Replace Mesh Actuator not working?

If I try and use the Replace Mesh Actuator to replace a mesh via Python (like for a health bar based on hearts for instance), I will get a warning message in the console saying:

Warning: object [object name] from ReplaceMesh actuator "[actuator name]" uses a mesh not owned by an object in scene "[scene name]".

This kind of prevents me from changing meshes. Why? It worked fine in 2.79.

Can anyone explain why the console prints out that message?