Do Not Quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

All right, everyone. Welcome to not 9:17, but 9:15 devotional. I'm Dwayne. Uh, yesterday we we uh we we did the scripture and at the end of the scripture, which was interesting because it was kind of off topic, but it was a great question regardless. And that was Jackie. And her her and I and what I realized uh yesterday afternoon was that I had never actually answered her question. Um we we had good conversation and it was it was it was good dialogue and community but I never really answered the question. And so I want to answer that today. I don't want to cover another verse.

All right. So going forward, Jackie's question was, "Does it make you less of a Christian if you don't go to church?" And I never answered it. I never said yes or no. What I went to was what does the scripture say about being in community? And so, uh, although again, great conversation and we had some good points and and, uh, and I know I recognized, uh, Cornelius's voice because, well, it's hard not to recognize his and someone else had had had said some stuff and someone started to talk about some stuff at the end, but we've ran out of time. So, let me answer the question directly.

Does it make you less of a Christian if you're not going to church? And the answer is no. does not make you less of a Christian. Your Christianity is not tied to what you do. Your Christianity, your salvation is tied to what Christ did and what his work did on a on a cross and what he finished. That it's not nothing to do with what you did. It is a free gift. It's a gift here. Here you go. All you have to do is accept it. So, does it make you less of a Christian if you don't go to a church? And the answer according to text is no. I'm going to hit you with a however.

Today, we're going to talk about 1 Thessalonians 5:19. It's a real short verse and it just basically says, "Do not quench the spirit." Short verse. It's Paul. He's writing a letter to the the church at Thessalonica. and his direction is to not quench the spirit. So what does that mean? And how do I tie this into yesterday? Well, you already have the fire in you. You already have the Holy Spirit. So your choice is to cool it down or heat it up. And I would argue that if you're not in community, what are you doing? You're probably cooling it down.

you're not doing the very things that God has intended for you. He has a work. He has a purpose for your life. And one of the ways that we can help determine that purpose is by getting into community. And so you can either pour water on it, sin, uh living in a worldly lifestyle, not being around others who are growing in their spiritual walk. And those things can bring you down. Or you can you what's the what what do they call that thing when you when you blow air into a fire a ballast or something? You can stoke the fire. And that's the opposite of quenching the spirit.

That's getting it going. That's surging who you are in your walk with the Lord. And how do we do that? Well, if we surround ourselves and we're continually in community with other people, church, then that's going to have you grow in your walk. I don't know why uh Jackie asked the exact question and I don't know if it's that she felt like she she and maybe Jackie will have an opportunity to answer it. I don't know if she felt like she she does just as good at home or as she does at church or maybe Jackie was asking the question because she's had the question asked of her and she wasn't quite sure how to answer the question.

I don't know. She she'll have an opportunity to to answer that. But what I find most often when someone makes that statement that I am I I don't need to go to church. Uh we first have to define what church is. It's not a building. We talked about that yesterday. It's the body of Christ. And the text tells us that that's not accurate. The text tells us, the scriptures say you must be in community. You need to be in community. If you're not in community, then you're the you're that lamb that the wolf has now peeled off from the flock and you run into a great risk of been being in a lot of trouble.

And so God wants us to be together. He he he has shepherds. He shepherds us into a community. And and I don't I can't tell you that that's why our father in heaven chose to use shepherd and flock as the analogy, but I think it fits very well for this this comp this uh this conversation and this topic. So are you less of a Christian? If you've you have confessed with your mouth and you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, that he died on the cross and he he rose again and purified you from all unrighteousness doing that finished work on the cross, then you are saved and there's nothing that you're going to do to take that away.

You you can't be less of a Christian. Um but you can quench the spirit and the and how do we know that? Because Paul says, "Don't quench the spirit." And how do we not do that? Well, one of the ways is we get in community. We go to church. All right. So, thoughts, comments, suggestions, let them fly. I don't know. I don't I I don't know about anybody else, but um uh this is church. What we do every morning at 9:15. Amen. This is this is church. when we come together like this, this is church, you know, and I and I and I abs I I absolutely I absolutely love it.

Awesome. I I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes. And I agree with you. This is what it's about. It's about us coming together in community. There are additions to it. Pray, worship, prayer, and and we need those things as well, too. We cover a couple of them, and you guys don't want to hear me sing. I know he says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, but my girls beg me to shut up, so I've just thrown." Go for it, Clyde. Go for it. Go for it. I'm still looking for those Christian musicians. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna introduce you to uh Pastor Stephen and then you'll know some great Christian musicians.

So, real quick, go ahead. I think it just says a lot that you came back this morning uh with this topic and you readressed the uh the whole question because uh it says a lot for this community. It shows you that what a community is like and what it can be run like and what it can be and feel like can be community of God and through God and with the Holy Spirit. and the fact that you came back and readressed that Dwayne uh I just want to give you props and your leadership momentum there and uh I felt the same uh as what you did there. So you demonstrated uh community in a in a brilliant uh wise way uh through God's Holy Spirit nudging you.

Thank you. Well, thank you. And I was just going to I was I'm glad you ended it that way. So that that's the Holy Spirit and he convicts and he he if if you pray and you listen he you know that's that's how these passages in this conversation start. It's not me. It's it's what I feel God is leading me to be able to bring up and to say. And I want to cover a point about that. Um uh and and I won't I won't name names. Um but I have someone on here who was not going to church who is now going to go to church this Sunday. And this is how the Holy Spirit moves.

That person contacted me and and thought that maybe it was a difficult question or maybe someone, you know, maybe Jackie was being, you know, dare I say negative. But Jackie, regardless of whether she was or she wasn't, we love Jackie. That that that doesn't matter. What the Holy Spirit did a work in was now what's going to happen? What's going to happen because of yesterday? There's someone on here who was not going to church who's now going to church. That is the Holy Spirit. Period. That's not me. That's not Jackie. That's not the person that's going to go.

That's not Todd for the for the great uh encouraging word. That is absolutely the Holy Spirit at work. Period. So, amen. So, yes, this is church. Anybody else? And actually, I was going to chime in for a second, too. Like at the uh women's Bible study last night, the beautiful group that meets there at Grace, um like I know that just in the short time I've been going to that um that group that I don't know if it's being in a small table where it's really concentrated or, you know, having people pray with and for you, but yeah, that's been tremendous.

Awesome. So, I have something real quick. I live in a resort and they have Facebook church I like being in person, but there's sometimes where the Lord says, "You just need to be on your knees and at home and doing what you need to do because there's other people that will feed off of me." I don't know how to describe that, but it takes away from him. So, I get what I need from the church, from TV, but I know that I need to be in communication with people of like- minded like you're saying. And and we can be fooled at times to say, "Well, I don't need that because I had church hurt.

I had plenty of that, trust me. But it it's absolutely a need for me and maybe not everybody, but I have to be in communication with people because otherwise you're drugged down by their stuff if you allow it. So, I'm I'm thankful to be on here. I mean, I would normally probably have not done this, but I like this company and I think they have lots to offer. You guys you guys just you're amazing and I appreciate you. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for that. and and Cornelio kind of said it yesterday about longsuffering and the church is made the churches are not perfect.

You guys, you know, we we joke and we laugh about I say that you find the perfect perfect church, you got to leave because you're going to ruin it. And it's made of imperfect people. And and sometimes, you know, we we allow the enemy. We're that's a fellow believer in Christ, but yet they just said something that completely offended us. That can happen. Why? Because they're human and they're not perfect. And so we we have to be willing to uh to give grace where it's required, where it's needed. That's what God gives to us. Because I promise you, each and every one of us have said something to someone else that was offensive to them or or or they or they at least took the wrong way as well, too.

And yes, and there's times when as as it's Joan, I believe Joanie said that, you know, there's just some times where you get in that season where, you know, right now I just need to be on my knees. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? We we don't want to make this legalistic. That's absolutely not. That's what the Pharisees and his Sadducees did. This is not legalism. This is relationship. All right. 9:29. 10 more seconds. Anybody got one more thing they want to add real quick? I'm going to take I'll just say that we've always said and we always said that iron shop is iron and that's why community is important.

Amen. Thanks, Jimmy. I recognize that oldish voice anywhere. Sorry. All right, let's let's bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you so much for today and thank you for thank you for this uh for this church. Thank you for the people that attend. Thank you for the encouraging word. Thank you that your Holy Spirit is alive and active and lives in each of us. Thank you that that we get to do church um the way that you want, Father, and how that fits inside who we are and where we're at at a at a moment in time or a season. So, Father, we just thank you for that.

Uh we're grateful for the technology, Father, when it works, fantastic. And even sometimes when it's troubling, Father, Father, what we're we're just thankful that we get to do this. We're thankful that we get to give the give to you, Father, the first part of our day. Uh which I know for most of us is very important. Uh, thank you for the birds chirping in the background. Just a great sound to to be able to pray into. And I mean that not as a not in sarcasm. Father, thank you for who you are, what you're doing in our lives, allowing us to be the best versions of of uh or or or the best shadow, Father, of who you are.

And that's what the ultimate goal is, is that people would see Jesus in us. Father, thank you. We love you. We praise you. And as always, in your son Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. All guys have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow, same time. Amen. Thanks, Dwayne. Thank you. Have a good day.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.