I Am Holy
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Irene Sentosa, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry Core Team, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Watch full sermon here.
How can we experience miracles in a consistent manner? The word “position” is key. Position is everything. We need to position ourselves for wonders. When we talk about wonders, we are talking about miracles. Our God is not a God who does supernatural things; He is a supernatural God – everything about God is so powerful and so amazing! If we do not experience miracles consistently, it could be because we do not position ourselves correctly. Miracles of God are connected to our positions. The key is about positioning ourselves as Christians so that we would experience miracles consistently.
Pastor Dion Kurniadi continued the month of September’s “Position Yourself for Wonder” series with a sermon entitled, “I Am Holy.”
“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy, because I am holy.”
“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'”
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God.”
“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.”
(Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26)
1. Every Believer is Called to Be Holy
Leviticus 27:28:“However, anything specially set apart for the Lord —whether a person, an animal or family property —must never be sold or bought back. Anything devoted in this way has been set apart as holy, and it belongs to the Lord.”
What is Holiness?
Holiness is not legalism. Legalism is defined as strict literal excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code; it is talking about rules and regulations. Holiness is not about if you do not break the rules and regulations that are said in the Bible, then you are holy.
The word “holy” comes from the Hebrew word “kadosh” which means “to consecrate”. So, the word “holy” means consecrated, dedicated, set apart.
Holiness is everything that sets apart for God; living exclusively, completely, and solely for God. Our life is no longer our own.
Hebrew 10:10 NIV: “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
2. Every Believer is Already Holy in Jesus Christ
Romans 3:21-24: “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
We are holy because Jesus paid redemption over our lives so that we can become holy.
1 Corinthians 1:1-2 MEV: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their Lord and ours.”
We need to have confidence that we have been made holy in Jesus Christ. Unless you know that you are loved, forgiven and made holy in Jesus Christ, we would not have the courage to approach God.
3. Every Believer is Empowered to Grow in Holiness
1 Peter 1:14-16 NLT “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” Finally, brothers, we urge and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have learned from us how you ought to walk and to please God, you should excel more and more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality...”
There is a difference between Justifications v. Sanctification
Justification happens only one time; it is not our work but it is somebody else’s work given to us for free in faith and through faith that when Jesus died for us, we are made whole and holy by the grace of God.
Sanctification is a process that requires the work of Holy Spirit. We need to work hand-in-hand with the Holy Spirit. Why is sanctification important?
1 Peter 2:9 NLT: “...for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
Sanctification is important because as we live on earth, we are like an open Bible who unbelievers will read from our lives; we are to preach the Gospel not just with our words, but also with our deeds. Can others see Jesus in us?
How We Can Grow in Sanctification How We Can Progress into Sanctification?
Judges 6:25-26 NLT: “Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole standing beside it. Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully. Sacrifice the bull as a burnt offering on the altar, using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
A. Deal with Idols and Rebuild His Altar
We all want miracles, but prior to experiencing the miracles, we must be courageous to repent, be delivered, cut down the altars, and rebuild. If we want to walk in sanctification, we need to tear down any idols; anything that competes with God in our lives and rebuild the altar of the Lord. Good without God is nothing.
B. Repent from Compromise
2 Corinthians 6:14, 16-18 NIV “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
Leviticus 19:19 NIV: ”Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.”
If we want to grow in sanctification and grow in holiness, we need to repent from all forms of compromise and leave the past behind. Let there be no mixture in our lives. Holiness is about purity and being exclusively for one thing—God. When you are looking for that someone special, do not be with those who are not in the faith, it will not work because you are not in the same dimension. Let there not be mixture in our lives.
C. Holiness is Empowered by the Spirit of Truth
John 16:13 MEV “But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come.”
If you want to be holy, walk with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is truth who will guide us into all truth.
D. Holiness is Empowered by Love
Holiness is being separated and exclusive to God and only God. It is a love relationship like in a marriage where you are exclusive with each other. We do not allow hobbies or others to take us away from God. Sometimes we say we love God, but we do not give all to God. We allow mixture to take place. Let us come back to loving God in our words and also in our deeds. It all comes back to our love for God.
Prayer Points:
Pray for renewal of mind and to understand that each of us is called to be holy and empowered to grow in holiness.
Pray that we cleanse ourselves from sins of idolatry —anything compromising, tear down any idols, and rebuild the altar of the Lord in our lives.
Pray for repentance from any form of compromise. Pray for repentance that leads to reformation and transformation.
Pray for the Church to be able to position ourselves correctly for wonders to occur by walking and living in sanctification and holiness, empowered by the Spirit of truth and love.
Pray for the Church to know our positions and assignments. Pray to be given the right strategy in this season.
Pray for no mixture/compromise and to love God with our words and deeds.