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

    

Let Us Go

 

 

LET US GO

Psalm 122:1

A Song of degrees of David. 

I was glad when they said unto me, 

Let us go into the house of The LORD.

Let us sing praises 

To The LORD Most High,

Let us worship and bow down

To His Holy Name.

Let us kneel in reverence

To Him,

Let us bring our worship

To His house.

Let us rest 

In His Holy Presence,

Let us open our ears 

And our hearts 

To hear and receive

The Word of The Lord

In His house,

That we may be able 

To live His Word,

Breath His Word,

Speak His Word,

Walk His Word,

Sing His Word.

Let us be people of praise

In spirit and heart,

Not just lips.

Let us come into

His Presence 

With singing, with joy,

With open hearts

To receive Him;

Open eyes to see His glory;

Open arms to embrace 
The Christ Who died for us, 

When we were still sinners. 

Come, let us go

Into the house of The Lord. 

Names of Christ - Skandalon Petra

 

SKANDALON PETRA

(skan'-dal-on pet'-ra)

    ROCK OF OFFENSE

As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a Stumbling Stone and Rock of Offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Isaiah 28:16

So this is what The Lord GOD says: "See, I lay a Stone in Zion, a Tested Stone, a Precious Cornerstone, a Sure Foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken."

Romans 10:11, 13

It is just as the Scripture says: "Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame." ..... For whosoever shall call upon The Name of The Lord shall be saved.

GIVE ME JESUS - Fernando Ortega

MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS - A Hymn 

    Putting all my hope in a rock may seem strange to you, but this Rock is God's Rock. The Living Chief Cornerstone upon which all other living stones are built. This edifice cannot be toppled, nor can it be torn down. We have built our hope of eternity and salvation upon God's Rock. Though the storms of life may whip against this Rock and Chief Cornerstone with their angry, divisive winds, they will not prevail. 

    We live because Christ Jesus lives. We stand because Christ stands. We are steadfast and immovable because our Savior Jesus Christ is steadfast and immovable. 

    The One Who created all things is The One Who died for us. A sinless Lamb He took our place on the cross, bearing all of our sins upon Himself. A conquering Lamb He rose from the land of the dead, becoming our Victor over sin, death, hell and the grave. He walked out of the tomb and into our hearts. Because He is The Foundation of our faith from time immemorial. 

    In what or whom have you placed your trust, your faith? If it is anything less than the blood of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you have erred and need to take a closer look at what God says and what you believe to be true. There is only one Truth and that Truth is JESUS CHRIST. 

ALL MY HOPE IS IN JESUS Crowder

    

My House, My Rules

      Do you remember hearing those words come out of your Mother's mouth? Have you said them to your children? "My house, my rules. You don't like it, then you can live somewhere else." You ever wonder where that originated? I used to wonder about that, too. But now I know: it came from The Bible, from God.

     In the second half of The Book of Exodus God gives Moses the details on how to build God's house not only from an architectural standpoint, but from an interior designer's viewpoint as well. But this house that will be built for God is not a permanent living arrangement; while it may be mobile, it is but a foreshadow of the house God wants to truly be allowed to live in: us.

     The foundational structure of God's house is The Chief Cornerstone, our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Upon this Cornerstone, this Rock, is built the church. The church is not a meeting place for Christians, it is built of Christians. We worship God in Spirit and in Truth, as His desire indicates. We do not meet in buildings made by hand, but in the unity of Spirit. Neither time nor space prevent God's people from assembling themselves in His presence to seek His face, honor His Name and give Him glory and praise. Our worship is from the heart and rightly so: for "God inhabits the praises of His people." Psalm 22:3. It is a dwelling place not made by hand (Acts 17:24).

      Born-again Christians are people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God; that He died on the cross for us, paying the death penalty for sins we could never pay for; that God raised Him from the dead and He walked out of the grave. Born-again Christians are Jesus Freaks. We will tell anyone and everyone about our Savior and how He can be your Savior, too. We want to share God's love with everyone we meet. This is how the church grows. Proclaiming the Name of Jesus to anyone who will take the time to hear about our wonderful Lord and His saving grace: He forgives sinners who repent and forgets all the sins He has forgiven.   Who wouldn't love a Man like that? Who wouldn't serve a King like that?

      We are called to follow Jesus for this same reason: "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men," is what Jesus told the fishermen who listened to Him, in Matthew 4:19. Jesus informs us that in order to walk in power, boldness and fearlessness, we need The Comforter that God will send when we fast and pray together. And He, The Comforter, the One who will guide us in Truth with Love, is The Holy Ghost (as named in The OT) or The Holy Spirit (as named in The NT). He is the third Person in the Trinity of God. He has a Name, too. He is not an 'it' or a 'that'. He is holy because He, also, is God. And this Person must be with us when we tell people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is persistent but gentle, just like God. And The Holy Spirit is with me now as I tell you about Jesus.

       There is a right way and a wrong way to preach The Name of Jesus. The right way is in God's agape love. The wrong way is any other way than God's agape love. This agape love is unconditional love. It is a no-frills, no strings attached, self-sacrificing love. It is the love which God has for the whole world (John 3:16).  It is pure. It is holy. It is life-changing. God's agape love is not exclusive: God loves EVERYONE. Regardless of class, status, gender, politics, religion, race, ethnicity, age. God's love does not discriminate; rather, it embraces all people. Anyone can receive salvation and become a part of God's family, God adopts us through the blood of His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. There is only one Name under heaven by which all can be saved (Acts 4:12) and that Name is JESUS.

      In God's house, Jesus rules. For God has set His Son on His right hand, His rightful place being by His Father's side, interceding for God's people on our behalf, because He loves us (Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1). In God's house, Love lives. "Love one another as I have loved you." John 15:10-12. Again, this is the agape love referred to previously. We who live in God's house love each other with a sacrificial love, preferring to give honor and show/share God's love than receive it. It is a humbling to receive pure love from God's family. This act of love is not meant to elevate us, but to encourage us, to walk and live in God's Word because God's Word lives in us. "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28; Hebrews 2:11; Matthew 25:40(the least of these).

      In God's house, Mercy runs. ... . Hope springs. ... .  Joy is a verb. ... . Faith is evidence. ... . Love measures. ... . Jesus saves. "I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of The Lord." Psalm 122:1. "The Spirit and The Bride, they say, 'Come.'" Revelation 22:1. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6.