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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skiff Heitzig. There are a couple things that Peter writes about. He moves from what we think to what we do. And he says, when you're in the realm of action, conduct, There's a negative part and there's a positive part. There's a part that you don't do and there's a part that you do.
The negative is simply put not conforming yourselves to the former lusts. Do you ever stop to remember who you used to be? Before you came to Christ and you were all holy like you are now. You ever just stop to think about your past life, your BC days before Christ's days? I was a moron.
I think of the things I said, the people I hung with, the things I did, how cool I thought I was. And sometimes, sometimes I'll hear Christians Almost reminiscing about their past life, like it were the, remember the good old days? Oh. What are you talking about? Yeah, remember the good old days when you went to all those parties?
and you felt so alone when you went there. Remember all the fake friends that used to surround you because they wanted something from you? Remember feeling more alienated and more isolated? Good old days. Let me tell you about the good old days.
According to Paul the Apostle, here's an honest look back. This is Ephesians chapter 2. Once you were dead. You were doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air.
He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.
Now that. is an honest look back. Dead Doomed. A prisoner to our own lusts, and in the bullseye of God's anger. That's where you came from.
So Peter is saying, picking up on this: if you're going to walk in the dark, if you're going to punch holes in the darkness, you've got to cut off the past. You have to say no to the old light. Those were the days you lived in ignorance, Peter would say. You didn't know what you were doing, you didn't know any better.
Now you do. Simply put. There are things you used to do. You are not to-do. There are people you used to hang out with that are just not good for you to hang with anymore.
There are internet sites you used to visit that you have no business looking at. There are books you used to read. that you ought to leave alone. Did you know the word no, N O? Is a spiritual word.
Try it sometime. Just say no. Feels so good. No. I don't mean live a negative life, but When that temptation, well, I don't know.
Should I compromise? Should I negotiate? No, just say no and walk away. Cut it off.
So say no to your past. But that's not enough. Peter would say if you're going to shape your conduct, you have to say yes to your father. Verse 14, look at it, look at it. As obedient children.
You see what he's doing? He's connecting you with your heavenly Father. You are to be children that are obedient. And verse 15, but as he who called you is holy, You also be holy in all your Conduct. Holy, be holy.
Holiness. We hear that word a lot. Can I just say frankly, That's a very Churchy word. And it's a word we use and we sing and we pray for and we toss around. And frankly, I just wonder if we relate.
understand what it means. quite frankly. Holiness. Ask ten people. Say, ask 10 people.
I don't know if you ever actually want to try this when you're in Starbucks. Say Hey, you 10 people, I'm gonna try a word association. What first comes to your mind when I say this word? Ready? Holy.
You might stump a few.
Somebody might say, I don't know, uh candle lit cathedral. Um Ha ha. Maybe they'll sing for you. Or a thin Monks With long beards, like the guys on Duck Dynasty who live out in the deserts in some monastery somewhere. Our mind has funny things with the word holy.
The Bible tells us God is holy. It's the essential part of his character. When the angels were worshiping God and Isaiah saw a vision of it, they said, Holy, holy, holy, three times. For emphasis. Interesting, they didn't say loving, loving, loving, merciful, merciful, merciful, just, just, just, even though God is all those things, the primary attribute noted.
Was his holiness? What does it mean? means unique. It means different. It means other.
Other God's otherness. is God's holiness. Listen to this verse in a translation called The Message by Eugene Peterson. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life. A life energetic and blazing with holiness.
I love that. A life shaped by God's life. You know If you're a Christian. If I'm a Christian, There ought to be a family resemblance. I remember as a boy, I'd go places, and you know what I heard people say?
That's Lou Heitzig's son. I heard that a lot. I'm not just Skip, I'm Lou Heitzig's son. Wherever I went, I carried my dad's reputation around with me, and it put pressure on me. It was a good pressure to have.
That I had to not tarnish his good name. I had to conform to some kind of a standard. Yes, I individuated, I was my own person. But I was also Luhaitzig's son. I bear another name.
As do you, in the name of Christ, we are children of our Heavenly Father. To live a holy life simply means that people look at your life and they go, you must somehow be connected to God, somehow related to Him. And live in such a way that God would, so to speak, look down from heaven and say, That's my boy. That's my girl. In the days of Alexander the Great, One of his soldiers was caught deserting in a battle.
That soldier was brought before Alexander the Emperor. He heard the charges. And he said to the young soldier, young man, What is your name? He looked up and said, My name is Alexander, sir. The Emperor was taken aback and then he became angry and he said, Soldier, You either change your behavior or change your name.
If you're going to bear my name Alexander, I want you to be brave, in other words. Holiness, a reflection, a family resemblance. As he is holy who called you, you be holy. You'd be other. Let me throw something else out at you.
Why don't you start looking at holiness? Defined by the word wholeness. W-H-O-L-E-N-S-E-S. When you are holy, you become whole. You become complete.
You become well-rounded. The closer you follow God and pursue God and become more like God. It's the whole complete package of life. And When you pursue him and you start emulating his traits and become more and more like him, There's a power in that. Unlike anything else.
I heard of a native who went to a large city for the first time and had never seen electric lights. And he was so dazzled by them and he was given some extra spending money, so he bought a sack full of light bulbs and light switches and sockets. Took him back home to his village and started stringing him up on the outside of his house and in the trees by his house. All his neighbors were looking at him. What are you doing?
And he said, Just wait, just wait, just watch, just wait. Nightfall came and the neighborhood, the whole city, the village was gathered out. He said, now just wait, watch this. And he flipped the switch and nothing. happened.
Because nobody told him about electricity. It's not enough to just turn from the darkness to live in the light, you've got to plug into God. You say no to the old past, you say yes to your father, and that shapes your conduct.
So how do you walk in the dark? Begins in the mind. You prepare your mind, you think. Clearly. Hopefully.
You shape your actions negatively. Don't be like you used to be. You didn't know any better then, you know better now. Say yes to your father. Pursue him closely.
Third, finally. Focus your will. Focus your will. Verse sixteen. Because it is written, be holy, for I am holy.
Now, before I jump into that. There's There's something. In the previous verse, in verse 15, that just sort of... jumped out at me this week. I want you to notice it.
It's this little phrase that just made my breath go. It actually said that? Notice what it says at the end of verse 15: He who called you as holy, be holy in some of your conduct. Do you see that? in some of your conduct.
Did I misread it? I'm sorry about it. I'm sorry, I did misread it. You also be holy in most of your conduct. Yeah, I I misread it again.
It says what? All your conduct. It says that I'm to be holy in All my conduct? What does it say in the Greek? I want to know what it says in the Greek.
It might mean something different, but I know what it says in the Greek. Means all. In fact, the Phillips translation renders it in every department of your life. When you bring Jesus into your life, He comes in to live as a resident. not a tourist.
He wants the key to every room. You're listening to Connect with Skiff-Heitzig Weekend Edition. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps reach more people with God's Word, changing lives through clear, practical Bible teaching. And this month, we want to thank you with a powerful and inspiring resource from Skiff's wife, Lenja Heitzig. It's her book, Reload Love, Transforming Bullets to Beauty and Battlegrounds to Playgrounds.
This remarkable book tells the true story of how God took Lenya's heartbreak over suffering children in war-torn regions and turned it into a global movement of compassion, melting down bullets to build playgrounds and bring hope where it's needed most. Request your copy of Reload Love when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888. or visit connectwithskift.com slash offer.
Now let's return to today's teaching. I was in North Carolina this week. I visited Not only the Billy Graham Training Center where I spoke, but I had an afternoon free. I went to the Biltmore Estate. I took my son.
I'd been there before. I wanted to see it again. I wanted to show him. Billmore Estate is the largest home in America. 250 home rooms, 250 rooms in a single home of many stories of the castle.
Central heating in the late 1800s and 65 supplemental fireplaces. Huge. Took a tour room to room. But there were sections of the Biltmore estate that are off limits. They're roped off.
Can't go in that hallway, can't see in that room. And I come up to that rope and It's my tendency. I want to see what's in that room because it says I can't see what's in that room.
So why can't I see what's in that room? Oh, well, she said, you don't want to see it. It's sorta like this room. And if you take the special tour, we could show you into some of these other rooms.
So there were certain rooms off limits for me.
Okay, I'm a tourist. I'm not a resident. I get that. But when you receive Christ into your heart and you give him the key to your life, he lives there. He is not a tourist, and he wants access to every single room in the house.
All your conduct. All your conduct. I'll spell it out. God when I wake up. God in the shower, God at the breakfast table, God in the car, God at the office, God at the factory, God in the classroom, God in the boardroom, God in the bedroom.
All your conduct. All your conduct. Holiness is letting God conquer. Inner space. And when he conquers inner space, Your outer space will be fine.
C.S. Lewis wrote, How little people know who think holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it's irresistible. Even if 10% of the world's population had it. Would not the whole world be converted?
before the year's end. You know, he's right. The world doesn't understand holiness, which is why. We have to show them. Those ten people at Starbucks, when you mentioned holiness, They don't get it.
They have to see it. We have to show them. Want to know what God's like? Let me show you. Years ago, there was a lighthouse in Florida.
One of the glass panes broke out. They ordered a new one, but temporarily they had to close it up, so they put a piece of tin over where the glass was on one side.
Okay. Problem is, when a ship was trying to get into the harbor and looked at the lighthouse, it didn't see a light. It saw A dark spot. could navigate. One of the things we discover as we grow in Christ is that we have a few dark spots.
A few. A lot. And part of our Christian growth is to identify and remove those dark spots. and put in its place holiness. That's what God wants in that room, in that area.
with this relationship. All your conduct. Now, I did promise a third, and I started and I stopped, and I go back to it. Focus your will. Verse 16, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves through the time of your stay here in fear.
Now, please just read the first word of verse 18. We're going to get to that next time, but look at the first word of that, because it's all part of the same sentence. Knowing. No way. He talks about This is what God said.
There's going to be a judgment and we know something.
Now that's important. Knowing goes beyond just thinking. In fact, knowing goes beyond just doing certain things. When you are in the realm of knowing something, you're in the realm of deeply held, firmly held convictions. Convictions are beliefs.
Firmly held. They are ideas and beliefs you're firmly convinced of. You're firmly committed to any wishy-washy person can have a belief. A stable believer is somebody who has convictions. And your inner space will get conquered when you move from belief system to convictions.
I'm convinced one of the reasons People fall away from the faith, as they say. Or, as Jesus put it, get choked up by the cares of this world, is they have never formulated deep-held convictions. I know this to be true.
So we go from thinking. To action, but really we end up with the firm basis of deeply held convictions. Focus your will, choose. It's based upon a couple of things. It's based, first of all, upon Scripture, written scripture, verse 16.
Because it is written. Be holy for us. He's quoting Leviticus. Because it is written. So Peter is anticipating his audience saying, Well, why should I be holy, Peter?
Good question, Peter would say, because God said so in his book. It is written. A phrase found 80 times in the Bible, usually in the New Testament, pointing back to the Old Testament. A person who has conviction. As somebody who has wrestled with the scripture, and come out the other end of the rustling.
Saying, I believe this to be the Word of God. If you've ever listened to vintage classic Billy Graham Crusades, there's one phrase he always says over and over again. It's the word phrase the Bible says. The Bible says, for God so loved the world. The Bible says all of sin.
The Bible, it's a string of scripture. You know why he says that? Because many years ago as A youth, when he was at Forrest Home in California, a youth camp, he was struggling with scripture. I can't put my mind around it intellectually. I don't understand it all.
And he went out and he prayed. He got on his knees. He said, God, there's a lot of this book I do not get. But I believe it to be your word, and I will proclaim it as your word. I've come to an end of my intellect.
And all I know is that when I wield this sword, it's like a fire that melts the ice off the hearts of unbelievers. And from that moment on, it was the Bible says, the Bible says, because he saw the power and the strength of written scripture. Peter couldn't have said what he said, it is written, unless he believed that to be so. Second, you focus your will based upon future judgment. Don't miss it in verse 17.
If you call on the Father, Who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves through the time of your stay here in fear? A person who lives with convictions like this has those convictions because he believes there will one day be a final reckoning, a final accounting. The scripture is your flashlight in a dark world. God's judgment is the light at the end of the tunnel. There will never be a brighter day in your whole life.
Then the Day of Judgment. According to Paul, 1 Corinthians 4, Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness, and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time, each one will receive his praise from God.
That day is coming, there is a day of judgment coming. I heard about a family that was going on vacation. There was a thief across the street in a car waiting to watch the family go. They left. He waited for nightfall.
He picked the lock. He opened the door to the kitchen. It was completely dark and he heard a voice. Jesus sees you. And so do I.
He was scared. He turned on his flashlight, looked around, saw nothing. He continued his work. Again, the voice said, Jesus sees you, and so do I.
Okay, he's freaked out. He looks around, looks around, can't see anybody. Third time, Jesus sees you and so do I. At this moment, he turns on the overhead lights. And he looks across the kitchen, and there on the counter was, in a cage, a parrot.
And he said, Oh. It's just a bird in a cage. Then he saw the Doberman pincher with glistening teeth on the other side of the kitchen in a crouching position. And just then the parrot said, attack Jesus. Attack.
It was the day of judgment for that thief. First of all, it's just weird that some owner called his dog Jesus, I don't know. It works in the story. If you want to walk firmly and confidently in a dark world, if you want to see in the dark, if you want to punch holes in the darkness, Think clearly. Live holy.
and choose decisively. And you will be You will be. Contrary to what the world says, the most enlightened person In the bunch. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heidzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share God's word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus.
And this month, we'll send you Lenya Heitzig's powerful book, Reload Love, Transforming Bullets to Beauty and Battlegrounds to Playgrounds, as our thanks for your gift. This inspiring story shows how God can turn bullets into beauty and how love can transform even the most broken places into beacons of hope. Give now at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect the Skiff-Heitsig Weekend Edition. Make a connection.
Make a connection now. Yeah, yeah. Of the crossing. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
