Change is the essential process of all existence.

Holiness

Exodus 3:5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Sandals would collect dirt and dust from the world, so that in removing them, one was removing the dirt and dust from their life to stand before God. The word standing had more to do with a positional relationship; so the idea of the verse was that as the heart was cleansed from contaminants, the individual would find themselves in a positional relationship with God.

Read Ephesians 4:17-27

Ephesians 4:23,24 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Holiness is about a progressive change that takes place on the inside of us and as this change continues we find ourselves living differently on the outside. This change affects how we relate to people, how we speak, how we present ourselves and even the life choices we make. Holiness is about living a lifestyle that has a positive Christ effect on others and having removed anything from our life that could cause others to stay away from God.

Here is a measuring stick: in every situation of my life, whether it be what I say, what I do, how I dress, what I drive, how I drive, where I go, what I eat and what I drink, I ask myself this question “Am I drawing attention to myself or am I drawing attention to Christ Jesus?”…..…..Eph 4:27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Holiness is living a selfless life and living a Christ centered life, in other words in all the decisions I make I will ask myself “How does this effect others? Does this decision draw people closer to God or cause them to move away from God?”

Here is a personal example: In my life I choose not to drink any alcohol, not because it is good or evil, I just simply ask myself whether drinking can help me have a better Christ effect in the lives of others or would it hinder that effect? I have decided that drinking would limit my ability to serve and empower others therefore I do not drink alcohol.

Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Holiness is all about the Tree of Life (Christ) and not the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (self).

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Who Am I?

Exodus 3:

Moses had no problem with God’s plan to deliver the children of Israel until he finds out that something is required of him. It is fear and insecurity brought about by a lack of identity that causes this response.

Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

Exodus 4:

In this chapter we see how self centered Moses was; all he could think about was who he was not instead of whom God is. All he could see was his inability to perform the task at hand when all God was looking for was someone to perform through.

Exodus 5:

Exodus 5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh represents the self willed mind or intellect; he who trusts in his own ability. Everyone has a Pharaoh in them that only believes in the solid evidence of logic and fights against any thought or idea that would bring challenge to his thinking.

Note in verse two what Pharaoh (the mind) says. “I do not know the LORD”. Obedience to the voice of God is dependent on an intimate relationship or knowing Him.

Exodus 14:11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Exo 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
Exo 14:14 “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”

Verse 14: If you cannot speak the answer, than it would be better to remain silent until you can!

Here we see a different Moses, we see a man who is starting to know God and to trust Him; a man who is now starting to speak the answer and not the problem; a man who is starting to think and speak like God; a man who is starting to discover who he is!

Remember: God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called!

Who is God?

G – giving
O – oneness
D – destiny

It is in the discovery of who God is that we discover our own identity.

Giving:

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Matthew 5:14a “You are the light of the world.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

In creating light God gave of Himself, in fact everything that was created was created by God and made up of God. God gave everything into existence. The first part of our God life that we must embrace is giving. We give our life into existence because giving is creating and without giving there can be no creating.

Oneness:

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
One is the Hebrew word ‘echâd meaning unity!

John 17:22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
Joh 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

We must realize that we are created for unity and are created in unity with God and with each other. Furthermore we are created in unity with all things because Christ is all things and we are one in the Christ.

Destiny:

Exodus 3:10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Destiny is discovered or is the fruit of the God relationship through the Christ in the life of giving and oneness. Remember that the Christian journey is one of discovery of who we already are and what we already have.

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