Sermons on Holy Spirit
Romans 8:1-11
The Believer’s Emancipation Proclamation Introduction: Tony Campolo writes the following account of a little girl he knew: A friend of mine has an adorable four-year-old daughter. She is bright and she is talkative. If tryouts were being held for a modern-day Shirley Temple, I think she would win hands down. One night there was a violent thunderstorm. The lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled. It was one of those terrifying storms that forces everyone to stop and tremble a bit. My friend ran upstairs to his daughter’s…
Romans 8:12-17
The Family of God Introduction: One of the most common characteristics of rebellious, delinquent children is the feeling that they aren’t loved or appreciated and that they don’t really belong in the family. This perception may well be faulty, but the very perception itself generally results in aberrant behavior. Dr. James Dobson, former Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and now President of Focus on the Family, writes about how critical this lack of self-worth is in society as a…
Romans 8:26-30
God Works! Introduction: Let me begin this morning by presenting a few imaginary scenarios. Unemployed for six months and after a great interview, you receive the “We’ll keep your resume on file” letter for the thirtieth time. You try, you try, and you try, but pregnancy never happens. You finally get the affairs settled on your deceased father’s estate, and your sister-in-law calls and tells you that your brother has just died of a heart attack. The supervisors at your internship may let you go…
1 John 4:1-6
Spiritual Warfare in the Church Introduction: I’d like to set the stage this morning with a story from 2 Kings 6. The prophet Elisha is in Dothan, where he has been regularly receiving information from God about the military movements of the Aramean or Syrian army and passing the information on to the King of Israel. The King of the Arameans suspects a spy among his trusted confidants, but eventually he is informed that Elisha is the culprit; in fact, one of his…
1 Cor. 3:16-23
Destroying the Church Introduction: I have always been fascinated by ancient ruins. Especially intriguing are the temples that archeologists have unearthed and preserved for posterity. There is the great Acropolis in Athens, the Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth, Petra in Jordan, Karnak and Luxor in Egypt. These great temples conjure up visions of ancient cultures, of gods created in the image of man, and of man’s futile search for meaning in a pagan world. They stand as stark reminders of the truth of Paul’s assertion in 1 Cor. 3:11: “For no man can lay any foundation other…
Acts 2:41-47
The Holy Spirit Builds Strong Bodies Introduction: When I was a kid, I absolutely loved Wonder Bread. It was so soft and white, and it made such excellent dough balls when it was wadded up. And when my mom hesitated to buy it, I made sure she knew that Wonder Bread builds strong bodies twelve ways, a truth I was privy to from watching Gene Autry and Howdy Doody, which only the geezers in our audience will relate to. I can’t recall what any…
Acts 19
Satanic Devices to Hinder the Church Introduction: I’ve entitled my sermon today, “Satanic Devices to Hinder the Church.” Ever since Jesus Christ proclaimed to His disciples, “I will build my Church,” Satan has had as one of his principal goals to render the Church anemic and ineffective. We’re going to see today in Acts 19 how he pursued that goal with a vengeance. Now it’s interesting to me that the methodology Satan utilizes has some fascinating parallels to the methodology Communism has used to attempt…
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
How the Church Must Live in Purity According to the Gospel God saves a people for himself through the gospel. Those people are called the Church. The title of this sermon series in 1 Thessalonians is “The Gospel and the Church.” We have explored how the gospel impacts the church and impacts pastors, and how the church receives the gospel and suffers for the gospel. Today we will look at how the church must live a life pleasing to God…
2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Living Letters A couple of weeks ago I received a very nicely packaged public relations folder of information from a traveling evangelist. He sent me some information about himself, his education, his background, his seminars, and there is a nice picture of him, his wife, and four boys in a window of the folder. There is also a series of letters from various Evangelical Free Churches where he has spoken. Each letter was apparently solicited from the pastor and is designed to help…
Galatians 5:22-25
In Pursuit of the Fruit If over the past five months our study of Galatians has succeeded in getting you to identify aspects of legalism in your own life, convinced you that God hates it, and opened your heart to the freedom that is available in Christ, then we have accomplished something very important. If last week’s message helped you identify some of the desires of the sinful nature in your life, convinced you that these acts and attitudes are…
Galatians 5:26-6:5
Walking the Walk My sermon in a sentence is this: The principal evidence as to whether the Holy Spirit is controlling a believer’s life is seen in how he treats his brothers and sisters in Christ, which in turn is often determined by how he thinks about himself. That is the conclusion I have come to after the study we have done of the fruit of the Spirit and Spirit‑filled living as found in Galatians 5. Did you notice that the fruit…