The High Calling to Holiness

From: firstlight@billriceranch.org

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No calling of God, however noble, is higher than the call to holiness.

I Thessalonians 4:3,7 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication…for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. I will never forget when, as a seventeen-year-old, I heard a message here on the Ranch about surrender to the will of God. I decided that was exactly what I wanted. I was sitting in the "cheap seats" back about 30 rows, and I remember making a long walk to the front to pray with a counselor to surrender my life to whatever God wanted. Do you know God's will for your life? The problem with that question is that usually when we ask it, it is framed in terms of the story I just told. It is always about the future, the big things. Certainly God has an opinion about your future and a purpose for your life, but God's will is right here, right now. You are either in it or you are not. Now to be in God's will does not mean that you know everything about the future. God's will for your life is more of a matter of your fellowship with Him than it is merely His plan for your future. I Thessalonians 4 talks about the will and calling of God. Verse 3 says, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." So we know that God's will is for His people to live pure and clean lives before Him. Verse 7 says, "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." No calling of God, however noble, is higher than the call to holiness. No one believer is exempt from following this call. I remember talking to a gentlemen about a preacher who had disgraced his family and ministry by living in sin. I am sorry to say that he lost his ministry. I remember this gentleman recounting that he had heard this preacher preach after he was guilty of this disgraceful sin but before he had been found out. My friend said, "Brother Wil, even then he preached with such power." No, he did not! That preacher may have had talent and charisma, but he did not have the power that God wishes to give you through a pure life. Your calling and enabling, what you do with your life, is mighty important, but nothing is more important than what you are doing right now. God's will for me is to be honest, to love my wife, to treat others how I should, to give the gospel, and to be in fellowship with Him. I don't have to wait five years to know these things. I can do them now. If I will do these things now, I can know God's specific plan, will, and calling for my life every step of the way. The call of God is a call to holiness, and that is a call to live in practice what I am by position, a man set apart to God. Prayer Requests: -Meetings this week in Murfreesboro, TN Share Share Enjoy more devotionals, sermon audio, and articles on our website! Read Past Devotionals Bill Rice Ranch 627 Bill Rice Ranch Road, Murfreesboro, TN, 37128

FINDING THE KINGDOM

ZECHARIAH 14

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. THE KING ENDS THE TRIBULATION [v. 1-7]

1. The Taking of Jerusalem [v. 1-2]

2. The Touchdown of the King [v. 3-4]

3. The Tunnel of Escape [v.6-7]

II. THE KING BEGINS THE MILLENNIUM [v. 8-15]

1. The Living Waters [v. 8]

2. The Lord of Earth [v. 9]

3. The Land of Safety [v. 10-15]

III. THE KING REIGNS [v. 16-21]

1. The Feast of Tabernacles [v. 16]

2. The Punishment of Foolishness [v. 17-19]

3. The Triumph of Holiness [v. 20-21]

Quotes of the Week

You may go to Hell unsaved but you will never go to Hell unloved. - Fred Barlow

Husbands and wives should not pick favorites from among their children. - Frank Gagliano

Parents should never lie to one another on behalf of their children.  - Frank Gagliano

You can never take the Gospel to the wrong address. - Roy Ackerle

HEAVENLY INSTRUCTIONS FOR ISRAEL’S EARTHLY PILGRIMAGE

DEUTERONOMY 12

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. THE DESTINATION IN SIGHT [12:1-7]

1. The Law of the Land [v. 1]

2. The Destruction of Demonism [v. 3-4, Is. 8:20, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Tm. 4:1]

3. Seeking the Lord [v. 5-7]

II. THE DIFFERENCES INSIDE [12:8-19]

1. A Difference in Time [v. 8-9]

2. A Difference in Place [v. 10-14, 2 Chr. 7:12, Jn. 4:19-26]

3. A Difference in Responsibility [v. 15-19]

III. THE DISTINCTIONS IN BEHAVIOR [12:20-32]

1. The Secular [v. 20-25, 1 Timothy 4:3-4]

2. The Sacred [v. 26-27]

3. The Scripture [v. 28-32, 4:2, Pr. 30:5-6, Rev. 22:18-19]

THE CALLING

1 Peter 1:15, 2:9, 21; 3:9, 5:10, 2 Peter 1:3

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. WHAT IS THE CALL “TO”

1. The Call to Salvation [Matthew 9:13, Romans 10:13]

2. The Call to Separation [1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Peter 2:9]

3. The Call to Service [Matthew 4:18-22, 1 Peter 2:21]

II. WHAT IS THE CALL?

1. It is Prayerful [2 Thessalonians 1:11]

2. It is Personal [2 Thessalonians 1:11, 1 John 3:1]

3. It is Powerful [2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, 2 Peter 1:3]

III. WHAT KIND OF CALLING IS IT?

1. It is a Holy Calling [2 Timothy 1:9, 1 Peter 1:15]

2. It is a Heavenly Calling [Hebrews 3:1, 1 Peter 5:10]

3. It is a High Calling [Philippians 3:14, 1 Peter 3:9]

Question of the Week: Can Science Explain the Origin of Life on Earth?

Subject: Can Science Explain the Origin of Life on Earth?
From the good folks at the highly recommended: www@answersingenesis.org

Science can probe only things that we can detect with our five senses.   (View in Browser)

The Rules of Science Science is supposed to be about things that are observable. That is, science can probe only things that we can detect with our five senses. Science also must be repeatable. These restrictions on science have led to what we call the scientific method, the general rules that we follow in doing science. The scientific investigation of the origin of life presents us with at least two problems.   Get Answers →   Get Equipped Why Biblical Creation Is Good Science Shop Now 〉

Tasmanian Tigers: Extinct or Elusive? Sightings of Thylacines have been reported over the years from explorers and from indigenous people groups who send hunters into the jungle or mountains. Beauty—The Undeniable Witness God made his handiwork so clear that even a child can see it (Romans 1:18–20). The beauty of His work is inescapable—and an undeniable witness to His existence. Religious Institutions Targeted for Seeking Exemptions Activists are trying to make LGBT issues civil rights ones—but they are moral ones! Now Hiring For Ark Encounter! This summer could be your best summer ever as you join a team of godly men and women who will be serving guests aboard the life-size Noah's Ark.

Media Check This Out The Nature of Science

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John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Now the "land flowing with milk and honey" will belong to Israel, the children of Abraham. God's promise to Abraham was "for ever" (Gen. 13:15). So God can devastate the country by war, can restore it in the millennium, can purge it with fire as II Peter 3:7 foretells, but the land will not pass away, Abraham and his seed have eternal title to it. - John R. Rice

There is great frailty in the human heart. We look for the incidentals instead of the fundamentals. Men want to reverence places, houses, men, instead of God. Men call the church auditorium "the sanctuary," which it is not. The only temple God has on earth is now the body of the Christian. They want to "reverence the house of God" instead of God and the Gospel. So we must take particular caution not to make more of incidental object lessons than God intended. - John R. Rice

Our Catholic friends had a great custom of building a church over every place of some historical, biblical significance. To me, that someway takes away the beauty of the places. One young college girl who went with us on the tour of the Holy Land sat down and wept, saying, "They have ruined it all!" She could not see the things as they had been when Jesus was here because of the churches built in Bethlehem, in Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Nazareth and elsewhere. I said rather facetiously, "I am glad to find they haven't built a church yet over the sea of Galilee."
But, thank God, we have all the historical truth, and we have the Person of Christ and the blessed, wonderful history of it all in the eternal Word of God. - John R. Rice

It is strange that "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man" (Luke 2:52). How could Jesus, the sinless, perfect God in human form grow in wisdom? I think we can understand that the Lord Jesus gladly laid aside much of the outward show of His deity and much of the wisdom and knowledge which He had from the beginning of the world. He chose to be a Man, with man's temptations and trial, but not with man's sin. So He "took on him the form of a servant." He emptied Himself somewhat of the outward manifestations of deity. He set out to learn as other boys must learn. He grew in body as other boys grow. - John R. Rice

He grew "in favour with God." That is strange, too, isn't it? But God the Father loved His Son because He offered Himself as a Sacrifice, and if righteousness brings approval of God, then the Father is more and more pleased with His Son. So Jesus grew to manhood being subject to His mother and His foster father Joseph. And all the mothers would say to the boys around there, "You ought to be like Jesus. Don't you see how good He is?" - John R. Rice

We may be sure that Jesus studied the Scriptures earnestly. When He came back to Nazareth He attended the synagogue "as he was wont." They asked Him to read because they knew how well He knew the Bible. He was the best Reader and the best One to explain the Scriptures. So they gave Him the roll of Isaiah and "He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." (Luke 4:16, 17, 18). He knew where it was and turned to it. Jesus knew the Scriptures and loved them. All of His life on earth would be spent beautifully and carefully fulfilling the Scriptures. - John R. Rice

When Jesus came to John to be baptized of him, John hesitated. John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah until He was baptized and the Holy Spirit came visibly upon Him in the form like a dove. But already He knew that Jesus was so good and pure and clean, and John had a holy reverence for Him. He said, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" You can see that though people did not know He was the Messiah (except, perhaps, His mother Mary), yet the good people who knew Him knew Him to be holy and good. - John R. Rice