November 1, 2006

Quenching the Spirit

Near the close of Paul’s first epistle to Thessalonica, he gave several brief exhortations. One of these was the instruction, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). What does it mean to “quench the Spirit”? The Greek word that is translated quench means to extinguish, or put out. This makes us think of extinguishing a fire. The word of God is compared to a fire elsewhere as Jeremiah described it as “a burning fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:9).

We should also remember that the gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). To “quench the Spirit” is to remove the power from the gospel. After all, the revealed word is the product of the Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; John 15:26-27). The gospel is designed to convert the lost and edify the saved. Quenching the Spirit prevents these things and, ultimately, will cause us to forfeit our salvation. So we should look at how we are to preach so as not to quench the Spirit. How do we “quench the Spirit”?
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January 1, 2006

What Shall We Do?

Shortly after Jesus had ascended back into heaven, the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem. Being the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), a Jewish feast day, there were many Jews from different regions who had come to Jerusalem (Acts 2:5, 9-11). It is at this time that Peter delivered what we often refer to as the first gospel sermon. In a sense, the gospel had been preached before. It was preached in promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). When Jesus began His public teaching, He taught the “gospel of God” (Mark 1:15). But this was the first time the gospel was preached in its fullness. The gospel was the good news of salvation from God made available by Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead which gave us hope of eternal life. Before, this was said to be coming. By the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, it was a reality. This was the first time the gospel was preached since all these things were fulfilled.
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August 1, 2005

Great Plainness of Speech

2 Corinthians 3:12

“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech” (2 Corinthians 3:12, KJV).

Paul told the Corinthians that he deliberately made his words and his message clear and understandable in his work as a minister of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6). The new covenant Paul referred to is the gospel. He used “great plainness” as he preached. Why use such plainness? It is because of the hope we have under the new covenant. Those who obey the gospel have the hope of heaven because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. But why is “great plainness” necessary in preaching the gospel? Let us notice a few reasons.
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