Red Flags and Fig Leaves: Healing Through Honesty

``And then we finally need to start to wonder why is it that it's so easy that when I feel uncomfortable in any relationship, I just gotta cancel them out, and I'm out. What if the red flag is not the person we keep choosing? What if you're the red flag? What if the red flag is the person we stare at every morning brushing our teeth? Can anybody here admit that that is not working? And God's plan for us is not to find the right person. You see that in the Bible. God's plan for us is to become the right person. [01:07:56] (38 seconds)  #BecomeTheRightPerson

Tell your neighbor, God never called you to be a freelance Christian. God never called you to be a loner, tell your other friend. Even if you're an introvert, you've never been called to live life alone. But it's amazing to me because we're living in a culture that is trade training people to live in frictionless relationships. Swipe when you're bored. Block when you're bothered. Mute when you're offended. Delete when things get difficult. But covenant relationship does not work that way. [00:54:37] (36 seconds)  #CommunityNotIsolation

Tell your neighbor, here's the cure. Healing is found where honesty begins. Can I encourage you for a moment? Every person, look to that person to your next to you. They're broken. We're all broken. Look to the person you don't know on the other side. They're broken, all of us. And I know that in a man message like this, the enemy would love to come and whisper to you. He wants to convince you that you're too jacked up, you're too messed up, you're too damaged, you're too far gone. But the truth is every person in this room needs the grace of God. [01:29:57] (41 seconds)  #HealingStartsWithHonesty

Now anytime an all knowing, all powerful creator, our God, asks you the question, where are you? It's not because he lacks information. It's like when your mom asks you, did you finish your vegetables? That's not really a question. It's a statement. It's a statement. He no. You're gonna finish those vegetables, or she already caught you wrapping them up and feeding them to the dog under the table. And when God says, Adam, where are you? God Adam answers, I was afraid because I was, as we say in Oakland, naked. So I hid. [01:02:58] (36 seconds)  #GodAlreadyKnows

There's trouble in Eden if hearing God's word, hearing his voice causes fear. His word is not something we run from. It is something we run to. And he says Adam says, because I was naked. If he was from Oakland, he'd say, I was naked. And I hid on myself, and he said, who told you that you were naked? In other words, God is saying, Adam, you've always been naked. That's not new. What changed? Your perception, how did that change? You ate fruit from the tree of knowledge and good and evil, and you experienced something that I never intended for you to experience, and that experience changed how you see life. [00:58:39] (47 seconds)  #DontFearGodsVoice

We now have AI people are dating chatbots. And I'm gonna say it here to the men and young men especially, don't get caught up with porn online. That is not real life. Real love has friction. Real friendship has honesty. Real marriage has correction. It rubs you the wrong way. Real real family has to forgive. And what we we see today is that most of the companies that are profiting in the world are profiting from keeping people isolated, distracted, scrolling, comparing, consuming, and numb. [00:55:13] (47 seconds)  #RealLoveHasFriction

And I don't care how long you've been married. Do not put your hopes and dreams in another human. You put all your hope, all your dreams in him who is able to do do more than you could ask, think, or imagine. That weight is too much for any human berry person to bear. Melinda is not God. If you're putting all your hopes and dreams on your spouse, you are putting pressure on them that only God can fulfill. And so now you're mad at your spouse for not taking you to a place that only Jesus can take you. [01:13:41] (39 seconds)  #DontPutYourHopesInPeople

Because if we're weak in our relationships, he can weaken our witness. If he can divide us at our homes, in our workplaces, he can distract our hearts from the call of God. If he could damage covenant, then he can come. The enemy will come and discourage our calling. So that's why we're doing this series on family matters. Tell your neighbor, family matters. We're talking all things relationship, not just dating, not just marriage, all relationships. And we're not doing it just because it's an interesting topic. We're talking about it because strong relationships are how we advance in the kingdom of God. [00:53:54] (43 seconds)  #FamilyMatters