Do You know Him? The Character of God: HE is Holy

In this episode, Kevin discusses the holiness of God and its significance in our lives. He explains that holiness means to be set apart and distinct, and that God is the only true and holy God. Kevin emphasizes the importance of recognizing and revering God's holiness, as it confirms His sovereignty and reveals our own depravity. He encourages listeners to approach God with reverence and to strive for holiness in their conduct. Kevin also warns against downplaying or demeaning God's holiness, and highlights the need to treat God with respect and awe.

Transcript

Kevin (00:00.578)
This is Beyond The Benediction. Thank you for joining me on another podcast adventure. Make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube page. Hopefully you're watching it on YouTube. If you're listening to me on the podcast apps, thank you so much. But make sure you check out my YouTube page. I have stuff that are on the episodes that are not on the streaming services that you can only get some exclusives only on the YouTube page. So make sure you like, share, subscribe. So you can stay in the loop of everything we got going on here on.

Beyond the Benediction. Now let's get in. This is my new series. Now this came right at the heels of my last episode that you probably saw or heard when I was talking about Don't You Want More. And those who've been watching my show for quite a while, have been following my podcast for quite a while, all of my episodes are through the lens of Kevin. They come through me first. And I was actually, you know, still kind of dealing with or going through the ruminations in my mind about the last episode. So I was really kind of...

perplexed and kind of drew a blank on what to even talk about. And of course, God, as he always does, does more than we've asked for does exceedingly in a bundle of all we could ask for think that includes this episode slash series because he didn't just give me one episode. He gave me a series. I believe I have four. There's going to be a four part series on the characteristics of God. Now again, it came from the previous episode because now here I am telling you and telling myself.

how much I want to learn more about God and how much I need God and I need more of him than we all do. So as I thought about it, God was like, well, if you want more of me, you need to know me. You need to know who I am. So this is a perfect segue from that previous episode. So now we're going to talk about this particular week. The first one is talking about the holiness of God. Now, first of all, let me give you a brief definition. What does it even mean to be holy?

Well, to be holy means to be set apart or to be sanctified. Ready? Not even sanctified. Holy means, what does it mean to be holy? Well, in a nutshell, holy means to be reverenced, revered or held in high esteem. So something as holy is set apart, is totally distinct. It is not normal. It is not common. It is not usual. So God, of course, being the only real and only true God,

Kevin (02:28.354)
He is holy. So, but that means that if he's holy, that means he has a title or a level of reverence and respect that only he has. There's no one else that is holy like our God. Other gods, not even really gods, if you think about it for the definition of what a God is, but God himself is holy. I'm going to give a definition with scripture right off the bat that talks about his holiness. First Timothy 6, 16.

And it says, he alone can never die. And he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him nor ever will or honor and power to him forever. Amen. That scripture is a lot of times better known in the scripture when it says he lives in unapproachable light. So that right there gives you a little bit of a synopsis or snapshot of what holiness means. That means he's in a position.

that we can't even approach on our own. I mean, the scripture says no human eye has seen him nor ever will because of course we're in flesh and of course we're sinners and of course we fall short of God's glory time after time after time again. So you and I are now in a position to even look upon God. That's how holy he is. So I wanted to kind of start off in the beginning, just giving us again an idea of how

holy he is and what that actually means so we can kind of set the stage for what we're talking about, who we're talking about. Because when we say he's holy, now hopefully we have a better idea because what happens I think a lot of times family is that we tend to hold God in a certain level of commonality. And it's because God loves us so much that he makes himself known to us. He makes himself relatable.

I heard David Parson made a good analogy that he is so far removed from us and simultaneously as close as our next breath. That's how he is. It's such a mystery that a God can be infinitely above us. His holiness is so far removed we can't even scratch the surface of how holy he is. But yet he's so close, he's as close as our next breath. So that's who we're talking about. We're talking about Holy Spirit. And I think we missed that a lot.

Kevin (04:56.194)
I think a lot of times we get too cavalier. We get too callous and too casual. We got because he makes himself known, because he's such a personal and personable God and he loves us because he wants to have a relationship with us. Sometimes we take that common touch for granted and you and I don't want to be guilty of making pure and holy things.

profane by making them common. That's what holiness is. It's something that's so above us. Now, just a little bit of a nugget here. Sanctification is the process of making something holy. So when you see the word sanctification in the Bible, that means that if something has been sanctified, that means it's now holy because God has done something to make it holy. So, perfect example of that, us. We're being

sanctified. Now we're not fully holy yet because obviously the work is done when Jesus returns. We in heaven then will be fully realized. But right now because we're still in this flashing, we still sin and we still fall short, we're not fully there. Right now we're made righteous in this sight because of Christ, but we're not fully there in terms of fullness of holiness. But God is working on us. Hopefully he's working on you because he's definitely working on me.

I got a lot of work that needs to be done because I'm a mess, but you are too. So let's talk again about this holiness. So what is it about holiness? What is something we need to know about this characteristic? What are some of the things we need to know about God's holiness? Well, the first thing is we have to know that His holiness confirms His sovereignty. So because He's so holy, because He's so far removed, because He's so hollow, as the scripture says in the

in the model prayer, hollow be thy name. His holiness puts him in a place where that lets us see because we can't even approach him as the scripture says. He has to rule. He has to be king. He has to be master, lord, sovereign, ruler because again, nothing else is like him. There's no one that sits next to him on the throne. He is God all by himself. And then you can tell his sovereignty because

Kevin (07:18.05)
If you look in the book of Exodus, then he had specifics on how the building of the tabernacle was going to be done. He was so specific on every little thing, how the tabernacle was going to be built. Even in Chronicles, he had specifics on how the building of the temple would be. Look at that. If you ever read, again, Exodus and Chronicles, some of these books I know, it gets boring because it's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of numbers and things of that nature. Some of the Old Testament books cannot be the most exciting.

But you get to see the fact that God cares about every little minute detail. He cares about what kind of linen that the priest wore. He cared about the color of the curtains and the kind of jewels that were in there. Now you and I might be like, my goodness, this is, why is God so meticulous about this stuff? Why does this matter? What kind of jewel goes here? What kind of people are the metal workers? All of those things.

are specific because we serve a God who is specifically holy. And again, that meticulous nature for us lets us see just how far removed from us he is. How holy. And again, we don't want to lose sight of that. Yes, we can pray to the Lord. And yes, because of what Jesus did on the cross, as the scripture says, the veil was torn in two. So now we have access, as Hebrews said, we can come boldly to the throne.

and to get help in time of need. These are all great things that God has given us, but none of that precludes the fact that God is hope, that he is infinitely above us and we should approach him as such. Yes, he loves us and he gives us grace and mercy. So with those moments when we don't approach him the correct way, he doesn't just strike us down even though he could, or you may sometimes he should, but he doesn't do it.

And just think about how holy he is from this perspective as well. We go back to the Old Testament, when Moses would go up to the mountain and talk with God, and the scripture says he saw God face to face. God was so holy that when he came down from the mountain, the scripture says that Moses had to wear a veil amongst the people because his face, his face, shone so brightly that he literally had to wear a veil. So think about it.

Kevin (09:42.338)
God is so holy that just by Moses looking at him in however way God showed himself, his face, his counting has totally changed to where his face glowed. I mean, can you just imagine something that's so holy that it's about looking at it, your whole demeanor, your face literally changes. That's how holy God is. And think about this too. What if you ask yourself the question, Bible trivia here, your Bible.

What do you think the most egregious sin in the Bible was? Specifically, if you want to go to all of us, but most specifically to the nature of Israel. What was their most egregious sin? Their most egregious sin was idol worship because they were putting other gods, not really real gods, before the true and living God. So what were they doing? They were diminishing and downplaying

His holiness. The script in the 10 commandments, thou shall have no other gods before me. So his holiness was so serious that the fact that they didn't even recognize who he was, not only not recognize him, but went to other gods as it were. That's the one thing that God really did not abide by. That's the one thing he really took seriously. And if you look through the Old Testament,

The reason why his wrath came down was because of that. The reason why Israel went into captivity, not once but twice, was because of idol worship, because they took their eyes off of the holiness of the God that they serve. So that's something that immediately we can see just right off the beaten path, right off the rip, that God's holiness is such that he takes it so seriously.

And the fact that we don't always adhere to how holy he is and how wonderful he is and the fact that he does it strikes us down immediately shows his grace. But also we and I don't want to get into the habit of the downplaying of demeaning just how holy he is. I want to show scripture Exodus chapter three starting at verse four and it says when the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look God called him from the middle of the bush.

Kevin (12:06.818)
Moses, Moses, here I am, Moses replied. Do not come any clearer, the Lord warned. Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. So a lot of us are familiar with that scripture where Moses had that encounter with God with the burning bush. As soon as he got close enough, God told him, nope, you can't come any closer. So much so that you got to take off your sandals. Think about it.

A lot of times in some people's houses, you can't even go in their house with your shoes on. So you know what, they got a new car but just for some reason they don't want to have stuff outside being tracked into their homes. I know people who do that. They just out of respect. They ask you, can you please take off your shoes before you come in the house. So now just imagine, if you have enough respect for that person in that person's house to take off your shoes because you're coming into a earthly dwelling.

How much more respect should Moses have? And we should have when we approach a heavenly dwelling. And a heavenly dwelling is wherever God is. So God is in that place. So look at what he told Moses, take off your sandals. That means look at him, look at that way. Don't be tracking no dirt from everywhere else in here. Take off your sandals. I am so holy because this ground is holy because I'm here. When was the last time?

You felt that way when you were somewhere and you felt like you were in the presence of God. Maybe it was at church. Maybe it was at home in your prayer closet or prayer time. Maybe you were in the car, you were in worship, and you felt the presence of God. Did you really feel like you were in the place of something or someone holy? I know for me there have been moments when I've been in worship and I just was in tears and I just couldn't even talk because I realized that God was here.

And again, because he makes himself so relatable, we lose sight. You know, I remember this person I knew years ago, and I know that didn't mean anything by it. But whenever I would have a conversation with this person, they would always refer to God as daddy. Now, I know the scripture says we can call him Abba, father, and Jesus says we can call him father. But to me, and again, I know they didn't mean anything by it.

Kevin (14:29.666)
But to me, that's a little too casual. Yes, he is our father. And yes, he knows us personally. He knows every tear we cry. He knows all of our issues, our struggles, our frustrations. He is there with us through it all. But it's something about the way that person would be so flippant with it. I always thought it was borderline disrespectful. Now you might say, hey, well, Kevin, me and the Lord, we like this.

and he is my daddy and I call him daddy and I've been calling him daddy for years. I'm not judging you. It's just again for me. There's some things we should keep in reference when it comes to God. The way we approach him physically, the way we approach him with our words, the way we approach him with our hearts, with our prayer. Think about the model prayer. Again, he says, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, our father.

So it's given a template, right? And he does say father, but, and I get the daddy part. And again, it may just be my personal preference, but the daddy thing to me, it just, to me, it put God on a level of his reverence was not there as it should be. So I think we need to make sure we don't do that. And I think a lot of people, when they go to church,

or they commiserate with other believers. They take the whole church thing and being involved with God, they take it flippantly. They take it just like, yeah, I'm going to church to worship today. I'm going to spend time with the Lord and I'm guilty of this too. But think about that guys. We're going to spend time and converse and hear from God who does not have to answer.

who does not have to honor and think about guys. The audacity that we have to come to him as if we're saying, I'm talking to you, I want to talk to you and you better answer. I'm ready to talk and I have a request. I have a problem. I have a concern. I have an issue. I have a struggle. Whatever it is and dog on it, Lord, you need to hear me. Just think about how that is. And when you remember,

Kevin (16:58.242)
We look at this Exodus scripture, Moses couldn't even get close enough and he had to take off his shoes before he could even commiserate and continue the dialogue. Look, stop, don't even come close. You can't even come any closer. Now this is Moses who, of course, we just talked about already, who spoke to God regularly. But even he, there was a level, okay, you my God, Moses, but it's only some so close you can come.

I want to share another scripture. This is Revelation chapter 4 verse 8. And it says, and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes and all around and within. And day and night they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. So now that scripture revelation is a picture of heaven. It talks about what worship is like in heaven.

So God and his throne has these four creatures and all they do is say, holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty. That's all they do. He's so holy, he got creatures that just tell him how holy he is. Now this is also a type of what we see in Isaiah. When Isaiah had his call to ministry, there were angels, Seraphim next to the throne. He went to the throne and he saw the trail of the temple.

I want to refer to that a little bit later in the episode. The two angels were flying holy, holy, holy. So we're seeing the wholeness of God is not just something for us to try to comprehend. This is just a characteristic of God. This is just who he is. He is just holy. Whether we want to recognize him or not, it doesn't take away from his holiness, but we need to understand he is holy. Think about this. Every creature on this planet, for the most part,

reveres, respects, and worships God fully except for us. We're the only creation that doesn't do exactly 100 % what God says. The angels obey Him. The nature obeys Him. The animals, the seas, the air, the sky, everything else, by clockwork, does exactly what God wants. We on the other hand, because...

Kevin (19:24.93)
We don't see him as holy like we should. We don't believe or we don't worship him or give him the reverence that his holiness deserves. So that's the first thing. The second thing about the holiness of God is characteristic is that his holiness, it reveals our depravity because again, let's go back to the Moshe scripture in the Exodus. He goes to him, he says, stop, don't come any closer. You're standing on holy ground.

When you and I realize how holy and wonderfully separated and eternally perfectly separated from us, he is. We realize just how messed up we are. And I think sometimes that may be why we don't subconsciously give God the credit and the reverence and the worship on his holiness like we should because it's a mirror to us.

And I've learned this in my walk with Christ. And I think that's why if you look through the scriptures, the scriptures are replete with warnings and admonitions to tell us to stay on the track, to stay the course, to stay on that narrow road. Now, why is there such an impetus to tell us to stay on that narrow road? I think it's for two reasons. One, because the attacks are going to come. The enemy is going to come at us and he's going to try to do everything we can.

he can to try to get us to veer off the path because he hates us. He hates God's creation. So he wants us to not be faithful. So he's going to try to do whatever he can against the veer off the path. But I think another reason why the admonition is to stay on the path, because as we get closer to God, we realize how messed up we are, how unworthy we are and how holy he is. And like, why do you even love me?

Have you ever had those moments? Now usually, let's be honest, we have those moments when we've messed up. When we've sinned, when we've fallen short, we've done something, said something, thought something, been so aware, and the spirit convicts us. We feel like why in the world has God even loved me? Why is he even giving us, you know what, I can't believe the Lord, you know what, I'm asking why am I even trying? Because...

Kevin (21:51.394)
I've messed up too many times. I've told God this is the last time every single time. And I keep doing the same thing. I keep going back to this habit. I keep going back to these type of things. I keep going back to this place, this thought process. I still worry. I still have doubts. All these things I just keep doing and I know God is in place so He can't still love me. So think about that. So the holiness of God is that sometimes.

Once you get closer and once you walk with him, because he now starts to tell Kevin and Susie and Mike and Bobby, okay, yeah, you went to church, that's good, but remember what you did at work last week? You need to work on that. You remember how you spoke to your wife? Yeah, that wasn't good. You know how your husband, you had that issue with your husband? Mm -mm, that wasn't good. You know how your kid came to you and you brushed them off because you had a rough day?

It's not Christ's light. So those moments when he's showing us how we're flawed is a lot of times in the face of his holiness because his holiness is the goal. That's what God wants us to be. God ultimately, I'm going to refer to this in the minute episode, his goal is not just for us to get to heaven. His goal is not just to save us.

His goal is to make us holy. Why? Because we can't even get to heaven if we're not holy. And think about it. If he's our father, doesn't he want his children to be like him? And we've established he's holy. So if you're his child, he wants you to be holy like him. We're going to talk about that a little bit later as well. So let me share another scripture, very famous scripture. I kind of alluded to it a little bit early. This is Isaiah chapter six, verse five.

And it says, woe to me, I cried. I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. So that scripture, as I referred to a little bit earlier in the episode, was when Isaiah went into the temple. He saw the train of the Lord fill the temple. So he saw the Lord and he was filled with awe. And like I just said, that awe went to anguish.

Kevin (24:17.474)
Because he realized when he saw God's holiness, he saw his sin. He saw how great God is and made him see how messed up he is. And that's something that we all have to go through at some point. It's hard to realize even after you've been saved that you still got work to be done. That you're still not right. You can be a person that has a podcast. You can be a person that...

that teaches Bible study. You could be a minister, a preacher, a pastor, deacon, whatever it is, you still have those moments when you see the holiness of God and you see the horror of you. But thankfully, like I mentioned a few minutes ago, God's plan is to make us holy. And he understands sanctification, that's a process. He knows that Kevin,

This is going to be a lifelong process. However long Kev is going to be on this planet, every day he's on here, I'm working to make him holy. I'm working to make him more Christ -like, to make him more like me. Because on my own, on your own, we would not even stay on that narrow path. On our own, we'll be looking at that wide gate that leads to death, but it's populated with so much fun and enticement, we would think twice and want to jump ship and go from that narrow road.

to that wide road. So God has to keep us and help us to stay on that narrow path. And part of the problem, like I mentioned, is because that narrow path means that God has to take stuff off. You have to look in the mirror and realize, yes, I still have some issues. Yes, I still fall short. Now thankfully, God is working with you through them. The scripture says he is faithful and he will be with you. He will see you through it all. But ultimately,

He knows that this is going to take some time because we are a mess. Let me share another scripture. This is Revelation chapter one, starting at verse 17. And it says, when I saw him, I felt at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, don't be afraid. I'm the first and the last. I'm the living one. I died, but look, I am alive forever and ever. And I.

Kevin (26:42.498)
hold the keys of death and the grave. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who that is. That's Jesus. So of course this is apostle John when he was writing in Revelation. And here it is again, the holiness gets to see our shortcomings, right? Here it is, John comes to the Lord. When he sees Jesus, it says he fell down like that. He could not even stand to be in the presence of the Lord because of his holiness.

So when was the last time you approached God's throne with that level of reverence? When was the last time in your prayer time, in your worship time, in your time communing with the Lord, that you came and you came as the scripture says with fear and trembling. You came realizing that I am dressed up dust coming before a perfect God. And I am.

I don't deserve to even be here. And I'm thankful that I can come. I'm thankful that not only I can come, but you actually give me an audience that you listen to me. Well, think about that. God, the creator of the universe, actually cares about what we think to some degree. He actually cares about what we say. The scripture says,

We're going to have to give account for every useless word we say. God is actually paying attention to our words. Think about that, guys. This God, who we talked about earlier, lives in unapproachable light, who Moses had to take off his sandals to even come close to, who no one can see face to face and live. He cares about what you have to say.

He actually listens to you. We as Christians, I think, are really, sometimes really guilty of treating God so flippantly and so laissez -faire with God. And one of the things that lends itself to this, of course, is the whole idea of this prosperity gospel stuff. Because it makes people think,

Kevin (29:11.234)
You just got it. God just wants to bless you. You just go to God and ask for what you want and God's going to give it to you because he loves you. Where's the holiness in that? Where's the reference? Where's the regard for who he is? Where's the thought that, Lord, I thank you that I can even speak to you. I'm thankful that you even know my name.

Where's the where's the reverence for that? And that's something that's why these these these belief systems and things that are anti -god are so dangerous. And it lends itself to, as I thought about earlier as well, creating idol gods. If we already established the thing that God arguably hates more than anything else is idol worship. Now, are we guilty?

of creating an idol of who we want God to be versus the God who he is. We construct a God that we think we can just take with us wherever we go. We just put it in our pocket. You know, I'm ready for God to do something and pull him out. Okay, yeah, God, handle this for me. Okay, now I don't need you. Now I'm going to do my own thing. But when I'm ready, I pull you back out. You know, somebody, the same people say all the time when they get ready to do something that they shouldn't do.

or they getting tempted, somebody gets upset, they get angry, and you've probably heard them say, you know, you gonna make me lose my religion. How is that possible if you really thought God was holy? If you really thought God was holy, you will realize that even though you tempted because of who he is, you don't want to even talk about saying that. You don't want to have that thought come to your mind about losing your religion.

So by losing your religion, that means you're taking your eyes off the fact that God is holy. If he's holy, that means guess what? You can't do what you want to do regardless of what someone else does. So his holiness should be something that keeps you and I on that straight and narrow because you realize we're messed up. But now one more thing and we're going to wrap up for this week. If holiness is a characteristic of God,

Kevin (31:36.514)
It should also be a characteristic of us. That means that God expects us to be holy. God expects us to do the right thing. God expects us to carry on and live a life that's holy. Now, of course we need his help, but we have to make an effort to live holy. God doesn't just again save us.

to just do the regular routine stuff when it comes to church, when it comes to worship, when it comes to doing these things. He has a bigger goal in mind. And that goal is to make us holiness, to make us in his image, to be more like him. So when you look at holiness from that perspective, hopefully it gives you two things. One, you have a more respect for his holiness.

And now you take his wholeness more serious because now he expects it from you. Because now he's saying, Kevin, you are my child. You can't just do what you want to do. You can't just act the way you want to act just because someone says something or just because someone did something or just because someone rubbed you the wrong way. You don't have this permission to lose your religion. I remember years ago,

at the church I used to attend. We used to do, I think they still do, the Daniel fast up until, you know, 40 days of fasting up until Good Friday. Right. So 40 days, they typically do a Daniel fast. So most of the projects, maybe the Daniel fast, usually it's a variation of no meat, no dairy, no animal products, just fruits and vegetables. You do that for 40 days until the fast is over. Right. So now I remember the first year.

church I was going to, the Institute of Dispassion. Of course, telling people to not eat something is one of the hardest things because we like to eat, I do too. So to tell someone that you can't eat the food you've been eating your whole life, that's really hard. It takes a lot of discipline, it takes a lot of strength, so it's not easy. I remember there was a person,

Kevin (33:59.682)
I asked them, I said, so are you, you know, how are you going to know, let's talk, let's compare notes about the fast, how you're going to do it. They told me they're not going to do the fast the way we're doing it. Okay. I'm thinking, well, maybe they got some, you know, maybe got a health issue, dietary restrictions. I get it. And they said, no, it's just, I don't want to do food. So I'm going to fast something else. All right. That's cool. Okay. What are you going to fast? They said, I'm going to fast from using profanity.

I wish I was making it up. They told me they're going too fast from using profanity. How insane is that? The obvious first thing is why are you using profanity? You shouldn't be using it anyway. But now, not only are you not going to go in line with the church and the fast they're doing, you didn't even say you were going to stop using profanity.

You said you were going to fast, so you have every intention to go back to using it when the fast. Now why am I bringing up the fast? That's how it is with us when it comes to being holy sometimes. We decide we're going to be holy for a minute, for a season, for a couple of days, for a couple of weeks, but then we revert back to doing things we're used to doing, places we're used to going. But God says,

We're not supposed to be holy temporarily or holy for a season. Holiness is a lifestyle change. And God wants us to be holy. He expects us to be holy and he's helping us to be holy. Give you a scripture. First Peter chapter one, starting at verse 14. And it says, as obedient children,

Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who has called you as holy, you also must be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Wow. So again, let's go back to the beginning of the episode, right? Holy means set apart. It means that you're pure, you're sacred.

Kevin (36:21.826)
The Bible, the Holy Bible. The Bible means, the Bible means collection of books. So we don't just have a collection of books, we have a Holy Bible. The Bible says, that same Holy Bible says we're what you preach to a holy people. So God is expecting us to be holy. Now, it's real easy to not be holy when you don't consider God.

If you consider God to just be someone who can just forgive you at every turn, you do what you want, doesn't matter, God loves you, you know what, yeah you messed up, but just pray and ask for forgiveness. Yeah you said you're sorry, that's good enough. But if you look at God that flippantly, then that's how you're going to live. If you believe that God is a God that does not have standards, he only has forgiveness.

then you're not going to live a way that's holy. And talking about standards, God is a just God. There's an episode coming in the series. Stay tuned. I'm going to talk about his justice as well. But if we are being told directly by God that we should be holy because he is holy, it says in the scripture we just read, don't get caught up in the passions and the things you want.

The problem becomes family. Even though we are saved, even though we know the Lord, we still know those sins. We still know those things. We still know how to get involved in certain places. We still, let me go there, you are saved. But if there's some phone numbers in your phone you haven't.

You're saved, but there's still some places you go that you know you're not supposed to go anymore. You're saved, but you still have these belief systems that you know aren't Christian, but you know what? I'm still interested. I'm still, this horoscope still kind of catches me. I got to see what the horoscope said.

Kevin (38:49.026)
I still dabble in some things that I'm saved. I believe in Jesus, but every now and then, it ain't gonna really hurt.

If you and I make room for things that are not holy, it's going to make us tempted to not be holy. And I say this to you, but I'm saying this to myself too. We can't take God's grace for granted to think that we can continue to not live holy and claim to be his children. He does have a standard. In the scripture, he just said it clearly better than I could ever see it. We should be holy because he...

is holy. Let me read you one more scripture. 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17. Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Think about it. When was the last time you considered yourself to be?

a temple of God. Well, if you ever thought about yourself, your body is a dwelling place for the Lord. Because we think when we go to church, we go worship, we pray, we're going to experience God. We're going to see him. We're going to meet him. We're going to fellowship. And that's true. But what happened to the fellowship of the spirit that's in you? Don't you have God already?

So if that's the case, if he's already in you, and we take him everywhere we go, what about those places we're going that are not holy, that are not good? Did you ever think that you're defacing God's temple?

Kevin (40:50.69)
That's a hard thing to think about because when you think about defacing God's temple, we're thinking about the building. You know, if someone vandalized a church, you would be like, my God, you'd be incredulous. I can't believe this world is so evil that they would do that to a place of worship, to a house of God, which is horrible. But when we do certain things, go certain places, act a certain way.

We're defacing God's Holy temple too. The scripture said that anyone that messes with his temple, he would destroy them too. Does that include us? Cause we're thinking if someone hits us, affects us, God can get us back, get them back for doing something to that temple, which is true. But what if the damage to the temple is self -inflicted? What if we're damaging God's temple by what we do?

about what we say, about where we go, and how we think. So this holiness...

is so serious family that I hope and pray that this first episode in the series starts off with us having a better understanding and a better sense of reference for His Holiness. God is holy and because He is holy we need to treat Him as such. Now we don't always do it.

And thankfully he gives us some grace. But we should have a mindset that whenever we approach the throne, we approach it with the proper reference, with the proper sense of awe, and the proper sense of gratitude that we even have the ability to come before his throne.

Kevin (42:54.402)
So hopefully again this episode blessed you, gave you something to think about. And this is episode one. We got more to come about the character of God, but this is the number one in the series again. Thank you for watching, listening. Make sure you like, share, and subscribe. And as always, make sure your light shines brightest for the Lord Jesus Christ beyond the benediction. See you next time. Be blessed.