Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
This week we continue our new series from the Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian believers, titled Great urgencies from the Apostle Paul.
Today we are talking about Don’t Quench The Holy Spirit.
Text
1 Thessalonians 5:19 AMP
19 Do not quench [subdue, or be unresponsive to the working and guidance of] the [Holy] Spirit.
Scripture Reading
1 Thessalonians 5 AMP
Prayer
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
The negative imperative in our text, “Do not quench the Spirit,” reveals that it is highly possible that each of us can be guilty of doing so.
And doing so is to grieve the heart of our Father God, to deprive ourselves of His benevolent ministry, and to withhold from others that which they could receive through us if the Spirit were permitted to do His good work.
Have you choked the life out of the Spirit within you?
Have you poured water on the creative fire of the Holy Spirit?
To face this and other questions concerning our response to the Holy Spirit will cause each of us to plead guilty.
How do we avoid the possibility of making a negative response to the Holy Spirit?
- We must recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
It is possible that we have quenched the Spirit by our very failure to recognise that He was and is God’s gift to us at the time of our conversion.
Some people have the mistaken idea that they must wait for a kind of spiritual extravaganza before they experience the Holy Spirit’s presence.
He came quietly but significantly in the moment you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Let us stand in awe before the significance of this truth that the eternal Spirit has come to dwell within us.
2. We must cultivate the fruit of the Spirit with cooperation.
Our heavenly Father’s purpose for us is to bring us into conformity to the image of His dear Son.
The Father God is in the process of helping us in that direction day by day.
He has bestowed the gift of the Holy Spirit within us to make that possibility real.
Paul told the Colossians that Christ in them was the hope of glory.
Becoming genuinely Christian is not a matter of our lifting ourselves up by our own spiritual boot straps.
Instead, it comes about as we respond positively and continuously to the work of the Holy Spirit.
He seeks to produce within us the very nature and personality of Jesus Christ.
In the nine graces of the Spirit, we find a verbal picture of Jesus Christ.
We also see a vision of what we can be as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-18,
16 But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts].
17 For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do.
18 But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.
3. We must listen to the Spirit with joyful obedience.
There is no way God can lead us into our personal promised land in the here and now if we neglect to hear the voice of the Spirit and refrain from obeying His Word.
No one can do your listening and obeying for you.
God is at work for good in each of us.
To experience the fulfilment of His promise, we must listen and obey.
Conclusion.
It is no accident that each of the seven epistles to the seven churches of Asia Minor concludes with the exhortation in Revelation 2:7, He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege] to eat [the fruit] from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’
The Holy Spirit is present in your heart if you are a believer, but you must listen to and obey Him to reap the benefits of His presence.
Let us discover His presence afresh by responding positively to His gracious work within us.
Let us rejoice in what God wants to do in us by His Spirit.
Don’t pour water on the fire of the Spirit!
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
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