We’re one week into our new July sermon series, The Beauty of Holiness.
Abe Stratton, our Pastor for Member Growth, designed this series as a kind of preached biblical theology of holiness in the Bible. As he said this past Sunday in his sermon, “The Holy God,” for a variety of reasons this is an often misunderstood subject. We may tend to think of holiness in merely ethical separatist terms. Or we may think of holiness as something for special Christians.
Here’s how Abe put the Bible’s teaching holiness in a sentence: “A holy God is doing an eternal work through His Holy Son to transform sinners into His holy people by the power of His Holy Spirit so that they might live with Him in a holy place forever.”
Here’s the roadmap for the weeks ahead:
- July 8: “The Holy God” (Psalm 99)
- July 15: “A Holy Identity” (Isaiah 6:1-7)
- July 22: “A Holy Life” (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1)
- July 29: “A Holy People” (1 Peter 2:1-12)
Read and pray ahead each week as we advance through the month.
Pray also for me, for rest from preaching and fruitfulness in other pastoral labors. As I shared at our family meeting this past April, I’ll take one month each summer to redirect my time in a number of ways: to specific projects that are difficult to tackle in a normal preaching week, to more lingering availability for people, and to long-term pulpit planning.
This kind of a several-week break is important for me. It makes sure I remember you don’t need me, and it reminds me that I need to sit under the Word myself. It’s good for our shared commitment to raise up or strengthen other preachers. For many years I benefitted from the opportunity to design and preach a run of sermons each summer. In these ways this plan benefits you, but it benefits you more directly as well. It’s good for you to hear different voices, and benefit from long-exposure to the heart and gifting of another brother.
