Holiness is the requirement for God to work in your life and through you

I want to continue with this series that is within a series on holiness, because I feel that the Lord has called us to meditate on this, reinforce those foundations, put them very solid in our lives, our minds as a church. I feel that this is a call from God in this year that we have called a defining year.

You will remember that message that God gave me to share with you on New Year's Eve, to define ourselves as a church, to define ourselves as individuals, to define ourselves in God's call on our lives, and to also define what we believe, what we are, and what we have been talking about. different things that distinguish our church, elements of our faith, our theology.

And within that you have heard our specific understanding of holiness. Called to holiness. And we have said that our church has a focus on holiness, first, we believe that holiness is not only turning away from things, it is not only taking things away, but it is also preparing ourselves for something, turning away to serve the Lord. Holiness is, as we are going to see in a moment, a vehicle for something that God wants to do in our lives and through us.

Second, we said that holiness is not only a passive aspect of things, to remove the appearance, let's say the grossest of sins, but it is also entering deeply into the sanctification of our emotions, attitudes, words, human relationships, the the way we treat people, the sanctification of our feelings, our memories. It is all a very extensive process.

And last Sunday we saw this in a graphic way by taking a text from the Bible, Colossians 3, and seeing how the Apostle Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, calls us to go on a path of increasing sanctification. And we saw four stages, at least, of perfection of the self.

In the first stage, you will remember, I am not going to dwell too long, the Apostle speaks precisely of what we normally think of when we think of holiness, the grossest sins of human behavior. Fornication, impurity, disordered passions, bad desires, greed, and we said that many Christians only stay there, we focus only on that. But that's just the first level.

The Apostle Paul later says, but now having worked on that a bit, because we are always going to be working and trying:

“…But now also stop all these things, anger, anger, malice, blasphemy, not lying to each other…”

The idea is, once God has dealt with you in those most obvious and graphic areas of sin, then God expects you to begin submitting your interior to the Lord's dealings as well. That thing that we often minimize in life, which is the origin of so many problems in human life.

What divides most families, friendships, marriages? It's not that the friend at the moment punches the other friend and leaves his eye black and they separate. No, many times that friend is not sincere, he said something out of time, he did not forgive the friend when he offended him. That's what divided. They are not necessarily the worst things. It's not that he stole her wallet and took it home or that he went home to eat and took a plate.

What is it that divides the churches many times? It is not the thickest, most obvious sin, it is gossip, it is the lack of loyalty, the ego not dealt with by God, the lie, the harshness with each other. What divides marriages equally?

So that dimension is very important for us to understand in sanctification. But Paul says, but do not think that only sanctification is leaving things and putting off things, it is also putting on new things. Then he speaks:

“…Dress yourselves as chosen by God, third, holy, beloved, tender mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, if you have anything against each other…”

You see? When you've already undressed all those ugly things, he says, but now dress up with good things too, don't just destroy, build too. God calls you. How is your measure in those areas of goodness, kindness, love, patience, tolerance, forgiving those who offend you, saying good things about others, positive thoughts, blessing others with your good treatment. How are you in that dimension?

I have to measure myself every day with respect to that. And then there is the fourth level, he says, after all these things you are dealing with, he says:

"... And above all these things, clothe yourself with love, which is the perfect bond..."

That is, I said, the crown jewel in the crown, love. That love sums up everything. So, come, what I want, brothers, is for us to understand that. Sanctification is the surrender of our entire being to a process.

What I want is to continue tightening those screws because God is speaking to the church. I believe that these beautiful times of worship that we are having is because God likes what we are doing. There are things that are happening in this town that God is happy about. And then when that is, the blessing of God comes and God is calling this church to give of itself and to consecrate itself more. And when I say this church I am saying you and me. Put your name there.

God wants you to give yourself totally to him. It is a call to holiness. What I want is to take a couple of laps around the territory of holiness and strengthen some things that I have already said and see it in another way and we will continue perhaps one or two more sermons and then we will let it rest for a while, and we will return at another time to touch on this topic, but you are going to continue working on this topic.

I can tell you with certainty that God is speaking to his people and listening, what a privilege to know that we are in the will of God as a church. Receive this word.

We are a people of priests, brothers, that is why we have to be saints. The priests were consecrated to the Lord, we are a people of priests set apart to serve and glorify God. That is why holiness is so important to us.

If we were just another group of people. No, but our identity leads us towards holiness. Your identity leads you to holiness. Look at what First Peter 2:9 to 11 says. We have already read it at another time.

“…But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood…”

Notice royal, not in the sense of royal versus fake, no, royal means noble, like a king, nobility. You are not just any kind of priesthood, you are a priesthood that belongs to royalty. Now, that's not for you to look down on the people out there. No, on the contrary, with humility, meekness. You do not deserve it and I do not deserve it, the blood of Christ bought us that privilege, but we are priests and priestesses who belong to a caste of nobility, royal, princes and princesses is what we are, brothers.

We are a holy, set apart nation. Agios means that, separated from and for. An acquired people, because he bought us with precious blood. The Gospel is not free, the Gospel cost life, the life of the Son of God, acquired so that you may announce the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his admirable light.

So we are a people of king priests, princesses and every priest, every king was consecrated to his function. The prophet came and anointed him with oil and that anointing meant, you are set apart, you are sealed for a destiny, a function and you are now a vehicle for a purpose that God has for your life.

Oh, if we only saw each other like this. What happens is that we are not aware of what we are in Christ, the position we occupy. We come to church and one day we punch out the card, we go to the front, we raise our hand and everything remains the same, business as usual. But I think that sometimes we fail in not teaching the people that are watching, when you go to the front or in a cell you receive Christ, or just maybe in your house one day you fell on the floor and said, Lord, I need you, that sealed you with a new identity. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.

Most of us are not aware of it. What are you in Christ? And that means that you are sealed, if God would help us beginning with me, to understand that. My identity imposes a sanctity on me, a behavior. A king cannot walk around in the street playing with the little boys on the sidewalk. No, a king walks and has to behave.

When did you see Queen Elizabeth appear in a London bar to have a beer with her friends? No. She stays well away. You see her from there moving like a doll from the cars. Until that they teach him how to do it in a very different way from others. If I do it, you laugh, but not her. Everyone, yes, the queen. Because his position imposes a behavior in life.

The French say nobility oblige, which means the nobility obliges. He knows that kings and princesses couldn't even marry who they wanted, they had to marry a sometimes ugly prince but he had money, a nation, land and the kings wanted to relate one nation to the other. Then, the princesses and princes were mere pawns, they were quick pieces for the interests of nations. So, when two nations wanted to make peace or wanted to unite their armies or their territories, they used their children, they married them off, and the princess, the poor thing, maybe she was in love with the one who cleaned the floor, precious, but she had to marry this tadpole. because he was the prince of the other nation. And the poor thing, as a princess, had to do that because that was her duty.

People only think about the privileges of princes and princesses, but you have to exempt yourself from many things. And so you are, you are a priest, a priestess. So, that nobility of yours compels you to a certain behavior. And I think that we always have to say, what am I? Who I am? Who I am? I have to tell myself that continuously, brothers. That helps me stay within my position when the meat or whatever is taking us in another direction. You have to say, who am I, what is my identity? We are a people of priests and that is why we have to be holy before the Lord.

Another thing about holiness. Holiness is a requirement for service to God. If you want to serve the Lord you have to sanctify yourself, you have to enter into the matter of holiness. Because? Because look at the utensils of the temple, the vessels, the chandeliers, the tables, the halls of the temple, the curtains, everything when it was initiated for the service of the temple, that was separated, that was holy before the Lord, terribly holy.

If the high priest wanted to throw a party, it wasn't like he was going to come… okay, let's do it in the temple because it's very pretty and well decorated. So today we put the temple on vacation and today is for a party. No. He was holy, set apart.

The priests sanctified themselves too. And it also happens, if you want to serve the Lord you have to walk a certain way. That's what's terrible. That is why the Apostle Paul says, many of you do not become teachers knowing that you will receive greater condemnation.

There are a lot of people out there who want to be pastors, too many people I would say. But it is because they think only of the privileges of the pastorate. Oh, people listen to you, you can put on a tie, you don't have to go to the factory anymore, now people tithe and you live... and people only think about that, but they don't think about the great, terrible responsibility and danger that it is walking in the ministry.

And likewise you, if you lead a cell, if you are in the ministry of praise, if you are in the hujieres, if you are representing your church and the Kingdom of God in any public way, listen to me, tremble and fear before the Lord. It's not that you get neurotic either, but you do understand what that implies, that you represent the Lord and for you to have effective service you have to live a certain way, because you want the grace of the Lord to flow through you.

So, holiness has always been a requirement. The kings had to be sanctified, the prophets had to be sanctified, the priests had to be sanctified, the utensils had to be sanctified, the temple itself, the very temple that Solomon built came a day when they consecrated it. It says that the presence of God came and entered like a cloud, and it says that the priests had to throw themselves on the ground, everyone fell there. The presence of the Lord was so dense and so powerful that no one could remain and that was like the consecration of the sanctuary.

When the Jews later became corrupted and began to use the temple in inappropriate ways and sin spread even in the Israelite priesthood itself, the Bible says that the presence of the Lord left the sanctuary because it was no longer a holy place, it was no longer the secluded place for God.

The Jews kept doing their thing but the presence of God was no longer there. Then came the exile and everything else, and the Babylonian invasion and all the destruction of Israel and Judah.

And many times like this we are living a double life and we continue doing things and as if nothing happens. But look, and the presence of the Lord left, he moved away, you saddened the Holy Spirit. And we have to go back to look for that presence of God in our lives. And that is why it is important because holiness is a requirement for service to the Lord. If you serve the Lord, you want to serve in some way, sanctify yourself, let us sanctify ourselves.

Another thing about holiness. Holiness is the prerequisite for blessings. One thing is service, another is blessing. Because not everything in the Kingdom of God is just work. There is also time to celebrate Saturday and the day of rest, enjoy with the family, eat a roast chicken on Saturday night and the night before Saturday, as the Jews do.

For the Jew, Saturday is the most sacred and beautiful thing. But the Pharisees turned Saturday into something rigid, self-righteous, religious, but no, Saturday is supposed to be the Lord's day, it is supposed to be a day of joy, joy, celebration. Jews are supposed to dress in their best clothes, Friday night there was a meal, the housewife prepared the best food. You're not supposed to talk business for 24 hours on Saturday. Nothing that brings work or reminds the factory or what you left behind. Everything has to be joy, celebration, play, enjoyment, fun, going to the synagogue and worshiping the Lord.

Listen to me, if we understood this like this, even on Saturday, the day of rest, we have to consecrate it to the Lord because God likes his people to celebrate. God tells you, you better celebrate otherwise I'm going to hit you over the head. Listen to me, that is a commandment, you have to enjoy yourself.

So, not everything is work, there is blessing too. But how are you going to receive the blessing? Through holiness. Holiness is the ideal receptacle for blessing in the life of the believer. Romans 121:1 and 2 says:

"...Let's give our bodies as a living sacrifice, he says at the end, so that you can see what God's good will is, pleasing and perfect..."

In other words, so that you experience and confirm and see that it is real, and that you understand what is the blessing that God has for your lives. How are you going to confirm what God has for you? You have to live in holiness.

Many people say, but I do not feel the joy of the Lord. God promised me so many things and I am not experiencing them. It is possible that one of the reasons is because your life is not prepared to receive the blessings. There are things that hinder. God from his throne says, blessing to you, but then along the way the blessing is lost because it bounces against your life that is not adequate.

You prove the good will of God when you sanctify yourself and give your life to the Lord. What does John 15:10 say?

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

Look at what verse 7 also says:

"...If you remain in me and my word, my commandments, principles, remain in you, ask for everything you want and it will be done for you..."

Either the Lord was euphoric at that moment and his hand went too far or that is what he meant. If you abide in Christ and Christ in you, his truth, his word, his principles, his precepts are in you and you in him, look, ask for your mouth. Because? Because your mind will be aligned with what God wants. You are going to ask the Lord for things that are for your blessing. There ask that God has for you everything you want. Holiness is the prerequisite for God's blessings.

So you can check. Why does Christ say, again, take my yoke upon you because my yoke is easy and my burden is light? And he says, and you will find rest for your souls. How paradoxical. The way to find rest is by taking the yoke. What is the yoke? The commandments, the principles, the precepts, the barriers that God puts up, the fence around the abyss.

If you want to experience the blessings of the Lord, sanctify your life, purify it more each day. Another thing, holiness is the platform for the manifestation of the power of God in his servants. Here the emphasis is on God's power and holiness. There is a connection between the power of God and holiness.

Returning to John, which is a precious Chapter, by the way, for the consecrated life and in communion with Christ, read it later and meditate on it, John 15:16 says:

"... 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..."

Again, that same idea of God's blessing and provision. What does Joshua 3 say? What did the Lord say to Joshua when he was preparing him to serve God? Joshua 3:5 says:

"... And Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves because tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you..."

I believe that God is saying something similar to this church and to my own life as well, sanctify yourselves because I intend to do wonders through you. Brethren, it follows me wherever I go. This weekend I was in Maine speaking with a number of gringos there in the northern part of Maine, it was a conference and I was sitting and in a time of prayer and adoration I went to a corner and sat on the floor, minding my own business, as they say. And an American comes along who doesn't know me and says, God is going to unleash his power in your life in a way that you can't even imagine.

Brothers, and that word has haunted me for many years. I know that one day God has his purposes. I don't think it's my imagination because I have told him, Lord, take this away from me because since Abraham has been telling me for so many years, I say, well, when is it going to be fulfilled? But I am waiting. I am a man in waiting, I patiently waited for Jehovah. He leaned down to me and heard my cry.

But I believe that God says to this church the same. Things have to be in God's time, by the way, I'm not going to draw a prophet or Apostle card game. Apostle Roberto Miranda, well that's his business. I am here calmly, I do my business, I attend to the Lord's store and he will know when he does things, because when they are done in God's time, that is wonderful, not in man's time. You don't have to manufacture the anointing. The anointing has to be real. What God wants in the 21st century is a real anointing, breaking down walls and blowing up cities. That is what God wants. The other is easy to manufacture many times. But that is separate.

What God says to this church is that, León de Judá church, I want to do wonders through you. God told Joshua that when they were ready to finally enter the promised land after 40 years in the desert. Now, it was the moment of truth, they were going to confront giants, they were going to confront Jericó precisely. And God told him, circumcise all males, all males, circumcision was a sign of belonging to God. It was a painful, graphic seal that said, in the very essence of your manhood, there I am going to put a mark that you belong to me. It's like sealing a beef with a hot iron. That's how God decided, look how God is?

The poor sisters got rid of that, but I believe that in the heart God tells you, circumcise yourself sister too. But he said to him, circumcise yourselves. Today circumcision is not done with the hands of men, today it is done in the heart and in the mind, incidentally, in the spirit.

Are you circumcised? But God told him, circumcise them first before I can use them. Sanctify them first. Because holiness is the prerequisite, it is the prelude to power. If you want the power of God to run through your life with authenticity, you have to sanctify yourself. There is a price to pay. So, holiness is the platform on which the power of God rests and lands in the life of a man or a woman.

Another thing about holiness is that it protects us from the attacks and accusations of the enemy. Put the emphasis here on protection, it protects us. Because it is a form of spiritual warfare. There are many people who live rebuking the devil, trampling the devil and declaring confusion about the devil, and the devil quietly with a toothpick in his mouth and doing the same thing he always does. Because? Because they are not in holiness. It is so, brothers.

Many people that there is not enough devil for all the evangelicals who have destroyed the devil and have already killed him, trampled on him, buried him, expelled him, there is no devil left, if it were for the evangelicals that we declared destruction on Satan . And he lived and kicked as he was five thousand years ago on earth.

But it is that idea, you also have to cover your back. The devil, diabolos means accuser, the devil is the prosecutor who accuses you, that is his function. And the Lord wants to protect us but if there is impurity in your life, if there is sin in your life, our life, that is permission that he has to wreak havoc in your life.

I used to tell the brothers that wherever there is sin in our personality, our mind, our life, it is as if the devil is groping within us to see where he finds a point of connection with what he is, his nature. I say that the devil has a little wire, in the end he has a purely bare metal point and he goes around groping inside you to see where he finds fornication, impurity, lies, resentment, revenge, depression, sadness, doubt, fear, blasphemy, and when he…here I found something, there it is. And he does so and ties that point of your personality and through it he channels his energy and destroys your life, he wreaks havoc.

Because the word says, when any of you sins, do not say that it was God who tempted him, because God does not tempt anyone, but you are tempted when you are tempted by your own concupiscence.

What does the devil use as his landing pad? The sin that is in you and me. What looks like him. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ once said, let's get out of here because the devil is coming and I have nothing to do with him. The Lord had nothing to do with Satan, nor Satan with him. Satan couldn't find anything like him in Jesus.

Now, in many of us, forget that he can be blind and he's going to find something right away. Truly one of the ways to protect ourselves, because many times we are in practical situations, relationships, spaces where God, due to his holiness and his respect for his own law, cannot protect us as he wants. And then we blame the Lord.

We were out there drunk, driving the car at 80 miles an hour, we hit a pillar, and then we blame the Lord when we're in the hospital with our leg in a cast. That's how it happens many times.

We have to live in a certain way so that God can protect us and keep us from the attacks of the enemy. Holiness is the best way to do spiritual warfare. It's cheap. You don't have to be scolding or fighting the devil or anything, you just live a clean, pure life. Holiness is the greatest protection, the best form of spiritual warfare.

Now, for the next few moments I want to dwell on this aspect. It is based on that passage from Romans 7:14 to 25 where Paul opens his heart before us. It is one of the most intimate passages in all of Scripture, where this great man of God lets us see his soul, lets us see his intimacy, his personal struggle that he has.

You know that many times we pastors go around presenting people with an image of inviolability, invincibility. And people say, wow, what a tremendous man of God. If I could one day do something like that. No, the pastor is a man like any other, the same nervous system, the same struggle. We are involved in the fight, in the battle, and we know the responsibility we have, but there is a fight. That deacon who looks like a chaste man is struggling inside if he's honest. That woman of God who seems to have everything arranged, and who is going to go to heaven with everything and shoes and screen, has a fight, if she is honest.

And Paul gave us an example of honesty because holiness is a process, not a state. Look what Paul says here in Romans 7:14:

“…Because we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal…”

This is the man who wrote two-thirds of the Gospel, the man who had such a vision of Christ that he was not even allowed to share it, the man whom Christ Himself personally called to him, knocking him off his horse, the man who sent someone to pray for him to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the man God chose to break through the Gospel in the Greco-Roman empire. That man is saying:

"...I am carnal, sold to sin, because what I do I do not understand, because I do not do what I want but what I hate, that's what I do..."

Some evangelicals, I still hear them there in the church, who don't like people to say, well, I'm a sinner. And I understand. I don't like to say I am a sinner, but in a sense it is honest to say it. You can say, I am inclined to sin. Human nature is that. The world, the universe is inclined towards sin. There are traps that lead us to that. But here it says:

"... I am carnal, sold to sin..."

Many super spiritual, brother Pablo, never say that. He is confessing negatively. This is Paul saying, I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, understand what he's saying, it's not that he's a slave to sin. He's being very dramatic there because later in Chapter 8, it's a Chapter of incredible blessing and safety. Paul doesn't stay.

It is what I say, that the confession of sin must always also be accompanied by a declaration of freedom in Christ Jesus. In Chapter 8 you will see he is like another man, but here he says, look, there is a shadowy dimension of me, sinister of me, "because what I do I do not understand, I do not do what I want but what I hate, that's what I do." .”

How many times can you say that, brother? After that little word came out, oops, he bit his tongue, but if I said that I wasn't going to say it again? There is. You promised you weren't going to yell at the children anymore, but a little boy came and spilled juice on his favorite chair and the old man came out, not so old, man or woman. And once again, I said that I was going to treat my son and I was going to bless him instead of criticizing him. It is so. I don't do what I want.

"...And if I do what I don't want, I approve that the law is good..."

In other words, if I am like this, it is good that there are laws in the world. The modern world wants all laws removed. Hey, whatever you want, amen. If today you woke up wanting to be a woman, glory to God. If you feel feminine, then put on feminine clothes, a delicate robe and let go of your gestures and do what you want.

If tomorrow you feel like a billy goat to eat the girls raw, well, amen, today you have testosterone coming out of your ears. And people want… and criticize us because we respect God's law. Brethren, the only defense for humanity is the law of God.

What brought us living in the world without barriers? Destruction. What would happen if there were no walls and protections on the big highways, fences around them, on those roads in Mexico and Central America and the Caribbean, those ravines, what would it be if there were not something in those mountains that protected us from ourselves? The best place, the safest place for a man or a woman is within the barriers that God has established.

And Paul says, then I approve that the law is good, "... and if I do what I do not want, I approve that the law is good, so that it is no longer I who do that, but the sin that dwells in me..."

It's like there's a presence, there's an enemy army within me and within you, brother, that's how Pablo sees it, because he doesn't explain himself. He wants to but something drags him. How many can say, I identify with you, Pablo? Thanks for writing that there. Because holiness is a process. We evangelicals impoverish what holiness is, wanting to turn it into something simplistic, simple, you have already come forward, you have already dressed in loose clothing and a long dress, all of that is good, amen, but you are already a saint. Lie. That's where things started, forget it.

What's more, the devil is going to hit you harder precisely because of that. It is a continuous fight. And I know that in me, this is my flesh, in this biology of mine, good does not dwell because wanting good is in me but not doing it. Because I don't do the good that I want, but the evil that I don't want, that's what I do. And if I do what I don't want, I no longer do it, but the sin that dwells in me.

Read that passage is incredible psychology. Pablo was talking to a psychiatrist and he simply made a transcript of their conversation. That is the fight for holiness, brothers, nobody said that it is easy, nor that it is simple.

That is why I tell you, in this church there will be two things, the preaching of the word of God, clear, precise and wherever it starts, but there will also be mercy and an understanding that it is a struggle and a long-term process. . There is going to be both things, grace and holiness, the two things united.

People go one way or the other. Here we are going to try to stay on the middle track. There will be a clear statement of what God expects and demands and there will also be mercy and an understanding that it is a struggle and a battle and a long-term, lifelong process. Both.

So don't be scandalized or frightened because you hear a message like this, and go home saying, no, man, I'll quit because I'm not going to be able to do this. No. There is company, you are among others who are also fighting and we tell you, come, join this group of people who are on pilgrimage. Come, together we will support each other. When you fall, I'll pick you up, if I fall you pick me up. You cover my back, you pray for me, we encourage each other in the path of faith. When you go to those discipleship in the cold of December or January and you take refuge there for an hour talking with your brothers and discussing the Scripture, strengthening yourself in the good purposes of life, that is the Christian life.

If you failed, confess, ask for forgiveness, make a renewed resolution of holiness and move on. There will be holiness and mercy always. That is why the Bible leaves us these precedents here, because it is not easy. We will always be moving towards holiness.

In Colossians it said that, but having done this, go to this and after that put on this, and after that, finally put on the accessories, sisters. It is a process, and that process lasts a lifetime.

Paul himself reminds us of that, Philippians Chapter 3, verse 13 to 15. Are you receiving, brother? How many have fallen asleep? If you've fallen asleep, you're not going to hear what I'm saying, but do something, move so I can see that you're alive. Philippians 3:12, Paul says:

“…Not that I have already reached it or that it is already perfect, – look at what the Apostle Paul says. I Paul, I say, I have not yet reached what I am preaching, I have not reached the perfection of Christ, I am not perfect yet, I am not complete, I am lacking and you are going to have to say that until the day you die. I'm not perfect, I'm not complete, I'm still missing, but don't say it with agony, say it as a start rather.

Now what does Paul say? "...but I will continue..." I told the brothers, take a poster and write in very large letters 'I will continue' and put it on the fridge, on the door of the fridge this week, I will continue. I say that the Christian's life is like an arrow that continues towards its target, that arrow is always traveling in space. Your life is like that. Your walk in faith is like this. You are an arrow. You have not found your rest, the Lord renews you in flight, but you continue, that arrow continues, continues, continues forward getting better, I hope, every day. You continue in the fight, in the battle.

"... I continue to see if I can grasp, grab, that for which I was also grabbed by Christ Jesus..."

Christ grabs you, grab hold of Christ too. A Pentecostal invent me a chorus, Christ grabs you and you grab Christ, something like that. He grabs you, you grab him. Little sisters, do not put anything else, it is Christ that we have to grab and it is Christ that has to grab us too.

The Apostle Santiago says, approach him and he will approach you. There is a mutuality. He says, I continue to see if I can catch the one who caught me through the cross. Brothers, just in case there is confusion, he says, brothers, again, myself, Paul, with all that God has given me and blessed me, and that I preach so much, I myself do not claim to have already achieved it.

Now, one thing I do, he says, certainly forgetting what is behind and reaching out to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

If you read Paul's letters, you will see that Paul was persecuted by one thing, it was the memory of when he persecuted the church, when he was present when they were stoning poor Stephen and they gave Saul the clothes so he could catch a better aim and shoot harder at that servant of God who was dying there with a clean stone. And Saul, in his Pharisaic confusion, collected the clothes of these people so that they would better kill Esteban. And that haunted him.

Paul said that he was the least of the Apostles, because he had persecuted the people of God. But look at what he says, I think that's what was on his mind. He says, but forgetting what lies behind, I certainly reach out to what lies ahead.

Paul could have allowed that image from his past to freeze him and prevent him from continuing to serve the Lord, but he said, no, you know what? I throw that away, I forget about it. I am now going forward. If you failed, today is a new day, fix your clothes, clean yourself, confess, make a vow of fidelity and move on and don't let the devil keep accusing you of the same sins over and over again.

What has happened in your life? What big sin have you committed? Put the name there. The devil wants you to step on that puddle for the rest of your life and that you don't serve it, that you feel accused and fragile. God says, look, keep going. I am with you, we must move on. I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

It is a lifelong process and there will be times when we are going to fail the Lord but we have to stand up and move on. Holiness involves struggle, inner conflict, a deliberate decision, which we saw in Romans 7:21-23.

If you don't make a decision at some point, you're going to have problems. There has to be a moment of crisis in your life, in which you determine that today is the day that I resolve this matter forever. There are many people who come to church and are postponing, it's like those boyfriends who never commit to the bride, they visit her, they go to eat, they do a number of things and the poor girl says, well, but when are you going to put me on? the ring? When are we going to get married? Time is passing, the biological clock is ticking. I don't know if I'm talking to someone, I'm prophesying. But there are many people like that in the Gospel who are in the Gospel but that moment of crisis in which they are finally consecrated has not arrived.

The truth is that they are still waiting to see if someone better comes along the way. As there are so many men and women like this. They are there just in case something else fails, but if they see a better option, they leave this one and take the best. And so are many people in the Gospel. They're in the Gospel but psychologically, subconsciously, there hasn't been a moment to say, you know what? I burn the candles, there is no turning back. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I already know what my goals are, my formula for living and I'm already moving forward. And I consecrate myself, I surrender. I already closed the deal. I am no longer for sale.

There are many men who come to church and are in the game, women alike. I know what I am talking about, brothers, because they are things that I deal with myself, I have dealt with them and I am a psychologist because I know myself, I study myself. And I know that until that time comes to burn the candles and die, the devil knows it and Christ knows it too, and you know it subconsciously, because the games of the human mind are the most horrible thing. It is an endless abyss.

There has to be a moment that you decide, now, I consecrate myself, I am going to live this life authentically. There has to be a decision on your part. And you know what? Many times we postpone that because we believe that we are going to become ugly, boring people. It is quite the opposite. That is where God is going to free you to be that beautiful and beautiful person that you can be. It is sin that does not let you be like you. The devil tells you, if you let go of that you will become an ugly and unpleasant thing. And Christ tells you, no, I want to give you life and life in abundance so that you laugh, so that you enjoy, so that you are beautiful, so that they invite you to the party because you are going to be the life of the party, of the beauty and how talkative and light you are going to be in your life.

But it involves fighting first. You have to make a decision. It is not a product of our effort either. Look at everything I'm saying, there is a decision, you have to fight, you have to battle, but don't turn it into a matter of works. You will never be able to be holy by yourself, you will depend on the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in you will give you strength, the word of God dwelling in you, the principles of the Kingdom of God on which you will meditate, the noble conversations that you will have, the good books that you will read, the holy and beautiful music that you are going to listen to, the constructive things in which you are going to be a part, those things are going to strengthen you on the path towards holiness.

It is the spirit of God that is going to take over more and more of you and living his life through you, it is not you producing holiness, because otherwise, that becomes works and then the works lead to pride. And in Christ the works are annulled so that no one can boast. No, it is God in you, the word in you, the life of Christ in you. To the extent that you give yourself to the Lord, you give yourself as a living, holy, pleasing sacrifice, the Lord is completing his work in your life. It is not you who has to do it, it is Christ in you.

Abide in me and I in you, and you will bear much fruit. As the branch does not last if it is not attached to the tree, so you can do nothing without me, says the Lord, because outside of me you can do nothing. It is by sticking to Christ, by plugging you into Christ that the energy of Christ will run through you, will allow you to do what Christ wants you to be.

Write that down and take it home and then take it apart. Holiness requires a sincere and active recognition of our sinful condition. Holiness begins when we give our lives to the Lord and we know that I am a sinner, Father, and I need your grace.

How does the psalmist say? Because I recognize my transgressions and my sin is always before me. If you hide your sin, if you disguise it, if you deny that it exists, God cannot heal you. It all starts when you confess to the Lord, I am struggling and I need your grace, Lord. You have to acknowledge it first.

Holiness must be pursued in peace and dependence on the Lord. Not with anxiety and a sense of guilt. Not rigidly, because that becomes self-righteousness. No, it's peaceful. You relax, and when you relax the grace of the Lord can flow more through you.

Our justification has already been given through Jesus. We are already pleasing to the Lord, what I say is that the fruits of justice, good works are not for God to bless us and save us, it is because God has blessed us and saved us, that is why we behave in holiness . Holiness is not to save you, it is because you are saved. It is a fruit of justice.

Finally, brothers, based on this passage, I beg you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, I remind you that holiness does not only have to do with the sexual, the obviously immoral or moral, but it has to to do with ethics, human relationships, character, the use of our resources and possessions, the total perfection of the self. It is the total surrender of one's being for the exclusive use and glory of God. Rest now in the Lord.

I take a moment. Receive all this that you have experienced and enter it deep into your heart and mind. There is a call that God makes you. Lion of Judah, God is calling us. Young people, up there, wherever you are listening, young adults, I know your hormones are running high in you, but God calls you to a holiness that befits the house of the Lord. Men, women of God, let us gird our loins to fight the good fight, continue to the target. We are going to cleanse ourselves, we are going to purify ourselves, we are going to put on the uniform of holiness, which is a beautiful uniform. It's not a fake uniform, it's a genuine uniform.

Men and women who have paid the price can use it with honor. God calls you, I am prophesying to you now, God calls you, he calls me, he calls us to a holy life, pleasing to God.

Receive this word. Let's stand up. Take something here, seal it in your heart and in your spirit. Remember what I tell you, part of holiness is giving the Lord Saturday, the day of rest. If we want God to move we are going to have to make adjustments, because the word of God has to be preached. It is the way we are to be washed and edified, informed and educated and trained. It's everything, it's the complete enchilada, from a to z.

When you leave here, continue dedicating this day to the Lord and your life to the Lord, your whole being, and tomorrow when you start work, dedicate your work to the Lord. Consecrate it to the Lord. your car, consecrate it to the Lord. Your radio, your compact disc player or whatever, your ipad, your computer, sanctify it. Your home, your family, your marriage, your mind, your emotions, your memories, your will, your intellect, consecrate it to the Lord.

Your profession, consecrate it to the Lord, your way of dressing, consecrate it to the Lord, your sexuality, consecrate it to the Lord, your appetites, consecrate it to the Lord. Your way of having fun, your sense of humor, consecrate it to the Lord, your friendships, consecrate them to the Lord. Everything, everything, give it to the Lord. Put everything on the sacrificial table, says the Lord.

Not only now and here, no, when you go out take the plate of holiness, take it with you. This food that God has given you. Son, I want to use you, son, I want to bless you, daughter, I want you to be my priestess. Young man, I want to make you a great evangelist, a teacher of my word, man, I want to make you a trainer of leaders, I want to use you to advance my kingdom, circumcise your heart, your mind, your body, your being. purify yourself. Ask the Lord for that.