God's Toothbrush (Holiness)
Notes
Transcript
GET EGG - FLOUR - MILK - BOWL - toothbrush - broom
I know Pastor John spoke about Holiness a couple weeks ago and I want to continue in that same thought …
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
So Jesus - declared to be the Son of God in power - according to the Spirit of … HOLINESS
Jesus is Holy
Jesus’ ministry was marked and confirmed by His holiness
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Unless you and I are HOLY — We cannot have relationship with God
…
One thing I’ve notice as I’ve read scripture and grown in my walk with God
is that God gives more attention to the unseen things in life - than the seen things
God is always more concerned about your HEART than anything else
About your FOUNDATION
And in Christianity, there are KEY ELEMENTS, KEY FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS, that we cannot avoid and that we cannot leave out
Holiness is one of these KEY INGREDIENTS
We can’t skip this over
And - I believe - some of us want to get somewhere in our Christian life —
but put whatever ingredients we want in it.
You may have a heart to see your friends get saved, your family, your school, to see Crescent walk in Revival! —
You may want to hear God’s voice clearly — Be used by God!!
BUT if you don’t put the right ingredients in, if you’re not focusing on the right things, you’ll never have the right outcome.
No matter how hard you try.
— Story of you and Paula baking cookies —
Used the wrong type of salt
We got one of the KEY INGREDIENTS WRONG
Didn’t matter how well we did everything else — WE GOT THIS KEY ELEMENT WRONG!
There is a key - foundational - ingredient in your LIFE and that is HOLINESS
It’s something that you don’t only need to understand, but something you need to pursue.
So here’s the problem — When God calls me to pursue holiness… I’m not super sure what it even is.
Story about Torah and the Cronister's — “that must be holiness”
It’s impossible, or at the very least BORING
Sometimes Christianity is viewed as this thing that is void of personality - Like I’m not going to be able to be myself anymore
How can we be HOLY like God is HOLY?
There is no way it means what it says there…
And if you’re going to pursue holiness — you have to know what it is.
We think it’s some sort of LIST — Do’s and Don’t’s
You don’t sleep around
You don’t drink
You don’t smoke
You don’t wear jeans
Holy is actually a very simple word… I think we have overcomplicated it and over-churched it.
It simply means — different.
Sanctification / Consecration / holiness = the same thing
What it really means is set apart / different / other
If there were a bunch of biles of bananas and only 1 pile of apples — the apples would be Holy.
It means that we are set apart FOR GOD.
God is set apart — He’s different - He’s other — HE’S HOLY
He’s set apart from sickness
He’s set part from sin
pain
depression
anxiety
HE’S HOLY
So we have this mindset of “okay to be holy i can’t do this this or this”
I CAN’T SIN
BUT THAT’S ONLY HALF OF IT!
You’re missing the MAIN POINT!
Holiness is not something you DON’T DO
It’s something that you DO
Holiness is not subtraction — It’s addition!!
We get in these thought processes of — “Oh no I messed up, okay God i’m sorry … blah blah blah.”
And our whole focus becomes NOT SINNING.
— Donut diet —
Your focus will always determine your finish!
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Just because you’re not out partying DOESN’T MAKE YOU HOLY
Remember — God is more concerned with YOUR HEART
You need to separate yourself from SIN - It wants to KILL YOU!
But we separate from sin SO THAT — We can be separated TO GOD!
We find life by laying it down
— God’s toothbrush —
My toothbrush is HOLY UNTO ME!
My life has a singular purpose! There is no other purpose to my life other than to give God glory!
THAT’S HOLINESS!
Christianity, Holiness, is not a bunch of LITTLE NO’S —
IT’S ONE BIG YES!
It’s 100 PERCENT
What if — When I went to Paula I said “Okay I want to marry you - BUT I want one day out of the year that I don’t have to be faithful to you.”
……….
— Saying YES to Paula, not saying NO’S to every other girl —
Now every decision I make is filtered through this ONE YES I gave Paula.
This is what God is calling us to!
God requires 100 PERCENT OF YOUR LIFE!
Holiness is not being perfect — We still have a sin fighting nature — It’s giving JESUS EVERYTHING
Holiness is living a fully-submitted life to Christ
