LIVING WHOLLY FOR GOD

wholly living for a Holy God!

THIS MONTH IN THE SERMON SERIES ON EVIDENCE WE ARE EXAMINING THE THEME OF INTIMACY -

CLOSENESS, AFFINITY.

SIMPLE PURITY

I LIKE TO SAY INTIMACY THIS WAY

INTO - ME-YOU- SEE

SO IF YOU HAVE MISSED ANY OF THE SUNDAYS, NO WORRIES BECAUSE THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE TO CATCH UP, AND IT IS WORTH IT. JUST GO TO OUR GENERATIONS U TUBE CHANEL AND WATCH THE PREVIOUS SERMON.

HERE WE ARE TODAY AND I WANT TO ASK IF YOU HAVE HEARD OF:

Erik Homburger Erikson was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings. MORE SO HIS STAGES OF psychosocial development

Unlike Freud's theory of psychosexual stages, however, Erikson's theory described the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan. Erikson was interested in how social interaction and relationships played a role in the development and growth of human beings.

Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development are:

Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy from birth to 18 months)

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddler years from 18 months to three years)

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool years from three to five)

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (Middle school years from six to 11)

Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion (Teen years from 12 to 18)

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adult years from 18 to 40)

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle age from 40 to 65)

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair (Older adulthood from 65 to death)

I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT FOR US TODAY:

STAGE 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adult years from 18 to 40)

Successful resolution of this stage results in the virtue known as love. It is marked by the ability to form lasting, meaningful relationships with other people.

INTIMACY ALLOWS OTHER PEOPLE IN AND ISOLATION SHUTS THEM OUT

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS? BECAUSE TODAY I WANT TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION SOME HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AS FOUND IN SCRIPTURE.

BELIEVE, BEHAVE, BELONG

ACTS 15 AS WE HAVE BEEN WALKING THROUGH THIS CHAPTER WE HAVE SEEN SEVERAL THINGS, NOW WE COME TO THIS PART WHERE THINGS HAVE TAKEN A TURN FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEY ARE NOW HAVING TO MAKE SOME DECISIONS.

BELEIVE WHAT WE BELIEVE, BEHAVE THE WAY WE BEHAVE AND TELL YOU TO, THEN YOU CAN BELONG.

THE COUNCIL IN JERUSALEM DETERMINE THAT UNLESS THESE GENTILE BELIEVERS BECOME JEWISH THEY CANNOT BE SAVED (PART OF JESUS FAMILY)

THEY HAD TO FIRST FOLLOW THE RITUALS AND LAWS OF BEING JEWISH.

PASTOR DANNY REMINDED US LAST WEEK THAT THIS SHIFT HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE BECAUSE INTIMACY WITH GOD IS NOT CONFINED TO A BUILDING

WE ARE AT A PIVITOL TIME FOR THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. ESSENTIALLY WHAT IT IS SAYING IS THAT IN ORDER TO BELONG TO JESUS WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE ETHNICALLY THE RIGHT NATION OR OBSERVE THE TORAH.

IN A NUT SHELL:

WE ARE BELIEVERS BECAUSE OF OUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, NOT BECUASE WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO KEEP THE LAW OR THE RULES.

THIS DOES NOT NEGATE THE LAW BUT RATHER FUFILLS IT. - I THINK JESUS SAID THAT. I HAVE COME TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSE.

Matthew 5:17 NLT

17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

LETS LOOK AT THE SCRIPTURE TODAY:

WE ARE PICKING UP AT VERSE 19.

SO JUST TO RECAP THERE SEEMED TO BE TWO DIFFERENT TEACHINGS GOING ON HERE .

SOME WERE TEACHING THAT IF YOU WERE NOT CIRCUMCISED THEN YOU COULD NOT BE SAVED.

THEY HAVE BEEN REMINDED THAT GOD WAS AT WORK JUST AS HE HAD PROMISED - THEY QUOTE FROM THE BOOK OF AMOS AND REMIND THE ASSEMBLY THAT GOD MADE NO DISTINCTION HAVING CLEANSED THEIR HEARTS BY FAITH.

Acts 15:19–21 NLT

19 “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21 For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

Acts 13:14 reminds us that there were many that had been following the the way of salvation.

THERE ARE 4 THINGS THAT IS BEING ASKED OF THEM

FOOD SACRIFICED TO IDOLS - THERE IS ONE GOD

SEXUAL IMMORALITY - THEY HAD TEMPLES DEDICATED TO A SEX GODDESS

STRANGLED ANIMALS - RETAIN BLOOD

EATING BLOOD - LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD

AS I WAS READING THE SCRIPTURE VERSE, I SENSED THAT WHAT WE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT HERE IS HOLY LIVING. NOT ONLY HOLY LIVING BUT WHOLLY LIVING FOR GOD.

FOR THE MOST PART PEOPLE HERE THE WORD HOLY AND ASSOCIATE IT WITH BEING A MORALLY GOOD PERSON.

HOWEVER IN THE BIBLE HOLY IS A MUCH BIGGER PICTURE THAN WE KNOW,

THE HOLINESS OF GOD IS WHO HE IS. IT IS THE VERY CHARACTER GOD.

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Charles spurgeon puts it this way

The Pharisee - Rule follower and keeper of rituals

The moralist - the person who lives an upright life, not mean, honest, integrous.

EXPERIMENTALIST - TEST AND TRY ALL THINGS

OPINIONIST - DO NOT NEED HOLINESS.

Holiness deals with the thoughts and intents, the purposes, the aims, the objects, the motives of PEOPLE.

holiness requires that, the heart shall be set on God, and that it shall beat with love to him.

LETS JUST GO BACK TO THE OT FOR A MOMENT OR TWO.

THERE ARE TWO SCRIPTURES THAT CAME TO LIGHT IN MY RESEARCH:

Isaiah 6:1–7 NLT

1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

WE UNDERSTAND HERE THAT ISAIAH IS WORRIED THAT HE IS STANDING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AS AN UNCLEAN PERSON, WITH UNCLEAN LIPS.

HE KNEW THAT THE HOLINESS OF GOD WAS DANGEROUS TO SOMEONE WHO WAS NOT “CLEANSED” NOT BECAUSE IT WAS BAD BUT BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD.

UNDERSTAND THAT RITUALLY UNCLEAN MEANT CERTAIN DEATH IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

THIS SERAPHIM COMES AND PRESSES A COAL FROM THE FIRE ONTO HIS LIPS AND INSTEAD OF HIS UNCLEANLINESS PASSING TO THE SERAPHIM, THE HOLINESS OF GOD IS PASSED ON TO HIM. HE IS CLEANSED AND MADE WORTHY.

THEN THERE IS ANOTHER SCRIPTURE FOUND IN :

Ezekiel 47:1–12 NLT

1 In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. 2 The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. 3 Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. 4 He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. 5 Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. 6 He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. 7 When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. 8 Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. 9 There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. 11 But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

THESE TWO SCRIPTURES DO NOT MAKE SENSE UNTIL YOU MEET - JESUS

AND WE SEE THAT JESUS SAT WITH AND ATE WITH THE UNCLEAN, HE TOUCHED THE UNTOUCHABLE AND HIS HEALING POWER PASSED ONTO THEM.

JESUS CAME TO TEACH A NEW WAY, THIS IS WHAT PAUL AND BARNABAS WERE TELLING THE LEADERS IN JERUSALEM.

JESUS TAUGHT US TO CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK, HE INTERACTED WITH THE PEOPLE TO GIVE THEM AN UNDERSTANING THAT THEY BELONG.

WHEN THEY WERE HEALED AND TOUCHED AND REALISED THAT THEY HAD A PLACE IN SOCIETY THEY COULD AND WOULD BELEIVE AND THEN THEY WOULD BECOME.

JESUS WAS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, HIS LIFE BLOOD WAS POURED OUT FOR US AS THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE SO THAT WE CAN STAND CLEANSED AND FORGIVEN.

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 NLT

9 For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. 10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

GOD CREATED HUMANITY

WE CHOSE TO SIN AND THERE WAS A CONSEQUENCE, WE WOULD BE PUNISHED FOR THAT SIN.

GOD LOVED US SO MUCH THAT HE SENT HIS SON JESUS TO LIVE AMONG US AND SHOW US THE WAY.

MAN KILLED JESUS BUT 3 DAYS LATER HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD PROVING POWER OVER SIN AND DEATH.

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT HE DIED FOR YOUR SINS AND ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD YOU WILL BE WITH HIM.

BELONG, BELIEVE, BECOME

NT WRIGHT

God wants this faith that we have to be something which affects every aspect of our lives, from the moment we wake up in the morning to the night. We go to bed at night praying that at the dinner table, in the bedroom, in the marketplace, in the shop or school, or wherever… we are going to be honoring God. And so they think through what it would mean to honor God with every single aspect of your lives, everything that you do.

Oswald Chambers:

Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.

WHAT MUST YOU DO?

Acts 15:28–29 NLT

28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

TAKE TIME TO EXAMINE YOUR HEART TODAY.

THERE ARE 4 THINGS THAT IS BEING ASKED OF THEM

FOOD SACRIFICED TO IDOLS - THERE IS ONE GOD

IS JESUS THE LORD OF MY LIFE

SEXUAL IMMORALITY - THEY HAD TEMPLES DEDICATED TO A SEX GODDESS

AM I BEING PURE BEFORE GOD

STRANGLED ANIMALS - RETAIN BLOOD

EATING BLOOD - LIFE IS IN THE BLOOD

WHAT LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO I NEED TO MAKE

PRAYER

COMMUNION

THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

Luke 24:13–35 ESV

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

TODAY WE REMEMBER THE RISEN CHRIST AND AS WE BREAK BREAD TOGETHER WE ARE REMINDED THAT, HE HAS CONQUERD DEATH AND WE ARE HEALED BY REMEMBERING HIM. EAT TOGETHER AND REMEMBER WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US.

THE JUICE IS A SYMBOL OF HIS BLOOD SHED FOR US AND WE DRINK FROM THE EVERLASTING FOUNTAIN OF FORGIVENESS WHEN WE ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SINS AND REPENT OF THEM.