Godly Standard Of Living

Before we get started in the word, let's pray, father.

We just thank you, lord, for your word.

It's alive, it's powerful, it is sharp.

There's nothing more that we desire than to be with you, to be in your presence and just under your word and under the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, holy Spirit.

It is not my words, but it's you working through me, and so I thank you that we're teachable, we're moldable and we're going from glory to glory, and so we just thank you that the words that are spoken, they're a mirror, and so we just look at the word and it cuts whatever things that need cutting out of us, and it cuts whatever things that need cutting out of us.

I thank you, lord, that the word of God is so alive and it is powerful and we put it to use.

We're not only hearers of your word, but we are doers in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

You know praying that made me think of the kids.

We have adult kids now, but growing up, when they were in children's church, and even now, I always ask them hey, what's one thing you learned?

And even with some of the teens or the young adults, if I see them in here, hey, what did you?

I think I was in junior high and I asked somebody what did you learn from pastor?

And they're like uh, um, uh.

And so with our kids growing up, we would always, you know, we get lunch and then we sit at the lunch table and just talk about hey, what did Pop preach on?

And what's the one takeaway?

You know, because if you have all this stuff and then you don't apply it to your life, what good is it?

You know, it's not on pastor, it's on us.

So what good is it if he says all, and pastors like number one.

I mean, come on now, he's just so full of wisdom and knowledge and full of the Holy Ghost, but there needs to be application to what he's preaching, amen.

And so tonight.

So I have like three titles.

I don't even know which title you want to write if you're taking notes, but that's how my brain was working this week.

You could either call it Godly Standard of Living or Daily Pruning.

Both are good, both are good, both are good.

And so, uh, there's a standard that god has called us to live, um, and it's his word, right, and so the word's clear, the word's simple.

There's no like in between.

It's not gray, um, we complicate it, but it's, it's simple, it's there, like what does he mean by that?

The word's clear, and so God, our creator, he has standards, and so we don't operate by the world's standards.

The world has their standards and their opinions and their way of doing things, but God is very clear about his way of living life right, living the good life.

There used to be this show like oh, you know rich and famous, and you would see all the cribs, or you know all the highfalutin shows where you see the movie stars and how they live.

Now they have a standard of living, right.

They would probably not going to go to Mickey D's and eat dinner.

They're going to.

There's a certain way of eating, there's a certain way of dressing, there's a certain way of living.

But how do you?

But God has such a better way of living, you know, and it's through his word.

So the word of God is our standard, and so we want to make sure that we're pleasing God.

You know this life, we only get one life here on this earth, right, and so we want to make sure it's really just bottom line, is you know, am I pleasing God Really when you bottom line all of this right here.

It's a lot right here Old Testament, new Testament Am I pleasing God, you know?

Is that part of my core foundation, of everything that I do, what I post, what I say, how I react, my questions, everything, my whole being, is it pleasing God?

My whole being isn't pleasing God.

And so we want to make sure that we're fruitful, right To please him, to love him.

I said this before to obey him is to love him, and to love him is to obey him.

And so we want to make sure that we're doing that in this life that he's given us, and so we want to make sure we're fruitful.

And so, first scripture is Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 in the New King James, hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

It says, therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And so there's a race that is set before us.

And so here, if you read, you know, and if you I'm not going to read Hebrews 11, but it's the faith chapter talks about, you know, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

If you saw it, you would need faith for it.

Faith is for the unseen in life.

Right, you're believing for your marriage.

You're believing for your finances?

You know you got it all made in the shade, you wouldn't need faith.

Faith is for the unseen right, the question marks in life.

Faith is for that.

And so Hebrews 11 talks about faith and talks about the heroes of faith, talks about Noah and Abel and talks about without faith, it's impossible to please God.

So I would encourage you to read Hebrews 11,.

But then, when it gets to Hebrews 12, so these are, you know Hebrews 11, you know they're in the grandstands, they're cheering us on.

And so Hebrews 12, we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, and so we lay aside so we have to keep that in mind that here are all these patriarchs that have gone before us, and so they're cheering us on.

And if you read on, I wanted to pinpoint one.

So one and two.

So there's a race that is set before us.

And then verse 14, if you skip down, it says pursue peace with all people in holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

And so we're always following in the direction of something or someone right.

Whether we're running a race, we walk by faith and not by sight, right, and so we're always following in the direction of peace and holiness.

And so we hear that you know, god is the God of peace and holiness, that's one of the two of the standards.

So we never compromise that in our standard of living.

We don't compromise that.

And so this is what happens sometimes when people get overtaken and they never establish following holiness, like I'm set apart, I'm living a holy life.

So they're trying to do all these other things that maybe mimic holiness, to live a set-apart life.

But really you have to.

It's part of your foundation, you have to establish it.

Living a holy life looks totally different than living how the world's living, or maybe how your cousin's living or what your aunt and uncle are doing.

You're going to say loved ones, so we believe God for them, but holiness, it looks different, it sounds different.

And so in verse 14, when he's saying pursue peace and holiness, and so peace, the way you can have peace I'll put this down the way you can have peace with all men is that you have peace starts in here.

So a lot of times, you know, we deal with situations and things and it's easy for somebody to throw out names Well, this person did it and that person did this.

Well, if that person did, no, no, no, no.

Peace starts in here.

Person did this.

Well, if that person did, no, no, no, no.

Peace starts in here Because, to have peace with all men, peace begins in your heart, right, because if you don't have peace in here, what happens?

You're not going to have peace with other people, right, with all men.

So peace starts in your heart, and so being led by the Holy Spirit.

And so people sometimes are led and pushed by the enemy, by the devil.

They're not led by anything other than their flesh, and then they fall off the cliff of destruction and wonder what happened, and so they're used by the enemy.

And so we're called to fall in this race that we're running.

We're called to follow peace and follow holiness, to live a life.

That's our standard, to live a life that's set apart.

That's a holy life, a blameless life, amen.

And so you have a choice.

So we've been teaching about choices.

That's our new theme in Altitude.

You know, god gave us this free will, and so we have a choice, and I wrote this down we have a choice of who we will follow.

He's given us an option Follow peace, follow holiness.

And so you have a choice.

So thoughts may come and they will come right.

Thoughts come to all of us, and so you have a choice.

Where's that thought coming from?

Is it going to produce peace in my life or is it going to produce holiness?

Or is it going to produce peace in my life or is it going to produce holiness or is it going to produce strife and jealousy and bitterness and anger?

And so we have to make sure that we're pursuing, in this race that we're running, we have to make sure that we're pursuing peace and holiness.

And so and a lot of times, you know, you'll see on media, you know, do what makes you feel good, do what makes you happy.

No, we have to do the will of the Father, we have to follow His Word.

And so you know kind of people pursue careers, and you know, following the almighty dollar.

Well, no, there's.

The dollar is not holy.

You have to put holiness on that.

Use it for a holy purpose, right?

And so it's up to us what we do.

It's in our foundation.

It should be holiness, and following peace should be in our foundation, and so that's the path that we should be walking.

Amen, and so a lot of times.

And then there's you know, I'm not a runner, but we do have runners in here.

I can barely like run a mile, miss Loretta.

Miss Loretta, you run, you run.

You can be part of the fun run.

You can be part of the fun run.

You can be part of the fun run, um.

But in this, in this race that we're running in, just like Hebrews 12, so you know, um, in Hebrews 11 it talks about, you know, like I was saying, by faith, all of all of the, the ones that have gone on before us.

They're on your grandstands, they're cheering, so it's not about that.

They're cheering at the destination.

We know the destination.

They're cheering for your journey, right, they're cheering.

They're looking at the pace that you're going, and so it's not the destination.

We know the destination.

Well, you should know the destination if you made Jesus the Lord of your life, right, and you live it out.

We know the destiny, but they're cheering for your journey, how the choices that you're making, the standards that you live by, right, yeah, and so it's not the destination is, I mean, it's important, but it's the journey, right, it's the pace, it's how we're getting there, right, how?

Because all the runners can get, they just go around and they do the trail and they end up in the same spot, right, and so it's how you did your journey, how you ran, right, they're not looking at the destination, but it's the pace at which you ran.

And so we're called, we're all following something, right.

And so who are you following?

What are your standards?

What's your foundation?

And so, again, we walk by faith and not by sight, and so and I'll put this down I'm not putting pressure on God to speed things up, and so, a lot of times, like you're focused on the speed, I got to get this done, I got to get this done.

Let me just quote some scripture I'm going to yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good.

Well, that, okay, you may get to that destination, but the way you got there was totally wrong.

Right, you might end up bloody and with a broken ankle, but you got there.

Right, you got to the destination, but how you got there, the way you did it, your approach was off, because you weren't pursuing holiness and peace with all men.

But again, it starts here.

It starts here, and so we have to make sure the way we're running, the way we are approaching things, is through the Holy Spirit and not getting in a hurry and not just, well, let me quote some scripture really quick and that's going to just put a band-aid on it.

No, we have to make sure that we're following the Holy Spirit and making sure that that's a God thing, not just a good thing.

Okay, we're pulled in every direction, but we have to make sure that that's a God thing.

Amen, amen.

This is a happy thing.

Okay, we're pulled in every direction, but we have to make sure that that's a God thing.

Amen, amen.

This is a happy message.

Really it is.

It is, and so there's a destination.

So what are we walking to?

Right, and so there's always an arrival.

People are watching, and so it's in the how.

So questions you want to?

This is just a couple instead of points.

I just have questions regarding standards, regarding how we run our race, regarding our foundation, regarding the why of why we do what we do, how we approach that Number one will it glorify God?

Will it glorify God?

1 Corinthians 10, 31 in the New Living says so.

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God, and so everything we do is all for the glory of God.

Right?

That thought that I have?

Is it for the glory of God?

That decision I'm about to make, is it all for the glory of God or am I doing it for a motive?

Do I have like, oh, I want to go there because that person is there, and then, if I meet that person, oh, and then I might get ahead?

No, no, no, no, no.

The why of why we do things?

All for the glory of God, not for the motive behind it?

Right, because the closer we get to God, the closer we're in his word.

He will, he'll, he'll.

You'll have a check.

He'll be like, oh, no, that's not, that's not good.

Right, check that motive.

Why are you doing that?

Why are you going there?

Why are you saying that?

And so we have to make sure is this going to glorify God?

And everything we do, every decision, will it glorify God?

Psalm 101, 3 in the ESV says I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.

And so we have to make sure that we're selective in what we see, our eyes and our ears.

Simple.

I've said that many times.

Say that to the teens all the time, especially with those devices.

Hey, listen, you have to.

Is this going to glorify God?

Right, and so we have to make sure to renew our mind with the word of God, not with opinions.

We renew it with the word of God, amen.

And number two will it edify my brother or sister or cause them to stumble?

And so, in this life that we're living, these standards, these godly standards that God has given us, that are part of our foundation, will it edify my brother or sister or cause them to stumble?

Romans 14, 12, and 13 in the New Living Translations Romans 14, excuse me, 12 and 13.

Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.

So let's stop condemning each other.

Decide to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

So you just preach a message on that right there, and so like, if you, if just that one.

Oh well, this, this, you know, that's my church life over there.

But then over here, I got another side gig and that's not going to really affect anybody else because that's over there, but this is my church life and here's my home life and that's my work over there.

And then I got my family, my family reunions, and then we got right no, no, no, no.

That's not how we look at things.

Right, it's all one, you're one, right.

It's not like you're different here and then you're different there, and then that no, god wants all of you, right, he wants all of us.

And so in our decisions and our choices, you know, is this going to edify my brother or sister or cause them to stumble?

Is what I'm about to say going to cause somebody to stumble?

Is my by me going to that place over there going to cause somebody to stumble?

Is my by me staying here going to cause somebody to stumble?

Decisions are so important, right, it's not flippant like I'm going to do what I want, no matter who it affects, because it affects everybody.

It affects the next generation, not just you, but then the ones coming up, and so will it edify my brother or sister or cause them to stumble.

So we're either building blocks or stumbling blocks.

There's no like in between.

You're either a building block to somebody, you're an encouragement, you're always lifting them up, praying for them, or you're stumbling, tripping always.

You know, no, that's not us.

Amen.

And then number three does it meet the criteria of Philippians 4, 8 and 9.

These are just questions to ask yourself.

Simple.

It's in the word, black and white.

Right.

Simple and now, dear right.

Simple and now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise, isn't that good?

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, everything you heard from me and saw me doing Then.

So when you do these things, then the God of peace will be with you.

And so, a lot of times, there's turmoil and there's no peace, but you forgot the if.

Turmoil and there's no peace, but you forgot the if.

Like, when you do, if you do all these things, when you're thinking about things that are pure, when you're thinking about things that are admirable, right, honorable, worthy of praise, and we keep putting those into practice, and then the peace comes, amen.

And so, does it meet the criteria in every decision that we make, in every standard that we have?

Go back to Philippians 4,.

Does it meet that criteria?

Is it honorable, is it true, is it pure, is it lovely?

Amen.

And so we have to make sure, and I put this down, we have to run to what is right.

Running demonstrates the speed of your obedience right.

And so a lot of times we do walk by faith.

Paul talks a lot of you know walking by faith, but then running with your you know.

So there are times where, hey, especially to obedience, we run quick.

We're quick to obey Amen.

We should be quick to obey Colossians 1.10.

In the Amplified Colossians, 1.10 says that you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him and desiring to please him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller, deeper and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition.

And so here he's saying hey, we live and conduct ourselves so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, in that good, fully pleasing him and desiring to please him in all things.

And so the way how we raise our kids and what we say to our children, and you know just everything our finances, the way we live life.

When we get up in the morning, what are our first words out of our mouth, what are our first thoughts in the day?

And so we have to make sure, hey, when I first get up, am I praising God, or just got to get on my phone, or you know all the other things that we have to do?

No, the first thoughts of the day, the first words of the day.

Thank you, jesus, glory, hallelujah.

I praise you, lord.

I thank you, lord, that I am living and moving and breathing.

May I glorify you.

Everybody I come in contact with today, may I be a, you know, a vessel for you.

And so we have to make sure, in the hustle and bustle of things, that we're glorifying God and that we're fully pleasing him, because we can look like we're pleasing him but in reality we may not be, because what's important to God, you know, may not be visual.

A lot of times it isn't visual.

Oh, it looks like they're doing good.

Look at them.

They're always a church and they're always serving and they're always doing this and they're always doing that.

But have they put time away with God in their prayer closet?

Have they spent one-on-one time away with God in their prayer closet?

Have they spent one-on-one time?

And so we have to make sure that we're fully pleasing him to be teachable, to be moldable, fully pleasing him, bearing fruit, and that's really what you know, to bear fruit, right, to bear good fruit in this life, not stinky fruit, but good fruit, amen.

And so, john, here, this is my last um.

In John 15, verse one through eight.

I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the true vine, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered man.

Jesus, that's kind of, but that's he said it, I didn't.

And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.

If you abide in me, in my words, abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you.

But this, my father, is glorified, that you bear much fruit.

Everybody say much fruit, mucho fruit, mucho fruta.

So you will be my disciples, and so we want to make sure that we're bearing much fruit, amen.

We want to make sure.

This is the year of momentum, and so, again, momentum, acceleration, running, doing things can look productive, but in reality you could be going backwards, right, if you're not connected to the source.

You are doing things on your own and eventually, well, he says what eventually will happen, right.

And so we have to make sure that we're connected to Jesus and all our doing, doing, doing and going, going, going.

If it's not connected to him, it's worthless, it's fruitless.

You will not bear fruit, fruit.

And so we have to make sure to examine our lives and make sure that we're bearing fruit in this journey, to approach it with those questions in mind, and so we have to make sure that we're bearing fruit, to stay connected to him.

To read our word, amen, in 1 Corinthians 11,.

And I'll just say this follow me as I follow Christ, and I put this down If you follow Christ closely, then others can follow you and they will trust you Right, and they will trust you right.

And so if we don't follow Christ closely, jesus, how can people trust us?

Well, it really won't affect him.

No, it does.

It does affect people.

So we have to make sure that we're connected to him, that we're really connected to him and that we're following him closely, at the pace that he wants us to be Right.

We do have to get things done, and there is a world to reach and and we have to get things done, but we have to make sure it's not that at the expense of our soul, that's not the as at at the expense of our family and us.

And so we have to make sure that we're sticking close to him, sticking close to Jesus, amen.

And so we want to produce maximum fruit.

Our standard is the word.

Our standard is the Bible, the B-I-B-L-E right.

That's what we teach Carolina's in here.

She works with the little ones.

We teach them this B-I-B-L-E, we give them the little Bible and we tell them they may not know every, every little thing in that little Bible, but the first, one of the first words we try to teach them is Jesus and the BIBLE, the Bible Right.

And so we have to make sure to stay close to Jesus, to stay close to him, so we can bear much fruit, much fruit God wants us to bear a lot of fruit.

Now, you can try to stick a cut off a branch of something and try to stick it on a tree.

What's going to happen?

You think it's going to bear fruit?

No, it's pretending it's not going to bear fruit.

You have to the fruit tree.

I don't, I don't have a well, I have a lemon tree.

It's little, but but I do try to garden here, here and then and now and when I have time.

But you have to take care of it, you have to maintain it, you have to water it, you have to watch over it, you tend to it, you don't just forget about it.

It, you have to watch over it, you tend to it, you don't just forget about it.

And so a lot of times, when we have so many pots, so many things, we forget about the one.

You know, the one thing that really matters right, and that's Jesus.

And so staying connected to him, staying close to him, because then you're found that when you stay close to him, then you can trust your decision making.

But if you haven't read your Bible, if you haven't prayed much in the Holy Ghost, if you just are doing whatever, whenever, however, you can't trust your decision making, you can't follow those standards.

So you have to make sure that you're built up in the word of God, that you stay close to God.

You stay close to Jesus, you're reading his word every day, amen.

So that way, when tough times come and tough times have come right, we've all been through things.

So when you come up to those crossroads and you have a decision to make, or a decision is already made for you, and then what are you going to do?

Right?

And so you have to make sure that you're connected to God closely, so then you're hearing his word, right.

So then the fruit that you bear is good fruit, it's not stinky, and then it's stinking around everybody.

No, it's is good fruit, it's not stinky, and then it's stinking around everybody.

And it's no, it's bearing good fruit love, joy, peace, gentleness.

Gentleness is not a weakness.

Anger is Frustration, is being mean, is Gossiping, is.

Those are all weak and works of the flesh.

And so we want to make sure in these last days that we're connected to the word of God, that we're connected to him, amen, that we stay close to him.

And then, when we stay close to him, the why, the how we do things change and then you can trust yourself.

Then you're not like, well, that decision I'm making it's not just me because I haven't read my Bible all day and I'm about to make a major decision.

No, we have to stick close to the word of God and we're filled up with the word of God, amen.

And so our standard is always this right, our standard is the word of God.

We don't lower our standard, motion down here.

Standard is here, but with the word of God.

When we're filled up with the word of God every day, right, we're talking like him, we're loving like him, we're acting like him, there's peace, all the things.

Amen, amen.

And you guys know this.

I'm preaching to the choir.

Y'all are here on a Sunday night and so that's all I got.

So it's an honor to bring the word.