September 22, 2025 • 49 mins
Pastor Lance continues in 1 Thessalonians 5, reminding us that those who adore their God are defined not only by what they do, but by what they do not do: quench the Spirit, and despise the teaching of God's Word.
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Take your Bible if you would please, and turn to the 5th
chapter of First Thessalonians. And today we're going to cover
verse #19 we're looking at the model life.
The model life is 1 of adoration.
It truly adores the true and living God.
It's best seen in the trilogy ofcommands.
Rejoice always, verse 16. Pray without ceasing verse 17.
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And in everything give thanks verse 18 for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
God's will is that you be joyful, prayerful and thankful.
And that trilogy of commands makes up the model life of
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adoration, a life that truly adores it's God.
But the the life of adoration isnot only defined by by what it
does, it's also defined by what it doesn't do.
And that's where verse 19 and verse #20 come into play, where
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he says do not quench the Spiritand do not despise prophetic
utterances. Those who adore their God don't
quench the Spirit. Those who adore their God don't
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despise the Word of God. Interesting.
Again, Paul gives no explanation, no instruction, no
application. He just gives the injunction.
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This is the command. Do this, don't do that.
And yet he doesn't give any extras to it.
And that's because of First Thessalonians 213.
When they received the word, they received it not as the word
of men, but actually as it actually is the word of God.
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And they actually put out the welcome mat and received it.
And these are all new believers that they've been saved for just
a, a few months. It's not like they've they're
old Saints have been, you know, crusty in their walk with Christ
over all these years. No, these are new believers, few
months old. They tells them do not quench
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the Spirit. See when when they were born
again, they were they were savedby the Spirit.
Titus chapter 3. They, they were sealed by the
Spirit. Ephesians chapter 4.
They, they, they serve accordingto the spirit first Peter
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chapter 4, they are sanctified by that spirit.
Titus chapter 2. So he tells them, because you're
saved, sealed, sanctified, secured, and serve in the
Spirit. Make sure you don't stifle the
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spirit or smother the Spirit. How do you do that?
What does that mean? What's it mean?
Do not quench the spirit. Well, let's say you're really,
really thirsty. How do you quench your thirst?
By drinking lots of water, right?
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Well, when you quench the spirit, you, you dampen the
spirit you, you retard the spirit, you extinguish the fire
of the Spirit of God in your life.
And Paul simply says, listen, don't do this in your walk with
the Lord. Do not stifle the Spirit's work
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in your life. Don't do that, he says very,
very easily. Just don't quench the spirit.
Don't extinguish the spirit. Now we know that the the Bible
speaks of God's presence as a fire.
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Remember in Acts chapter 2 and when on the day of Pentecost
there were there were cloven tongues of fire over the heads
of of all those people who who believed and were baptized in
the Spirit because the the fire would represent the presence of
God in their lives. It was, it was quite a miracle.
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You can go all the way back to the book of Exodus, the 3rd
chapter, right? And God spoke to Moses from a
fiery Bush, a burning Bush. You can go back to Exodus
chapter 24 and realize that on top of the mountain there was a
consuming fire because that was the presence of God on top of
Mount Sinai. When you think of the glory of
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the Lord, you think of the the presence of God manifested in
brilliant light. And that is exactly what what is
happening here. When when you quench the spirit,
you are, you are dampening the fire of the Spirit of God in
your life. And you know what, for the most
part, we have no idea. We are doing that.
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We are not waking up today and saying, hey, I wonder how I am
dampening the spirit, how I am retarded.
The spirits work in my life. We don't think that way and we
should because the Bible is veryexplicit.
Do not do this. Do not quench the spirits.
When the Spirit of God came, Acts chapter 1, the Lord said
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when, when, when the Spirit of God comes, you're going to
receive power. Things are going to be different
than they've ever been before, and you'll be my witnesses all
throughout the world. But when the Spirit of God
comes, something's going to happen and it and it deals a lot
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with with our friends with the Lord.
Remember Peter, Peter, whenever he was in the presence of the
Lord, he, he was great. I mean, he could cut off mouth
because his ear in the Garden ofGethsemane, even though there
were soldiers all around him andit was just Jesus and a handful
of disciples. But he wasn't afraid.
He had he had courage. But when he followed Christ from
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a distance, when he wasn't in the presence of the Lord, he
would deny the Lord to a little girl by a fire.
But when he received the Spirit of God and Acts 2, the courage,
the boldness, the strength that Peter had to preach and live for
Christ was remarkable. So Paul comes along and says,
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listen, I want you to be joyful,I want you to be prayerful, and
I want you to be thankful, but make sure you don't quench the
Spirit of God. How does that happen?
I want to be very practical withyou this morning.
I want to be able to explain to you how it actually happens in
our lives and things that you might not even be aware of, but
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you need to be. So think about this way #1 how
does 1 quench the Spirit of God?Well, you do it by diminishing
His personality and identity in your life, by diminishing his
personality and identity in yourlife.
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You know, we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as low man on
the totem pole. There's God the Father, then
there's God the Son, and then somewhere down the bottom of the
pole is God the Spirit. And and we forget that they're
equal in nature. There's one God who manifests
himself in three distinct persons.
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But we tend to think of the HolySpirit as as low man on the
totem pole, as if as if he doesn't make that much
difference in our lives. In all reality, he's the
forgotten member of the Trinity.I'm sure that when you woke up
this morning, you weren't thinking about the Spirit of
God. In fact, I would probably reckon
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to say that throughout this pastweek you weren't thinking about
the Spirit of God. But we simply just don't pay
very much attention to the relevance of God's Spirit in our
lives and we simply ignore his dwelling.
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You don't mean to. It just happens.
And we, we diminish his personality by not understanding
that the Spirit of God is God. Acts 5, three and four.
Remember when Peter told Ananiasthat you had lied to the Spirit?
And then he comes back in verse 4 and says you've actually lied
to God, meaning that the Spirit is God and, and, and, and
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because he's God, he's a person.That the Spirit of God is not an
it. The Spirit of God is not an
influence. The Spirit of God is not a
force. The Spirit of God is a person,
yet we deny and diminish his personality, thus diminishing
his identity as as God in our lives.
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He possesses the same attributesof God.
He's on the present, He's omnipotent, He's omniscient, He
has intellect, He feels we can grieve the Spirit.
Ephesians 430 do not grieve the Spirit of God.
How do you do that? Whenever, whenever you quench
the Spirit, you grieve the Spirit, OK?
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The grieving of Spirit is in, isin, or is the result of us
quenching the Spirit. We sadden him, we bring sorrow
to Him simply because we have quenched, dampened, stifled,
smothered, retarded the work of the Spirit of God in our lives.
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And it happens simply because we, we just diminish His
personality and identity. We're not really actively
thinking about the Spirit of God, actually God dwelling in
me. And yet the Lord said, I'm going
to send you another comforter, another another of the same
kind. Alas, another of different kind
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would be heteros. But this is, alas, this is
another of the same kind. I'm going to send another of the
same kind as me. And he will be in you.
He will be your helper, He will be your teacher, He will be your
guide. He will empower you.
I won't be with you in person, but my spirit will be in you.
And therefore you will never be an orphan.
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You'll never be without me. I'll always be there.
And yet we don't think of the presence of the Spirit of God in
our lives as much as we should. So the first way that we we
begin to quench the Spirit of God is by diminishing his
personality and identity in our lives.
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The second way is disregarding our spiritual giftedness.
Do you know that you quench the Spirit of God?
You stifle God's spirit when youdisregard your spiritual
giftedness. First Corinthians 12 tells us,
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verse 11, that the Spirit of Godgives us a gift by His own
volition. So Paul in Second Timothy
chapter 1 would say these words,verse 14 guard through the Holy
Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been
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entrusted to us. So because of the Spirit of God,
we can guard the treasure. What's the treasure?
The treasure is the gospel. The treasure is the truth.
We, we are guardians and protectors of the truth.
By the power of the Spirit of God that dwells within us, we
can stand against those who speak against the Word of God,
whether it's at work or at school, at play, no matter where
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we are, we can stand strong because of the Spirit of God.
And earlier Paul would say thesewords in Second Timothy one
verse #6 for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the
gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my
hands. In other words, this is the
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opposite of First Thessalonians 519.
Paul says, don't quench the Spirit Here he tells Timothy,
you need to fan the flame of theSpirit of God, the giftiness
that God's given. You don't, don't retard that.
How does that happen? By ignoring our spiritual
giftiness, by letting that giftedness atrophy, by lack of
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use, realizing that God has called us to build the body of
Christ. So let me say it to you very
practically. You as a believer are a
spiritually gifted person. That's part of your identity.
Who you are in Christ is that I am a spiritually gifted person.
God's Spirit indwells me. He has gifted me.
Why? For the sake of His name, His
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Kingdom, for the purpose of building the body of Christ.
So because you're spiritually gifted, God wants to use you
within the body of Christ. And when you disregard that
giftedness, you don't use that gift.
You don't use it in such a way that it builds the body of
Christ. You quench the Spirit of God,
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thus grieving the Spirit of God.So in other words, we need to be
actively involved in doing that which God's called us to do.
So here's Timothy, he's about 35years of age and maybe he's he's
reluctant in exercising his giftedness as a pastor, as a
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preacher, as a teacher. And Paul says, Timothy, you need
to rekindle afresh, need to fan the flame of your giftedness.
Don't draw back. Keep exercising your giftedness
for the glory of the Lord. And then he says this in verse
#7 For God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but of power
and love and of discipline. Our self-control.
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God's spirit is one that gives us power, enables us to love and
to discipline our lives every single day.
This is just so important. You see, we we diminishes
working in our lives by living undisciplined lives when we have
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a spirit within us who is God who empowers us to live lives of
spiritual discipline. Think about that.
So whenever your life is an undisciplined life, you quench
the Spirit of God. Whenever your life is is lacking
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the love for God and love for the brethren, you quench the
Spirit of God. Whenever you go through life
living as if you have no power, no energy, no strength, you
quench the Spirit of God. And for the most part, we don't
even recognize that. We don't even recognize what
we're doing. And whenever you quench him, you
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grieve him. What?
Why would he want to grieve the comforter?
Why would he want to grieve our helper, our teacher, our guide?
Why we want to grieve the one who regenerated us, who who
cleansed us with the washing every generation?
Why would we want to do that? That's the question we have to
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ask ourselves. And so when you disregard your
spiritual get to this by lettingit atrophy, by not using it, not
our being even ignorant as to what spiritual get to this is,
or just downright denying that you have one and not even using
it in the church, you, you've quenched the Spirit of God.
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You know, we go through life every day and you know this we,
we face hardship, we face difficulty, we face decision
making. Sometimes our lives are, are,
are are in shambles and they're and they're, they're falling
apart and we're wondering why without ever recognizing that
maybe we are in the process of quenching the Spirit of God in
our lives. Therefore, his operation in our
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life is not what it should be because we have thrown water on
his working in our lives and we wonder why our lives are so
messed up. This need to be that way, see.
And so we need to realize that that we quench the Spirit by by
diminishing his personality and identity in our own lives and
then disregarding our spiritual giftedness as it pertains to
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building the body of Christ. If you're here today and you're
a born again believer, you've been gifted.
And if you don't use that gift in the operation and
mobilization of the church, you're quenching the Spirit of
God as we speak, thus grieving the Spirit of God.
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And I would ask you, why would you want to do that?
God's gifted you by His Spirit, indwelling you use it for His
glory #3 Not only do we quench the Spirit by diminishing His
personality and identity and disregarding the spiritual
giftedness that He's given to us, but by by denying His
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control over our lives. Again, we don't, we don't
purposely do this. We just deny His control over
our lives. The Bible says this in Ephesians
5. He says verse 18 and do not get
drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with
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the spirit. The word filled is play Rao,
which means permeation, domination, control be be
permeated with the Spirit of God.
Don't be drunk with wine and which is excess.
Don't, don't let externals dominate you.
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He uses wine as an illustration,but there are other things that
dominate their lives. That control our lives.
Doesn't have to be wine. It could be activities, it could
be another person, it could be all kinds of things.
Whatever it is, don't let that control you, but but be
controlled. Be dominated.
Let the Spirit of God permeate every aspect of your life.
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Live in the conscious presence of Almighty God.
But when we deny his control over our lives, we quench the
Spirit. Interesting that Colossians 316
says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Let it be in a home in your hearts.
And it's it's, it's the same thing as letting or or letting
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being filled with the Spirit of God.
Why? Because the consequences are the
same. In Ephesians 5, when you're,
when you're filled with the Spirit, when the Spirit of God
permeates your life, when you'redominated by the Spirit of God,
you sing to one another. In psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, you give thanksunto the Lord and you submit one
to another. When you go to Colossians 3 and
read verse 16, the following, when the word of Christ dwells
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and you richly, what do you do? You sing to one another in
psalms and hymns, spiritual songs.
You give thanks to the Lord and you submit to one another.
The same is true of both. Why?
Because they're one and the same.
How do I know my life is dominated by the Spirit of God?
Because my life is dominated by the scriptures I learned the
word of Christ dwelled in me richly.
So when I don't study to show myself a prudent of the God, a
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Workman that needed not to be ashamed, I quench the spirit.
When I live a life of meditationand Bible study and memorization
so that the word of Christ dwells in me richly, God's
spirit can't dominate my life. I quench the Spirit of God.
I need to be controlled by God'sspirit.
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I, I need to live by keeping in step with the Spirit of God.
When I don't do that, then I endup quenching the Spirit of God.
It's like a glove. If I had a glove up here, I
could hold it in my hand and, and, and throw it down and it's,
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it's virtually of no use until Iput my hand inside the glove.
And if I've put only one finger in the glove, then the only part
of that glove that works is thatwhere that one finger is and the
other four asked for holes with fingers in them are useless.
They can't do, they can't pick anything up, can't catch
anything. But once my hand dominates,
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permeates the glove, then the glove can do whatever I designed
it to do. That's the same thing with the
Spirit of God when the Spirit ofGod indwells us, which he does
at salvation. When I am controlled by God's
spirit and let the word of Christ develop me richly, then
my life is dominated. My feet, my arms, my eyes, my
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heart, my mind, everything is dominated by the Spirit of God.
So I think God's thoughts, I speak God's words, I live God's
life, and that doesn't happen, and I quench the Spirit of God,
thus grieving His Spirit. And for the most part, we don't
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even think about these things. But it's so important #4 I can
quench the Spirit of God by disobeying his commands.
That's pretty obvious, right? In the three, right before, it'd
be joyful, be prayerful, be thankful.
If I disobey His commands, I will quench the Spirit of God.
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Listen, the only reason I can obey the commands of God is
because of the Spirit of God. Remember the book of Ezekiel,
Ezekiel chapter 36 verse #27 Godsays, I will put my Spirit
within you and cause you to walkin My statutes and you will be
careful to observe My ordinances.
That's the new covenant promise.I will cause My Spirit to be in
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you. And because My Spirit is in you
now, you can obey My ordinances.You can do what I've commanded
you to do. Why?
Because I'll be in you and the Spirit will motivate you.
Well, whenever you decide to disobey those commands because
of pride or because of arroganceor because of indifference or
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for whatever reason, you quench the Spirit of God.
Because the reason the Spirit ofGod indwells you is so that you
can live Christ's life. And when I decide not to live
that life and live in disobedience to that life, then
I quench the Spirit of God. So incredibly important over in
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First Thessalonians chapter 4. Remember in verses 1 to 8, we
talked about the fact that what happens when you are a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ that you are to live in obedience to
His word. And in chapter 4 it talks about
how we are abstaining from sexual immorality.
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And when you don't, he says in verse #8 So he who rejects this
command is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy
Spirit to you whenever you disobey the command to this is
the will of God, even the sanctification that you abstain
from sexual immorality and you engage in sex outside of
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marriage. You are rejecting the Spirit of
God's work in your life. You're disobeying His commands.
You are quenching the Spirit of God.
Therefore, you are grieving the Spirit of God.
You know, we, we, not we people engage in sex sins outside of
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marriage because they want to grieve their partner, but not
realizing that they're grieving the Spirit of God in the
process. And they're more concerned about
grieving their partner than theyare grieving the Spirit of God.
That's a problem. See there's so many times we
quench the Spirit by disobeying his commands.
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So as I review this, you can pretty much understand that
right when I disobey the commands of God, I quench
spirit, I retard his work in my life, I dampen his effect in my
life. When I when I deny his control
over my life and decide that I want to control my life and do
as I please or let some other substance or some other person
control my life, that quenches the spirit.
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We can understand that when we disregard our spiritual
giftedness, we don't do what Godtells us to do as people in the
body of Christ, we, we quit the spirit.
When I diminish this personalityand identity in my life, I I
quit the Spirit. We understand that we can get
that, but but the fifth one, thefifth one is some something
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other than what we necessarily think.
And that is when you depend on your own resources instead of
God's Spirit, you quit the Spirit.
And we do this quite often. We, we depend on human
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resources, we depend on, on human strength, human wisdom,
human techniques instead of the spirit of the living God.
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And we do this without even thinking about it.
We believe that because of our education, because of our
athletic prowess, because of my leadership, I can just make
decisions, do what I want, live what I want, but all the while
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quenching the Spirit. Think about this, the life of
Moses. Moses believed in his
self-sufficient, self reliant self efforts.
He could pull off the exodus, but he couldn't.
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And Moses was educated in the finest school system of his day.
In fact, I would venture to say that his education is far
superior to any education you could receive today, no matter
what school you go to. He was educated in the world's
greatest educational system thatever existed in Egypt, knowing
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that he was Nixon line to be thePharaoh.
So his leadership skills were off the charts.
On top of that, he was a athletic, muscular man.
On one day in Exodus chapter 2, he saw one of the Egyptians
beating one of the Israelites and he he slew the Egyptian.
Just a matter of moments thinking that the people would
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rise up and say this is our leader, but they rebelled
against him. So here is Moses with all the
the education and all the qualities and all the expertise
to lead Israel. But he wasn't ready.
So what did God do? God drove him to the backside of
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the desert for 40 years to breakhim.
So when he comes out of the desert and he and he and he and
he's able to hear the word of God speaking to him through a
fiery Bush, everything about hisself-reliance is gone.
Everything about self-sufficiency is gone.
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He's like who, who, who shall I say sent me?
If I go, they're not going to listen to me.
Before he thought they would listen to him because he was
Nixon line to be the Pharaoh, but they did not listen and so
God had to break him. Why?
Because God needs to to shatter our independence from Him in
order to establish our dependence upon him.
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Because we are so autonomous, wethink that we can make it
without God. What we think we can make our
marriage work, but we can't. We do though.
We we think we can make our family work, but we can't.
And we get so disgruntled and soconfused and so angry and and so
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upset because we're trying to control life from a human
perspective. Wonder why my kids don't obey
one of my wife. My wife doesn't follow.
Wonder why the people at work don't like me instead of
realizing that it's all because of the spiritual work of my
life. And he relies solely and totally
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upon Him. We so easy depend upon man made
things that we no longer rest inthe sovereign work of God.
Listen to Paul's prayer in Ephesians chapter 3.
When he says these words, Ephesians chapter 3, he says,
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for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom
every family in heaven and earthderives his name, that he would
grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with the power through His Spirit in the inner
man. This is Paul's prayer for the
Church of Ephesus, that God would grant you because of His
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eternal riches, power that comesonly through His Spirit.
That's only in the inner man to accomplish God's will for your
life. You can't do it without the
Spirit of God. Galatians chapter 3 verse #3
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Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, having
begun in the Spirit, you think you could be perfected by the
flesh? You were saved by the Spirit.
You were in dwelt by the Spirit.You were sealed by the Spirit,
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you were set apart by the Spirit, but now you're trying to
live your life without the influence and power of that
spirit in your life to lead you and guide you.
And Paul says you're just foolish people because the
spiritual life is only accomplished by spiritual means,
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not by any other means. So important.
And so we tend to to think that we know better than God, that we
could do things better than God.So we depend upon our own
resources, we depend upon our own intellect.
We lean on our own understandingbasically in every decision we
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make each and every day. Instead of obeying the
Scriptures which says do not lean on your own understanding
in all your ways, acknowledge Him.
He will make your path smooth. If your path is as smooth, it's
because you're leaning on your own understanding because God
promises to make your path smooth if you trust in Him and
acknowledge Him throughout each and every aspect of the decision
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making process. But so many times we just negate
that float out the window and welive our lives as if God doesn't
even exist. But we can't live without him,
without me, because you can do nothing.
Nothing. But we think we can.
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And we we forget that that God is working in our lives through
his Spirit. God had to work in the life of
Moses. God had to take him to his, to
his desert, had to take him to the school room of God.
He had been educated in the school room of Egypt.
He needed to be in the school room of God.
Why? Because he needed a PhD in the
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ways of God. We're so concerned about getting
a PhD in things that just don't matter.
You need to get a PhD in the things of God, in the ways of
God. And that only comes to the
desert experience, only comes tothe suffering and difficulty of
isolation. And he had to learn that.
And once he learned it, he came out of Egypt or came out of the
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desert to lead Israel, the greatest leader in Israel's
history, because he would learn to depend upon the living God
for everything. What's what God wants to do in
your life? You live a life of frustration.
You live a life of unsettledness, live a life of
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discouragement. Could it be that that you're
just quenching the Spirit because you're trying to make
decisions based on your own intellect, your, your own way of
thinking, instead of trusting and dependent upon the living
God to lead you and to guide youin the way that you should go?
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There are some of you today thatare even experiencing Psalm One
O 6 verse #15 my mom's favorite verse that God will give you the
desires of your heart but send abarrenness to your soul.
Be careful what you ask God for because sometimes He gives it to
you but sends that absolute barrenness to your soul and
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you're so disgruntled. Even though you got what you
wanted, it wasn't what you thought it was when you made the
decision. And now you are so unsettled.
God is saying you need to trust me, you need to believe in me,
you need to lean upon me. But when we depend upon our own
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self resources instead of the spirits resources, we quench the
spirit number six. Here's one you don't think of
very often, but it happens. We quench the spirit when we
downplay the spirits working andup play our working.
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We downplay the spirits working and up play our working.
In other words, it's it's what Ihave done.
I got a promotion. I I deserve this promotion.
I got a raise. I deserve this raise.
I've worked hard at it. Other people have worked hard
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too, but they don't have a raise.
But you see, I've worked harder than they have.
I deserve this. Not realizing that Paul says in
First Corinthians 4, What do youhave that you did not receive
from God? The answer is nothing but but we
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think it's because of what I've done.
Look at this this great buildingI have built.
Look at this great Bible study that I have built that people
are coming in droves or, or we think I LED my, my, my sister or
my brother to the Lord. No, you didn't, but you think
you did. See, because down deep you want
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to downplay the spirits working and up play you're working for
your own glory. So we take pride in the fact
that I LED so and so to the Lord, or I went on this mission
tripping and LED this many people to the Lord, or I did
this or I did that. And we want to boast in our, our
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achievements. And we, we talked about it on
Wednesday night that, that the true Christian, he, he glories
in Christ Jesus. He puts no confidence in the
flesh. He has no confidence in himself,
but he glories in Christ. He boasts in Christ.
But so often we we want to boastin our own achievements and
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accomplishments. I've done this.
Look what I did here. Well, that's because of me.
No, it's not. It's because of the Lord.
God's doing those workings you can think about.
I bought a house. Yeah, you did.
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But you have a house because of what God has given you.
It's from, it's from the Lord. What do you have that you did
not receive? Absolutely nothing.
Not just in the spiritual realm,but in the physical realm as
well. That's why I love what James
says. He says, come now, you who say
today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a
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year there and engage in business and make a profit.
He says, you who say that I havea plan and this is my plan, I'm
going to make a profit, I'm going to move here, I'm going to
do this and I'm going to this ismy plan.
He says, yet you do not know what your life will be like
(38:37):
tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and
also do this or that. And then he says this.
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting
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is evil. When you make your plans,
ignoring the Spirit of God, the dwelling of God, the moving of
God in your life, you're just arrogant.
You're boasting your own arrogance.
I'm going to do this, I'm going to take this job.
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I'm going to move here. I'm going to do that.
Jesus, if the Lord wills, that should be your prayer.
Listen to these words. So true.
Jeremiah, Jeremiah 10 verse #23 I know, O Lord, that a man's way
(39:44):
is not in himself. I know I can't run my own life,
nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
But you know what? We think we can.
That's why you're not a great prophet like Jeremiah.
(40:05):
Because you see, he knew he couldn't.
He couldn't direct his own steps.
He couldn't make his own plans. Why?
Because the Lord's in charge, hesays.
Correct me, oh Lord. Put me on the right path, and
then this one, Psalm 143 verse #10 teach me to do Your will,
(40:27):
for You are my God. Let Your good Spirit lead me on
smooth, level ground for the sake of Your name.
Isn't that great? Teach me, Lord, Your will.
I want to know your will, Lord. I want to know Your will for my
life, for You're my God. Let your good spirit lead me.
(40:50):
That's the cry of the believer. That's Spirit.
Isaiah 11 verse #2 is described as the spirit of wisdom,
understanding, counsel, strength, and knowledge.
The Spirit that you have within you is the spirit of knowledge,
strength, understanding, and counsel.
(41:11):
That's why God says, I'm going to give you my counselor, I'm
going to give you my guide, I'm going to give you my teacher,
I'm going to give you my wisdom.Why?
Because I want you to have the mind of Christ.
That's who lives within us, the Spirit of God.
So why would we seek counsel outside the Spirit of God and
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outside the Scriptures that He'sgiven to us?
Why would we do that when He's given us the Spirit of power, of
love and self-discipline? That's a spirit that lives
within us. But when we, because of our own
sinful nature, downplay the Spirit's working to upplay our
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working, we've quenched the Spirit one more.
This will lead us into next week.
You quench the Spirit when you despise prophetic utterances,
which is the next verse verse #20 when you degrade, when you
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look down upon, treat as irrelevant God's holy Word.
Why? Because the word inspired is as
equal to the Word Incarnate. Psalm 138, verse #2 it says,
(42:53):
Thou has magnified thy word evenas thy very name.
At the name of Jesus, every kneewill bow.
At the Word of God, every knee will bow.
Because the Word of God inspiredis from the Word of God
Incarnate, and they're on the equal plane.
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Solomon says Proverbs 13 verse #13 The one who despises the
word will be destroyed by the word, he says, but the one who
fears the commandment will be rewarded.
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The one who reveres commandment is rewarded.
Those who despise it will be in debt to it, and they will be
destroyed by it. That's why you can't ever afford
to despise prophetic utterances over in Second Chronicles
chapter 36, which is the last chapter in the Jewish Bible.
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It's not the book of Malachi, it's the book of Second
Chronicles because the Jewish Bible ends with the destruction
of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.
That's why the Jews stand at thewailing Western waiting wall,
whatever you want to call it, and mourn what is taking place
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because the Bible ends in SecondChronicles 36.
The Jewish Bible and how does itend, ends this way.
The Lord, that the God of your Father's sent word to Israel
again and again and again by Hismessengers, His prophets,
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because He had compassion on Hispeople and on His dwelling
place. Why did God keep sending
prophets over and over again, different ones of them?
Because God had compassion on His people and His dwelling
place. What?
Why does what? Why does God keep you coming to
hear the word of the Lord? Because He has compassion on
you. He wants to teach you.
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He wants to grow you. And so He just keeps giving you
the same message over and over and over again.
Verse 16 But they continually mocked the messengers of God.
Imagine that. Mocking Jeremiah, mocking
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Isaiah, mocking Daniel, mocking Amos, mocking all these great
men of God who came to bring themessage.
But that's what they did. They mocked them, made fun of
them, scoffed at them. They continually mocked the
(45:49):
messages of God, and they despised His words, God's words,
and scoffed at His prophets. They despise the word of God,
they scoffed at His prophets. They mocked the men that God had
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sent until the wrath of the Lordarose against his people, until
there was no remedy. How sad is that?
There was no longer a remedy. There was no longer an answer.
(46:34):
The word of the Lord kept comingover and over and over again.
And they despise the prophets, they despise his messengers.
They scoffed at them over and over again.
They just treated their words asif they meant nothing.
But they were the words of God, see?
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So the wrath of God was kindled against them until there was
absolutely no longer a remedy for them.
Jerusalem was destroyed. Israel's never been the same.
How sad is that? So incredibly sad.
I I say that because how do we quench the Spirit?
(47:20):
But by looking down upon the commands of God, the prophetic
utterances of God, the words that God has given to us,
whether they're inspired words, whether it's the Incarnate Word,
by looking down upon that word and treating it as if it means
nothing but around, he means everything because it's a
treasure of God's word in their lives.
(47:43):
So Paul says to those in Destin,I could don't quench the Spirit.
Don't stifle the work in the Spirit.
Don't smother his influence and power in your life.
Don't do that. Instead, fan the flame, throw
wood in the fire, rekindle afresh the Spirit of God and be
used for the glory of God. May God give us the grace never
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to quench the Spirit, so that wein turn then grieve the Spirit,
but maybe walk in the Spirit, taking each step in the presence
of the living God. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to
spend a brief moment in your word.
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We ask that Lord, we would be the kind of people that adhere
to the words of God, that we notjust be hearers only, but doers
of the word that actually we we would leave here saying, I'm
going to recognize God in my life, the street of God.
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God lives in me. I'm going to exercise my
giftedness for the glory of God.I'm going to obey the commands
of God, not disobey the commandsof God.
I don't want any glory. I want all the glory to go to
the Lord. I don't want to trust in myself.
I want to trust in the spirits working in my life.
And I want to make sure when I hear the word of God, I don't
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look down upon it, but then I Revere it for what it truly is,
God's holy word. That's our prayer.
Lord in Jesus name, Amen.
Take your Bible if you would please, and turn to the 5th
chapter of First Thessalonians. And today we're going to cover
verse #19 we're looking at the model life.
The model life is 1 of adoration.
It truly adores the true and living God.
It's best seen in the trilogy ofcommands.
Rejoice always, verse 16. Pray without ceasing verse 17.
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And in everything give thanks verse 18 for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
God's will is that you be joyful, prayerful and thankful.
And that trilogy of commands makes up the model life of
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adoration, a life that truly adores it's God.
But the the life of adoration isnot only defined by by what it
does, it's also defined by what it doesn't do.
And that's where verse 19 and verse #20 come into play, where
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he says do not quench the Spiritand do not despise prophetic
utterances. Those who adore their God don't
quench the Spirit. Those who adore their God don't
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despise the Word of God. Interesting.
Again, Paul gives no explanation, no instruction, no
application. He just gives the injunction.
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This is the command. Do this, don't do that.
And yet he doesn't give any extras to it.
And that's because of First Thessalonians 213.
When they received the word, they received it not as the word
of men, but actually as it actually is the word of God.
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And they actually put out the welcome mat and received it.
And these are all new believers that they've been saved for just
a, a few months. It's not like they've they're
old Saints have been, you know, crusty in their walk with Christ
over all these years. No, these are new believers, few
months old. They tells them do not quench
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the Spirit. See when when they were born
again, they were they were savedby the Spirit.
Titus chapter 3. They, they were sealed by the
Spirit. Ephesians chapter 4.
They, they, they serve accordingto the spirit first Peter
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chapter 4, they are sanctified by that spirit.
Titus chapter 2. So he tells them, because you're
saved, sealed, sanctified, secured, and serve in the
Spirit. Make sure you don't stifle the
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spirit or smother the Spirit. How do you do that?
What does that mean? What's it mean?
Do not quench the spirit. Well, let's say you're really,
really thirsty. How do you quench your thirst?
By drinking lots of water, right?
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Well, when you quench the spirit, you, you dampen the
spirit you, you retard the spirit, you extinguish the fire
of the Spirit of God in your life.
And Paul simply says, listen, don't do this in your walk with
the Lord. Do not stifle the Spirit's work
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in your life. Don't do that, he says very,
very easily. Just don't quench the spirit.
Don't extinguish the spirit. Now we know that the the Bible
speaks of God's presence as a fire.
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Remember in Acts chapter 2 and when on the day of Pentecost
there were there were cloven tongues of fire over the heads
of of all those people who who believed and were baptized in
the Spirit because the the fire would represent the presence of
God in their lives. It was, it was quite a miracle.
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You can go all the way back to the book of Exodus, the 3rd
chapter, right? And God spoke to Moses from a
fiery Bush, a burning Bush. You can go back to Exodus
chapter 24 and realize that on top of the mountain there was a
consuming fire because that was the presence of God on top of
Mount Sinai. When you think of the glory of
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the Lord, you think of the the presence of God manifested in
brilliant light. And that is exactly what what is
happening here. When when you quench the spirit,
you are, you are dampening the fire of the Spirit of God in
your life. And you know what, for the most
part, we have no idea. We are doing that.
(05:26):
We are not waking up today and saying, hey, I wonder how I am
dampening the spirit, how I am retarded.
The spirits work in my life. We don't think that way and we
should because the Bible is veryexplicit.
Do not do this. Do not quench the spirits.
When the Spirit of God came, Acts chapter 1, the Lord said
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when, when, when the Spirit of God comes, you're going to
receive power. Things are going to be different
than they've ever been before, and you'll be my witnesses all
throughout the world. But when the Spirit of God
comes, something's going to happen and it and it deals a lot
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with with our friends with the Lord.
Remember Peter, Peter, whenever he was in the presence of the
Lord, he, he was great. I mean, he could cut off mouth
because his ear in the Garden ofGethsemane, even though there
were soldiers all around him andit was just Jesus and a handful
of disciples. But he wasn't afraid.
He had he had courage. But when he followed Christ from
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a distance, when he wasn't in the presence of the Lord, he
would deny the Lord to a little girl by a fire.
But when he received the Spirit of God and Acts 2, the courage,
the boldness, the strength that Peter had to preach and live for
Christ was remarkable. So Paul comes along and says,
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listen, I want you to be joyful,I want you to be prayerful, and
I want you to be thankful, but make sure you don't quench the
Spirit of God. How does that happen?
I want to be very practical withyou this morning.
I want to be able to explain to you how it actually happens in
our lives and things that you might not even be aware of, but
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you need to be. So think about this way #1 how
does 1 quench the Spirit of God?Well, you do it by diminishing
His personality and identity in your life, by diminishing his
personality and identity in yourlife.
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You know, we tend to think of the Holy Spirit as low man on
the totem pole. There's God the Father, then
there's God the Son, and then somewhere down the bottom of the
pole is God the Spirit. And and we forget that they're
equal in nature. There's one God who manifests
himself in three distinct persons.
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But we tend to think of the HolySpirit as as low man on the
totem pole, as if as if he doesn't make that much
difference in our lives. In all reality, he's the
forgotten member of the Trinity.I'm sure that when you woke up
this morning, you weren't thinking about the Spirit of
God. In fact, I would probably reckon
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to say that throughout this pastweek you weren't thinking about
the Spirit of God. But we simply just don't pay
very much attention to the relevance of God's Spirit in our
lives and we simply ignore his dwelling.
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You don't mean to. It just happens.
And we, we diminish his personality by not understanding
that the Spirit of God is God. Acts 5, three and four.
Remember when Peter told Ananiasthat you had lied to the Spirit?
And then he comes back in verse 4 and says you've actually lied
to God, meaning that the Spirit is God and, and, and, and
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because he's God, he's a person.That the Spirit of God is not an
it. The Spirit of God is not an
influence. The Spirit of God is not a
force. The Spirit of God is a person,
yet we deny and diminish his personality, thus diminishing
his identity as as God in our lives.
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He possesses the same attributesof God.
He's on the present, He's omnipotent, He's omniscient, He
has intellect, He feels we can grieve the Spirit.
Ephesians 430 do not grieve the Spirit of God.
How do you do that? Whenever, whenever you quench
the Spirit, you grieve the Spirit, OK?
(10:02):
The grieving of Spirit is in, isin, or is the result of us
quenching the Spirit. We sadden him, we bring sorrow
to Him simply because we have quenched, dampened, stifled,
smothered, retarded the work of the Spirit of God in our lives.
(10:23):
And it happens simply because we, we just diminish His
personality and identity. We're not really actively
thinking about the Spirit of God, actually God dwelling in
me. And yet the Lord said, I'm going
to send you another comforter, another another of the same
kind. Alas, another of different kind
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would be heteros. But this is, alas, this is
another of the same kind. I'm going to send another of the
same kind as me. And he will be in you.
He will be your helper, He will be your teacher, He will be your
guide. He will empower you.
I won't be with you in person, but my spirit will be in you.
And therefore you will never be an orphan.
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You'll never be without me. I'll always be there.
And yet we don't think of the presence of the Spirit of God in
our lives as much as we should. So the first way that we we
begin to quench the Spirit of God is by diminishing his
personality and identity in our lives.
(11:29):
The second way is disregarding our spiritual giftedness.
Do you know that you quench the Spirit of God?
You stifle God's spirit when youdisregard your spiritual
giftedness. First Corinthians 12 tells us,
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verse 11, that the Spirit of Godgives us a gift by His own
volition. So Paul in Second Timothy
chapter 1 would say these words,verse 14 guard through the Holy
Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been
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entrusted to us. So because of the Spirit of God,
we can guard the treasure. What's the treasure?
The treasure is the gospel. The treasure is the truth.
We, we are guardians and protectors of the truth.
By the power of the Spirit of God that dwells within us, we
can stand against those who speak against the Word of God,
whether it's at work or at school, at play, no matter where
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we are, we can stand strong because of the Spirit of God.
And earlier Paul would say thesewords in Second Timothy one
verse #6 for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the
gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my
hands. In other words, this is the
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opposite of First Thessalonians 519.
Paul says, don't quench the Spirit Here he tells Timothy,
you need to fan the flame of theSpirit of God, the giftiness
that God's given. You don't, don't retard that.
How does that happen? By ignoring our spiritual
giftiness, by letting that giftedness atrophy, by lack of
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use, realizing that God has called us to build the body of
Christ. So let me say it to you very
practically. You as a believer are a
spiritually gifted person. That's part of your identity.
Who you are in Christ is that I am a spiritually gifted person.
God's Spirit indwells me. He has gifted me.
Why? For the sake of His name, His
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Kingdom, for the purpose of building the body of Christ.
So because you're spiritually gifted, God wants to use you
within the body of Christ. And when you disregard that
giftedness, you don't use that gift.
You don't use it in such a way that it builds the body of
Christ. You quench the Spirit of God,
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thus grieving the Spirit of God.So in other words, we need to be
actively involved in doing that which God's called us to do.
So here's Timothy, he's about 35years of age and maybe he's he's
reluctant in exercising his giftedness as a pastor, as a
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preacher, as a teacher. And Paul says, Timothy, you need
to rekindle afresh, need to fan the flame of your giftedness.
Don't draw back. Keep exercising your giftedness
for the glory of the Lord. And then he says this in verse
#7 For God has not given us the spirit of timidity, but of power
and love and of discipline. Our self-control.
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God's spirit is one that gives us power, enables us to love and
to discipline our lives every single day.
This is just so important. You see, we we diminishes
working in our lives by living undisciplined lives when we have
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a spirit within us who is God who empowers us to live lives of
spiritual discipline. Think about that.
So whenever your life is an undisciplined life, you quench
the Spirit of God. Whenever your life is is lacking
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the love for God and love for the brethren, you quench the
Spirit of God. Whenever you go through life
living as if you have no power, no energy, no strength, you
quench the Spirit of God. And for the most part, we don't
even recognize that. We don't even recognize what
we're doing. And whenever you quench him, you
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grieve him. What?
Why would he want to grieve the comforter?
Why would he want to grieve our helper, our teacher, our guide?
Why we want to grieve the one who regenerated us, who who
cleansed us with the washing every generation?
Why would we want to do that? That's the question we have to
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ask ourselves. And so when you disregard your
spiritual get to this by lettingit atrophy, by not using it, not
our being even ignorant as to what spiritual get to this is,
or just downright denying that you have one and not even using
it in the church, you, you've quenched the Spirit of God.
(16:47):
You know, we go through life every day and you know this we,
we face hardship, we face difficulty, we face decision
making. Sometimes our lives are, are,
are are in shambles and they're and they're, they're falling
apart and we're wondering why without ever recognizing that
maybe we are in the process of quenching the Spirit of God in
our lives. Therefore, his operation in our
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life is not what it should be because we have thrown water on
his working in our lives and we wonder why our lives are so
messed up. This need to be that way, see.
And so we need to realize that that we quench the Spirit by by
diminishing his personality and identity in our own lives and
then disregarding our spiritual giftedness as it pertains to
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building the body of Christ. If you're here today and you're
a born again believer, you've been gifted.
And if you don't use that gift in the operation and
mobilization of the church, you're quenching the Spirit of
God as we speak, thus grieving the Spirit of God.
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And I would ask you, why would you want to do that?
God's gifted you by His Spirit, indwelling you use it for His
glory #3 Not only do we quench the Spirit by diminishing His
personality and identity and disregarding the spiritual
giftedness that He's given to us, but by by denying His
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control over our lives. Again, we don't, we don't
purposely do this. We just deny His control over
our lives. The Bible says this in Ephesians
5. He says verse 18 and do not get
drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with
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the spirit. The word filled is play Rao,
which means permeation, domination, control be be
permeated with the Spirit of God.
Don't be drunk with wine and which is excess.
Don't, don't let externals dominate you.
(18:58):
He uses wine as an illustration,but there are other things that
dominate their lives. That control our lives.
Doesn't have to be wine. It could be activities, it could
be another person, it could be all kinds of things.
Whatever it is, don't let that control you, but but be
controlled. Be dominated.
Let the Spirit of God permeate every aspect of your life.
(19:18):
Live in the conscious presence of Almighty God.
But when we deny his control over our lives, we quench the
Spirit. Interesting that Colossians 316
says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
Let it be in a home in your hearts.
And it's it's, it's the same thing as letting or or letting
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being filled with the Spirit of God.
Why? Because the consequences are the
same. In Ephesians 5, when you're,
when you're filled with the Spirit, when the Spirit of God
permeates your life, when you'redominated by the Spirit of God,
you sing to one another. In psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, you give thanksunto the Lord and you submit one
to another. When you go to Colossians 3 and
read verse 16, the following, when the word of Christ dwells
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and you richly, what do you do? You sing to one another in
psalms and hymns, spiritual songs.
You give thanks to the Lord and you submit to one another.
The same is true of both. Why?
Because they're one and the same.
How do I know my life is dominated by the Spirit of God?
Because my life is dominated by the scriptures I learned the
word of Christ dwelled in me richly.
So when I don't study to show myself a prudent of the God, a
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Workman that needed not to be ashamed, I quench the spirit.
When I live a life of meditationand Bible study and memorization
so that the word of Christ dwells in me richly, God's
spirit can't dominate my life. I quench the Spirit of God.
I need to be controlled by God'sspirit.
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I, I need to live by keeping in step with the Spirit of God.
When I don't do that, then I endup quenching the Spirit of God.
It's like a glove. If I had a glove up here, I
could hold it in my hand and, and, and throw it down and it's,
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it's virtually of no use until Iput my hand inside the glove.
And if I've put only one finger in the glove, then the only part
of that glove that works is thatwhere that one finger is and the
other four asked for holes with fingers in them are useless.
They can't do, they can't pick anything up, can't catch
anything. But once my hand dominates,
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permeates the glove, then the glove can do whatever I designed
it to do. That's the same thing with the
Spirit of God when the Spirit ofGod indwells us, which he does
at salvation. When I am controlled by God's
spirit and let the word of Christ develop me richly, then
my life is dominated. My feet, my arms, my eyes, my
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heart, my mind, everything is dominated by the Spirit of God.
So I think God's thoughts, I speak God's words, I live God's
life, and that doesn't happen, and I quench the Spirit of God,
thus grieving His Spirit. And for the most part, we don't
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even think about these things. But it's so important #4 I can
quench the Spirit of God by disobeying his commands.
That's pretty obvious, right? In the three, right before, it'd
be joyful, be prayerful, be thankful.
If I disobey His commands, I will quench the Spirit of God.
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Listen, the only reason I can obey the commands of God is
because of the Spirit of God. Remember the book of Ezekiel,
Ezekiel chapter 36 verse #27 Godsays, I will put my Spirit
within you and cause you to walkin My statutes and you will be
careful to observe My ordinances.
That's the new covenant promise.I will cause My Spirit to be in
(23:04):
you. And because My Spirit is in you
now, you can obey My ordinances.You can do what I've commanded
you to do. Why?
Because I'll be in you and the Spirit will motivate you.
Well, whenever you decide to disobey those commands because
of pride or because of arroganceor because of indifference or
(23:25):
for whatever reason, you quench the Spirit of God.
Because the reason the Spirit ofGod indwells you is so that you
can live Christ's life. And when I decide not to live
that life and live in disobedience to that life, then
I quench the Spirit of God. So incredibly important over in
(23:47):
First Thessalonians chapter 4. Remember in verses 1 to 8, we
talked about the fact that what happens when you are a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ that you are to live in obedience to
His word. And in chapter 4 it talks about
how we are abstaining from sexual immorality.
(24:09):
And when you don't, he says in verse #8 So he who rejects this
command is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy
Spirit to you whenever you disobey the command to this is
the will of God, even the sanctification that you abstain
from sexual immorality and you engage in sex outside of
(24:33):
marriage. You are rejecting the Spirit of
God's work in your life. You're disobeying His commands.
You are quenching the Spirit of God.
Therefore, you are grieving the Spirit of God.
You know, we, we, not we people engage in sex sins outside of
(24:54):
marriage because they want to grieve their partner, but not
realizing that they're grieving the Spirit of God in the
process. And they're more concerned about
grieving their partner than theyare grieving the Spirit of God.
That's a problem. See there's so many times we
quench the Spirit by disobeying his commands.
(25:15):
So as I review this, you can pretty much understand that
right when I disobey the commands of God, I quench
spirit, I retard his work in my life, I dampen his effect in my
life. When I when I deny his control
over my life and decide that I want to control my life and do
as I please or let some other substance or some other person
control my life, that quenches the spirit.
(25:37):
We can understand that when we disregard our spiritual
giftedness, we don't do what Godtells us to do as people in the
body of Christ, we, we quit the spirit.
When I diminish this personalityand identity in my life, I I
quit the Spirit. We understand that we can get
that, but but the fifth one, thefifth one is some something
(25:57):
other than what we necessarily think.
And that is when you depend on your own resources instead of
God's Spirit, you quit the Spirit.
And we do this quite often. We, we depend on human
(26:18):
resources, we depend on, on human strength, human wisdom,
human techniques instead of the spirit of the living God.
(26:41):
And we do this without even thinking about it.
We believe that because of our education, because of our
athletic prowess, because of my leadership, I can just make
decisions, do what I want, live what I want, but all the while
(27:01):
quenching the Spirit. Think about this, the life of
Moses. Moses believed in his
self-sufficient, self reliant self efforts.
He could pull off the exodus, but he couldn't.
(27:23):
And Moses was educated in the finest school system of his day.
In fact, I would venture to say that his education is far
superior to any education you could receive today, no matter
what school you go to. He was educated in the world's
greatest educational system thatever existed in Egypt, knowing
(27:45):
that he was Nixon line to be thePharaoh.
So his leadership skills were off the charts.
On top of that, he was a athletic, muscular man.
On one day in Exodus chapter 2, he saw one of the Egyptians
beating one of the Israelites and he he slew the Egyptian.
Just a matter of moments thinking that the people would
(28:07):
rise up and say this is our leader, but they rebelled
against him. So here is Moses with all the
the education and all the qualities and all the expertise
to lead Israel. But he wasn't ready.
So what did God do? God drove him to the backside of
(28:30):
the desert for 40 years to breakhim.
So when he comes out of the desert and he and he and he and
he's able to hear the word of God speaking to him through a
fiery Bush, everything about hisself-reliance is gone.
Everything about self-sufficiency is gone.
(28:51):
He's like who, who, who shall I say sent me?
If I go, they're not going to listen to me.
Before he thought they would listen to him because he was
Nixon line to be the Pharaoh, but they did not listen and so
God had to break him. Why?
Because God needs to to shatter our independence from Him in
order to establish our dependence upon him.
(29:13):
Because we are so autonomous, wethink that we can make it
without God. What we think we can make our
marriage work, but we can't. We do though.
We we think we can make our family work, but we can't.
And we get so disgruntled and soconfused and so angry and and so
(29:35):
upset because we're trying to control life from a human
perspective. Wonder why my kids don't obey
one of my wife. My wife doesn't follow.
Wonder why the people at work don't like me instead of
realizing that it's all because of the spiritual work of my
life. And he relies solely and totally
(29:56):
upon Him. We so easy depend upon man made
things that we no longer rest inthe sovereign work of God.
Listen to Paul's prayer in Ephesians chapter 3.
When he says these words, Ephesians chapter 3, he says,
(30:21):
for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom
every family in heaven and earthderives his name, that he would
grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with the power through His Spirit in the inner
man. This is Paul's prayer for the
Church of Ephesus, that God would grant you because of His
(30:43):
eternal riches, power that comesonly through His Spirit.
That's only in the inner man to accomplish God's will for your
life. You can't do it without the
Spirit of God. Galatians chapter 3 verse #3
(31:05):
Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, having
begun in the Spirit, you think you could be perfected by the
flesh? You were saved by the Spirit.
You were in dwelt by the Spirit.You were sealed by the Spirit,
(31:26):
you were set apart by the Spirit, but now you're trying to
live your life without the influence and power of that
spirit in your life to lead you and guide you.
And Paul says you're just foolish people because the
spiritual life is only accomplished by spiritual means,
(31:47):
not by any other means. So important.
And so we tend to to think that we know better than God, that we
could do things better than God.So we depend upon our own
resources, we depend upon our own intellect.
We lean on our own understandingbasically in every decision we
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make each and every day. Instead of obeying the
Scriptures which says do not lean on your own understanding
in all your ways, acknowledge Him.
He will make your path smooth. If your path is as smooth, it's
because you're leaning on your own understanding because God
promises to make your path smooth if you trust in Him and
acknowledge Him throughout each and every aspect of the decision
(32:33):
making process. But so many times we just negate
that float out the window and welive our lives as if God doesn't
even exist. But we can't live without him,
without me, because you can do nothing.
Nothing. But we think we can.
(32:54):
And we we forget that that God is working in our lives through
his Spirit. God had to work in the life of
Moses. God had to take him to his, to
his desert, had to take him to the school room of God.
He had been educated in the school room of Egypt.
He needed to be in the school room of God.
Why? Because he needed a PhD in the
(33:16):
ways of God. We're so concerned about getting
a PhD in things that just don't matter.
You need to get a PhD in the things of God, in the ways of
God. And that only comes to the
desert experience, only comes tothe suffering and difficulty of
isolation. And he had to learn that.
And once he learned it, he came out of Egypt or came out of the
(33:41):
desert to lead Israel, the greatest leader in Israel's
history, because he would learn to depend upon the living God
for everything. What's what God wants to do in
your life? You live a life of frustration.
You live a life of unsettledness, live a life of
(34:02):
discouragement. Could it be that that you're
just quenching the Spirit because you're trying to make
decisions based on your own intellect, your, your own way of
thinking, instead of trusting and dependent upon the living
God to lead you and to guide youin the way that you should go?
(34:24):
There are some of you today thatare even experiencing Psalm One
O 6 verse #15 my mom's favorite verse that God will give you the
desires of your heart but send abarrenness to your soul.
Be careful what you ask God for because sometimes He gives it to
you but sends that absolute barrenness to your soul and
(34:48):
you're so disgruntled. Even though you got what you
wanted, it wasn't what you thought it was when you made the
decision. And now you are so unsettled.
God is saying you need to trust me, you need to believe in me,
you need to lean upon me. But when we depend upon our own
(35:11):
self resources instead of the spirits resources, we quench the
spirit number six. Here's one you don't think of
very often, but it happens. We quench the spirit when we
downplay the spirits working andup play our working.
(35:39):
We downplay the spirits working and up play our working.
In other words, it's it's what Ihave done.
I got a promotion. I I deserve this promotion.
I got a raise. I deserve this raise.
I've worked hard at it. Other people have worked hard
(36:03):
too, but they don't have a raise.
But you see, I've worked harder than they have.
I deserve this. Not realizing that Paul says in
First Corinthians 4, What do youhave that you did not receive
from God? The answer is nothing but but we
(36:23):
think it's because of what I've done.
Look at this this great buildingI have built.
Look at this great Bible study that I have built that people
are coming in droves or, or we think I LED my, my, my sister or
my brother to the Lord. No, you didn't, but you think
you did. See, because down deep you want
(36:47):
to downplay the spirits working and up play you're working for
your own glory. So we take pride in the fact
that I LED so and so to the Lord, or I went on this mission
tripping and LED this many people to the Lord, or I did
this or I did that. And we want to boast in our, our
(37:10):
achievements. And we, we talked about it on
Wednesday night that, that the true Christian, he, he glories
in Christ Jesus. He puts no confidence in the
flesh. He has no confidence in himself,
but he glories in Christ. He boasts in Christ.
But so often we we want to boastin our own achievements and
(37:30):
accomplishments. I've done this.
Look what I did here. Well, that's because of me.
No, it's not. It's because of the Lord.
God's doing those workings you can think about.
I bought a house. Yeah, you did.
(37:54):
But you have a house because of what God has given you.
It's from, it's from the Lord. What do you have that you did
not receive? Absolutely nothing.
Not just in the spiritual realm,but in the physical realm as
well. That's why I love what James
says. He says, come now, you who say
today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a
(38:16):
year there and engage in business and make a profit.
He says, you who say that I havea plan and this is my plan, I'm
going to make a profit, I'm going to move here, I'm going to
do this and I'm going to this ismy plan.
He says, yet you do not know what your life will be like
(38:37):
tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and
also do this or that. And then he says this.
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting
(39:00):
is evil. When you make your plans,
ignoring the Spirit of God, the dwelling of God, the moving of
God in your life, you're just arrogant.
You're boasting your own arrogance.
I'm going to do this, I'm going to take this job.
(39:21):
I'm going to move here. I'm going to do that.
Jesus, if the Lord wills, that should be your prayer.
Listen to these words. So true.
Jeremiah, Jeremiah 10 verse #23 I know, O Lord, that a man's way
(39:44):
is not in himself. I know I can't run my own life,
nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
But you know what? We think we can.
That's why you're not a great prophet like Jeremiah.
(40:05):
Because you see, he knew he couldn't.
He couldn't direct his own steps.
He couldn't make his own plans. Why?
Because the Lord's in charge, hesays.
Correct me, oh Lord. Put me on the right path, and
then this one, Psalm 143 verse #10 teach me to do Your will,
(40:27):
for You are my God. Let Your good Spirit lead me on
smooth, level ground for the sake of Your name.
Isn't that great? Teach me, Lord, Your will.
I want to know your will, Lord. I want to know Your will for my
life, for You're my God. Let your good spirit lead me.
(40:50):
That's the cry of the believer. That's Spirit.
Isaiah 11 verse #2 is described as the spirit of wisdom,
understanding, counsel, strength, and knowledge.
The Spirit that you have within you is the spirit of knowledge,
strength, understanding, and counsel.
(41:11):
That's why God says, I'm going to give you my counselor, I'm
going to give you my guide, I'm going to give you my teacher,
I'm going to give you my wisdom.Why?
Because I want you to have the mind of Christ.
That's who lives within us, the Spirit of God.
So why would we seek counsel outside the Spirit of God and
(41:32):
outside the Scriptures that He'sgiven to us?
Why would we do that when He's given us the Spirit of power, of
love and self-discipline? That's a spirit that lives
within us. But when we, because of our own
sinful nature, downplay the Spirit's working to upplay our
(42:01):
working, we've quenched the Spirit one more.
This will lead us into next week.
You quench the Spirit when you despise prophetic utterances,
which is the next verse verse #20 when you degrade, when you
(42:27):
look down upon, treat as irrelevant God's holy Word.
Why? Because the word inspired is as
equal to the Word Incarnate. Psalm 138, verse #2 it says,
(42:53):
Thou has magnified thy word evenas thy very name.
At the name of Jesus, every kneewill bow.
At the Word of God, every knee will bow.
Because the Word of God inspiredis from the Word of God
Incarnate, and they're on the equal plane.
(43:13):
Solomon says Proverbs 13 verse #13 The one who despises the
word will be destroyed by the word, he says, but the one who
fears the commandment will be rewarded.
(43:38):
The one who reveres commandment is rewarded.
Those who despise it will be in debt to it, and they will be
destroyed by it. That's why you can't ever afford
to despise prophetic utterances over in Second Chronicles
chapter 36, which is the last chapter in the Jewish Bible.
(44:01):
It's not the book of Malachi, it's the book of Second
Chronicles because the Jewish Bible ends with the destruction
of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.
That's why the Jews stand at thewailing Western waiting wall,
whatever you want to call it, and mourn what is taking place
(44:21):
because the Bible ends in SecondChronicles 36.
The Jewish Bible and how does itend, ends this way.
The Lord, that the God of your Father's sent word to Israel
again and again and again by Hismessengers, His prophets,
(44:45):
because He had compassion on Hispeople and on His dwelling
place. Why did God keep sending
prophets over and over again, different ones of them?
Because God had compassion on His people and His dwelling
place. What?
Why does what? Why does God keep you coming to
hear the word of the Lord? Because He has compassion on
you. He wants to teach you.
(45:07):
He wants to grow you. And so He just keeps giving you
the same message over and over and over again.
Verse 16 But they continually mocked the messengers of God.
Imagine that. Mocking Jeremiah, mocking
(45:28):
Isaiah, mocking Daniel, mocking Amos, mocking all these great
men of God who came to bring themessage.
But that's what they did. They mocked them, made fun of
them, scoffed at them. They continually mocked the
(45:49):
messages of God, and they despised His words, God's words,
and scoffed at His prophets. They despise the word of God,
they scoffed at His prophets. They mocked the men that God had
(46:12):
sent until the wrath of the Lordarose against his people, until
there was no remedy. How sad is that?
There was no longer a remedy. There was no longer an answer.
(46:34):
The word of the Lord kept comingover and over and over again.
And they despise the prophets, they despise his messengers.
They scoffed at them over and over again.
They just treated their words asif they meant nothing.
But they were the words of God, see?
(46:56):
So the wrath of God was kindled against them until there was
absolutely no longer a remedy for them.
Jerusalem was destroyed. Israel's never been the same.
How sad is that? So incredibly sad.
I I say that because how do we quench the Spirit?
(47:20):
But by looking down upon the commands of God, the prophetic
utterances of God, the words that God has given to us,
whether they're inspired words, whether it's the Incarnate Word,
by looking down upon that word and treating it as if it means
nothing but around, he means everything because it's a
treasure of God's word in their lives.
(47:43):
So Paul says to those in Destin,I could don't quench the Spirit.
Don't stifle the work in the Spirit.
Don't smother his influence and power in your life.
Don't do that. Instead, fan the flame, throw
wood in the fire, rekindle afresh the Spirit of God and be
used for the glory of God. May God give us the grace never
(48:07):
to quench the Spirit, so that wein turn then grieve the Spirit,
but maybe walk in the Spirit, taking each step in the presence
of the living God. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to
spend a brief moment in your word.
(48:28):
We ask that Lord, we would be the kind of people that adhere
to the words of God, that we notjust be hearers only, but doers
of the word that actually we we would leave here saying, I'm
going to recognize God in my life, the street of God.
(48:49):
God lives in me. I'm going to exercise my
giftedness for the glory of God.I'm going to obey the commands
of God, not disobey the commandsof God.
I don't want any glory. I want all the glory to go to
the Lord. I don't want to trust in myself.
I want to trust in the spirits working in my life.
And I want to make sure when I hear the word of God, I don't
(49:12):
look down upon it, but then I Revere it for what it truly is,
God's holy word. That's our prayer.
Lord in Jesus name, Amen.
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