Called to a life of holiness

I feel from the Lord to take up a word that God gave us on New Year's Eve and how to press that word of God a little more to our hearts and to our Congregation. Some of you have told me that that word was a blessing and that you would like me to develop it a little more. And I myself had felt the same, that it was not good to leave her like this, simply as a general call to holiness.

On the night of the 31st, God was speaking to us that this year we should meditate more on his call to a life of holiness, of consecration to him, of surrender to him, of sanctification, of sanctifying ourselves to the Lord. And I ask the Lord that this year we will be reminded of that several times through our preaching program. That God wants a people consecrated to him, a sanctified people, a people delivered to him.

And holiness is a very complex subject. It would take many weeks to do justice to this most important issue. But we want at least to point out some things about it. And that is why I invite you to go to Primera de Pedro. There are many passages that we could use as an entry or starting point into this topic of holiness or sanctification, but this passage seemed very, very rich and dense to me, so I want us to study it with other passages, along with some points that God He has given me to help us enrich our understanding of sanctification and holiness.

First of all, before anything else, what does it mean to be holy? Let's see what the word holiness or holy means? Apart, right? Pulled apart. And that word set apart, one can be set apart from something, right? But one can also be set aside for something. And holiness is like that. Holiness is not just something negative, like don't do, don't do that, don't think like that, don't say this, etc. It is not only negative, but it is also a call to a certain life, certain actions, certain attitudes, certain life postures.

So, we are separated from the world that does not know God and that does not give priority to the things of the Kingdom of God. We are separated from sin, we are separated from the works of evil, but we are also separated to be useful vessels for the Lord, to be instruments for the Lord, to be the voice of God here in the world, announcing, as the Apostle Peter says in another passage , so that you may announce the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his admirable light.

So, we are set apart to serve the Lord. Set apart to be pleasing to him, set apart to bear pleasing fruit that honors the Lord. That is, it is a double call. Separate ourselves from certain things, leave behind certain things but also go towards certain things until the image of Christ is fully formed within us.

So here, it's important, this idea of sanctification, is to consecrate oneself, to dedicate oneself completely to the Lord for one single purpose. Like the Old Testament vessels in the temple, like all the objects in the temple, they were dedicated exclusively to the work of the Lord. A pot that was in the temple could not be used, a vessel could not be used to make a sancocho. It was only to contain the oil of God; or the lamps could not be used so that the priest, when he left the sanctuary, would go home with light at night. No, they were exclusively for worship use.

And there we have an image of what sanctification is. Those objects were separated from mundane use. There was a time when they were consecrated and dedicated exclusively for the use of God's affairs and then they could no longer be used, except to give glory to the Lord and to be used in the liturgical rite, in the adoration of God. And that's a good image.

We are vessels that are used and consecrated for the use of God's purposes. So that's a good image to start with. First Peter, 1:13 to 25, says here:

"... Therefore gird up the loins of your understanding...", that is, prepare yourselves, stand up, straighten up in your seat, I want to see you straighten up like this. “…gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and wait completely for the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, listen to that, do not conform to the desires you had before..., that is, do not conform to it, do not let yourself be dominated by them, do not submit to them,... being in your ignorance, but as the one who He called you is holy, you also be holy in all your way of living…”

There is a lot of material, a lot of cloth to cut in that passage. Since he is holy, we also have to be just like him.

“…Because it is written, be holy because I am holy. And if you invoke as a father the one who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, conduct yourselves in fear throughout the time of your pilgrimage…”

I can't hold back a comment before continuing. Notice that we say, well, we live under the grace of God, we no longer live by works, as was lived in the Old Testament, that men and women had to do different things to earn God's approval.

Now, we abide under grace, but that does not mean that we do not have to do good works, or that good works are irrelevant, that they have nothing to do with the Christian life. A child of God who has been washed in the blood of Christ, a person who serves God is expected to reflect the works of a person healed and saved by the blood of Christ. We cannot say, I am saved, and practice sin without remorse. We are going to sin, but it has to be an exception and it has to be something that we do against our will. We cannot adapt to sin because God does, judge a person who says that I am a Christian, I am a servant of God but lives a contrary life, practices a life that is contrary to the will of the word of God, there is an inherent contradiction . It can't be done.

That is why we have a calling, because God does, he treats us in a sense, we are not saved by works, but once we are saved we are supposed to produce good works. And if there is no contradiction. You see? That is why there is a very delicate tension there, there is an ambiguity in the very interesting word. Says;

“…and if you invoke for Father the one who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, conduct yourselves in fear all the time of your pilgrimage. Knowing that you were rescued from your vain way of living…”

Rescued, why? By the blood of Christ. He who saved us at such a high price does not expect us to reduce his sacrifice with a life that does not measure up to his sacrifice.

“…not with corruptible things like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, already destined from before the foundation of the world but manifested in the last times for love of you. And through which you believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope may be in God. Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth through the spirit for brotherly love, not feigned, love one another dearly from a pure heart, being born again, not of corruptible but incorruptible foundation, by the word of God that lives and abides forever. For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man like a flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this is the word that has been announced to you through the Gospel…”

Do you see how complex, how rich is this concept of holiness? There's a lot there. We could spend hours breaking down and disassembling that rich passage. But let me jot down a few things, a few thoughts. Not all of them are going to be related to this passage, but I use this passage as a starting point. I am not going to expose it expository, but I want to start with some principles because above all I want to leave there a foundation of ideas and thoughts about holiness.

Look, the first thing we have to understand is this. We are a people of priests. Serve and priestesses, set apart to serve and glorify God. How many know that we are priests? That is why holiness is so important. Look at what First Peter 2:9 to 11 says, it says:

"... but you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired by God so that you may announce the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his admirable light..."

We are a royal priesthood, a chosen lineage, a holy nation. And you know that the priests when they were chosen by God had to sanctify themselves. The priests were a very special people, it was a caste, a group that did not live like the other people in Israel. One of the things, for example, the priests did not have private land like other people did. Because God told them, I am their inheritance. So they didn't have private property. They lived on the offerings of the people and had some collective lands that God had given them so that they lived on them. But they lived in a very different way and were consecrated.

Look, for example, you go to Exodus, Chapter 28, verse 40, the Lord says here:

“… And for the sons of Aaron, that is, those who were to be priests, that family of priests… you shall make tunics, you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make tiaras for them for honor and beauty, and with them you shall clothe Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him, those who were to be priests... and you shall anoint them and consecrate and sanctify them to be my priests..."

To be my priests you will sanctify and consecrate them. So, if in First Peter 2:9 it says that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set apart by God, acquired by his blood to announce, so that we may serve the Lord to advance the Kingdom, then we have to live a life likewise of consecration and surrender to the Lord. And that's the thing, that many of us sometimes don't go through that process of becoming aware of who we are.

We take those words as something poetic, a metaphor. Oh, we are real priests. No, God sees us as continuing that tradition. Before, in the past the priests were a little bit of very hidden people, a family lineage, a last name. But now, in Christ Jesus, we are all priests.

Find me, I am a priest consecrated for the work of God. So that's why we have to be sanctified. Our life has to reflect the consecration of a priest, a priestess.

Now, another very important point is this. Holiness, brothers, is the requirement or prerequisite for God's blessings in the believer's life. If you want full blessing in your life, if you want to prosper, if you want to enjoy everything that God has promised in your life, if you want to feel the joy of the Lord, the peace of the Lord, mental health, physical health, blessing of God, what God has promised for your life, there is a requirement. God expects you to live a life that is worthy of those blessings of God descending on your life.

Now, God blesses the bad and the good, but there are special blessings in the Christian life, there is a continuity of the blessing that flows in you, in your life, that holiness is a requirement. Why do we often have difficulties in life and so many different things that happen? Not all are sinful, but many times it is because we are not living according to the principles of the word of God.

What does John 15:10 say, for example, I already told you that we were going to use our Bibles. One of the things that a sanctified person does is that he always carries his Bible. That's why I liked it when Betsy came by and had her Bible there in her welded hand, that's good. I like those Christians like that, who are radical. John 15:10 says:

“…. If you keep my commandments, sanctification, obedience, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love..."

Go? And in Romans 12:2 it talks about our presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God which is our reasonable worship. Says, "…. So that you may verify the good will of God, pleasing and perfect…”

So that you can verify the good will of God, pleasant and perfect. In other words, he says, in order for you to experience and prove, to taste God's good, pleasant and perfect blessing, you need to give your life as a sacrifice to the Lord. The more you sanctify yourself, the more you give yourself, the more you consecrate yourself, the more you give yourself to the Lord, the more you die to self and to your own fulfillment and taste, you know what? God's grace moves more easily in your life. There is more blessing. What God promises you say is true, you check it because God never tires of pouring out his blessing on your life. So that point is very important. Holiness, sanctification, consecration is the prerequisite for the fullness of life in God, for all God's blessings in the life of the believer.

Second, holiness is the platform for the manifestation of God's power. One is blessings in general, enjoying the peace, the presence, the communion, the blessing of God in your life. But if you want a life of power, if you want God to use you with authority, with poise, with anointing, that the power of God can run freely through your life, you also have to consecrate yourself more and more to him. Because? Because again, oil couldn't go down on dirty vessels in the Old Testament, those vessels had to be clean. And the anointing of God has to descend on men and women who are sanctified.

John 15:16 “…You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I have appointed you so that you may go and bear fruit and your fruit may remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you…”

Do you want answered prayers? Do you want that when you pray for someone, the anointing of God flows in your life? Do you want the grace of God to manifest itself through your life? Ask the Lord that each day you enter more and more into the depths of his holiness.

Do you remember the passage from Joshua that I mentioned. Of course I do, because you remember everything I say, right? On the night of the 31st, Joshua and the Hebrew people, before entering the promised land, they were going to fight giants, God was going to manifest himself in their lives in a powerful way. They were going to see miracles, signs, wonders in that new land. What was the first thing that God told them they had to do before entering the promised land? They had to get circumcised, remember? They had to consecrate themselves to the Lord. God told Joshua to tell the people:

"...Sanctify yourselves because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow..."

Sanctify yourselves because the Lord wants to do wonders among you. I said on the 31st that God wants to use us as a Congregation for great things. God has purposes and plans for this Congregation and that is why I believe that this urgency that I, you, sanctify ourselves more and more each day, prepare ourselves because God wants to do wonders among us.

And the one who wants a high bun, that can withstand the pulls, the Dominicans say out there. He who wants glory needs dedication. That's how it is. Nobility oblige, say the French. The nobility has its responsibilities. We are real priests. So, if you want the power of God to manifest in your life, you have to sanctify yourself. If you want God's blessings to become real in your life, and his approval to become manifest in your psyche, in your family life, in your work, in your finances, you have to sanctify yourself.

And third, we have already suggested that holiness is a requirement for service to God. We already mentioned that so I'm not going to dwell on it too much. The fact that you are a priest, you are supposed to serve the Lord, God calls you towards sanctification.

So far, are you following me? How many fell asleep already and checked themselves already, went to another place? No. Is everyone here? Amen. OK.

Okay, another very important point about holiness, put it there. I want to see those red hot pencils. Holiness protects us from the attacks and accusations of the enemy. Do you want protection in your life? Do you want God's coverage in your life? And I'm going to put an asterisk next to that, but I don't want to get too far ahead.

Holiness protects us from the attacks and accusations of the enemy. It is a way for us to protect ourselves. Many times God wants to bless us, God wants to cover us from certain things in our life, but since we are on the devil's ground with our behavior, the devil is a tremendous accuser, he is a legalist. He is the first Pharisee in all of history. He accuses us and he obliges, in a sense, rather he says to God, you have to enforce your justice, this person says that he loves you, that he serves you, that he has been washed with blood and look at him there practicing certain things. You have to let me touch it. That's how it happens many times. The devil is an accuser.

And God sometimes wants to cover us with his shadow. A person who is involved in drugs and doing inappropriate things is in the devil's territory and sometimes God wants to cover that person, but here it comes, it could be AIDS, it could be a stray bullet in a disco or in a place of bad behavior. or bad death. And God in his mercy sometimes has to allow certain things in our lives in order to further sanctify and purify us.

So God wants to heal us from certain attacks of the enemy, but we have to walk within the divine terrain. Do you remember the famous image of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, before being crucified? He tells Jerusalem, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I wanted to cover you, as the hen covers her chicks and you did not want to, and now you are abandoned and left for the attacks of the enemy." And then came the great Roman invasion with all the destruction because the Hebrew people rebelled against God, rejecting their Messiah, and they also rebelled against the Romans, and terrible destruction came against Jerusalem, against Israel, a very strong punishment. Because? God wanted to cover it but there were certain things he expected them to do.

And that is why sanctification is also so great, so important, that we walk within the provisions of the Lord and the stipulations of the Kingdom of God so that God can fully cover us.

Now, I want to say this, that your walking in holiness does not exempt you from being tested by God or from being attacked by the enemy. Now, when you are attacked and tested, it will be for one of several things. It will be either for the glory of God or for the advancement of his purposes, that he will mysteriously use you to advance his purposes, or for your own spiritual formation. But if God allows you to be touched by evil, while you walk in his ways, he will put a limit to Satan and in the long run that will result in glory and honor for his name and blessing for your life.

See, that's why the Bible says that those who love God all things work together for good. Job was a just man, almost perfect in his ways, one might say, but there was drama there. That the devil wanted to use Job to embarrass God. God said, ok, let's see? So Job suffered extremely, but in that suffering was involved the glory of God. Listen to me and what a blessing the book of Job has been for humanity. Look at us here, in the 21st century, talking about Job, poor thing, he is already well up there, he is already resting, and how much juice we have extracted from Job through the centuries and centuries. It was a blessing for us, it was a glory for God and I imagine that he was also enlightened and learned many things as the book of Job itself teaches us.

That is, when you are in the ways of God, you may suffer, you may go through trials, you may experience loss, but you will always be blessed. The devil will not have his way in your life. God will turn all your sufferings and sufferings to the glory of God.

And how good it is when one suffers, but one knows that I love God, I am serving God, I am looking for him. So God will get me through, he knows what he's doing.

Ok, so, it protects us from the attacks and accusations of the enemy and if we are tested and get into difficulties, we will always come out victorious.

Now, there is another passage that I want to use for the next points that is found in Romans 7 from 14 to 25. There is another point that I want to point out here, excuse the redundancy, one thing that I want to point out is holiness is a process. Say, process. Holiness is a process, not a state. Do you understand the difference or is it too early to be so subtle? I hope you all had a good breakfast before coming here this morning. Because holiness is a process, not a state. Ah, I am holy, I no longer have anything to learn. Forget you're already in the depths of hell, my brother.

No, holiness is a process. We always go towards holiness, it is a struggle, it is a dynamic process, it is something that is always taking place in our lives. We never got to say, ok, now, I've arrived! That happened to the Pharisee that in the parable of Jesus Christ, oh, thank you Lord, I give you because I am not like this publican here, this scoundrel, I tithe, I go to church every Sunday and on Wednesdays too, I am a deacon. Glory to God. Hallelujah! He felt very happy with his behavior and his state, and God told him, I hate you, I do not receive your offering.

The other one, the publican was there, oh, Lord, have mercy on me because I am a sinner. And what does the Lord say, that one, the one who recognized his sin, left blessed and forgiven. The other who was sure of his sanctification and very satisfied to have arrived, the Lord hates him. Holiness is a process.

And I say that in a sense also for your own peace of mind. Because as we strive for holiness and go towards holiness we have to know that we are never going to achieve it completely. That means that we don't have to go around with a whip with 7 brass tips hitting our backs all the time because today I misbehaved, today I did this, I did that. It is a process. We are at work. We are a work in progress and we also have to give space to time and the work of God in our lives.

As we passionately pursue holiness, we also have to know that we are on the road, we are going to experience contradictions and struggles and that is part of it, and we also have to not be too demanding. I have more to say about that with ourselves. Ok, we can't be legalistic with ourselves.

Holiness is a process. Look at Colossians, before you go to Romans, Colossians, Chapter 3, because this has so many texts, Colossians 3:9 and 10 says:

"...Do not lie to one another, having stripped off the old man with his deeds and put on the new, which, according to the image of the one who created it, is renewed until full knowledge..."

See there process? While you are dressing again, how do you do it? According to the image of what you created, you renew yourself until you reach the fullness of knowledge. And do you know when you reach the fullness of knowledge? When you die, that's when the blindfold is removed from your eyes and Pablo says that now I see how I have been seen. Now we see as through mirrors, darkly, but then we will see how we have been seen.

Go? You are always going towards holiness, you are always being better. That's the idea. Paul says, my children, for whom I travail in birth until Christ is formed in you. It is like a mother who is always giving birth. Sisters, I don't want nightmares for you but... hell could be that, a woman always giving birth. That would be hell for many of us. The idea is that, Paul said, I am always struggling to see Christ formed.

Because Christ is being formed in us always. A little more, a little more, a little more. Always being more and more like Christ. It is a process, it is a going towards.

In Romans, the Romans 7 passage, I see Paul here. This great man of God who enjoys incredible knowledge saying in 7:21:

"... Wanting to do good, there is this law, that evil is in me, because according to the inner man I delight in the law of God, but I see another law in my members, which is revealed against the law of my mind and that it takes me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched me! Who will deliver me from this body of death?..."

See this man, a servant of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, blessed with tremendous visions. He wrote two thirds of the New Testament and still saying, wretched me, who will deliver me from this body of death? Because I was in formation. He occasionally saw himself doing things and saying things that he didn't want to do because it was in the works.

So, my brother, if you have struggles in the Christian life, welcome to the club, you have good company. It is a process. But we have to get into that process. Many of us are settling loosely and God says, wake up, manganzón and put your batteries. Enter the process of sanctification. This process lasts a lifetime.

Another very important point, holiness involves struggle. Everyone say 'fight'. It involves inner conflict, a deliberate decision. How is the Christian compared in the Bible? With a warrior, a soldier, an athlete, a farmer. All those professions have struggle.

Paul says that he runs so that we may run swiftly the race of faith. It says that our fight is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. There is an implication of struggle and war in the Christian life. The Christian life is not for cowards.

Nietzsche, the great German philosopher, who was not so great after all, because he was an inveterate atheist, the Bible says that there is no God to the fool of heart, but he was a great philosopher anyway. He said that Christianity was for slaves, it was a religion for slaves, weak people who could not fight with the things of life and therefore had to appeal to an imaginary God.

But you know what? He said that because he did not know the Bible as we know it. He did not know the Christian life as we know it. The Christian life is a life of struggles. If you truly live it as it has to be lived, it is an agonizing life, it is a passionate life, it is a life of war against yourself, war against the world and the flesh, war against the devil who wants to destroy your life and make you stumble and again. It is an internal fight.

That is why Paul says, wretched me, who will free me from this body of death? According to the inner man, my spirit I want to do the will of God, I want to please God, I want to do what the Bible says but I find in myself another biological, carnal, earthly, diabolical law that drags me to do what I I don't want to, even while I bless God, and I say, Father, help me, I am sinning and going towards sin. It is an agonizing fight, agony, it is a fight.

That is why I say, if you are comfortable there, throwing yourself fresh in the Christian life, as if to say, and, this is a garden, how beautiful. You don't know what the Christian life is.

Now, it's not like you're paranoid, neurotic, and full of anxiety either. I don't mean that, but it is the soldier's fight. You are made for war. You are an athlete and you have to embrace your status, you have to embrace your calling. God calls me to be there in the fight, not accommodate myself to sin.

Do not conform to this century, says Romans 12. Do not conform to this culture, but present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It's a delivery. It's a fight. But it's a struggle that doesn't make you neurotic. If you are neurotic in the struggle of the Christian life, you've missed the point. you were wrong. Because it is the baseball player's fight that they hit a ball very high, and it almost seems that he is going to reach a home run and he is measuring the ball and he is tense, he is struggling, his eyes, his brain, his body, his hands, he is measuring where he is going to fall, lest I fall too. I am also in a fight because the illustration here does not fail me.

So, he is waiting for the ball and he is looking for it and 5 seconds, 3 seconds pass, I am not going to exaggerate too much, so he is tense, his body is tense, his mind is tense, all his faculties are looking for that ball and waiting for it. He positions himself for when the ball lands and his brain is calculating, his brain computer is doing some incredible calculations that no human computer can do, I assure you. They are terrible mathematical calculations that he himself does not know what he is doing.

What's going on? You see him too and he seems most relaxed. He has to relax. If he is… he probably gets nervous he won't catch. It's a combination of relaxation and tension, isn't it? Such is the Christian life. You strive to serve the Lord. You work hard, you are fighting but you are also breathing, you enjoy life, you enjoy life because you know that you will reach the goal because God has already made sure that you will win the battle.

You know you're going to catch the ball, it's just a matter of being there under it when it hits. But, you have to make an effort, it is a paradoxical struggle. It's a beautiful anxiety. It is a relaxed tension. Because there are a lot of people who are just tense, and that's the ones you see who are constrained and constipated in the Christian life, a dry face and everything is religion and law, and commitment, and this and that.

They do not enjoy life, it is like the brother of the prodigal son: "Dad, I have always been doing good and you never gave me even a little lamb to kill." He did not understand what it was to be close to the Father, because it was all action, work. Marta, action, doing things for the Kingdom of God, and Maria is calm. No, I want Marta and Maria to become one person. That Marta do what she has to do, but also that she do it relaxed, don't get tired, don't kill herself in the Christian life. It is struggle, however, but it is not a destructive struggle.

So, it's a struggle, it's an inner conflict. It involves a deliberate decision. I'm going to finish now because it's so much, maybe we're going to have to continue one more time even if it is.

The last thing I want to say is this, that holiness, however, although it is a struggle, is not the product of our own effort. You don't, ultimately, you don't produce holiness. As much as you clench your teeth and try to be holy, the only thing that will happen to you is that you will have to go to the dentist to fix the teeth that you wore out. Holiness is not produced by us, holiness is the product of the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit and the life of God within us. It is a product of us to recognize God's call to holiness and then stick to the power of the Father, seek the Holy Spirit, fill ourselves with the word of God, do our spiritual disciplines every day. Take our vitamins of the spirit every day, let Christ become great in us and let him work through us and produce the fruits of holiness.

How many understand what I am telling you? Amen. This is important because many of us want to produce holiness by tying ourselves to a stick so as not to do anything wrong, yet we are still here inside ourselves thinking bad thoughts. It can't be done.

Again, speaking of the fact that this is the product of an effort but also of a relaxation. Holiness comes when you do your part, but also when you depend on Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Do not curse the sin in you, bless the holiness of God in you. Wow, that worked out for me! Write it down so I don't forget. Do not live fighting with the flesh, embrace the life of Christ within you and try to stick to Christ as much as possible so that then you can produce the fruits of holiness.

Going back to John, Chapter 15, verses 1 through 8, look at how Christ says here:

"... I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman..."

I ask the musicians if they are so kind to stop by.

“…I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. He will take away every branch in me that does not bear fruit… ─ there is the call to holiness ─ … and all that bears fruit he will cleanse it so that it bears more fruit…”

See, there is something here, that the Father is cleaning you. The Father is dealing with you. The Father is being formed in you so that you produce the fruits of holiness.

"...he will cleanse it so that it bears more fruit, and you are clean because of the word that he spoke to you..."

The word of Christ in us, the word of God when it dwells in us, when we meditate on it, when we memorize it, when we receive it and welcome it into our lives, when we dwell in it, and receive it as the word of God, that word is alive within us and does things in us, and produces what it itself says it will produce. Then he says:

"... If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love..."

Where I want to go is further back, John 15 from 1 to 8. It says:

“… I am the true vine, my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he will take away, and every branch that bears fruit he will cleanse it so that it bears more fruit. Abide in me, verse 4, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself…”

You see? You cannot bear the fruit of holiness by yourself.

“…if not abide in the vine, so neither do you but abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches, whoever abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing..."

Brothers, that is the beauty. Today, you and I, if we want to live a life that is pleasing to God, what we have to do is go more towards Christ, get more into Christ, give ourselves more to him, consecrate ourselves more to him, have more fellowship with him. , meditate more on him, on his work, his person, his name, his truth, his commandments. Search for Christ, where is he? How do we abide in Christ? How do we get into Christ? It is through all possible help, Christian discipline, prayer, fasting, reading the word, communion with the saints, service to the Lord. All of these are things that draw us closer and closer to Christ. When we recognize that he is our God, our Lord, our King, when we die more and more to the appetites of the world and the desire for our own fulfillment and my own pleasures, and every day we get deeper into Christ. Our fruit is being grafted more and more organically on the person of Jesus, then the fruit of Jesus, the holiness of Jesus is being transmitted through us.

How different from me killing myself for producing works, for doing this, doing that, and when I see that I don't think it pleases God, I put on the gringolas with the horses, I go in the other direction. There is a paranoia, a neurosis, a compulsiveness that is not from God.

Whereas when you say, you know what? What I am going to do is that I am going to immerse myself more in Christ, I am going to bless God more, I am going to think more about the things of God, I am going to distance myself from those things that contaminate my mind and militate against the principles of the Kingdom of God. So, as Christ takes more and more ownership of you, your life, your habits, your time, your behavior, he then goes on doing the work and you find yourself bearing fruits of justice for the Lord.

An apple tree, it doesn't say when spring comes, oh, it's April so I have to get to fruiting. The tree has the genetics of the apple tree and reacts to certain things that are in the environment and when that moment came, some processes took place and it produced fruit naturally without pain. So are we too. We give the fruits of justice of holiness when we engraft ourselves in Jesus, in his word, the work of Jesus in us. Amen.

So don't go around trying to do this, or do that. No, no, while you make an effort, also tell him, Lord, take more ownership of me, fill me more. Take control of my life and make me a giver of good fruit for the glory of your name. How many feel that call of God to holiness. Amen. Glory to the Lord. Glory to the Lord.

Let's stand up for a moment. Let's stand up for a second. You see, the Christian life, brothers, is complex, but it is also wonderfully beautiful. God calls us. Purify yourselves, my children. I believe that I am going to have to continue a little more because there is a lot of fabric to cut in this, but God wants us to be a people that is pleasing to him, brothers, and that we please him with our lives.

So, right now there in your spirit, say to the Lord, Lord, help me to bear the fruits of a servant, a servant of yours.

Lord, help me to be a giver, a bearer of the fruit of the spirit. May Jesus become more and more the ground of my being, the source of my good works, the guarantor of my sanctification, if you will. Ask Jesus to take hold, take control of your life, complete ownership of your life.

Remember, you are a priestess, a priest of the Lord, for God's blessings to manifest in your life, you have to be holy. For the power of God to manifest through you, you need to sanctify yourself, so that the enemy has no power to harm you in your life, and that the trials of life result in blessing for your life, you need to sanctify yourself.

And God does not call you to agony, he does not call you to suffering, to suffering, he calls you to ease, peace, joy, hope, the enjoyment of life while you launch yourself into the fight for holiness. It's a process that will last your whole life but you know what? Every day more and more you will resemble Christ and that is where true happiness in life comes from. So, thank you, Lord, we bless you and exalt you, we give you glory and honor, Lord, and we ask that this life of holiness become real in us every day.

Help us to be a people that obeys that call of yours, Lord. Oh help me Father first and bless us all and give us a year of great spiritual growth, go deeper in your ways, in Jesus name. And the people of God say amen. Glory to the name of the Lord. Amen.