Hit by Friendly Fire Part 1

Hit By Friendly Fire: What To Do When Christians Hurt You


Genesis 50:15-21; Philippians 3:8-10
One second. One mistake. One firing of the missile in the midst of the war. The missile cannot come back. The weapon is now headed for you. And the one who fired it is on your side. It is war. Hit by friendly fire.

And this is not Baghdad or the Battle of the Bulge or Pork Chop Hill. I am speaking of the many walking wounded in the body of Christ who have been hurt by other believers, people who have been hit by the betrayal of a Christian.

But this is no mistake. She meant to say those words. He meant to plot against you. They meant to bring you down. And you will never be the same. You will suffer with this for the rest of your life. You will not go back to any church. You will lick your wounds. You will be possessed for the rest of your life by the pain. And the pain becomes bitterness.

Do you know anyone like that? Or is that your story? Are you the victim of a wound inflicted by someone you love? A victim? It does not have to be.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died, ‘Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them (Genesis 50:15-21).

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, (Philippians 1:15-18).

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, (Philippians 3:8-10).

Interrupted by God

I do sermon planning, and then I do sermon preparation. In sermon planning, I seek to plan over a period of time, such as a year, and seek the Lord to take us through books or chapters of the Bible. Then, week-to-week, I do sermon preparation — based upon the planning — where I actually prepare for the sermon coming up. Between series on books or chapters, I bring you single sermon messages, like last week and like today. I thought I knew where I was going in this single sermon. But between the planning and the preparation, God interrupted my life. And that is the way it should be. So I believe this message has come from the Lord.

I would characterize this message as a sermon — that is, a sermon drawn from Scripture to address a need I see in the lives of our people. I see this as a universal need in the lives of Christians . . . and, I must say, in the lives of non-Christians. It is the matter of being hurt by one you love. It is the matter of seeing yourself as a victim — or not — in that process. Let me tell you how God brought this to me, and then I want to address it from God’s Word.


Well, one day, not too long ago,This is what my schedule looked like that particular day. Among other appointments, I was to see three different families. None of them were from our church, or even from our city for that matter. Without going into detail, let me also say they were all in ministry.

The first began to tell me their story. But soon the words, going nowhere as far as I could tell, ended in tears. Then they said it, “We have been hurt by other Christians.” I spent no small amount of time with them. I brought them to God’s Word, and we spent time together seeking the truths of Scripture. Our time was over. Have been here ? I felt a real need to write about it . There maybe a part 2 and 3 , if God give it to me . There is more pain than person can handle is when people from God house do this . I have more to say about this subject but later . A young Pastor is going through it right now . People remember who Jesus is and who we are . You maybe the only real love a person see . Be careful !
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
Sister Mary Carpenter is at home and went through operation great . Thank you Jesus .