So as we continue on in the care and decluttering of our souls, just decluttering  our spiritual life. There's a lot of metaphors in general that kind of help us see  how to pay attention to our soul, and one of them is junk food. And we all know  that if you eat too much junk food, it will hurt your health. So let's talk about this  now. So get rid of the soul, junk, the soul, junk food, the soul junk, those soul  distractions. And here's some passages to help us see that Ephesians 4:30-32.  Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of  redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander and  every form of malice be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each  other as Christ. As in Christ, God forgave you in Luke 6:37, do not judge and  you will not be judged, do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. First of all, know there's junk food to get rid of or that or in the analogy of the house, there's junk in your house. And because of the  sinful nature that we all have, there will be clutter. And if you look back at that  list, get rid of throw away, you know, think about in your soul is the propensity of  sin, which could include bitterness, rage, anger, brawl, brawling, slander, malice, all of these things are possibilities. And a good soul caretaker, will know that you have all these possibilities before you and as you identify them, is to give them  to the cross of Christ, literally, they call that mortify the sinful nature. That one,  that last passage I read was about forgiving, it will be given forgiven to you and  one clutter that many people have is the bitterness thing. Declutter your bitter  roots. Who are what are you bitter about? Hebrews 12:15, see to it that no one  misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and  defile many. I kid you not. There was somebody that I knew she was only about  66 years old, she did not die of cancer. She did not die of a disease. She did not die of old age, she died of bitterness. And there is no other explanation,  explanation of that. And when you talk with her, it was really clear that the bitter  roots were so deep, it destroyed her life at a young age. She was she was not  die of diabetes. She did not die of alcoholism. You know, and I think bitterness is like this thing that is behind a lot of poor health. I do believe that bitterness takes away your joy focuses your lives on offenses in the past and and it creates in an  underlines soul sickness. I've often said as a minister, that bitterness is soul  cancer. So if there is bitterness in your life, get rid of it. It's interesting that the 12 step program talks about making amends but also talks about take responsibility to forgive others. And I believe one of the powerful reasons that that program is  so successful, even if I wouldn't say it's specifically a Christian program is  because the soul does not do well with bitterness. The soul also does not do  well with rage. Keep anger in a small container. In your anger do not sin. Do not  let the sun go down while you are still angry. Sweep hate and malice out of your  soul. I John 4:20 if anyone says I love God yet hates his brother. He's a liar. For  anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God  whom he has not seen. Proverbs 26:26 his malice may be concealed by 

deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. I Peter 2:1,  therefore get rid of all malice. caca in all deceit, hate. Malice is a hidden hate.  Your sexual container should be kept, well kept, make sexual choices that lead  to wholeness. I Corinthians 6:13, food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but  for the Lord and Lord for the body. I Corinthians 7:2, but since there's so much  immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman, her own  husband. You know, the subject of sexuality is getting to be bigger and bigger in  the world seems to have this subject. So dominated right now. And whether it's  pornography or movies or television or other forms of the internet and the future  of meta, where people can have like, sexual relations virtually with each other  and Japan, we're already seeing their stories where some would rather be  married to a sexual doll than actually be married to another human. So I believe  in this one. People's lives are going to get more and more in authentic to the  very creation. And I think from a midstream standpoint, this can be one of the  most exciting times because people are going to crash up against all of this  inauthenticity. And here comes Christians, here comes ministers, here comes  the matchmakers, who will help people sort that all out. Bring them back to the  Lord Jesus Christ, and help them get connected to a real human being for their  soul. Yeah, these are exciting times, I believe, filling, fill your diligence pantry  with enough and declutter and declutter greed, greed from your soul. Proverbs  21:5, the plans of the diligent lead the Prophet, Luke 12:15. Then he said to  them, watch out Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man's life does  not consist in the abundance of his possession. Keep examining. Keep  examining, but throw away judgmentalism I Corinthians 11:28, a man ought to  examine himself before eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. Romans 14:20.  You then why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your  brother for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. You know, it's like  there's that balance, like how do you examine in discern the right way, while not  going down to the truth, the judgmentalism in you know, judgmentalism is gets  you to focus on other people's lives in situations when you're not paying  attention to your own soul. A discerning a friend, a gentle helper, will be in the  narrative, and be discerning and be prayerful. But when we start thinking, we're  the answer people about everybody else's life. If we can easily get caught up,  and I've seen that I've seen churches, where division occurred and the people's  souls are in terrible places, all in the name of what's right. Now, when you say  that people go like? Why are you saying that you will, you know, encourage sin  and No, on the contrary, we are paying attention to walk in with the Lord. God is  at work and other people's lives, he can fight his own battles. People know what  you believe about most things, especially if you're walking with the Lord. So it's  that that stayin away from the judgmentalism distracts your soul. While  discerning and loving and holding to the truth. I mean, today, we're seeing that 

with, you know, different alternative lifestyles. People read the Bible in a ways to  cut out certain things and add other things, and you know what I'm talking about. Now we can go down the trail of getting preoccupied with this, or we can live the very words of Scripture, and gently but yet firmly hold to the values of Scripture,  paying attention to our souls, that we can more and more live for the gospel of  

Jesus Christ. You know, junk food or junk in the house. There's not nothing other than to just stay on top of it. You know, after you get into the habit of, of  decluttering your soul and getting that momentum and staying away from those  things that distract you. It becomes more enjoyable and the joy of salvation. And the conviction of faith lives in your life all the more. So get rid of those things that distract you and move your soul into clutter that keeps you further away from our Lord Jesus Christ.



Last modified: Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 8:36 AM