From Zero To Hero Pt. 3 Series

But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work. Romans 4:5

But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

I may only be 25 and didn’t grow up when the Pilgrim Holiness Church was around. I have grown up in the cd, dvd, ipod, xbox generation, but can I be different this morning. Can I be a little bit different and say a word that so many pastors are scared to say today? They’re scared to say it because this word they are afraid will scare off their multitudes of people they worked so hard to get into their building. Holiness, righteousness, sanctification. Many don’t get it. In this life of big mega churches, fancy programs, people’s desire for instant and quick everything, lack of patience, business. we have lost touch with this word. We’ve lost touch with why we do what we do. But this is my heart’s cry. And if you wondering if you really want to be a part of Warrenton Wesleyan Church or not than hopefully what I am about to say will help you decide. This is my desire for you as your pastor. This is why I am here. To learn to be righteous because of Christ. This is why you should want and long to be here each and every week, and to long to be apart of a impact group. To learn to be righteous. To learn to be….holy.(many don’t teach this today) Righteous literally means to be set apart, to be different. When you grow with Christ you will be set apart and you will be different.

I am not talking about a self righteous. Self-righteous is to believe that you alone are great, correct, morally superior. The Pharisees of Christ day were self-righteous leaders. They prided themselves in their laws and how people saw them as these great holy men that loved God, but in reality they only loved themselves. They only worried about themselves and their precious laws they worked so hard to follow. Jesus calls them out. He calls them fakes. He calls them white washed tombs that looked clean on the outside but on the inside they wreaked of filth and garbage.

Noah was righteous meaning his ways of thinking, feeling, and acting was wholly conformed to the will of God

To learn pure, godly righteous is to be sanctified, it is to be holy as God is holy. I Peter 1: 15 says, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

You cannot be a child of God and be self-righteous, you cannot learn how to persevere without God’s holiness, God’s holy spirit filling us up to the brim. And you can’t feel God’s presence fill you to the brim without working towards godly righteousness, holiness. Be righteous, be set apart, be different. And I love what I Peter says when it says you must be holy in everything you do. We try and justify so much of what we think and watch on tv and in movies. We try to pon things off as just entertainment, but scripture says to be holy in everything we do. To be consumed by God.