The Emotionally Healthy Church-Shame

Hey, man, thank you so much Jackie. We appreciate you.

The new series is called the emotionally healthy Church. We got to slide here to introduce. This series will be the next ten weeks, maybe more depending on some of the topics. We might spend two weeks on and I have been planning this series for two years. It's been coming as part of our strategic plan. We want to spend more time Sunday mornings dealing with the issues of the heart and I have to tell you at the beginning of this series as we get started. I feel very much in over my head when it comes to preaching on emotional health and wellness. I am a highly highly rational person than a feeler much more of a Spock on the inside, you know, you know Spock know that I can't quite do it the world of the mind. That's my world. I would love to be announcing another apologetic series or we are going to let that's coming this summer. We learn to defend the With reason that's my world, right the world of emotions seems far too confusing and chaotic to me. So I often prefer to sit it out when emotional people are getting emotional. God has done a tremendous work in my heart in Ministry cuz pastoral Ministry has taken care of the flock of God. So God has truly transformed me since I started ministry back in 2002 emotional people have helped me to learn my way around that world, and I'm never going to be an All-Star therapist counselor, but God has truly taught me the ways of the heart. Do I just being honest with you that going into the series to begin with is me saying? I've got a lot to learn and a long way to go. And so some of you are like me you wish you were more emotional. If you're not careful, you can turn into Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz you know what I mean? Like you're just all rested up and said he's going to come along with some oil and get you moving again and somehow try and find you a heart. Maybe you're like me others are highly emotional and you're like, I just wish someone would put some brakes on my heart cuz I just can't stop the feeling. I feel all the feels and I'd love to know how to sort through them and be more productive is living with them. And then Rose people are kind of somewhere in the middle. I've read more books for this series and any other series I've ever preached there are emotional experts out there. Do you know that there are people who live to study the emotional world and I was surprised to find that Can't even agree on what an emotion is. They can't Define them and they can't tell you how many emotions they are. They argue over that one expert in the emotional World Brandi Brown. Not a Christian, but she is fascinating in the work. She's not in the book. She's written she did a research project and she collected 7 dozen interviews over five years asking people to list their emotions that they feel on average 7000 surveys over 5 years people listed just three emotions. Happy sad in that.

He said the survey isn't working obviously a lot more emotions than that. So then she went to where people really share their feelings in the comments section of her online courses. And out of five hundred thousand comments her team found 150 emotions listed and so she narrowed it down to 87 of them and wrote a book about 87 emotions. It became a number one New York Times bestseller. People are hungry to learn about the emotional World. They need help mapping it out. Sorting through and figuring out their way through it which is why her book was called the atlas of the heart for our series we're going to focus on 10 of the top emotions mentioned in the bible. Here's a slide with 10 of the top emotions mentioned in the bible. So we'll do shame pride and me fear anger sorrow greed boredom. That's also sloth and then lost joy and that's all those are those are 10 of the top and Motionless In the Bible and then love will be the top one because the greatest is love so that would be probably 12 weeks that will take us to go through the series. These are the emotions that drive most of our actions and we are going to learn how to find these emotions understand Express them. And the series is call the emotionally healthy church. We want to be a church that knows how to love each other regardless of how we're feeling. So let's pray at the beginning of this series and then we'll start With shame let's pray.

Heavenly Father we bring our hearts to you as we start this new series. I know the purpose of everything including our emotions is to help us love the Lord Our God with all our heart mind soul and strength to love our neighbor as ourselves. We know that's why we have feelings. That's why we have breath in our lungs is to learn how to love you and to learn how to love others. So at the front end of this series and we're going to go deep into the matters of the heart father. We invite you as we look inside to teach us to love you better to know your love better teach us to love others better and to know their love better grow us as a healthy Church Lord. We open our hearts to you and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. You concerned Genesis chapter 3 Genesis chapter 3 we're going to start this week and next week with one of the primary core emotions that drives our actions and our sense of identity and our relationships and that is a shame when it comes to the idea of shame. It may be hard for you to locate when you feel shame and what you do with it because Shane is a socially triggered emotion meeting other people are around when you battle most with this so you're going to be inherently distracted while you're feeling it and while you're dealing with it, but what I want us to do today is to see the birth of Shame which happened in the Garden of Eden and we're going to see exactly what it looks like what it feels like and in your soul. I want you to be asking because this is a universal emotion you have it. It's very powerful and it's one of the biggest reasons you do what you do you think what you think and how you relate it's there. Can you find it? Can you see how you feel it? And can you discern how it As your actions that's that's the goal for this morning. So here we are in Genesis 3 and remember because this is a topical Siri. Studying this passage. Like we wouldn't Avi. Anchor Bible Institute, right? This is a topical series So In this passage, there's one particular theme the theme of shame we are going to remain laser focused on that. So we're not going to go into a lot of options that we could go into studying Genesis 31 verse earlier is verse 25. It just made a brand new universe he made it and it was very good you made Adam and Eve and it says in verse 25 of chapter 2 of the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed write this down number one in your notes. We were created to live before God and others innocent and unashamed. We were created to live before God and innocent and unashamed. We are in the Garden of Eden. The whole world is brand-new. There's never been any bad headline once nobody is hurt anybody else. None of us in one of them has even happened. Once God made the universe the world and Humanity good and no one had ever felt shame before. Show me see that we were created to live before God and others innocent and unashamed. God made everything very good. There was one rule to do. You know what the one rule was? What was the one rule? Which tree the tree of what? Somebody said life that's not it the tree of somebody said knowledge knowledge of what? Good, so you got to get the whole phrase right the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil? Okay. One rule consequence of eating of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is deaf. God warned them. When you eat of it. You shall die. It was a fatal restriction don't eat of the 13 plenty of food. The garden was massive His Four Rivers converging is probably the size of a state park plenty of food. Have you been to Costco plenty of food? Okay.

You gave Adam and Eve a choice to love and trust him or to willfully defy him. And to willfully choose death over the tree of life. That was at their disposal. They could eat of the tree of life and continue to live forever important to recognize hear that everything that was good came from the hand of God that invented anything yet and the pathway to eternal life. The tree of life was outside of that show Humanity was not created in Mortal. We relied on the hand of God to provide life outside and we don't believe the fruit the substance is what gave them the knowledge of training evil or give them eternal life that the god that did this. This was a path to Faith trusting him. And this was a path to send down and get those are the things that led the life and death right? That's We Believe here so they have the opportunity to exercise faith and by the hand of God to receive eternal life for exercise Santa to choose death over life life and death are before them a common thing that's going to happen. Israeli says it to us life and death choose life. Well, what would they do? Like Adam and Eve we were made in God's image created by a good God and life and death lie before us they were naked. They were unashamed. This means more than they just didn't have a frankenfish. This means that they were clean of sin. They had nothing to hide and no desire to hide their desire to cover up nothing to cover up. Imagine meeting a human who would never send once Not in the Purity imagine the innocent look imagine the childlike delight and majan. No regrets baggage past nothing Imagine The Staggering bought no baggage. No bruises. No secrets no stains. They can talks about everyday and live forever. Wow. What is thot? Sometimes people accuse God going into the story. Well, what did you think was going to happen telling them not to eat from that tree. He knew they were going to do it. It's like putting cookies on the table and telling kids don't eat it and then going to wash your hair course, they're going to eat it. They challenged I was wrong doing no the tree is fatal and God was good to warn them about it. It would actually be like telling someone who is deathly allergic to peanuts or do anything on the menu, except the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It'll kill you. It's a very loving thing to warn someone that they're going to die to be like going to Six Flags Great America and saying hey, but the eagle is missing fifteen feet of track don't go on it or you'll die loving thing to tell people you're going to die. If you go that are on that ride don't go on. It's a very loving thing to do that.

So it was a good thing for God to warn them about said yeah, but he put that tree there people accused God. So naturally it was a loving thing for God to give people a genuine choice to choose to refuse him. The loving thing to do for love is not love the loving thing for him to give them the opportunity to literally choose death to literally rather have our universe where she dies which is ultimately what we want. It's a loving thing for a holy God to give people that choice cuz then we know we can truly love him with our heart so is good for them. It was good for God to give them a choice. Glory glory to God for such a perfect beginning in Paradise. Amen. If you don't get the goodness of God on the front end of this conversation about shame, you're never going to be able to figure it out. You have to have it established in your heart that God is a good god. He's never done wrong to you one time ever. You have to start where the Bible starts. We were created to live before God and others innocent and honest shame that it happened already.

but then we read on Does in chapter 3 was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God has made he said to the woman did not actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden. Alright, let's talk about this. So the snake is obviously Satan. He's a fallen angel a demon who leads the whole world history. I do some people think this is a myth Genesis is a myth because there's talking snakes, but What we have to understand is this There Are Spiritual Beings there are angels and demons There Are Spiritual Beings and it's rare but they can control physical things like animals or even demons can control people it's rare. But Spiritual Beings can control is a cool things. Therefore, this is not a myth. This is not a fairytale. This is a true story really happened. And Satan is a real being who has a personal Vendetta against God. He wants to ruin God's place and ruin everything. God has made say it is therefore the father of Lies. You can write this down for number to we're going to see that our shame comes from our sin. We feel shame because we are sinful. We feel shame because we're sinful will impact this but for us it's by birth and by choice by birth and by choice will trigger shame it will C4 Avenue. They were not sinful by birth. They were sinful by choice, but then they will cash down this sent to us. So let's see where Shane was first trigger. It says here in verse 1 did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden. Okay. So Satan's first lie is the screen, but I just realize God is awfully stingy. You got is awfully stingy. It looks like you're starving.

Did God really say Don't eat any of these trees know that what he said? Lord God said no food is got a Soup Nazi. No food for real or Seinfeld children.

So Satan's tactic to begin with remember saying is going to ruin the world right here. He's not a dummy. He's not a dummy gay. He's the darkest creature imaginable. He knows exactly what he's doing. You you have to see how he gets us. You have to see it. And it's the same way you try to get Jesus. What's the first temptation to Jesus but he say turn these stones into bread. You look hungry same strategy. You look hungry. You have to see what he does. God is awfully stingy. He's not feeding you very well. Is he? So he'll exaggerated the limits put around, you know, you can't even have any fun. And he'll intensify your level of suffering. You look miserable.

It's the Temptation watch out watch out the root of the entire world starts here. You look hungry. The root of the entire world starts if you look lonely you look sad you look scared.

I can help you with that. I'm very real basic need you look angry starts with a B that God has told you you can have this is what we would call baked baked. There's big or something good that you need and there's a disguise. Who is it that's trying to offer it to you if you don't get this about to fall for every time. Did not actually say you so much of any of the tree in the garden. But what I said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden either show you touch it unless you. She adds a little provision. They're not allowed to touch it. Maybe they were just taking extra precaution. She added to what God had said a little bit there too. But the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die. Will there's a blatant lie. Forgot knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing Good and Evil. So why number two is God's warnings or not true for you? God said all these terrible things are going to happen. Not to you. So all these warnings are up there. He told you this is going to leave the Pitt. Not you. So God's warnings or not true for you. First flag. I dropped least in g. S like ice warnings are not true for you. You won't die. Three minimizes the consequences and makes your sim different. What the other people have suffered for that you're this is different you're special. And even if you can convince you this and you know what it's actually is probably God's way of blessing you is the coup de gras special.

That's how do you get to he tells you his warnings or not true for you? Same time station to Jesus jump top of the temple state to jump to catch you. That's a similar God's promises are not true for you. Right God said he will command his angels concerning you jocks a but you won't die same principle. He'll tell you the God's promises are not for you or God's warnings or not for you. Either way. You're putting the word of God to the test. You don't think the word of God is going to come true in your like he's not going to come through for you. You have any promise? Yeah, but not to me. Do you hear that in your head? Or yeah, I know what the Bible says, but for me it's different. So God's warnings are not true for you. Lie, three you can have it all without God you will not truly diverse five. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened. You will be like God knowing Good and Evil.

So why one God's off least in July to God's mornings are not true for you. Lie, three you can have it all without God you're going to feel amazing. This is going to taste fantastic or going to be smarter than other people you're going to be like Heavenly. I mean, I mean, I don't know why I haven't done it already. It feels really right and really good when you're finally at the point of taking the bait people who are about to ruin their lives ruined. Their marriage has ruined their careers have talked to me at Advanced stage 4 cancer is in like the best thing in the world is about to happen to them and they were convinced it's worse when they think God himself has brought this opportunity about like your heads in the game team. No, it's not this is going to be there there. Their eyes are actually closed, but they think they now see clearly you can have it all without God. So then it goes on to say this so the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its roof and eight. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he is in the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloth. So now they see not exactly what Satan said. He told some half-truth Ryan's world, but they see that they are naked now that doesn't just mean physically like, oh my goodness.

It's not just clothes that are missing their innocence is gone. They're guilty of sin. They're going to be seen there in huge trouble. And God said they would die for it. They are now seeing that they've done a very terrible thing. Spiritual they did die their relationship with God was broken in that moment. They rejected their Source of Life. They chose death because it looked and tasted fantastic.

And they transgressed the word of God. We were therefore born into their sin because we all came from them. And so we inherited a sin nature. The hard drive when the screen was first turned on in your life went blue. We were born broken. But then once we got up and run and we chose him to so we're sinful by birth of our sinful by choice. We download the program as well. That's the sin that triggers the shame. So the nature of sin is it stains? Like nothing else? That's why they instantly feel the need to cover up. There is a boy who moved here when he was a kid from Santa Fe. There's no humidity in Santa Fe when he moved to Chicago as a boy on a hot summer day. He ran outside and he literally went like this. What is Army he felt the humidity for the first time like you live in Chicago? I do you know what that means you goes. What is that? I'm at on your soul is shame. Jim stains and it seems like nothing else worse than coffee worse than dirt worse than paint worse than blood worse than magic marker sin stains the soul and you can't get it off. And because shame is a social emotion. You feel it. When you go out it's the eyes of others seeing the thing that you did wrong. That's when shame is triggered God's eyes were coming and that's why they felt naked and they had to cover their guilt and there they felt shame because they were it's going to be seen it's going to be found out. So the feeling and you have this right now in your life and so do I the feeling of needing to be cleansed of things that are bad and wrong and you is shamed the feeling of needing to be covered of the things other seeing you that are shameful that shame it's triggered when others are around and you could locate The Shame by seeing where you don't want people to see certain things that shame right there your your attempt to cover a cleanse over the ugly truth that's inside.

They are covering up because they are now naked we see here that's in trigger Shane. So number three write this down. Shame drives us to run hide and Fight The Ugly Truth. Shame drives us to run hide and Fight The Ugly Truth.

This is the title of the sermon to when we run when we hide when we fight the Ugly Truth. We are feeling shame everyone feel shame differently and everybody has different triggers and everyone tries to get rid of it cuz nobody wants to feel exposed. Nobody wants people to see their flaws of their fault. So every woodcote for that in different way, so just because you don't feel it like the person next to you or try and avoid it it's still in there. And I wonder if you have woken up to how Shay which is one of the most powerful emotions in your soul right now is affecting you. They ran from God which is foolish and laughable. But we do it 24 say they heard the sound of the Lord God Walking In The Garden in the cool of day the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the Trees of the garden. So they ran and then they hid they cover themselves now all the way up with big leaves obviously didn't work. They still felt exposed and Afraid so they kept running kept hiding and a good God was pursuing them to see that a good dog is pursuing them. There's 9 but the Lord God Called To The Man and said to him, where are you? He said I heard the sound of you and the garden and I was afraid because I was naked I hit myself. He said who told you that you were naked. Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat. The man said the woman whom you gave to be with me. She gave me fruit of the tree and I ate then the Lord God said to the woman. What is this that you have done? The woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate questions. Where are you? Who told you what to do? Loving questions that bring the truth to life. Where are you? Who told you what did you do? Where are you? Adam said I was afraid naked. So I hid remember naked doesn't just mean I can't find my shorts. It means I was morally exposing a shame cuz I cuz I feel like I'm going to die that's naked. Morley exposing a shame and I thought I was going to die. Who told you?

I can imagine a bad it actually said it out loud, but you didn't do who told you well. A talking satanic snake told us not to trust you. So we ate from the delicious killer tree.

Anime clothes out of plants that what I'm thinking out loud doesn't make a lot of sense.

Inception does sound incredibly insane when you say it out loud in class ends up here. Once you start saying what happened. Where were you? Who told you these are the questions we asked our kids do by the way where Were You Who told you to do that? What did you do? It sounds a lot crazier when you start saying it out loud.

And so what does Adam do I mean the first man husband on Earth? Of course, he blames his wife. Are we surprised?

No, we're not.

The man said verse 12 the woman who you gave to be with me. She gave me fruit of the tree and I ate Adam Flames Eve. Of course blame the naked lady who just brought you food.

And then he blames God who you put here blame the God who gave you the naked lady who just brought you food. How crazy is this? That's called blaming one impulse we have when our citizens disposed and we are feeling a shame in the eyes of others around things that are condemned is to point the finger at nothing makes you feel better initially than making other people feel as bad as you do or Worse we blame. If you want to locate the power of shame in your life, who are you blaming for? The things inside that you don't want people to see about you? Blame helps you and me locate Shane. and then Eve What did she say? she says Well in verse 13, what is this you have done? The woman said the servant deceived me and I ate that's true the serpent did the C4 and she did eat. And the Lord God talked to the serpent. What did you do? So it's a total disaster and this is why you have every single problem you've ever had in life because the first human to ever live believe the lie fell into sin. It's a total disaster. It's a total disaster a global catastrophe. Because they chose death rather than life. It's important to understand that that somebody said this once When God says don't he is saying don't hurt yourself.

If you want to locate the power of Shame and what it has the whole did it has over you look where you are covering up right now. Look where you're hiding things from the eyes of others. Look where you're blaming people where you're willfully opposing God's commands thinking they don't apply to you where you're pursuing pleasure and happiness outside of the will of God. Where are you being tempted right now?

And you see how it's going to end.

If going into it, you think it's going to be good life is going to be better. You will do it. If you tell yourself on the front and I know with everything within me that that's what it seems like but it's going to be worse. It's going to be less. It's going to be deaf. Then you won't do it every since starts with believing a lie about God.

Where are you being tempted right now? What are you covering up? You see where it will lead. We've all given into temptation. So let's talk about our past. There's a deeper power of shame because we evolved blown it. So we're because of your past. Do you feel fought where because of your failure do you feel unsightly dirty bad like a failure? Ugly? Where are you? Trying to avoid people seeing that you have failed that you are flawed. That's shame. What about yourself makes you want to disappear crawl into a hole and never come out? It could be your past relationships mistakes. You've made there could be your foolish Financial choices. It could be your lack of self-control physically could be big mistakes. You've made or little mistakes each day that pile up. It could be a external you don't like the way you look when people see that it could be internal. You don't like the way you feel all of these can lead us to feel scrutinized by others and condemned like something is missing and we're not right.

We don't want people to think we're bad or dumb or gross. Open our team can come from what others did to us. That's their sin that hurt us and what they did or said makes us feel worthless used rejected guilty. Can you locate the power that shame has in you from what others have done or said? A shame is a social emotion. So it comes out in his paws in the crowd which means it's hard to find a locate cuz you're distracted while it's happening. Do you see if people try to cover up in different ways some people run and they leave situations that make them feel exposed some people hide and they have a variety of ways of disguising the truth. Some people fight they flaunt talk more about that next week, but they is who I am and they are do you run do you hide you fight? Can you locate the power sin has shame has on you and in you what makes you run hide and fight the ugly truth and it is true about yourself. There can be things that are not true about yourself that's called false guilt. Talk about that next week 2

Maybe nobody knows what shame you carry. but when you feel fake filthy and forsaken that shame

it's a universal feeling.

But I have good news for you when it comes to shame go on to the next Point number for only God can cleanse our sin and cover our shame forever. reading on in verse 14 The Lord God said to the serpent. Because you have done this cursed. Are you above all livestock and above all Beasts of the field on your belly? You shall go dust you shall eat all the days of your life. This is symbolic of the curse on Satan and his Fallen Angels. This is very picturesque that now the snake Becomes emblematic of Temptations. Sneaky slimy coming up on you fangs poison. That's now think about this when you think about Sin And these demonic beings are now filled with dust they are now empty of what truly feels that they are now cursed to Earth. We know that Jesus said I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven, they got more than they bargained for and the war is not over verse 15. They didn't win. I will put enmity between you and the woman between your Offspring and her Offspring he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise heal. This is called the first gospel because it promises and midi between a satanic beings and Spiritual Beings that will follow God and there will be a remnant of people all throughout scripture who don't turn on follow him. They trust him to be saved and go to heaven to save now has a ongoing war on his hands and somehow he had no clue how this was going to happen. But a human would bruise his how is the human foot going to do any damage to a power like him? Well the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Is why you tried to kill Jesus as soon as he was born? He knew his Doom. We're sure.

We're sixteen to the woman. He said I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain and you shall bring forth children. You desire your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. So now there's a lot more pain in childbearing you can thank you for that when you get to heaven and also there's a lot more than the marriage right verse 17 and Adam. He said because you have listened to the voice of your wife. She was supposed to be the spiritual leader passivity is not neutral. He was guilty of sitting back letting this all unfold. So because you listen to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, which I commanded you shall not eat of it curse. It is the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. The work is not out of Joy or Delight. It's a necessity there is life is now has to come from his work and it's going to be Toil and Trouble thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat of the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now this is overall good news because the ground was first the snake was cursed. God did not curse them and he did not kill them. You let them leave the garden and that is a portrait of forgiveness and Grace first 20 the man called his wife's name Eve cuz she was the mother of all living in the Lord God Made For Adam and for his wife garments of skins and get this closed the Lord. God clothed them. He covered their shame. That's not just physically that's spiritually. Animals died. Let's go to become a theme throughout scripture. This is the clothing of their sit in their shame. Then the Lord God said behold. The man has become like one of us is talking about the godhead the Trinity and even the angels behold man has become like one of us and knowing good and evil now, let's see reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken he drove out the man and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim in a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. This is our protection to God was preventing us from becoming permanently stuck in the state of evil like the Fallen Angels. This was a provision of the Lord. What are we see here? Only God can cleanse our sin and cover our shame forever. There are terrible consequences force in the whole world is now broken including the created order State and didn't tell them about that. Did he Satan was brought low his kingdom of darkness is more than he thought would happen. If Earth is not his demesne dust. His food is place in heaven was lost. You didn't win ultimately one seed would crush the head of Satan. This would be the Seed of Abraham. This would be the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God was gracious to them. He let them live in the Y but Eternal I forgot to come from another way and the clothing the covering would just be temporary their shame and their sin would have to be covered internally somehow. So we see here the birth of Shame didn't trigger shame with other sea, we are guilty before God your shame. Is there for a purpose to alert you for your need to ask God to cleanse you and cover your deep within and forever. That's why you're saying is there to alert you to your spiritual need? My son had his appendix removed emergency appendectomy Friday night all day long Friday. My stomach hurts feels like I'm being stabbed in supposed to go to Winter Camp. He never says that 17 years olds went to the hospital. They rushed him in they said Yep this things about the burst. Thankfully they got it out. No complications, but he was in total misery and this thing was about to go and once it bursts and you got a long road on your hands trying to clean up the infection so somebody once said this Pain is to the body. What shame is to the soul? So when your shame is flaring up some things infected inside of you, it's telling you you have to take action to deal with it or it's going to burst and get worse pain is to the body with Seamus to the soul same as universal to everyone in this room including myself. So I told you I have good news for you. This is the great news. We see here according to how God treated them that every single thing that makes you feel weak. Wicked worthless every single thing that makes you feel that way. Do you want to just cover up forever? God wants to cover it, too? You see that? He doesn't want to expose you. He doesn't want to condemn you he doesn't want to shame you. He doesn't want to push you into a hole and make you regret everything fraternity. God wants to cover it, too. Just as God loved Adam and Eve, so he will love you. If you confess your sins. Tell the truth. And invite him to save you from your sins. You have been trying to run and hide and fight the ugly truth and it hasn't worked. God wants to cover it over for good. If you have been saved by Jesus in the past, you still struggle with shame, you still try and run and hide and Fight The Ugly Truth. He wants you to come back to him again so he can call you again so he can cleanse you again, not salvation sanctification so he can apply his love and his death on this part of your fear. This is great news. This is the gospel. So I want to ask you. Where are you? Where are you? Forgot to ask them. Where are you? Are you far from God right now? Are you closed in shape? Are you still trying to run hide and cover it on your own? Where where are you? Are you a born-again power of the Lord Jesus Christ, or are you not are you still running and hiding from God fully exposed to his judgment that's coming. Where are you? Are you a Christian who just had some things you're wrestling with and you've been trying to cover it far too long. When you try and cover over your own shame and you try and do damage control as I see it as like cuz I feel this way to like I'm holding up a piece of Swiss cheese trying to get you to not see things about me right maybe if I hold it like this then it'll go away. Are you trying to cover yourself? Is that where the shame is coming from? Where are you? Who told you what voice are you following? What led you to this sinful shameful Place? Where's the fuel, who's telling you these things? Where are you? Who told you who told you who told you that who are you listening to that? You need to stop listening to where did you get that and what have you done clearly specifically? No blaming. What did you do? This is the path to being covered. Do you know where you are? And you know how you got there? And you know what you did you can come before a holy God and he will cover you and he will wash you and he will cleanse you and he will accept you and he will love you and Shane will go away forever. The good news is Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners so we can know God personally again, and so when we know God again, we can come back to him to find forgiveness in our time of need. It says in Revelation 3:17 for you say I'm rich I prospered and I need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked you're dealing with something. That's true about yourself. You are wretched pitiable poor blind and naked you are that But it doesn't Verse 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and listen white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and Salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see is an undoing of the very thing Satan. Did Jesus will open your eyes to see the true life. Jesus will close you and white so people don't see your shame anymore.

Jesus alone live a sinless life. He can therefore stand before the father and bring you the God. He died in your place on the cross. He was humiliated. He died naked and disgrace not for his sin for your sin to take your shame on himself. He was thrown into the tomb and he rose on the third day. He now rules happen in glory and he offers to cleanse you completely in cover you forever free of charge. You cannot do this yourself religion Won't Do It Good Works won't do it. Only if you are cleanse than covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, will you be radiant and white unashamed with great joy in his presence? So, where are you? I want to give you a chance right now to respond. To this powerful message of shame that you've heard. We're going to pray in the moment. And some of you are not saved and your shame is showing you your sin and only Jesus can cover it. I want to give you the chance to pray and receive Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord to ask him to cover over all of your sins once and for all. Sometimes people say I've done too much God would never forgive me your underestimated. The power of the Cross. God will forgive any sin. Any number of times permanently and forever other times people think they're good without the blood of Christ Simon that bad you're wrong. You're right just misses filthy rags in God's sight now is the time to forsake your own righteousness your own performance and to say I I am filthy blind naked ratchet. And I need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse me. You can ask for Jesus to be your Savior and Lord and you can be covered in righteousness. If you are a Christian and you're battling shame God is prompting you to confess your unconditional sin. Where are you? Who told you what have you done? It's time to get right with God again. It's time to tell him what you've done in to ask him to cleanse you again. You could also be carrying the burden of false guilt and shame thinks he's already taken care of. He's already covered and you shouldn't be bringing those things back up. You need to drop it in his presence again. Those things are done. No matter where you are feeling guilty insecure afraid to expose I want to invite you right now to let the love of Christ be what cleanses you then when others look at you they will see the love of Christ clothing you in white. I'm here by Jackie out here and she's going to play some music here as we enter into our time of prayer, but we're going to set aside a few minutes here to give you a chance to truly pray to God about your shame that you feel. and sermons like this. It's appropriate to give people a chance to take that extra step of coming forward for a time of prayer. And this is your way of saying this is really hitting me and I really want to show God. I'm responding I think in a sermon on shame. It's particularly important to give you an opportunity to publicly respond because shame is a socially publicly triggered feeling in other words for you to take that step of battling shame. You have to before the eyes of others. Show that the God is covering you you want them to see Christ covering you. So as we go into a time of prayer, I'm going to open up the front of the floor here. There's plenty of carpet. But however this form and hit you if you feel like God is impressing upon your heart you need to respond to this. I want to cover you. I want to cleanse you. This is your chance to say I'm going to go forward and pray. First of all, it doesn't matter what other people think. Doesn't matter what other people think. Second you want other people to see God's comforting me God's clothing me God's accepting me God's receiving me. You want them to see that? So enough of the thoughts of others. This is for the eyes of God. We're going to be a few minutes here and you can stand up come forward and you're just coming forward to pray. and after a few minutes, will you have a time to pray? I'm going to pray over you. So right now if you feel then stand up come forward and pray before the Lord and I'm going to be a good example. I'll be the first one to come forward. What's a good time to pray right now in your seeds or you can come forward go ahead and pray to the Lord.