Scriptures: John 8:31-32, Psalm 34:18, 147:3; Isaiah 61:1

Introduction - Dr. Maxwell Maltz's book, entitled New Faces, New Lives. Lasting change required more than healing the physical scars. Healing is needed of our inner, emotional scars.

I. What Creates Those Inner Scars?

A. Rejection - we all face it in life, sometimes from:

       1. Our Parents
       2. Our Partners
       3. Our Peers

B. Jesus faced rejection.

       1. Isaiah 53:3
       2. John 1:11

C. Broken bones heal faster than broken spirits.

       1. Proverbs 12:18
       2. Psalm 147:3

II. How Does God Heal Those Inner Scars?

A. By a transforming process

       1. The renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2)
       2. Filling our life with truth (John 8:32)


B. By Understanding GOD'S VIEW OF YOU!

       1. I'M ACCEPTABLE (Rom 14:1,3, Rom 15:7)
       2. I'M VALUABLE (Luke 12:24, Isa 43:4, Mk 8:36-37)
       3. I'M LOVABLE (Matthew 22:37-39, Isaiah 54:10)
       4. I'M FORGIVABLE (Isaiah 43:25, 1 John 1:9)
       5. I'M CAPABLE (Philippians 4:13)

Conclusion - Let God renew your life. You can be transformed by His truth! Don't waste your present on the past. It's never too late to begin again. Indeed, "the rest of your life can be the very best of your life!"

Complete Sermon - A Better View

Text: Psalm 34:18, 147:3, Isaiah 61:1

In Psalm 34:18, the Bible says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

In Psalm 147:3, the Bible says, "The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

Speaking of Jesus Himself, the Bible says, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news....He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,..."

Some years ago, there was a famous psychologist, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who wrote a book entitled, New Faces, New Lives. And in this book, he tells story after story of people whose lives were transformed when they got a new face. Many had been through severe accidents, they had experienced major facial scars. But after they got a new face, a number of them blossomed with new confidence.

But as time went on, Maltz discovered something. He discovered that in many people, cosmetic surgery did nothing at all. They were still insecure, still depressed, still anxious. And as a result, he came to this conclusion. That if you want to have lasting change in the human personality, you must not only heal the physical scars of a person...

There must be a healing of their emotional scars as well. There must not only be healing of external wounds. There must be a healing of the internal wounds too! The truth is, however, what Dr. Maltz discovered is really nothing new, for God has been doing this kind of emotional healing for thousands of years!

Now let's face it, sometimes life is tough, its tough on all of us. We all go through hurts that are often unkind. And often we get scared. Today I want us to take a look at, how God heals the hidden scars in our lives, and how He can restore our spiritual confidence.

Now if your typical, you're not gonna remember everything I say today, and for that reason, we've prepared a sermon outline for you of today's teaching. I encourage you just to pull that out and follow along with me this morning.

First, we need to take a look at, what is it that creates inner scars? What is it that gives us those inner hurts? Well, there are a lot of different things that do it, people letting us down, people failing us, but the number one thing that scars us all is rejection. Jesus faced it, and we all have to face it too.

Because rejection is just a part of life. We live in an imperfect world, and we all experience rejection. Sometimes we're rejected by our parents, sometimes we're rejected by our partners, sometimes we're rejected by our peers. Its painful but its universal. Rejection is simply a part of life. (Rejection- we all face it in life)

But the problem comes, when you get knocked down enough times, you start wondering, do I even want to get back up? After rejection, some people start to think, "if I could just be perfect then everybody would like me, if I could just be perfect, everybody would approve of me." Well, that's just not true. Jesus was perfect and He sure wasn't approved by everyone. (Jesus faced rejection)

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:3, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering." In John 1:11, the Bible says, "He came to his own people, but even his own people rejected him." Jesus experienced rejection and you and I at times, will too.

Tell me how many of these remarks you have heard. "What in the world is wrong with you anyway?" That's a rejection remark. "Why can't you be more like...." and they fill in the blank. "You've been nothing but trouble since you were born." "You make me sick." "Can't you do anything right?" Here's a popular one, "No wonder you don't have any friends." Have you ever heard any of these? "I can't believe you did such a thing, you'll never amount to anything."

And then come all the labels that go with it. "You're a klutz, you're a jerk, you're dumb, you're no good, you don't matter." You know, in school, many of you still remember, years later, the personal things that were said to you out on the playground. We say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." That's just not true, because words do hurt!

Those things hurt, in fact, broken bones heal faster than broken spirits. External wounds heal much faster than internal wounds. That's why the Bible truly says in Prov 12:18, "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

We have all faced rejection, but especially when we are rejected over and over again, over a period of time, we begin to reject ourselves, and then we begin to reject others and ultimately we become angry and reject God.

You say, well Chris, how does God heal those scars that shatter our spiritual confidence? Listen to this verse, Psalms l47:3. The Bible says, "God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Isn't that a great verse? And what God wants to say to you this evening is this if you've been hurt, God has the power to really help.

He wants to bind up your broken heart, He wants to bind up the wounds in your life, because He has the power to help YOU start over. He has the power to heal your hurt!

You say, well Chris, how does God do it? Well, listen to this next verse from Romans 12:2. "Let God transform you by the renewing of your mind." (By a transforming process) You see, the way you think affects the way that you feel and the way you feel affects the way that you act.

And as God begins to change us and set us free from the scars of our past, all of those hurts from parents or those hurts from partners or those hurts from peers, or even hurts that we inflict on ourselves, every time God begins to change us, He does it by first transforming the way that we think. The Bible calls this, "the renewing of our mind."

How many of you have been in one of those fun houses or restaurants where they have the mirrors that are distorted? You know what I'm talking about? Some of those mirrors make you bigger, or skinner, or taller, or fatter. You know what? When you look into a distorted mirror, you get a distorted image of yourself.

And that's what happens to many, many people in life. Growing up, the people in your life were the mirrors. Do you know any perfect people? No. Are you perfect? No. And sometimes, the result is we give distorted images to people about themselves.

And a lot of people have bought into a lot of lies about themselves, or about God, that just arn't true. "You don't matter, you're not significant, you're dumb, you're never going to amount to anything," "you're a mistake," "God doesn't care about you," and a lot of people buy that. In fact, the younger you are when you experience rejection, the more it hurts because when we're little kids, we just accept anything. "Hey, it must be true, people said it."

The point is this, when you look at a distorted mirror, your gonna get a distorted image of yourself. And when you get false information, you're gonna come up with a false conclusion.

God says, "I want to change all of that." By what the Bible calls, "the renewing of your mind." By changing the way that you think. Look at this next verse. It's our text for today. In John 8:32 Jesus said, "You will know the truth, the truth will set you free." Do you want to be free from the scars of your past? Jesus says there is a way. And that way is to fill your life with truth, for it is the truth that sets us free!"

The Bible is filled with this truth. Jesus said, I am the truth, I am the way to real life." And today I want to share with you five truths that will transform your life if you understand and accept them. It's these truths that can restore our spiritual confidence. It's what I call God's view of you.

Five facts, very simple ones, but they are life changing. God says,

       1) You're acceptable.
       2) You're valuable,
       3) You're lovable,
       4) You're forgivable,
       5) You're capable.

Lets take a brief look at them together.

God says first of all, You're acceptable. You know, we work hard at being acceptable these days. People buy things, we wear things, we join things all just trying to be accepted. But look at what God says in Romans 14:1,3. Even about him whose faith is weak, the Bible says, "God has accepted him." You see, when we open our lives to God, He accepts us, just like we are. In Romans 15:7, the Bible says, "Christ has accepted you."

Now I want you to think about these two verses and let me just ask you a question. Does God say that you have to earn your acceptance? Does God say that you could ever deserve it? The answer is No. The Bible just says that when you open your life to God, God accepts you.

But many Christians, even though they've accepted Christ, have never felt, that God accepts them! But God says today, "I'm acceptable. I'm not perfect, but that's ok. God and me are going to work on me. Yes, God loves me too much to leave me just the way I am. God wants me to grow and spiritually develop. But I don't have to work to be accepted by God. Because I already am!

Now, if that's all I said this morning, and you emotionally come to believe and feel that, this message would be a success. God loves me unconditionally, and He accepts me, not for what I do, but just for who I am. I'm acceptable to God.

Secondly, God's view of you says, you're valuable. The Bible says in Psalms 27:10, "Even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." Isn't that a great verse?

Now some of you grew up with unpleasable parents, they were perfectionists and no matter how hard you tried you couldn't get their approval. If you got B's they wanted A's. If you got A's, they wanted A +'s. No matter what you did, it was never good enough.

And even today, you're still trying to earn their love. You're still trying to win their approval and prove that you're valuable. Well, I just want to say two things to you this evening

Number one, in all likelihood you're never going to get it. Not because of who you are, but because of who they are and the way they think. You're never going to get it. And number two, you don't need it! You don't need their approval to be happy. What a relief that is when you understand that!

There are nearly 6 billion people in this world, so who cares if two people don't approve of everything you do? Why focus on those two, find somebody else that does approve of you and your desire to follow God. That's what God made the church for, we're to be a family, and you'll be accepted here. Because God says, I am acceptable. And God says, I am valuable. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 12:24. "Consider the ravens. God feeds them, and how much more valuable you are!

In Isaiah 43:4, God says, "You are precious and honored in my sight...." "I'm more than acceptable, I'm valuable. I'm worth something, I'm significant. How much are you worth? I'm not talking about your possessions.

You see, in America we confuse self-worth with net-worth. And they're very different. Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul, his very self?" What can you give in exchange for it? You see, your value has nothing to do with your valuables. How much do you think you're worth? You know what? God says, "You're priceless. He says, "I'm valuable."

And then number three, God says, "You're lovable." In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said, "The greatest commandment was to do what? Love God with all your heart, and second, love your neighbor as yourself." Now this verse is so important because you can't really love anybody else until you feel that you're lovable.

Because if you don't feel loved, you can't share love effectively with anybody else. God knew that. He knew it was vital for man to feel loved. That's why God says in Isaiah 54:10, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, my unfailing love for you will never be shaken, says the Lord."

Isn't that a tremendous verse? It says two things about God's love for you. #1, he loves you consistently, and #2, He loves you unconditionally. He loves you consistently, He's not fickle, He doesn't love you one day and not love you the next. He doesn't love you on your good days and not your bad days.

Some of you maybe grew up or have lived with "conditional" love. Some people live lives saying, "I didn't know if I was going to be hugged or slugged." It may be your parents, or your partner, or your peers that were fickle. They were undependable. Whatever the case, I'm here to tell you today, God isn't like that.

You know, a lot of people struggle today because of conditional love. I love you if you're good, I love you if you do these things. I love you because you look this way, or because you do these things for me, or because you give me this pleasure. But then, if the condition changes, all of a sudden you find out you're not loved anymore.

You know, that's why there's alot of divorce, because many marriages are not based on God's plan of love. They are being built on conditional love. And when the condition stops, the relationship stops. But the Bible says, God's love is totally opposite from that. He says, I love you consistently and I love you unconditionally.

You never have to wake up in the morning and say, "God, are you going to love me today? Did I read my Bible enough, did I pray enough, did I talk to somebody about the Lord enough? God, are you going to love me today?

You never have to ask that. Because He loves you unconditionally. Christianity is not just a religion, it's a relationship. God desires to have a personal relationship with you. And believe me, its the best way on earth to live. It's life as it was truly meant to be!

You see, this kind of love has got to get from your head to where it touches your heart. And you come to KNOW, that God is saying about YOU, "You're acceptable, You're valuable, You're lovable."

And then number four, God says, You're forgivable. Aren't you glad for this one? You're forgivable. You see, none of us are perfect and we all need forgiveness. And God is a forgiving God.

Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:25, "I even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." You see, once we confess, God doesn't hold our sins against us, God doesn't hold a grudge, He's not keeping score.

When we simply confess our sins to him, it is all forgiven and forgotten and He doesn't even think about our past. So YOU need to stop bringing it up. If you've confessed, He has forgiven, and you've got a new chance to start over! And this evening, God sees you as forgivable.

And then number five, God clearly says, "You're capable." I love this next verse. In Philippians 4:13, the Bible says, "I have strength for all things in Christ who impowers me. I'm ready for anything and I'm equal to everything that God asks me to do." The Living Bible says, "He infuses me with inner strength and power." It's because of God that I'm capable.

You see, when God puts His spirit into our lives, and we start living life the way He meant for it to be, it restores our confidence.

You see, your self concept and your feeling of value, comes from what you think the most important person in your life thinks about you. Tonight, for you, maybe it's a parent, or maybe it's a partner, or maybe its a peer. I encourage you tonight to let the most important person in your life be Jesus Christ.

Because when you make Christ the most important person in your life, then what He says about you is going to have the greatest effect on your life.

You say, well, Chris that's what I need in my life. What do I need to do? Well, you first need to quit looking into the distorted mirrors of your past, of what your parents, or your partner, or your peers have said about you. And you need to start listening today to God's view of you. Maybe this a new view altogether for some of you.

       You're acceptable,
       You're valuable,
       You're lovable,
       You're forgivable
       You're capable.

In closing, I want to share with you a story that really summarizes what I'm trying to say.

It was on New Year's day. Way back in 1929. Georgia Tech was playing the University of California in the Rose Bowl. And shortly before halftime, a man named Roy Regals (Insert slide) recovered a fumble for California. But somehow, he became confused and he started running 65 yards, in the wrong direction. A teammate finally tackled him just before he would of scored for the other team.

When California attempted to punt it out, Georgia Tech blocked the kick and they scored a safety. The gun sounded, the first half was over, and the team headed off the field and went into the locker room. As they all sat down on the bench, Regals put a blanket around his shoulders, he sat down in the corner, put his face in his hands, and cried like a baby.

Coach Pressler was silent. No doubt, he was trying to decide what to do with Regals. Everybody else just sat there. The coach said a few words, and when the timekeeper came in and announced there were three minutes till the end of the half, the coach looked at the team and he slowly said, "Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second."

The players got up and they all started out the door, all but Roy Regals. He didn't budge. The coach looked back and called him again, but still he didn't move. Coach Pressler went over to Regals and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? I said, the same team starts the second half." Regals looked up, with tears in his eyes, and he said, "Coach, I can't do it. I can't do it. I've ruined you. I've ruined the Universary of California. I've ruined myself. I couldn't face that crowd in the stadium if my life depended on it."

Coach Pressler reached out, put his hand on Regals shoulder and said these words, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over." You know, Roy Regals went back, and everyone who saw it said that he played the greatest game of his entire life, in that second half.

You know, the fact is, we take the ball a lot of times and we run in the wrong direction and we stumble and we fall and we embarrass ourselves and we make mistakes. And we're so ashamed that we think, "I don't even want to get up. I don't want to try anymore. I just want to spiritually give up.

But its in a service like this, that God comes to us, and He puts his gentle arm around us and says, "Sir, ma'am. Get up. Restore your spiritual confidence. And go on back. The game is just half over." As we sing this song realize God is here today coaching you on guiding you into a better life.

You know, sir, ma'am, God is here this morning to tell you, you can let go of the past, and restore your spiritual confidence, beginning right now. None of us are perfect. We all have things in our lives that need to change. The Bible says, "All of us have sinned and fall short of God's glory."

But the good news is this. No matter what you have done, or where you're at, God loves YOU, right where you are, today! And He NEVER meant for you to live unfulfilled, or regretful or burdened. That's why He sent Jesus to die for YOU. And today, He wants to forgive you and release you, completely and freely. So that the rest of your life, will be the very best of your life.

I want you to imagine right now, with your head bowed, some may wish to come forward others may do this right were you are standing. Imagine for a moment Jesus and you, just sitting alone, face to face. And imagine him looking you in the eye and calling you by name and saying, "Sir, ma'am, will you accept today, my view of you? Let me be the most important person in your life. I died so that you could really live."

You know, many people never let go of their past, because they try to solve their guilt or their problems with their own resources. And I'm just here to tell you today, you'll only find real freedom when you let God do it. And He can do it for you. Let's pray.

Father, I know this morning that you have spoken to many, many people through your word. You will speak to many more who will watch this by recording. Some people right now, Lord, are having a moment with you. And they're considering, some for the first time in a long time, to let you restore their spiritual confidence. Would you just guide them Lord as only you can, for you said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Thank you for your great plan for spiritual freedom from all the power and pollution of sin in our lives. Go with us, and make the rest of this week, the very best week we've ever lived. In Jesus name, Amen.