Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: A Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life. I bless you to be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. and its leaf does not wither. In all you do, may you prosper.
That's grounded in Psalm 1.3. May every adversity propel your roots deeper. making you bendable but unbreakable and unshakable. And as the streams of God's grace flow day by day, may you discover that you've grown. Not only deep roots, But also unwithering Fruit.
Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. They run to catch the rabbit, but they all have this in common. No dog ever gets the rabbit. If I were Doctor Doolittle, 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 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. 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 Ronilda 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.
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More on this later in the program. But right now. Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Pastor Alan Wright. They rebelled against God.
Introducing sin into the world. What we learn immediately at Genesis 3, 7. Is the undoing of the paradise in this way? The eyes of both were open. And they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together. and made themselves Loin claws. When God In his heartbrokenness, he comes and says. Where are you? Adam says, I was hiding.
Because I was afraid.
So Since came into a sinless world. And when it did, shame came into a shame-free world. And as soon as Shane came in, There was anxiety. Brene Brown says, shame is all about fear. I might was say before that, fear is all about shame.
In other words, if We could get Our shame healed, I think we're going to get most of our anxiety. Healed. And this is why It's got to be here at the center of this. Sermon series, but it's got to be more than that. It's got to be at the center of our very lives.
And we want to pray for you today. I think because I've Been teaching about this for 25 years and done conferences all over the world. I think that today For someone It's going to be the first time you've ever heard this and you're going to find out. That's been at the root of so much of all of my issues, and I didn't know it. And if so, We're going to pray for you today.
And it's the beginning of a marvelous journey. to a whole new way of living. It's wonderful. And I like to help by first helping you envision what that would be like.
Some of us have been swimming in a culture of shame, and families that brought shame, and teachers, and religions that brought shame, that were just always, in one way or another, telling us we weren't quite good enough, and always seemed to be moving it in front of us so that it was dangled like a carrot, and we're running after it. And so, what does it even feel like to not feel ashamed? What is that freedom? How sweet would it be? I want to get you thinking about that.
And the best way that you can think about that is to think about little kids because shame is something that really kind of gets learned over our life. But we don't, we come in and, like, little toddlers, it's just so joyful to watch them. Week and a half ago, we got to go. with our family and our grandbaby Mia to do something that she probably wanted to do more than anything else in all the world, and that was to have dinner with Minnie Mouse. I want to just set this up and say anybody can go and have dinner with Mickey and Minnie Mouse as long as you take out a second mortgage and you.
You're willing to not think about it because everybody wants to be with Minnie Mouse. And at this restaurant, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and other characters will come around, visit you at your table, and they will also do the thing that Mia loves to do, maybe more than anything, and that is to dance, to celebrate. And she just wanted to dance with Minnie Mouse. I wanted to say that to preview how sort of outgoing this extroverted granddaughter of ours, some little children have fear of these big characters that come around, not her. She wants to hold them, embrace them, just hug them, kiss them, just you name it.
And especially Minnie Mouse.
So Mickey Mouse is the star. Minnie mouse is a sidekick, but not to Mia. Minnes is everything, which was summed up in the fact that when Mickey and Minnie were at our table, And Mia is just talking to Minnie Mouse. And it's clear Minnie Mouse needs to move on to some other kids. And so she tries to move her over to Mickey.
Mia leans into Minnie, puts her arm around her, and says to Mickey, Mickey, take our picture.
So, I mean, it's just. It's really, but this is what I want you to see. I'm talking about shame-free living, okay?
So, Mia, even from she was one, she knew how to do a little spin when she was dancing like this.
So, that's her thing. It's like, do your spin, Mia. And so, she puts her hands up and she does it, and she just dances like this. And so we go to this scene, and all of a sudden they start playing music all over the restaurant. And Minnie Mouse is dancing, and me has got to go and get right into it, you know.
Now, remember. These characters got these big things on, they can't really see what's underfoot.
So it could be a little bit dangerous, but I want you to watch this. To see a little childlike, shame-free joy. But then, notice, I'm gonna narrate a little collision, a small collision here. That for a lot of us could have just moved us right off the dance floor, but not Mia. Let's take a look at this.
Just dancing, all right. And Grat, she wants to get the full town. Here we go. Spin move, boom. But the hands stay up and the dance continues.
Now. She's back in it. She didn't have the little bump. But I want you to see this in slow motion. Because watch this here, Minnie almost crushes her.
But what the child is like. Sachet's off. I'm right back at it.
Now this is what I'm talking about. This is a picture because I feel like don't you feel like in life is like when you get in there and you goof up There's a part of you wants to just sachet off into the shadow and stay there, you know? And we just are busting, laughing, you know, because she just kind of like. Almost just get squashed by Minnie Mouse, come right back into it. I'm talking about.
The Kind of life that God actually wants us to live. He did so in the beginning. Can you just imagine with me for a moment? Paradise. Where Adam and Eve have zero Fear of rejection.
Not one shred of it. Never ever a moment where Adam Hears Eve say something and he takes it the wrong way and thinks that maybe she doesn't love him. Never a moment where Eve feels like that she doesn't measure up in Adam's eye. Never a moment where they feel like the covenant. could be violated or broken.
Never a moment where they felt like I need to be better, look better, or act better than I am in order to be loved by. This person. Never a moment in which they felt like they didn't measure up. This is paradise. This is heaven.
And if you've ever had even a single moment in your life. Even A fleeting moment. Where you felt that Most pure and utterly undefiled and absolutely unconditional love. If you felt it even for a fleeting moment, you've tasted something of heaven. If you've ever felt 100% accepted just for who you are and you didn't need to perform or pretend or be better in order to be loved, that you were already fully loved, if you felt that even for a moment, like a breeze that blew by, you've.
experienced paradise. It's what God made in the beginning, and it's what God will have in the end. for every single one of his children. Gordon Dalby said, Hell is the place where you bear your own shame. Heaven is the place where there is no shame.
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 Allen 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. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright.
And we've become too We've become too normalized. We've become too Satisfied. with this Constant breathing in and out of shame that tells us that we're not enough. What were Adam and Eve? Feeling.
When The shame came in. I just can't even... I can't even really imagine what it is to have never experienced that shame and then the fall. Into it. It's a little bat like.
when a little child who just wants to enjoy life. and is utterly free. one day gets made fun of. for the first time. It would be like what Adam and Eve experienced.
To go. to fall from that perfect innocence into shame. I think it would be like if you could imagine You're just sitting in church. And And then suddenly A screen pop on the screen pops up. Like The worst thing you've done in your life.
or the worst thought you ever had and it just pops up there with your picture and Everybody's staring at it. And you suddenly just... It's devastating just Awful. melting of joy away from your life filled with horrid angst that makes you want to just Hide forever. I'm trying to describe Paradise.
And the loss of paradise, and what God wants to give us back. Adam and Eve had never felt anything like that to that moment. It's horrible. Brene Brown says new brain research. is helping us understand that shame can be so threatening that rather than processing it in the neocortex, the advanced part of the brain that allows us to think and analyze and react.
Shame can signal our brains to go into our primal fight, flight, or freeze. Mode. The reason that shame brings so much anxiety. Is that 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. Um 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 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. 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 as he 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 pastoralen.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, Pastor Alan.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio and this message, shame off you coming to a close. Pastor Alan, what's your closing thought?
Well, if you have experienced a lot of shame in your life, maybe even the worst kind, where You were mistreated? Abused, assaulted. molested abandon These kinds of shaming events in our life. Then you know. the searing pain of what it is to feel like I must not measure up.
There must be something wrong with me. And I just want to say On behalf of The gospel on behalf of the love of Christ Himself: that there's not one thing you need to do to measure up in order for God to love you, He loves you perfectly. The blood of Jesus not only covers and forgives your sin, but the blood of Jesus is more than enough. to help lift your shame as well. And so when you have that gnawing sense of not measuring up.
that then fuels so much of our anxiety and insecurity. Let it draw you to Christ. and come before him in your time of need, and say, Here I am, all of me. and I don't feel like a measure up. But I know.
and that your word says you love me. Show me that. Let me walk in that and teach me that. And I think that he loves to honor that prayer. I'm praying for you as well.
Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-577. 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.
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