Hearing the Word of the Lord 

Pray: Psalm 143

Read: John 14:15-17; 25-26; 15:26-27; 16:7-15

Sing: Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord (Lutheran Worship #154)

The Apostles’ Creed

The Third Article

O God, on this day you once taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy consolation; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in communion with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Collect for Pentecost, Lutheran Worship, p. 59)

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian (catholic) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Triune God

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. John 15:26

The Work of the Holy Spirit is to Make Holy (Sanctify)

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. John 16:8-10

1.      I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him;

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4

The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14

The sinful mind is hostile to God. Romans 8:7

2.    But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. John 16:13

Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge - even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:4-8

To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where He pleases, in those who hear the Gospel. And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this. (Augsburg Confession 5,1-4; Tappert, 31)

The redemptive work has taken place and is finished, for Christ has purchased and won the treasure for us through His suffering, death, resurrection,etc. But if that saving action stays hidden and no one knows about it, then it would all be for nothing, wasted. In order that this treasure might not remain buried but be taken up and enjoyed, God has let the Word go forth and be proclaimed. In the Word He has given us His Holy Spirit to lay the treasure of redemption on our hearts and make it our very own. Thus to sanctify or make holy is nothing else than to bring us to Christ our Lord to receive this treasure, which we could never have obtained by ourselves. (Large Catechism, 73)

Accordingly, we should and must constantly maintain that God will not deal with us except through his external Word and sacrament. Whatever is attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and sacrament is of the devil. (Smalcald Articles, iii 8.10)

3.      In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18

You are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10

It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. (Augsburg Confession 7.1)

For in the first place, He has a very special community in the world, which is the mother that brings forth and bears every Christian through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit reveals and proclaims that Word; He uses it to shed His light into human hearts and set them aglow; He empowers them to grasp the Word, accept it, cling to it, and faithfully stay with it. (Large Catechism, 73)

Thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd. (Smalcald Articles iii 12.2)

4.      In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-6 (Holy Baptism)

With that [Jesus] breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." John 20:22-23 (Holy Absolution)

He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:27-28 (Lord's Supper)

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:15-20

"We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, how it is achieved and won. Second, how it is distributed and given to us. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world. For inasmuch as he had determined once to achieve it, it made no difference to him whether he distributed it before or after, through his Word, as can easily be proved from Scripture.If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there. Nor must I hold to the suffering of Christ, as Dr. Karlstadt trifles, in knowledge or remembrance, for I will not find it there either. But I will find in the sacrament or gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the cross. (Luther, Against the Heavenly Prophets (1525) AE 40:213-214)

5.      On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life , for God's wrath remains on him. John 3:36

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Don not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. John 5:24-29

"I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. John 11:25-26

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3

The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:52-53

Pray the Catechism

Gracious Father in heaven,

Adoration:            You send us the Holy Spirit who makes us holy, who calls us by the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ, who enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies us, and keeps us together with the whole church with Jesus Christ,

Confession:          We confess that we so often resist the work of your Holy Spirit, that by our complacency and waywardness we despise the church He creates and the the salvation that He brings; we gave neglected your Word, and so through our own fault our devotion toward you has often grown cold and lifeless;

Thanksgiving:     We thank you, that you continue to pour down your Spirit upon us; that you have established the church among us, that the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are administered as our Lord Jesus gave them;

Supplication:        Grant us a confident and living faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior; enlighten us by your Word, sanctify our lives by the forgiveness of sins; give us ears to hear your Word and a hunger and thirst for your Sacrament. Keep us strong and steadfast in the faith, so that we, together with all who believe in Christ, may rise in our bodies on the Last Day to eternal life with you.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.