Holiness is frequently mistaken for legalism, yet the two are distinctly different. Today on Enjoying Everyday Life, Joyce Meyer highlights the difference between pursuing holiness and merely adhering to strict rules. Get Today’s Offer From Joyce: 1-800-709-2895 https://joycemeyer.org/store
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– – – – – – – Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives. With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way. #JoyceMeyer#EnjoyingEverydayLife#Holiness
did you know you can live a supernatural
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Meyer
Ministries I think one of the most
challenging things that we do is to be
holy and yet not be
legalistic to live a life of freedom but
not a life of Sin calling that
freedom I do what I do because I’ve seen
God’s power transform my own life and he
will do it for you the key to everything
is found in God’s
word I’m Joy Meer and I believe that God
can heal you everywhere you hurt
[Music]
thank you for joining me today on
Enjoying Everyday Life today I’m going
to be teaching on Holiness actually I’m
going to teach on that for today and
then the next two days little different
tomorrow I’m going to teach on how
important truth is and I think Holiness
is something that we need to talk more
about because God does call us to live
holy lives and it’s not something that
we hear hear from our pulpits as much as
I think we need to hear from it
because people
really kind of makes them a little
nervous you know Holiness is not
legalism and I want to make sure that I
make that clear because a lot of people
who think about Holiness or they try to
live a holy life they think that means
that they have to be perfect and they
can’t do anything and they can’t have
fun so let’s be real open-minded and by
the grace of God get into this and learn
some things that are going to help us
live a life that is more pleasing to God
and represents him well what is Holiness
well Holiness defined in vines’s Greek
dictionary is the state that’s
predetermined by God for believers now
when something is predetermined that
doesn’t mean it’s automatically going to
happen it means God has already already
decided that that’s what he wants for us
and he’s made it possible for us to have
it but we have to do our part It’s a
state in which in Grace he calls us and
in which we begin our Christian course
and so pursue it now the word pursue is
very important it means growing towards
Perfection we think about Holiness and
we think that means we have to be
perfect but really means growing always
having an attitude of pursuing and
striving far Holiness as long as we’re
in these fleshly bodies we’re never
going to manifest 100% Perfection you
say well then what’s the point in going
after something that I know that I’m
never going to have because God expects
us to be pursuing it and always making
progress you may not have 100% arrived
when Jesus comes back to get us but but
he wants to find us pressing toward it
that needs to be our goal we need to
realize that the call on our life is to
be transformed into the image of Jesus
Christ well I don’t know about you but
I’ve got a little ways to go so I need
to keep pursuing that and pressing
toward it the Holy Spirit the holy
spirit is the main agent in Holiness and
he is the one who works with us toward
this goal actually You Are Holy when
you’re born again if you’ve received
Christ as your savior when the Holy
Spirit comes to live in your spirit are
the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit
because they’re all one if one’s there
they’re all there but when the Holy
Spirit comes to live in your spirit he
has to make everything holy because God
cannot be anywhere that’s not holy so we
have all these Wonder ful things in us
that need to be worked out of us they
need to be worked into our soul and then
into our actions where they can affect
other people and make them hungry for
God in their lives now I just want to
say right up front that being a
Christian a real Christian is about a
lot more than just going to church every
week
lot of people you’ll ask them are you a
Christian well I go to church well I say
this all the time but I’ll say it again
today because it’s a little funny I can
go sit in a garage my whole life and
that’ll never make me a car so just
sitting in church does not mean that
you’re a Christian there’s a lot of
people that go to church because they
grew up going to church or it’s a habit
or they may even do it for social
reasons but we should go to church to
learn
to fellowship with other people to be
accountable to other people to have a
place from which we can be involved in
serving God and doing things that will
help the kingdom of God
grow Holiness is not legalism I want to
make sure that I make that clear I think
one of the most challenging things that
we do is to be holy and yet not be
legalistic to live a life of freedom but
not a life of Sin calling that
freedom to live a holy life does not
mean that we have no
fun never go to parties you got to
remember that Jesus’s first miracle was
done at a wedding party so he’s
obviously not against parties it’s just
that you can have uh a very
unclean sinful party or or you can have
a good fun Godly holy party and that
doesn’t mean that you have to be praying
during the whole party it just means
that you don’t do things that you know
God wouldn’t approve of being holy
doesn’t mean that you can’t see movies
that you can’t play cards or you not Dan
or you can’t dance it has nothing to do
with cutting your hair wearing jewelry
or makeup we’re not Unholy if we change
our hair
color wear colorful
clothes Pierce our ears or get
BOTOX contrary to many people’s beliefs
and I know some of you will fall off
your chair when I say this we are not
Unholy if we get a
tattoo religious people like oh they
have a tattoo they must be this that or
something else you cannot judge a
person’s heart by what they wear or what
color their hair is or whether they have
a tattoo or not
or get BOTOX we need to stop judging
other people by outward appearance
because God sees the heart do you know
that the Bible says that God has a
picture of us tattooed on the palm of
his hands imagine
that some people have tattooed on them
in the Old Testament it says this in
Isaiah 44:5 they have tattooed on their
hands I belong to the
Lord one will say Isaiah 44:5 I am the
Lord’s another will call himself by the
name of Jacob and another will bright
will write even brand or tattoo upon his
hand I am the Lords well you know last
year the ripe old age of 79 I had
tattooed on my left shoulder in the back
I belong to
Jesus and I did it really just just I
think to kind of prove to religious
people that you can be holy and have a
tattoo besides that I wanted anybody
that saw my shoulder to know that I
belong to the Lord now not too many
people see my shoulder but there are a
few times when they
do Hebrews 12:14 now this is a
interesting scripture one that we don’t
probably use very much because it’s says
something that is a little bit scary and
we don’t like to scare people but this
is important Hebrews
12:14 strive which means put out an
effort to live in peace and
pursue which means chase after go after
with all your heart that Consecration
and
Holiness here it comes without which no
one will ever see the
Lord oh you say now wait a minute
Joyce I’m born again I’m going to go to
heaven
well you know
just saying a sinner’s
prayer doesn’t necessarily mean that
you’re going to go to heaven there’s a
life that God expects us to live and
we’re not saved by our
works but if we’re truly saved we are
going to want to live holy lives that
are pleasing to God let me say that
again we’re not saved by our works the
Bible says plainly in Ephesians that
it’s not by our works there’s no work
that we can do that will save us we’re
saved by the
grace and mercy of God but if we’re
truly saved and I say truly saved
because I think a lot of people think
just because they pray a prayer and
repent of their sins one time that that
means that they’re all okay now and they
go to church every Sunday but they live
like the rest of the world all the rest
of the time and I take responsibility
for that as a teacher we are the ones
that need to tell people
that your initial commitment to Christ
is the very basic beginning of your walk
with him but from then on you need to
grow and pursue Holiness and I didn’t
say it Paul said it recorded in Hebrews
without which no one will ever see the
Lord that doesn’t mean I have to be
perfect it just means that I need to be
pursuing constantly walking in the will
of God and doing what I believe he would
want me to do it’s obvious from these
words that we must make an effort in the
power of the Holy Spirit not a human
fleshly effort but an effort in the
power of the Holy Spirit and I said the
holy spirit is the main agent in
sanctification because we cannot do it
without the power of the Holy Spirit we
all need to be filled with the Holy
Spirit are baptized in the Holy Spirit
are endued with power from on high
whatever you want to call it we can’t
live the life that God wants us to live
unless we are filled with the Holy
Spirit and that’s something that I pray
every day because we not only need to be
filled once we need to be filled and
refilled and refreshed and refueled and
so every morning when I pray I ask God
fill me full of the holy spirit so I can
do your will today if you don’t pray
that way I want to encourage you to
start praying that God will fill you
with the Holy Spirit the Bible says that
Jesus John said one will come after me
he said I baptize you in water but one
will come after me who will baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire and we
need that Holy Ghost baptism and that
Spirit of fire in our
lives now what about this without which
no one will ever see the lord well we
should take this
seriously and
examine whether we are just merely going
to church or truly pursuing the life
that God called us to live and I can say
that for many years although I do
believe I was born
again
I I loved
God but I didn’t love him with my whole
heart and I had made a commitment to him
but I had not committed my whole life to
him I didn’t live my life pursuing God
and always wanting my behavior to change
and come up higher and higher and higher
if you want to know the truth I went to
church on a regular basis for many many
years even worked on the evangelism team
of our church I was even on the board of
our church and I do believe that I would
have gone to heaven if I would have died
because I did love the Lord and I was
making some effort but I would have
probably still been in kindergarten when
I got there because I was making rather
a pitiful effort I didn’t understand
what I’m telling you today and a lot of
people don’t understand and we can’t be
responsible for what we don’t know but
once we do know then we do become
responsible for it so if you’re watching
this program today you better be ready
to start getting more serious with God
because after today you’re going to
know and when we know to do right and
don’t do it then it becomes
sin we need to examine whether we’re
merely going to
church or truly pursuing the life that
God has called us to
live can you tell a difference between
you and the unsaved people that you work
with can you tell a difference between
you and your unsaved neighbors or do you
do all the same things they do except
you just go to church once a week and
think that makes it
okay here’s a statement I want you to
get we are not merely called to
happiness
we are called to
Holiness let me say it again we’re not
merely called to
happiness we’re called to Holiness and
don’t let that scare you as I said that
doesn’t mean you can’t do anything it
just means that you need to do what you
do the right way you can go to the
movies but you shouldn’t go to movies
that are full of filthy things you need
to go to ones that you would go to Jesus
Jesus with because you take him with you
everywhere that you go we shouldn’t be
doing things that he doesn’t approve
of once again Holiness is not
legalism but it will require wise
choices and what we do and how we dress
where we go what we listen to what we
watch on
television and what kind of movies we go
to how we talk how we think
what we say how we talk about other
people are you living your life far God
daily pursuing Holiness and the will of
God always wanting to do what he wants
you to do now the holy spirit is in us
for many reasons he’s our teacher our
guide he helps us pray we don’t know how
to pray but one of the things he does is
he convicts us of
sin makes us a little uncomfortable if
we’re doing something we shouldn’t be
doing we have a
conscience and we should not do things
that our conscience
condemns you know I like to watch
television in the evenings I like to
disconnect and I particularly like
Mysteries I like something I can get
kind of lost in and you know be
wondering what the end is going to be
even like I’ve been watching the these
Health shows about people that have
these mysterious illnesses that nobody
can figure out what they are and even
something like that it just intrigues me
and I learn something at the same time
well you know if I’m watching a movie
and I am very interested in this
movie
and all of a sudden there’s something in
it that I
know is not
right people start taking taking their
clothes off
they’re jumping in bed together every
few minutes there’s a lot of filthy
language in
it I don’t need somebody to come and
tell me you need to turn that off the
Holy Spirit lets me know by just making
me little bit uncomfortable I’m just I
know and you know you know right from
wrong unless
your heart has gotten
hard and your conscience has gotten
hardened to where you really can’t H
right from wrong then you know what’s
right and you know what’s
wrong and you have a free will the holy
spirit is in us to let us know when
we’re going in the wrong direction but
God will never make us do the right
thing he always gives us free
choice what am I really trying to talk
about today I’m really wanting to talk
to people that are just kind of living a
nominal
lukewarm Christian
Life going to church thinking that’s all
you need but really
not pursuing God you haven’t really
surrendered your whole life to God
you’ve given him enough of yourself to
hopefully stay out of hell but not
enough to really be a witness for him
and someone that he can really be proud
of I want God to be proud of me and I
want to hear what he said to Jesus this
is my beloved one in my case daughter in
whom I am well pleased and I believe
most of you want that if you love God
then you’re going to want to please him
in all that you do and thankfully when
we fail which is pretty much daily we
can repent tell God we’re sorry Jesus
already died for all of our sins the
forgiveness is there all we need to do
is repent and receive that
forgiveness a Ephesians 51
15-17 says look carefully how you walk
live purposefully and worthily and
accurately not as the unwise and the
witless but as wise sensible intelligent
people are you being careful how you
live or are you just doing what you feel
like doing make the very most of your
time buying up each opportunity because
the days are evil we are living in very
evil times
and we need to take every opportunity
that we
can to affect the lives of those that
don’t know Christ yet and one of the
best ways we can do that is by
living a Christian Life a real Christian
Life in front of them not being
religious and legalistic but just being
like Jesus
loving humble
kind Meek making right
choices therefore don’t be vague and
Thoughtless and foolish but understand
and firmly grasp what the will of the
Lord is
now there’s a very interesting scripture
in the book of
Hagi and I I love to use this scripture
it only reads this exact way in the
classic Amplified Bible but it basically
says Holiness is not contagious but
unholiness is or you might look at it
like this you know I can catch the flu
from somebody but I have to choose
Health you can’t catch Health that’s
something you have to choose and you
have to live your life in a certain way
you need to keep your hands clean and
you know stay away from certain things
take care of yourself Eat Right be
healthy Hagi 211 thus says the Lord of
hosts ask now the the priest to decide
this
question if one carries in the skirt of
His Garment flesh that is Holy because
it has been offered in sacrifice to God
back then they offered meat in sacrifice
to God and then that meat became holy
well when the sacrifices were over they
would carry it away in the skirt of
their garments and portions of it would
go to the priest and you know they take
it home and eat it and use it and with
this his skirt or the flaps of His
Garment he touches bread or pottage or
wine or oil or any kind of food does
what he touch touches become dedicated
to God’s service
exclusively and the people answered no
Holiness is not infectuous you can’t be
infected with Holiness you have to
choose
it then said Hagi if one who is
ceremonially
unclean because he has come in contact
with a dead body should touch any of
these articles of food shall it be
ceremonially unclean and the priest
answered it shall be unclean because
unholiness is infectuous so get that you
can’t be infected with Holiness but you
can be
infected with
unholiness well that gives me good
understanding for why Paul told us how
important it is that we spend time with
the right kind of people and that we
don’t spend time with the wrong kind of
people let me ask you a question who do
you spend your time with do you spend
your time with people that are pursuing
Holiness people who have the character
of God in their life or do you spend
your time with people that are not
living for God thinking that it won’t
affect you it will affect you you can be
infected with their wrong
Behavior if you’re around somebody that
has good behavior that will affect you
too but you’ll still have to choose it
Paul said don’t associate closely with
those who are sexually impure greedy a
thief or a person with a foul
tongue 1 Corinthians 5 6- 11 gives us
good understanding on
this and I I’m not reading the whole
entire thing but Paul said I wrote you
in my letter not to associate with
sexually
immature immoral people with sexually
immoral people not at all meaning the
people of this world who are immoral or
greedy or swindlers or idolators because
in that case you would have to get out
of the world all together so he’s saying
if you try to stay away from every
worldly person that is not living a
Godly life you’d have to just get out of
the world because you can’t avoid them
all but he Saidi writing to you that you
must not
associate with anyone who claims to be a
brother or a sister in Christ but is
sexually immoral or greedy or an
idolator or a slanderer just a slanderer
he’s saying don’t spend a lot of time
with somebody who gossips about other
people well how many Christians do that
they now I remember when we used to go
to church on Sunday and then a bunch of
us would go out to breakfast and we
would gossip about the pastor and
everything we didn’t like about his
sermon that day and everything we didn’t
like about him well we weren’t pursuing
Holiness we weren’t living a Godly life
we were acting no different than
unbelievers but I’ll tell you one thing
once I got really serious about
God and this is where the dividing line
is and we’re going to continue this
tomorrow but once I I got serious in my
walk with
God I I couldn’t do that kind of stuff
anymore without being really
uncomfortable I’d been filled with the
Holy Spirit and he was in me I
mean tearing me up inside make I would
be miserable inside if I tried to do
those kind of things now today we’re
offering you a book that I think is very
good that I wrote many years ago but
thankfully the word never gets old it’s
called knowing god intimately and we’re
offering you the Holy Spirit booklet if
you’re interested in being filled with
the spirit this booklet is going to help
you a lot and I love this book about
knowing god intimately it talks about
all the gifts of the Spirit all the
fruit of the spirit and how important it
is to seek God for who he is and not
just what he can do for you being as
close to God as you want to be
paperback book nice big book a lot of
good things in there that are going to
help you so I really want to encourage
you to order your copy today and I want
to tell you how much we love you and how
much God loves you and how we appreciate
you and I want to thank all of you who
support the broadcast and I hope that
you’ll tune in again tomorrow when we
continue this message that I think is
very important God bless you did you
know you can live a supernatural life
learn how to experience the gifts of the
holy spirit in your day-to-day living
with Joyce’s practical guide knowing god
intimately Joyce’s book explains the
gifts of the holy spirit found in 1
Corinthians 12 also included today as
the booklet the Holy Spirit here you can
learn how to be filled with his spirit
and to experience his Supernatural
presence in every part of your life so
you order your copies of these resources
today and get ready to add some super
to your natural life visit online at
joy.org or call 1
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18007985534 should they should they do
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we hope you enjoyed today’s
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Dead written subject material, Really enjoyed examining.