The True Christmas Spirit (Matthew 25:31–46)

Dear Reader, if you are new here and curious, or are looking for answers immediately, please follow this link to our Start Here page: https://hewasraised.wordpress.com/about/. The Start Here page is designed as the beginning point of this website to which these further posts correspond. Thank you, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV).

The following sermon, preached on November 26th, 2017, examines what we call the “Christmas Spirit.” The real Christmas Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin regarding righteousness and shows us that justice and compassion define God’s desires (not, do we even have to mention it, materialism and money). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

A link to the audio is found below and we apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0JJrO6F9u4Q

What Do Our Hearts Look Like? (Matthew 18:21–35)

Dear Reader, if you are new here and curious, or are looking for answers immediately, please follow this link to our Start Here page: https://hewasraised.wordpress.com/about/. The Start Here page is designed as the beginning point of this website to which these further posts correspond. Thank you, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV).

The following sermon, preached on September 17th, 2017, focuses on our hearts. Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). Jesus answers, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (18:22). This is the Gospel in a nutshell: that God looks at our own hearts and forgives us not seven, but seventy-seven times. But can we—the forgiven ones—ourselves forgive others who have wronged us? As Jesus says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of YOU unless YOU forgive YOUR brother or sister from YOUR heart” (18:35, emphasis added).

A link to the audio is found below. Click on the link for the audio. And we apologize for the not perfect quality of the audio!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1Sgretvy6Up