Real Spirituality (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22- Jeff Kliewer)

Good morning. It's awesome to be back together again, and it's awesome to see each and every one of you. Hi Bob. He's the only guy that waved back to me. He's like I feel so good anyway. I want to open us up in Psalm 57 verse 5 be exalted.

Oh God above the heavens Let your glory be over all the earth. Coming here on a Sunday morning is It's a privilege. We are we are not deserving of The love that God gave us. But his love was so deep that he looked beyond my sins.

And I just I have to have a response that then says be exalted. Oh God.

You.

Love me so much be exalted. Oh God above the heavens let your glory be over all the earth and everything that I Experienced and everything that I see and do is just here be exalted. Oh God I want to give you some announcements of things that are going on the first that is after service today.

There will be a meeting for those who are interested in being either an usher a greeter part of the safety team. We're working on Identifying those individuals who could minister in this way. I think our desire is to identify different areas.

That you can be participating in what's going on. So today if you're interested in either being an usher a greeter or part of the safety team. Stay. And where are they meeting after right up front here?

Okay, so we'll see you here afterwards. The second. We got a lot of women's events coming on and the first one is coming up this Saturday. It is a women's fellowship and knit. I'm going to assume this has something to do with knitting and fellowship guys.

We have never had a men's fellowship and knit night. Where's John Dottoli? So ladies come because it's a good time to get together and to start to be with each other. It will be on Saturday. It will be from 11 o 'clock till 1.

There's information in the pastor Graham on That the women house are having an event in the middle of April on the 16th. That I believe is a Saturday at 2 o 'clock a Passover celebration. And I think it's really cool that the women are going to do this and host this and teach this if you've never actually Experienced one.

It's a good thing to come out and to be a part of it will be Saturday the 16th 2 o 'clock. Here in the sanctuary there is Response link for you if you're interested in it. So the women will know how much to be prepared with that also is in the pastor Graham for you to see.

Then in June, I'm really we're excited about an event. And if you're at all interested in being part of it or to be witnessing it man. We really want you to come out in the middle of June. We're gonna have our next baptism service.

Lord willing we're going to be in a lake. I don't know if we've had that confirmed yet, but we're going to have a baptism service. If you have not had believers baptism. And if God is working in your heart that believers baptism is an obedience to Scripture.

Please contact pastor Jeff myself one of the elders will get you into the process. There's a couple of classes that will have you take. So that you'll understand scripturally the meaning of it. But even if you have been baptized we would like you to come out to be there to encourage.

We're also thinking J. We're thinking of doing a hymn sing along with the baptism. It could happen. I Hadn't told him that yet. Remember our normal weekly schedule. Come back, please at 6 o 'clock tonight for prayer.

Tomorrow night is the men's apologetics the women's precepts on Tuesday morning the women's precepts. We have care groups. There is a couples married couples group. That's meeting put those on your calendar and be part of it as we grow together.

Real Spirituality and the Need for Joy, Prayer, and Gratitude

So let's go to prayer at this time father Lord God. We rejoice. And we exalt you Lord above all the heavens. We thank you that we could come here as your children as part of your church. Father the things that you have been doing in and amongst us.

Are an X just an expression of your of your sovereignty and how you're blessing this church father. We think how? Magnificently you provided for us with that land on Phillips Road. Now Lord, we ask for your guidance as we move forward from here.

We.

Rejoice Lord how you affirmed through the congregation our new board and on Friday the new board takes its place. We pray for these Individuals that are there that are serving whether they're elders or deacons or whether they're the financial secretary the treasurer.

The individuals that you've called we thank you for their response. We pray Lord for a unity of spirit. That we would always follow your lead Father. We do pray for the missions for those abroad Serving in the field lighting that lamp abroad.

Give them their message give them your protection, but also for us Lord as we're living here. We're to spread the word to Jerusalem and to GD and Samaria and all the world. We're here Lord in Jerusalem as missionaries of your word.

Give us boldness Lord to be evangelists right here Father. I also pray that each one here Would desire to be growing to be growing into the Individual that you would want us to be that spiritual growth Lord.

That we would not only increase with numbers, but we would increase in our relationship with you. There are those in our group Lord that we know that are struggling with health. We lift them up. This morning, I just specifically pray for Loretta that you Relieve her of this cancer Lord.

Give her your comfort. His pastor Jeff comes to us first Thessalonians about joy and joy always we anticipate your Spirit speaking to us in Jesus name. Amen sing together.

Fill the power of Jesus name. Let angels prostrate.

Bring.

Your Israel's race. He ran some from the fall. Who saves you by his grace.

And.

Like the first service the announcements and the songs were pretty quick which gives me extra time today.

And I joked with the first group that that means I can preach for an hour and they laughed. And then it turned out that I actually preached for an hour. So So don't laugh. No, I'm gonna. I'm gonna discipline myself.

To keep quick with it. In fact the passage that we're studying today comes in short staccato sentences. So we've got to keep right at it. Let's pray father God. Thank you so much that we are able to come into your presence.

To open your word and listen to you speak to us. Speak Lord your servants are listening. Open our eyes to behold wondrous things from your law. Teach us Lord. We pray Lord that these Highly important words would not just be words on a page to us.

But they they would jump off the page with power. That they would be fire in our bones. Help us Lord through the preaching of your word in Jesus name. Amen. I Had the privilege to go to Geneva in 1998 at that time I was studying economics so we were at the United Nations of all places and it was awful, but.

But one of the things I noticed which was also awful was. What happened to the Reformation wall there in Geneva? They have four statues to the great reformers. Which really come came out of Geneva in the Reformation in the 1500s?

Martin Luther John Calvin Zwingli and John Knox. Now the day that I was there the night before someone had taken rainbow colored paint and covered them all in a rainbow desecration. Just to mock the Christians and the heritage of Geneva.

So that was sad, but one thing they were not able to block out maybe because it was written in Latin. They didn't understand what it said. Underneath John Knox it says at the Reformation wall one man with God is always the majority Christian.

You're not the majority in Geneva or Scotland or in America any longer. But one man with God is always the majority. Who was John Knox? He was born in the early 1500s in Scotland at a time when the Roman Catholic Church dominated Scotland.

But historians will tell you that of all of the branches of Roman Catholicism before the Reformation. The Scottish Church was the most corrupt of all. The priests there were not very well lettered at all some of them couldn't even read and None of them opened the scripture and exposited the truth of God to the people.

None of them did that. They would celebrate what they called the mass. Which even to this day is a blasphemy against the finished work of Christ. Christ was once and for all Sacrificed for sins. He made propitiation on the cross once and for all for sinners like us, but in the mass The priest presumes himself to be an alter Christos another Christ and stands as a quote-unquote priest to make propitiation on the altar Sacrificing Christ.

That's why it's called the sacrifice of the mass. This is a blasphemy because Christ died once and for all to once and for all make propitiation for sins. The Roman Catholic Church at that time had only the outward form of religion, but not real spirituality by their tradition.

The past the the priests were said that they needed to be celibate. But they were not celibate they had many illegitimate children who were Famous and important in the land. It was a mockery of the Word of God.

Sadly John Knox was born in this situation as A three-year-old at the time when he was three years old Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg. So he grew up as Reformation fires.

Began to be kindled and come across into Scotland. The first great Reformation preacher in Scotland was a guy named George Wishart and John Knox became Wishart swordsman. He was a bodyguard that traveled with Wishart everywhere.

He went to protect his life from the Papists who sought to kill him. So he literally carried the sword he at that time grew in this passionate fire and flame of the gospel and So one day he was sitting in a church just like this.

It was st. Andrew's Cathedral. He had been born again through reading John 17 and John Knox was just like anybody else sitting and listening to the preacher when little did he know and unexpectedly the preacher pointed him out and said young man John Knox You are to preach in this pulpit.

He called him to come preach in the pulpit at st. Andrew's. Because he saw that this young man had been touched with the flame of God's Holy Fire. Well, what do you think Knox did? He ran he was scared to death.

He went to his room and he locked himself in Not welcoming anybody for three days.

And.

Fought this calling but that fire came into his heart and so by the next Sunday He took the pulpit at st. Andrew's and began to preach the gospel and right away the prophetic word. Was so blessed that people began to flock to st. Andrew's and the Protestant Reformation burst from a smoldering wick into a raging flame.

It only was short-lived.

Because.

The Protestant King who had deposed Mary de Guise who had passed away Was replaced by her daughter who came back from France With the backing of the French government and overtook st. Andrew's Where the gospel was being preached.

So John Knox who had been a fiery preacher for just a short amount of time Was taken captive and put on a slave boat as He was taken away from Scotland to go to France. He could see st. Andrew's in the distance and he said this it was prophetic.

I See the steeple of that place where God first in public opened my mouth to his glory and I am fully persuaded How weak so ever I now appear I shall not depart this life Till my tongue shall glorify his holy name in that same place.

Those words were written down and remembered and they would come to pass. But not before much struggle on that slave ship the Roman the French captain Began to mock Knox knowing that he was the preacher they took a statue of Mary an idol and Tried to get him to touch it and He said trouble me not I will not touch an idol.

Mocking him and continuing on they kept pressing it on him until he said finally give it to me. And when they gave it to him, he took that statue of Mary and threw it overboard and said let her learn to swim.

He did not count his life as precious but to finish the race. He made it from that slavery after a couple of years and wound up in Geneva Where he sat under the teaching of John Calvin and he learned the doctrine of lesser magistrates.

He learned the more intricate details of the faith that he wants once preached finally going back to England and Then where he started the Puritan movement, by the way, and then finally back to his beloved, Scotland.

He came to find that the Roman the Romanists had taken full control of the country and he was forbidden to go to st. Andrews. But he determined by the power of God and with that blazing Unquenchable unquenchable fire in his heart.

He must preach the gospel. And so he went the prefect said if he comes he will be met by 12 guns he went anyway, and They didn't kill him. But he was called to the principal's office. Mary Queen of Scots called him in and they began to debate and She would say things like you think you're so right.

You're so dogmatic but the priests in Rome They think they're right too. Isn't it just a matter of interpretation? Who am I to believe? How can I judge. Has anybody ever heard that recently? That the Bible is only a matter of interpretation and one has this opinion and one has another you know How John Knox answered prophetically to that?

He said just believe God he speaks plainly in his word. The word is plain read it and he went on to say if there's something you don't understand other parts of the Bible will make It clear but God doesn't stutter in so many words.

He said God speaks plainly. Just take God at his word.

Well.

Eventually Knox was cut loose to the countryside in Perth. He began to preach and the reaction was so strong when the eyes of the people were opened to how they had been deceived they actually started a riot and they began to Throw stones at the idols and tear everything down and smash them with hammers.

That might be kind of fun, but it was wrong. And Knox actually was horrified by this because they were becoming violent and he tried with all his might to stop it. But you could see that the fires of the Protestant Reformation Could not be extinguished and before long the lesser magistrates the lords of the town began to rise up in preaching the true gospel.

In 1559 it broke out into war and it looked like the Protestant cause was lost. Edinburgh was completely taken over and the Protestants were soundly defeated until Knox stood up to preach. He said I doubt not but this cause despite of Satan shall prevail in the realm of Scotland.

For as it is the eternal truth of God. So shall it once prevail how so ever for a time it may be Impugned. In other words, it may look like we're losing. There may be times church where it seems like we're on the retreat and the Word of God is impugned.

Nevertheless, it shall prevail. The people listening said the voice of one man is Able in one hour to put more life in us than 500 trumpets continually blustering in our ears. That sermon that Knox preached for one hour was more enlivening than if 500 trumpets were put in their ears to go to war and so the Protestants fought and the Protestants won.

And in 1960. Sorry, 1560. 400 years later in 1560 Scotland was won to the Protestant cause. The Scots confession of 1560 the Reformation Parliament was signed by John Knox and five other guys whose names were John and John and John and John and John you like that.

All six of them were named John. It just so happened. But this victory for Scotland was a victory for the whole world and for all of us who sit here today. Because out of that Reformation fire the doctrine of the lesser magistrates, which actually won a country.

So the United States of America was born by that fire the Presbyterian preachers. Taking from Knox this Reformation fire stirred up the people in the Americas the Black Robe Regiment Preaching the doctrine of the lesser magistrates and so King George was overthrown and deposed and the United States of America was born in 1776.

This is our heritage and all of this Came by prophetic preaching it was in some sense political. What Knox would say against Mary and Mary and Mary the three women? Mary Tudor Mary two guys and Bloody Mary in England.

He wrote a pamphlet 50 pages long the first trumpet blast against the monstrous regiment of women who were ruling in an ungodly way in England and Scotland and By that prophetic word and the preaching of the gospel liberty and freedom was established in the land, but more important than the earthly Liberty a people that were bound in darkness saw a great light on them.

The light of the gospel broke forth and so Scotland was one to Christ and America in its wake. Turn with me to first Thessalonians 5 verses 16 to 22. This morning. I want us to see what it means to really be spiritual.

You see you can go through outer tradition and there are many people. Especially here in South Jersey where the Roman Catholic Church has a strong inroad. Who go through ritual? Obedience to what traditions prescribe.

They get baptized as babies. They go through confirmation at a certain age they go to mass a certain number of times maybe just on Easter and Christmas and By that outward religion, they think that they're justified before a holy God, but it is a fake spirituality and The same is true in Protestant churches every Sunday morning where people do the ritual of going to church.

And.

They do spiritual things. But what they have is fake. It is only outward. What we need is real Spirituality and that spirituality is to be touched by a supernatural fire. The fire of God's Holy Spirit that makes you alive and then burns in you With a passion for the glory of his name.

It makes you joyful it makes you rejoice always as We come to this passage in first Thessalonians 5 remember what's gone before. Paul has spoken very doctrinally of Election and how you know that you're elect.

He's spoken as a father and as a mother to the Thessalonians. He explains why he sent Timothy to them To see how they're doing and he brought a good report and he's like a father figure to them he gave them theology of the end times of the rapture of the church of When these things will come to pass and the times and seasons.

But now he comes to the end and in these few verses He packs an enormous amount of truth. In short order power-packed sentences. And I picture it like this a mother and a father taking their kid to college and After all of those years of investment all of that deep love and theology that you've poured into your child it's now time to get back in your car and Drive away and leave your kid at Liberty or Lancaster Bible or Cairn Wherever it is.

And that's a hard moment for parents. Some of you parents have experienced that I'm sure that I I dread the day. But here's what you do in a moment like that you say The most important thing with as few words as possible.

Amen. You put your hand on the shoulders of your daughter and you look her in the eye and you say rejoice always pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you and Then solemnly you look her in the eye and you warn her do not quench the spirit.

Do not despise prophecy. But test everything hold on to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. There it is. That's our passage today. We just read it. Let's take it verse by verse verse 16 rejoice always real.

Spirituality is joy in the Holy Spirit. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him a Genuine spirituality is not checking a box. It's not doing an outward religious duty in Order to please God.

It's the heart of delight in God for who he is. It's when Christ is your treasure and you love him and he makes you happy in him. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Notice here in the verse. It says rejoice always.

What's the shortest verse in the New Testament, I knew you guys are gonna say Jesus wept John 11 35 that's because you're reading it in the King James or the NIV or whatever the case may be. You're reading it in English and it has the fewest characters in English.

Actually the shortest verse in the New Testament. It's first Thessalonians 5 16 ponta take heritage in Greek always rejoice.

Always.

Rejoice, why is that so important? Why does Paul lead off this kind of staccato bullet point? Finish to his letter with that because joy is central to glorifying God. Joy is key in the Christian life.

It is the fruit of the Spirit love joy. Peace patience kindness. When Jesus was in the upper room. The night before he was betrayed He spoke of giving the Holy Spirit and eight times. He mentions your joy that your joy may be complete.

When Paul was in the worst circumstance imaginable in a Roman prison. Having been beaten and probably tortured. In prison, he writes the most joyful letter of all the book of Philippians. Mentioning joy again and again and again.

Your joy is.

The the human response the visible evidence That you are in right relationship with God. It is possible to be the most Outwardly religious person on earth and be far from God. If I were to ask you who is the most loving Person who cared for lepers and Cared for the dying in India when nobody else would many of you would say mother Teresa.

And Listen what mother Teresa did in caring for the dying was commendable and A good example and the kind of thing that Christ would do. But let me tell you something about mother Teresa that many of you Don't know.

Her heart was dark. She had no gospel. She had no light. She did not have the dawn of Christ. In Isaiah 8 it says to the testimony. And if they say differently it is because they have no dawn she said.

How she converts people is To teach a Muslim to be a better Muslim Christian to be a better Christian and a Hindu to be a better Hindu. She had no interest in bringing people to saving faith in Christ.

Because she had no gospel. And when you read the memoir of her life sadly She was without the joy of the Lord. Because she followed a false and outward religion. Memoirs were recently published of her interactions with her confessors in Rome and For the entire time of her ministry in Calcutta she describes her relationship with God as nothing but a dark night of the soul a Dark night of the soul.

She refers to Christ in those letters as the absent one and her heart as this darkness No joy. And she confessed that she sees herself as a hypocrite. Because what she projects to the world did not match what was going on inside of her.

Some of the quotes her biographer.

Says.

This darkness surrounds me on all sides. I can't lift my soul to God. No light or inspiration enters my soul. Heaven what emptiness not a single thought of heaven enters my mind. There is no hope. The place of God in my soul is blank.

She reports that when she was in prayer in a public place. People say they are drawn closer to God seeing my faith. Isn't this not deceiving people every time? I have wanted to tell the truth. I have no faith.

Her confessors told her it was the dark night of the soul. But she said it never stops being night you see. Only the gospel Brings light and life to the dead soul. You can have all the religion in the world.

Protestant Christian evangelical. You can come here every Sunday and not have light in your soul. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. Jesus emphasized it. Paul emphasized it when you're walking with God. There is joy.

Now. Does that mean you don't go through suffering and depression and trials of various kinds like John Knox did. No. You go through those. But in that there is a baseline of joy That cannot be stolen from you.

This is the inheritance of the Christian. How can we not but be joyful? How can we not praise him and Find joy seeing what he has done for us. If you believe that Christ's blood was put on the cross once and for all and your sin is carried away.

It is washed and you have waiting for you the eternal weight of glory the hope of heaven streets of gold and better yet Christ himself if. That's your inheritance. There is a baseline of joy that no one can steal.

That's why be at the Beatitudes in Matthew when Jesus is talking about happy or or Blessed is the one it culminates with those who persecute you and say all kinds of evil about you. Even if they kill your body.

Rejoice because great is your reward in heaven. They can touch the body, but they can't touch the soul. We have something secure in Christ that no one can take away that nothing can touch. Maybe you have trouble in your marriage and it threatens to steal your joy.

You have Christ.

He is joy.

Maybe your kids are disobeying. And it troubles your heart. You have Christ and he is both able to give you joy and rescue them. Maybe you've been through a divorce and been wounded deeply. Don't you still have Christ?

Then why are you downcast? Oh soul rejoice in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is Your strength. So the first great exhortation is too short. Short words. Rejoice.

Always.

Nothing can steal it from the genuine Christian. Joy is our inheritance. Secondly. What is the second thing? Pray without ceasing. Mother Teresa said she never prays couldn't pray now outwardly she could but she never she called the one that she sought to seek the absent one.

The Christian is praying unceasingly. Unceasingly that doesn't mean that our minds attention is always centered in talking to God and Guys, this will be a relief to us. I think maybe women are better at multitasking.

But guys we kind of have one-track minds, but whatever we're doing we're focused on that if You're balancing a checkbook or you're you're working you're on some engineering project or whatever you're doing.

Your mind is occupied on that. Maybe women can be praying while doing that. I don't know you guys would have to tell me women. But here's the point. Pray unceasingly doesn't mean that you're always talking to God.

It means that that line of communication is always open. You seek him in the morning you take some time with him and then throughout the day. Your mind Returns to him as you're driving in the car between the tasks.

You begin to sing and especially when you're alone in the car, and you can really let it loose. You're singing your prayer. You're talking to him about everything. The greatest example of this I think is Nehemiah because in the first chapter we have this beautiful prayer that he offers to God.

He's in the prayer closet. He's alone with God. He's dedicating time to prayer. Then we get into the second chapter and he's doing his job. He's a cupbearer to the king. He's really minding the business of the king.

But then the king asked him. Why are you downcast now? You don't want to be downcast in the presence of the king and he says well. It's because Jerusalem is in ruins and he's ready to plead for Jerusalem.

But before he does it chapter 2 verse 4 it says he prays to the Lord. It doesn't mean he stops the king and then runs to the prayer closet. It's just this constant attitude of his heart in the quiet of his own mind.

He says Lord, please Be merciful to me grant me favor. Whatever he prays. He's talking to God and then he talks to the king. That should be how Christians are all the time. How's your prayer life? Has it grown cold?

Do you talk to him like you used to? Here's the exhortation pray unceasingly the more you do the more you will Keep that line open and let nothing interrupt it often. It's some sin. Something that grieves the spirit which interrupts our prayer life, but we should be praying all the time.

Thirdly. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you notice that in each of the three verses. The emphasis here is on the unceasing this the always the all Circumstances verse 16 rejoice always in fact in the Greek that that word comes first, which emphasizes it pontete always.

Rejoice Unceasingly pray in all circumstances give thanks. Now does that mean we need to celebrate the evil things that happen in this world and thank God for those things. No, it says in all circumstances.

So we're not thanking God for the evil thing, but we can thank God. That in this thing He has a purpose that he is allowing it for a reason and ultimately for our good Romans 8 28. So in all circumstances, we can be thanking God can always thank him for the blood of Jesus.

We can always thank him for forgiveness of sin for the promise of heaven in Everything we give thanks even when you go through something hard. I find it does help me.

To say.

You know, thank you Lord that this other thing didn't happen. It could always be worse. That can be a comforting thought and then to remember what he has given. If you can develop that attitude of gratitude that Thankful heart your joy will be full.

If you spend time each day, you might have to write it down before it becomes a habit. You might have to daily discipline yourself to write down things that you're thankful for. But listen church if you're not walking in joy.

Something's broken if you're not praying all day. Something's broken if you're not giving thanks. Something's broken. This is key to real spirituality. You don't want to be that fake Christian who does What you're supposed to do but inwardly you're dead.

We want what's real. So the second part of the sermon today, it's very interesting. The first part. Yeah, boom we agree but what is this about prophecy and Why did that just sneak into the staccato most important thing.

So verses 19 and Following do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything hold fast. What is good? Abstain. Abstain from every form of evil. The first exhortation now notice it becomes negative.

The first three were what you are to do now. The parent who's dropping off the kid at school is Warning solemnly do not do this. What is so important? That you are not to do it. Do not quench the spirit.

Wherever that word quench appears in the New Testament it it refers to putting out a fire a physical fire. Here it means the same thing. But it's an analogy to the fire of the Holy Spirit when you were born again a number of things happened to you.

One you were justified in his name. Justification by faith. In that moment of belief you were declared righteous. To you were regenerated you were made new and alive a new creation in Christ born again.

Three you were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He began to take up his abode in you the indwelling. One of the things we often forget is that in that moment You were baptized. Now first Corinthians 12 13 says that includes you in the body of Christ.

You were baptized into Christ you in that moment were baptized. That means there doesn't need to be some second work of grace later in your life. That would give you the baptism of the Spirit which you are now lacking.

No, first Corinthians 12 13 says you are all baptized and that baptism is a baptism of power. It is a baptism of fire. Luke 3 16 he baptizes not just with water but with fire. When you were laid down underwater you were identified with Christ and The water symbolized washing your sin was washed away.

You were buried with Christ in baptism raised to newness of life but spiritually. You were baptized with fire. With passion with zeal. To be born again is to have your eyes open to see the glory of the king and when you see him Your heart burns for him.

Luke 24 they were walking along the road and as their eyes began to be open through the teaching of the word. They say did not our hearts burn. When you first come to Christ you were given a love for him.

That's called your first love. But Jesus addresses the churches in Laodicea and in Ephesus in Revelation 2 and 3 and in both cases that fire of their first love.

Had dimmed.

They were quenching the fire. They had left their first love. They had now become lukewarm and he would wish that they were either hot or cold but lukewarm. Jesus wants to spit them out of his mouth. Do not quench the spirit Means that there is a fire there is a zeal that is your inheritance and it must be stoked fan it into flame as Paul tells Timothy.

Fan into flame the gift that is in you. You have the spirit of the Living God living in you. The same spirit the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. That's your inheritance as a Christian so you should have fire in your heart.

Do not quench that fire but stoke it fan it and so the next exhortation is do not despise Prophecies. Interesting right. Don't hate it when you hear a prophecy. What does that mean? I think when I was at seminary, I was trained wrong on the meaning of that verse.

One of the professors I had at Dallas was Tom Constable who I really like and he's very helpful in many things. But I don't take the teaching of any one man as absolute or authoritative. I don't follow Paul or Apollos or Constable.