Dirty Secrets

Introduction

What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. This is the slogan of the hometown that I grew up in.

It was based on the thought that the actions that you committed in Sin City would stay there.

And if they just keep things a secret, that they wouldn’t have to face the consequences of their actions and decisions.

But nothing can be farther from the truth.

I would venture to say that hundreds if not thousands of marriages have been destroyed because of Vegas’s famous slogan.

A few months ago, we all heard about the Harvey Weinstein scandal. At the top of his career, Harvey Weinstein had co-founded Miramax, produced many successful independent films, and won 7 tony awards for a variety of plays and musicals.

But Harvey Weinstein had a secret.

He had an obsession with manipulating young actresses who were looking to be the next big star. He leveraged his fame and power to set up traps that he used to sexually assault innocent women.

Weinstein believed that this secret would never be revealed. He didn’t realize the emotional and physical pain that he would cause these women. How their souls would be stained and scarred for life because of his thoughtless actions.

But two female New York Times reporters had the bravery and courage to expose his actions and 80 women came forward and made accusations against Harvey Weinstein. But not only that, this sparked the #metoo movement. And hundreds of women came forward to expose important men in business, politics, and Hollywood.

And I believe the world is a better place because of it.

(1:25)

Tension

What about you?

Do you have a deep and dark secret?

Maybe your secret is an ongoing addiction that you are a slave to.

Or maybe something that you did in the past.

And if anyone found out about it, it would ruin your life.

Or maybe it’s something that someone did to you,

and you are ashamed to tell others because of the embarrassment that it would bring.

In order to live our best life now,

we have to be willing to bring the secrets that are holding us captive,

to the light.

Truth

Listen to what it says in :

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason, it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”

God wants to expose the secrets that are holding on to us

He wants us to expose them to the light.

Those that are holding on to those dirty secrets in the room are asleep,

dead to the things of God.

But God wants to raise you from this sleep,

The spiritual death that you are experiencing

and shine his healing, forgiveness and love!

This goes along with the truth that we find in :

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

“Blessed are those who wash their robes…….”this means those that get rid of all the filth, all the sin, all the secrets in their lives. It could also be translated, “those doing his commandments.”

Notice that this is in the present tense, which means that this is something that is ongoing. We should be coming to the Lord moment to moment and asking him to cleanse us of our sin and make us right with Him.

I also want to point out “those who practice lying.”

I want everyone to think about something.

If God’s word is the ultimate truth, doesn’t that make those who don’t follow it liars?

Many of us have been deceived by the devil, and we are believing lies. And these lies are so deeply rooted into our souls that we can’t live the best life that God has for us until we bring these lies to the light.

(2:22)

Application

So what is your dirty secret? Is it an affair? I am going to venture to say that in this room today there may be individuals that are having an affair or are thinking about having one.

There is a website called post secret. It is a website that people send their deepest darkest secrets in the form of a post card. Here is a true story of what could happen when we have an affair.

📷

Your sin has weight, it is real. It affects those around you. The man that decided to cheat in this postcard,

never realized what his secret would do to others.

For the young people in the room, maybe your secret is that you are having premarital sex. You think that engaging in a physical relationship with someone else is not going to hurt your family or those around you.

So many of you fall for this lie.

In one lapse of judgement, your life could be changed forever. Because you may find that you become pregnant, or your partner becomes pregnant.

Your families are impacted. Your futures are impacted. You plans for college and a career have been halted because now you have the responsibilities of parenthood.

And you find yourself contemplating an abortion. And you consider adding another life to the 60,000,000 abortions that have taken place since 1973.

Maybe your dirty secret is Pornography

Maybe you think that it is harmless

nobody knows about it, right?

Wrong.

When you watch porn, you are fueling the abuse of the men and women in these industries and helping to spread the rampant sex trafficking that is destroying lives around the world.

And married men, when you get caught, it will destroy your marriage and the self-worth that your wife has about herself. She will feel like she is not beautiful and enough for you.

Or maybe you are secretly drinking or using drugs you should not be using.

“Hey this isn’t hurting anyone else but me, and I need this to get through life.”

But It does hurt others.

Alcohol related fatalities total 88,000 annually in the United States.

Families lose fathers, mothers, children due to drunk driving fatalities.

Landing

My hope today is that you stop believing the lies of Satan.

That you can break free from secrets and receive the healing and forgiveness that are holding you back from living the life that God originally intended for you

There is hope. You can overcome this by being honest with yourself and others.

Bring it to the light.

The Lord is here today. And he has begun to work in your heart

And he wants to give you the power to be set free.

Ladies and Gentlemen what happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas, no matter what whispers in your ears.