All right, well, good morning. Uh, if we haven't had the chance to meet, my name is Dave, and I am one of the pastors here. And good morning to those at Grant's Trail, uh, Fenton, mid Rivers and online. And I loved it how, uh, Diego did say that we've had some amazing, uh, speakers up until now. Um, is what he's, I heard him say maybe that wasn't exactly what he meant, but you be the judge of that this morning. But we have been in this summer series called Summer Voices, and there's been a scripture that has been woven throughout this series. And its second Peter three 18, but now grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And our teachers have done an incredible job of, of explaining God's grace and how that impacts our lives. And so, um, will Coleman talked about that we were made for more, that his grace qualifies us for more. We're not unqualified. We are qualified because of God's grace. Um, we're not alone. God wants to come close. He answers our prayers. God, uh, Greg talked through the Lord's prayer. You are not alone. You can call him Abba Father, because of God's grace and what Jesus did. We can walk with him intimately. Uh, you have victory. David Hawkins talked about victory over failures because of God's grace. You're not defined by your failures. You can have forgiveness. You can forgive others. God is bigger than your hurts. Kyra talked about His grace is bigger than your hurts. Nathan talked about you're created a new creation. You're no longer your old self. God has made you new because of his grace. Angela talked last week about being close. God wants a close relationship. And we can have this close relationship. We don't have to have a distant relationship because of what Jesus did on the cross and his grace. You have a future. Jared said You have a future because of God's grace. Your past does not define you. You have a future. We're no longer broken. We're reconciled. Tim talked about how brokenness started in the garden with Adam and Eve, and how that brokenness has been reconciled through Jesus Christ. We're reconciled with God and we can reconcile our relationships because of grace. And Christ Nation talked about a depth of relationship that God wants with us. No more shallowness. God wants us to walk in his grace and in a deep relationship. It's because of God's grace that we can have abundant life. And this morning we're gonna talk about this box. What's in it? I can't tell you. It's a secret. No, really, it's a secret. We're gonna talk about secrets this morning. Ooh, I heard that. Um, and so I think we should pray right? Father, right now, as I even said the word secret, God, some defenses kind of go up, but you want to give us freedom. So right now, I pray that our defenses will go down, that we would not hear my words. We would hear your words. We would not hear the enemy. We would not hear anything else, but we would hear your spirit speak to us clearly. So give us the ability to hear what you have to say to us this morning. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right. So it may be a little intimidating to think that we're gonna talk about secrets this morning. And I kept my prayer short so that you could not exit, uh, that there would be a mass exit. And so thank you for staying. But not all secrets are bad. There are some good secrets, I think of like secret menus, right? A secret menu. You got your McDonald's, your in and out, you got your Starbucks where you can order your Mocha costa latte and your Frale app, dingdong. You got those kind of things, right? Those are some secrets. You feel like you're on the end because you know those secrets. Um, they're secret restaurants. Uh, if you've ever been to Disney, any other parks, you walk past a secret door and there's a secret club called Club 33. It's exclusive. It's kind of expensive, uh, but you've walked past it. And because it's exclusive and expensive, you know, uh, it's a secret. Uh, and it makes you feel in, if you're on that, on that path, um, then there's these kind of secrets. Maybe, uh, you recognize this. You know what that is. If you don't know what that is, lemme give you a hint. Here's a hint. All right? Government secrets. And some of you just said, okay, now I'm in Dave. Okay? This is the, this is the message I've been waiting for. We're gonna talk about government secrets. And some of you just kind of threw up a little bit in your mouth too, like, ugh, we're not talking about those kind of secrets. Matter of fact, uh, we're talking about the secrets that, uh, we keep hidden because of shame. Uh, we wanna avoid accountability. Um, we worry about what people think about us, about us. If this secret gets out, it's those kind of secrets we're gonna talk about today. So it's Labor Day weekend. It's a holiday weekend. So you wanted to be here. I know. I mean, you came on a holiday weekend, so you wanted to be here. So we're gonna, as we do, we share with each other. Uh, if you're new, you know, we turn and we talk to each other, and you're not obligated to. But, uh, I'm gonna have you turn and share, uh, to your neighbor, and, and you're gonna share your deepest, darkest secret, okay? No, or, or you can share a childhood memory of when you did something wrong and you kept it a secret. Talk amongst yourselves. Ah, now didn't that feel good? Didn't you just enjoy that? Wasn't that great? Tell me. That's the first time he ever told that story in public or out loud. And you're like, ah, that felt so good. You could, you could just leave now if you need. No, don't, um, I'm not gonna ask you to do anything that I'm not willing to do myself. And so, lemme tell you a childhood secret of mine that I kept, I thought. Um, so I grew up in a house. There's, uh, five boys, one girl in my house, my daughter or my daughter. My, my sister was, was outta the house by this time. And so there's five boys, my mom and dad in the house. And, uh, I was six, seven, uh, seventh grade. And, uh, and there's a China cabinet. Now it's a house of five boys. There's not a lot of nice things around, uh, but there's a China cabinet. And I was in the China cabinet, and I don't know why, but I was in the China cabinet and I saw something, I saw a box of chocolates, and it was a very nice box of chocolates. It was, uh, if you know anything about seas, candy, it's top shelf kind of chocolate. Um, and I didn't know the expense of it. I didn't know it really was. But I saw a, a box and I had a thought, and the thought was, that looks good. And I knew it wasn't mine. Um, but my thought turned into a plan. So I made a plan. And the plan was, um, how can I eat this box of chocolate and nobody find out? So the plan didn't just include opening up the box of chocolates. It included my alibi, my excuse, and all the things that would follow that if I got caught in the cabinet. And that plan turned to action. I opened up the box of chocolates. It was full. I took one of the chocolates. I ate it, and I took the little confectionary cup. I put it in my pocket to dispose that at a secret location. I moved the chocolates back around so it looked full still. 'cause you could do that with a full box of chocolates. I placed the cover on and I went and I had the result that I wanted. Nobody found out, no consequence. And I got a piece of chocolate. It felt good. So a day went by. I walked by the cabinet again, I had a thought. I went in there. And now I have a more elaborate plan. And I go in. I have, my excuses are, man, they're solid now. And I have another piece of chocolate. And, and I got my result, no consequences. And I succeeded in having another piece of chocolate. I put it back, a couple days go by, I have a thought. I'm not even near the cabinet now, but I go to the cabinet and I eat another piece of chocolate. And this goes on and on. Results are fine. I know that I'm guilty because it's not my chocolate. And the more I go back to it, the more guilt I have. It's guilt is not a feeling. Uh, guilt was the fact that I was stealing from whoever's chocolate this was, and it had to be my mom and dad's. So that, that was the fact. But shame started to creep in. And pretty soon all of the ability to hide the chocolates, um, was gone because I had eaten so many. There's just now, you can't spread 'em out enough. It's obvious that somebody's been eating the chocolates. So when I got to that point, I made another plan, and I took action. I ate all the chocolates. And as it is when we do this kind of thing, is, it starts out as a, as an easy. And all of a sudden that made me sick. And, and the chocolates were not as tasty. And it, it was no longer any good. But I took that box and I disclosed, disposed of it in a place where nobody find out that those chocolates were touched by me. The fingerprints were wiped clean. Everything, all the evidence was gone. And I lived with this until one night at dinner, all five boys are around the table with mom and dad at the ends. And mom's voice starts to quiver. She said, who ate my chocolates? Everybody looked at each other and she started to explain what these chocolates were meant for. And I didn't know value back in those days. I didn't know that we were poor and that those were very special chocolates. I didn't know that she had been saving them for a special occasion for special guests. And those special guests happened to be coming. And she went to get those chocolates out, and they were gone. I didn't know how much she paid for 'em. It was a lot of extra money that we didn't have. I didn't know all of that. And she started to explain what these chocolates were for and how much they cost. And inside of me, the shame welled up. And then she went around. Each of her boys, did you eat my chocolates? And every one of them, every one of her boys said, no, I did not. It had to be a Randy, Doug, Steve, Ken had to be them. It wasn't me. I didn't do it. And I was stuck in my secret. And I carried this around, and it was a weight. I realized, based on the tears that she had at the table, and, and knowing not, not that the chocolates were good, knowing that one of her sons lied to her, and it was me. And that locked me into it. And, and I had probably nine to 10 months earlier than that, I had give my life to Jesus. I've experienced his grace. And his conviction was like, you gotta do something about this. This is not right for me. And I confessed to him, God, I'm sorry I've done this. I, I understand that I've done wrong. And he said, you gotta make amends to your mom. So I took what money I had. I went to the corner drug store, and I bought a pathetic box of chocolates. Little red heart shaped box, maybe 10 chocolates in it all. And I went to my mom and I said, mom, I lied to you. I'm the one who stole your chocolates. And my mom, because she's a woman of faith, has much grace. She let me know that she forgave me. I know that Jesus forgave me. I confessed that to him. But she took my shame, my guilt, and accepted a pathetic replacement for me, from me. That's how it starts. That's what secrets are. You may be here this morning and you're saying, but Dave, I don't have any secrets between before God and my family and my friends. Really, I don't have any secrets. I'm not hiding anything. I say, that's fantastic 'cause that's where we wanna live. Uh, God does not want us to live in that shame and that guilt. He wants to give us freedom from that. But let this be a, a reminder that we gotta walk humbly with that, that we're all just one thought away from leading down this road. 'cause it starts with a thought and then it moves to a plan. If you don't stop it at a thought, it moves to a plan. And then conviction can come in, right? Conviction can come in right then and, and, and stop you. And maybe you make a different plan, but you don't. If you, if you don't change your ways, then you go from a plan to an action. And then that action gives you a result. And the result is what you wanted at first. But it also can be a result of consequences. I had no idea I was harming my mom when I ate that first box of, uh, bite of chocolate. I didn't realize the consequences that were happening. 'cause I was getting my need filled, my want filled. There was a result, which led to, to guilt. There's conviction. The Holy Spirit was walking with me and saying that conviction is, is is God telling you this is not who you are. I made you for more than this. You, this is, you are made for, for better things. Don't go down this road. That's conviction from the spirit. But the enemy leads in with shame. And shame is, this is who you are, Dave. You are a liar. You are a thief. You don't care about your parents. You don't care about relationships. That's who you are. And that's where the enemy wants to keep us locked in these secrets. But here's the anecdote. Here's how we get out of this is through, through confession. Now, when I bring up that word, confession, I know some of you are from different faith traditions, and you're here this morning, and that word confession brings a lot up. Maybe a lot of questions, maybe a lot of feelings. But also let you know, we love those kind of questions here at the crossing. So continue asking those questions today. We're just gonna scratch the surface of this. It's today's message might even leave you with more questions than answers. But let's have the conversation keep coming back. Let's have the conversation. But here at the Crossing for Confession, we believe that what Jesus did on the cross, that he is buried and raised from the dead. He has grace that he offers us. He offers us a personal relationship with God Almighty, that we can go directly to him because of a relationship we have through Jesus Christ. So when I'm talking about confession, I'm talking about going straight to God. And we're gonna see that. We're gonna go into Psalm 51. And Psalm 51 is a confession that, uh, has been used for centuries as a template. Uh, Psalm 51 is written by a real guy, a real man who is in real need. He had some serious secrets. And when he finally gets past the point of pride, when he finally humbles himself and says, you know what? I was wrong. He cries out these words in Psalm 51, verse one, have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. He's crying out, God, give me your grace. I have some deep transgressions. And this guy has some deep transgressions. The guy that we're gonna talk about who wrote this psalm is a guy named David King David. And you may know him as the really faithful shepherd boy who defied all odds. And because of his great faith in, in, in God that he was able to take some stones, and he was able to defeat the enemy, defeat Goliath because of his great faith. And King David, uh, when he was placed as king, God said, I'm gonna choose a king over Israel. That is a man after my own heart. That, that he and I walked together, that that God's heart and David's heart were one. Um, he was such an example that, that people named their kids after him. David, Dave, David. But here's what I love about the Bible. Um, the Bible does not gloss over flaws. David was flawed. David did some egregious things. He sinned in horrible ways. And that's what we're gonna look at this morning. He had a big secret starts back in sec, second Samuel 11, when David's men were at war. When David sent all of his army out to fight a battle, he stayed back and he walked over and he was on the roof one night, and he is on the balcony. And he sees on another balcony, a woman bathing. And he has a thought. And it's a lustful thought. It's a physical lust thought. But lemme just say there's other lustful thoughts out there. There's lust for popularity. There's lust for power, there's lust for money there. There's lots of ways to lust. But there, this is a physical lust. And no doubt the enemy's using that thought today in our world, he has this lustful thought. And I wish, I wish he would've confessed right away. You know, he had access to counselors and prophets. He could have gone to Nathan, the council and prophet that was, was part of his, his regime at that time. He could have gone to Nathan and said, you know, I'm having these thoughts. I know they're against God and they're against her, and they're, they're just against, against me. And I don't wanna live this way. That's not who God called me to be. Um, let, let's work through this. Let's, let's end this right now. He had that thought, and he did not confess. Um, he made a plan. And so as king, he can do what he wants. So he required Bathsheba to come to the palace where he required to sleep with her. And he did. There was an action. And then he sent her back home. Uriah, her husband was at war. Bathsheba was married, adultery, and we're gonna get to that. But it's stronger than, than adultery. He got what he wanted. There's the result. There's no consequence in his life. There's consequences. He knows he's wrong, but he doesn't do anything about it. 'cause it's a secret. Now until the secret's gonna get brought up, because Bathsheba sends message back to David, guess what? There is a consequence. I'm pregnant. So here's where he has an opportunity to confess again. Say, oh man, I've sinned against you and your husband and, and, and, and before God. And he could, he could stop it right there, but he doesn't, you know what? He tries to cover it up. His pride gets in the way. So he brings Uriah back from the battle, and he says, Hey, go sleep with your wife, hoping that that could be the coverup. Uriah says, I can't do that. I can't enjoy any comfort when they're all at battle. I I'm not gonna enjoy any comfort while my friends are battling. So the cover ups not gonna work. And right then, David has the opportunity to confess again. But he doesn't. He digs in with his pride and his reputation is more important. So this secret turns to murder. He writes a letter to the commander, a command for his commander, hands it to Uriah. Uriah carries his own death notification to his commander. He hands it to his commander. And at that point, the commander has to put Uriah up front with other, other, uh, um, combatants. And he says, put 'em as close to the city as you can and then pull back. So they surely die. Davis heart has become so hard, he's gone down this road that now is just evil, pull back so that they die. So that Commander Joab does that and then sends back notification to King David, that Uriah is dead. And at this point, you would think that maybe his heart is gonna get broken, but it doesn't. Now he looks good. I will take care of my military, fallen families. Baba, let me take care of you. I'll bring you into the house and I'll marry you because your husband has died in battle. And it looks like the secret is buried, but it's not. And there's no consequences, right? There's consequences. You know, uh, this confession in 50, in Psalm 51 was written probably nine, 12 months after all this happened. And in his confession, uh, David cries out, Lord, let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. During this time, he was experiencing his own consequences. He was experiencing the joy slipping away from him. He was experiencing the gladness gone in his life. It felt the weight on his bones of the crushing, of holding onto the secret. It affected him physically, emotionally, mentally, it affects us the same King David had those experiences. Little David who stole chocolate had the same experiences. We know from research that when you hold onto a secret, it affects you. It'll affect you mentally, physically, cognitively, relationally, and it'll affect your wellbeing. You'll have more stress, more anxiety. You can slip into depression. You have elevated stress response. You're fatigued. You have a decreased perceived physical ability. They put people on stairs. People holding secrets felt like climbing those stairs were harder than people who weren't holding onto secrets. It affected their perceived physical ability. They were distracted. They had less memory. Re re recall, lower trust. It affected their relationships. They were socially withdrawn. Your mind will wander. You have lower life satisfaction. Secrets affect us, and it's in varying degrees. But don't be fooled when you're holding onto a secret. It's affecting you, but it's just not you. It's affecting the people around you. In this story, let's look at how it affected those around him. Bathsheba. Now, she was required, and I'm gonna say she was abused. Maybe this is your story. Your secret is not because you sinned, it's because shame was put upon you by somebody else. Maybe not in those exact ways of abuse, but somebody has shamed you and you're holding onto that. Let me tell you, I'm so, so, so sorry. God does not want you to carry that. And your confession is not a confession for forgiveness from sin because you did not sin. Your confession is, God, I don't need to carry this alone anymore. God, why am I carrying what's been put on me by somebody else? God is your grace big enough for me? I I confess that I need help from you. And I'm not gonna walk in this secret alone. I'm gonna walk with other people. Not every secret is sinful, but as we hold them, they can be harmful. Bathsheba was affected. Uriah lost his life over it. The child was affected. Joab, the commander, all the families were affected of those who went close to the city and were killed because of David trying to cover this up. David left a wake of destruction as he just plowed through with his pride down this road, a wake of destruction. Our secrets directly or indirectly are affecting other people as well. And this is why God says, don't do it. Don't be there. Don't hold onto it. Now, we've plowed through a lot right now. And so take a breath. Let me ask you this question. When you see a yellow light, are you more likely to hit the gas or hit the brake real quick? Tell your neighbor, are you more likely to hit the gas or hit the brake? Okay. Alright. Again, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you. Me. Um, I am, well, first of all, when that light turns yellow, there's a lot of math that goes on in my head, way to the truck, distance to the light, how many cars are around, you know, all that. Um, but I am more likely to hit the gas, um, unless my wife's in the car. It's automatic stop. Even if we're at this stoplight and that stoplight turns yellow, I'm staying at this one until that one turns green. Well, I had a job in college that allowed me to run lights legally. Uh, and I was an ambulance driver. I, I worked as an EMT and I did ambulance work. And I remember my very first call out. Um, I had done everything. I had done all my ride alongs, but this is the first time I'm in the driver's seat for a call. And we had a call out. Uh, there's a traffic accident at first into ero, and they call us out. Med stat, uh, 11, go to first into ERO code three. I'm like code three. Ah, that's what I wanted to hear. I hit it, woo. Everything's go, everything's flashing. And going. Now I get to the first top line, I cure clear left my partner clears, right? We go to the second stoplight, clear left, clear, right? We go to the third stoplight, clear left, clear, right? As we get through that one, my partner yells Dave. I'm like, what? Do you know where you're going? No, I have no idea where I'm going. I didn't know where I was going. I was supposed to turn right up here. I was just going where I was going and I was getting where I was going. And that's the truth. We get where we're going, whether we wanna go that direction or not. If we're going that direction, we're gonna get there. And I was not getting to the place where I was fulfilling my purpose as an EMT as I was helping people. I, I was not getting to that place. I was going away from where I was supposed to be helping people. Um, and in earlier services, I just left it there. And, uh, they said, well, what happened to 'em? So, so I'll just tell you, they're all fine. They're good. When, when I arrived, they were good. I think they won the lottery since then. They let on a Tahiti island somewhere, I think is that's what's happening to them now. No, but they were fine when we got there. Um, but in that same timeframe, when I was working that job, um, I picked up a secret. This is not an excuse. I was working four days a week, uh, 3 24 hour shifts and one shift on call. Um, stress, all those kind of things. The people that we're hanging around with, all those kind of things are not an excuse for any of the behavior that I did. I did it. I had a thought, I had a plan. I had action, I had results. And I had shame. And I had a secret because in that same timeframe, I was voluntarily leading a youth ministry. I had some great Christian friends that I was avoiding when I, all this was happening. I had, uh, a godly girlfriend. I had all the things that I think God wanted for me. I was living that life when I was with them. But I was holding onto this secret. I was not living that way in the other areas of my life. And I thought I was keeping it hidden. But my friends invited me to a meeting. We were gonna have a youth ministry meeting. And I showed up at Lee and Karen's house thinking this was all hidden. I, and they sat me down and they told me, we know about it. We know what's going on in your life. And they said, Dave, do you know where you're going? I knew I was going somewhere. I know I was getting there, but I didn't want to go there. And so they lovingly, gently confronted my secret. And I remember we kneeled down in that living room. They put their hands on me and I prayed for forgiveness. And I confessed. And they forgave me. And they helped me lead me back onto the right road. Do you know where you're going? Nathan, the prophet and the counselor eventually shows up in David's life again and asks the same question, do you know where you're going? He, he's, he gives a parable to David at first and said, Hey, there's this rich guy that owns a bunch of stuff and he steals from this guy who has nothing. What do you think about that? And David says, that rich guy should be punished. And da or Nathan says to David, that's you. You know what you did with all the things, the wake of destruction. And this is the point where finally his pride gives way to humility. And his heart becomes broken. He sees what God sees. This was not a secret to God. Remember that God, God sees this all. But finally he confesses this in, in, uh, in the 17th. First there he says, my sacrifice, oh God is a broken spirit and a broken in a contract heart. God, you're not gonna despise that, are you? I, there's no sacrificial system that's gonna take care of this. I need you. Finally, his heart melts. And in order to get out of our secrets, we have to be able to humble ourselves before God and understand that we have that ability from chocolate stealing to murder and adultery. We have all of that inside of us from hate and anger. James says this, that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble God oppose the proud. Not because, um, he hates people. It's because in our pride, we oppose him, he'll oppose us. He he'll force back on our opposition. But he gives grace to the humble. And we have to, the humility really is understanding how bad we can really be. CS Lewis says it this way, when a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When man is getting worse, he understands his own badness. Less and less we all have this inside of us. God is, that's why God sent Jesus to the cross is 'cause He knows we have this innocent, even as we were sinners, he died for us so that we could experience his grace and live the abundant life that he calls us to. And David comes to the point where he does understand God, you're right. I am wrong. It takes incredible humility to admit that we're wrong. And he cries this in Psalm 51. He says, against you, God, only you have I sinned. Only you have I done wrong. What was evil in your sight? So you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge me. You're right, God against you. I no excuses, no blame, ownership against you, God. And you have I sinned. God has the right to determine what is right and wrong. And when he determines something is wrong, it's because it's gonna harm us. It's gonna harm others. And he has the right to forgive or not to forgive. And this is where we're gonna dive into these, these four verses of this psalm, kind of the heart of this Psalm of confession. And David begins to ask God to do what only God can do. He starts this in verse 10, created me a clean heart, created me a pure heart. Oh God, renew a steadfast spirit in me. God created me. Forgive me. I need your grace. You are right to judge me. You are right to do that. But I want a clean heart. I want a clean, I want another. I want another shot. God. And in John one, John one, nine, it says that we can do the same thing. That if we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us, of all unrighteousness, all unrighteousness was David forgiven of murder and adultery. This is how much God loves us. This is how deep his love is. Yes, he was forgiven. Nathan says back to David, God has forgiven you. But you may experience some more consequences. Actually you will experiences more consequences. So lemme tell you this, as we're starting to unveil our secrets. First, do it in private David and Nathan. And just understand that you may still have some residual consequences based on your past behavior. So as pastors, you know, people come into us, not to confess, to get forgiveness from us, but we point them back to Jesus. 'cause it's Jesus. It's always Jesus. But they come in and we have to walk with him and say, yes, you know, you had that financial secret. There may be consequences. They're gonna keep going because of that financial secret, that addiction, there may be relational consequences. Whatever your secret is, there still may be consequences. But don't let the consequences of that keep you from getting out of the shame of the secret because you don't have to do it alone. David was fearful of that. His next line in the prayer is, don't cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. He was worried about that as well. God, don't leave me. You have the right to judge me. Please forgive me, but don't leave me. 'cause I'm gonna, he's gonna have to go through some hard consequences for this. And in the same way, we don't want God to leave us. He will not leave us. You do not have to walk this alone. God will not pull His Holy Spirit from you. Matter of fact, he's chasing you down right now. If you're not a follower of Jesus, you're here this morning. That's evidence that, that he's after you, that he wants to come close to you and he wants to have a relationship. He wants you to experience His grace. If you're a follower of Jesus, it says in Ephesians that, that you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. That he will never leave you. And you may grieve the Spirit at times, but you have an eternal relationship with the holy God. He will not leave you. You may walk through consequences, but you're not gonna walk through them alone. Don't cast your presence for me. Let your Holy Spirit be here. Uh, I had a mentor challenge me one time, time, uh, and the mentor said, you know, Dave, if God were to pull the Holy Spirit out of your ministry, if he were to pull the Holy Spirit, uh, out of your marriage, if, if he, if he were to pull the Holy Spirit out of what you're doing in your life, would anybody notice? Would you notice? Now, God's not gonna hold the pull the Holy Spirit away from me, but it's, it was a sober reminder of, am I cooperating with the Spirit? Am I just living my life with him There but not there. And that's part of David's next part of the prayer is that, God, don't take your spirit from me, but restore to me the joy of your salvation. And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Remind me God, of what it was like to walk fully in your grace, fully immersed in forgiveness. The freedom that I have from any, any shame in any, uh, any failure, any hurt I have, I I'm free. I'm not alone. I have all that re restore to me that understanding of how good it is to walk with you and then let my spirit walk with your spirit. Give me a willing spirit that, that we can collaborate together. That, that when the spirit speaks, my spirit says yes, my next heartbeat is a heartbeat of obedience to the spirit. May that be how we walk. And what does that look like? Galatians five talks about how, how the fruit of the spirit can work out in our lives as we're willingly walking with him. That, that we're more loving, we're more gentle, we're more patient, we're more kind. We have self-control as we walk with the spirit. For what reason? For what reason? One for our freedom. But then David says this in his next, in his next sentence, then God, I will teach French dresses your ways so that sinners will turn back to you. God, don't let this experience not be usable. Now, do not go out and seek secrets. Don't go out and just be bad so that you can help a transgressor move away from their transgressions. That's, that's not, I mean, that, that's almost evil, right? That we're not doing that. But because we are flawed and God wants to restore us, we all have stories. And we can use those stories of God's grace in our life to help those others who are going through those situations have those questions. This is one evidence that God answered that prayer is that David Psalm is teaching us today. He said, maybe, maybe you can use this in the future to help others. And centuries later, we're using it to help us understand how to walk close with our God and be released and experience the freedom of secrets. Now lemme just say this, um, there was time between when Nathan and David had this conversation, when David became humble and he, and he confessed this prayer and he wrote this prayer down, and then time went past as God used him. So what I'm saying is today, if you're like, oh, I, I have this secret. I need to get it out. This is not the time and place to go run to your social media and just blast it out there for everybody. Okay? That's, that's not healthy. Nor is it healthy to say, okay, now I can, now I can start becoming a leader in things. And I just revealed this secret. This is why our recovery program, you know, you have to have so many years of sobriety before you can even become, uh, one of our facilitators. 'cause it takes time to heal. It takes time to grow, it takes time to walk out this grace. So use that time. But yes, God can use your story. It says in Galatians chapter six, it says, uh, brothers and sisters, if, if you know someone who is caught in sin, then you can go restore them. So yes, use your story to go restore them. But it says do it one gently and also gives this caution. Be cautious so that watch yourselves so that you may not be tempted in the same ways. So you gotta be prayed up, you gotta be, you gotta be walking with Jesus. There's a lot of things that you gotta do to be part of that solution. But as director of care ministries here at the church, I get to see this played out. Um, we see in like financial foundations class, we saw shame just melt away as people walked in. And it's not lost on me that when somebody walks into a care class that it takes a lot of courage that's not lost on us when they walk in. And we can see the financial secrets they're maybe holding from themselves, from their spouse or from their friends trying to look and, uh, look a certain way. Just, just the shame that melted off coming outta the secrets. Uh, we have a new marriage class. We piloted it last, last semester, and it's open to the whole church now. It's, it's not where you're gonna sit around the table with six or eight other couples. You get your own table, it's your own date night, uh, seven in a row, you get a meal and everything, but it's just you and your spouse. And we saw secrets of family origin being released. Expectations. We saw unity in couples. Depth of relationships start to grow in our recovery class. We see this when the shame comes off of gambling addictions, off of sexual addiction, off of eating, addictions, off of, you name the addiction. But we also see the other side where people are carrying the shame of somebody else's addiction and they're trying to control it. Uh, the codependency side, we see the shame of somebody else trying to carry somebody else's secret. Grieving with hope. People feel shame in grieving out loud. And sometimes we don't do a good job of letting people grieve for a their whole life. You can, you could, it's a journey. And we'll say, aren't you over it yet? No, don't shame people for grieving, but we get in our grief with hope class. They sit around and they, and they'll be able to grieve healthy and, and, and hear support and have support. What's your next step? You may again say, honestly, I don't have any secrets right now. God and I, our slate is good. Let's walk with that humbly. That's our next step. Let's just, let's be humble about that. We have a thought around the corner that can take us down that road. Make sure you have guardrails people. Some of you need to speak with a pastor. Some of you need a counselor. We have vetted a lot of Christian counselors that we trust. Some of you need to talk to friends. But some of you're thinking right now, Dave, You have no idea what I'm going through and what I'm carrying. It's bigger than you would ever imagine. You have no idea. And I don't, and I imagine some of you're carrying a heavy, heavy load. You don't have to walk this alone. And I know you think it's so big, but let me tell you this, God's grace is bigger than you could ever imagine. It's bigger than your lies. It's bigger than your shame. It's bigger than anything you could have. God loves you so much that he will take this shame. He'll take this secret and His grace, his grace is available to you today. Would you please stand with me and let's pray. And in the quiet of this moment, God, right now I ask that your spirit would move in away and break freedom to those who need it the most, which is all of us. God, may we be able to confess to you right now that we need you. We need your grace. We wanna walk in your grace. Thank you so much for your love Jesus. That was shown on the cross. We ask for freedom. God give us the appropriate ways to move forward. Give us a plan to move forward that is healthy and and falls in line with who you are. And right now, God, I pray that you had created us a clean heart, God, that your presence would be with us this week. I pray blessings over this, these in this, in this room right now, and those in the other rooms listening to this right now, God, that your presence would be with, walk with them God, that they may be your ambassadors of grace this week. Walk with us with your power and your grace. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen and amen. Go in peace.