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Foreign Sower Nation. It is Wednesday, January 28th, in the year of our Lord 2026. We're coming up on the end of this first month of the year, which means we're coming up on the end of the Proverbs. Just a couple of thoughts as we are kind of getting our coffee ready for the morning. So we're going to have a little short series, a mini series, February 2nd through February 17th. That's going to be our friend Andrew Forest. And I'm, I'm really excited about this. He's got a book that we've released of his called Love Goes first. And it really is all about, you know, how do you be a real Christian in a toxic culture? You're wondering too. We're all doing our best. He's written a fabulous book and he's going to be sharing some of that on the wake up call, not the book. But, you know, he's going to lead us through, through that short series that's starting next Monday. So look forward to welcoming him. It's one of my favorite preachers, too. He's a pastor of Asbury Methodist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And then I've got a big treat for you coming on Sunday. We'll just leave it at that. This, this next Sunday, February 1st. You're not going to want to miss it. And of course, I want to get your new words for the new year. I've heard from a lot of you, not near enough of you. So let's work on that. I'm going to put a link in today's email for that and then let me just project out forward. While we're doing housekeeping on this Wednesday, I hear the coffee grinder going. It's almost done. Coming after, coming after Jesus asking for Lent. I'm leading us in a study, a season, a series, six weeks starting Easter Monday on Ephesians. Check the link today in the PS about that. And we've got a workbook we're releasing a whole new thing for Wake Up Call. A workbook. So I won't say more here, but as we got to get to Wednesday, we're here to meet with Jesus. We're not here for a bunch of JD announcements. We're here to meet with Jesus. So thanks for bearing with me on this, but you know what? We're our community and we like to keep each other informed of what's happening. What's going on? You ready? Got your coffee? Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I Lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. So today's entry. This is. This is some deep water we're about to step into today. The danger of counterfeit repentance Our text all day long. Chapter 28 of Proverbs. Whole chapter 28, 29, 30, 31. Countdown is on. This is T minus four days to finish. Our focus. Verses verses 13 and 14 from chapter 28. Hear now the word of the Lord. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper. But the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the one who always trembles before God. But whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble. The Word of God for the people of God. I was about to say. And you said, thanks be to God. Now consider this sin. Loves, secrecy. Nurture a secret sin long enough and you will have an addiction. A habitual pattern of hiding, lying, denial and self deception. Addictions take on a life of their own and literally deform people over the course of time. Sin always makes a person less. Sin always takes, never gives. It is the nature of sin to conceal itself. This is its greatest and most subversively dangerous strategy. Sin's strategy is to produce a kind of counterfeit repentance in us. Our broken way of dealing with sin is. Is to magnify our inner remorse, to feel badly about ourselves and our behavior, and to cover ourselves in shame. Rather than appropriately dealing with our guilt, we cover ourselves in shame until the storm has passed. We consider that these bad feelings toward ourselves somehow cover the cost of the behavior. Soon the cycle resets and the process repeats itself little by little. With every pass through the cycle, the remnants of shame build up layer by layer. Like tartar on teeth or plaque in arteries. It leads to a condition the Bible calls hardness of heart. We become desensitized to sin and over time impervious to shame. And our inner life slowly dies. And I'm not talking about self professed addicts. I'm talking about garden variety sinners like you and me. When something gets labeled as an addiction, it becomes a convenient way to consider it's someone else who has a more extreme problem than you and me do. In truth, addiction is nothing more or nothing less than habitually feeding our hunger and thirst for God with something or someone other than God. Addiction never starts as addiction. It starts with concealing small sins. So what's the answer? Whoever conceals their sin does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Confession and renunciation. Confession really has little to do with our feelings of remorse and it cannot be confused with mere admission. Confession does not mean self condemnation or self deprecation or self loathing or self anything really. The wisdom of confession is all about becoming extricated from the prison of self. Confession means agreeing with God about what is true. Confession means ever increasing unremitting honesty. It is living life in alignment with what is true. On the one hand, we can make the confession Jesus is Lord. On the other, we can make the confession I have sinned against you God and against by doing or not doing. Fill in the blank. Confession breaks the pattern. But it takes renunciation to kill the cycle. Renounce is a very strong word. It's actually something a person does when they're baptized at baptism. One is asked if they renounce sin and evil and injustice and the powers and principalities of darkness and evil and so forth. To renounce something is to throw it on the ground and stomp on it and walk away from it, never to be in relationship again with the thing being renounced. Renunciation means a decisive termination. Far from a feeling word. Renunciation is an act of of the will. The good news for those who confess and renounce, they receive mercy. Their heart becomes sensitized again to the Holy Spirit. They live in an awe filled reverence before God. They prosper. That's what the Word said, wasn't it? The one who confesses and renounces finds mercy. Confession and renunciation are not ethereal mystical practices. They are road meets the rubber realities. They are good medicine that cures the soul. Sometimes we need the help of a pastor or a friend or our band in the process. The good news is you can do it. Right now. Sin is a colossal waste of time. Let's pray. Abba Father, thank you for the mercy of being able to confess our sin and the grace to renounce and leave them behind. Come Holy Spirit and empower us to live in this kind of humble honesty. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. The journal prompts. I wonder how you understand the difference between shame and guilt. If guilt says I've done bad and shame says I am bad, do you see how shame can keep someone from dealing with guilt? Do you more tend to admit you are a sinner or do you actually confess your sins and do you see the difference?