WWUTT 1780 Q&A New Facebook Page, Quenching the Spirit, Pharmakeia

Hey, we've got a new Facebook page up. Be listening for the details about that. What does it mean to quench the spirit?

And what is pharmakia in the Bible? The answers to these questions and others, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our

Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Who is not in studio with me, sickness has struck the

Hughes household once again. And thus far, it has claimed three kids and my wife.

Hopefully it doesn't get to me because it has been, this one is particularly nasty. This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching at Providence Church in Marshall, Texas.

What a great congregation. Enjoyed that immensely. Thank you all so much for your hospitality.

And to Pastor Jason, who's presently in India, asked me to preach in his absence.

It was my privilege to do so. We had planned on going to church together as a family.

We were all going to head to Marshall, which is an hour from where we live, but we were going to do that together. We woke up, let's see, my alarm went off about 6 .15

that morning, something like that. And as soon as Becky and I woke up, the one year old who was in bed with us, he was in was just acting miserable the night before.

So we let him sleep in the bed with us. He woke up and got sick. And immediately we knew we're not all going to church this morning.

My oldest two went with me. So Annie and Zeej went with me when I go, when I went to, to preach in Marshall.

But then a couple of other kids have gotten it since then. And Becky really was a mess last night.

So she was not able to to do this podcast with me and and pray for health.

We would appreciate it. We don't want any more of this nastiness. Who does, though? Right. Yeah. I mean, nobody's looking forward to a stomach bug.

What I really need right now is a good stomach. Nobody's thinking that maybe if they have a really bad day at work, they really want to avoid maybe they'd rather have a stomach bug.

I don't know. Anyway, this particular podcast, I wish he was on with me for this one, because this is the last episode that is going to post to the old

Facebook page. That page that you've heard from, you've heard about from us for the last several months.

We've said that we can't access the page. The guy that started the page for me, he can't get into it anymore either.

We don't know why Facebook is not going to answer our questions. I don't know if they locked us out.

I don't know anything that's going on there. We had to start a brand new page. If we were going to have any sort of Facebook presence at all, if I was going to be able to update with videos and all this, because I couldn't add any more videos, then

I have to start a new page. I have. The link is going to be in the description to this podcast.

Eventually, I'm going to change the name of the page to Facebook .com slash when we understand the text.

It's not letting me do that right now, maybe because it's brand new and I have to be on there for a little while before they will let me change the name.

Maybe I have to have a certain number of followers. I don't know what it is, but eventually that will be the address.

In the meantime, the link to the Facebook page is in the description to this podcast.

Switch over to that one. Like and follow us on Facebook because the one where this podcast has been, it's, it's been auto posting.

So I can't get into the Facebook page, but the way that we had the page set up, anytime I did a podcast episode, it would automatically post to that page.

Well, this episode's the last one. So you're hearing it now, September 30th, last episode posted to that page.

If anybody else tries to go to that page, they'll see this podcast posted announcing that Facebook is now a new location for when we understand the text.

I hate that I have to do this. I hate that I have to start all over again because we've had that Facebook page for eight years.

The person that started it for me began the page in 2014, which was when I was doing my first videos and, uh, and we've amassed 15, 16 ,000 followers or something like that on that page ever since then,

I have to start over from scratch. Now a lot of those people granted like the 15, 16 ,000, a lot of them may not even be on Facebook anymore.

So, you know, that was eight years accumulating that number of followers and we probably don't even have that many people paying attention to the page anymore, but we're starting brand new.

We're having to start from scratch. Maybe eight years from now we'll have 15 ,000 followers again, God willing.

But that's just to let you know to switch over to that new Facebook page. Follow us there.

We'll be able to update that one with more content than just the auto post of the podcast today being

Friday. We take questions from the listeners and you can submit those questions to when we understand the text at gmail .com.

I'm trying also to say thank you to those who give donations to the ministry. So I want to thank

Christine. Thank you so much for the gift that you sent. I think just yesterday was when we got it and also to Scott.

And here was the message that I got from Scott, dear Pastor Gabe, your ministry podcast has blessed me so much.

I continued to grow in Christ. Please use this, the gift that he sent towards either the building of a, of a nice sound absorbing studio.

Yeah. Which I'm trying to do at home right now for your podcast or a large wagon wheel pizza.

What a great idea. I don't know where in Texas I can go for a wagon wheel pizza here in East Texas.

Is there somewhere I can get just a massive pizza? I'll have to look that up with the gift that Scott sent.

And I'm sure I can get a pizza and then have the money left over to go into the studio as well.

Scott, you've been a blessing to my family and I as well for several years now. And I so appreciate you listening and just the encouraging notes that you have sent.

You didn't have to send this gift, but we receive it from you. And thank you so much for your generosity.

If anyone would like to donate to the ministry, you can go to www .utt .com.

There's the give link right there on the top right corner in the menu options, and it'll tell you how you can give online.

You would donate through PayPal. If you want to send a gift in the mail, you're actually sending it to the church where I work and, and just saying attention to pastor

Gabe, and it'll get to me that way. But I thank you so much for listening, for letting others know about this podcast.

I know that's really all we ask of you. If you would just let somebody else know about the ministry, sharing videos, sharing a podcast episode or whatever else, our commitment is just simply to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And as long as I am able, the videos and the podcast will always be free. God willing.

A special hello to my friends, Dave and Vicki down in Florida and your family. If they're listening as well to Adam and Amy, I praise the

Lord that he preserved you in the midst of this storm. But there are many others who have been devastated by this severe weather.

You've probably seen the videos in some places, entire towns have been wiped out. So be in prayer for the disaster relief that is getting into the state.

And I pray for those Christian ministries that are there not only providing food, clothing, shelter, cleanup needs, and things like that, but they're also sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and may the gospel be proclaimed in the midst of this devastation.

God uses things like this storm, such as this to draw people to himself. In Psalm 107, beginning in verse 23, we read those who go down to the sea and ships who do business on many waters.

They have seen the works of Yahweh and his wondrous deeds in the deep. He spoke and set up a stormy wind, which raised up the waves of the sea.

They went up to the heavens. They went down to the depths. Their soul melted away in the calamity.

They staggered and swayed like a drunken man, and all their wisdom was swallowed up.

Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses.

He caused the storm to stand still so that its waves were hushed.

Then they were glad because they were quiet, so he led them to their desired haven.

Let them give thanks to Yahweh for his loving kindness and for his wondrous deeds to the sons of men.

Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him at the seat of the elders.

May the gospel be proclaimed even in the midst of this devastation, and may people be brought to Christ, seeing that only in Jesus can we be saved from the effects of sin that we are witnessing in this world and the sin that is in our lives, that we may be forgiven and have fellowship with God and the promise of eternal life with him.

Where there will be no more devastation like this, there won't be crazy storms and death and tears will be wiped away.

We will live with our glorious, gracious Savior forever.

Now let's get to some of our questions here. This first one comes from Ethan, and he says, thank you so much for the ministry.

It has been a blessing for me in my life. I have a question that I was wondering about. What exactly does it mean to quench the spirit?

And Ethan has a reference for his question. In 1 Thessalonians 5 .19, which is a short verse, it just very simply says, do not quench the spirit.

What does that mean? What does it mean to quench the Holy Spirit? Well, the word quench, it can mean to satisfy a thirst, like you quench your thirst.

But in this particular context, it means to put out a fire. So don't put out the fire of the

Holy Spirit. Well, that sounds kind of charismatic. So what does that mean exactly?

Well, it doesn't mean that you can stop the work of the Holy Spirit. You can't. The work of the

Holy Spirit is by his will. We cannot stop what the spirit is going to do.

Who can stop God? And the Holy Spirit is God. So what the Holy Spirit is going to do, he's going to do.

Therefore, what does it mean to quench the spirit? It rather means to stifle or hinder the effects of the spirit.

So as Paul is addressing a church, 1 Thessalonians 5, and these are his closing instructions to the church in Thessalonica, he says, starting back in verse 16, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is

God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies.

But examine all things, hold fast to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.

So you have this quick -fire list of instructions in there, and right in the middle is do not quench the spirit.

So we might understand this as Paul saying, quenching the spirit would be not rejoicing always.

It would be to cease praying. It would be to not give thanks to God.

It would be to despise the prophecies, not examining all things, and not holding fast to that which is good.

All of those things would be quenching the spirit. It would be stifling the effects of the work that the spirit is doing among Christians and within the church.

So if we're not praying, we're quenching the Holy Spirit. If we are not growing in love with one another, encouraging each other, if we're fighting and we're squabbling, then we're quenching the spirit.

In Ephesians 4 .30, the Apostle Paul said, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

That instruction there is really the same as the one in 1 Thessalonians 5. Might be a different word, but it's the same thing.

Don't grieve the Holy Spirit, same as saying don't quench the Holy Spirit. Let me start in verse 29 there and read that in context.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed so that it will give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be put away from you along with all malice.

Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.

Same sort of a set up there in Ephesians 4. We have this list of instructions that all have to do with the same thing.

It's building one another up with our words rather than tearing one another down. And in the middle, do not grieve the

Holy Spirit. So grieving the Holy Spirit in this case would be to fight and quarrel and argue with each other, to slander one another, to harbor grudges.

Then the work of the Spirit is not growing in that body. We are not progressing in sanctification because we're clinging to passions of our flesh rather than producing the work of the

Spirit. When I first became the lead teaching pastor, which would have been 10 years ago now.

So I was an associate pastor from 2010 to 2012. The senior pastor moved away to do a church plant, and then

I moved into that spot after him. And then I taught in the lead pastor position for eight years.

Now I'm an associate pastor again, working with Tom Buckett at First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas. Anyway, when

I first became that lead teaching pastor, there were some great people in the church that were asking what they could do to help me.

You've got a lot on your plate. Is there anything that you could designate to us that we could do to help?

And I really struggled to find things to give them to do because a lot of what I needed to do were simply pastoral responsibilities.

I couldn't give that to somebody else. It just had to be done. There was work and other things in the church going on, and people were filling in those spots nicely.

But those things that I had to do pastorally, I just had to do them. So there was one sermon that I was doing.

I think it was in First Timothy at the time. And I said, a lot of you have been asking me, what can

I do to help? Is there something that I can help take something off of your plate or make your job as the lead teaching pastor now a little bit easier on you?

And I said, I've given this a lot of thought and prayer, and here's what you can do to help me. Love one another.

Consider one another's needs ahead of your own. Continue in prayer and the pursuit of holiness, reading

God's word and doing what it says. If you're doing those things, you will be doing more to help me than if I were to give you any specific task to do or role to fill here in the church.

Because if there are people who are sinning, if they're squabbling with one another, if there's bitterness and infighting and grudges, or they hear the sermon and then they go home and they behave in the world completely different than their attitude on Sunday morning, they live like heathens for six days in the week and only pretend to be

Christians on Sunday. If that was what people were doing in the church, they would be quenching the Holy Spirit.

And any work that I'm trying to do as the pastor is not going to be accomplished because this people that I'm supposed to be growing in the word of God are not growing if they're living according to their flesh and not according to the spirit.

It was this sort of a thing that Paul was confronting in the church in Corinth in First Corinthians.

Now, he doesn't say in First Corinthians anything as explicit as, hey, you're quenching the Holy Spirit. But that's certainly what he has to rebuke them for and name specifically, you know, these superficial things that the church is going after that's keeping them divided from one another, even though they've had the gospel as long as they've had it, as long as that church had been around, which had just been a few years.

But Paul was with them for a year and a half. Yet they were not growing in the spirit.

Paul says, we've got we've got the gospel. We have spiritual truths to pass on to a spiritual people in First Corinthians three one.

He says, but I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as fleshly men, as infants in Christ.

Because they were not living according to the spirit of God, they were living according to their flesh, so the gospel was still there.

They were certainly Christians, but they just weren't growing and maturing in the Lord. They were quenching the spirit, going after things in their flesh rather than living according to the spirit of God.

Now, you know the fruit of the spirit, right? The fruit of the spirit, according to Galatians 5, 22 and 23, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control against such things.

There is no law. If you're doing those things, you're growing in the spirit. If you're doing what's contrary to those things, you're quenching the spirit, the works of the flesh.

Paul mentions those earlier beginning in verse 19. Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which

I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, that list is not even necessarily just quenching the Holy Spirit. It could be revealing that you're not even a

Christian at all. But in the in the body of Christ, we must grow in those things that God has instructed us to do that Jesus even modeled for us prayer, understanding the scriptures, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to God, encouraging one another, building one another up in this body of faith that we have been called into through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All of these things are living according to the spirit. But when we act according to our flesh, when we're fighting and squabbling, when we're not praying, when we're not growing in those things that we should be doing as Christians, then we're quenching the work of the spirit.

The spirit is still there, but the work that he would be doing in us is not having its effect since we're going after the things of our flesh rather than the things of God.

Now, I have just mentioned to you this list out of Galatians five, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit that actually ties into the next question that I have here.

So this one comes from Cynthia and she says, Pastor Gabe, could you please do a teaching on pharmakia?

It's so relevant, especially now, and most Christians I speak with have no understanding of it.

Please keep your what videos coming as they are so well made and truthful. Thank you so much. And I pray God blesses you and your family mightily.

Thank you so much, Cynthia. Right now, you can pray for health that this flu bug will will no longer ravage our household.

OK, pharmakia, what is she referring to there? Let me play a video for you. This is a video that I did that doesn't explicitly mention pharmakia, but I'm going to say

I'm going to tell you where it comes in here once I get to the end. This was the video that I did on smoking pot.

Is it OK to smoke marijuana or is that a sin? Listen to the video. Is smoking marijuana a sin?

Well, it used to be that you could say, yes, because it's illegal and that would be that. But now that marijuana is legal medicinally and recreationally, is it still sin?

Yes. First Corinthians 612, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Often marijuana is compared to drinking alcohol or caffeine, but they are not the same. You can drink a glass of wine and not get drunk or have a cup of coffee and still operate heavy machinery.

But if you take one puff on a joint or a bite of Aunt Mary Jane's special brownies, you get high. The whole point of marijuana is to alter the consciousness, which diminishes your thinking and functioning.

While God does not put an absolute prohibition on drinking alcohol, it is always sin to be intoxicated.

Drunkenness, whether by the vine or the weed, is not of the spirit, but of the flesh. Those who do it will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But marijuana is a plant and it was made by God, so that makes it good for us. Yeah, there are plenty of poisonous plants you don't apply that logic to.

Adam and Eve ate of a forbidden plant. How did that turn out for them? First Peter 4 says to no longer live for human passions, but for the will of God.

Unbelievers live in sensuality, passions, intoxication and lawless idolatry. They are surprised when you don't join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you.

But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. The Bible says be sober minded and have the mind of Christ.

Your mind should not be mastered by anything else when we understand the text. All right, so in that video, there is a it comes up on the screen, a list of references where it says that it's wrong to be intoxicated, like there's not a prohibition on drinking alcohol, but it's always a sin to be drunk or to be intoxicated.

And one of those references that pops up on the screen is Galatians 5, 21 drunkenness, which is a work of the flesh rather than fruit of the spirit.

Now, in that reference that that is given. So it's Galatians 5, 19 to 21, where it's the deeds of the flesh, the one in verse 20 that's sorcery.

That's the word that we have translated in English from the Greek word pharmakia.

And so that's the question that Cynthia is asking about here in the in the question that she submitted to the program.

What is pharmakia? Well, the word appears only twice in the New Testament, Galatians 5, 20.

And again, in the book of Revelation, both times it's translated sorcery or in some translations, witchcraft.

Now, what English word do we have? That sounds like the equivalent of pharmakia pharmacy, right?

Where you go to pick up your drugs or your prescription meds. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with prescription medication, but pharmakia, as it was applied in scripture or as the

Greeks used, it was in reference to medicine or drugs that would be used in spells or enchantments.

A person would take these hallucinogenic drugs and believe they were having these spiritual experiences, and in a certain sense, they were and communicating with the dead or seeing spirits walking around that they would not be able to see in a sober state.

There are plenty of drugs that are used today recreationally that cause that effect of a person getting high or hallucinating or things like that.

We don't necessarily think of them as having a religious experience, but that is definitely what is happening.

They are turning their minds over to a force or a power that they have no control over.

They're no longer in control of their minds. You can certainly say that it's physiological, but it's also satanic.

And you will find in any of the harsh recreational drugs that get used in the

Western world, people that you've known who have been drug users, anything like this, any of those harsh drugs that you hear about, they've been used in some sort of religious ceremony.

There have been spiritists out there who have used those drugs to try to enhance whatever spiritual experience that they claim that you can have.

One of those that I've read about recently is a drug called ayahuasca. You may have heard about this very popular in South America.

In fact, people from the United States will go down to South America so that they can go to one of these ayahuasca places and have this what's basically an acid trip.

I mean, it's crazy some of the stuff that they will describe seeing and experiencing and they put their body through.

It has a very violent reaction on the body in a lot of people who take it.

And it's just stunning to me that anybody even wants to do that to themselves. But that's anyway, that's the drug ayahuasca, not legal in the

United States. But you can travel to another country and have this this whacked out trip that is pretty much the equivalent of being demon possessed.

And when a person gives their mind over to things like that, it is not of God. The scripture is clear about this, that any kind of substance that we give ourselves to that masters us or when we give ourselves over to intoxication, we're not filled with the spirit, we're filled with the things of the flesh.

The Apostle Paul made that contrast in Ephesians chapter five, where he said in verse 18, do not get drunk with wine for that is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit.

You could apply any kind of drug use to that. Anything that would cause your mind to be intoxicated by the use of that drug would be to do something demonic rather than doing something of the spirit of God.

Now, you may have seen some of these videos that pop up on social media occasionally where somebody like drives down a street in Philadelphia, for example, and they just have their camera looking out the window and they're passing by people who are just hunched over like they're zombies.

They're they're hunched over and just standing and swaying in the middle of the street. Dozens and dozens of people, probably hundreds of people as a person just drives down the street, seeing these folks that are that are some of them lying on the ground looking like they're dead corpses.

They're all strung out high on drugs. It's usually heroin. It's the effects of heroin that you're witnessing in those videos.

These people are, in a certain sense, they're demon possessed. They have given themselves over to the work of Satan.

And we're seeing this happen massively in the United States. It is escalating.

I just heard a news report earlier this week that said that the Biden administration is about to declare fentanyl.

A weapon of mass destruction. Because fentanyl is killing tens of thousands of people, and it is one of the most smuggled in drugs into the

United States right now coming in through Mexico. It comes from China, which they get into Mexico because there's there's less regulations in Mexico on the kind of drugs that get into the country.

And then those that are crossing the border from Mexico in the United into the United States illegally are bringing thousands and thousands of pounds of this drug into the

United States. It is such a powerful drug that just a tiny, tiny amount could kill a person.

There was a story earlier this month here in the state of Texas of a student that accidentally overdosed on fentanyl and died right now in the

United States. There are over 100000 deaths as a result of drug overdose using opioids.

I think that is the first time or sorry, I think it was twenty twenty one.

If memory serves in twenty twenty one, that number topped one hundred thousand for the very first time.

Drug use is on the rise, but we cannot let ourselves be mastered by these things.

We have got to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ and the work of his spirit in us.

When Paul makes that contrast there, don't be filled with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the spirit being filled with wine.

That's a that's a temporary pleasure or taking any of these drugs, something temporary. Although you do it enough, it causes permanent damage.

But all those things have a temporary effect. The spirit of God is eternal. The work of the

Holy Spirit leading to eternal life. We must be filled with Christ.

How are we going to rescue this dying culture, killing themselves either quickly or slowly with these fleshly passions and pleasures that they subject themselves to?

How do we rescue them from this this demonic work? By giving them the gospel, share the gospel of Jesus Christ, only the power of God through faith in Jesus will transform a person from death to life, from the walking dead to walking in new life with Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me and the life

I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus Christ died for our sins. He shed his blood on the cross for us. He declared it is finished.

The work of atonement of of giving himself in our place for our sins, absorbing the wrath of God through his death.

That work was accomplished by Christ on the cross. He rose again from the dead. Conquering death itself, he ascended into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of God, the father, and he is returning again to judge the living and the dead.

All who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life. We have got to take the message of the gospel to the world and the world has to recognize their sin.

You have to show them how they've rebelled against God and are deserving of his judgment, because if they don't see that, then they're not going to see

Christ as savior in order to know they need a savior. They have to know that they've rebelled against God.

So we go to those who are wicked and dying, persisting in sin, and may the spirit of God do his work in their hearts that their eyes may be open.

They recognize that they have rebelled against the God who created them and that they would repent and come to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Let's be bold about the gospel. People are dying, some faster than others. We've got to be diligent to go with the gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world.

Amen. Thank you to everybody who submitted questions this week. If you've got any other questions or comments you would like to give to the program, send them to when we understand the text at gmail dot com.

I appreciate your prayers. Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the goodness that you have shown us in Jesus Christ.

Every single one of us at some point we were walking around in our own immorality and idolatry, our own addictions, the passions of our flesh.

We were we were worshiping things that were not of God. Our hearts and our passions, our devotions were given over to things that would have been to our destruction if we had continued in those things.

But you had mercy on us and somebody proclaimed to us the gospel that we would recognize our sin and need for a savior turning from the passions of our flesh and being filled with the spirit of God that we may walk in newness of life, no longer in the passions of our flesh that we once entertained, but now as a new creature, a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come.

So teach us to walk in love, in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.

If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with the spirit.

Let us not be envying one another, challenging one another, divisions between the brothers and sisters in the

Lord. These things, as we've read about today, quench the spirit. May we be filled with the spirit and walk according to the grace that you have given to us.

We show grace to one another. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

Give us courage and boldness to share your gospel in these days until Christ and his kingdom appear.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

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