We've all been hurt.
We all carry scars.
We can all overcome these things and be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let's build that relationship together right here.
Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the sanctuary.
So good to have you with us as always.
And for those of you who are joining us for the first time, welcome.
So quick question here.
Have you ever been gaslit or falsely accused of something?
Sure you have.
We all have at one point or another.
And that's what we're going to be talking about today.
See, we all have stories of those times.
Frustrating, right?
And often they don't really have a good ending, do they?
They just end and then you move along.
Years ago I worked at a place where I repeatedly was having an issue with someone just not
doing their job.
I tried talking to them about it.
It went nowhere.
So of course the next logical step for most jobs is you go up to that next level, which
usually means going to a manager or a supervisor, right?
So I went to mine and I told them, hey, this is what's going on.
It's making it really hard.
It's really frustrating because not only am I having to do my job, but I'm having to do
theirs and it's impacting other people as well.
And I told them, you know, we need to get this resolved.
So the supervisor I was talking to said, okay, I'll take care of it.
The next thing I know, I'm being called into a meeting with that person I was having an
issue with, with the supervisor I'd gone to and another supervisor from another area that
we also happen to work with fairly regularly.
And the person that I had issues with them not doing their job, they're sitting there
in a chair pouring on these alligator tears, spinning out this story about how bad their
personal life is at this moment, you know, and then on top of it that they're hurt because
allegedly I was talking behind their back.
So finally I'm given the floor and I attempt to set the record straight.
The supervisor I'd gone to for help pretended that I hadn't spoken to them about the issue
and that this was the first time that they had heard any of this.
Well, as it turned out, they were really close friends with the employee that I was struggling
with and trying to protect their friend and in doing so made me to look like the bad guy.
Needless to say, the issues weren't resolved.
It was really frustrating to the point of anger where I was even sitting there thinking
do I really need this job?
We've all been there.
We all have those stories.
And in this case, I learned really quickly who I could and who I couldn't trust.
It makes life just a little bit harder when you're trying to do a good job.
Now that's just one incident.
After everything was said and done, I'm sure we could all agree it wasn't the end of the
world, right?
Nothing to lose sleep over.
Now those of you with your Bible, those of you following along with the app, those of
you taking notes, turn with me now real quick.
We're going to take a look here at 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 7.
So that's 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 7 and the Bible says, but understand this,
that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of
self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous,
reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having
the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
Good such people, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak
women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never
able to arrive at a knowledge of truth.
Now, in my case that I just shared with you, and as for most of us, while the situations
we find ourselves in are frustrating, after everything is said and done, they're really
not that bad, are they?
Again, nothing to lose sleep over.
However, for some people it is much worse and has been life altering, if not life ending.
I want to share a story with you about another man today and give you an example of what
we're seeing more and more of.
So earlier this year there was a new story, some of you may have seen this, it's pretty
big.
I'd venture to say it was huge, however it still fell to the wayside most places.
Why?
Because, well, it wasn't juicy enough for some people to stir the pot with.
Surprisingly.
So in 1983 Maurice Hastings was accused, arrested, charged, tried and convicted of murder.
He narrowly avoided the death penalty and instead was sentenced to life without the
possibility of parole.
The problem here was that he was in fact innocent.
He had not done anything wrong.
Something he said repeatedly over decades of incarceration.
Decades.
Now after decades of fighting this wrongful sentence, new evidence came up.
DNA.
DNA that was found at the scene of the crime was finally tested and was a match for an
entirely different person who was convicted of other crimes and had died in prison back
in 2020.
A DNA test that had been requested repeatedly for roughly 20 years.
20 years!
And after 38 years of wrongful imprisonment, that's right 38 nearly 40 years, Maurice Hastings
was exonerated and freed.
He missed out on so, so many things.
Things a lot of us take for granted.
Like having a job.
Even with the frustrations that come.
Being able to spend time with friends.
Enjoying time with family.
With family!
And so, so much more.
Instead he was met with rejection.
He was met with lost friends.
Is met with separation from family and loved ones.
That he was given suffering, torment and injustice for more than half of his life.
Turn with me now to Isaiah 53.
We're going to look at verses 1 through 6.
So Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 6.
The Bible says, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.
Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hid their faces, he was despised.
And we held him in low esteem.
Slowly he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken
by him and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our inequities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him.
And by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the inequity of us
all.
Now in the case I just shared with you, Maurice Hastings suffered greatly.
Greater than most of us can or will ever imagine.
He did not deserve what happened to him.
Yet he paid the price just the same.
And you know who knows what that's like all too well?
Well I just read about him.
Jesus.
Jesus who lived a sinless life and did great things for mankind.
He was rejected by those same people.
He was rejected by mankind.
He was mocked, ridiculed.
He knew pain and he knew suffering long before the mockery of the trial he had to go through.
The sentencing that followed.
Unlike Mr. Hastings, he did receive the death penalty.
While Mr. Hastings did eventually get out of jail, Jesus went all the way to Golgotha.
The skull.
Or as many of us know it, Calvary.
Where he was nailed to the cross and died a horrible, painful, torturous death for the
sins of us all.
For all the sin that had been committed and all the sin to come from mankind.
Now he could have fought to clear his name.
It wouldn't have been that hard, right?
But he didn't do it.
Instead he was obedient to God's will and he accepted the death sentence and its execution
for every single one of us.
First John 410 the Bible says, and this is love.
Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for
our sins.
And that's where we saw it when Jesus took the cross for our sin.
Now let's turn to Matthew chapter 5.
We're going to look at verses 38 through 40.
In Matthew chapter 5 verses 38 through 40, Jesus tells us, you have heard that it was
said eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person.
If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
And taking the cross, he shows the ultimate example of this and the ultimate example of
what it is to love our neighbor, to love our neighbor, which is commanded by the father.
Jesus takes it a step further though.
When you go to John chapter 15 verses 13 through 14, Jesus says, there is no greater love than
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.
And he did exactly that.
Jesus wasn't just a man of talk.
He was a man of action.
He didn't say, just do what I do, what I tell you.
He gave us the example.
See, he made the ultimate sacrifice and atoning for our sins and showing how great his love
is for all of us.
Now it wasn't fair.
It wasn't a good deal.
He didn't deserve any of it.
Just as we don't deserve his forgiveness, we don't deserve his mercy, we don't deserve
his grace, we don't deserve his love, and we certainly don't deserve his compassion.
But nonetheless, he did it just the same, didn't he?
Without complaint.
And let's face it, we live in a world that loves to complain and moan about things.
Yet he didn't do any of that because he sees value in all of us.
He loves all of us.
He sees value in you and he loves you.
Psalm 118 verses 19 through 20.
Psalm 118 verses 19 through 23, the Bible says, open for me the gates of the righteous.
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks for you answered me.
You have become my salvation.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Now think of a time when you were falsely accused of something.
Think of a time that you were gaslit.
How did you respond to it?
How could you have handled it differently?
Did you show the light of Jesus in you or did you react in the way of the world?
And what can you take from those moments and change in yourself?
What can you learn from it to change in yourself and how you live and how you do things so
that you handle things better in the future?
Now after everything was said and done, Maurice Hastings was quoted by the press saying this,
I prayed for many years that this day would come.
I am not pointing fingers.
I am not standing here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have
it.
And that right there is most likely why it didn't go worldwide.
It wasn't all over the internet.
It wasn't all over social media.
Nobody picked up by any of these various groups that like to turn things on its side and get
everybody rioting and turned against each other.
Because he prayed.
He speaks here that he spoke with God, right?
He was humbled.
He showed humility and he showed how we should respond and the adversity that we face.
Philippians chapter four verses six through seven, the Bible says, be anxious for nothing
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
See we all need to remember that when things get tough, we need to turn to God.
It's easy, so easy when things are going our way, but we tend to react humanly instead
of godly when things get tough.
Let that anger and that frustration get the better of us.
Yet that is when we need to pray the most, when we need to go to God the most.
When we're caught up in life storms, those are the times that we need to be vigilant
to make sure that we don't take our eyes off of Jesus.
We're not just called to love our friends.
We're not just called to love our families.
We are told to love our neighbors, which is a really, really nice way of saying you need
to love everyone, even your enemies, like it or not.
Yeah, even our enemies because that is Christ light in you.
That's trying to shine through and it may be the only time they will ever see it.
It may be the only time that they actually get to see God.
And as much as it might just plain suck, and let's face it, sometimes it does.
When we are met with adversity, sometimes the best choice is just to have a nice big
piece of humble pie and shut our mouths.
Proverbs 21 verse 23, the Bible says, whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself
out of trouble.
So even though you may be the one in the right and even though you're just trying to do the
right thing, set the record straight or say the right thing, sometimes we all just have
to know when we should stop talking and move forward because sometimes you really do just
have to stop talking so that you can move forward.
So I got one last story for you guys today and I'm sure many of you have heard this,
but bear with me just to say, and it goes like this.
One day, a son goes to his father and he says, dad, I want to get married.
His father says, okay, first tell me you're sorry.
Son says, for what?
Again, his father says, say you're sorry.
The son retorts, but why?
I didn't do anything.
Again, the father says, just say you're sorry.
Now starting to get frustrated, the son says, but what have I done wrong?
Dad tells him again, I said, apologize.
This point, the son, he's getting really agitated and he says, why?
Father says, just say it.
He says, please dad, just tell me why.
His father says, just say you're sorry.
Finally, the son relents and he says, okay dad, I'm sorry.
At which point his father smiles a big old cheesy grin and says, okay, now that you've
learned to say you're sorry for no reason at all, you're ready to get married.
You see, sometimes it's not about us.
It's about the hurt and the pain that the other person is feeling, the frustration that
they're dealing with in their own lives.
Now you may have had nothing to do with it, but for whatever reason, you're the one they're
taking it out on.
Maybe it's just because they feel safe with you.
That's a good thing, right?
Parents know this, happens with kids.
Sometimes you don't realize what it is, but that's what it is.
To teenagers, you know, recognizing that hurt and telling them, you know what, I'm sorry.
That might be exactly what they need to hear in order to start their own healing.
And do you know what that is?
Do you recognize it or not, that is God's light and love and mercy in you trying to
shine for them to see and to bring them comfort.
That in itself is an incredible gift to be able to share with somebody else.
So it's not worth the stress or the frustration that comes with being lured in to these types
of ambushes in life.
Instead, step back and recognize these situations for what they are and use the opportunity
as a chance to let God's light in your life shine for them to see.
Forgive them, show them mercy, and when you go to your prayers, pray for them.
Just another example of how you are blessed and how you are a blessing to the world.
Remember, you are loved.
Now go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
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We look forward to hearing from you all.
God bless.