Be Ye Holy As I Am Holy 3

[Speaker 1] We thank Alpha God again for another time in His presence. Let's take one or two songs together as we move on again into His presence. [Background music: Instrumental and choir singing "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name"] [Speaker 2 - Announcer voice] Church is in fellowship cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tents Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Today for our discipleship class. [Chanting and singing] Jesus is Alpha, Alpha and Omega. Oh Jesus is Alpha, Alpha and Omega. So I praise Him for He is Alpha. Oh Alpha and Omega. So I praise Him for He is Alpha. Oh Alpha and Omega. I say Jesus is Alpha. Alpha and Omega. Oh I say Jesus is Alpha. Alpha and Omega. So I praise Him for He is Alpha. Alpha and Omega. So I praise Him for He is Alpha. Alpha and Omega. Lord Jesus, You are our Alpha. You are our Omega. Our Alpha and Omega. Our beginning, our God, our light, our life, our destiny, of our situation, of all that we are and all that we become. You are Alpha, You are Omega. We worship You as we gather into Your Father this evening. Unto You we gather, oh Lord. Lord, we pray, let indeed our gathering be unto You in the name of Jesus. Amen. Lord our God, we pray that as we fellowship together in Scripture, as we fellowship together in Your word, as we fellowship, oh Lord, in the Spirit, let Your Spirit work among us in the name of Jesus. Lord God Almighty, we pray, meet us individually where we need You most. Give instruction and direction. Lord God Almighty, we pray for our brethren who are joining us on Telegram, who are joining us on Mixlr, who are joining us all online. We pray together as Your people, You will bless us. Thank You, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We have been looking at this topic: "Be Ye Holy For I Am Holy." And we took that topic from 1 Peter 1:15. "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." And what we have been able to do in the last two weeks has been to give a clear understanding of what led to that statement in verse 15. It says, "But as He who called you is holy, be you holy." What led to that statement was what we have been looking at. And the primary thing about it is who we are, what God has prepared for us, what God—I'm looking at 1 Peter 1:1 through to that verse 14. Who we are, what God has prepared for us, where God is taking us to. And last week, God's estimation of material things, God's estimation of what true riches are. Some of the things we have considered in the past two weeks, trying to see that if we really know who we are, if we know what God has prepared for us, if we know what God has in store for us, if we know where God is taking us to. And then, too, if we understand what it really means to be prosperous, to be rich, because we looked at Revelation last week, "I would that thou art rich." And we were looking at what it really means to be rich. And we had an understanding of all of that. We will see why, in all our conduct, we cannot but be holy. That is what we have looked at in the last two weeks. Let us understand who we are. Let us understand what God has prepared for us. Let us understand where God is bringing us into. And let us understand what it means to be rich, what it means to be prosperous. If we have a clear understanding of these, we cannot but be holy as the Lord God who called us Himself is holy. And so today, I want to move on from that point, except anybody has one or two things they want to say or want us to look at. Is there any comment from last week? Any comment from last week's fellowship? Any comment? Any high point of lesson? Anything somebody has to tell us? Anything? Okay, so. So we want to move on from where we left it. It says—I'm taking it from verse 14 today. Verse 14. So as we want to look at the verse 14, I want to, in fact, the matter of what it means to be rich. That was something we discussed last week. You know, in the course of the week, I had this understanding, and honestly, it made a lot of impression upon my life. In all this matter of prosperity, you know where I got that from? Just trying to expand what we discussed last week a little about what happened to me in the course of the week. You know, if you look at the book of Joshua, Joshua 1:8. I think everybody can quote that Scripture offhand. "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but thou shalt meditate on it day and night, so that thou mayest observe"—I'm quoting King James—"so that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success." You know, in the course of the week, I had this very strong impression. It says, "so that you may observe to do according to what is written." That thing is the word of God. So when we are able to observe and do according to the word of God, our way becomes prosperous when we do according to His word. I was just looking at that when I got this light. What is—when you look at being prosperous, fundamentally, what is fundamental about prosperity for any human being? That was what came, that was the thing. And you know, honestly, my mind just went back to some of the teachings we had. You remember when we were talking about man and his habitat? That the fishes, God said, "Let the water bring forth fish." And the water brought forth different kinds of fish. And then everybody—then I noted that those that the water brought forth, they live in water. "Let the land bring forth its own." What happened again? Everything that the land brought forth, they live on land. Now, when it came to man, we said God said, "Let us make man in our own image," which means the habitat of man is God. The more man lives inside God, the more he's where he ought to be. So you know what just occurred to me is this: Take fish out of water and then give fish the best of food. What do you have to say? You have taken it out of water, but you now offer it the best of food, the best of everything, but the fish is not inside water. It cannot work. It's still going to die. It can't even eat the food because it first has to be in water. So it means the first prosperity of a man is to be in God. Once he's outside God, everything you are offering him *ko le work* [it cannot work]. It cannot work. You know last week we were looking at—I said, you said you are rich, but you know that you are wretched, you are poor. This illustration just—you know, it just came fresh to me. And I said, "Wow! Fundamental prosperity of a man is to be in God." When a man is outside God, then he cannot actually be truly—he's not prosperous because actually he's dying. He may have the best of cars, the best of houses, the best of riches, but actually he's dying because he must first be in God. You know, it was just my meditation in the course of the week. And honestly, it made me see why if you say you are giving me money in exchange for my habitat, is it making any sense? What can you offer me there for in exchange for my habitat? What can you offer fish that can equate putting it in water? Please, is there anything? Is there anything? There is nothing. I now understood properly the verse: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" Or "What can a man exchange for his soul?" So there's nothing you can offer man. Just like the fish, there's nothing you can offer the fish that can equate to leaving it in water. In fact, if you offer it nothing and leave it in water, it will not die as fast. It may not even die at all, because inside that water it will find food. It will find something to eat. It is inside that water that everything matters. And that is it. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all other things shall be added to you." So the fundamental prosperity of man is to be in God. If a man is outside God, he's in poverty. He's wretched. He's wretched. He's blind. He's miserable. Put the fish, the worm on the table, bags of worms, the fish is wretched. The worm only has meaning if you throw it with the fish inside water. Let's have this understanding, and the Lord will bless us and continue to bless our understanding and increase. That was just what occurred to me in the course of the week, just meditating on the matter of prosperity. And that word just came: the fundamental prosperity of man. And now I know that fundamentally, the first thing I needed to do to be prosperous is to observe to do according to all that is written here. That is my fundamental prosperity. That is when I can really make my way prosperous. Once I'm not like that, I am wretched. I am miserable. Just like the fish outside water. May we not be outside God in all we think, in all we say, in all we do, in the name of Jesus Christ. That was my meditation, but because it goes with what we are doing, I said I would just share that very quickly. And then we move on to the verse 14. It says, "as obedient children." You know, he has concluded in verse 13. That's where we stopped last week. He says, "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, be completely sober in spirit, steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert. Put your hope completely on the grace of God. Don't put your hope in any other thing. Don't put your hope in [unclear]. Please, please." That's where we stopped. I couldn't emphasize this last week because we were rounding up. If your hope is in anything apart from God, when that thing fails, your life will fail. Because don't forget it's only God that remains constant. Jesus today, yesterday, and forever. The Bible taught us again in Hebrews. He says God is going to shake the things that can be shaken, so that only the things that cannot be shaken will remain. And don't forget what is going to happen to the earth. What is going to happen to the earth is going to be burnt out with fire and everything in it. So anywhere you put your hope, you will become hopeless. So, brethren, the Bible says let us put our hope completely, completely, completely, in the grace of God that is coming when Jesus Christ is revealed. Look at verse 13. Put all your hope there. Don't share your hope. Don't put 95% there and 5% here. That 5% here will be a distraction to you because if you want to take that thing away from you, it will affect your hope. So let's hope completely on the grace to come. Let's put all our hope on that one that is to come. This is very important. People that will be able to live a holy life are people who don't put their hope in anything here. Let your hope be fully in what is to come. And then we now enter the verse 14. It says, "as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to your former lusts in your ignorance." As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to your former lusts as in your ignorance. If you look at the NLT, it says "You must obey God because you are His children. Don't slip back into your old ways of evil. You didn't know any better then." You didn't know any better then. The NIV says, "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance." I just want to draw your attention to this thing. No matter how intelligent, smart, educated anybody is, any man who does evil is an ignorant man. No matter how educated, no matter how intelligent, no matter how smart anybody may be, any man who does evil does it in ignorance. Men who know, as they ought to know, don't do evil. That is the point I want us to get. People who know, as they ought to know, they don't do evil. So when the Bible is saying that evil-doers—it says we should as obedient children, we should no longer live in our former ways, that former way that we did in what was ignorance. What do we mean when we say a man is ignorant? He's an ignoramus about the matter of life. He's only existing. A man can be intelligent but he's ignorant when it comes to the matter of life. He's an ignoramus. A man may be highly educated, but when it comes to the matter of life, he's an ignoramus. A man may be smart, he may look intelligent, but when it comes to the matter of life, he's an ignoramus. So what the Bible is saying is that as obedient children, do not conform yourself to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. As obedient children. And that brought us to where we took the topic from: "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." You also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be ye holy for I am holy." Because it is written, "Be ye holy for I am holy." Now, brethren, we are soon going to start a journey that will take us to where this quotation came from. But like I mentioned earlier, just reminding you of what I said earlier, I said righteousness is what? Righteousness is what? In the New Testament, under the new covenant, righteousness is a gift. We don't do anything to be righteous. When we gave our life to Christ, we were made righteous. It was imputed for us alongside abundance of grace. That grace that was given to us, it is the purpose of that grace that he's taking the New Testament Christian to understand. The purpose of the righteousness is that we are forever acceptable to God. You are righteous before God. You have peace with God. You are no more a sinner. You are a child of God. You are acceptable to God, not because of anything you are doing or you would do, but because of what Christ did. When He said, "It is finished," it is finished. Now, where the New Testament believers are missing something is that that provision of Christ that brought that righteousness alongside—if you go and look at that Romans 5:17, it says, "those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness." Now, the righteousness is emphasized, but the grace is under-emphasized. And what do I mean by that? What I mean is that people talk about "we have been made right positionally with God." Now, in giving that righteousness, in giving us that gift, a grace also came along with it to do something. Grace. And that grace is not just small grace; it is abundance of grace. Now, what is the purpose of that grace? And because I'm coming to this matter of conduct, I've mentioned the matter of conduct and holiness before. I now want to build on it and then take us to where this verse was taken from: "Be ye holy, I am holy." We are going to look at God's dynamics of holiness. We're going to see how God demonstrated holiness. But before I come to that, I want to give another understanding about this matter of conduct. I said righteousness is not something God gave as a gift. No. What God gave us is righteousness. What God gave is grace. So I am never a sinner. I am not struggling to be righteous. Positionally before God, I am righteous. I am a child of God. I am not somebody that is trying—I am a [unclear]. I am not a failure. Are you understanding me? He said in me is greater than he that is in the world. He said through Him who died for me, I am what? I am more than conquerors. So I am not a failure. The believer is not somebody who is struggling with sin. He's not. He's not somebody who would be "Ah God, please help me, help me, get me." No. That is why I want to show you how that works. Now, why righteousness was given, together with that righteousness, abundance of grace was given. For what purpose? For what purpose? Look at Titus 2. I will come back; our focus is 1 Peter today, but I want to show you something in Titus, just to make reference to that grace. Please, I want you to look at this Scripture as I recite it. Please, because we are talking about conduct. I said holiness is about what? It's about what? Conduct. Conduct! That's another word for conduct: our behavior. Our behavior! When we received righteousness and grace, now look at—I want you to, in a very simple—I want us to look at this verse in the context of the verse so that we can understand the purpose of grace. Look at Titus 2. Let's take our reading from verse 1. I will not try to do any exposition, but please just follow the context of the reading till we get to the verse 11. Follow the context of the reading. "But as for you"—who is this Titus? Spoken to who? Believers or unbelievers? This thing was meant for believers. It was written to Titus, and Paul was telling Titus what and what Titus is to do. When he said, "But as for you," you know he was talking to Titus. You all agree with me? Are we together? He said, "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine." You know, he's talking about the New Testament Christian. We have a lot of sound doctrine, but when it comes to conduct, *o ni wahala* [there is trouble]. *Won o n i* [They don't have] pattern of conduct although they are believers. And sometimes I say this thing in two ways. I will try to translate it in English. *Obirin so’wa, o l’oun o le gbe ile oko.* A woman that lacks character says she cannot stay successfully in a marriage. A woman that lacks character in a marriage. I say it the other way for the male gender. *Okunrin o l’iwa, o l’o n wa n’ika.* That is, you are a brute, you don't conduct yourself properly, you say everybody is at war with you. *Opolopo igba, afowofa l’o n p’omo eda.* What I mean by that is that many times it is our lack of conduct, how we conduct ourselves, that destroys us. Everything is not about prayer. "God grant me favor, God grant me this." Your conduct speaks so many things about you. As of us now, I said remember, I remember how God used to teach me these things gradually when I was still, I mean, very, very young. A young man, one of us then, he just came to me and said he does not understand these people, what exactly happened. This is one of the sisters. We went to her house to visit her. He's one of the brothers we were all growing up with, we were teenagers. When he got there, he met different people in front of the house. He passed them, just passed by them. You know this "Face-me-I-Slap-You" house? "Face-me-I-Face-You"? That's where the sister was living. So people were in front of the house on the veranda. They were talking. He just passed through the entrance door at the middle. They were sitting like that, he just passed through and went inside to look for the sister. She knocked and knocked and knocked, but there was no response. But he noticed that the door was not locked. So he was wondering "sister, why didn't she response?" He now walked back to come and meet the people outside. He now said "Please, this sister, where she is?" They just looked at him and continued what they were doing. So when he left the place—we lived not too far from that sister—he now came to me. He was now narrating what happened. He said those people they were wicked people. "I was just asking them about this." I said "What happened?" He now told me that he got there, he met them outside, he walked in. When he said he met them outside and walked in, did you tell them anything? "Ah, what do they have to do with? They're not the ones I came for." I said, "Brother, you missed it. It's not about prayer. They should have answered you." He should have behaved with them. I said, "Bro, I think you missed a point. You were walking into somebody's house and you failed to greet. You didn't even offer anything, even for the gospel's sake, in case you supposed to preach to them. What does it take? 'Good morning, ma,' 'Good morning, pa,' 'Ah, I just came to see'—and they would have told you where she goes." He said because I know they are unbelievers, I just walked in. I said so they are not wicked people. I said you did not regard them, and they also ignored you. They have not done what is right. We don't pay evil for evil, but it is a consequence of the seed you sow. You cannot sow mango and reap apple. You will only get that in God's kingdom, that we were sinners and the offended came to die for the offender. Came to die for the offender! But in the world, it's an eye for an eye. It's in the kingdom that when you offend, the kingdom of Christ is different. You slap two. It is in the world when you slap one, you slap back. It is in God's kingdom that You turn the other one. It is in God's kingdom that we have not done anything to God, they don't know those things. You slapped them, and they slapped back. I said so you have not acted correctly. What am I talking about? Conduct. Conduct. He says as obedient children do not conform yourself to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. As obedient children. And that brought us to where we took the topic from: "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." You also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be ye holy for I am holy." Because it is written, "Be ye holy for I am holy." Now brethren, we are soon going to start a journey that will take us to where this quotation came from. We'll go to where it is written. We'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. You'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. It will make you appreciate how God expects His people to conduct themselves. But for today, I want to close the matter in the verse 17. I want to close the matter in the verse 17. It says, "For it is written: Be holy for I am holy, on the basis of this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work." Please, what do you see again in that place? Conduct! Are you seeing it? It says, "If you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear." If you call on this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here—another translation, please—particularly amplified. NIV, let's have NIV. "Live your lives here in reverent fear during your time as strangers." Have you seen that? "If you do what? If you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives here in reverent fear." Yes, verse 15, "But just as He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do." He says, "Set apart for God, be holy yourself, be holy in all your conduct. Set apart from the world, and be holy in character and moral courage." The way we talk about holiness today is like something we need another special grace for. You know, we need to be—go and have another special kind of encounter again with God to live right. And that's why sometimes when people talk about sanctification, this "set apart for God," I keep saying that being set apart for God begins at the point of being born again. Because what happened to you at being born again is not something you fully understood what happened. So that on a daily basis you are growing. As you meditate on the word of God, you begin to correct your life again against the backdrop of God's the word of God. On and on, on and on. What should be increasing in you is the knowledge, the knowledge of the truth. The more you know the truth "Wow, this is the way I'm supposed to be! This is what God expects me to be!" Like that, you're supposed to grow in understanding of who you are. But what you find today is a collection of believers that are drastically lacking in conduct, in character. And then we start giving excuses. "You know we are Nigerians, you know God understands, you know my temperament." We'll begin to judge. Bible says as obedient children, not living in your former—see, there's something that is about former, which the new life should not make us to conduct ourselves after. That is, our former life should be past tense for us. But today, hardly can you distinguish between a believer and non-believer in conduct. In speech, in thought, in word. You hardly! And sometimes when it even comes to dressing. It is when you tell a girl to cover the breast that she will tell you that "You see, I'm born again, I met the Lord." Do you even need somebody to tell you to cover your breast? Does not even nature teach you that animals that open their breast are not ashamed? Is it that common sense is no more common? A brother said, "Demons are so smart that they can make nakedness a fashion." Of course, demons are smarter than men. But the point I want us to talk about is conduct. Conduct! He says, and why is it so crucial? Why is it so crucial? Because I'm trusting God that by next week God helping us, we'll be going into God's dynamics of holiness. We'll go and look at where this scripture is taking from. That verse 16 that we are going now. It says, "But just as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: Be holy for I am holy." We are going to look at this Scripture as from next week. We'll go to where it is written. We'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. You'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. You'll go and look at this very verse. It will make you appreciate how God expects His people to conduct themselves. But for today, I want to close the matter in the verse 17. I want to close the matter in the verse 17. It says, "For it is written: Be holy for I am holy, on the basis of this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work." Please, what do you see again in that place? Conduct! Are you seeing it? It says, "If you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear." If you call on this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here—another translation, please—particularly amplified. NIV, let's have NIV. "Live your lives here in reverent fear during your time as strangers." Have you seen that? "If you do what? If you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives here in reverent fear." Yes, verse 15, "But just as He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do." He says, "Set apart for God, be holy yourself, be holy in all your conduct. Set apart from the world, and be holy in character and moral courage." "Be what? Be holy yourselves in all your conduct, set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage." These are important things for believers to know. The way we talk about holiness today is like something we need another special grace for. You know, we need to be—go and have another special kind of encounter again with God to live right. And that's why sometimes when people talk about sanctification, this "set apart from God," I keep saying that being set apart for God begins at the point of being born again. Because what happened to you at being born again is not something you fully understood what happened. So that on a daily basis you are growing. As you meditate on the word of God, you begin to correct your life again against the backdrop of God's the word of God. On and on, on and on. What should be increasing in you is the knowledge, the knowledge of the truth. The more you know the truth "Wow, this is the way I'm supposed to be! This is what God expects me to be!" Like that, you're supposed to grow in understanding of who you are. But what you find today is a collection of believers that are drastically lacking in conduct, in character. And then we start giving excuses. "You know we are Nigerians, you know God understands, you know my temperament." We'll begin to judge. Bible says as obedient children, not living in your former—see, there's something that is about former, which the new life should not make us to conduct ourselves after. That is, our former life should be past tense for us. But today, hardly can you distinguish between a believer and non-believer in conduct. In speech, in thought, in word. You hardly! And sometimes when it even comes to dressing. It is when you tell a girl to cover the breast that she will tell you that "You see, I'm born again, I met the Lord." Do you even need somebody to tell you to cover your breast? Does not even nature teach you that animals that open their breast are not ashamed? Is it that common sense is no more common? A brother said, "Demons are so smart that they can make nakedness a fashion." Of course, demons are smarter than men. But the point I want us to talk about is conduct. Conduct! He says, and why is it so crucial? Why is it so crucial? Because I'm trusting God that by next week God helping us, we'll be going into God's dynamics of holiness. We'll go and look at where this scripture is taking from. That verse 16 that we are going now. It says, "But just as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: Be holy for I am holy." We are going to look at this Scripture as from next week. We'll go to where it is written. We'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. You'll go and look at God's dynamics of holiness. You'll go and look at this very verse. It will make you appreciate how God expects His people to conduct themselves. But for today, I want to close the matter in the verse 17. I want to close the matter in the verse 17. It says, "For it is written: Be holy for I am holy, on the basis of this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work." Please, what do you see again in that place? Conduct! Are you seeing it? It says, "If you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here in fear." If you call on this Father who without partiality judges according to each man's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your stay here—another translation, please—particularly amplified. NIV, let's have NIV. "Live your lives here in reverent fear during your time as strangers." Have you seen that? "If you do what? If you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives here in reverent fear." Yes, verse 15, "But just as He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do." He says, "Set apart for God, be holy yourself, be holy in all your conduct. Set apart from the world, and be holy in character and moral courage." Righteousness is about a position. Holiness is about a practical living, every day life. Righteousness must translate to holiness. Righteousness should translate to a kind of living. If truly you became righteous and you received that abundant grace, it produces a lifestyle. That lifestyle that it produces is what we are calling holiness. He says if you call on a Father who will judge without—He's going to judge without partiality, He's going to judge every man's work. He's going to be straightforward. Then be careful. What He's saying is that be careful how you live your life. Be careful what you do. Why is it important to be careful? Because He has said "I am holy, be holy." Are you seeing it? That Father said what? "I am holy, be holy." He is the one that said so. "I am holy, be holy." So anybody that is not conforming to holiness is a spiritual bastard. He's not like his father. "I am holy, be holy." And the person that said "I am holy, be holy" is going to judge without partiality. So be careful as you live your life. Be careful to be circumspect. Be careful to live right. Be careful to conduct yourself not after your former life. Be careful to conduct yourself not after your former life. What are those former life? The lust of the flesh they are manifest, which are these. They are there. They are so many. Galatians want to know what our former life is. We know them very, very clearly without any, any kind of contradiction. We know our former life in our lusts, in ignorance. By the word of Galatians, it's very, very clear. I'm going to run to that place quickly, and I want to read. It says the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these—they are evident—which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness—Galatians chapter 5 from verse 19. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, they are evident, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness." Sometimes when you read all this big English in King James, they are not very, very clear. NLT: "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your life will produce these evil results." I hope it's clearer. The evil results. That's what he said we should not follow again. What are the evil results? Sexual immorality. It's a sign that you are not living as obedient children. Impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility. Some people are just hostile. Some people are just hostile. *O ko n’iwo l’ara sa* [Just bad behavior on its own]. "That's my personality." It's the work of the flesh! Hostility, quarreling, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, division. Some people just like to create division. They are not playing in the space of uniting people. The feeling that everyone is wrong except you. You are the only person that can see things right. Everyone—if you read that in King James, they would use one word to capture all of that. "The feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group." NLT again: envy, envy. You are not just happy because somebody else is progressing. "Say look at him. Ah! I know when they gave birth to him. In fact, it's the younger sister of my who—all those things are coming out of envy." That's the age of your son. "Look at how he's talking." All these things are coming out of envy. Now it says, "envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and any other kind of sin." The list is not even ended there. If you go to another place, there are other ones. He didn't mention malice, he didn't mention unforgiveness. If you go to other places, you'll find other kinds again. But what we want to look at, the dynamics of holiness—we'll go and look at how God describes conduct in holiness. That's what I trust God we'll be doing next week. But what I'm concluding with today, in that Peter that we are looking at, is that he says, the person you are calling Father is holy. And He said, "Be holy for I am holy." That's what I'm just trying to say. That person you call Father—that is, it is only in the New Testament, it is grace that made us to call God Father. Nobody dared call God Father. It is grace, it says we receive the spirit of adoption that we can now say "Father, Father." That liberty to sonship is a liberty to holiness. That's what I'm saying. The person who liberated you is holy, and He said "Be holy for I am holy." What I'm trying to make you understand is that when the Bible says, "Where the Spirit of God is there is liberty," what it's saying is that where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom to live holy. We have been liberated into holiness. Any liberation that does not produce holy conduct is bondage. It's not true liberation. That's what I'm telling you. That liberation "Abba Father," that freedom we received is also a release from sinfulness, a release from evil, a release from lustful lifestyle, a release. If it does not release you from that, go and check what you received. We close for today. We take the point: "Be ye holy for I am holy." That's what we have been exploring, and next week I trust the Lord, under "Be ye holy for I am holy," we'll be looking at the dynamics of holiness. How God—you will see how God demonstrates this matter for us. Praise the Lord. Let's pray, let's pray this evening as it's already 6:30. Let's pray this evening. Let's thank the Lord for how far the Lord could help us. We are trusting the Lord that very soon, we'll try to put this thing on YouTube channel. A camera will be capturing this thing just as we are doing this, and we'll be taking it to our YouTube channel. We trust the Lord that very, very soon we are going to start that, to activate our YouTube channel. So it will just be here like that, everything going on, and we'll just put that to the YouTube channel. So that people can also have us, people that want to see pictures and all of that, want to see us live, can see us live. We trust the Lord that we are coming there very, very soon. Let's pray this evening, the Lord will help us. The Lord will help us. Talk to the Lord this evening, talk to the Lord. You have been liberated into a holy life, into a life of righteousness. And we are looking towards a city that is shaped by holiness. That is the glorious liberty, manifestation of the sons of God. Manifestation of the sons of God is a manifestation of holy conduct, a manifestation of kingdom behavior, a manifestation of kingdom lifestyle, showcasing the holiness of God. [Sister Comfort] Thank You, Father. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You, Jehovah. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, we are grateful to You for the power of Your word to us again this evening. Thank You for where You took us from and where we are now in You. The Bible says that the redemption You gave us is full. That's what the Book of Psalms says: Your redemption is full, is complete, is perfect. And You are making us to see that the grace of God that brings salvation to men has been given. It's not to be given. Lord, we are praying, oh God, from this word that You have spoken to us today, help us to see the fullness of this redemptive work that we have come to accept in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to see it from every angle. Help us to see it completely. Because I know that when we shall see Him, we shall become like Him. Even now, when we see Your word the way it is, we will become like it. And so, Father, we are praying singularly today that You will please open our eyes, our inner mind, to see the work of redemption clearly from every angle that concerns our living here in the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that all things that pertain to life and godliness have been given. Lord, we are not to seek it, we are not to look for it, it has been given. Help us to see it. Help us to embrace it. Help us to activate it in our life and to actualize the purpose for which it is given. Thank You, Lord, for Your son that You have used for us again. We are asking the Lord, his eyes shall not be dimmed, his mind shall not go blurry, but Lord, brighter and brighter You will cause his path to be in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayer. Please don't leave us behind. Carry us all along so that we can be blessed by You, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace together: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [Speaker 1 - Announcer voice] This message is coming to you from Family Tents Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission hit. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 p.m. Adolescent and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m. Family life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life camp by the first bridge, Ile-Ife community, opposite Verajoy filling station along Idere road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytents@yahoo.co.uk, familytentsministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentsministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.