Join host Rick Hughes on today’s episode of The Flatline as we explore the divine rules of order that ensure harmony within local churches. Delve into the historical mission of Paul in the city of Thessalonica, where he established a church against all odds, facing numerous oppositions from the community. Learn about the essential role of pastors and the importance of respecting and esteeming those who labor among you in the spiritual field.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now your host Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few minutes please stay with me. Only 30 minutes of motivation, a lot of inspiration, a whole lot of education and and absolutely no manipulation because we’re not conning you, we’re not trying to ask you for money, we’re not going to try to sell you something, we just want you to listen. Listen as I attempt to verify and identify the plan of God for your life. If I can do that, then you can orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like to do so. But this is the FLOT line, F-L-O-T stands for Forward Line of Troops, that concerns 10 unique problem-solving devices found in the Bible that we base this radio show around. If you learn those 10 unique problem-solving devices, you can stop the outside source of adversity before it ever switches over to the inside source of stress. We always say adversity, of course, is inevitable, but stress is absolutely optional, because adversity is what circumstances do to you, and yet stress is what you do to yourself. Before we launch into today’s subject, let me make a couple of statements. We have a new book on the press. It’s called Understanding Your Soul. It’s a redo of an older book we have and we should have it by Thanksgiving. If you’d like to get an advance order in, you can email us, rick at rickhughesministries.org or you can go to our website, rickhughesministries.org. The 800 number that you might have called before is not working right now. We changed servers. and they inadvertently changed our number without asking us. It has affected everything, and so you may not be able to get through an 800 number, but you’ll have to email us or go to the website, contact us from that direction. All right, thank you very much for listening. Thank you for a little bit of time this morning. Last week when I spoke to you, I talked about the soul, the soul of man, and we actually talked about the body, soul, and spirit out of 1 Thessalonians 5. And I told you that this passage I wanted to go back to and explain a little of it to you today. So I want to look at 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 12 through 22. And there are a lot of things in this verse. I’m only going to focus really on four things. But I run through some of them here for you so you kind of get the gist of it. Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, know them who labor among you. Esteem those people highly in love. Be at peace among yourselves. I’m going through 12, 13, 14. Warn the unruly. That’s 14. In 1 Thessalonians 5. Encourage the faint-hearted. Support the weak. Be patient towards all. Don’t render evil for evil. Follow that which is good. And now we get to the four verses that I want to concentrate on. Rejoice evermore, verse 16. Pray without ceasing, verse 17. And everything give thanks, verse 18. And quench not the spirit of God, verse 19. If you go on and look at it, verse 20 says, despise not preaching or prophesying, prove all things, hold fast to that which is good, verse 21, abstain from all appearances of evil, verse 22, pray for us, verse 25, and then greet all brethren with a holy kiss, verse 26. So as you read through this, what you’re going to find is these are divine rules of order for a local church. I call it the divine rules of order for a local church. Every local church has to have these in order. If I were a pastor in a church, I would make sure that I taught this subject so that people would understand it. The divine rules of order for a local church are in verses 12 through 20. Now, what about Thessalonica? What is that place? This church was the establishment of the Thessalonian church and is recorded in the book of Acts. Dr. Luke wrote about it. During Paul’s second missionary journey, that’s when his church started. Very interesting history about it. Paul went along with Silas and Timothy and arrived in Thessalonica after they had gone through the town of Philippi. They went through a couple of other towns and came to Thessalonica, and they met in a Jewish synagogue. Remember, there’s no New Testament church yet, so the Jews are assembled in the synagogue. And Luke says, as was his custom, Paul went in, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. He said, quote, this Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, He declared, some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women. The church faced immediate opposition, immediately. In Acts 17, five through nine, again, Luke writes, describes how some of the Jews that were jealous of Paul’s success incited a mob to create an uproar in the city. They accused Paul and his companions of defying Caesar’s decrees, claiming there was another king besides Caesar, and then claiming Jesus as the king. This led to the arrest of Jason, a local believer, and some others who were forced to post bond before being released. I want to read to you what Luke wrote in that passage in Acts. Here’s what he wrote in Acts 17, five through nine. But other Jews were jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace And they formed a mob and they started a riot in the city. And they rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find him, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials shouting, These men have caused trouble from all over the world. Now they’ve come here. And Jason welcomed them to his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying there’s another king, one called Jesus. When the crowd heard this, they had the city officials arrest him. The crowd was in a turmoil, and they made Jason get arrested, him and some others, and made him post bond before they even let him go, so they had to come back for trial. So there’s all kind of trouble in this church at Thessalonica. So in Paul’s first letter, this is what’s interesting about this. In Paul’s first letter, we find God’s divine rules of order for our local church in order that it can function and be effective and be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of you write to me and tell me you listen to the radio show on your way to church. I’m very glad you’re going to church. I hope you’ve got a well-qualified pastor that’s teaching you the Bible. He definitely needs to teach you these things. But I want to give you some insight to what Paul said about your church and how things should be cooperating. Because a lot of churches are in turmoil. A lot of churches are in conflict. I’ve seen everything you can imagine in my 50 plus years of being in the ministry. So the first rule of order for the local church, Paul wrote this. He said this, know them who labor among you. The Greek word for know is eido, E-I-D-O, eido. And we translate that to know. But in this sense, it doesn’t mean just to know who they are. It means to appreciate them and respect them for the work that they do. Actually, to hold them in the highest personal regard. So what Paul is doing, he’s ordering that the Thessalonians observe and respect the chain of command. Here’s something you need to remember. Never, never, never, never run down your pastor. Don’t ever do that. If you don’t like him, leave, but don’t try to run him off. I’ve seen that happen in churches where people that were members, I think they can run the pastor off and find another pastor because they don’t like this pastor. They don’t like the way he teaches. They don’t like the way he talks. They don’t like the way he dresses, and they run him down. You’re to hold them in the highest spiritual regard because their spiritual gift that they have, the gift of pastor-teacher, does not mean they’re better than you. It doesn’t mean they’re more spiritual than you. It means they have a different gift. Now, they might be more mature than you, but they’re not more spiritual. If they’re filled with the Spirit and you’re filled with the Spirit, you’re both spiritual. But never run down a pastor. You’re asking for trouble from God when you do that. You’re asking for divine discipline. In Rule 2, Paul wrote this in verse 13. Not only are you to know them in verse 12, but you are to esteem them. That means you are to regard them or consider them in love. The word regard, hegeomai, in agape. Hegeomai in agape. Personal love, which is the fruit of the Spirit. Remember Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering. A man with a gift of pastor-teacher who has that gift, taught in Ephesians 4.11, is to be held in high regards because of his work, his ergon, his work, his sacrifice, that he’s to study and teach, study and teach, study and teach. A real qualified pastor doesn’t have a very good social life because he spends most of his time studying and teaching the Bible. You’re not to celebrate him because of his image. You’re not to celebrate him because of his style. You celebrate him, you regard him, you esteem him, you hold him high because of the content of his message. This particular spiritual gift requires many hours of research, many hours of sacrifice as he studies to understand the scriptures and how they relate to the congregation. I have known congregations that ran preachers off because they did too much teaching, not enough visiting, not enough calling on people and holding people’s hand and being people and praying over people. The job of the pastor is to study and teach. The deacons have the job of handling other issues. Now I want to focus on verse 16 through 19, the key verses I’m doing. I’m doing this because my time is limited, but I’d like for you to read for yourself 1 Thessalonians 5, 14 through 15, because these divine instructions are critical for order in the local church. Those verses say warn the troublemakers, encourage the weak in faith, be patient towards all the members, and don’t try to repay evil for evil, and follow that which is good. Now, going to verse 16 of 1 Thessalonians 5. Here is the command in verse 16. Two short words. Rejoice evermore. This verb kairo, C-H-A-I-R-O, kairo, is what we call in the morphology of that verb an imperative mood verb. It’s a present tense, active voice, imperative mood verb. The active voice says the subject produces the action of the verb. The imperative mood is an absolute, total, divine command. Not only for those in Thessalonica, but for each one of us as well. this word means to be filled with joy what is joy it’s the fruit of the spirit ephesians 5 22 cairo the fruit of the spirit this word is just the opposite word of grief and sorrow it implies happiness in every circumstance the lord jesus christ is the source of our joy for those who trust in him Did you know the scriptures even tell us there’s joy in heaven when someone gets saved? Listen to Luke 15, 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven, there it is, over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. And then in Luke 15, 10, likewise I say unto you there’s joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. In our lives, we certainly are to be joyful in our ability to pray for other people. Paul wrote in Philippians 1-4 that always in every prayer of mine for all of you making requests with joy. It’s a lot of joy to pray for other people. Our joy is not like laughing at something funny. That’s not what it is. Cairo speaks to appreciation. It speaks to confidence in God’s plan and in God’s provision. So our joy transcends all the earthly things that you can think about. What is this joy? It’s an amazing gift from the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and longsuffering. So joy, critically for you. I’m speaking of what’s manifested even in adverse circumstances. Even when things aren’t going right, you can still have joy. James 1.12 said, My brethren, count it all joy. There’s the word. When you fall into many testings, I mean, if you’re sad, if you’re angry, if you’re frustrated, if you’ve let the circumstances of your life steal your joy, what does that mean? First of all, it means you’ve committed middle-attitude sins, and you need to confess those sins to God to rebound those sins and get back in fellowship under the filling of the Holy Spirit. So the first mandate Paul told down here, the imperative mood mandate, rejoice evermore. Continue in an attitude of joy. And then in verse 17 of 1 Thessalonians 5, we have another mandate from God through Paul. Pray without ceasing. The word pray is , and it’s a verb, and that verb is also in the imperative mood. It’s a command. It’s a divine command. Without ceasing does not mean 24-7, doesn’t mean you get on your knees 24-7. What does it mean? Simply put, this mandate means don’t neglect your prayer life. Don’t forget to pray. Unfortunately, here’s what I want to tell you, most prayers are not answered. Most prayers are not effective since believers don’t follow instructions. Any prayer offered to the throne of God must be done under the filling of the Holy Spirit. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, you quench the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, that prayer will not be heard. You’re telling me some of my prayers won’t be heard? Yes, I’m telling you, your prayer will not be heard if you have sin in your life when you pray. In Psalm 66, 18, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I want you to notice how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our prayer life. In Romans 8, 26, Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. If you’re not filled with the Spirit, if you’ve quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit, obviously He can’t do His job and intercede for you in prayer. Of course, God hears the prayers of unsaved people when they come to him and ask to be saved. Of course, he hears those. Romans 10, 13 tells us, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But in America, there are many, many people who request prayers for something that may or may not even be God’s will. In 1 John 5, 14, and this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. There will never be a true revival in this nation until believers learn how to pray effectively. Another issue is praying for the wrong person. You can’t pray to Jesus. You’re not supposed to pray to Jesus. You’re to pray to the Father. Our prayers are to be addressed to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. adoration, intercession, supplication. That’s the order of our prayer life. Remember Jeremiah 29, 12, then they shall call on me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you. That is if you do the right thing in the right way. I see so many people saying prayers for you, asking for prayers. It’s sad to know that so many of those prayers are not even going to be heard because people don’t follow instructions. People don’t follow the divine command. If you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit, I’m telling you this again, if you have unconfessed sin in your life, your prayer will not be answered, will not be heard. Please understand that. Because everybody today wants prayer. Everybody that’s on the social internet, pray for me, pray for me, pray for me. Praying for you, that means nothing. That’s like a salutation. Like, hello, I hope you do better. Praying for you. If they don’t understand how to pray, this prayer will not be effective. So then we move into the next verse, 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Here’s the principle. Whatever the circumstances are, whatever the situation may be, that is the divine will for our lives. This verse is another present active imperative verb. means this is a divine mandate. It is a mandate. It’s not a request, it’s a mandate. When you fail, you sin. So you have some bad situation, you get mad, start spouting off at the mouth, you’re sinning, you’re angry, you’re sinning, you’re not giving thanks. Should you thank God if you have a wreck in a car? Well, this verse says, in everything give thanks. Did it say only the good things? No, and the bad things too. What if you go to the doctor and get a bad report? Give thanks. This is the will of God for you. This verse is, again, the imperative mood verb meaning a divine mandate. This is about being grateful. Listen, you’re either going to give God thanks or you’re going to criticize God when these events occur in your life that appear to cause you trouble. Paul taught us these words in Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, there it is, present your request to God. And then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In every situation, Paul said, with thanksgiving, again, in everything give thanks, 1 Thessalonians 5.18. I challenge you today, if you have a situation in your life, like I have in mine sometimes, and they’re uncomfortable, they make you angry, they frustrate you, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop cropping an attitude of anger and give thanks. Thank you, Father, for letting me have this test. It’s a test to see how you handle it. It’s a test to see if you’re mature enough to take it and move on down the road and not get sidetracked with your temper. You’ve got to understand that. Every Christian, every one of us face circumstances that are well beyond our control. Our finances, our health, our relationships. Recently, a very, very close friend of mine went through months of intense headaches and pains. No doctor could give them the answer as to why these things were happening. Finally, they discovered a doctor that figured out what it was and it’s related to a rare disease in the large arteries of the neck and the head. This person is a mature believer and I would like to quote what they wrote right here concerning this diagnosis. Here’s what they wrote. I’m taking my medicines as prescribed and I’m trying to strengthen myself. The best I can do is accept this as from God the Father, approved by the Lord himself, and supported by the Holy Spirit. Did you hear that? The best I can do is accept this as from God the Father, approved by the Lord himself, and supported by the Holy Spirit. This is a wonderful mindset and an example of a believer who uses the faith rest drill. Maybe you yourself are going through some sort of testing. May I ask you, what is your response? Is it fear? Is it anger? Is it some sort of depression? None of those things need to be your attitude. That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says, in everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. In Psalm 56.3, the psalmist wrote this. What time I’m afraid, I will trust in thee. Did you know God does not make mistakes when dealing with his children? In Romans 8, 28, the Bible says, and we know that all things, everything, work together for good to the ones that love God and to them who are called according to his predetermined plan. Notice it says to them that love God. If you don’t have personal love for God, all things don’t work together for good, work together for bad sometimes. Maybe you’re under divine discipline. If you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and you love, as the Bible says, we love him because he first loved us, then all things do work together for good to them that love God. God is mapping your life. He’s sending you down the road. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. As it said, they are called to them who are called according to a predetermined plan. All things, everything works together for good. In Isaiah 41.10, fear not, for I’m with you. Do not dismay, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. What a phenomenal promise. Strengthen, help, uphold, all because of his righteousness. I’m with you. He didn’t abandon you. He didn’t disregard you. So don’t be afraid. and all things give thanks. Finally, let’s look at the last mandate found in 1 Thessalonians 5, 19. Quench not the spirit, We start off with the word quench. What exactly does that mean? That Greek word for quench, pronounced sabenu, sabenumi, sabenumi, sabenumi is the word. I’m sorry, I can’t pronounce it correctly, but sabenumi. It literally means put out the fire. Don’t quench the spirit. Don’t put out the fire. This word is followed by the particle me, me, which is a negative particle, which means do not, not, do not put out the fire. So the fact is that this is a present tense verb means they’ve already began to do this. And it’s indicated by the instructions in verses four through eight of this passage. Listen, no church is a perfect church, but every church must operate under divine instructions. And the command to quench not the spirit of God is very important in a local church. When you have bickering, when you have jealousy, when you have inordinate competition, all these things lead to a powerless church that simply has ritual without reality. No prayers are going to be answered, no growth will be evident, no joy is present in the church when the Holy Spirit is quenched. And the same goes for your own personal life. So if you are a believer who never prays except in dire situations, you’re never thankful. You ignore the writings of the New Testament. You tolerate evil practices, and then you certainly quench the Holy Spirit. How do you unquench the Holy Spirit? Well, 1 John 1-9 tells us if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to purify us from all wrongdoing. The only way you can unquench the Holy Spirit, the only way you get the fire back is to confess your sin. Now, some pastors tolerate evil in their pulpits, and they promote it, and they are nothing but mob psychologists. Stay away from a pastor like that. Find you a pastor who teaches God’s Word line by line, word by word, verse by verse, and you will grow to be a mature believer, and you will glorify God to the maximum. I hope this has been instructive and helpful for you. I pray that it was. Until next week, I’m Rick Hughes, your host, and I thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
