The worship service now comes to a halt and Pastor John steps up on the podium.
“Good morning, church!” Pastor John says.
“Good morning, Pastor!” the congregation replies.
“It’s nice meeting you again on this fine morning in the presence of the Lord.
“Today, we’re gonna focus on these following verses: Hebrews 12:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Leviticus 19:2, and last but not least Isaiah 6:3. We’ll read them all.”
On the screen above there shows the verse, “Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it, no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14.”
“Can you see the screen? Ok, you can. So, it says in our Bible that we should pursue peace with everyone and also pursue holiness. He emphasizes on holiness as ‘without it, no one will see the Lord’. No one will see the Lord without holiness.”
The Pastor pauses as he paces to and fro.
“Now, in our modern society, we don’t see this in action. There’s always lewd imagery everywhere, especially on social media. You’re just looking at cute animals and then BOOM, you see someone shaking their booty on the next video.”
The whole congregation laughs while he laughs as well and shakes his head.
“Can’t we just enjoy some spare moments in our lives with some cute animal videos without some half-naked gal out there? I mean, we cannot avoid it from happening. You know, I’ve had enough of this so I just didn’t use the Internet if there’s no need to get into it. I just read books, write some stuff, et cetera. I would download sermons from YouTube and watch them offline. I often watch sermons by Bruce Gore or Skip Heitzig so check them out, I recommend them to you. Sometimes, I would listen to Baranggay Love Stories if I need to spice things up.”
The congregation mildly giggles.
“Now, no matter where you go there are always women on the street who will tempt you. What they lack is that they would get buck-naked with those short shorts. And we read in the Bible that without holiness, no one can see God. You would say, ‘It’s impossible, Pastor. I was just looking at them and then the next thing is that I’m with them in bed.’”
He contorts his face humorously and the people giggle.
“You see, you might see them everywhere. Like, you couldn’t avoid ‘em. But you have a choice, you either drink the sweet poison or the bitter medicine. “
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The next slide is on the screen and it says, “For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4:7”
“It says in 1 Thessalonians 4:7 that we should live in holiness, not unholiness or impurity. We have a choice to look away when them short shorts and tight tops appear out of nowhere. When you see them, immediately admire the blueness of the sky and the floorness of the floor and the wallness of the wall. You should prevent your eyes from going places where they should not wander. In Job 31:1, it says, 'Why should I look or stare at a woman?' Them skimpy girls may be there, but avoid staring at them. They may fail at being holy but don’t fail to be holy yourself and avoid your eyes from staring.
“Now, I may be directing my attention to the men but these verses also apply to women. When you see a hunk of a guy, look away because you will instill in yourself lust. Lust isn’t only a guy thing but for women. And both men and women should work together so that we can be holy in the Lord.
“I’m gonna get to the topic where we can see the common ground of our responsibility of being holy. Pornography. There’s no exception to who uses it, almost all people use it. Seeing a man and a woman do the deed in front of millions of users on the internet is the same as peeking at a married couple in a room where they’re doing the deed. Pornography encourages child pornography; do you know that? It starts mild and tame but you get to something extreme and wrong. Pornography would get you addicted from watching naked people to watching something more exotic like pedophilia.”
Pastor John pauses and paces once again. He stops and readies himself to speak.
“Pornography is a slippery slope. You mess with it, it’s impossible to get out. But as the Bible says, there’s a way out of every temptation. Fear God and acknowledge that he can send you to Hell if you don’t live right. He may love you, but if you keep on doing the things he saved you from, you’re testing him and you're abusing his grace and kindness. The Bible says, ‘Don’t put the Lord to the test’. And the Bible also says, 'God's kindness—or grace—is intended to lead you to repentance.'"
“Now you might say, ‘Others are also doing it. It’s fine, it’s normal’. Look, it’s not! Okay?”
He slides next to the verse that says, “Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Leviticus 19:2.”
“Look, ‘Be holy because the Lord is holy’. God doesn’t want you to conform or follow what others are doing, He wants you to do or live in his ways. Live like him, talk like him, walk like him and you will be favored by the Lord spiritually, mentally, and physically. And I pray that it is so.”
The next slide says, “And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’ Isaiah 6:3.”
“Now I want you to remember this as I close. He is holy and the whole earth is filled in his glory. Holiness is important if you want to see God and get into ministry. God wants servants who will serve him truly and in spirit, without blemish and stain. A holy and living sacrifice to the Lord. So live holy because your Father in Heaven is holy. Let’s pray.
All bow their heads in prayer.
“Lord Jesus, thank you for the words that you have given us today. You enrich our hearts with your holiness and truth. Thank you, Lord. As we depart from your Presence, Lord, may we live in holiness so that we will see your face. In Jesus’ name. Amen”
And all says, “Amen.”