At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Tyler Bianco, and I'm part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with Melody Workman teaching from our soundtrack series. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Melody Workman:Hey. Welcome to Sandals Church. I'm so glad you're joining us today. We are in a brand new series called Soundtrack, and I want to ask if anybody had one of these
Audience:Come on.
Melody Workman:Growing up. Yep. People in here raising their hands, the old people in here raising their hands. I had one too. And I have to tell you, I grew up outside of Philly, and I was about 14, 15.
Melody Workman:There was a radio station. Yes, because we had to listen to the radio back in those days that everybody was listening to. And it was called the quiet storm with Tony Brown on power 99 FM. And I wasn't allowed to listen to it. My parents said, no.
Melody Workman:My dad was a pastor, conservative Christians. But every day I would go to school, everybody was talking about the dedication that happened that night before you used to call the DJ and dedicate your song to your girl, to your boo. And I was missing out on all of it. They were introducing new songs, and I was so bummed. And so I thought of a way to try to get to listen to it without getting in trouble.
Melody Workman:So I did a really terrible thing. I lied to my dad and I told my dad that I was having trouble sleeping at night and that, I was having bad dreams. Like, as a dad, there's like demons and nightmares and my dad was so concerned. He He was like, it's important what you're meditating on, sweetie, what you're listening to, what you're thinking about. I was like, yeah.
Melody Workman:Yeah. And so he's like, I'm gonna come in and pray for you tonight. And so I said, maybe if I could listen to some worship music. And my dad was like, okay. My dad you guys, my dad comes home from the Christian bookstore with a cassette of, like, scripture set to, like, running streams.
Tyler Bianco:And it
Melody Workman:was so sweet. And he was like, sweetie, I got this for you. You said tonight. Now it was so nice. You guys, I feel terrible.
Melody Workman:Like I've confessed this sin by the way. But that night my dad came in, he prayed for me. He said, you're gonna I said, I got my cassette dad. He was like, okay. Put my headphones on and then my dad left the room and pretty soon you guys, my jam came on.
Melody Workman:Like my jam came on. And I got out of bed and I was in my room just, you know, jamming to my 2 of my kids, right? Mom, please stop dancing right now. And all of a sudden I felt this. And I knew at that point in my life, Jesus could turn people into pillars of salt and I was praying for it.
Melody Workman:And I turned around and my dad is standing there and he says this, what are you listening to? I think my dance moves gave away that I wasn't listening to, like, scripture set to babbling brooks and flutes. And then my dad did the worst thing ever. He took the headphones and started listening to it. And I wasn't worried about the beat, but the lyrics, y'all, were not holy lyrics.
Melody Workman:And I was so mortified. I was so embarrassed in my dad's face. I lied to him. The whole thing was terrible. But then he looked at me, he's like, this is what you're listening to?
Melody Workman:I was like, yeah. Like, everybody's talking about dad. It's power 99 FM, dad. My dad didn't care. I have to tell you though, the question, what are you listening to felt like a loaded question.
Melody Workman:Because there's a lot more that we're listening to them which is coming in our AirPods and our headphones and while we're driving in our car. Right? Like, the bigger question is, if someone turned up the volume of the soundtrack in your mind, what would they hear? Like, I'll just be honest, if you turn up the soundtrack in my mind, I wish it wasn't true, but you probably hear a lot of anxious thoughts because I struggle with fear and anxiety. If I turned up yours, what would I hear?
Melody Workman:Doubt, worry, fear, anger. Here's what I think is true for all of us. No matter how long you've lived, I think that all of us hear something pretty consistently, and it's the voice of shame. The voice of shame. And I have to tell you, just like what I was listening to back then wasn't good for me, the voice of shame isn't good for me now.
Melody Workman:And it's not good for you either. But how do we stop hearing the voice of shame? I think we have to start by understanding what shame is. I'm not a therapist. My best friend is.
Melody Workman:I know that still doesn't count. But I wanna give you, an idea. And I wanna give you a non Christian view and a Christian view of shame. Here's what a non Christian therapist says shame is. It's an intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.
Melody Workman:Here's what a Christian theologian says about shame. He saw he says, shame is a very heavy feeling that we do not measure up and maybe never will measure up to the sorts of persons we were meant to be. And that feeling when we are conscious of it, listen to this, gives us a vague disgust with ourselves. Shame. We often get guilt and shame confused.
Melody Workman:And so again, painting with pretty broad strokes, I wanna help you understand the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is I did something bad. This is who I am and I did something bad I shouldn't have done. Like, sometimes I snap at my husband. I know it's hard to believe but sometimes I do.
Melody Workman:And as soon as I do it, he'll look at me and I'll look at myself and I'll be like, oh, sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Like, that's not that's not who I want to be. Shame is very different. Shame is I am something bad.
Melody Workman:Here's the difference with shame. Shame has an attachment quality to it. It attaches itself to who we are. It becomes a part of our identity. And the shame that we're carrying, the voice of shame that we are hearing, listen, hearing usually comes from something we've done or something that has been done to us.
Melody Workman:And I wanna start in the Old Testament with a story of shame that some of you maybe have never heard before, but it's really, really important to understand something about shame. There is a way that you can avoid shame. There are some things that you can do within your life. You can live a certain way that you don't have to carry so much shame with you. This isn't this isn't the family of David.
Melody Workman:To be honest with you guys, there's a lot of great stuff out there about David, but David's family's pretty jacked up. Okay? It could be like a reality show. David had lots of wives and lots of kids, and anybody with a wife or a kid knows that 1 or just a couple kids is enough. David went overboard.
Melody Workman:K. And it caused a lot of problems. So when we're at, we're in second Samuel 13, we're gonna be reading from the message and I want you to hear what happens. It says, sometimes later sometime later this happened. Absalom, David's son, who's his 3rd son, had a sister who was very attractive.
Melody Workman:Her name was Tamar. Amnon, also David's son, and Amnon is his firstborn son, and that's really important, was in love with her. Amnon was obsessed with his sister, Tamar, to the point of making himself sick over her. Amnon was consumed with Tamar. This is something that you need to hear and understand.
Melody Workman:The path to shame starts in your mind. It starts in your mind. Let me ask you a question. What consumes your mind? When's the last time you thought about what you think about?
Melody Workman:How are you doing with winning the war in your mind? When we first brought Mehdi home, my son who we adopted from Ethiopia, we first brought him home. He was trying to acclimate to a new country, a new language. And so we have it it was some time that we had to take with him to help figure things out. And one time, we were in a restaurant, I was getting fountain drinks for the kids, and he saw this giant napkin dispenser.
Melody Workman:He'd never seen one before. And he walked over with all his might and yanked all that, and the whole thing fell on the ground, broke. Super embarrassing. I'm like, Mehdi, like, bro, seriously? And then we were in the grocery store one day, and I'm loading everything up on the conveyor belt.
Melody Workman:And there's like a cardboard cutout with candy in it being displayed. And I don't think Mehdi understood that cardboard doesn't weigh that much and went into with all of his body weight, knocked the whole thing on the ground. And when I was like, Mehdi, why did you do that? He was still acclimating to the English language. He would say, I didn't thought about it.
Melody Workman:I was like, I need you to start thinking about it because I can't keep paying for everything that you're breaking. I need you to thought about it some more. But I've got really good news to report to everybody. Mehdi's 18 and he hasn't done that in a long time. He started thoughtting about it and thoughtting about it and thoughtting about it and now, because Mehdi thinks differently, he behaves differently.
Melody Workman:He's changed the way he thinks so he's changed the way he behaves. The question for some of you is, why are some of you still going to happy hour after work and drinking way too much? Girls, why are you still hooking up with a guy who only wants to keep hooking up? Why are some of you still waiting till everybody in your house goes to bed to open up that screen and start looking at things that you know are bad for you? Listen, lazy thinking, being passive with our minds, not thinking about it or allowing our minds to become fixated on the wrong things.
Melody Workman:Listen, it's dangerous. It's where the path to shame starts. Listen to what Proverbs 423 says. It says, be careful what you think. Why?
Melody Workman:Because your thoughts run your life. That's how powerful it is. Think about your mind this way. Like, do you protect your mind? How do you protect your mind?
Melody Workman:This will come as a shock to some of you, but I don't camp. Like, I know I look outdoorsy, but I'm not. I like to sit outdoors, lay by a pool, but like camp and listen, no shame. We're talking about shame. No shame for you who like to camp.
Melody Workman:I have to tell you, when you're telling me about your campsite being the middle of nowhere, I listen to true crime y'all. I just feel like you're about to be dead. Okay? That's all I can think about. We were out there, it was a beautiful nature, no one could see you here.
Melody Workman:It's a good lord, you're about to die. Like that's all I can think about. I don't camp. The closest I get is maybe walking barefoot in a hotel sometimes. That's it.
Melody Workman:That's as close as I get. And I'll just tell you why I don't camp, because I'm not trusting a nylon little dome thing with a zipper to keep me from being bear bait. Like, I I can't it can't I can't make it work in my mind. I don't feel protected. I don't camp because I have a house with a bed and a deadbolt.
Melody Workman:That's why I don't do it. I want to feel protected. Listen, your mind needs to be protected because listen, if your mind isn't being protected, I have to tell you something, then it's open to being perverted.
Dani Crowley:We are so glad that you are here. If this message has served you or encouraged you in any way, I wanna invite you to participate in what we're doing and to give whatever you can today. You can do that by going to give dotsc. And for now, let's get back right into the message.
Melody Workman:And, yes, with with sexual things and sensual things, but that's not it. Gossip, drama, false narratives, what is consuming your mind? The bible makes it really clear how we're supposed to attack this war on our mind and there's nothing passive about it. 2nd Corinthians 10 says this, we use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning, to destroy false arguments. It says, we destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.
Melody Workman:What do we do? We capture their rebellious thoughts and we teach them to obey Christ. Amnon is not protecting his mind. The passage goes on to say this. Tamar was a virgin, so he couldn't see how he could get his hands on her.
Melody Workman:And in the Old Testament, a woman's virginity was essentially her soul value. The good that she brought to the world was her ability to stay a virgin until married and then procreate for her husband. Other than that, she didn't have a lot of value. Everything was wrapped up in her virginity. And it says, Amnon had a good friend, Jonadab, the son of David's brother, Shimea.
Melody Workman:And listen to what it says, Jonadab was exceptionally street wise. And don't miss this. That word means shrewd, cunning. It's the same word in the Hebrew that's used to describe the serpent in Genesis 3 when he goes to deceive Adam and Eve. That's the kind of friend he was.
Melody Workman:And you know what he says to Amnon? He says, why are you moping around like this day after day? You, the son of a king, Tell me what's eating at you. Do you know what you hear and there? The subtle hint of entitlement.
Melody Workman:Amnon, you can have everything you want. Why are you sad bro? Why are you down? You're the son of a king. You're the firstborn.
Melody Workman:You're the heir to the throne. Anything you want, you can have. Have you learned to listen to yourself and your mind and recognize the places in your life where you've sinned because you've convinced yourself you deserve it? Do you enable your entitlement? Amnon says this in a word, Tamar.
Melody Workman:He says, my brother Absalom's sister, I'm in love with her. My brother Absalom's sister, like Amnon, it's your sister. Like, I know you're trying to make it sound less weird than it is. My brother's sister, incest. A good friend would have said, hey, Amnon, about you having anything you want, bro, that's weird.
Melody Workman:And it's wrong, but he doesn't. You wanna know why? Because the heart wants what it wants. People like to talk about the good old days when things were more wholesome. These are the old old days y'all, and they're still being weird and wrong and gross.
Melody Workman:But when you're giving someone that advice, just follow your heart. Just know you're giving terrible advice. Because here's what Jeremiah says about the heart. It says, the human heart is not somewhat, not a little, but the most deceitful of all things and it's desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
Melody Workman:But Jonadab just says, here's what you do. He's gonna give him a plan. I'm not taking advice from someone named Jonadab. Okay. Like, right there, that decision making is sus to me how you came up with that name.
Melody Workman:But he says, Anmon, go to bed. Pretend that you're sick. When your father, the king, comes to visit you, say, have my sister Tamar come and prepare some supper for me where I can watch her and she can feed me. And every young person, I hope you remember this. Bad friends will lead you down the path of shame.
Melody Workman:Bad friends will lead you down the path of shame. They will help you figure out how to be stupid. And if you have a friend right now that's coming to your mind, like, I know if I told them they'd go for it, you should cut that friendship off.
Tyler Bianco:And if
Melody Workman:you're you're not thinking of a friend like that, you should evaluate if you're that friend. Listen to what first Corinthians 1533 says, don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. I remember one day talking to a young person trying to give them some counsel about their friendships, and she was like, well, Jesus ate with sinners. And I was like, you know what?
Melody Workman:You're right. Jesus ate with sinners. He didn't sin with sinners. And by the way, sweets, you're not Jesus. But anyway, here's a question for you to think about.
Melody Workman:If you don't yet possess the character to lead your friends to Jesus, then maybe you should evaluate if their character is leading you away from him. What kind of friend are you and what kind of friends do you have? Amnon takes Jonadab's advice. He goes to bed, he acts sick. David comes to visit and Amnon says, will you do me a favor and have my sister Tamar come and make some nourishing dumplings here where I can watch her and be fed by her.
Melody Workman:And right there, you think David be like, bro, what? But you know what David does? He goes back and sells to Tamar, go to the house of your brother and mine and prepare a meal. So Tamar, trusting your dad, trusting your brother, goes there, says she takes the dough. She needs it, forms it into dumplings, cook them while he watched from his bed.
Melody Workman:But when she took the cooking pot to him, like, you're not paralyzed. You can eat. Here's your cooking pot. Eat your food. He wouldn't eat.
Melody Workman:And he said, clear everyone out of the house and they all cleared out. And he said to Tamar, bring the food into my bedroom where we can eat in privacy and listen to me. If there was something I would love to tattoo on the arm and the head and the heart of every believer, it's this. Sin loves secrecy.
Tyler Bianco:Come
Melody Workman:on. Sin thrives in secrecy. It grows there. It flourishes there. It feeds off of secrecy.
Melody Workman:Think about some of the things you've done in your life that you're most ashamed about. I guarantee you were hidden somewhere while it was happening. As soon as someone says, hey, let's go over here where no one knows about it. That should be an alarm going off in your mind to run the other direction. A good question to ask yourself is, am I am I okay if everybody sees my phone?
Tyler Bianco:Is there
Melody Workman:a problem with your husband or your wife picks up your phone? Kids, is a problem if your parents read your text, see what you're doing on social media. If anything about that makes you feel like, woah, you need to dive deeper and find out why that is. She takes the nursing dumplings she'd prepared and brought them to her brother. When she got ready to feed him, he grabbed her and said, come to bed with me, sister.
Melody Workman:The NLT says this, but as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, come to bed with me. Now here's why I wanna pause for a second, especially to young people in relationships right now. In verse 4, what Ananias said was he was in love with Tamar. But in verse 1011, it says he demanded for her to come to bed with him. And what does first Corinthians 13 say about love?
Melody Workman:That love does not demand its own way. A person who is willing to violate you does not value you. If it wasn't weird, I would grab the face of every young girl moving into a relationship and even some young men. But again, it's weird so I can't and say to you, there's so much being said and done in the name of love that's nothing but lust. And you're worthy of love.
Melody Workman:You're worthy of love. Tamar is afraid. She tells him no. She says, don't hurt me. Then she asked him this question, where could I ever show my face?
Melody Workman:Inon, you know. My virginity, it's what I have. The NLT says she asked this question, listen to this question, where could I go in my shame? How many people? Maybe it's some of you.
Melody Workman:That's what you're asking. Where can where can I go in my shame? But he didn't listen. And being much stronger than he, he raped her. And no sooner had he raped her than he hated her in immense hatred.
Melody Workman:It says the hatred he felt for her was greater than the love he'd had for her. And he says, get up and go out. And let me tell you what I believe. I believe that again, going back to the attachment quality of shame, that when Amnon looked at Tamar, it wasn't her he hated, but now she represented his own shame. So now when he looked at her, he saw who he had become and he couldn't stand the sight of it.
Melody Workman:He felt shame for what he'd done and Tamar felt shame for what had been done to her. It says she was wearing a long sleeve gown because this is what virgin princesses used to dress, and she poured ashes on her head, and she ripped the gown. She held her head in her hands and walked away sobbing as she went. And I I got to this part of the story. And in that moment, I just felt that what was right to do here was to say to you all across Sandals Church, some of you who have been wronged, taken advantage of, mistreated.
Melody Workman:I just want to say how sorry I am. I'm sorry that that happened to you. I've sat with people that I love more than life itself and listened to their own stories, and my heart has broken. And I have to tell you, the heart of Jesus breaks over that. So what does Tamar do?
Melody Workman:What does she do in her shame? Where does she go? She goes to a brother Absalom and tells him what happened and listen to what Absalom says. He says, let's keep it quiet. It's a family matter.
Melody Workman:He's your brother. Don't take this so hard. And the last thing we see about Tamar, in all of history that she lives with her brother Absalom, bitter and desolate. You wonder why? Because shame is the voice telling you to hide.
Melody Workman:Shame is the voice telling you to to dismiss what happened and not think about it. It's the voice that invalidates your wounds. And you know what the enemy does? The enemy tries to convince us that we can handle our shame on our own. You don't need to tell anybody.
Melody Workman:It's just everybody goes through this. My question is, how's that working? How how is that working for any of us? I've told you about when Addison, my daughter, was a toddler and, how difficult some days were with her. And especially when we had to go out in public because she just I never knew what she was gonna say or do and so as any good parent does, I would bribe her sometimes.
Melody Workman:Then I would tell her if she was good, she would get things. Addie, if you're good. Addie, if you're quiet. Addie, if you don't yell at strangers. Addie, if you don't if you don't try to take your clothes off in the middle of the store, like, Addie, if you if you'll be good, then you'll get and so she went through this stage where she was in love with nail polish because it's what the biggills had, big eels.
Melody Workman:And so I let her pick out a nail polish when it was like hot pink and I got everything out of that $3 bottle of nail polish. Let me tell you, I was like, if you're good in the store she was good in the store. Now if you go home and take a nap, like I just kept ratcheting it up and she kept being good because she wanted that hot pink nail polish so bad. So I told her, if you take a good nap, I will come in your room and I will paint your nails. So I went up to her room when nap time was over and as I'm coming out of the hall, I see a flash from the hallway bathroom to her room and a trail of toilet paper.
Melody Workman:I'm like, there's no good coming out of this story. The toilet paper had me worried y'all. I'm just gonna tell you. And I walk in her room and I see her on the floor with dry toilet paper, trying to scrub out the hot pink nail polish on her white carpet. Don't judge me for having white carpet in her room.
Melody Workman:I understand now. I understand. And I looked at her and she looked up at me, she goes, I'm very sorry. Like I
Tyler Bianco:she
Melody Workman:knew she'd made a mess. And, of course, I was upset. She'd wait. She didn't wait. You know, she didn't listen.
Melody Workman:All of those things. But can I tell you what I felt more than anything as I watched her? Like, she's what she's doing is so ineffective at what she's trying to like toilet paper wipes some things, but not that thing. She needed my help.
Tyler Bianco:She
Melody Workman:needed her mom and my love for her overcame my upsetness with her or my disappointment that she disobeyed. She was so helpless she needed me. And for some of you, you've spent months, years trying to scrub out your shame so ineffectively. And there's a loving father who's standing looking at you saying, can I help you with that? I'm actually really good with shame.
Melody Workman:Unfortunately, for Tamar, that's not what her dad did. We get to the next verse and it says, when King David heard what happened, he was very angry. And you read that and you're like, yeah. David was angry. Let's go.
Melody Workman:This is the part in the movie where the good guy brings justice, brings protection, rights all the wrongs. Come on, David. You know what to do. This is your daughter. That's the end of the sentence.
Melody Workman:King David heard what had happened. He was very angry. Some deep digging in the commentary say that he didn't discipline Amnon. He doted on him because it was firstborn. And this right here is one of the hardest lessons we have to learn in
Tyler Bianco:our shame. I mean, it is difficult and here's
Melody Workman:what it is. In our shame, people will often about David. David has slain physical giants but he can't slay the giant of lust living in his own home. He's killed animals with his bare hands but he can't erode the animalistic behaviors in his son. Maybe when David looks at Amnon, he can't discipline him because 11 years earlier, David had had his own way with a woman he shouldn't have.
Melody Workman:Maybe he'd never dealt with his shame so that he couldn't deal with his sons. The end of the story is terrible. David Absalom ends up killing Amnon. Later on, Absalom dies himself, and we have no record that David and Tamar ever reconciled their relationship. Do you ever read a story and go, what if this had a different ending?
Melody Workman:Like, what if David had been a better father? What if Tamar felt like she could have gone to him in her shame and received love and healing and help? What if this awful moment would have had to find her for the rest of her life? What if the story of shame had a better ending? And maybe you're asking, what if my story of shame could have a better ending?
Melody Workman:And I wanna tell you that it can
Tyler Bianco:because
Melody Workman:in the old testament, we see a story of shame. But when we get to the new testament, we see the story of a savior. We get to Mark 5 and I'll summarize this. Jesus is with his disciples. He's gained all kinds of notoriety and popularity.
Melody Workman:He's healing people. And so everywhere he goes, the crowds come. And even the Jewish leaders in the synagogue are starting to pay attention to Jesus and who he is and what he can do. And a really important Jewish leader named Jairus comes to Jesus and pleads with him. He says my little daughter is dying.
Melody Workman:Please come and lay your hands on her. Heal her so she can live. And so Jesus begins to move to his house, and there's an entire crowd of people following him. But it says a woman in the crowd had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding. How embarrassing.
Melody Workman:She'd suffered a great deal for many doctors. And over the years, she'd spent everything she had to pay them, but she'd gotten no better. In fact, she'd gotten worse. We know in sort of practical terms what it's like when there's something in your house or your car or whatever that you can't fix. You know, you take your car to the mechanic.
Melody Workman:I'm hearing this thing in my hood and he says I fixed it and then you drive away and you paid him $8,000 and then you hear it again. So you open up the hood and you're in there. You look up. There's a leak in your ceiling and you can't figure out. You're poking holes everywhere.
Melody Workman:You don't and you're feeling so frustrated. Right now, at my stage in life, I'm just trying to sleep every night. That's all I'm trying to do. It doesn't feel like a lot, but it is. Pray for my husband.
Melody Workman:I'm a high maintenance sleeper at this stage of my life. The room has to be pitch black. It has to be cool, but not cold. I need the ceiling fan on. I need a fan on the floor directly at me.
Melody Workman:I don't wanna get I don't wanna get hot, but I need a weighted blanket cause that helps with my anxious thoughts. And then they say magnesium is good for you so I take a supplement and then they made magnesium lotion and then they say no blue light and they say herbal tea and they say, read fiction and they say, do all of these things and still, y'all call me at 3 AM, we can have a full on conversation. Because I'm I can't I can't figure it out. But this lady is not frustrated. She's suffering.
Melody Workman:She's suffering. And according to Jewish law, her issue with blood made her unclean, and anyone else who touched her or in interact interacted with her, it made them unclean as well. But when we get to verse 27, these five words, she had heard about Jesus. She'd heard, he's doing the stuff that nobody else can do. No.
Melody Workman:No. Listen, someone was dead and now they're walking around. No. Someone was sitting by the pool of Bethesda, forgotten, desolate, desperate, and Jesus came and said, what can I do for you? And now they're healed, they're whole.
Melody Workman:She'd heard about Jesus so she came up behind him through the crowd. The risk of that, because of how unclean she was, And she touched his robe because she thought to herself, if I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.
Tyler Bianco:Amen.
Melody Workman:Some of you, you've tried everything. But have you tried Jesus? Are you desperate for healing? Is the weight of your shame just got to the place where it's unbearable and you can't carry it anymore? Is the size of your faith bigger than the weight of your shame?
Melody Workman:Do you believe that he can heal you too? Listen. It says immediately the bleeding stopped and she could feel in her body that she'd been healed of her terrible condition. Right? It's over.
Melody Workman:Great. Nobody has to know. Can go back to hiding. It says, Jesus realized that the healing power had gone out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my rope?
Melody Workman:His disciples said, Jesus, look at this crowd. I mean, I know you know all things, but come on, there's a lot of people here. How can you ask who touched me? But look at what it says about Jesus. He kept on looking.
Melody Workman:He kept on looking. Jesus isn't like the superstar at the concert surrounded by thousands of people, giving everybody an I love you sign and walking off the stage. Jesus is looking for you. Jesus is looking through the crowd to make eye contact with you. Jesus is coming for you.
Melody Workman:Jesus comes for you. Jesus continues to want to be known by you. And guess what? You're so valuable to Him that He's not scared off by your shame and He's not overwhelmed by it. The frightened woman trembling at the realization of what had happened came, fell to her knees, and told him what she had done.
Melody Workman:And these are some of the most beautiful words in scripture. Listen to me, all of you beloveds, who have felt dismissed and invalidated and not seen and not heard and invisible. Listen to these words. Jesus, listen to her story. Jesus doesn't just protect us.
Melody Workman:Jesus doesn't just look out for us. Jesus doesn't just lead us. Jesus listens to us. He says, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.
Melody Workman:Your suffering is over. Don't miss the power of courageous vulnerability. She could have stayed hidden because she'd already received her healing, but she needed to come out of hiding. Why? Because there's no healing unless you come out of hiding.
Melody Workman:Amen. Are you ready to come out of hiding? Don't miss this. This is the only time in scripture where Jesus calls someone by that name daughter, and everyone around heard him say it. That's so significant.
Melody Workman:She was no longer the woman with the issue of blood. She was now daughter. Regardless of what you've done or what's been done to you or what people have said about you or what you've been called your whole life, listen to me, Jesus does not call us by our shame, he calls us by our name. He calls us by our name. Isaiah 43 says, do not be afraid for I have ransomed you.
Melody Workman:I have called you by name and you are mine. But the question is, what are you going to listen to? The voice of shame or the voice of your savior? Your shame says you're not worth it. Your savior says I've made you worthy.
Melody Workman:Your shame says no one cares. Your savior says look at the cross. Your shame says you're a mess. Your savior says you're a masterpiece. Your shame says you'll never be good enough.
Melody Workman:Your savior says you don't have to be. Your shame says you should hide. Your savior says you can heal. Your shame says they'll never forget. Your savior says I've already forgiven.
Melody Workman:Your shame says you'll never get past this. Your savior says I will give you victory over this. Your shame says you're alone but your savior says I'm here. Your shame says you deserve condemnation, but your savior says I'm full of compassion. Your shame says stay in the dark.
Melody Workman:Your savior says step into the light. Your shame says stay bitter. Your shave your savior says I can make you better. Your shame says keep it a secret. Your savior says let me rewrite the story.
Melody Workman:Your shame says stay away. Your savior says come to me. Your shame says stay depressed. Your savior says be delivered. Your shame says you're lost, but your savior says you're loved.
Tyler Bianco:Come on. Amen.
Melody Workman:You're loved. You're loved. Who are you going to listen to? Listen to the promise of your savior. Then Jesus said, come to me.
Melody Workman:All of you who are weary, carry heavy burdens, and carry heavy shame. And I will give you rest. And friend, aren't you tired today? Aren't you weary from carrying it? Aren't you tired of carrying shame because of stuff that you're doing that you know you need to stop doing?
Melody Workman:Or are you weary from carrying shame from something that was done to you that you've you've kept a secret or it's never been dealt with? Do you hear the voice of your loving savior today saying, come to me. And I don't just offer rest. I offer forgiveness. I offer healing.
Melody Workman:I offer comforts. I offer peace. I offer reconciliation. I offer myself. I offer love.
Melody Workman:So here's what I want to say. Some of you that are carrying shame for something that you've done, that thing is coming to your mind right now. Today can be the day that you stop. You end it. You turn it off.
Melody Workman:You break up. You walk away from it. You cancel the subscription. You do whatever you need to do to get off the path of shame. You wanna know why?
Melody Workman:Because you're worth it and because Jesus has something so much better for you. Some of you continue carrying shame because you continue condoning sin. But today, Jesus offers forgiveness if you're ready to confess and repent. For those of you carrying shame because of something that was done to you, there is no more tender savior than Jesus. Your earthly protectors may have failed you, but Jesus never will.
Melody Workman:And I don't know what you need inside to begin to maybe unlock the power of vulnerability or forgiveness or just bringing it into the light. I don't know what that is for you, and I don't in any way shape or form think that it's easy. But here's what I can tell you. Jesus offers you rest and healing and peace, and he offers you a new way of life where you can be free. Are you ready today to releasing and receive everything that your savior has to give to you?
Melody Workman:Jesus, as I close, I'm so reminded in this moment of how you know each and every person listening to this message. So personally, you know exactly what they're carrying. You know exactly where they're struggling. You know exactly what they need. So, Jesus, right now, I'm praying for breakthrough.
Melody Workman:I'm praying that you would silence the voice of the enemy. The the enemy that tempts us to sin and then taunts us with shame. I pray that you would silence his voice right now. I pray that the voice that we would hear will be the voice of our savior telling us that we're loved and telling us that there is a way forward. So God, I pray right now in the mighty name of Jesus for anyone carrying shame because of something they've done.
Melody Workman:God, would you give them the courage that they need to walk away from their sin? Would you give them the courage they need to confess to you and any others that they've wronged or hidden things from? God, for those carrying shame because of something that's been done to them. Jesus. In the only way that you can, would you give them healing?
Melody Workman:Would you right now, Jesus, be so near and close them that they can feel your presence? Would you lead them forward, God, whatever it is they need, reminding them that they have a church that loves them and is here to support them. Jesus, help us to know your voice, to listen to your voice so that we can release our shame. We love you, Jesus. And we know we are convinced of how much you love us.
Melody Workman:In Jesus' name. Amen.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandalschurch.com.