When Friends Reject You Print

Pastor David Koop

Jesus understands and cares about the pain we experience when friends reject us.

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Isaiah 41:9 (NKJ)
I have taken you from the ends of the earth and called you from its most distant places. I said to you, ‘You are my servant. I’ve chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.’

Jeremiah 29:11 (Message)
I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Isaiah 58:12 (Message)
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

Rejection is a spirit that is rooted in fear and must be resisted if we want victory.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

James 4:7
So place yourselves under God’s authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.

If you don’t resist the spirit of rejection it may:

  1. Permit others to ___________________ you.
  2. Hinder your ___________________. You will fear telling the truth because if you are honest you might not be accepted.
  3. Produce __________________. It will cause you to retreat into isolation and put up walls lest you get hurt again.
  4. Usher in ______________________. Thus you loose the power and courage to move forward.
  5. Promote _________-___________. Your need for acceptance will drive you to get people to pity you.
  6. Produce ________________, low self-confidence. Your soundness of mind is gone.
  7. Lead to _______________ in the cry for attention.
  8. Drive you to _______________ others. “If I am in ___________________ I can’t be hurt.”

Victory over the spirit of rejection is possible when you:

  1. Accept the love of Jesus’ as He reaches out to you.
    1. He more than anyone knows the pain of rejection.
      1. The religious leaders rejected him. Mark 8:31
      2. His family and community rejected him. Matthew 13:53-58
      3. He was rejected by His generation. Luke 17:25
      4. He was falsely accused. John 8:48
      5. God forsook Him when He took our sins. Mark 15:34
    2. Consider Zacchaeus. Luke 19:1-10
    3. Consider the woman at the well. John 4:1-38
  2. ______________ yourself. James 2:8
    1. ___________ what you can change.
    2. ___________ what you can’t change. (The woman at the well couldn’t change the fact that she was a Samaritan, but she could change her lifestyle. Zacchaeus couldn’t change his stature but he could repay those he stole from.)
  3. Keep _____________, don’t retreat into isolation rather move forward by love and faith.
    1. After experiencing rejection the temptation is to live by your feelings rather than by faith. Remember it is the power of love that casts out all fear.
    2. 1John 4:18
      There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
  4. Don’t question your  ______________or your _____________________.
    1. Do not let____________________ settle in.
    2. Do not be easily _______________. Review the scope of the situation.
    3. Consider the example of Jesus in Mark 6:1-6
  5. ____________ to the spirit of rejection and command it to go in the name of Jesus.
    1. “Spirit, I’m telling you to go! In the name of Jesus, I speak to you: you are cannot harass my life! I renounce you. I choose to walk in perfect love. It is written, ‘God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.’”