Rekindling the Flame #4 – Making Christ Pre-Eminent in the Church

Well, these are practical things, and they all have to do with the church. I’m going to take them in the order in which Paul wrote them. I have 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17. Rejoice always. Praying without ceasing. In everything giving thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ. I want to read that again. This is spoken to the church in Thessalonica. Rejoice always. Praying without ceasing. In everything, giving thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ.

Then do not quench the spirit. Did you introverts hear that? In your overriding need for internal privacy, I say to you, and I say to you again, and I say to you again and again, you are in great danger of quenching the Spirit. Now, I haven’t had time to throw all these things about how important the mouth is in our relationship to Jesus Christ. I’m tempted to go on to other verses, so I guess I’ll yield to that temptation.

Pray without ceasing. Gene Edwards has an Edwardian theory about that. I don’t think this is what Paul meant. I think he meant to pray without ceasing. Paul, you don’t even remember this. We had a very religious brother in the church who decided that he was going to pray without ceasing. I’m not going to tell you what his name is. It was impossible to be around him. He would go, “Oh Lord, I’m just so nothing, and I’m just nothing, Lord. And I want to be here with you, Lord.” That’s what he did all day long. He was a single brother who got married and stayed single.

Some years later, he was sitting in my bedroom. I was in bed, sick. He sat down. Now, he did this for a solid year. He was spending 16, 15, 14 hours a day praying, and he told me what I knew. He said, “I did all of that because I did not believe in your ministry, and I was trying to bring it to a halt. You should not be a Christian worker.” He took a group of people out of the church, moved them to somewhere in California, and I’ve never heard from them again. They really bought into his “pray without ceasing” message. So this word isn’t small to me.

I’m going to tell you something. Benny Hinn said to me… this is just a private conversation going on between us. He said he saw Oral Roberts every day. I think they’re next-door neighbors. He asked Oral Roberts something about prayer, and Oral Roberts answered, “My life is prayer.” I immediately understood that. Not that I arrived at that state in any way, but I understand that. That everything you say and do is the Lord, but that’s not the Edwardian theory, even if that’s what Paul meant.

I have a question for you. Have you stopped praying? Now, don’t anybody answer. I pose the question. Have you stopped praying? Have you stopped praying? Now then, if you have, or you’re close to it, I have a word for you. Do not stop praying. At all times, pray. Don’t let praying get out of your life. Don’t you like that one much better? It’s got a lot less guilt in it. Rather than praying 24 hours a day, I don’t think any human on this earth can do that, whatever that looks like. Either your life is a prayer, and it takes a little time getting there, folks. Or the other one is you stop praying, go back and pray. Don’t quit. So, I leave that with you.

The other one is giving thanks. I’m talking to individuals, and I spoke to you about this earlier, but I want to talk to you about the church. Nothing is more insipid than a meeting where people thank God for what the Lord did. I think it’s the hallmark of Wednesday night prayer meetings, and almost all house churches. Well, let’s thank God for what He did…that is just…popping it out. I want to move on from that and say to you, saints, I don’t know how to ask you to do this, but we need time to thank God openly in the meetings. We’re not going to make a ritual out of it. We’re not going to say…this is the day that the Lord has made…we’re not going to do that, but there needs to be a giving of thanks in the meeting.

Get your mouths open and share with one another. We’re not just here to sing and read a few verses and go home. We are here to be a very attractive lady who attracts God’s needy people. We have to be a whole, W H O L E…that’s good enough. Thank you.

Now, if you can’t rejoice in the worst of times, you surely can’t rejoice in the best of times. So, we are given bad times to see if we can really thank God and rejoice in Him. Church, we are to practice being in the spirit. Now, I really wish we’d add another week on just the spirit part of this, but now, that’s not true. This is the church of Jesus Christ, His body, and you’re a member of it; your joy is the Lord’s joy. The body of Christ needs all the rejoicing, thanksgiving, and sharing, and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Now, this is Thessalonians. He said this to the church in Thessalonica early in his second journey. Now, saints, this is sacred stuff. Not quenching the Spirit, rejoicing, and giving thanks are what the church does. What good will it do to say this if the brothers and sisters in Atlanta, Georgia, don’t sit down, face it, talk about it, and ask themselves how they can make it practical in and out of the meetings? Brothers, please don’t waste this conference; make Jesus Christ first in everything, in our tongue, our singing, our rejoicing, and our giving of thanks. Please do not lose these things. Work at it.

Colossians 3:16. Does anybody want to read it real fast? It’s amazing how much is in Colossians and Ephesians. Do not quench the spirit. There’s another verse we need to read with that. “…and do not despise prophecy.” Do you know why he put that in there? I know why he put that in there. When a brother who isn’t one of the workers stands up and decides to share as a worker might, there is an excellent chance that someone will look down their nose at that brother. Saints, be so thankful if you have somebody in the fellowship who can talk…and who can talk about Jesus Christ. Encourage that man.