John 20:21

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

From Background Notes [BN] for March 9^th & 10^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Following this, he "breathed on them" and said, "receive the Holy Spirit." If the Holy Spirit is something received, then obviously the power Jesus promises cannot be self-bestowed.  By their sheer effort or force, the disciples cannot bring about the kingdom of God on earth. This was the fatal flaw of the liberal "Social Gospel"…

 

…which promised a gradual improvement of the world through the efforts of the church, imagining that such an outcome was inevitable through the progress of human history ("the myth of progress"). Two world wars undermined that theory, as theologians like Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr pointed out at the time. Human nature is fallen and requires restoration. For that reason, God sends the Holy Spirit on His people to empower them with the Gospel remedy.[BN, 12]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am