Psalm 99:3
Let them praise Your great and awesome name - He is holy.
Psalm 99:5
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool, He is holy.
Psalm 99:9
Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
God is Holy!
Holy means to be set apart, to be completely separated from something and separated to something, also to be morally upright. It is separated from the world’s values and separated to God’s will. There is to be behavior that reflects that separation.
How important is it to be holy?
It is commanded in both the Old and New Testaments.
Leviticus 11:44-15
For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:15-16
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
We are also called a holy nation.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are not to be like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.
God’s way is called the Way of Holiness.
Isaiah 35:8
And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, it shall belong to those who walk on the way, even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
What does it mean to be holy?
It means to be morally upright.
Deuteronomy 28:9
You will be the Lord’s holy people; as He promised you with an oath. He will do this if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and follow His directions.
In today’s American culture:
Truth is Relative
Wrong and Right is for Me to Decide
The Direction of My Life is for Me to Set
If It feels Good I Should Be Able to Do It
It is About Me Profiting and Getting What I Want
It is About Living by the Toddler’s Rules of Possession - anything I want is mine to have
To be morally upright means there is absolute truth and it is defined by God - God says it and I do it.
We have to chose for Jesus to be our standard.
We have to chose Jesus to determine how we live every day.
It means total surrender to Jesus.
Luke 9:23
Then He said to all, “Anyone who wants to follow Me must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to Me.”
We serve many gods:
Materialism
Pleasure
Success
Power
Job
Family
But mostly we serve the god - Self!
Holiness means I serve one God - Jesus!
It means having God’s will as the primary motivation of your life.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect.
We need to ask ourselves
Why do I work?
Why do I work where I do?
Why do I live where I do?
Why do I do the everyday things I do?
There is only one reason to do anything - that it is God’s will.
Holiness means the will of God always comes first.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about us as God’s people being holy.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is therefore about being morally upright, being totally surrendered to Jesus, and having God’s will as our only motivation for all that we do.
So what hinders you and me from being holy? - SIN!
Romans 7:17-20
But I am not really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them. Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me - I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do them. I do not do the good things I want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those things.
Sin hinders us from living morally upright.
Sin hinders us from surrendering our lives fully to Jesus.
Sin hinders us from letting God’s will direct our lives.
We have to take sin seriously. We cannot allow it to build up and take root in our lives.
Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
Holiness is living the life of Jesus as the Holy Spirit fills you and empowers you to do that.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to live His life through you and His life is HOLY.
We have to ask ourselves:
Am I holy?
Do I want to be holy?
What will I do to let Jesus make me holy?
In Holiness Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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