Villains: Part 2

Hello, incredible master moms. Welcome back to our series, Villains. We are here for part two, and I am so stoked you are here. If you didn't catch part one, I'm gonna need you to hit the pause button and go back because this is not separate pieces. Okay. This entire series goes together for one important purpose, so I hope you were able to check out part one. We talked about the lust the eyes. How the lust of the eyes is actually a bigger deal than we think it is. How the lust of the eyes can lead us into a life of sin that can actually destroy us, and how to honestly conquer it. Because we're talking about villains, and a villain never goes unconquered. Come on. Can I get an amen?

Welcome to Mom Mastery University, the education every mom should have had but didn't. I'm Hannah Keeley, America's number one mom coach, and class is now in session.

Our key verse of our villain series is this first. John 2. 16, 17. It says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but. But it is of the world. Now, our goal is to be of the Father and not of the world, to take on things that are of the Father and not of the world. If the things of the world are holding us back from living in true victory, we need to put those aside. We need to learn to put those aside. And the things of the world. Hear me out. They're the villains. Last week, we talked about the Evil Queen, the lust of the eyes, and today. Drumroll. I'm so excited to be talking about the lust of the flesh. Now a whole lot of people just got super uncomfortable. Oh, no. I. I don't want to. I don't know if I'm going to talk about. I don't want to talk about flesh right now. Ew. Or. Or you just got a little bit more intrigued. You said. Hold on. That's a topic I think I might want to hear about. And that's okay. That's totally okay. But it's not exactly what we think it is. So our villain of the week is Claude Frollo. You might remember him if you watched one of the most iconic Disney movies of all time, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Also one of my favorite musicals of all time. Fantastic. But he is the villain. He's the villain. And the ironic thing about this villain is that the entirety of his story, he's not a villain who is doing bad and believing he's a bad guy. Therefore, I shall do bad things. I mean, I do believe, like, think about the villains. The. The evil stepmother. I'm drawing a blank here. The evil stepmother, Maleficent. Okay, think about the bad guys of the story. The. The lady who sings Flower Gleaming Glow from. From Tangled. These are bad people who kind of understand, like, hey, I'm doing a bad thing here, but it's getting. So I'm just going to keep doing it. Now, the difference between our villain this week, Claude Frollo, is he genuinely believed he was doing right by the Lord. In fact, go off, Disney. They had some biblical aspects. Sure it wasn't that, like, positive, but you're not going to see that anymore. Anyways, I don't want to get myself in trouble, so I'm going to move on from that topic. But Claude Frollo, he genuinely believed he was doing right by the Lord, that he had to satisfy this physical lust. He saw a woman. He saw a life that was not destined for him. He saw something he couldn't have, not just because she wasn't his, but because his oath and his vow kept him from that lifestyle. So he saw something that wasn't his, and he felt this feeling of lust. And he said, oh, it's your fault, baby girl. It's you for wearing that. That little dress and doing that little dance. If you have never seen Hunchback of Notre Dame, I am so sorry, because you have no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe go watch that, too. That's your homework. Watch it. It's a good movie. But he sees this woman and says, it's your fault because you are making me feel lustful. He has no interest at all in looking into his own heart and seeing what in the world is going on here that is driving me to believe something or want to do something that I know is sinful. It eventually leads him to act on it in a simple way, leading to him to potentially murder somebody, to lie, to steal, to do some very bad things, which eventually, like every villain in every story, story leads to his downfall. So we are talking about good old Claude, bless his soul. And if you haven't picked up on that so far, we are talking about the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh. Our key verse comes from James 1, 14:15. It says, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, not by the other thing that is making him feel this desire, his own desire, which is coming from his own heart. Then desire, when it has conceived gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Now, we know we live in a world that says, do whatever you want. If it feels good, do it. And people that are saying, no, because that's going to lead you to sin, they get a little turned off by that. They're like, don't get all preachy on me. But here it says, sin leads to death. When we are trying to turn people away from sin, we are trying to turn them away ultimately from death, from spiritual death, too. So this is important. Let's tap in here. So what is the lust of the flesh? It is wanting to gratify your body's desires at the cost of morality and what is good for the soul. Morality and what is good for the soul? We are willing to take these two and exchange them for something, for a desire that our body is telling us that we want our physical body, not something spiritual. But we're willing to take what is good for our soul and exchange it for a desire that we have. Now we need to look into ourselves and decide, is this desire from God or is this desire from what is of the world of my body? Our body physically desires things that really are not good for our soul, and we need to learn how to control it. So here's the shocker here, people. Hold on to your seats. Get ready. This does not just pertain to sexual immorality. And you may have already stopped listening because you're like, I don't have a problem with lust. I'm in a wonderful marriage. I have never been tempted. He's never been tempted. This does not just pertain to sexual immorality. It's actually so much more. So get ready. This word is for everybody. The lust of the flesh actually gives birth to three deadly sins. We have lust, which is physical lust, sloth and gluttony. Lust, sloth and gluttony. So this thing that is of the world can potentially invite three very, very deadly sins into our life. And those deadly sins have multiple different sins underneath them. And it truly, truly does open up our hearts and our minds to things that can pull us away from God, pull us away from good things and lead us into a bad place. So first and foremost, because I know you're here for it, I know you. I see you. We're going to be talking about physical lust. The verse is Matthew 5:28. It says, But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And now, although this Verse is great to talk to men about not looking at women. These are words also from Jesus that we can sit on, think on, and say, how does this pertain to me? Every word in the Bible can pertain to you. It is living, it is active, and is moving. So what Jesus is saying here is that even if you haven't done the act, if your eye is causing you to sin, then you've already sinned. If you are considering. If you are thinking on these bad things, on these. On these acts that maybe you physically won't take a part of, but you mentally. You're already there, then you're already sinning. Which sounds pretty intense, right? Because think of the world that we live in. We have normalized porn. And you might be saying like, mm, girl, I know that's right. But it's in our books that women, my demographic is being targeted by these books that are full of lust. Just awful, awful descriptions of a sexual relationship that has no place in my life because it's not mine. We have normalized this, so we don't even see how it is taking a part of our life the movies that we're watching. Just because Netflix allows it to be streamed does not mean we should be streaming it. Just because it isn't on a porn site and it's on Hulu does not mean we should be streaming it. Do you hear me? So what is physical lust? Lust is an intense desire for something or someone that does not belong to us. So some people are like, yeah, you know, lust, physical desire, maybe I don't need to have that all the time in my marriage. Wrong. Your husband, your person, that they belong to you, okay? But lust, the sin is the desire of something or someone that does not belong to you that is not yours to have. Most often in a sexual context, but not just limited to that, physical desire also includes thoughts and fantasies that go against God's design for purity. Sometimes people throw that purity word away once you're married, but you still have to wear purity because the world is going to shove things in your face, in a married person's face. Affairs, pornography, unfortunate movies, books, fantasies in your friendships. The world is going to throw things. You still have to wear purity because you need to stay pure for your person. Do you hear what I'm saying? So lust distorts love. Let that soak in. Lust distorts love. Turning people into objects to be used rather than souls to be valued and cherished. Wow. So that that person that you're not necessarily doing anything wrong with, but you See that person, you think about that person in a lustful way or they're not yours to have. But just because you are not acting on that sinful thought doesn't mean it doesn't need to be taken care of. This is something that we need to fix, to set our eyes on things that are of God and not of the world. So what's the danger here? Because so many people say, what's the danger in me reading this lustful book? What's the danger in me just dabbling in this fantasy of mine because it helps me in my marriage? No, what is the danger here? Check this out. Lust destroys relationships and distorts our view on love. It leads to a cycle of guilt and shame. It doesn't just hurt your husband or the person, it hurts you too. You deal with guilt and shame, making it harder to connect with your design person, with your husband, with your spouse in a healthy, God honoring way. It pulls our focus from a genuine intimacy and purity, hindering us from forming meaningful and committed relationships. Relationships that reflect God's love. Physical desire is fantastic in a God designed way, in a marriage, in what God has given you. And when we try to creep out of that plan and dabble in thoughts that are not of God, that is when we start to open up our spirit to things that are like of guilt and of shame, that hurt people and make our own relationships that were designed to honor God. Not so honoring. But marriage was designed to honor God. So how do we fight it? How do we defeat it? I will tell you in just one moment because we are going on to our next deadly sin, which is sloth. Slothfulness. I think of the sloth that works at the DMV in that one kids movie. I, I don't know which one. I watch like a million a day with my kiddos. There's a sloth that works at the dmv. It's like so slow. And that is what I think of when I hear the term sloth. And most people think like, well I'm, you know, I, I work, I clean, I cook. Sloth really isn't something that I deal with. But again, remember, sin is sneaky. The enemy is sneaky. So let's dive into it. What is sloth? Proverbs 13:4. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing. Hold on, stick a pen in that. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing. That sounds like prison. That sounds like torture. To constantly be desiring something and never getting it continues to say while the Soul is diligent and richly supplied. I don't want to be a sluggard. I don't even. We haven't even dug into this and I don't want to be that. I want to be satisfied in my life. I don't want to continue to crave and crave and seek and desire and never be fulfilled. So what is sloth and how can we get rid of it? Sloth is not just laziness. What? Who knew? It's not. It's a reluctance to act or care. It manifests as procrastination, indifference, and a lack of passion. That term, indifference, it means just. I don't care. Honestly. In a way, I've given up on this. It reflects the person who may be used to care, but doesn't anymore. Sloth shows up when we neglect our responsibilities, choosing comfort or ease over discipline and diligence. Discipline and diligence are hard words. Those take work. Those take work. But we often choose comfort and ease over the two. Who knew that could lead to a deadly sin? Right? It's a refusal to use the gifts God has given us to their fullest potential. Ouch. Can you say ouch? I can say ouch. That hurts. Because what sloth does. And hear me out. This is going to sound super dramatic, but you know, we're in villains. It's drama. It's October. It's spooky season. I'm going to get some drama. Okay, we're going to get some drama here. So sloth creates unfulfilled potential from God and buries it in the graveyard. If you live in sloth, you are going to go to your grave with unfulfilled potential. Not just from your own passions, but from God himself. To me, that is the scariest thing. I don't want to get to heaven and God say he, here's everything that you were supposed to do. But you chose comfort. You chose the glass of wine and a movie. Instead of working to write that book, you chose binging a show. Instead of being with your children when you were designed to be the best mother that you can be. Instead of going to that meeting at church where you could pray over people and minister to people, you chose sitting on the couch and relaxing. Because I deserve it, right? We all say that. I deserve this. I worked so hard. Like, girl, you are not designed just to do that. Nine to five, wake up and go to sleep and you're just mundane life. God is giving you opportunities every day in the mundane, in the mundane. To fulfill the purpose that God has given you. So what is the danger of allowing sloth to come into our lives? Okay, get ready. Sloth robs us of purpose and potential. Whoo. I have purpose. Say I have purpose. Say I have potential. What does sloth do in our lives? It takes it from us. When we are consumed by sloth, we miss out on opportunities to serve others, grow in our faith, and experience the fullness of life that God has for us. And it can lead to a sense of worthlessness. If you ever feel like you're just worthless, that you're not doing anything for anybody, maybe instead of just whining about it, check and see if sloth is an active part of your life. We are not living in alignment with the purpose of God designed for us. And it invites anxiety and regret into our lives. Now, I have spoken to so many moms in our university. We have created content for you in this university. And that comes with knowing what moms need today. And what moms need today is a cure for anxiety. But here we see that sloth invites anxiety and regrets. Anxiety and regret. You know, that's something that feels uncomfortable. That's something that. That is never going to sit right. And the world is preaching this idea to us that we need to just do what feels good. And this idea of self care, we do self care day. We once a month in mom master university. The last Friday of the month is a mandatory self care day. Because not every day are we supposed to be treating ourselves, making sure that we feel taken care of. We take that one day. We take care of ourselves. But ultimately I speak to so many of you guys and you guys are like, my self care day is going to the food kitchen. My self care day is going with my kids and talking to them about my day. Why? Because that self care for fulfills my soul, not just my body. It brings forth the things that are of God and not just of this world. That's fulfilling. Because if you haven't heard by now in this series, the things of this world are not fulfilling. All right, I'm going to run out of time very, very soon. So I'm going to move through this. Lastly, we have gluttony. And when we see gluttony, we see the kid from, oh, what's that movie? Matilda with the chocolate cake and the. And some of us are like, yeah, I deal with that. But some of us are like, not so much. I like food. It's not just about food. Hold on. This is so cool. Check this out. Proverbs 23, 2021. It says, do not join those who drink too much. You just said. Oh, ouch. Who drink too much and gorge themselves on meat. For drunkards and gluttons become poor and drowsiness clothes them in rags. So what is gluttony? What is gluttony in the spiritual? Not just what we know of that word. Gluttony is an overindulgence and a lack of self control. And not just with food, but anything we excessively consume. This is far beyond chocolate cake. Mom. This is far beyond red wine at night when you used to just drink one glass, but now it's a bottle. Okay, that is gluttony, but it also surpasses that. It's also not just food and drink, material goods, entertainment, or even social media. Anything that we consume that we take and we put in our minds and our mouths and our bodies that we think makes us feel satisfied, but at the end we just feel sick and hungover. Our head hurts from scrolling. It's never going to feel good, but in those moments we think it's going to satisfy us. Gluttony occurs when we seek to satisfy our desires beyond what is healthy and appropriate. Trying to fill a spiritual emptiness with physical excess. Hold on, wait a minute. Write that down. It says to fill a spiritual emptiness with a physical excess. Something in me hurts. I feel alone, I feel scared. I feel pressured. I'm going to take a moment, get my chocolate, get a cocktail, numb my brain with social media and purchase 10 things on Amazon. Maybe then I'll feel better. No, you won't. Because you'll wake up tomorrow with five charges that are over your budget. You'll wake up hungover, you'll wake up sick and your head will hurt. Nothing about you will feel good, but that spiritual emptiness will still be there. However, if you are struggling with gluttony, there is a part of you that is going to say, maybe if I do that again tomorrow, I'll feel better. Because when I was tipsy, when I was satisfied, when I was getting those rush of happy feelings from pressing purchase, I felt better for a second. But that's it. It's fleeting and it leaves you sick, broke and unfulfilled. So here we go. We're going to tie this bow on it. Are you ready? When lust, gluttony and sloth are all active in our lives, all three which come from the one thing we're talking about, lust of the flesh. When lust, gluttony and sloth are all active in our lives, they create A destructive trifecta. Yikes. That can devastate our spiritual emotion, our physical well being. And together they lead to a life of emptiness, of bondage and stagnation. I do not want this for you, Mom. This is not the life he designed for you. And I know what you're doing. You're not actively sinning. You are not choosing to be malicious and evil, just like Claude Frollo who we talked about. You're not saying, tonight I'm going to sin. What you're saying is, I want to feel better. And I am so sorry for the temptations of the world that has told you you'll feel better if you do. Blank. But I want to tell you right now that there is a God who loves you, who is going to bring you fulfillment and rest. So how do we do it? I want to read to you now. You might remember this verse if you have grown up in the church. It comes from Ephraim. Ephesians. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand, stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then. With what? How are we going to stand firm in our own weak bodies that lead us to temptations and sin? No. God has given you every tool to stand firm, not in your own power. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist and the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted in the readiness that comes with the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And lastly, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. So good. So good. So there is so much to unpack here, but I know I am running out of time, so I want to quickly go over each and every one. Okay? In regards to the lust of the flesh, you have to put on the belt of truth. What is truth? Truth is the word of God. So what I need you to do, if this is a struggle in your life. You are seeking peace. You are seeking fulfillment. The belt of truth. You gotta buckle it on. She's a cutie, she's a baddie, she's a good looking belt. Put her on. Because when you wear the truth, which is the word of God, you are powerful. The devil stands no chance against you. Because when you can look at the enemy and say, but the word of God says this, says that I can find peace in him, fulfillment in him. He has no, no power against you. The breastplate of righteousness. It guards our hearts against impure thoughts. It enables us to make choices that honor God and it drives us to act according to God's standards. It applies to lust, sloth and gluttony, each and every one. We need to put on righteousness, that standard that God gives us. He doesn't just say, do whatever you want because you're already saved. He says, no, be righteous, put on righteousness because that protects you. Ultimately, the shoes of the gospel of peace. That's the good stuff. The peace of the gospel helps us walk away from lust. We say, no, you are not of God. I'm going to walk away. Peace helps us overcome cravings and anxiety that often fuel overindulgence, which is gluttony. The gospel of peace urges us to share the good news. It gives us a reason to get up off our butts. I said it. And go. We have a purpose. I gotta share. I can't just stay here and listen to my own comfort, my own physical desires. I gotta go. Because there is a world that needs the kingdom of God and I'm gonna help do it. The shield of faith. The shield of faith extinguishes the fiery darts of temptation. Put up faith. You need to have faith in God's promises to extinguish the temptations that are firing at your pure heart every day. Faith in God's provision helps us overcome the fear of lack that often leads to gluttony. Whoa, that's a big one. Sometimes with gluttony it comes from there's going to be a lack of. But faith in God's provision that he will always provide almost like heals that immediately. When you know, faith drives us to act in obedience even when motivation is low, even when we physically don't feel like it. Faith says get up and go. The helmet of salvation. It protects our minds from lustful thoughts. It is something we put right here that protects our minds from the enemy that's trying to get in here. Watch that movie. Talk to that person. Read that book. Think about that fantasy. Don't shut it down, just feel it. It protects our minds from lustful thoughts. It renews our thinking, aligning it with God's standards. Salvation guards our minds against the deception. That indulgence brings happiness. Which is crazy to think about because this applies not just to gluttony, but everything we look at and say that could make me happy. Put on the helmet of salvation. Know who you are and that you were chosen out of this world. That Jesus went to the cross for you and he is enough. The helmet of salvation reminds us of the hope and calling we have in Christ, motivating us to live purposefully and serve others. Hold on to that. And lastly, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That's our fighting tool. Everything else was just armor. The sword is how we we eventually get the villain in the end. And this is the use of God's word. See the use of the Word to combat lustful thoughts. Just as Jesus did when tempted, he went to the word of God. Jesus, who was God in man form, could have gone off on him on a tangent, but he went to the word of God and spoke to the enemy when he was tempted. As you can too, when things come up, when thoughts come up, you need to have those key verses where written out that you can speak to the enemy and say, no, not today. The word of God, it reminds us that man shall not live by bread alone. That those physical things that you are trying to use, social media, food, drink that you use to numb yourself to the pain of the world, that we shall not live by this alone. It helps us refocus on spiritual nourishment that is actually satisfying rather than physical cravings. Scripture spurs us on diligence, as in whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. When we have this desire to just crash. Because girl, I know, I know how it is with two crazy boys running around. I'm sure there are people out there with like 12, so God bless you. But I have two, one of them with special needs. I don't have a moment. Sometimes my child with special needs, he doesn't even sleep certain nights because he gets his nights and days confused. And when I tell you those are the days I want to call and work. I want to, I want to call the church and say, can't come in. I want to tell my friend who we have a prayer meeting and say, not today. I just don't feel like it but it's not how we feel or although we are tired and you do need to make sure you are mentally there. It is not the things of the world that are going to get you there, girlfriend. It is the application of the word of God. When you feel like that, you better be open up that word. Open up that word, anywhere in that word. It is going to fuel you and get you going. See when we put on the full armor of God we are equipped to stand firm against the pull of these deadly sins and walk in the freedom and purpose God has designed for you, for me, for us. And that is Villains Part 2. I hope you join us for next time. We are going to go over quickly a recap of the workbook. Make sure you do your homework.

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