16 Sermons Tagged "Holy Spirit"

Today is Pentecost, which celebrates the day the descended on the followers of Jesus. However, our scripture passage for today ends with the sentence: "For the Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified." What does that mean?

Jesus's first appearance after his resurrection was to 2 disciples who were walking to Emmaus. While his exact words are not recorded, we know that Jesus explained to those disciples how all of the Scriptures (which we know as the Old Testament today) were about him. In this sermon Pastor Schurman explains the dangers of being distracted by "church things" instead of focusing on hearing and spreading the good news of free salvation in Christ Jesus.

When Jesus told of the rich man and poor Lazarus, he didn't state exactly why the rich man went to Hell, leading some people to make incorrect assumptions and guesses about it. However, the reason is very clearly implied in Jesus' words, and we can learn from it and apply it to our own lives and circumstances.

God has given spiritual gifts to all members of the invisible church of all believers according to what the visible churches need for their congregations and communities, so we should remember thank God for our gifts and use them to praise and glorify Him.

When reading through the Bible, it may seem like God is sometimes playing favorites with those who are saved and those who are not, especially those people who at times worked against Christ. However, through several parables Jesus explains the key differences between those people, and we see how it applies to us today.

Jesus gave the binding and loosing keys to the church after his resurrection when he appeared to the disciples and other believers. We use the binding key (the Law) when someone is embracing a sin to show them they are damned to Hell and need a savior, and we use the loosing key (the Gospel) when they repent to forgive them of that sin and tell them Jesus is their savior.