Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Don't put out the spirit's fire. There is a work of the Holy Spirit that's real.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor of biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Devotion. Let's listen in as JP gives part two of Last Words Are Lasting Words.

JP Jones: In Joshua chapter one, God speaks to Joshua. Moses has been the leader of all of God's people. Moses dies, the mantle passes to Joshua. Joshua steps up, and Joshua was a military leader. Joshua was a young buck with a lot of spiritual and physical energy to step into that job.

And yet three times in Joshua one, verses one to ten, God says to Joshua, "Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid." Now, if somebody says something to you three times, there's usually some reason behind why they're saying it. And if God is saying to you three times, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid," what do you probably struggle with? Fear!

I'll tell you, sometimes you may feel like a person who doesn't deal much with fear, and the reality is you just haven't stepped into all that God has for you. Because if God was to show you all that he had for you, you'd be terrified. And sometimes we are overcome by fear. We become timid.

And so the word is those of us who are in relationship with other people who might be timid, we're to encourage them. We're to encourage them, bring courage to them. There's another group of people that we have relationship with. Those are the weak. And we're told in this passage to help the weak.

It literally is the word that says lay hold of the weak. And the picture you might think of is someone who's having to tread water, and you're in a boat, and you see them treading water, and they're losing their energy and they're starting to go down, and you grab hold of them to support them.

That's what we need to do with people who are weak. Some of us here are weak. This is a great place for people who are weak because there's other people here who can grab hold of us and keep us afloat and help us out spiritually, emotionally, financially, whatever it is we need.

We're to encourage the timid, we're to help the weak. Now he returns back to how we are to get along with everybody. We're to be patient with everyone. The thing about patience is I want it right now, and that's the problem. Patience is a fruit of the spirit.

Patience is a character strength that the Holy Spirit produces in our life that God gives to us. And in the course of life, we're going to be dealing with people who try our patience. And so as followers of Jesus Christ, what do we need with people who try our patience? We need patience.

So we're to be patient with everyone. Verse 15 says, "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else." So we are not to follow what is known in Latin as the Lex Talionis. I am a graduate of San Jose State, I want to let you know that.

Lex Talionis is the law of retaliation. It's what the Old Testament describes as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Because if you have a society purely built on Lex Talionis, you'll have a bunch of toothless blind people. There is a point where you have to humble yourself.

Think about that in a relationship, in a marriage relationship. If it was always an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. If you're kind to me, I'll be kind to you. You're angry with me, I'll be angry with you. You say an unkind word to me, I'm going to say an unkind word to you. So it's "I'm just going to treat you the way you treat me."

Well, it would just be boom, boom, boom, boom. At some point in any relationship, the key to having some level of harmony is when somebody humbles themselves. And even though the other person didn't treat them in the right way, rather than giving back a cursing, they chose to give back a blessing.

And what's true in a marital relationship is true in all relationships. So it says this, "Be sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other." So this is first of all applied in our relationships with one another in the church, and then to everyone else.

It's a principle that we ought to practice with everyone. It's what Peter says, the same thing in first Peter chapter three, when he's talking about marriage in particular there, and he talks about the wife's responsibility and then the husband's responsibility. And then verses eight and nine, he says, "Don't give a curse back for a curse, but give a blessing instead, because you were called for this very purpose to inherit a blessing."

So think about it. If you were to treat people just paying back for them what they do for you, you're just going to perpetuate the conflict. But if you will instead be kind, even when someone is not kind to you, it'll not only bless them, but guess who else it blesses? It blesses you.

This is just good practical advice on how to get along with just about everybody. That's what Paul's saying here as he's saying these last words in first Thessalonians chapter five. So the first thing he hits on is how to get along with just about everybody.

Now he turns to some commands that deal with our personal, spiritual, emotional health. He talks about how to maintain a positive mental attitude. You've heard that phrase, how's your PMA? How's your positive mental attitude? This passage tells us some practical commands that will directly affect having a positive mental attitude.

It says this in first Thessalonians chapter five, verses 16 to 22, "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything, hold on to the good, avoid every kind of evil."

Short, quick commands, but seen stepping away and looking at them, they relate to experiencing the positive spiritual life that God wants to give us, and that he wants to give to us so that we can give away to other people. And the first thing that he says here is be joyful always.

Now, I got to tell you, I'm going to be real honest here. It's always good for the soul but bad for the reputation. If I'm feeling bad, if I'm feeling depressed, and you came up to me and said, "Rejoice! Be joyful!" It's like, get out of my face. What does that mean?

When I was pastoring a church up in Thousand Oaks, great guy was on our elder board and he just a super guy. His dad was a pastor. And things would be falling apart. There'd be struggle, there'd be turmoil, there'd be issues that we just didn't know if we could resolve, and he'd always look at me and say, "Be encouraged."

And I'd think, "About what? What do you mean be encouraged?" So if you have a little bit of that feeling when you see this, join the club. But listen to what God is saying. He says, "Be joyful always." In other words, there is and I'm speaking to myself, if I had a mirror here, I'd be preaching this to myself there is a sense in which we need to take ownership for our own feelings.

We need to take ownership for our own feelings. It's a choice. Yeah, there are circumstances, believe me, that are unbelievable that some of us are facing right now, and I know about it, and please know that I am praying for you. But in terms of life issues, so much we have no control over.

But we do have control over our responses. And every time there's a command in the Bible, it implies a choice. So there is a choice here that we have to reckon with. And let me just go through these real quick and then I'll come back and I'll explain what the ultimate choice is.

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in every circumstance." The ultimate choice is this, am I going to surrender my life to Christ and trust in his plan for my life and his daily working in my life? Or am I going to wrestle on every issue as to who's going to be in control?

Is every day going to be a wrestling match between me and God, who's going to be in control? Is every challenge going to be a wrestling match between me and God, who's going to be in control? Is every situation going to be a wrestling match or am I going to settle the issue, surrender to God?

And even when people don't treat me the way I want to be treated, and circumstances aren't what I want, and God doesn't seem to be doing what I want him to do, I'm going to live by faith and take his word for what it is. That doesn't mean all the bad stuff goes away, but inside something significant has been settled, you see.

So that God can say, "Listen, these are commands that I'm telling you here that will really make a difference in terms of your PMA." Be joyful always, rejoice always. Seven times it's mentioned, by the way, in the book of Philippians. The same thing. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

Pray continually. By the way, these are tied together. So you don't just do one and not the other. They're tied together and when you see them tied together, they make sense. Pray continually. Well, how do I rejoice? Well, I got to be in a prayerful attitude.

Because it's in prayer that I'm connecting with God and I'm inviting him to be working in my life. I'm experiencing the resources that only he can give me. I'm opening up my heart to the work of the spirit within me. I'm sensitive to the people around me.

I'm sensitive to the circumstances. I'm hearing God speak to me. I'm aware that I'm not just living a life that I'm on my own here adrift. No, I'm in step with what God has planned here. And even though it may be challenging or hard, or this particular day may be a tough day or this particular season may be a tough season, I'm experiencing God here, and therefore I can have hope and I can rejoice.

But you can't be in that mindset without praying continually. The word actually is pray unceasingly. The implication isn't that you're always on your knees in prayer and you're shutting out the rest of the world. No, praying continually, praying unceasingly means that you are in a prayer spirit with God so that the line of communication is open all the time so that when any situation comes up, you can be praying about that.

Because prayer is just the attitude by which you are approaching your life because you're living in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. Yesterday, give me an example. Yesterday, my youngest daughter Ashtyn just turned 11, we took her and a few of her friends to Knott's Berry Farm.

So my wife and I are with four 11-year-old girls at Knott's Berry Farm. Let me just tell you, now having worked through my son, my daughter, my youngest daughter, taking all the kids to the amusement park just ain't what it used to be. Plus, I'm one of these guys, I can't ride the spinning rides.

So Disneyland is fine, I can ride most of those things. I can't even ride anything at Knott's. So Knott's is walking from one ride to the next, sitting at that bench, then sitting at that bench, then sitting at that bench. Girls are having a blast, so I'm pleased with it.

My wife and I are walking around, we're sitting at Knott's somewhere, as the girls are in a line waiting for their ride. And Dawn and I start talking, we're talking about the church, talking about people, talking about Oran and Cara Root. And I just sent an email to Oran, he's serving with the Marine Corps in Iraq, and I just said, "I want to make sure I keep in touch with him."

And my wife said, "Let's pray for Oran right now." We're sitting there, I mean it's Labor Day, people are walking all over the place, our girls are going up on the ride, we're sitting on this it wasn't even a bench, it was just like the stone area there and people are walking by and I said, "Okay." We bowed our heads and we prayed for Oran right there in Knott's Berry Farm. And God heard those prayers, I know it without a doubt.

Now, the point is when you have a prayer attitude and you're keeping close connection with God, you can be praying about everything anytime God touches your heart with a person or a need, whether it's yourself or someone else, whether it's the hurricane victims or whether it's the church, because you're praying without ceasing, you see. You're praying continually.

Now, I got to tell you, to cultivate that, you better have some times actually into your schedule where you pray specifically, because that's what keeps it as a reminder. In other words, have a time every day where you pray, a time where you gather with other people to pray, a time where you are disciplined developing a habit of prayer, because that's what keeps it on your heart and on your mind so that you are praying continually.

And it affects your positive mental attitude. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. All circumstances are God's will for me in Christ Jesus? No. Giving thanks in all circumstances is God's will.

Gang, let's not forget some of the lessons we learned in the past. If you were with us as we've been working through this book, we've looked at a couple of passages that talk about spiritual opposition and the reality of spiritual battle. And Paul himself said in first Thessalonians two, "I wanted to come visit you and Satan stopped me."

Not everything that happens is God's will. Let's not be Pollyannish about life. There are things that happen all the time that are not God's will. But God in that situation can work it for good. And because God is alive and well and will walk through us whatever life's valley might be, and God has an ultimate plan for our life, the attitude of faith in that circumstance is to give thanks.

Because it's surrendering our hearts to God and it's saying I'm going to live by faith. And you bet that affects your positive mental attitude. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all things, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire.

Do not put out the spirit's fire. There is a work of the Holy Spirit that's real. These by the way are tied together. Do not put out the spirit's fire, don't treat prophecies with contempt, test everything, hold on to what's good, avoid every kind of evil.

He's talking about God working in your life and God working in your body and the Holy Spirit communicating messages using the word of God and using people's communication of that word. And there's a reality of the spirit at work and he's moving. Don't put it out!

Don't quench it! That's the way it's translated in some Bibles. Don't quench the spirit. It's literally taking from the literal act of taking water and throwing it on the fire. And I'm sure every one of us here has had this experience where we've been excited about something and we shared that with somebody else and their comments in response just deflated all the energy we had about it.

That's why sometimes it's one of the worst things you can do with a young Christian is introduce them to some crusty old believer. "I'm so excited, Jesus is real! I just read here in John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. I'm somebody in that world, he loves me. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, I remember when I learned that 37 years ago. Well, you know, that word really means in the Greek..." and it's like, gosh almighty. "Isn't it exciting what God's doing in our church and the power of the Holy Spirit?" "Yeah, but you're still in a school, aren't you? You don't really even own a building. I'll pray for you."

What is that? You get the point. I could go on and on where you're excited about God answering a prayer or God working and the spirit moving, and then somebody just pours water on that fire. The Bible says don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't quench the spirit's fire. And he ties with that, don't treat prophecies with contempt. When someone speaks a word from God, whether it's the preacher or someone in your small group or someone who just says, "This is what I'm learning from God's word" or "You know what? I think God has given me this message for the church."

Don't treat that with contempt. Don't despise that. Don't say, "God doesn't do that anymore" or "God doesn't work that way." Now, the flip side of that is test everything. Don't just be naive that anytime anybody says anything that sounds spiritual, it must be from God.

There's a lot of wacky stuff out there. So you test it and see how it lines up with what the word of God teaches and what the Bible says is true and what it says about the person and work of Jesus Christ, and you evaluate it. And you hold on to the good, is what it says.

So if it passes the test, it's a message from God, it's a word from God, it's a truth of God, you hold on to that. But you avoid every kind of evil. If it's not, you avoid it. Which, by the way, avoid every kind of evil, that's been taken out of context many, many times, because in some translations it says avoid all appearance of evil.

People have taken that truth and then they've said, "This is ought to be a standard of behavior of how we live as Christians." You avoid every appearance of evil. So don't do anything that other people might look at and think of as evil. Well, Jesus didn't follow that, if that's what that means.

Because who did he hang out with? Sinners and tax collectors. In fact, he went to parties where people were drinking and dancing and carousing and smoking and chewing and going with girls who do. And he was there! It doesn't mean that. It means what it means in its context.

When it says avoid every form of evil, every appearance of evil, it's evil in the form of prophecies that aren't biblically true, teachings that are false doctrine, words of encouragement that are not rooted in scriptural truth. You test that stuff, and the stuff that's good you hold on to, and the stuff that's not good, you avoid.

So what you're assuming, by the way, in all that is that God is working dynamically in your body. God is working through the worship, he's working through the teaching, he's working through prayers, he's working through the interaction that people have with one another, so that the spirit's fire is growing.

And we want to be the people who cultivate that, who fan the flames, not quench it.

Guest (Male): Okay, well just like Paul had to cram a bunch of stuff in the last few minutes, I do too. Here's the last part. Verses 22 to 24, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he'll do it." Talks about how to pray for people. How to pray for others here.

JP Jones: Paul says in verse 24, "The one who calls you is faithful and he'll do it." We are committed to prayer, we believe in prayer, we pray not because we have faith in faith, and not because we have faith in prayer, because we have faith in God.

God is the one who does it. He's the one who changes our lives and God can change your life this morning. God can give you what you need. God can connect you with people and resources. God can open the door. God can show you the path that he has.

God can heal you. The one who calls you is faithful and he'll do it. So what we ought to pray for for others is that their whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless. There's nothing you can't pray for someone. You can pray for their spirit, any kind of spiritual issue.

Pray for their soul, any kind of emotional, psychological, relational issue. Pray for their body, pray for healing and pray for God to be at work in their physical body and the physical resources that they need. Pray for the whole thing that God would sanctify people.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars.

Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of twenty-five dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills.

The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. Do you know it's been said that last words are lasting words? And here in first Thessalonians chapter five, the apostle Paul gives us his last words, these final encouragements and exhortations to this church. This is what Paul says: "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire, don't treat prophecies with contempt, test everything, hold on to the good, avoid every kind of evil."

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." The apostle Paul gives us several short and quick, powerful commands, and then he gives us a prayer for those commands to transform our lives.

You see, when we take God's word and we put it into practice, it changes our lives. And our prayers should be filled with the truths of scripture, praying God's word into application in our lives so that our whole body, soul and spirit might be transformed to become more and more like Jesus Christ.

How are you doing in your walk with Jesus? Are you being transformed? Are you growing spiritually? Are you taking God's word and putting it into practice? Why don't you ask God to make that real for you today? Ask him to change your life, to transform your life with his word.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet you will find us at crosslinechurch.com.

We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.