Not Ordinary. Holy.

| Sermon Summary by Jerince Peter |

Sermon - 17th Aug 2025

The desert trembled at Sinai. Smoke rose, thunder roared, and the people of Israel stood in awe. God’s voice cut through the storm: “You will be my treasured possession… a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5–6).

From the beginning, God’s call was clear: His people were not to blend in, but to be set apart. Holiness is not optional. It’s our identity. He is holy — utterly unlike us — and He calls us to reflect Him. Isaiah saw it in the temple: “Woe to me! I am ruined!” (Isa. 6:5). Holiness shakes us to the core.

But holiness was never about isolation. When God blessed Abraham, it was so “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:3). To be holy is to live outward, to intercede, to represent God to a watching world. Israel tragically traded this for normalcy, asking for a king “like other nations” (1 Sam. 8:5).

Jesus came to restore what was lost: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me… to proclaim good news.” (Luke 4:18). And through Him, people from every nation are invited into this holy priesthood.

Yet holiness comes at a cost. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood against Nazi ideology, wrote: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Holiness will never be convenient. It demands sacrifice.

Today, the call remains: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1 Pet. 2:9). We are citizens of heaven, ambassadors of Christ. The world doesn’t need a comfortable church. It needs a holy one.

The question is simple, but piercing: Will you choose holiness or normalcy?