Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: a Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life. I bless you to live all your days under the right hand of God's favor. When times are hard, may God create a way in the wilderness for you. And when times are dry, May he provide rivers in the desert for you.
Isaiah 43, 19 When times are uncertain, May God cover you with favor as with a shield. Psalm 512. When it's time for work, May the favor of the Lord our God be upon you and establish the work. of your hands, that's Psalm 90 verse 17. And all of life May you grow in wisdom, stature, and favor.
with God and people everywhere. That's from Luke 2. Verse 52. That's today's blessing. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
His love already has seen everything wrong with you in the past, present, and in the future, and he came to die in your place. This is why John in his little epistle says, perfect love casts out fear, because it melts it all away. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt.
Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, The Untroubled Heart, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So, as you listen to today's teaching, today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Just contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastoralan.org. or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But right now. Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Pastor Alan Wright. We are made.
for love and connection. And shame threatens that. and makes us feel isolated. Like we can't really know and be known. Jean Baker Miller and Irene.
Stever theorists at Wellesley College. Have Spoken of isolation this way, we believe the most terrifying and destructive feeling. a person can experience is psychological isolation. It's not the same as being alone. It's a feeling of being locked out of the possibility of human connection.
and powerless to change the situation. A lot of times, y'all, our families... One thing I've learned about this, our families didn't necessarily intend to Have a shame-based way of thinking or being. It just sometimes happens.
Sometimes if there's just A lot of emphasis on performance rather than the person.
So you start thinking how well you do determines who you are. Or it can be in a home where they're just not A lot of freedom to make mistakes, like you got to stay within the lines. Like whatever you do, don't let others do it better than you. And it just can lead to a greatly anxious way of being. If I blow it, then others won't accept me.
That kind of thinking. that subtly just gets inside of us. Yeah, it's like It's just like one of the most healthy things in a home where A child bumbles, spills the milk. And Nobody reacts very much at all. and just says these things happen.
Yeah. Versus Why are you so clumsy? Where now the shame starts getting locked in and the anxiety. I need to do it right. in order to be accepted around here.
Part of what happens in this kind of family, or in an organization, or even in a religious organization, is you start getting the sense that. You just can't do it well enough. What can I ever do to be good enough? You always. Need to get it just right, and you're not getting it just right, or you could have done better at that.
And so we start thinking in sabotaging ways. that things just don't tend to work out for me. or someone else could do a better job. or that position is too important for me to accept. And with it then comes this This sort of ideology that's in the atmosphere, you must always do better.
And in this kind of setting and environment, whether in a home or on a sports team or a classroom or even in a church. What happens is that people that you need it from never give you full credit. because they're afraid you'll stop trying. It's It's so wrong. But most people tend to think I shouldn't overly compliment or bless them.
Because they'll go to their head and they'll quit trying. And so, this is how we wind up with either the anxiety that makes us overachieve. or the anxiety that makes us just give up because I'm never going to get fully given credit anyway.
So Why try? I've One time talked to a parent and said, I don't understand our child either makes 100 on a test. or a zero. I said, this explains that. Because if you have to get it perfectly right, Then you don't even want to try unless you can get it perfectly right.
And always in the atmosphere of shame, it's conditional support. I'll support you if you do well enough. I'll be really proud of you once you do well enough. And this is what causes so much of our anxiety. When our self-worth starts feeling contingent on others, and I'm okay only if you approve of me, and I'm always thinking, what do you think of me?
This is high. Highly anxious way to live. And then always in same type environments, they're just. very little As far as just open discussion about one's feelings, There are lots of undisclosed issues. They're secrets.
We're supposed to be a happy family, so we don't talk about things like that. Or it's in the past, no need to talk about it. Or if you tell someone, it's going to get worse for you. If you think... that you being good enough Is what is necessary for you to be accepted, then why would you ever want anyone to know about your flaws or failings?
And that causes deeper isolation. which, with all of the fear of being discovered, then puts us into the deepest anxiety of all.
So What I'm saying is, if we want to have untroubled hearts. the very heart of Jesus. what he's offering to us. Is for the shame to lift. Because he came to bear it.
so that we could have His heart towards life. Because of the fullness of the affection of his father. Who said at Jesus' baptism, This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. I wish I could have gone and had time to look up the clip, but somebody was just telling me about it last night. A comedian who was doing a skit using a puppet.
And he was making the skit be like an interaction between himself and the puppet was his dad. And so there were all these jokes and things like that. And then the puppet, the dad, would say, And son, by the way, I'm so proud of you. It's amazing what you've done with your career. I always knew that you'd do well.
And then there'd be a few more jokes. And then the puppet would come back with the father saying, And you really have excelled, and I just am amazed. And I love you so much, my son. You know, stuff like that. At the talk shows afterwards, said, really, your dad said all those different things?
He said, some of them. And it was so cute because it's like he had this puppet doing a skit with his dad and he finally realized, I got the chance to put words in my father's mouth. Half the world would be healed. With a dad who said, I'm proud of you. That's Alan Wright.
and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears. You've believed it in your mind.
Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like.
For any woman who has searched for true love, What you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of The Five Love Languages, says, The incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy his embrace, revel in his love. After all, it's a match made in heaven.
It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allan Wright Ministries.
Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website path. PastorAllen.org. Today's teaching now continues.
Here once again. is Alan Wright. The reason that people shame is not always because they Had some harm in mind, most times not. A lot of times parents, teachers, coaches, authority is shame. because they are trying to motivate.
Sometimes it's just because it's all they've known. Shamed people shame other people. Parents are afraid. They're afraid the child's not going to succeed. And the withholding of affirmation and acceptance in an attempt to motivate.
fuels so much anxiety. Here's why Brene Brown says we're wired for connection. It's in our biology. As infants, our need for connection is about survival. As we grow older, connection means thriving emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually.
Connection is critical because we all have the basic need to feel accepted and to believe we belong and are valued for who we are. Shame unravels our connection to others. In fact, shame is the fear of disconnection. And we're just so we so want to be loved. Yeah.
That if somebody Unwittingly or on purpose is dangling that in front of us. We'll try harder at least for a while. Years ago, when I was thinking about this, I thought about those greyhound dogs, you know, that. run around that track after a mechanical phony rabbit. They run to catch the rabbit, but they all have this in common.
No dog ever gets the rabbit. If I were Dr. Dolittle, I think I'd sit down with those greyhounds and say, dogs. How many times are you going to run around this track and not catch it and think the next time you're going to? Have you not figured this out?
They are moving the rabbit.
so that you will run. And chances are, somebody in your life moved the rabbit.
So you'd run. And you don't get that rabbit that way. Cause love is not earned. Acceptance. is not gained by going faster than others.
And blessing. He's never dependent. If it's authentic blessing, Upon performance. Let me just say this is very tender, but. I don't think they meant it.
Those that move the rabbit on you. I think they might have been well intended. Forgive them. If you're anxious today, It probably either directly or indirectly is related to someone or some group that wanted you to run faster, kept moving the rabbit. Teaching that you can never really rest and you'll probably never be good enough, and God has a way out of this.
Because guess what? God does the opposite. of moving a rabbit. God does the opposite of dangling a carrot of love and acceptance. Yeah.
Here's what God has done. God came to us. In our sin and shame, when we were ashamed. Like Adam and Eve, hiding from one another and hiding from God, He came to us seeing all of our deficiencies, seeing all of our flaws. And this is love.
Not that we first love God, but that He loved us. And He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to us. This is our God who blessed Adam and Eve and then said, Be fruitful. He never meant blessing to be.
a response to our fruitfulness, but the fuel for it. Does God want us to be productive? Yes. Does God want us to be fruitful? Yes.
Does God want us to grow and change? Yes. Does God want us to be serving and blessing others? Yes. But with God, the motivation is never shame.
The motivation of God for the Christian's life is grace. The grace of God. Just breathe it in as deeply as you can, beloved. Just breathe it in. You don't need to try harder to be loved by God.
You don't need to run faster to catch that rabbit. You don't need to be better than you are. You're already perfectly loved. And this is the nature of the love of God. His love already has seen everything wrong with you in the past, present, and in the future, and he came to die in your place.
This is why John in his little epistle says perfect love casts out fear, because it melts it all away. Look what God did. In Genesis 3:21, when Adam and Eve were so ashamed. Did he come and strip away their little leaves? That we're covering themselves.
Did he come and just Add to their shame. No, even At the primal moment of sin. As the specter of the cross already. was being cast across the horizon of history. God In Genesis 3, 21 and his mercy.
The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin. and clothed them. He gave them better clothes. to help cover their shame. And when he did so, He did so by taking the blood of an innocent animal.
and making the clothing from that sacrifice. Fig leaves fade, animal skins last a while longer, but what began. as bloodshed to make leather garments. continued in the drama of the gospel. that began that day.
continued as a crimson thread throughout the pages of God's Word. Isaac on an altar, but a ram was in the thicket, ready to take the knife. Blood on the doorposts of the Hebrew slave homes in Egypt as the destroyer slew every firstborn except the ones under that crimson stain. The bloodstream ran from the Passover lamb to the altar of the tabernacle to the sprinkled high priest on the day of atonement. and from his flogged flesh to his thorn pierced brow, to his nailed wrists.
To his impaled side The blood of Jesus flowed ever so freely to cover Your shame.
so that you, beloved, would in him become clothed with Christ. It means when you're a child of God. That he sees you clothed in the perfection of his son. It means that there is nothing that could ever separate you from the love of God. On the cross the Father In those moments, he didn't do for the Son what he'd done for Adam and Eve.
Instead, The Father left the Son of God there, exposed and stripped and vulnerable. to the mockery of hell and Roman guards and demons at a field day shaming the god man. Because he who had no sin had come to take away your sin. He who had no shame. became willing to experience it.
So Jesus goes, This is what it feels like. This is what Adam and Eve felt in the garden. that day when they suddenly felt So ashamed. He took it. And he bore it.
And he buried it. And on the third day he rose again from the dead. When you're a child of God, He has welcomed you back. and to peace with God and peace with others. Doesn't matter where you go in society, there's some parrot, isn't there, that's in one way or another saying, you know what.
Some mind just look at you a certain way.
Somebody just say a little thing. You got somebody in your life, they know the little button to push, and you know what? And in so many ways the world's trying to Put the shame on us. Aren't you thankful? for a gospel.
and a savior. who came to say the opposite. Shame. Off you. And that's the gospel.
Alan Wright, today's good news message titled Shame Off You, and it's from the series The Untroubled Heart. He stick with his pastor Alan as back in the studio Acey shares his parting good news thought for the day. in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing.
If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's Daily Blessing. It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.org. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears. You've believed it in your mind.
Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like.
For any woman who has searched for true love, What you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of The Five Love Languages, says, The incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy His embrace, revel in His love. After all, it's a match made in heaven.
It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allan Wright Ministries.
Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio in the conclusion of this message, but we're still in the middle of the greater series, The Untroubled Heart. This message, shame off you coming to a close.
Pastor Alan, what's your closing thought? The healing of shame. which when we say shame, we just mean That awful sense of feeling like I don't measure up, and I've got to do something to improve myself to measure up if I'm really going to be loved. That haunting shame that came into the world as soon as sin came into the world. Daniel, that, as you know me well, that call on my life to help people be healed of shame, that is.
Part of my life mission. And so it's always there. And so as soon as we began to think about the healing of anxiety, I realized we must. think about how the shame has to get healed because I really think shame Is the greatest cause of anxiety in the whole universe? and God has a healing answer.
is called grace. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-577-1. 544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production. of Alan Wright Ministries.
