Marcus Mecum - Break Free From Shame
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2 Samuel chapter 21. Let’s look at verse 8. So the king took Armani and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul. Five sons that Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzilai, the Meholathite, but you know, in the Old Testament, they spoke in tongues, whether you believe it or not. They just—that’s how they named people. They spoke in tongues and gave somebody their name. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So they fell all seven together. They were put to death in the days of the harvest, in the first days at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Now, Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest time until the late rains poured on them from the heavens. And she, listen to this, didn’t allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. It’s an important thing that we consider watching Rizpah protect these seven bodies that are hanging there, which were her sons. And then the Bible says that David heard what Rizpah had done, and he instructed them to take down these bodies and give them a proper burial. Of course, I kind of threw my own little abbreviated version at the end.
I want to talk to you about grace as king for a few moments. This is a story about a woman named Rizpah. She has seven sons that are very clearly victims of past sins and past mistakes. King Saul, their father, had become king over Israel. And God had already made an arrangement with the Gibeonites that they were to be at peace. And Saul, in his zeal, the Bible says, kind of crossed the line and annihilated the Gibeonites. Years went by, and it appeared like maybe the Gibeonites had let it go, like they had forgotten. But eventually, the past came looking for revenge. Eventually, the past said, «We want our payback.»
The Gibeonites built some gallows. They tied together seven nooses for the seven sons of Rizpah. And there their bodies were hanging for five months. Five months those lifeless bodies were hanging there. But Rizpah, their mom, never left their side. She took a sackcloth and laid it out on a nearby rock. Rain or shine, it didn’t matter what the temperature was, what the heat of the day, or what the cool temperatures of night were. She never left their side. When buzzards would circle, she would fight the buzzards off. When beasts of the field would try to come and rip those bodies down from those gallows, she would fight the beasts off. And David hears about Rizpah, hears about how she’s fighting for her sons, and he intervenes. His instructions were, «I want you to take those bodies down, loose that noose, take the bones down, and give them a proper burial.»
I love this Old Testament story because it’s a great picture of how dangerous your past can be. We all have a past. We all have a history. Some of our histories are worse than others. But the past, whether it was a terrible, horrific past, or maybe you just dabbled here and there, has a way of hanging on. It has a way of refusing to let go. It has a way of saying, «I’ll let you go so far, but I’m never far behind you.» It just nips at the heels in your life.
Matthew 9:36, Jesus saw the crowds, and he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The word harassed in the English-Greek dictionary means demons that were born from past wrongs. And they’re sent to hound and harass you. You try to get up, and those demons from your past wrongdoings are there to pull you back down. You get back up and those demons from your past grab you and pull you back down. And every time you try to get up, it’s there to pull you back. This happens so much that you get exhausted, and you become weary from even trying to get back up. So, the past here in the story that we read is, in many ways, like that noose. You try to break free from it, and it tightens more and more. You try to get away from it, and it seems to get an even greater grip on you. Proverbs 3:22 says that you are to allow grace to be around your neck. The word neck in Hebrew is our English word for trachea. It means to be open or vulnerable. It comes from the idea that back in the day when the famous gladiators would get in Rome’s great coliseums and they would fight to the death. Once the greater, stronger gladiator had overcome his opponent, he would disarm him, take his helmet off, and put the sword to his throat, and then he would look up and wait for the king to either give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to determine his fate.
The point is that defeated, weak, vulnerable moment is where we get the word trachea or neck from. And the Bible says you are to allow grace to be around your neck. You’re to allow grace to be there in your most vulnerable, weak moments. You’re to look at your life, and when you feel defeated, weak, vulnerable, hopeless, and overwhelmed, you have to be reminded that you’re not down and out and on your own. That if you’ll look up a little bit, you can be reminded that grace sits on the throne, that grace is king, and that grace always gives you a thumbs up. That grace has the final say. Your weakness doesn’t have the final say. Your past doesn’t have the final say. Where you’ve been doesn’t have the final say. God, who is our king, gives you a thumbs up. And if God is for you, who or what can be against you? You see, the enemy knows how to target those trachea places in our life. And we have to be reminded that grace is king. Where you’re weak, the Bible says he is strong. That’s grace. The Bible says mercy triumphs over judgment. That’s grace. When I’m down, when I’m defeated, when I feel like I have no chance and I think I’m choked out, that’s my trachea moment. And I’m reminded that God has given me his grace, his divine enablement, and that situation that I’ve been through is not king, but God’s grace is king in my life. So good. So good.
And so these seven sons had seven nooses that were made for each one. The first noose I want us to look at is the noose of shame. Mephibosheth means the end of shame, the one who destroys shame. So when you begin to serve God, when you give your life to Jesus Christ, not only does he forgive your sin, but he destroys your shame. But the enemy has a way of just bringing shame back into our life. You see, shame is not «I feel bad for what I’ve done.» It’s «I feel bad for who I am.» It’s not «I made a mistake.» It’s «I am a mistake.» It attaches itself to your identity. It convinces you that you’re serving God now, but you still have all of this history, all of that past that really defines you more than God’s unmerited, undeserved, divine enablement in your life. It’s an amazing thing how shame works. And shame, if you don’t catch it, produces pain. And all pain needs to be medicated.
For example, you grow up in an alcoholic home, and you have shame because of growing up in that type of an environment. Well, that shame produces pain. So now you’re a teenager and you have to medicate the pain of the shame of growing up with an alcoholic father or whatever it was. Now what you do is you medicate that pain by taking a drink. And now you have shame because of the choice you made to medicate the pain of the shame of the environment that you were raised in. And guess what? That produces more pain. So, you take another drink, and you take another drink, and before you know it, every night you’re taking a drink, and you’re in the cycle of addiction, but really you’re just medicating the pain of the shame that you grew up in an alcoholic family. We could go into so many different areas of our life, but shame insists you are powerless. Yes, God can forgive me, but can I forgive me? Jesus on the cross took our sin and our shame. One of the evidences that you’re free is not just that you say, «God, you’ve forgiven me of my sin.» It’s that you look at your life and you have no shame. You were there. You lived it. You did it. You were there. But God has freed you from the shame of that. God has revealed to you that grace is king. Shame is not king. But the enemy, even though you’re saved, has a way of getting that noose of shame around your neck. And he tightens that noose. And he tightens that noose. And he tightens that noose.
Luke 22:64. I read this this week, and I’d never seen it before. And I ask you to forgive me for never seeing this detail in the crucifixion story. Now, I have believed that I knew every detail of the crucifixion story. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the idea of the cross and what the season we’re going into, the resurrection. I remember reading about how he bled in the Garden of Gethsemane. I know all about how they arrested him. They tried him. I know all about them putting him, tying him to the whipping post, and beating him with the cat of nine tails, ripping his back open. I know about them ripping his beard. I know about them hitting him in his face. I know about the crown of thorns that they shoved onto his head, piercing his skull. I know about the cross that was so heavy on his way to Golgotha he fell under the weight of the cross, and they pulled Simon out of the crowd to help him carry it. I know about the nails that pierced his hands and his feet, the sword in his side. I know about all of that. I know he was bruised for our iniquities. He was wounded for our transgressions, that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him. I know about all that, but I’d never seen this detail. It’s not a big detail, but because it was a new detail, it spoke to me so much about the grace of God.
And it says that having blindfolded Jesus—everybody say blindfolded—I never saw it. I never saw that before Jesus went to the cross, they blindfolded him. And Jesus, the Bible says, they struck him on the face and asked him, «Prophesy, who is the one who struck you?» So, we have a God as part of the crucifixion story who chose to be blindfolded. He chose to not see some things. And that’s what grace is. Grace is the faculty where God has made the choice to not know some things that you know. That’s why the Bible says he takes your sin and he throws it into the sea of forgetfulness to remember it no more. You remember, other people remember, but God chose to be blindfolded. God chose to not see it or know it. He created a faculty in his character to say, «I remember it no more.» Not «I remember, but I’m not bringing it up.» No, he remembers no more. God created in who he is a faculty to forget.
So not only are you atoned, not only—so atonement means God’s covered you. Okay, let me teach you for a second. So he who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. So when God looks at you, he sees Jesus. That’s what he sees there. The atonement is the covering standing between you and God is that atonement. That’s Jesus. So God doesn’t see you; he sees Jesus. Got it? Because if he saw you, you’d fall over and die. But because you have sin and all sin has to be judged. The wages of sin is death. So now your sin, you’re saying, «Well, what happened to my sin?» You look at Jesus. Your sin was judged. Your sin died on the cross. That’s what put Jesus to death. Not the Jews, not the Romans, but your sin killed the Son of God and it was judged. So all the anger, all the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus on the cross so all his love could be poured out on you. That’s the atonement. He who knew no sin became sin that we might become righteous or in right standing with God. We have right standing with God, not by what you earn or what you deserve because grace, atonement has covered you.
So there’s the grace that covers you, but there’s also the grace that covered God’s eyes. He’s blindfolded. He made the choice to not remember, so you can lift your hands in confidence in God’s house. You can come to his great throne of grace in your time of need boldly. How do you do it? Because he doesn’t see what you see. I can bring up Jordan’s sin. I know a few of them. He could probably bring up my sin; he’s probably got some. He works for me, so he might keep it quiet for a little bit till I make him mad. But God doesn’t see us how we see each other. Amen. You and I are forgiven, which means shame, the noose of shame, should be broken from your life. The only way you don’t walk around in shame is if you know grace is king. If you know that you are in a defeated, vulnerable, weak position, the sword of judgment on your throat. But if you’ll look up, you’ll see God is there to give you a thumbs up. Grace has determined your fate. God’s mercy has determined your fate. God’s love has determined your fate. Your performance, if that’s what it was up to, your fate is you’re defeated. You’re down. Thumbs down. But if grace is on the throne, then grace always says to you and me, «I’m king, and I’m not going to allow your past, your weakness, your vulnerable moments to have the final say.»
Number two, it was the noose that was made for Armani. I want to call this one the noose of being normal. Armani means «belonging to a palace.» It speaks of royalty and worth and value to God. It speaks of your potential. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:9 that you’re a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people. And what are you to do? You are to show forth praises to him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So I’m not a subject; I’m a son. I’m not a slave; I’m a friend. The second you give your life to Christ, guess what happens? You become uncommon. A normal life is over for you. The idea of living a normal life is gone from this point on. Every single one of us has to realize that you and I, when God saved us, we got completely delivered from normal. You don’t live a common life. You don’t think common thoughts. You don’t make common decisions. You don’t enter into common relationships. You don’t live a normal life. Everything I do, everything I say, everywhere I go, I represent the king now. So that’s why I dream uncommon dreams. That’s why I believe for uncommon things. That’s why we pray in a big way, believe in a big way, love in a big way, because we’re not going to allow the noose of normal to rob us of what God’s called us to do.
Yes. Years ago, I was speaking at a pastor’s conference. And at this pastor’s conference, there were some really significant pastors, and I was so nervous. My lips were eaten up with fever blisters. When I get really nervous, that’s what happens to me. And I was just sick. I couldn’t sleep. I mean, for days and days, I couldn’t sleep. And I called my pastor, and he’s just laughing at me. And he said, «Do you think they made a mistake to have you in there?» I’m like, «Yeah, probably. I think they made a mistake.» He said, «Let me tell you something a mentor of mine told me years ago. He said, 'Important people do important things.' He said, ‘You’re going to have to tell yourself this is an important thing, and you wouldn’t be doing it if you were not important.’»
And this is my point: all of us have voices in our life that want to convince us some way that just staying normal—conversations that cause you to want to stay small, shrink back, things that make you feel inferior, things that make you feel inadequate. A few years ago, I was having lunch with some people that we work with as a church. One of the people we’d never met before, and we were talking about how we’re going to open a location in Cincinnati. This was before we opened the one in Cincinnati, which would have been our first location outside of Florence. In this conversation, we start talking about what we’re going to do. And this person that we didn’t know speaks up. He starts saying, «You guys shouldn’t do that. I’ve lived here my whole life.» He starts naming all the boards that he’s on with all these gazillionaires. And he says, «You’ll never make it here. You’ll fail. You don’t have a chance. You don’t have a shot. That Kentucky stuff doesn’t work over here.»
And I looked across the table and I said, «You do what you do and I do what I do because —» and I told him, «I remember when someone just like you sat across the table and told me I couldn’t do what we’ve done there.» And I looked across the table and told them the same thing I’m going to tell you, and that is God does what he wants to do with who he wants to do it. And he doesn’t talk to you about it, and he doesn’t talk to me about it. And the same God that’s done what he’s done there in Florence can do it anywhere he wants to do it. And a little 50-foot river in no way is going to build a wall and limit what God can do. And so I know it’s not right. God’s going to have to help me, and you’re going to have to understand I still have some flesh. But the second we opened that building, I took a picture of it and sent it to the guy and said, «Hey, send this to your friend. We just bought that land in Cincinnati.» Took a picture of it. I said, «Hey, send this one to your friend. When we grand open over there, you don’t have to be excited about it.» And it’s not me bragging about me. It’s me saying I know the God I serve. And he did not save me to be normal. And he didn’t save you to be normal. He didn’t save you to live an ordinary life. That’s a noose. And God’s people should be set free from the noose of normal. I’m going to preach until you believe it.
And those conversations like that that I have, there are conversations like that that you have. And by the way, I didn’t need his help to believe I couldn’t do it. Because the things I say to myself when I’m having lunch with myself are way worse than what he says. But you’ve got to believe that grace is king. Everything God’s done here is a result of grace. Not talent, not gifting, not intellect, not wisdom. Grace has done it. The grace of God has built this church. The grace of God is building this church. Yeah, it takes some hard work. Yeah, it takes some effort from God’s people. But at the end of the day, grace is king in Jesus’ name.
Number three, there were five more nooses that we don’t have the names of those sons. So these are unnamed, unknown nooses. The point is you have to name your noose. What’s in your history that won’t let go? Depression is a noose. Unforgiveness is a noose. Fear is a noose. Pride and ego are a noose. Addiction is a noose. Betrayal, lust, wrong relationships. The devil does not care how he chokes the word of God out of your life. So every now and then you hear a sermon like this and you think that you’re good. You think that you’re done. You have to name your noose. What’s your noose? You came to church. What’s the thing that the enemy has a way of grabbing hold of your life? What’s the thing the enemy uses to choke God’s best out of your life? Choked. Think about it. When that grip tightens around your life, blood stops flowing. Breath stops. You can’t speak. You can’t have a voice. What’s that area of your life? God’s not breathing in that area of your life. That divine blood that Jesus shed isn’t flowing into that area. You’re still bound. You’re saved, but you’re not free. You love God, but you’re living with that noose robbing you of the breath and the life that God has for you.
Well, the Bible here says there were two things that loosed the noose in the story. The first is what I want to call a loving, passionate church. Rizpah, the mother of these boys, is a great picture of the church. Watch her for five months. Storms would come, freezing temperatures at night, and there she is fighting off the birds, fighting off the beasts. And you know, her name means «hot stone.» That’s what her name means, which Jesus said to Peter, «Upon this rock, or stone, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.» And the point is this: one of the ways that you loose the noose in your life is you’ve got to make sure that you have a hot stone. You’ve got to make sure that you’re not a part of just any church. I love all churches, but is the church that you’re a part of on fire for God? Are they zealous for God? Are they fighting off the buzzards? Are they fighting off the beasts? Are they saying, «I’m praying for you. I’ve got you. I love you. I’m not giving up on you. I don’t care how lifeless it looks, how hopeless it looks. I believe in you. I’m standing with you. I’m praying for you.»
The thing I think about Seven Hills is this is not a lukewarm church. This is the kind of church that you want to be a part of if you’re struggling because we’ll fast, we’ll pray, we’ll seek God, we’ll get on our face, we’ll intercede. If you’ll reach out, we have almost every imaginable thing you could think of to try to plug you into to come alongside you and help you get the freedom that we believe God’s called you to. So Ephesians 3:10 says, «The manifold wisdom of God is made known by the church to principalities and powers in heavenly places according to the eternal purposes of God.» The way God planned it before time as we know it is he designed it that you would come to a church and that the church could tell the devil, «You can’t have them.» Yes. Why do you think the devil fights the church so much? Why do you think he works so hard to get you detached from the church? That’s the noose, right? The noose does what? It cuts off the head from the body. The head is Jesus according to Ephesians 1:22. We’re the body. He wants you disconnected from the body. Why? Because the Bible says through which he speaks, acts, and fills all things with his presence. You can be down and out, vulnerable, weak, no way to get up. But you come to a church that claps next to you not because that person’s never been through anything. It’s because they’ve been through every defeat you could think of. And they’re clapping, saying, «He’s right. He’s right.» You can be vulnerable and weak but get your eyes off you and your situation and get your eyes on the fact that God gives you a thumbs up and grace is king. Grace is on the throne today.
Number two, the king says, «I want you to go loose those nooses and bury the bones.» For five months, they hung there. Notice that this is the past. There’s no life in it. But watch this. As long as the past had presence, it had influence. There’s no life in the noose. There’s no future in the noose, but yet it had presence. It’s gone. It’s in the past, but it hadn’t received a proper burial. When Jesus went to the cross and he died, he didn’t stay on the cross. They took down his body and they put it in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. So all that sin, all that shame, all those nooses—you named your noose—the addiction, the betrayal, the unforgiveness, the bitterness, the depression, all of that stuff was laid on him. And he went to that borrowed tomb, and he buried that. He buried every noose you could think of, every noose in your life. It was buried there. He got up, but those things stayed there.
When you get water baptized, which we have a couple of weeks after Easter, one of the things that you do is you go down. That’s burial. That means the old you goes under the water and it stays there. The new you comes out. And the point is, every now and then you’ve got to say, «What have I reached back for that God’s already buried? And I keep digging it back up.» It’s in my past. It’s gone. But I keep giving it presence. I keep giving it my thought life. Instead of meditating on grace as king, I meditate on something that happened 20 years ago, 30 years ago. It robs me of my joy, and it robs me of my strength, and it robs me of my future, and it just tightens itself around my neck.
I saw it like this. I saw so many people that would be in church today, and they feel like that fallen gladiator, and the enemy just has that sword to your neck. Maybe it’s your marriage and it’s fallen and broken and weakened, and the enemy has said there’s no hope. The fate is it’s over. Maybe it’s an addiction that you’ve tried to get up from. You’ve tried to break free from it. You’ve asked God to help you. Vulnerable and weak; you just feel like the enemy has that sword to your throat, your broken heart, the depression that you just can’t—it just comes from your past and pulls you back down. That worry just comes and chokes the life out of you. And you’re right; you can’t get up. You’re right; you don’t have the strength to. But that’s not what we’re talking about today. We’re saying you’ve got to look up and realize grace is king. And you think it’s over, but grace gives you the thumbs up.
Grace is here to say it’s not done. It’s not over. You’re not finished. You should get a picture of yourself healed. Get a picture of yourself in victory. Get a picture of yourself walking in freedom. Get a picture of yourself being free from unforgiveness and free from shame and free from your past and your history. It’s buried. It’s gone. And God has raised you up into a brand new life. And you should live your life. You and I should live our life testifying grace is king. Grace has the final say.
With every eye closed, every head bowed, no one looking around at all of our locations. Just a few moments ago, I said, «Name your noose.» You named your noose. It’s important that you name it. It’s important that you describe it, that you’re clear about it, that you know how the enemy is trying to rob you of God’s best for your life. If you’re here, and you’d say, «Marcus, when you said that, I immediately had a sense, and I named my noose.» If you did, raise your hand as high as you can. You named your noose. I want you to keep your hands raised. Keep your hands raised. And I’m going to ask you to do one more thing. We’re going to go into a time of worship, and we’re going to be Rizpah. We’re going to be that hot stone. We’re going to be the ones that help loose the noose today. So, if you raised your hand, hundreds and hundreds have raised their hands. I don’t care how many it is. I don’t care how hard you have to fight to get up front, but I want you to right now—if you lifted your hand and named your noose—on the count of three, I want you to get up on your feet, find the aisle, and come down to the altar. Let the rest of us stand up to our feet as they come, and can we lift our hands in worship? If you want to be the kind of church that fights for people, prays for people, believes God for people, then this is our chance to be Rizpah. This is our chance to say, «Hey, we’re for you. We’ve got you. We’re not letting you leave here without it. We’re fighting off the enemy together.» Come on. Let them know we have their back. Can we do it? Can we worship together? Quickly. Come pull as close as you can. Come on, let’s worship him together. If you’ll let him, this will be the most powerful part of the service. Whether you’re here or there, mark my words. Come on, let’s focus on grace as king.
Would I be? Oh my God, you’ve sure been good to me. You’ve been just—You’ve been just that good. You’ve been just that good. Lord, without your love, where would I be? Think, oh my God, you’ve sure been good to me. You’ve been just so good to me. Lord, without your love, where would I be? Oh my God, you’ve been so good. Yes, you’ve been so good. Sing, you’ve been so, so good to me, God. You’ve been so, so good to me, Lord. Without you, think of where I would be if not for you. With my God. Yes, you’ve been so good.
To think about all you’ve done for me. Oh, if not for you. You’ve been so good. You’ve been so, so good to me. Yes, God. You’ve been so good to us. We don’t deserve your love, but oh, to be where I would be if not for you. If not for you. If not for you. Oh, you’ve been so good, so, so good to me. You’ve been so good. You’ve been so, so good to me.
Oh, to think about when I think about you. If not for you. If not for you. You’re worthy of it all. You’re worthy of it all. Oh, for from you are all things, and to you are all things. Oh, you deserve the glory. Oh, come on, church. Can we just worship him today? You’re worthy of it all. You’re worthy of it all. Yes, you are. You’re worthy of it all. Thank you, Jesus. For from you are all things and to you are all things. Yes, you deserve the glory, God. You’re worthy. You’re worthy of it all. We bless your name. You’re worthy of it all. We bless you, Jesus, for you are all things and to you all things. Yes, you deserve the glory. You deserve it.
Let’s all put our hands on our hearts. Every eye closed, every head bowed. Maybe you’re still in service and you’d say, «Marcus, I’m not right with Jesus Christ.» Jesus is not the Lord of your life. If you stand before God today, you would with sincerity say you’re not ready. You’re not ready for eternity. You’re not ready to stand before God. And today you need forgiveness. Today you need a new beginning. Today you need a new start. The Bible says that you’re saved by grace through faith. Grace is king. The Bible gives us steps that we take. It’s not that we can earn the grace that God gives us; it’s undeserved. It’s unearned. But the steps you take are moments like this where you say, «By faith, I’m going to look up and see God gives me a thumbs up today.» Not my past, not my history, not my sin, not where I come from.
You say, «Well, how do I do that?» I’m going to encourage you to make a decision. A decision to say, «Today, I’m leaving here different.» You’re going to have to keep making these decisions. It’s not going to end here, but it can begin right here. You can have a brand new beginning. That’s the prayer we’re going to pray. A prayer of brand new beginnings. A prayer where old things passed away and behold, all things can become brand new. So if you’re here and you say, «Marcus, I need a new beginning. I need a new start. I need forgiveness. I want to get my life right with Jesus Christ.» If that’s you, on the count of three, lift your hand as high as you can. One, two, three. Throw that hand up as high as you can. Keep it raised. Don’t put it down. Keep it raised as high as you can. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. You’re going to know to put your hand down when a friend of mine places a book in your hand. We’ll explain that in just a moment.
Let’s all put our hands on our hearts. We’re going to pray with those who lifted their hands. And then I’m going to pray a general prayer over all of you today that maybe you’ve named that noose. And we’re just going to believe God today that that noose is no longer going to have a hold on you. So say this with me:
«Say, Jesus, I look to the cross this morning—
to the cross where you died and bled for my sin.
I ask you to forgive me.
I ask you to cleanse me and wash me.
I repent.
I acknowledge I’m a sinner.
I acknowledge that I need you.
I need a savior.
And Jesus, I do believe that you’re God’s only Son
and that you raised from the dead.
And today, I ask for your help.
I ask for your grace to walk this out in Jesus’ name.
I believe today marks a brand new beginning,
that old things have passed away.
They’re buried in Jesus’ name,
and God’s raising me up into a brand new life.»
Now the rest of us, let’s keep our hands on our hearts. I want you to say: «God, I get my eyes on the fact that grace is king. Grace is king. That grace gives me a thumbs up. Grace gives me a thumbs up that those weak, vulnerable moments where I feel like there’s no hope — I feel like I can trust that grace never gives up. I thank you that you’ve given me your spirit. I thank you that you give me your spirit without limit. I will not limit you from this point on. I will not listen to limiting voices, voices of shame, voices of addiction, voices of unforgiveness. Today I’m asking for grace to loose the noose in Jesus' name.» We all said a big amen. Amen. Amen.