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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Heavenly Helper: 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Good morning!

This morning it is my privilege to bring God’s word to you.

While watching the movie Aladdin, have you ever wished or dreamt having the lamp and the genie?

I have and I’m assuming most of us had. Well, I’m here to tell you that we have access to someone, who is even greater than a genie, one who is all-powerful and all-knowing helper from heaven, the Holy Spirit.

In real life, genie doesn’t exist but the Holy Spirit does exist, unlike the genie, the Holy Spirit doesn’t grant us any wish our sinful & selfish heart desires to have, but instead carefully grants only those that bring real joy, the ones that are in accordance to God’s will for our lives, and also He is not limited to just three wishes.

Our passage today is from 1 Thessalonians 5:19 where Paul writes to the Church saying,

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

In my sermon today my goal is to point our hearts to the third person in the trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the mistakes we make when we quench or ignore Him in our spiritual walk as a Christian.

The God we worship is a triune God. There are no three God’s, there is only one God but in three forms, God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit. I won’t go into depth to explain this concept, we can do that some other day. But remember this, throughout the Bible, we see the mention of God in all three forms and with equal emphasis.

Jesus said in John 10:30
“I and the Father are one”

In John 14:9 he said
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”

2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul writes
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”

These verses and many others give us evidence of this triune God.

The thing to remember here is that the Holy Spirit is not a feeling but He is a person.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon God’s people only to accomplish some particular task, but in the new covenant, after Christ redeemed us from Sin and death, cleansed us from all our iniquities, and declared us righteous through the breaking of his body and shedding of His blood, a new experience has been given to you.

Before Jesus was taken into heaven he told his disciples in John 15:26“I will send you the Helper from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father.

And on the day of Pentecost a great transaction took place, the Spirit of God came down to dwell among us, in us, forever. And since then, everyone who receives Jesus as their personal saviour and Lord, the Spirit immediately makes our heart his dwelling place.

In Galatians 4:6 Paul writes
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

The above passage suggests that the indwelling of the Spirit in us is the evidence that we are His.

There is also no separate baptism of the Holy Spirit. What happened on the day of Pentecost was a one-time transaction from how people experienced the Holy Spirit in the Old covenant and how we will experience Him in the New covenant. If there was a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit the scripture would have taught us.

The reality is, the day we gave our lives to Jesus the Spirit of God made his dwelling in us. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul reminds the church saying
16 Do you not know that you[a] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? Holy Spirit is the Heavenly Helper we receive as a gift from God on the day of our Salvation.

In our passage today, Paul is telling the church “Do not quench the Spirit”

And what we understand from this passage is that even though the Spirit lives within us there is a possibility of us quench its fire from helping us progress and grow in our Christian walk, in fact we are making a greatest blunder when we are not taking the help of our Heavenly Helper who is all-powerful and all-knowing.

In this sermon I want to point out three most important outworking of the Holy Spirit in our live that which we shouldn’t ignore or quench. Quenching the Spirit in these three areas means to STOP progressing in our Christian walk.

1. PRESENCE

One of the primary ministries of the Holy Spirit is to help us experience the Presence of God, and also take us deeper in it, enabling us to have a deep and intimate relationship with the Father. We should never quench the Holy Spirit from doing that.

In the first place, we have to remember that it was the Spirit of God that opened our eyes to the Gospel and led us to repentance from our sins and faith in Jesus.

In John 16:8-9 Jesus revealed it to us

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;

After our salvation, to continually experience the presence of God, to grow deeper in relationship with the Father, to constantly been convicted (Ehsas) of our sin, reminded of God’s Holy judgement and sacrifice of Son Jesus on the cross for our redemption. Unlike what most of us think that it is our decision and choice, the reality is that it is Spirit of God in us that does that work.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 Paul writes

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Brothers & sisters, to live and experience the presence of God is the greatest blessing a believer can have in our spiritual walk. To experience Him as our comforter when we are in trouble, to know Him as our provider when we are in need, to know Him as our healer when we are sick, is the most fulfilling experiences to have in our Christian journey.

And all this is only made possible because of the Spirit’s work in our heart. When we isolate ourselves and close the door on God and from others, when we stop hearing from God through scripture and through His preached word, when we ignore a faithful friend who brings rebuke and correction in our lives, we are shutting the door to all the means through which the Spirit of God is bringing conviction into our hearts and drawing near to God. We shut the door to living in the PRESENCE of God, which in fact is the essence of our Christian life.

Psalms 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Brothers & sisters, let us not quench the Holy Spirit from living and experiencing the presence of God.

2. PURPOSE

Another primary ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help us fulfil the God given purposes in our lives.

The ultimate goal of every child of God is to Glorify God by participating in His Kingdom work of redeeming His chosen people on earth who are living in darkness and to bring them into the light.

Ephesians 1:11

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

1 Peter 2:9

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And though our purpose is one, which is to glorify God but the journey we all take are unique ones. Some are called to glorify God by becoming missionaries and pastors and evangelists, some are called to glorify God by becoming doctors, engineers, architects, film makes etc. 

And to take these unique journeys we need unique giftings, skills and talents, so that ultimately we glorify God and participate in the extension of Kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel and lifting up Jesus.

The Holy Spirit grants with a variety of gifts, from natural abilities to Spiritual ones. Most people misunderstand the Spiritual gifts, they make them their goals instead of looking at them as means to fulfil the greater goal. God gives particular gifts to particular people and we don’t control that. Just because another person has a particular gift doesn’t mean you should also have it. Yes, we do ask God for gifts but ultimately we trust in His provision for each individual, we celebrate the unique gifts he has given to us.

Brothers & sisters, it is the Spirit of God who reveals and equips us to fulfil the purposes of God in our lives.

And when we fail to give heed to the nudgings of the Spirit when He asks us to choose a certain career, move to a certain a place, not move to a certain place, give yourself up for a certain task that may sound and look foolish and unreasonable at times, we are quenching the Spirit of God from helping us fulfil God’s purposes for our lives.

Brothers & sisters, let us know quench the Spirit when He is leading us into a certain direction in our lives to fulfil God’s purposes. And how do we know whether it is the right direction to go, we will know because the road will ultimately lead to us into glorifying God and participate in His Kingdom work.

3. POWER

Yes, of course the task set ahead of us is a tough one, in our human capacities, we will never be able to complete this gigantic task. We need courage, we need self-control, we need wisdom, we need Power. The good news is that God provides us the Power we need to accomplish great things for Him.

Firstly, the Gospel comes with Power. 1 Thessalonians 1:5

5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

The definition of Power is to have the capability to influence behaviour and events. And I believe the greatest need for Power in our life is to influence our self-destructive nature, our Self is the greatest enemy that stands between God and us. The Power we need is primarily to overcome our Self.

God wants us to seek for the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of power in our heart and life, to conquer Self and cast out sin, and to work the blessed and beautiful image of Jesus into us.

Brothers & sisters, when we fail to fully surrender every aspect of our lives into the hands of our Saviour Jesus we are quenching the Spirit of God from empowering us with His strength and His abilities. As long as we are holding on to things and controlling it the way we desire we are blocking the Spirit to take full control of the situation and allow to experience the joy of the Lord.

Let us not quench the Spirit from experiencing God’s in our Lives.

Finally, as I end, I want to bring to your attention the biggest mistake we make that eventually leads us to quenching the Spirit’s work on our lives. The mistake is our failure to Wait on Him.

We read a wonderful passage that brings immediate joy but fail to reflect on it deeply and allow the Holy Spirit to convict us because we have other things to do. We hear a great sermon but we fail to allow the spoken word to take deep roots by spending time in introspection by communing with Holy Spirit.

Friends, we have not learned enough to wait upon Him, and so we should make a solemn declaration before God; Oh God, we want to wait more for You to show us Your will.

You may ask, is it really possible to experience life with the Holy Spirit and clearly hear Him speak and guide me in my day-to-day life. The answer is “Yes, it is possible to those who are in right fellowship with Heaven, and who understands the art of waiting upon God in prayer”

Psalms 27:14 David encourages to wait on the Lord saying

Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Lamentations 3:25

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.

Isaiah 40:31

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Brothers & sisters, what would it means for you to wait on the HolySpirit every day of your life.

What would it mean to wait on the Lord once every week, maybe in fasting in prayer so you can align your years to the great comforter and helper.

What would it mean to take a break, in a month from work and ministry, maybe for a couple of days to separate yourself to fully focus your heart on God and allow the Spirit of God to experience the presence of God, guide you in the purposes of God and equip you the Power of God, so you can fully live for the Glory of God.

I’m leaving this to you to answer, and hope you will take out time and think deeply about these things.

Let’s pray.

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1 Thessalonians Sermon

Do Not Quench the Spirit – 1 Thessalonian 5:19

Good morning Beloved church, it is truly a joy and privilege to see all of you. Thank you so much for taking out your time, I pray that God will truly bless all us as we spent time together worshipping God and listening to His words.


Today we shall continue our book study from Thessalonians, our text for today is 1 Thessalonian 5:19.


“Do not quench the Spirit” this is our text for this morning.


The root word for “quench” which means “to extinguish,” “to put out” or “to go out.” It also refer to putting out fires, sparks, or the putting out a lamp.


Church the day we repent our sins and received Christ as our Lord and saviour; The bible says Holy Spirit sealed us and He permanently dwells in us and He is working in our heart like a burning fire.


Knowing the works of Holy Spirit Apostle Paul Urge Thessalonian church that they should not Quench the Holy Spirit. This text is reminding all of us too that we should not quench the Holy Spirit.

To understand the text, “Do not quench the Spirit”, we shall ask four important questions.

  1. Who is the Holy Spirit?
  2. What are the works of the Holy Spirit?
  3. How believers may quench the Holy Spirit?
  4. What are the consequences of Quenching the Holy Spirit?
  5. Who is the Holy Spirit?

There are many misconceptions about the identity of the Holy Spirit. Some view the Holy Spirit as a mystical force or power.

Others understand the Holy Spirit as the impersonal power that God makes available to followers of Christ. These are wrong.

The truth is The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son and is of the same essence. Yet He is also distinct from them.

1. Who is the Holy Spirit?

  1. Holy Spirit is a person (He is the third person of Trinity).

Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, a being with a mind, emotions, and a will.

Holy Spirit thinks and knows (1 Cor.2:10).
Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesian 4:30)
Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27).
He makes decisions according to His will (1Cor 12:7-11).

2. Holy Spirit is God.

The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is God. we know that the Holy Spirit is God because He possesses the characteristics of God.

For example, His omnipresence is seen in Psalm 139:7-8

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

Isaiah 11:2, the prophet describes the Holy Spirit this way. He says,

“He is the Spirit of the Lord, He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

2. What are the works of Holy Spirit?

a. Holy Spirit draws the unsaved sinner to Jesus.

Holy Spirit plays a primary role in transforming a person’s heart and bringing salvation to the individual.

It is the Spirit who brings conviction to the unbeliever and causes him to see the truth of the gospel in a clear light.

Those who respond to this conviction and place their faith in Jesus Christ receive eternal life and a new nature.

Holy Spirit unites the believer with Christ and places him in the body of Christ, the church.

He also unites the believer with Christ in His death, enabling him to live victoriously over sin.

Application:

As a church, our Primary role is to keep praying for the lost soul for their salvation and keep spreading the good news of Christ to all people around us.

b. Holy Spirit regenerates our human Spirits.

Regeneration which means The radical spiritual change in which God brings an individual from a condition of spiritual defeat and death to a renewed condition of holiness and life.


Titus 3: 5 says.
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit moves an unbeliever and regenerate their heart to repentance and leads them into eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.

c. Holy Spirit Convict both unbelievers and believers.

John14:8.
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment


An unbeliever cannot get saved unless they are first convicted by the Holy Spirit. It is through the work of Holy Spirit our sins were convict and we repent and turn our heart to the Lord.

For born-again believers, we all need the conviction of the Holy Spirit. so we can be shown the errors of our ways.

d.Holy Spirit sanctifies us in the Lord.

2 Thess.2:13.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Once you get saved and born again in the Lord, God starts to sanctify you and me, what He will do is consecrate and set us apart unto Himself. From there, He will want to transform us by the renewing of our mind, He will want to transform us into the image of His Son Jesus.

e. Holy Spirit helps us with our prayer life.

Romans 8:26.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Another major powerful ministry that the Holy Spirit has with each born-again believer is to help us with our prayer life with the Lord.

f. Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.

John 16:13.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.


He is our guide


g. Holy Spirit teaches us all things.


John14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

He is our Teacher.

The Holy Spirit is doing an incredible by Illuminating the scriptures to all of us; bringing you and me into intimacy with God; showing all of us the glory of Jesus Christ, guiding you and me into God’s will; strengthening you and me for spiritual ministry, and service.

Holy Spirit purifies us, sanctifies us, cleanses us from all the pollution of sins toward the image of Jesus Christ.

3. How believers may quench the Holy Spirit?

By Neglecting the gift of Holy Spirit.

If we neglect the gift of Spirit, we will quench the Holy Spirit.


1 Timothy 4:14

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Illustration:
In Old testament there a prophet call Jonah, God told Jonah to go and warn and preach to the people of Nineveh for their wicked life.

But Jonah was afraid of Nineveh people and he ran away from his duty, God caught him in the middle of the sea, he was trying to escape to Tarsus, his sin was found, he was thrown in the ocean and the whale swallow him.

He was in a whale belly for 3 days God allowed him to live again. Remember church if we try to neglect our duty and responsibility and try to run away like Jonah, we will quench Holy Spirit. We should not stop the work of Holy Spirit in our life.


Application:
Let us not be like Jonah. (let us not run away from the task and the purpose God has given us in our life).


1 Cor.15:59 says,
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

By Disobedience to the word of God and living an unrepented life. How do we Disobey to the word of God?


by not reading the word of God,
by not applying the word of God, by living prayerless life,
by living an unfruitful life. By being worry and anxiety,
by not growing spiritually. by depending on our self and not God.
By being proud and not humble.

After living a sinful life, and when we do not repent our sins to God, our unrepented heart will quench the Holy Spirit.


Application:
Are you quenching the Holy Spirit by living a disobedient and unrepented life. If we are displeasing God lets repent our sinful behavior to God.


1 John 1:9 says,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

  1. By being worldliness and living a life devoted to self and selfish hopes.
    Bible directly confront us in 1 John 2:15-16.
    1 John 2:15-16
    Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world.

    If your,
    1.vision in life,
    2. your wildest dream in life,
    3. your career and
    4. the things you are running after in life,

    if all these things are alien to God’s will. You are going toward the wrong direction in life, your selfish ambition and your hope and your self-desire will Quench the Holy Spirit.

Application:
How are you maintaining life?

Loving God, serving God, worshipping God is controlling your life or
Worldliness, living a life devoted to self-desires and self-hope is controlling your life.

You know exactly where your heart is.

Scriptures is warning you and me in Romans 12:1-2 saying,

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

4. What are the consequences of quenching the Holy Spirit?

First Consequence…
1.God will not use us anymore.
We have great lesson from the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-5. They Backslide from living God and God is warning them. Verse 2.

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.


God will never use us if we are habitually living in sin, a warning to Ephesian church is a great warning for all of us, they are working hard for God, they have perseverance, they didn’t tolerate wicked people, they know the false teachers, they endure hardship and working so hard for God.

But they have forsaken the first love. Means Jesus is not no.1 in their life, some other things have replaced their priority in life.


God is warning them to come back, if not He will remove lampstand which the spiritual gift in their life.


If God take away His spiritual gift, we will not be useful for God’s Kingdom. Our life will be useless and inactive.

Your life will be like a nice smartphone. Looks cool outside but did not work. What you will do with that kind of phone.


2.We shall sin both against God and our own souls.

When we quench the Holy Spirit, we sin against God and we sin to our own soul.

3.We will not bear the fruit of Holy Spirit.


God want us to bear the fruit of Spirit in our life.

Galatian 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

4.We will make the Holy Spirit grieve.


Ephesians 4:30:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Conclusion:


Church we have mediatated together four questions under the topic
“Do not quench the Holy Spirit”

  1. Who is the Holy Spirit? (remember Holy Spirit is a person and Holy Spirit is God).
  2. What are the Works of the Holy Spirit?
  3. How believers may Quench the Holy Spirit?
  4. What are the consequences of quenching the Holy Spirit?

Beloved church we should never quench the holy Spirit, this is a command from the scripture. Rather


1.We should lovingly allow the Holy Spirit to totally control our heart.
2.We should willingly allow the Holy Spirit to fill our heart.
3.We should bear fruits of Holy Spirit in our everyday life.
4.We should always walk in the Spirit.


May the Sweet Holy Spirit Guide you and teach you in every area of your life.


May the power of Holy Spirit be with you to fight and defeat all the power of Darkness.


May He empower you, equip you and use you to be a channel of blessing for all people.

May the fruit of Spirit, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control flow out of your life and bring glory to our heavenly Father.