Victory Over Shame

Well, it is awesome to see everybody this morning.

And if I haven't met you, my name is Russ, and I'm one of the pastors here at Church at the Grove.

Excited that you guys are here.

We do have um we we've got a packed morning, and I hate that that that's the uh uh I love doing multiple services, but the the downside is is sometimes if you come to the nine o'clock, you miss what's happening at 11.

If you don't, if you're not here at 9, you you miss what's happening at 9.

So great to celebrate um a baptism this morning.

A lot of times we don't we don't have a lot of baptisms at 9 o'clock, and so so glad y'all were able to see Rebecca baptized and hear her testimony and and see as you see and hear what God is doing in their life.

And so um I want to say a big welcome.

We're we are in the next service.

We're gonna ordain uh Jeff Hughes, uh, who was singing this morning, and Jeff is on staff of the FCA.

I listen, I wish I wish you could be here.

This this man has become one of my best friends, and and what the Lord is doing through his life is absolutely amazing.

And so, and and and the the the negative part or the bad part about being here at 9 o'clock is is you you see you see some empty chairs because y'all are all maybe part Baptist or something because you want to sit in the back, and and but when you come in here at 11, this whole front area is gonna be filled with students.

Filled with students.

And here I listened to a guy named John Bevere.

You may not know who he is, but he's a he's a man that travels the world preaching the gospel.

And I I saw a clip uh this week, and he was talking about uh how God is bringing revival in pockets and places around the world.

And part of that is in America.

It's happening on college campuses, it's happening on high school campuses.

If you uh I'm a I I love researching, I'm a student of revivals uh and and love studying about revivals.

Some revivals we see in scripture, some revivals that have happened throughout throughout early church history and even into modern times.

And and typically a revival always begins with the younger generation.

And Bavir says he travels the whole world preaching and speaking.

And he says, I can I can sense when I go into a church, before the service ever begins, I can sense whether or not there is a spirit of revival.

He said, If if there's young people sitting up front and and they are engaged in worship, like we'll see at 11 today, he said that that is a sign of revival.

And so, and so, which may be a little bit of an encouragement for some of you to move forward a little bit so you don't miss out.

Sometimes revival might stop on the second or third row, and you need to, you need to, you need to and so um and so Vavere, he said, I'm seeing this everywhere.

He said, and and and he said, I'm also in churches where, number one, there's either no young people, and and and and and there are there are churches all in our community, all around Atlanta, who do not have children and do not have young people.

And and which means their lifespan is going to be relatively short.

And he said, so if if they don't have kids or they don't have young people, or the young people are always sitting in the back, he said, he said, he said, that church is probably headed down a path to demise and death.

And so God is working in the life of our church, and I don't want to miss it.

And and I and I let me just can I just be, can I be a little bit open with you?

When I I mean, there are times when I'm preparing to step up here that I think to myself, I hear a voice in my mind.

And the voice says, Who do you think you are?

To be able to stand up in a sacred place like God's pulpit and bring the word of God.

Who do you think you are?

And and and I thank God for discernment, thank God for the Holy Spirit because I hear I hear these voices and I know they're not from God.

Because I put my faith in Jesus, my identity has been changed.

It is no longer me, it is it is it is God working in and through me.

And so I I you know, so I sometimes I have to just step back, and and and I learned this from one of my mentors.

He he said, before I step up to preach, I take one step back, and it in a sense it's removing me, and then I step into the person that God has called me to be for this moment, and and and I I am not a perfect person.

I I probably the most unlikely person, you know, to pastor and to do ministry, not to mention some of the you know crazy things that have happened.

Several years ago I was preaching a message and I and I was talking about you know how God just moves sometimes so profoundly, whether it's in our personal worship time or it might be corporate, you know, church worship, and and we can't help but just to fall prostrate before the Lord.

Prostrate means just you fall you know face down, and and you're you're you're in in the presence of God.

You're you're you you're you're almost laying yourself at the cross.

And so I was preaching this sermon, and and I said, God, you know, moved in my heart, and I said, He just he motivated me to prostate myself before the Lord.

Prostate.

That is not prostrate, and I said it like four times, and I finally looked back over here, and Amy Spears had this cringe look on her face, and I realized I just said prostate four times.

If you don't know what a prostate is, ask Rebecca, she's a nurse practitioner.

And I I finally stopped, saw Amy's face, and I said, that's not right, is it?

And everybody just sort of laughing, and it there was no recovering.

I said, okay, if you need Jesus, come forward, service is over.

And uh, but I I listen, I I have I have a speech impediment that God has supernaturally helped me be delivered from, but it I I am the least likely person to have been chosen to preach the word uh for all kinds of reasons.

And and and and so um the enemy wants to whisper into your mind that you are not worthy, that you are not available, you don't have what it takes to join with God in his mission.

You are marred, you are scarred, you are messed up, you are uh sinful, and and and and I mean just think of all the voices.

And so today we're we're really the main the main kind of word we're gonna address is the word shame.

Shame, how the enemy wants you to be enslaved to shame.

Now that's important to understand there there's two words I want to differentiate and distinguish, and one is guilt and one is shame.

And so the word guilt really is used to describe when you do something wrong.

You do something that is not right.

The word guilt is very action-oriented.

Now the word shame is a totally different meaning and understanding.

The word shame is not action-oriented, the word shame is identity-oriented.

Guilt says I've done something wrong.

Shame says something is wrong with me.

And I uh by the way, yeah, let me give credit to Megan Sorrows.

She preached an incredible message at our United Um Youth event that was back in March, and she she used that that quote you know, guilt is about doing something wrong.

Shame is is is believing that something is wrong with you.

It's an identity understanding.

And so, because shame is an emotional or relational state, it causes us to feel unworthy.

It makes us feel broken, disqualified, at the core of who we are.

Shame attacks our sense of self.

Sadly, shame is part of the human condition in a fallen and broken world.

And by the way, if you if you have your Bibles, we're gonna be in Genesis.

We're gonna go all the way to Genesis, and then we're also gonna come back to John chapter 8 as the primary passages for this morning.

John 8 · chapter mention

And so shame attacks our sense of self.

It's it's part of the human condition, related to the fall.

It's not meant for us as followers of Jesus to experience shame, to dwell in shame, to sit in shame, to to wallow in shame.

Shame is like pain.

It tells us something is wrong, but it isn't a place where we're meant to stay.

It's not a place where you are to reside and hang out or camp out.

If shame is not addressed, it will often lead to self-loathing, isolation, fearful living.

Shame can be debilitating in our lives.

And I don't know if you know this.

You look, this is one of those things you could easily find on the internet how prevalent suicide is among, especially our younger generation, which is interesting because if revival is to break out and young people have a significant role in revival, wouldn't that be the most obvious place that the enemy would attack?

And so there are epidemic proportions of teenage, young people committing suicide, but and not just young people, but all ages.

And so shame, that Kirk Thompson is a psychiatrist, he's a follower of Jesus and is a psychiatrist, medical doctor, and um he's written several works about the about shame and about our identity in Christ.

And here's what he says He says, shame is an emotional weapon that evil uses to corrupt our relationships with God and each other, and to disintegrate any and all gifts of vocational vision and creativity.

And so shame will close you off from living the abundant life, right?

Jesus, we we've shared that verse over the last few weeks since Easter.

John 10, 10, Jesus says, I've come that you would.

He says, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

One of his primary tools is shame.

But Jesus says, I've come that you would have life and have it abundantly.

Live it to the full.

And so Jesus offers us more.

He's made us for more.

And so he doesn't want you to live in isolation.

He wants you to live in community with people like yourself who have had to deal with shame, but they've overcome it through the power of Jesus.

Can you just say Jesus with me?

Let's say it together.

I mean, there is no other name by which anyone can come to Christ or get saved.

It's all about Jesus.

It's everything, Jesus, nothing but Jesus.

And so shame will prevent you from walking in God's will.

Shame will prevent you from walking in God's calling for your life, and you will you'll you'll settle for living in the shadows.

You'll settle for isolation.

You'll settle for less than what God has for you.

So this morning, here's kind of the big idea.

You are not what shame says you are.

You are who Jesus says you are.

I mean, I like that response.

It's almost like y'all are not in the 9 o'clock crowd.

I'm gonna say it again, okay?

You are not what Shame says you are.

You are who Jesus says you are.

Thank you.

Y'all are smart.

Y'all learned I preach shorter when you say amen.

Don't say it.

And so we're we're we're in this series, the resurrected life.

It began on Easter Sunday, and we kicked it off a few weeks ago.

And so this series is about the resurrection, but not just stopping with the resurrection, but but continuing on with this life that Jesus has for us that goes beyond just our introduction to Jesus, just beyond our salvation, just beyond, uh, beyond just a baptism or a religious experience.

So we are called to live victorious lives.

And it doesn't mean everything's gonna be easy, but it means in the midst of a broken, messed up world that we can live victoriously with joy and hope and and and the the the outlook that, man, there is more to this life than just this life.

And so we're we're looking at this idea of shame and and and how Satan desires to get you to believe.

These songs, you we there's a theme in these songs about what we believe.

Are we going to believe the lies of the enemy?

Are we gonna believe what Jesus says about us?

And so God has called us for more.

And the best way to fight against the enemy and his attacks is to know the truth.

It's to know the truth.

How do you know the truth?

You read God's word.

It is the truth.

And this this book, this book will keep you from sin.

Sin will keep you from this book.

And so, and I y'all are with it this morning.

I love it.

Listen, shame hides.

Jesus seeks.

Shame hides, Jesus seeks.

We see this in the beginning, in the very first book.

God speaks the world into existence over the course of seven days.

At the end of each day, what does he say?

He says these beautiful words.

Um, it is good.

God's creation is a place of perfection.

There's no sin, there's no shame.

Uh there's there's no sickness, there's the it's is perfection.

They walked with God in the cool of the day.

They were in the presence of God.

They were to live forever.

Uh immortality was at their fingertips before they gave in to the temptation.

And so Genesis 2.25, and it says this.

Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

Now I'm reading out of the New Living Translation, so if you've got a if you've got a you know different translation, it it may or may not use the exact word shame.

And I'm going to come back and try to explain a little bit of the significance of that word and what it means, especially considering that it can be translated in different ways.

But it says, now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

And that word naked, uh, it's it I think it's it's got it's got some, it's a nuanced word.

It's got a lot of meanings.

And one of the meanings is they were naked.

They were without clothing, a husband and wife, without clothing.

But but there's there's no shame.

There's no awkwardness, there's no awareness of the fact that they are supposed to be covered, um, and which is God's, that's God's plan, that's God's will.

And so the writer's words are interesting.

He says there's a number of words that he could have used, but but he could have said, now the man and his wife were both naked and strong and confident, or naked with no fear or anger or sadness or disappointment or regret.

But instead the writer emphasizes the word shame, which it translates really into this idea of vulnerability.

There is no vulnerability.

And so on this side of just literal nakedness, you know, it there's I can't imagine anything worse than you know being in public and and and and realizing you haven't put your clothes on and how vulnerable you would feel.

So I and there's some cr there's crazy stories.

You know, somebody walks out to kiss their husband goodbye in her bathrobe, and and and he's about to drive off to work.

They're probably newlyweds.

There's probably a point where that stops.

But her her her coat gets caught in the door as the husband is backing out of the driveway.

And and people are driving by and they're waving.

I think she feels a little bit vulnerable.

It's a vulnerable feeling.

And so that's that's this idea of shame.

And so um and so I think the Lord's trying to communicate something to us.

Now, the other aspect of nakedness is a bit metaphorical, but still the same in being vulnerable, where, you know, I might share something, and I and I've got a group of pastor friends, I've got some other men in my life, my wife certainly, um I I I can talk to them about things that I might not want to talk about with just anybody.

Because it puts me in a vulnerable state.

And so, in a sense, I'm being naked about my life.

I might share a sin issue, I might share something I'm struggling with, I might share the weight that I'm carrying, I might share uh, you know, uh uh some particular area I'm struggling with in life, and I'm laying myself out, I'm being vulnerable, and I, in a sense, I'm I'm opening myself up in a naked way.

I'm laying myself bare.

And so that's another understanding of the word shame.

Kurt Thompson, again, he says this the vulnerability of nakedness is the antithesis of shame.

It's the antithesis, the vulnerability of nakedness is the antithesis of shame.

And what he, I think what one of the things he's emphasizing here is for you to overcome shame, you've got to be willing to be vulnerable, which is is first of all, it starts with you and God.

I've got to be vulnerable with God.

I've got to recognize I am a sinner.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Paul says in Scripture in the New Testament.

And so, and so we we we acknowledge that.

We open ourselves up, and and it begins to it begins to put shame to the side.

It begins to defeat this um this weapon of the enemy.

And it's so so let's look at Genesis 3.

Um, it was not part of God's plan.

Shame comes later.

Genesis 3, 1 through 5.

The serpent, the serpent, the devil, the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.

One day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?

Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, the woman replied, It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.

And God said, Listen to this, you must not eat it or even touch it.

If you do, you will die.

And verse, so here's God speaking.

And here's the other voice.

You won't die.

The serpent said.

To the woman.

God knows that your eyes will be open.

Open as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.

Now, there's a partial truth to what the enemy says, and he here's what the enemy does.

He likes to give little pieces of truth mixed in with a complete lie, because he's saying God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it.

And which is which is true, but that doesn't sound bad.

I want my eyes open.

I want to be able to see.

I want to understand.

And you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.

Now, is that true?

We are made of the image of God, but we can't be God.

We can't be like God.

And so the enemy's coming to Eve, and he intentionally is trying to get in between her relationship with God and as a result, her relationship with her husband.

How's he doing this?

He's causing her to question who she was created to be.

God is holding, listen, here's the voice.

God's holding back on you.

He's holding back on you.

He's getting her to believe that she was not as important as she thought.

In other words, he's getting her to believe she is not enough the way she's created by God.

And so she begins to believe that there's something wrong with her.

So she, Genesis 3, 6 and 7, the woman was convinced.

She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.

You see, it sounds great, doesn't it?

But it's a lie.

So she took some of the fruit and she ate it, and then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it too.

At that moment, their eyes were opened.

What are their eyes open to?

Their eyes are open to their vulnerability.

Their eyes are open to their nakedness.

Their eyes are open to something that they were never meant to be open to, and suddenly felt shame.

Now, other translations do not necessarily use the word shame.

So they felt vulnerable.

They felt naked.

They realized they felt everything was exposed.

Everything was laid out.

So what did they do?

They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

To cover themselves.

Some of you have children.

And we know what our kids are like when they're little.

And it's funny.

All three are mine are different, but but it was, I mean, there when they were at a certain age, it was so much fun to them to strip down.

You know, it's bathtime.

Well, they don't just go to the bathroom and strip down and get in the water.

They strip down and they run.

There's no shame.

There's no shame.

Mom and dad, I mean, there's there's a picture, right?

God, when he sees us in our nakedness, man, he it's he loves us.

It's the cutest thing in the world.

Now, if my 27-year-old son, and it's bath time, and he wants to run around naked, we got a problem.

We see that shame shatters relationships.

Their relationship as the first married couple is broken.

Nothing has changed in their physical appearance.

They've always been naked, and it's never been an issue, but now suddenly they feel this deep sense of shame, vulnerability, and seek to hide from each other, but the shattering of relationship doesn't stop there.

Verse 8, when the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden.

And so they, what do they do?

What does it say they did?

Because they have walked with him in the cool of the day.

They've spent time with their heavenly father just like one friend would spend with another.

But but God comes to them, and listen, we we can all identify with this, right?

I mean, even now, more than ever.

I mean, has anybody ever come to your door and you're like, honey, turn the lights off.

Turn the lights off, close the blinds.

You know, in-laws, whoever, I don't know.

We do it every day.

Somebody calls me.

And they hit, they just they just hit, you know, the little red button, right?

Or or mash one of the buttons.

The other day, I I'm gonna I'm gonna throw Jonah under the bus.

So the other day I had to call Jonah something, and and he he ghosted me.

You know, and so, well, which is fine.

I think it was lunchtime.

So anytime if I call somebody between 12 and 1, I know that they may not answer.

So, but but the next person I call who works on our staff is his mother Joy.

She picks up immediately.

And while we're talking, I hear Jonah's voice right next to her.

I said, Joy, is that Jonah?

So uh I I'm and and I I they my I was it wasn't urgent.

I told Jonah, don't, which he didn't care.

I mean he didn't he wasn't worried about it.

It didn't bother him.

But uh if I needed him, I would I would put urgent 911 or something like that.

But that that was that that's a I've been waiting all week to share that.

Um so so um eight so when the cool evening breeze was blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden.

So what did they do?

They hid from the Lord God among the trees.

Then the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?

He replied, I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.

Listen to this.

This is shame.

I was afraid because I was naked.

Who told them?

They were naked.

Who told them?

That was wrong.

Who told them there was a problem?

And so shame caused the man and woman to hide.

Shame causes you to hide.

Shame hides.

Jesus seeks.

And so nothing's changed for Adam.

He's always been naked, but now there's shame.

And we see shame causes the first man and woman to hide from each other and from their God.

The beautiful thing is that God is seeking after them.

Listen, there are consequences to sin.

There are consequences.

They had to leave the garden, they had to be separated from God.

They lost their immortality.

They weren't gonna live forever.

Pain enters the equation.

Death enters the equation.

Disease.

I mean, listen, everything that we look at at the world now and we know that something's wrong with it, whether it's wars, natural disasters, environmental issues, relational brokenness, all of that goes back to this.

Every bit of it goes back to the inauguration or the beginning of sin where it enters the picture, and the consequences are vast.

And so they hide from each other, they hide from God.

But the beautiful thing is God is a God that even though there are consequences, there, listen, you know, we we live in a politically correct world, and and and but but and people don't like the word sin, but they sinned and they and they had to suffer the consequences.

And part of that sin is death, is separation.

But listen, God's character never changes.

God is a loving father, he's a loving father, and even though there are consequences, just like a loving earthly father is going to provide discipline for their child if they care about how they grow up, our loving father disciplines us.

But he seeks after us.

He's waiting with open arms for us to return to him.

And so Neil Anderson, as we've quoted him a good bit in the series, he says this Satan's greatest victory is when he convinces believers.

Now, if you are a believer, if you're a follower of Jesus, his greatest victory is when he convinces believers to hide from the very one who came to heal them.

The very one who came to heal them.

There's people, listen, I I got up early this morning and drove into uh Loganville briefly, and I realized, man, I there's nobody.

There's nobody out.

No traffic.

None of you had problems getting here, probably this morning.

You know why?

Because people are hiding from God.

A lot of people say, I'm I want a relationship with God.

I'm not against God, but but I don't qualify.

God can't love me.

Shame, shame.

And so when shame takes root in our lives, we wrongly believe that we can't come before Him.

We can't come in His presence.

The very one that can bring healing and salvation and set us free from shame and sin and the effects.

He's the one that we decide to run away from.

I I think of all the times in my life that I have run from God.

All the times that I've I've stepped away because I just didn't feel like I qualified, I've messed up.

I mean, uh, you know, as I said, I mean, there there's some Sundays that I just I think I I I I am I do not need to step in that pulpit.

There's been some Sundays, literally, that I have, I have, I have walked out and I have called my wife, who I know is coming to the next service, and I said, honey, I know we we had a little disagreement yesterday.

I I I need to, I'm about to preach, and I can't preach if we're not right.

I'm sorry.

And and will you forgive me?

And of course, she she she's like, they need to hear the gospel.

Yes, I forgive you.

You're still paying for it, but I forgive you.

Shame hides, Jesus seeks.

Listen to this.

Shame labels, Jesus renames.

One of the most powerful stories of Jesus as he confronts shame comes out of John 8.

Verse 1, Jesus returned from the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the temple.

A crowd soon gathered and he sat down and taught them.

And as he was speaking, the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery.

They put her in front of the crowd.

Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

The law of Moses said to stone her.

What do you say?

And there and as they are constantly doing, they're trying to trap him into saying something.

It says this in the scripture.

They're trying to trap him into saying something that they could use against him.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger, what he write.

We don't know.

We don't know.

I have some ideas.

And so they kept demanding an answer.

So he stood up again and said, All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.

What a powerful response.

Let the one, let all of you that are ready to stone this woman, if you are without sin, you throw the first stone.

Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

What did he write?

We don't know.

Can I can I speculate?

I this is speculation.

He writes two times.

The first time I think he might have written the names of all of those who were ready to throw stones, who were just as guilty or more guilty than the lady that they were ready to throw stones at.

The second time I think he stoops down and I think he starts writing beside their names what their sin was.

So, hey, y'all throw your stones.

Throw your stones.

And so when the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.

They just started dropping their stones.

And Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers?

Didn't even one of them condemn you?

She says, No, Lord, she said.

And Jesus said, Neither do I.

Which is a statement of her salvation.

It is a declaration that she is no longer being held accountable for her sin.

It is a renaming.

No longer is she a woman scorned by shame.

She is a woman that has been set free by the Son of God, the Savior, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Holy One, the one who was and is and is to come.

Thank you, Jesus.

And he says, go and sin no more.

Go and sin no more.

I mean, he doesn't just stop with this, you know, declaring salvation.

He says, hey, now you begin your process of sanctification.

Go and sin no more.

Walk in the way of my story, my love.

And this is, I love this story.

She's thrown at the feet of Jesus.

There's no doubt.

She is guilty.

She's guilty.

She has sinned.

And we don't know the whole backstory.

She's just, we don't even know her name.

We speculate that, you know, sometimes on maybe who she might have been, but we just really don't know.

She's been caught in the act of adultery, and there's no telling what she looks like.

I mean, in her appearance, the humiliation that she's experiencing.

Imagine the names that have been shouted at her from the crowd.

Adulterer.

Shameful.

Horror.

Homewrecker.

But while the name she was being called could have been hard to bear, the shame that she would have felt about herself might have been even more difficult to bear.

Remember, shame doesn't just attack your behavior, it attacks your being.

It is about your identity.

It is about you feeling something's wrong with me.

Not that I did something wrong, something is wrong with me.

Shame doesn't just attack your behavior.

It attacks your identity.

Did everybody get a name tag coming in?

So what let's let's just let's just speculate or imagine a little bit.

If you don't have a name tag, you know, raise your hand up and I'll make sure one of our uh men or or ladies get you a name tag.

A blank blank name tag.

I want you to have a blank name tag.

So yeah, help us out here.

What do you think her name tags would have said?

I'm dirty, I'm a mistake, I'm unforgivable, I'm nothing.

I am broken.

I just want to die.

The harshest crowd is the voice that comes from within.

Before they could throw in any stones at her, I think she probably would have said, Hey, bring them on.

Bring them on.

I deserve it.

I'm not worthy.

I want to die.

But Jesus meets her, he meets her right in the dust.

He meets her in her most vulnerable moment.

And I think whatever name tag, whatever she wrote on her name tag, and and and and you know, and she had put it on her clothing or on her skin, she might have put it on her forehead, whatever she thought about herself, Jesus reaches down out of his grace and mercy, and he takes that tag off.

And he renames her, he re-identifies her.

Jesus steps into the woman's shame and he speaks a better word over her.

He is telling her she was made for more.

And so maybe you can identify with this woman.

You've never been dragged out in public.

A lot of people may not know what's going on, but but you know, here's some common things that I want you to write down on your name tag.

I want you to write down, and I and I know we're we're we're we're sitting very close in close proximity, and and and I I wish you could be private, but but part of I think the the freeing part of shame is being vulnerable enough that somebody else can see the worst part of us or know about the worst part of us.

So I want you to I want you to think for a second, and then I want you to write down some of some of the lie.

I want you to write down a lie that the enemy has spoken over you.

I'm not worthy.

I'll never be qualified.

Not good enough, dirty, sinner, sinful, I mean, what imposter, coward, loser, disappointment, stupid, failure, damaged, unlovable.

Not enough.

And then I'm gonna ask you to step out of your seat, and I want you to bring that tag that you wrote down that is a lie of the devil.

And let me tell you something about the gospel of Jesus.

There's this great exchange that takes place.

There's theologians, books have been written about this great exchange.

I believe there's a writer by the name of Bill Gillam that wrote a book that Charles Stanley used to encourage people to read about identity in Christ.

And so we've got to be willing to turn in the old identity and receive the new identity and apply it to our life and begin to walk in that new freedom.

And so I'm gonna ask you to get up out of your chair, and there's a whole slew of name tags that are on this stage.

One says child of God, one says new creation, one says blessed, forgiveness.

Beloved, victorious, child of God, loved, chosen, and you come and you lay your name tag down, that is the lie of the devil, and you exchange it for the truth.

That's the gospel.

It's the gospel of Jesus.

When he lived, he lived on your behalf.

Sinless.

We can't live sinless.

He did it for us on our behalf.

We all deserve the wrath of God.

So what does Jesus do?

Jesus surrenders himself to be beaten and to suffer and to die on a Roman cross, a Roman instrument of execution.

And in that, he takes on your shame and your brokenness and every one of these words that describe you that the enemy wants you to believe.

And so as we look at what Jesus says about this woman and what the Apostle Paul says about us through the New Testament, you are now free.

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.

There is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

And so if shame labels Jesus renames.

And to close right here, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, listen to this.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.

Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.

Strip off every weight.

You are not what shame says you are, you are who Jesus says you are.

Psalm thirty-four five says this those who look to the Lord are radiant, their faces are never covered in shame.

This ain't about me, but but I want I want to share this because I covet your prayers.

Um my mother will be 89 this June.

And she's at uh she's at Gwinnette Northside right now.

And it does not look good.

And so this last week, there were times that I walked in and my mother, my mom would ask me, Where's mother?

She called her mom mother.

She said, Where's mother?

Where's mother?

I said, Mom, Mammy, I called her Mammy.

That's what the grandchildren called her.

I said, Mammy's in heaven.

So another day I walk in and she says, Hey, did you bring Eddie with you?

Well, Eddie is the middle brother.

I have an older brother named Butch, and then Eddie, who passed away in 1992.

And so she she's asked about my dad who passed away in 97.

Um, my, you know, she asked about her mom who passed away in 95.

And it's almost as if she's got one foot in this world and she's got another foot in the next world.

And I'm at peace.

It's sad, but I'm at peace because I know she is secure in her relationship with Christ.

And so I think of that verse: those who look to the Lord are radiant.

Their faces are never covered with shame.

And even though my mom is not well, she she has said, she said, she says confidently, my time is coming.

I know it's near.

And I think there's a little bit of uneasiness with that.

That's understandable.

But we're all gonna be there one day.

You're either gonna be in my position with someone in your family, ready to step into eternity, or it's gonna be you one day.

Unless Jesus returns before.

And so I want my mother, I want my mother to have the right name tag on.

And I want her to be at peace with whatever comes and know that she has victory.

She has victory, even though she faces, listen, what it's this paradox, what will take her life is actually already been defeated by what Christ has done through his life and his death and his resurrection.

And so I want to I want to pray and I want to invite our team to sing over us.

And I'm gonna, after I say amen, I want you to begin to make your way and I want you to exchange your tag, whatever you've written.

If you don't want anybody, if you want to turn it over, you can.

I'd encourage you to lay it out there because we're trying to defeat shame.

And and shame means that we need to be naked and vulnerable.

And and hey, I that's why I try to be open about my past and some of the things I've dealt with.

Can you pray with me?

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the victory that we have in Jesus.

Thank you for the reality that we are not enslaved to shame or sin.

God, we are forgiven.

We're covered by the blood of Jesus.

And God, you have created us and made us for so much more.

And Father, I ask that you would ingrain this truth, this truth of the resurrected life, this victorious life, this abundant life.

God, you would just ingrain that in us, and we would exchange the lies of the enemy for the truth of the creator of the universe who loves us and desires so much more for us.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Would you begin to make your way as God leads you?