Transcript
Speaker: Pull up a chair. Grab your mug. Find a spot at the table and just let your shoulders drop. There is a specific kind of frustration. that comes when you realize you have spent weeks or months running on absolute emptiness.
Speaker: trying to play a character who has everything completely under control. when you are actually falling apart inside. You're here? I am here. And we're just two everyday travelers who know exactly what it feels like.
Speaker: to get entirely twisted up in our own trap No podiums. No name tags. Just a share table. I'm LaTosha Goggins, and you found your way to When Words Fail.
Speaker: Today, we are walking straight into an episode I've simply called the dirt and the rebuilding. which is the heartbeat behind the fifth track on the album. Make us new.
Speaker: Let's be entirely real before we even look at a line of scripture. or touch a single piano key. Most of our days are spent running a tiny exhausting kingdom where we are the absolute monarch.
Speaker: We spend our energy managing our image. Fixing our failures before anyone else can smell the smoke. and trying to white knuckle our way out of habits that are slowly swallowing us alive.
Speaker: We pretend we have a map. when we are completely turned around in the woods. But there is a specific midnight. A precise junction in life.
Speaker: where the machinery of your own strength just grinds to a final screeching. hope. It usually happens. right at the tail end of a long sequence of choices you swore you'd never make again.
Speaker: or it happens in the sudden echoing quiet after a relationship you built your identity around Shout out. into a thousand jagged feet. pieces. You look at your hands.
Speaker: You look at your schedule. You look at the state of your soul. and the realization hits you like ice water. I am completely out of options. My way does not work.
Speaker: That moment of total collapse isn't a funeral. though it certainly feels like one while you're sitting in the wreckage. It is actually the most honest second of your entire existence.
Speaker: The track begins directly in that dust. The song opens with a confession that doesn't wear any religious makeup. We come to you with open hands. Old life falling. from our grants.
Speaker: Notice that the song doesn't start with a self -help checklist of how to improve your life. It starts with bankruptcy. It's the sound of an open hand dropping everything it has been stubbornly clutching.
Speaker: We have a habit in our modern lives of treating spiritual dryness like a minor scheduling problem. or temporary lapse in motivation. We tell ourselves. I just need to clear my plate I just need a vacation.
Speaker: I just need to get through this busy season. But if we are being ruthlessly honest at this table, The problem is in our calendar. It's that our spirits have grown calcified, rigid, and deeply defended against the very grace we need.
Speaker: We are trying to repair a house whose foundations have turned. completely to sand.
Speaker: This conversation today isn't for the flawless traveler. who has never stepped off the pavement. It's for the long -time believer. who sits in the same pew every week.
Speaker: but has kept three or four rooms of their heart deadbolted against the Lord for 20 years. It's for the person who is standing on the freezing outer edge of faith. Looking through the window,
Speaker: terrified to step inside because they think they have to wash the mud off their clothes before they're allowed through the door. It's for the traveler who was just playing. higher. The one whose soul feels like a dry...
Speaker: cracked riverbed that hasn't seen rain since they can remember.
Speaker: You don't have to perform here. You don't have to use church language to describe the knot in your chest. You just have to be willing to sit in the dirt for a moment and admit that the old life is falling out of your fingers anyway.
Speaker: Let us bow our heads and pray. Lord Jesus We are sitting at this table with absolutely nothing to hide. We confess that we are masters of the cover -up.
Speaker: We try to patch our own fractures. We try to discipline our way out of sin. and we perform a version of strength that we just don't have. Meet us right here in the middle of our bankruptcy. See?
Speaker: Give us the raw courage to stop running from the state of our souls. Break through the thick walls we've built to protect ourselves from being hurt. and in doing so Break down the walls that keep us from being made whole.
Speaker: Please, Jesus. Cool. Step into this mess and make us new. Amen.
Speaker: We use words in our sanctuaries and small groups so often that they start to lose their edge. We talk about being saved. or renewed. Like we're talking about getting a software update on our phones.
Speaker: a nice little patch that runs in the background. While we keep doing exactly what we've always done, just slightly more efficiently. But when you actually open the word on your own,
Speaker: Away from the noise of the world, just you and the pages under a lamp. you find that the Holy Spirit doesn't deal in upgrades. He deals in executions and resurrections.
Speaker: Look at what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 .17. He says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creature. The old things passed away.
Speaker: Behold. new things have come.
Speaker: Think about that word creature. or creation. That is the exact same language used in the absolute beginning of Genesis. When there was nothing but dark,
Speaker: Formless void. and God spoke light and into existence. Paul isn't describing a self -improvement seminar. He isn't saying that Jesus comes along to polish up your old personality.
Speaker: Fix your rough edges. and make you a slightly nicer version of yourself. He is saying that the old thing is legally completely dead. and a brand new entity has been brought into being by the mouth of God
Speaker: But here's where we get stuck. And here is where the dryness settles into our bones. We want the new creation. but we keep trying to drag the corpse of her old life along with us.
Speaker: We want the peace of God. but we want to keep our old grudges. We want the freedom of Christ. but we want to keep our secret altars where we worship our old habits.
Speaker: Turning toward this new creation, requires an actual turning around. The scripture calls it repentance. In the original Greek text, the word is metania.
Speaker: And it doesn't mean groveling in a state of self -hatred until you feel miserable enough for God to tolerate you. It means a radical. Total change of your mind.
Speaker: It means looking at the sin that has weighed you down. looking at the pride that has kept you isolated. Naming it honestly. without making excuses. and choosing to walk in the exact opposite direction portraits.
Speaker: We read John 316 so often on posters and bumper stickers. that we miss the weight of invitation. For God so loved the world.
Speaker: that he gave his only begotten son. that whoever believes in him shall not perish. but have eternal life. That word, whoever. does a lot of heavy lifting there.
Speaker: It means the person carrying 20 years of this secret addiction they've never told their spouse about.
Speaker: It's for the person who walked away from a church split 15 years ago and swore they'd never cross the threshold of God's house again.
Speaker: It's for the seeker. who doesn't even know the names of the books of the Bible, but knows that they can't live another day with the cold weight currently sitting on their chest
Speaker: But don't mistake the gift for a magic trick that makes your life instantly easy. In Ephesians 2 verse 8 and 9, We're reminded. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
Speaker: and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not as a result of words. so that no one may boast. It is entirely free. You cannot earn it.
Speaker: You cannot buy it. You cannot do enough charity work to deserve it. But walking it out? That is a daily, unhurried trek. In Romans 12 -2 We are commanded to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Speaker: in the original text That word transformed is. present tense. Meaning it is happening right now. And it needs to keep happening tomorrow morning and the morning after that.
Speaker: You are made a new creation in a single moment of surrender. but the clearing out of the old attic of your mind takes time. It takes... pulling out the old ways of thinking.
Speaker: the old defensive reaction. The old sins we love to coddle. and handing them over to the Lord one by one. every single Tuesday afternoon. every single ordinary Friday night.
Speaker: Let's talk about the Heart of Stone. and the lyrics that make us new. There's a specific phrase where we cry out to God. to wash the dust off hardened hearts. That line didn't just come out of nowhere.
Speaker: It's pulled straight from the ancient text of the prophet Ezekiel. 3626. Moreover, I will give you a new heart. and put a new spirit within you.
Speaker: and I will remove the heart of stone. from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. How does a heart turn to stone? It doesn't happen between breakfast and lunch.
Speaker: It's a slow microscopic sedimentation. every time you get hurt by someone who was supposed to protect you. you drop a grain of sand on your heart. Every time you commit a sin that you know is wrong,
Speaker: but you justify it because you're lonely or angry. you add another layer. Every time a prayer seems to go unanswered, and you let bitterness settle into your spirit the shell grows thicker.
Speaker: Eventually, You build a magnificent stone fortress around your soul. You tell yourself that you are safe in there. No one can get in to break your heart again.
Speaker: But here is the terrifying reality of that fortress. The exact same walls that keep out the hurt. Also keep out the living water. A stone heart can't feel the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker: and let me make something absolutely clear at this table. I'm just a person sitting here. with a mug of coffee, sharing my own journey. There is no authority at this table to grant you absolution or wipe your slate clean.
Speaker: I cannot offer you forgiveness. And this podcast cannot wash away your past. Scripture lays out the definitive plan of salvation. And that is a straight line between you. and the Creator.
Speaker: Forgiveness for your sins. is obtained solely through one Narrow. door.
Speaker: It requires admitting honestly that you have sinned against a holy God. repenting of that sin by turning away from it, and place your entire life and trust into the hands of God. Jesus Christ.
Speaker: He is the only source of pardon. He is the only one who paid the price on the cross to buy you. back. A stone heart cannot extend. or receive.
Speaker: That kind of supernatural mercy. because it's too rigid to bend. A stone heart just sits in its own dark cave grown dry, cold, and entirely dead to love.
Speaker: And if we're being honest with each other, Many of us are trying to live our faith lives with a calcified heart. We wonder why the word feels like dry paper when we read it.
Speaker: We wonder why our personal prayer lives feel like we are throwing whispers at a bronze ceiling. It's because we're bringing a stone to the Creator. and asking him to make it beat.
Speaker: God's promise isn't to give your stone heart a medicine to make it hurt less. His promise is to perform an immediate radical transplant. He removes the cold, rigid, defended thing from your chest and drops an heart of flesh.
Speaker: A heart that is soft. a heart that can bleed A heart that can be moved and changed and broken. by the things that break the heart of God.
Speaker: If your soul feels stuck today, If you are trapped in a cycle of isolation and dryness, I want to urge you to stop trying to heal your own stone heart.
Speaker: You cannot make a rock grow. You have to open your hands. Fall on your knees in the quiet of your room. and make your sense. Repent of them. and turn to Jesus. saying Lord.
Speaker: Take the stone. I can't carry its weight anymore. Give me the flesh.
Speaker: But that transplant doesn't happen in a vacuum. You cannot walk out a new life if you remain entirely isolated in your own head. The adversary loves nothing more than to get an exhausted believer all by themselves.
Speaker: in a dark room. Because that is where the lies sound the loudest. That is where you could convince yourself that you are the only one who is struggling. The only one who was dirty.
Speaker: The only one who can't. get it right.
Speaker: That is why scripture never imagines a Christian walking alone through the wilderness. We are meant to be assembled together. We need to be surrounded by a local body of God's people.
Speaker: where our trembling faith can be propped up by the person sitting next to us. You need to look across the room. and see other recovered broken people. who were singing the same praises.
Speaker: Fighting the same sense. and lifting you up when your own voice. completely fails. New Creation Life is found in personal prayer, and the independent study of the word.
Speaker: but it is lived out inside the sanctuary of a local. home church.
Speaker: Once that heart of flesh is inside your chest Something inco - incredible begins to happen. The prayer shifts. You stop asking God to just fix your personal comfort.
Speaker: and you start looking around your neighborhood with different eyes. Paul writes about this beautiful secondary effect in 2 Corinthians 5 .18. He says that God reconciled us to himself through Christ.
Speaker: and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That means that the forgiveness you have received from the Lord cannot be hoarded. The grace that washed the mud off your face?
Speaker: must become the grace you use to wash the feet of the person who wronged you.
Speaker: If you've been brought out of the dark cave and into the light, your new job description, is to go back to the mouth of the cave. and point others toward the exit. This isn't about a big dramatic stages or writing books,
Speaker: This is about an ordinary, messy Tuesday afternoon. It's about the person who rolls up their sleeves to volunteer at the local food pantry down the street. Not for an award.
Speaker: but because they know what it feels like to be spiritually starving. It's about the believer who sits in a fellowship hall on a Thursday night. Setting up chairs for a recovery group Holding the door open for people who are walking in.
Speaker: with the exact same shame. they used to carry. It's about looking at your stubborn, isolated neighbor and deciding to check on them. even when it's inconvenient.
Speaker: because Christ lives in you.
Speaker: As Paul writes in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live. but Christ who lives in me.
Speaker: That is the ultimate goal of being made new. It isn't just so you can feel better. It's so that your old selfish ego can be. completely laid in the ground. Allowing the living Christ. look through your eyes.
Speaker: Walk with your feet. and touch a broken world with your hands. If you're sitting here today and your faith feels like a flickering candle about to go out, You don't need a massive library of theology to get back on the path.
Speaker: You don't need to have your entire life straightened out. before you speak to him. When you come to the absolute end of yourself, You don't need to bargain. and you don't need clean conditions.
Speaker: You just drop to your knees and cry out. Lord. Save me. I cannot crawl out of this dirt on my own. That definitive moment of broken surrender is the exact spot where the new creation begins Now.
Speaker: I want you to just quiet your thoughts if you're on the move. or lean back if you're resting. We've laid out the dirt. We've talked about the stone. and we've looked at the promise of the rebuilding. So let's ease into the music now.
Speaker: Let these lyrics carry your personal prayer of surrender. As we listen together. Let the joy of this transformation watch over the dry places of your soul. Let the praise carry your... fashion.
Speaker: and let the holy spirit begin the glorious work taking away the stone and giving you the flesh.
Speaker: Let's wrap our hearts. and minds. together. by praying the lyrics final conclusion as our closing prayer today. Lord Jesus, We come to you with entirely open hands.
Speaker: Not because we have our lives neatly patched together. but because we finally have the humility to admit that we don't. We wash the dust off what has grown cold.
Speaker: cynical, and hard insider spirits. heal what has been deeply bruised by our own poor choices. and what has been fractured by the choices of others. Pull out the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.
Speaker: Make us not just a forgiven people, but a deeply forgiving one. Lead us out of our isolation. and into the sanctuary of your church. where we can stand among your people and be filled with your spirit.
Speaker: Please Jesus. Come. Make us new. Amen.
Speaker: Your old life may be falling from your grasp today. but remember whose hands are waiting underneath to catch you. You are not walking through the ruins alone.
Speaker: Thank you for spending this unhurried time with me at the table. This conversation brought a moment of peace and joy to your week. please share it with someone who is currently running on empty in the dark Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker: so we can keep walking this path together. Also, make sure to head over to my youtube community page where I post our personal reflection questions every week. It's a safe space where you can post your own thoughts,
Speaker: Leave your prayer requests and connect with others in the comments.
Speaker: next Thursday. The table opens up again as we dive into track 6 from the album. pulling back the layers on a love that knew every single one of your secrets. And chose you anyway.
Speaker: Take care of your soul. Open your hands. and take heart. God bless you.
