October 17, 2025 • 39 mins
We explore how resurrection instantly eliminates the 'stench' of bad situations. Discover the power of new beginnings and the focus on what truly matters. Martha's experience and the raising of Lazarus illustrates this transformation.
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(00:00):
Honesty is not just the best policy, it's the only policy.
If you want resurrection, it's time to roll away the stone.
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All right. Welcome back.
Hey, welcome back. We are here for another episode.
We are. A church talk.
The podcast. 2 day new week. This is it new day like I do
wear this suit every day of the week.
Nice tie by the way. That's a nice tie you got on.
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It's very different. It is very different.
It's completely different to be honestly, you know what we're,
we're too tall. Some would say lanky guys.
You know, when I was younger I was very hunched over.
I don't know if you dealt with that.
I didn't really but. I did.
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I had a major problem with it because I you know, you know,
when people are tall, they couldhave a tendency to slouch.
I really didn't think prayer could help me with my hunched
issue, but I stand corrected. But that was good.
(01:30):
That was great. I don't know what you gave him,
but that was great. I don't know what the producer
just did with my sound effects, but I thought that was really
good. Yeah, I if you have a favorite
dad joke, comment it. Leave it.
Leave it in the comments. Give us.
Some content. Send it to us.
(01:53):
We love dad jokes. I'm a dad, have three children
at home. I need some help entertaining my
children, my 2 younger children.They're 10 and six and they
still very much appreciate all of my dad jokes.
And I also have a 13 year old daughter who I enjoy immensely
(02:18):
making her roll her eyes at me and so send all your dad jokes
in so I can annoy my oldest daughter and continue to
entertain my my younger 2 while they still think I'm awesome.
Hey, yes, we drop them in the comments.
And I don't care who you are, that joke was fire.
That was funny. That was funny anyway.
(02:40):
Yeah, even if you're a sour producer.
Why is his mic muted? No that was great.
Leave them in the comments. Put jokes down there.
Maybe we might just pull one outand use in the next episode.
Seriously, we need some good stuff.
But if you send it, if it's really good, we're not giving
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you any credit. For that, we're not.
We're no, no plugs here. We won't ask you in the
comments. Nothing.
It's ours. So I invented this word called
plagiarism. Oh God.
Oh Lord. OK, so leave your comments.
Give us a five star review on all of the places to give
(03:25):
reviews. Apple Podcasts, Spotify If.
You don't have anything good to say then just go 5 star, go
comment on somebody else's podcast and.
Get it out on theirs and then come back to ours with what you
have left. That's nice and positive and
constructive. My Mama always said if you don't
have anything good to say, don'tsay anything at all.
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So remember that. Yes, and then subscribe to us on
YouTube. I don't think some of the
people, some of the people that have commented have less left
nice things about us. I've got a couple of excellence
which I really, I don't get called excellent a whole lot.
(04:08):
So I appreciate that. But you know, some of you other
folks have left, you know, more colorful comments, so.
Yeah, some God. Bless you too.
Some have left a lot of fire emojis which leaves me confused
as to say should we be set on fire or that is fire.
(04:29):
I guess it depends on the age ofthe person.
I guess so, yeah. If they're if they're a little
older, you should be worried. Anyway this is this is getting
good quick. We we have a very poignant and
important topic of the day. You know, we at church talk, we
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discuss things relevant to church culture, how the church
operates and things that'll helpyou.
And I think today is one of those things that's really going
to help somebody. Yes, we're going to the Book of
John Chapter 11, beginning with verse #38 this is the story of
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the friend of Jesus who has died.
And by this time he's been dead 4 days and Jesus is just now
showing up to the scene. And let's let's read a few
verses here. Yeah, 38 says Jesus.
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Therefore gang, groaning in himself, comes to the grave.
It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Jesus said, Take you away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord,
by this time he stinketh, for hehas been dead for days.
Jesus said unto her, Said I nod unto you, that if you would as
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believe, you should see the glory of God.
Yeah. So I think it's extremely
important from the outset here to establish the fact that
Jesus. Jesus did not need help with
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rolling away the stone. He he rolled his own stone away.
He did after three days or had angels do it.
However it happened, he did not need the people that were there
to roll away the stone for him. But he, every time he works a
great work of deliverance or a miracle of healing or you just
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search throughout the scriptures, he, he requires
something on the part of the people participating, the people
standing by to participate in what he is trying to perform.
So Jesus tells the people that are there, you roll away the
stone. And when he mentions rolling
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away the stone, away from this man that has been dead for four
days, there is a response from the family of Lazarus, this
friend of God who has passed away.
And his sister Martha says, Jesus, the last thing you want
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to do is roll away that stone. He's been dead for four days and
by now he stinketh. But Jesus is establishing
something here that I think thatis so important for us to
understand, that before resurrection can come, we have
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to confront what's there, the reality of the situation.
A lot of a lot of us want to come to God.
A lot of people want to come to God and for God to deal with us
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behind the scenes. There's not really much content
that people like more than behind the scenes content.
Like see what's going on behind the curtain.
We want God to deal with us behind closed doors, to deal
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with our situation in secret, and then we want Him to present
us whole healed. But from the beginning, that is
not the way God dealt with things.
If you go all the way back to the the first page of the Bible,
the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the
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earth and the earth was without form and void.
It was ugly, it was shapeless, formless.
And the Bible says and darkness covered the face of the deep.
It was a ugly, bleak and dark situation and God said let there
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be light. He exposed the earth in its
current condition before he everspoke one piece of grass into
existence, before he ever dressed the world up with a with
a stream or a river or a beautiful Ocean Beach, before he
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put the animals in place. This it before any of that.
He spoke light into existence. He exposed it in its current
form. If we are going to experience
what God has for us on an individual level, and I believe
as a corporate church level, we have got to be willing to allow
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God to shine a light on on us how we are where we are in our
current condition. Yes.
Christianity doesn't work unlessit's honest.
Yeah, The the, the, the verse that came to mind as, as we're
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talking is that John tells us that we must walk in the light
as he is in the light. And that is he's giving us this
road map of how we ought to walkas Christians.
How does a Christian life operate?
How does it work? What's the proper pathway and
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way that we ought to live? He says in the light.
Yeah. Where should your life be found
in the light? Where is your happenings?
Where is your conversation? Where is your doings and your
actions? It's in the light.
Yes. It's exposed.
Yes. There's nothing to hide as a
Christian. God can only deliver you from
what's going on in the dark whenyou're willing to shine a light
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on it. Yes.
And so that is that is what is going on.
This illustration here is if there's ever been a time where
the church, where people coming to God in general, need to be
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willing to roll away the stones of secrecy and deception.
Yes, yes. So that God can speak life and
resurrection into our situations.
Martha, Martha, she said, hey, you don't know what you're doing
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touching that stone. It's what's behind their stinks.
He stinks. This situation has gotten putrid
by now. It's.
Going to affect everybody aroundyou.
If you roll that stone away, if you shine a light on this
situation, it's going to affect everybody in this crowd.
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What you're about to expose is not just going to affect one
person, it's going to affect everybody here.
I'm going to just tell you something.
We have got. We have got friends of God on
church pews that have died and nothing's being done about it
because no one is willing to roll away the stone and reveal
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what actually happened. Wow.
So much of our modern entrapments are entrapments that
force us into secrecy. That's the nature of sin, is it
makes us want to retreat. Yeah, into secrecy.
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There is no need for a lie if there's no secret.
Yes, David found himself on the run and when it came to finding
a place of comfortability. He.
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Found himself in a dark cave. Yes.
And, and so many good people find themselves on the run from
some things and, and that's the first place that they go is
where can I find a place that I'm hidden that other people
can't see me? And most of the time, where can
I go that I can't see myself? We're so afraid of what heals us
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in our fallen condition. The the only the only path to
healing and growth from secret sin is exposure.
Yes, it's got to be brought to light.
It's got to be brought into the light.
It's the Bible says this in the book of Proverbs.
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I believe it's Proverbs 29. He that confesseth and forsaketh
his sins shall have mercy, but he that how does it say it?
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.
So the answer to having mercy and healing for your situation
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is not retreating and hiding until you figure out how to get
a grip on it. We don't have the ability to get
a grip on our weaknesses. We don't.
That's why he didn't say he thatForsaketh.
Yeah, he that confesses and forsakes shall have mercy.
You got to bring it to light. Yes.
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It forsaking don't work by itself.
How many, how many times do you know of, of in my own personal
life being trapped by sin and ungodliness and I can't get out
because all I'm I'm spending allof my efforts and all of my
energy trying to forsake but never willing to confess.
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Yes, yeah. And here, here's a here's the
thing that this ought to be goodfor the comment section, but
here's a a portion of this that so many of us have gotten wrong,
myself included in the past, is,you know, we preach that you
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don't have to confess to anybodybut God.
Right. Yes, yes.
Well. That ain't, that ain't what the
Scripture says. The Bible tells us that if
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there's any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the
church. Yes.
And the prayer of faith will save the sick.
And then he is that is that Johnor no?
That's James. James 5, James 5 and 14 is is
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there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let him pray overhim, anointing him with oil, and
in the name of the Lord, and theprayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.
And if they're and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him. Then he says in verse 16,
confess your faults one to another and pray for one another
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that ye may be healed. And here's the part of the verse
that we we always quote and leave out the rest, the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man if theyileth much.
But this is in the context of confession, our confessing our
faults one to another. I think it's important for us to
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understand that we There is no sin that has overtaken us that
is not common to man. There's no temptation that is
overtaken us that is not common to man.
What are we trying to hide? It's.
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Not some new thing you've got. I I want everyone listening to
me right now. I want you to hear me.
If you're watching or listening,whatever medium you're consuming
this content from, I want you tohear me.
You are not alone. And it is a lie of the devil
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that has caused the church to roll stones in front of graves
of friends of God instead of revealing what is dead so that
our God can call that situation out of the great.
You want to know what immediately gets rid of a stench
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of a bad situation? Resurrection.
That'll make any I'm. Going to tell you something,
Martha was talking about how badit stunk before the stone was
rolled away. But once Lazarus hopped out of
that tomb what nobody worried about how bad it stunk.
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All they were worried about is my brother that was dead is yet
alive. Loose him and let him go.
I'm just telling you, if we're going, if we are willing to be
honest about what's really goingon in our life, that might sting
for a little bit. The stench of that confession
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might sting for a little bit, but I'm going to tell you what's
going to override the stench. The temporary stench of of the
honesty of the situation is whenyou're delivered.
Yes. Actually delivered?
How many? How many people have we forced
into hypocrisy because we've created a culture of no
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confession? Yeah, I, I think we've gotten so
out of balance because it's, oh,the Catholic confessional is not
biblical and we don't have to confess to a priest that we went
so far. The other direction is we don't
have to confess to anybody. Yeah, you keep it quiet and just
you. And God, is that only ever going
to know about it? Yeah.
And we've got out of balance. Yes.
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And so yes, we we have created aa culture where we sweep
everything under the rug and then go to church and pretend
like everything's OK when peopleare dead in their trespasses and
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sins. Still sitting on a church Pew,
but we've we've become professional stone builders we
we've created a professional cover up operation in the church
where we rolled a stone of secrecy in front of our sin and
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we're dead in our trespasses andsins.
But we're shouting on Sunday night.
We're dead in our trespasses andsins and we're testifying and
preaching and singing and being and playing music and greeting
at the door and, and, and and we're we're wrestling with
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depression and anxiety and fear in secret places because we're
having to keep up this image when we know the truth of what's
lying behind the stone. It's aching with Babylonish
garments and a wedge of gold in the tent.
Yet he's from the tribe of Judah, so he can still get up
and dance. Yeah, he'll still.
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I can get through this. If I dance good enough, if I
just praise very good, I can getthrough this.
And we, we are willing to let somuch by in the church if we're
talented enough. Yeah.
And then we wonder why the smallest things are defeating
us. Yes.
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That's, that's what happened. They can't, he's got this secret
hid away in his tent and this they just rolled over the top of
of Jericho, a city large enough where chariot races go on, go on
on top of the walls and then they go next door to AI.
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They're like, man, we can just, we, we send 3000 soldiers and
that's overkill for this little town and they destroyed them.
Yeah, children of Israel got swept.
Was it like 37 men that died? Yeah, it was in the dozens of
men that. And this book because a stone
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had been rolled over a secret. Yep, Yep, that wouldn't be
brought to life. But man, if we're going out into
the battle, sending up Judah. Yeah.
And Judah's got a secret that's causing good people to perish.
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And so I just believe that it's time.
If we need a revival of anythingin the church today, we need a
revival of honesty. Yes, yes we do.
And I'm going to, you know, I'm,I'm about to get out here.
So here we go. But we are one of the greatest
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plagues of our generation, especially with men.
It's going on with women too, but especially with men.
Is the the plague of pornography?
Sure. Yeah, it is.
You can look it up some depending on what study you you
read. Anywhere from 78 to 98% of men
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have viewed pornography in the last 7 days.
Want to let that marinade a second?
Yeah. Why are we not discussing this?
Because it's one of those sins that you don't talk about.
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Because it stinks. Because it stinks.
There's nothing pretty about that sin.
Nobody wants anybody to know that they've got that problem.
Yeah, we've got people that don't want others to know, and
we've got others that don't wantto see it.
Yeah, because it stinks. They don't want to see the
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situation. They don't want to deal with
those people. So we're we're rolling the stone
of secrecy over it. Go back to church, get my
tambourine, turn on, shout, beepand let's go.
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But we go home just as dead. It's it's it's it's it's really
a dynamic that has was presentedto us by Egypt.
Egypt was the originals at the embalming process.
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They came up with the embalming process.
They were the originals that doing everything in their power
to make dead things look alive. And sadly, much of the church
world today has gotten into the same business.
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Wow. We've gotten really, really good
at making dead things look alivebecause we don't want to deal
with the reality of what, of what is actually going on.
And so we need to, we need to roll away the stone.
It's, it's time to blow the lid off of it.
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You know the we have people thatare that are drowning and
adulterous affairs and drown young people drowning in
fornication and people drowning in homosexual tendencies and
drowning in in deceit and lying and everything you can think of.
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And the only way to freedom is the truth.
You shall know the truth. John, John eight said you shall
know the truth and the truth will make you free.
Not hiding it till you get a grip on it, Not sweeping it
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under the rug until you figure out how to deal with it.
No, the truth will make you free.
Honesty will make you free it itwe have got to get to the place
if we want real revival in the church that we're willing to
roll the stones away and begin to be honest.
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Psalm 138 and seven though I walk in the midst of trouble,
thou wilt be thou wilt revive me.
There is no such thing as real revival without trouble.
And so I, I, I am saying today in this discussion that let I
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believe that one of one of the most powerful elements to the
gospel is honesty, truth. Yeah.
How did David say it? Maybe one of y'all can find it
for me. David said something along the
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lines of give me truth in my inward parts.
Oh yes, give 51. Yeah, truth in the secret
places. Yes, behold, thou desires truth
in the inward. Parts.
God desires truth in the inward parts.
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So if you want to be healed fromthe it's Psalms 51.
So if you want to be healed fromthe the secret sin, this sin
that you have worked so hard to cover up even as going as far as
killing one of your most loyal captains, God desires truth in
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the secret places. God desires.
God requires out of us truth in the places that we don't want
anybody else to know about. And for the the people who have
hesitation about this, here's the thing that the Bible tells
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us is that your sin will find you out.
Yeah. Yeah, what's done in secret will
be shouted from the rooftops. You can't hide forever.
No, and and you may be hiding itfrom people now, but you will
never hide it from God. The the Bible says that his
eyes, they, they are in every place.
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The eyes of God are in every place.
They're with you in the bedroom,they're with you on your job,
they're with you in that cubiclewhen you don't think anybody
else is looking. They're in with you in that
locker room when you don't thinkanybody else is there.
They're with you in your text thread when you don't think
anybody else is looking. They're with you in every place.
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And so just be honest. Yes, and.
It is. It is.
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
I had a a verse here. Go ahead.
We don't want to bring the Bibleinto this.
No, we wouldn't want to. We don't want to do that.
But John 3 and 20 tells us that everyone that does evil hated
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the light. Well.
But he that does truth, he that does love truth comes to the
light. Comes to the light.
Yes, yes. The truth and light are the same
spirit. It's if you're going to, if
you're going to profess a love for truth, this can go back to
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doctrine. I mean, if you're going to, if
you're going to have truth, you've got to have light.
Yes, you. Can't have a little bit of truth
over here and a little bit of darkness over here.
It don't work. We have no fellowship when as
soon as the light switches flipped on darkness fleas.
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There are creatures of the night, creatures of the dark
that love to operate in darkness.
That is why you know. You know, you look at a thief
loves the dark. You know, when you are, when you
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are living in sin, shadows feel like comfort.
We have a, a, a Christian world today, I believe.
I believe my, my Bishop would say it like this.
We have a Christian world that that doesn't want to necessarily
walk in darkness, but they don'tmind to stroll in the shade
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every once in a while. Blind Bartimaeus Confession
Jesus made many many people thathe healed.
He would make make them reveal or confess what was wrong with
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them before he healed them. Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10.
Jesus knew what was wrong with him.
Yeah. You know he then made a fool out
of himself, getting Jesus attention in the 1st place and
they brought him to him and he lays his blind beggar's robe
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down. You know he's made this big
scene. It's not who's.
That, that's blind Bartimaeus. Yeah.
I mean, that's what we call it. We still call him that after
2000 years of being healed. That's a message for another
time. Amen.
But yeah, once somebody's willing to expose themselves,
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take their old labels off of them, how about that?
He's not blind. Bartimaeus.
He's Bartimaeus. He's Bartimaeus.
We'll call him seeing Bartimaeus.
From now on he is seeing Bartimaeus.
Yes, I think. I think if we would take
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people's old labels off and quitlooking at them the way they
used to be, then that more people would be willing to roll
a stone away. Yes.
Give people the the the grace tochange.
It's not stinking, Lazarus. It ain't dead Lazarus.
It's just Lazarus. It's Lazarus.
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A live Lazarus. So he has blind Bartimaeus come
up. So he has blind Bartimaeus come
up and he says what's wrong with.
You, he said. What do you want me to do for
you? Oh, I'd like you to fix my
hangnail, please. He wants you to be willing to to
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say it. Are you willing to confess what
is wrong, Lord? That I may receive my sight.
And he receives his sight. It's, it's the, it's the man
with the withered hand. He, he, he comes in the, in the
Tabernacle and he's, he got one hand in his coat and he's got
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that good hand, the heat boy. He's shaking everybody's hand.
And how y'all doing y'all look at this, you know, making a big
deal out of that big hand. And he's got the other hand
concealed away. And Jesus says stretch forth on
hand. Well, most of us in that
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position would not have revealedthe bad one.
Yeah, put out that good. Hand.
Hey, you see this one? Look at that.
Well, that is a specimen of a hand right there.
No, he he makes him reveal what's withered.
Yeah, yeah. He makes him stretch forth in
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front of everyone, yes, what he doesn't want anybody to see or
to notice. But when he is willing to
stretch forth what he doesn't want anybody else to see or to
notice, healing happens. And So what I'm, what I'm trying
to get across to you today, and I think I've pretty well
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established this, that we need arevival of honesty.
Yes. All of us are sinners, all have
fallen short of the glory of God.
So what in the world are we hiding from?
Yeah, nobody's going to be surprised that you messed up.
You shouldn't be surprised you messed up.
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Yeah. There is now therefore no
condemnation and those who are in Christ Jesus so.
Yeah. So, but there is condemnation to
them that won't walk in the spirit, that won't walk in the
light as he is in the light. Just get it out there, find
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somebody you can trust to talk to about it, somebody spiritual
somebody. Yes, you don't just we're not
advocating just going and telling anybody you're trouble
right, or what you're dealing with or what you're going
through. But you do need some
accountability in your life. You need some people in your
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life. Find a a church mother, find a
respectable church father, a manor a woman in in your local
church that has been faithful toGod for a while, that is
trustworthy that you know will take what you tell them to their
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grave with them, but also who will keep you accountable
because they love you. Not somebody that you can tell
it to them and then they never say anything else about it, but
somebody you know that a check up with you every once in a
while. But hey, how you doing with
this? Yes, well, I'm struggling.
Well, all right, show. Show me how you're struggling
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with it and let's pray through it.
Yes. Confess your faults one to
another that you may be healed. Roll away the stone of secrecy.
Quit acting like you got it all together.
None of us do. We've all got sins in our life.
We've all got issues in our lifeand those of us that the
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difference between those of us that get deliverance and those
of us that stay stuck in condemnation.
And I can't go into all of this,but I'm just telling you, much
of the anxiety and the depression that we're facing in
our society today is a direct result of the energy that we are
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putting out to hide secret sins and the freedom of mind,
emotions, the spirit, the soul that you will experience when
you just push the stone away andsay, here I am, I need help.
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It, it, this is the last thing I'll say.
And we'll, we'll, we'll end withthis.
But these stones that were rolled in front of these tombs
during this this period of time,the 1st century historians say
that they were anywhere from 2000 to 4000 lbs.
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It's not no Pebble. So what what I'm trying to tell
you is the importance of confession, the importance of
bringing someone else on board with you to help you get out of
whatever it is that you're dealing with is you can't roll
away the stone by yourself, especially if you're dead.
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Built into the redemption process is the necessity to have
someone else help you. And so have have the courage to
to bring someone into your life that can help you roll away the
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stone of secrecy. Shine a light on what you're
really dealing with and watch God speak resurrection into your
life. Musicians come.
Honesty is not just the best policy, it's the only policy.
If you want resurrection, it's time to roll away the stone.
(00:23):
All right. Welcome back.
Hey, welcome back. We are here for another episode.
We are. A church talk.
The podcast. 2 day new week. This is it new day like I do
wear this suit every day of the week.
Nice tie by the way. That's a nice tie you got on.
(00:46):
It's very different. It is very different.
It's completely different to be honestly, you know what we're,
we're too tall. Some would say lanky guys.
You know, when I was younger I was very hunched over.
I don't know if you dealt with that.
I didn't really but. I did.
(01:06):
I had a major problem with it because I you know, you know,
when people are tall, they couldhave a tendency to slouch.
I really didn't think prayer could help me with my hunched
issue, but I stand corrected. But that was good.
(01:30):
That was great. I don't know what you gave him,
but that was great. I don't know what the producer
just did with my sound effects, but I thought that was really
good. Yeah, I if you have a favorite
dad joke, comment it. Leave it.
Leave it in the comments. Give us.
Some content. Send it to us.
(01:53):
We love dad jokes. I'm a dad, have three children
at home. I need some help entertaining my
children, my 2 younger children.They're 10 and six and they
still very much appreciate all of my dad jokes.
And I also have a 13 year old daughter who I enjoy immensely
(02:18):
making her roll her eyes at me and so send all your dad jokes
in so I can annoy my oldest daughter and continue to
entertain my my younger 2 while they still think I'm awesome.
Hey, yes, we drop them in the comments.
And I don't care who you are, that joke was fire.
That was funny. That was funny anyway.
(02:40):
Yeah, even if you're a sour producer.
Why is his mic muted? No that was great.
Leave them in the comments. Put jokes down there.
Maybe we might just pull one outand use in the next episode.
Seriously, we need some good stuff.
But if you send it, if it's really good, we're not giving
(03:02):
you any credit. For that, we're not.
We're no, no plugs here. We won't ask you in the
comments. Nothing.
It's ours. So I invented this word called
plagiarism. Oh God.
Oh Lord. OK, so leave your comments.
Give us a five star review on all of the places to give
(03:25):
reviews. Apple Podcasts, Spotify If.
You don't have anything good to say then just go 5 star, go
comment on somebody else's podcast and.
Get it out on theirs and then come back to ours with what you
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(03:47):
So remember that. Yes, and then subscribe to us on
YouTube. I don't think some of the
people, some of the people that have commented have less left
nice things about us. I've got a couple of excellence
which I really, I don't get called excellent a whole lot.
(04:08):
So I appreciate that. But you know, some of you other
folks have left, you know, more colorful comments, so.
Yeah, some God. Bless you too.
Some have left a lot of fire emojis which leaves me confused
as to say should we be set on fire or that is fire.
(04:29):
I guess it depends on the age ofthe person.
I guess so, yeah. If they're if they're a little
older, you should be worried. Anyway this is this is getting
good quick. We we have a very poignant and
important topic of the day. You know, we at church talk, we
(04:52):
discuss things relevant to church culture, how the church
operates and things that'll helpyou.
And I think today is one of those things that's really going
to help somebody. Yes, we're going to the Book of
John Chapter 11, beginning with verse #38 this is the story of
(05:15):
the friend of Jesus who has died.
And by this time he's been dead 4 days and Jesus is just now
showing up to the scene. And let's let's read a few
verses here. Yeah, 38 says Jesus.
(05:37):
Therefore gang, groaning in himself, comes to the grave.
It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Jesus said, Take you away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord,
by this time he stinketh, for hehas been dead for days.
Jesus said unto her, Said I nod unto you, that if you would as
(06:02):
believe, you should see the glory of God.
Yeah. So I think it's extremely
important from the outset here to establish the fact that
Jesus. Jesus did not need help with
(06:22):
rolling away the stone. He he rolled his own stone away.
He did after three days or had angels do it.
However it happened, he did not need the people that were there
to roll away the stone for him. But he, every time he works a
great work of deliverance or a miracle of healing or you just
(06:48):
search throughout the scriptures, he, he requires
something on the part of the people participating, the people
standing by to participate in what he is trying to perform.
So Jesus tells the people that are there, you roll away the
stone. And when he mentions rolling
(07:12):
away the stone, away from this man that has been dead for four
days, there is a response from the family of Lazarus, this
friend of God who has passed away.
And his sister Martha says, Jesus, the last thing you want
(07:33):
to do is roll away that stone. He's been dead for four days and
by now he stinketh. But Jesus is establishing
something here that I think thatis so important for us to
understand, that before resurrection can come, we have
(08:00):
to confront what's there, the reality of the situation.
A lot of a lot of us want to come to God.
A lot of people want to come to God and for God to deal with us
(08:21):
behind the scenes. There's not really much content
that people like more than behind the scenes content.
Like see what's going on behind the curtain.
We want God to deal with us behind closed doors, to deal
(08:42):
with our situation in secret, and then we want Him to present
us whole healed. But from the beginning, that is
not the way God dealt with things.
If you go all the way back to the the first page of the Bible,
the Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the
(09:05):
earth and the earth was without form and void.
It was ugly, it was shapeless, formless.
And the Bible says and darkness covered the face of the deep.
It was a ugly, bleak and dark situation and God said let there
(09:29):
be light. He exposed the earth in its
current condition before he everspoke one piece of grass into
existence, before he ever dressed the world up with a with
a stream or a river or a beautiful Ocean Beach, before he
(09:50):
put the animals in place. This it before any of that.
He spoke light into existence. He exposed it in its current
form. If we are going to experience
what God has for us on an individual level, and I believe
as a corporate church level, we have got to be willing to allow
(10:13):
God to shine a light on on us how we are where we are in our
current condition. Yes.
Christianity doesn't work unlessit's honest.
Yeah, The the, the, the verse that came to mind as, as we're
(10:38):
talking is that John tells us that we must walk in the light
as he is in the light. And that is he's giving us this
road map of how we ought to walkas Christians.
How does a Christian life operate?
How does it work? What's the proper pathway and
(11:00):
way that we ought to live? He says in the light.
Yeah. Where should your life be found
in the light? Where is your happenings?
Where is your conversation? Where is your doings and your
actions? It's in the light.
Yes. It's exposed.
Yes. There's nothing to hide as a
Christian. God can only deliver you from
what's going on in the dark whenyou're willing to shine a light
(11:24):
on it. Yes.
And so that is that is what is going on.
This illustration here is if there's ever been a time where
the church, where people coming to God in general, need to be
(11:45):
willing to roll away the stones of secrecy and deception.
Yes, yes. So that God can speak life and
resurrection into our situations.
Martha, Martha, she said, hey, you don't know what you're doing
(12:06):
touching that stone. It's what's behind their stinks.
He stinks. This situation has gotten putrid
by now. It's.
Going to affect everybody aroundyou.
If you roll that stone away, if you shine a light on this
situation, it's going to affect everybody in this crowd.
(12:27):
What you're about to expose is not just going to affect one
person, it's going to affect everybody here.
I'm going to just tell you something.
We have got. We have got friends of God on
church pews that have died and nothing's being done about it
because no one is willing to roll away the stone and reveal
(12:50):
what actually happened. Wow.
So much of our modern entrapments are entrapments that
force us into secrecy. That's the nature of sin, is it
makes us want to retreat. Yeah, into secrecy.
(13:15):
There is no need for a lie if there's no secret.
Yes, David found himself on the run and when it came to finding
a place of comfortability. He.
(13:36):
Found himself in a dark cave. Yes.
And, and so many good people find themselves on the run from
some things and, and that's the first place that they go is
where can I find a place that I'm hidden that other people
can't see me? And most of the time, where can
I go that I can't see myself? We're so afraid of what heals us
(13:59):
in our fallen condition. The the only the only path to
healing and growth from secret sin is exposure.
Yes, it's got to be brought to light.
It's got to be brought into the light.
It's the Bible says this in the book of Proverbs.
(14:19):
I believe it's Proverbs 29. He that confesseth and forsaketh
his sins shall have mercy, but he that how does it say it?
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.
So the answer to having mercy and healing for your situation
(14:45):
is not retreating and hiding until you figure out how to get
a grip on it. We don't have the ability to get
a grip on our weaknesses. We don't.
That's why he didn't say he thatForsaketh.
Yeah, he that confesses and forsakes shall have mercy.
You got to bring it to light. Yes.
(15:07):
It forsaking don't work by itself.
How many, how many times do you know of, of in my own personal
life being trapped by sin and ungodliness and I can't get out
because all I'm I'm spending allof my efforts and all of my
energy trying to forsake but never willing to confess.
(15:32):
Yes, yeah. And here, here's a here's the
thing that this ought to be goodfor the comment section, but
here's a a portion of this that so many of us have gotten wrong,
myself included in the past, is,you know, we preach that you
(15:55):
don't have to confess to anybodybut God.
Right. Yes, yes.
Well. That ain't, that ain't what the
Scripture says. The Bible tells us that if
(16:16):
there's any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the
church. Yes.
And the prayer of faith will save the sick.
And then he is that is that Johnor no?
That's James. James 5, James 5 and 14 is is
(16:38):
there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let him pray overhim, anointing him with oil, and
in the name of the Lord, and theprayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.
And if they're and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him. Then he says in verse 16,
confess your faults one to another and pray for one another
(17:02):
that ye may be healed. And here's the part of the verse
that we we always quote and leave out the rest, the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man if theyileth much.
But this is in the context of confession, our confessing our
faults one to another. I think it's important for us to
(17:23):
understand that we There is no sin that has overtaken us that
is not common to man. There's no temptation that is
overtaken us that is not common to man.
What are we trying to hide? It's.
(17:46):
Not some new thing you've got. I I want everyone listening to
me right now. I want you to hear me.
If you're watching or listening,whatever medium you're consuming
this content from, I want you tohear me.
You are not alone. And it is a lie of the devil
(18:07):
that has caused the church to roll stones in front of graves
of friends of God instead of revealing what is dead so that
our God can call that situation out of the great.
You want to know what immediately gets rid of a stench
(18:29):
of a bad situation? Resurrection.
That'll make any I'm. Going to tell you something,
Martha was talking about how badit stunk before the stone was
rolled away. But once Lazarus hopped out of
that tomb what nobody worried about how bad it stunk.
(18:50):
All they were worried about is my brother that was dead is yet
alive. Loose him and let him go.
I'm just telling you, if we're going, if we are willing to be
honest about what's really goingon in our life, that might sting
for a little bit. The stench of that confession
(19:10):
might sting for a little bit, but I'm going to tell you what's
going to override the stench. The temporary stench of of the
honesty of the situation is whenyou're delivered.
Yes. Actually delivered?
How many? How many people have we forced
into hypocrisy because we've created a culture of no
(19:34):
confession? Yeah, I, I think we've gotten so
out of balance because it's, oh,the Catholic confessional is not
biblical and we don't have to confess to a priest that we went
so far. The other direction is we don't
have to confess to anybody. Yeah, you keep it quiet and just
you. And God, is that only ever going
to know about it? Yeah.
And we've got out of balance. Yes.
(19:58):
And so yes, we we have created aa culture where we sweep
everything under the rug and then go to church and pretend
like everything's OK when peopleare dead in their trespasses and
(20:23):
sins. Still sitting on a church Pew,
but we've we've become professional stone builders we
we've created a professional cover up operation in the church
where we rolled a stone of secrecy in front of our sin and
(20:43):
we're dead in our trespasses andsins.
But we're shouting on Sunday night.
We're dead in our trespasses andsins and we're testifying and
preaching and singing and being and playing music and greeting
at the door and, and, and and we're we're wrestling with
(21:06):
depression and anxiety and fear in secret places because we're
having to keep up this image when we know the truth of what's
lying behind the stone. It's aching with Babylonish
garments and a wedge of gold in the tent.
Yet he's from the tribe of Judah, so he can still get up
and dance. Yeah, he'll still.
(21:27):
I can get through this. If I dance good enough, if I
just praise very good, I can getthrough this.
And we, we are willing to let somuch by in the church if we're
talented enough. Yeah.
And then we wonder why the smallest things are defeating
us. Yes.
(21:48):
That's, that's what happened. They can't, he's got this secret
hid away in his tent and this they just rolled over the top of
of Jericho, a city large enough where chariot races go on, go on
on top of the walls and then they go next door to AI.
(22:11):
They're like, man, we can just, we, we send 3000 soldiers and
that's overkill for this little town and they destroyed them.
Yeah, children of Israel got swept.
Was it like 37 men that died? Yeah, it was in the dozens of
men that. And this book because a stone
(22:32):
had been rolled over a secret. Yep, Yep, that wouldn't be
brought to life. But man, if we're going out into
the battle, sending up Judah. Yeah.
And Judah's got a secret that's causing good people to perish.
(22:55):
And so I just believe that it's time.
If we need a revival of anythingin the church today, we need a
revival of honesty. Yes, yes we do.
And I'm going to, you know, I'm,I'm about to get out here.
So here we go. But we are one of the greatest
(23:15):
plagues of our generation, especially with men.
It's going on with women too, but especially with men.
Is the the plague of pornography?
Sure. Yeah, it is.
You can look it up some depending on what study you you
read. Anywhere from 78 to 98% of men
(23:39):
have viewed pornography in the last 7 days.
Want to let that marinade a second?
Yeah. Why are we not discussing this?
Because it's one of those sins that you don't talk about.
(24:02):
Because it stinks. Because it stinks.
There's nothing pretty about that sin.
Nobody wants anybody to know that they've got that problem.
Yeah, we've got people that don't want others to know, and
we've got others that don't wantto see it.
Yeah, because it stinks. They don't want to see the
(24:24):
situation. They don't want to deal with
those people. So we're we're rolling the stone
of secrecy over it. Go back to church, get my
tambourine, turn on, shout, beepand let's go.
(24:45):
But we go home just as dead. It's it's it's it's it's really
a dynamic that has was presentedto us by Egypt.
Egypt was the originals at the embalming process.
(25:05):
They came up with the embalming process.
They were the originals that doing everything in their power
to make dead things look alive. And sadly, much of the church
world today has gotten into the same business.
(25:27):
Wow. We've gotten really, really good
at making dead things look alivebecause we don't want to deal
with the reality of what, of what is actually going on.
And so we need to, we need to roll away the stone.
It's, it's time to blow the lid off of it.
(25:50):
You know the we have people thatare that are drowning and
adulterous affairs and drown young people drowning in
fornication and people drowning in homosexual tendencies and
drowning in in deceit and lying and everything you can think of.
(26:16):
And the only way to freedom is the truth.
You shall know the truth. John, John eight said you shall
know the truth and the truth will make you free.
Not hiding it till you get a grip on it, Not sweeping it
(26:38):
under the rug until you figure out how to deal with it.
No, the truth will make you free.
Honesty will make you free it itwe have got to get to the place
if we want real revival in the church that we're willing to
roll the stones away and begin to be honest.
(26:59):
Psalm 138 and seven though I walk in the midst of trouble,
thou wilt be thou wilt revive me.
There is no such thing as real revival without trouble.
And so I, I, I am saying today in this discussion that let I
(27:24):
believe that one of one of the most powerful elements to the
gospel is honesty, truth. Yeah.
How did David say it? Maybe one of y'all can find it
for me. David said something along the
(27:45):
lines of give me truth in my inward parts.
Oh yes, give 51. Yeah, truth in the secret
places. Yes, behold, thou desires truth
in the inward. Parts.
God desires truth in the inward parts.
(28:06):
So if you want to be healed fromthe it's Psalms 51.
So if you want to be healed fromthe the secret sin, this sin
that you have worked so hard to cover up even as going as far as
killing one of your most loyal captains, God desires truth in
(28:28):
the secret places. God desires.
God requires out of us truth in the places that we don't want
anybody else to know about. And for the the people who have
hesitation about this, here's the thing that the Bible tells
(28:50):
us is that your sin will find you out.
Yeah. Yeah, what's done in secret will
be shouted from the rooftops. You can't hide forever.
No, and and you may be hiding itfrom people now, but you will
never hide it from God. The the Bible says that his
eyes, they, they are in every place.
(29:19):
The eyes of God are in every place.
They're with you in the bedroom,they're with you on your job,
they're with you in that cubiclewhen you don't think anybody
else is looking. They're in with you in that
locker room when you don't thinkanybody else is there.
They're with you in your text thread when you don't think
anybody else is looking. They're with you in every place.
(29:45):
And so just be honest. Yes, and.
It is. It is.
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
I had a a verse here. Go ahead.
We don't want to bring the Bibleinto this.
No, we wouldn't want to. We don't want to do that.
But John 3 and 20 tells us that everyone that does evil hated
(30:08):
the light. Well.
But he that does truth, he that does love truth comes to the
light. Comes to the light.
Yes, yes. The truth and light are the same
spirit. It's if you're going to, if
you're going to profess a love for truth, this can go back to
(30:33):
doctrine. I mean, if you're going to, if
you're going to have truth, you've got to have light.
Yes, you. Can't have a little bit of truth
over here and a little bit of darkness over here.
It don't work. We have no fellowship when as
soon as the light switches flipped on darkness fleas.
(30:59):
There are creatures of the night, creatures of the dark
that love to operate in darkness.
That is why you know. You know, you look at a thief
loves the dark. You know, when you are, when you
(31:21):
are living in sin, shadows feel like comfort.
We have a, a, a Christian world today, I believe.
I believe my, my Bishop would say it like this.
We have a Christian world that that doesn't want to necessarily
walk in darkness, but they don'tmind to stroll in the shade
(31:42):
every once in a while. Blind Bartimaeus Confession
Jesus made many many people thathe healed.
He would make make them reveal or confess what was wrong with
(32:07):
them before he healed them. Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10.
Jesus knew what was wrong with him.
Yeah. You know he then made a fool out
of himself, getting Jesus attention in the 1st place and
they brought him to him and he lays his blind beggar's robe
(32:28):
down. You know he's made this big
scene. It's not who's.
That, that's blind Bartimaeus. Yeah.
I mean, that's what we call it. We still call him that after
2000 years of being healed. That's a message for another
time. Amen.
But yeah, once somebody's willing to expose themselves,
(32:52):
take their old labels off of them, how about that?
He's not blind. Bartimaeus.
He's Bartimaeus. He's Bartimaeus.
We'll call him seeing Bartimaeus.
From now on he is seeing Bartimaeus.
Yes, I think. I think if we would take
(33:13):
people's old labels off and quitlooking at them the way they
used to be, then that more people would be willing to roll
a stone away. Yes.
Give people the the the grace tochange.
It's not stinking, Lazarus. It ain't dead Lazarus.
It's just Lazarus. It's Lazarus.
(33:34):
A live Lazarus. So he has blind Bartimaeus come
up. So he has blind Bartimaeus come
up and he says what's wrong with.
You, he said. What do you want me to do for
you? Oh, I'd like you to fix my
hangnail, please. He wants you to be willing to to
(33:54):
say it. Are you willing to confess what
is wrong, Lord? That I may receive my sight.
And he receives his sight. It's, it's the, it's the man
with the withered hand. He, he, he comes in the, in the
Tabernacle and he's, he got one hand in his coat and he's got
(34:18):
that good hand, the heat boy. He's shaking everybody's hand.
And how y'all doing y'all look at this, you know, making a big
deal out of that big hand. And he's got the other hand
concealed away. And Jesus says stretch forth on
hand. Well, most of us in that
(34:39):
position would not have revealedthe bad one.
Yeah, put out that good. Hand.
Hey, you see this one? Look at that.
Well, that is a specimen of a hand right there.
No, he he makes him reveal what's withered.
Yeah, yeah. He makes him stretch forth in
(35:00):
front of everyone, yes, what he doesn't want anybody to see or
to notice. But when he is willing to
stretch forth what he doesn't want anybody else to see or to
notice, healing happens. And So what I'm, what I'm trying
to get across to you today, and I think I've pretty well
(35:23):
established this, that we need arevival of honesty.
Yes. All of us are sinners, all have
fallen short of the glory of God.
So what in the world are we hiding from?
Yeah, nobody's going to be surprised that you messed up.
You shouldn't be surprised you messed up.
(35:44):
Yeah. There is now therefore no
condemnation and those who are in Christ Jesus so.
Yeah. So, but there is condemnation to
them that won't walk in the spirit, that won't walk in the
light as he is in the light. Just get it out there, find
(36:07):
somebody you can trust to talk to about it, somebody spiritual
somebody. Yes, you don't just we're not
advocating just going and telling anybody you're trouble
right, or what you're dealing with or what you're going
through. But you do need some
accountability in your life. You need some people in your
(36:27):
life. Find a a church mother, find a
respectable church father, a manor a woman in in your local
church that has been faithful toGod for a while, that is
trustworthy that you know will take what you tell them to their
(36:50):
grave with them, but also who will keep you accountable
because they love you. Not somebody that you can tell
it to them and then they never say anything else about it, but
somebody you know that a check up with you every once in a
while. But hey, how you doing with
this? Yes, well, I'm struggling.
Well, all right, show. Show me how you're struggling
(37:12):
with it and let's pray through it.
Yes. Confess your faults one to
another that you may be healed. Roll away the stone of secrecy.
Quit acting like you got it all together.
None of us do. We've all got sins in our life.
We've all got issues in our lifeand those of us that the
(37:38):
difference between those of us that get deliverance and those
of us that stay stuck in condemnation.
And I can't go into all of this,but I'm just telling you, much
of the anxiety and the depression that we're facing in
our society today is a direct result of the energy that we are
(37:58):
putting out to hide secret sins and the freedom of mind,
emotions, the spirit, the soul that you will experience when
you just push the stone away andsay, here I am, I need help.
(38:18):
It, it, this is the last thing I'll say.
And we'll, we'll, we'll end withthis.
But these stones that were rolled in front of these tombs
during this this period of time,the 1st century historians say
that they were anywhere from 2000 to 4000 lbs.
(38:42):
It's not no Pebble. So what what I'm trying to tell
you is the importance of confession, the importance of
bringing someone else on board with you to help you get out of
whatever it is that you're dealing with is you can't roll
away the stone by yourself, especially if you're dead.
(39:06):
Built into the redemption process is the necessity to have
someone else help you. And so have have the courage to
to bring someone into your life that can help you roll away the
(39:28):
stone of secrecy. Shine a light on what you're
really dealing with and watch God speak resurrection into your
life. Musicians come.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.