0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the Bible radio
0:09 featuring best-selling author and
0:11 internationally known Bible teacher
0:14 Warren where's being father help us to
0:17 examine our lives to rearrange our
0:19 priorities help us to live for the
0:22 things that really count remind us that
0:25 life is short and we want to make the
0:28 boat most of it and so I pray that you
0:31 will help us in our study of the Word of
0:35 God today for Jesus sake and in his name amen
0:37 amen
0:41 how easy it is for us as Christians and
0:43 for local churches to forget the
0:46 priorities of the Christian life it's so
0:49 easy to get off on detours and we're
0:52 busy and we have a full schedule and the
0:54 church bulletin looks like the timetable
0:58 from O'Hare field and then we wonder why
1:00 God isn't blessing here we are busy and
1:02 going here and going there and yet
1:05 nothing really seems to be happening why
1:08 well I think there are times that we
1:10 just forget the things that really count
1:12 the highest privilege that we have as
1:14 Christians is the privilege of
1:18 worshiping God this is the activity of
1:20 heaven today when you read Revelation
1:24 chapters 4 and 5 you are introduced to
1:27 the throne room of heaven and there the
1:30 angels and the spirits of just men made
1:34 perfect our worshipping and praising the Lord
1:35 Lord
1:38 some people are bored by worship I don't
1:40 know what they're going to do throughout
1:41 all eternity when they get to glory
1:44 because one of our chief occupations in
1:46 heaven is going to be to worship and
1:50 praise God the highest privilege we have
1:53 is that of worshiping and praising God
1:55 now everything else in the Christian
1:59 life flows out of worship oh I know
2:01 we've substituted everything else for
2:04 worship and we're limping along our
2:06 Christian walk flows out of worship if
2:09 we aren't rightly related to God in
2:11 worship we're gonna have a hard time
2:14 walking with him and walking for him our
2:17 witnessing comes from worship Isaiah the
2:18 prophet was call
2:21 when he was at a worship service he saw
2:25 the Lord High and lifted up our work our
2:28 warfare all that's involved in the
2:31 Christian life flows out of our worship
2:34 of God now this is not only private
2:37 worship but public worship I'm a little
2:39 bit disturbed by the way people are
2:43 neglecting the public worship of God dr.
2:45 Tozer used to say it's so difficult to
2:48 get the Saints to go to any meeting
2:51 where God is the only attraction and
2:54 somehow sports and other kinds of
2:57 entertainment are so important on Sunday
3:01 reruns of old movies that we don't have
3:04 time to go to the house of God and shame
3:09 on us because God warns us the day is
3:11 approaching and we better be ready when
3:13 the Lord Jesus comes forsake not the
3:15 assembling of yourselves together
3:18 because the day is approaching that
3:20 means we assemble together it means that
3:22 we know each other we greet each other
3:25 we encourage each other we show love to
3:29 each other oh how we need one another in
3:31 the polishing up of our lives I have
3:35 been so encouraged by other people and
3:38 been helped in my own Christian walk we
3:40 need worship the public worship of God
3:42 he just told them don't quench the
3:46 spirit don't despise prophecies test all
3:49 things hold fast what is good he says to
3:51 them get in there and worship the Lord
3:54 with the people of God and you will grow
3:59 in your sanctification too often in our
4:01 public worship there's no power there's
4:04 no joy it's just a routine on the other
4:07 hand some public worship is so
4:10 disorderly that what you wonder if God
4:12 really is at work because God is not the
4:16 author of confusion when the Holy Spirit
4:18 of God is at work in a local church then
4:23 worship is what it ought to be this is
4:24 the problem they had in Thessalonica
4:27 when you read 1st Thessalonians chapter
4:31 5 verses 19 through 21 you get an
4:32 insight into someone
4:34 problems they faced in their public
4:37 worship services do not quench the
4:42 spirit do not despise prophecies test
4:47 all things hold fast what is good now it
4:49 doesn't take any imagination to figure
4:51 out what was going on there were people
4:53 in the church who had gone to extremes
4:56 some were so wrapped up in the second
4:57 coming of the Lord they were getting all
5:00 kinds of prophecies concerning his
5:02 coming some thought that they were
5:04 already in the day of tribulation the
5:06 day of the Lord some were worried about
5:09 the Christian dad what's going to happen
5:12 to them and so you have two extremes in
5:14 the thessalonians shirts you have those
5:16 who were very act to this stick and
5:18 perhaps emotional and they were
5:21 expressing their ecstatic joy and there
5:23 were others who were more conservative
5:26 and more cautious and they were saying
5:29 now calm down calm down quite frankly I
5:32 agree with Bishop handily mole the great
5:36 British Bible scholar who said that he
5:38 would much rather tone down a fanatic
5:42 than resurrect a corpse I would much
5:44 rather that a worship service show some
5:47 life and some joy and some spirit and
5:49 some praise you can always calm that
5:51 down a little bit but I tell you I have
5:53 preached in some services where I
5:56 thought I was in a mausoleum here where
5:58 all of these corpses propped up staring
6:00 at me Billy Sunday said that there are
6:03 some services where you could skate down
6:06 the center aisle on ice skates and take
6:08 up the offering that's how cold it was
6:12 we don't want to either extreme do we we
6:14 don't want the extreme of fanaticism nor
6:17 do we want the extreme of stoicism where
6:20 nobody moves and nobody says anything
6:24 prim and proper and business as usual
6:27 well we can't improve our public worship
6:29 of God if we'll just heed Paul's
6:33 admonitions here he's negative do not
6:35 quench the spirit do not despise
6:38 prophecies I want to make them positive
6:41 and give to us some basic rules for
6:45 public worship number one be open to the
6:45 holy s--t
6:49 spirit do not quench the spirit number
6:53 to receive God's message to you do not
6:57 pour contempt upon do not make light of
7:01 do not despise prophecies number three
7:05 test what you hear test all things and
7:08 number four hold on to the truth and
7:12 obey it hold fast what is good you can
7:17 see here a gradation in experience the
7:19 worst experience of all is quenching the
7:22 Holy Spirit but here's somebody who
7:24 doesn't want to quench the spirit but he
7:27 despises the word then the - of course
7:29 go together because the Holy Spirit uses
7:33 the word Paul tells us now you hear the
7:35 Word of God and you be open to the Holy
7:38 Spirit but you test all things and then
7:41 you hold fast that which is good
7:45 verse 19 do not quench the spirit here's
7:47 our first little rule for improving our
7:49 public worship be open to the Holy
7:53 Spirit of God now the Holy Spirit here
7:56 is compared to fire do not quench the
7:58 spirit it's a picture here somebody
8:00 putting out the fire in the Old
8:05 Testament Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 4
8:08 the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of
8:12 judgment and the spirit of burning the
8:15 Spirit of God is compared to fire
8:17 of course we remember Acts chapter 2 and
8:21 verse 3 when the tongues of fire were
8:23 over the heads of the believers on the
8:27 day of Pentecost now the Holy Spirit is
8:29 compared to fire because fire speaks of
8:32 purity and holiness the Holy Spirit is
8:36 the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit of God
8:39 fire speaks of purity it speaks of
8:41 judgment when the Holy Spirit of God is
8:44 at work there is a judging that is going on
8:45 on
8:49 there's also power and energy when you
8:51 take fire that fire can generate power
8:55 and energy fire has a way of testing
8:59 things fire has a way of giving light and
8:59 and
9:02 warmth oh how we need that some churches
9:05 have a lot of lights from their Bible
9:08 study but not much warmth from the Holy
9:10 Spirit of God and the two really ought
9:14 to go together the temperature of our
9:17 worship service is sometimes too low I
9:20 think God looks at our churches today
9:23 too often and says to us what he said to
9:26 the church at Laodicea I know your works
9:29 that you are neither cold nor hot I
9:33 could wish you were cold or hot so then
9:36 because you are lukewarm and neither
9:41 cold nor hot I will spew you out of my
9:45 mouth that's rather a vivid description
9:47 of judgment now here's a church
9:51 described in Revelation 3 verses 15 and
9:53 16 here's a church that thought it was
9:56 rich and wealthy and needed nothing I
9:59 had buildings and staff and crowds and
10:02 budgets and who knows what else and God
10:04 said to them you don't realize that you
10:06 are wretched and miserable and poor and
10:09 blind and naked now the Holy Spirit of
10:12 God wants to take a cold church and melt
10:15 those cold hearts and get the the
10:18 streams of the water of blessing flowing
10:21 he wants to take that lukewarm church
10:24 and get it going the way it ought to go
10:27 lukewarmness is really worse than being
10:28 cold or hot because when you're lukewarm
10:30 you're complacent you're comfortable if
10:33 you're hot you know God's power is upon
10:35 you I'm talking in spiritual terms of
10:38 course if you're cold you know you need
10:41 something now the Holy Spirit of God is
10:44 compared to fire there are only three
10:46 basic temperatures in the Christian life
10:50 cold hot or lukewarm many of the Saints
10:52 are cold when it comes to the worship of
10:54 God now here's the fire of the Holy
10:57 Spirit if fire is not kept under control
11:00 it can destroy sometimes the Holy Spirit
11:03 begins a work in a church and people
11:06 just let it become wildfire they don't
11:09 keep it under the control of the Lord
11:11 Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit is
11:13 given to glory
11:17 by christ be open to the holy spirit
11:20 don't resist his ministry and don't
11:24 neglect your own spiritual walk it's
11:26 interesting what paul had to write to
11:30 Timothy about the fire in his life turn
11:34 to first Timothy chapter 4 verse 14 do
11:38 not neglect the gift that is in you you
11:41 can put a fire out by neglect just leave
11:46 it alone in 2nd Timothy he continues
11:49 talking about this matter of of judgment
11:52 and the Holy Spirit 2nd Timothy chapter
11:56 1 verse 6 therefore I remind you to stir
12:00 up the gift of God which is in you now
12:03 that words stir up is an interesting
12:05 word because it carries with it the idea
12:10 of stirring and renewing a fire getting
12:14 a fire putting new life into a fire now
12:17 you and I have an altar in our hearts so
12:20 to speak and sometimes the ashes get
12:22 pretty heavy every morning early in the
12:24 morning the high priest would get up and
12:27 he'd go down to the altar or one of the
12:29 priests would go down to the altar and
12:31 take off the ashes from yesterday's
12:34 sacrifices get the fire going and put a
12:37 fresh burnt offering on the altar I need
12:40 to do that every day and my guess is
12:42 that you need to do that every day be
12:46 open to the Holy Spirit of God don't be
12:48 afraid of the Holy Spirit
12:52 I get the impression there had been some
12:55 division in the Thessalonians
12:57 perhaps it had to do with their public
13:00 worship services Paul had to admonish
13:03 them do not quench the spirit do not
13:06 despise prophecies in other words there
13:09 were some in the church who were very
13:11 careful about the excesses well we
13:13 should be we should be careful there are
13:16 no excesses we should be balanced in our
13:20 worship but we can be so careful and so
13:23 rigid and so mechanical that we quench
13:26 the Holy Spirit and we resist the work
13:29 of the Lord when I go to the house of
13:32 God I go to worship the Lord and I want
13:34 to hear God's voice I want to hear God
13:36 speak to me I want God to say far more
13:39 to me than the preacher says in fact
13:42 when I preach I ask God to say far more
13:46 to people than what I say to them you
13:48 see what we get in church is pretty well
13:52 determined by what we bring with us the
13:54 Thessalonians had a marvelous
13:56 relationship to the Word of God they had
13:58 received the Word of God in much
14:00 affliction and joy of the Holy Spirit
14:03 they appreciated God's Word Paul said I
14:05 thank the Lord that you don't receive
14:07 the word of God like the word of man
14:10 chapter 2 verse 13 you receive it as it
14:13 really is in truth the Word of God they
14:16 were sharing the Word of God by the way
14:20 we are commanded in Scripture to read
14:23 the Word of God publicly first Timothy
14:27 chapter 4 verse 13 better mark this
14:31 verse first Timothy 4:13 till I come
14:34 give attention to reading to exhortation
14:37 to doctrine that word reading means not
14:39 just the private reading of books and
14:41 the Word of God but the public reading
14:43 of the word of God then having read the
14:46 Word of God use it for exhortation and
14:48 for doctrine in the previous verses Paul
14:50 said to rejoice always pray without
14:53 ceasing and everything give thanks you
14:54 come to church with that attitude you're
14:57 going to have a wonderful time do not
14:59 quench the spirit do not despise
15:02 prophecies in other words the Spirit of God
15:03 God
15:06 uses the Word of God
15:10 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5 for
15:13 our gospel did not come to you in word
15:15 only but also in power and in the Holy
15:20 Spirit the Spirit uses the word verse 6
15:22 you became followers of us and of the
15:25 Lord having received the word in much
15:27 affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit
15:31 the Spirit uses the word chapter 4 verse
15:36 8 therefore he who rejects this does not
15:39 reject man but God who has given us His
15:42 Holy Spirit rejects what the word that
15:45 he's given to them about being pure and
15:49 abstaining from sexual immorality so the
15:52 Spirit of God uses the word of God now
15:54 in the New Testament church they did not
15:58 have a complete Bible such as we do but
16:00 there were those who had the gift of
16:02 prophecy and when the Assembly came
16:05 together the Spirit of God would speak
16:07 to these prophets and they would get up
16:09 and give the message however that
16:12 message had to be tested
16:16 we had to heed the admonition that Paul
16:20 gave to prove all things 1st Corinthians
16:24 chapter 14 describes one of these
16:27 worship services verse 26 whenever you
16:30 come together each of you as a psalm has
16:32 a teaching as a tongue as a revelation
16:35 has an interpretation they all
16:37 participated they didn't just sit and
16:39 look let all things be done for
16:43 edification he goes on to talk about how
16:46 to handle tongues and how to handle the
16:49 prophets verse 29 let two or three
16:52 prophets speak and let the others judge
16:54 in other words there has to be a
16:56 discernment somebody gets up in church
16:59 and says God has told me this how do you
17:02 know might have been a demon might have
17:05 been the fact that he had too much pizza
17:07 the night before how do we know we have
17:10 to discern through the Word of God to
17:13 the law and to the testimony if they
17:15 speak not according to this
17:18 word it is because there is no light in
17:22 them Isaiah 8:20 and so we must receive
17:25 God's message but exercise discernment
17:28 the Spirit of God gives us the wisdom
17:31 that we need now there is a gift of
17:34 discernment in the church a discerning
17:36 of spirits but the Holy Spirit of God
17:39 can give to each of us the discernment
17:42 we need in testing the message of the
17:44 Word of God people say well the Holy
17:46 Spirit told me to do this well what did
17:50 the Word of God have to say thirdly test
17:52 what you hear we've talked about that
17:55 now be open to the spirit receive God's
17:58 message and then test what you hear the
18:01 devil is a counterfeit err in 2nd
18:05 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul warns them
18:07 about the counterfeiting work of the
18:10 devil now brethren concerning the coming
18:12 of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
18:15 gathering together to him we ask you not
18:19 to be soon shaken in mind or troubled
18:24 either by spirit or by word or by letter
18:27 as if from us as though the day of the
18:30 Lord had come now the Thessalonians was
18:33 being troubled because somebody got up
18:35 in a meeting and said the Holy Spirit
18:38 told me were in the tribulation or
18:41 somebody else got a word or somebody
18:43 else said here's a letter that Paul
18:46 wrote it was a counterfeit letter now
18:49 God wants us to test what we hear that's
18:53 why he warns us in 1st John chapter 4
18:58 beloved do not believe every spirit
19:01 every preacher you hear on the radio or
19:04 television but test the spirits whether
19:06 they are of God because many false
19:10 prophets have gone out into the world
19:13 and of course test number one is the
19:15 person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
19:19 test number two does what the person
19:23 says square with the Word of God so we
19:26 must be very careful to test what we
19:28 hear we should be like those Bereans and
19:33 chapter 17 verse 11 who received the
19:36 word with all readiness and searched the
19:39 Scriptures daily to find out whether
19:42 these things were so now do you do that
19:45 you should test what is taught and we
19:48 should do it daily to find out what God
19:51 is saying finally rule number four hold
19:56 on to the truth and obey it this is the
19:59 word of the Lord to us test all things
20:02 hold fast what is good you're going to
20:03 hear some things that are not good
20:05 you're going to hear some things that
20:08 are not true just reject them but hold
20:11 fast that which is good
20:14 this word hold fast is the same word
20:17 used in Luke 8:15 when he talks about
20:20 the heart in the parable of the sower
20:24 the heart that produces the good fruit
20:26 this is the person who has an honest and
20:30 a good heart and he holds on to the Word
20:31 of God
20:34 this means accept the message treasure
20:39 the message value it obey it guard it
20:42 just get a hold of the Word of God and
20:46 don't let it slip from you let every man
20:49 be swift to hear and slow to speak and
20:53 slow to get angry now I think if you and
20:57 I would spend all week rejoicing praying
21:00 and giving thanks as Paul says in verses
21:04 16 17 and 18 and then come to God's
21:07 house and be open to the Holy Spirit
21:10 receive the Word of God test what we
21:15 hear and hold fast and obey what we hear
21:18 it could revolutionize our lives and
21:22 transform our worship services oh how
21:24 important it is that you and I have a
21:28 satisfying growing experience of worship
21:29 with God
21:32 because God wants us then to step out
21:35 into a needy world and share the Lord
21:40 Jesus Christ with lost people father
21:42 thank you for this letter that Paul
21:44 thank you for the Holy Spirit who
21:47 inspired this letter and now I pray as
21:50 we have studied it and reviewed it help
21:53 us to practice it help us to live in the
21:56 future tense to spend our money in our
21:57 time and our energy and to live our
22:00 lives in the light of the coming of
22:04 Jesus Christ before I pray this in his
22:11 we're glad you joined us today if you
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22:21 thanks for being a part of our back to
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22:24 wonderful to have you with us each day
22:27 so be sure to come back again for more
22:29 wisdom from God's Word back to the Bible
22:32 leading you forward in your relationship
22:34 with Jesus Christ you
