Sermons & Devotionals by Classic Christian Writings

The gift of the Holy Spirit is the distinguishing feature of the Christian religion. It is the very soul of our faith. In His indwelling Presence is the secret of all Christian experience, and in the abiding energy of His power is the dynamic of all Christian service. The promises concerning the Spi... Read More

The goal to which the Holy Spirit leads every new-born soul is that which is so strikingly expressed by Paul in the familiar words, "Not I, but Christ." The human "I" is not perfected by any such progress as some have so strangely concluded. The human "I" is delivered over to death, and by the power... Read More

The sphere of the Holy Spirit is in the Living Temple of sanctified humanity. He dwells not in temples made with hands. The Temple at Jerusalem was a permitted mistake, as surely as the kingship of Israel. In the New Jerusalem there is no Temple. The Tabernacle was a type of heavenly realities. The ... Read More

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4). Whenever we speak of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and desire to know what it precisely is, our thoughts always turn back to the day of Pentecost. There we see as in a mirror how glorious the blessing is that is brought from heaven by the ... Read More

As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love, even as I abide in my Father’s love (John 15:9,10). Christ had taught His disciples that to abide in Him was to abide in His love. The hour of His suffering is near, and He cannot speak much more to them. They would doubtlessly have... Read More

I was the new pastor. I was young and not very experienced. It was my first midweek prayer service. The church was 45 years old and already had been served by 15 pastors. This seemed to tell me something. I had served my first church nine years and had now moved a thousand miles with my young family... Read More

Give me a heart like Thine; By Thy wonderful power, By Thy grace every hour, Give me a heart like Thine. We sang that verse with all our might one morning in one of those hours of heart-humbling and heart-searching, when I was a cadet in the training home, and at least one of the cadets looked throu... Read More

Edited from a message delivered at the "Heart-Cry for Revival" Conference near Asheville, North Carolina, May 23-27, 2000. Let me begin by addressing to you a problem that I think we have to realistically face. This nation of America was founded in the spirit of revival. In the earliest days of the ... Read More

Edited from a message delivered at the "Heart-Cry for Revival" Conference near Asheville, North Carolina, May 23-27, 2000. The heart-cry for revival that Heaven awaits is a cry of genuine faith based on the unfulfilled promises of God. Many of the places where I go, people are praying for revival no... Read More

Edited from a message delivered at the "Heart-Cry for Revival" Conference near Asheville, North Carolina, May 23-27, 2000. "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the h... Read More

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119:11). "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Corinthians 4:3). We have here two texts which deal with God’s Word being hidden. The end of the one verse is as opposite to the end of the other as h... Read More

The Holy Spirit is the wonderful third Person of the Trinity about whom we know so little. He loves so tenderly, cares so personally, and ministers to us so faithfully. How amazing that perhaps the most common symbol of this beautiful Person found in the Bible is flaming fire! Why does Scripture cho... Read More

For several years there had been an increasing hunger in the hearts of most of us (missionaries of the North China Mission) to see more of the power of the Holy Spirit in our work. We had been taught in our seminaries that if we ever got any souls saved, it would be through the work of the Holy Spir... Read More

The secret of prayer is found in the three words: “in the Spirit.” When we come into the presence of God in prayer, we should look up to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the Spirit, and then we shall pray aright. It is ... Read More

"But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem... Read More

"I am in the midst of you as he that serveth" (Luke 22:27). In the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and spirit in which He acts. Though the... Read More

One of the essential components of a healthy spiritual life is a steady diet of good teaching. Every Christian needs others who can help instruct, explain and apply God’s Word to his or her life. The goal of good teaching is not only to pass along sound content, but also to promote godly living. The... Read More

Edited from a message delivered at the "Heart-Cry for Revival" Conference near Asheville, North Carolina, April 9-12, 2002 Scripture Reading: Isaiah 52:1-12 Isaiah chapter 52 is a word the prophet is speaking to his people in the holy city, the city of Jerusalem, where the Temple was and where God w... Read More

Jeremiah interceded for the people, but we have not to seek far before we discover the reason why he did it. God gave the weeping prophet to His sinful people in order that they might not be left as sheep without a shepherd. Wherever you meet with a man who intercedes with God for his fellow men and... Read More

I hope this issue of the Herald blesses and challenges you as it focuses upon the theme of the cross of Christ. In connection with this theme, I would like to draw your attention to Hebrews 12:1-3: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything th... Read More