Unmasked
Type: Sunday Morning Service
Sermon: Unmasked
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Amanda Hahn
Many of us wear invisible masks to hide our insecurities, pain, or sin, presenting a version of ourselves that feels safer to show the world. But God doesn’t look at our outward appearance—He looks straight at our hearts and invites us to come to Him honestly and unmasked. When we remove our disguises and confess our struggles, we find true healing, grace, and freedom in His presence.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
The Masks We Wear
Throughout history, masks have served many purposes—from ancient religious rituals to theater to modern protection. Yet the most common masks we wear today aren’t physical. They’re emotional and spiritual disguises meant to hide fear, shame, and weakness.
When Appearance Hides Reality
Like superheroes who hide behind simple disguises, we too can become skilled at hiding behind false images. Some wear the mask of perfection, appearing to have it all together while fearing failure. Others wear the mask of humor to cover loneliness, or the mask of strength to avoid showing fatigue or pain. Still others hide behind religious performance, afraid to reveal their internal struggles, or insist “I’m fine” when their hearts are broken.
God Sees Beyond the Mask
In 1 Samuel 16:7, when Samuel looked for Israel’s next king, God reminded him, “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” What others see is only surface deep; God sees who we truly are beneath the disguise. He is not fooled by perfection or performance—He sees the person behind the mask.
Healing Comes from Honesty
Psalm 139:1 declares that God knows everything about us, and James 5:16 calls us to confess so that we may be healed. Confession doesn’t inform God—it invites Him into our hidden places to restore us. When we let go of fear, pride, and control, we allow His mercy to do what no mask ever could: heal and transform our hearts.
Living Unmasked
Hebrews 4 reminds us that nothing is hidden from God. Yet this isn’t a threat—it’s an invitation. We are called to come boldly before His throne, unmasked and unashamed, where grace and mercy await. The world doesn’t need our performance; it needs our authenticity, our realness, and our willingness to let God’s light shine through the cracks of our honesty.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Opening Question:
What’s a “mask” you’ve seen people wear (or worn yourself) that hides what’s really going on inside?Scripture Focus:
1 Samuel 16:7, Psalm 139:1, James 5:16, Hebrews 4:13–16Discussion Questions:
Which of the “masks” from the message resonated most with you, and why?
Why do you think it’s easier to pretend we’re okay rather than be honest about our struggles?
How does God’s view of our heart change the way we approach Him?
What role can Christian community play in helping us remove our masks?
How can confession lead to healing instead of humiliation?
Action Step:
This week, take one small step toward authenticity—share honestly with a trusted friend or pray openly about what you’ve been hiding. Ask God to help you live unmasked before Him and others. -
1 Samuel 16:7
At this point in Israel’s history, Saul had disobeyed God’s command, leading the Lord to reject him as king. God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king from Jesse’s family in Bethlehem. When Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, he assumed he was the right choice, but God corrected him, teaching that He values the heart over outward appearance—a principle that defined David’s selection and reign.Psalm 139:1
Written by King David, this psalm expresses deep awareness of God’s omniscience and intimate knowledge of every human heart. David recognizes that God sees beyond appearances and understands even unspoken thoughts—an encouragement for all who feel unseen or misunderstood.James 5:16
James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote to early Christians scattered under persecution. His letter emphasizes practical faith and community accountability. Confession here refers not to public shame but to mutual encouragement and healing through honesty, prayer, and restoration.Hebrews 4:13–16
This passage reassures believers that Jesus, our great High Priest, understands human weakness and invites us to approach God’s throne confidently. The imagery reflects temple worship, contrasting the old covenant’s veil of separation with the new covenant’s open access to God through Christ. -
Theme: God Sees Our Hearts
Introduction (5 min):
Show a few fun masks (superhero, animal, medical, etc.) and ask: “What do masks do?” Explain that while masks can hide our faces, God can always see what’s inside our hearts.Scripture:
1 Samuel 16:7 – “People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (New International Reader’s Version)Craft (10 min):
“Heart Mask” Craft – Give each child a paper plate with eye holes. Have them decorate one side with fun colors and happy faces, and on the back, write words or draw pictures showing what’s in their heart (kindness, love, forgiveness).Game (5 min):
“Guess Who?” – One child wears a mask, and others guess who it is by voice. Then discuss: Even if we can’t see someone’s face, God always knows who we are and what we feel.Discussion (5 min):
Why do people sometimes hide how they feel?
How does it feel to know God sees and loves us even when we’re sad or scared?
What can we do when we feel like wearing a “mask”?
Wrap Up & Prayer (5 min):
Pray: “God, thank You for loving the real us. Help us to take off our masks and be honest with You. Amen.” -
As you can tell, I've got a theme going on here. If you were in the lobby, you might have saw the tables with masks. I hope you picked up one. If you're watching online, you probably still have some COVID masks lying around or something. I don't know, but pick it up. But hi, everybody watching online. We want to welcome you. Thank you for joining us today. Also, I want a real quick announcement before we jump in. Today, we are having our trunk or treat right after service. So parents, if you have a child in Children's Church or the nursery, please go grab your kids and take them right out. We have several cars set up with some candy. We also have free hot dogs. And look, if you want to go play a game at the trunk or tree car, I won't tell you no if you want candy. Okay. So you're welcome to go and check it out. I will tell you there is a disclaimer. The very first car I do have permission to do. So now you have to go out and see what it is. I have, it's been endorsed and I do have permission. So you have to go check it out afterwards. If anything, just go check it out. On that note, let's get started with today. Today we're talking about masks. Have you ever noticed that superheroes have the most ridiculous disguises? Like seriously, let's think about this for a second. Superman, aka Clark Kent, his disguise is a pair of glasses. Like seriously, do I look any different? I mean, I can't see you without him, so I gotta put him back on, right? But I mean, I could put my hair down, and I could be like, yes, right? Or I could take off the shirt, you know, and like go running like he does, you know, and... Yeah, I could be Superwoman, right? Right? Don't I look completely different? Pastor Tom, he can't pull a hair out of a clip. But seriously, that's just Superman. Then you got Batman. Think about Batman, first crying out loud. He wears half a mask. Like nobody can recognize his voice or his chin. I mean, if my husband wore half a mask, I think we would all recognize that chin from anywhere, that little scruffiness, right? I mean, who does not recognize the chin or the voice? I know in the latest remakes of Batman, he talks really deep and stuff, but it's silly, but whatever. But seriously, nobody recognizes Batman with half a mask. Then you got Spider-Man. Now, Spider-Man's fully masked, fully clothed, all that kind of stuff. He's got his full getup. But let's be honest, Peter Parker and Spider-Man are never seen in the same room. That could be said for any of them. But it's funny how like a mask or a simple disguise is all it takes for people in the superhero world to go, we don't know you. I mean, come on. Are we serious? Because we laugh because it's funny because it's fiction. But really and truly in real life, masks don't change the person, right? They don't change who we are. But instead, they hide and they only change what people can see. And so we have to understand that there's masks all over the place. Now, masks did not get created for the superheroes, right? Marvel and DC and all them, they didn't create the mask thing. Actually, the oldest masks that archaeologists have found are over 9,000 years old. They found them in their dig sites in Turkey and in Israel. And they have been around for centuries. And people have used masks for various things. Three main reasons that they've used masks. Number one is for like religious ceremonies. So they would use masks to like, you know, worship their gods or represent their gods. And some of the most famous ones that we could think of is the Egyptians. Think about the Egyptian masks. Did you ever learn about King Tut in school? You know, I actually in middle school had a make a king tut costume mask my dad was so mad at me it was one of those last minute things and like we're paper mache and everything in the garage it looked really cool i wish i had a picture but seriously king tut's mask he wore his mask because the egyptians believed that that was what protected them in the afterlife and of course their masks were all dyed up or dolled up and it had all the different gold and all the different symbols and stuff on it but they used them for ceremonies and they're not the only culture that done that um then in like 500 bc the greek turn the masks from a ceremonial tool to a performance tool. And this is where we get the masks, comedy and tragedy. You know what I'm talking about? We got one on the screen. My husband made it. But comedy and tragedy, you got the smiley face, you got the shadowy face. And they started using masks in their theatrical performances. Think about Shakespeare and all the different things that they started doing. And so they started becoming part of theater. And then masks were also used for protection. Think about this. Warfare, we have gas masks to protect ourselves. And in older civilizations, they use masks as forms of intimidation. They would wear them to scare people. Then, of course, you've got masks like the plagues. Oh, my goodness, those bird masks are... But they had the masks they wore for the plagues. Of course, now we have the COVID N95 mask, whatever. Of course, we wear face shields to protect ourselves in the workforce. I mean, I am thankful for masks when it comes to working around machinery or any kind of, like, science lab because I don't want no chemical But masks have been used for centuries. And the main purpose for masks is this. Either to hide who we are or to project who we want people to believe. So we're either going to hide ourselves behind a mask or we're going to have this projection of this false identity that we want people to believe. So in the Bible, there's really not many stories about a mask in the Bible. However, there's a very, very popular verse. in 1 Samuel 16, 7, that talks about our hearts. And of course, it's on the screen, but let me give you some backstory here. In 1 Samuel chapters 15 and 16, this is what's going on. Saul was commanded by God to go and destroy the Amalekites, right? So Saul takes his army. He's the current king. He takes his army. They go and they destroy most of the Amalekites. They actually saved the king. They actually saved the best livestock because in their head, they were doing a good thing. And of course, you know, they were going to take all those animals and bring them back and do a sacrifice to the Lord. That's where we get a whole another famous verse that says obedience is better than sacrifice. But that's not today's sermon. So anywho, Saul disobeyed the Lord. And so Samuel, the prophet, was told by God to go tell Saul, because you rejected God's commands, you are now rejected as king of Israel. So it was time to go find a new king. Now Samuel was heartbroken. We read it in chapter 16, where Samuel's boohoo crying because this guy that he anointed, and he poured into disobeyed the Lord. The Lord was like, I'm done with him. But God says, wipe up your tears. Let's go. We got work to do. You got to go to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse and you got to find the new king. So Samuel, he takes, you know, his self. They go to Bethlehem. All this is in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel. And he gets to Jesse's house and they're going to do a sacrifice to the Lord. And he tells Jesse, hey, bring in your sons. So then Jesse brings in like all of his sons. The first son, Eliab, walks in. Don't ask me that's the right way to say it but that's how this Amanda redneck way says it but um Eliab walks in and Samuel goes that guy's strong that guy's big that guy surely is the king and this is where we get this verse right here verse 7 of chapter 16 it says the Lord said to Samuel do not judge by his appearance or his height for I have rejected him the Lord does not see um the way you see them People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And then, of course, later on, you know, he parades all the sons. None of them are it. And, of course, who do we get? David. And I'm going to share more about that in a second. What we learn from this verse right here, that the Lord does not look at the outer appearance, he looks at our heart, is this. People see the mask that we wear, but the Lord sees the person. Okay? People see the mask, but the Lord sees the person. And we, we want people to see the front, but God, So I have up here some masks and these masks are just a few of the masks that I find that we as Christians or just humans tend to wear and we're going to talk about a few of them. So the first mask is the mask of perfection. All right. This is a person who's got the most perfect social media profile. They got the best family pictures with a little fall pumpkins in the background, the Christmas cards, all that. Their job seems fantastic. They drive a nice car. Their marriage seems fantastic. Their kids are amazing. Like they came off a Hallmark movie set or something. You know, everything is great. You think they're good at faith. I mean, they're picture perfect. But really what this person is hiding is they're hiding the fear of failure. And what's happening is, is because they are so stressed about being perfect, they don't want people to see that their life really is a mess. Really and truly, their marriage is probably on the rocks. Maybe their kids scare them because they're not perfect kids. Maybe they hate their job. Their job sucks the life out of them. And honestly, they don't have things put together. So what they do is they hide behind this mask of perfection because they think failure feels like a fatal punch in the gut. They don't want people to know that they have failed. So they wear the mask of perfection. But maybe that's not your mask. Maybe your mask is this one. Maybe you are the life of the party. You walk into the room and people just love your personality. They love your smile. They love your jokes. Even the dad jokes. You know, they laugh. You know, you bring joy and people just want to be around you and you have a great time. You use humor to bring the mood up and everything and you just seem like an all-around happy person. But really and truly, you are wearing a mask and on the back, you are really lonely. Because even in a room full of a bunch of people, you feel like you're all alone. And when the crowd clears and you are by yourself, you can flip that switch. You don't have to be happy anymore. And you actually feel potentially the depression that you are alone. You might feel like you have anxiety because you're dealing with some stuff. Maybe you're even having suicidal thoughts because you just feel like you can't really show people what's going on, but you feel completely and totally alone. And honestly, this mask right here reminds me of Robin Williams. Think about Robin Williams. That man made a fortune and made a living bringing joy to anybody who watched his movies. He was a comedian. He was so happy, but then he committed suicide. And then, of course, it was one of those He really wasn't happy. He used humor to be his camouflage. All right? And so many times we do that. We come in these doors and we try to act like everything is great and we're happy, but truly we come in and we are really alone. Even with a room of 200, 300 people, we feel utterly alone. And that might be the mask that you're wearing today. This mask is a mask of somebody who is strong. They're the person that is always dependable. They're the person that does everything for people that people can count on. This is the mass that just screams, I'm in charge, but I've got this. You're never going to see this person cry. Okay? That's me. You're never going to see me cry because I have ugly cry face. But you're never going to see them cry. They're going to be the complete and total dependable person. They're going to be the fixer, the superhero. They're going to be the ones that everybody can go to to save the day. But what they are really hiding behind their mask is their fear of weakness. Because in truth, they're tired of actually carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. They're tired of making it seem like they are the strongest person in the room. They can't tell you they're tired because being tired is weak. They crave a good nap. They crave rest. But if they admit that they're exhausted, then that's going to equate to weakness, and they can't let the people see that. They don't want people to think they're weak. So instead, they just keep pushing through, and they just keep saying, you know what? Nobody can know. I've got to be the strongest person in the room. Maybe that's your mask. This mask, by the way, is about to sting for some of you. But this mask is what I call the religious performer. to wear and at least this is what the mask the world sees this is the mask of somebody who attends church faithfully every week they tithe every every week they they serve and they work and walk you get a gold star if you work and walk by the way they help and walk they have like all these key memory verses memorized john 3 16 philippians 4 13 they've got their christianese down they know how to talk like a christian act like a christian they got their jesus t-shirts and their little cross chain, necklaces, and different things. But really what they're hiding is that they are struggling inside with pride because they have some sin in their life or temptations that they can't admit or don't want to admit to. And the thing is, is they feel like they have to have this image of perfection and this Christian look that they can't let the world see that they are struggling with something. Whether it's an addiction or whether it's depression or whatever, like I said, a temptation. And what ends up happening is the is whispering in their ear, you can't let anybody see. Because if they see the true you, then guess what? They're going to judge you. And then you're going to lose your Christian status. And nobody's going to ever take you seriously. And then you can't ever go down to these altars. Because if you go down to these altars, people are going to go, why? Why is the pastor going down there? Why is the wife going down there? Why is that person going down there? And so, so many times, we hide behind this religious performance because the enemy is lying to us. And so many times what ends up happening is we end up allowing ourselves to give into ministry and letting ministry be our mask instead of really giving over to mercy. Because we deserve mercy and grace. Amen? As Christians, we deserve to have mercy and grace without judgment. In the classrooms, I actually, we have a board that we make every time we start a new class. And we always say, like, what's the classroom rules, the classroom norms? And I always make sure to put in the top of the list, judgment-free zone. Because we want students to feel like they're safe to talk about things in the classroom, in the program that I teach. But the same should be said in the church, judgment-free zone. Because in all honesty, there's no judgment at these altars. God's not judging you for coming down. He is going to account for the sin that you're going to give over to him. But he's not over here going, yeah, okay. because God wants us to give over to him. All right, last thing, last mask, and that is this one. This one says, I'm fine. Now, this is a person that we know who has gone through some stuff in life. This is a person who maybe has gone through a lost loved one. Maybe they've maybe gone through divorce. They've maybe gone through cancer or some kind of illness. Maybe their kids have had some kind of tragedy. This person, we've seen them go through fire, and we've also seen them put on a smile. and say I'm fine. But really and truly what we don't see they're hiding is brokenness. Because really they're not fine. They're not healed. They're not truly recovered. They're still triggered. They're still battling the brokenness that they feel inside. They're still going through issues where they're not sure how to handle the situation. And really and truly even though they slapped a band-aid on their boo-boo they're bleeding. They're bleeding through the band-aid. But they don't want people to see because they keep saying, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. So they don't know how to fix their brokenness. So what they do is they just pretend that it's gone and tell the world, I'm fine, I'm fine. And I can tell you, I've been guilty of saying that from time to time. I mean, I think I preached a sermon a couple years ago about my brokenness that I was dealing with. But so many times, because of what we deal with, we feel like we can't let the world see that we are broken. Now, what I want you to understand about these five different masks, these are just a few of probably several more that we can talk about. But the truth of the matter is, the front is what we bring to church, but the back is what we carry home. So we put on this mask. Some of you call it makeup. I'm just kidding. We put on this mask, and we come to church, but really and truly, we don't allow our true selves to be here, and we carry what we're hiding back home. We don't allow God to come to church. come in and to help us to get through all of this stuff that we're going through. We feel like we have to carry it all. But here's what I need you to understand. I said it already once. I'm going to say it again. People see the mask, but God sees the person. God doesn't need you to have a mask. No mask has ever fooled God. God knows what you're going through. Just like that scripture says in 1 Samuel 16, He knows your heart, right? And here's the good news though. You know, God can't heal this version that we're pretending to be. He can only heal the version that we're willing to unmask. So why do we wear these masks? Why do we come into this church wearing masks? Well, one reason is fear. We're afraid. Like, I love the songs that we sing, but we're afraid that we're going to be rejected if people saw the real us. And we're afraid that, like, if we really reveal and expose ourselves, then maybe people are going to make fun of us or judge us. Again, going back to that judgment. Of course, there's shame. We hide behind shame. We feel like if we We're going to relive that pain that we dealt with. We're going to relive all that stuff that we were struggling with. Maybe it's control. I'm a control freak. We haven't figured that out. I like being the boss. But so many times we try to control things because it's our way of feeling safe. It's our way of feeling like we can control the narrative. We can control how things should look, how things should act. because we're trying to have control over how our lives look and how we might feel safe in a situation. Maybe we are hiding behind pride because pride is why we wear the mask. Again, it's because we much rather pretend to be something than to repent. So masks protect our image, but they also imprison our souls. Let that sink in. They protect our image, but they also imprison our souls. In a moment, we're going to have an to lay our masks down at the altar. So Pastor Jeff, if you want to come on up. But what we're going to do is we're going to let that be a symbol of something that we're doing, but we're not done yet because we can't allow these masks to hold us back from what God has for us. And here is why we can take off our masks. Psalm 139.1 says, Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and you know everything about me. What I love about this verse is the author who wrote down that, Psalm is David. Remember, 1 Samuel 16, chapter 7, God was saying, you know, I don't judge by the outward appearance. I judge by the heart. And they picked David to be the next king. If you know the story of David, if you grew up in children's church and Sunday school and all that, you know the story about David. You know, God had Samuel anoint David, but David did become king right away, right? The next chapter, Psalm, I'm sorry, 1 Samuel chapter 17 is when David killed Goliath. He had that faith, right? He killed Goliath. Then he became, a trusted advisor for Saul. And he became part of Saul's army and different things. But eventually Saul lost his mind. And Saul, his time was up, right? And you can read all of that. And eventually David became the king. But David had to serve humbly under the authority of Saul. But when David became king, he did great things. But he too also sinned. He too messed up, okay? If you know the story about Bathsheba, okay? He shouldn't have been out there. He should have been at the wars. instead of on the rooftop watching a lady bathe. Anywho. But God still loved David. And said David was a man after his own heart. And when David wrote this psalm, he was in a moment of trials. He was going through some stuff. And he's like, Lord, you've examined my heart and you know everything about me. The Lord knew the David when he anointed him. But he also knew the David that was going to fail. and he knew that David was going to surrender to him. David doesn't have to wear a mask to go before the Lord because he knows the Lord isn't looking at the outward appearance. The Lord's looking at his heart. And I want to encourage you, that might be something that you need to really let sink in. God knows your heart. But maybe you need to take a step further. James chapter 5 verse 16, it says, Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. I like the part about confession because confessing our sins isn't to inform God of our sins but to invite him in let me say that again confession isn't to inform God God already knows he knows your heart he knows your mind he knows what you did yesterday but what confession does is it releases you to invite the holy of holies and the king of kings into your life and to give you that freedom to say I don't want this anymore. And what I love about James chapter 5 verse 16 is it says that you will be healed when you confess. Not you will be humiliated, but you will be healed. God has no desire to humiliate you. God wants to heal you. He wants to heal you physically. He wants to heal you emotionally. He wants to heal you spiritually. Some of you have some stuff you're dealing with, and our God wants you to come to him with open arms and say, I invite you in. I want you to heal me. I want you to help me. Because our God loves us. He's our healer. We sang the song Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha. It's all about characteristics of God. He's our healer, our provider, our banner. He's our peace. Jehovah Shalom. How many of you need peace today? In this world, there's so many uncertainties. We need peace. But the Bible says that we need to come and we need to confess and we need to give it over. Because also, in the Bible it says Hebrews chapter 4 starting with verse 13 the writer says nothing in all creation is hidden from God everything is naked and exposed before his eyes and he is the one that we are accountable to the Lord everything's out there we can put masks on for the church but everything is exposed to the Lord jump down to verse 16 of Hebrews it says let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God because there We will receive His mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. The Lord is calling us boldly to lay down our masks. He doesn't want us to hide anymore because God already knows our heart. Jesus just invites you to come boldly and not hide anymore. There's so many times in church that I think we hold back because we don't want people to see the real us. there's really is two versions of ourselves. There's the visible version that we want people to see. But then there's the real version that God sees. And I can just tell you with this much confidence that I can tell you that I want God to see the real me. And I want you to see the real me. I don't need to wear a mask. If you don't like me, look the other way. But seriously, the Lord wants us to come down and to show the real selves. to him and to those around us. So today when you got the masks in the lobby, if you didn't get a mask, then you miss out. But you can get one on the way home and make an opportunity to make it a symbol for you later. The masks ironically represent something we're trying to hide. But we're going to do the opposite today. The masks are going to represent what we're going to expose. Okay? We're going to unmask ourselves. So without our eyes closed, I want us to think about ourselves. right now. Some of us have got some stuff going on that we need to allow the Lord to come in. I want you to check yourself. Which of these masks on the stage do you relate to? Which of these masks that I don't talk about that you feel like you have on that you need to come to these altars and lay it down? Because I'm telling you, the Lord is wanting us to be in a relationship, to be in a place where we can come to Him as a real Because God is not asking you to be stronger. He's asking you to be honest. God is not asking you to be impressive. He is asking you to be real. And when we are honest and we are real, that's when we can lay our masks down. So as you check your hearts, I want you to think, am I being honest with myself? Am I being honest with the Lord? Am I being real? Because you don't have to impress me. You just have to go and be real to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So I'm going to pray. And when I get done praying, I challenge you to leave your seats. I challenge you to come down to these altars, to lay the masks down, and to let God really and truly make a change in your heart so that you can walk out unmasked and real today. So the world will see the real you. And hopefully the real you is shining bright for Jesus. And hopefully they won't think of you as this religious performer, but they'll see you as an authentic Christian that loves the Lord and loves them. But we have to learn to unmask ourselves in order to be who the world needs us to be and who God wants us to be. Let me pray. I tell you, Father, thank you so much for being an amazing God. Thank you, God, for everything that you're doing. Thank you for the opportunity we have to be in your house. Lord, I thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to come up here and to speak your word. Lord, I pray more than anything that we understand that we are not perfect. Nobody in this room is perfect. We all have our problems. We all have our issues. But God, you still want us to come up here. You still want us to give our imperfections over to you so we can allow the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord I pray right now for every single person that's in here Lord I pray for whatever mask that they're wearing that they feel that they can take the mask off that they can be able to lay it down at your feet and they can be able to give it to you so they could be the true person that you've called them to be Lord I want nothing more for this church to be a shining light into this world I want nothing more than this church to be a community where people feel like they can come together and they can worship together and they can cry together and they can be broken together and they can be happy together God I pray right now that you would help them to understand that these masks are not what you intended for us you sent your son Jesus Christ to die on the cross fully exposed for the world to carry all these burdens to carry the sins of the world so that we don't have to carry it Lord I pray more than anything that when people walk into this place that they walk in the real cells that they feel like they don't have to wear a mask that this is a judgment free zone from us. Lord, I pray more than anything that when they come in, what they take out is a new and refreshed version that they would say, look, I am the Lord's and I have given it over to him, all this stuff that I've been carrying and I don't want to carry it anymore. I don't want to wear that mask anymore. I don't want to pretend to be something I'm not anymore because I want the Lord to come into my life and to give me the boldness to stand strong and stand up and know that he is looking at my heart and that the people around me will see that my heart is and my heart is pointing to you, Jesus. Lord, in everything that we do, we want to give you glory. We want to give you honor. We want to give you praise. And Lord, I pray that every single person in this room understands that though this is a symbolic act of laying down their masks, Lord, they're going to be attacked by the enemy because the enemy is going to tell them it wasn't real. It was just a show. But Lord, I pray more than anything that they understand, if they make that step to come down here and put down their masks at your feet, Lord Jesus, that You're going to give them strength and boldness to tell the enemy to back off. This is the real me. I am a king of kings. It's in my heart. I have the line of Judah inside of me, and I will not let anything come out of me that's not of the Lord. And I pray in the name of Jesus that people will feel inspired to go and tell the world about You, because they are not hiding anymore behind these masks, but they are fully exposed and ready to show the world who You are. Because God, You are a king of kings, and we can't wait to let the world see You. We want people to see them or see you in us Lord Jesus. Lord we love you and we thank you in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
