QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT

• Song 8:6-7 (KJV)  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
  
• Song 8:6-7 (NLT)  Place me like a seal over your heart, or like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, and its jealousy is as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with everything he owned, his offer would be utterly despised.”
  • Our world is full of very fragile loves … love that abandons, love that fades, love that divorces, love that is self-seeking. But the love of a true worshipper is different, because it comes from a heart so amazed by God and His wonders that it cannot be extinguished. It will not allow itself to be quenched, because that would heap insult upon the One it loves. It refuses to be dampened, discouraged or distracted in its quest to glorify God.
• Habakkuk 3:17-18 (KJV)  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
  
• Acts 16:25 (KJV)  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
  • We can always find a reason to praise – God’s worth never changes!
  • Fanny Crosby (1820 – 1915):
    • “When about six weeks old I was taken sick and my eyes grew very weak and those who had charge of me poulticed my eyes. Their lack of knowledge and skill destroyed my sight forever. As I grew older they told me I should never see the faces of my friends, the flowers of the field, the blue of the skies, or the golden beauty of the stars … Soon I learned what other children possessed, but I made up my mind to store away a little jewel in my hear which I called ‘Content.’”
  • She wrote this song when she was only eight years old:
    • what a happy soul am I! Although I cannot see
      I am resolved that in this world, contented I will be.
      How many blessing I enjoy that other people don’t.
      To weep and sigh because I’m blind I cannot, and I won’t.

She went on to write around 8,000 hymns of praise. Someone once asked her, “Fanny, do you wish you had not been blinded?” She replied, “Well, the good thing about being blind is that the very first face I’ll see will be the face of Jesus.”

Glory to God, Hallelujah (O the children of the Lord have a right …)
He Hideth My Soul
I Am Thine, O Lord
Jesus Is Passing This Way
My Savior First of All (I shall know Him, I shall know Him …
Near the Cross
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior
Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It!
Showers of Blessing
To God Be the Glory (Praise the Lord, praise the Lord …)
Blessed Assurance  (story: Phoebe Knapp composed tune)

“It seemed intend¬ed by the bless¬ed prov¬i¬dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis¬pen¬sa¬tion. If per¬fect earth¬ly sight were of¬fered me to¬mor¬row I would not ac¬¬cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis¬tract¬ed by the beau¬ti¬ful and in¬ter¬est¬ing things about me.”

• The choice between complaint and contentment faces us every day. Complaint dampens and eventually destroys love for God, eating away at the statement “God is love” and telling us He is not faithful.
• Contentment does the opposite: It fills the heart with endless reasons to praise God!
• Music producer Pete Waterman once made this cynical statement about lyrics in pop music. “You can write only four songs: I love you, I hate you, Go away, and Come back.” Isn’t it wonderful that when you turn to the subject of God, there is never a shortage of wonder!
• True worship can never be extinguished – it’s like a fire!
• Fire extinguishers work by removing one of the three things needed to keep a fire ablaze: heat, oxygen and fuel. In other words, there are three main ways to put a fire out: cool down the burning material with water, cut off the oxygen, or take away the fuel supply.
  • WATER – pressures of life can dampen our worship
    • Isaiah 59:19  So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
      
  • OXYGEN – heart clutter can choke out the Holy Spirit
    • Ephesians 4:30-32  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
      
    • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19  Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.
      • KJV   Quench not the Spirit
      • NCV   Do not hold back the work of the Holy Spirit
      • MES   Don’t suppress the Spirit
      • TEV   Do not restrain the Holy Spirit
      • NLT   Do not stifle the Holy Spirit
      • LIV   Do not smother the Holy Spirit
      • NIV   Do not put out the Spirit’s fire
  • FUEL – continued revelation of God is the fuel for our worship
    • God is so great that there is always more fuel for the fire! Every breath we take is a reminder of our Maker. We tend to make church attendance the sum total of our relationship with God, but you can soak in God’s presence in so many ways – read His word, pray, fellowship with God’s children, get out into His magnificent world.
      • Psalms – praise in the presence and absence of God (worship that survives every situation!) – 70% of the Psalms are laments!
      • The last words of Jesus from the cross were the words of one of the common worship songs of His day!
    • Psalm 31:5  Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
  • QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT – worship “in” (not “for”) every situation!