The Good News of Holiness
Do You Want to Be Happy?
Principle #1. Pursuing happiness doesn’t make us happy
It is a great irony in life that happiness is found only through our pursuit of something other than happiness.
Principle #2 Pursuing holiness creates the capacity for happiness.
Holiness is the root of happiness and happiness is the fruit of holiness.
To be holy is to be whole which is to be well which is to be happy.
Obstacles to Holiness
A misunderstanding about the complete Bad News
Sin opposes us in our journey of becoming the glorious people that God both desired and created us to be.
A misunderstanding about the Complete Good News
The good news is that through Christ, our sins have been forgiven (past) and we are being delivered from the power of sin (present) and that we have the hope of heaven (future).
We must …
Learn to Yearn
Friends, God wants to arrest us with the aroma and taste of holiness.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as (children), the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Romans 8:22,23 (NIV)
- You were justified.
- You were regenerated.
- You were adopted.
- You were included with Christ.
- You were given a yearning.
You were given a yearning to be made complete which is another way of saying you were given a yearning to be holy which is to be whole which is to be well which makes us happy.
Application: We are two habits away from a richer experience of holiness in our lives.
Habit #1 Every day connect with Jesus.
Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
2 Cor. 3:18
Habit #2 Every week, connect with others who are connecting to Jesus.
To be holy is to be whole which is to be well which is to be happy!
