What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and Love Him forever!!!
- WE ARE MADE FOR HIS PLEASURE!
“the great temptation is to live for our own pleasure” ~ Alistair Begg
This is a spiritual battle. Note Ephesians 6 at the end. We are URGED to PRAY against the evil.
“It requires a RADICAL shift to think in terms of glory of God and the pleasure that HE takes out of obedience to Him and love for His Son” ~ Alistair Begg
2. We are CALLED to Holiness. To be Conformed (active process) to His image
Apostle Paul says:
“I buffet my body, box, I fight…” 1 Cor. 9:27
“being made for His pleasure is not sitting back in complacency and doing the EASY thing. It’s about doing the HARD THINGS.” ~Alistair Begg
3. Make no idols or provisions for the flesh. Be examined. Go to the Physician and ask Him for your diagnosis. We go to a doctor because we cannot see for ourselves what our problem is. We go to the GREAT Physician because we cannot see what our Spiritual problem is. If we want to be holy, transformed, conformed, we must be willing to be EXAMINED by the Great Physician, receive the diagnosis – our problem area. And be eager to receive His help, follow His instructions to be healed, do the hard things, and be made stronger in the faith.
“anything can easily become an idol. When so enthralled with anything that takes the place of rich time in the study of the Word, prayer… I am limiting my growth of holiness. I must lay it down, and put it aside. Be under the Spiritual Control.” ~ Alistair Begg
May I take God’s WORD and not be a HEARER ONLY, but a DOER:
Challenge: Go through each verse and highlight “HOLY” – “purity” and in relation to what?
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:15-17
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”
Ps. 119:9
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”
2 Tim. 1:9
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.”
Eph. 5:3
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” Phil. 2:14-16
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Romans 12:1
“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 20:26
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”
Romans 6:22
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
1 Cor. 3:16
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9
LET US PRAY
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
