Sermons and Biblical Studies

Let me shock you at this point. A naturally bright person can carry on religious activity without a special gift from God. Filling church pulpits every week are some who are using only natural abilities and special training. Some are known as Bible expositors, for it is possible to read and study commentaries and then … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: SPIRITUAL GIFTS; ACTIVITY: RELIGIOUS; PASTORAL MINISTRY: NEED FOR
SPIRITUAL REALITY”

For some time it has been evident that we evangelicals have been failing to avail ourselves of the deeper riches of grace that lie in the purposes of God for us. As a consequence, we have been suffering greatly, even tragically. One blessed treasure we have missed is the right to possess the gifts of … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: SPIRITUAL GIFTS”

A definition of the word “power” means the ability to do. You know, because it is the Greek word from which our English word “dynamite” comes, some of the brethren try to make out that the Holy Spirit is dynamite, forgetting that they have the thing upside down. Dynamite was named after that Greek word, … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: POWER OF GOD”

“It is one thing,” said Henry Suso, “to hear for oneself a sweet lute, sweetly played, and quite another thing merely to hear about it.” And it is one thing, we may add, to hear truth inwardly for one’s very self, and quite another thing merely to hear about it.… We are turning out from … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: NEGLECT OF; PASTORAL MINISTRY: NEED FOR SPIRITUAL REALITY”

This is the tragedy and the woe of the hour—we neglect the most important One who could possibly be in our midst—the Holy Spirit of God. Then, in order to make up for His absence, we have to do something to keep up our own spirits. I remind you that there are churches so completely … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: NEGLECT OF; CHURCH: SPIRITUAL CONDITION”

The continued neglect of the Holy Spirit by evangelical Christians is too evident to deny and impossible to justify.… The only power God recognizes in His church is the power of His Spirit whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals is the power of man. God does His work by … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: NEGLECT OF; CHURCH: HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK”

Our insensibility to the presence of the Spirit is one of the greatest losses that our unbelief and preoccupation have cost us. We have made Him a tenet of our creed, we have enclosed Him in a religious word, but we have known Him little in personal experience.… It will be a new day for … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: NEGLECT OF”

I think we are going to have to restudy this whole teaching of the place of the Holy Spirit in the Church, so the Body can operate again. If the life goes out of a man’s body, he is said to be a corpse. He is what they call “the remains.” It is sad, but … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: NEED FOR; DEAD CHURCHES; CHURCH: HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK”

In my sober judgment the relation of the Spirit to the believer is the most vital question the church faces today. Keys to the Deeper Life, 57.

Our trouble is that we are trying to confirm the truth of Christianity by an appeal to external evidence. We are saying, “Well, look at this fellow. He can throw a baseball farther than anybody else and he is a Christian, therefore Christianity must be true.” “Here is a great statesman who believes the Bible. Therefore, … Continue reading “HOLY
SPIRIT: INWARD WITNESS; APOLOGETICS; TESTIMONIALS”