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SOUL DETOX
– INTRO
COMING
CLEAN
God
doesn’t seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must
have clean ones. – Dwight L. Moody
Getting
our attention – smoking story
Where
There’s Smoke
‘their
ignorance didn’t change the reality of the situation”
Spiritual
Pollution
Realization:
recognize that something you may enjoy and accept could potentially be a harm
to you and those you love most
Many of us
are living this in our spiritual lives… a dangerous trap not realizing the
damage to us or others.
Maybe we
know something is wrong but can’t quite put our finger on it… or… we know
there’s more – more to this life – more to our relationship with Christ – but
we can’t seem to find it.
Many
factors go into responding and answering these questions but the primary
explanation can be connected to the enemy’s deception – he blinds us with a
smoke screen of poisonous distractions. We have all or possibly are currently
not fully aware of the forces stunting our spiritual growth. Without realizing the
impact on our faith, we embrace harmful relationships, consume toxic media,
live with addictive habits, and remain oblivious to the long-term effects. We
think the way we live is perfectly fine, normal, harmless or even positive.
Some people don’t want to take an honest look at the way they live… claiming
the old saying ‘what you don’t know won’t hurt you’.. what? Hmmmm.. sounds like denial..
Remember
the 3 kinds of people in the Body of Christ – and in the world actually…
1. those that are dealing
2. those with masks
3. those in denial
which are
you? Or .. are you a combination of the
3? Possibly… what would that look like?
The truth
is: what many people don’t know is not just hurting them but killing them
spiritually – even physically.
Frog in
the kettle – remember this story? Book
by George Barna
In our
culture, the water temp increases daily. We become desensitized to what is
right and wrong, good and evil, life-giving and life-draining, we lose sight of
our first love – Jesus! We move away from God one degree at a time and don’t
even realize it.
Romans 12:2 The Message
12 1-2 So here’s what I
want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before
God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can
do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed
from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly
respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its
level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed
maturity in you.
Personal
examples
-
Pastor
Craig Groeschel’s story re: movie… his wife
“Like the frog in the kettle, I’d become acclimated. Just because
something didn’t bother me didn’t mean that it wasn’t having a negative impact.
In fact, what did it say about me that filthy language, brutal violence and
explicit sex on the screen didn’t bother me? How had my standards, instead of
God’s standards become the norm?
-
Brownies
story
As a
believer/ follower of Christ, wouldn’t you agree that there has to be a
standard? A way to distinguish what pleases God and moves us closer to Him
instead of further away? And… with that… can we trust our own thoughts to know
what’s truly best for us? Maybe we have all become desensitized to what is
right or wrong, pleasing or displeasing to our holy God? Perhaps what we
consider as ‘normal’ in this world/ our world is dangerous to our souls? We
need to take a deep inside look in our lives and consider that what we may find
as laughable, entertaining or simply fun is something that God might find
heartbreaking?
As a
disciple of Jesus Christ, everything we do, where we go, what we say should
reflect our love and commitment to Him. Does it? We are what we consume. Garbage In Garbage
Out. We are what we eat? If we don’t
monitor and adjust our diet accordingly, soul food, nutrition, spiritual food,
etc…we are in danger of absorbing more and more lethal poison.
We must
check our diet for toxins. Prv 25:26 “Like a muddied spring or a
polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.”
How muddy
is your water right now?- polluted by all the cultural toxins seeping in?
or..does your spiritual well draw on Living water as it’s pure,
thirst-quenching source? Maybe we’ve
become muddied springs.. or a polluted well… and we don’t even know it.
There are
many ways our spring becomes muddied and polluted and often.. we don’t even
realize it. Perhaps we have become
muddied by our negative thoughts/ lies/ patterns of thinking…which eventually
lead to unhealthy words and behaviors. We could literally be talking ourselves
and others out of God’s best at times.
Maybe we
hang with people regularly that are not full-on for God… no big deal right? Of
course… we don’t want them to think we are a ‘freak’ or something so.. we keep
doing whatever they do, going where they go.
Perhaps we
are believing one thing… and living a totally different way? We have to do
check ups on our thoughts and behaviors.
Maybe we
have resigned ourselves to certain struggles in life – anger, lust,
discontentment, anxiety, codependency, it’s just
the way I
am”.. “it runs in my family’… All the
while.. the enemy laughs at the cancers we continue to allow in our souls!!!!!
It’s time
to come clean!
In Pastor
Craig Groeschel’s words… “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 class is for you.”
We will examine-
together… the various pollutants that corrupt our spiritual desire to know and
serve God. This class is going to challenge you, push you and sometimes even
make you mad! If you become aware of truth that you didn’t have before..
sometimes it angers you.. it will make you upset because.. you have been deceived
for far too long.. or.. the things God will require of you are not going to
make you happy in the beginning either.
But.. we must! We must open our
eyes, our hearts, our minds to the cleansing power of God’s truth.
Has anyone ever done a whole body cleans/ detox? Explain
Just as we do a physical detox.. we must do our regular
soul detoxing…a toxic substance is something that causes serious harm or even
death. Toikon, the Greek word for toxic refers to an archer’s bow that is armed
with a poisonous arrow. This word and image is used many times in the psalms
and proverbs describing the power of the toxins in this world…
The word
is also filled with examples of those who had to ‘come clean’ – rid themselves
of toxic influences and also the use of confession in the cleansing….We must to
the same.
One Biblical
example that many people relate to is David… described as ‘a man after God’s
own heart’… certainly far from perfect.. David experienced soul sickness after
committing adultery and murder. His soul
sickness affected him in every way – physically, emotionally, mentally and
spiritually. He was finally confronted with himself.. his sin of lust,
entitlement and the deception he was under was killing his heart. The only way
to be free.. is to ‘come clean’.
Psalm 51:
2, 7, 10, 12
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
and cleanse me from my sin.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I
will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O
God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Are you ready to come clean? It’s time to do a soul detox….
SOUL DETOX
– INTRO
COMING
CLEAN – GROUP WORK
1. As you consider going through this
class and doing the hard work of detoxing… what are your feelings and thoughts
after hearing the lesson tonight? What do you hope to gain from this class/
group?
2. Share an area of your life that God
is currently challenging you in about coming clean/ making changes? Relationships, attitudes, words, thoughts,
habits, etc…
3. Are you
believing one thing… and living a totally different way?
Have you
resigned yourself to certain struggles in life – anger, lust, discontentment,
anxiety, etc…? Share
Homework: next week we are going to look at the power
of words – lethal & the opposite: life-giving words… your assignment that
will lead into the lesson is this for this week: Any time you think something
positive, say it. Don’t keep those positive statements to yourself… that robs
others of a blessing. So… speak out and bless others this week.
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