How Did We Get Here?

tell somebody blad you made it today Genesis chapter 2 I'm trying to give you time that's a hard book to find your time to get over there a hard chapter to find let's pray father please speak to us in this service in ways that are personal to us we're here because we need your direction in our lives we need direction in areas that we don't even know that we're not even sensitive to awaken us to the truth that you have that will transform improve and spiral lives and we accept whatever challenge you have for us that might make us better and make the world in which we live better we give ourselves to you please make preaching effective now may be fun but made an easy but me more than anything may it be helpful I pray in Jesus name Amen in Genesis chapter 2 I want to talk about relationships today and even though I'm reading a passage that is that is primarily talking about marriage and a relationship with God I'm not I'm not really somehow a marriage at all I'm not talking about I'm not excluding marriage but I'm talking about relationships period and so when you hear what I'm reading this can be relative to a relationship you have with our neighbor a co-worker a teammate a family member a sibling a small group person it can be a girlfriend a boyfriend just just relationships in general just keep that in mind it says in Genesis chapter 2 verse 18 then the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone I will make a helper who is just right for him verse 21 so the Lord God calls the man to fall into a deep sleep while the man slept the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening then the Lord God made a woman from the rib and he brought her to the man at last a man exclaimed this one is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh she would be called woman because she was taken from man this explains why man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united in one now verse 25 says now the man and his wife were both naked but they felt no shame the man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame chapter 3 verse 1 the serpent was destroyed us of all the wild animals the Lord God had made one day he asked a woman did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden a woman replied it's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat God says you must not eat it or even touch it if you do you will die you won't die the surfer replied to the woman God knows that your eyes will be open as soon as you eat it and you will be like God knowing both good and evil the woman was convinced she saw that the tree was beautiful and his fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her so she took some of the fruit and ate it then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too at that moment their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness so they sold fig leaves together to cover themselves I'm gonna stop reading right there we'll cover more of this material in chapter 3 but I want to go back to chapter 2 verse 25 which says now the man and his wife were both naked but they felt no shame the man and his wife were both naked but they felt no shame chapter 3 verse 7 it says at that moment their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness my subject today is how did we get here how did we get here how did we go in chapter 2 verse 25 from being naked and not ashamed and and and when you when you think of nakedness don't just think of nudity although they did not have own clothes you need to understand nakedness in its in it's metaphorical state as well they were transparent they had nothing to hide how did we go from having a relay ship where we had no secrets where we shared intimate details with well we had intimacy where we could end to each other you into me see how do we go from that in chapter 2 verse 25 to having a relationship that is so shame based then now we're covering ourselves with fig leaves because now we realize that we naked we're naked how do we go from transparency being a thing that we were okay with to being a thing that we were no longer okay with how do we go from having a cool relationship to now we have a careful one you ever been a relationship like that you were cool with the person for a while now y'all just careful with each other does anybody know what it's like to see a relationship at Rifai into a area where it's no longer close and and you know what happens you don't even know you only really know what happened you think you know what happened if somebody asks you the reason why you don't really know what happened because y'all ain't even talked about it you never talked about it to the person you talked about the person you never talk to the person about what really happened with us you just kind of talk you talk through people and you have you you have your sources and and you have your you put two and two together and you have your you know you have your idea like I kind of know when this started but you don't really know I think something was said that shouldn't have been said or something should have been saying there wasn't saying I think something I think they did something that when supposed to be done or when something was left undone or told me I don't know whatever it was but whatever it was we used to be space partners we used to be space walkers and knew was kill everybody we had I we have moved shoulder of children movie we had different moves we kill them you don't say we just place one now we don't even go to the same cook house anymore there was a time when you never see one without the other and when in watch this this our Christians roll whenever you ask a Christian how come they're not tight like how come you ain't read Quran ain't gonn y'all ain't cool like that no more weird we use community we always this with Christa this is a typical Christian answer you know that was a season that's that's not Christmas do it you know you know you know you gotta know the season that was the season in my life that season's over you know I moved on things have you know I'm saying this is my season this is my year this is what I'm saying that's not Christian's do it because we don't listen Christians will rather be comfortable than to be close if being close gets complicated so if the relationships gets tricky then that's the setup at Christian is that was my season we just exciting to see and let me say this for the record I believe in that I believe some relationships are seasonal I do believe that I believe some people you meet up with it's for a purpose and when that purpose is over y'all don't need to be together no more just that was it we supposed to do voter registration together that year that was it so so now now now this this is the complication of it and you never know you know you don't really know CeCe um God's going to help us today because a lot of people have haven't figured out like why is it why is it that we were writer died and now we something happened what happened we still laugh together we should joke together we make fun of other people we text each other we hang out together and then you know how some people are so close you ever seen two people are so close they can be five or six people in the room and they're the only two turtle laughing and it's because we don't even say anything they got signals I'm saying y'all was signal tight you know say that's another level right there when you got little codes y'all was on a code level now y'all don't even talk to each other that's another level so what happens is when people don't understand what happened and this is the best way I could find what happened between Adam and Eve and God is that it didn't really show up to God started walking in verse eight the Bible says in the cool of the evening breeze God starts walking through the garden and instead of Adam and Eve embracing his presence they went and hid in the bushes now by the way they had already covered themselves with fig leaves and they realized that naked now they had to hide from each other because breaches and relationships don't just affect us vertically in our relation with God it also affects us horizontally so they're hiding from each other put no fig leaves but when they heard God coming they go from being here you know up close with God - now they're over here in the bushes so like they're hiding from God over here in the bushes I guess this with this trees lovely and you know and basically it's kind of weird this high you know you you know this how you know when so when your relationship is you ever noticed when people your relationships start acting it funny honey you know what I'm someone it's just I just saw I can we how come you how come we used to sit you wish to meet each other to 1/30 servers and sit together why you go to LEM 45 now or why you don't even text me remember when you would y'all were so tight when you would text the person they were so tight with you that as soon as you push sin you can see the bubble come up on your phone that they was already tight who know what I'm talking about in here now you text them two hours later you text them back is you give my text yonder says it just active funny am i stupid then when you finally get him maybe like now you know I'm just busy had a lot of work going on working overtime got a lot of projects stopped going to church you know they a movie night money you know all this stuff trying to sell himself you know how to give him 12 hours on the tickets name you don't had to make the trailers up so I Drive uber on the side I call enroll here and I said they shot you I left when I ain't really it it's just in the bushes and people stay in the bushes because what they hope is is that you stop pressing them about it because I came over here in the bushes because I'm not comfortable anymore with the proximity of our relationship because watch this any relationship that has a breach there has been a violation in a relationship I'll guarantee you somebody made a violation it so broke whenever a rule is broken in a relationship there is always a breach you don't even have to know what the rule was but if you break a rule and the person felt like you crossed the line and broke the rule they will create distance between you and them and not even tell you or when the person breaks a rule against you and they save their save there's something about being saved that's why i Adam and Eve are hiding when you have a relationship with God this is the one thing that's y'all tell brothers when you got saved it messed you all up because you even if you as a player it mess your game up when you save because you still say the same stuff and it might work but after work then you get convicted and you're like I'm trying to apologize to the same girl yes with some but you just confused that thing I messed you up yourselves and so now that I'm saying I'm conflicted so if you're saved and you ever breached a relationship it's hard to look them in the face when you know you ain't been doing right when they ain't around that's why when God shows up after verse 6 after they said they went in the bushes because the normal move after breaking trust in a relationship is to hide and the key word is the key word I read it a couple of times I don't know if you saw it or no if you saw it in verse 2 chapter 2 verse 25 it says they were naked and they were not ashamed they were naked and had no shame when you get to chapter 3 verse 7 it says their eyes were open they knew that they were naked and they were shamed of it they were ashamed even if you don't have the New Living Translation and you know how to wear a shame in there the emotion is in diverse because of what they do next they start covering themselves they start covering up in fact the key word in this passage when it comes to breaches in relationship well you ever want to know why how did we get from here to here I'll guarantee you there's some shame in it shame everybody say shame I came up with this acronym this morning for shame I think this is the closest thing I can get to what shame means shame is being scared of having your actions and motives exposed it's not did I do it yeah I did it shame means I don't want to be exposed I don't want I don't want it to be exposed what I did and I sure don't wanted to be exposed why I did it I don't want my actions my words or my intentions to be exposed I'm scared of that it's petrifying because most people do I want to be most people will give their lives to not ever be found to be wrong they will fight to the end a bitter in you ever been in an argument Samadhi and you can say this angle in today's to somebody's concedes this person will come back from the dead and say and another thing you that's that shame-based feelings when you cannot own and take responsibility for the things you've done wrong it's shame based and and and and so this is what's happening Adam and Eve are ashamed there's been a breach in a relationship and I believe God's gonna use this passion today to show us how to identify the causes of breaches and relationship and a solution on how to close the gap the question is are we going to be willing to do it let me give you four signs or symptoms when somebody's ashamed look at verse seven in verse seven it says at that moment in other words right after Adam and Eve sinned by eating fruit that they weren't supposed to eat it says their eyes were open they suddenly felt shame at their neck and this and they watched the first reaction to shame it happens to every human being the first thing they did after they felt shame they sold fig leaves together to cover themselves the first thing a person who's a shame will do will cover themselves how do you cover you let me tell you what fig leaves are today cleaning up history on your phone deleting messages so it don't look like you ever got a wad in that section cleaning up internet search history getting alibis together and you know you know that there Thursday Thursday back in May that Thursday night you know I was with you write your memoirs with you yeah I was with you we would you say this with me I was with you we was at the Buffalo Wild Wings and it was 10 o'clock I know the closing 9 but we stayed hour afterwards in the parking lot of memory with you me and you but I write this down getting alibis together and getting allies Al lies to help us out you know man me come on there you know we go back you know buddies nobody trying to say bum you know me you we go back like Jheri curls and activator come on man talk to me you can't be telling my there's no you know so so what we try to do is we try to build our case because at the center of sin is I at the center of pride you can't spell it without spelling I let me tell you something when I get in trouble I am protecting me it's Oliver and the human our human nature when we when we were about to get exposed is to cover we run for cover the first thing they did was to make a cover-up the second thing every shame-based person does by the way what if Adam and Eve when they did it just went to God and say we just messed up God we're so sorry come on come on let's go we're so sorry Lord we just - we I wish we we're sorry first thing to do cover-up second thing they did was in verse 8 the Bible says as God was moving through the cool of the day his presence is going in through the garden the Bible says in verse 8 when the cool evening breezes were blowing the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden so watch this so they hear from the log of the Lord amongst the trees they already have on fig leaves covering themselves now they go in the trees to hide from the Lord because anytime somebody's ashamed of what they do they try to avoid the people they've hurt we've disappointed and let down God we let him down so now we need to hide from him you you you watch a person that's hurt you or let you down even if they don't tell you they tell you by their actions how come every time I go downstairs you upstairs I'm avoiding you what did you say that was just coincidence what did I say well how come how come every time I show up somewhere you know I'm on the way I get there you gone you know how busy I am you were busy when we were tight see but this is what Christians drew we would rather not have those tough conversations that expose our true motives and feelings they're too uncomfortable so when somebody's in shame they will always excuse their behavior but they were always avoid the people that they've harmed they could have said to God you know what God if they were honest it was said to God God when we will meet when we sense your presence coming our way we used to love your presence we loved being in your presence but the reason why we avoided your presence was not your approach it was what we did when we thought you weren't looking so we're hiding from you not because you changed but because our behavior is making us high Shane grows in environments of judgment judgmental environments make people who are shamed hide because they don't want to be exposed because they don't know what the consequences are gonna be if I ever tell you what really happened how will you treat me I'm gonna hide from you I'm gonna stay over here in the bushes and you know they when people in the bushes things like you just glad to get used to this new religious distance in our relationship why you see when God when God comes to them by the way God asked him five questions every question he asked well you know when God asks a question is not because he doesn't know to answer when God asked Adam where are you he was looking at him it wasn't a geographical question it is a basic would where are you man what how did you where are we where are we what are you doing over here you know is busy you know she be running me around and stuff I was just always trying to chill no no what are you doing it every question was an opportunity for transparency he says he says Adam what are you doing here what where are you and Adams response was I was naked so I hid and God says who told you was naked how did you know that how you know that and before he lied about it God says have you eaten from the tree that revealed that to you I already knew you was naked who tells you yeah so so so so I was like so so this would just sort of happen he says I'm hiding because I'm naked I'm hiding everything then he says okay did you eat from the tree that I told you not to eat from here's here's a sign of a person who's living in shame people who live in shame will never tell the whole truth they will give you just enough truth to limit their exposure so here's an opportunity Adam God's talking to you he says what are you doing here why are you here then you say you're any trouble where you are cos he knows where you are you said I was hiding cuz I'm naked did you eat from the tree now here's his opportunity yes Lord I did it my bad you know what he says the woman you gave me gave me the food so it ain't just her fault it's your fault you gave me the wrong wife you gave me the right wife I wouldn't even be in this situation are you serious God could has just slapped him right his eyes just go sit down he didn't even slap them he went with that because he's actually not lying the woman did give it to him see that's what people who are shame-based do they know they're busted so they don't lie they just don't tell you everything just to limit exposure so God says okay when he says over the woman in verse 13 what have you done I think I'm in verse 13 what have you done now here's her opportunity she could have just said god I did it and I gave it him you know she says the serpent tricked me that's why I did it so so people who are will always try to tell they're not lying this is not telling the whole truth how come how come they wouldn't say you know what Adam could have just said you know what God there's more to it than this Eve could have said there's more to it than this but here's a fourth thing people who are shame-based will never take full responsibility for what they've done never take full responsibility they will always find a way to throw somebody else under the bus widow you said did you do that anyway where I did it by but but if I tell you I told him if y'all dropped me off at the Green Line I'll be straight they ain't taking the Green Line to drop off the orange line how am I going to Orange Line you don't be fighting on the orange line people don't like me on the orange line tell me ghetto always on getting to fight the well-posed do they drop out the orange line so Sigma green line when had this situation people who are immature and irresponsible and are shame-based will never go down by themselves did you do it yeah but I wouldn't by myself when you're going to heal a relationship you must take personal responsibility for your your contribution to the breach and people who and people relationships don't ever close the gap doesn't closed because the person won't own their stuff so why didn't even have said we know from verse 6 while she really ate that fruit if you go back to verse 6 she the Bible says she wanted that wisdom now I want that wisdom I don't know she was like it's kind of slow oh I don't know what the situation was but she wanted that wisdom she could have just said god I'm just gonna be one I'm gonna keep it 100 don't know what y'all say she could have just texted him just with the 100 emoji since I said I'm just gonna be 100 which one I wanted that wisdom I wanted that wisdom just be real he knew see do y'all think that when they did all that God wasn't watching God has all of us under surveillance there's nothing we do that God is not even asking for information he's given opportunities for transparency he's trying to say what really you know do you think God is sitting this in now what really went down y'all now asleep thank God is not what you guys say Adam he could have said okay he told the truth she gave it to me she told the truth the servant Rumi he did he did trick them trick her and God punished the serpent but that's not all why not tell the whole truth that's how you that's how you breach that's how you close breaches in relationship Adam could have said you know what God she did give me to eat it but you know what I gotta tell you the whole truth I'm gonna be real with you got I was there the whole time and I watched her and God I resisted the urges to step in and protect my wife I resisted the urge to step in and stop the process in fact God if I could be real with you I was kind of glad that she was gonna do it because I wanted to do it but I was scared to do it and then God when I saw her doing and she ate it and didn't die it made me doubt your word cuz you told me if we did it we die so when I saw her do it and get the knowledge that she didn't die I wanted wish she had without the consequences that's the truth see we'll talk like that in church we just really like hey you know I'm busy you know I'm just you know working overtime and stuff you keep because we like being in the bushes but you got to come out of the bushes and not just give a half answer you gotta just this is how you close the gap in relationships with breach we're there breaches this is how this look 21st century you gotta say to some people you know what you know why I stopped coming around let me tell you why I stopped going around the real reason I stopped coming around you while we stopped coming around use because when I saw what was going on in your marriage that scared me it scared me so bad that I didn't want that to get on my marriage so to protect myself and my marriage we stayed away from y'all we pray for your job we'll get some counsel but that was too much I'm just being honest my phone number I didn't have a phone when disconnected I just wouldn't answer that's how you be honest with people now here's their that's the only reason close the gap cuz people like I didn't know that I didn't know you felt that way I'm just being honest I could have kept lying to you and acting like everything like we were busy we had practice in football practice and all that it was we we couldn't we didn't know what to do with that marriage situation sometimes you got to tell somebody you know what no why stop coming over your house cuz the last time I came over your house you said we was gonna chill out and watch the game i sat down to watch the game you brought a board out and tried to get me to join amway with you use drawing circles saying we're gonna be diamonds and five diamonds and five links and I told you I wasn't interested we never saw the game you spent the whole night telling me about anyway and I said I don't want to do it then you called me later that week and say what you thinking I told you no and that's why I won't come around here no more I had to wait till you started working for the post office again so you can stop all that and here's what might happen you say that to him and he might say dude I didn't even know you felt that way about any way to slim I don't even like Amway I was just showing that to you cuz you was you kept asking me for money and my wife was getting mad at me for giving you the money and I'll show you anyway I hate anyway but I thought we help you so I can get peace of mind slim I Love You Man heroes we all have a shot if we don't open up I didn't even know that man I hate anyway I hope nobody word for ham way here so sometimes you got to just tell people you know what I'm gonna be honest with you there's a reason why I stopped hanging with you I didn't trust being around you when I had my boyfriend with me just was doing too much whenever he'd be around you just be acting all extra and you wearing stuff you'd like provocative and stuff and I just I just didn't feel you know what maybe I was insecure I had just started going with him I ain't know if he was yeah I ain't know how he would handle you so I just I'm trying to get there I'm trying to get a man to stay you look like you trying to get the same man you see now here's the thing you never know see the risk of doing it the risk of doing it is you never know how it's gonna turn up cuz you don't know what they're gonna do with your transparency you never know where you're gonna hit Windham ghetto buttons to Mike and she's on my right what you doing why you think I'm a lead low low for him are you tripping like that y'all want your boyfriend so you got it you got a measure is is the risk worth the relationship otherwise you're gonna still be in the bushes we're gonna be acting like everything all right when it ain't all right and we ain't even tell them why I went all right sometimes you got to be vulnerable enough to say I'm willing to risk telling the truth about my motives the reason why you know I wasn't calling you and I told you I wasn't calling because I was busy but let me tell you why I really wouldn't call you I really said why I didn't call you remember that time I told you I didn't call you back on the phone was dead before wasn't dead reason why I ain't call you back that night cause I saw what you posted on social media you posted on social media that day that you was having a terrible day and using so much pain and when I saw your number on my caller ID I said if I answer that phone I'm gonna be on the phone with her for at least two hours listening to her vent her pain and I didn't feel like it and not only did I not feel like it but I started thinking about all the times I needed you to listen to me and you wouldn't listen to me and I'm tired of being the only one in this relationship to listen and so I'm just being a the phone wedding day that's what was up that's that's 100 100 yeah yeah see see see we don't want to have those kind of conversations because we want to be all we want to be all superficial but you cannot you cannot have authentic relationships that last the test of time if you don't have some tough conversations to get clarity on what happened here how do we need to clean this up how do we need to treat each other going forward we just assumed you know what just let it go shoppers you know what I'm good you know I'm just telling you the only way is going to get fixed cuz you're not gonna fix it superficially at some point is gonna be conversation hasn't me tears enemies apologies that's I was wrong when I thought this is what I was feeling are y'all listening to me do y'all understand what I'm saying that's how you do it now let me warn you every relationship is not salvageable in fact some relationships should not be tampered with some of those things need to stay the way they are yeah and you don't mean you should you sometimes it ain't what you could do is you shouldn't do nothing about it you have to you have to know when am I supposed to share the truth with some and when am I supposed to be a bear of the truth and always be willing to take responsibility I'll share this story with you haven't shared this all day I think I was 19 years old when this happened I'm pretty sure I was I had a 1977 brown mercury monarch head power steering fluid leaks and I hast had power steering fluid and antifreeze fluid you know in the movies you got to keep getting when you get out of the light you got to pull fluid in the cogs that's when them just hey I had a friend with me they might good I had two other friends in the back I'm not gonna name them cuz because I don't want to put them out there because they didn't handle it right but my good was pre premier as her believer we were at the KFC was a Kentucky Fried Chicken on 450 in the Maryland area I think that's called like is their capital Plaza I forgot what that's called over there but that's where we were where the KFC we left the KFC was standing outside horse-playing while we were horse playing one of the guys started wrassling and push the other one into the window outside of the KFC and the whole window it was a window wall crashed in all the glass fell on the floor I immediately ran to my car started it up the other two guys who I remain nameless say let's go we were in the car with seat belts all ready to go and my good never move from the spot he stood at the window shaking his head I'm blowing the whole my saying man we better get up let's go the hoenn didn't work either I got it in Reverse I'm in the decision mode are we gonna leave him here as we need trying to deal with this that was an accident that's a my else's problem then they dawned on me he's not leaving he's taking full responsibility for what he did he never moved so this was one more I've never seen a Christian act like that at that point amount I've never seen a Christian anything but that was just the most Christian thing I was saying and I got it I got the two other guys yelling man let's go man leave him leave I put the car in park and cut the call and stood beside him ain't he know what I was doing I was just herbicide the manager came over and because of how my candies just served was so side we were playing around we'll work here whatever we got to do to fix the window we'll make it up will work for you whatever he says yes sorry man I got to stop playing though somebody could have got hurt we'll take care of it sure I get it but what I learned from that moment was character takes responsibility for what you do man that's what's up so if nothing else all my life as a Christian there's a leader I always stand up in front of people and say I was wrong I was wrong I'm sorry I was wrong if I'm wrong with God show me wrong I'm wrong I'm going to admit that you got to be willing to do that or is something wrong with you it's something wrong with you when you can't say something wrong with you oh that's a good statement it's something wrong with you when you can't say something wrong with you you need to wake up every day with this okay let me go to this AAA stuff I'm gonna close with this I love this AAA stuff I think that's some good material I read all kinds of stuff and you you you know people try to act like they don't need it I think you need anything that's gonna get you straight in AAA I remember this point about making amends and I said rictus passage is about is really about making amends when you've done something wrong or breach a relationship and then I started reading through all over and I saw number five I had never seen this one before I say this is deep look at the fifth step in a the fifth step says in a a we've admitted to God to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs that's amazing right there we admitted to God to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs that's powerful right there then you start with God Adam and Eve couldn't even keep it real with God I mean that's the easiest admission cuz he already knows anyway then you got to admit it to yourself see some people are self deceived you need a look at yourself in the mirror you ain't right and then going about your day saying like the Lord don't think more highly of yourself than y'all too because one of the reasons why people don't come clean out of the bushes you know how some people don't come out of the bushes they don't come out of the bushes because the last time they tried to admit something to you you held it against them last time it is something to you you've used it against me it's in your file now and no matter what we talk about you pull that file out we need tell them all that weird for laying you like what's wrong with you I can't I can't stop thinking about what you did but can you stop talking about what are they what if God was like that I know God just slapped us just see what you're doing ever I can't stop thinking about what you did there is no human being that's clean enough to hold a foul against anybody I don't care who you are you ain't that good you ain't that good I don't care who you are you ain't that good you got your file are you serious all you got to do to burn somebody else's foul is look at your own and say God let me let me shut up before you expose mine I'm so sick of these people keeping it 100 about other people well let me tell I'll tell you what you did keep it 100 keep it 100 about you what did you do and you know God then kept your secrets there's some secrets in here boy if the secrets ever leaked out in here oh God screw just one section that's all you need if the secrets of one section ever came out of here they couldn't have enough police around the place to arrest us for the stuff we desert how many deserve the death penalty life the psych ward if the psychiatric people ever found out what you did and you got a foul on somebody I can't stop thinking about I don't forgot what point out what was I saying so point number five yeah yeah step number five you admitted to God you admit it to yourself I ain't all that then watch this this way gets tricky and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongs now that's where it's tricky because who you gonna tell cuz you can't trust everybody everybody can't handle your truth first time you justify your truth in any circle and they go like this wrong person you tell somebody be like this for real you sound just like me let me hear you find somebody like Jack that's who I'm looking for you mean to tell me that I ain't by myself careful who you tell tell a therapist tell tell a spiritual leader yeah tell somebody but you got to tell somebody here's why it's so important that's why that step is so important because watch this you get forgiveness by telling God but you get healed when you tell others that's James 5:16 you got a confession fall to one another so as you can be healed watch this your your shame shrinks in the light of accountability shame grows in darkness that's why I keep acting out my shameful behavior because I'm ashamed of it and I don't feel like I deserve God's love but as soon as you open up to a human being and they accept you and embrace you and hold you accountable and understand you now my shame can shrink cuz there's no longer a secret you got to tell somebody and watch this verse and this the eighth step says this then you need to make a list of all the people you need to make amends with who you've harmed make we made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all this is what they say in a means but a lot of people who are not alcoholics or former drug addicts whatever it ain't like we don't need this - I don't care sober people have hurt more people than how people think cuz you ain't never been high you ain't hurt nobody we need to make amends like who do I need to make amends with I love this material it's some good relationship material for all of us and he says we need to make amends but I'll make a list I need you to apologize this person I need to talk to this person who I know I need to talk that's gonna be a Harvin right there but I gotta own it and I can't go over there throwing other people on the bus and making excuses gotta on my part this what I did wrong they may not accept it they may laugh at me they may go and expose me and tell somebody guess what he see all that's a possibility when you do it that's why your you got to care more about what God wants you to do and more about the value of the relationship that you do about your own reputation then he says but in button number nine step number nine is loaded he says and whenever possible make direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others Wow that's brilliant you do it unless sharing this truth would provide would cause more injury to that person or to other people see sometimes you got to be a steward of the truth you got to be a bearer of the truth you can't be a sharer of it you can't just keep it real like I'm gonna go ahead and keep it real and tell you what's up see you telling people what's up so I'm gonna tell you now that gets it off of you so you don't have to walk around with secrets sometimes there's something you got to carry to your grave because of all the people that would hurt if you shared it because it's not your job to share it see some of y'all get in good with people because you snitched so you snitched and the person you snitched to is happy but you don't look at all the collateral damage that happened because you snitched be careful that God tell you to bear that truth or to share it and who you supposed to share it with you only share it when it doesn't do more damage you understand what I'm saying that's brilliant God could have shared with Adam he could have went to Adam straight-up man you're a man made in my image I want to tell you what you don't know you don't know he could have told him he was naked and would have brought them closer you know he could have strengthened their relationship he could have say Adam you only know this but brother let me tell you something you butt-naked like what's that let me let me explain to you and he's acting strange but I love you unconditionally you don't have to hide anything from me never never had a better relationship but it could have messed his relationship with his wife see you know you don't take advantage of having the truth and you can do more damage by sharing it there's a lady in the Old Testament named Rahab who had information about spies she bore that true she didn't share it if she had shared that truth she would have gotten in good with her national leaders in Jericho but it would cause irreparable damage to the nation of Israel she bore that truth I was at a conference this year but actually all of our passes went in February the conference in Dallas and passes Bishop TD jakes shared a story with us about how at this conference his public statement he does movies and Will Smith had called him to do a movie with him the movie the Will Smith wanted to do was on the life of Pastor Zachary Thames Zachary Thames is a pastor from Baltimore who was pastoring a church in Orlando Florida before he died and there's some speculation around his death some controversy around his death the documents have been sealed for the protection of him and his family Will Smith contacted Bishop Jake's and Bishop Jake says anybody in the movie industry that wants to do movies wants to work with Will Smith he doesn't do movies that don't succeed it was a great opportunity and Will Smith called Bishop Jason because he knew that Bishop Jake's was Zachary Tim's confidant he wanted to make sure that the content of the movie was strong and Bishop Jake's had to make a decision do I share the truth I wouldn't be lying or do I protect a man who ain't even here anymore I'm so glad he chose keeping a secret and protecting the trust of a dead man over there making money over telling the truth that's what sometimes you got to make that kind of decision can you be a pallbearer of a truth that you take to your own grave maybe to protect somebody from unnecessary harm you got to know who you can open up to and who you shouldn't open up to but relationships will not be closed without transparency and vulnerability you have to be honest and don't go expecting the guarantee to people go and cry and receive you some people are gonna listen to you some people gonna act like it ain't even what you think I wouldn't even feeling that way cuz they still want to stay in the bushes that's fine only way you can get out the bushes is to say I was wrong this is what I was doing I was really watching the whole time I really didn't want to be bothered with you you understand I'm saying that's how you bring a relationship back together it takes honesty and transparency I want to close with this verse 21 says in spite of their weak confession verse 21 says God replaced those fig leaves was an animal skin gave them a sufficient covering in order for God to clothe them with animal skins he had to kill an animal the first sacrifice that God ever made was to cover the sins of his children it's a picture of the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world he had already put a plan in place to let his son die and the blood of his son not just cover sins would wash away every sin that's why no matter what you've ever done in your life you don't have to be ashamed God's already got you covered and not just covered he's paid for all of your sins I don't care what you've done you don't have to live in shame you have a God that already knew you were gonna do it how you undo it when you did it all of that and it's covered by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ

Channel: Keith Battle

Views: 8,511

Rating: 4.8426967 out of 5

Keywords: keith battle, pastor battle, sermon, god, jesus, adam & eve, genesis, relationships, marriage, motivation, inspiration, forgiveness, healing

Id: DMCZbSqP5Pk

Length: 45min 42sec (2742 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 20 2018