WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 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. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.079 All right, good morning, Awakening Church. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:24.480 So uh good to be with you this Sunday. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:25.920 Thanks for greeting one another. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.239 Hope you guys are having a good Sunday here today. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.039 My name's Dave. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.159 If we've never met before, one of the pastors here at Awakening. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:40.719 And guys, we're actually concluding our Unalone Teaching series as we're going through the book of Oh, wait, what is you guys are good. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.359 All right, good. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:42.320 Hey, how's it going? 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:42.560 All right. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:44.320 Aries, how you doing, buddy? 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:44.799 Good? 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:45.280 Awesome. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:45.920 All right, good. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.359 I want to make sure everybody's greeted. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:47.840 Okay. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:48.399 All right. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:56.960 But we're we're finishing up our Alone Teaching series, and we're going to continue on through the book of Genesis, but with this series right now, but actually we're concluding it today. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:01.119 And uh, I want to first start off by introducing to you my companion up here on stage. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.119 This is uh Addy, okay? 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:08.239 Uh it was gonna be Adam, but it was a half a man, so we just named it Addy, so we just kind of kept it short. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.560 Addy's been hugely helpful for me. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:11.920 I mean, you need to know this. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:17.920 I can drive with just good conscience in the carpool lane right now, and it's been incredibly helpful. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.359 Um, I've actually uh wanted a full-size mannequin. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:28.719 However, the team felt like a full-size mannequin standing here naked would be too distracting. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:29.519 I don't know. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:30.719 So I'm gonna take a survey. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:33.040 How many people feel like that would have been a little too distracting? 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:33.840 I'm just curious. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:35.519 Okay, okay, all right. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:39.120 Uh, how many people feel like it's just too distracting right now? 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.120 Like, oh, some hands there too. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.079 Okay, all right. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.519 So we'll go ahead and cover this up. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.760 All right, okay, there we go. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.120 All right, good. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.120 So don't want to distract you. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:51.599 Okay. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:58.640 Guys, why is it that we get so uneasy around nakedness? 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.799 I mean, I see sheep that are sheared and I start to blush, you know? 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:13.759 I mean, but aren't we supposed to get back to the goodness of the garden where we are naked and without shame? 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:24.159 Uh this is actually uh, there's actually a very small and eccentric community within the Christian community that believes this very thing on a literal level. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:28.960 They're known as Christian nudists, or as they prefer to be called, Christian naturists. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:30.879 Caution, do not Google. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:34.639 Okay, all right, it leads you down a very troublesome path. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.000 Now, there are there are these few and select churches. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:53.840 They worship and experience Christian community in the nude, and they actually base their theological foundation around the central verse that we are going to be studying here today in Genesis 2.25, which reads this Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:05.120 Now, an example of how one of these non den non-denominational Christian naturist or nudist churches defend their position to regularly gather and worship fully naked follows right here. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:11.840 We seek to honor God through the Lord Jesus Christ and affirm the goodness of our bodies exactly as God created them. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:20.240 The sin that Adam and Eve committed was not being naked, the sin they committed was to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:26.400 Being naked cannot possibly have been a sin, have been a sin for Adam and Eve as they were created and lived naked in the presence of God. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:30.319 We believe that it was and is God's design for us to be nude. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:37.599 No one can seriously contend that God intended for the only two humans on the planet to hide their nudity from one another. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:40.800 And so, guys, this is a really good opportunity that I do want to take. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.840 Uh, just to announce something that Awakening is getting the launch. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:46.560 Uh, but we have a new uh church plant. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.039 We're calling it a nakeding, okay? 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:54.400 Um and there's a QR code on the bottom there if you want to be a part of the launch team. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.800 Uh guys, this is the new coke of Awakening. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:57.439 I want you to know. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.560 I mean, it's gonna be everything just like we have at Awakening. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.240 All the seats will be Christian, though. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.400 I want you to know, heat is always gonna be on, okay? 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:05.759 All right, ha ha ha. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:06.080 Okay. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.240 Some dad jokes there. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.400 I actually admire these Christian nudists and their heart for intimacy. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:16.879 And actually seeking to actually like defend their position with scripture. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:20.800 Uh, but I actually would like to seriously contend their theological position. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:24.720 You see, this distortion that we have going on now is actually nothing new. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.560 You need to understand that this was a part of the second century early church. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:31.439 There were actually Christians that worshipped in the nude. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.680 They called themselves Adamites. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:40.079 And not surprising, they had the same biblical rationale, and they were labeled as heretics. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:51.839 And so I'm in agreement with many scholars that conclude that Adam and Eve were never intended to remain naked in the physical sense, but only in the spiritual and the emotional sense. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:55.680 Because the creation story in Genesis 2, it shows a garden. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.600 Yes, that it was unspoiled, but hear me on this, it was unfinished. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:06.480 With God inviting humanity to actually participate in the creative work. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:12.000 And so humanity is meant to expand the creative work started by God. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:16.720 We see this illustrated with Adam as he was able to name the animals. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:26.160 This creative act was to continue in building infrastructure and technology and art and yes, even clothing. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:34.639 It's what theologians have termed improvisation or the delegated responsibility or participation of creation. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:44.720 Seeing human humanity as actually sort of these Minecraft sub-creators, these co-rulers with and under the authority of God. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:51.839 So, was humanity meant to physically be naked, and is that our call to return to as Christians? 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:53.839 I don't think so. 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:56.720 I've got bad news. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.199 The church plant is off, okay? 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:00.319 I just want you to know that. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.120 Alright. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:04.399 Thankfully, there were no t-shirt orders that we had to cancel. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.000 Alright, this is a not a lot of swag needed for that church. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:09.360 Okay, alright, alright. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.720 Guys, we still have to wrestle with this fact though. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.800 That there is a nakedness that we are designed for. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.399 Church, there's a nakedness that we yearn for. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.199 Ryan said this in week one of our unalone series. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:27.439 That longing for something more isn't a flaw. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:32.720 It's a clue, a signpost pointing us back to the way that we were made. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.959 And so awakening is we have left Eden. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.560 Eden has not left us. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:38.959 And so, what does it mean for us to be naked? 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.639 Or as they say, go commando. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:53.920 So this morning we're gonna better understand the implic implications of commando living, examining what it means to be commando after creation, after the curse, and also after the cross. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:55.920 Are you ready to journey with me? 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.720 It sounded apprehensive, and after that start, warranted, warranted. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.240 Let's examine commando living after creation. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:12.480 We find in Genesis 2.25 is actually a summary statement statement of the section that Ryan actually taught on last week, starting in verse 18. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.279 I'm gonna put pick apart a few of the verses in that section. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.800 It says this the Lord said, It is not good for man to be alone. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.959 I will make a helper suitable for him. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.480 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, he had taken out of man, and he brought her to the man. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:34.079 The man said, This is now my bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:39.519 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:54.800 Now, as Ryan outlined the intent of this passage addressing the marriage relationship, it also has simultaneous implications on the core foundations of what it originally meant to be in a human relationship with one another. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:02.800 In Genesis, we discover that God allows Adam to come face to face with his incompleteness. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:12.800 That though he was supposed to be made in God's image, he wasn't fully reflecting or imaging his creator yet. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:21.120 Because our God is one God, yet three distinct persons, complete, equal, interdependent relationship with one another. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:29.199 And so for the first time we discover this that if we are truly going to image our God, it demands plurality. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:33.039 If you're gonna image God, it demands community. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:47.679 Therefore, through a bizarre cloning operation, God provides a rescuer taken from Adam just to ensure that there would be no question in woman's humanity, that there would be no question in woman's equality. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:09:01.519 God makes two persons from one being to not only reflect his plurality, but then to set in motion their mandate to fill the earth and to expand his image-driven community. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:09.919 And so Moses then puts the finishing touches on everything that he's writing here, and that's where he ends all of this in summary with Genesis 2.25. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.679 Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:16.639 They felt no shame. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:35.679 Thousands of years ago, in modern day Iraq, is the first ever nudist colony where God, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, man and woman were all living together, complete transparency, intimacy, oneness with one another. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:46.080 Adam and Eve, they felt no shame because they had this unabashed innocence, this transparency, this confidence in themselves and also in each other. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:56.960 Yes, Adam and Eve were going commando in the garden, but hear me, it was more so a nakedness on a relational level between themselves and between their creator. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:04.720 A harmonious environment of safety and dignity and mutual submission, equality and harmony. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:14.000 This is the commando living we are designed for and we now yearn for following the curse. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:23.279 As we've been studying when it comes to this series, our utopia was actually fractured by our own doing, casting us out of Eden. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:31.840 Due to humanity's rebellion toward God, one act of disobedience shattered community with God, with creation, and with each other. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:38.399 We actually see some of the immediate results of Adam and Eve's sin as it's written in Genesis 3 here. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.720 Then the eyes of both of them were opened. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:47.120 They realized that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.879 Now I don't have a fig leaf. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.559 This is my only shout out to Palm Sunday, guys. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:56.080 I tried desperately to connect this to Palm Sunday. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.960 I'm sorry for you, church, you know, calendar enthusiasts. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.600 I tried to connect it, find some sort of connect. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.919 There isn't any, and it got very heretical. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.240 All right, so verse 8. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.559 They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:16.000 The man answered, I heard you got in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:22.960 Then the man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:33.039 What was once naked innocence and the presence of God turned to hiding behind bushes and guilt and shame. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:43.600 What was once complete oneness and intimate intimacy immediately dissolved into coverings and fear and suspicion and accusations and isolation. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:52.480 What was once mutual servanthood, and there was this dual partnership dissolved into power struggles and hierarchy. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:12:02.159 Just a few verses later, Adam gives the woman a new name, Eve, meaning mother, reducing and manipulating her identity to just one function. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:11.200 From this point on within the scriptures, nakedness is always, always equated with shame. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:15.919 Going commando after the curse is much different than after creation. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:19.840 It's ruined our relationships, it's perverted our self-image. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.879 And so, guys, what does it mean for us today? 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:30.480 How do we get back to Eden where we are fully known, where we are fully seen, and where we are fully accepted? 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:35.279 Adam realized it was not good for him to be alone and he needed a rescuer. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.440 It's usually not good for me to be alone up here. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:38.480 I need a rescuer. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:43.519 So I'm going to invite uh area pastor David Alvarez to join me up here. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.240 Uh, and he's also the leader of Healing Path Ministry. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:47.840 So can we welcome David? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:54.960 Hi, David. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.000 Mike's on. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:56.480 There we go. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:12:59.120 Rude of me, Addy. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:12:59.519 Yeah. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:00.480 Okay, all right. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:09.200 So David, I can think of no better person to just help us take this journey when it comes to really being known and seen. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:11.120 This is you, this is the work you do. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:11.440 Right. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:24.720 Um, some people here may not know the work you do, so tell us a little bit about just your uh just decades-long of healing ministry and just what you do here uh as far as uh healing path and being an area pastor here. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:25.200 Right. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:31.679 So I moved up uh to the Bay Area in 2001 to take a position with the church in San Jose. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.399 Uh I was the healing pastor. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:45.600 And uh six months in I realized all these 20-somethings who were millionaires on paper uh were pretty broken. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:53.200 Uh during uh in between services, they'd all be out there, and you could feel the relational and sexual tension. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.279 I mean, it was just palpable. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:06.639 And so I thought, you know, I think I'm gonna write a curriculum to kind of help young men and young women really uh develop their skills uh to become more whole and mature people. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:19.360 And so I wrote a 10-week curriculum called The Healing Path, and we began, you know, we began to really uh look inward uh to see what was driving us outward. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:25.120 You know, I always say that we look at the past to see how it influences the present. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:37.759 And so um by 2005 I had written uh a second iteration of 2.0 because the thirst and the hunger for healing was tremendous. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:47.120 We had people coming from San Francisco, people from Gilroy and Hollister, and I know nothing about marketing, it was all word of mouth. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:53.600 And so what it told me was there is a hunger for healing, there's a thirst uh for more. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:08.559 And that's when I eventually uh left staff and started the nonprofit, the healing path ministries, and I go into other churches and do the program and train and equip their leaders to to sew it into the church. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:09.360 That's awesome. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:18.480 Yeah, and you've been doing this kind of ministry, whether it's healing path or just healing ministry for years, and some of it stems from your upbringing. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:25.840 And so when we're talking about, we've all experienced the fall, the brokenness of sin, and we've all experienced it early on. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:33.200 And when you and I have sat down, um, I love sitting down with David, we get coffee regularly, and just hearing your story is powerful. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:42.240 Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like for you growing up and how it relates to that scene in the garden of shame and hiding and all of that? 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:43.039 Yeah, right. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:54.240 So I grew up in a very shame-based Latino culture and with a very abusive stepfather. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:09.840 And here I was, five, six years old, looking to him to uh delight in me, looking to him to call me forth uh away from my mother and stuff, and all he did was humiliate humiliate me, all he did was criticize me. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:15.360 And so eventually uh I just began to shrink inwardly. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:22.639 I just began to believe that I was stupid, that I was nothing, that I would never amount to anything. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.480 These were all the words of death that he spoke over me. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:31.039 And so this really was shame. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:52.799 I felt defective, I felt weak, I felt, I lived what I call under a low ceiling, didn't see myself going to college or anything like that because he had he had really left me so fractured, I had little to no belief in myself because of the shame and the weight of the shame that I felt. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:17:01.440 And eventually, when I became a Christian at 19, I to hide my shame, I became what I called the Christian good boy. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.960 And so, uh, can you come early and put up the chairs? 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:05.359 Yes. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:07.119 Can you stay late and put them away? 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:07.759 Yes. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:15.119 So I had a very large yes muscle, and I had an atrophied no muscle, and that's the good boy and the good girl. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:34.799 They're always willing to do things because we're looking for uh our unmet childhood needs to get satisfied through the pats on the head, through the adulation and applause of people, you know, as they call us forth to give us their certificate for being such a wonderful servant. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.759 And so it is a it's a mask. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:38.319 Yeah. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:45.920 It's standing with a lot of shame and hiding and keeping everybody. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.759 It's manipulation. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.599 I was manipulating people through my good boy facade. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:51.839 Yeah. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.720 All rooted in my shame. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:59.359 I don't believe I have worth, I believe that I'm defective, I believe that I'm weak. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.599 I will never amount to anything. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.920 You saw this in yourself, and it's a continued battle that we all have. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:12.559 You're a spiritual physician that has worked in the healing ministry of this kind of of this kind of ministry for for years. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:13.039 Right. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:14.160 Is it the same thing? 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:25.519 As you kind of step back and just look at the world in general and the people you interact with, is tell us a little bit of the shame and hiding that you're seeing and and what we can relate to. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:26.480 Right. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:35.839 Well, I mean, it's it's across the board with the old, the middle-aged, and especially the young these days. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:19:00.079 It's all, you know, we live in this hyper-curated culture now, and it's all rooted in perfectionism, perfectionism to to look good on Instagram, to look good on TikTok, and it's just it and it's all to me uh the hiding of weakness, uh, the hiding of being vulnerable. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:22.160 And so it all really goes against what really God is calling us to do is to live out of our true selves, to live out of the fullness of who He's called us to be, and yet we've allowed the world to shape us in the area of our hiddenness, our uh not allowing people to see our weakness and stuff. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:29.119 And so um, and perfectionism, and perfectionists will always tell me, no, no, no, I don't hate myself. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:44.480 But uh, I actually in 2005 wrote a teaching specifically because there was so much perfectionism in our classes, and it's rooted in self-hatred, and underlying that perfectionism is self-hatred. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:54.000 And so when a perfectionist fails, they treat themselves with so much self-contempt, and it's just it's the culture we live in now. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.559 I mean, it just politically look what's going on. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:07.920 I mean, just across the board, I mean, it's it's everywhere, and like I told you earlier, the shame that I came under was obvious. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:13.359 I think for a lot of people the shame they come under is very subtle. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:16.880 Oh, you gotta be on your report card? 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:23.519 Well, you can do better, and in a way, that's saying to the young boy or the young girl, this isn't good enough. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:28.480 And then you begin to internalize that as I'm not good enough, right? 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.680 Yeah, you see why he's here? 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.519 It's like, ouch, all right, yeah, and I totally we relate, we relate with this, right? 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:46.000 Because the thing about Adam and Eve is not that this event happened and it happened, it's that it keeps happening, right? 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:58.880 We all continue to live in brokenness, operating outside of our design, coming up short in our relationships, seeing ourselves with a with a perverted self-image, but thankfully, as we know, there's good news. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.319 And if you don't know this, listen, because it's really good news. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:06.079 You see, early in the fall, what we find is that God had a plan. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.960 He had a plan to take our shame and he covers it with his grace. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.200 We see this early on in Genesis 3.21. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:18.319 It says this the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:21.440 And he clothed them. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:26.240 Thank you. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.000 You get the point. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:43.200 Due to our sin, we have the first actually sacrifice of an innocent animal to cover our shame. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:59.200 But guys, this is a foreshadowing of the final and perfect sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf because God moves decisively, he moves permanently to solve our sin problem by placing his sinless son naked in. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.400 On a cross to become our shame. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.519 First Peter chapter 2, verse 22 states, He bore our guilt. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:10.799 Prophet Isaiah actually forecasted this in 6110. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:21.359 He says, I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, arrayed me in the robe of righteousness. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:29.839 This is why Paul says that when we trust in Jesus' work on the cross and trust him as our leader and our rescuer, that we have a new identity. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.559 He actually says we are clothed with Christ. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:40.799 And so we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit, grafted into the family of God, and that during our time of judgment, God doesn't see our sin. 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:43.279 He doesn't see our guilt. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:48.400 He sees the righteousness of Christ covering us. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:57.599 Now, with that said, God still leverages guilt to continually draw us to Him. 00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:03.359 Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 7.10 godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:09.839 So, yeah, we see guilt, we see godly sorrow as nothing more than the realization is I did something bad. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.680 And it actually can be a positive force to help move us towards change. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:21.440 Shame is the toxin, as you know, Renee Brown has said much on this, I am bad. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:25.119 And it forces us to hide and alienate. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:35.920 And despite our trust in Jesus, the problem of shame, the problem of hiding is still real and active because yes, conversion is immediate and perfection will one day come in heaven. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:46.480 But right now we live in this now not yet kingdom of God where transformation is both really hard and beautiful, and it takes the entire earthly life that we have here. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:24:00.400 And so, David, on this side of the cross, I would love for us to talk about the people, the places, and also uh the practices that are essential to help us experience this transformational commando living. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:11.039 So let's first talk about the practices because the transformative work of commando living, we hope to return to first starts with ourselves and our personal practices. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:20.480 Because you need to understand the Christian life is not just what you believe about Jesus, it's also what you believe about yourself through the filter of God's truth. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:24.000 And so, David's shame has no place in the Christian life. 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:37.279 What are the personal practices, holy habits you have experienced and continue just so that you can grow a proper God sense of your God-given worth and value to then be seen and accepted by others? 00:24:37.519 --> 00:24:37.759 Right. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:43.599 You had mentioned Brene Brown, so I'm gonna just say something quick and then I'll get to the practices. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:49.119 She says that shame either makes you become big or small. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.319 And for me, obviously, I became very small. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:59.119 My older brother, Stephen, became very big, very macho, very tough, very aggressive. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.839 But he was just as broken as me. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.480 He just hit it differently. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:08.960 That's always the thing that's surprising with narcissists that the root of it is shame. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:09.680 And you're like, really? 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:12.640 Like, it but the root of it is shame, and that's such an interesting thing. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:13.359 All right, go on. 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:14.799 So practices. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:20.079 Obviously, uh the reading of scripture has really helped me. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:26.799 You know, one of the things we give out at Healing Paths is a three-page uh printout of who am I in Christ? 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:31.680 And it's just walks you through of who you are and the scriptures that are related to it. 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:39.680 And so I'm a big believer in reading scripture, but not reading it just to read it, but to really uh think about it. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:43.599 What does it mean that I'm more than a conqueror in Christ, you know? 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:45.359 And so I dwell on these things. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:54.960 I I kind of chew on them and stuff and and and ask the Lord, help me to live in the way uh that you're calling me to live through these scriptures and stuff. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:58.079 And so scripture reading is really, really key for me. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.559 Finding robust community. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:02.799 And that takes a while. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:04.799 Believe me when I tell you that. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:09.119 Not everybody, uh to say healing path isn't for everybody. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:18.960 You know, everybody, I mean, it's hard to find men who want to uh stand naked and unashamed. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:26.799 And over the years I've gathered a group of probably six, seven, eight guys who um I would get together with and stuff. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:34.160 But the pandemic, a lot of them moved to go buy homes in Texas and Idaho and Oregon and stuff, but we still have that bond. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:43.119 Uh my birthday was in February, and one of them came into town, two of the other guys, we all went out to Half Moon Bay, got fish and chips. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:46.720 Uh they rented a cyber truck, pulls up in front of my house. 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:47.599 I'm like, what? 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:54.960 And so uh, but just the conversation, and we did the auto drive thing, nobody was touching the style. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:57.119 It was like a ride at Disneyland. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:02.799 And so uh, but it's like we pick up where we left off. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:19.200 We we sure we love the 49ers and the Warriors and the Giants and stuff, but we also love to talk about marriages and ministry and life, and it's it's this robust community where at the end of the night you don't want it to end. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:30.799 You don't want it to end because there's such a there's there's a bonding, there's an attaching there that really, really, it just breaks the power of our shame. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:32.720 And the third thing is journaling. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:38.000 And I I brought my journal, and um, I'm gonna read to you. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:49.119 I wrote something in 1997, and this isn't journaling's important because it helps you, especially men, to process what you're actually feeling. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:56.319 To feel shame is to feel seen in a painfully diminished sense. 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:04.880 Whether all eyes are upon me or only my own, I feel deficient in some vital way as a human being. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:11.119 And in the grip of shame, an urgent need to escape or hide may come upon me. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:21.359 Shame is an impotence-making experience because it feels as though there is no way to relieve the matter, no way to restore the balance of things. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:26.880 Feeling exposed opens myself to painful inner scrutiny. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:31.599 It is as though my eyes inexplicably turn inward. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:39.039 I'm suddenly watching myself scrutinizing critically the minutest detail of my being. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:44.799 And at this point, I'm thinking everyone else in the room is doing the same thing. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:47.039 They are finding me lacking. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:56.079 So when I try to voice my inner pain and need, I feel immobilized, trapped, and alone in the ambivalence of my shame. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:05.279 This has hindered me in my ability to acknowledge my need for Jesus in the weak, sinful, broken areas of my life. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.160 That is shame. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.039 That is the processing of shame. 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:18.720 That is what really helped me with journaling was I was beginning to be able to name some of those inner emotions. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.359 Anger's easy, because anger's powerful. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.240 That's why we love anger, because it makes us look powerful. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:32.720 But these other emotions that were dormant within me that I had suppressed for so many years began to come out as I journaled. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:35.119 And that was significant. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:39.920 I've got so many of these journals in my uh my home is frightening. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:49.519 And uh, but that really, really helped me to excise some of the damaging uh words that were spoken over me. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:50.240 So good. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:50.480 Yeah. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:59.279 There's no silver bullet in any of this, but I think the thing that's really essential that David hit right in the beginning is that we've got to go vertically before we ever go horizontally internally. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:12.000 We we we look we have to grasp to that filter of truth through scripture, but then as we move internally through uh journaling and then also then move horizontally towards others. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:20.319 And this is why we continuously encourage you when it comes to that looking vertically first, why we encourage you to be a part of our Bible reading programs. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:30.400 Uh, because it's essential, it's the number one catalyst for our spiritual growth and gives us the foundation of how we need to be seeing ourselves, how God sees us. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:33.680 And so just a reminder: application number one, super simple. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:37.279 We have a holy week reading plan starting today. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:41.200 There's a QR code on the connection card, just go there, it'll take you to that. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:54.720 And just journey with us as we journey really through the steps of Jesus as he goes, you know, in and through the cross, and we remind ourselves that we are resurrected people of a resurrected God who is deeply and madly in love with us. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.160 That is a truth that we need to continue to hold uh forever. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:01.759 All right, so David, we've talked about a little of the practices. 00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:18.000 You mentioned this a little, but I'd love to go a little bit deeper into the people, because practices uh can be incredibly anchoring for our souls, especially in the midst of spiritual war, but they also give us then the confidence to find people where we can be known, fully known, and fully seen. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:27.680 And the research continues to show this, and scripture continues to show this, is that we can only grow to the extent we are known. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:33.359 We can only be loved to the extent we are known. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:37.680 We can only be healed to the extent we are known. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:41.440 The psychology of vulnerability actually has done a lot of research on this. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:45.279 And they actually have this chart here, which is similar to the Johari window. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:48.160 I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but it's a little bit like it. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:51.039 Um, and you can see it on the screen there as well, too. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:32:05.200 But essentially, not known, not accepted, isolation, not or uh not accepted, known, rejected, not known, accepted, impression management, and this is the commando living. 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:11.359 This takes us back to Eden, intimacy, accepted, and fully known. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:19.759 And so uh the research continues to show that when we're in this space, it actually makes us better people. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:20.960 You need to understand that. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:24.880 It makes you a better student, it makes you a better leader, makes you a better family member. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:32.559 This is why God continues to direct us back to Eden of being fully known, fully seen, fully accepted. 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:37.359 Uh essentially, this is therefore, here's what I'm gonna challenge you with. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:45.119 We need to find our shems and we need to find our Japheths while remaining cautious with our Hams. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:49.279 Not the best word I know with a teaching around nakedness. 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:50.079 Let me explain. 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:50.559 Okay. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:58.720 You see, later on in our Genesis series, we're gonna be reading about Noah, the flood, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:09.039 And following the flood, what we're gonna find is the most righteous man in the land, Noah, gets slammed, drunk, passes out in his tent, naked. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:14.160 Again, nakedness is always associated with shame. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:29.200 And so what we find is that when Ham finds his dad in his tent, fully exposed, naked, shame, he immediately runs out embarrassed, and he tells his brothers Shem and Japheth. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:39.359 And this is an example of just guys how gossip can be cloaked as like, I'm just passing on information, but really the intent is to fuel accusation and blame. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:44.720 But when Shem and Japheth hear the news, they don't freak out and tattletale. 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:54.400 When they see, and they actually don't even see, when they see Noah completely naked like this, shame-filled, the scriptures say this. 00:33:54.640 --> 00:34:06.799 Shem and Japheth, they took a garment, they laid it across their shoulders, they walked backwards and covered their father's naked body. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:13.199 Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:15.679 A beautiful act of grace. 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:21.519 A beautiful act of redemption, of acceptance. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:27.599 And as a result of this incident, Ham is cursed, which is like, oh, guys, I can't take a break. 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:28.559 His name's Ham. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:32.000 But and then Shem and Japeth, they're blessed. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:45.119 And so, Dave, David, as we return to Eden, it means having relationships where we can be naked, exposing our real selves, the good, the bad, the ugly, and yet still be blanketed with grace. 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:55.199 And so, how do we find the Shems, the Japheths in our world that can where we can just be fully known and fully seen and also fully accepted and covered with the grace of God? 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:57.920 Tell us, how do we find these people? 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:06.960 Well, I always lead with my story, not the complete story, just part of my story. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:15.840 And when I first came up here in 2001, I wanted to meet the people in the church, so I started inviting people to lunch all the time. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:22.639 And I would talk to them, share a little about myself, and they'd look at me wide-eyed and they'd say, Where have you been? 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:30.159 I've been wanting this kind of you know, uh conversation with somebody to really talk about some of the painful things in my life. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:33.440 So leading with our story is important. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:43.039 It's also connecting to those friends of yours you're closest with and beginning to challenge them and say, Hey, do you want to enter into this? 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:53.760 I see some of my guys here from uh our Monday night group, and these guys were hanging out after group and stuff, meeting for coffee and stuff, and grabbing meals and stuff. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:58.719 And to me, it's just like there there's a hunger and a thirst for more. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:03.440 And so they're gonna look and connect to those people who want to go there. 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:10.480 And for a lot of us, the shame and the fear is so deep, we just we can't go there. 00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:12.480 And I get it, I understand it. 00:36:12.639 --> 00:36:17.119 Uh, for those of us who've been traumatized, there are two things we need. 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:18.880 Uh, are you safe? 00:36:19.679 --> 00:36:21.280 Are you safe? 00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:23.360 And can I trust you? 00:36:23.679 --> 00:36:28.719 Can I trust you with the secrets of my heart that you won't go? 00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:36.159 And that's a strict rule and healing path, confidentiality, which you hear in that small group, you cannot share with anyone. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:41.360 Yeah, if you do, yeah, you're gonna get the right foot of fellowship. 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:42.400 Yeah, yeah. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:46.800 And it and it it takes like some intentionality, it's nothing that happens overnight. 00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:50.480 It's it's I think just trying to think through who has got in my life has in my life. 00:36:50.639 --> 00:36:52.800 Is there someone that I need to be praying for? 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:54.000 And it's small steps. 00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:01.840 You know, for me, I'm I'm thankful for the Shem in my life, uh, where I can just have my authentic self be there without judgment, without embarrassment. 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:07.599 I mean, nothing ever changes uh Mark's love for me and acceptance. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:24.559 Uh he no every time he reminds me stop beating yourself up over my short temper, my propensity to manipulate, my perfection to seek approval, but to simply rest in the person who God already is assisting, insisting who I am, a loving child of God. 00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:29.840 And so when I'm with Mark, man, hiding in the dark is just I'm healed. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:31.760 I'm healed when I come out in the light. 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:33.679 And shame, guys, always withers. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:38.000 It always withers in the midst of empathy, in the midst of love, and he just blankets me with that. 00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:40.320 And he also has healthy correction, too. 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.880 And so here's application number two, guys. 00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:49.920 Is there a person of deep acceptance and courage in your life whom you might develop such a relationship with? 00:37:50.239 --> 00:37:54.639 Ask God to guide you to that person or to surface that person. 00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:55.440 Take it slow. 00:37:55.599 --> 00:38:00.800 See how the person just handles and reciprocates just a small appropriate disclosure. 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:02.639 Are they a sham or are they a ham? 00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:07.519 You know, if the foundations of transformational friendship are there, just begin to cultivate it. 00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:08.719 And hear me on this too. 00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:18.159 This doesn't exclude the need for a counselor or therapist to complement disclosure or to address more complex issues like trauma or addiction. 00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:21.440 Now, David, we talked about practices, people. 00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:30.639 Let's talk about the other essential for commando living, and that is to how do we cultivate spaces and places that we also need for commando living? 00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:46.159 Because part of introducing the healing path was not only to allow people to enter into healing, treading in those deep waters of authenticity, but the hope was that we would gradually raise the level of authenticity, commando living within our entire church. 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:52.960 Now we know that with religious institutions, many of them swim in this impression management zone, right? 00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:54.719 With religious institutions. 00:38:54.880 --> 00:39:02.800 And even certain cultures have a higher propensity towards that, where we just perform, like you said, the good boy, good girl sort of performance thing. 00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:18.239 But if we're to grow while also better reflecting God's kingdom of this Eden commando-like living, our desire to be known and accepted must become greater than our desire to hide and self-protect. 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:34.800 And so, David, as we find these individuals where we can be fully known, fully seen, how do we create just appropriate spaces where there's heightened uh witnessing of levels of vulnerability and that they're grown and that they're celebrated? 00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:35.440 Right. 00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:44.800 Um well, do you know the way that I started it uh back in 2001 was I began to do small book groups. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:53.280 I would find, like there's a book out right now, Healing What's Within by Chuck DeGroat, and we're gonna go through that at my church this summer. 00:39:53.599 --> 00:40:08.800 But I found books that dealt with issues internally, and I'd gather five or six guys and we'd we'd meet at the church, and we would re share what we found in the book, and then we'd begin to answer hard questions. 00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:11.920 What is challenging for you right now in your marriage? 00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:15.360 What is challenging for you right now in your career and stuff? 00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:19.039 What is challenging for you in your spirituality right now? 00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:39.920 And so um those were one of the spaces uh uh the women in the church went through a book called The Artist Way, and they started with like three women and eventually grew to like 30, 40, but it was really helping women to recover that creative part of them that had been damaged through abuse. 00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:47.519 There's a way in which abuse, especially sexual abuse, shuts down a woman's creativity. 00:40:47.760 --> 00:40:55.920 And we had a group, and it started with three women, and then like a fire, it just burned. 00:40:56.400 --> 00:41:00.639 And so uh, but I do a lot of my stuff in coffee shops like you. 00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:07.519 I meet one-on-one with people and stuff, and then they want to bring a friend, and I'm sure bring a friend and stuff, so like that. 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:23.360 So you tend to start small, and if it's really going well, all of a sudden you'll begin to see other people who are invited in, uh, and then all of a sudden they sit in and they think, Yes, this is this is what I want. 00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:32.960 I mean, during the uh break time, I had a wonderful chat with a young woman in here, and it was like we just bonded because we spoke the same language. 00:41:33.199 --> 00:41:33.599 That's cool. 00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:34.400 Does that make sense? 00:41:34.559 --> 00:41:35.199 Yeah, absolutely. 00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:40.079 And it's it's a reminder, like you've heard this before, we don't need a cure, we just need an empathetic witness, right? 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:43.280 This is what James was saying about like confess, go public. 00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:44.639 Then the healing begins. 00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:51.119 When we look at most of the spiritual movements throughout Christendom, they usually start with this public confession and they're rooted in that. 00:41:51.280 --> 00:42:05.599 And so here's a question just how do we ease into the waters of disclosure, being more known, seen in our current spaces with our groups here at Awakening, maybe with a family member, maybe with a friend, that we start just working these new muscles. 00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:10.480 I just want to give you uh application number three, and this comes from Pete and Jerry Schizero. 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:18.480 They're uh sort of renowned experts in the land of like emotional spiritual uh healing and connection within community. 00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:32.239 And they have this uh chart called Community Temperature Reading, and you can actually find this at, and I want to make sure you can at uh emotional healing, excuse me, emotionallyhealthy.org. 00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:49.360 But this is just a way in which it allows you to have these prompts where you can engage in a small group or you can engage with a friend, and each prompt takes you to higher levels of vulnerability, some appreciations or excitements, like I'm excited that, I appreciate that, some worries or concerns. 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:53.199 You know, I'm worried about this, or I'm puzzled why you did this. 00:42:53.440 --> 00:43:00.320 Instead of creating a narrative, which we like to do, I'm just gonna get it out there and say, this is what I'm puzzled about with our situation right now. 00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:03.199 Uh some claims complaints, some possible solutions. 00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:03.840 You know what? 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:06.559 I notice when you do this, it really does this to me. 00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:07.679 This is what I prefer. 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:08.880 Oh, that's pretty vulnerable. 00:43:08.960 --> 00:43:09.920 Like we're getting there, right? 00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:15.039 And then it's like new information, like there's something new that you don't know that I'm gonna share. 00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:17.840 And then, man, here's some of my hopes and dreams. 00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:19.920 Uh, this can be, I've used this before. 00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:22.320 Tried it with my family once, it was a train wreck. 00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:25.760 Um, but anyway, yeah, so uh they just weren't ready, all right? 00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:30.960 Which uh actually gets me to like just three words of caution when it comes to disclosure, okay? 00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:36.480 Uh first, it caution's sharing too much too fast when the rapport isn't there. 00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:38.880 Uh we don't need more exhibitionists, all right? 00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:40.320 So just go slow. 00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:44.800 Uh second, never force someone to be vulnerable who isn't ready. 00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:45.440 Right. 00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:48.159 Coercion is for cults, okay? 00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:55.199 So just model it, just model it, encourage vulnerability while celebrating uh those brave disclosures. 00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:05.360 And finally, uh, we have to say this in our world today, but some things like abuse and Evil upon the vulnerable, they do need to be exposed, okay? 00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:08.719 Whether or not the offender wants it to or not. 00:44:12.719 --> 00:44:16.239 Their title track Take Me Back to Eden. 00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:18.880 Uh, there's a rising metal band right now, sleep token. 00:44:19.360 --> 00:44:20.639 And uh any fans? 00:44:20.800 --> 00:44:21.519 Okay, all right. 00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:23.679 Uh I'm going to see him in Oakland. 00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:24.159 All right. 00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:25.519 Uh they say this. 00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:31.920 I guess it goes to show, does it not, that we've no idea what we've got until we lose it. 00:44:32.559 --> 00:44:38.079 Guys, our journey back to Eden, it's reminded us of what we have lost. 00:44:39.039 --> 00:44:43.760 And that that we actually don't need to change our church's name to a nakeding. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:46.159 We don't have to get naked, right? 00:44:46.320 --> 00:44:48.639 To just have commando living. 00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:58.639 That though we ruined perfect intimacy of being fully known and fully accepted, our God has blanketed us with his grace. 00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:00.559 Help me again, David. 00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:06.639 He's blanketed us with his grace through the sacrifice of his son. 00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:13.280 As followers of Jesus, guys, we now have a confidence of one day fully returning to Eden. 00:45:13.679 --> 00:45:21.360 But now, in this present day, we remain committed to our own personal transformation and to the restoration of our communities. 00:45:21.599 --> 00:45:37.119 We want to be a foretaste of his coming kingdom where we are fully known, fully seen, fully accepted with his love and with his grace, because then we are imaging our creator as we have deep connection with one another. 00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:46.159 And so awakening, may we grow in our practices of just anchoring ourselves in the truth of what is already true about who we are in Jesus. 00:45:46.480 --> 00:46:08.719 May we find people where we can fully disclose our brokenness and weakness, reciprocate it with empathy and acceptance and accountability, and may we cultivate places that gently encourage and welcome our real, authentic commando selves filled with doubts and weaknesses and goodness and failures. 00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:15.760 Part of David's shepherding uh of Healing Path are these pastoral letters. 00:46:16.320 --> 00:46:24.880 And I wasn't a part of Healing Path, I was a part of something different six years ago, and it was five days a week, eight hours of therapy, it was terrible. 00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:25.840 Uh but good. 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:30.719 Um but uh I was the one to send these letters out. 00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:42.000 And he has always the salutation, he sends it after each session, and he sends out these letters with the salutation, dear ones, and he gives them love, he gives the participants encouragement. 00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:46.559 And I had the privilege of just reading through these and just how powerful they were. 00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:58.639 And so for our benediction today, I just asked David, I just said, Hey, would you give us, dear ones, a letter as uh of love and challenge to just be a part of our benediction? 00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:04.320 And so, um, first, can we thank David for serving us today? 00:47:04.719 --> 00:47:05.360 Yeah. 00:47:06.559 --> 00:47:10.719 And how about this for our uh benediction? 00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:14.320 Can we all stand together as he reads this over us? 00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:29.440 Dear ones, the psalmist writes in Psalm 34, verses four and five, I sought the Lord and he answered me. 00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:32.639 He delivered me from all my fears. 00:47:33.280 --> 00:47:39.760 Those who look to him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame. 00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:46.159 This is a difficult and painful part of the journey. 00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:53.920 Acknowledging our need for Jesus and inviting others into it is hard. 00:47:54.960 --> 00:48:02.559 But you will learn how to wrestle with God just like Jacob did in the book of Genesis. 00:48:03.199 --> 00:48:09.519 To stand naked and unashamed, we must struggle with God about our painful past. 00:48:10.239 --> 00:48:22.800 In your intentional seeking of God, I encourage you to begin to pour out all the negative words and beliefs in your heart and allow God to bear your shame. 00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:28.880 This can be with a trusted friend, by yourself, or through journaling. 00:48:29.199 --> 00:48:36.400 As you listen, I pray that he would begin to speak his healing words to your thirsty soul. 00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:45.519 Once you become one of his sheep that recognizes his voice, the process of healing gains tremendous momentum. 00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:52.480 You will no longer listen to the old messages from your past that imprisoned you to shame. 00:48:52.719 --> 00:49:00.559 And hopefully you will begin to identify trusted others who you can begin to pour out your heart to. 00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:06.400 This process of deliverance will allow you to feel love and accept it. 00:49:06.639 --> 00:49:12.719 The speaking of your truth will begin to deliver you from all your fears and shame. 00:49:13.119 --> 00:49:20.159 That weight of fear and shame will begin to lose its power to keep you hidden. 00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:30.559 This is my hope for awakening church, that it become a house of healing for the wounded, the weary, and wandering. 00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:36.159 May your faces become radiant as you look to Him. 00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:44.000 May you be free of the ways in which you were shamed and humiliated by one you look to for blessing. 00:49:44.239 --> 00:49:53.679 And may you enter a season of listening prayer that breaks the power of these beliefs about yourself that have left you crippled. 00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.480 I believe you can do this and more. 00:49:59.440 --> 00:50:00.960 The Lord bless you. 00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:03.840 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:08.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:50:08.559 --> 00:50:10.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:16.800 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.