Great Hope Christian Fellowship​
  • New Direction
  • Updates/Reports
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission | Purpose | Vision
    • What We Believe
    • Membership
    • Board of Directors
    • Contact Us
  • Know Jesus?
  • Good News
  • Sermons
  • Online Giving

Responding to Hurt - With Forgiveness (by Assoc. Pastor Linda Pugsley

4/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
John 8:36: "For him who the Son sets free is free indeed."

We all love that scripture but are YOU free? Are you bound up with anger, bitterness, unforgiveness and the like…that’s not freedom, Sugar Pie, that’s for sure!
 
Here’s a little exercise for you before we start our sharing today:
  • Write down the name of someone who has hurt you. (DON’T SHOW TO ANYONE!)

  • Write down what they did to hurt you (DON’T SHOW ANYONE!)
  • Keep the paper hidden until later

Forgiveness is a strength, not a weakness. It’s the ability to remove the hurt and keep the person. In the original Greek, forgiveness means a suspension of a just penalty; to release, unconditional favor. Hard to do but it can be done.
​
There are four stages of forgiveness, as we have taught on before. In review:
  1. Hurting
  2. Hating
  3. Healing
  4. Coming together

Hurting:
  • Happens first
  • It’s part of the process
  • Just don’t stay there
  • It’s a big sign that forgiveness is needed

Hating:
  • This almost always follows the hurt, even if momentary
  • You can’t shake the memory and you want that person to suffer like you are
  • You often think of things in your mind to say to them
  • Don’t stay here either!

Healing:
  • You somehow start to see the person in a new light
  • You get a revelation of their hurts/problems etc.
  • Or you just get tired of hating
  • Your memory starts to heal
  • You can turn back the pain and are free again
  • It doesn’t mean the other person is not guilty…it just means that YOU don’t carry it around anymore.

Coming Together:
  • Where possible, you invite the person back into your life
  • If they come back honestly, you can often move to a new and healed relationship
  • Sometimes though, THEY DON’T COME BACK, and you have to be healed alone
  • But, if you let it, you will be healed in due time
  • Read Colossians 3:12-14 again

Need to be clear on something though…forgiveness is NOT excuse, pardon or condoning the action. Rather, it considers everything…the act, the offense, the penalty and the future relationship. Then you give up your right to punish them. Just like God did for YOU. Leave that punishment to God and eternity to figure it out.

Forgiveness is strength…you don’t hold a grudge; you can still work with people who’ve been unkind to you and you’re willing to clear the record. Remember, forgiveness is removing the hurt and keeping the person.

Toby Mac, the singer, once said, “If you never heal from what hurt you, you’ll bleed on people who didn’t cut you!”

Now…take your papers out that you completed in the beginning. Time to choose…
  • Put an “X” on the person’s name
  • Or scratch out the hurt you wrote down and leave the person listed

YOUR CHOICE…MAKE A GOOD ONE!!

NOW GO LIVE IT!

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Enter your email address to subscribe to Sermons:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Archives

    September 2021
    August 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011


    RSS Feed

©2011-2022, Great Hope Christian Fellowship, All Rights Reserved | P.O. Box 82609, Tampa, FL, 33682-2609   Phone: ​(813) 244-0897
  • New Direction
  • Updates/Reports
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission | Purpose | Vision
    • What We Believe
    • Membership
    • Board of Directors
    • Contact Us
  • Know Jesus?
  • Good News
  • Sermons
  • Online Giving