Together Waiting

Amen. Okay, kiddos, you are dismissed to your King's Kids class, and if you'd open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5, we're going to be looking at verses 12-22.

It's on page 1174 of your pew Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Lord, we ask you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves.

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

See that no one repays anyone for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil.

May God bless the hearing of his word.

How do you handle waiting?

Let's say Saturday rolls around.

You have people coming over for pizza in a rousing game of Dutch Blitz.

Who knows Dutch Blitz?

Everybody else, you're invited over to my house this coming Saturday.

Dutch Blitz is awesome.

Well, they're arriving at 530.

So what are you doing leading up to their arrival?

What are you doing leading up to go time?

Here's what I'm doing, and I realize that you'll probably psychoanalyze me while I share these very vulnerable and transparent things.

I'm typically cleaning and watching.

I'm cleaning outside.

I'm cleaning inside, and I'm looking at my watch saying, how much longer until they get here?

And as 530 approaches, I am looking out the window.

I'm looking down the road.

I'm looking for the cars of the coming ones, of these dear ones.

I'm looking for the cars of the car.

I'm looking for the cars of the car.

I'm looking for the car.

I'm looking for the car.

I'm looking for the car.

Another way to describe it is like, I'm like a golden retriever waiting for his master to come home after work.

That's how I get.

1 Thessalonians repeatedly brings up a prophecy of Jesus Christ that he is coming back.

We're one day closer.

Sure, the thing is, we don't know the time nor the hour, but we're not to fear that.

We're to be ready for that.

But the question is, how do we as a church together wait for God's Son to come from heaven?

What are we supposed to be doing?

Wouldn't it be great to have a list of things we should be doing while we're waiting for the Son?

Well, look, 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 through 22 gives us a list of 17 commands.

I'm only going to take 10 minutes on each one.

Just kidding.

What we have here is 17 commands in rapid fire succession.

And these commands are urging us to walk in a certain way together as we wait on the Son.

And so here's what I want to convince you of from this passage.

That together, we walk by the Spirit as we wait on the Son.

Together, we're going to wait.

We're going to walk by the Spirit as we wait on the Son.

And so these 17 commands are not organized in some kind of random, haphazard fashion.

They're actually grouped into four groups.

And that's going to walk you through this morning.

And the four groups are these.

Together, we're to respect our leaders, 12 and 13.

Together, we're going to care for those who are needy in our midst.

That's in 14 and 15.

Together, we're to turn to God always.

That's 16 through 18.

And together, we are to stoke the fire of the Spirit.

That's in verses 19 through 22.

So how are we to wait together for the coming of the Son?

Together, we walk by the Spirit as we wait on the Son.

Now, you may be a little surprised to hear me reference the Holy Spirit

as a part of the main thrust of this passage.

But what I want to help you see as we go through this,

that there are some very obvious clues as we go through that this passage is about walking by the Spirit.

So group number one, together, we are to respect our leaders in verses 12 and 13.

Paul starts this section with an appeal.

He says,

There was a leadership vacuum.

But God had raised up local leaders of the first Christian church of Thessalonica.

And what we have in this grouping are three commands.

The first two are signaled by the word respect and esteem.

So we ask you, brothers, to respect.

And in verse 13, and to esteem.

The word respect in the original language is a little more nuanced than what we have here.

It means to actually acknowledge someone.

To recognize them as a leader.

To say, yes, you are in fact a leader in this church.

And it's not just to recognize someone.

But verse 13, we are to esteem them.

We're to be able to appreciate them.

So what we're being told here to do as a way of walking by the Spirit is to acknowledge and appreciate the leaders in our midst.

This past Thursday was Veterans Day when we as a nation take time to acknowledge and appreciate the veterans in our midst

for the work that they have done for the good of our country.

We're grateful for our veterans.

And what we're being called here to do is to express acknowledgement and appreciation for our leaders.

Did you notice how we are to appreciate, honor our leaders?

We are to esteem them very highly.

And we are to do that in love.

And the reason why we're to do that, to esteem leaders highly and in love,

is because of the nature of the work God has called them to.

We see that in verse 12.

Just kind of an elaboration of the work.

Those who labor among you are over you in the Lord.

The Lord has entrusted to them the responsibility of some kind of oversight and responsibility.

Who admonish you in the Lord that they will say hard things in love to you to build you up into Christ.

Leadership in the church is not easy.

It's difficult.

You regularly find yourself in tense and complicated situations.

And so what the church is being called to do here is to esteem, to acknowledge that,

and to appreciate the leaders in our midst, elders and deacons, life group leaders,

who are having to exercise some kind of leadership for the glory of Jesus.

It's to be tenderhearted.

Tenderhearted appreciation.

That's getting at this to do so in love.

But it raises the question,

what if you don't appreciate your leaders?

What if it's not a tenderness of heart?

What if you're not affectionate towards the leaders of your church?

What if you've been offended by them?

If you've been regularly disappointed by them?

If you're harboring resentment, you're avoiding them,

you're being sinfully critical of them,

you're regularly tempted to say ill things about them with other people?

Well, what you need to recognize there, that's a check engine light on your soul.

That's saying you're not at peace with somebody.

You're not at peace with one of the leaders of the church.

And so when you see in verse 13 where it says,

and to esteem them very highly and love because of the work,

be at peace among yourselves,

that is in the context of leadership.

Seeking to be at peace with the leaders of your church.

One of the things that Jasmine Aldrich has seared into my mind

when it comes to peacemaking is this little phrase.

I think I got it right, Jasmine.

Don't be a peacebreaker

or a peacefaker.

Be a peacemaker.

And so far as it depends on you, Romans 12,

be at peace with everything, with everyone.

And so if you're wondering, well, what I do

if I'm holding something against a leader in my church,

Matthew 18, 15 through 20, you go to them.

You tell them, show them their fault.

And if, like an elder,

has been approached by two or three people

and they still are unrepentant for sin,

then the church is to bring that elder

in front of the church and rebuke him publicly.

That's 1 Timothy 5, verses 19 through 20.

1 Timothy 5:19–20

What I want to help you to see is

the love with which you are to appreciate your leaders

and then the peace that you are to strive for with them

these are fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.

And so these things that we're being called to do

are walkings together by the Spirit of God

as we pursue unity together.

So this first grouping focuses on leaders

but to walk by the Spirit in a particular way

as we wait on the Son.

The second group has to do with caring

for brothers and sisters in need in our midst.

And we can see this in verses 14 and 15.

Now imagine you go to the doctor

with flu-like symptoms

and you get diagnosed very quickly

and the doctor prescribes you a medication

to reduce your symptoms

to just kind of like diminish in two days.

Well, a week later,

your symptoms haven't diminished.

They've actually gotten worse.

So you go back to the doctor

and you say to her,

what's going on?

So she orders a battery of blood tests.

She asks you a bunch of more questions.

And what becomes evident

is that your doctor had misdiagnosed you.

You don't have the flu.

You have Lyme disease.

And so the treatment for Lyme disease

is very different than the treatment for the flu.

And so what we see in this section,

in verses 14 through 15,

what we have is a series of spiritual diagnoses

followed by accurate prescriptions

to ensure the health of these people in need.

So let me walk you through it.

Verse 14 starts with another appeal.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters,

and then comes the first command.

We're told to admonish the idol.

The diagnosis is idleness.

And so if you're wondering what idleness is,

you might think,

well, if you're idle, you're lazy.

And to a certain degree, that's true.

But this idleness being talked about here

is in unruly, undisciplined idleness.

This is someone who is unwilling

to apply themselves

to normal, adult, responsible conduct and behavior.

And so when someone who is idle,

the prescription is to admonish them,

which is a loving kick in the pants.

It's not comforting them in their idleness.

It's admonishing them.

In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 3.10,

the next letter that Paul writes to the Thessalonians,

this issue of idleness had become

even a greater problem in the church.

And so Paul tells them,

anyone not willing to work,

let him not eat.

And so who he's talking about

is people who are able-bodied,

able-minded,

but are unwilling to apply themselves.

And so what Paul's trying to do

is to prevent people

from becoming unnecessary burdens

to the church.

So he's calling them to a responsibility.

Admonish the idle.

The next diagnosis is faintheartedness.

Encourage the fainthearted.

Diagnosis, faintheartedness.

That's when someone is despairing.

That when someone wants to throw in the towel,

they're like,

I am done with this following Jesus business.

Remember, this church

had been suffering intense persecution.

And when you are suffering like that,

you're gonna be tempted to throw in the towel.

They've seen friends die in their church.

It would have been tempting

just to say like,

I'm done.

But the cure,

the prescription for faintheartedness

is to encourage,

to comfort.

It's saddling up next to a fellow brother and sister

and saying things like,

Jesus is worth it.

We're one day closer.

Don't grow weary in doing good.

Your labor's not in vain.

You won't regret this

when you stand before him someday.

And so the way that we

kind of deal with faintheartedness

is by encouragement.

And then we read,

the next is help the weak.

Diagnosis is weakness.

Some kind of inability

to function normally.

And that might be a physical weakness.

That might be a mental weakness.

Some kind of mental health issue.

Joblessness.

Food shortage.

Shelter, clothing, transportation.

It might be temporary.

It might be ongoing.

But what we do know,

it's not a result of idleness.

It's not the result of someone

being unwilling to do

what they need to do.

But this is because of something

that they,

and relatively speaking,

can't control.

And what we're to do

is to help them.

To help the weak.

To come alongside them

and roll up our sleeves

and say,

I am here to help

and I'm here to bear with.

The only qualification

I'd add here

is that when we help people,

and our deacons are dialed into this,

we're going to help them

in a way that doesn't make

them dependent upon us.

We're going to help them

take responsibility for life.

We're going to help them

get skin in the game.

We're going to help them

to be able to be part

of the solution

to their situation.

That dignifies people.

That treats them

as image bearers.

And so we're going to help

the weak.

The next diagnosis

and prescription

is just a prescription.

Be patient.

Be patient with them all.

And what that is getting at

is a diagnosis

that can affect people

who are trying to help people

in need.

And that is,

you become impatient.

That is,

you become harsh.

What's your problem?

Get your act together.

You should have been out of debt

seven months ago.

We treat people

impatiently,

unlovingly.

This patience

is another fruit of the Spirit.

Love,

joy,

peace,

patience.

And when we are exercising

patience

with people

who are in need,

what that gives us

the benefit of

is being able

to rightly

diagnose

an issue

which leads

to a healthy

prescription

which means

long-term

health.

This patience

is a spirit

strengthening

to help us

long-suffer

with others,

to bear

with others.

We need

to be patient

and

could you

imagine

what would happen

if you're being

impatient

and you start

helping someone

who's idle

or comforting

someone who's idle

or you start

to admonish

a fainthearted

person,

admonish

someone who's

weak?

You're going

to end up

with a problem

much greater

than where you

started.

We need

patience

and wisdom

in coming

alongside of people

and caring

for them.

In verse 15

we have

a don't do

this

and a do

this.

The diagnosis

in verse 15

is vengeance.

It's retaliation.

See that

no one

repays anyone

evil for evil.

Our tendency

is when we're

wronged

we want

to in our

flesh

wrong back.

and we're

being told

no.

See to it

that no one

repays evil

for the evil

and then

positively

it says

but always

seek to do

good to one

another

and to

everyone.

One another

those within

the church

other Christians

to anyone

non-Christians

we're to do

good to them

all.

We're not

to respond

repay evil

with evil

we're to

repay evil

with good

goodness

through the

Spirit.

Love, joy,

peace,

patience,

goodness.

And so

the Spirit

helps us

in those

moments

where we

wrong each

other

or we're

wronged by

someone else.

this would

apply to

this church

who's being

persecuted

by people

outside of

the church.

You are not

to respond

in evil

to them

but you're

to do

them good.

This is

following

Jesus

what Jesus

taught about

turning your

cheek

about

responding

to curse

with blessing

and when

we deal

with that

with non-Christians

they'll be

like

what?

This marks

a follower

of Jesus

Christ.

This

section

this grouping

of

diagnoses

and

prescriptions

it's

together

how we

walk

by the

Spirit

as we're

caring for

people in

need

patience

and

goodness.

This is

the second

grouping

of what

we do

as we

wait on

the sun.

The third

grouping

is found

in verses

16 and

18

and it's

together

we are

always

turning to

God.

It's

what's

being

described

here

is a

really

compelling

Christian

community.

What we

see here

is a

Christian

culture

that's

ablaze

by the

Spirit.

here are

the three

commands.

16

rejoice

always

17

pray

without

ceasing

18

giving

thanks

in all

circumstances.

To rejoice

always means

to be

joyful

and the

source of

the joy

being spoken

of here

is not

your

circumstances

but God

himself.

You are

delighting

in your

God.

You are

in wonder

of him.

You

think

that he

is

amazing.

You

can't

help

but lift

your

voice

in praise

to him

because of

who he

is and

you have

this abiding

confidence

that no

matter what

you encounter

because God

is both

good,

loving,

holy,

and sovereign

whatever

you encounter

he's always

working for

your good.

Romans 8

28

right?

James

1

3

considerate

joy

whenever you

encounter

trials of

various kinds

because God's

always working

in that to

make you

mature.

So we

have this

first command

to be

joyful.

Our

tendency

is to

question

God,

is to

ignore

him.

The

second way

we are to

turn to

God

is to

pray.

Pray

without

seeking.

It's

asking

God

to

work

in a

particular

way.

We are

to

ask,

seek,

knock.

This is

Luke 11

and when

we ask,

seek,

knock,

we remember

the heart

of our

Father who

loves us

and wants

good for

us.

He's not

going to

give us

a stone.

He's not

going to

give us

a scorpion.

He's going

to give

the Holy

Spirit to

all who

ask him.

And so

when

you come

across a

passage in

Ephesians 6

or in

Jude that

says pray

in the

Spirit,

we are

to pray

along

the

Spirit's

will,

what the

Spirit wants

to do in

our midst,

along the

grain of

the Spirit.

You know

how a grain

and wood

moves a

certain way?

We are

to pray

along the

grain of

the Spirit's

intent and

we know the

Spirit is

always looking

to build up

the body

of Christ.

we are

to pray.

The application

of this

is simple.

You know

how when we

gather together

as a church

and before

and after

the service

or maybe

at a life

group or

some other

gathering,

you're having

conversations

with another

brother or

sister in

Christ and

they're real

conversations,

they're good

conversations,

they're horizontal

and you can

walk away from

like a coffee

shop and say

that was

really good.

What I want

to encourage

you to do

is go

vertical.

Go

vertical in

those

conversations.

That conversation

is not done

yet until you

go vertical to

God with that

conversation.

Bring your

brother or

sister to

the throne

of grace.

Simple.

You just

say,

hey,

I'm really

glad to know

that.

Can we pray

about this?

Can we turn

to the Lord

right now and

ask God to

act?

you don't

need permission

to do that.

God is

telling you to

do that.

It's his

will.

What we

tend to do is

lean on our

own understanding.

We spend a lot

of time

anxious,

fearful,

trying to think

through all the

different scenarios

and solve them

where we can turn

to the Lord

right then and

there.

We're told to

give thanks

in all

circumstances.

If joy

is the

abiding

confidence

that God

is at work

even though I

may not see it,

giving thanks

is giving God

credit for

when he does

work,

when he does

move.

And what we're

being told here

is we are to

give thanks

in all circumstances,

which means

Christian,

you always have

a reason to

give thanks.

No matter what

is going on

in your life,

you can always

thank God

for his

gracious,

merciful,

powerful work

of delivering

you from the

domain of

darkness and

transferring you

into the

kingdom of

his beloved

son,

of justifying

you,

of adopting

you,

of sanctifying

you and one

day glorifying

you.

You always have

something to be

thankful for.

Thank you

for saving

me.

You can say

that in any

context as a

way of expressing

thanksgiving to

God.

The temptation

is to grumble

and to complain

and forget what

God has done.

And then when you

are praying and

God answers your

prayer in specific

ways, you're not

done until you give

God the credit

for that.

thank you God

for answering

that prayer.

Thank you God

for raising up

that musician.

Thank you God

for caring for

that person

in that way.

Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

5 talks about

commands us to be

filled with the

Spirit continually.

and then verse

20, that command

to be filled

by the Spirit

shows up in

giving thanks

always together.

Thankfulness as

a church is a

working of the

Spirit in a

church.

Did you notice

the always?

Did you notice

the without

ceasing?

Did you notice

the in all

circumstances?

All of us,

all the time,

in all situations,

are to be turning

together to our

God and as we

do, what He

will do will

form in us is

a Christocentric

culture ablaze

with the Holy

Spirit.

Walking by the

Spirit.

Joy in God,

prayer to God,

thanksgiving to

God.

Verse 18,

we're told this

is God's will

for us in

Christ Jesus.

it's what we

know the Holy

Spirit is seeking

to do in us.

This is the

grain of the

Spirit revealed

in God's Word.

You don't need

permission.

God is telling

you to do this.

He says,

well, this

culture of

always turning to

God is what it

means to walk

by the Spirit.

Together we walk

by the Spirit,

always turning to

God as we

wait on the

Son.

What do we do

as we wait for

the Son?

We rejoice,

we pray,

we give thanks.

Finally, the

fourth grouping

is together

stoking the

Spirit's fire.

This is

verses 19

through 22.

And this

grouping of

five commands

starts off with a

negative command.

God, do not

quench the

Spirit, as in

the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

who has sealed us

for the day of

redemption, the

Holy Spirit who

has applied the

finished work of

Christ to our

lives, the Holy

Spirit who Jesus

says, when he

would come, he

will glorify me.

We know that the

Spirit is seeking to

spotlight the

Son.

And he's being

compared to a

fire.

Don't quench the

Spirit.

Who doesn't love

a campfire?

Who doesn't love

a backyard fire

pit?

Let's say that

you're sitting

warming yourself

at a campfire and

someone walks up

with a bucket of

water and they

just pour that

water on top of

your fire.

Squenching,

quenching the

fire, stifling it.

That's the picture.

Quenching the

Spirit's work in

our midst.

Stifling it.

What I've been

wanting to show

you is the

Spirit's work

doesn't begin in

this passage in

verse 19.

It began in

verse 12.

We who, we are

to love and be

at peace with our

leaders.

That's what it

means to walk by

the Spirit and to

resist that is to

quench the Spirit.

We are to be

patiently caring for

the needy.

We are to be

responding to evil,

not with evil but

with good and that

patience and that

goodness that's fruit

of the Spirit.

And if you are

resisting that, you

are stifling the

Spirit.

We are to be

joyful, prayerful,

thankful in every

situation.

But if we're

questioning God,

leaning on our own

understanding, grumbling,

complaining, that's a

stifling of the

Spirit.

Spirit.

It's up to this

point.

What I've wanted to

show you is the

Spirit's been behind

this passage all

along.

And when you get in

verse 19, it's kind

of a summary statement.

Don't quench the

Spirit.

Don't pour water on

what the Spirit wants

to do.

But it's also a pivot

into verse 20 where

there's another negative

command.

Do not despise

prophecy.

And what Paul is

referring to here is a

specific Spirit-given

gift to build up the

church when the

church would gather.

You can see that

spelled out more in

1 Corinthians 12,

1 Corinthians 14,

Romans 12, and here

in 1 Thessalonians 5.

Now here's the

question, and this is

where I'm going to get

a little technical.

Is the gift of the

Spirit prophecy

functioning today?

When our church

gathers, should we be

seeking the gift of

prophecy?

There are two groups

of Bible-believing

Christians who answer

this question very

differently.

There is Bible-believing

Christians who say,

yes, the gift of

prophecy continues.

Wayne Grudem, who is a

seminary professor of

mind, defines prophecy

as this, telling what

God spontaneously brings

to mind.

And so when the church

gathers, they're to make

space for God

spontaneously bringing

things to people's

minds.

And what Grudem does is

he wants to apply

prophecy to everyone in

a church, but

unfortunately what he

doesn't do is he

fails to recognize,

this is with great

humility, that there's a

different definition of

prophecy happening at

that point than the

Old Testament definition

of prophecy.

And the Old Testament

definition would be

prophecy is a thus says

the Lord, infallible,

divinely authoritative.

There's another camp,

Christians who say, no,

the gift of prophecy has

largely ceased.

Tom Schreiner would be a

representative of this,

and he wrote a book

called Spiritual Gifts,

and he makes a pretty

compelling case.

That there is no clear and

compelling reason to think

that the New Testament

prophecy that we see

practiced in 1 Corinthians

12 and 14 and Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 being referred to,

there's no clear and

compelling reason to think

that that prophecy is

different than Old

Testament prophecy.

And if that's the case,

that would mean that New

Testament prophecy, when

the church gathers, would

have been functioning and

being spoken with tremendous

weight, infallible,

carrying divine authority.

Now, these two understandings of

prophecy remind me of a

Miller Lite commercial.

Do you remember that commercial

back in the 80s?

If you're not alive, no

worries.

There'd be like a bar scene,

people at the bar, and

there's like half the group

would say, tastes great,

Miller Lite tastes great.

And then the other group would

say, less filling!

It's a brilliant campaign,

because everybody's drinking

Miller Lite.

You're just emphasizing a couple

different aspects to it.

Whether you are in the camp that

prophecy continues today, or

you're in the camp that prophecy

has ceased, you've got to

understand that everybody believes

in the active presence of the

Holy Spirit, especially when the

church gathers.

And everyone believes that God's

revealed written word is the

final authority for life and

practice.

The risk for all of us is that

we define prophecy by our

experience, whether good or bad.

Or we define prophecy by the

tradition of a church.

Or we define prophecy by some

other kind of means, other than

according to our Bibles.

So if your background with

prophecy is more Wayne Grudem than

Tom Schreiner, I want to give you

some food for thought.

The role of prophecy in the New

Testament, when the church

gathered, is indisputable.

There was a gift that was

functioning, and it was designed to

build up the church.

But I just want to remind you of a

couple passages that may help you

have a more rounded view of

prophecy.

If you would open up your Bibles to

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

In 19 and 20, we read this.

So then you are no longer strangers

and aliens, but you are fellow

citizens with the saints and members

of the household of God.

I'll wait till you get there.

220.

Built on the foundation of the

apostles and prophets, Christ

Jesus himself being the

cornerstone.

What seems to be happening here is

that at the beginning of the

church, apostles and prophets had a

foundational role of laying

doctrine about Jesus.

foundational.

The cornerstone being Jesus

himself.

And so I believe what this means is

revelations given, words of

knowledge that were given, in large

part had to do with Jesus.

In order to establish a church

foundationally, doctrinally, on the

person of Jesus.

We didn't have a complete canon at that

point.

Revelation chapter 19, verse 10

Revelation 19:10

says, the testimony of Jesus is the

spirit of prophecy.

At the heart of prophecy, the

revelation, God making known, is what

the whole Bible declares that salvation

is found in Jesus Christ alone.

So I've been persuaded that the

primary, primary function of prophecy

in the New Testament church when they

gathered was to build up the body into

the head of Jesus Christ.

Christ.

Now, my theology of the Holy Spirit also

helps because in John 16, 14, we're told

Jesus himself says of the spirit, he will

glorify me.

He will bring to your remembrance things

that Jesus had said.

So I believe that the Holy Spirit

functioning in a church is seeking to

spotlight Jesus in a variety of different

ways.

And what I'm persuaded of is that New

Testament prophecy, when the church

gathered, had a very weighty, doctrinal,

revelatory weight and function to it.

on the par with infallibility, on par with

full divine authority.

My goal this morning is to get you

thinking.

What does your Bible say about New

Testament prophecy functioning when the

church gathers?

May raise another question.

Are we despising the gift of prophecy by

not making space for prophecy when we

gather?

I'm going to argue no.

Are we quenching the spirit?

I'm going to say no.

Why?

Because I believe the Old Testament and

the New Testament, the completed canon

supplies everything we need for life in

godliness.

It is sufficient and it is complete.

So I believe the completed New Testament

canon supersedes New Testament.

It is complete and infinite prophecy.

It is what Jude talks about when the faith has

been handed down once and for all.

So all the revelations, all of the words of

knowledge about Jesus that we need have been

preserved for us in the New Testament.

Complete and sufficient.

We have no more need for new revelations about Jesus.

And so I have three implications.

I know I'm short on time.

But let me just whiz through these.

When we gather together as a church, we prize the faithful

preaching of this book.

This objective and true revelation of God.

Not subjective.

Not given to error.

It's God speaking to us.

The same spirit who gave the gift of prophecy in the first century

is the same spirit who's inspired every word of this book.

And so I believe when this word is faithfully proclaimed,

it will stoke the fire of the spirit in brothers and sisters in Christ.

It's the spirit accompanying his word and power.

You want a spirit revival?

You preach the Bible.

Remember in Luke 24, Jesus is on the way to Emmaus.

And he's just been raised from the dead.

And he says to them, two of his disciples,

O foolish ones and slow of heart,

to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things

and enter into his glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he interpreted them in all the scriptures,

the things concerning himself.

Jesus then has a meal with them.

Verse 32.

After vanishing from their sight,

these two disciples say,

Did not our hearts burn within us

while he talked to us on the road,

while he opened to us the scriptures?

Did our hearts not burn?

That's spirit ablaze.

That's a spirit blaze around all of the scriptures

making a revelation of who Jesus Christ is

and why he came.

When we gather,

we want to prize the faithful preaching of this book.

The second implication was

taking the last three commands of this passage seriously.

I'll let you look at that.

Applying it to preaching today.

I don't believe preaching and prophecy are the same thing,

but I do think that they're analogous.

The third implication is this.

It's the language we use.

I believe the Spirit of God is active in our midst.

I believe he impresses things on our hearts,

burdens us,

brings scripture to mind,

prompts us,

nudge us to act in faith.

So in light of that,

in wanting to avoid language that can be confusing,

language like,

God told me,

God is saying,

God wants me to tell you this,

but it's not from the pages of this.

This is an impression you had.

When we speak that way,

that can be very confusing to those people who are hearing.

And it can puff up the person speaking it.

So a better way

is to humbly qualify these kinds of things.

Hey,

I was reading the scriptures this morning,

and I believe God put a passage on my heart,

and I think,

I think you can benefit from it.

And then you share it with that person.

You're not claiming to be infallible.

You're not being,

claiming to be the source of a divine word.

I think God is prompting me to,

to share this with you.

I don't know where it came.

I was,

I woke up thinking about you.

Would you take it with a grain of salt?

That's how we humbly qualify these things.

God is active in our midst.

What we want to be careful of

is not claiming a,

an authority and an infallibility

that's not ours to claim.

So I don't believe we're quenching the spirit.

I want to be part of a church

that stokes the fires of the spirit,

asking God to cause his spirit

to fall afresh upon us.

So what do we do?

As we wait on the sun,

we appreciate our leaders

in love and pursue peace.

Walk by the spirit.

We care for those in need,

wisely,

patiently,

doing good to those who do evil to us.

It's walking by the spirit.

We seek to be part of what God is doing

in creating a culture

of God-centeredness,

of joy and prayerfulness and thankfulness,

walking by the spirit.

And we stoke the spirit's fire

by not despising

impressions,

burdens,

but we are elevating

the finished,

complete,

sufficient

word of God.

the scriptures.

Would you pray with me?

Spirit of the living God,

fall afresh upon us.

Would you

break us?

Would you mold us?

Would you fill us?

Would you use us?

Father,

would you pour out your spirit upon us

in greater and greater measure?

That you would knit our hearts together.

That you would cause

the word of Christ

to dwell richly among us.

that we would regularly speak to each other

truths from this book

to the glory of Jesus Christ

to build one another up.

God, would you lead on?

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Thank you.