Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Hey,
Speaker 1: you can remain standing for just a few more seconds.
Speaker 1: By now you've figured out that I'm not Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1: My name is Larry Bride, but everybody calls me LB.
Speaker 1: I'm usually up at University City. How are we doing U? See?
Speaker 1: Love you, miss you, And I'm excited to open up
Speaker 1: God's Word with everyone today. And it's less of a
Speaker 1: sermon and more of just kind of like an insight
Speaker 1: into my journal for what God's been doing in my life.
Speaker 1: You see, about a year and a half ago, Pastor
Speaker 1: Stephen preached this incredible series Work Your Window. How many
Speaker 1: of you are here doing Work your Window? Like incredible series.
Speaker 1: He was in week three of it, the Power of Potential,
Speaker 1: Power of Potential. I could take you to the seat
Speaker 1: I was sitting in when God spoke to me through
Speaker 1: the voice of our pastor, and he spoke to me.
Speaker 1: He said you have forfeited way more potential than the
Speaker 1: devil will ever steal. He said, you'll give it away
Speaker 1: before he'll take it, specifically hiding behind the shadow of shame.
Speaker 1: And for the few minutes we have together today, I
Speaker 1: want to talk on the subject of shame because I
Speaker 1: think way too many of us are being dominated in
Speaker 1: the landscape of our life by the shadow of shame.
Speaker 1: And I am here to tell the devil he is unnoticed.
Speaker 1: No longer will you steal, No longer will you cause
Speaker 1: God's sons and daughters to hide behind that place. Today
Speaker 1: is the day that we're coming out out from behind it.
Speaker 1: Every one of you have is or will struggle with shame.
Speaker 1: It's universal, doesn't care about your bank account or your address.
Speaker 1: It's an equal opportunity employer, and it will enslave every
Speaker 1: single one of us. And the character that I want
Speaker 1: to look at through the life, through her life is
Speaker 1: this woman named Rehab. We find her story in Joshua
Speaker 1: chapter two, and the context of the story is two
Speaker 1: spies that just come into the land from the Israelites.
Speaker 1: We're walking around the city of Jericho and they came
Speaker 1: into her apartment. We pick up the scene in Joshua
Speaker 1: two verse twelve to fifteen, says, Now, then, please swear
Speaker 1: to me by the Lord that you will show kindness
Speaker 1: to my family, because I've shown kindness to you. Give
Speaker 1: me a sure sign that you will spare the lives
Speaker 1: of my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters
Speaker 1: and all who belong to them, and that you will
Speaker 1: save us from death, our lives for your lives. The
Speaker 1: men assured her. If you don't tell what we are doing,
Speaker 1: we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord
Speaker 1: gives us the land. So she let them down by
Speaker 1: a rope through the window. For the house she lived
Speaker 1: in was part of the city wall. Here's the title
Speaker 1: for today's message. You're ready for it. Give me a sign.
Speaker 1: Say give me a sign. Now, look at your favorite neighbors.
Speaker 1: Say give me a sign that's your love me. Now
Speaker 1: give out a couple signs of love. Give a couple
Speaker 1: hugs at all of our location, give out a couple
Speaker 1: signs Thank you, worship team. After you've given a couple
Speaker 1: of hugs, you could be seated. Want to welcome all
Speaker 1: of our locations. I specially want to welcome our EPAM
Speaker 1: folks joining online from around the world. Now there's one
Speaker 1: of them. Her name is Susie. Susie is in Ireland.
Speaker 1: She is one of my favorite people to follow on
Speaker 1: social media. She is a part of our E fam
Speaker 1: with her Orange team doing chats on it. Check this out.
Speaker 1: She has opened up multiple E groups in Europe for
Speaker 1: different time zones to be able to participate with her.
Speaker 1: That's pretty incredible, isn't it. And so, Susie, we love
Speaker 1: you things for what you do. But I want to
Speaker 1: get into this character named Rahab today. We don't know
Speaker 1: a whole lot about her life, but we do know
Speaker 1: a couple of things. One of the things we know
Speaker 1: is her occupation. Now some would call her profession the
Speaker 1: oldest occupation of profession on the earth. That is prostitution. Yes,
Speaker 1: I apologize parents, if you brought your kids in here today,
Speaker 1: you had d warning to take him into E kids.
Speaker 1: But she is a prostitute. That is her profession. We
Speaker 1: also know that she lives in this city of Jericho.
Speaker 1: Jericho is a pretty small town. It's about fifteen hundred people.
Speaker 1: It's I always picture this thing like this huge city. No,
Speaker 1: it's about fifteen hundred to two thousand. Peace it's got
Speaker 1: really high thick walls about thirty to forty feet high
Speaker 1: all the way around the perimeter of the city. It
Speaker 1: makes like a circle. Jericho is the city that the
Speaker 1: Israelites marched around six times and yell in the wall
Speaker 1: still that happens just a few chapters after what we're
Speaker 1: going to look at today. And this is a small city,
Speaker 1: and we know that that there's not a whole lot
Speaker 1: of people in it, but we also know that in
Speaker 1: this story there are two spies that happen to come
Speaker 1: into the land. That's where we're going to pick up
Speaker 1: the story here today. But I want to actually recreate
Speaker 1: a little bit of what her house looks like because
Speaker 1: it's really important. So our production team is going to
Speaker 1: bring out some props for me right now, and would
Speaker 1: you help me think our production team and our e
Speaker 1: kids volunteers, and our parking team's putting up of your
Speaker 1: bad habits out in the parking lot. They're incredible. And
Speaker 1: what they're doing is they're wheeling out a door in
Speaker 1: a window, And I want to recreate a little bit
Speaker 1: of what the scene of Rayhab's house might look like
Speaker 1: because it's really important because what it says is. It
Speaker 1: says that she had a window on her house, thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much, and outside of the city. So
Speaker 1: the window is on the outer wall, so it's got
Speaker 1: access to the promised land, and she could see out
Speaker 1: out into the land. Now the door is on the
Speaker 1: inner part of the city. This is where all the
Speaker 1: activity of the city happened, and this is the life
Speaker 1: where rehab lived. She lived in this space. I have
Speaker 1: no idea if it's eight hundred square feet of hardwoods
Speaker 1: or eight thousand square feet. All of us have a
Speaker 1: space where we live. It's not just our physical address,
Speaker 1: but it's in our mind, it's in our heart, and
Speaker 1: it's in these places. Every one of you lives somewhere.
Speaker 1: And if we were to zoom in and take a
Speaker 1: picture of there's some ugly places in my life. There's
Speaker 1: some things that I would not want you to see.
Speaker 1: So those places in my life, I like to put
Speaker 1: those behind the door. I like living in places that
Speaker 1: nobody sees what happens behind here, because all of us
Speaker 1: like to have places where we hide behind closed doors.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want anybody to see my business,
Speaker 1: So I put that behind the door. Now the window
Speaker 1: is the play of things I want everybody to see.
Speaker 1: This is like, Hi, how you doing doing great? H crap?
Speaker 1: I had a bad day at work today. I feel
Speaker 1: like such a loser. No, I don't want anybody to
Speaker 1: see that. Like, hey, Instagram took a picture of my
Speaker 1: kids on Father's They had to take it seventeen times
Speaker 1: to get the right one, but we got it. I
Speaker 1: like controlling what people see. The things that people I
Speaker 1: don't want them to see. Now I put them behind
Speaker 1: the door. I'm hiding behind these things. I mean, sure,
Speaker 1: I might poke my head like hey, y'all, well's up,
Speaker 1: how you doing? But then it's like, nope, you don't
Speaker 1: see that. That happens behind closed doors. All have those spaces.
Speaker 1: And I think the longer we live settling for living
Speaker 1: behind closed doors, the more we're under the trap of shame.
Speaker 1: I think that's where life has lived for way too
Speaker 1: many of us. Sure you look good on the outside
Speaker 1: because you just got the new outfit and out front.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, brother, how you doing, But get behind
Speaker 1: the closed doors. You're cussing out your kids. Now you're
Speaker 1: talking to people on the way into church, like, brother,
Speaker 1: the Lord's gonna move to a shut up I got
Speaker 1: the parts that I want you to see, parts that
Speaker 1: are behind the closed door. I realize I've spent more
Speaker 1: of my life living behind a closed door than an
Speaker 1: open window. That's where I've forfeited more potential than the
Speaker 1: devil's ever taken from me. It's in this land of shame,
Speaker 1: and it would be important for us to understand there's
Speaker 1: a difference between guilt and shame. There really is. Guilt
Speaker 1: is I am sorry for what I did. It's actually
Speaker 1: a really healthy thing. It's actually a good thing. It
Speaker 1: is a pattern that's established in healthy relationships. It really is.
Speaker 1: It means I am sorry for what I did. Now
Speaker 1: shame Shame is I'm sorry for who I am. One
Speaker 1: is a look at my behavior. The other is an
Speaker 1: indictment of my character. One is a gift that God
Speaker 1: gives us for restoration. The other one is a scheme
Speaker 1: of Satan that is meant to destroy you. I've got
Speaker 1: to understand when I'm living in the past an open
Speaker 1: window or a closed door, and when i am living
Speaker 1: in the pattern of the closed door, I'm always under
Speaker 1: the shadow of shame. Guilt is so healthy in relationships. Actually,
Speaker 1: let's practice it the like right now because the language
Speaker 1: of guilt sounds something like this, I'm sorry, would you
Speaker 1: please forgive me? It's really healthy. Let's try look at
Speaker 1: your neighbor or your spousor who's ever say I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: would you forgive me? Now? How did that feel? Now?
Speaker 1: Some of you you needed that because of the fight
Speaker 1: you got in the park lot right before you came in.
Speaker 1: I'm just the lord provided today. He's that's healthy. And
Speaker 1: then when someone says that to you, here's the language
Speaker 1: of healthy relationships. Thank you for telling me I forgive you.
Speaker 1: Now practice that. Thank you for telling me I forgive you.
Speaker 1: Because here's the thing. What often can start as is
Speaker 1: a healthy pattern of bringing it into the light actually
Speaker 1: gets reinforced in the wrong way, and it forces it
Speaker 1: into the darkness because the way it's received often determines
Speaker 1: if it's repeated. And when your son comes to you
Speaker 1: and says, Dad, I'm struggling, when they're met with how
Speaker 1: dare you? You've just pushed him behind a closed door,
Speaker 1: and they never want to come tell you it again.
Speaker 1: That's what happens when we don't deal with things in
Speaker 1: a healthy way. Shame is in this place of I'm
Speaker 1: horrible it's not just I did something bad, I am bad.
Speaker 1: It's not I had made a bad choice. I am
Speaker 1: a bad person. And the language of those two sounds
Speaker 1: so different. And often what happens in relationships and in life,
Speaker 1: all of these little events can create cascades of big shame,
Speaker 1: little things. I mean, like there's a mom. You know this,
Speaker 1: you've felt this, This idea of shame. Shame is that
Speaker 1: feeling that washes over you, like everybody's seen you, everybody
Speaker 1: knows you, and they know you're fraud and they know
Speaker 1: your hypocrite. That feeling, like that feeling know too well,
Speaker 1: that causes us to hide. I mean some moms you
Speaker 1: experienced this. You're walking through Target and your four year
Speaker 1: old decides to act out in the worst way, like
Speaker 1: a temper chance, laying on the floor, screaming aha, And
Speaker 1: it just so happens. At that time your best friends
Speaker 1: come down there, like hey, sister, and you're so embarrassed,
Speaker 1: you're so ashamed, and you're like, oh, I'm doing great,
Speaker 1: and you just can't wait to get wait till get
Speaker 1: you boomed, like get you behind this closed door, and
Speaker 1: you're like, but nobody, you don't tell anybody about the
Speaker 1: shame you feel. And now your child is fifteen and
Speaker 1: they company and say, mom, Dad, I'm pregnant. That shame
Speaker 1: that makes you behind the closed door and you don't
Speaker 1: want anybody to see that stuff that place. And it
Speaker 1: happens in relationships so insidiously. It's like, man, I'm sure
Speaker 1: that none of you can identify with this. I'm actually
Speaker 1: using this as hypothetical. This has not happened to me.
Speaker 1: Like your wife sends you to the grocery store to
Speaker 1: get some items and you're like, I don't need to
Speaker 1: write it down. I totally got it. Like just some
Speaker 1: some sugar, like sweet grant, like white granules. Got it.
Speaker 1: Then you get in the grocery store like, oh, some
Speaker 1: pop and then some chips and oh yeah that looks cool.
Speaker 1: Now what did my wife want? Gosh, I'm so embarrassed.
Speaker 1: I don't want to call her. She just wants some
Speaker 1: kind of sweetener thing. Yeah, sweeten low, sweeten low. So
Speaker 1: I bring it home and put it on the table
Speaker 1: and she looks like, what is that. It's like, it's
Speaker 1: what you want me to get. No, it's not. You
Speaker 1: should have been more clear about what you wanted me
Speaker 1: to get done. You always do this and you never
Speaker 1: get it right. I can never please you. It's fine,
Speaker 1: and then you get behind the door. I can't believe
Speaker 1: she we never I just suck as a husband. I'll
Speaker 1: never get it right. Why did she marry me? She
Speaker 1: probably doesn't even want to be married to me. See
Speaker 1: how the language shifts so quickly. When you watch football,
Speaker 1: you know how they put that microphone, the sideline mic
Speaker 1: on the coach and on the players. If you were
Speaker 1: to put a mic on Shame, here's what Shame is saying. Oh,
Speaker 1: because Shame is in the grocery store with the husband
Speaker 1: and he's whispering in his ear. See, you're never going
Speaker 1: to get it right anyway. Don't admit to her that
Speaker 1: you don't didn't take good direction, because if you admit it,
Speaker 1: it's going to reinforce that she can't trust you. So
Speaker 1: you just go with your gut. Because because Shame is
Speaker 1: a little punk, tapping you on the shoulder before you
Speaker 1: do it, saying it's not that big of a deal.
Speaker 1: But after you do it, Oh, you dirty talk, you
Speaker 1: are horrible. That's what shame does. It's subtle, it's shifty,
Speaker 1: and it wants you to pull you into the shadows,
Speaker 1: and then when you get home, shame is on the
Speaker 1: white's shoulder, saying, oh yeah, he knows that you've been
Speaker 1: struggling with body image anyway. He knows that you've been
Speaker 1: wearing larger clothes. He actually bought the sweeten Loo because
Speaker 1: he thinks you're fat. Maybe I'm the only person that
Speaker 1: can jump to extremes. Why because shame is being exposed
Speaker 1: and I'm projecting on them what I feel about myself.
Speaker 1: Rather than having a language that's built on confession, it's
Speaker 1: actually a conversation that's built on shame. That's what happened. Shame,
Speaker 1: this divisive little thing that will come in happens in
Speaker 1: all of these ways. I remember when I first learned
Speaker 1: that I was poor. I thought I was like growing
Speaker 1: up as a kid like every other kid just yay,
Speaker 1: Like I thought, everybody just eats, you know, free cheese,
Speaker 1: and it's just seriously. I was like, h But then
Speaker 1: I was like in seventh grade and I'm in lunchline
Speaker 1: and missus Kelstrom, the lunch lady. I was like, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Missus Kelshrram, I forgot my money to She goes, It's okay,
Speaker 1: you're on the free lunch list anyway, what there was
Speaker 1: for poor kids. And I I heard my buddy Steve
Speaker 1: just yeah, you're poor. I'm like really, But I remember
Speaker 1: the feeling of being like a piece of clothing on
Speaker 1: the sale rack, not being good enough, second rate, second class.
Speaker 1: It's funny how that shadow of shame, because shame is
Speaker 1: his spirit, and it's like a piece of clothing. It
Speaker 1: wants you to wear it. And I remember putting that
Speaker 1: clothing on, and I carried that a large part of
Speaker 1: my life, and I still have a tendency to put
Speaker 1: it back on. It's really funny. As I was preparing
Speaker 1: for this sermon last week, sure enough, shame rolls up
Speaker 1: into my front yard. I'm getting ready. I'm here at
Speaker 1: Balantine on Thursday, practicing my sermon, like getting ready to preach,
Speaker 1: and I get a text from a friend of my says, hey,
Speaker 1: I did some work at your house a couple months ago.
Speaker 1: I was wondering if you have paid that invoice. It's like, snap,
Speaker 1: I forgot I could. I smelled the grilled cheese in
Speaker 1: the cafeteria. Don't You're not that far away from shame
Speaker 1: that you can't run back to it. It's a spirit
Speaker 1: and some of you front like you got it all together,
Speaker 1: but behind closed doors, it is wasting you away. That's
Speaker 1: what shame wants to do. Shame wants to destroy you.
Speaker 1: It doesn't want to mess you up. It wants to
Speaker 1: just completely take you out. It's in big things, like
Speaker 1: we talked about it. Some of you, the reason you
Speaker 1: do not want to go to the family gathering is
Speaker 1: because your cousin violated you fifteen years ago. You have
Speaker 1: never told anybody. You've hidden behind that door for fifteen years,
Speaker 1: and you just tell them you're busy. But the real
Speaker 1: reason is you have so much shame because you've never
Speaker 1: been able to tell anybody. Shame wants you to hide
Speaker 1: behind that door. It wants you to sit behind it
Speaker 1: because what it wants you to do. It wants you
Speaker 1: to sit behind it that you give up hoping and
Speaker 1: believing on the promises of God. It wants you to
Speaker 1: believe that that will never happen, all of those promises.
Speaker 1: It's like windows shopping. You can look at it, but
Speaker 1: you'll never touch it. You'll never get to it. That's
Speaker 1: what shame wants to do. Shame is an instrument of
Speaker 1: the enemy. It is a silent assassin, and it is
Speaker 1: meant to destroy you. And it is a quiet epidemic
Speaker 1: that is picking people off. And just because you have
Speaker 1: given your life to Christ does not mean you're inoculated
Speaker 1: against this condition and condition, by the way, Dustin Shradley
Speaker 1: great sermon last week. Hey Rono, why don't you tell
Speaker 1: Dustin Shradley you love them? That was awesome, so good,
Speaker 1: But it wants to wipe you out. Shame is connected
Speaker 1: to rates of depression, anger, addictions, eating disorders, and suicide.
Speaker 1: The ultimate aim of shame is to get you to
Speaker 1: the point that you give up hope and you want
Speaker 1: to tap and you want to quit life. The second
Speaker 1: leading costs cause of death for eighteen to twenty five
Speaker 1: year olds is suicide. And some of you logging online
Speaker 1: watching us or watching this at a later date or
Speaker 1: at one of our locations, are only at church today
Speaker 1: because this is like a last resort, it's your last option.
Speaker 1: And some of you might even been saying, God, give
Speaker 1: me a sign that you know me, give me a
Speaker 1: sign that you haven't forgotten me. Here it is, I'm
Speaker 1: your sign. I'm not very tall, but I am loud,
Speaker 1: and I want you to hear the voice of God.
Speaker 1: He loves you. He's not mad at you, he's not
Speaker 1: trying to hurt you, he's not punishing you. Please come
Speaker 1: to him. And if you are struggling under the shadow
Speaker 1: of shame, it is so dark that you want to
Speaker 1: give up, please don't do it. Please invite somebody in.
Speaker 1: You don't need to live under the shadow of that
Speaker 1: any longer. That's what shame wants to do. And you
Speaker 1: are not immune to it because of the car you drive.
Speaker 1: You are you are, You are not outside of it,
Speaker 1: just because you live inside a really big house. I
Speaker 1: think that's why God sent the spies into Rayhouse life,
Speaker 1: because she was ready to tap out. I think she
Speaker 1: was at a point that the shame was so overwhelming.
Speaker 1: Think about this, She's a prostitute. Every day, the customers
Speaker 1: would come in and out of that door, and everyone
Speaker 1: that did it took a little piece of her dignity
Speaker 1: with them. And the more that they did that, the
Speaker 1: more that she moved away that life could ever be different,
Speaker 1: and the more that she didn't believe it could ever
Speaker 1: happen to her, and the more that she just settled
Speaker 1: into this is all I'll ever be. And I think
Speaker 1: God sent some spies in it, just the right moment
Speaker 1: before she was wanting to tap out. I think God
Speaker 1: sent me as a spy into your life today to
Speaker 1: tell you that he is coming into your life. He
Speaker 1: is tired of you sitting in the shadow of shame,
Speaker 1: and he is ready for you to come out of it.
Speaker 1: I've been a part of this church, my wife, and
Speaker 1: has since we started to years ago, and I have
Speaker 1: seen Pastor Stephen standing the stage every year for twelve
Speaker 1: plus years and preach the word of God. And I
Speaker 1: have become convinced that is I've studied these spies that
Speaker 1: he is, in fact indeed a spy. He is a spy.
Speaker 1: There's no way you could explain it. He has been
Speaker 1: following you around your whole life. He's like reading your emails.
Speaker 1: He is scouting where you go. How else can he
Speaker 1: stand on stage and priests like, how did you know that?
Speaker 1: Because he's a spy. I think he is a spy.
Speaker 1: I think he's a Joshua of this generation who has
Speaker 1: seen the Promised Land and he's coming here to tell
Speaker 1: you and me that it's still available. You will get
Speaker 1: in now. We gotta do some work. What'd you help me?
Speaker 1: Thank our Pastor for being the ultimate spy, the ultimate man.
Speaker 1: Incredible love. Our Pastor faithfully done it every year. And
Speaker 1: these spies break into the city. It's at the cover
Speaker 1: of night. The doors of the city had just closed,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, snap, we're in trouble because they
Speaker 1: were just gonna come in and look at the city
Speaker 1: and get out, but the gates closed before they could
Speaker 1: get out. So they start looking around the city and
Speaker 1: I think they're looking for a couple of things. The
Speaker 1: first thing they're looking for is access to be able
Speaker 1: to get outside of the city. As they're sneaking up
Speaker 1: to the city all stealthy, like you don't see me,
Speaker 1: they noticed some windows on the outer wall of the
Speaker 1: city and they're like, if we can just get to
Speaker 1: the window, we'll be able to get out of the city.
Speaker 1: So they start working their way around the inside of
Speaker 1: the city like, oh, we got to get access. We
Speaker 1: got to get access to a house that's on the
Speaker 1: wall so we can get out the window. God is
Speaker 1: looking for access, and they needed access to be able
Speaker 1: to get out. You know why God is looking at
Speaker 1: you because God needs access. God needs access to your life.
Speaker 1: Because this story wasn't just about rehab. God needed access
Speaker 1: to her father, her mother, her brothers, and her sisters
Speaker 1: and all who belonged to them. Why are you in
Speaker 1: that dysfunctional family? Because God says, I need access to
Speaker 1: those people. I need access through your life. I know
Speaker 1: you've been hiding behind closed doors for a long time,
Speaker 1: but this is the moment that you now become a
Speaker 1: window because the blessing of God is meant to flow
Speaker 1: through you. You are a window and God is looking
Speaker 1: at you because he needs access, because he's got to
Speaker 1: get something through you. See what God can do through you.
Speaker 1: You've been wondering why you're in that job you hate.
Speaker 1: It's not about your income. It's about his access. He
Speaker 1: needs to get his glory in and the only way
Speaker 1: he's gonna do it is through your life. God is
Speaker 1: looking for people to have access, but the access of
Speaker 1: the glory of God will never be given out when
Speaker 1: it's hidden behind closed doors. Hiding behind that door, God's
Speaker 1: access does not come out behind the closed door. I
Speaker 1: think the second thing they're looking for is someone they
Speaker 1: can trust, say trust. What's interesting to me is they're
Speaker 1: looking around this. They've never been there. They're outsiders. They're
Speaker 1: looking at this whole deal. But they get said, we
Speaker 1: got to find somebody that that we can trust, So
Speaker 1: let's pick the people that nobody else would trust. It's
Speaker 1: funny because because in First Corinthians one twenty seven and
Speaker 1: twenty eight it says this. And what's funny is you
Speaker 1: know what God is into shame. He's into shaming shame.
Speaker 1: He's into taking something that the world calls shame and
Speaker 1: he's gonna throw some shade on it, and he's gonna say, nah,
Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna shame the shame because he said in
Speaker 1: First Corinthians one twenty seven says, but God shows the
Speaker 1: foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He
Speaker 1: chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Speaker 1: God shows the lowly things of the world and the
Speaker 1: despise things and the things that are not to nullify
Speaker 1: the things that are. And if you have been overlooked,
Speaker 1: if you have been sitting under the shadow of shame,
Speaker 1: you need to know that God is so attracted to you.
Speaker 1: God is attractive to shame. Your shame is attractive. And
Speaker 1: he's looking for somebody he can trust, because he says,
Speaker 1: when my glory comes through you, somebody who's proud will
Speaker 1: think they did it themselves, with somebody who's lowly will
Speaker 1: know that it is only God that did it. That's
Speaker 1: why God has picked you. He's looking for you to
Speaker 1: have access, and you've always seen yourself untrustworthy because of
Speaker 1: the shame. No God says, those are the conditions for
Speaker 1: my blessing to fall in your life. But I wondered,
Speaker 1: how did these men know that this is a prostitute.
Speaker 1: I mean, they'd never been to the city, they didn't
Speaker 1: know anybody. They're hiding under the shadows of night, and
Speaker 1: they're sneaking around because they don't want to be found.
Speaker 1: I bet they were religious folks and they were like praying, like, God,
Speaker 1: give me a sign. I mean, you've prayed that too,
Speaker 1: But God, give me a sign. We keep asking God
Speaker 1: for a sign to get out of something. Maybe he's
Speaker 1: asking us for a sign to use us in the
Speaker 1: middle of it. Maybe that's what God's doing. And I
Speaker 1: started to do some study about this because the way
Speaker 1: that prostitutes would advertise their open for business in ancient
Speaker 1: cities was this. Have you ever heard the term red
Speaker 1: light district. There's a real thing. It is a real thing.
Speaker 1: And so what prostitutes would do is they would have
Speaker 1: a court and this is like there, I'm open for
Speaker 1: business sign, and so they would take the sign and
Speaker 1: they would put it on the front door, advertising we're
Speaker 1: open for business. So as the spies are coming through,
Speaker 1: Lord give me a sign. They saw the sign. Now
Speaker 1: this is the sign of her shame, but it will
Speaker 1: become the sign of his salvation. I know you're ashamed
Speaker 1: of it, but God says, at the end of this,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hold it up as a sign of my glory.
Speaker 1: And so these men show up and they it's darka
Speaker 1: side there, time out little dating advice, ladies. It's the
Speaker 1: only time that guy is calling you is after dark.
Speaker 1: You know he's not in it for godly game. Amen.
Speaker 1: And so she thinks she's just welcoming in the first
Speaker 1: customers of the night. Hello, because shame can't even look
Speaker 1: somebody in the eyes at this point, she's not even
Speaker 1: making eye contact. This is just in exchange, and she
Speaker 1: welcomes them in first customers of the night. She did
Speaker 1: not know she was inviting the presence of God into
Speaker 1: her life. Did not know these are the first men
Speaker 1: that came in through the door. But didn't go back
Speaker 1: out the same way they came. These men were going
Speaker 1: to go back out through the window. Every other man
Speaker 1: comes into your life to get something and leaves with it.
Speaker 1: But the person of Jesus, the god man named Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: is a man who comes into your life, but then
Speaker 1: he goes through your life. And she has this encounter
Speaker 1: with these men, and she realizes, yes, you are of God.
Speaker 1: Yes I know I couldn't get to it, but God
Speaker 1: came to me. I know I couldn't get myself over there,
Speaker 1: but God came to me to get me there. So
Speaker 1: it is with you. And she has these encounter and
Speaker 1: she recognizes these are men of God in life. Maybe
Speaker 1: this isn't just a mirage. Maybe that could be a reality.
Speaker 1: Maybe the thing I've been dreaming about my whole life
Speaker 1: actually could become the promises of God fulfilled in my life.
Speaker 1: And she believes. But here's the fascinating part about this story.
Speaker 1: This woman was a prostitute for years, decades, maybe even
Speaker 1: every night the sun would set over the city, darkness
Speaker 1: would invade her home and it would be filled pitch black.
Speaker 1: Shame grows in the dark, shame grows in the hidden places,
Speaker 1: and some of you are in a very dark place
Speaker 1: right now, and you know it, and you can feel it.
Speaker 1: You can feel the shame willing up. But then I
Speaker 1: got excited. I knew the sun set and it was
Speaker 1: darkness behind the door. But then I started to think
Speaker 1: about the window, and I started to think about the
Speaker 1: way that God created the cycle of the earth and
Speaker 1: how his grace works, and has started to realize, I
Speaker 1: know the sun is going to set, but I also
Speaker 1: know that the sun is going to rise. And I
Speaker 1: started to think about Lamentations three twenty two. It says,
Speaker 1: because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed,
Speaker 1: for his compassions never failed. They are new every morning,
Speaker 1: and great is your faithfulness. And in the Good News translation,
Speaker 1: it says, this fresh as the morning, as sure as
Speaker 1: the sun rise. Here's the image. She went to bed
Speaker 1: with shame for decades. Say every day, no, no, say
Speaker 1: every day, and every day the grace of God would
Speaker 1: rise in her life. Every day the sun would illuminate
Speaker 1: her apartment. So it is with the grace of God
Speaker 1: it was available every day, Say every day, But this day,
Speaker 1: say this day, this day, she just didn't look at it.
Speaker 1: She was about to receive it this day. Some of you,
Speaker 1: you've been staring at it for years, thinking it was
Speaker 1: for other people, people who are taller, better, not struggling
Speaker 1: with shame. But today is the day, this day that
Speaker 1: you are going to receive the grace of God. This
Speaker 1: day you gonna move out of the shadows of shame
Speaker 1: and into His marvelous light, because the grace of God
Speaker 1: is greater than the darkness of shame. God is not
Speaker 1: intimidated by your ugliness. He is not intimidated by your darkness.
Speaker 1: In fact, he never looked away from it. You can't
Speaker 1: look at it. But God never looked away from you
Speaker 1: because He loves you, and he loved Rayhab and he
Speaker 1: knew she couldn't get herself to the door. That's why
Speaker 1: he sent some spies into the land to do it.
Speaker 1: And these men encounter this woman and she realizes, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is different. These men are not like other men.
Speaker 1: And she realizes, maybe, just maybe life could be different.
Speaker 1: And then she releases them, and the story continues, and
Speaker 1: she lets him out the window, and she goes. Now
Speaker 1: the men's had said to her, this oath we swear
Speaker 1: to you will not be binding on us unless when
Speaker 1: we enter the land. You have tied this scarlet cord
Speaker 1: in the window. Through it. She let us down. Unless
Speaker 1: you have brought your father, your mother, your brothers, and
Speaker 1: your sisters, and all your family into your house. If
Speaker 1: any of them go outside your house into the streets,
Speaker 1: their blood will be on your heads. We will not
Speaker 1: be responsible as for those who are in your house
Speaker 1: with you. Their blood will be on our head if
Speaker 1: a hand is laid on them. These men ready to leave,
Speaker 1: and they say we need a sign. They looked at
Speaker 1: her and said, give me a sign, the sign of
Speaker 1: her greatest shame. They said, we want that that shame
Speaker 1: you've been hiding behind, that shame that happened thirty two
Speaker 1: years ago, when you have that abortion, and you've never
Speaker 1: told anybody that thing that you said. I'd pray that
Speaker 1: nobody ever else finds out. I know you don't do
Speaker 1: background checks anymore because you don't want people to see
Speaker 1: you had the DWI fifteen years ago. God said, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to deal with that shame. I'm no longer going
Speaker 1: to let you hide behind it. That thing that was
Speaker 1: a sign of your greatest shame will become a sign
Speaker 1: of my salvation. It will be a sign. I know
Speaker 1: you're so ashamed behind it, and some of you are
Speaker 1: in this room. You're like, there's some men in this
Speaker 1: room that you know this feeling. That your son grabs
Speaker 1: your cell phone and he's like, Dad, what's this And
Speaker 1: your blood runs cold as you you had cleared your history,
Speaker 1: and he just said, Dad, look at our fantasy football team.
Speaker 1: And you're thinking, freedom is not being found out, freedom
Speaker 1: is no longer hiding. God says, you couldn't do it yourself,
Speaker 1: but I'm going to bring some people in your life
Speaker 1: to do it. And she puts the cord in the
Speaker 1: window and she's waiting, and sometime went by, days went by.
Speaker 1: She could have been tempted to take the sign back
Speaker 1: down and put it on the door, because I know
Speaker 1: we're getting a little low on funds. God, so maybe
Speaker 1: you're not going to come through. No, God said, put
Speaker 1: it out and leave it there. You don't have to
Speaker 1: return to the shadow of shame any longer. You can
Speaker 1: live in my life. You can live in my glory.
Speaker 1: And then she starts to hear the hundreds of thousands
Speaker 1: of Israelites that were camped eight miles away, who had
Speaker 1: just crossed the Jordan River. Were about to come into
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. And she starts to hear the sound
Speaker 1: of God, and she starts to get excited. While everybody
Speaker 1: else in the city was filled with fear, she had excitement.
Speaker 1: I know your heart is running cold today because of shame.
Speaker 1: There is a day coming where you will have great
Speaker 1: joy and you will no longer be driven by fear.
Speaker 1: That day is coming, and she's looking out at them
Speaker 1: and saying, God, could it be? Could it be? There's
Speaker 1: a better day. And what's funny is the Israelites are
Speaker 1: looking back at her. Joshua's out front with the two spies,
Speaker 1: and they come over the crest of the hill and
Speaker 1: they see the city and the spies like that, said Joshua,
Speaker 1: that's the red cord. And all the Israelites saw it.
Speaker 1: And here's where it hit me. You see, the Israelites
Speaker 1: had seen this before they got out of Egyptian slavery
Speaker 1: forty years earlier. God did a mighty work in them
Speaker 1: with a knight called the Passover. And at the Passover
Speaker 1: they would take a lamb, and they took some of
Speaker 1: the blood of the lamb, and they put it on
Speaker 1: their house. And in Exodus twelve thirteen. It says, the
Speaker 1: blood will be a sign for you on the houses
Speaker 1: where you are, and when I see the blood, I
Speaker 1: will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you
Speaker 1: when I strike Egypt. This isn't the first time that
Speaker 1: God did a sign like this, because they got it
Speaker 1: on the front of their Store of the Israelites and
Speaker 1: on the back end of their story. So it is
Speaker 1: with grace. You are going to receive it, but then
Speaker 1: you are called to give it. We breathe it in
Speaker 1: and then we breathe it back up. That's the cycle
Speaker 1: of grace. God wants you breathing in because you need it,
Speaker 1: but he wants you breathing it out because somebody else
Speaker 1: needs it. The sign sign of shame can become God's
Speaker 1: sign of salvation. And as God was looking to the
Speaker 1: world to redeem it, God is into taking a sign
Speaker 1: because he's into shaming shame. He's into taking a sign
Speaker 1: the world would see a shame. He wants to flip
Speaker 1: it some jiu jitsu on it, and he wants to
Speaker 1: hold it up as a sign of his salvation. And
Speaker 1: as God was thinking about sending his son Jesus to
Speaker 1: the earth, he said, what sign could I pick, I
Speaker 1: could pick any signs. What's the sign of the greatest destruction,
Speaker 1: torture on the face of the earth. Oh, I got it.
Speaker 1: God said, it's the cross. It's the cross. And God said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to take a sign sign of torture shame,
Speaker 1: because at the time when Jesus died, nobody wore crosses
Speaker 1: on their neck because it was an instrument of death.
Speaker 1: We do today as a sign of his salvation, but
Speaker 1: at the time it was a sign of significant shame.
Speaker 1: God wants to flip it. And the author of Hebrews
Speaker 1: says this in Hebrews twelve. One says, therefore, since we're
Speaker 1: surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us
Speaker 1: throw off everything that hinders in the sin that so
Speaker 1: easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance marked out
Speaker 1: for us. And it started to think about that great
Speaker 1: cloud of witnesses that's referenced in verse one. There, it's
Speaker 1: actually referencing chapter eleven of Hebrews. It's like the hall
Speaker 1: of faith, these Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. Wait now verse
Speaker 1: thirty one. No, surely this is a typo by faithsute
Speaker 1: reheb welcome the spies, was not you mean God could
Speaker 1: use somebody who's a prostitute to be a person of
Speaker 1: great faith. Yes, you and me, God can use us
Speaker 1: as people of great faith. And verse two goes on
Speaker 1: Hebrews twelve two. It says, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
Speaker 1: the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the
Speaker 1: joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame,
Speaker 1: and sat down at the right hand of the throne
Speaker 1: of God. God said, I'm gonna take that sign of
Speaker 1: shame and it will become my sign of salvation. That's
Speaker 1: what God wants to do in your life. That thing
Speaker 1: you've been hiding behind, that thing that you're ashamed of,
Speaker 1: that thing that you hope will never be exposed. God
Speaker 1: wants to hold it out with everybody standing at all
Speaker 1: of our locations. At the end of the story, we
Speaker 1: have verse twenty one. Rayhab is talking to the spies
Speaker 1: and she says this. She says, agreed. She replied, let
Speaker 1: it be as you say. You see, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of words that have been spoken over your life. Dumb, stupid.
Speaker 1: Some kid has been bullied, and you have come to
Speaker 1: the point that you want to give up There's been
Speaker 1: a lot of words that have been spoken over you.
Speaker 1: But there is a better word that's been spoken over you.
Speaker 1: That's by our God saying he loves you. Say let
Speaker 1: it be as you say. Say, Let it be as
Speaker 1: you say. Let it be the cry of your heart today, God,
Speaker 1: let it be as you say. I know I'm hiding
Speaker 1: behind the shame, says So she sent them away and
Speaker 1: they departed, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Speaker 1: You see shame, we want to keep on the inside.
Speaker 1: We don't want anybody to see it. Hide behind it.
Speaker 1: Freedom that it's not discovered. Freedom is that you no
Speaker 1: longer hide behind it. God said, I want that. I
Speaker 1: know you can't even look yourself in the mirrors for
Speaker 1: some of the things you did. God said, I want that.
Speaker 1: And you become like a woman at University City. Her
Speaker 1: name is Denise. She had an abortion many years ago,
Speaker 1: never told anybody, and hid behind it. Now she actually
Speaker 1: has an e group for women who are struggling with
Speaker 1: the same thing. What was a sign of her shame
Speaker 1: became a sign of God's salvation. So what God wants
Speaker 1: to do in your life, So God wants to do
Speaker 1: in you it's possible. It's not just for the spiritual elite.
Speaker 1: It's not just for the ones who get it right.
Speaker 1: It's for the ones who give it to him. God
Speaker 1: wants to take it from you, but you have to
Speaker 1: give it to him. And so what we're going to
Speaker 1: do in just a second, actually, would you buy your
Speaker 1: heads and close your eyes? Very specific assignment dealing with
Speaker 1: the subject of shame. The first thing you must do
Speaker 1: is give it to God. You can either settle to
Speaker 1: live behind shame or you can sacrifice it and see
Speaker 1: God's blessings. And if you need to give something to God,
Speaker 1: would you just raise your hands up? If you're struggling
Speaker 1: under the shadow of shame, I want to know who
Speaker 1: I'm praying for it all these locations. Just lift your
Speaker 1: hands up. Then, the second thing you need to do
Speaker 1: so you no longer hide behind the shadow of shame
Speaker 1: is to share it with somebody, one person, not everybody.
Speaker 1: Don't put it on Facebook, but invite one person in
Speaker 1: who's earned the right to hear your shame. And I
Speaker 1: want to pray very specifically that you would no longer
Speaker 1: hide behind that shadow. The battles you fight today, dads
Speaker 1: are the battles your kids will avoid tomorrow. Don't hide
Speaker 1: behind it and force them to fight it. Today is
Speaker 1: the day you bring it out front. And so Father,
Speaker 1: we come to you, We thank you. We take this
Speaker 1: sign of shame, and we hold it out as a
Speaker 1: sign of your salvation. I pray for the courage of
Speaker 1: every man and woman and child under the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice, that they would no longer hide behind this
Speaker 1: shame God, that they would lift it up and bring
Speaker 1: it to you. And when we do, God, we know
Speaker 1: that you will take it from us. We know God
Speaker 1: that when we stretch our hands towards you, you stretch
Speaker 1: your hands towards us, and it creates a great exchange,
Speaker 1: a place where our shame can be exchanged for your grace.
Speaker 1: So give them the courage God, right now to invite
Speaker 1: somebody else into them, embolden them, Lord, to step into
Speaker 1: your presence so no longer live behind the shadow, that
Speaker 1: they would step into the light of Christ. God, we
Speaker 1: honor you, we praise you, We thank you, and all
Speaker 1: God's people said, Amen, Now praise him, Now, praise him
Speaker 1: now praising a praising you are who is well. I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did. There
Speaker 1: are just a couple things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Number one, subscribe to our show. That way, the most
Speaker 1: recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for
Speaker 1: you ready when you are. And secondly, if this ministry
Speaker 1: has impacted you and you'd like to help us continue
Speaker 1: to reach others, you can click the link in the
Speaker 1: description and you can give now and I'll see you
Speaker 1: next time on the Elevation podcast.