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Sermon Notes
The Shame-Game
Genesis 2 & 3
Introduction
The Looking Glass Self:
– I am not who I think I am.
– I am not who YOU think I am.
– I am who I think YOU think I am.
Charles Horton Cooley
Two Types of Mirrors
– Flat Mirror; accurate reflection
– Crazy Mirror; distorted image
Which kind of mirror are you?
Shame
– is a story we tell ourselves about ourselves. It’s a feeling of being
unworthy and unwanted, unloved, unimportant.
– Guilt says, :I made a mistake”. Shame says, “I AM a mistake.”
Shame Triggers / Shame Scripts
– Shame triggers are the things that cause us to feel unwanted, unworthy,
unloved.
– Shame scripts are the messages we say to ourselves or something someone said to us, about us which creates a negative feedback loop that we play over and over again.
Naked – no Shame. (Genesis 2:25)
– The Hebrew word for shame literally comes from the root word “to hide”
– The opposite of shame is vulnerability
– The only way to break the power of shame is to confess it.
“Confess your sin to one another and pray for each other another, that you may be healed.” – James 5:16
The Entrance of Shame (Genesis 3:1-8)
– The enemy’s tactic: Before original SIN, there is original DOUBT
“Did God really say…?”
– cognitive distortion: exaggerating situations in our minds.
Stopping Shame
– To stop shame, you have to do the hard work of identifying the lies that
have been told to and about you.
– You are who God says you are.
The Johari Window
Everybody is fighting a battle we know nothing about and it usually happens in this façade quadrant.
– This week’s assignment: Spend an hour asking this question. 2 Samuel 7:18
“Who am I, Sovereign Lord…that you have brought me this far?”
– QUADRANT #2 is where Shame scripts live
– Two options: An alter ego, or an altar ego; laying your pride, your shame,
your lust, your temper, putting it all at the foot of the Cross.
Three Games we play
– the fame game: “You will be like God”
– shame game: “keep hiding”
– the blame game: “the woman YOU put here made me do it.”
