Equipping All People for The World: How to Live a Holy Life in a Sin-filled Culture Equipping All People for The World: How to Live a Holy Life in a Sin-filled Culture

q Definitions:  Being without sin, spot, or blemish  Clean and pure  Free from contamination  Set apart and dedicated to God

q Leviticus 20: 7-8, 26 "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy…You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”

q Galatians 5: “ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

q 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

q 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

q Ezekiel 36: " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh…

q Ezekiel 36: And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness.”

The Tin Soldier and Pinocchio “ The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought into you: beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.” - C.S. Lewis “ The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought into you: beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.” - C.S. Lewis

Becoming A “Real, Live, Christian” “ God looks at you as if you were a little Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of a divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange really? Is not that how the higher thing always raises the lower?” - C.S. Lewis “ God looks at you as if you were a little Christ: Christ stands beside you to turn you into one. I daresay this idea of a divine make-believe sounds rather strange at first. But, is it so strange really? Is not that how the higher thing always raises the lower?” - C.S. Lewis

Nice People? New People? OR

“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says `Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.” Christ says `Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.” “No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.‘” - C.S. Lewis “No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.‘” - C.S. Lewis

Isaiah 1: Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us reason together,“ says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ” 18 "Come now, let us reason together,“ says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ”

Steps to Holy Living: 1.) Practicing Spiritual Disciplines “Wash and make yourselves clean” Steps to Holy Living: 1.) Practicing Spiritual Disciplines “Wash and make yourselves clean”

James 4: “ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Hebrews 12: “ Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Spiritual Disciplines of Abstinence & Engagement Fasting Submission Sacrifice Solitude Silence Fellowship Worship Prayer Study Service Confession Celebration

“That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.” “That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.” “We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.” - C.S. Lewis “We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.” - C.S. Lewis

Isaiah 30: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"

Steps to Holy Living: 2.) Breaking Sinful Habits “Stop Doing Wrong” Steps to Holy Living: 2.) Breaking Sinful Habits “Stop Doing Wrong”

1 Peter 2: 11 “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”

Galatians 5: 1, 13, 24 1 “ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

“For you, John, sin is anything that deadens your love for God.” ~ Susannah Wesley

Ask these ?s 1.) Do I love Jesus more or less after doing this? 2.) Is this behavior addictive to me? 3.) If it was God’s Will for me to stop this behavior, would I?

“Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an mile. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.” - C.S. Lewis “Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an mile. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of or which is obviously spoiling daily life. Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment.” - C.S. Lewis

Steps to Holy Living: 3.) Learning How to Live Like Jesus “Learn to Do Right” Steps to Holy Living: 3.) Learning How to Live Like Jesus “Learn to Do Right”

James 4:17 “ Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Galatians 3: “ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Ephesians 5: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Matthew 22: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

1 Peter 2: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”

Galatians 5: “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.”

Ephesians 5: “ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

“I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said about Our Lord's words, `Be perfect.' (Matt. 5:48) Some people seem to think this means 'Unless you are perfect, I will not help you'; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. “I find a good many people have been bothered by what I said about Our Lord's words, `Be perfect.' (Matt. 5:48) Some people seem to think this means 'Unless you are perfect, I will not help you'; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant, 'The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.” But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant, 'The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.” “We may be content to remain what we call `ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out quite a different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice...We have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us.” “We may be content to remain what we call `ordinary people': but He is determined to carry out quite a different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility; it is laziness and cowardice...We have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us.” - C.S. Lewis - C.S. Lewis

A Royal Priesthood A Holy Nation The Saints of God The People of God Children of God Ambassadors for Christ Bride of Christ Stars Shining Light of the World Salt of the Earth

“This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going around the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.” - C.S. Lewis