WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:20.079 Did you guys? 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.719 I'm sure you did, but if you didn't, tell me. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.039 Did you play hide and seek growing up? 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:26.320 Yeah, yeah. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.440 We got a class. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.280 We already have applause for hide and seek. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:29.839 Very good. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:30.559 There you go. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:32.320 You know, this hide and seek is funny. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.200 It doesn't matter how old you are, you get into it. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:42.799 Um finding the best hiding place, but this is something that you may not have, uh, depending, but hopefully most of you have. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:46.000 Have you ever seen little kids play hide and seek? 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:48.479 It's hilarious, isn't it? 00:00:48.719 --> 00:01:00.719 It's adorable, but it's hilarious because uh in finding the best place to hide, one will go behind the curtains and their feet, you know, is hanging out, and they're like, you can't see me. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:06.879 You ever they actually say you can't see me when when you do that? 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:12.159 Or they're underneath the table and they're like, you can't, like, literally, you're looking at me. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:17.359 I can see you, or hiding behind the there's just something uh to it. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.120 Hide and seek, we do this. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:20.400 Now here's the thing. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:26.560 The truth is, the truth is we never grow up out of hiding. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:31.280 We just grow more sophisticated in our hiding. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:37.599 We don't grow out of hiding, we actually continue that well into adulthood. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.159 We hide our messes, don't we? 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:45.599 We hide our fears, we hide our doubts and we hide our failures. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:50.640 And we have these shadows in our lives. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:56.480 The shadows are those places that you don't want the light to shine too brightly. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:02.159 It's the shadow of shame or regret, fear or failure. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:10.479 And we hide these things because we believe if they are shown, if you see them, right? 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:11.599 This is why we do that. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:19.280 If you actually saw me, all of me, you wouldn't like me. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.159 You would reject me. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:26.159 And so we still hide to this day. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:33.759 What if there's a place so safe that the worst of me could be known? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:41.520 And I would discover that I was not loved less, but more in the telling of it. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:53.599 How do we step out of the shadows of shame, regret, and failure into the fullness of life? 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:57.680 We're in a series called Hello Life. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.639 We're studying the letter of 1 John. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:20.240 John, one of Jesus' closest friends and disciples, today is going to give us this roadmap for stepping out of the shadows into the fullness of life we desperately long for, but honestly we feel is maybe out of reach, or for other people, maybe not us. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:35.599 And the first thing that John is gonna tell us when he's talking about how do we step out of these shadows, these shadow lands that that casts such a well, it casts a shadow, that's what it does on our life. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:41.759 He tells us this life is found by walking in the light. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.199 If we want to know where life is actually found, it's found by walking in the life. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:54.879 Life is not found in faking it till you make it, but it's about reorienting to an entirely new way of life. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:59.280 If you got your Bibles, would you open up to 1 John 1, verse 5? 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:04.879 If you have an actual Bible, you just go all the way to the end and flip over a couple pages. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:09.919 Um, if you have a uh phone, it's real easy, you just hit a button. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.439 1 John 1, 5 says this. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.199 This is the message we've heard from him and declare to you. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:18.560 God is light. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:22.399 I want to tell you something about the nature of God, that he's light. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.279 In him there is no darkness at all. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:35.920 Now, if we claim to have fellowship, relationship, intimacy, connection with him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out of the truth. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:46.399 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:58.560 What he's saying here, life, the life you long for, the life we hope for, the life we dream of and ache for, is actually found by walking in the light. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:02.639 And here's the reason why shadows suck the life out of us, don't they? 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.199 They just suck the life out of us. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.680 It's the parts of us we don't want others to see. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:15.519 We hide, we cover up, we present a version of ourself that at its best is partial or incomplete. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:22.480 Believing, if you ever saw me, like we said earlier, you would reject me. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.360 And so we have this imposter syndrome, don't we? 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:34.000 And John is gonna help us understand why is life found here and how do we begin to live in it? 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.240 First, he says, God is light. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:42.160 God is not a version or like light, it's not a metaphor. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.879 He's describing the very nature of God. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.519 God is light, he is life. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.439 There is nothing shady in God, there's nothing hidden. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.600 He has no darkness about him. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:10.480 In fact, James would say it this way: that every good and perfect gift comes down from your heavenly Father, the Father of heavenly lights, whom there is no shifting shadow. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:24.480 Talking about Jesus, the disciple John would write this and say, In Jesus is life, the life of all man, the light for all humanity. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.560 Like God is light, meaning that he is life. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.680 Where there is no light, there is no life. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.240 And light reveals, doesn't it? 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:52.639 The minute God shows up in the scene, there is no darkness, light, darkness flees in the presence of light, and it reveals what's actually there, and so it reveals reality, it reveals truth, and it reveals his purity and his holiness. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:57.279 By the way, everything that is holy is healthy. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.000 That is the nature and the state our souls long for. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.920 Isolation, loneliness, because we hide in the shadows. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.040 We have become comfortable with darkness. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.480 We live in a world that's comfortable with darkness. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.720 Darkness is the absence of light, the absence of life of truth and purity and holiness. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:52.639 John talks about sin and darkness as one in the same in this context. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.920 We don't talk much about sin anymore. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.399 Honestly, because we don't like it. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:00.160 It's not popular. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:04.720 Don't call me a sinner, call me a mistaker, you know, that's fine. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:06.720 I just made a mistake. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:10.000 Sin literally means to miss the mark. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.439 It is to fall short. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:17.600 It's like an archer that is pulling back an arrow and aiming for a target and misses it completely. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:18.399 That's sin. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:25.519 Like, like there is a standard by upon which life is to be lived, and we've fallen short of that. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:31.360 And sin ultimately separates. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:38.399 It breaks things, it breaks our relationships with ourselves. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:49.120 We live disintegrated lives, carrying stuff we were never intended to carry under the weight of guilt and shame. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.799 It breaks relationships with others. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:11.039 As we're never truly ourselves, and so never feel fully known and don't fully know another, and then the things that we do or don't do begin to disrupt and break down relationships and moves us more into hiding, doesn't it? 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:14.399 And then it breaks relationship with God. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:30.480 What's interesting is one of our coping mechanisms for what we do with this is rather than adjust our lives to the light of what God says, what we've begun to do is just simply adjust God to our lives. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:36.639 God, you come over here, you just agree with me, you because I don't want to deal with this. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:41.600 And here's part of the reason why light reveals, doesn't it? 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:44.080 It exposes. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:56.000 Light does not lie, it reveals, and so as a result, it is uncomfortable and wonderful all at the same time. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:01.759 But we don't want to step out because we're afraid of what it will show. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:07.519 I lived in Georgia for three years and I didn't know about bugs until Georgia. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:15.919 And we would turn on the light in the middle of the night, and you all of a sudden you would see cockroaches scurry. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:17.120 Yeah. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:23.120 When I turned on the light, it didn't produce cockroaches, did it? 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:26.799 It just revealed what was already there. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:35.759 What we don't want to do is we would rather ignore it, we'd rather keep the light off and never address it and just pretend like everything's okay. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.039 Light reveals, but it also heals. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:53.600 The light of God's grace, He doesn't bring light and shine light into your life to harm you, but to heal you, to bring freedom and restoration and life. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.440 See, shame thrives in the darkness. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.000 Shame thrives in the shadow. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:13.200 Shame tells us that our worth is defined by our worst moments, that you're unlovable, that you're unredeemable. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.200 We expect rejection. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:21.600 Jesus brings restoration. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.480 I don't know what you walked in today with. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:33.440 What are the shadow lands that are casting over your life? 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:41.279 What do you feel like that you wouldn't share with a close friend or maybe your spouse? 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:47.279 That if God really knew, he just would reject you. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:53.039 Jesus says, if we walk, I love that. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.320 Life is found walking. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:59.360 It's a pattern, it's a way of living of stop hiding, stop concealing. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:06.000 Notice what it says, the blood of Jesus purifies, it brings healing. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:09.600 He's like, What my heart for you is I don't want you to live in this. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:11.919 I don't want you to experience the isolation. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.840 I don't want you to experience the heartache and the pain and the weight. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:23.120 I want to meet you there, but until you bring it into the light, you'll stay stuck. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:25.919 And so, how do we do that? 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.600 How do we step out of the shadows and into the light? 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:35.600 This is an ancient, powerful practice that has been lost in our day. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:39.279 It's the practice and discipline of confession. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:44.559 Confession brings freedom, not condemnation. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:46.559 Confession brings freedom. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:48.480 Notice what John is going to say. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.559 Confession is powerful. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:54.720 It positions you to experience the grace of God in your life. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.080 Confession moves you out of the shadows and into the light. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.960 He says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.720 If we confess our sins, though, if we what? 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:08.080 Help me out. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:09.120 Try it again. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:10.080 If we what? 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:11.759 That was decent. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:12.720 If we what? 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:14.639 Come on, let's try it again. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.519 If we what? 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:19.440 Confess. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:21.919 Own up to. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:23.279 This is me. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:26.559 He is faithful. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.919 Not based on your faithfulness, your ability, your standing. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:30.960 He is faithful. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:34.559 And he is just based on his righteousness. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:40.320 He will forgive us our sins, purify us from all unrighteousness. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.360 If we claim we've not sinned, we make him out to be a liar. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.919 And his word is not in us. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:52.320 One of the greatest invitations we have as followers of Jesus is to be honest. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:14:04.960 To stop living a disintegrated, isolated, disconnected life filled with shame and guilt, and bring all of us before God. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:14.399 And then when you do, you find you are fully accepted and fully forgiven. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:16.879 How do you do that? 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:20.399 Let me just give you three phrases. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:22.879 We gotta stop two things and start one thing. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.960 You already kind of know the start of the one thing. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.919 First thing we gotta do is we gotta stop pretending. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:29.360 We gotta stop pretending. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:34.639 He says if we claim to be without sin, we gotta stop faking it till we make it. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.879 We live in an age where this is so much harder. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:40.960 But we've always wrestled with this. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:42.720 We gotta stop pretending. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:57.200 We live in the social media age where what we present to the world is a curated version of our lives that presents the very best possible and yet it cuts out all of the rest. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:02.720 We want people to think that we live this picture perfect life. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:27.600 And so we filter every moment, we crop the picture, we only post the highlights because that's what everybody else is doing, and they're living their best lives, and so I have to somehow present something that is a version of me, but it doesn't tell the whole story. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:31.679 Stop pretending. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:35.679 We just stop. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:36.240 You know what? 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:37.120 This is me. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.399 What does it look like to stop pretending? 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.360 Stop pretending that everything's okay. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:48.080 Stop pretending that you we're doing better than we actually are. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:51.039 That we have it all figured out. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.399 Like, how are you doing? 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.080 Fantastic. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:57.919 Crushing it. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:15:59.600 Never better. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.120 How are you? 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.480 Better than you, you know, whatever it is, right? 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.960 We put on this front, we put on this face. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.879 Where we stop pretending and we actually own up. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.320 This is where I'm at. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.000 I'm struggling. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.039 I'm just getting by. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.879 You know, this area is going really well, but this area isn't. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.720 And we have to stop pretending and then we have to stop defending. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.679 This is what we've made as an art form. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:37.919 He says, if we claim we have not sinned, we've become experts in defending our way of life. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:39.919 Well, you did this. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.840 Yeah, but it's not my fault. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:42.879 You did this. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:45.120 It's not that big of a deal. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:46.639 It's not hurting anyone. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:48.159 They made me do it. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.720 This is just the way you have to get ahead. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:52.879 This is just what you have to do. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:55.440 This is the culture we live in. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:59.360 And we pretend and we defend. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:04.720 And John invites us to start confessing. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:10.319 Confessing, that word literally just means to agree with. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:13.039 Start confessing. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.039 To agree with God. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:19.119 That's all it means. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:22.319 You can go to the next slide, we've got to start confessing. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:28.240 He says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:39.920 To agree with God, to say the same thing, to admit, to turn on the light and go, yep, there's cockroaches. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:43.920 And it's kind of gross. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.119 I wish there weren't. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:48.720 But there are. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:56.480 To confess is to step into reality, to acknowledge the shadows in our lives that we've ignored or hidden. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:02.960 It's not a one-time event, but it's a way of life where we continually bring our true selves to God. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:10.880 Confession brings to the light what we'd rather hide or excuse away and agree with God that it's ugly. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.599 That is hateful at times. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:17.839 That is wrong. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:22.160 Most of you probably have one of these. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:25.119 This is a junk drawer. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.119 Be more specific, this is my junk drawer. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:32.880 This is by my bedside table, and I just gotta own up. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:37.279 I have two drawers by my bedside table, and they're both junk drawers. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:45.279 The truth is, you probably have one of these where you just have things that accumulate. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.359 You don't even really know why you hold on to them. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:54.079 What is this? 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.160 I don't even know what it's a Kaiser permanent. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:58.240 Anyways, I what is going on? 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:00.240 I just put stuff in here. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:10.799 For some reason, I can't get rid of it, and why I can't live without it, I just hold on to it and it accumulates and it builds. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:19.680 And sometimes there's even, you know, some of us have a junk closet, and some of us have a uh a junk garage. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.599 Some of us have a junk storage unit. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:37.440 All of us, at some point, we have this junk drawer in our lives where we've just accumulated. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:43.440 This isn't, nobody sees this when you come over to my house. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:48.880 It is put in my room by my bedside table, nobody goes through it. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.920 It's safely hidden in the dark. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:20:00.400 And because of that, I never go through it. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:09.839 And the problem is for us as people, what we do is we don't have a you know back room to put our junk drawer. 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.680 We are always carrying our junk drawer everywhere with us. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.640 We're walking around and going like, and this is kind of what it looks like. 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:20.240 Hey, what's up? 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.079 Yeah, that's good. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:23.519 No, don't worry about that. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:25.039 No, you don't need to look at that. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:25.759 That's fine. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:33.039 Um, right here, I, you know, tried to shower and shade, and I'm trying to look good, but don't see behind me. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:49.839 And we carry these things, and honestly, it just gets heavy and burdensome, and you're just constantly walking around with junk that Jesus doesn't want you to carry anymore, that he died for, and he wants to bring freedom and healing. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:04.319 And so, confession is bringing out what we've hidden in our life, the junk drawer before God. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:06.160 And here's why this is so important. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:12.240 God cannot heal what we conceal. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.440 God cannot heal what we hide and cover up, the things that we regret. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:23.119 He says, Bring it out into the light. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.160 Alcoholics anonymous have this great phrase. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.079 They say, you're only as sick as your secrets. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:36.240 See, God's light reveals our mess, but it also heals our hearts. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.359 Let me give you one example. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:46.799 One of the things that God's been revealing in my junk drawer, and I hate this by the way. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:51.759 But he's been revealing, and everybody around me already knows this about me. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.720 That's the terrible part about a lot of our junk drawers, is everybody already sees it. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 He's been revealing. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.359 In my impatience. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.400 I'm a really impatient person. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:12.000 Like if we're talking and you're not quite getting to the point, I'll help you get to the point. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:18.240 In fact, I can finish your sentence before you can finish your sentence. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:26.880 If you're not quite working hard enough or fast enough, I'll work harder and finish it for you. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:30.720 Because I want things done. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:36.799 I care seemingly more about productivity than people at times. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:42.240 This impatience within me shows up when I drive. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.079 You ever done that where you overplanned your day? 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:09.759 And I had meetings all day, and then that night had about an hour and a half from four o'clock till 5 30, maybe six. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:13.279 And I was planning, I'm just gonna get a little downtime. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:17.519 My mother-in-law was over visiting my daughter before she goes off to college. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:18.480 They're on a walk. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.480 She took a spill, she fell. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:22.720 Oh my goodness, she hurt herself bad. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:27.519 She's okay, but man, she fell hard, had to go to urgent care. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:33.200 Well, now Jenny is taking care of her and she lives in Scotts Valley, her car's here. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:45.440 Now that little hour and a half window, she can't drive herself back to Scotts Valley, so I drive her car back, and then um Jenny drives over and drives her mom over, and we're on our way back. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:49.279 Have you ever driven when you're in a hurry? 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.039 Isn't it amazing how the stoplights get longer? 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:56.079 What is that? 00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:00.079 And how slow people drive. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:08.720 In fact, I this is just a personal opinion, but I believe if you drive 64 miles an hour in the fast lane, your license should be revoked. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:16.079 We're driving back over the hill, and I'm in a hurry. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:17.519 I'm impatient. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:26.240 And as I'm driving back over the hill, um I there's slow people in front of me that they just need to move over. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.680 And so I'm driving in such a way to help them know they need to move over. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:32.960 Um not godly, not godly. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.839 And as they finally get over, I notice that they're on their phone. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:39.599 Yeah. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:47.599 I was righteously angered, and I expressed it verbally to Jenny. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:49.200 Can you believe that? 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:54.799 Not only are they driving slow in the fast lane, they're on their phone. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:57.839 I'm not sure which one was worse to me, actually, in the moment. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:05.599 And I drove past another person on their phone on the freeway. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:07.920 And I can't help it. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.319 I'm just Judgy McJudgerson on these people. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:17.440 I get Jenny home and I leave for the office for my meeting. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:27.440 And uh right before I leave, I check my email and I notice there's an email that needs addressing, and it's a long email sent, and it's one that I'm just kind of like, I need to. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:31.279 So I do what any of us does at the stoplight. 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:32.880 I start reading the email. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.920 And then uh I'm like, oh man, that wasn't as long as I'd hoped. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:50.079 Uh and then I drive to the next stoplight, check it, and then now I'm kind of like doing this as I'm driving, you know, the streets, and it's traffic-y, we're barely moving, it's not a big deal. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:54.000 It's not it's just, you know, I'm I'm not on the freeway. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:02.480 And uh I didn't notice the car in front of me had stopped. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:06.079 And I rear-ended this car. 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:08.480 Thankfully, we were moving so slow. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:09.599 It was just a love tap. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:11.279 That's what I like to call it. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:16.640 Um, it didn't do any damage to the car, it didn't hurt. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:19.200 Uh it would, but it would, I well, it did hurt, kinda. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:20.079 It didn't hurt the girl. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:21.599 It was a teenage girl. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:23.599 And yeah, I felt awful. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:36.559 We we pull into the um the parking lot there, and she gets out, she looks like, I'm fine, she's like, but I it scared me so bad, and she's kind of shaking, and it's like, oh, this sweet girl. 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:42.240 My impatience, my impatience ruined your day. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:47.599 It spilled out all over you, and she was just so scared. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:50.000 I'm like, I'm so sorry, it's gonna be okay. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:56.960 And we exchanged insurance, and then as I got in the car, the Spirit of God is conviction. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:06.319 Because not only was it impatience, I just was the older brother judgmentalist that I was driving, the hypocrite that I was. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:08.640 God, I'm sorry. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:20.319 God, I confess my impatience, you've been showing this, that it not only impacts me, but it just impacted that young girl. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:25.200 I confess my my older brother, judgmental heart. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:27.359 I'm sorry, God. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:29.519 Could you please forgive me? 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:34.400 Thank you for showing that because I don't want that in me. 00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.559 That's not life, by the way. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.440 That's not life, that's not living. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.240 And then I called my wife. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.039 And I told her what happened. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:51.839 James tells us, confess your sins one to another that you might be healed. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:59.519 Confession vertically towards God, and then finding a safe, trusted person that you can really confess and talk to. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:00.880 It's powerful. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:07.039 And I'm like, Jenny, I and I just told her the whole story. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:15.359 And then I had my board meeting that night with our leadership council, the elders of our church, and then I confessed to them, I told them the whole story of it. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:28.079 Because confession, confession brings freedom, not condemnation. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:35.519 We're so afraid that if we actually share it, if we actually show it, we will be rejected. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.920 And it is the shame's voice that wants to keep you stuck. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:50.319 Keep you silent, where you're just carrying this thing around, burdened down. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.160 And here's the most amazing part. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:03.279 As we close our time, John ends this way. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:05.359 He ends with the gospel. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:10.160 It's the thing that we need to constantly preach to ourselves. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:13.759 What do I do about the mess inside of me? 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:15.440 What do I do about my brokenness? 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:19.359 What do I do about the darkness that I feel like I just can't escape? 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.319 John tells us Jesus is God's provision for your sin and shame. 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:27.200 There is no other provision. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.680 There is no other path. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:31.359 It's just Jesus. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:34.160 Listen to what he says, my dear children. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.720 As a father writing to them, he's like, I want you to get this. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:46.319 I write to this so that you'll not sin, so that you won't live in this way, that you'll walk in light because it's alive. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:50.640 But if anyone does sin, and we all will sin, you must know this. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:54.799 We have an advocate with the Father. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:55.680 Who? 00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.880 Jesus Christ, the righteous one. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:05.519 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the world. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:08.799 Jesus is your advocate. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:10.319 What does an advocate mean? 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:11.920 He is your defense. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:14.720 You don't need to defend yourself anymore. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.319 You don't need to prove your worth. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.200 You don't need to justify your mistakes. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:25.599 What happens is the world tends to accuse us. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.480 Satan, one of his names, is the accuser of the saints. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:37.599 Like he wants to entice you, he wants to draw you out, and then he wants to say, How could you? 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:38.880 and shame you. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:44.559 And there's times our hearts accuse us. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:53.200 Even if your own hearts accuse you, you've messed up too many times, you're not good enough. 00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:56.640 No one could truly love you after what you've done. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:04.880 Jesus, the righteous one, don't miss this, stands between you and every single accusation thrown at you. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:11.519 He stands in between you and he is your advocate, the righteous one covering you. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.119 That no accusation may stand. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:18.160 He says, No, no, no. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:20.960 I've got it covered. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.200 I've paid for that. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:25.839 I've forgiven that. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:28.240 They're free. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:30.240 Why? 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:33.680 Because He is our atoning sacrifice. 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:37.200 He doesn't just argue for you. 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:41.519 Atonement is to make the full and final payment for something. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:44.640 He sacrificed himself for you. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:50.160 He didn't step into the courtroom of heaven and beg God for mercy. 00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:54.160 He walked to the cross to take the full punishment of our guilt. 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:57.759 His blood was spilled so that we could be free. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.680 Not just from the penalty of sin, but from its power. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:04.799 Jesus is God's provision. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.559 Your sin does not define you. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:16.000 You are covered in the very righteousness of Christ. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:27.039 Your sin, the darkness, the shadow that you keep hiding in your junk drawer, that you're like, it tends to take on a life of itself, doesn't it? 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:29.359 And he says it doesn't define you. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.160 In fact, when God looks at you, do you know what he sees? 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:36.400 He sees Jesus. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.640 Because you are in Christ. 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:41.200 You are covered by the blood of the Lamb. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:44.079 He sees his righteous one, Jesus. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:46.160 He says, I've covered all of that. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:48.480 Your past, your present, future sin. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:52.000 You are fully and finally forgiven. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:55.279 So why do we keep hiding? 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:02.319 Why do we carry around things that suck the life out of us? 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.640 Let me ask you. 00:33:09.759 --> 00:33:12.240 What are you hiding in the shadows? 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:19.599 Where have you been afraid to let God's light in? 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:23.680 He shines his light not to harm but to heal. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:37.839 Thursday, I was going for a run, and a practice I just recently started doing is after my runs, when I have time, I just I turn my music off and I walk and I pray. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:40.960 Just like 20 minutes of walking and praying. 00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:44.400 It helps me if I'm moving to keep my mind engaged. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:50.799 And as I was walking and praying, I said, Holy Spirit, would you show me anything in me that's not of you? 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:52.319 Would you shine a light? 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.400 Like, like, would you show me anything? 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.119 And he'll answer that prayer every time. 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:07.440 And I kind of expected the usual suspects, like, okay, my impatience, uh, some struggle with lust here and there, some of these sort of things. 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:15.440 And then he began to show me some stuff, shine some lights in some stuff that I'm like, oh, I didn't know that was there. 00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:26.159 He shined a light in the area that I'm struggling, a person that hurt my wife and I a while ago. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:33.679 And it's easy to pretend like, oh, it's no big deal, and it's easy to defend your reasoning. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.280 They did these sort of things. 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:42.960 So he's like, but the reality is, is you have unforgiveness in your heart, and it's starting to develop a root of bitterness. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:51.519 Like God shows me that for his kindness and for life, because a root of bitterness makes you a bitter person. 00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:56.960 Oh my gosh, you're right. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:34:59.840 You're right. 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.800 And he began to show me one thing and another thing. 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:06.960 And shine in the light. 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:07.360 It did. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:15.119 It was like pulling out this stuff, and it's like embarrassing, and it's even embarrassing to say, oh my, you're pastor, and I'm struggling with these things that seem like but it's true. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:19.840 And he wants to bring healing and he wants to bring wholeness, he wants to bring life. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.440 But he cannot heal what we can seal. 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:29.840 And so as we close, the invitation is simply this. 00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:36.719 Would you step out of the shadow into the light? 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:41.519 Would you invite his spirit to like show anything in you? 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:45.760 And may we engage in this practice of confession. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:46.800 God, I agree with you. 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:47.360 You're right. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:47.920 It's ugly. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:49.280 It's not what I want. 00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:51.199 But you died for it already. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.800 Would you forgive me? 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:57.519 We're gonna partake in communion together. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:10.400 And on your uh seat, you have this little paper, and you'll notice it's kind of see-through, and it's uh it's specially designed to dissolve in water. 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:18.719 Scripture tells us, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us. 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:24.639 That though our sins are as scarlet, he has made us white as snow. 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:30.559 I want to invite you into the practice of confession. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:38.800 Whereas you pray that you would take time, you would write down the areas before God that he's showing you. 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:53.039 It might be a heart attitude, it might be a response to a coworker or a friend or your kid, it might be a secret thing that nobody even knows about, but you've been carrying. 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:01.360 The beautiful part is you'll drop this in the water, it will dissolve. 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:18.719 And I want you to take the communion elements, his body broken for you, his blood poured out for you, that you might experience the fullness of life completely forgiven and free. 00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:22.800 As we worship, you might need some extra time. 00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:25.039 You may just want to come up here and kneel. 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:29.280 You might want to go back to our prayer team and have somebody pray over you. 00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:38.000 But take this moment to experience his healing grace in your life. 00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:39.119 I'm just gonna give you time. 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:43.679 Would you take time and just begin to write down those areas? 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:46.880 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:37:47.119 --> 00:37:51.519 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:53.760 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:59.840 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.