May God Make You Holy Through And Through

INTRO.- Have you noticed that there are some things in life that are not very worthwhile even though some people feel that they must have them? It’s like cars and their accessories.

ILL.- I saw an article on the internet entitled, "10 Most Worthless Car Features." Care to guess what they are?

10. Rain-Sensing Wipers

They generally use infrared sensors to monitor a certain section of the windshield for moisture or dirt, then trigger the wipers to respond according to a threshold the driver sets.

9. Soda Can Cool Zone

Various automakers offer air-conditioned compartments to keep sodas and other sundries cool. Problem is, those cool zones get hot in the summer when the car is off; we had a couple sodas explode in a certain Dodge after a 90-degree weekend.

8. Smart Transmission

The Smart ForTwo deserves its own category. The minicar’s automated-manual transmission shifts gears with its own electronic clutch while the driver sees a traditional automatic setup. Drive the thing and you feel like you’re on a bucking bronco. No thank you!

7. Power-Sliding Doors

Parents, rest assured the power-sliding doors on upscale minivans employ all sorts of electronic cutoffs to ensure they won’t eat your Brownie troop.

6. Multi-Manual Owner’s Booklets

The thought of wading through an owner’s manual to figure out how something works is daunting enough. Try wading through 10 of them or more; that’s the number of pamphlets, manuals and quick-start guides included in some cars’ libraries.

5. Self-Parking Cars

Lexus’ self-parking feature is optional on the LS sedan. Line up the superimposed square in the backup camera with your intended parking spot, gently let off the brakes and the LS will slowly steer around adjacent cars as it backs into the spot.

4. iDrive

It’s is a computer-like system, which is used to control most secondary vehicle systems in many current BMW cars. iDrive’s user interface consists of a LCD panel mounted in the dashboard and a controller knob mounted on the center console.

3. Voice Turn-by-Turn Navigation

Navigation systems have been barking out orders for years. With the exception of Land Rover’s charming Brit, most of them employ a female American voice whose intonations range from casually disinterested to downright annoyed.

2. Heartbeat Sensor.

You read correctly. Yep, Volvo has one. The engineers at Volvo know our fear, and have incorporated a heartbeat sensor inside the new S80 sedan that alerts your wireless key fob if there’s a criminal-type lying in wait for you as you approach.

1. Overly Aggressive Seats

Driver’s seats run the gamut, from flat benches to the sort of hip-huggers. The BMW 7 Series offers a massaging driver’s seat, but its throbbing motions feel downright Frankensteinian compared to a real massage. In some of Mercedes-Benz’s pricier models, active side bolsters automatically inflate to hold you in as you take a corner. Sounds silly to me!

To be honest about it, there are a multitude of things in life that we think we just have-to-have and find out later that they are not nearly as important or needed as we thought.

All of us would probably be better off if we’d simplify our lives and focus more on what is really important in life. AND WHAT’S THAT? Our relationship to God and holiness, I might add.

I Peter 1:13-15 "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

God desires that we be like Him, holy like Him.

PROP.- Our text tells how God can make us holy. It tells what we must recognize for this to take place.

1- Holiness is desirable

2- Holiness is continual

3- Holiness is God-produced

I. HOLINESS IS DESIRABLE

23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ILL.- And old gentleman seated in the back of bus, said, “Did somebody drop a roll of bills with a rubber band around them?”

“I did!” shouted several voices in chorus from up front. “Well,” drawled the old man, “I just picked up the rubber band.”

ILL.- One of the richest men in the world, oil tycoon Paul Getty, was being interviewed in London. “If you retired now,” asked a reporter, “would you say your holdings would be worth a billion dollars?” Getty paced up and down the room, mentally adding. “I suppose so,” he said, “but remember, a billion doesn’t go as far as it used to.”