The Beauty of Holiness

Wow. Isn't God good in this room this morning? Now, I don't ever say this — because I know how conferences and camp meetings work: every speaker, every message just weaves a thread, and by the time we get done, there's a beautiful tapestry of what God has spoken to us. And because I understand that, I never, ever say this. I've never said this before in my life. But one of your own ministers this morning, in my opinion, preached the message of this camp meeting. What a powerful word we just heard. So I'm not taking away from any of the other speakers or the other messages — but what a powerful, profound word, directly to you from one of your own.

I've said it already in this meeting: you are not responsible to submit to some guest speaker that flies in — especially from Canada — and preaches to you for two or three days. But aren't you glad you have men of God that stand in pulpits around this district, and every week they minister to you? Brother Reading, wherever you went — it's an honor to step up here after you. What an honor to be yoked together with you this morning. And I wondered why I could not, could not get away from this particular subject for this particular morning, because it's not a last-morning-of-camp-meeting kind of thing. But now I know, because Brother Reading talked to us about being different by design. He talked about us as individuals, and our unity as the body. I'm going to talk about us collectively, as God wills for us to be in the earth.

And if you'd allow me to just follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost for just a moment — I am not trying to delay, or stretch anything out, and I'm certainly not trying to infringe on you — because what I'm about to ask you to do is probably going to be a tiny bit awkward. But I'm going to ask you to do it anyway, because I really felt not just a nudge — like a shove. In just a moment — and it doesn't matter who; somebody say, "It doesn't matter who" — in just a moment, I'm going to ask you to spin around, or turn to the side. And I'm going to ask you men to find a brother, and ladies to find a sister. I'm going to ask you to face them. You can think I'm crazy. I want you to take them by both hands, and I want you to lift those hands like those cherubim on the ark lifted those wings toward each other. And I don't want you to look at them. I don't even want you to pray for them. I just want you to find somebody, and grab both their hands, and lift it up, and I want you to worship God with them for a moment. And I'll have to stop you, because you guys just love to worship, and it'll go too long — but I'll stop you in a minute. But would you find somebody right now, and just do that? Just make a little ark of the covenant right there. It doesn't matter who. It doesn't matter who. Lift your hands, and just worship God together. Because the One who dwelt between the cherubim is dwelling among His people this morning. He is here by the power of His Spirit. His name is loose in this building. His blood is flowing in this building. His Spirit is anointing in this building. His word has been declared, and His people are here, and we are united together. Oh yes, Jesus. If you can't think of anything to say in English or Spanish, pray in the Spirit. Lift up your voice and pray in the Holy Ghost this morning. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh yes, God. That's beautiful, Indiana. That's beautiful, Indiana. That's powerful, Indiana. Yes, Jesus. Now, would you put your hands over your head, clap them as hard as you can, and shout as loud as you can to the Lord Jesus? He's so worthy. He's so worthy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus.

Today, some people would introduce this particular subject with these words: "Today, I'm going to walk where angels fear to tread." But actually, that's not correct. Today, I'm going to walk where angels delight to dwell. You may be seated.

It is beyond question that holiness is one of the central themes of the Bible. The word "holy" occurs more than 600 times — and more than 700 times when you include other derivative words like holiness, or sanctify, or sanctification. You can't even make sense of the Bible without understanding that our God is holy. His holiness pervades His entire being, and it shapes every one of His attributes. Yes, God is love — but His love is a holy love. He is merciful, but His mercy is a holy mercy. Even His judgment is a holy judgment, and His anger is a holy anger. And so, above everything else, God is intent on having a people who are — yes — different by design. They are filled with His Holy Spirit. They are submitted to His holy Word. They are preparing themselves to live forever in His holy heaven.

So if you are a believer, and you are neglecting holiness in your pursuit of the Lord Jesus, it is certainly not due to a lack of instruction or emphasis in Scripture. The Word of God makes it crystal clear that holiness is not some optional extra for a few super-spiritual apostolic people. Rather, holiness is the central point of the Christian life, and it is the distinguishing mark of every disciple. To say an "unholy Christian" — that's an oxymoron. That's a contradiction in terms. So, biblically speaking, we know that holiness is a synonym for withdrawal: apart, separate, distinct, different, and sanctified. You can't be holy, by definition, unless you are all of those things.

And Scripture teaches us — and I could give you, and make this a much longer message, I can give you chapter and verse for each of these, but suffice it to say it's there — Scripture teaches: as disciples become sanctified, they will have visible good works. They will walk in good works. They will be rich in good works. They will be furnished with good works. They will show themselves a pattern of good works. They will be zealous of good works. They will maintain good works. They will do good works that even sinners will observe. And they will provoke one another to good works. The New Testament consistently teaches us that growth in godliness requires some exertion, and some effort, on the part of the individual believer. Here's what I mean. The Bible commands us to put to death the deeds of the flesh, and to put to death everything that is earthly. The Bible says we must fight the good fight. We must put off the old man. We must put on the new man. We must strive to enter the narrow gate. We must press toward the prize. We must run the race and discipline the body. Peter tells us frankly, in his second epistle, that we must be diligent to add several things to our faith.

And if you'd allow me, for just a moment, to speak even more plainly in this wonderful apostolic gathering: the Bible teaches me — and again, I could give you chapter and verse; I'll save you the time — true holiness will be evidenced in my body, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my hands, my hair, my clothing, my thoughts, and my spirit. Literally, holiness is designed to affect every part of our lives.

Does that sound hard? Does that sound difficult? I hope it does, because — as we already heard this morning, in that powerful word from Brother Reading — holiness is intended to be impossible without the enabling of the Holy Ghost. I know you can keep a few little dress codes in your flesh, and check off your list, but true holiness — you can't do any of it without the power of the Holy Ghost in your life. Nobody here would argue that speaking in tongues is a work of the Spirit, not a work of the flesh. Well, in the very same way, holiness is not a work of the flesh. It is a work of the Spirit in your life. So it's a wonderful thing. If you've ever said, "Man, holiness is hard" — congratulations, you just got it. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be really impossible, unless you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you. And what that does is, it makes you depend upon the Lord.

But what does it mean for us to be holy, specifically? Well, when God told Israel to be holy in the book of Leviticus, He was instructing them to be distinct from other nations, by obeying specific standards that would literally set them apart and make them distinct from everyone else. They were to be unique in their worship, in their relationships, their appearance, their sexuality, their activities, their morals, their ethics, their food, their clothing, and many other areas. And God didn't even give them a reason for many of these rules. Only this: "I want the world around you to know you belong exclusively to Me. I am your God, and you are a distinct and separate people."

And while I understand that the details of Israel's disciplines — they have morphed somewhat in the New Testament — I would argue that the principle of separation has not changed one iota, just because we flipped to the pages of the New Testament. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." That makes holiness sound critically important to me, for every believer.

It's already been mentioned this week in this meeting. But in Acts chapter 2, the longest part of Peter's sermon is not the part that was recorded — because we're told: with many other words, he exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." So I would say: we thank God that Peter preached about salvation in Acts chapter 2. That's ground zero for us. But I also thank God that even in Acts chapter 2, he preached about sanctification. He preached: if you really get salvation, there's going to be a work of God's Spirit that goes far beyond the few moments it took you to obey the new birth. And he writes about these many other words. He said them in Acts 2. We don't have a record — but we have a record, because he can't leave it alone. Here's some of his epistles.

First Peter chapter 1, verse 14: "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance." Don't live that way. He says: "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." "Conversation" is a 400-year-old King James word. Today we would say: in all aspects of your lifestyle, you need to be holy. Why? "Because it is written: Be ye holy, because I am holy."

Peter says in First Peter 2 and 9: "But you are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood." Here it is: "You are a holy nation, and yes, you are a peculiar people." Now, I read the commentators, and I read the dictionaries too, and I know that "peculiar" can be translated as "precious" and "rare." But there is a reason that the King James translators — they just said, "No, let's use the word peculiar." Because if you're living this right, you are going to be an oddity, the closer we get to the coming of the Lord. As the world spirals into immorality, and sensuality, and overt sexuality, and perversion — if you are going to live a holy life, yes, you are going to stick out like a sore thumb. So I would challenge us today, and say: if nobody at your job knows you're an apostolic, you're doing this wrong. If nobody in your neighborhood knows that you serve God, and that your lifestyle is a little different — you're doing this wrong.

Peter can't leave it alone. Oh — oh, before we go, go back to that Scripture. First Peter 2:9. Why would God make us peculiar? Who gives Him the right to do that? Here's what gives Him the right: "That you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Quite frankly, we owe a little debt of gratitude to the Lord Jesus, who snatched us off the path to hell and put us on the road to heaven. So if He asked for it, the answer's yes.

Peter can't leave it alone. Second Peter 3:1: "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be, in all holy lifestyle and godliness?"

The apostle Paul alludes to holiness in some way in every one of his epistles. You see, his ministry was mainly to the Gentiles. And Paul knew something. These pagan Gentiles — these people that have no morality, no internal compass, they have no good upbringing, they don't know anything about God — they will not survive spiritually without a change, both inside and outside. Because you cannot maintain your salvation without embracing sanctification, or holiness. Eventually, your salvation will wither up, and dry up, and blow away. Because unless you are living as God has commanded you to live, you've set yourself up for a fight, internally and externally. Paul knew that the sinful Gentiles didn't have a hope or a prayer, unless he could get them not just to experience the new birth — which is the dedication of a moment. He said, "No, I've got to get you to dedicate your life to this. And we've got to get a real change happening."

I would say to you, in the year 2025, that with the world going crazy, we need to not discard holiness, or diminish holiness, or to put it on the back burner, or in a side room. This is the point of the Christian life: that when Jesus saves us, He literally changes us. And so Paul won't leave it alone either.

Romans 12, verse 1 and 2: "I beg you, brethren, by the mercies of God: present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." And no, you don't get extra points for living a godly, separated life. It is just your reasonable service. "And do not be conformed" — pressed into, forced into the mold of this world — "but instead be transformed." Holiness doesn't come from us pressuring people to keep a dress code. Holiness comes from a transforming work of God. "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

Paul can't leave it alone. He writes to the Corinthians, and they were a mess. There was a word in the ancient world — Corinthosmi — and it literally means "to act like a Corinthian": to be immoral like a Corinthian. When other people in the ancient Roman world wanted to describe someone who had no moral sense of values, they called them a Corinthian. And Paul went into that city, and he stayed there for 18 months. And guess what? He raised up an apostolic church. But that doesn't mean it was without struggle. And every once in a while, he just loses it. I love reading the letters of the apostle Paul, because every once in a while, he just goes — pow! — and it makes me feel like I might have some compassion after all.

First Corinthians chapter 3:16: "Don't you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God — " what's that? That's your body. That's your mind. That's everything that makes you, you. " — if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." He can't leave it alone.

Second Corinthians 7 and 1: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh" — someone shout "outside!" — "and filthiness of the spirit" — someone shout "inside!" — "perfecting, maturing, completing, holiness in the fear of God." He cannot leave it alone.

Ephesians 1, verse 4: "According as God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be — what? We should be holy and without blame before Him in love." He will not leave it alone.

Chapter 4 of Ephesians, verse 22: "That you put off, concerning your former lifestyle, the old man, because it is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And here's what you need to do, believers: you need to put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." He will not surrender this subject.

Ephesians 5:27: "That God might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that the church should be holy and without blemish."

He writes to the Thessalonians — First Thessalonians 3 and verse 13: "To the end that God may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness." There's a phrase for you: "unblameable in holiness" — "before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."

First Thessalonians 4, 7 and 8: "For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but He has called us unto holiness." Please notice the next verse: "He therefore that despiseth — " despiseth what? Despiseth holiness. Despiseth teaching and preaching about holiness. Despiseth our convictions about holiness. "He therefore that despiseth" — you're not despising man. You're not despising your pastor. You're not despising this district. You're not despising the United Pentecostal Church. You are not despising man at all. If you have a problem with holiness, you're despising God, because it's God who gave us His Holy Spirit. If you have a Holy Spirit living inside of you, your lifestyle should be holy. Some of you are getting worried that this is going to devolve — but we're evolving. Here we go.

Jude — you've got to cut James and Jude some slack, because both of those men grew up in a household with a perfect older half-brother named Jesus. And so these people do not play. James just hits you between your eyes: "You say you got faith — good for you. The devil has faith, and he trembles. You don't even react." They just — pow! And Jude's the same. Jude absolutely rails. He gets one chapter in the Holy Scripture. He absolutely rails against those who have forsaken the message of holiness. Jude calls them filthy dreamers, brute beasts, clouds without water, and trees without fruit. He compares people who have forsaken apostolic lifestyle to Cain, Balaam, Korah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fallen angels. Those are not intended to be compliments. He says they walk after their own ungodly lusts, and that they are mockers of the apostolic message. So I don't have time to go through his whole chapter, but here he is — Jude chapter 1, verse 3 and 4: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation" — I wanted to write a nice little epistle about the wonderful salvation, the new birth experience that God gave us — "but it was needful for me to shift gears and write unto you, and exhort you, that you need to earnestly contend for the faith. You need to have some persuasion. You need to have some conviction about Bible truth. And it needs to be the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Why? "Because there are certain men — they've crept in unawares, they've come in secretly and subtly, and before of old, they were ordained to this condemnation. They are ungodly men. They have turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness — unrestricted living, unrestrained behavior, and unbridled lust — and they have denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

If you ever had any doubt that holiness is important to God, a cursory reading of the New Testament would tell you exactly the opposite. The subject of holiness is serious in Scripture. It is serious to God. And it is serious to the apostolic church.

So I felt pushed today — not just nudged, literally pushed — to pause in the middle of this meeting, that is devoted to all of the wonderful things we enjoy as a district. And I stand here before you, and yes, I dare to address the subject of holiness. Your pastor — thank God for him — he dares to address the subject of holiness. You want to thank God you don't have a wimp for a pastor, who's just beat around with every floating trend, and every kind of wind of doctrine. You want to thank God if you've got a man of God that stands in a pulpit every week and says: there are some requirements if we're going to please God. He's not your enemy. He's your friend. Because holiness is the Bible subject that has the most to do with altering a disciple's lifestyle. There are tens of thousands of people today who profess belief in God. But real disciples allow their belief to alter their behavior.

Now, I stand here today, and I know there's no doubt: it would be a lot easier to follow the crowd, and dial it back, and dumb it down, and give it up, and lower the bar, and lessen the standards, and drop all of the distinctions. It would be so much easier — unless we are trying to make lifelong disciples of Jesus. If discipleship is the goal, then holiness becomes absolutely nonnegotiable. And as you try to live, and as your pastor tries to preach, the world, and the flesh, and the wiles of the devil will be sworn enemies to our mission of making disciples. But the Word, and the Spirit — and yes, the foolishness of preaching — will be our allies in this mission.

At its very root, holiness is a spatial term. It means separation. Simply put: when someone or something is holy, they are set apart. There is an observable distance between them and something else. Period. Full stop. End of story. Observable distance. If there's no observable distance between your lifestyle and the lifestyle of a rank sinner, you're doing this wrong. There should be observable distance.

Now, if I stood up here this morning — I don't know who would tackle me first; somebody would. If I stood up here and said, "Yeah — just before I came to Indiana, we had a baptism, and it was wonderful. It was such a beautiful service. We brought some people up, and we took a cup of water, and we sprinkled them" — and I'd be out of here. I wouldn't be leaving on a jet plane; I'd probably be leaving in a box, because one of these great pastors would be up here grabbing for this microphone. Because here's why: they know that baptism has a definition. And the definition of baptism is not to sprinkle somebody with water. That's not what we do in the cemetery: "Okay, let's sprinkle a little sand on them." That's not what we do. To be baptized, by definition, means to be immersed, to be dipped, to be plunged under the water, to be fully covered by water. That's baptism, by definition. Holiness, by definition, is separation. There's observable distance between you and something else. You cannot get around it. Holy people — they act and appear distinctly different from the world. Holy people will stand apart. They will withdraw themselves from the sinful things of the world.

But here's the thing: they are not just withdrawing so they can make other people feel unholy. That's not what holiness is. That's hatefulness. They're not withdrawing from the world to make other people feel inferior, or unholy. They're withdrawing from the world so they can withdraw unto the Lord — so they can be in His presence, and please Him. That's holiness.

The theologians call it the trisagion, if you need a Greek term for your dinner conversation. The trisagion — it literally means "thrice holy"; three times holy. And the trisagion appears two times in the Bible: once in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 6, and once in the New Testament, in Revelation 4. That's the trisagion — the thrice holy. Both times, the trisagion is spoken by angelic beings. And both times it occurs in a vision of the throne of God. The prophet Isaiah sees the six-winged seraphim flying around the throne, and they are covering their faces and their feet in reverence to God. And Isaiah hears them cry one to another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory." And the apostle John hears the same beings echoing the same refrain, some 600 years later: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." And John adds this: "And they rest not day and night." In other words, they've been singing that song around the throne of God for all the millennia of history — and before that, the millennia of eternity.

Here's the point: the closer you get to the throne of God, the more you will hear about holiness. Because holiness, by definition — holiness is proximity to the throne of God. When you live a holy life, you're pulling yourself, you're pushing yourself, you're entering into the presence of a holy God. And you do it not because you're trying to keep the rules. You do it because you value the relationship. And the closer you get into God's presence, the more you will hear about holiness. The closer you get to His throne, the more holy you will become. The closer you get to Jesus, the more His holiness will matter to you. If the seraphim show reverence, then the saints ought to show reverence. If heavenly creatures cover themselves in honor to God, then surely earthly Christians can understand that we should cover ourselves in honor to God. Furthermore, if the angels can't stop talking about God's holiness, then why would the apostolic church ever stop talking about the beauty of holiness?

I hope you enjoyed that, because I said all of that to get here — because you might not enjoy the next part as much, as we endeavor to make disciples. With all of that in mind — how important holiness is, how critical it is for people's lives to truly be changed — we must remember that sanctification is a process. And that process takes an entire lifetime. If you're still breathing this morning, God's still working on you. So, this process of sanctification — it begins with redemption, and it ends with transformation. It begins with deliverance, and it ends with discipleship. It begins with a new birth, and it ends in the New Jerusalem. It begins at an altar, and it ends at a throne. So God's working on us. God's working on you — not just them, whoever the baby Christians are that you're pointing out, and thinking, "I wish they'd get with the program." God's not just working on them. God's still working on you and me. There is no checklist to complete in the Bible. There's no bullet points that you check off: "Good. Got that. Got that. Got that. I'm done." No, you keep going, and you keep growing. That is the will of God for you, all of the days of your life.

So we understand from Scripture — the same Scripture that tells us how important holiness is tells us this — new disciples, they grow in the grace of God. So we must allow time for God's grace to teach them to walk separate from the world. How much time should we allow a new believer to grow in the grace of God, and develop a holy lifestyle? How much time should we allow? As much time as it takes. This is a much bigger goal than you pleasing some pastor across the district who's eyeballing your saints, and wondering if you still believe this. You've got eternal souls in your care. And as much time as it takes — that's how patient we're going to be.

You can give me grief on this point if you want, and I will laugh you off, because I know your children — you were patient with them. Just because Bobby wasn't potty trained as early as Sally, you didn't disown him. Just because one of your kids had some kind of little disability in their schooling, you didn't disown them. You gave them as much love, and as much time, and as much support as it takes. And I would say to you: God's great family is not a dysfunctional family. We love every baby believer. We love every new convert. We love them if they don't look like us yet. If they don't talk like us yet. If they don't act like us yet. You are the older brothers and sisters. We need to love God's family. So if you ever come to our church, you will find people at every age and stage of their walk with God. And you should. We are God's family. And like any loving family, we value every member of the family where they are, while we still embrace what God expects them to grow into as they mature. We don't lose sight of the goal, but that doesn't mean we can't love them in the process. We don't lose sight of the goal — that God wants to change their life from the inside out — but that doesn't mean, if they stumble and fall and mess up once a week, that we're not going to love them, and forgive them, and pray for them, and encourage them: "You get back up." We are not tossing anybody out. It is not our job to throw anybody out. It's our job to bring them in, and let them experience God.

People give us grief about this statement, but it's core with me: anybody can belong in one of our churches before they believe everything that they need to believe, and believe everything the Bible teaches. They can belong. Now, that's going to lead pastors — my colleagues in ministry, that I esteem so highly — that's going to lead to some awkward, awkward moments in the mall: "Hey, Pastor" — and you think, "Oh Jesus, help us." But that's okay. When our kids were in diapers, and Beverly would open that latest bomb — it's the same thing: "Lord Jesus, help us." Here's what we know about babies: they eat when they want. They sleep when they want. They make messes when they want. And we all just scramble to accommodate that precious new life that God put in our family. The family of God is no different than that. New converts — they're going to make some messes. They're going to make some mistakes. They're going to get hungry at the most inopportune times, and call you on the phone, and text you, and need counseling, and they've just had a disaster, or they've just committed a sin, and they're distraught. Do you know what? That's part of raising babies in God's family. And we're going to love every single one of them, until we get them to heaven by the grace of God.

If your pastor is trying to love on new converts, don't you give him grief. And don't you give him pressure, like: "Pastor, this should really be going better, and faster, and easier." Don't you give him grief. He's doing what God has called him to do. He's not just your shepherd. He's their shepherd. Oh my.

Furthermore: what do you think your job is in the apostolic church, anyway? If you're a seasoned, mature saint — here's your job. Paul says you're to be an example of the believers. Paul teaches us — here's what you say: "Follow me, as I follow Christ. If you live for Jesus the way I'm living for Jesus, you're going to make heaven your home." Where does a new convert, who's lived in the world for 40 or 50 years — where do they learn how to pray? By watching you. Where do they learn how to worship? By watching you. Where do they learn how to respond to the pastor? By watching you. How do they learn to get their carcass in the altar every service? By watching you. You're to be an example of the believers. You're the older brothers and sisters in the family. So for heaven's sake, don't fall down on your job. You're to be a loving, supportive example of the believers. My goodness.

You know, yesterday they wisely put an ordination service after me, so that I had to stop. I'll leave it hanging right there. We do want these new believers to grow in their relationship with God. And growing in their relationship with God does include holiness. So I humbly suggest, to you wonderful saints, and my colleagues in ministry that are here, whom I love — let me suggest a few things to you, as I endeavor to get to the end of this.

First of all: don't expect practices without explaining principles. Don't tell them what to do, unless you also tell them why we do it. Saints of God, if you don't know why we do this, you need to get your nose in the Bible, or get your carcass in pastor's office, and you need to find out why we do this. Because the worst answer in the world, when somebody asks why, is: "Well, pastor — " that is the worst, pathetic answer in the world. You need to be able to take them to the Word of God. Just like you took them, with the home Bible study, on the plan of salvation. If they've got a question on why we live the way we live, and why we do what we do, you need to point them to the Word of God. Now, I understand that not every holiness standard is based on a direct prohibition. God doesn't say "Thou shalt not" this, and "Thou shalt not" that, about everything. But every holiness principle is based on a biblical principle. Every practice that we observe — it should at least have a principle in God's Word. The big example to me is the internet. There is no verse that says, "Thou shalt not look at pornography on the internet." We don't have a direct prohibition in the Word of God, because electricity wasn't invented yet, and the internet wasn't invented yet. So there's no "Thou shalt not look at pornography on the internet." That doesn't give you license to do that, because there are many principles in the Word of God: "I have set no evil thing before mine eyes." "I have made a covenant with my eyes." "Whatsoever things are good and pure — if there be any virtue, any praise — think on these things." "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." So there's lots of principles. So when your pastor has the courage to get in your pulpit and try to teach your young people, "We've got to be very careful in this generation" — don't you sit on him and say, "I never saw that in the Bible." You need to be on your feet, thanking God for a man of God that's teaching you the principles of holiness. So: don't expect practices without explaining principles. Don't expect the what, without explaining the why.

Secondly: holiness is often better caught than taught. And they'll catch it from you, if you're a good example. They expect pastor to be a good example. He's the paid religious professional. What catches them off guard is when you live a holy life, and you love it, and you're joyful about it. We've got far too many Pentecostal police running around the United Pentecostal Church International. They've got a flashing red light piled on the top of their head, and they pull over new converts in lobbies, and foyers, and in pews — and they write them a ticket, and tell them what they're not doing right, and what they should be doing more of. That is not your job. That's God's job, and pastor's job. That's not your job. Here's your job: "I love holiness. I love Jesus. Just follow me, as I follow Christ. Let's do it together." That's your job. That's your job. Holiness is better caught from you. If you love it, and you live it with joy, it's contagious. It's better caught than taught. But, my fellow pastors, I would add to that: but if it is never taught, it will eventually be fought. So we've got to be very careful there. If we never teach holiness, we will eventually lose holiness.

Thirdly — I'm moving as fast as I can; thank you for your patience — thirdly: your direction, not your immediate position, is what determines your destination. When it comes to holiness, or sanctification — where you're going is more important than where you are. See, we're all on this same journey. Just because you're way over here, and a new convert's way back here, doesn't give you any permission to look back at them, and scorn them because they haven't got to where you are yet. We're all on this journey. If they are walking in the same direction as you — if they are walking toward Jesus with all their heart — it's not their position that determines how good they're doing. It's their direction that determines how good they're doing. So you need to come alongside them and encourage them.

Sweet little girl in our church — her name is Alicia, and she came to us years ago. And that sweet young lady — she was a party girl at the local university, and there's no telling how messed up her life actually got, and there's no telling how many men at that college took advantage of her. She was just a sweet young lady, but she was out in sin, and she came to our church. And she's just smart. People are smart. Don't talk down to people. People are smart. They see that something's different around here. They get that. She came in, and she wasn't there a couple of months — it wasn't even nearly that long, I don't think — and she pops into my office one night after church. And she said, "Pastor Raymond, do I have to wear a dress? Because I notice everybody here wears a dress. And I will wear a dress, if I have to wear a dress, but I don't really want to wear a dress, because I've never owned a dress. I've never worn a dress. But do I have to wear a dress? Because if I have to wear a dress, I'll wear a dress." What do we say? And I answered Alicia the very same way I've answered every new believer for more than 40 years of ministry: "No, you don't have to wear a dress to come here to church. But Alicia, here's some scriptures. You go and read these scriptures." And here's exactly what I said to her, and what I've said to so many other people: "And when Jesus talks to you about this, come on back and talk to me." It was hardly another two months that she comes in to the office one night after church, and goes — she said, "Notice anything?" I said, "New glasses?" "No." "New hairdo?" "No." I said, "Oh — Alicia, you're wearing a dress. That looks so wonderful. That's beautiful." She said, "Yes. And I am going to write a book. It's going to be called Skirt Adventures." True story. "Pastor Raymond, have you ever noticed that you can't run upstairs in a full skirt?" I said, "No, Alicia, I've never really thought about that." She said, "And have you ever noticed — did you ever know that you have to be really careful, if you've got a big full skirt on, when you close a car door?" I said, "I've never thought about that." She said, "But don't you worry, Pastor Raymond. Although I ripped the whole side out of my skirt, I had duct tape in the glove compartment, and I fixed it. So I was modest before I went to church." And she walked out of the office joyful, that she got to live her convictions before the Lord. And I said out loud to Jesus, after she shut the door: "And that's the way it's supposed to be." They don't get it out of pressure, or coercion, or guilt, or shame, or nagging. They get it out of joy, and a desire to do what God has talked to them about.

You know where Alicia is? She married a national in Paris. She's a missionary in France today. She just sent a little video clip yesterday. They were just kind of updating us on what they're doing in missions, and she said she's about ready to get her general license with the United Pentecostal Church of France. She's a soul winner. Oh my goodness. That's how it's supposed to work. We don't guilt them, and shame them, and nag them, and pressure them. We let them grow. You didn't pressure your kid. You didn't stand by the crib saying, "Grow, grow." You just let them grow, and loved them. How about we try that in God's great family? Let them grow, and love them. Let them grow, and pray for them.

Number four: here's what we've got to teach some of our precious new believers. And here's what we've got to understand. Holiness is whatever makes righteousness look normal, and worldliness look strange. That's holiness. You know what worldliness is? Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal, and righteousness look strange. That's worldliness. So: anything in your life — any idea, any article, any book, any of the thousands of YouTube videos from all kinds of preachers, who have every kind of opinion — anything that makes you question Scripture, sympathize with sin, imitate the world, or distance yourself from your pastor and your local church — you need to get that out of your life immediately, and never go back to it.

Number five: we need to teach our precious new believers these principles. The power of the Holy Ghost doesn't just restrain the desires of the flesh. It retrains the desires of the flesh. How? By putting new desires in us. Even in the Old Testament, they got that: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." That doesn't mean a Lexus in your driveway when you get home. That means He's going to put new desires in your heart.

Number six: when it comes to big Bible issues like salvation, you don't have to understand completely, to begin obeying immediately. If somebody comes up to us on a Sunday night, and says, "I want to be baptized in Jesus' name" — we are not going to say, "Well, you need to go to a three-year Bible school course, and you need to understand all the Greek language about baptism, and you need to understand all the imagery in the Old Testament about immersion, and mikvah — and you need to understand all—" We don't say that, because you don't have to understand completely, to begin obeying immediately. So — I'm not speaking for anybody else, just us — we go through two or three scriptures, make sure they understand what they're doing, and then we baptize them in the wonderful, and the only saving, name of Jesus. We don't say, "You need to come back next year." I am not, by the way, taking a shot against all of you that do these wonderful baptism Sundays. That's just to get baptism in front of our church, and in front of our community. So if you do a baptism Sunday — bless you in Jesus' name. I'm so proud of you. What a great outreach, and what a promotion of baptism. But I would also say to all of us: that doesn't mean, if baptism Sunday is six months away, and somebody comes on a Tuesday and says, "I'd like to be baptized" — that doesn't mean we put them off. Because we believe baptism is that important. Somebody texted me just this week, since I got in Indiana: "Do you know anybody in the province of Nova Scotia that could baptize us like the Bible says to be baptized?" I said, "Yeah, I'll give you a name." I gave them the name of Justin McKenzie, our wonderful superintendent. He's baptizing them at their camp meeting, when they drive to Halifax next Tuesday. I'm telling you that baptism is a wonderful thing. And we don't have to understand every nuance of baptism, to get baptized in Jesus' name. We don't have to understand completely, to obey immediately. You don't have to understand everything about the Holy Ghost. It's power from on high. It's the earnest of our inheritance. It's this, and it's that. You don't have to understand. You can just have faith in an altar call, and God can give you the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

I'm so glad I got baptized when I was 12. I was a little bit of a late bloomer. I got baptized when I was 12. I'm glad I didn't understand all the nuances of baptism when I was 12. I'm really grateful I didn't. All I understood was that Jesus said in His word that, if I would get baptized in His name, He would wash away my sins. That's all I needed to know at 12. I'm really glad I didn't understand that: "Baptism in the New Testament is a type of Old Testament circumcision" and all that stuff. I'm really grateful I didn't — I would have had a lot of questions at the age of 12. I'm sorry if that was offensive. You don't have to understand salvation. It's a big Bible issue. You don't have to understand it completely. You just obey it immediately. Can I say to you: you don't have to understand sanctification completely, to begin obeying immediately. You can have questions about — "Well, I wonder about that standard, and I wonder about this, and I'm not sure about this" — you can have questions about that, and you don't have to understand completely, to just say, "But I've got a submitted heart" — and you can start obeying now, before you fully understand. Simple obedience brings the blessing of God.

And I said this the other day, so I'll end here. Number seven: we don't just need standards of holiness. We need a spirit of holiness, to endue us in the great apostolic movement of the 21st century. We need to hunger for holiness. We need to thirst after holiness unto the Lord. It is not a burden. It is not bondage. It is not extra baggage. "Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Holiness is beautiful. It is what makes us designed to be different — to borrow Brother Reading's wonderful title.

Would you stand with me right now, in the presence of God? I thank you for your kind attention this morning. I feel the very same anointing that was here yesterday morning. I'm going to ask you one more time, if you would lift your hands to the Lord, and you would begin to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Lift up His name. Lift up His name. Lift up His name. Lift up His name. Would you just spin the volume dial on that worship for a moment? Just crank it up just a little bit. There's something very powerful in this room today.

As much as is possible today, I'd like us to come to the altar as families. And if you're here alone without your family — if you don't even have family in the church — the Bible says He sets the solitary in families. You're in God's family. I'd like you to come as families, as much as is possible. But I'd like everybody to head toward the altar today. We're going to pray a very important prayer in just a moment. As you come to the front, if you can help me, as quickly as you can come, as close to the front and as close to the center as you can, and just let's gather in. Thank you, Jesus. I know this takes a moment, but it's worth it. When you get here, just cede the clouds for us. Would you just begin to worship God? Just begin to worship God, all across the front. Come as close as you can. Make room for everybody coming behind you, but begin to worship God. Don't just stand and wait. We're not just waiting on other people. We're waiting on the Lord. It's beautiful. Indiana, I thank you. It's beautiful. Beautiful. Keep coming, folks. We've got a little bit of room in through here. We've got a little bit of room over here. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Somebody, while you're worshiping — maybe you could lift up the words that the angels sing. Just say: "Holy, holy."