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Vessels of Honor – Part 1 & 2 Vessels of Honor – Part 1 & 2 1. We know that serving God affects every area of our lives. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 And the very God of peace sanctify you Ever thought about this? Christians say that they serve a HOLY God, that wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be their lives are governed by the HOLY Bible, that they want to spend preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. eternity in a HOLY Heaven, and that they are filled with the HOLY Spirit. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. And yet, it is taboo in most ChurChes today to speak about the subject of HOLINESS! Anyone who even dares to mention it is thought to be super- 2. We know that loving God means loving His commandments. spiritual, or unfashionable, or hypocritiCal, or unreasonable, or even PharisaiCal. The devil laughs as one of his greatest deceptions Continues 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his to infect the lives of so many church members. Good is called evil, light is commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. called darkness, sweet is called bitter … and HOLINESS teaChing is Called outdated, old-fashioned, and obsolete. How Could this have happened? 3. We know that living a holy life is supposed to make us stand out in an unholy world; we’re not looking for “discount discipleship.” Isaiah 5:20-21 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and 1 Peter 2:9-12 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of prudent in their own sight! him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: Maybe a better question is this: Why does the devil fight the doctrine of which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly Holiness so much? Here are 3 reasons (I’m sure there are many others): beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest 1. A lifestyle of Holiness is God’s commandment for all of His among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as people. evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I In an ApostoliC ChurCh, we don’t rejeCt Holiness; we rejoiCe in it. We’re not am holy. embarrassed by Holiness; we embrace it. And we don’t want to underestimate Holiness; we want to understand it. We want to LIVE it! 2. Without living a lifestyle of Holiness we cannot go to Heaven. HOLINESS is one of the most anCient ConCepts in the Bible. Both the Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without Hebrew word KODESH and the Greek word HAGIOS Carry the meaning of which no man shall see the Lord: “withdrawal, separate, apart, or different.” In the Old Testament, holy 3. A lifestyle of Holiness is a fence separating us from the spirit of things, and places, and people were those SEPARATED from others the world, that constantly wars against our relationship with God. around them and CONSECRATED to God. In the New Testament, we no longer have holy things and plaCes, but we are still Called to be a holy 2 Corinthians 6:16 – 7:1 And what agreement hath the temple of PEOPLE. In both Testaments, the term SANCTIFICATION is translated God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath from the very same Hebrew and Greek words. So, sanctification is a said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and synonym for HOLINESS – they mean exaCtly the same thing. they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I Not everyone who ATTENDS a church is actually IN the churCh! And while will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my we welCome and love everyone who attends, mere attendanCe is NOT our sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these goal. SALVATION is our goal! But it goes even further than that, beCause promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the New Birth is just the beginning. Real Christianity is not just the the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. decision of a moment; it is the dedication of a life! The Bible teaChes us that SANCTIFICATION (being “set apart” in our lifestyle) is the WILL So mark it down - the devil hates Holiness! And he fears the ApostoliC OF GOD for every Christian. HOLINESS is not optional for a child of God! church, because we are different than an average churCh, in several ways: We must be holy vessels! 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, even your This struggle over HOLINESS is not new, but it has aCCelerated in the last sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of days because Satan knows his time is short. German philosopher Georg you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Hegel onCe said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn anything from history.” We live in an era when nearly every In the last letter he ever wrote, the Apostle Paul onCe again stressed to denomination and Congregation is trying to acCommodate our Culture, in Timothy how important it was to live a holy life, to stand strong, to not an attempt to make Christianity more palatable. But if we look at the become entangled with the world, to depart from iniquity, to flee from lusts, history of the Church, we can easily see how dangerous it is to leave a and to follow righteousness. He wanted his young protégé to be a Vessel lifestyle of holiness in order to beCome more aCCeptable to the world. of Honor, so that his life could be useful and effeCtive in God’s Kingdom. Nicolas, a proselyte of AntioCh, was one of the first seven deaCons 2 Timothy 2:19-21 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, chosen to serve in the early churCh (ACts 6:5). He was entrusted with a having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one position of responsibility and leadership. However, his dediCation to the that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house ApostoliC message was short-lived. ACCording to early writings on heresy, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of NiColas eventually baCkslid and introduCed the Doctrine of the earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore Nicolaitanes to the churCh. His teaChing abused Paul’s doCtrine of the purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, grace of God and introduced his followers to a new, false “freedom.” and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Acts 6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose That is our desire as well … to beCome VESSELS OF HONOR, so that Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and God Can be glorified and the devil Can be defeated in our individual lives! Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: When he writes to Timothy, notiCe that Paul gives us four CharaCteristiCs that distinguish VESSELS OF HONOR from “vessels of dishonor” … Several of the early ChurCh fathers, inCluding Irenaeus, Hippolytus, 1. They have purged themselves from iniquity (“lawlessness”) Epiphanius, and Theodoret mention this group, and state that NiColas was 2. They have been sanCtified (“set apart, separated, purified, made holy”) the author of this heresy. In his writing “Against Heresies,” Irenaeus lets us 3. They are meet (“profitable, good”) for the Master’s use know just how far the worldliness of this group eventually reached: “The 4. They are prepared unto every good work (“deed, action”) Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained [as deacons] by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained Think about this! If HOLINESS and SANCTIFICATION and SEPARATION indulgence” (Book 1, Chapter 26, Section 3). and GOOD WORKS are so extremely important to God, how in the world did these very same terms become so distasteful to modern Christians? In Revelation, John listed the NiColaitanes beside Balaam, who “Cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel” (Revelation 2:14-15). Balaam In his 1995 address, “The Holiness Movement Is Dead,” Indiana Wesleyan was unsuCCessful in Cursing Israel from without, but he taught them to mix University professor Keith Drury suggested 8 factors that contributed to a godliness and worldliness (Numbers 22-25) and they cursed themselves dramatic shift in doctrine and experience within the holiness movement: from within! This same spirit was behind Nicolas’ doCtrine.
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