5 Habits That Help | Help, I Have Bad Habits (Intro)

So, you might not actually have bad habits. You might just have broken habits. And if you wanna change your life, you first have to change your habits. Hi, my name is Michael, and today I wanna welcome you to the introduction of our new digital discipleship collection called, "Help, I have bad habits." And the truth is, we all have bad habits. Like, come on, y'all. I know if you're a humble, open and transparent like me, I got some habits that I want to change. Come on, anybody? I remember when our first was married to my wife, Natalie. I used to like just throw my clothes on the floor. I used to leave dishes in the sink, and I was quickly reminded that these are not habits that were going to happen in the Todd household. These habits may have been conscious decisions at the time, or even passed down generationally. But how you handle habits can greatly impact the quality of your life. Over the next six classes, you're going to learn how small rhythms can create big transformation. Hear me say that again. Small rhythms can create big transformation because whether you realize it or not, your life is already being shaped by repeated patterns or what we like to call habits.

The question is not do you have habits. The question is, are your habits building the life God designed for you? Or are they broken habits perpetuating a life that you actually don't even want to live? I need you to hear me say this very clearly at the beginning. Building habits is not about perfection. It's about progression. Through intentional choices and small decisions repeated daily, that becomes a direction for your life. A lot of us are living with habits that are heavy, but we should be living with habits that are healthy, holy, healing, hopeful, and even happy. Imagine your life right now, if your habits actually reflected those things, who would you become if your habits were healthy instead of harmful? What if your habits started producing peace instead of pressure? What if your habits pulled you towards purpose instead of keeping you trapped in cycles? I need y'all to hear me out. Your habits are not just shaping your day. They are actually shaping your destiny. And the truth is, most people don't drift into healthy lives accidentally. Let me tell you a personal story. This right here is Big Mike. This was me about four or five years ago, almost 70 pounds heavier, out of shape,

tired all the time, doing God's will, but living an unhealthy lifestyle in my relationship with food and exercise. I had to make decisions daily or new habit decisions daily that were healthy and would lead me to the person that I am today, not perfect, but progressing. Nobody accidentally builds a strong marriage, a healthy mind, a disciplined lifestyle, or a deep relationship with God. Those things are built intentionally. One habit at a time. That's why I love the Bible in Hebrews 1211 when it says no discipline is enjoyable while it's happening. Amen to that. It's painful, but afterwards, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are watched this trained in this way. I love what the scripture says right here because it gives us a picture of what our lives can actually look like and be filled with peace if we are trained. And transformation starts with one good habit. So now that you have a picture in your mind of what your life could look like, I wanna give you five habits that I am positive will help you. Number one, healthy habits. This habit is all about how you steward what God has given you,

how you take care of the things that you already have. One of the first places that we do this is by taking care of our bodies. I just told you my story from big Mike to progressive Mike. It's hard to do, but I'm telling you, it's one of the holiest, happiest, hopefulest things you can ever do by actually living your life not on E. Come on, let's be honest. A lot of us are living our life, raising our kids, doing what we want on empty. And a lot of the reason why is not spiritual. It's physical. If you're honoring your body, it means that you're putting boundaries in place. I do eat this, I don't eat this. I don't do this after this. Come on, how many people could use some more sleep? You're nourishing yourself in the right way and you're moving your body. First Corinthians 619 proves to us that it's important how we treat this temple. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves. Y'all, can you think about that real quick? The vehicle or the place that God wants to live is in this body and how we treat this body is God's home. So this is not just relegated to what we do with our bodies.

This is also what we consume in our minds, our eyes, our ears through media, through gossip, through conversations. What are you letting go in because whatever is going in is creating the house the Holy Spirit lives in. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it really is. That's why Luke 1610 says it like this. If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones, but if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with the greater responsibilities. What I'm saying to you is there are some healthy habits that I didn't even talk about, that you know, it's the time for you to implement in your life because those habits will lead to transformation. The other type of habits that you need to have are not just healthy habits, but you need holy habits. Holy habits are habits that connect you back to the Creator. Holiness isn't about perfection again, it's about progression and having an intimate connection with God. This habit is all about placing value on our relationship with the one who created us. There are multiple rhythms that you can go with in spending your time with God. It can be the first of your day, it can be throughout your day, it can practice his weekly, but this is what you have to do to create a holy rhythm. One of the holy rhythms that God gives us in his word is called the Sabbath. It's us taking a day that we don't do any work to abide

and spend time with him. I've implemented this in my life, and it's been one of the most life-giving things. And actually, y'all, most people don't know this, but it's a commandment. Like out of the 10 commandments, the one that's written about the most is the Sabbath, why? 'Cause God knew all of us would have a problem taking a break. That's why I love Exodus 20, verse eight. It's just remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy or set apart. The seventh day is the Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. Pastor Mike, what are you saying? You need to consistently have a habit of taking a break to connect to God. It will be so much more life-giving for you because God can do more with six days than you can do with seven. Let me tell you about another habit that you need to implement in your life. These types of habits are habits I like to call healing habits. These habits help you process what's going on in your life. Healing is an active word, ongoing habit, not a one-time destination. So many people say, I'm healed. You really need to say, I'm healing. This habit keeps you from pretending. It's about the dealing with the baggage, not just unpacking it one time. People have to realize that this whole life is about becoming

and the Bible talks about confessing your sins one to another. And it shows that we're honest with ourselves and others. And you can do this through community. You can do it through, watch this cuss word, therapy. And even just impersonal reflection, like journaling. See, the idea is here that I need to process the hurts. I need to process the habits. I need to process the hang-ups. And that allows me to heal. Many of you know my son MJ was diagnosed with autism and one of the practices that have been healing practices or healing habits for me is actually taking time away from doing what I love to do. I remember there was a season where I was booked to speak everywhere at every conference. And because my wife needed me and I needed to be attentive and my son needed me, one of the most healing habits for me to do was to pause and walk away from something I was good at. Hear what I'm saying, it gave me the space or the margin to process what God wanted to do in me to prepare me for the season that I was in. What I'm saying to you is what do you need to do that actually would be healing. In that season, one of the most healing things for me was to talk to the community that was around me, the people that got it placed in my life. And I know some of you may be a little skeptical about that right now, but your greatest hurts come from people, but guess what?

Your greatest healing can come from people too. That's why James 516 says it like this. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be, look what it says, healed. 'Cause the earnest prayers of righteous people, not perfect people, they have great power and produce wonderful results. You don't need your pastor to pray for you. You need your friend to pray for you. You don't need a prophet to pray for you. You need your coworker to pray for you. That's where healing happens. And that right there is a holy habit as well as a healing habit. Let me tell you about the fourth habit that I think you need to put in your tool belt. You need to put habits that are hopeful. That's right, hopeful habits. Habits that look forward with expectation. Hope isn't just this vague feeling. It's a cognitive habit. It's choosing to believe that the future has good things in store. Don't you know that God has good things planned for you? Despite what your present looks like, hopeful habits remind you that the future is bigger and brighter than your current situation. Did you know that you can literally rewire your brain to look at the good instead of the negative by taking a few minutes to write down a few specific things every day that you were grateful for?

No, no, no, no. I'm telling you, you can rewire your brain. If you grew up pessimistic, if you grew up seeing the glass half empty, you can change that with hopeful habits. When we were believing God for the Spirit Bank Event Center, which would become Transformation Church, I set my mind that this in crazy faith was going to be our building. I wasn't ignoring reality, but I was full of hope and expectation for what was to come that I couldn't make happen right then. I remember imagining us in it. I remember walking the building. I remember putting the logo on my computer, on an image from Google. I remember trying to get a vision and an expectation. I remember looking forward to preaching the first message in this building. It wasn't ours, but I had a hopeful habit of watch this thinking the best. That's why I'm telling you, no matter what your past has been, Philippians 3.13 can be a scripture that you stand on, forgetting the past, and looking forward to what lies ahead. That means God has great things ahead of you. That's what's gonna allow you to press on to reach the end of the race. Some of you are quitting or even forfeiting

because you're not having a little outlook that is hopeful. Today, I'm saying get a new habit. You can be in a bad situation right now and get a hopeful outlook by deciding I'm gonna have hopeful habits. Let me give you the last one 'cause I'm getting excited right now. And matter of fact, that leads me into the last one. The last type of habits you need is happy habits. Like you need to be happy about what is happening in your life and habits that bring you delight. Yes, happy habits matter. I see people that serve God, but it look like they getting like prosecuted or they look like they just drink pickled juice. So they look, look, the joy of the Lord is our strength. You need some things that you do that bring joy to your life that are full of blessings. And this is a deep, intense state that allows you to be able to walk in joy and fulfillment and delight and connection. And this is one I've had to work hard on because I love work and I love doing the things of God, but God let me know that we should have fun actually enjoying and delighting in all the good that He has given us. What does that practically look like Pastor Mike? Some of y'all, the most holy thing you could do is get a hobby. Some of you are so focused on what God has called you

to do that you don't enjoy what He's already provided. Some of you need to go play a sport, get in a league, learn pickleball, play the guitar, something with no strings attached, something that is not for you to produce for income or produce for an outcome. It's just something that brings you joy. And I'm telling you, it's even better when you do it with a crew, with a community, with people. I'm telling you some of the greatest moments of my life and we've been doing it for a long time. When we had no money, we would jump in a car and go to Oklahoma City and we would all share rooms and we would just laugh and play uno and walk on the free Brit town, I think is what is called in Oklahoma City, and we would walk out there and we would eat at Sonic and we weren't trying to be opulent, we weren't trying to do something that we couldn't do, but we took delight in what we had and I'm telling you, I was on a FaceTime call with those same friends last week and we laughed until we cried because we have a habit of being happy together. This is what God wants for each one of us. He wants you to understand that this world is for us to take joy and delight in Psalms 37 verse 4, it says, "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desires." So let's recap. Habits that help you are habits that are healthy, holy, healing, hopeful, and happy and I pray that those habits come into your life because with all of those habits, you become whole. We are just getting started. This is just the intro, y'all. We got six more classes in this collection. If you need help with your habits, I promise you this is going to help you. I'm telling you this is the beginning of you living a transformed life by building healthy habits. [whooshing sound]