Clean Living
“Clean Living For Life”
February
23/24
Welcome-
We are so glad you are here with us today.
In
the spring of 2015 I did not know my life was about to change drastically when
my mom passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm that went undetected.
My mom had also suffered over the years from numerous of generational
health issues...high blood pressure, arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, hip
issues that lead to hip replacements, and serve arthritis. And guys, this
is just on my moms side of the family...
A
couple of months had passed and I thought I was doing ok, then one day I
realized this sense of DEEP depression starting to set in. I actually
noticed it when my response to some other circumstances in our life came to a
head, and with that the depression started to get worse. I tried to
ignore it, push it down, but it began to get to a place where my habits
reflected someone who I was not meant to be...from the outside I looked
normal, and I might have even acted normal, but on the inside I was in a
constant state of well...let me share with you:
- I
was eating whatever I wanted, and I could care less about my health or my
body...DQ runs, and late night sweet fixes where my friend
- I
had no energy and wanted to sleep ALL THE TIME, which means I had no
energy for my husband or my kids.
- I
didn’t care about my relationships with others - I shut people out, and
clung to the fact that I was an introvert. It was my safety net!
- I
was constantly on edge emotionally, and became agitated easily.
Which means I snapped at sometimes the simplest of questions,
conversations or situations
- I
was really struggling in my relationship with Jesus - Daily connection
with him was pretty non-existent...I felt like there was a conversational
block between Him and I.
- The
list could go on….
The
Jennings/Webster family (as a whole) has a history of depression, mental health
issues, as well as heart and other medical issues so I just chalked it up to
the same struggles that generations of my family had dealt with most of their
life. You might say I became apathetic. I had convinced myself that life
would never be the same, that I would face the same things my mom did, and that
our family history of health and mental illness was my future… my circumstances
and my conscience was telling me something
that was not true.
Our
conscience is a really important part of our lives. And it’s an important
tool that the Holy Spirit uses to partner with each of us, so that we know how
to live our lives. So what does your conscience say about you? Are your
actions keeping you in a place of fear, worry, or have you become apathetic to
the things happening around you and in your life?
1
Tim 1:19 Says this (NLT)
19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your
conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated
their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.
OR
are you
developing good spiritual rhythms, where you are partnering with the Father to
overcome the things that have held you in a place of condemnation and fear. Are
you clinging to your faith? Have you shipwrecked your faith? Or are you
listening to the voice of your heart, and letting it take over?
We’ve
been in our series, Clean Living: Sustainable Spirituality where we’ve
been learning how God has given us the gift of our conscience so that we can
live a clean life, a spiritually sustainable life! Di kicked us off by
sharing that we’ve been given a clean heart and a clean conscience when we say
yes to Jesus. Two weeks ago Putty challenged us to live in the reality of our
new heart by living out our new righteous identity. We learned that our
conscience is the voice of our heart. Last week Julie walked us through
what it looked like to love and relate to one another in the family of God when
we all have differing consciences. And
we can do this by putting love above law and people over preference. This week
I am taking a look at how we operate with a clean conscience by developing healthy habits to start living.
Pray
Dilema
How
many of you have been in a place where you decided this is my
inheritance??...my lot in life, something I have to live with, this is who I
am, this is just something I have to live with, and my history has proven this
to me. How many of us have spoken the words “I am” depressed, “I am”
anxious, “I am” poor, I have this health issue or that health issue, and then
all the sudden you are living with that identity instead of the identity of who
God says you are.
When
you begin to speak things over yourself or about yourself, you actually start
to believe and agree with those things instead agreeing with what God says
about you. Are you letting the wrong “I am” statement determine your
heart response?
I
want you to understand this... I am not trying to be insensitive, and I am not
saying that health issues, mental issues and economical issues are not real.
They are! I know that they affect people greatly...physically,
emotionally and spiritually, and these issues not only affect the individual
but the families as well. I have,
personally, seen the effects in my own family, and in my own life.
What
I am trying to get at is that when we said yes to Jesus we were given a clean
heart and a clean mind...we now have the mind of Christ which means our
life circumstances should no longer be
telling us “who” we are, but “whose” we are. Satan wants nothing more than for us to hear the wrong “I am” statements,
because it allows us to be held back from living out our true identity.
When
we get to a place where our circumstances and our history are dictating how we see ourselves and life
around us, it can bring us to a place of apathy. This is where I was.
Apathy is defined as this in the dictionary, “Apathy is a state of
indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has
an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, or
physical life and the world.”
Our
Heart - our feelings, our conscience dictate to great extent how we live. If we are living with the
effects of our circumstances instead of in
the identity of our changed heart, it is going to dictate how we respond
to what is going on around us.
Wherever
your treasure is - the desires of your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). Let’s
put it this way...what’s
happening within can change how you view (this is our perspective) what’s
happening externally (this is our world view - orphan mindset to a sonship
mindset).
Remember,
our conscience is not outside of us, it’s within us and sometimes we need it
to be renewed because we want our beliefs and actions to match what our Father
believes about us.
Solomon
puts it this way in Proverbs 4:20-23 (TPT):
Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach
you, and pay attention to all that I have to say. 21 Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep
into your spirit.[a] 22 Then, as
you unwrap my words,[b] they will impart true life and radiant
health into the very core of your being. 23 So above
all, guard the affections of your heart,[c] for they affect all that you are. Pay
attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the
wellspring of life.
Proverbs
4 was written by Solomon, but it is written from the perspective of a Father to
his child, who was imparting wisdom and instruction. Don’t you just love when a
parent provides wisdom? If you are teenager in the room, you are probably
rolling your eyes at this moment. It’s ok! I was there at your age
too. But now...I crave wisdom from a
parent or someone older than me, and do you know why? It is because at one time
in their life they learned a valuable lesson that we haven’t yet, and they want
to pass down what they were taught through those experiences.
So
in this scripture we see a Father instructing his child to guard their heart
above all else, along with concentrating on the things that will keep them on
the right path, because their affections will determine where we end up. If our conscience is the voice of our heart, then
protecting it should be important to us.
A
person who lives with this wisdom and guards their heart will have a long and
prosperous life, they will have favor with God and people, they will have a
reputation for good judgement, they are successful, they are healthy and
vibrant, they have riches, honor, pleasure, peace and protection.
Bible
So
the questions that we’re asking today are how do we keep a clean conscience and
develop healthy habits to start living?
Are there things in our lives, in our history that are holding us back from
experiencing freedom in our heart and conscience. Why is it so important
for us to learn to live this way?
I
want to look today at the teachings of John. But, before we dive in I want to
give some context to the book of 1 John, which is were we will be today.
This
is John’s second book, and it was most likely written before John was banished
to the island of Patmos, where he was to live in exile. John was not
writing this book to a particular church (like we see in other New Testament
books), however it was sent as a pastoral letter to several of the Gentile
congregations who were struggling with the idea of Jesus’ true nature. And
because of John’s interactions with Jesus it gave him the authority to talk to
people about the true nature of Jesus and what it meant to have relationship
with a REAL God.
For
us today, you might say it was written so that we may know the REALITY of
God in our own lives through faith in Christ.
So
with this little bit of context let’s see what John had to say on matters of
the conscience. We are going to be in 1 John 3:19-22, so you can turn
there with me, or you can follow along on the screen.
TPT
19 We know
that the truth lives within us[a] because
we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure[b] our
hearts in his presence.[c]
- Isn’t so amazing to know that because Jesus lives
within us we have reassurance that everything is going to be ok? Let’s
keep reading….
20 Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and
remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more
merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything
there is to know about us.[d]
- He knows it all, so why do we think he is surprised by
the circumstances we are facing in our lives? He knows when our
consciences are reminding us of our failures or difficulties.
21 My delightfully loved friends, when our
hearts don’t condemn us, we have a bold freedom to speak face-to-face
with God. 22 And whatever we ask of him we receive,[e] because
we keep his commands. And by our beautiful intentions[f] we
continue to do what brings pleasure to him.
- Sometimes we need to be renewed to what our Father
believes about us.
We have freedom to speak face to face with our Father, so he can remind us
who we are. This brings pleasure to HIM and to us… our NEW HEART doesn’t
condemn?
23 So these are his commands: that we
continually place our trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we
keep loving one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 For all who
obey his commands find their lives joined in union with him, and he lives and
flourishes in them. We know and have proof that he constantly lives and
flourishes in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
Guys...when
our consciences become branded with our circumstances, then we have a
hard time letting go of whatever it is that keeps us from listening to the
voice of our heart. Do you remember Putty’s analogy from a couple of weeks ago?
It was that sometimes our mind sits in the driver's seat, and we need get it
out of there so our NEW heart take it over. This is exactly what this passage
is talking about. Remember, Satan wants nothing more than for us to
hear the wrong “I am” statements because it allows us to get stuck in our own
head.
So
how do we escape the sometimes gnawing accusations of our consciences? We don’t
ignore them OR rationalize our behavior, but set our heart on God’s love.
When we start to feel those “I am” statements rise up in our lives we
need to take the opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit, because his voice
of assurance is stronger than the accusing voice of our conscience. Remember
the Holy Spirit partners with our conscience to help us grow in maturity, and
we want our beliefs and actions to match that of what our Father would believe
Remember,
if we are in Christ, he DOES NOT condemn us (Romans 8:1, Hebrews 9:14-15). The very worst things that are in us are known by God
and he still showers mercy, love, and acceptance upon us. This is the
greatness of God’s grace. He sees beyond the sin of a moment and sees the
love of those who are in pursuit of him. So if we are living in
partnership with the him, and you are feeling unqualified….that is not the
voice or the heart of the Father, rather its the voice of the accuser.
Let me share the story of Samantha Hill with you. Sam’s story here..with picture
The
day you said yes to Jesus, is the day you were given a new heart, and a new
conscience, which means you now have a new family
history. When your conscience is clear, you can come to the Father
without fear and condemnation, confident that he hears you.
Your
inheritance is no longer; “I am depressed”, “I am anxious”, “I am poor”, “I am
this health issue” or that “health issue”, my family has a history of this or
that. You get a NEW generational background, a new family history.
It is now a family history of freedom, favor with God and people,
success, health, riches, honor, pleasure, peace and protection...all those
things that Solomon spoke of. This is your inheritance. This is how you
begin to experience freedom, this is how you begin to live with a clean
conscience, and develop healthy habits to
start living. You get to see yourself how the Father created you,
not with the identity that your circumstances have made you to be. We get
to partner with the Holy Spirit to change our “I am” statements.
Our
statements now sound like these instead...
“I
am loved”, “I am accepted”, “I am a daughter”, “I am a son”, “I am
righteous”, “I am redeemed”, “I am forgiven”, “I belong”
Action Steps
One
of the enemies greatest tactics is to keep our consciences stuck in whatever
circumstances we are in or facing. If he can keep your heart and conscience
from being renewed to what our Father believes about you, he will. He
loves to hit us while we are down... it can be sickness, financial trouble,
depression, worry, fear, or anxiety.
Where ever he can get you stuck, he will...this is where I was at. The
things that were happening within me changed how I viewed what was happening
externally...my worldview had moved from living as a daughter to someone who
was operating as an orphan. Yes...it can happen to a pastor too :)
Two
years ago this past February I finally had enough and decided to listen to the
voice of my Father instead of the voice of my circumstances! I began to take
action steps with the Holy Spirit to renew my conscience, so I could get to a
place where I could experience the right “I am” statements again. I had to
develop healthy habits so I could start living again.
You
know the ones that would allow me to live freely, the ones that made me healthy
and vibrant, the ones that provided pleasure, peace and protection. It
wasn’t easy and there was a lot of surrendering, and the laying of things down
that had to happen.
So
what action steps did I take, that might encourage you?
First,
I had to renew my thinking to this...my real
inheritance was not my family’s generational history, and but the new
inheritance I have in the Kingdom. I had to renew my conscience so that apathy
was no longer a place where I lived. I had to decide to start paying
attention to all the things that the Holy Spirit had been whispering to my heart, which I had
chosen to ignore, and then I had to renew my conscience to the truths that had
been spoken over me when I said yes to Jesus.
Second,
I invited the Father into all aspects of my life, not just spiritually, but
practically too. So there were some practical steps I felt the Holy Spirit
calling me to, as well as the spiritual steps. I believe they both had to go
hand in hand so that I could begin to develop healthy habits.
- I
needed to change my daily lifestyle. One of my biggest complaints
was that I was always tired and had no energy for my husband or my kids.
So the Holy Spirit in partnership with my renewed conscience
reminded me that he made me an athlete, and my body craved movement and
proper nutrition. I made changes to my diet (which meant we all made
changes). A friend also asked me to join her for a free Crossfit
class, so I did. And yes...I was hooked! I know not everyone will do
something as drastic as Crossfit, but maybe you can start with something
small, and that might me you just need to change some of your daily
habits, ask the Father he will tell you! He’s pretty amazing that
way!
2.
I
needed to change my sleep pattern. The Father reminded me that I needed
more sleep than I was allowing myself. Sounds simple right, but in all
honestly when you are a mom, wife, and friend you want to make sure that you
are leaving enough time for relationships. We never feel like we have enough
time, right?! However, I had to start listening to my body and go to bed
when I was tired. It was amazing what it did for my mood and my mental
capacity.
3.
I
needed to set a consistent time for my quiet time. Whether it was reading my
bible, listening to worship music, or just sitting in quiet. I was really
bad at making time to sit at my Father’s feet, so he could remind who I was to
him.
4.
I
made myself accountable to people. Yes, I have my husband, but the Father was
asking me to go beyond my close relationship with him, so I could build
relationships with others. This one was crucial for me! I am a do it yourself,
get it done kind of person, who does not like to ask for help. This makes
me have to rely on others, and I don’t like that. So when the Father asked me
to do this, it was hard! So I have a small group of women that I trust, talk
with and pray
I
want to re-read the passage from 1 Timothy again
1
Tim 1:19 Says this (NLT)
19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your
conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated
their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.
There
is a change that happens in your heart when you start to see yourself as the
Father sees you. We want to cling to our faith in order to keep our
consciences clear...
Remember,
sometimes our consciences need to be renewed because they can become branded
with the wrong thinking if we keep ignoring them. Some of us think that there
is something wrong with us is if we have to renew our minds on a daily basis.
HEAR THIS...There is nothing wrong with you if you are renewing your
conscience on a daily basis, because as sons and daughters we want our beliefs
and actions to match that of what our Father would believe about us.
Do I
still struggle? Yes,on occasion. And there is nothing wrong with me admitting
this...however the difference now is when I feel it starting to come I have
something to combat it with because I have chosen to not accept it as my
inheritance. I renew my mind to who He says I am, and not what my circumstances
say about me. So where do you need to start? What “I am” statements do
you need to lay down, so you can start to experience your new inheritance.
Index
card… have people write the the wrong “I am” statements they are saying over
themselves on the front - then on the back have them right I am
statements they hear the Father speaking over them
Goal
to be at ministry time by 10:25 first and 12:10 second service? or sooner?
Ministry
Time:
Generational
issues - family health and financial
Depression/
Suicidal thoughts
Fear,
Worry, Anxiety
A
Spirit of Distraction plaguing your thought process
