Pastor Steven Wunderink from Las Vegas shares this true story about his childhood.
My brothers and I collected baseball cards as kids and we would play with them. How do you “play” with baseball cards? We would sort through them, divide them into teams, build our own all-star team, and sort out the duplicates for trading in school the next day. My brother was a BIG collector and, being older, would tell me I could play with them but not the “special” cards that he had.
One day I decided to surprise my older brother by putting all his “special” cards into a three ring binder for him. So I carefully cut out the heads of the players from the card and glued them to lined paper with holes punched in the sides and presented the binder to my brother as a gift.
I still can see his face as I showed him what I had done with his “special” or HOLY items. I particularly thought the Hank Aaron rookie card looked good glued to the cheap lined paper. I think it is going on eBay right now for over $100,000.00!
Pastor Steven’s older brother had some special baseball cards that were reserved, or “set apart”, for himself. They were valuable, extra special just for him. In the same way, you have been reserved and set apart for God’s pleasure and glory. You are not ordinary or common. You are worth more than a $100,000 Hank Aaron rookie card. Don’t let yourself be mangled and glued to cheap lined paper. You have been Chosen to be Holy!
Since you have been chosen to be Holy, how has it affected your life? How is it continuing to affect your life? It should make a difference. You have been set apart for the Father’s pleasure and glory. Are you living a “set apart” life? Since He has chosen you for an extra-ordinary life, are you living that extra-ordinary life?
Pastor Steven asks the following penetrating questions about holiness.
Are you living a Holy life? If I asked your friends at work, “Is (your name) a Christian?” How would they answer?
Would they say “Absolutely! The guy prays at every meal, he will pray with people who are hurting, he always is there to help out, and he is the best employee at our company”?
Or would they say, “I don’t know”?
Or would they say, “Are you crazy! This guy is in the bar with me every night picking up women before he goes home to his wife. He’s a terrible employee and cuts people down all the time”?
Are you living a holy, separate, distinct, set apart life?
We are not called to live a perfect life, but we are called to live a holy, separate, set apart life. May the people who see us recognize that there is something different about us! Can we live such a life in our own efforts and ability? No! We need the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, He is always available to do what we cannot do.
This Sunday, August 14, we will check out the incredible truth that we have been “Chosen to be Holy”! The Father has set you apart for Himself. Are you living that “set apart” life? Please invite someone to join you at 10:35am in the building or online for the Live broadcast on either Facebook (Honolulu AG) or our YouTube channel (Honolulu Assembly of God). We Livestream every Sunday to both locations.
Coming Up: Roneel Chaudhary with Hawaii Chi Alpha, our AG ministry to university students, will be with us on Sunday, August 28. Alan Bartolome, pastor of Bethel Chapel in Waipahu, will minister on Sunday, September 4.
Aloha ke Akua!
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