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[0:00] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word again for this time today, for every soul,! For your heart to be our heart. Lord, for your spirit to be kindled in us afresh and fire us up, Lord, for your glory. Lord, that we be a burning and shining light, a people set on fire for you. Lord, we pray that you'd work in us by your Holy Spirit today. All to your praise we ask in Jesus' name.

[0:30] Amen. Quench not the Spirit. Fact is, we can quench the Spirit, but the Bible says quench not the Spirit.

[0:41] Quench not the Spirit. We're going to go to 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19. Our text is four words. Here's your memory verse for today. Quench not the Spirit.

[0:58] 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19. Quench not the Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in the life of the believer. He is like an inward fire. He makes us alive. He gives us spiritual power. He purges and he refines like fire does. Question is, will we stifle the fire or will we stir it up? Will we stifle it or will we stir it up? It is possible that you can stifle the fire. Don't do it. Don't put out the Spirit's fire.

[1:37] When you think of a fire, it brings warmth and light, doesn't it? Quenching a fire is like throwing water on it. And when you put out a fire, it brings coldness and darkness.

[1:53] Friends, a fire can be quenched. A fire can be put out. There's different ways to put it out. We might pour water upon it or cover it with something that stops it burning or take away the fuel.

[2:06] We can be guilty of being a squelcher, I put to you, a wet blanket. Our faith can fizzle. And we can quench the flame of others too.

[2:19] Is there something that dampens our passion, our fervour for Christ? That's the question today. Something that makes us cold or lifeless in serving our Lord?

[2:36] Quenching a fire. It's like snuffing out the fire, isn't it? The Bible says quench not the Spirit. The Bible shows us the fire of God. It can be quenched.

[2:46] We can dampen our fervency, our faith, through a lack of faith, through neglect, through sin, worldliness, carelessness, pride, ungodliness, so many things really.

[2:58] The devil wants that. The devil wants to dampen you, your enthusiasm. Oh, settle down. Just cool down a bit. Don't get too excited. He wants our church to fizzle out, to be snuffed out like a candle.

[3:11] He wants your faith to weaken. He wants to pour water on it, to dampen your love for God. He wants to take the Lord's place in your life by whatever way that he can.

[3:25] And for you to get too busy, too busy with anything, anything but the things of God. He doesn't want that. The devil doesn't want you to get real.

[3:35] He wants to crowd out God, out of your life, such that you've got no time for God. And you end up in sin. And you get the love of worldly ways.

[3:46] And the cobwebs of neglect grow over your spiritual life. My tool shed's a bit like that in some of the shelves. Some of the tools I haven't used for a while.

[3:58] The dust and the cobwebs are there. And it's the same with spiritually, isn't it? Sometimes a neglect of prayer, of the word, of fellowship. It tells us to do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

[4:13] Let rather the Holy Spirit do his work in your heart. Don't lose that burning conviction. That godly zeal, that glow of a God's spirit.

[4:24] Friends, you can stifle the fire. Or the opposite. You can stir up the fire. Stir up the fire. It reads in 1 Thessalonians of a quenching.

[4:38] And we're going to go to the context now of this verse. Quench not the spirit. The Holy Spirit, like a fire, can be snuffed out. Or we can burn more fully and intensely.

[4:50] In the context, Paul's talking about a few things. We're just going to touch on the context to set the scene for this verse today of quench not the spirit.

[5:03] And so 1 Thessalonians 5 from verse 11 through 24. It gives us a bit of a picture of ways that the Holy Spirit, his fire, the fire of God in us, can be stifled.

[5:14] It tells us here, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11 through 24. Or rather how we can stir up the fire. So there's positive and negative here in the sense of it.

[5:28] 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11, it says, it reads, So a good way to stir up the fire is edify one another.

[5:44] Encourage one another. That's what it's saying there. That's a good thing to do, to stir up the spirit. Comfort, encourage, edify. Verse 12, It's talking about knowing people that are laboring.

[6:11] It's talking about those that admonish. It's talking about esteeming. It's talking about the body. It's talking about peace. It's talking about godly fellowship. A way to stir up your faith is godly fellowship.

[6:22] Stir up your faith by being at peace among yourselves. Get together and be peaceful. Encourage one another. Edify one another. Listen to the word as it admonishes you.

[6:34] Godly fellowship will help you to stir up your faith. It reads on verse 14, Now I exhort your brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak.

[6:45] Be patient toward all men. Again, the context of godly fellowship, there's a needful discipline. A godly discipline. We need self-discipline. We need a corporate discipline where we want to be right with God and right with one another.

[6:59] We want to address sin and support and exercise grace. That's the context of the church. Exercising grace. We do that when we get together. Amen? We exercise grace.

[7:09] It's godly fellowship again. Verse 15, It reads on, So have that spirit of forgiveness, of love, that tenderness, of doing good.

[7:27] Verse 16, Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It's talking about worship. It's talking about being thankful.

[7:39] About prayer. We do that when we get together. That's how you stir up. You get together. You get together so you can rejoice. So you can worship. You worship when you're together. You pray together.

[7:51] You give thanks together. It's that spirit is stood up. It's encouraged. And then we have the verse, Quench not the spirit.

[8:02] Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. So be where the word is. The prophesying, we could think of the preaching, of hearing the word of God, of reading the word of God, of being admonished by the word of God, of ministering the word of God, of receiving the word of God, of exercising discernment.

[8:23] That's the stirring up of the spirit. That's the good stuff that we need. And verse 22, Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly.

[8:35] There's avoiding worldliness there. Every appearance of evil. And then it reads on, I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:48] Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it. He's talking about personal holiness. That's stirring up your faith. Personal holiness. That your whole spirit, soul and body be blameless.

[9:00] That God will sanctify you. Holy. That personal holiness, that walk with God. And then the exercising of your faith. God's faithful. He will do it.

[9:10] Believe him. So Paul directs Timothy in another place. I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God.

[9:21] Paul's talking directly to Timothy here. And as we saw, quench not the spirit, don't stifle the spirit. Paul's saying to Timothy, rather stir up. Stir up.

[9:32] Now, the sense of it here is kindle. Cause to burn. Let it catch a light. Fan it into flame. How is your love for God? Is it stirred up? Is it fanned into flame?

[9:44] Like a fire would be fanned as you would use some bellows to put air into a fire to make it catch fire. God wants us to fan into flame the gift.

[9:57] God's working within us. He wants that to catch a light. To catch a fire. So let me encourage you with some ways you could fan your faith into flame.

[10:12] How you can stir up. How you can rekindle. How you can stir up the spirit. The fire of God within you. As it were. God's working within you. Here's some thoughts about how you can stir up your faith.

[10:24] Will we go the extra? Give the extra. Love the more. Go above and beyond. Expectations. I know there's someone in my family and I just have to tell them about something and they jump in and do it.

[10:37] People that go above and beyond. They go the extra. They go above and beyond expectations. There's people here that go above and beyond expectations. Coming many kilometres to come and fellowship here and multiple times a week.

[10:53] That's stirring up. That's going above and beyond. That's going above. That's going the extra. Do we go beyond mere duty or obligation or do we go deeper?

[11:03] Do we go higher? Do we go further? Do we stir up our faith? Will we fire up our faith and be all aglow for God? Let his zeal consume you. Let it burn up the dross and all the vain things that would hinder your spiritual life.

[11:17] All the things that would take his place. God wants us to be on fire. Amen. He wants us to be fired up. Doesn't he? He wants us to stir it up, that gift. He wants us to stir up that faith.

[11:28] Stir up our zeal. God wants you to be ablaze. Ablaze. Vibrant. Consumed. Our God is a consuming fire. It reads.

[11:39] Hebrews 12, 29. So I urge you this morning, how can we, rather than quenching, rather than stifling the spirit, how can we rather stir up, set the spirit on fire, as it were.

[11:56] Pray for a deeper love for Christ. Pray for a personal revival. What are some ways we can stir up our faith? Assemble. That's the obvious one, where you can provoke one another to love and good works.

[12:10] You can't do that when you're not here. Assemble. It's important. Support your church. Be a supporter. Not just in word, but in deed.

[12:22] Pray. Study. Yield. Personal surrender. Grow in holiness. Abstain. As we heard before, abstain from worldliness.

[12:33] Repent. Crucify the flesh. Stand for Christ. Be a witness. There's so many ways, really, we could think, how can my faith be stronger?

[12:44] What can I do? God helping me. We read, it tells us, Ephesians 5, 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

[12:57] And it's got the sense of a continuous command, of a moment by moment, a filling and a refilling, of being filled. Be being filled. Will we settle for shallowness, or will we rather go deeper for God?

[13:11] Ezekiel 47, we see, the prophet had this vision, of going deeper, deeper, deeper, in the Spirit, as it were. A picture of, of a deepening of his spiritual life, and faith.

[13:24] And it's for us too. Do we just settle, dabbling the toes in the water? Bit like me, when I go down the beach, to go swimming, I just wet the toenails. The water's too cold.

[13:35] Or do we say, no, I'm going to go deeper. I'm going to have faith. I'm going to go deeper. We go ankle deep, and knee deep, and thigh deep, until we're right in the water. Amen? That's what God wants us to be like, spiritually, doesn't he?

[13:48] Or are we just dabbling the toes, in the water? Rather, don't go shallow, go deeper, for God. And may we know, the fullness of life in Christ.

[13:59] Paul prays for the Ephesians, he says, that you should know, the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled, with all the fullness of God.

[14:09] Ephesians 3, verse 19. Do we want the fullness, or we just settle for partial? When we think of fullness, I think of a glass overflowing, bubbling and flowing over.

[14:20] Now the word fulfilled here, has the idea of being dominated, by something. When you think of someone, filled with rage, that rage is dominating their life, isn't it?

[14:31] If you're filled with love, then love will dominate your life. If you're filled with joy, then joy will dominate your life. Shouldn't we rather, especially, be filled with all the fullness of God?

[14:44] He wants us to be. He doesn't want us to just have, a little bit. He wants to fill us, and overflow, flow out from us. And when you're filled with God, then God himself will have control.

[14:54] Control. Control. He'll dominate your life, and he's a great one to have, in that seat of authority, isn't he, over our life, because his control, is loving control.

[15:05] And the believer can know, a fullness of filling, and overflowing, bubbling up, and running out all over, and overflowing, and abounding. That's God's will, that we would be filled, with all the fullness of God.

[15:18] And you can know that believer. You can know that inner work, that inner work, that changes you, from the inside out, as you draw closer, to your Lord. We can know a fruitfulness too. There's a fullness, and there's a fruitfulness, that follows on.

[15:31] In contrast, with the unfruitful works, of darkness, Ephesians 5, 11, we can, chuck out the unfruitful works, of darkness, they're unfruitful, and rather have the fruitfulness, as we talked about, the fruit of the Spirit.

[15:44] God's desire, is that we be fruit bearing, abundant, fruitful, in every good work. That's stirring up, that's a good thing, isn't it? Don't you want that? That's stirring up, that good stuff, that God wants for us.

[15:57] He wants a fervency in us. Romans 12, 11, it talks about, not slothful, or lazy, not a laggard, in business, but rather the opposite, fervent, fervent, in spirit, serving the Lord.

[16:11] It speaks of a continuous action, a state, that is continuous. It's saying, maintain your zeal, to the boiling point. It's got a sense of zeal. Maintain that zeal. The word fervent is related to zeal.

[16:23] It's got a sense of maintaining the zeal, to the boiling point. And really the prayer here, the admonition here, is that we may know that, that fervency, that fervency.

[16:36] It's a good thing, to get fervent for God, to be a glow, glowing, with the Spirit, on fire for God, a burning zeal for God. As we know, it tells us of John the Baptist, he was a burning, and a shining light.

[16:52] The contrary, is, a lack of zeal, isn't it? A lack of zeal. Now, here's a happy man, in a hammock, it's a picture of that, of laid back, careless, easy breezy.

[17:06] God warns his people, against a lack of zeal. In Amos 6, 1, it says, woe to them, that are at ease, in Zion. Now, we've been looking at types, typology, on our Wednesday nights, in Zion, could be a picture, of the church, it's a picture of those, that are a kind of slack, at ease, laid back, just, not really engaged.

[17:31] We can be like, that, at ease, a lack of zeal. The Bible talks about, Ichabod, which was a great reproach, the glory had departed, out of Israel.

[17:42] The Ichabod, the glory had gone, the glory of God, was missing, it was lost. Friends, what about you and me? Have we got that, all consuming passion, for the Lord, to be a people, with no compromise, to be rather, a sold out, fired up people, with that sense of urgency, of the times we're living in, the desperate times.

[18:03] Let us stir up the embers, get the bellows out, and rekindle the flames, stir it up, the gift, the working of God, within you. God is sick, of the lukewarm church.

[18:16] Literally. There's a lot of pretend Christians, playing spiritual games. In the current world, we're living in, look, there's people that say, I identify, as a female, or I identify, as this or that.

[18:30] And friends, it's true, that some people say, I identify, identify, as a Christian. They identify, as a Christian, but they're not a real one. They're saying, yeah, I'm a Christian, blah, blah, blah, but they're not actually, a Christian.

[18:43] We can make that mistake. Oh, I go to church, that makes me a Christian. No. Wrong answer. No. You've got to be saved. You've got to know Christ, as your saviour, and Lord, you've got to trust him.

[18:54] You've got to believe, by faith, receive the gift, by grace, and know his saving, that Christ died for your sins, that you have trusted his work for you, on your part.

[19:05] You can identify, as a Christian, all you like, but you've got to be a real one. And some Christians, are really playing games with God. Church is just a kind of casual, take it or leave it. How is your spiritual temperature?

[19:18] Kindle, rekindle, stir it up, refire, set yourself on fire, pray God set you a light. It's interesting, again, talking about types, as we did Wednesday, of the types, the kind of symbols in the Bible, about all manner of things.

[19:34] And if you missed that, check out our YouTube channel. We've got an hour-long session, that talks right through, the last two Bible study nights, that talks about Bible typology. And one of the types, is the altar, the altar, in the tabernacle.

[19:48] And it reads, of the altar, in the tabernacle, Leviticus 6, 13, of the fire on the altar, it says, the fire shall ever be burning, upon the altar. It shall, never go out.

[20:00] God wants the fire to be burning, never to go out. He wants you to be fired up, and to keep on fired up, to keep on being fired up, keep on fueling that fire. I pray that we, the people of God, might know that firing up, that will keep on burning, burning brightly, ever brightly, that effervescence, that holy infection, that will be fired up, for God.

[20:23] Amen. Friends, there's no time, for playing games now. There never has been, really. We look back, in church history, there was one time, where the preacher, John Wesley, got worried.

[20:34] Now in the context, John Wesley, used to go out, on the streets, on the highways, and byways, they chucked him out, of so many churches, he just, he didn't have anywhere, else to go, but he preached in the fields, like Christ, would preach, in the open.

[20:48] And there was one time, that the preacher, John Wesley, got worried. He said, look, I've not had a brick, or egg thrown at me, for three days. And you know, this is what would happen, for the preacher, the ruffian mobs, that would throw things, that would hurl, rotten fruit at him, and whatever, they could catch, probably, horrific things, they would throw, you can imagine, whatever they could find, that was, demeaning, and shaming, they would throw at the preacher, literally throw it at him.

[21:17] And he said, I've had a brick, or egg thrown at me, for three whole days. He said, can it be that I've sinned, or I'm backslidden? He had the ruffians there, the mobs, and they sent people specifically, to hound him, to trouble him, even the established church, of the day, would send people out, deliberately, to attack him, even to try to kill him.

[21:38] And some ruffian, heard John Wesley say that, that he hadn't had an egg, or brick thrown at him, for three days. So he said, I'll fix that preacher, and say, after Wesley was struck, he got relieved.

[21:50] Oh, thank God, I'm alright, I still have his presence. Thank God, I'm alright, I still have his presence. Friends, what's it going to take, to stop us, a little bit of discouragement, some inconvenience, what's it going to take, to stop us, to snuff out, to stifle the fire?

[22:09] We must sense, the divine imperative, as Christ says, I must work, I must, I must, as an imperative, I must work, while it is day, do his work.

[22:23] This is not a time, for a cooling down, but a firing up, a ramping up, to fever heat. Let us blow the coals, catch them alive, and reignite, stimulate the fire, that soul-stirring, passionate faith, that we can know, a zealous, red-hot devotion, for Christ.

[22:41] Like the psalmist, in Psalm 84, who cried out, my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh, crieth out, for the living God.

[22:52] He had a zeal, he had an enthusiasm, he had a passion, and he was stirred, and we should be stirred, friends, stirred, stirred up, stirred up, to a greater intensification, to get thirsty, to get desperate, to seek after God.

[23:07] God wants his people ablaze, glowing, bursting into flame, and God helping us, we can be such a people. Pray that the Lord, will renew that, in us, in his church, that burning desire, that longing.

[23:22] Some seem only to settle, for a skin-deep religion. You apply the scalpel, and you see, it's just that, skin-deep. A surface, superficial, kind of Christianity.

[23:36] And we can be like that, as a church. I know, I can be like that. I need to be stirred up. I need to be set, more on fire. It seems like the church, at times, can be just going through, the motions.

[23:48] Where it's lost, it's cutting edge, where we've got this, materialism and apathy, that's overtaken us. May we get mad, at the devil today, and refuse the quenching, refuse the apathy, the indifference.

[24:02] Pray that God, would send, a fire within us, each one, an individual fire, within each believer, that will thaw out, we won't be frozen, that will seek after God, for a red-hot boiling heat.

[24:17] The Greeks came to Philip, and said, Sir, just one thing, we would see Jesus. That's the ultimate, we want to see Jesus. And that's the heart's cry, I trust for every believer here, to have that wholeheartedness.

[24:31] We want Jesus, we want to see him, we want to know him, to serve him, to love, to live for him, to be white-hot fanatics for him, and his kingdom. David cried out in Psalm 63, verse 8, he says, My soul followeth hard, after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me.

[24:53] David's prayer, his heart, his cry, was, my soul followeth hard, after thee. How eagerly are we following him? Are we eagerly, following, or, not?

[25:09] Quench not the spirit, brother, sister, quench not the spirit. When we are saved, his spirit draws us to Christ. He takes people, who are spiritually dead, and he makes us alive, living, gives us new life.

[25:22] He makes us spiritually alive, and it's an eternal thing. He, the spirit of the living God, does an eternal work, and an internal work, within us.

[25:33] The Bible calls the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, God's comforter, one called alongside, to help. As we read in John 14, the Lord Jesus says, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you, forever.

[25:51] The word comforter here, it means one called alongside, to help. Don't you like it, when you put a call out for help, and someone actually says, I'll help. That's what God's like, isn't it?

[26:04] Lord, I need some help. He sends his comforter, to come alongside, to help, to support, to strengthen, to help us. And we can find God's presence, even in the worst of times.

[26:15] You might be saying, Prince, look, I know I should be fired up, but you don't know what's happening, for me right now. You don't know what my life's like, right now. I'm on the edge here. Things are tough. I haven't got time, to scratch myself, and I'm running behind.

[26:29] I'm not keeping up, with my life, and the needs that I have. God's presence, comes to you, even in the worst of times. Even more so then. And you might say, look, I'm doing so much, of Christian things, but sometimes, we can get caught up too, in all the mechanics, of Christian service, and worship.

[26:52] Yet, our love for Christ, can grow cold. That can be a trap too. Even getting busy, doing church stuff, and we miss out, on that communion. That love for Christ, that can grow cold.

[27:03] That's a trap too. Our Lord asked the question, personally of Simon Peter, he says, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you really love me? Kept on putting it to him. And that's the heart, isn't it?

[27:14] Do we love him? Do we love Jesus? That's what matters. That's what counts. And when God does a work, it's something exciting, it's something blessed, it's something heavenly.

[27:25] To see God's working in lives, in each one of us, it's exciting. God does a holy, heavenly work, in each one, soul by soul, within the hearts of man, a heavenly work.

[27:36] And it's an exciting, eternal work. And he says, he will give us, another comforter. And it reads on, that he is even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

[27:54] Notice that. The world can't know the spirit of truth, but it says, ye know him, ye know him, he knows you, and you know him. That's relationship with God. There's a lot that's not true, but God is true, he's the spirit of truth.

[28:08] And there's a lot that's false, and counterfeit, but we can know him, we can know the truth, and the one who is truth. And he is someone, whom we can come to know personally, in a very close, and personal fellowship.

[28:20] So how can we make application today, of this challenge, quench not, the spirit. We talked about, all kinds of things, that could quench the spirit. I was thinking, maybe I could have drawn it, on a wall, or something, a display.

[28:35] The things that quench the spirit, and then the things that, fire up the spirit. We could think of all the things, how can we quench the spirit? Miss fellowship.

[28:47] Miss the word. Miss study. Miss prayer. Cool off. Cool down. Slack off. Pull back.

[28:59] Withdraw. Don't fellowship. And, yeah, all of that. Love, forgiveness, lacking, a heart that's grown cold, a lack of, love.

[29:12] And then on the other side, really it's the opposite, isn't it? To fire up the spirit, fellowship more. Study. Open your Bible. Yeah.

[29:23] Pray more. Witness more. Seek after God. All those things, that are the opposite. Yeah. Join the choir. Amen.

[29:33] If you can sing. No, there's all these things, isn't there? We quench not, or fire up. It's one or the other, isn't it? And I was thinking that the devil would try to hinder us in, in so many ways.

[29:45] And look, I'm conscious, I'm conscious some people do play sport. I'm not having a go here. But it's, it's a trap, isn't it? Sport on a Sunday. There's people not here because they're playing sport on a Sunday.

[30:00] I know there was one of our, a number of the kids were in sport. They tried to get them in a Saturday soccer team or a Saturday team. So they didn't miss fellowship because the devil would just love that. Look, there's nothing sinful or wicked about playing sport, but don't play it on a Sunday.

[30:15] If you can at all help it, God helping you, you know, try to find ways to, that's going to stop me from growing. It's going to stop me. I don't want that. I want to put God first.

[30:27] And friends, think about it for yourself today as we think about these things. And someone's pictured it like this, of three things that are involved in a decision for Christ. You know, three things that are involved in a decision for Christ.

[30:41] Up in your head, imagine there's three little men sat on a bench. One is named intellect, another emotion, and another one will. And intellect says, I know I'm a sinner.

[30:54] I recognize that I am in that condition before God. I'm sinful. I know it. I'm a sinner. The Bible says I'm a sinner. Yeah, that's what it says. That's what I am.

[31:06] Emotion says, oh, I'm sorry I'm a sinner. I don't like sinning against God. I know it's wrong. I know that it makes me feel bad every time I sin and my emotion tells me I shouldn't be doing it.

[31:19] And then will is in the middle of these two. The will. Will there and he's sitting in the middle and he takes intellect by one arm and emotion with the other and he says, come on fellows, let's do something about it.

[31:33] Let's do something about it. Now you might think intellectually, yeah, I agree with you preacher. I know there's a bit of crunching been going on in my life and there's not a lot of firing up been happening.

[31:44] I know that's true. I believe it. Yeah, it's true. I agree with you. Intellectually, yeah, I know. Emotionally, yeah, I know. It makes me feel bad. I know I'm not where God wants me to be.

[31:56] I know that I'm not in the place. I'm not in the will of God. I know emotionally it makes me feel lousy that I'm hurting God. And then the will says, okay, emotion and intellect come, let's do something about it.

[32:10] Let's take some action. I'm going to use my willpower to say, yeah, I'm going to take a step of faith. I'm going to make a change. I'm going to determine. I'm going to actually take action.

[32:22] I suppose this is true of every sermon. There's that wrestling match in your mind, isn't there? Every time God prompts you to do something, you can agree intellectually with what the preacher says, with what you've heard.

[32:34] You can agree you need to take action. Emotionally, you can get moved to take action, but it needs more. It needs the willpower. It says, I'm going to take action. I'm going to make it happen.

[32:45] I'm going to take my will and make action happen. Have you been quenching the spirit? So, what will you do about it? God is forever and God is for you.

[32:56] God's spirit performs an operation in every heart, person by person. His indwelling Holy Spirit fills us, floods us. He comes and lives within us. When we get saved, God's spirit witnesses with our spirit.

[33:09] That we're a child of God. He's active and he's working. He's helping. He's guiding. He's comforting. He's leading. Yet not in contradiction to his word. Now, I want to share something with you personal today.

[33:25] I found that one of the worst things that I can do that I have found in my life is to disappoint my wife.

[33:35] Really, it is. Really, one of the primary things in my life is to honour and bless and please my wife because I absolutely love her and want to be a blessing to her.

[33:52] And when I disappoint my wife, it's one of the most horrible things that I ever go through that I have to handle in my life is to disappoint my wife. The fact is we don't want to disappoint the one we love.

[34:06] Do we? It makes us feel lousy. We know we shouldn't do it. Now, the Bible talks about grieving the Holy Spirit. We can grieve the Holy Spirit.

[34:18] Ephesians 4 verse 13. In other words, we can hurt God. Think of that. We can hurt him. And God may look upon us with disappointment. The one who we should love first and foremost can be hurt by us.

[34:34] That's a gripping thought, isn't it? The Bible says we can grieve the Holy Spirit. We'll take just a minute or two to go through the context of that reference in Ephesians 4.

[34:46] He can be grieved. We can hurt God. The one we should love the most can be bitterly disappointed and hurt by us. And Ephesians 4 tells us how to avoid that.

[34:57] Ephesians 4 from verse 22. There's a few verses here just to set the context for that verse that says, Grieve not the Holy Spirit. So Paul exhorts the Ephesians this way.

[35:08] Ephesians 4.22 talks about putting off the conversation, the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man.

[35:22] That's salvation really, isn't it? Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, the new man. It says, Wherefore put away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

[35:35] Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands that thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.

[35:49] Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. And grieve not, it says, grieve not, it says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

[36:06] Thank God we're sealed unto the day of redemption. In other words, once you're saved, you're sealed, you're safe, but you still can hurt God. You can still grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

[36:17] Don't be there, brother, sister. Don't be there. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. It says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, sound of heart, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

[36:37] So there's really a whole lot of practical stuff right here that we could unpack in these verses and I'll put to you maybe take a read of them more closely after this.

[36:48] There's practical stuff here how we could not grieve the Holy Spirit. If we fail to do so, these things, we will grieve the Holy Spirit.

[36:59] We can. We don't want to do that. The one you love, you don't want to disappoint. The one you love, you don't want to disappoint God. It says we can grieve the Holy Spirit to think that something that we do, our action or inaction, can hurt God.

[37:14] That's a telling thought, isn't it? We don't want to do that. Take the measures to rather please the Holy Spirit. Rather than disappoint, please. Rather than stifle, stir up.

[37:26] Rather than quench, fire up. Take measures now. This practical point is here on how you can avoid disappointing God with your life.

[37:39] In the context, just a quick touching on the key things. Stare away from deceitful lust. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Know that righteousness and holiness in your life.

[37:51] Speak truth. Manage your anger without sin. Don't give place to the devil. Labor so you can give. Be generous. Don't use corrupt language. Edify people.

[38:02] Build them up. Be loving. Be kind. Be tenderhearted. Be forgiving. All practical points really, aren't they? It's about human relationships. It's about that love in action, isn't it?

[38:12] And friends, he wants to work in you in each one, every believer, bringing conviction, bringing gifts and ministries, leading us, making us holy. He wants to take all the spiritual deadness away.

[38:25] We can have no revival if we are stopping God working in our hearts, if we keep grieving the Holy Spirit. God wants us to be a spiritual people, men and women.

[38:38] And he's got that role to empower and enable us as we read. He'll guide us into all truth. Friends, the Holy Spirit works within us. The Holy Spirit is alive and well and he's living in you and me that trust him.

[38:53] Will we let God do his work? Will we be filled with the Spirit or will we be a squelcher quenching the Spirit? Will we fire up our faith or will we dampen it?

[39:06] It's a choice for each one. And you know, sometimes the Holy Spirit prods us. Ouch! Oh! Oh! Don't want to hear that.

[39:17] Preachers hit a nerve. Ow! You might go home today feeling a bit punched up. I hope not. But spiritually you might feel, yeah, that was right.

[39:28] He's right on. That's true. I want to be like Will and say, yeah, emotion, intellect, let's do something about it. Amen. There's a time where Charles Darwin was asked, you know, of course Charles Darwin, the hero of the evolutionists, he was asked this question, is there any way in which man differs from animals?

[39:51] And Charles Darwin thought to himself, you know, because of course as the modern greenies do, we're all animals, we're just another creature. You're just as significant as the ant that you step on when you go out the door there.

[40:03] But no, we are different from other animals. Even Charles Darwin said, yes, yes, he thought about it and he said, man is the only creature that blushes.

[40:14] That's an interesting thought, isn't it? The only creature that blushes. And when Mark Twain heard Darwin say that, he said, yes, and man is the only creature with reason to blush.

[40:25] The reason is sin. Sin. It's sin. It's conviction. The Holy Spirit's been sent to reprove, to convict, to convict the world of sin. If God's hit a nerve of something today, there's a quenching going on, there's a firing up, that's not happening.

[40:46] Maybe it's the Holy Spirit. He's come to reprove the world of sin. To tell us about righteousness, of judgment. Judgment's coming. There was a time where a man consulted a doctor and he said, oh look doctor, I've been misbehaving lately and my conscience is troubling me.

[41:08] The doctor said, and you want something that will strengthen your willpower? The man said, well no, I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience. It's true, isn't it?

[41:20] When God convicts us, when we have something that's taken, yeah, that's my conscience, oh, is there a way of taking that conscience away that I can still do the wrong and still, honestly, it's the old man, isn't it?

[41:35] It's the flesh, isn't it? And someone like that when the Holy Spirit stirs us, they don't want conviction going, don't convict me, don't convict me Holy Spirit. They just want their conscience to go back to sleep so they can ignore what God has challenged them with.

[41:51] What we sow, we will reap. Friends, really, the most important point is make sure you are saved.

[42:04] Make sure you're saved. I'm preaching to Christians here. You might say, look, I kind of, I can take some benefit of what you're saying, but I'm not saved. I'm not a Christian. I know I'm not going to heaven.

[42:17] To miss heaven is to miss everything. To miss Christ and his salvation is to miss everything. Make sure you're saved. And it's simple. It's simple to trust and believe.

[42:28] There was one time there was a young lady going home from a church program and she went to ask her mum if they, on the way home, they could stop off at the library.

[42:40] And she explained, mum asked, why do you want to go to the library? And the girl said, well, the teacher this morning told me there's only one way to heaven and the only way is that we've got to get our name written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

[42:55] I just wanted to make sure that my name is in there. Now, you can go to the local library and the Lamb's Book of Life isn't in the library, but it's in heaven.

[43:06] It's in heaven. The Bible says your name can be written in the Book of Life. As you put your trust in Christ, effectively, it says your name is written down. As you trust Christ, your name is written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.

[43:20] And one day when judgment does come, he's going to check the book and see if your name is there. Friends, make sure you're saved. Trust Christ. And it's simply by believing Christ died for your sins.

[43:31] Trust him. Know him. Trust his work. His saving grace. His precious blood that it was done for you. And trust that. Believe him. And make sure you quench not the spirit, but rather stir up your faith.

[43:46] Friends, be unheartened today. I pray this has been an encouragement. This has been a lifting up. That you stop quenching if you have been and start firing up your faith. Start getting fresher and more revitalised with your faith.

[43:59] A reflaming, a refiring of your faith. That that faith, sometimes we might believe as a younger person and then the faith gets a bit cold. The Bible talks about your love growing cold.

[44:09] Sometimes I think our faith can get cold. Fire it up, people. Fire it up today. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit does a work in every heart. Lord, you convict the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgement.

[44:23] We see that your word tells us that we can quench your Holy Spirit. We can grieve you. We can hurt you. Lord, your very heart, you, the one that we should love the most, we can disappoint you.

[44:35] Lord, forgive us. Help us. Help us, Lord, we pray, that we might trust you for our salvation and grow in that faith, that it grows stronger and stronger, brighter and brighter, burning more fully every day, that our faith will be like that fire upon the altar that never goes out.

[44:53] Lord, that fire that will consume, that will fill us into our spiritual life, that will be stronger for our faith.

[45:03] Lord, help us to recognise where we've crunched your Holy Spirit and make changes, Lord. Help us to exercise our willpower that we will do something with this message, Lord, that you'll help us to as you give us the grace to and your Holy Spirit enables us to that we'll take some action that our faith can grow stronger and burn brighter, Lord, for your glory and praise because we know it's not of us.

[45:29] We know we can do nothing of ourselves. We can do nothing. It's only as we allow you to work that you can do that work in us. Lord, we thank you. Help, take us out the way, Lord, so that you can do that work within us as it were.

[45:44] Lord, we can do nothing without you. We must have your Spirit do the work within us and Lord, help us to be that people that will be so moved, we pray.

[45:56]  In Jesus' precious name, Amen.