St Paul's Evangelical Church

09/07/2026

Holiness
Isaiah 6; Hebrews 12:20-24

What is holiness? The dictionary defines it as the state or quality of being holy; sanctity; perfect moral integrity or purity, freedom from sin. Two things stand out: sanctity, which is the result of sanctification or growth and maturity in Christ; and perfect moral integrity. Note that there is some opposition between these two things.

First, only God has perfect moral integrity, but secondly God doesn’t grow into it. He simply has it, and always has. God doesn’t experience or need this kind of growth because already has it. All growth, maturity, and sanctification belongs to humanity—to us. And so the simple definition of the word suggests—demands—a human response. And by response, I mean affirmation. To think correctly about the word holy or holiness requires us to enter into sanctification. It calls us to imitate or replicate God’s holiness, as best as we are able simply to define it correctly. And on our own, in and of ourselves, we are simply not able. …

We should be perfect, but we aren’t. Why should we be perfect? Because in the beginning God created us perfect. A perfect God could not make an imperfect creation with imperfect people. Perfection begets perfection because like begets like. Dogs reproduce dogs, cats cats, cows cows, etc. For a perfect God to produce anything less than perfection would mar His own perfection.

So when God revealed Himself to Isaiah, Isaiah was devastated by the realization of his own sin. And that is the way that people react to God. That’s why evangelization or sharing the perfect love of God with unbelievers is so hard. When we share the story of Jesus with people, we are holding up a mirror for them to see their own imperfections. We may not mean to do that, but that’s the only way to really see God. So when people actually look and listen and encounter the perfection of God’s Holy Spirit they are devastated because they see the reality of their own failings. If you haven’t seen and felt this, you haven’t yet experienced the living God. …

Hebrews 12 picks up on this idea of God’s holiness. …

Isaiah 6; Hebrews 12:20-24

09/07/2026

This Is Amazing Grace

09/03/2026

Hearing The Unexpected
Judges 6:7-17; Judges 6:7-17

Gideon was threshing wheat in a w**epress—minding his own business, hiding from Midianite raiders—when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and identified him as a “mighty man of valor” (v. 12). Gideon was shocked and surprised, and he doubted and dismissed it because he knew Israel’s dire circumstances. He responded,

“Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian” (v. 13).

Things were going badly for Israel. If the Lord was with Israel, things wouldn’t be bad, would they? Israel was weak and broken. Why would God bother with them? But God persisted,

“Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” (v. 14).

Gideon thought that God was out of His mind! Gideon was a nobody, what could he do?

“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (v. 15).

Like most of the people that God calls, Gideon didn’t think that he was the right guy for the mission. This is a common biblical response to God’s call. Most of the folks that God calls have excuses. …

Gideon told God to look at the facts: Gideon’s clan was small and weak, and Gideon was the weakling of his clan. What was God thinking! Sorry God, you have the wrong guy! So why did God persist with Gideon? What did Gideon have that God could use? Gideon was weak, and what did God tell Paul about weakness?

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God calls the weak because God’s power is easier to see in the flawed and weak. …

Judges 6:7-17; Judges 6:7-17

08/30/2026

Creation Calls

08/24/2026

Wondrous Love

08/24/2026

Discipleship
Jeremiah 32:17-23; Hebrews 12:3-11

The primary purpose of the book of Hebrews is to tie the Old Testament and New Testament together. The central argument being made is that the entire Bible is one long story, that the Old Testament is the foundation upon which the New Testament stands, and that the New Testament can only be properly understood in the light of the Old Testament.

In the beginning the whole world fell into sin when Adam and Eve transgressed God’s directive regarding the knowledge of good and evil. They began thinking for themselves, or we could say that they began to disregard God’s directives. The Serpent told them that they would become like God, knowing good and evil on their own, without God’s help. And so they did, and here we are.

After the disastrous fruit of this idea was drowned in the great flood, God chose a man who would set a pattern of faithful obedience to God to provide a model for the redemption of the world. His name was Abraham, and one day he was blessed by a servant priest of the Most High God named Melchizedek. That blessing included the promise of many children, and was confirmed with a ceremony of bread and w**e. Abraham and Sarah had been barren and were very old. Nonetheless God said to Abraham that his

“‘very own son shall be your heir.’ And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:4-6).

God was planning for a very large human population of people who would be like Abraham. In what way would they be like Abraham? Abraham believed God’s promise, and God said that Abraham’s simple belief and trust in God’s promise would provide a model of faithfulness that would produce righteousness. Faithfulness was then and is still counted as righteousness.

If people would simply trust God’s judgment about good and evil, humanity would thrive on earth. But here’s the thing: human thriving requires faith in God’s righteousness. …

Jeremiah 32:17-23; Hebrews 12:3-11

08/16/2026

Predestination
Luke 21:10-19; Hebrews 12:1-2

You have a destination in Christ, which means that you are going somewhere specific: to live with God in the flesh. God has always known your destination. God knew it before you learned about it. Your destination in Christ is not unique to you. It is a destination that you will share with “a great multitude that no one can count” (Revelation 7:9). And yet Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

So, which is it? Is heaven composed of a large number or a small number?

God is not concerned about size. It has been said that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Numbers are relative. A thousand in one context is large, and in another context is small. A thousand member church is large, but a thousand people at a professional football game is small. When it comes to heaven, there is only one number that is important, and that is your number. Is you in or is you out? …

Christ has come to change the world, not to destroy it. I understand this in terms of remodeling. Take this sanctuary, for instance. It needs some remodeling. To fix our broken ceiling, we need to first remove the old ceiling, because if we don’t completely remove it, it will cause similar problems later—guaranteed. So the first stage of repair is demolition.

And so it is with our own lives: in order to institute good habits, we must first eliminate our bad habits, because bad habits crowd out good habits. Our destiny is to be remade in the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. That’s where God is taking us. We can cooperate, or we can resist; but in Christ resistance is futile.

If you have actually responded positively to Jesus Christ, then the life you are living is no longer yours. It belongs to Jesus. Your ultimate destination is in His hands. …

Luke 21:10-19; Hebrews 12:1-2

08/16/2026

Freely Freely

08/10/2026

Above All Powers

08/10/2026

Apart From Us
Isaiah 40:25-31; Hebrews 11:32-40

“Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). This is actually two commands, not one. The first is to be fruitful, and the second is to have children.

Be fruitful! How are we to be fruitful? ...

Isaiah 40:25-31; Hebrews 11:32-40