Well, if you would please turn your Bibles over to the book of Leviticus, chapter 19. Okay, I'm going to read you kind of an interesting section of the Scripture, starting from verse 9 down to verse 16. It's a list of various laws that God has given. And then we'll take a moment to pray and jump in.

In Leviticus chapter 19, verse 9, it says, "Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest, nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name so as to profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him.

The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind. But you shall revere your God. I am the Lord. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the great.

But you are to judge your neighbor fairly. You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. Let's take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace, and we're asking for continued grace as we study your word.

Give us grace by illuminating your word to us. Help us, Father God, again, if there is any fog of tiredness and fatigue, if there's any distraction, Lord, would your spirit minister to us that not only would we be receptive, but by your word we would be transformed. We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Okay. So today we're talking not specifically about one passage. Last week was an overview, and today it's going to be like an overview part two, where the overview of the book in terms of its background, structure, main thematics happened. Today we're talking about practical holiness, almost like an overview of our life when we look at this book.

So the study is called Leviticus and Practical Holiness. Now just by way of intro, when I think of holiness, when I was younger, I thought of holiness just like I thought about glory. When I thought about glory, it's like, "Wah!" Something glorious then would be just majestic, super bright, shiny, and all that stuff.

Clouds, glorious light, white, like blazing white glory, et cetera, that kind of stuff. And I thought holiness was kind of like that, just, "Wah!" But when I think of practical holiness or practical sanctification, yeah, when I was younger I did think very simplistically. So if I want to think about practical holiness, I got to think about what I should and should not do.

And I just read you a passage that told you what you should and should not do. Very much the book of Leviticus is so full of direct commandments of what is prohibited and what is permitted. So as we take a look at that, there's a sense to which in the end maybe we can boil down practical holiness as this definition.

It's just a guiding principle about making a decision about what to do. So I think I might have the first—oops, I forgot to turn this on. Maybe we're thinking practical holiness in light of just principles, golden rules to live by, and essentially you're just making a decision what is okay and what is not.

Interestingly enough, that would be a lot like modern practices. What do I mean by that? The world and its wisdom has principles for you to live by. Is the scripture, when it wants us to be holy or to live a certain way, is it simply doing the same thing?

Well, according to worldly wisdom, long ago Aristotle centuries ago said as an ethic, like a moral, "In all things, moderation." Too much of one thing or anything is too much. It's bad. So there are people who live by that. They want a moderate life. They don't want to be super this, super that.

They want kind of medium living, right? There is this utilitarianism kind of greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Whatever maximizes produce, whatever maximizes end benefits, that's what you should decide to do. And then lastly, postmodernism says like, "Just make sure you're not stepping on anybody's toes. Do no harm." Have you guys ever heard that?

Do no harm, you know? And there is that mentality. As long as it doesn't hurt anybody, you know? As long as it doesn't hurt anybody. So the reason why I list for you those different principles to live by is because obviously our God operates far and above, beyond simple principles.

Is our God principled? Yes. Are there standards? Yes. But the expectation practically is not simply this guideline, this one principle. Rather, there is a fundamental approach that God gives us as Christians, which is summarized in that statement, "Be holy, for I am holy." So today we're going to try to talk about this.

It is a big concept, practical holiness. That's a huge concept. It's like saying today we're going to talk about what godliness means. What does it mean to have glorious living, right? What does it mean to have gospel living? It's a huge, huge concept. But hopefully we can put some trajectory of what are we pursuing in practicality.

So in order for us to wrap our minds around that, the very first point I'm going to make is this. This concept of "Be holy, for I am holy," it can be seen as a call to relational fidelity. This call for us, practically speaking, where God has said, "Be holy, for I am holy," can be seen as relational fidelity, meaning it is a call for you to have faithfulness and loyalty, a sense of direct allegiance to God.

And the practicality comes when you operate underneath those parameters in the context of that relationship. Turn the page over to Leviticus chapter 20, and let's look at a Bible verse on that. Over in Leviticus chapter 20, verses 24 through 27. Leviticus chapter 20, verses 24 through 27. And the Word of God says, "Hence I have said to you, you are to possess their land, and I myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.

I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You are therefore to make a distinction between the unclean bird and the clean. You shall not make yourself detestable by animal or any bird or anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean." Now look at this.

"Thus, you are to be holy to me, for I am the Lord, so I the Lord am holy. I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine. Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their blood glittiness is upon them." So that passage right there, Leviticus chapter 20, verses 20 through 27, there is an emphatic case where he says, "Look it, I've given you many, many principles which are only examples of the point, and the point is I want you to be separate for me." And so there is this relational term.

I write here for you that if we define holiness, you guys have heard that definition, to be separate, set apart, right? If you define holiness as separation or a consecration, then we simply add the relational term to him. You're being consecrated and set apart for him, right? So the whole context of the call to be holy is relational.

And if I can highlight, even within this passage, there is this relational idea of both, I want to separate you away from the others and separate you for me. By way of example, let's think about a couple, a woman and a man, you know, wife and husband. Imagine that, let's say, this girl and this guy, when they were dating, the guy kind of had some issues because the girl happened to have a ton of male friends.

Maybe she was one of those girls who was just so, like, trusting in people that maybe she had a previous dating relationship with a guy, and then she kept him as a friend, not knowing that previous boyfriend is still hoping for an open door, right? During the dating period, the guy feels like, "Oh, man, should I say something?

I'm just a boyfriend. There's no way I can tell her, like, 'Drop your friends,' you know, or 'I'm leaving.'" He can't say that, so all of a sudden he feels like, "Hmm, maybe I should just hold my tongue. She'll kind of figure it out on her own." But lo and behold, they get more serious, they get engaged, and she still retains all these male friends.

Lo and behold, he's thinking, "Well, surely, once we actually have the ceremony and get married, she's going to prioritize me above every other male in her life, right?" Now imagine if she was like, "No, but he's so fun to go to Disneyland with, but when I need counseling, he's always there." You see, within this passage, he says, "You are going to be set apart from me, so how dare you go talk to mediums and spirits, right?" That's basically what he's saying.

You go to these spirits to go find your resource of spiritual help and stability? How dare you, right? Now truthfully, yeah, within, let's say, the dating process, truthfully, yes, the guy doesn't have the right to be like, "I'm your man and you're mine, so drop all your friends. I don't want you talking to that chump," because then what?

He's just a jealous fool. But when you're in the context of a marriage relationship, there has to be a pulling away from the others and then a moving towards the one, yes? And so that's what I'm talking about. When we think about practical holiness, yes, we can sit here and say, "Okay, can we please talk about sexual purity today?

Can I talk about your money use? Can I talk about how holiness of your thought?" And we can go down the list of what to do and what not to do, but that would only scratch the surface of the big parameter of how God wants you to operate in life, which is under the concept of relational fidelity to God.

Amen? And that should then dictate for us what is permissible, what is not permissible, and maybe even not those terms. What is good and bad for the marriage, this relationship? What is healthy? I mean, I want you to think about that question in any given relationship. What sort of things expressively, like even non-verbally communicate, "Hey, I'm committed to you." You know, I do a lot of premarital counseling and also just like counseling for married couples and whatever, and in the premarital counseling, there is one question I always ask.

I ask about communication. "When do you feel most loved? When do you feel most secure? And does he know it or does she know it?" Right? Because then now we're talking about understanding each other, and those are some sweet opportunities to give the people a chance to just lift each other up and say good things and all that kind of stuff.

So typically they do. It's like, "I love it when Johnny this does that or Chris this and Tom this," and they just say, "When they care, when they do this." Well, I want you guys to take a moment to think about that, just for a moment right now, start listing it off in your head.

Between a man and a woman who are in that kind of covenant love, what are the actions that expressively communicate, "I'm committed to you"? What are the actions that expressively communicate visibly that you are committed? Well, some of the answers that I get in premarital counseling, they'll say, "Oh, you know, there was this one time when he was really, really far and I had this thing and he was super tired but he sacrificed his time to come help me, and then I knew." You know?

"And then he knew, is it?" No, there's the new, like, "I knew that he had my best interest." Yes? There was another one where a guy shared, like, "Man, you know, sometimes for me, I'm just a workhorse. All I want to do is just do stuff. I can't say a lot.

I'm not good with my words, and definitely I can't put my emotions into words and stuff, but I just want to do stuff for her." But when she notices and has a growing appreciation, man, like, it makes me feel like we're going to stay together, you know? Other ones are overcoming hurdles.

You have a disagreement, but then the guy says, "You know what? I know we're fighting. I'm all frustrated, but we're going to make it through this." You know? It's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so committed." You know? Like, there's commitments and all that. But in the end, there's just a simple, simple, simple answer to that is when you expressly show that your longing is for more of that person, "I just want more time with you," the person's going to feel secure.

Because when does an individual feel not secure? When all of a sudden, some, like, thought creeps into their mind, they conclude, "That person doesn't want me anymore." Right? So now, I give you these things as examples because we're talking about practical holiness, right? Practical holiness. And the fact of the matter is, just like whatever happens in the relationship context, it is true for you, there are things that are unholy because you're not prioritizing the relational fidelity, right?

Because what does it mean to be unholy, to be mixed? What does it mean to be unholy in the eyes of God, to have, like, you know, a mixed allegiance to here and there? You're not committed here or there, right? So likewise, when you think of practical holiness, don't think of, like, "Well, this isn't explicitly said so I can do it." No, no, no.

If you've been living life so busy, and I'm just going to use this as an example, not to make you all feel guilty because we're all busy, right? But I was very convicted about this as I was thinking. Holiness, desire, relational context. If you're living life so busy that you've been neglecting God, and then the first opportunity where you get a break, your heart goes to, "Dang, I haven't worked out in a while.

I've got to go to the gym," right? Ask yourself if that works in marriage. You work 60, 70 hours a week because I know some of you guys do. You haven't talked to your wife in a while because she goes to bed before you come home. And the first opportunity you get, you bounce to go to the gym.

Is she going to be okay? Does that show relational fidelity and commitment? I'm committed to you. What does that show? Now, to me then, that broadens the concept of holiness not to simply, many of us might be thinking, "Holiness, okay, sexual purity." It broadens the concept. Your use of time when it's all for you or when the first opportunity you get, or maybe something really bad goes on at work and you're just distraught, and then your first reaction is like, "Forget it." You come home and you say, "Forget it.

I don't want to do any of this." Does that communicate fidelity? You see, so I want us to think of holiness in that context so that, A, we don't limit holiness to certain arenas of our life where it's clear struggles. But what's more, we're having a direction. Holiness has more to do with your fidelity towards God and how you dedicate yourself.

Amen? That's what the scripture says. Another passage I want us to go to is Leviticus chapter 22. Leviticus chapter 22, verse 2 and 3. Okay? Or starting from verse 1. When the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so as not to profane my holy name.

I am the Lord. Say to them, 'If any man among all your descendants throughout your generation approaches the holy gifts which the son of Israel dedicates to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before me. I am the Lord.'" Okay? So in this passage, I want us to notice something as we transition to the next point.

The first thing is very clear. Holiness has a lot to do with the relationship, your dedication to God. And we notice even in the list of the laundry list of commandments, it's, "Do this. I am your Lord." And the whole idea here is, "Dedicate yourself to me before me." Now moving to the next point though from this passage, what you see is there is a qualification to how you can come.

Right? Pastor Peter made this a big, big thematic point. The scripture of Leviticus is a how-to. How do you approach God in worship? How to come to him, right? And what's clear from this passage is that there's an absolute standard, a heavy standard. And so, let's look at the next point here.

The point is, the "Be holy for I am holy," the calling that God gives us, can be seen as an objective standard of God. Sorry I left it blank. I was supposed to fill that in. Objective standard of God. Objective standard of God. So what I'm saying now is, there is a previous point that has to do with relational context, and so it doesn't have detailed, explicit points, but a rather trajectory.

What I'm saying obviously is there's both. There is the objective standard of God's holiness, which is timeless, which is broad and universal. Right? So maybe for us, again, when we think of the concept of holiness, we're thinking about things where we're supposed to stay away from things that are vile, wicked, detestable, and namely, we're thinking about maybe perversions and sexual sin.

However, God, in his holy standard, actually projects a universal standard that comes from his character. So the standard cannot be limited to a set of propositions or statements, but rather, it is an objective standard of God. God himself is that objective standard. It's a standalone standard. And so all I'm saying is, when we're thinking about this second point, holiness can be focused on God's statement, "Be holy for I am holy," but you can focus in on, "And I am." The specific words, "I am." That's what we're focusing on right now.

And why do I talk about this? Because when we think about personal holiness, I wonder if there are seasons of your life where we think and maybe assume that because we're not doing something really, really detestable, that maybe we are already holy to the degree that we ought to be.

It's the kind of mentality where because we've avoided the extremes of sin, maybe we feel that we've already come to a point that we've done enough. But the Scripture is absolutely clear. The standard of holiness is as high as God's character. As the Scripture talks about how God's ways, how his thoughts are higher than ours, so is the standard of holiness.

But what's more, it's broader. It's broader than what we normally think about when we think about holiness. If we only kind of limited it to like spiritual holiness, where we're not meddling with mediums and idols and stuff like that, or again, whether when we think holiness, we think flesh, lust, that kind of stuff.

Did you know, just by way of talking more about this idea that there are broader traits, there are more than meets the eye when it comes to thinking about holiness, that there is a lot of topics that the Scriptures talk about in the book of Leviticus. For example, definitely the Scriptures in Leviticus talk about sexual purity.

So I have some blanks for you there. But what's more, Scripture talks even about love. Go back in your Bible to chapter 19, and did you guys notice that in chapter 19 verses 9 and 10, he talks about how now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleaning of your harvest, nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of the vineyard.

You shall leave them for the needy and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. Did you catch that stuff? The Word of God is loving. It challenged us to have this kind of care where you're not just greedy hearted like, "Ooh, every ounce." You know, you got to squeeze everything from your field, but rather he says, "Leave it.

Stuff that's already fallen." It's like, "Ooh, I can't touch that anymore." Why? Because you got to leave it for the next person. Scripture in its content is absolutely loving, and it goes so later on in the story. Do you remember how King Solomon was known for his wisdom and many people, kings of other nations and the queen of Sheba came?

Do you know what they said? "Wow, you have great wisdom, and who else has laws like this, so loving and kind?" The Word of God is glorious like that. The Scriptures and the commandments in the book of Leviticus are glorious like that. There are commandments of forgiveness. The commandments where it says, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one another, but love your neighbor as yourself." That famous, famous line, "Love your neighbor as yourself," is quoted first in the Leviticus.

There's topics of, so there's forgiveness, there's mercy, okay? There's mercy. What's more? There's topics of business practices where it talks about how, you noticed earlier, it's like, don't hold a worker until the end of the day. Don't hold their wages. Don't force them to do X, Y, and Z that they didn't agree to.

Proper treatment of the poor. It even talks about judging your neighbors appropriately. Don't have biased eyes. Don't be all partial and do favoritism because they just happen to be a little bit more wealthy, or you assume they're going to give you some kind of kickback. The reason I want to talk about all this is because we realize, man, God and his expectation for our holiness is truly beyond just principled living.

I tell my youth group students all the time, they get fed this idea that the world wants them to be good people, people who avoid gangs, drugs, and violence, people who avoid parties and drinking, and they just want to have great careers, come to church, and be good citizens.

And I tell my youth group students all the time, God wants more from you than that. That's not even bare minimum in God's eyes. And so I say, God desires imitation. And so this is going to be the application. Whereas before we said the application of our holiness being in the context of the relationship, that means you want to live in expressed faithfulness, you want to long for him, you want to do things that show him, man, you're at the forefront of my priority.

But then the application practically, for practical holy living, when you see that God's command is beyond principles, what you're trying to shoot for is imitation. Imitation of God's character. There's a passage for us over in 1 John 2, verse 6. Okay, 1 John 2, verse 6. It says this, "The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner." If you say you have Christ in you, and his Holy Spirit is working in your mind and heart, then you need to walk like him.

You see, for me, I think this is good. This is really, really good. Because I'm going to be honest with you, when the scriptures talk about this idea of being expressive, your passion, and the whole commandment earlier about relationship, I mean, I'm going to confess, even in my own marriage, that's a big learning process.

For a lot of guys, whoever, if the relationship aspect is new and you're learning, you don't know sometimes what to do to make the person feel a certain way. But then this, copy him. To me, that's as practical as you can get. You see how God speaks in the Bible, and what that reveals to you is his will and his heart.

Copy him. Copy how he speaks. Copy his intentions. Copy his thoughts. You see how God operates and works. That shows his character, his delivery. Copy him. Copy him as much as you can. And that's absolutely what the scripture says. We're going to read a lengthy portion of scripture. Turn all the way over to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians chapter 5. We're going to read verses 1 through 18. One through 18. What God says is, "Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children." Boom. New Testament command as explicit as can be. God through apostle Paul went through chapters 1 and 3 talking about all of what God has done.

God has in his good intention chosen you. God has sent his son in his great mercy. He has made you one. He's broken dividing walls. And he's shown you his immense love. And he says, "Live a manner now worthy of the gospel." And then, boom, be imitators of God.

Verse 2. "Walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks.

For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Join to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.

For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. For everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, 'Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine in you.' Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation. Be filled with the Spirit." So here he says, "Imitate him." And one of the applications that's drawn from the book of Ephesians here in chapter 5 is repeated.

The application is this. Let me give you an example of this. In verse 10, he says, "Understand what is pleasing to the Lord." In verse 14, he says, "Being careful how you walk, being wise." So you're understanding what you're doing. And then in verse 17, he says, "Don't be a fool.

Understand what the will of the Lord is." And then later you can even say, adding to the theme, he says, "Don't be drunk. Be sober in the Spirit." And so here is the challenge and exhortation to you. Being imitators of God must absolutely mean that you can discern, I repeat, you can discern and judge as God does.

You can tell what is good and bad. You know what's clean and unclean. You have a growing capacity to say, "This is not pleasing to the Lord." It may not be written, "Thus says the Lord." It may not be written in our church bylaws. It may not be written on our church membership covenant, but this does not please my God.

How do I know? I've been walking with Him. I love Him. I've been imitating Him. I've been walking in holiness. Now that may sound arrogant to the world, but God has called us to be discerning. You notice in the other passages in the book of Leviticus, you're going to see so many times so that you may know what is clean and unclean.

I am the Lord. You may know what is clean and unclean. You should know what is discerning. You should know what is displeasing to God, what is shameful in His eyes versus the stuff that He wants to see. So again, I repeat that phrase where we don't want to see holiness as since I'm not doing this laundry list of don'ts, I'm okay.

No. God desires more from us from that. Remember last week, Pastor Peter said that the book of Leviticus, its ultimate purpose is to reveal the extent of His holiness. I'll repeat that. The book of Leviticus, its ultimate purpose is to reveal the extent of God's holiness. Then our maturity, our growing understanding in that, then you should understand to a broad breath and depth how deep His holiness is, what is pleasing to Him, what would be something that's offensive.

That's something we want to grow in. I want to now pose that to you as a direct question. In your walk as a Christian, in the years that you've come to church, in the years that you've been reading the Bible, have you grown in understanding God's heart? Has His thoughts rubbed off on you where you learn God's priorities?

When you think about, "Hey, there's like a million things to do. I have tons of responsibilities." What comes first? Are you able to resonate with God? This comes first. Are you resonating with God and His value system, what's important and what's not? Are you resonating with God as what is shameful, what is not shameful, what is profitable to His church and His flock, what is profitable for the expansion of His kingdom?

Are you able to test and see if you are growing in holiness, your taste buds then are going to grow? I want to give you an example of this. If you guys ever, you know, cooked anything, you guys have probably gone to your kitchen, opened up your fridge, opened it all up, started looking around and grabbed the ingredients, right?

And you do one of these. Right? Is it good? And then for those of us who aren't in the kitchen much, you grab it and you go, "Is this good?" I'm like, "I don't know. Can we eat this?" Right? To the trained individual who is regularly cooking, they're going to, "Oh, no.

We're not in that." But what's most dangerous is an individual who is untrained, unfamiliar, smelling something and saying, "I think it's okay. This chicken smells a little sour, but I think it's okay." And that is a major danger to the Christian church. Individuals who are not practicing their discernment, individuals who are not practicing their sense of smell and saying, "I think it's okay." Why?

Because when you think about the problem at hand, when we're saying practical holiness, the problem is toleration and syncretism. And I'm using these words because the theme, the themes that come out in Leviticus is like, don't mix this stuff. If you guys have ever read some of those laws, it's like, "I don't want there to be cross marriages." And then it goes on to say, "I don't want you to cross breed animals." And it goes on to say, "I don't even want you to cross threads." Did you guys know that?

Comes in chapter 19, verse 19. Don't even use different kinds of threads. And then he explains later, "Because I don't want there to be this toleration and syncretism of the idols and me." I'm like here, and they're there. You should know the difference. But let's put it in layman's terms.

Toleration and syncretism in layman's terms is, "I think it's okay." What is compromise? When you have a relationship where you're not supposed to be crossing physical boundaries, and then you do, your mind says, "I think it's okay because we're pretty much committed. We're almost there." When you lax on your business stuff and your finances and all this stuff, in your mind, whether it be compromise, syncretism, whether it be tolerance, all we're saying is, "I know that there is a principle out there, but I think it's okay." It's like the guy.

It's been in there. It's rotting. A little green. Let's just cut that part off, and I think it's okay. So that's why I'm emphasizing to us this need for every single one of us. If we're going to be walking in practical holiness, you've got to be growing in your discernment what is and what is not, not simply permissible, but what is and what is not pleasing to God.

That's at the heart of your practical holiness, what is and what is not pleasing to God. So starting to wrap things all up together, I think when we take a look at all this, I think one of the things that really needs to happen for every single one of us is that in our concept of holiness, we need to be challenged, that not only should we care, but we need to recognize that God cares tremendously about your holiness.

It is not rituals, principles that He wants you to abide by. It's not simply do's and don'ts or golden rules. It's not a moral perspective. It is a relationship in which He wants you to be faithful to Him. What's more, take a look at this passage in 2 Corinthians.

It says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of our Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit." If we know anything, God cares incredibly about His glory. And what He is desiring to do is that in our practical growth in holiness, He's going to see the glory of God in our transformed lives.

Amen? Let's take some time to pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank You so much for Your Word today. God, we do ask that we would think properly about our pursuit of holiness. We would think practically and also holistically about our pursuit of trying to be godly and obey Your commands.

That God, we would do so with a heart full of love for You. We would do so with eyes wanting to see in greater light Your glory. And I pray, Father God, that You would continue then to transform our minds. Lord, I ask again that, Lord, we would not be a generation that tolerates things that are dishonoring to You.

But rather, God, we would be clear that there would be conviction and, Lord, there would be faithfulness to You. Lord, we do ask for strength. We are beset with weakness. And Lord, just being honest, we're tempted almost daily. Grant us strength, Father God, in Your Spirit. Grant us, Father God, perseverance in the name of Your Son that, Lord, day in and day out, we would continue to pursue strong and run strong after You.

Thank You in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. So in terms of discussion questions, it's actually on your sheet and not on the PowerPoint. And there are three questions. Sometimes it's kind of hard, again, to get real specific, but I'm going to ask you guys to take the opportunity to be specific.

And I wanted to ask you guys to take a current assessment of yourself. Are you currently expressing a level of commitment that's visible beyond words? And please try to use some of these examples as like benchmarks maybe when we talked about sacrifice, growing appreciation. So talk about your relationship with God in that manner.

And then the question is, how can we steadily grow in our imitation of God? Now that's a broad question, right? But maybe you can narrow it down by talking about like specifically if you've been a Christian for a long time, many years, how can we challenge ourselves to just not be plateauing but ever growing in that imitation of God?

And what's more, even for a newer believer too? And then number three, are there any areas that you have been too permissive over what? I think I phrased that funny, but you guys know what I'm saying, right? Have you been too permissive? Period, maybe. I got to run on sentences there.

Tolerating things that are displeasing to the Lord, you know? Maybe just kind of thinking there are things that maybe you do in private. There is this term now, it's like not safe for work. Are you permitting yourself to watch stuff that's not safe for work but it's not necessarily bad so you're just permitting yourself?

To talk about that kind of stuff and be specific if you can, okay? So those are the questions there.