The ministry of the Spirit of Truth, Acts 2: 1-41

Last week when I introduced this subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I said that understanding this text correctly is crucial to understanding not only the purpose of the church, and the function of the church, but the empowerment of the church. It is one of the most important texts in the Bible and as a result I think it is one that the enemy has done his best to sow in the tares of confusion and false teaching, so as to render the church powerless and weak and ineffectual. I would even go so far as to

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The baptism of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2: 1-21

To misunderstand this passage we are looking at today is to put in jeopardy the entire purpose of the Holy Spirit and His ministry to the church. Understanding this text correctly is crucial to understanding not only the purpose of the church, and the function of the church, but the empowerment of the church. One of the main reasons that the church is not functioning effectively in our society today is that many people are completely clueless about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is one of the main reasons why

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The right foundation of the church; Acts 1:12-26

The book of Acts is essentially the story of the establishment of the church. The name Acts of the Apostles is sort of misleading. It’s not meant to be a biographical account of the apostles as much as it is an account of the establishment of the church by the apostles. And so as we begin this study of the book of Acts, it is important that we understand what the church is. God has a blueprint for the church. God has a plan for the church. And that plan is not subject to our ideas of how we might

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The ministry of the Holy Spirit; Acts 1:1-11

We begin today a new study, a new series if you will, that is the book of Acts. It is a monumental task. If I thought too much ahead of time about what will be involved in preaching through Acts I would doubtless be overwhelmed by the enormity of the scope of this book. I have purposefully avoided it for almost 10 years now. But today we have come to it, and I believe we have come to it in just the right time. One reason I believe it’s the right time is we have just finished a 2 ½

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The significance of the ascension, Luke 24:49-53

A few days ago I watched the video released by the terrorist group ISIS, in which they set afire a captured Jordanian pilot. It was a gruesome video, and I don’t recommend that you watch it. It’s one of those things that you won’t be able to get out of your mind. But I had my reasons for watching it. Not the least of which was that many Christians have been burned at the stake over the centuries. For instance, William Tyndale who was the first to translate the Bible into English was burned at the stake in 1536. And

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The key to the gospel is repentance, Luke 24: 33-48

Last week we looked at the lessons learned on the road to Emmaus by two of Jesus’ disciples. And the lessons that these two men learned was basically a completion of their theology. They had an incomplete theology concerning the Messiah, and so Jesus helped them to see how the Old Testament scriptures spoke of His suffering. That was what they had not understood. They thought that Christ’s death eliminated Him from being the Messiah. Jesus showed them from scripture how His suffering and death were in fact predicted and consequently proved that He was the Messiah. And then if

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Lessons learned on the road to Emmaus; Luke 24:13-32

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I remember as a boy, I had a voracious appetite to read books. I grew up without a television and so reading was for me the primary source of entertainment. Everything I became interested in, I first of all went to the library and checked out every book I could find on the subject. And that was all fine and dandy until one day I decided I wanted to learn Karate. There were no Karate schools around, and if there were I would not have been allowed to attend them anyway. So

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Left Behind, Luke 24:1-12

I’m sure you all have heard of the movie that came out recently in the theaters called “Left Behind.” As you may know, it is from a book series that has been around for quite a while actually, by a Christian author named Tim LaHaye. In case you’re not familiar with the story line, the basic premise is that there is a divine event called the rapture in which all Christians mysteriously disappear and the series deals with the people on earth that are left behind to deal with the tribulation events. Well, at the risk of offending some of

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Sanctification through the burial of Christ, Luke 23:50-56

As I have alluded to many times before, Luke has an interesting way of arranging and presenting his historical account in such a way as to present an underlying allegory or symbolism that teaches a fundamental doctrine or principle of Christianity. And in today’s passage, I think we see that illustrated in the burial of Christ. The symbolism in this passage of the burial of Christ presents for us the doctrine of sanctification. The doctrine of sanctification is one of the most essential doctrines of the gospel, but unfortunately also one of the most overlooked doctrines. Modern churches today tend

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The reaction to Christ’s death, Luke 23:44-49

One of the more popular news stories that we always see at the end of the holiday season is something along the lines of people who passed away during the last year. It’s a way of remembering people that have died, perhaps prematurely, or perhaps tragically. And I can think of a few this year; Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, and Jay Adams come to mind. But unfortunately, as time goes on, the memory of many of those who have passed away will grow dimmer for most of us, if not altogether forgotten with the passage of time. There are some

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