“For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 Are you ready to be the Bride of Christ? Jesus is communicating that He has a purpose of a special relationship of oneness with Him. Look at Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to…
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Seeking Him
Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and . . . be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and . . . put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4: 22-24 Apostle Paul shares important insights about the life – long process of pursuing holiness. As new creatures in Christ, we are to put off anything and everything that is apart of our old sinful life. This could be habits, attitude, impure motives, and so forth. We must daily put on the new self. These are the…
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Jubilation Of Holiness
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. Psalm 4: 1-5 What words come to mind when you hear…
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The Heart of the Matter
This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worhsip me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men,’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:6b-8 Do you know where your heart truly is? Is it far from God or is it close? In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders were highly respected and were considered holy. They were the experts of the Old Testament law. The religious leaders prided themselves on keeping the law. Their outward behavior could not be critized. The only person that could was Jesus. He did call them out. True…
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A Heart Like Like His
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 When you think or hear the word holiness, what comes to mind? Does dour faces, rigid rules, or self – righteousness come to mind? What about when you hear people talk about God and seeking him? Can I tell you a little secret? Seeking God is anything but dull! However, What does it mean to be holy? Well holiness can be defined on two levels. The first one is positional holiness, which is what God imparts to us when we become His children. Since we are sinners and God is holy,…
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Faith and Obedience
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, through whom we have received grace adn apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations. Romans 1: 4-5 Let’s look at the phrase “Spirit of Holiness”! This phrase is referring to the Holy Spirit. The third person in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit’s holiness seperates him from the spirit of humanity, sin, and the world. It describes both his characteristic and his work. Holiness is purity, perfection, completeness, and seperation from evil. The closer…
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New Garments
Now Joshua was standing before the angel clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from form you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments. Zechariah 3:3-4 Zechariah had a vision of Joshua. His vision shows how we receive God’s mercy. It has nothing to do with ourselves. It’s all God. He removes our filthy garments of sin. God, then, provides us with new garments. They are new, clean, rich garments of righteousness and holiness of God. This is what God’s mercy does for us. All we have…