The Underwood Family

Missionaries to Argentina

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Personal Study of Holiness

Holiness

As a child of God we must think, and live in a way that honors Him. In order for us to have victory over sin, we must understand what is most important to God. If we will follow and obey two truths from God’s word, the foundation will be laid for us to remain spiritually, mentally and physically pure.

Matthew 22:35-40
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

In this passage of scripture; Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandment is for us to LOVE God! I believe that the reason He instructs us to love God fully is because when we love Him the way He deserves, then we begin to love the things that He loves.

When we LOVE God with our whole heart:

1) His desires become our desires and we love what He loves!
Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

This does not mean that if we love God or delight ourselves in Him, that we get anything and everything we want! Prosperity gospel is heretical teaching and leads men astray by the thousands! It does however mean, that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, we love Him more, that His desires will also be our desires. We will grow to love and want the things that He wants and loves!Here are a few things that God loves that we should also love:

  • The World: “for God so loved the world…” – Jn 3:16
  • Worship: “singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” – Col 3:16
  • Honor: “or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” – 1Cor 1:31
  • Holiness: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” – 1Pet 1:16
  • Reverence: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” – Matt 6:9

2) We love one another!
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

What are some ways we can show love one to another?

  • Show them Jesus: “and ye shall be witnesses unto me…” – Acts 1:8
  • Bear each other’s burdens: “Bear ye one another’s burdens…” – Gal 6:2
  • Pray for each other: “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men…” – 1Tim 2:1
  • Serve one another: “ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” – Jn 13:14
    3) We live a holy life!
    1 Peter 1:13-16 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

In 1 Pet 1:13a the Bible says to gird up the loins of your mind.
To gird up your loins simply means to prepare. It must be a conscious decision to prepare your mind. If you do not decide to be guarded in our lives each day, then we will eventually fall. It is the daily effort of purposing in your heart that you will not defile yourself. (Daniel 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank:therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.)

The passage also states that we should not fashion or live according to our old nature before salvation. Even though we are no longer “ignorant” to the grace of God, if we are not very careful, we live in our former unsaved state.

Heb 12:1,2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The first two verses of Hebrews tells us to lay aside things that hinder our relationship with God and the sin that we are most susceptible to.

The verse uses the illustration of a race that we run. To effectively run the race of a godly life we must put off weights and sin that would slow us down or hinder us from running.

What are some weights that could slow us down in the race of a Christian life?

  1. Our jobs
  2. Our hobbies
  3. Material things and wealth
  4. Even our families

These things in and of themselves are not “bad” things. However, when they begin to take up priority, when they take God’s place in our hearts, then they become wrong!
Matt 6:33 instruct us to seek first God’s kingdom, then all these things listed above will fall into the right priorities.

What are some sins that can so easily best us?

  1. Sex outside of marriage
  2. Pornography
  3. Alcohol
  4. Worldly Friends

The bible is very clear that we should abstain from fornication, fleshly lusts, drunkenness, and to be careful of our friends.

James 1:14,15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

James gives us the progression of feeding our lust.

  1. We are enticed by things that appeal to our flesh. This may be different for each individual. I may be enticed by something another person has no desire for. Satan knows this also. He will use bait that you enjoy to draw your attention and desire from the Lord.
  2. When that lust is acted upon, it produces sin. This is when lust is no longer an enticement, but something we have acted on.
  3. Then when sin has run it’s course, death is the end result.

It has been said that “sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

This is why it is so important for us to remain guarded each day, putting on the whole armor of God!

Eph 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

It all goes back to the original command; Love God with all your heart! When you strive each day to be more in love with Him, everything else will have its proper place in our lives. Priorities will be in line with His will. Fleshly desires will be be quenched, our minds will be prepared, and God can get ultimate glory from our lives! Living a holy live is not to be a burden or yoke of bondage; but rather allow us to know and experience real JOY!

Stephen Underwood
Acts 20:24
stephenunderwood.net

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Summary of the Book of Acts

Christ has been crucified, buried, and gloriously risen again! For forty days, He has walked and talked with the disciples, and many have witnessed His ascension into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the throne of God! Those in attendance have been given a command, a commission; GO and preach to every creature. With this, we find a new age in the history of man, the beginning of the church age, and the age of grace.

Just as Christ had promised, His ascension brought to the believer the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within our hearts. The church was empowered to become witnesses of Him to the uttermost parts of the earth, and enabled to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission. The first event of the new church age was ushered in by the Day of Pentecost, when Peter preached, the Holy Spirit moved, and 3,000 people of every tribe and tongue heard the gospel message in their own language and believed in Jesus Christ as Savior!

In Acts chapter three, we begin to see the Apostolic works and miracles performed in Jerusalem by Peter and John with the healing of the lame man. These signs were given as a testimony to the Jews in order for them to believe in the message of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. In Acts four, we see the first persecution of Peter and John with their trial before the Sanhedrin. I love the account in Acts four and verse thirteen, when the Sanhedrin perceived that that Peter and John were unlearned and ignorant, they marveled and took knowledge of one thing; that they had been with Jesus!

After that, Peter and John were let go and returned unto their people to report what had happened. Multitudes believed in Christ; they prayed together, and the place where they were assembled began to shake, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit of God. As a result, they all began to speak the Word of God with great boldness, shared the same mind and heart, sold their possessions, and gave it all for the furtherance of the gospel!

By Acts chapter six, we see that the church has added believers daily, they are preaching the Word of God house to house, and disputes have started to arise about the role of the Apostles. Having more ministry than they can handle, the Apostles called the people together to choose out Deacons to serve in the ministry, the first of which was a man named Stephen. In Acts seven, persecution again rears it’s head and Stephen is falsely accused and put to death by stoning.

Looking back at Acts chapter one with Christ’s command to go into all the world with the gospel message, and now being well established within the church age, the Apostles failed to go unto the uttermost parts of the earth. We see in Acts eight, that now because of great persecution, that they are now scattered as they were commanded to do to begin with. We also see another man come on the scene; Saul. Saul is ruthless, makes havoc of the church, persecutes all that he comes into contact with and is feared greatly among the disciples.

Although Saul is mightily used as an agent of destruction to the church, he sets out on the road to Damascus where his life is utterly changed for the rest of his life. A great light appears, he falls to the ground, and out of Heaven he hears, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” At that moment, Saul once a persecutor of Christians is now converted and given assignment by Christ Himself! In Acts nine, we see the conversion and calling of the Apostle Paul; the disciples were fearful and did not want to give Saul an opportunity, but Barnabas, the son of consolation took him, and so began the missionary journeys of the second greatest missionary to ever live.

Acts chapter ten is a glorious chapter for all of us! In this chapter, Peter has a vision from God that commands him to eat what was to a Jew unclean meat. The interpretation of the dream is that through Christ, there is nothing that is unclean and therefore even the gentiles are open to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! What does this mean for us? We too are able to receive salvation through grace by Christ Jesus! What a glorious chapter, that the gospel message was open to all, every nation is accepted by Him, not just to the Jew!

Acts chapter sixteen brings Paul to Timothy, who by the Apostle’s own words becomes his “dearly beloved son in the faith.” Just as Barnabas took, and trained Paul; Paul now mentors and trains Timothy to carry the gospel message to the world. In Acts seventeen, Paul is waiting on Timothy and Silas in Athens. As he looks over the city, his heart is stirred within him because he sees them wholly given to idolatry. Paul then preaches, and while some mocked him, there were many that believed.

All throughout Paul’s ministry he sees people saved, churches started, and disciples trained up; but all at the cost of great beatings and persecutions. God has moved in a mighty way and used the man that persecuted the church to help establish and lay a foundational model of the new testament church. We come to Acts chapter twenty and verse twenty four, which I have adopted as my life verse, and we see the Apostle’s attitude and conviction concerning his persecutions; “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” What a testimony of a changed life in Christ!

God has truly used Paul in ways that have been unmatched throughout history. Though he was beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes had to flee from further persecution, we find him using his Roman citizenship and the law to his advantage in Acts chapter twenty six. Paul is taken captive and he appeals unto Caesar as a Roman citizen, and is brought before King Agrippa. The Lord gave the Apostle an opportunity to present the gospel message to kings, just as he had been told from the beginning. Paul preaches the gospel, and Agrippa’s response was that he was almost persuaded to become a Christian.

Acts ends with the Jews refusing to accept nor even hear the gospel being preached. So Paul turns his attention to the gentiles. As Paul’s ministry continues to expand into every tribe and tongue, we see the early church made up mostly of the Jews now being more and more gentile. As we all know, God is not yet done with Israel, however He has chosen to use the church to carry out His command; to reach the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Stephen Underwood
Acts 20:24
www.stephenunderwood.net