A Healthy Christian That Pleases God

By Elder William D. Holmes

In this book, author Elder William D. Holmes gives an account of life of the church, how strong Christians used to be, and how that people live for God with all their hearts, soul, and mind. They conducted themselves as people of God in the way they dressed and live holy free from sin among the sinners. They fasted, prayed, and testified and were saved, sanctified, baptized, and filled with the Holy Ghost and fire. The power of God was present in the church that it would knock and roll people on the floor! They may not have money in their pockets or any of these worldly goods, but they had Jesus in their souls on their way to heaven. They may not have nice pews or carpet on the floor, and some did not have much education, but they had the power of God in their lives. We are going to take a look at the church today, how that we have better churches with modern technology. We are more educated and have more money, but what happened to the power of God from the old church? Christians today cannot testify living free from sin. Some cannot shout and praise God until they get all sweaty! Pride has taken over the church today. Christians have become spiritually sick! There are so many teachings, doctrines, and cults to confuse people. Satan has taken a seat in the church. In the midst of all of these, a Christian today can be healthy. We are going to take a look at how a person can live a life to please God today in our generation, just like the saints of old. Most of all, well look at how to make heaven your home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483614120

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Copyright © 2013 by Elder William D. Holmes.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4836-1411-3

               Ebook            978-1-4836-1412-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/28/2013

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Contents

Introduction

Let Us Break The Ice

Chapter 1 Baby Stage

Chapter 2 Maturity In Christ

Chapter 3 Sound Doctrine

Chapter 4 I Am Only Human

Chapter 5 Service For The Master

Chapter 6 Fasting And Prayer

Chapter 7 Crucifying The Flesh

Chapter 8 The Fruit Of The Spirit

Chapter 9 Being Possessed By The Holy Ghost

Chapter 10 Quench Not The Spirit

Chapter 11 Tying Up The Loose Ends

Chapter 12 Taking A Stand For True Holiness

Summary

Acknowledgments

Dedication

I want to dedicate this book to my pastor who taught me the Word of God well and made me the man I am today, to Bishop William H. Easter, and to Eldress Josephine K. Easter of Garysburg, North Carolina. I want to dedicate this book to my chief apostle, Bishop Geanie Perry Sr., and to Eldress Ruth Perry of Warrenton, North Carolina, Apostolic Faith Church of Giving Grace Inc., Garysburg, North Carolina. I want to dedicate it to the memory of my Holy Ghost-filled mother, Lizzie Mae Holmes, and father, Floyd Holmes, who are now living with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven.

INTRODUCTION

We are living in a fast-changing world, and things are getting ever so modern. Some inventions are a blessing to us—such as cell phones, iPods, air-conditioning, and fast-moving vehicles. People live in better houses and drive nice vehicles. They eat out more often. More people are moving on to college to further their education. All of this is good, but there is a downside to all of this technology and increase of wealth. People are not praying and living for God like they should. Some don’t even go to church. How many times do you look in the neighborhood on Sunday morning and see children outside playing and people sleeping late, cutting the grass, or doing something else on Sunday? Society has put God on the back burner and gone their way to do what they want to do. They use the weekends to watch football, go to the amusement park, or go to the beach. They only want God in case of emergency or when they are going to die. Just as people modernize society, they will come into the church and modernize the way people worship God by going back and picking up the things that the saints of old said were evil in the eyes of God.

The churches, which used to have godly people, are looking like the people in the streets. More and more church people, who used to testify free from sin, are now saying you can’t live free from sin. Preachers who used to preach fire and brimstone so that the people will repent and get their lives right with God are now preaching more prosperity and living a good life by accepting Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior. Money is the big thing on people’s mind, along with miracles and healing. When you talk about sin, it upsets people. They don’t want to hear it. All they want to hear is God’s love and mercy. They don’t want to hear about giving up sin. In our day and time, you hear of more clergy and Christians caught in adultery, child molesting, or some other kind of sin. It is so bad that the sinners say they are as good as the Christians. Why should I attend church?

In this book, I am going to discuss in the midst of all of these weaknesses of the church that a Christian can be healthy. If they follow the basic principles of the Word of God, the Lord can make them a saved, sanctified, and Holy Ghost-filled Christian to help them to live a life with victory over sin. We are going to break down the basic principles of salvation, the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and discuss several problems among Christians that will hinder their growth in God. I am going to let you know how to get your church on fire and keep growing in God. Society may change, but God’s Word does not change because it is always modern. People are getting so much in their self that they despise dancing and shouting for God. Yet and still they spend lots of energy doing what they want to do, such as dancing at the clubs, receptions, ball games, etc. God wants his children to deny the world and glorify him with their body. He wants all his children to have a strong testimony of victory over sin. In this book, you will find out how God can give a Christian power to live in this world with power over the devil and love for people.

We must get rid of the divisions over church doctrines among our Christian brethren and follow peace with all men. We need to be one in the Spirit of God in order to get to heaven. We are going to discuss the benefits of fasting and how it can help build your spiritual life, which also can make you healthy naturally to keep the body healed of sickness and disease. It is time to get down to the nitty-gritty and repent for your sins and build on it a rock-solid salvation so we can serve God in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Most of all, to make heaven our home. This book is based upon the Word of God, and I have references of scriptures to back up what I am talking about. It is time for all Christians to obey all of God’s Word and not just portions of it. I used the old King James Version for references because it keeps the scriptures in its original form. So after reading this book, I want you to have a clear understanding of holiness and how to serve God to draw others to Christ.

LET US BREAK THE ICE

Now some of you want to know what a Christian is. The word Christian was first mentioned when the people of God were at Antioch (Acts 11:26 KJV). Christian means Christlike. The people of God are supposed to live like Jesus. You may wonder how that can be done. We are living in a sinful world. Jesus came into the world to save us from sin. In order to get free from sin, we must follow the plan of God. Jesus brought salvation, which is deliverance from sin. There are a lot of church people who are members of the church, hold positions, and will do good deeds; but still they sin. Jesus came into the world to fix it so we can come out of sin. That is salvation. Salvation goes further than just religion. No matter what major religions are out there, all agree that a man or woman cannot live in this world free from sin. God found fault in all the major religions of the world because they will not set a person free from their sins. Jesus came into this world to set us free because the Bible says, If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36 KJV). Jesus will give you victory and power to live in this world free from sin. Jesus will live on the inside of you, causing you to have power to choose the good and refuse the evil. Jesus did not get with none of the Scribes, Pharisees, or Sadducees. The reason was they were all religious people, but they sin sometimes. They claim to know God by doing so-called good deeds, but they were corrupt behind closed doors (Matthew 23:13-32 KJV). In other words, they had skeletons in the closet! God is requiring every man to repent and receive his Son, Jesus, as their Savior so they can be free from their sins.

There are steps for every Christian to follow toward receiving this salvation. They are as follows: Conversion (Acts 3:19 KJV), which is a change of mind. Your mind is turned from the old life of sin and has a mind to serve God in righteousness. All your committed sins are forgiven. Repentance, which I will discuss a little later, is the first step. The next is Justification (Romans 5:1 KJV), which is peace with God. The Lord has blotted out all of your sins, and now there is nothing between you and the Savior. Water Baptism is a testimony to the world by immersion in water that you are leaving the old sinful world behind and moving on to live a new life in Jesus. You will bury that old sinful life and rise to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:3-4 KJV). I understand some people want to sprinkle water on you, but God wants us to bury the old life of sin. Sprinkling clean water through the Prophet Ezekiel was referring to a part of Sanctification (Ezekiel 36:25 KJV). When Jesus gave his life on the cross of Calvary, out flowed blood and water. The blood is for cleansing and the pure water for washing (Ephesians 5:25 KJV). Sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, John 20:21-22 KJV) is when Jesus breathes into your soul and takes out the old Adam nature, the indwelling sin, out of you. Jesus will come alive in you and give you power to resist the devil. The baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire (Acts 2:1-4 KJV) will come in and dwell in you, preserving you until the day Jesus comes and carries you home. One of the evident signs of the Holy Ghost is the speaking in tongues.

These steps are vital for every Christian to become healthy and live for God in holiness and righteousness all the days of your lives (Luke 1:73-75 KJV). I understand there are Christians out there who will say, I am a member of a certain church and confessed the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior. I was baptized with water. I try to live a good life. Is that enough? Based upon the Word of God, we must be pure in our heart. Good is not enough. Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8 KJV). Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. Jesus came to take sin out of the sinner. When Jesus takes sin out of the sinner, then you can live in this world free from sin. Jesus does it through his blood that he gave on Calvary. Now other Christians may say they are saved and even have the Holy Ghost with the speaking in tongue. Yet and still they sin sometimes. I have news for you. According to the Bible, the Holy Ghost dwells in a pure heart. The Holy Ghost comes on Jesus. If Jesus has washed you in his blood, then you are pure. The Holy Ghost and fire can dwell there (John 14:23 KJV). The Holy Ghost dwells in no sinner! Some of you may say that is tight. It is true that it is tight, but holiness is right. God wants his children to bear his name of holiness. There are many Christians who have a form of godliness but do not have power to live free from sin. In other words, there are Christians who will perform in church so well by preaching, singing, praise dancing, ushering, and all the good they can; but they sin sometimes. God wants us to give him a twenty-four-hour service, not just a Sunday morning or midweek service.

One young girl who confessed she was a Christian stated she was bored and mad because she did not get an iPod for Christmas! When Jesus saved and sanctified you through the blood, you can have joy in your soul when things are not going your way. That is the difference in salvation and just plain religion. Jesus will cause you to be happy when you don’t have many natural blessings. You have the greatest gift of all, and that is eternal life! Jesus can make a way out of no way. Salvation is very important in making a healthy Christian. That young girl, if she had salvation, she could rejoice in Jesus although she did not receive what she desired for Christmas. If you delight yourself in the Lord, then God will bless you with your heart’s desires (Psalms 37:4 KJV).

Now some people may say I am talking about a holier-than-thou attitude. I want you to know that is not the case! Jesus came into the world to save any man, woman, boy, or girl. Everyone can have this freedom through Jesus. It is just like birds in a cage. They can be in the cage. Unless you open the door, the birds will remain in the cage. You see, we know we all were born in this world, and sin is all around us. There are people in and out the church who believe we have to remain a sinner although some say don’t sin as much as you used to. We do have free will to choose. Nevertheless, Jesus came into the world to give his life, so when we accept him in our life, he will give us power to resist sin and temptation. Jesus will set us totally free from sin in this world. We can be around sin, but sin does not contaminate our soul. We do not obey the devil in no sin! We are protected by the blood of Jesus, and the Holy Ghost dwells in our hearts, keeping us pure and clean until Jesus comes back for us. That is salvation and not just plain religion. There are those who confess Jesus and only have a form of godliness; when things are not going their way, they will get an attitude just like that young girl and say, I don’t want to lose my religion! That is because that sinful nature is rising up and going to explode! That is how religion will do you. That is why it is important to get salvation (pure religion).

There are two types of sins. The sins I am talking about throughout this book are the sins unto death. They are doings which God calls wicked and will carry your soul to a burning hell. Some examples are the sins of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21 KJV). There are sins not unto death and those are sins that are only against the body but not the soul (1 John 5:16 KJV). An example of a sin not unto death is you know it is freezing outside and you run out there in your short sleeves and later you come down with the influenza or pneumonia. That sickness was cause by doing something against your body. Another example is you ate something that did not agree with you and it made you sick. That is a sin against your body. The Bible says in (James 5:14 KJV) that if there are any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church let them pray over you anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. If he has committed any sins they shall be forgiven him. These can also be called mistakes which I will discuss later. Now those sins are against the body and not the soul. There are some sins that affect both soul and body such as alcoholism, tobacco use, illegal drugs are some examples. Let us not get all this confused.

We are going to start with the fundamentals, beginning with the baby stage. In order to be healthy, we must start right to end up right.

CHAPTER 1

Baby Stage

As we begin our Christian walk with Christ, we must first learn the fundamentals in order to build upon them. Some people may say the Christian life is not an easy life. I have news for you; it is easier than you think. Jesus came into the world to give us a new promise or New Testament with God. The New Testament of the Holy Bible talks about the Spotless Lamb of God, which is our sacrifice for our sins, who is Jesus Christ. When Jesus gave his life on the Calvary cross, his blood will not only forgive us of our committed sins but also cleanse our conscience from the indwelling sin. The Bible says, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14 KJV).

Now conversion, which is repentance, is the first step toward salvation. This is praying sincerely from your heart, saying, Lord, if you forgive me of my sins, I will never sin anymore. You will pray that prayer until your mind changes; God gives you a mind to live right. If you are serious with God, then God is serious with you. You will confess to God that you are a sinner and needs to be saved. God is eager to hear a sinner cry out for mercy (Isaiah 55:6-7, 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 KJV). He will answer your prayer through godly and sorrowful repentance, which will work the evil out of your heart and make you a child of God. Godly sorrow is sincerity of heart, promising the Lord, If you forgive me, I will live for you and sin no more. When God answers your prayer, a heavy guilt will lift off you, signifying your sins are forgiven. You will have carefulness about what you say and how you treat people. A good conversion will give you a foundation to build upon. It is important to receive a good conversion to continue your Christian walk.

The next step—justification—is having peace with God (Romans 5:1 KJV). You must have peace with your fellow man if you want to have peace with God. Things that used to make you mad and fly off the handle don’t tick you off anymore. You now can hold your peace. If you did anybody wrong, you go back and beg them pardon. You will straighten up your past life. All of this will make you feel some kind of good. Repentance will give you a soft heart, so you will have a desire to do right, and all of your intentions are for the right. You will forgive those who have done you wrong and love all people. When Christians get justified by faith, they will feel so good that they will say they love everybody! That is how good God will make you feel. When you go and beg people pardon for the wrong you have done to them, I caution you to use good judgment because you may mean well when you ask for forgiveness, but the person whom you are talking to may not see it that way. In other words, a problem that is already bad will become worse! For example, if a man is running out on another man’s wife. If that person gets saved and the Lord forgives him and if that new convert goes to that man and tells him he was running with his wife, that could create a big storm, especially if he did not know it. Instead of making peace, you created war! That devil in him is boiling hot! So I encourage all new converts and Christians to do the things to make peace. Some things the Lord saved us from are for us to know and not the public. We do not even mention some things because they are so evil and we are ashamed of them (Ephesians 5:12 KJV). If you know bringing up a situation will create a war, refrain from doing it! God will be pleased. For the Bible says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9 KJV).

Testimonies are great in the services of God when people tell where the Lord brought them from. Although it is good when they tell that Jesus set them free, I have a problem when some new Christians who get into church go and on about their past life. I wonder sometimes, Are they really delivered? If the Lord delivered you, you will give him praise instead of just drooling over the life you used to live. There is nothing in sin to glory in! Just because a person was a big-time drug dealer, a ladies’ man, an alcoholic, a gang member, prostitute, fornicator, adulterer, gambler, etc., does not mean they can glory in those sins. Sometimes young people who are in the service will listen to Christians testify about their past life, and the way they tell it will encourage them to go and try it instead of resisting it. This should not be! That is why some things we do out there in the world should not be mentioned. Just testify how foolish you were out there in sin on your way to a burning hell, and now you are so glad Jesus saved you. God