Holiness vs Unholiness

 Psalm 93:5

Your testimonies are very sure;
Holiness adorns
Your house,
O LORD, forever.

1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know you not that your body is the temple of The Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?
2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of The Living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see The Lord.
1 Peter 1:15, 16
But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7)

    As God's people, we are also God's dwellingplace: His residence, His home, His house and His temple. In God's temple all aspects of it are holy, including the thoughts of the mind and the intentions of the heart. Therefore, we are to have nothing to do with unclean, unholy, unrighteous imaginations and vain glories.

    1 Corinthians 6 informs us how to settle our differences as God's people [verses 1-8]; who is united with Christ and who is not [verses 9-17]; that we are the temple of The Holy Spirit and have been purchased at a high cost [verses 18-20].

    We are The LORD's house and, as such, we need to maintain a holy lifestyle, a holy walk. This gets easier the closer we are to The Lord and the longer we walk with Him. Yes, there will be trials. Yes, there are obstacles on this course. But the destination is worth the effort. Paul tells the church that we are to "run with endurance the race that is set before us." [Hebrews 12:1]

    And, again, in 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul states, "Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." What are we cleansing ourselves from, what defiles us--makes us unholy--that we may be God's holy people?

UNHOLY LIVING

    James 1:21 'Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept The Word planted in you, which can save your souls.'

    Ephesians 4:22; 5:3 'to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;' and 'But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.'

    Colossians 3:8, 9 'But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices.'

    1 Peter 4:3 'For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.'

    Titus 3:3 'For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.'

    1 Corinthians 6:18 'Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.'

    Galatians 5:19-21 'The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.'

    James 3:14-16 'But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.'

    Romans 1:29-31 'They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.'

    Mark 7:20-22 'He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man."

    Revelation 21:8 'But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.'

HOLINESS/HOLY LIVING

    Galatians 5:22, 23 'But the fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.'

    Ephesians 4:1-3 'As a prisoner in The Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of The Spirit through the bond of peace.'

    Colossians 3:12-15 'Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as The Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.'

    Romans 13:14 'Instead, clothe yourselves with The Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.'

    Galatians 3:27 'For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.'

    1 Peter 3:8, 9 'Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.'

    Ephesians 4:32 'Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.'

    1 Peter 4:8-10 ' The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.'

    These are but a few Bible references informing the Christian--Christ-follower--how to live a humble, holy lifestyle in Christ. When we obey the leading of God's Holy Spirit, we are able to discover so much more in God's Word and be fully equipped to overcome temptations which would cause us to fall from God's grace.

    Daily Bible reading, daily praying, daily worship work together in the spirit realm to keep us holy, to keep us as God's house, His temple, His dwellingplace. Seeking Him out to know Him better than we knew Him yesterday.

    And so we pray, "Lord, make us more like You. Lead us and guide us in Your Word to that which would make us holy, that we might be Your dwellingplace forever and ever. We surrender what we want in our lives for what You want in us. We submit to Your Authority our hearts and our minds and our bodies. Live in us and through us for Your glory, Your honor and Your praise." In Jesus' Name, Amen.

TAKE MY LIFE - Micah Stampley

    

Statements of Faith - Sanctified and Set Apart

 

Ephesians 5:25-27

Husband, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of The Word,That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

SANCTIFIED

    When Jesus prayed for you and I in the garden on the night of His arrest (John 17:17), He prayed for God to sanctify us with His Truth, with His Word. It is only with God's Word that we can be saved, sanctified and set apart for Himself. 

    To ignore or disregard The Word of God is to bring condemnation on one's self. To remove any part of The written Word from The Scriptures or to add anything to The written Word is to bring judgment and destruction upon one's self (Revelation 22:19).

    God's Word is powerful:  Hebrews 4:12. It burns:  Jeremiah 23:29; Psalm 97:5 & Nahum 1:5; Malachi 3:1-3; 4:1. God's Word increases and spreads: Acts 12:24. The Word of God is Alive and lives in every believer: 1 John 2:14. 

    The Word of God sanctifies ( purifies, makes holy) the hearts of every believer who has The Word living in him or her. The Word is holy and demands a holy dwellingplace. He cannot live where sin dwells: only in a righteous man or righteous woman or righteous child. The Word of God cannot reside in anyone who declares themselves to be other than what God has made them to be. Be warned: God will not be mocked. 

    You who think you can live any lifestyle you want to and still make it to heaven are only fooling yourselves. The day will come when they who live in sin will be judged by God for their self-centered lifestyles. Everything that is not of God will be burned up by His holy fire. Now is the day of repentance. Now is the time to answer God's call on your lives to turn from sin and turn to God. 

    Today is the day of salvation for someone reading this. Today is the day of reckoning and getting our hearts right with The Word of God. Tomorrow is not promised. We can pray anywhere, so whenever you make your way to the cross where Christ died for our sins, that is the right time to confess our sins and receive forgiveness from God. No man or woman can forgive us. absolve us,  for the sins we have committed against The Word: only God can forgive those who sin against Him. 

SET APART

    Every believer of The Word of God is not only sanctified by The Word but we are set apart by The Word. We are different from the world (John 17:14). We are strange and peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9). We are called by God to listen to Him and to Love like him: (1 John 4:6) and (John 13:34). 

    In this Love of God expresses through God's Word we are able to love like God. We show compassion and mercy and lovingkindness to everyone we meet, even if they don't love us back. We love anyway. We are bold in The Spirit for The Spirit of God is with us. We are fearless for our God is always with us. We are Christians, faithful followers of Christ Jesus, and we serve a risen Savior and coming King. 

    While we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, come, we also pray for the salvation of souls who need Jesus. We pray for the salvation of Israel (Romans 9:33 - 10:1) and the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). We are praying people because we have a God Who hears us and answers our prayers. Especially the prayer that brings us into His kingdom. 

    So we beg you, Come to Jesus. Come today. 

    ANCIENT WORDS

IN CHRIST ALONE

ALL TO JESUS I SURRENDER . 

The Lord Is - - July 2023

 

    JEHOVAH QANNA

(pronounced yeh-ho-vaw' kan-naw')

        JEALOUS

Exodus 34:14

For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Hebrews 12:29

"For our God is a consuming fire."

TEHILLAH

(pronounced teh-hil-law')

MY PRAISE

Jeremiah 17:15

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for You are My Praise.

Deuteronomy 10:21

He is your Praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome wonders that your eyes have seen.

QADOSH

(pronounced kaw-doshe')

HOLY

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the One Who is high and lifted up, Who inhabits eternity, Whose Name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."

    Eternity is a destination, a place; a destination to be sought and found. It is one of the places where God lives. As this verse tells us, God also inhabits--lives in, dwells with--the person who is contrite (repentant) and of a lowly spirit (humble, meek) that He may revive us (restore, give new life to). 

    HOLY IS THE LORD

Exodus 15:11

Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You--majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

Isaiah 6:3

And they were calling out to one another: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory."

Revelation 4:8

And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”

1 Corinthians 3:17

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

TSEMACH

(pronounced tseh'-makh)

BRANCH

Zechariah 3:8

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth My Servant The BRANCH.

Isaiah 4:2

On that day The Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.

Isaiah 11:1

Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Jeremiah 23:5

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

EIRENE

(pronounced i-ray'-nay)

PEACE

Ephesians 2:13,14

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Jesus Christ. For He Himself is our Peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility.

{From Strong's:1515 eirḗnē (from eirō, "to join, tie together into a whole") – properly, wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together; peace (God's gift of wholeness). }

Ephesians 2:15

by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.

Colossians 1:19, 20

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.

The Lord Is -- April 2023

 

ATARAH TSBLY

(pronounced at-aw-raw' tseb-ee')

CROWN OF GLORY

Isaiah 28:5-6

On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a Crown of Glory, a Diadem of Splendor to the remnant of His people, a Spirit of Justice to Him who sits in judgment, and a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

Psalm 3:3

But You, O LORD, are a Shield around me, my Glory, and the One who lifts my head.

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine, for your Light has come, and the Glory of the LORD rises upon you.

ANI QADOSH

(pronounced an-nee' kaw-doshe')

I AM HOLY

Leviticus 11:44

 For I am the LORD your God: you shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I Am Holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Psalm 99:9

Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the LORD our God is Holy.

Revelation 4:8

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

ANI YHVH QADOSH

(pronounced an-ee' yeh-ho-vaw kaw-doshe')

I THE LORD AM HOLY

Leviticus 20:26

And you shall be holy unto Me: for I The LORD Am Holy, and have severed you from other people, that you should be Mine.

Severed means "divided, seperated, made a distinction between". 

Deuteronomy 14:2 

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

1 Thessalonians 4:7

For God has not called us to impurity, but into holiness.

Isaiah 35:8

And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it--only those who walk in the Way--and fools will not stray onto it.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

YHVH QADASH QADOSH

(pronounced yeh-ho-vaw kaw-dash' kaw-doshe')

THE LORD MY SANCTIFIER IS HOLY

Leviticus 21:8

You shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy unto you: for I The LORD, which Sanctify you, Am Holy.

Leviticus 20:8

And you shall keep My statutes and practice them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

Ezekiel 36:23

I will show how holy My great Name is—the Name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal My holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign LORD, then the nations will know that I am the LORD.

THEOS KRITES PAS

(pronounced theh'-os kree-tace' pas)

GOD JUDGE OF ALL

Hebrews 12:23

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.

    Psalm 50:6

And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah

    Psalm 94:2

Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.

    Revelation 20:11-15

Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books. 

The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.

And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Love Is Holy

 

God Is Holy

Psalm 99:9

Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy.

God Is Love

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Therefore, we must conclude that Love Is Holy Because God Is Love.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:17

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

How do we, as God's temple, get destroyed by others, besides being killed for our faith? By compromising our Biblical values with worldly values, for one.

Another way is by listening, and adhering to, false doctrines which fall into three categories: alternative "Christian" thinking, anti-Christian thinking and legalism (following a bunch of rules).

All of these schools of thought fall under the category of anti-Christ. Anything Satan can do to keep people out of walking the strait and narrow path which God has set up for His people to walk in, he will do.

There is only one GOD, one heavenly Father, unlike any other father we have ever known.

There is only one JESUS CHRIST who is GOD's only begotten Son, who died on the cross in our place taking the punishment for all the sins of the whole world: from times past, times present and times future; Who overcame death, hell and the grave and walked out of the tomb wherein He had been buried: resurrected into a new life and a new body. It is He Who is seated at the right hand of God, interceding on behalf of His people (Psalm 110:1; Colossians 3:1; Romans 8:34). And He's coming back, when His Father sends Him, to collect a holy church (Ephesians 5:25-27)

There is only one Holy Spirit and he is the Holy Spirit of the Holy God, the Holy Spirit of the Holy Christ.

God is Spirit, Jesus is the Word He speaks, the Spirit is the breath by which He speaks the Word.

John 4:24

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

John 1:1, 14

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22

"He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

Now, knowing our God is holy and knowing He can only live in holiness, we know that his habitations must be holy, as well. When Jesus Christ washes away our sins, they all take up residence within us. We are a holy people (Titus 2:14), and as such, we are a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), and a holy temple (1 Corinthians 3:16).

So whoever comes against us, as God's people, God's nation, God's temple, God will come against them. And win. Because He is God and His very presence demands holiness. Evil cannot withstand holiness. It will be rooted out and burned up.