"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies" - 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20
Ok, let's take a poll. Who wants to have the following in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Wow! Everybody, huh?
Well, here's a simple Biblical connection. If you want all the above goodies of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in your life, then it's important, even critical, to want to hear God's Word in your life, even the parts of God's Word that are not so simple or easy to hear, which are stereotypically known as prophecy. That's the connection that's made in today's verses: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies." (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20)
Here's another little tidbit. All "prophet" literally means is "one who stands and speaks before the people." So a word of prophecy is "a word that is spoken before the people." In other words, if you want the Spirit to work all the love-joy-peace-etal goodies in your life, then you cannot despise people who are willing to stand up and speak God's word to you, like preachers, yes, but also non-pastors who are Bible study leaders and co-workers who talk about Jesus, etc.
In all humility, please believe me. Many of you ask me why I do this Day of Praise thing. It's not because I love to write. I actually hate writing. I do this because I find, as God promises, that every time that I listen to somebody who has prepared to eagerly give me God's Word like a radio preacher or my associate (Pastor Scott Hawkins) or a lay preacher (like Neal Schmidt in my church) or a guest preacher (like Walter Volz from Food for the Poor) or a Bible class leader (like Chuck or Lynn Stevens), then I feel a love-joy-peace-patience-etal that passes all understanding.
Just like God promises. God's Word and Spirit stuff are inextricably connected.
And I want that stuff. A lot! And I want other people to have it too. A lot! Especially, my kids. And people, who have become dear to me. Like all of you.
If we want good Spirit things for our loved ones, we tell them or put them in a position to hear God's Word. If we want good Spirit things for ourselves, we listen to God's Word.
How do I know? Because that's what God's good word says.
"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies." - 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20
Praise God!
(For an archive of "Day of Praise", please visit my daughter Calley's website at http://dayofpraisepc.blogspot.com/?m=1)
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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