Being selfish, saying spiteful or hurtful things to a brother or sister in Christ, gossiping, etc. are "dead works." Indeed, they are works of devil himself. The devil probably gets a big laugh out of way some "Christians" behave themselves in church. But there is hope for those people: "... how much more shall blood of Christ, who through eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve living God?" (Hebrews 9:14) Before this purging can take place person must repent and turn away from old life and turn to Christ. We need to pray for those people who appear to be in this situation. We need to ask God to convict them and help them to realize exactly what it is they are doing to hurt church.

There are other ways in which we quench spirit. The manner in which we worship God can, and I'm sure in some cases does, quench Spirit. Jesus tells us that we must worship in "spirit and truth."(See John 4:19-24) In this passage a woman asks Jesus if they should worship on a mountain (as they had been doing), or should they go to Jerusalem to worship as Jews had told them. Jesus tells woman that it doesn't make any difference where you worship, it is how you worship. We are to worship in "spirit and truth."

So what does this mean? I am convinced that we have people who "play Christian." I think this is what Jesus is talking about. We should not just be going through motion of worshiping. We need to get back to a worship where we allow Spirit to lead us, and to show us way. A worship where hymns touch our hearts, where word convicts us, and where Lord's Supper moves us to a closer and more loving relationship with God. We need to get away from listening to sermon, and start living sermon. We need to get away from singing songs, and start singing praises to God and His precious Son, Jesus. And we need to get away from being served Lord's Supper and start communing with God to remember with every fiber of our being sacrifice which Jesus made for us and fact that He was crucified so He could take our sins to cross. Bible study and prayer are so very important to us if we are to remain in Spirit. How can we please God and develop a loving relationship with Him if we never study His word and never take time to talk with Him?

We need to quit being afraid that we, or someone else, will show some emotion in worship service. I remember a few years ago (I was a deacon at time), a young girl of about twelve years old was being baptized one Sunday morning. I was sitting on second pew right next to her grandfather. As she was being baptized I knew how much her being saved meant to her family, especially her grandfather. A tear streamed down my cheek as she was lowered into watery grave. I looked over at her grandfather and he too had a tear streaming down his cheek. I wonder how many times we could see two grown men crying in our services today?

We have been talking about quenching Holy Spirit as He tries to work in our individual lives. What happens when an entire congregation (or at least most of them) begin quenching Spirit? All too often, especially if leaders do not take immediate steps to correct situation, congregation begins to die. Attendance begins to drop, people become very unhappy, many start looking for another congregation, and some just fall away.

It is up to each one of us as a member of a congregation to help congregation to grow and prosper. We should dwell on positive, and consider our blessings. We should reach out a loving hand to lost in our communities and help them to come to know Christ. We need to build church up. We need to support and care for each other in times of need and sorrow, as well as rejoice in times of joy.

I think I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to throw a little caution in here. There are so many people today who attribute things to Holy Spirit that are simply not true. We need to be aware that this is happening and ask God to protect us from those false ideas. Paul wrote to Timothy concerning false spirits. He said, "Now Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons..." (I Timothy 4:1) These deceiving spirits are real and are all around us in this society in which we live. Sometimes their message is so subtle while at other times so bold. The New Age movement is wide spread in America and gaining popularity with each passing day. John tells us in his epistle what we need to do in relationship to teachings of these false spirits. He said, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test spirits,whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into world." (I John 4:1)

Do you need to get back into a right relationship with God? Or perhaps you need to strive harder to make your relationship all that it could be by allowing Spirit a free reign in your life. In reality we all can seek to walk closer to God and give Spirit more of our lives. I pray that every Christian will come to realize need for a closer walk with God and earnestly seek His will in their lives. "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by Spirit whom He has given us." (I John 3:24) Jesus abides in us if we keep His commandments, and allow Spirit to move in our lives.

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

The Scriptures also show us that hell will be a place where those who are there will be in a state of consciousness. They will be aware of their torment. Jesus in Parable of Lost Son illustrates this fact, "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame,...'" (Luke 16:23,24) They will be aware of their existence, condition, and reason for their torment. I think that this will be especially severe for those who knew Christ, and have fallen away.

I suppose when average person hears of hell being referred to as lake of fire, they also picture it as a bright place. After all fire puts off quite a bit of light. But scriptures also describe hell as a place of darkness. "But sons of kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12) The outer darkness may be a way to contrast beautiful picture painted for us in Revelation of what heaven will be like. The outer darkness may be an indication that it will be opposite of beauty of heaven. It is no doubt a very ugly place. The "outer darkness" could also be literally that; complete and utter darkness. We know that parable of lost son indicates that those in hell can see to other side, but that does not mean that they can see and understand what is going on right next to them. The torment spoken of in Bible would surely be multiplied if it happened in complete darkness.

Those in hell will be fully aware of what they have missed. It is hard for us to conceptualize beauty of heaven and ugliness of hell. But for those who get sent to hell, they will know of both. It will also be a place where those who are there are separated from their Christian loved ones. "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all prophets in kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13:28) What a horrible experience for someone to be able to see their loved ones; mother, father, brothers, sisters, and friends enjoying themselves in heaven and know that they themselves are cast into hell for eternity.

We know that in heaven there will be no pain, no sadness, and no crying. In order for this to be true, we will not be aware of all sad memories we have today. But that will not be true in hell. There will be memories. The ones which are sad for those hell-bound today will be even more pronounced. And joyous memories of today will turn to sadness as they realize what could have been.

Have you ever made a poor choice in life and have it "come back to haunt you?" Anyone of any age at all that has not experienced this is truly a unique person. We all make poor choices, and they will usually come back to haunt us in future. As those in hell are remembering their life on earth, they probably will be also remembering all opportunities that they had to give their lives to Christ, and didn't. They will probably remember each excuse that they used. They will remember those things that they did not want to give up to become a Christian, and how little those things eventually meant to them. The memories of all those things will be horrible memories indeed.

And finally we see that hell will be a place of no release. "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46) A few years ago I was lamenting to a friend of mine about some aspect of my life that I was having trouble dealing with. We all go through that, dealing with unpleasant matters. My friend said, "Remember, this too shall pass." Whereas this is true with everything on earth, opposite is true in hell. Hell is for eternity, and for those banished there, it will not pass away.

Is hell a real place? Yes, it certainly is. It is a terrible place, and it is a place of eternal punishment. It is for all unsaved who reject gospel and turn away from God. It is a place of consciousness, torment, darkness, separation from Christian loved ones, separation from God, a place without any hope of release, and a place of horrible memories.

The unsaved need to know about hell. I hope that this article will help you to be a witness to lost in your community as well as your friends and loved ones who are without Christ. My prayer is that you will use this information to share with them.

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org