For our last week I want to talk from some personal pains that I know each student has dealt with in their lives. The pain of rejection. Each of us has been rejected in some way by a loved one, a friend, a coach, or someone they admire. It may not have been intentional or may have been but I believe we all have felt rejected as some point in our lives.
When I was in the ninth grade I tried out for the school baseball team. Most of my life up to this point I had always excelled at baseball. It was the one sport that my dad spent a lot of time with me through the years throwing, hitting, all that father son stuff. I had made ever all star team from Farm League all the way up to Babe Ruth so I thought I had a good chance of making the team. I know some people like to exaggerate their playing abilities but I am being honest here. I had made it through to the last cut and as the coach read off the list of players that made the team I never heard my name. I was defeated, depressed, angry, you name it. The one thing I kept telling myself was I wasn't good enough to even play the sport any more. I noticed that that rejection changed me. It brought about pain that paralyzed me in so many ways. I had spent so much time practicing, not to mention all the 5 am conditioning deals I went to leading up to tryouts. Simply put I was defeated. The next year when baseball season came around my dad encouraged me to go out and I agreed. He drove me to all the 5 am conditioning practices up to tryouts (6 weeks 4 days a week). When tryouts started I got scared and decided I didn't want to get cut again. The reality is I didn't want to be rejected again. Rejection is embarrassing and can cause pain. This week we are going to talk about this pain and what the response should be to this pain. My response was unhealthy and cause regret down the road.
The Message will be from Mark 5:24-34 "Jesus heals the sick woman"
Here we have this woman who was bleeding for years. She tried everything and spent everything to get well but only got worse. By the way if a woman was bleeding in this day they were considered unclean, untouchable because anyone who touched them would be considered unclean. Can you imagine living this long being considered unclean, untouchable? The rejection that this woman felt must have been just as painful as her physical ailment. She was healed by simply believing that all she had to do was touch the hem of Jesus' garment, not Him personally but His garment. It was her faith that healed her. How many times do we do our own thing looking for the pain to be removed when all we need to do is put that faith in Christ?
Points
1. vs 26 The pain of rejection will causes more pain then we realize.
2. vs 27-28 Jesus won't reject you.
3. vs 29-30 Jesus is the Pain Killer we need.
4. vs 31-34 How do we respond when Jesus is our Pain Killer?
Small Group Questions
1. Share with the group how you have been rejected in the past or even now.
2. How do you tend to deal with rejection in your life? What are some pain killers you use to kill the pain?
3. If you know that Jesus loves you, and you know that we must experience pain during life, do you have faith or believe that Jesus is capable and willing to kill the pain we experience? Have you ever allowed or believed enough that Jesus is willing to be your Pain Killer?
4. What road blocks do you have that keep you from relying on the ultimate Pain Killer? How can we start to remove those blocks as a group?
If you read these and know of a better way to put it let me know.
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