Clear the debt

1. INTRO — Heart Rehab — CLEAR THE DEBT

make everyone move from their seats

Month of February — want to talk about love, warmth in your heart, relationships but we are focusing on REHAB.

When you hear rehab — you may think of physical therapy, like in the movies when someone has an accident and they have to go through some awkward exercises and that trainer saying “you can do it!— you’ll thank me later.

or you may think of alcohol rehab —”Hi my name is David and i’m an alcoholic” where its just an awkward thing to be a part of.

But what if I told you some of us in here need to check in to Rehab? — you are walking around damaged, hurt — and maybe don’t realize?

Not medically or physically — emotionally and spiritually

Maybe life has hit you hard — and instead of putting a cast (medical cast) allowing proper healing, you just keep going through life.

If you didn’t know, you have to WILLINGLY check into rehab — your parents cant force you, your friends cant force you. If someone needs to go to rehab, it has to be by your own personal will — you have to want it in order for it to work.

If you are forced into rehab— you won’t accept, you’ll reject the help, you’ll reject the advice.

So its possible for you to sit through this whole month and reject every word that is spoken.

Have an open heart — mind, be willing to go through the process of rehab and be transformed.

PRAYER — soften our hearts, remove distractions that may keep us from receiving, remove pride that may stop us from being honest, strengthen us during this series, that we don’t stay stuck in the hurt but we are able to forgive those who have hurt us just as you have forgiven us

Transition to sermon: This series isn’t about pretending you weren’t hurt, its about letting God rehab what was damaged.

“WELCOME TO HEART REHAB” you have been checked in

“TELL PERSON NEXT TO YOU — MY NAME IS… AND IM HURT.

1. Step 1 — ADMIT THE INJURY

Everyone gets hurt, no one gets hurt on purpose. I’ve never met someone who is just down to break their leg just because! And if you know someone like that, probably shouldn’t be friends with them.

but the truth is EVERYONE gets hurt at some point in their lives! But not everyone heals correctly.

Im not sure why but hispanic moms swear that everything gets fixed by “caldito de pollo” you get a little cough — boom, you get allergies, you break your leg, it doesn’t have anything to do with that but that’s the remedy to everything!!

and you can mask the pain and still have underlying problems, it is possible for us to act “fine” because we don’t want to appear weak, we don’t want others to know, you don’t want to give the satisfaction to the one who hurt you — but being hurt doesn’t mean you are weak — it means you are human.

but if you don’t acknowledge the pain and learn to heal — you carry that into other areas of your life, you think you are being strong but in reality you are setting yourself up for more pain and this time it will hurt deeper

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so I want us to take a moment and close our eyes — think of the person that has hurt you, the friend who betrayed you — talked behind your back. the one who exposed your business to others, tthe one who embarrassed you, the one who rejected you, the one who hurt you so deeply.

“I believe you” “I believe your pain” — I know it hurts, I know you didn’t deserve to be hurt that way.

Some have found the courage to open up to others, and they didn’t believe you. It hurt you more, caused you to close off more.

but sometimes we need to hear those words — someone that won’t invalidate your feelings.

Step 1: Admitting the injury — if you are human, you will get hurt

2. Hurt people act different

When you get hurt by the ones closest to you — you no longer want to let anyone in to that level.

you become very defensive, stop trusting people, doubting motives, you find it hard to love, every time a person comes around you shut them out right away.

you begin living in a fight or flight mode — you don’t have peace when others come around.

Truth is — you carry that same fight or flight response into your relationship with God!

you find it hard to believe that He can love you — that He cares for you! You have a hard time opening up to him!

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

Psalm 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”

Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.””

God cares for you!

He notices your pain — His heart breaks when his children suffer. But like a real Father, he is ready to receive his children even in moments of pain.

but since some of us have been hurt by our own parents — we find it hard to believe he wants us

Don’t allow The same pain you carry — can bleed into your relationship with God

3. It hurts before it gets better — uncomfortable healing

Just like rehab — the first exercises don’t feel helpful at first

they hurt, feel uncomfortable, make you want to quit — but they are necessary for the healing to begin.

Bring it to God — before you tell others, before you write it down in your journal, before you sit and cry yourself to sleep. Bring it to God — he can handle your real emotions, HAVE A MOMENT WHERE YOU GET ON YOUR KNEES AND POUR OUT EVERYTHING TO HIM

Psalm 62:8 “O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.’

God is the safest place for real feelings. Pray to him in the realest way you can, it’s not a moment for you to use your prayer voice — or to act like everything is okay, it’s a moment to be transparent, be real, and allowing him to be your place of refuge.

2. Let God heal the heart — not harden it.

a. When you get hurt, something happens inside of you — you get defensive, stop trusting, build walls and it seems like the right thing to do — but that protection can become into bitterness.

b. Walls keep pain out — but also keep love out.

c. A healed heart — “I’m cautious but still open” “what happened to me hurt, but it won’t control me” “ I can love again without losing myself.”

A healed heart allows transformation to begin

You can bring it to God but still harden your heart, but the truth is — you don’t need a harder heart — you need a healthier one.

Passion of the Christ video minute 1-3

4. The Final Exercise Everyone Avoids

After he was rejected and almost pushed off a cliff by his own people in the town he grew up intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.”

After he was mocked and found guilty while being innocent.

After Jesus was betrayed by Judas — one of his closest friends

After being denied by Peter — another close friend

After public humiliation,

After he was Abused and physically beat to the point that his body didn’t look human

after being hung on a cross

Some of Jesus’ final words —

Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”

Jesus prayed for the ones who tortured him, the ones who beat him unfairly, the ones that mocked them.

He doesn’t pray this after he was rescued, after people apologized, after the pain ended.

He prayed this in the most difficult moment of his life, hanging on the cross.

He easily could’ve avoided the whole prayer and left to heaven — but He chose to forgive in the final moments.

but his prayer is so powerful — “forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”

it’s not a prayer of forgiving for what they did — it’s a continual prayer of forgiveness — He knew, if they had more time to torture him, they would’ve. If they had more time to mock him, they would’ve.

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Jesus isn’t asking you to be best friends again, or to forget what happened, or act like it was normal behavior, or stay in unsafe situations.

He is inviting you to release the grip that pain has over your heart, trust God with justice, choose healing over bitterness.

Altar call —

Right now, some of you are carrying pain that you weren’t meant to carry this long

something that may have happened when you were a kid, a year ago, or last week.

You carry the weight of a name that still hurts, a moment in your life thats on replay, a betrayal you don’t talk about.

Tonight — God isn’t asking you to explain it, he is asking you to lay it down.

and you want God to begin the healing process in your life, it begins with you releasing the pain, releasing the person.

accept Jesus as Lord and Savior — After seeing the video, you know that Jesus was beat down, hung on that cross for YOUR sins, not his. He died on the cross to save you and made a way to the Father.

Letting go of hurt —taking first steps towards forgvineness