How To Guard Your Heart From Church Hurt | Herbert Cooper - Audio

7 Biblical Practices To Guard Your Heart From Church Hurt 1. Don't expect the church to be perfect Ecclesiastes 7:20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. (NLT) 2. Don't put pastors on a pedestal 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13 Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. 13  Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. (NLT) Acts 10:25-26 As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. 26  But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!” (NLT) Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NASB) 3. Don’t put all your hope in people Psalm 62:5 Yes, my soul. Find rest in God, my hope comes from Him. (NIV) 4. Extend the same grace and mercy that you want to receive 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (NIV) James 2:13   There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you. (NLT) 5. Don't judge all churches by the actions of one church 6. Don't get caught up in the offenses of others Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (NIV) 1 Timothy 5:19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. (NIV) 7. Do not give up on the church Hebrews 10:24–25   And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV)