Scars | Part 2: Scar Stories

It's a little bit of a heavy word But I just I felt so oddly directed as I prepared this week that there were just gonna be people not only here But watching online that are just dealing with some heavy stuff And so I'm praying for you today that God would speak to you that the Spirit of God would do only what the Spirit of God Can do in and through your life and that you would just open up your heart in your mind and be receptive to the healing power Of the Holy Spirit in fact, can we pray and we're gonna jump into the word of the Lord this morning father? I Don't know Who's in this room I? Don't know Who's watching online and what they're wrestling with and struggling with I? Don't know how the enemy is attacked them. I don't know how their own mind has betrayed them I don't know how the circumstances and situations of life have beat them down But you do and you care You love your people and I pray, oh father by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the word of the Lord today that you would bring healing and hope and Help and that we would be open and receptive to your work in our life and that when we Experience the healing of the Holy Spirit that we would take that and not just keep it for ourselves But that at the end of this message as we'll learn that we would turn and use the healing and the hope that you have given us To help someone with healing and hope for themselves I thank you for the opportunity to gather with my brothers and sisters and for the word of the Lord today and for the Spirit of God That animates the word of the Lord Less of me more of you right now in Jesus name we pray Amen, amen again. We're finishing up our series that we started last week and if you were Here you'll remember that we talked about all of us have physical scars on our bodies We all do in some form or fashion some of us have more than others But what we learned is that all of the scars that we have

Tell a story they really really do they tell a story each one of us that with scars They possess their own unique circumstances and it is amazing to me that I could ask you about any one of your physical scars And immediately you could tell me every detail about what happened you could tell me where you were You could tell me the circumstances that surrounded it You could tell me exactly how you felt in the moment and I could too because pain causes things to stick like nothing else Pain causes things to imprint on our souls like nothing else But what we learned last week is the truth is it's not the physical scars that affect us the most in life It's not the ones that we see on our bodies It's the ones that we hold in our hearts It's the ones that have affected our souls It's the moments of betrayal when we thought the people that loved us the most would never take advantage of us and did The moments of crushed trust where we thought we could trust people forever and we found out we couldn't Moments of tragedy or moments of loss Premature loss that we wondered how could this ever happen to somebody like me and to our family These are the ones that have more to do with who we are and what we have become Than anything else and one of the things that we learned from Peter's story last week and if you are here I cannot encourage you enough to go back and listen to it because we dealt with a very particular scar that Unites I think all of us more than any other the scar of failure those moments of moral failures or personal failures Or spiritual failures that caused us to want to give up and roll over and we learned this from Peter's life But one of the things that we discovered was that Jesus took his scars on the cross so that he could heal us from our scars Now I don't want you to skip over that too quickly because I want you to think about this with me for a moment what I just said Jesus has scars Not Jesus had scars and then when he came out of the tomb on that third day with his resurrected body his glorified body He was completely whole and completely healed. He came out of the grave with his resurrected body with his scars intact Jesus was crucified He was buried in a borrowed tomb and then he rose on the third day and then appeared to hundreds and hundreds of people The Bible says over a 40-day period when he came out of the grave and in one of those appearances Maybe you remember this in the Bible

He shows up in a room where some of his disciples were meeting and they were discussing what had happened and transpired and some of them were saying I've heard that he's alive. I've heard that he's resurrected I've heard that he's he's he's back from the dead and there were some of them that were saying that that's they can't be so and One of them was a guy by the name of time doubting Thomas. He said it's not true. There's no way. It can be true. I saw him die. I saw him die. I saw him take his last breath. I saw him take his body off the cross. I watched them put him in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. And the Bible says that while they are discussing this among themselves, is what the Bible says, that Jesus walks through the wall, Jedi Jesus, okay? He could do that kind of stuff. Look, if you can overcome death, walls ain't no problem for you. All right? So he just walks through the wall and they're all looking at him and he looks straight at Thomas and he said, all right, bud, come and take your fingers and put them in the holes in my hands. Come and take your fist and thrust it in the wound in my side. And of course, Thomas didn't need to do that. But the point was even after his resurrection, even after his glorified body was brought back to life through the supernatural, death-defying power of the Holy Spirit, his scars remained. In fact, there is an Old Testament prophecy that points to a future time when all has been said and done. Time is no more. God has gathered all of his people together. It's found in Zachariah chapter 13 and verse 6. And it says that there will be some that will inquire of Jesus even in the new heaven and in the new earth. What are these wounds in your body? And he will reply, "These are the wounds that I received in the house of my friends." Even in new heaven and new earth, his scars remain. They are with him forever. In fact, think about this. The only man-made thing in heaven are the scars of Jesus. The only man-made thing in heaven are the scars of Jesus. But the question is, why? Why? I mean, he's God. And surely, if he's powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, then certainly he has enough power to heal every wound and scar in his body and make his body perfect and without blemish. Why leave the scars? Even after the cross is finished, the mission is accomplished and the price is paid. Why leave the scars? Because scars tell stories. Because scars send messages. Because scars have purpose. Because scars possess hidden power. In fact, I'm going to show you today that God uses scars to tell some of his greatest stories. He uses the scars of Jesus. He uses your scars. He uses my scars to sell some of his greatest stories. So here's what I want to do today for this unique message. I want to talk about his scars.

I want to talk about your scars and my scars. I want to talk about the scars of Jesus and the two things they revealed to us about our God. And then I want to tell you two things about your scars that we must never forget that we need to be constantly reminded of. Here we go. The scars of Jesus revealed two things to us about God. The first thing that it reveals is that our God truly cares about our suffering. See, he didn't have to do it, y'all. He didn't have to do it. He was, he's God. He could have just said, these are defective. And I'm just going to eliminate this one, this group, and I'm going to start with a better group, a more obedient group, a more intelligent group. One that actually does love me and that can do what I've asked them to do. I mean, why? Why go through all of the pain? Think about it. Why go through all of the suffering and struggle to send your one and only son who is innocent and sinless and then watch him go through the most horrible atrocities at the hand of his own creation. Why would you do it? Well, I don't have a full explanation because that's so far out of my pay grade. The only thing I can tell you is what the Bible said. The Bible constantly speaks to his unfailing mercy, that he's merciful. He's merciful. He's merciful because his love for us is beyond anything that we could ever fully explain or ever fully comprehend. When he saw you and I without hope, when he saw you and I without help, he could not turn away, walk off, or leave us hopeless and by ourselves. So he came to suffer with us and he came to suffer for us. Now, I can't explain it. I'm just telling you it's what it happened. It's just what he did. The Bible says, in fact, in Hebrews, that Jesus, our high priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our struggles. On the contrary, he was tempted in every way that we are, yet he triumphed and remained sinless. God feels what we feel according to this. God understands our difficult moments according to this. And not only does he understand it, he really cares. I want you to hear this. God being God in your life is not merely him delivering you out of your pain. He never promised to do that every time. It's him experiencing that pain with you. It's knowing that when you are in your difficult moments, tragic moments and painful moments that you are not alone, he is in it with you. What He promised was is that He would be with us in it and His grace would be sufficient to carry you through. I can show it to you all over the Bible. God didn't keep Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego out of the furnace. The Bible says He got in the fire with him and when Nebuchadnezzar looked in, He said, didn't we throw three in there? I see four in there and the fourth is like the Son of God. He didn't keep them from the furnace. He spared them from the fire. He didn't keep Daniel out of

the lion's den. He got in the lion's den with him and shut them out of the lion so that they didn't devour him all night long. He didn't keep his disciples out of the storm. He was in the boat with him in the middle of the hurricane and simply stood up and spoke to the winds in the waves. There's going to be moments in your life. It's going to feel like it's crashing all around you. It's going to feel like it's closing in. It's going to feel like this is it. This is how it ends. This is what it's like. And in that moment, you must understand His grace is sufficient and that you are not alone. He never promised to keep you out of the furnace. He promised to spare you from the fire to keep you through whatever it is that you're struggling with. His scars tell us I'm with you. His scars tell us I'm not leaving you alone. His scars tell us I know sin has overcome you but I have not left you to be a slave to sin. I am with you and I am for you and that I care and that He will never leave us nor forsake us but go with us all the way to the end of the age. Sometimes in life, dude, I've been there, bro. It feels like nobody understands me. Or worse, it feels like nobody cares. Difficult moments can make us feel isolated and alone. But the scars of Christ remind us, no, no, no. We have a God who does understand. We have a God who does share our pain. We have a God who is not an absent father or abandons his children. I love lamentations. Great is his faithfulness. Not good. No, man. That's not a good enough superlative. Great is his faithfulness. His mercies are fresh and new every morning. I love this for no one. Everybody shout no one. That's you. No one. Nobody watching online. Nobody in this room. Nobody in any correctional facility. No one is abandoned by the Lord forever. No one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Let me tell you something. You know this. In this life, people are people and they're fickle. And even some of the closest and dearest people to you will drop the ball. They'll let you down. They'll hurt you. They'll betray you. Sometimes they'll wound you deeply. In fact, you can't be wounded deeply by somebody you don't love deeply. You're only wounded deeply by the people that you love and trusted, but they're people. But God said, "I'm not like the people around you in your life. My ways are different. My ways are above their ways. People may drop the ball, but the story of the scars of Jesus is one of faithfulness and commitment." Great is his faithfulness to you. Let me tell you a second message to the scars of Jesus' sin. The second message says that he conquered all of our sin. And we can rely on that and trust in that. Let me show you a scripture in Isaiah chapter 53. I love so much. It was a prophetic word, 750 years before the birth of Jesus, but it was speaking directly to the Messiah

and what he would say and what he would do on the cross. He said it was our weaknesses that he carried. Bro, it was our sorrows that weighed him down. It was not punishment for his own sins because he didn't sin. He was pierced for our rebellion. He was crushed for my sins. He was beaten so that we could be whole. He was whipped so that we could be healed. Dude, his scars are proof that all of those things that once bound us and controlled us and made us slaves to sin have been defeated and conquered by the power of Christ. One of the reasons that he kept his scars is so that we would forever be reminded that sin no longer has a hold on me. That sin no longer has power over me. That you and I are free if we are in Christ and he is mighty to save. Romans 8 and 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who being saved by the law of spirit are free from the law of sin and death. You got to know this. That sin has no more power on your life. If you're here and thinking, bro, you, you, that sounds good, man. But you don't know me, dude. You don't know me. Maybe you're watching online by running correction because you don't know what I've done to get here. You don't know what put me here. I don't know if Jesus can do it. Let me go ahead and help you out just a little bit. Go back to the Bible. You're going to find out that Jesus already saved a serial killing mass murderer who targeted only Christians. His name was Paul and then because he had conquered his sin so thoroughly, he confiscated his life and used him to write 13 epistles in the New Testament in this room. For God's sake, I hope not. I hold not. Whatever your sin resume is, it ain't nothing compared to the Apostle Paul. So if he can say Paul, saving somebody like you as a cakewalk, delivering you from whatever you did is nothing. He's got you covered. In fact, when the enemy tries to remind you of and show you your sin, all you got to do is show him Jesus as scars. When he tries to remind you of your sin, you show him the scars of Jesus and say, "Bro, they're paid, not because I'm powerful or I'm good, but because he was and he paid for it once and for all. And I am free."

His scars say sin lost. And because of Jesus, we're free. When he got up that third day, he fully and finally defeated death hell in the grave. And because Jesus won, we win. And when he looks at you, God doesn't no longer see you as you are. This is a crazy doctrine, but it's so powerful. He sees you as Jesus is. He doesn't see your sin, your shame, or your pain. He sees the blood of Jesus that has covered you and he calls you son and he calls you daughter, unbelievable, but it's true because of what Jesus did on the cross. My scars tell us he conquered our sin and that he understands and cares about our suffering. Now let me tell you a little bit about your scars and my scars. They tell us two things that we must never forget. Let me tell you the first one. The first thing our scars tell us is because of God's great faithfulness that we just talked about. We are indeed survivors. We lived. We came through it. We made it, dude. The presence of a scar is a reminder that we have experienced indeed a traumatic event, but it didn't get us. It didn't take us out. It could have, but it didn't. We still hear. We still breathing. We still swinging. We survived it. It could have taken us out. We could have lost everything, but we didn't.

We're still standing because of the grace of God. Oh, we may be missing a little skin. We may be missing a limb or missing a piece of our heart. Our emotions may be rocked a bit, but we're still here standing and we learn what it means to walk by faith. We learn what it means to truly trust God. See, you don't realize and don't really understand that God's all you need until God's all you got. And then when God's all you got, you discover in that moment what I could never preach into you. Oh, yeah. He is enough. He is enough. He is enough. I don't need anything. This is why Psalm 23 is so powerful. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need. He's not saying this is not a statement of provision. It's a statement of sustainability. He's not saying because the Lord is my shepherd, whenever anything is deficient in my life, he's going to provide it. That's true and wonderful. And I thank God for that. But what David was saying is because the Lord is my shepherd, I'm all good. I got everything that I need. He's the bread of life and that river of living water. And if I don't get anything else, I'm good, baby. I'm good. I got everything I need.

I got him and I found out that if I got him, I got it all. If I got him, I got it all. What he promised was himself. Jesus is the reward. Christ is the reward. He is the treasure. He is enough. And when we come through some things, I've learned in my own life, man. There are just some lessons that I have learned, that I have grown through, that nothing else has taught me but my scars. It's just true, man. Pleasure doesn't provide the same teaching moment as pain. I heard Mark Twain said this one time, he said, "If a cat sits on a hot stove, not only will he not sit on a hot stove again, he won't sit on any stove again. He ain't going to take the chance." That's what pain does. Pain's his old, yeah. And see there is a way that seems right into a man, but the other of us is the way of death. That's what sin does to our lives, what pain does in our life. We realize through our scars that God kept us through it, that he was with us even when we didn't know it, and even when we didn't feel him there, he was there. I want to show you something in a second, but let me tell you what I've learned. Survivors always have a deeper appreciation for things than people who have never been through anything. I'm going to say it again. Survivors always have a deeper appreciation for things than people who have never been through anything. Because of their experience, they simply see things differently. Their reality becomes reframed through the traumatic events that could have and maybe should have taken them out, and they live different because

and I remember watching a TED talk years ago from a gentleman who had a very unique seat on the plane that was sully in the miracle of the Hudson. I wanted to show this to you. I want you to listen for just a second. I'm going to pull out something really important, but I want you to watch this about survivors. Imagine a big explosion as you climb through 3,000 feet. Imagine a plane full of smoke. Imagine an engine going, "Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack." Sounds scary. Why had a unique seat that day? I was sitting in 1D. I was the only one who could talk to the flight attendants. So I looked at them right away and they said no problem. We probably hit some birds. The pilot had already turned the plane around and we weren't that far. You could see Manhattan. Two minutes later, three things happened at the same time. The pilot lines up the plane with the Hudson River. It's usually not the route. He turns off the engines. Now imagine being on a plane with no sound. And then he says three words. Unemotional three words have I ever heard. He says, "Brace for impact." I didn't have to talk to the flight attendant anymore. I could see in her eyes it was terror. Life was over. I want to share with you three things I learned about myself that day. I learned that it all changes in an instant. We have this bucket list. We have these things we want to do in life. And I thought about all the people I wanted to reach out that I didn't. All the fences I wanted to mend. All the experiences I wanted to have and I never did. As I thought about that, later on I came up with the same which is I collect bat wines. Because if the wine is ready and the person is there, I'm opening it. I no longer want to postpone anything in life. In that urgency, that purpose has really changed my life. The second thing I learned that day, and this is as we clear the George Washington Bridge, which was by not a lot. I thought about, wow, I really feel one real regret. I've lived a good life. In my own humanity and mistakes, I've tried to get better at everything I tried. But in my humanity, I also allow my ego to get in. And I regret at the time I wasted in things that did not matter with people that matter. And I thought about my relationship with my wife, with my friends, with people. And after as I reflected on that, I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. It's not perfect. It's a lot better. I've not had a fight with my wife in two years. It feels great. I no longer trying to be right. I choose to be happy. The third thing I learned, and this is as your mental clock starts going

15, 14, 13. You can see the water coming. I'm saying, please blow up. I don't want this thing to break in 20 pieces like you've seen in those documentaries. And as we're coming down, I had a sense of, wow, dying is not scary. It's almost like we've been preparing for our whole lives. But it was very sad. I didn't want to go. I love my life. And that sadness really framed in one thought, which is, I only wish for one thing. I only wish I could see my kids grow up. About a month later, I was in a performance by my daughter, first grader, not much artistic talent, yet. And I'm bawling. I'm crying like a little kid. And it made all the sense in the world to me. I realized, at that point, by connecting those two dots, that the only thing that matters in my life is being a great dad. Above all, above all, the only goal I have in life is to be a good dad. I was given the gift of a miracle of not dying that day. I was given another gift, which was to be able to see into the future and come back and live differently. I challenge you guys that are flying today. Imagine the same thing happens on your plane, and please don't. But imagine, and how would you change? What would you get done that you're waiting to get done because you think you could be here forever? How would you change your relationships and the negative energy in them? And more than anything, are you being the best parent you can? Thank you. Was this line I was given a miracle a miracle to see into the future and come through some things and you have some scars. That's what happens when you survive. You should see things differently. Let me say it this way to frame it. Your scars become a telescope to see things that you could have never seen without them. Your scars become a telescope. You're able to peer out into the future because of what you came through and hopefully live life different. So let me just ask you something. What is it that God is trying to show you through your scars that maybe you haven't seen yet? What is it that God is trying to change in you? Who is it you need to forgive? Who is it you need to reconcile with? Who is it you need to let it go? You've been holding it, you've been harboring it and you've told yourself I'm over it but you know you're not. Who is it that you need to forgive because of Christ and how He has forgiven you? The Bible says if we have freely received mercy then we are obligated to freely give mercy to those who don't even deserve it in our lives. Who do you need to reach out to man? What do you need to do differently to make life count because of the survivability that God has given you because of your scar? You've been given a miracle through your scar to see you into the future and hopefully

live different. Let me give you the second thing the scars do because of God's healing power. What He says is I didn't heal you, save you or deliver you just because I love you. Now He does. He does love us. I've already cleared that. He already cares about us but there is a bigger purpose behind our scars. There's a bigger reason why the healing power of God comes into our life. The Bible teaches us that we are to be encouragers, that our scars become trophies of the grace of God that He uses to point others to His great mercy and love. Let me show it to you for a second Corinthians 1. All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all of our comfort. He comforts us in all of our troubles so that we can comfort others. When we are troubled when we will be able to then give them the same comfort that God has given to us. God healed you and me, God spared you and me, God kept you and me but it wasn't just about you or me. There were more people that God wants to use your story to reveal His glory. He wants to use your story to reveal His glory. God uses the broken canvases of our insecurities, our pain, our heartache to paint some of His most meaningful masterpieces in this world. See it's not the pretty places in our lives that really testify to the greatness of our God. It is the broken places that He has pieced back together by His grace. It's the wounds that He has healed and covered in His love. It's the ugly moments that could have derailed our lives forever but didn't. This is the power of the church. See the church is not the place where perfect people gathered together to celebrate our perfection with pride. It's a place where broken people who have been delivered and set free by God come together to give Him all of the glory, honor, and praise in the backdrop of our brokenness. It's the place we come and go, "Yeah, I was jacked up, but God." That's why when we worship, man, you can't just stand there. You can't just act like He ain't done nothing for you. Now I know everybody's different. I'm not saying you've got to be like me. I'm full contact worship over there. I will knock your head off if you're next to me on accident in Jesus' name. People know that. They avoid me. But you don't understand. See, I know where I should be today and that church should be on this stage. I should be watching from one of those facilities. The third time I went before the same judge, my dad was sitting next to me and my older brother was to my left. And Judge Collins says, "I know your daddy pastors here and I know he's trying to do good work in the community, but I'm telling you right now. I don't care who your daddy is. I see you again, you're going." And I was still so stupid it didn't affect me. And if it wasn't

for the grace of God, I'm not trying to be dramatic. I'm just telling you, dude, see, I can't stay over there and act like He ain't done nothing. I got scars, and I know where I started. ethmuch." Bro, I love him much. And you can't just stand there, dude. When we talk about the goodness of God, when we sing about the greatness of God, when we sing about the love of God, bro, it's gotta, it should do something to you. If you've been through anything, it should do something to you. And then we use that as an encouragement for other people to say, "Look at my scar. Here's what he did for me. And if he did it for me, I can promise you he'll do it for you." This is what Secretia is the same, that we stand on our scar and point to it and say, "He don't love me any more than he loves you. He don't love anyone more than he loves us. And if he healed me, he's gonna heal you. Our scars become the gallery of God's grace on display for all the world to see. He uses our broken places in life to tell some of his greatest stories." And so here's the question I want you to wrestle with. What's your story, man? What has God healed you from? What is that thing that has marked your life and scarred you in some way? And what if every one of us in this room, instead of trying to always hide it and cover it or being shamed of it, left here and decided, "God, if you open a door, I'll share it with somebody who needs it." What were you able to see God may have already placed in your life with people that need to see your scar? Let me tell you what I've learned in 32 years of leading, and I'm only in with this. I've learned that people will see your successes, and they'll celebrate your successes, but people always connect with your scars. They'll celebrate your successes and your triumphs, but they don't always connect with that. What they connect with is your pain. What they connect with are your scars. What they connect with is where you were, what you came through and what God did, and you'll never know what an encouragement it is to them to know. And what will happen is, is that when you share it even with people that don't know Jesus, when they get in those dark, difficult places of life, they will come a moment that they will look up, and they'll look to Jesus because of what you said and what you did. And they may too find the hope that only He can give, because you were courageous enough to share your testimony and your witness of the unfailing mercy and the grace of God. (gentle music)