Video Transcript: Healthy Soul - Care Through Strategic Limiting

So, the monastic movement showed people who really cared about their soul,  that they had to do limits and they did incredible limits, like they limited where  they lived. It is as if their soul was a container and they had a container where  

they contained their soul. It's fascinating to think about that. So today, we have  limits, and we need to intentionally limit where we go. And when we have excess or where we bring, allow our soul to go places we need to repent of that. Move  back declutter, to you know, remember, you know, your soul is a container. But  then we need to create a container, or limit places that our soul will go. What do  I mean by that? Well, first of all, limit, avoid idols and sinful distraction. Limit the  role of the internet and all your associations with careful moderation. I John  5:21. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. I Corinthians 12:2, you know  that when you were pagan, somehow or other you were influenced and led  astray, to mute idols. So one of the first things to do is to grasp that it is possible  that clutter can come into your world. And you know, we talked about the  internet, we talked about like Facebook meta, and what that's going to do. But  there can be non Internet things as well. Things that just come at us, if the early  church in the 300s was so bombarded by idols and everything, imagine us  today. Now, careful moderation, you know, how do we be in the world, not of the  world. So one thing is to limit our exposure to sinful distractions of the soul.  Here's something else, gentle lifestyle of restoring your soul and limiting the sin.  (Galatians 6:1-2) Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual  should restore him gently. But watch yourselves that you may also be tempted  carry each other's burdens. And in this way, you will fulfill the love of Christ,  Matthew 11:28, come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you  rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in  heart and you will find rest for your souls. I realize that the soul is fragile, I  realize we get tired, I realize that sometimes we feel is if we are bombarded if  you want to walk a Christian life, it is very difficult. In fact, I can understand why  those Christians would go to monasteries, because they just said like, ah, we  don't know what to do, we're just gonna like get out of all this. So they separate  themselves, they create limits, in the limits are very physical. But most of us  understand that that is not the calling laid upon your heart, you're called to be  married, you're called have a family you're called do in the workforce. You're  called to reach your neighbors, all of those things you're called to do. And you  are on the internet watching this right now. You do have a Facebook account. I  mean, you get the struggle of the whole thing. So as much as we listen to the  first thing about limit limit limit. The second part is really important. Gentleness,  gentleness, gentleness, God knows your struggle. If you open yourself up to  God to others, and create a fabric of a community of encouragement that will go  a long way to help you find the moderation and the limits. And you know, when I  when we grew up, in my particular church, they would read the law and they  had, they would have a time of confession and then a assurance of pardon 

would be given by the Minister every Sunday growing up, I remember going  through my teenage years and I can always feel like Ah, really failed God, oh,  this is all of those things. But one thing I liked about that is that gentleness come back if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive you your  sins. So, but there was a sensitivity to how the soul needed to come back to  God come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That's where  you ask the Holy Spirit to fill you daily, weekly, in the context of others, to care  about the soul and realize that it is fragile and we need a savior desperately.  Practice minimalism minimalism and moderation and contentment. decluttering  your home lifestyle I Thessalonians 1:9, For they report they themselves report  what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols  to serve the living and true God. Declutter Your Home and lifestyle. You know,  we have another class here at Christian Leaders Institute about decluttering  your life in I think, the turning you know how, when you turn from idols, in a lot of ways, it is an intentional process. There's a story in the book of Acts where the  conviction This is late in Paul's missionary journeys. And the conviction is so  strong, that people come out and burn books that they had just, you know,  scrolls and that about witchcraft and other things that clutter, how they turned  from idols to serve the living and true God. So part of the challenge is to turn but to turn in every home what in our homes needs to be discarded, that clutter our  souls? What internet websites need to be decluttered from our habitual practice, to visit, which television programs need to be decluttered types of movies that  need to be decluttered out of our choices. You know, we talked earlier in this  class about the company what company needs to be decluttered? Who do we  tolerate, but need to declutter from our lives. Romans 2:20. Nevertheless, I have this against you. And this is by the way, Revelations 2:20. Nevertheless, I have  this against you, you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a  prophetess. By her teaching, she miss misleads My servants have a sexual  immorality in the eating of food sacrificed to idols, you know, I've had an interest  to study the early church and the first 100, 200 years of the early church,  beyond the time of the apostles. And I am fascinated that you know, sometimes  people like idealize that time, I call that such a time where everybody was close, and people actually knew people who knew the apostles and all of that. And as I studied this, I read this pretty thick book on how pagans thought about  Christians, it became clear to me that it was a spiritual warfare. And we see that  in roughly 95 ad when the apostle John is he's still alive and just before that, he  writes Revelation gets a vision and then he talks about in the seven churches  that are already cluttered. Sexual immorality and you know, isn't it is that like  today it's in churches. You know, to to really get a safe church where ministers  are godly and leaders are godly in that there's not abuse and sexual abuse and  and this is us today we need the word, we need to have soul decluttered we  need to associate with company that keeps us on track to serve the living God. 

So there is a limiting There's a limiting what the soul is exposed to. And, you  know, I recall my godly Father, we mean to 99 years old and, and he would talk  like that he goes, You know, I don't do that there's not good for me. I don't hang  out in bars, that's not good for me. You know, he sensed that he, his soul was a  container but he needed to limit where the container was going to be as well. It  was an intentional practice that he lived and I saw him living. I saw the blessing  of life that came to him. So as we grow in developing soul health, what is it that  we put into our with our eyes? What is it that what do we watch, on TV or on the  internet? Or what friends do we associate with? How do we find a careful  moderation so that the idols that are clinging so closely to not cling and snare  away from us our fire and passion to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.