Maybe It’s Me I Robert Madu I Social Dallas

Social fam you look good in the house of the Lord. Do you like who you're worshiping next to? Were they singing on key or off? Don't do that. Don't judge. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Hey, I'm so glad that you made it to church today. Your face is in the place or online. Let's thank God for our social global family again and watching from around the world. Come on, let us know in the chats where you're watching from. Did y'all miss me as much as I missed you last week? I'm telling you, it was good to get a little refreshing, but it's just something powerful when we gather together. And I'm so glad that you're here today. You look like you have confident trust in the Lord. And if you're new to social dallas, you're like, well, what does that mean? Well, we have a word for every year and our word for 2026 is trust. We're going to have confident trust in the Lord. And to remind ourselves, we declare our verse of the year every single Sunday. It's found in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 35 through 37. Come on. Can we read it together with uplifted caffeinated voices? Come on. You missed last week. So you got to put some extra up in it this week. All right. Y'all ready? So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Patient endurance is what you need now. Then you will receive all that he has promised for in just a little while, the coming one will come and not delay. Come on somebody. Do you believe that? I'm telling you now more than ever, I know the coming one is about to come. Well, remain standing. We're going to jump into our scripture for today. Stay standing. I know some of y'all's feet are hurting, but you wore those shoes. I'm excited today because today we are beginning a brand new series called Easy to Fall. Y'all, we're talking about relationships starting today. Five of y'all are excited about that. It's cool. I already knew. I already knew some of y'all are going to be like, for real? And let me just be clear. We're going to talk about this for the next six weeks, relationships, relationships. And I want to say this at the onset, before I read the scripture, this series is for everybody. Everybody, because it's a series about relationships. I say that because some people check out, I've been doing this five years now. And anytime it's a relationship series, some people translate into, oh, they're going to talk about marriage. Oh, this is where they're going to encourage the single people to keep trusting in the Lord. No, no, no, no. We might talk about some of that. But how many of y'all, all of us are affected by relationships. This series is for everybody. If you are watching right now, social global, and you're like, I don't talk to anybody. It's just me and my cat. You need this series because you need to get a dog. We all deal with relationships. So I want

you to lean in, not check out over these next six weeks. In fact, I want to do a challenge and a charge for some of y'all to show up all six weeks. Don't miss this series because I'm believing God's going to do something significant in relationships. Amen? Okay, let's go to our text for today. And then you can sit down. Just two verses of scripture. It's going to be our framework for today. Genesis chapter three. I'm going to look at verses six and seven. Genesis chapter three, verse number six, it declares, the woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too at that moment. And what a moment that was. Nothing would be the same after this moment. Their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. Can you say amen? This first installment of this six-week series, Easy to Fall, I just want to talk to you today from this thought. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's me. Would you do me a favor? Look at your neighbor, especially if you haven't talked to them today, and get in their personal space. Get in their face. Say neighbor. I'm starting to wonder if it's me. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Find somebody else, find somebody else. That needs to really hit in the room. Say other neighbor. Have you considered that just maybe it's you? Come on, if you believe God's going to speak, give him some praise today. Oh Lord, have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Maybe, now maybe it's Maybelline. Maybe it's me. Before we dive into the deep end of this series, let me just answer a question that perhaps some of you might be thinking. And that is, why in the world do we as a community take several weeks every single year to talk about relationships? I mean, think about that. Of all the different topics and things we could talk about in church, why in the world would we take six weeks to talk about relationships? Why does this one matter so much? The answer to that is quite simple. How many of you know the quality of your life is deeply connected to the quality of your relationships? Say that one more time. The quality of your life is deeply connected to the quality of your relationships. Think about it. Every amazing moment in your life, every moment where you think about it and you think about the joy and the elation of that moment, I'm almost positive that that moment is connected to

a person. It's connected to a name. Conversely, if you're honest, the most painful moments of your life, the most gut-wrenching, the most heartbreaking moments of your life have a name attached to it, have a person attached to it. Have you ever had somebody do you so wrong that just to meet somebody else with that name is a trigger for you? I mean, just right at the onset, like, what's your name, Fred? Oh, yeah, I'm gone. I don't fool with Freds. You know what I'm saying? Have you? It's relationships that affect us. Relationships are the currency of life. Our pain and our pleasure in life is inextricably connected to people. If you don't believe me, we can do the test today in church. Let's just do it since we're here. God is good and all the time. Y'all church people. Let's try this. People are good. See what happened? That right there shows the pain of relationships. That's why this is so hard. We can all agree on the goodness of God. We can't all agree on the goodness of people. Why? Because relationships are complicated. They are messy. They are unpredictable. People are not as agreeable as chat GPT. I wish they were. You know how chat GPT does. You can say anything to chat. It's just going to agree. Hey, chat, should I cuss out this coworker right now? And chat will tell you, just the fact that you would bring this up shows how self-aware that you are. I think you would actually help them if you use more colorful language. People are not agreeable like that. There are issues when you start dealing with people because relationships are complicated. That's why it's hard. And that's why we're starting this series called easy to fall. Say easy to fall. Easy to fall. If the series had a tagline, this is the tagline right here. The tagline would be building healthy relationships in a broken world. Building healthy relationships in a broken world. Why do healthy relationships have to be built? I'll tell you why. Because it's easy to fall. It is so easy to fall. It is easy to fall in love. That's what the Psalmist Olivia Dean told us. It's easy to fall in love. Come on. All you got to do is be older than the second grade and realize that, hey, the opposite sex doesn't have cooties. Anybody can fall in love. Come on. Can we be honest? Have you ever fallen in love? Anybody ever just fallen in love? Isn't that interesting language that we use? We fall in love. We don't say we walk into love. We don't say we wisely choose into love. We say we fall into love. The language is telling on us that we fall into love because nobody plans to fall. It's subliminally suggesting to us that to fall into something means I don't have control over this. It just happened. I didn't plan for this to happen. It just happened. I just fall. And don't get it twisted because we're going to talk

about more than just falling into love in this series because how many of you know we fall into a whole lot of other things too. Oh, y'all going to be quiet on me today. We fall into lust and we fall into habits and we fall into patterns and we fall into cycles of addiction and we fall into bitterness and we fall into unforgiveness. Have I said yours yet? And we fall into the same person, even though they got a different name and we fall into adultery and we fall into people's DMs and we fall into toxic mentalities. It's the fall. Nobody plans to fall. It's so easy, easy to fall. I spent way too much time thinking about this this week because it's interesting. Have you noticed almost every nursery rhyme you hear as a kid has something to do with falling? Have you ever thought about it? Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Jack and Jill went up the hill. Jack came tumbling down, broke his… That's his cranium. It's always about the… London Bridges. Falling down. But we keep talking about the fall, the humpty-dumpty. Sat on the wall, had a great fall. Some of y'all are like, is this what I came to church for though? Ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes. We all fall down. From the time we are young, we are psychologically inundated with this idea of falling as if it is inevitable. You don't have a choice. And if you think you came all the way to social Dallas to hear nursery rhymes, please don't forget what the apostle Paul, that murderer-turned-church-planter, that gospel globetrotter, that tenacious tentmaker from Tarsus. Don't forget what he said in Romans chapter 3 when he gives us his treatise to the church at Rome. He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. How many? All have sinned. Think of the most spiritual person you know. Think of the person that you think they just float in the room and angels know their name. They're included in that all. I don't care how much you pray. I don't care if you speak in more tongues than the United Nations. I don't care if you had communion for breakfast. Oh, put it back on the screen. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Let's ponder that just for a little bit, because Paul, how come you didn't just stop at all have sinned? Wouldn't that be enough? Why would you add and fall short of the glory of God? Isn't that interesting? Perhaps Paul understands that if he stops at all have sinned, we will think that it's just about our behavior that needs to be fixed, and we will obsess about fixing our behavior. I just got to fix my behavior. I just got to do better. I just got to try harder.

Has anybody come to the alarming conclusion that you cannot try harder? You have to start over? So, Paul says it's not just that all have sinned. We also have fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is what I've done. Falling short is what I fail to be. Sin is not just about the bad choices. It is the bad choices, but Paul is speaking to a broken condition, which means I don't just have bad moments. I am starting from a broken place. I start falling. Maybe that's why falling is so easy, and relationships are so hard because we start from a place of being fallen. I know I'm supposed to preach this series right now because it's interesting to see this play out in the culture in which we live. Just this week as I was preparing this message, I came across two different articles. The title of the first article was, Dallas is not for lovers. Dallas is not for lovers. I know we got people watching all over, social global family, but it said Dallas is not for lovers. It talked about a person who was dating an individual, a young man, and it was going good for a couple of months, nice restaurants. Let them move in and had a little club. And all of a sudden got ghosted after eight months of dating didn't hear anything from them and articles talking about Dallas It's not for lovers and it ranked Dallas It ranked Dallas watch this as the 50th out of a hundred on a list of cities for singles trying to find love Dallas went in the top 10. We weren't in the top 20 We were 50th on the list of a hundred some of y'all ready to move right now. You're like, that's why I Can't find nobody we number 50 on the list and and the criteria of the list were for how many singles were in the city and what the nightlife was like and it went on to talk about the Environment was not set for people to find love but in that same magazine was another article Entitled the more the merrier and this article was talking about a young lady who was practicing for over 10 years now polyamorous relationships You know what that is? I was this week old when I learned that Polyamorous. Yes, but this is when who you are having multiple romantic partners at the same time Yeah Multiple romantic partners at the same time. It's it's an open relationship The the ideology of polyamorous relationships is the problem is not infidelity or cheating The problem is the secrecy. So as long as both of us have an understanding

It's okay. Let's redefine this thing and let's get away with infidelity Let's just both be open to the understanding that we could have multiple partners This is what this person was saying this article and this young lady was talking about how free She was By not having these restrictions free free and I don't sound like it's free But it just sounds like it's a quick way to catch STD But but maybe it's me maybe it's me and I found it interesting I thought it interesting that these two articles were in the same Magazine and and one is saying that the issue is in the city. You got to get out of the city That's where the problem is. The other one is saying all the issues with the terms. We we've defined these terms wrong We need better words and then yesterday we posted a picture on the social Dallas Instagram page And then we just started asking y'all I said, let me ask our church community What topics do you want us to talk about as we embark on this six-week journey and y'all? Oh y'all started telling on yourselves. You started telling on yourselves the things that started coming in I'm like, do you know the significant other is probably looking at your post talk about husbands who don't want to get a job Talk about in-laws that won't mind their own business To talk about what to do if they won't sign a prenup all the questions that came in talk about Communication and talk about blended families We got inundated with all kinds of things talk about boundaries talk about mentorship talk about friendships, and it's not bad Maybe we'll hit a lot of those things on the list But it was flooded with a lot of technique and as I was reading these two articles and reading all the comments on our page There was one thing I did not see I noticed something not one person in all of those comments said hey PR The problem is me The problem in the relationship is me help me with me I am the problem. Nobody said that and maybe that's the issue because how many know sometimes it's not just what you're dealing with It's what you bring into the relationship Because the one person you bring into every relationship Is you is you you bring you? Everywhere you go Go on a vacation if you want guess who you're taking with you

You different people different environments different situations same you It's the problem With me and that problem That's in me can be traced all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 The problem with me can be traced back to Genesis chapter 3. I want you to hear me clear today Every single problem that you have faced and will ever face can be traced back to Genesis chapter 3 Anytime you've ever cried yourself to sleep at night. You can trace it back to Genesis chapter 3 anybody that's ever broken your heart you can trace it back to Genesis chapter 3 anybody that ever Betrayed your trust you can trace it back to Genesis chapter 3 anybody that's ever flipped out on you And you don't know what happened you can trace it back to Genesis chapter 3 if you got scared last night because you heard the storm and the winds and the waves you're like it's my house about to Blow away you can trace that to Genesis chapter 3 how many know even the earth is Groaning because of what sin did when sin entered the world you can trace it back to Genesis chapter 3 all the way back one scholar said that Genesis 3 is the pivot upon which the entire bible turns. In other words, if you want to see perfection in your bible, read chapter 1 and 2 of Genesis and don't turn another page. Don't go past chapter 3. If you want to just see perfection, go to 1 and 2. It's like those y'all who are looking for the perfect church. If you're looking for a perfect church, when you find it, don't go, because you will mess it up. Amen. Don't attend. That's the challenge of turning past Genesis chapter 1 and 2 because it is only in those two chapters that we see God's original intention for life on this earth. We see his original design. I love Genesis 1 and 2. It don't get better than that. You walk around naked and you worship God and the original whole food market. It's in Genesis that we understand that God is the creator, which means I am not my own. I belong to him. It's in Genesis 1 and 2 where identity is made clear. He created them male and female. I know we live in a culture that likes gender fluidity, but according to Genesis 1 and 2, it's gender clarity, male and female. In Genesis 1 and 2, purpose is given to them. He says, be fruitful and multiply. I didn't create you to just sit around and do nothing. I actually created you with a purpose. Work preceded the fall of man. You were not created to just play video games all day.

You were not created to just sit on your blessed assurance and do nothing, but how many are thankful that God has placed a purpose on humanity. There's a reason why I'm here. He gave partnership and connected Adam with Eve, put him to sleep. He wasn't on singles.com. He wasn't on any type of date app. God did it, put him to sleep, took his rib, and created a woman. He gave partnership in the garden in 1 and 2. All of a sudden, they have a place. They didn't stumble into the garden of Eden. God says, I know the place where you're going to thrive. He placed them in the garden of Eden, but none of those gifts supersede the greatest gift that Adam and Eve had in the garden. They had his presence. They had the presence of God. They walked with him, and they talked with him, and they communed with him. And I tell you why some of y'all are just giving that little golf clap, because you don't understand the greatest gift you have is access to the presence of God. I'm thankful that his presence is available to me. This is all Genesis 1 and 2. Can you imagine talking with him intimately? There was no distance, no shame, no hiding, no dysfunction. Then all of a sudden, in Genesis 3, everything starts breaking, like somebody hitting a domino. There is a ripple effect that we are still feeling the ramifications of today. So, shout out to those of you who are like, I can do what I want. It don't affect anybody. Are you crazy? You have no clue how what you're doing is having an impact on the people around you and the people that you have yet to see. I just want to do me. Do you, but just know doing you is affecting somebody else. And Adam and Eve didn't realize the consequences of what happened in Genesis chapter 3. Before we even talk about what happened in them, let's understand what happened to them. We're introduced to the serpent, Satan. The Bible says in Genesis 3 that he was more crafty than any animal that God had made. That word crafty in the original language speaks to wisdom. It's actually something in Proverbs that you're to have, to be wise. That means that this serpent is so strategic. He is watching you, trying to see, what's the best way I can attack? He ain't here just firing random shots. He knows exactly what to send your way. He knows your appetite. He is watching your film. I think I told you this before. I'll never forget the revelation. I got watching the Discovery Channel one day and they were talking about snakes. And this announcer had the nerve to say, snakes are the only animal that doesn't blink. Just staring, watching, looking for vulnerability, looking for weakness. Have you lived long enough to realize how come it's the same temptation?

How come he knows the exact co-worker of the Say the right thing to set me off. How come it's always this time? He knows what to send your way. And he studied and he watched, but look at the first words that the serpent says to Eve. He said, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Did God really say that? It's interesting, forever when I read that, I thought that the serpent was just trying to get Eve to doubt the word of God. Did God really say you must not eat of any tree in the garden? But what's interesting, if you study this text in the Hebrew, you actually get some clues to the vocal intonation of what he said. It's not just what he said, it's how he said it. The vocal intonation of did God really say that is the vocal intonation of somebody mocking something. You ever had somebody mock like, really? Did they really say that? Do you see what the enemy is trying to do? He's not trying to change God's word per se, he's trying to change how they view God's word. He's trying to make them look at God's word in a different light, really? You mean to tell me all these trees here and you can't touch any of them, really? Have you ever had the enemy hit you with a, really?

Really? That's what God has planned for relationships, really? And what's behind that really, here it is. He's trying to get them to view God's word as restrictive instead of protective. He wants you to see the word of God because he attacks his word and his character. He wants you to see the word of God, especially around relationships, he does this today. He wants you to see it as restrictive instead of protective. And so you're frustrated by the restriction, not realizing the restriction is protection. Like the fish that says, I can't believe I gotta stay in this water. Wish I could be free. Set that fish free and let it get on the land and watch the ramifications of its freedom. He wants you to see God's word. Hear me, please don't miss it. This is worth you coming to Sunday as restrictive instead of protective. I see this with my kids all the time. Here it is, you know I gotta give you a visual. My kids get annoyed because it's like I always got a sign saying, uh-uh, restriction, restriction. They will eat sugar all day, every day, morning, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Uh-uh, that's too much. Man, restrictive.

You mean to tell me I can't have ice cream for breakfast? You're so restrictive. They'll be playing in the middle of the street. Uh-uh, get out the street. Man, killing my fun. You're so restrictive. Isn't it interesting how you can start viewing the word of God as, especially around relationships. Man, that's so restrictive. Only have sex with the person you're married to? Come on, bro. That's so restrictive. The problem with the restriction, if you keep looking at it as the restriction and you keep throwing away the restriction because you're like, I'm tired of that restriction. Understand you didn't just throw away the restriction. You threw away the protection. And when you get rid of the restriction and you get away from the protection, isn't it crazy? You got the nerve and the audacity to say, I can't believe God let me go through this. I can't believe my heart's being broken like this. I can't believe. You wanted freedom from the restriction, but you didn't know when you threw away the restriction, you lost the protection. So I'm not gonna get the enemy to make me focus on the restriction.

I wanna thank God for the protection. Thank you, Jesus, that I have restrictions. That is protection over my life. There's some tears I don't have to cry if I just obey the restriction because the restriction is protection. Has anybody ever looked back over your life and realized the restriction was the protection? Oh Lord, my dad is here. I'm glad he's in church. I'll never forget growing up. I was the only kid, anytime they would have like a birthday party and they would have a sleepover. over at the birthday party I was the only kid couldn't go I would go for the first part of party and then everybody sleep over and they would know when your dad coming I was like I don't know he'll probably be here by 9 o'clock that was his rule we don't do sleepovers here I used to hate it as a kid he just beat her at the doorbell so let's go the party is over that's how you come on here I am walking around man can't believe can't believe I gotta go home everybody else gets to spend the night and then I start hearing stories of what happened at the sleepover then I start being in ministry and hearing what happens sometimes and now I look back and I say thank you dad for the restriction I couldn't see it at 13 but at 42 and now that I got kids on my own I realized the restriction was just protection and there are restrictions my kids are complaining about right now that they don't even know is protection if my kids don't have the cognitive ability at their age to know that the restriction is protection how do you think you know more than God the God that we will spend eternity getting to know you think you know more than him yeah you think you can do relationships better than the one that

made it you think you having a better sex life than the one that created and the context he created it the restriction is protection somebody you just came to church just for that right there you can leave that's that's your word the restriction is protection and Adam and Eve walked away from the protection because the enemy got them to see God's Word as a restriction and when he did that a lie got in their mind and they took of their fruit and they ate and from that moment the moment they believed the lie and when everything broke three things showed up that had never been in the earth before and I want to argue that every relational problem that you have hear me every relational problem that you have can be traced back at the root of it to these three things that showed up when they believed the lie and ate of the fruit in a moment in an instant they had the feeling of shame the need to hide and the instinct to blame the feeling of shame the need to hide and the instinct to blame shame hide blame those three things will destroy every relationship that you have shame the need to hide and blame let's just unpack these shame shame is the first feeling after the fall is there in verse 7 it says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked they had always been naked now all of a sudden their eyes are open and they realized it so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings the first effect don't miss this of the fall was not conflict was not distance it was not blame the first effect was shame before this moment their nakedness wasn't a problem there was no insecurity there was no comparison there was no self consciousness there was only God consciousness there was no fear of fully being seen they were fully known and fully unashamed but the moment sin enters the story everything changes now they're aware of themselves they feel exposed they feel something they've never felt before shame can you imagine what it would be like to not feel shame there's a phrase that I can't stand when people say shame on you because shame is one of the most debilitating feelings in the world and it happened right after the fall it's interesting if you look at like a young kid a toddler we actually get little glimpses of what life was

like before the fall come on you seen this before you ever been somewhere and a little toddler just walks in straight out the back and it's a whole dinner party going on. They're like, hey, just butt naked. I mean, doesn't have a care in the world here. I apologize. I'm so sorry. And come on, come on, get back in the room. What are you seeing? You're actually seeing just a little glimpse of what life was like before we felt shame. You're seeing just a little glimpse of what life was like before the fall. We had no shame, but as soon as the fall happened, we began to cover, and many of us are still covering today. Have you noticed a little baby? No baby looks at a mirror. No baby comes out and says, give me a mirror, let me check. No, no, no. Babies are looking for eyes. They're just looking for a face. They're looking for the one that adores them. They're not comparing themselves to anybody, and this is what we lost in the garden. We lost the freedom from shame. Shame is different than guilt. Guilt says what I did was wrong. Shame says I am wrong. Shame says there's something wrong with me, and I need to hide it.

Can I ask you as the worship team comes, what are you covering today? Because we cover just like our parents. We cover our flaws. We cover our insecurities. We cover the parts of us we don't want people to see. We show up in relationships, but we don't show up real. We show the best and hide the mess because of shame. We cover by image, success, personality, spirituality. Oh, I'm blessed and highly favored. Are you? Or are you covering the shame? Because in the back of your mind, you're thinking, if they really knew me, they wouldn't love me. And when you feel that type of shame, you don't move towards God or towards people. You do the next thing they did. You hide. Bible says that God came looking for them, in the cool of the garden. Let's look at it. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord. They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Hold on, Adam and Eve. How are you hiding in the very environment that he created for you to connect with him? Isn't that crazy? That sin will make you hide in a space and a place

and you should feel freedom to be real and honest. That's how people come to church. In an environment where you should be able to be honest and say, this is my issue, this is what I'm going through. We come to church and we worship and we hide. We do it in our relationships. We do it in our marriages. In a marriage where you should have intimacy, intimacy, we hide. The very place God designed for relationship, they're now using for distance. Are you hiding today? Withdrawing? Some of you watching online right now, that's why you don't wanna come into church. I watch it online. I'll hide. You keep things on the surface. You stop answering that phone call. That's where ghosting comes from. It's hide, disappearing, no conversation, no closure, no honesty. And we act like that's just a part of the culture. But it's not new. It's hiding. And honestly, I wanna say something to the men in the house. Today. And this is not to call you out, but to call you up. Nobody hides like us. We can beat the ladies in hiding

because we won't communicate what we're going through. I'm good. No, I'm fine. No, no, no, nothing's wrong. And you're hiding and you're withdrawing. And hear me, what I hide can't be healed. Whatever you're hiding, hear me, it cannot be healed. If you want true healing, you've got to bring it out of the secrecy as ugly as it is. That's the first step to healing is getting it out in the open. God says, can't heal what you hide if you don't believe it ask a doctor you can't go to a doctor and say yeah i'm not feeling good but i don't want you to do the x-ray you gotta go in there and say do the x-ray because i'm tired of the pain and it's not gonna get better by me covering it i gotta be open and honest because i want my healing more than i want to keep my image and i'm talking to somebody today that the first step is for you to stop hiding get it out in the open so you can be healed the greatest day of freedom in our marriage is when i came to my bride after years of hiding and addiction to pornography i said i cannot hide this anymore and i stand here as a testimony that god can set you free and deliver you but it starts with the honesty say i'm tired of hiding i want to be healed because if you keep hiding guess what you move into blame you go from shame to hiding to blame come on let's look at it so you know i'm in the text first thing adam says when god says did you eat at the tree i told you not to the man said oh the woman you put here with me she gave me some of the fruit of the tree and i ate it look at what he says the serpent deceived me and i ate it's adam's that messes me up because he doesn't stop at the woman it's her fault he takes it further the woman you gave me hold on play you're blaming your wife and god that's where you are you're blaming and you're messed up adam because i love what the apostle paul lets us know in second timothy he lets us know something that you got to get to the new testament it says and it was not adam who was deceived by satan the woman was deceived and sin was the result adam she got tricked you didn't get

tricked you were there the whole time you knew it was wrong but because you're hiding you don't say anything and hear me that's the trick of the enemy especially for man he wants you to sit back and be silent while the enemy takes your children and takes your wife and takes a generation but i believe that god's gonna raise up some mighty men of god who say i'm not gonna sit back and say nothing when i see the devil coming after my home i'm gonna raise up a standard and say not in my house not in my generation where are the men who will stand up and say something adam should have stepped in and said we don't talk to snakes in this house the enemy wants you just to hide because if he can get you to hide he can get you to blame why do we have to start this series this way because you bring you to every relationship a healthy relationship are two healthy people coming together maybe it's me have you come to that conclusion that maybe it's you you're the common denominator in the relationship or you're going to spend your entire life walking around in shame hiding and and blaming but let's look at it even if you say i want to live my life in shame i want to live my life hiding and i want to live my life blaming other people like adam i blame god it's my dad's fault he wasn't there it's your fault if you would have showed up for me if you would have been more available i wouldn't have had the affair it's their fault it's my mama's fault it's in my blood we can blame all kinds of people we can stay stuck in shame we can hide we can blame but have you noticed that even when you do all that there's still only one person that you are gonna have to look at because even in shame i still got to deal with me in the middle of hot i am in the middle and blame me is in the middle and i came to tell somebody maybe it's you and how many know you can't cover you because adam and eve didn't cover themselves thank god that he already had a plan before the foundation of the earth god said where are you adam i'm not coming to kill you if you'll be honest i'm not coming to kill you if you'll be honest i'm coming to cover you is there anybody thankful for god that slayed an animal and covered them with the skins of that animal and said adam guess what i already had a plan before you fell and if you would just be honest and let me cover you. Thank God for Jesus. I'm not standing here because my record is perfect. I'm standing here because the record of Jesus is perfect. Somebody give us some praise in this place today. Would you stand to your feet? Came to tell somebody today to consider, is it you? You're going to spend your whole life pointing the finger at somebody else?

Or we could start this series off with some honesty and say, here it is. What am I trying to cover up that God says I want to provide a covering for? There's a difference between a cover-up and a covering. A cover-up is when you're in shame, and you're hiding, and you're blaming, and you're trying to protect your image. But a covering is when you come to God saying, God, this is the issue. It's me. I'm tired of pointing the finger. Start with me and watch how that affects every relationship that you have. I'm going to ask heads to be bowed and eyes to be closed today. I truly believe this series is going to change generations. It's going to change legacies. It's going to change our church. But it starts with you considering, is it me? God, what do you want to do in me? Hear me. When you get to heaven, you will not stand even in heaven for God with your spouse or your mama's faith. You will stand as an individual. What does he want to do in me is the question I'm asking today. And with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're so honest to say, hey, PR, there's some things that I've been hiding. Maybe you've been walking in the shame and distancing yourself from community and people. Maybe you've been playing the blame game. You say today, I want to begin this series off right, saying, God, do a work in me. Being here today and you know that even right now, the Holy Spirit is highlighting some things in you that need to be addressed. You're saying today, God, I'm tired of carrying this. I'm giving it to you. That's you. Would you just lift up your hand as a sign to say, God, I'm giving it to you today. Thank you, God. I see those hands. Thank you, Lord. Anybody else? Just lift it up high enough and long enough to where I can see it. Thank you, God. God, thank you that you are the great surgeon. God, don't let us approach you like we approach people trying to show the good parts. You know us and you love us. Anybody else? Thank you, God. Heads still bowed, eyes still closed. If you're here today and you say, hey, PR, I've never even taken that first step, which is to say, Jesus, my life is yours. Maybe you've been saying, I got to get myself together before I come to God. You can't get yourself together. All have sinned and fall short. It's easy to fall. But today it begins confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord. That's you. You say, hey, PR, would you include me in this closing prayer? I need to give him my life today. Would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could

see it? I don't care if it's just one person. You're worth it. I see that hand. Thank you, Jesus. I see that hand. Thank you, God. I see that hand. This is what God wants. Don't run from a God that loves you. Run to him. A covering is better than a cover-up. Anybody else? Just lift it up. Thank you, God. Can we repeat this prayer as one big family? I'm going to give you the words, but you say it from your heart, especially those of you who lifted up your hand the second time. Would you say this? Say, Jesus, I need you. I cannot do life without you. Lord, today it's me. I'm coming to you. I'm not hiding. I'm tired of the shame. I'm tired of blaming. I need you. Forgive me of my sin. Wash me clean. Make me brand new. From this moment forward, I'm not running from you. I'm running to you. I receive your covering. Thank you for living the life that I was supposed to live and dying the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place. I am yours. In Jesus' name. Come on, somebody give God the best hand clap of praise that you got. Come on, you can do better than that. Would you give Jesus some praise today? Come on, can we really celebrate? There were so many hands that just crossed over from death to life.