and doesn't surprise you because you know that I'm always excited to preach God's

word., I love getting to do this and I'm thankful that that that you blessed me with this opportunity. Today

is a heavy one, right? This is a this is a big deal that we're going to talk about today. If you're not familiar with

the subject matter or the series that we're going through, let me introduce it to you real quick. we have been going

through a series called Church isn't for me or church is not for me. And essentially what we've done is we've

tried to identify four of like the most popular reasons of why people will look at an institutional organizational

church and say I don't want to be a part of that. Right? why is it that in the

United States of America not just here but in the west this kind of side of

the world funny thing there because it's a sphere but anyway on this side of the world like for whatever reason in

the last 50 years we have experienced what one author I've told you about this

book has called the great dechurching believe it or not it's the largest shift

in American particularly to the United States largest shift in American religious movement in the history of our

country. So, so like you can think of the first great awakening, you can think of the second great awakening, you can

think of the back to church movement after World War II, the great dechurching that's happened in the last

30 to 40 years is the largest religious shift in American history. And

a whole lot of people have made the decision during those years that church is not for them. Now, some have decided

that because they're too busy. And we talked about how on Sunday mornings, you know, it's like, man, this is the one

day that I have to, you know, did yard work yesterday, worked all week long, so

this is the only day that I have to sleep in, to rest, to relax, to try and get caught up on the week. Or, maybe

it's because, and this is the reason for a lot of them, it'll tie with what we're going to talk about today, that

they've seen scandals in the church. you know, leaders who have fallen from

grace, made terrible decisions and caused catastrophic damage in their churches., others have, have

unfortunately, had it happen to them, right, where they're caught up in the scandal, not just among leaders, but

across the institution. Of course, you can think of the Catholic Church and its reckoning with , clergy abuse that

happened. And then in the not to distant past, we as Southern Baptists, which

is what our church is, have had our own reckoning with this issue of abuse happening in our churches. And so, a lot

of people have decided that they're not going to be a part of the church anymore because of scandals. Today, what I want

to do is I want to zoom in on one particular issue that that really, I

don't know, probably more than any other if you could just like nail it down.,

this is the one that like most people who have consciously decided, I'm not

going to go to church anymore, this is probably it. And that reason that we're going to look at today is that

they've been hurt or I've I've been hurt., church hurt is is essentially

what we're going to try to address from the pages of scripture through Romans chapter 5., and I just wanna I want

to lead into this with a a a story., you know, they say that of the people

who have made the determination to stop going to church, 37% of them would

identify as saying,, I'm not going back because I've been hurt there. Almost 40%, four out of 10. That's

crazy. Like, statistically, that's a very large number of people who would willingly profess, that's the reason I'm

not going back is because I've been hurt by something that happened in church or something that a pastor did, or a leader did or a small group did or whatever.

I've been hurt. We're not going to go back. 40% almost have have identified that. But I want to tell you a story

here at the beginning. because what I'm betting is that the vast majority in

the room this morning have experienced church hurt in some form or fashion. I'm guessing that most of you have been

hurt by a leader by a friend in the church or by the organizational movement

of a church. So I’m not going to give you details. It's not, you know,

necessarily I mean I was I was a part of it, but this is not my own story but just imagine with me if you would.

family of five, right? Beautiful, beautiful family. Mom, dad, three daughters. and dad's handicapped.

He's paralyzed from the waist down. but man, he is an unbelievable man. Loves Jesus with everything in him. I

mean, just has a heart of gold. He wants to tell everybody in every place about Jesus. he starts a ministry for

underprivileged youth in out outside of a of a city and of course he goes to a church and so initially he pitches to

the church to like hey I'm not saying that y'all have to do anything we'll take care of it would love to see some volunteers step up but we'd love to

carry out this ministry we need a place right so so can we use the church and of course the church is hey you know that's

a that's a great idea so let's do it and it thrives essentially how this works is they drive out into

neighborhoods with underprivileged youth. They pick them up on a school bus, bring them to a church, feed them breakfast, and basically have VBS

for a day every Saturday. Every Saturday of of the year. And man, the ministry booms. I mean, just like absolutely

takes off. You know, you go from one bus full of kids or one bus with a few kids rather to a fleet of buses with just

packed full of kids who come and they experience it. And some of them even

start showing up on Sunday mornings, right? They they they come to church whether with their parents or not. They catch a ride with whoever. they ride

the bus, you know, they just get to church. And it's amazing. I mean, everybody's just seeing the gospel

centered growth that's happening. Ministry expands, family's excited,

God's using us, we're getting to be a part of his mission. And then and then the insurance provider calls, right? the

church insurance provider for the church calls and says, "Hey, this whole like Saturday thing that wasn't really part

of the arrangement, you know, and if you guys are going to do that, then we we got to have a serious conversation about

your policy and your premiums and all this other kind of stuff." Now, listen, I'm going to I'm going to confess

something to you at the end of this story that this is I mean, a few of the details have been changed, but this is a real story. I watched this happen. I was

a sixth grader. So, I don't know all of the particulars and the ins and outs. So, don't don't necessarily hold me

to them in this story. I'm sharing this with you so that you can put yourselves in the shoes here.

for whatever reason, the church, which I mean, you know, again, this is where why I said what I just said to

you. The church looks at this situation and and for whatever reason, maybe it

was a good one. I wasn't privy to it, but but they say to the insurance provider, you know what? you guys are

right. And yeah, we we'll start looking for a solution to to get this

ministry off of our campus on Saturdays, right? And that's what they do. and it happens pretty aggressively

actually that of course a date is set and then it's like, "Hey, get your stuff out or else we're going to put your

stuff out kind of situation where the church more or less kicks out this ministry."

At least that's what it looked like. that had had been thriving under its watch, right?

the you know I I told you that I

watched this happen. I lived that story. These were some very close family friends of mine. and I don't you know

I've not talked to them in a long while. I I as far as I know you know the mom and the dad they're still

following Jesus. But I can tell you that they left the church shortly after this. Moved around to a few different other churches. the ministry still still

was ongoing even up to a few years ago last I checked. but but their kids

who were close to me and my brothers and similar ages, not a single one of them is following Jesus anymore.

You know, they've they've walked away because they experienced church hurt.

that leadership of an organizational institutional church made a decision that was not

readily accessible to them or to their family that didn't make sense and it

caused collateral damage that resulted in them thinking well if this is what

God's like I don't want to have anything to do with him right and here's the thing

you know as well as I do that that story is all too common,

not the particulars of it. Again, that's not the point. The point is that all sorts of people have experienced from

the youngest to the oldest, they've experienced the pain that happens, which is a unique and a special kind of pain

when the church, which is supposed to represent Jesus, falls short and fails.

And and we'll get into this, but like to a degree that's not avoidable.

If you follow under my leadership for long enough, let me make you a promise, church family. I'll hurt you at some

point. I I hope that I can say I'm going to do it with the best of intentions, right?

But but but you and I know how sin works. And again, like I said, we'll talk about more of that in just a few moments. But but here's the way that I

want to say it at the beginning. If you've got sermon notes and you're following along, this is at the top of those notes. That church heard is real

and remarkable. Many have left the church behind due to

a painful experience that they endured there. Some still believe in God and

they still try to follow Jesus. They just do it outside of or apart from the

church because they're done with the institution. So, , here's the question. Here's the question that I

want us to ask and I want us to look at Romans chapter 5 to try and answer. What does the church say to those sheep who

were wounded while they were inside the sheepfold?

What does the church say to the sheep who were wounded while they were in the sheepfold? If you've got Romans chapter

5 in your Bible, I want to invite you to stand all across the room as we just give honor to God's word and to reading

it. remember, not because of my voice, but when we hear these words, we hear God speak to us. All right? So,

don't take this for granted. Recognize what's happening in this moment is that God is speaking to this church, speaking

to you, and speaking to me. So let's let's let's see what he says through the mouth of the Apostle Paul. He says,

"Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with

God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we've also obtained access through him,

by faith into this grace in which we stand." And we rejoice or your Bible

may say boast. I think boast is actually a better translation, so I'll try and use that. But if I forget, forgive me.

We boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions because we

know, here it is, that affliction produces endurance. Endurance produces

proven character. And proven character produces hope. And this hope will not disappoint us because God's love has

been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Verse six, for while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died

for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just

person. Hang with me through this. Gets a little complicated, a little technical. Rarely will someone die for a

just person. Although for a good person, someone perhaps might even dare to die.

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ

died for us. How much more then, since we've now been declared righteous by his

blood, will we be saved through him from wrath? For if, while we were enemies, we

were reconciled to God through the death of his son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his

life? And not only that, not only that, but we also boast in God through our

Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received this reconciliation.

Let me pray and ask for God's help as we break this down and see what it means for us. Jesus, thank you for the joy

of knowing that we've been reconciled to you. We've been brought back, brought close, restored into fellowship with

with with you and with our heavenly father because of the blood that you shed on the cross. And we know that this

is true because your Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. Those of us

who've made that decision to surrender our lives to you, to let you be Lord,

you've poured your spirit into our hearts. And so I pray today, Lord, that you'll give us the wisdom that we need

both to lay down the hurts and the bitterness that have formed from when

we've been wounded even by your people. Lord, I also pray that you will help

us to recognize that we too have caused hurt. And Lord, may the result of of all

of this be that your people go forward with greater grace, greater grace for

one another. and also receiving greater grace from you,

recognizing that that that you have an abundance and you can pour it out on us. And pray this in Jesus name. All God's

people said, "Amen." Hey, while you're sitting down, let me just say, man, you are in a church with crying

babies and that is a good thing. Bless the Lord and praise the Lord for that. All right. in this church. If you're

going to be the person who has trouble when a baby starts crying in service, then do not go talk to that

mom. I'm ser like hear me when I say that. Do not go talk to that mom. Come talk to me. All right? We'll have a

conversation and I just want to help you see why it's such an important thing that there are always crying babies in

our midst. If you don't want to be a part of a church that has crying babies, listen, there are churches out there for

you. This is not one of them. All right? So, probably spoken a little harshly at the beginning of a sermon on on Turt.

, nevertheless, nevertheless, number one on your sermon notes this morning that I

want to identify for you as we begin to break down this passage. And I'm going to take a little bit of a detour at the

beginning, but number one is the commonality of church hurt. Almost all of us, all of us in the room have a

friend. Most of us probably have multiple friends. And many of us have

ourselves experienced some form or variation of church hurt. it it's

just universal. It's something that we all go through where a a leader says

things that don't end up happening or a leader makes promises that don't come true or whatever. you know, here's I

think I've said this before when we were talking about scandals and I told you that pastorally like I'm going to let you down at some point, right? My

hope is that I let you down in some small way like I promised to call you on Friday and I forgot, you know. but

but that can bring hurt into your life and I recognize that. more probably

pertinent is when pastors make big promises. Hey, we're going to do this for your family and then they don't come

through on it, you know, and and and that happens. and it and it happens

for a really obvious reason. There's this phrase, this expression that people use. , you can probably finish it for

me. Hurt people hurt. Yeah, exactly. Hurt people hurt people.

Here's the reality. We have all been hurt. You've been wounded. , your mom

wounded you, your dad wounded you, your grandpa wounded you, your brother and sister wounded you, your friends wounded

you. And because of that, there's pain, real pain in your life. And that pain will pour out as you interact with

other people. That's really funny. I'm going through that. I totally left off spouse, but probably more than anybody else in all the world, that's who can

hurt you, right? It would be your spouse because of how close they are to you. See, here's the thing. what I

want you to do, audience participation here, is if you know a sinner, I want

you to raise your hand. If you know a sinner, if you know somebody who sinned, right? Okay. All right. So, see? Yeah. spouses are looking at each other.

You know, I know a sinner, right? we all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God. Here's the thing. The church is full of sinners.

I am one of them. And so are you. We're we're we're full of it. And and

and you know, you got two options as the church. You can either recognize that you are a

hospital for the broken and that it's going to be messy from time to time, or you can pretend like you're a country

club for saintlyhood and hide the mess in the closet. I'm trying to let you know that if you

go that route, eventually the mess that's in the closet is going to spill out.

There are sinners in our midst. And so church hurt is everywhere that

you look because remember we've said this before when we talk about the

church. I am not Corey church. Me and Trey together as a leadership. We

are not Corey Church. If you counted all of our group leaders and all of the deacons that we'll one day have and all

of the team leaders that we'll one day have. We are not Corey Church. Brothers and sisters. you are.

And when you cause pain in other people's lives, especially when they

know that you're a Christian and a church member and somebody who tries to worship the Lord,

they experience a kind of hurt that feels like it's coming from the church. Does that make sense? So, so I want you

I want you to know that not because I'm going to let the institutional church off the hook. No, there's certainly some things that we've got to do better. And

I I want to I want us to pursue doing better with those things. But I say that because it's important to recognize

that your hands are not quite as clean as you think they are. Neither are mine.

Number two on your notes, want to zoom in on the cause of church hurt, which I've already said it. We've already

walked through it a little bit. Romans 3:23, straight from the Bible in the same book that we read from this

morning. All have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God. I want you to imagine with me a world

where God's glory goes freely unchecked to every corner of the earth.

Hey, there's no alcoholism in that place. There's no slavery in that place.

There's no abuse in that place.

There's no taking advantage in that place where in a place where God's glory

goes from every corner to every other corner, there is no pain.

In fact, that's his promise of what the earth will one day become.

Revelation chapter 21. This is a place where there's no more grief, no more crying, and no more pain because the

former things have passed away. death itself will have passed away in

that place. So when the Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of God's

glory, what it's saying is that you and I are the problem in causing pain in other

people's lives. It's so easy, and y'all are with me on this, but it's so easy for us to excuse

our actions and say that we did it with the best of intentions

while we assume the motive of the person who hurt us was intentionally to do so.

But that's just not the case. Not most of the time. Sometimes it is. But if I had to if I had to make a bet, I would

say that you've probably hurt people intentionally, too. Hey

siblings in the room, let me have your eyeballs for a second. If you got a brother or a sister or you are a brother

or a sister, you have intentionally hurt your brother or sister before.

Ask me how I know because I got an older brother who I couldn't beat up, but I still tried. And

I got a younger brother who I could beat up and I did.

You've intentionally hurt your sibling before. And all of us take that with us.

What I'm trying to tell you is that like the cause of church hurt, we don't need to look any further than broken, sinful

human beings. I'm one of them and so are you.

Used to say it this way. that churches

will will always live on a spectrum between doing what the Lord calls them

to do and ignoring what the Lord calls them to do. Whenever they ignore what

the Lord calls them to do, it's really easy how to see how in that case it's like a grenade going off and sin

shrapnel impacts the people in the community around them. Right?

But even when the church does what it's supposed to do, here's the thing. There are people in the church who look like

Christians but aren't, and when the church does what God calls it to do, those people get mad.

And that sin shrapnel that comes from the grenade, it still happens. So here's

the thing. Hurt is often unavoidable even when churches do what God asks them

to do. There's actually two great podcasts that I'm going to recommend to you today. the first one that fits in

line with this is called What Happened at First Baptist. This is the story of

First Baptist Jacksonville, Florida, which was a ginormous legacy inspiring Baptist church back

in the day under some of the greatest pastoral leaders that had been in our denomination up to that point, right?

And man, it like went through it, you know, and they shrunk way down to the

point where it was almost like we're going to have to close our doors, you know, and since then, the Lord's brought a new leader and brought some

health and he's doing some pretty cool things there. But the podcast is called What Happened at First Baptist. and so you can see and read and listen to

about a church who tried to pursue what God was calling them to do and people still paid the price for it. But then

there's the other side of that. There's those times that hurt could have been avoided, but sinful leadership led

sinfully and people were hurt by it. , another podcast that got wildly popular

a few years ago called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. , this is about Mars

Hill Church in SE Seattle, Washington. , grew to be like just

absolutely ginormous rapidly and then pretty much overnight collapsed and

and and and actually is no more. there is no more Mars Hill Church in that city, at least not the one that was

going. And so the pastor who I won't mention by name but he he's famous

for a phrase that he said in an interview during the time that Mars Hill was growing rapidly. Basically that

there was a pile of bodies behind the Mars Hill bus and by God's grace he said

there was going to be a lot more before they were finished. Like man, come on. That's not how the church is supposed to

be. So that's when I say that like sometimes churches do what they're not supposed to do and people, you know,

experience the pain for it. That's what I'm talking about, right? but but but remember all churches exist on a

spectrum of this. They're always going to sometimes shift one way or the other. So here's what I want to say. Brothers and sisters in this room, I love y'all.

Y'all know I do, right? If you ever find a perfect church, I'm begging you, don't

go to it because you'll ruin it. Right?

The problem that leads to church hurt is the sin that's in our hearts. So now what I want to do is I want us to look

at the passage. I want to say three things pretty quickly about how we can move forward in church hurt or

really any kind of hurt. now I am levying one assumption against you at the beginning of this message. , see

the person who has the best and most hopeful path through hurt is the Christian.

Like the words of Romans 5 1-11 apply to Christians. That's who Paul wrote them

to. So if you're not a Christian, then that's okay. I you're welcome here. We love you. I want you to be around so

that you keep hearing truth and we keep pouring it into your life. , but I just want you to know that that like

some of this stuff is going to be off limits for you. Like you don't have peace with God until you're a Christian. You know, you don't have access to God

until you're a Christian, until you've decided to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. And that decision is available

to you today and every day all the time as long as you have breath in your lungs. If it's a decision that the

spirit is convicting you and stirring in your heart that you need to make, then I want to talk to you today. So don't

leave without talking to me about that. All right. Having said that, number three on your notes, there is a champion

over Christian hurt. There's a champion over Christian hurt. Here's the thing.

Your greatest potential pain, the things that you have gone through that were bad, the things that you will go through

that are worse than you can imagine, your greatest potential pain has been cured

in Christ. Because the greatest pain that any human

being can experience is separation from God. And Jesus took care of that when he

died for you and shed his blood on the cross. So you can know that as painful

as this life can be, and man, it can be painful. But as painful as it can be,

the greatest possible pain that you could experience, if friend, if you're a Christian, it's already been taken care

of. You have peace with God. Don't run

past that. That's amazing. It happens by faith. And this is why I

say what I said a moment ago that like it's true that Jesus is the champion

over Christian hurt. But here's what I need to ask you. Is he your champion?

Right? Not just generally. Jesus is the Lord. He's the Savior. But specifically,

is he your lord? Is he your savior? Does he make the decisions in your life?

Do you ask him, Lord, how do you want me to feel about this? How do you want me to move about this? What job do you want me to take? How do you want me to enter

this conversation? That's the question that we've got to ask. We've got access through Jesus into this grace in which

we stand. We talked about this in group this morning that God has really shown each and every single one of us amazing,

incredible, and unexplainable grace. There's a story in the Bible about a guy

who owes his master some ridiculous, outlandish amount of money that if he

worked for every day of his life and hit the lottery, he still would not be able to pay it back. And he goes to his

master pretty pathetically and he's like, "Just give me more time. I'll pay it back." Right? Master called the debt. Just give me more time. I'm going to pay

it back. And his master's like, you know what? And he has compassion on him. And he says, I tell you what, don't worry

about the debt. I'll take care of it. I'll eat it. Right? And this guy in in the story that Jesus tells, he goes out

and he finds somebody who owes him a large amount of money, but a reasonable one that could be paid off. And he grabs

the guy by the neck and strangles him and says, "Pay me what you owe me." And he has the guy thrown in jail. So you

can imagine the reaction when the first master finds out about like what this guy who he just forgave, you know,

however much money. You can imagine his reaction when he finds out that that guy went straight out

and and and showed a total lack of grace to the next person. Hey, here's the point of that story.

You and me are the ones who have been forgiven a great debt that we could never repay. That's what Jesus did for

us when he died and shed his blood. So the question is, can you show that

same grace to other people who hurt you? Including when it's church leaders who

let you down and fail you. When it's your pastor, when it's your group leader, when it's your accountability partner, when it's a friend in your life

who you thought was there for you, can you show them the same grace that you've been shown?

Number four on your notes is that there's a pathway.

There's a pathway that we can identify that each of us should walk down when we experience hurt and that's the course of

Christian hurt. the question I want to ask here requires you to look inside

a little bit. I I want to ask you, this may not be readily accessible to you. That's okay. I'll explain it in just a second. Do you have a Hebrews chapter 3

heart or a Romans chapter 5 heart? Okay, here's what a Hebrews chapter 3 heart

does. The Bible says that it's an evil unbelieving heart that in

its bitterness turns away from the living God.

So that's when you're like, you've experienced so much hurt that you're like, I'm done with this,

God. You might be real and you might be out there and you might even hear this prayer,

but your people are a bunch of blasted hypocrites and I'm done with them. I'm done with your church. I'm done with

your calling on my life. I don't want it anymore. I'm out.

And it may not be like spoken with quite that much gusto. You know, that takes a lot of strength to go to the Lord and

say it that way, but you feel that on your inside in your heart. you feel

that pain that has drawn you away from what God has for you and caused you to

turn your back on him. That's a Hebrews 3 heart. A Romans 5 heart is a heart

that boasts in your afflictions. What a crazy thing to say. I want to

give you permission, by the way, when you're reading your Bible. It's okay to sometimes read your Bible and be like, "That's insane.

Boast in your afflictions. Paul,

come on, man. When bad things happen to me, you want me to celebrate?

Well, here's why. Because your afflictions produce

endurance. And endurance produces proven character. And proven character produces hope that will not disappoint you

because God's love has been poured out into your heart. So, why do I want you to rejoice in your afflictions? because

afflictions are great and everybody loves pain. No, afflictions stink and nobody likes pain. You know, think of

Charles Barkley. he said, "I don't run because I'll get tired and I don't

lift weights because they're heavy." I mean, says it pretty straightforward, right? None of us love or enjoy pain.

But Paul's saying there's a greater purpose in your pain, right? that God

doesn't cause. He allows so that you will develop endurance which

will lead to proven character which will lead to hope which will lead to a life

of flourishing where you're not disappointed and you can face every trial that you go through because you know I've been here before.

God's not done with me. God's not going to abandon me. This stinks. This hurts. I don't want to go through this. But I

know that at the end of this, I'll be a more hopeful person, a more joyful person, a person who is more ready to

withstand whatever next test God has for me. Because in every affliction, he digs

your foundation a little deeper and he builds it a little stronger so that he can keep on shaping you into everything

that he has for you. God's love is poured out into our hearts

through this Holy Spirit. It's what Paul mentions at the end of verse five there. And I just want you to recognize

like or here I'll say it to me and you listen in. I have been given too many good gifts

to let the pain that I endure in my life turn my heart away from the living God.

That doesn't mean the enemy won't try because what he tries to do is get me to

focus on the pain that I go through, the hurt that people cause me, including those that are in the church.

But he has given me too many good things for me to go all the way down into that

dark hole of bitterness. And friend, if you've got the Holy Spirit in you, then

no matter how hard your life is, I promise the same is true for you.

He's given you too many good things to give up on him. So when God allows hurtful things to

happen to you, but then he calls you back into the place where the hurt even maybe first happened,

what I want you to remember is he's not asking me to do anything that

he himself has not already done. Hey, Jesus knew that he was going to be

betrayed on the night that he was. He knew that he was going to be taken into custody. He knew that in a sham trial,

he was going to be convicted. He was going to be flogged. He was going to be marched out to the hill called Goltha.

He was going to be crucified on a cross, left to die there and thrown in a grave. He knew all of those things.

But the Bible says that when his time came, he stiffened his face

to go to Jerusalem and let it all happen anyway. He's not asking you to do anything that he's not already done

himself. And he's promising you that at the end of it, there's going to be hope for you

to enjoy. , fifth and finally, despite the fact that

your sermon notes say four again, , fifth and finally is the conquering of

Christian hurt. See, here's the thing.

We, like you and me, through the Roman soldiers and the Jewish leaders who did

it at the time because of our sin, right? We hurt Jesus by nailing him to the

cross. And God used that to work the salvation of the entire world.

While we were his enemies, we were reconciled to him.

Now that we're reconciled, the Bible says that we're going to be saved all the more by him.

Conquering Christian hurt looks like asking the question,

God, what do you intend to do with this? Rather than the question, God, how could

you do this to me? I'm not saying that there won't be times where you ask that question. There will

be. And listen, I I want you to know that your heavenly father hears it and he is gracious and compassionate and

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and truth. Right? So I want you to

know that that like he hears that question. But but but as you go through

that that course toward victory over your suffering, I want you to know that

God will use your pain to do immeasurably more than all that you

thought was possible. What that requires from you is faith.

Not not a ton. Faith the size of a mustard seed, right? Trust

that even in the midst of the greatest suffering, God's right there with you.

Christian hurt is conquered by keeping your eyes on Jesus. The Bible says, "Cast your cares on him

because he cares for you." Hey, God cares about you.

He doesn't want you to experience a life of pain and

devastation. He allows those things. I mean, we got to wrestle with that, right? Because he's sovereign and he's in control and

he could stop all of it from happening. But he doesn't desire for his children

to waller in pain and suffering. No, he desires

for his children to have hope beyond and through this life that will never

disappoint them. So here's what I want to call you to today.

I want to call you to a memory and an action. Here's the memory. Jesus

is in his church, right? We talked a few weeks ago about

how like Jesus when he's talking to Peter, you know,

on this rock I will build my church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Talking about the church.

So, so you can't run away from the church forever without running away from

Jesus. Hear me really carefully here because there are seasons, right, where

you need to go and find a different church. You need to get out of a sinful

you know, experience that was going on at at said

church and you need to go be part of another one. But but but but it's important for me to say as as a pastor,

you can't run from the church without running from the one who gave his life to save it. Jesus invites you and he

calls you into the church. So that's the memory. Remember that Jesus is in the

broken church. Here's the action. Run to Jesus, not away from him.

Run to Jesus. I know that makes it sound so simple, but hey friends, sometimes it doesn't all have to be so complicated.

Like if you would carve out time in your day to run to Jesus for just a few minutes every day, do that and then get

back to me two weeks later and tell me that it didn't help. I've never had anybody who ran after

Jesus and did so with pure motives

reflect on it and say, "I wish I would not have done that." Never. Not once.

I've never heard that story. Although people have experienced incredible

depths of pain, it was always in running to Jesus that they found healing for that pain. So

that's what I want to pray over you today. That as you reckon with the pain that's

happened in your life, whether it was because of the church, and for a lot of you it may have been, or because of something else, I want to pray that in

the midst of it, you'll run to Jesus with it. Let me do that now.

Lord, I thank you for everybody who's in this room under the sound of my voice, Lord, and and and

just having heard the words from Romans chapter 5 that you wrote to us,

Lord, I pray that you would indeed just call them now in this moment to

to to to cast their cares on you, knowing that you care for them.

I pray that everybody here, Lord, will have a firm and undeniable conviction

that you love them and that you don't enjoy watching your people suffer. You

don't like it when your kids experience pain, but you know what it can produce

in them. And that's what you're after. You're after that hope that we would have that can stand the test of any

difficulty believing in what you've done and what

you're yet to do. Lord, be glorified as we respond to you this morning. And I pray it in Jesus

name. Amen.