“Rehabilitation” By Brother Kenneth Ray December 16th,
2012
Rehabilitate—to restore the
good name or reputation. To put back in
good condition: re-establish on a firm, sound basis. Bring or restore to a normal or optimal state
of health. Last week, if you were in attendance,
you will know we covered the topic of Recovery.
If you follow the Chicago Bulls (which is an NBA basketball team), you
may know who Derrick Rose is. You may
know that he injured his knee doing something called a bunny hop. He has had surgery, and spent some time in recovery
and in rehab, but he is yet to return. Another
young man, by the name of Adrian Peterson, who, last year, injured his knee,
also went through surgery, recovery, and rehab, but he’s back to doing what he
does just as well or better than before.
What do these stories have to say to us
today about what God has for us? It is
this: The healing process and strengthening
of the effective (physical or spiritual) is different for each person and the
time it takes varies as well. You have to want it. Adrian Peterson said plainly, “I’ll be back;
you will see.” Is it okay if I share a little Bible
with you? Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. It is important to know that it is Christ that strengtheneth. Ecclesiastes 7:19 Wisdom strengtheneth the wise… Let me be plain: I speak about building the strength of God in
your spiritual man to overcome and manage the physical man (or flesh). There will be things in day-to-day life and
in the relations that you have that will bring hurt to your inner man. It may be from someone else, or you may bring
it on yourself because of your own actions, views, etc. You know what SIN stands for, right? Self-Inflicted
Nonsense. Sometimes you have no one else
to blame. Psalms 127:1 …except the LORD keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain. Simply put, we can’t rehab ourselves;
there are no self-made men in the Kingdom of God. The Bible talks about building your house on
solid rock (Matthew 7:24-29); who is that solid rock? Jesus. He will not keep what is not His. It takes God to perform the surgery (He is
the Great Physician) to mend our hurt and wounds. Scar tissue sometimes remains, and it takes
God to build us to a full recovery. How
do I do this? Has anybody here had surgery?
Chris, you had surgery? When was that? A year ago. What kind of surgery?
On your shoulder. Does it still hurt? yes.
Didn’t they fix everything? Yes, but there may be some scar tissue. Mike, what about your surgery? Knee-replacement
surgery. Does it still hurt? well, I
still struggle to get up sometimes.
Melanie, what kind of surgery did you have? You had two of your wisdom teeth
removed. How old are you? Eighteen. Isn’t that sad? She’s only eighteen and she’s
lost some of her wisdom. In order to get a full recovery,
where we don’t feel pain or have scar tissue, we need Jesus to rehab us. Remember Apostle Paul? He had another name before he was Paul—he was
Saul. What did Saul do? He persecuted
the church. When he became a part of the
church, do you think he had to go through some rehabilitation? Here’s the guy that used to persecute the church,
and now he’s preaching the Gospel. He
was damaged goods. Where’s Lucy? He had a lot of ’splainin’ to do. Remember peter? He was the bishop of the
church, but he acted one way around the Jews and another way around the Gentiles. Paul said, “Really?” Well, he didn’t really say that, but that was
the general idea. Remember David? God had to restore and rehabilitate him
(Psalms 51:12). You and I need
rehabilitation. James 4:8 Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh
to you… It’s that easy? Yeah. And no. Don’t just come close, come close with a
purpose. Have you ever had a child run up
to you and then just look at you? You
ask, “What do you want?” and they run away again. When you come close to God, come close with a
purpose. Psalms 69:18 Draw nigh to my soul and redeem it… Did you ever take aluminum cans to a
recycler? What did they do? They gave
you cash for those cans; they redeemed them.
Confess to God. My daughter likes
to tell me, “Admit it!” Just admit it;
get it out in the open before Jesus. A
doctor can help you, but you need to be honest with him. There is a sin unto death, and there is a sin
not unto death. There is a saying, “Honest
confession is good for the soul.” You may
have someone that knows everything about you.
You can tell them anything, but that’s hard on them, because they have
to keep it a secret. You can tell God
anything with absolute confidentiality. If
you need to repent… Acts 3:19 …refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord; Listen to God, and, when your change
comes, continue in the things that brought recovery and healing and
strength. Press for the mark (1 Timothy
6:13), be steadfast (Hebrews 3:14), endure as a good soldier (2 Timothy 2:3),
or sailor. God gives you what you need. Colossians 1:23 …be not moved away from the hope of
the gospel… And this is the last thing I will
share with you: Priority: Put it at the top of the list of
important things to be done. Are you
familiar with the term “backburner?” A
lot of times we don’t get the rehabilitation that we need because we are too busy
with other things. John 18:37 …Every one that is
of the truth heareth my voice. John 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?... The truth is that some carry things
around and are bound to them because they will not forgive. We hide behind, or give ourselves to, work,
school, goals, family, etc. yet we hurt and we miss out on blessings that
should be there. We make ourselves
busy. Our relationship with and in God
suffers because we will not allow Him to heal us; we refuse to let go of the
disease that we carry. Romans 3:23 23For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God; John 8:7 …He that is without sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her. Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father
also is merciful. Ezekiel 33:13 …if he trust to his own righteousness, and
commit iniquity… Acts 20:32 …to the word of His grace, which is able
to build you up… Our redeemer lives. Will it hurt? yes. Will it bring tears? yes. Psalms 30:5 …weeping may endure for a night, but joy
cometh in the morning. Kirk, you’re in the fitness
business; when you’re clients come to you and they want to get into shape, do
they always do everything you tell them to do, the way you told them to do it?
no. Do they want to quit? sometimes. Does working out hurt? yes. What about diet;
when you eat food that doesn’t have all of that salt and sugar in it, does it
taste better? oh, yeah. When they get
results, do they still want to quit? no. If you let God rehabilitate you, you
will like the results.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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