By: Winston Vincent Yap / 27 October 2019
KEYTEXT
Leviticus 20:26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
Deuteronomy 23:14 Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.
1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Be holy for I am holy… is one of the most famous verse in the bible
And by this we know that the totality of God is holiness not love…
Holiness – is the totality of God
Yet Holiness has a price and one of the price that we must pay for holiness is subduing our weaknesses
We Christians throughout the century have the same weakness and strengths… it is repeated all throughout the bible and history… we have different weakness and strength in the flesh… but in the spirit we all have the same strength and weaknesses… And that is what I’m going to talk about today
As I read the bible for countless times it marvels me that the same mistake is repeated throughout history. Maybe we humans are not careful with our spiritual life. And by this it damages us and God’s image is distorted because of us. When we don’t know how to handle our weaknesses it puts doubt in the eyes of the unbeliever whether our God is real or not, and by this we hurt God more than we think…
we act without taking heed of what the outcome will be, have you heard this statement before “He is a Christian right ? Why is he like that?” You are a Christian and you do that?
Why some Christians live a defeated life? In the first place they don’t take care of their spiritual life. Most of us will say ok lng na ah, wala na a, don’t you know when you sin whatever it may be small or great it affects you spiritually because every sin has a price. And mind you the spiritual realm is greater than are our physical realm, to a point what little activity we do in the spiritual greatly affects us in the physical.
As saul have sinned, his sin was just neglecting Gods command and he paid dearly for it, God removed him from his kingship
As jeroboam have sinned by putting unqualified people in the priestly office and setting out idols,, he destroyed the nation of Israel
Other kings before them they had a price to pay.
And today I want to start by talking about our weakness in the spirit
1. Proper Mindset / Be Not Conformed to this World
Romans 12:1-2 King James Version (KJV)
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
As Christians, a poor mindset can set us back greatly
Sometimes it irks me that some Christians have an attitude that based on the worlds standards. And when we bring those filthy things in the church and we think it’s funny, we think it’s cool, you think your philosophy and wittiness is highly appreciated in the church I tell you no! I usually withdraw myself to those kinds of people.
Where their language is crooked in every way, where it is of a mixture between the world and of God,
when we talk about God or the bible they suddenly become righteous and when no one is looking you dress like the world, you talk like the world and you look like the world.
And with this very reason many are stumbled because of these kinds of Christians. Your fb post if full of kathniel, memes, Nadine luster.
How can u contend with the world when you clearly look and speak like them? By the time speak of a bible verse no one listens… why? People can’t see the difference between them and u. how can this man speak to us of righteous things? When he himself is playing with righteousness…
No one will drink clean water mixed with dirty water…
2 Chronicles 13:8-20 8 And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with your golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:11 And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the Lord our God; but ye have forsaken him.
12 And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
13 But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them.
14 And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind: and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.
15 Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16 And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.
17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephraim with the towns thereof.
20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died.
Some of us portray of an image that we are not pro LGBT. But based on what we wear there is no repentance because you just look like them.
We the mentors talked about this certain Christian that is so stumbling because we heard he’s not an gay, but the way he wears is like a gay person.
There’s a worship leader that we just found out that sings for the church and has a worldly album at the same time. We can’t allow this my friends, thinking the church is a game that we can play. Just look at what the world is into right now. Abortion divorce sogie… and we Christians kept on playing with the world thinking it does not damages us.
And we have this movement, the so called worshippers where every Christians concert they’re present but when it comes to the word they as poor as a leper. My friends we must not be like this, not every worshipper we hear in YouTube is clean.
Trust me on this, I know the anointing I have walked so many times under the anointing during preaching altar call deliverance baptism in the spirit. When God gives you the anointing whether you turn bad or good the anointing still works… trust me on this my friends.
That is why after these so called Christians turned their back on God, they can still use their gifts for monetary purposes.
Our mindset must be based on Gods word, not based on what we see in youtube… tattoos are not ok, reverence must be in our lives (take of your hat) (don’t shout during worship) (coffee holding during worship)
Along with this mindset we must never underestimate ourselves like we are in a disadvantage, when you are in a state of righteousness and holiness you are always on the advantage…
Never do what the Israelites did when they spied the land of Canaan, we look like grasshoppers on our eyes…
When you are living a holy life you will always have this boldness coming out from you. The bible defines this bold as a lion but when you’re in sin, you are as coward as a sinner.
And sometimes we Christians tend to overestimate ourselves by our achievements. Doctor this architect that lawyer here engineer that.
Have u seen a pastor so arrogant? That he lost his dignity / respect because of his attitude? The same goes to every Christian who became professional and are high minded.
In the past u were so poor and now you’re rich… and it irks us that u became rich because along came with those riches are damnable attitudes. Take heed of our mindset.
2. Idolatry
Idolatry In modern times can be called addiction…
As Meriam Defensor once said “we have made some of them to a digital idol”
But idolatry cannot be underestimated… because idolatry has thing with us all humans.
In fact we all long for an idol,
We would not just admit it. Whether it be a toy for the kids, a simple shoes, a new gadget, or a motorbike… but when we find that one thing….. MY Precious!!!
Listen idolatry destroyed a kingdom… how much less we Christians? It can destroy our foundation
As we mature in our Christian walk we would experience this in our lifetime… but it’s up to us to contain the flesh… ive experienced it… you have experienced it… it’s time to let it go!
It was those moments that I can’t sleep thinking about that new shoes that I wanted to buy, that new camera…
There is no exception when it comes to idolatry, ministers, pastors, kings, priest, mortals…
idolatry has a way in our hearts.
The truth is when everything is fine, when everything is well… we will always look for something to replace God who gave us peace…
As it was the story of moses when he went to the mountain…
When he came down Israel was glued to this idol…
It may seem weird, why would you make a golden calf anyways? Because Idolatry will always have a way to our flesh, it can creep in unaware…
God doesn’t like it… if we were to continue the story of mosses it didn’t end well
Exodus 32-33 King James Version (KJV)
32 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.
5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
12 And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.Some of us worship the kpops… some of us always talk about that online game, whats new with basketball…
Whether you like it or not… The entertainment world will always produce a new idol for us to enjoy…
Just a little moment of happiness, a little moment of satisfaction…
God’s word clearly states, he is a jealous God… have u seen a girl so jealous to a point she wanted to rip her boyfriend apart?
And The truth is an idol is hard to throw away… whether it is a digital idol… a real idol… fantasy idol
2kings 17:6-23
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
3. Seeking the Lord Wholeheartedly
John the Baptist caused such a great revival with nothing but the word of God in his mouth. While we, in today’s generation seek for entertainment in the church John was busy with GOD in the wilderness.
John was so attached with the lord until caused his life to affect others.
My friend there is no secret with Christianity, there is no secret on how to be spiritually strong but time with the lord.
When I was a baby Christian I was too crazy to believe that secret, what is the key to be great for the lord? Spend time with him…. And I was so crazy to believe that… and behold until now I’m still growing as a christian.
Because of my time with the lord nothing else
Do not marvel if u want to build muscles you time in the gym, or time in the basketball court, time
Listen when u seek the lord the people around you will sense a change in your life, although they don’t tell you about it. They will sense this peace when they are with you. They will peak you when it is time for prayer
MY FRIENDS relying on the lord is all we need, whatever your situation may be…
It is our strength without him we are nothing, by him all things consist.
Whenever I minister whether it be preaching altar call or one on one, I always rely on God in my life, the moment we rely on our wittiness / achievements we will fail.
There will be people who will always come to us for spiritual advice and it is our duty to give them an advice that is based on the bible and not based on the worlds standards. And yes some of the worlds advice seems right.
Get that Sunday job you have no money, go abroad… but what did God say?
We see throughout the bible when a man of God spends time with God / seeks him wholeheartedly suddenly a gush of power/ favor or a change of situation suddenly happened to the mans life.
When we seek God wholeheartedly our situation will change for the better.
Seeking the lord means destroying all idols in your life, living a holy life and maintaining a personal relationship with him daily…
it sounds like a hard thing to do… yes it is… and it takes guts to be a Christian.
And in the past there were great men of God that God used to bring back the nation of Israel to him.
2 Chronicles 15 King James Version (KJV)
15 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.
16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
18 And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.
19 And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
Holiness is letting go of all idols and wrong mindset in our lives, it is a full detox of our spiritual life.
And the first thing that they did was they destroyed all the idols , and renewed their altar
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Hezekiah, Jehu
U must desire living this kind of life, u must have this hunger to seek righteousness and holiness. And I assure you, you will live a victorious life.
Holiness is not wrong and will never be wrong
I believe we are in the book of judges… Pastors are old already will the next generation carry holiness… when will we decide to carry holiness?
2 Chronicles 11:17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.
2 Chronicles 12:1 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.
2 Chronicles 12:14 And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.
2 Chronicles 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
You think you can make it in this life by living carelessly?
Jesus said in your trouble preserve your soul.
Walk in the narrow gate for it is life…
