Title: Do not put out The Spirits fire
1 Thes. 5:19-22
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.
Proposition:
Every Time that the church meets together
God desires to manifest his presence in our midst
THROUGH CHARISMATIC GIFTS
To
Strengthen
Encourage
Comfort Believers
and
Convict un-believers of their sin and need for salvation
1 Cor. 14:25
That the secrets of (there) hearts will be laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
There is only one thing that could stand in the way
Of this kind of ministry
Of the Holy Spirit
In our midst
US
1 Thes. 5:19-22
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.
PRAYER
Why Does God give prophecies to the church?
1 Cor. 14:3
But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
God wants to strengthen, encourage and comfort the church.
Where would we be without that strengthening, encouragement, and comfort?
• Weak
• Discouraged
• Distraught
The church today has great need for the charismatic gifts
The early church flowed freely in these gifts
1 cor. 14:26 gives us a glimpse at what their services were like
1 Cor. 14:26
What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
They had
• Hymns/ worship
• Words of instruction/ preaching
• Revelations/prophecy
• Tongue and interpretations
• All done for the strengthening of the CHURCH…
It was normal to have Charismatic gifts in their services.
But sometimes there were extremes
In scripture we see Paul dealing with charismatic gifts and their extremes in almost every epistle he wrote
What were these extremes?
In Corinth there was EXCESS
1 Cor. 14:39-40
Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophecy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
PART OF THERE EXCESS WAS DISORDER
First of all…
1. They were speaking in tongues in their services without interpretation.
1 Cor. 14:23
So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
You are out of your mind
Why – because tongues,
except in use as a prayer language or during a specific time of worship
are meant to be interpreted.
Let me mention
Sometimes a message in tongues comes and there is no interpreter
Paul dealt with this
1 Cor. 14:28
If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
Secondly
2. They were all prophesying at the same time.
1 Cor. 14:29-32
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
They had 2 or 3 people standing up all at once to prophecy
Paul tells them, everyone must be instructed and encouraged to have order…
THIRDLY
3. They were not testing or weighing carefully what was being said.
1 Cor. 14:29 says, Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said
1. Does it glorify Christ? The prophecy may not mention Christ by name, but does the whole message honor and glorify him? This is always the Spirit’s primary work (John 16:14; 1 Cor. 12:1-4).
2. Does it edify the body of Christ? Seven times in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul emphasizes this point when discussing spiritual gifts, especially tongues and prophecy.
3. Is it in accordance with the Scriptures? If we twist the Scriptures, we do so to our own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16).
4. Is the prophecy given in the spirit of love? This is the hallmark of the Spirit’s presence, even in correction or rebuke.
5. Is Jesus lord of the speaker’s life? A false prophet will be known by the fruits of his or her life, said Jesus (Matt. 7:15:15-20).
6. Does the speaker submit to the church leaders? Strong personalities with independent spirits caused splits and divisions in the New Testament church, and do so today. Paul warned the Ephesian elders about those “from among your own selves” who would draw away disciples after them, and so divide the church of God (Acts 20:29-30).
7. Does the speaker allow others to judge the prophecy? Such weighing should be the rule, not the exception (1 Cor. 14:29).
8. Is the speaker in control of himself when speaking? The speaker may be “taken over” by an evil spirit, but that is never the mark of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 12:2ff, contrast the passive “moved” and the active “speaking”; see also 14:32).
9. Is the prophecy fulfilled, if it speaks about some future event? Most prophecy is forth-telling, not foretelling. A Christian prophesying will normally “tell forth” God’s word as an encouragement or exhortation for the whole congregation. Only on rare occasions will prophecy predict some future event When it does, the biblical test is in the prophecy: fulfillment, or lack of it (Deut. 18:22).
I mention all this about Corinth, because it contrasts with what was happening
IN THESSALONICA
In Corinth as Charismatic excesses arose they responded by being more excessive
The Thessalonians on the other hand were a charismatic group of believers that functioned in prophecy, and tongues and interpretation
But when faced with excess they went to the opposite extreme.
• back in 1988 – the church had just been handed a book by retired NASA engineer called 88 reasons for the rapture in 1988.
Christians alarmed by this book
• Sold property
• Borded up churches
• Spent their retirement funds
• Planned their wills
• And bit their nails awaiting the rapture
The Lords return
But it has not taken place…yet…
Apparently
SOMEONE had prophesied in there church, that the Day of the Lord had already come.
2 Thes. 2:2 Reflects back on this event
not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
And it went, untested,
Unchecked…
It unsettled and alarmed the whole congregation…
PAUL DEALT WITH THE DOCTRINAL ERROR, BY REMINDING THEM OF HIS TEACHING
1 Thes. 4:13
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
2 Thes. 2:5
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
BUT THE THESSALONIAN
CORRECTED THE ABUSE OF THE GIFTS BY COMMANDING DISUSE OF THE GIFTS…
As Paul puts it, they were quenching the Spirit…
They had gone to such an extreme in correction that they were willfully disallowing the means by which Christ intended that the church would be blessed, encouraged, strengthened, and comforted.
I like the NIV
1 Thes. 5:19-22
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.
Throughout the New Testament the Holy Spirit is associated with fire
Matthew 3:11
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Acts 2:3-4
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
The fire can be put out.
It was probably not a command that went forth from the pastor … NO Prophecy allowed
But the entire congregation had become involved.
THEY HAD ALL BEEN DECEIVED BY THE ABUSE
AND NOW THEY DID NOT WANT TO HAVE PROPHECIES ANY MORE
THEY DID NOT WANT TO BE HURT, ANY MORE
BE MADE FOOLS OF ANY MORE
They had seen it tear their congregation apart
Instead of build it up
And they said NO MORE (Place Candle on table and douse it with water)
• I HAVE HEARD IT PREACHED THAT ITS OUTSIDERS THAT QUENCH THE SPIRIT
there’s a coven of witches, demon worshipers, wickens
That can’t be because Paul is speaking to Christians – not about evil outsiders
• I HAVE HEARD IT PREACHED THAT SIN WILL QUENCH THE SPIRIT
But how can that be,
when you have sin in your life thats when the Holy Spirit gets busy and is ministering to you, and convicting your sin
Quenching the Spirit does not have ITS ORIGIN IN SIN, OR OUTSIDE OPPRESSION
But it occurs when believers
Go to extremes in their view of God’s gifts
And as a local body
QUENCH The Spirit.
If we are going to be a church that lines up with God’s will in the area of worship
Then we need to set aside our fears about excesses
And wild fire in our worship and
2 Tim. 1:6
Fan into flame the gift of God,
Allow the Holy Spirit to manifest His presence in our midst to
To Strengthen
Encourage
Comfort Believers
and
Convict un-believers of their sin and need for salvation
1 Cor. 14:25
That the secrets of (there) hearts will be laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
Trust this that God will enable US to 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil.
If we QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT.
