A Wounded Spirit WED 7-17-96

Proverbs 18 and 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

In Proverbs 18, I want to introduce to you right up front the topic tonight.

Proverbs 18.

And uh look if you would at verse number 14.

Proverbs 18, 14.

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity.

But uh what?

A wounded spirit, who can bear?

Has your spirit ever been wounded?

If you've been in Christianity very long, it it may have not been wounded yet, but it's going to be.

And a wounded spirit, uh, uh when you talk about a wound, it's something that's that's very painful.

So I just want you to note there, if you would, that a spirit of a person, the spirit of a person can be wounded.

And it says a wounded spirit, who can bear?

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

The spirit, the Bible says, can be wounded.

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

And again, you say, well, I don't know, I've been wounded before.

You'll be wounded again before you get out of this uh lifetime if God tarries another hour or so.

1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Amen?

And notice if you would uh verse number 12.

Verse number 12.

And notice what it says there.

It says, but when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

So not only can the spirit be wounded, but the conscience can also be wounded.

Is that correct?

Now, if somebody says, Man, how do you know that?

Because the Bible says it can.

A wounded spirit, a wounded conscience.

Pick up Psalms 109, please, and Job 24.

Psalms 109, Job 24.

You don't mind studying your Bible tonight, do you, brethren?

Good.

Job 24 and Psalms 109.

So notice the Bible says a spirit can be wounded and a conscience can be wounded.

I mean hurt, pain.

Psalms 109 and Job 24.

In Psalms 109, one verse of scripture there.

Again, quickly the foundation to this.

Psalms 109, look at verse 22.

Verse 22.

For I am poor and needy, and my what?

Say it.

Heart is wounded within me.

Now notice that.

A spirit can be wounded, the conscience can be wounded, and the heart can be wounded.

Brethren, it is possible, very possible, for a person to go through a wounding and call it mental, call it spiritual, call it emotional.

Whatever you want to say, the inward person, the outward man may not be bruised, but the inward man is wounded.

Is bruised, if you would, or cut in some way, shape, or form.

Look at Job 24.

And you just know that Job, you think about that man, he was wounded.

Amen?

His inner man, his inner being was wounded, was cut.

I'm going to say to shreds.

Look at Job 24.

And notice if you wouldn't look at verse 12.

Verse 12.

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded does what?

Crieth out.

Yet God layeth not folly to them.

So a soul crieth out because of wounding, and Job was wounded.

Now, think about this.

First of all, internally, he got word that all his children had died.

That'll wound a person, amen.

Someone close in, and all his children at once died, and everything that he owned was taken away.

And what a wound.

And then it came in closer on his own body, and his body was wounded.

And he's sitting there in the ash heap, if you would, and his friends show up.

And you know the story if you've ever read the book of Job.

His friends weren't friends.

And here he was wounded, and they continued to wound him more.

And they pounded on him more and more and more.

His body was already a mess, but inside that body there was a man that was being wounded, and his soul cried out.

Why?

His friends were even now wounding him.

Ever been wounded?

You ever been downtrodden because of that wound?

Look at Jeremiah 30 and Proverbs 6.

Let's bear it out just a little bit.

Jeremiah 30 and Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

It is foolish for any leader to ever teach that you won't be wounded.

If you're in a warfare, you're going to get wounded.

And if we are in a warfare down here, brother, we will be wounded unless we're doing nothing but sitting back and supply.

Amen?

Come on, talk to me.

I know some officers, they said to me, Brother Fisher, are you going to be an O3 grunt officer?

I said, Yeah.

So what are you going to be?

They said, why die?

Go supply.

Amen.

That was the saying.

And the idea was if you're going to be in the front lines in some way, shape, or form.

And by the way, this church is a frontline church.

We've got a lot of trenches out there that we work every week.

And I'm not saying the people in the background aren't important.

They're vitally important.

But you can be a prayer warrior and be wounded by this thing.

So if you're going to get in the battle, it's foolish for a leader to look at his troops and say, nobody here is going to die.

Well, then you're not going to engage the enemy.

One of the biggest things about Desert Storm that everybody was back here afraid of was all the body bags being shipped over there.

What do they need the body bags for?

Why are they shipping so many body bags over there?

Well, somebody's going to die.

Amen.

Now it was amazing how many did not die.

It was miraculous how many of our troops did not die.

Did not even suffer wounded by the enemy.

Amen?

Most of our died from our own situations.

But the idea was you wouldn't be a commander and stand up there and say, now we're going to battle, and I just want you to know everything's going to be fine, boys.

I wouldn't follow that man into battle.

Absolutely not.

He's not living in reality.

Now, honey, we're going to marry.

And I just want you to know, I'll protect you.

Everything will be fine.

What you ought to say, honey, we're going to marry, and I'll do my best to protect you, but when you get wounded, I'll be there for you.

That's reality, amen.

Are y'all wounded tonight?

Probably a little bit.

Look at Jeremiah 30.

Let me bear this out a little bit.

And you're holding Proverbs 6.

Jeremiah 30 says this, verse 14.

All thy lovers have forgotten thee.

They seek thee not.

For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of cruel one.

For the multitude of thine what?

Iniquity, because thy what say it?

Sins were what?

Increased.

I'm going to make a statement.

Our own sin, our own iniquity, can be a self-inflicted wound.

We can inflict wounds upon ourselves by our own iniquity and sin.

And somebody says, I don't think you ought to talk about sin.

The Bible talks about sin as a transgression of the law, and brethren, if we sin, we can wound ourselves.

Now let me bear that a little bit, and let me just give you something practical tonight because you say, well, name one.

I'll name one of the Bible names.

Look at Proverbs 6.

Come on, Proverbs 6, because we need to make it practical.

Proverbs 6.

And this is not the only one, but I'll just use this as an example of this thing of wounding.

Verse 32.

Verse 32.

Whoso committeth what?

Adultery with a woman lacketh understanding.

For he that doeth destroyeth his own soul.

What happens?

Verse 33.

A what?

A wound and dishonor shall he get.

What's wounded?

The outward?

Well, maybe, but more what's wounded is the inward.

A wound and dishonor shall he get.

His reproach shall not be wiped away.

It's called shame.

And it's a wound, it's a self-inflicted wound.

But please look up here.

In this situation of adultery, it doesn't just say fornication.

So in the in the situation where it says adultery, there is also a spouse somewhere wounded.

Amen?

If I go out and commit adultery with a married woman, not only am I wounding myself and wounding her, I'm wounding her husband.

Say amen.

And the very fact that I'm married too, I wound my wife.

Now I can talk about this, brother.

I'm clean.

Amen.

My point is, though, this wound is not only self-inflict, but it affects others around, and it even affects children if there are children involved.

It doesn't only affect us, someone we wound ourselves sometimes, maybe with sins that come into our life, but others can be wounded too.

Statement.

You may not have, you know, a problem with a habitual sin or something like that, but as you work with someone else that does, their sin may wound you.

Their sin may wound you.

You know why a lot of people don't last in the ministry?

They get wounded, they wound themselves, or they're around someone that their sin wounds them, and they just don't want to be around it anymore because they don't want to be wounded.

Hey, we're soldiers.

It's going to happen.

There is a bomb of Gilead to help the wound, amen.

There is a way to go back and get strength and get recovery.

But the point of it is, specifically, let me show you one other sin that's named.

Look at Proverbs 26.

Proverbs 26.

We okay tonight?

A wounded spirit.

Who can bear it?

A wound of the spirit, a wound of the conscience, a wound of the heart.

The soul cries out.

Sometimes it's iniquity.

Proverbs 26.

And notice if you would, verse 21.

As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contemptuous man to kindle strife.

The words of a what?

A tailbearer are as what?

They're wounds.

Words can wound.

Somebody that has a mouth of gossip and slander can wound someone else.

And they go down in the innermost parts of the belly.

Brethren, if you haven't been wounded yet by the words of someone, you will probably.

And may I say this?

We wound ourselves with our own words sometimes.

Don't forget, brethren, when we tail bear or we slander or we gossip, the same stone that we roll sometimes rolls back upon us.

Amen?

And those words come back to get us, and we wound ourselves sometimes.

That's why God is so against gossip and tailbearing, and if you would, the sowing of discord among the brethren.

He said he hates it.

Why?

He knows it wounds his children.

Now, statement.

If a person gets wounded enough, they quit.

Come on.

If a person gets wounded enough, and they don't get healed and they don't get strength, sooner or later, they'll quit soldiering.

They'll quit the battle.

They just won't want to go on.

I'll make a statement and I and I hope you you you take this the right way.

In special forces is whether it be uh recon or seals or you know, uh I'll throw Green Beret in there, although that's a farce.

But anyways.

Look up here.

One of the reasons they train them so hard and push them to their limits is not just so, ooh, they're macho.

That's not it.

You missed the whole point.

The whole point of the hardest, toughest, most rigorous training is so these men find out that they can go beyond their limits.

And they can go on the beyond the thresholds of pain and keep going.

Now, now, why is that so important?

When you drop seven guys off way back in the jungles where the sun doesn't shine and nobody's gonna talk to them for about seven or eight or nine days, you can't have a guy back there stressing out and panicking and having a wounded spirit.

Worst thing you can have on a long patrol is someone that's wounded.

Uh a physical infirmity, a mental infirmity.

Hey, uh, it was common, if you read stories in history, uh, if the enemy finds a special forces group back there or something like that, uh, one sharpshooter wounding, not killing, but wounding one of the members makes it worse.

Don't take this wrong.

A dead man, you can camouflage him and conceal him and come back and get him later.

A wounded man you have to take with you.

Now I know you're going, huh, I know, yeah, yeah.

But try to carry a wounded man around.

It hinders the whole patrol.

It compromises the mission.

Are you listening to me?

Uh you're kind of looking at me and say, that's cold.

That's war, amen.

That's war.

Now, we you always go back and get your your dead.

But sometimes, you know, you don't compromise a mission if you if you don't have to.

You can seal him and come back and get him later.

But a wounded man you take with him, and you may have to medavac him out.

Once the choppers come in, they know where you're at.

You say, what has that got to do with anything?

A bunch of wounded people in a church, I can tender the whole church.

A bunch of people with wounded consciences and wounded spirits, and and you know, some Christians, uh, and I I mean, we all have to grow through this thing.

We all have to grow up and everything.

But you know what?

It's good when you get a group of Christians, I think, like we have, that don't walk around with chips on their shoulders and say, go ahead, wound me.

I need a reason.

We don't want that.

Man, we we we we we want our skirmish lines, if you would.

We want them to be strong.

And we want them to have a have an opportunity, if you would, to keep going, because if everybody gets wounded at once or a part, hey, it hinders the rest of the church.

Mark it down.

When one member of the family is wounded, it affects the whole family.

Now we say again, when one member of the family is wounded, it affects the whole family.

And you say, now wait a minute, is it wrong to be wounded?

Absolutely not, it's going to happen.

It's wrong to stay wounded.

Come on, look at me.

It's wrong to stay wounded when there's a hospital available.

When the bomb of Gilead is there, when the book's there, when forgiveness is there.

I'm not talking about this kind of wound.

I'm talking about internally some wounding, and the book is there that says, you can forgive, you can go on, you can lay it at my feet.

You don't have to walk around wounded.

You know why Paul was so ticked off at John Mark?

Because he left the mission field.

I don't know why he left.

Maybe he got wounded.

But if you know Paul is a soldier, if you would, uh an army of the Lord, uh, he just he just wanted to go on and leave John Mark.

And I understand Barnabas and I understand the whole thing, but Paul was, hey, if he's wounded or if he can't tack it, leave him.

He was a missionary going out to start some churches, amen?

Come on.

You say, that's terrible.

We're not gonna leave our wounded on the battlefield or anything like that.

But brethren, we can't all be wounded at once.

And those who are wounded and want to stay wounded sooner or later, man, you know what?

We we've got to go on with the mission.

Now, if somebody says, well, that are you talking about killing your wounded?

Absolutely not.

Well, you're wounded, buddy.

You don't look like you're gonna make it.

We got a patrol in the mission.

Hey, throw a grenade on him.

No, better off.

That's a little loud.

Just strangle him, amen.

Never.

It's unethical.

It's unchristian.

And our headquarters is looking down, amen.

And you can't say, well, what happened to that guy?

Oh man, listen, they they they shot him full of holes, and we just, man, there's no way we could bring him out.

Okay, well, we understand.

Headquarters knows exactly what's happening.

It's not like we're trying to kill our wound or anything like that.

More I'm saying this, realize the importance of getting over.

You say, okay, well, what wounds?

Stay with me.

Rejection.

Rejection.

By the world, ah, come on.

After a while, the world's rejection doesn't do anything to us.

You know what I mean?

So they laugh at us.

Big deal.

We're laughing at them too, amen?

Come on, we we used to be there, yes or no?

You know what hurts us is when we're rejected by the brethren.

Someone close in.

Abandonment.

Same thing as rejection, if you would.

Uh big blowouts, big arguments.

Not a wound.

Right.

Nursery worker against nursery worker.

School teacher against school school parent.

Choir member against choir member.

You name it.

That's wound.

And people hear about it and get wounded too.

Amen?

And there's what's going on.

Uh broken promises.

That'll wound, amen.

Unfulfilled promises.

Hey, uh, we try to have a rule in our home, and maybe you do, maybe you don't.

Uh it's almost like it's almost like secretive, you know, or something like that.

But uh we're very, we're very careful about telling our children we're gonna do something until it's actually ready to happen.

We're just real careful about that.

I I'm I'm very careful about if I'm gonna plan on something, I may tell my wife, listen, I'm thinking about this, but don't tell the kids.

Why?

Because if something comes up and we can't do it, it's an unfulfilled promise.

And it wounds them a little bit, amen.

I'm sorry, kids.

We were gonna go, but we can't go now.

You get enough of those things, and it's like, okay, kids, we're gonna do this, and they're going, yeah, right, we'll wait and see.

Unfulfilled promise.

How many, don't I don't raise your hand.

How many of you grew up with pro with parents who promised you all kinds of things and just never came through?

Now the idea sooner or later it wounded you, didn't it?

Oh, you overlooked it after a while, but I mean it hurt for a while, amen.

Adults the same way.

Unfulfilled promises, uh, unfulfilled expectations.

It can wound the spirit of a person inside.

Are you with me?

Okay, you're right.

Yeah, all those things can hinder the work of God and what we're doing.

And wounded people, if you would, you want it, you want to bring them along, you want to get them healed up.

But uh, I was thinking, you know, uh, do you remember uh, and we won't turn there, do you remember when Joab stabbed Amesa?

I don't know if you know the story, but Joab snuck up on Amesa right in front of him.

What do you mean snuck up on him?

Didn't know he was going to kill him?

Art thou in good health, thy brother?

When he says that, you know it's like it's like the Godfather saying, How are you feeling today?

Amen?

And he he smote him under the fifth rib and twisted that knife in and left him there, laying on the highway, and Emesa was, if you would, the the new captain of the host, and there he was wallowing.

The Bible says he was wallowing in his blood.

Please look up here, he was wounded.

And I don't know if you've ever seen a guy get stabbed, but he was writhing around, no doubt, and blood was rolling out.

Please look up here.

And as Israel was walking by, this this man who was in the general's garb, if you would, he was in the general's outfit, and Joab had just killed him, and uh or was he had just stabbed him, and he was wallowing in his blood, and there was nobody gonna, if you would, be able to help him or anything like that.

His bowels were starting to fall out and everything.

Everybody stopped and stared.

Why?

There was a wounded man that was a general that was wallowing in his blood, and it caused everybody to stop.

It can happen in a family, it can happen in a church.

Somebody gets wounded and they're walling around.

Everybody just stops and stares.

Now, don't take this wrong, but some wise man in the Bible drug EMSA over off the side of the road and put him on the edge and covered him.

And you know what the Bible says?

Israel went on.

Now you say, now that you're just talking about killing your wounded.

No, I'm not.

I'm not talking about killing our wounded.

I'm just saying that if someone's wallowing, better to get them off, try to get them some help so the whole thing doesn't stop.

Does this sound bad?

Man, we all get wounded, amen.

Hey, if I got wounded and I was the pastor of church and I got wounded, I wouldn't want the whole church to mourn.

I'd want the church to go on.

Amen?

Now, if I was the type of guy that needed your sympathy, and wanted your sympathy, man, I'd wallow there as long as I could.

And I'd fight the guy that tries to drag me off.

Because I like it.

You know what I found out?

A wounded spirit, a wounded conscience, a wounded heart, it usually takes maybe two people, three people working with that person.

About three, two, three.

And that'll help that person get back up again.

You get too many involved, and it gets messed up.

Two or three people that know what they're doing can help a person with a wounded spirit and please look up here, and we should.

Gossip, slander, maliciousness, rejection, abandonment, unfulfilled promises and expectations.

There's going to be wounding.

Hey, brethren, you know what God says?

The body ought to edify itself.

We ought to help each other.

How to put this without being unkind.

But if someone doesn't want help, and it's like, well, didn't we already work on that?

And haven't we already work?

I thought we had that.

Man, aren't you trying to heal?

Don't you want to get back up again?

Don't you want to put this behind you?

Don't you want to go on?

Honestly, uh, brethren, uh, you get into any war.

Some guys would rather stay in the hospital than go back out to the front lines.

It's quiet in the air.

This isn't a camp meeting message, is it?

But it's a practical message.

What are you trying to say, preacher?

Don't you care about those who are wounded.

If you've been in this church for any length of time, you know I care.

I was with a few people today that were going through some things and worked with them.

And we need to be a body that cares for each other.

Well, brother in, we lick our wounds and go on.

And sometimes we fight wounded.

Hey, you know what we don't need to be?

Ahab.

Ahab comes back wounded because he couldn't get the vineyard that he wanted.

And he goes on his bed and throws himself on his bed and he pouts.

Now, don't take this wrong.

A deep, deep emotional wound is one thing, but a few words someone says is not worth pouting about.

They might have had a bad hair day.

We all do.

Amen.

I mean, I've certainly probably said some things to my wife, and I know she said some things to me.

She's in the nursery tonight, so I can talk about it.

Just kidding.

But we we don't we don't wound each other and keep wounding.

We get that thing right quick.

Uh, if I wound anybody in here, I want to know about it so I can get it right.

I'll never forget a guy that I wounded, oh, a number of years ago, and I knew about it.

I went over to his house after the services.

Got that thing right.

I want to get it right right away.

Man, you wound somebody, have enough courage to go to them and say, I'm sorry I wounded you, and I what can I say?

I did it, I'm sorry, I don't want to do it again.

Get the thing right.

And if somebody wounds you, if you feel like you can't approach a Bible, go to them.

Present it to them.

Try to get the thing right.

Not retaliatory.

Amen.

Come on.

Man, we've got to keep this thing to where, hey, rather than going home and saying, hey, you know what?

You know what?

It's one of these things, I can't approach that person, they won't listen.

Uh-uh, uh, uh, uh, that, uh, that.

Then go to God and ask for forgiveness.

And never approach Him.

And just get forgiveness so you can go on.

But don't go on your bed and pout.

Why?

It hinders the whole patrol.

Are you getting this, Bill?

You're sure?

Have you ever been wounded, Brother Bill?

Did you ever go home and pout?

Probably.

Did you ever have a situation where you felt like you couldn't go to a person and get it right?

And what'd you do?

You go to God and you say, God, I don't think I can go to this person.

Probably won't receive it.

So, God, would you give me forgiveness and I'm gonna drop it and let it go and go on?

Let me ask you a question.

Was Jesus ever wounded?

Absolutely.

I'll make a statement.

We need to have a higher tolerance to pain.

Come on now.

We need as seasoned soldiers to have a higher tolerance to pain.

Well, where do we get that from?

I think we get it directly from God.

I think we get it from other brethren.

I think the brethren strengthen the brethren, the sisters strengthen the sisters.

Hey, you know what?

If you're in a group that all, oh yeah, I'm just so hurt, and yeah, I'm just so hurt too, and yeah, I'm just so hurt too, and it just kind of is passed around, and I'm hurting, you're hurting, I'm hurting, you're hurting, I'm hurting, her hurting, hurting, hurting, hurting, hurting, hurting her, it's the walking wounded.

Now there's there's nothing wrong with little comfort, a little sympathy, little working with people.

Brother Later, uh, sooner or later you've got to get some around some people who say, you know what, I was wounded that way too, but I want you to know it may take some time, but you can come back up out of that thing, and you can be free from that wound, and you can be cleansed from that wound, and you can go on.

That's what people need to hear.

I went to the hospital and they sold me up and fixed me up, and I'm back on the battlefield again.

And we have a great physician that can do the work.

Let me switch gears a little bit.

Look at Proverbs 27.

Proverbs 27.

You say you just sound unsympathetic.

Come on.

Come on.

We're supposed to endure hardness as good soldiers.

Oh, preacher, you know, you're just never wounded.

You kidding?

Proverbs 27.

Look at this other side of this thing now.

Look up here just for a moment.

Everybody smile.

Good, good.

Because I want to switch gears now.

I want to show you that wounds can be a blessing.

Look at verse 5.

Open rebuke is better than secret love.

What happens when we open rebuke somebody?

Verse 6, faithful are the what?

The wounds of a friend.

But the kiss of an enemy are deceitful.

Open rebuke goes along with that faithful and wounding, because when we rebuke someone that we love to try and help them, it's a wound that that does something for them.

Look, if you would at Proverbs 20, Proverbs chapter 20.

Proverbs 20 · chapter mention

Not socially correct, but sometimes when you spank a child to get their will broken, it might just leave a little bit of a blue bruise.

Oh, I'm not advocating that.

Don't go tell anybody.

He said, you know, beat them.

Don't you dare.

They're lying.

But when you spank sometimes, it might cause a little blueness.

Oh, but look what it says for us as adults, too.

The blueness of a wound, what does it do?

It cleanses the way you do.

Sometimes faithful the wounds of a friend, a wound can cleanse an attitude.

Somebody that open rebukes us, that's a friend, and it's a faithful wound, it can change our attitude if it does a job.

It can cleanse an attitude.

I've had men say to me, a brother Fisher, somebody who's a little bit of a rebuke.

I said, you know what?

You're right.

Thanks for the wound.

Cleanses my attitude a little bit, amen?

Hey, uh I think I can say this.

My wife has openly rebuked me before.

I thought she was supposed to be under smidgey.

You mean Patty?

Patty would never do that.

She would if she's a good wife.

She's a faithful wife.

If she's a faithful friend.

At times she's going to openly rebuke me.

I didn't say she nags me.

I'm not living with a brawling woman.

Continual drip.

Some of you, you know, come on.

But I have no, I I think it's right for once in a while for my wife to openly rebuke me as a friend.

What?

For my correction.

And it wounds and it cleanses away an attitude.

And I said, you're right, Patty.

That's right.

All right.

But she picks her places.

I have to admit there's been times when I've rebuked her.

Patty, what's that attitude all about?

That's a rebuke.

You mean you don't rant and rave?

Oh no.

Get rid of my attitude! No, no, no.

No, no, no.

Not my wife.

No, no.

She's more sensitive than that.

No.

Enough just to say, Patty, what's that attitude?

No, what's that attitude?

Can we get rid of that so we can have a good day today?

Now, you almost, oh my, I can't believe the pastor said that.

Hey, what's our friends for?

This kumbaya stuff where you never say nothing negative?

Every once in a while, a faithful wound is good.

That's how I grow.

That's how you grow.

He asked you something.

Does the Lord rebuke you?

Does the Lord love you?

Do the wounds clean away an attitude sometimes?

Do we get rebuked by the preaching and by this book?

Does it cleanse us?

Absolutely.

Does he love us?

Yes, he does.

I don't think it's necessary for me as a pastor to go around looking for people to rebuke.

That's why we have church services.

I'm just kidding.

What do you do in church?

I'm the open rebuker.

It's my ministry.

I wouldn't want that ministry.

That means you've got to be a friend to everybody if you're going to do it right.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Wounds do a lot for us, brother.

They soften us.

They make us more sensitive to others that are wounded.

Did you ever go through something that you got wounded and it changed your attitude towards others?

Oh, I can't understand why this kind of person over here is that way.

I just and then God wounds you and you say, Boy, I tell you what, now I understand.

I understand the way you feel now.

Wounds sometimes really desensitize or give sensitivity, especially to men.

Ladies, we men need to be wounded once in a while.

You say amen.

I mean, even your husband's sitting next to you.

Every once in a while, we we just need to be wounded.

We got this ego problem.

Pride.

Every once in a while we we just need to be wounded enough to take us down again.

I don't hear a lot of the men shouting or anything like that.

Whether you're asleep or going on.

Look at Isaiah 53.

Isaiah, you already know it, but I want you to see it in relation to something.

Isaiah 53.

If we're going to be in the battle, we're going to be wounded.

I just want to maybe capsulize this short time that we have together.

I'll give you an illustration.

Isaiah 53.

By the way, a lot of times the messages that I try to give are pastoral.

And I don't go around looking for people and what's going on and everything and develop a message.

This thing's been developing for three or four weeks.

Most of it's just probably dealing with things that I've gone through and watching patterns and everything.

And when I feel like God's timing is right, then the message comes out.

It's not built on a person or a people.

I make this statement.

I want you to listen to me.

We are, sooner or later in this battle, going to be wounded.

Some of us may have multiple wounds inflicted upon us by others, whoever those others might be.

We may know someone that's wounded.

The thing we want to do is do our best to take the wound, use the wound, learn from the wound, grow from the wound, and then let the wound get healed.

And move on.

We don't want to be one that wallows in the wounds.

We don't want to be one that brings others down because of our wounds, although sometimes we need help.

And by the way, may I say this: don't be an island unto yourself.

If you're wounded, get some help.

Get a friend.

We don't kill our wounded.

We don't kick our wounded.

At least we don't purposely try to.

But we realize while they're healing and someone's working with them that we have to move on and go on.

So wounds can be very difficult at times and almost break our spirit, but also they can be very productive.

Now listen to me.

The Bible says in Isaiah 53, verse number five, but he was what?

Wounded for our what?

Transgression.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The wounds that he took, both physically and I'm going to say this internally.

You say, what do you mean he didn't take any internal wounds?

Study him in the garden.

Study his the Bible says his agony.

His mental anguish in the garden.

And don't tell me there wasn't a mental battle going on.

He sweat, as it were, drops of blood.

And brethren, notice what it says.

He did it for us.

For our transgressions and for our iniquities.

And now what he says is this if you're going to reign with me, you're going to suffer with me.

And we're supposed to be partakers of his sufferings.

And be in fellowship with his sufferings.

So it should not be a strange thing to us that once in a while we're wounded for his cause.

He was wounded for us.

Now I'm not saying walk into the hottest part of battle and be a martyr.

But think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us.

It's going to happen.

We're going to be wounded.

We're going to be rejected.

We're going to be abandoned.

We're going to be, uh there's going to be an argument.

There's going to be some type of affliction that comes upon us, even amongst the brethren.

And when it happens, we need to remember something that greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends.

I give you a true story.

I use this in another message, but I don't know if I've ever used this particular one in our church.

I don't think I have.

There was a man in the Vietnam War, true story.

His name was Roy Benavides, and he was a uh Special Forces Staff Sergeant for a reconnaissance unit.

And uh on May 2nd, in 1968, he was at the radio shack, and he there was a 12-man reconnaissance force that was uh inserted over in Cambodia on a top secret mission, and he heard the radio chatter going on, and this 12-man force was was pinned down, and as they keyed their radio mic, he could hear the the combat fighting in the background.

And this Roy Benavides, who is it was a real very true story, he ran over to the helicopter pad, and one of the choppers that was coming back from that LZ area, the landing zone area, when it landed, he went over to get on the helicopter, and as they opened the door, the door gunner fell out dead in his arms.

The helicopter was disabled and he and he went to another helicopter that had just landed.

He threw open the door and said to the pilot, take me to the hot L Z.

They crossed the border into Cambodia, and when they got close to the L Z, they found out it was too hot to land, and so he said, I want to be dropped off a certain distance.

I'll take this radio, and when I get to the man, I'll call you for help and we'll get him out.

He jumped out of the helicopter, true story.

He he runs towards these men, and the account says that bullets began to rip into his legs and his face, and he was knocked down a few times and continued to get back up, and finally he reached the 12-men squad.

When he got there, he found that four men were already dead, and that eight were lying in the grass and they were all wounded.

He sets off a smoke grenade to call in for the choppers, if you would, for covering fire.

And finally, a helicopter, one helicopter, gets down, and he's able to get two of these men onto the helicopter, and while he's running back to get more, he's shot in the back.

Now he's already taken shots in his arms and in his body, been knocked down a few times, and now he's shot in the back.

He's laying back like this and sees the helicopter.

He just dropped these two wounded guys off in, take off.

And as it's taken off, it gets shot down.

And this helicopter comes crashing down over a distance.

He runs over to the helicopter and pulls out the two crewmen.

He gets the true crewman back now with the remaining uh men that are that are still alive, six back there, now the true crewman, and he begins to give out morphine shots the best he could, and while he's giving off a morphine shot, another bullet hits him in the thigh.

The account at this time says that he now is covered in blood, and it's impossible for him to see.

They're on the ground about eight hours, and finally, uh, after a couple of helicopters were shot down trying to get in to get these guys out, another helicopter lands.

He gets a few more of the men on this next helicopter, and while he's running back, he runs into this North Viennese soldier who hits him in the head with the butt of his rifle.

He hits Benavides.

Benavides reels around in time to see a bayonet coming at him.

He grabs the bayonet with his with his open bare hands and cuts these heads and Throws it off, grabs his knife, and kills that guy.

He runs back and he and he and he gets the rest of the men up and he gets them to the helicopter.

And while he's going back to the helicopter and shoving these men in, two more enemy soldiers are running towards the helicopter and grabs somebody's rifle, spins it around, and kills both of them, and begins to collapse.

Just about that time, somebody pulls him in, jerks him into the helicopter.

And in that helicopter that had stopped in another hot LZ, there's 17 men laying in there.

And Benavides is pushed over towards the back.

His intestines are laying in his, he's holding them in with his hands, and he passes out.

This helicopter, according to the accounts, comes back into the hospital area.

And when the door opens, all it is is a mass of bodies bleeding and moaning.

And they begin to triage this thing.

And when they got the Benevitus, they took him out and put him over here, and he wasn't moving.

They couldn't get a pulse on him.

They readied his body bag to stuff him into the body bag.

He couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he couldn't say anything.

When the doctor bent over to check his eyes one last time, all he could do was spit in the doctor's face.

Staff Sergeant Roy Benavides was the last Medal of Honor winner that's still living from the Vietnam War.

I saw a little picture of him walking in review in Washington as he received his medal.

You say, what's that?

That's somebody wounded that realizes there's still a reason to fight.

Somewhere in there is duty and commitment.

And the Bible would call it greater man hath, greater love than no man hath, that he lay down his life.

And if Christ was wounded for our transgressions, can't we manage a couple of our wounds and keep fighting?

Oh, but I'm so hurt! So is the person in front of you.

So is the person two rows behind you.

How's he doing?

Come and go.

Didn't go well.

I've got a wounded spear.

And I'm not trying to single them out, but they've been in church and in church and in church and in church.

They got a reason to be bitter.

We all have a reason.

And justifiable in our mind.

And Jesus had a reason to leave the cross, but he didn't.

He could have come down.

But he didn't.

And I'll say this: he wouldn't have come down.

That was established before the foundations of the earth.

If you're the Son of God, come down and save thyself.

Wouldn't Satan have loved that?

He wounded, bled, and died for us.

And please look up here.

Yes, he did it out of obedience to the Father, but he also did it out of love for us.

Now, out of love for him.

I think we can suffer what he has planned for us.

Because he says he'll not tempt us above that which we're able.

He'll give us what we need.

We may inflict something upon ourselves, but we don't need to wallow in it.

Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves.

Bind up the wound and go on.

Oh, I can't believe I did that.

Forgive yourself, bind up the wound and go on.

I can't believe he did that to me or she did that to me.

Bind up the wound and go on.

Whoa, God, whoa! Letting this happen to me.

So you'll be more sensitive to someone else and comfort them with the comfort wherewith God has comforted you.

As ambassadors, we will be wounded in the line of duty.

At different levels.

But as good soldiers, we're to endure hardness.

And by the way, we'll get more than just a medal of honor.

I'm not cheapening what that represents.

You won't find a medal of honor issued without heavy wounds or acts of heroism.

Brethren, I'll guarantee you who's going to get the crowns later.

It's the one who was wounded and bruised and beaten beyond recognition and lied about and spit upon.

And he did it for us.

Brethren, please look up here.

I think we can stay in the fight just a little bit longer.

I think we can stay on the streets just a little bit longer.

I think we can go soul winning just a little bit longer.

I think we can suffer another prison revival.

I think we can keep the buses running.

I think we can continue to get the gospel out of the convalescent.

And I think we can go down to that rescue mission.

I think we can keep on going, even though we've talked about it, even though we're abused, even though we've made some mistakes, even though we've hurt ourselves, or someone else's earse, I think we can go on.

This isn't Sunday morning.

You're part of the backbone of this church.

You are.

Oh, nobody will notice if I fall.

Yes, we will.

Yes, we will.

We will absolutely will.

Somebody that knows you will be hurt.

You say, oh, nobody will notice.

Well, yes, we will.

Somebody will have to fill in your ranks.

Well, you say, see, somebody will fill in.

Better get rid of that spirit.

You're needed, you're necessary.

You're useful.

God chose you.

Brokenhearted?

Yes.

Wounded?

Yes.

Damaging?

Yes.

Hurtful?

Yes.

Negative?

At times.

Positive?

Yes.

Especially when you get back up.

And you go on.

I've been reading quite a bit about the Civil War.

You talk about some soldiers.

Man.

Now I'm not taking anything against any other war.

But we're talking guys that would that would march 17 miles in barefooted conditions who just had a leg blown off.

Just to get in the battle again.

I was reading a story about one cavalry commander had an arm taken off.

Had a leg taken off.

Lost another leg.

He had to tie himself in the saddle.

And with one arm rode the horse.

You talk about inspiring.

How would you like to follow a man like that?

And here he comes riding up and says, We can take him, boys! True story.

He can hold his saber with his hand and put the reins in his teeth.

And where is the saber?

No legs?

One arm missing?

Tied into the saddle?

Reins of the horse in his teeth?

Wig in the saber.

I can follow that.

Somebody'd say, man, after looking at what they did to him, I don't want to go into battle.

No, after looking at that kind of spirit, if it's a worthy cause, if it's a worthy cause, and is there not a cause?

If it's a worthy cause, let's charge.

Amen.

Do we have a hospital?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And we're not taking them in the back room and killing them.

No, we're buying them up to put them back in the battle.

We've got a captain that never quit.

We need to fight wounded.

And encourage others to do the same.

That's all Stan.

Say, what was this message all about, preacher?

Well.

Helping us to reach our potential for God.

Picking someone up.

Not unsympathetic.

Not uncaring.

The cause is greater than our wounds.

I'll say that again.

The cause is greater than our wounds.

Tonight.

You may not be wounded, but maybe you know someone that is.

Maybe you've had some self-inflicted wounds.

Maybe the shrapnel from somebody else's wounds has hit you.

Maybe it's been a while, but you've been wounded and you remember what it's like, and you want to pray for somebody else.

Maybe you don't even know their name in the church tonight that is wounded.

Wouldn't hurt to say, you know what, I know what it's like to be wounded.

I remember.

I remember wondering if I could ever get back up again.

I wonder, I remember wondering if I could ever be the same again.

I wondered if I ever could mount that saddle again.

But I'll tell you what, if that one-armed guy can ride off and go back into battle, I think I can too.

Yeah, I've got some pains and some heartaches, but if someone else can do it after what they've been through, I guess I could do it too.

Tonight.

It's not a cowardly thing or a weak thing to hit an altar and to go back to the one who provides the strength of forgiveness and grace, and that has the balm of Gilead and say, Lord, I need a little bomb tonight.

Or tonight I know someone that does.

Would you bind up their wounds and or would you give me the fortitude to go on as you were wounded for me?

I want to go on and be a good soldier for you, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed.

If you need to use an old-fashioned altar tonight, men or women, husband and wife, single, come right now.

If you're in the balcony, don't let that distance stop you.

Come down, come forward.

If you're in the back, come.

Let's use an old-fashioned altar tonight.

If you don't want to come forward, why don't you just sit down right there on your knees where you're at?

Maybe this could be your hospital tonight.

And you could go to the great physician, and by the way, he can perform multiple surgeries at once.

He could bind up 15 spirits in here tonight.

He could repair 14 consciences at once.

And he's good at heart transplants, too.

And he could put us back in the battle again.

Maybe the wounding is not yet over and you know there's more coming.

Bind up that which you can and decide you're going to go on.

The safest places in the battle.

It's where we're closest to him.

With your heads bowed and your eyes closed tonight.

As good soldiers, let's endure hardness.

If you're in need of salvation, the Bible says that it's grace.

And I'm going to say this to you: this world and what we used to do in this world, some of us, was much more hurtful to ourselves than ever what Christianity could be.

If you're in the world tonight and you've not received Christ as Savior yet, this world will wound you and won't care about you.

May I introduce you to a captain that will care for you, knowing that you're wounded, will watch out for you.

You just need to receive him as your Savior.

We could help you tonight.

If that's your interest, you come forward or see one of us after the services, and we'll show you how you can have your sins forgiven.

And then how God can give you that forgiveness to go on.

I hope I didn't sound cold tonight.

That's not the purpose.

I hope I didn't sound unsympathetic.

There's messages of comfort, but there's also messages of character.

And sometimes no one can really do anything for us.

No one can really change that which has happened.

But God can give us what we need to move on and go on.

And stay faithful and loyal to the post he's given us to walk.

Take your time tonight.

Wounded spirit, wounded heart, wounded conscience, a soul crying out.

Who careth for my soul?

I'll tell you, God does.

You say no man careth more my soul, God certainly does.

And I believe many in here do too.

Father, I pray you'll use this tonight.

Certainly it's not exhaustive.

Well, Lord, sometimes we need to look at ourselves and say, Father, help us to be seasoned soldiers.

Increase the tolerance of our ability to bear the pain.

And help us to move on through our shortcomings and failings and mistakes.

And the wounds of those who may be around us.

And Father, help us to, as Paul, finish our course tonight.

Keep us going, Lord.