Because It Is Written, Be Ye Holy, for I Am Holy

"We had a lesson last week where we talked about faith, and it was a beautiful lesson. If you don't have faith in God, there ain't no way that you can please him. So you want to have the faith, but you also got to be holy. Why would I choose a lesson that talks about being holy? Because everything that God do is holy. His word is holy. God chose us to be a holy nation and a holy people. So the title of the lesson is, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. Holy means to be set apart."

"Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you. And that is the key, you got to be obedient. As obedient children, no matter how old you are, you still got to be obedient. He said, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. That's your behavior. And verse sixteen, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. This is where we get the title of the lesson from. It's written in the Bible that you got to be holy, sisters and brothers."

"No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Anybody can understand it if you be taught. He said, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. These words in this book did not come by the will of man, it did not come out of his mind. So the next time somebody tell you a man wrote that Bible, you hit them with this right here. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You see how you got to be holy? These men were holy, and they spake as they was moved by the Holy Ghost. Point blank and period, that's how the Bible was written."

"There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? These devils, they already knew who Jesus was. Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Even when Jesus was walking on the earth, what was he? He was holy. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace, and come out of him. That's what you got to do to the evil spirit when it come to you. And once you get the evil spirit out of you, you can't let them back in no more."

"Let's show you how it was when the Lord brought us up out of Egypt. He had a requirement for us. We not the people of God just because we're black and because we were scattered as slaves, we the people of God because he chose us to be a royal priesthood. He said, now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. Nobody else can say that God came down and spoke to their people. He never spoke to no other nation, he only spoke to the children of Israel. Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. You going to have to operate differently from the rest of the world."

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, and a holy priesthood. We are not ordinary regular people like everybody else. You used to fit in with the world, but now you don't fit in no more. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. People going to think we crazy, but we not crazy, we just crazy for Jesus. He said, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

"For some reason people think that Jesus came to change the law, that anything written in the Old Testament is not valid no more. But you are sadly mistaken. He said, think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. He knew how they was going to try to twist the law and say the law ain't no more. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And the least in the kingdom of heaven is the lake of fire. Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

"People don't understand that even the foods that you eat make you holy, sisters and brothers. How can you be holy to God and you eat pork? How can you be holy to God and you eat shrimp, lobsters, crabs? He is the potter, and you are the clay, so I'm going to show you what you should eat. If it's a beast, whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, that shall ye eat. But the swine, though he divide the hoof, yet he cheweth not the cud, he is unclean to you. And if it come out of the sea, it got to have fins and scales. You go out to a restaurant, you see everybody ordering lobster and crabs, but when you holy, you don't eat these things."

"For I am the Lord your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I am holy. You got to be holy just like the Lord is holy, it ain't no other way around it. These are physical attributes that make you holy. People want to look at this like it's just a dietary law, but you got loved ones that still eat pork, and if they don't change and turn to the Lord and be holy the way that he is holy, then what you think God going to do for them?"

"Every law that God gave, the Canaanites was doing these things before Israel even got in the land. But I got a news flash for you, you around spiritual Canaanites all around in the world right now. After the doings of the land of Egypt, and after the doings of the land of Canaan, shall ye not do. Thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife to defile thyself with her. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination. These are the things that make you unholy, sisters and brothers. Defile not yourselves in any of these things, for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you."

"Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. He going to tell you what it is to be holy even in this chapter. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths. You got to honour and respect your mother and your father no matter what. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people, keep your mouth off other people. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, you got to hate the sin, but you got to love the person. But thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

"Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. I wear a beard because Jesus wore a beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. Think about the time frame you dealing with, the ancient Canaanites. Cutting the skin was a standard mourning ritual, and the tattoos on their bodies were honoring spirits and ancestors for the dead. So I'm not going to have you do that as well."

"Whosoever giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death. Your behaviour can get your whole family in trouble. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. That's the reason why you're holy, that's why he want you to be separate."

"Another thing that separates you from the world is the Sabbath day. Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. The Sabbath day is the gluing bond that keeps you connected with God. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. A perpetual covenant is an ongoing covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever. These are the Lord's instructions, written with the finger of God. Not over Obadiah, not over Israel Church of the Firstborn, this come from the Lord."

"The Sabbath was made for man. This was made for you, made for you to rejoice, made for you not to bear no burdens on this day. He said, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. He is Lord of it."

"Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day. This one we tend to forget about. Don't come to class all sad like you don't want to be here, you ought to be rejoicing to be in here. So what, you behind on your bills? You ain't behind on the Sabbath day, you dead on time on the seventh day. You got to leave your problems at home when it comes to the Lord's day. If you keep the Sabbath day, then I'm going to have your children coming into the city riding on horses and sitting on the throne for ever. What was the first thing the children of Israel let go? They lost sight of the Sabbath day, and that's why nobody come today."

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. That's what the Sabbath day is pointing to, the thousand year millennium period and the resurrection. That's what his feast days are pointing to."

"Your behaviour is also what's going to make you holy. That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. You got to put off the old man or the old woman, the old person that would cuss anybody out. Your conversation is your behaviour."

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. How you going to be talking the holy word of God and still dropping f-bombs? That's not a holy mouth, that's not a holy conversation. Be ye angry, and sin not, don't let your anger get the best of you, because your anger can take away from your holiness. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, don't go to bed angry, because when you get angry you are giving place to the devil. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness. Even your marriage got to be holy. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. We've been reading about this peculiar people all lesson, sisters and brothers, that's what God want you to be."

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still. So don't come to me talking about being overrighteous, we just trying to be holy, sisters and brothers. It's some physical things that God require us to be holy. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."