Word of Salvation – Vol. 26 No. 29 – May 1981   All Together   Sermon by Rev. A. I. de Graaf on Acts 2:1 & 3 Scripture Reading: Acts 1:12-14, 2:1-4a Psalter Hymnal: 206; 319; 398; 314; 389; 387; 361   Always in Israel's history the Day of Pentecost had been the Day of bounty! The Harvest-Feast! God is the God of plenty! God's gifts are not the niggardly, miserly trickle but the stream of mercy, the showers of blessing. "Come", said God to Israel on the Day of Pentecost, "Come and show how I have filled your cup to...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 39 – July 1982   Still Together   Sermon by Rev. A. I. de Graaf on Acts 2:42 Scripture Readings: Ps.133; Acts 2.38-47 Psalter Hymnal: 234:1,4,5; 288:7,10; 442:2,4; 204:1,2,5; 386:1,2,3: 334   STILL TOGETHER!  That's what I'd like to put above this sermon.  That sounds a bit like the story of people who fell in love and married and managed to hang on to their marriage in a time of High Divorce Rate. Still together! God and His Christians, Christ and His Bride – His people – are still together. Romans 5:5 tells us...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 24 – March 1982   Jesus Risen Is Jesus The Messiah   Sermon by Rev. G. Van Schie on Acts 2: 29-36 Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18   Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, How silly we can be in that sometimes in trying to get rid of a problem, we only get rid of the symptoms and not the cause.  We only get rid of that which highlights the problem. A person who has a bad cold may be able to stop a bad cough with cough mixture, but the cause of that bad...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 30 No. 13 – April 1985   Ascension   Sermon by Rev. J. J. Van Wageningen, B.D. on Acts 1:6-11 Scripture Reading: Psalm 24 and Luke 24: 44-53 Psalter Hymnal: 42 (opening Psalm); 233:1 (after procl. of grace); 235:1 (after Ten Comm.); 372:1,3,4 (after sermon) 366 (before benediction)   Brothers & Sisters in Christ, What a tremendous joy it was for the Lord Jesus to return to the Father!  Also for His church it is a tremendous joy, for what He is and what He does concerns us; our risen Saviour, our Head is in heaven...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 30 No. 17 – May 1985   The Spirit Establishes The One Holy Catholic Church   Sermon by Rev. H. De Waard on Acts 2:4-11 Scriptures: Acts 2: 1-21; Isaiah 56: 1-8 Suggested Hymns: 197:1-4; 235:6,2; 378; 404; 360:3   Dear people of God, You have all experienced it!  You are together in a meeting, or in a Bible study group or even around the dinner-table.  There is tension, the atmosphere is strained even though no harsh words are spoken.  It happens in a marriage too.  There is no listening, no openness.  International relations are at...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 31 No. 05 – Feb 1986   A Saviour For All   Sermon by Rev. Prof. R. O. Zorn, B.A., B.D., M.Th. Text and Reading: Acts 8:26-40 Singing: P.H. 264; 198; 383; 410; 325.   Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, The story of the Ethiopian eunuch raises a question or two in our minds. First of all, we might ask: Why did the Spirit of God lead the writer of the book of Acts, Luke, to put this story into his account of the early history of the Church? Was it perhaps to show...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 35 – September 1989   The Cost Of Discipleship   Sermon by Rev. M. C. De Graaf on Acts 7:51-56 (Read 7:23-8:1) Reading: Acts 6:8 – 7:22 Singing: BoW H. 207; BoW H. 17 Ps. 78, 409, 492   Brothers and Sisters, In John 12:23 & 24 Jesus notes that if He is to be glorified He must first die.  He says:             "...unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies              it remains only a single seed; but if it dies              it produces many seeds". He goes on from...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 47 No. 02 – January 2002   God and Herod   Sermon by Rev. J. De Hoog on Acts 12 Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20 Suggested Hymns: BoW: 2; 438; 186:1,3; 468   Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 12 is about God and Herod.  The chapter chronicles a dramatic reversal of fortunes.  It opens up with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing.  It closes with Herod dead, Peter free and the word of God triumphing.  Human plans that are hostile to God may have their day and may seem to succeed for...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 39 – October 1991   Christ’s Ascension Into Heaven   Sermon by Rev. H. O. Berends on Acts 1:9-11 Reading: Exodus 33, Acts 1:1-14   Brothers and sisters, Today is a feast day which, unlike Christmas or Easter, is but little known by those who are not Christians.  It is not a public holiday, at least not in our country.  And even in many Christian circles it is hardly remembered.  I am referring of course to the fact that today is the day of Christ's ascension.  After Christ's resurrection 'he appeared to them over...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 36 No. 38 – October 1991   Gentiles Receive God's Spirit   Sermon by Rev. G. Vanderkolk on Acts 11:15-18 Introduction   Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Imagine that the whole world were dry, all except for one country.  That country is Israel.  This is the only country in the world that has an abundant water supply.  We all know that Israel in fact is a very dry country, but just for a moment imagine that there is enough water there to irrigate the whole earth.  That the Sea of Galilee has sufficient water...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 18 – June 1992   The Rule Of God / The Devil’s Broken Back   Sermon by Rev. M. Vanderree on Psalm 47 Reading: Acts 1:1-11   People of God, Welcome to a celebration of coronation!  Had this been the celebration of the coronation of some earthly monarch, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, then the media would be out in force, or at least the Women's Weekly camera crew, but not so for the Ascension of Christ.  For many churches and Christians, the Ascension is no more striking than any other day.  Pity!  Because...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 17 – June 1992   The Gift Of The Exalted Lord   Sermon by Rev. Leo Douma on Acts 2:33-36 Reading: John 7:37-39; Acts 1:1-11 Singing: 217, 331, 335, 351, 330.   Beloved congregation, Do you remember the last time you were thirsty?  You were so dry you just had to have a drink.  Sometimes my youngest comes marching in after being out in the sun and says, 'drink Mum'.  He takes the full cup of cordial, and drinks the whole lot down in one go, taking great big gulps. When you are really...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 31 No. 14 – April 1986   The Ascension: A Doctrine For Rejoicing   Sermon by Rev. P.R. Flinn on Acts 1:6-9 Reading: Daniel 7:9-14, Ephesians 2:1-10   The resurrection is the great victory shout of the Gospel.  Christ has arisen and conquered life and death.  He has ushered in the New Age.  The question, however that irresistibly springs to mind is, "What next?" Clearly this question was in the minds of the disciples.  Having become convinced of the resurrection of Christ, of His Lordly triumph over life and death, their minds turned to the issue...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 05 – February 1988   God’s Holy Temple   Sermon by Rev. M. C. DeGraaf on Acts 5:1-11 Reading: Leviticus 10:1-7; 2Chron. 6:40-7:6 Singing: 301; 243; 89; 162; 442   Brothers and Sisters, Our readings this morning from Exodus and 2Chronicles, both reflected a little of the AURA and POWER that surrounded the HOLY PLACES OF GOD in the Old Testament.  Over the Tabernacle, in the wilderness, there always hung that column of fire or that large cloud, that sign that God was living with His people and that He was involved with them,...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 33 No. 24 – June 1988   “Did You Receive The Holy Spirit When You Believed?”   Sermon: by Rev. D.J. van Garderen on Acts 19:2a Reading: Acts 18:24-19:8, Titus 3:1-11 Singing: 393; 196; 36: 1,2,3; 386; 321.   Dear Congregation, "DID YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT WHEN YOU BELIEVED?" It was and still is this question, as found in Acts 19:2, that Christian people ask and are asked again and again.  It is also a question which, as some of you will know from very personal experience, is liable to divide, to alienate and even...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 20 – May 1989   Holy Spirit Baptism   Sermon by Rev. W. J. Bosker on Acts 19:1-7 (For Pentecost) Reading: Acts 1:1-8 Singing: BoW Ps.1a all vss; 311 all vss.                  BoW H6 all vss; 394 all vss.                 (Call to worship: Joel 2:28-32a)   Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to begin by asking you a leading question. Do you agree or disagree with this statement:             “Only some Christians have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.” It would be interesting to take a poll...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 19 – May 1989   The Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit   Sermon by Rev. D. Groenenboom on Acts 2:14-21 (For Pentecost) Reading: Joel 2:18-32: Acts 2:1-21.   If there is one topic that is high on the world's agenda for discussion, it has got to be equality.  In fact, over the last 250 years the idea of equality and equal rights has had a vast effect on the development of western society. What we need to see today is that God is also concerned about equality.  We see that demonstrated here in Act...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 24 – June 1990   Going And Coming In Glory   Sermon by Rev. D. J. van Garderen Acts 1:11 Reading: 1Thess. 4:13-18; Acts 1:1-11 Singing:  Hymns 221,42,317,368,359:2,3,4; 366   Dear Congregation, The ascension of Jesus is nothing new for us here this evening.  We have read about it, thought about it and listened to quite a number of sermons about it as well! And yet, if we would be honest, all of that doesn't add up to that much.  If you want to test this, imagine having to explain to someone just what...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 35 No. 21 – June 1990   Pentecost   Sermon by Rev. W. van Brussel on Acts 2:33 Reading: Acts 2:14-36   Beloved congregation for the Lord Jesus Christ, Pentecost is different.  All the other Christian feast-days commemorate visible events.  The Christmas-Baby-Boy was visible.  So was the Man of Sorrows.  Even at the Resurrection of our Saviour, although the actual rising from the tomb was not seen by anybody, Jesus was seen several times before He finally departed to ascend into heaven.  The actual Ascension took place before the eyes of His disciples. But the Holy...

Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 28 – July 1998   Employed By Jesus!   Sermon by Rev. J. Ter Horst on Matthew 16:18 and Acts 1:8 Scripture Readings: Psalm 27; Ephesians 4:1-16 Suggested Hymns: Bow 63; 191; 385; 489; 241; 533   Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Introduction - About Expectations! It would be a profitable exercise – conduct a survey amongst the members of this congregation – a survey about expectations.  Encourage people to verbalise their expectations.  All too often our expectations are not verbalised.  When people marry they expect their spouse will behave in a particular...