Soul Detox week 1

1 Peter 2:11 NLT “Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls."

The enemy wages war against our very soul the scripture says, our immortality.

Detox-removal of toxic substances from a living organism.

“God doesn’t seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones."

— Dwight L. Moody

1.      Don't do that.

1.      It seems funny to me now in a sad, ironic kind of way that we as parents of all shapes and sizes have lovingly warned our children:

1.      Look both ways before you cross the street.

2.      Put on your coat so you don’t catch a cold.

3.      Wash your hands so you don’t get sick.

4.      Don’t get in the water until thirty minutes after you’ve eaten. (I still don’t get that one.)

1.      Though we do everything within our power to keep them safe and protect them from harm’s way, many parents were unknowingly poisoning their kids with their choices and lifestyles.

1.      Showing our kids, showing our friends, showing our spouses, our coworkers, and even the world around us our toxic attitudes, our toxic actions, and our toxic thoughts.

2.      What we as parents wink at and flirt with our kids will completely and utterly embrace.

1.      We have to have to personal standards and boundaries.

3.      I’m convinced that many of us are living in this same kind of dangerous trap with our spiritual health.

1.      We know something doesn’t feel quite right, that we’re not growing closer to God and following Christ the way we would like, but we can’t put our finger on it.

2.      Even though we believe in God and want to please Him, we find it hard to serve Him passionately and consistently.

3.      We want to move forward spiritually but feel like we’re running against an escalator.

4.      We want more we know there’s more but we just can’t seem to find it.

2.      Why do so many well-meaning Christians take one spiritual step forward, then slide back two?

1.      Why do we long for more of God in our lives and yet feel farther and farther away from Him?

2.      What’s holding us back from growing in this relationship that we claim is our main priority?

1.      While many factors go into answering these questions, ultimately I believe our spiritual enemy blinds us with a smoke screen of poisonous distractions.

3.      Most people aren’t fully aware of the forces stunting their spiritual growth.

1.      What could be stunting yours?

4.      Without realizing the impact on their faith, their spirituality, their eternity, people embrace harmful relationships, consume toxic media, live with addictive habits, and remain oblivious to the long-term effects.

1.      We think the way we live is perfectly fine, normal, harmless, or even positive.

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death."

2.      Some people don’t want to take an honest look at the way they live, claiming, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”

1.      Unfortunately, this just isn’t true.

2.      The truth is this:what many people don’t know is not just hurting them but killing them spiritually.

1.      You’ve probably heard that if you put a frog in a pot of water and heat the water slowly to a boil, the frog will adjust to the warming water and won’t even realize that it’s boiling to death.

1.      How is this possible?

2.      The increase in temperature is so graduated that what feels like a warm bath at first becomes a hot tub before kicking into double boiler mode.

3.      By that time, it’s too late.

4.      The frog’s body adjusts to his surroundings, never noticing that what surrounds him is draining the life out of him.

3.      In our culture, the water temperature increases daily.

1.      Without realizing it, we slowly become acclimated to a toxic environment full of poisonous influences.

2.      As the water temperature rises, we keep pretending we’re soaking in a hot tub having the time of our lives, never dreaming that we’re scalding our souls.

3.      As we become scarred and desensitized to what is right and wrong, good and evil, life-giving and life-draining, we lose sight of our God relationship.

1.      We move away from God one degree at a time.

2.      Doing every thing we think we are big enough, old enough, and goofy enough to do.

1.      Like the frog in the warming water, we become acclimated.

2.      Just because something doesn't bother us doesn't mean that it isn't having a negative impact.

3.      In fact, what does it say about us that filthy language, brutal violence, and explicit sex scenes don't bother us?

4.      How have our standards, instead of God’s standards, become the norm?

1.      Now, I don’t believe we should draw a line in the cultural sand and live in a sanitized little bubble.

2.      On the other hand, we can’t just immerse ourselves in every aspect of the world around us and let culture determine our lifestyle habits indiscriminately.

4.      Most filmmakers aren’t worrying about the impact of their movie on your soul.

5.      Most singers on iTunes don’t care whether they build up your faith or draw you closer to God.

6.      The enemy desires to entertain you into a spiritual coma leaving you hopeless, helpless, and standard less praying to step you into eternity without Jesus.

1.      It is our responsibility to discern what we let into our lives and what we keep out.

2.      Detoxing in a contaminated world is not easy but it is possible.

1.      I can't put my kids, my friends, or our church family in a germ free bubble and that fixes everything, we must learn how to battle against Satan's devices and win.

1.      If you’re a Christian, wouldn’t you agree that there has to be a line of right and wrong somewhere?

2.      A way to discern what pleases God and moves us closer to Him instead of farther away?

2.      And can we trust our own sensibilities to know what’s truly best for us?

1.      Could it be that we’ve become desensitized to what is right or wrong, good or evil, pleasing or displeasing to our holy God?

2.      Is it possible that what we consider normal entertainment could be dangerous to our souls?

3.      Do you think that what we consider laughable, entertaining, or simply fun, God might find heartbreaking?

3.      For those of us who follow Jesus, everything we do, no matter where we go, should reflect our love and commitment to Him.

4.      The word of God is our measuring apparatus, nothing else.

1.      God is with us just as much when we’re in a dark movie theater laughing at F-bombs from comedic characters as He is when we’re in church worshipping Him.

1.      Everything counts.

2.      Everything that we allow into our minds, hearts, and lives everything that we spend our time and money on has an impact on how we grow, or don’t grow, spiritually.

7.      Just as we are what we eat physically, we are also what we consume spiritually.

1.      If we don’t monitor and adjust our diet accordingly, our souls are in danger of absorbing more and more lethal poison.

1.      The Bible consistently reminds us to check our spiritual diet for toxins.

Proverbs 25:26 says, “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.”

4.      Maybe you’re a Christian you’ve been made righteous by Christ yet you’ve become a muddied spring or a polluted well, and you don’t even know it.

1.      You might believe, my thoughts don’t matter, my actions don't matter.

2.      As long as they stay tucked away inside my head, they’re not hurting anyone.

1.      We all think about things that we’d never do, right?

2.      All the while your negative thoughts are silently poisoning your soul, pouring lies into your spiritual life giving water supply.

1.      Unfortunately, our thoughts don’t just stay in our head, disconnected from our words and our actions.

2.      Unhealthy thoughts often lead to unhealthy words.

1.      Without even knowing it, you might be talking yourself, and others, out of God’s best.

1.      Or maybe it’s the people that you hang with regularly.

2.      You know they aren’t full-on for God, but no big deal.

3.      You don’t want them to think you’re some kind of religious freak or anything.

4.      So you keep doing whatever they do, going wherever they go.

5.      Though you believe one thing, you live a totally different way.

3.      Maybe you’ve resigned yourself to certain struggles in your life anger, lust, discontentment as nothing more than your personal quirks.

1.      “It’s just the way I am,” you tell yourself, all the while your spiritual enemy laughs at the cancer you continue to feed in your soul.

2.      Rather than experiencing the richness of a dynamic, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, you put God in a little box that you can check off your to-do list each week.

3.      By settling for rules and religion and feeling pretty good about how much you’re doing for the church and those less fortunate, you become blinded to legalism and self-righteousness.

1.      It’s time to come clean.

1.      A Soul Detox.

4.      If you’re tired of the stain of sinful habits discoloring your life, if you long to breathe the fresh, clean, life-giving air of God’s holiness, if you would love to detoxify your soul from guilt, fear, regret, and all the impurities that pollute your relationship with God, then this series is for you.

1.      Today is for you.

2.      We all need to examine the various pollutants that often corrupt our spiritual desire to know and serve God.

5.      In Jesus Name, the ONLY sin that can hold you is the one you're holding on to.

1.      Some can be avoided as we become more discerning and remove them from our surroundings.

2.      Others may linger like smoke in the air but can be managed in ways that will alleviate their impact.

6.      My prayer today is that what you hear will push you, challenge you, and at times even make you mad.

1.      If you’re aware of the truth, then you should be upset, because you’ve been breathing smoke-polluted thoughts, life-draining words, and sin-filled actions without realizing the toll they’re taking on your relationship with God.

2.      Deep down, you know there’s a truer way to live, a deeper, purer way to love, and a larger impact to make on the world around and about you.

1.      It’s time to open your eyes, your heart, and your mind to the cleansing power of God’s truth.

7.      His Word is filled with stories of men and women who needed to come clean, who longed for more.

1.      One of my favorites is David, who’s described as “a man after God’s own heart” but, as you may know, was far from perfect.

2.      Shortly after he committed adultery, lied to friends, family, and God then commits murder, David experienced a soul sickness that affected him on every level physical, emotional, and spiritual.

1.      He knew his sins of lust, entitlement, and deception were killing his heart.

2.      He knew the only way to be restored and experience a joyful, fulfilling life again was to come clean before God.

8.      In his prayer of repentance, he wrote,

Psalm 51:2 "Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. 17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God."

9.      Wouldn’t you like to come clean?

1.      To feel your Father's forgiveness, mercy, encouragement, and purity pour over you?

2.      To leave the smoke-filled room where you’ve been hiding and come into His life-giving light?

3.      To breathe in fresh spiritual air?

1.      It’s not too late.

2.      If you want to detoxify your soul and renew your faith, if you want more from your relationship with God, then take the next step in relationship to God.

3.      A detox of the soul that will change you forever.

1.      The Word of God cures the diseases that weaken our souls.

2.      Worship releases those diseases, addictions, and fears to God.

3.      Then, applying the Word keeps us from falling back into our addiction seeing others needs more important than own.

4.      Seeing God greater, higher, bigger, and stronger than any thing that is currently intimidating us.

1.      Everyone need take caution no human being is exempt.