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You either have been hurt or you will be hurt.
Chances are good that you were face to face with someone today, who was hurting.
Hurt/Trouble is something that Jesus promised we would experience in this world, but He also promised that we would have peace because of Him.
We like to avoid hurt. We like to hide hurt. God wants to heal hurt.
God heals hurt..
1. Through people
2. In His presence
3. By growing us in the hurt

Costumes 4 – Hiding Hurt

sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

Redemption Church Plano Tx

**Vid bumper HURTING
Welcome to the final week of our Costumes series. My name is Chris Fluitt. I am the lead pastor here at Redemption Church… We have been really pumped about costumes! (Introduce Robert)
This is my Halloween costume memory…
Ghost for Halloween I wanted to be a spooky ghost but I kind of just was miserable. My mom worked hard on my costume but costumes never quite turn out like you think they will as a kid. I pictured being this very scary ghost monster that would scare everyone… but instead it was hard to walk in it. I kept tripping on my costume and it kept coming a part. What I remember most was that it was very cold this Halloween night and I just wanted to go home.. There is nothing scary about this ghost..
Over the last 3 weeks you have shared your costumes. Someone shared this last week that they had a werewolf mask and that year after year they were differently dressed wolfmen. They were football playing wolfman.. a gangster wolf… a teen wolf… When they were football wolf they wore their school jersey and went trick or treating and knocked on their math teacher’s door by chance. They kept the mask on hoping not to be recognized but as they turned to leave the name on the back of the jersey gave them away… The teacher referred to them as wolf the rest of the year.
A costume is something you wear that hides your true identity.
Over the past 3 weeks we have tried to be very transparent and real..
Week 1 – We talked about our fear and why it compels us to hide. We hide, but that God seeks us out.
Week 2 – We talked about self-deception. We might not even be aware of our costume.
Last week – We talked about financial fakers and how we place more value on an image than we do the truth.
This final week I want to talk about Hiding Hurt

NFL Coach Bum Phillips said there are 2 types of coaches in the NFL. Those that have been fired.. and those that have been fired.
Today we say.. In life there are those that have been hurt… and those that are going to be hurt

When you bump into someone at the grocery store..
When you stand in the line at Starbucks..
When you are cut off in traffic..
When you share pleasantries with someone at the work watercooler..
When you are visiting family..
when you greet someone at church..

CHANCES ARE VERY GOOD THAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT SOMEONE THAT IS HURTING.. THAT IS WEARING A COSTUME TO HIDE THE HURT.

Maybe they got bad news at work and are in danger of losing their home.
Maybe someone close to them just tried to take their own life.
Maybe their child has a dangerous illness and they are devastated.
Maybe someone’s marriage is coming to an end.
Maybe a teenage girl found out she is pregnant and is scared.

These are big scary hurtful happenings… Maybe they could be on a smaller scale but still hurtful..

A Student scared that they won’t pass a class.
Someone stuck in a job they hate.
Someone hurting because of what someone said about them.

I promise you today that you know someone who is hurting. You might not realize that they are hurting…

God gives hope to hurting
God has hope for you today. You do not always have to hurt.
Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.(NIV)
Psalm 62:6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.(NIV)
Psalm 62:7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.(NIV)
Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah(NIV)
God gives hope. He gives salvation, refuge, honor, rest, and strength.. God does not wave a magic wand and make the hurt never happen… Too often this is what we ask Him to do.
God never promises that you won’t hurt. Coming to faith in Jesus Christ does not mean a hurt free life.
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(NIV)
Jesus promises that you will hurt.. He promises that in life you will run into trouble.
But everything He has told us is so we may have PEACE… In this world you will have trouble.. But even in trouble you can have peace! You can take heart because Jesus Christ has overcome the world and all its troubles.
Your hurt does not mean you are doing something wrong… Everyone is going to experience a hurt in this world broken by sin. BUT GOD GIVES HOPE!

God Heals Hurts
God intends to heal the hurt, but nowhere in Scripture does God heal a concealed hurt. He always insists that the hurt is revealed.. that the sin is confessed.. Jesus asks the broken to stretch forth their withered hand.. to expose their weakness.. to admit that they are in need.
If you want healing today you need to stop hiding behind the costume. Here are 3 ways God wants to bring healing to your hurt.

1 God uses people
Usually when we hurt we feel all alone. But watch the command given to the Church..
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.(NIV)
What if someone mourned with you? What if someone cared for you like it was their own hurt? What if someone rejoiced over your successes like it was their own wins and achievements?
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS. God uses people to bring healing. Are you bringing Healing Redemption Church?
I don’t know everything God wants to do here at Redemption Church but I know He wants us to bring healing to hurts.
2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,(NIV)
2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.(NIV)
The God of all comfort, comforts us so that we can comfort others!
It is difficult to reveal our hurt to people because it was a person that hurt us.

Maybe you were hurt in a past marriage or relationship.
Maybe a past friend hurt you.
Maybe you were hurt by a church.
Maybe you were hurt by a pastor or minister.
You trusted a person and they hurt you real bad.

God may want to heal your hurt through a person in His Church. This happens when we trust. This happens when we share at Connect Group. This happens when we listen. This happens when we mourn together and rejoice together and pray together and worship together.
Has anyone ever found healing in the body of Christ? RAISE YOUR HAND
Christ’s body literally bore all our sorrows on the cross (Isaiah 53). The Body of Christ, the Church, is supposed to bear each other’s sorrows. GOD USES PEOPLE TO HEAL HURTS!
2 Healed in His Presence
You can take your hurt into His presence.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.(NIV)Isaiah 53:5
Hebrews 13:5 ..God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.(NIV)
Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.(NIV)
Psalm 91:2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”(NIV)
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.(NIV)
Have you ever been healed in his presence? Have you ever found an answer in His presence? Have you ever found peace in His presence?

3 God grows you in the hurt
Your hurt does not mean you are doing something wrong… Everyone is going to experience a hurt in this world broken by sin. Check out Jesus’ interaction with Simon Peter.
Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.(NIV)
Wow Jesus is telling Peter of Satan’s plans. Other translations read.. SATAN DESIRES TO HAVE YOU. HE HAS PLANS TO TAKE YOU. Good thing Jesus knows about the plans of the enemies. Because Jesus knows these plans now they won’t come to pass right…? WRONG
Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”(NIV)
Jesus prays that your faith does not fail in the hurt. He doesn’t pray that you won’t have trouble.. He prays that you will come through trouble stronger.
Jesus prays that we, like Simon Peter, when we have turned back from our hurt will be able to strengthen others!
God wants you to grow.

You remember my Ghost costume? Ghost for Halloween
Do you think I could wear that costume today? What are the chances I could slip into that same costume I wore more than 30 years ago. I couldn’t wear that costume anymore… I have out grown the costume.
You may have hurts in your life… You may have labels people have placed on you… You may have a false identity that you are still trying to wear… but it doesn’t fit you anymore.
This can be tricky because although God has grown you through His word and by His Spirit your mind is still telling you to put the costume on.

The children of Israel were slaves to the Assyrians and God wanted to set them free. Here is how He set them free.
In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because (of the anointing) you have grown so fat.
This has always been a difficult verse to translate. Early translation said that the yoke was broken by the anointing. That God’s Holy Spirit would break the yoke.
The costume of slavery that the Assyrians made Israel wear.. God’s Spirit will break costume off of your life if you will surrender your life to Him today.
But looking deeper into the language reveals that the word anointing is also used to describe growth… More recent translations read that the burden.. the yoke.. the costume.. is broken you have out grown it.
God wants you to outgrow the hurt.
My Dad had a smoking addiction when he came to the Lord. God did powerful things in His life and one of those things is that my dad was set free from the addiction of cigarettes.
One day my dad was in the grocery store and he felt the enemy slightly suggest to him… “you ought to by some of those cigarettes..” The enemy was reaching into the past and trying to bring up an old costume to wear…
My dad laughed out loud and said… “Devil you are going to have to do better than that. That does not even sound good…”

What if the next time the enemy tried to reach into your past and pull out a costume… what if you had outgrown the costume?

God wants to do more than put a band-aid on your problem. He wants to give you complete victory over it. He wants to grow you in character. He wants to grow you in wisdom. He wants to grow you in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
With God’s help you can laugh in the enemy’s Face and declare IT DOES NOT FIT ANYMORE.