QUICK TAKEAWAYS

• We live in a world drowning in information but starving for truth.

• Our searches reveal deep pain: stains of sin, scars of suffering, and a longing to be seen, healed, and loved.

• A stained soul asks, “Can I ever be clean?” A scarred soul asks, “Will I ever be safe or whole?”

• The enemy blinds minds—not eyes—through shame, fear, and confusion.

• You are not your stain; you are not your scar.

• Jesus is willing. His love washes, heals, restores, and redefines you.

• The shepherds show us a roadmap: Listen. Believe. Go & see. Return with praise.

• Transformation happens when your searching becomes surrender.

• Healing is possible. Wholeness is possible. Freedom is possible—for you.

• Christ still touches the stained and scarred today.

SERMON SUMMARY

Good morning. Before I even got into the message, I found myself laughing about how early Christmas music starts and how I’ve never been a huge fan of it. But as I grow in relationship with the Lord, even Christmas songs start to sound different—meaningful in a deeper way.

Today I kicked off a new series called #SEARCHING. We just came out of our series on idolatry, and now I want to talk about what everyone is searching for. When I say “searching,” most of us think of Google. Some of you remember life before Google—going to libraries, card catalogs, encyclopedias, hoping the topic you needed was in that one book so you could copy it and be done.

The first Google search happened in 1998. Now? We’re up to five trillion searches every year—about 9.5 million every minute. We search everything from the ridiculous (“Why do I hear music when I chew?”) to the serious (“How do I forgive myself?”).

And beneath all the funny searches, data tells a darker story.

• Mental and emotional pain is surging.

• 1 in 4 adults report anxiety or depression.

• Searches for “how to heal emotionally” are up 500%.

• 58% of Americans feel lonely often or always.

• Teen girls have the highest sadness ever recorded.

• Shame is heavy: 78% of people carry a secret they’ve never told.

• “How do I forgive myself?” searches are up 300%.

• Even in the church, 63% of Christians feel unworthy of God’s love.

• Trauma is now everybody’s story in some way.

People are searching—but they’re not always finding answers.

Paul warned us that the “god of this age” blinds the mind—not the eyes. Eyes see information; minds interpret it. And the mind can be overwhelmed to the point that shame, fear, lies, and confusion convince us that our stains are permanent and our scars define us.

So I began defining what I call the stained soul and the scarred soul.

A Stained Soul

A stained soul asks:

• “Can I ever be clean?”

• “Can I ever be forgiven?”

• “Can I ever be enough?”

We all know how we treat stained clothing—we hide it, replace it, or throw it away. And some of us treat our own souls the same way.

A stained soul believes things like:

• “I’m unworthy.”

• “No one can clean this mess.”

• “If people knew, they’d never accept me.”

Stains may be:

• addictions we keep cycling back to

• outbursts we regret

• abortions never spoken of

• sexual experiences we didn’t choose or didn’t understand

• failures we’ve hidden our whole lives

• ways we’ve used others or been used

• shame we’ve carried since childhood

And I shared statistics on sexual harm because so many silently carry that stain—even though it is not their fault. One in four women and one in six men experience sexual harm before 18—but men often hide it, and women often feel dirtied by it. Both need healing. Both need Jesus.

When we don’t understand what Jesus actually does with stains, we end up in self-condemnation—believing we’re too ruined or too dirty for God.

A Scarred Soul

Scars tell the stories of suffering:

• betrayal

• abandonment

• church hurt

• loss

• grief

• rejection

• loneliness

Scars make us believe:

• “I’m too weak.”

• “I’m too broken.”

• “I’m not safe.”

We mask them with:

• sarcasm

• performance

• ministry

• humor

• busyness

• keeping people at a distance

• perfectionism

But a scar isn’t a definition. It’s a story.

And no matter what you’ve done or what’s been done to you, you are not beyond the love of Christ.

Corrie Ten Boom said, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love isn’t deeper still.” And she lived through the Holocaust—she knew suffering.

Some of us have lived with our stains and scars so long that we’ve accepted them as identity. But Jesus says something different.

He says:

• “You are cleansed.”

• “You are worthy.”

• “You are loved.”

Scripture tells us there is no condemnation in Christ. Isaiah says though our sins are scarlet, He washes them white as snow.

Some of us are living with scars and saying, “This is just as good as it gets.” But Jesus came so healing and wholeness could be possible.

I told a story of a 17-year-old girl who believed she ruined her purity. And I looked at her and said: “Jesus restores purity. He restores hearts. He heals what is broken.”

Isaiah tells us:

• He was pierced for our transgressions.

• Crushed for our iniquities.

• By His wounds, we are healed.

So how do we move from searching to surrender? From being stuck to being restored?

THE SHEPHERDS: A ROADMAP FOR SEARCHERS

We turned to Luke 2 and the story of the shepherds. Most people miss the backstory of shepherds:

• Shepherding used to be noble—Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David.

• It shaped character.

• It provided the sacrificial lambs essential to worship.

But by the first century:

• shepherds were considered unclean

• unwanted

• unqualified

• socially insignificant

• spiritually dismissed

They smelled bad. They were dirty. They were forgotten.

Yet God chose them to receive the only birth announcement of Jesus.

God chose the stained and the scarred first. That’s the heart of the gospel.

Here’s what the shepherds show us:

1️⃣ Ready to Listen

When the angel appeared, they didn’t argue, hide, or dismiss it.
They listened with openness—not assumptions.

2️⃣ Ready to Believe

They said, “Let’s go.”
They believed enough to move—even without answers, even while still dirty.

3️⃣ Ready to Go and See

They left the field as they were.
They moved toward Jesus with manure still on their sandals.

Faith moves. Real belief moves.

4️⃣ Ready to Return with Praise

They returned to the same field, same job, same circumstances—but they were not the same.

That’s what an encounter with Jesus does.

HOW WE FOLLOW THE SAME ROADMAP

1. Listen

Open your heart.
Silence distractions.
Stop pushing away conviction.
Let God challenge your assumptions about Him, others, and yourself.

2. Believe

Dare to trust God beyond your understanding.
Dare to take Him at His word.
Believe healing and forgiveness can happen for you.

3. Go and See

Take a step—any step:

• Come to worship.

• Get baptized.

• Confess a struggle to someone safe.

• Choose community over isolation.

Healing cannot happen in secret.

4. Return with Praise

Live changed.
Speak changed.
Worship changed.
Tell the story of what Jesus has washed and healed.

YOU ARE NOT YOUR STAIN. YOU ARE NOT YOUR SCAR.

Just like the shepherds, we don’t have to understand everything, and we don’t have to be clean.

Your stain can be washed.
Your scar can be healed.

Matthew 8 tells the story of a man with leprosy—a man who couldn’t hide his wounds or his shame.
He listened.
He believed.
He went to see Jesus.
He fell to his knees and said:

“Lord, if You are willing…”

And Jesus reached out, touched him, and said:

“I am willing.”

He still is.

MY STORY

I shared how, for years, my inner mantra was:
“Useful but worthless.”

Carrying trauma—complex trauma—made me believe that was my identity.
But 12 years ago, I had a radical encounter with the Lord.
He washed the stains I couldn’t scrub off.
He healed the scars no one else could touch.
He carried what I never should have carried.

I’m living proof:
He is still washing clothes and healing hearts.

God is like a parent whose college kid comes home with a bag of dirty laundry.
He doesn’t ask how it got dirty.
He just wants to wash it because He loves you.

THE INVITATION

As we move into worship, this is your invitation:

• Are you ready to listen?

• Are you ready to believe?

• Are you ready to go and see?

• Are you ready to return with praise?

Because you cannot stay where you are and walk into what Jesus has for you.

Holy Spirit, help us listen with our hearts—not just our ears.