There can be no revival apart from the revitalizing ministry of the Holy
Spirit. The Bible says, "It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
saith the Lord." Jesus said, "Without me, ye can do nothing." It is about
time for Christian people in general and our church in particular to realize
that we are powerless without the Holy Spirit. We must also recognize that
God witholds revival from those who quench the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
We are defeating ourselves if we believe that all that is required to have
a revival is to pray a little, set a date, invite an evangelsit, and have a
meeting. God will have none of that! However, that is what is done in many
churches year after year.
Paul ended up his first book to Thessalonica with some powerful little
sentences. I want us to look at one of them tonight. I want us to discover
some things in our lives that can quench the Holy Spirit and can prohibit us
from having a deep-running spiritual movement in our church and community.
1. UNCONCERNED HEARTS WILL QUENCH THE SPIRIT.
John was writing under the leadership of the Spirit as he wrote the book
of Revelation. In chapter 3 verse 14 he said that God knew they were
lukewarm they were not hot; they were not cold; they were lukewarm. Ladies
and gentlemen, where does this leave First Baptist tonight? Are we cold?
Are we hot? Then where does that leave us? We are lukewarm.
Now, I realize that this is not all your fault. I can take part of the
blame for our lack of concern for those who are lost and inactive. There is
not a day that goes by that someone in this church family could not say "No
one at the church cares for me." As a pastor, I can do plenty of things
without ever visiting anyone on the church field. Some of those things have
to be done every week in order to be ready for the next service.
Our visitation programs in the past have been hit or miss mostly missing.
If we had a good strate ...
Spirit. The Bible says, "It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
saith the Lord." Jesus said, "Without me, ye can do nothing." It is about
time for Christian people in general and our church in particular to realize
that we are powerless without the Holy Spirit. We must also recognize that
God witholds revival from those who quench the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
We are defeating ourselves if we believe that all that is required to have
a revival is to pray a little, set a date, invite an evangelsit, and have a
meeting. God will have none of that! However, that is what is done in many
churches year after year.
Paul ended up his first book to Thessalonica with some powerful little
sentences. I want us to look at one of them tonight. I want us to discover
some things in our lives that can quench the Holy Spirit and can prohibit us
from having a deep-running spiritual movement in our church and community.
1. UNCONCERNED HEARTS WILL QUENCH THE SPIRIT.
John was writing under the leadership of the Spirit as he wrote the book
of Revelation. In chapter 3 verse 14 he said that God knew they were
lukewarm they were not hot; they were not cold; they were lukewarm. Ladies
and gentlemen, where does this leave First Baptist tonight? Are we cold?
Are we hot? Then where does that leave us? We are lukewarm.
Now, I realize that this is not all your fault. I can take part of the
blame for our lack of concern for those who are lost and inactive. There is
not a day that goes by that someone in this church family could not say "No
one at the church cares for me." As a pastor, I can do plenty of things
without ever visiting anyone on the church field. Some of those things have
to be done every week in order to be ready for the next service.
Our visitation programs in the past have been hit or miss mostly missing.
If we had a good strate ...
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