Paul ended his letter to the Thessalonian Christians with 20 important instructions. The commands we’ll look at today are MAINLY about our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  

Paul begins: Do NOT quench the Spirit!  Or do not extinguish the Spirit.  Or do not put out the Spirit’s fire. We are to give the Holy Spirit full liberty to accomplish His work in our midst. 

Paul goes on to apply this command to a specific gift of the Spirit, prophecy. But we should not quench ANYTHING the Spirit does. This command deals with the ATTITUDE of our heart towards the Spirit.  It deal with our RECEPTIVITY, our EAGERNESS for the Spirit, and our HUMILITY before the Spirit. Who are we to quench the Spirit of God!! 

The word quench means to put out, or suppress, or stifle. It’s generally used in connection with fire.  Ephesians 6:16 The shield of faith is “able to quench all the flaming missiles of the evil one”. (same word) Hebrews 11:34 talks about those who “by faith quenched the power of fire”. 

Everyone knows what it means to put out a fire.  Paul said, “Don’t do that with the Holy Spirit!”.  The right attitude toward the Spirit, AND the gifts of the Spirit, is expressed by Paul to Timothy.  “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” RATHER than put out the Spirit’s fire, fan it into flame.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is God and He HIMSELF cannot be extinguished. But we can quench the Spirit’s expression, in ourselves, or in others, by discouraging HIS GIFTS, which is the application Paul makes here. 

The command (do not quench the Spirit) ASSUMES the lively and present working of the Spirit. You cannot put out a fire that’s not burning.  You can’t suppress someone who isn’t seeking to express himself.  It assumes that the Spirit is saying or doing something that a believer, OR a church family can squelch. Much quenching of the Spirit comes from unbelief that the Spirit IS a living, active, Person who expresses Himself in the body of Christ. 

The very thought that we would suppress something the Spirit of God wants to do or say, should cause us to fear and tremble. The right response to this command is “God forbid that I would quench the Spirit.  May it NEVER be!” I think most all of us would say we do not want to stand in the way of the Spirit. But we can EASILY do that, if we are MORE concerned about looking respectable, or feeling comfortable, THAN we are about the Holy Spirits freedom of expression in the church.  

EM Bounds said, “We may hinder the Spirit by so filling the atmosphere (of the church) with stiffness, criticism and an air of respectability and rigidness that the Holy Spirit gently withdraws from the unfriendly scene, and refuses to thrust His messages upon our unwilling hearts.”  If our past church tradition has NOT given the SAME place to the working of the Spirit that the scriptures do, we can easily suppress the Spirit, to fit the mold of our own past experience. 

The command “do not quench the Spirit” applies to ALL the works of Spirit.  It would apply to quenching his joy, or His word, or any of His gifts.  We can quench the Spirit during worship. But here Paul points to a specific WAY the Spirit can be quenched that he is concerned about. 

*Verse 20 “Do not despise prophecies” or prophetic messages.  Do not regard them with contempt. Do not look down on people speaking out what the Holy Spirit has prompted them to say.  This is followed up with instruction to examine everything carefully. And that’s important, and we’ll get to that. But Paul LEADS with urging us to NOT quench the Spirit BY despising prophecies. 

JBP “Do not despise what is spoken in the name of the Lord”

JFB “Do not throw cold water on those who (speak), under extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit.”   

In Greek culture the word prophecy simply means “to speak”.  The word prophet just meant “spokesman”. In Titus 1:12 Paul called a man from Crete “a prophet” who merely spoke out about how Cretans are generally lazy and are liars. 

The NT concept of prophecy means to say something under the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is speaking God’s will, His thoughts, His heart, into a situation. It is making His truth known to others as the Holy Spirit brings it to mind.  It is called a manifestation of the Spirit in 1 Cor. 12. In Acts 21 Agabus, who Luke calls a prophet, told Paul that suffering and chains awaited him in Jerusalem.  Agabus spoke the words but he attributed them to the Holy Spirit. 

Prophecy is called a revelation of the Holy Spirit in 1 Cor. 14. Paul said, let 2 or 3 prophets speak but if a REVELATION is made to another sitting there, let the first keep silent or let the other talk.”  The prophecy comes as a revelation.  The word in means to show or uncover, or bring to light.  The Holy Spirit “shows” you something that would benefit others and you say it.  And you take turns! 

I see this happening in our small groups, sometimes in praying for one another, I think it happens during preaching, and at times we have had people share a word to the church that they felt the Lord had given them.  As we are filled up with the Spirit, more and more we will have God’s thoughts and words to speak to one another.

There is something supernaturally natural about this gift.  It’s not changing your voice or going into a trance!  Paul said it’s a message spoken with our mind, that makes sense and is understandable.  This is why Paul says to use it in church with other believers. And yet prophecy can be quite stunning too.  Paul said a person can hear these messages and feel so deeply impressed with God’s presence, that they say, “God is certainly among you!”  

Prophecy DOES include foretelling something that will happen, but in 1 Corinthians 14, it seems to be more about words that build up the church. Verse 3 “everyone who prophesies, speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” Verse 31 “you can all prophecy so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.”  

1 Cor. 12:7 helps us understand this gift. “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  Manifestation meaning to show, or reveal. Then Paul lists some of the ways the Holy Spirit “manifests” through various believers. It’s never just you!  It’s you and the Holy Spirit and He wants to “show” Himself through you. 

“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”  Prophecy is one of the manifestations of the Spirit. 

The gift of prophecy is also mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Romans. 12:6 “We all have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him or her use it in proportion to his faith”.  Here it is called a grace, or an enablement to speak, given to us by God. 

Paul said in 1 Cor. 14:1 “Earnestly pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” I’ve heard it said that the correct approach to the gifts is not merely to be “open but cautious”, but “eager and wise”.  God seldom does things when we are just open to it.  We are to eagerly desire this.

*Where do we see prophecy in the NT? In Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, Peter said prophecy was going to be a reality for believers in this age. Verse17 “God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy. I will pour out My Spirit in those days and they will prophecy.”  

Then we see that happening in believers in the church. Acts 21 Luke and Paul entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.”  1 Corinthians 11 speaks of men and women praying and prophesying.”

A word of prophecy was instrumental for the start of Timothy’s ministry. 1 Timothy 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.”   Wayne Grudem said, “A prophecy apparently gave knowledge of a future type of ministry, or knowledge of abilities that Timothy or others may not have recognized.” I experienced that! Others have too.

*The Holy Spirit revealed something to the church at Antioch that helped start Paul’s first preaching tour. “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers and while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”   Almost certainly that word from the Spirit came through a prophecy during their worship and fasting.  

*We see it in a church gathering in 1 Corinthians 14:31 “For you can all prophecy, so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.” 

*We see it in a personal messages to another believer, when Agabus predicted that Paul would be bound at Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles. Acts 21  

-Alright, let’s come back to Paul’s specific warning to us here.  “Do not despise prophecies.”  Apparently some believers at Thessalonica, looked down on this expression of the Spirit.  And Paul commands them not to do that.

Wayne Grudem said, “If we are to see the gift of prophecy functioning in our churches today, we must first believe that it is possible that God would give us such revelations from time to time, and second we must allow ourselves to be receptive to such influences from the Holy Spirit, especially at times of prayer and worship.”   

ONE of the reasons some despise this gift is from seeing it misused. In 2011 Harold Camping predicted Christ would return at 6pm on May 21, 2011, then September 21, 2011.   People hear things like that, and they write off this gift altogether. But ALL gifts of the Spirit CAN be abused, teachers can teach something false. Pastors can become abusive.  Evangelists can use their gift for greed. But when gifts are misused, Paul doesn’t forbid them, instead he corrects and gives guidelines for their proper use.

*Okay that is one side of this. But Paul has something ELSE to say about this gift.  Do not despise prophecies, but TEST everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from what is evil. IE Weigh the words that are spoken and keep what is good and keep away from what is evil. 

The NT gift of prophecy is NOT an infallible word.  NT prophecies, like NT teaching and preaching, are NOT on the level of scripture.  And so prophecies are to be tested. Paul urges us to earnestly desire this gift, and use it in the church, in 1 Cor. 14. But he also said, “let the others weigh what was said.”  ESV 

RT Kendal said he encourages Christians NOT to say, God told me this, or “thus says the Lord”.  BECAUSE it is the job of OTHERS to evaluate.  They are supposed to do that!  It’s probably better to say I believer the Lord has led me to say this.  Or I sense that that Lord has brought this to mind.  Or just say what the Lord gives you!! You don’t have to build it up in anyway! To some degree my calling was confirmed by someone looking me in eye and saying three words, “Able to teach”. They meant it as a word from the Lord, and it impacted me that way.  No build up was necessary!

Paul said we are to test EVERYTHING! Don’ accept ANYTHING without discernment,  Does this line up with the Word of God?  Does the Spirit bear witness that this is good?  John said as God’s children, you have an anointing that teaches you about all things.  If something troubles you, you don’t have to go along with it.   

Then “hold fast to what is good”.  When you hear a good word that encourages, strengthens, builds you up, hold fast to that. Years ago I felt I had the leading of the Lord on planting a new church, but I also had times of self-doubt. During that time I heard someone who knew NOTHING about me or my thoughts, say, “Don’t doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light”.  And that was a good word, it lines up with scripture and I held fast to that.   

Often what is good, is a scripture verse that is just so timely, or applies so perfectly to a situation someone is going through.  During the Welsh revivals, a stranger came to Evan Roberts door and desperately wanted to meet with him. Evan could not come down, but he sent a message “If my mother and father forsake me the Lord will take me up.” Psalm 27:10

Unknown to Evan, that man at the door had just been turned out of his home and this timely word ended up being more powerful and comforting than if he had personally met with Evan Roberts.  He left rejoicing knowing that God knew his situation! (told by RT Kendall)

Verse 22 “Abstain from every form of evil. This applies to EVERYTHING in life!! But it goes with urging us to examine prophecies.  As good as prophecy can be, it can be used for evil. I’ve seen people use the gift of prophecies to hurt, or attack, and destroy others.  I went through an experience at DMFC where someone used this gift to undermine the church elders gave a word that we were all contaminated.  It was used for an evil purpose.

*Some here this morning, no doubt, need this first command most, “do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophetic messages.” If that tendency needs to change in your heart, then let that happen here this morning.  

*Some, no doubt need to hear the follow up command, “test everything”.  You may be swallowing or following spoken messages that claim to be of the Spirit, without wisdom or discernment.  If that tendency needs to change in your heart, let that happen here this morning.

May the Holy Spirit Himself apply His own words, here to each of us as He knows we need it. Amen.  

Pray: Father may we be a church that does NOT quench the Spirit.