Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
03/02/2015, by John Kincaid
Lesson 528: Conformed to Our Culture
When Moses led the Exodus, the children of Israel wished they were still in Egypt. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
In their hearts, they were Egyptians. They had blended in, assimilated into the pagan culture around them. They were no longer the distinctive people of God.
At the end of the book of Daniel, after 70 years of captivity, the Jews had become Babylonians. At the start of the book of Esther, the Jews had become Persians.
In 722 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive into Assyria. 2 Kings 17:3-6
Years later, they had married Assyrians and become Assyrians. They eventually moved back home to Samaria, but the other regions of Israel (Galilee & Judea) hated the Samaritans because they “weren’t really Jews”.
1 Kings 11:1-4 King Solomon married many foreign wives, disobeying God’s command. Solomon turned away from God; in the end, his wives turned away from him.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
