Elevation with Steven Furtick - Give Me A Sign

Episode Date: June 18, 2018

Are you forfeiting your potential by hiding behind the shadow of shame? To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://ele.vc/TI55jRSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Hey, you can remain standing for just a few more seconds. By now, you've figured out that I'm not Pastor Stephen. My name's Larry Bride, but everybody calls me LB. I'm usually up at University City. How are we doing UC? Love you. Miss you.

And I'm excited to open up God's word with everyone today. And it's less of a sermon and more of just kind of like an insight into my journal for what God's been doing in my life. You see, about a year and a half ago, Pastor Stephen preached this incredible series, Work Your Window. How many of you were here doing work your window? Incredible series. He was in week three of it, the power of potential. Power of potential.

I could take you to the seat I was sitting in when God spoke to me through the voice of our pastor. and he spoke to me, he said, you have forfeited way more potential than the devil will ever steal. He said, you'll give it away before he'll take it. Specifically, hiding behind the shadow of shame. And for the few minutes we have together today, I want to talk on the subject of shame. Because I think way too many of us are being dominated in the landscape of our life by the shadow of shame. And I am here to tell the devil he is on notice. No longer will you steal.

No longer will you cause God's... sons and daughters to hide behind that place. Today is the day that we're coming out, out from behind it. Every one of you have, is, or will struggle with shame. It's universal. Doesn't care about your bank account or your address. It's an equal opportunity employer, and it will enslave every single one of us. And the character that I want to look at through her life, through her life, is this woman named Rahab. We find her story in Joshua chapter two, in the context of the story is two spies had just come into the land from the Israelites and were walking around the city of Jericho and they came into her apartment.

We pick up the scene in Joshua 2, verse 12 to 15. It says, now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family because I've shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them and that you will save us from death. Our lives for your lives, the men assured her. If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land. So she let them down by a rope through the window for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Here's the title for today's message.

You ready for it? Give me a sign. Say give me a sign. Now look at your favorite neighbor. Say give me a sign. That you love me. Now give out a couple signs of love. Give a couple hugs at all of our location.

Give out a couple signs. Thank you, worship team. After you've given a couple of hugs, you could. be seated. I want to welcome all of our locations. I especially want to welcome our eFAM, folks joining online from around the world. Now, there's one of them. Her name is Susie. Susie is in Ireland. She is one of my favorite people to follow on social media. She is a part of our eFAM with our Orange team doing chats online. Check this out. She has opened up multiple e-groups in Europe for different time zones to be able to participate with her. That's pretty incredible, isn't it?

And so, Susie, we love you, thanks for what you do. But I want to get into this character named Rahab today. We don't know a whole lot about her life, but we do know a couple things. One of the things we know is her occupation. Now, some would call her profession the oldest occupation of profession on the earth. That is prostitution. Yes, I apologize, parents, if you brought your kids in here today, you had due warning to take them into E-Kids. But she is a prostitute. That is her profession. We also know that she lives in this city of Jericho. Jericho is a pretty small town. It's about 1,500 people. I always pictured this thing like this huge city. No, it's about 1,500 to 2,000 people. It's got really high, thick walls, about 30 to 40 feet high, all the way around the

perimeter of the city. It makes like a circle. Jericho is the city that the Israelites marched drowned six times and yellow in the walls. That happens just a few chapters after what we're going to look at today. And this is a small city. And we know that there's not a whole lot of people in it. But we also know that in this story, there are two spies that happen to come into the land. that's where we're going to pick up this story here today. But I want to actually recreate a little bit of what her house looks like, because it's really important. So our production team is going to bring out some props for me right now.

And would you help me thank our production team and our E-Kids volunteers and our parking teams putting up with your bad habits out in the parking lot? They're incredible. And what they're doing is they're wheeling out a door and a window. And I want to recreate a little bit of what the scene of Rehab's house might look like, because it's really important because what we're doing. because what it says is it says that she had a window on her house. Thank you guys so much. And it faced the outside of the city. So the window is on the outer wall. So it's got access to the

promised land and she could see out into the land. Now the door is on the inner part of the city. This is where all the activity of this city happened. And this is the life where Rahab lived. She lived in this space. I have no idea if it's 800 square feet of hardwoods or 8,000 square feet. All of us have a space where we live. It's not just our physical address, but it's in our mind, it's in our heart, and it's in these places. Every one of you live somewhere. And if we were to zoom in and take a picture of, there's some ugly places in my life. There's some things that I would not want you to see.

So those places in my life, I like to put those behind the door. I like living in places that nobody sees what happens behind here. Because all of us like to have places where we hide behind closed doors. I mean, I don't want anybody to see my business, so I put that behind the door. Now, the window is to play things I want everybody to see. This is like, hi, how you doing? Doing great. Oh, crap, I had a bad day at work today.

I feel like such a loser. Now, I don't want anybody to see that. Like, hey, Instagram, took a picture with my kids on fathers. They had to take it 17 times to get the right one, but we got it. I like controlling what people see. The things that people I don't want them to see. Now, I put him behind the door. I'm hiding behind these things.

I mean, sure, I might poke my head. Hey, y'all. What's up? How you doing? But then it's like, nope, you don't see that. That happens behind closed doors. I'll have those spaces. And I think the longer we live settling for living behind closed doors, the more we're

under the trap of shame. I think that's where life has lived for way too many of us. Sure, you go to the outside because you just got the new outfit. And out front, I'm like, hey, brother, how you doing? But get behind the closed doors. You're cussing out your kids. Now, you're talking to people on the way into church like, brother, the Lord's going to move today.

I got the parts that I want you to see. Parts that are behind the closed door. I realize I've spent more of my life living behind a closed door than an open window. That's why I've forfeited more potential than the devil's ever taken for me. It's in this land of shame. And it would be important for us to understand. There's a difference between guilt and shame. There really is.

Guilt is I am sorry for what I did. It's actually a really healthy thing. It's actually a good thing. It is a pattern that's established in healthy relationships. It really is. It means I am sorry for what I did. Now, shame is I'm sorry for who I am. One is a look at my behavior.

The other is an indictment of my character. One is a gift that God gives us for restoration. The other one is a scheme of Satan that is meant to destroy you. I've got to understand when I'm living in the pattern of an open window or a closed door. And when I am living in the pattern of the closed door, I'm always under the shadow of shame. Guilt is so healthy in relationships. Actually, let's practice it like right now. Because the language of guilt sounds something like this. I'm sorry, would you please forgive me? It's really healthy. Let's try it. Look at your neighbor or your spouse or who has ever. Say,

I'm sorry, would you forgive me? Now, how did that feel? Now, some of you needed that because of the fight you got in the parking lot right before you came in. I'm just, the Lord provided today. That's healthy. And then when someone says that to you, here's the language of healthy relationships. Thank you for telling me, I forgive you. Now practice that. Thank you for telling me. I forgive you. Because here's the thing. What often can start is a healthy pattern of bringing it into the light actually gets reinforced in the wrong way and it forces it into the darkness. because the way it's received often determines if it's repeated. And when your son comes to you and says,

Dad, I'm struggling. When they're met with, how dare you, you've just pushed him behind a closed door and they never want to come tell you it again. That's what happens when we don't deal with things in a healthy way. Shame is in this place of, I'm horrible. It's not just I did something bad, I am bad. It's not I had, I made a bad choice.

I am a bad person. And the language of those two sounds so different. And often what happens in relationships and in life, all of these little events can create cascades of big shame. Little things. I mean, like there's a mom, you know this, you've felt this, this idea of shame. Shame is that feeling that washes over you. Like everybody's seen you, everybody knows you, and they know you're a fraud and they know you're a hypocrite. That feeling.

Like that feeling would know too well that causes us to hide. I mean, so moms, you experience this. You're walking through Target. And your four-year-old decides to act out and be willing. worst way, like a temper tranchom, laying on the floor screaming, and it just so happens at that time your best friends come down there, like, hey, sister. And you're so embarrassed, you're so ashamed. And you're like, oh, I'm doing great. And you just can't wait to get you, wait until I'll get you home. I'll get you behind this closed door.

And you're like, but nobody, you don't tell anybody about the shame you feel. And now your child is 15 and they come to you and say, Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant. That shame that makes you go behind. the closed door and you don't want anybody to see that stuff, that place. And it happens in relationships so insidiously. It's like, man, I'm sure that none of you can identify with this. I'm actually using this as hypothetical. This has not happened to me. Like, your wife sends you to the grocery store to get some items. And you're like, I don't need to write it down. I totally got it. Like just some sugar, like sweet, like white granules, got it. Then you get in the grocery store like, oh, some pop and then some chips and oh, yeah.

that looks cool. Now what did my wife want? Oh gosh, I'm so embarrassed. I don't want to call her. She just wants some kind of sweetener thing. Yeah, sweeten her. So I bring it home and put it on the table and she looks like, what is that? It's like, it's what you want me to get? No, it's not. You should have been more clear about what you wanted me to get that. You always do this and you never get it right. I can never please you. It's fine. And then you get behind the door. I can't believe she. We never. I just suck as a husband.

I'll never get it right. Why did she marry me? She probably doesn't even want to be married to me. See how the language shifts so quickly. When you watch football, you know how they put that microphone, the sideline mic on the coach and on the players? If you were to put a mic on shame, here's what shame is saying. Oh, because shame is in the grocery store with the husband.

and he's whispering in his ear, see, you're never going to get it right anyway. Don't admit to her that you didn't take good direction, because if you admit it, it's going to reinforce that she can't trust you. So you just go with your gut. Because shame is a little punk tapping you on the shoulder before you do it saying, it's not that big of a deal. But after you do it, oh, you dirty dog, you are horrible. That's what shame does. It's subtle. It's shifty. And it wants you to pull into the shadows. And then when you get home, shame is on the wife's shoulder saying, oh, yeah, he knows that you've been struggling with body image anyway. He knows that you've been wearing larger clothes. He actually bought the sweetenloak because he thinks you're fat.

Only person that can jump to extremes. Why? Because shame is being exposed, and I'm projecting on them what I feel about myself. Rather than having a language that's built on confession, it's actually a conversation that's built on shame. It's what happened, shame, this divisive little thing that will come in. Happens in all of these ways. I remember when I first learned that I was poor. I thought I was like growing up as a kid like every other kid just yay. I thought everybody just eats free cheese and it's just seriously.

I was like, but then I was like in seventh grade and I'm in lunch line and Mrs. Kelsstrom the lunch lady. I was like, I'm sorry, Mrs. Kelm. I forgot my money. She goes, it's okay. You're on the free lunch list anyway. What? I thought that was for poor kids. And I heard my I heard my buddy Steve just, yeah, you're poor. I'm like, really? But I remember the feeling of being like a piece of clothing on the sale rack, not being good enough. Second rate, second class. It's funny how that shadow of shame, because shame is his spirit. And it's like a piece of clothing. It wants you to wear it. And I remember putting that clothing on, and I carried that a large part of my life, and I still have a tendency to put it back on. It's really funny as I was

preparing for this sermon last week. Sure enough, shame rolls up into my front yard. I'm getting ready. I'm here at Valentine on Thursday, practicing my sermon, like getting ready to preach. And I get a text from a friend of them. I says, hey, I did some work at your house a couple months ago. I was wondering if you have paid that invoice. It's like, snap, I forgot. I smelled the grilled cheese in the cafeteria. You don't, you're not that far away from shame that you can't run back to it. It's a spirit. And some of you front like you got it all together, but behind closed doors, it is wasting you away. That's what shame wants to do. Shame wants to destroy you. It doesn't want to mess you up.

It wants to just completely take you out. It's in big things like we talked about. The reason you do not want to go to the family gathering is because your cousin violated you 15 years ago. You have never told anybody. You've hidden behind that door for 15 years and you just tell them you're busy. But the real reason is you have so much shame

because you've never been able to tell anybody. Shame wants you to hide behind that door. It wants you to sit behind it. Because what it wants you to do, It wants you to sit behind it that you give up hoping and believing on the promises of God. It wants you to believe that that will never happen. All of those promises, it's like window shopping. You can look at it, but you'll never touch it.

You'll never get to it. That's what shame wants to do. Shame is an instrument of the enemy. It is a silent assassin and it is meant to destroy you. And it is a quiet epidemic that is picking people off. And just because you have given your life to Christ does not mean you're inoculated against this condition. And condition, by the way, Dustin Stradley, great sermon last week. Hey, Roanoke, why don't you tell Dustin Stradley you loved it?

That was awesome. So good. But it wants to wipe you out. Shame is connected to rates of depression, anger, addictions, eating disorders, and suicide. The ultimate aim of shame is to get you to the point that you give up hope. and you want to tap out and you want to quit life. The second leading cause, cause of death for 18 to 25 year olds, is suicide. And some of you logging online, watching us or watching this at a later date or at one of our locations,

are only at church today because this is like a last resort. It's your last option. And some of you might even been saying, God, give me a sign that you know me. Give me a sign that you haven't forgotten me. Here it is. I'm your sign. I'm not very tall, but I am loud. And I want you to hear the voice of God.

He loves you. He's not mad at you. He's not trying to hurt you. He's not punishing you. Please come to him. And if you are struggling under the shadow of shame, it is so dark that you want to give up, please don't do it. Please invite somebody in.

You don't need to live under the shadow of that any longer. That's what shame wants to do. And you are not immune to it because of the car you drive. You are not outside of it just because you live inside a really big house. I think that's why God sent the spies into Rehab's life because she was ready to tap out. I think she was at a point that the shame was so overwhelming. Think about this. She's a prostitute.

Every day the customers would come in and out of that door. And everyone that did it took a little piece of her dignity with them. And the more that they did that, the more that she moved away that life could. ever be different. And the more that she didn't believe it could ever happen to her. And the more that she just settled into, this is all I'll ever be. And I think God sent some spies in it, just the right moment before she was wanting to tap out. I think God sent me as a spy into your life today to tell you that he is coming into your life. He is tired of you sitting in the shadow of shame and he is ready for you to come out of it. I've been a part of this church, my wife and I since we started 12 years ago.

And I have seen Pastor Stephen stand in the stage every year for 12 plus years and preach the Word of God. And I have become convinced that as I've studied these spies, that he is in fact, indeed, a spy. Well, you could explain it. He has been following you around your whole life. He's like reading your emails. He is scouting where you go. How else can he stand on stage and preach like, how did you know that? Because he's a spy.

I think he is a spy. I think he's a Joshua to this generation who has seen the people. promised land and he's coming here to tell you and me that it's still available you will get in now we got to do some work. Would you help me thank our pastor for being the ultimate spy, the ultimate man. Incredible. Love our pastor. Faithfully done it every year.

And these spies break into the city. It's at the cover of night. The doors of the city had just closed and they're like, oh snap, we're in trouble. because they were just going to come in and look at the city and get out, but the gates closed before they could get out. So they start looking around the city, and I think they're looking for a couple of things. The first thing they're looking for is access to be able to get outside of the city.

As they're sneaking up to the city, all stealthy, like, you don't see me. They noticed some windows on the outer wall of the city. And they're like, if we can just get to the window, we'll be able to get out of the city. So they start working their way around the inside of the city. like, oh, we got to get access. We got to get access to a house that's on the wall so we can get out the window. God is looking for access. And they needed access to be able to get out. You know why God is looking at you? Because God needs access. God needs access to your life. Because this story wasn't just about Rahab. God needed access to her father, her mother,

her brothers, and her sisters, and all who belonged to them. Why are you in that dysfunctional? family because God says I need access to those people I need access through your life I know you've been hiding behind closed doors for a long time but this is the moment that you now become a window because the blessing of God is meant to flow through you you are a window and God is looking at you because he needs access because he's got to get something through you see what God can do through you you've been wondering why you're in that job you hate it's not about your income it's about his access. He needs to get his glory in. And the only way he's going to do it is through your life. God is looking for people to have access. But the access of the glory of God will never be given

out when it's hidden behind closed doors. Quit hiding behind that door. God's access does not come out behind the closed door. I think the second thing they're looking for is someone they can trust. Say trust. What's interesting to me is they're looking around the city. They've never been there. They're outsiders. They're looking at this whole deal. But they get said, we've got to find somebody that we can trust. So let's pick the people that nobody else would trust. It's funny because in 1st Corinthians, 127 and 28, it says this.

And what's funny is, you know what, God is into shame. He's into shaming shame. He's into taking something that the world calls shame, and he's going to throw some shade on it, and he's going to say, no, I'm actually going to shame this shame. Because he said in 1st Corinthians, 127, it says, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

God chose the lowly things of the world and the despise things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are. And if you have been overlooked, if you have been sitting under the shadow of shame, you need to know that God is so attracted to you. God is attractive to shame. Your shame is attractive and he's looking for somebody he can trust. Because he says, when my glory comes through you, Somebody who's proud will think they did it themselves, but somebody who's lowly will know that

is only God that did it. That's why God has picked you. He's looking for you to have access. And you've always seen yourself untrustworthy because of the shame. No, God says those are the conditions for my blessing to fall on your life. But I wondered, how did these men know that this is a prostitute? I mean, they'd never been to the city. They didn't know anybody.

They're hiding under the shadows of night and they're sneaking around because they don't want to be found. I bet they were religious folks and they were like praying like, God, give me a sign. I mean, you've prayed that too. Like, God, give me a sign. We keep asking God for a sign to get out of something. Maybe he's asking us for a sign to use us in the middle of it. Maybe that's what God's doing. And I started to do some study about this because the way that prostitutes would advertise

their open for business in ancient cities was this. Have you ever heard the term red light district? It's a real thing. It is a real thing. So what prostitutes would do is they would have a red cord. And this is like, I'm open for business sign. And so they would take the sign and they would put it on the front door advertising. We're open for business.

So as the spies are coming through, Lord, give me a sign. They saw the sign. Now, this is the sign of her shame, but it will become the sign of his salvation. Don't you're ashamed of it, but God says at the end of this, I'm going to hold it up as a sign of my glory. And so these men show up and they, it's dark outside there. Time out. Little dating advice, ladies, if the only time that guy is calling you is after dark, you know he's not in it for godly game.

Amen. And so she thinks she's just welcoming in the first customers of the night. Hello? Because shame can't even look somebody in the eyes. At this point, she's not even making eye contact. This is just an exchange. and she welcomes them in. First customers of the night. She did not know she was inviting the presence of God into her life. Did not know. These are the first men that came in through the door but didn't go back out the same way they came.

These men were going to go back out through the window. Every other man comes into your life to get something and leaves with it. But the person of Jesus, the God man named Jesus Christ, is a man who comes into your life, but then he goes through. your life. And she has this encounter with these men. And she realizes, yes, you are of God. Yes, I know I couldn't get to it, but God came to me. I know I couldn't get myself over there, but God came to me to get me there. So it is with you. And she has these encounter, and she recognizes these are men of God. And life, maybe this isn't just a mirage. Maybe that could be a reality. Maybe the thing I've been dreaming about my whole life actually could become the promises of God fulfilled in my life. She dreams and she believes. But here's the fascinating part

about this story. This woman was a prostitute for years, decades maybe even. Every night, the sun would set over the city, darkness would invade her home and it would be filled pitch black. Shame grows in the dark. Shame grows in the hidden places. And some of you are in a very dark place right now. And you know it and you can feel it. You can feel the, the shame welling up. But then I got excited. I knew the sun set and it was darkness behind the door, but then I started to think about the window. And I started to think about the way that God created the cycle of the earth and how His grace works. And I started to realize, I know the sun is going to set. But I also know that the sun is going to rise. And I started to think about Lamentations

322. It says, because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed for his compassion, never failed. knew every morning. Great is your faithfulness. And in the good news translation, it says this, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. Here's the image. She went to bed with shame for decades. Say every day. No, no, say every day. And every day the grace of God would rise in her life. Every day the sun would illuminate her apartment. So it is with the grace of God. It was available every day. Say every day. But this day, say this day. This day. This day. This day, she just didn't look at it. She was about to receive it. This day, some of you, you've been staring at it for years, thinking it was for other people, people who were taller, better,

not struggling with shame. But today is the day, this day that you are going to receive the grace of God. This day, you're going to move out of the shadows of shame and into his marvelous light. Because the grace of God is greater than the darkness of shame. God is not intimidated by your ugliness. He is not intimidated by your darkness. In fact, he never looked away from it. You can't look at it, but God never looked away from you because he loves you. And he loved Rehab. And he knew she couldn't get herself to the door. That's why he sent some spies into the land to do it.

And these men encounter this woman and she realizes, wow, this is different. These men are not like other men. And she realizes maybe, just maybe life could be different. And then she releases him. And the story continues. And she lets him out the window. And she goes, now the men. men had said to her, this oath, we swear to you, will not be binding on us unless when we enter

the land you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down unless you have brought your father, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters, and all your family into your house. If any of them go outside your house into the streets, their blood will be on your heads. We will not be responsible. As for those who are in your house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. These men get ready to leave. And they say, we need a sign. They looked at her and said, give me a sign.

The sign of her greatest shame. They said, we want that. That shame you've been hiding behind? That shame that happened 32 years ago when you had that abortion and you've never told anybody. That thing that you said, I pray that nobody ever else finds out. I know you don't do background checks anymore because you don't want people to see you had the DWI 15 years ago. God said, I'm ready to deal. with that shame. I'm no longer going to let you hide behind it. That thing that was a sign of your

greatest shame will become a sign of my salvation. It will be a sign. I know you're so ashamed behind it. And some of you are in this room. There's some men in this room that you know this feeling that your son grabs your cell phone. And he's like, Dad, what's this? And your blood runs cold because you thought you had cleared your history. And he just said, Dad, look at our fantasy football team. And you're thinking freedom is not being found out. Freedom is no longer hiding. God says you couldn't do it yourself, but I'm going to bring some people into your life to do it. And she puts the cord in the window and she's waiting.

And some time went by, days went by. She could have been tempted to take the sign back down and put it on the door because I know we're getting a little low on funds, God, so maybe you're not going to come through. No, God said put it out and leave it there. You don't have to return to the shadow of shame any longer. You can live in my light. You can live in my glory. And then she starts to hear the hundreds of thousands of Israelites that were camped eight miles away who had just crossed the Jordan River and were about to come into the promised land.

And she starts to hear the sound of God. And she starts to get excited while everybody else in the city was filled with fear. She had excitement. I know your heart is running cold today because of shame. There is a day coming where you will have great joy and you will no longer be driven by fear. That day is coming. And she's looking out at them and saying, God, good it be. There's a better day.

And what's funny is the Israelites are looking back at her. Joshua's out front with the two spies, and they come over the crests of the hill, and they see the city. And the spies are like, that's it, Joshua, that's the red cord. And all the Israelites saw it. And here's where it hit me. You see, the Israelites had seen this before. They got out of Egyptian slavery 40 years earlier. God did a mighty work in them with a night called the Passover.

And at the Passover, they would take a lamb, and they took some of the blood of the lamb, and they put it on their house. And in Exodus 12, 13, it says, the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This isn't the first time that God did a sign like this, because they got it on the front of their story, the Israelites, and on the back end of their story. So it is with grace. You are going to receive it, but then you are called. to give it. We breathe it in and then we breathe it back up. That's the cycle of grace.

God wants you breathing in because you need it. But he wants you breathing it out because somebody else needs it. This sign, sign of shame, can become God's sign of salvation. And as God was looking to the world to redeem it,

God is into taking a sign because he's into shaming shame. He's into taking a sign. The world would see his shame. He wants to flip it, do some jiu-jitsu on it. And he wants to hold it up as a sign of his salvation. And as God was thinking about sending his son Jesus to the earth, he said, what sign could I pick?

I could pick any signs. What's the sign of the greatest destruction, torture on the face of the earth? Oh, I got it. God said, it's the cross. It's the cross. And God said, I'm going to take a sign, sign of torture, shame. because at the time when Jesus died, nobody wore crosses on their neck because it was an instrument of death. We do today as a sign of his salvation. But at the time, it was a sign of significant shame.

God wants to flip it. And the author of Hebrews says this in Hebrews 12 once, says, therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance marked out for us. and I started to think about that great cloud of witnesses that's referenced in verse one there. It's actually referencing chapter 11 of Hebrews. It's like the hall of faith. These Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. Wait now.

Verse 31. No, surely, this is a typo. By faith, the prostitute Rehab. Welcome the spies was not. You mean God could use somebody who's a prostitute to be a person of great faith? Yes. You and me. God can use us as people of great faith.

And verse 2 goes on. Hebrews 12, 2, it says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. God said, I'm going to take that sign of shame and it will become my sign of salvation. That's what God wants to do in your life. That thing you've been hiding behind. That thing that you're ashamed of. That thing that you hope will never be exposed.

God wants to hold it out. With everybody standing at all of our locations. At the end of the story, we have verse 21. Rahab, he's talking to the spies. And she says this, she says, agreed, she replied, let it be as you say. You see, there's a lot of words that have been spoken over your life. Dumb, stupid. Some kid has been bullied and you have come to the point that you want to give up.

There's been a lot of words that have been spoken over you, but there is a better word that's been spoken over you. That's by our God saying he loves you. Say, let it be as you say. say let it be as you say let it be the cry of your heart today God let it be as you say I know I'm hiding behind the shame he says so she sent them away and they departed and she tied this scarlet cord in the window

you see shame we want to keep on the inside we don't want anybody to see it hide behind it freedom isn't that it's not discovered freedom is that you no longer hide behind it God said, I want that. I know you can't even look yourself in the mirrors for some of the things you did. God said, I want that.

And you become like a woman at University City. Her name is Denise. She had an abortion many years ago, never told anybody and hid behind it. Now she actually has an e-group for women who are struggling with the same thing. What was a sign of her shame became a sign of God's salvation? So what God wants to do in your life. life. So God wants to do in you. It's possible. It's not just for the spiritual elite. It's not just for the ones who get it right. It's for the ones who give it to him. God wants to take it from you,

but you have to give it to him. And so what we're going to do in just a second, actually, would you buy your heads and close your eyes? Very specific assignment dealing with the subject of shame. The first thing you must do is give it to God. You can either settle to live behind shame or you can sacrifice it and see God's blessings. And if you need to give something to God, would you just raise your hands up? If you're struggling under the shadow of shame, I want to know who I'm praying for at all of these locations.

Just lift your hands up. Then the second thing you need to do so you no longer hide behind the shadow of shame is to share it with somebody, one person. Not everybody. Don't put it on Facebook. But invite one person in who's earned the right to hear your shame. And I want to pray very specifically that you would no longer hide behind that shadow.

The battles you fight today, dads, are the battles your kids will avoid tomorrow. Don't hide behind it and force them to fight it. Today is the day you bring it out front. And so, Father, we come to you. We thank you. We take this sign of shame. And we hold it out as a sign of your salvation. I pray for the courage of every man and woman and child under the sound of my voice,

that they would no longer hide behind this shame. God, that they would lift it. up and bring it to you. And when we do, God, we know that you will take it from us. We know, God, that when we stretch our hands towards you, you stretch your hands towards us. And it creates a great exchange, a place where our shame can be exchanged for your grace. So give them the courage, God, right now to invite somebody else into them. Emboldened them, Lord, to step into your presence, to no longer live behind the shadow that they would step into the light of Christ. God, we honor you. We praise you. We thank you. And all God's people said, amen. Now praise him.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there are just a couple things I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe to our show. That way, the most recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for you, ready when you are. And secondly, if this ministry has impacted you, and you'd like to help us continue to reach others, you can click the link in the description, and you can give now. And I'll see you. you next time on the Elevation Podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.