DON'T PUT OUT THE SPIRIT'S FIRE
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
"And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly: And I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." (1 Thes. 5:19-24)
This great scripture teaches us how our Lord views our whole person.We are sanctified wholly, totally and completely; spirit, soul and body. It is God's will to preserve us until He returns! St. Paul prayed that God would preserve us without blame (forgiven) and healthy (healed) in body and mind!
QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT!
Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the great Apostle issued a strong directive to the church. He warned: "Don't try to control the blessed Holy Spirit. Do not offend Him by curtailing or impeding His course of action. Don't treat the Holy Spirit as your servant!
In this passage of scripture the literal Greek says, "Do not put out the Spirit's Fire. Do not extinguish the Spirit's flame." The actions of ignorant, lukewarm, clergy and nominal Christians is very offensive to Almighy God. It is a deliberate affront to our Lord Jesus Christ!
An uninspired pastor interfering with the moving of the Holy Spirit in a church, is tantamont to a seasoned woodsman building a fire in a log cabin, only to have some inexperienced person shutting off the airflow by closing the damper!
Upon returning to the cabin, the woodsman would find it filled with smoke or the fire gone out. It is no wonder that God warns us through St. Paul that we must not, "extinguish or put out the Spirit's flame."
In my study of the Holy Bible, I have discovered that while each member of the Triune God is co-eternal and co-equal in all respects, yet the Blessed Holy Spirit has been given a special place by the Father and the Son. As has each member of the Godhead!
THE TRIUNE GOD IS A MYSTERY!
How could anyone in this world hope to understand God? We cannot and will never understand God. Does a dog, or even a horse understand a human being? How then can we expect to understand the Creator of all things, the universe and ourselves included?
John Wesley was asked, "Can a man understand God?" He answered, "Can a worm understand a man?"
The Bible is God's revelation to man. Here He reveals Himself, His attributes, His mind, His will and His purpose for the Church. The awesome, loving and perfect relationship experiencind by Jesus Christ the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit, is an example for us, His undeserving servants, to emulate!
JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY SAVIOUR!
Jesus Christ is the World's ONLY Saviour, because of His substitutionary, vicarious Death for the sins of the whole world, and His glorius Resurrection from the dead! His Name is the only 'Saving Name'!
St. Peter stated: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand before you whole.
"Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be SAVED." (Acts 4: 10-12
When a crippled man was healed by Jesus Christ through the faith of Peter and John at the gate of the temple, the crowds were dumbfounded. Peter spoke to them, saying: "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
"The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when He was determined to let Him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
"And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And His NAME through faith in His NAME hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." (Acts 3: 12-16)
Almighty God has declared it! Jesus met the Righteous Demands of Divine Justice in the Court of Heaven, by shedding His vicarious, all-atoning and effecacious BLOOD for us!
The Bible says: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the ONLY begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, 14)
"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins." (Heb.9:22); "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sins." (1 John 1:7)
St. Peter stated: "Forasmuch as ye know that that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation recieved by tradition from your fathers; But with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
"Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God...Being Born Again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away: But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." (1 Peter 1: 18-25)
GOD SENT HIS ANGEL GABRIEL!
"But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is concevied in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
"Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:"And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called His name JESUS." (Matt. 1: 20-25)
St. Paul declares: "Who (Jesus) being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the Death of the Cross.
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every other name, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2: 5-11)
GOD CALLS HIS SON, LORD & GOD!
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Is. 9: 6). God the Father calls His Son Jesus Christ, Lord and God, the Almighty, the Everlasting Father:
"Again when He bringeth the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh angels spirits, and His minister a flame of fire.
"But unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the scepter of Thy Kingdom... And Thou, Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. (Heb. 1:1-11). Jesus said: "I and My Father are One." (John 10: 30)
St. Paul declared: "But to us there is but ONE God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him." (1 Cor, 8:6)
His name in Hebrew is Yeshua......The Salvation of God, Saviour!
Every time we use the name of Jesus we say, "God saves", because that is what His name means. The word sozo in Greek means, 'to save, heal, make well, deliver'. His Name literally means, "The Salvation of God".
What does does the salavtion of God entail? Forgiveness of sins, healing from sickness and disease, peace for the mind and a clear conscience!That is why the Scripture says, "The prayer of faith shall save (sozo) the sick!
Therefore, when we speak His Name, we are saying: God saves, God heals, and God delivers! No wonder, we love to use His Name in prayer, praise to God and in deliverance from sickness, disease and demons!
In His Great Commission, Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.
"And these Signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents (Paul in Malta); and if the drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; They shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:15-18)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus Christ stated: "But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:26)
"But ye shall receive POWER after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttrermodst part of the esrth." (Acts 1:8)
The BIBLE says: "But this Man (Jesus), because He continueth EVER, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is ABLE also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
"For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled. separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens... For this He did ONCE when He offered up Himself." (Heb. 7:24-28).
"This is the SUM: We have an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens." (Heb. 8: 1). He declares: "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquitues will I remember no more." (Heb. 8:12)
JESUS IS OUR SAVIOUR & OUR INTERCESSOR!
Jesus is presently seated at the Right Hand of His Father in Heaven! "For Chtrist is not entered into the Holy places made with hands, which are the figures log the true: But into Heaven itself NOW to appear in the presence of God for us.
"And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, BOLDNESS to enter into the Holiest by the BLOOD of Jesus by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.
"let us draw Near with a TRUE heart in full assiutrance of FAITH, having our hearts sprinkled from an Evil Conscience, and our bodies washed with pure wayter. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: For faithful is He that promised." (Heb. 10: 19-22). Amen.
Max Solbrekken World Mission Box 44220 RPO Garside Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6; Email: [email protected]; comehometojesus.ca; Youtube; FaceBook. Donations can be made by e-Transfer. Make donation to [email protected]. God bless you.
