A Church on Fire

, we, I do appreciate you guys attending, on Sundays, even though that, just given the circumstances that the temperature in the auditorium is not going to be as cool as we would prefer. but we're getting near the end of the summer, and I appreciate your, your patience. but let me invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 51 Thessalonians chapter 5 for our time of study in God's word, this morning. Just for today, we'll be in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 through 22.

And this is kickoff Sunday for us as a church. There's a number of ministries that are launching during the month of September. Our women's studies and our men's group meetings, our care groups are starting up again. Sunday school is firing up again.

Our youth ministry meetings are. Awana is starting up again. as well. So, we normally think of this Sunday as kickoff Sunday.

And, this is a Sunday to, to try to think corporately, and to ask ourselves, God, what is it that you want from me as a member of this local community of faith, this local body. believers. And so along those lines, we're going to be encouraged and challenged from 1 Thessalonians 5:22 verses 12 to 22, and if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be a Church on Fire. A church on fire.

what we find in this section of 1 Thessalonians 5 is something that surprises us. It initially feels like a wish list that Paul is making. Have you ever made a wish list? maybe heading into Christmas, your parents ask you, Hey, make a wish list for us, or maybe they know better than to ask you for a wish list, but you provide one anyway and say, Here's some direction for you in terms of what to get me for Christmas.

We all know what a wish list is. and This section of 1 Thessalonians 5 starts off feeling like something like that. But then in mid-course, it begins to intensify, and we're left with a very different impression by the end of this section. Paul in, in verse 12 begins by saying, we request, we ask.

so he's just as an apostle. Here's what we would like to ask from you. Here's our wish of what we would love to receive from you, but in verse 14, his tone changes, and he's saying, we are urging, or literally we are begging is the idea of what he is conveying in verse 14. And then in verse 18, Paul says, this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

So forget what we want. The issue is what God wants. What I'm laying out for you here is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. And then in verse 19, he says, quite literally, Stop quenching the Spirit.

Don't quench the Holy Spirit depicting the Spirit and his working as a fire in our midst. And Paul is basically saying, I'm telling you to do these things in this section, so that you will not quench the fire of the Holy Spirit working. In your midst. In other words, if you do what I'm laying out here, you will create a rich environment in which the Spirit of God, the fire of the Spirit of God will do its amazing work in your midst and set you as believers and set you as a church on fire.

So that a fire, a light is emanating from this local church body called Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church that gives off light to those around us who are walking in darkness and that gives off warmth to people around us who need a place to be invited into to experience the warm and the healing presence of our God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I want cornerstone. And I know you want Cornerstone to be a church that is on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit, a church where the Spirit operates freely in our midst, and he's just having his way with us, and in the process we become a church that gives off tremendous light and tremendous warmth to the surrounding community.

What we're going to find in this section ultimately is 6 things that Paul identifies that we must do in order to create this rich environment for the spirit.

To work in our midst, to fail to do these things is to quench the working of the Holy Spirit in our midst and to then be less of a church than God would otherwise want us to be. But if we want God's Spirit working freely in our midst and for God to shape us as a congregation. After his vision to where we are a redemptive community making a huge impact, giving off light and warmth to the people around us, then here's a strategy that Paul gives to us for how to make that happen.

Let's dive in to verse 12 and observe the first thing that Paul communicates to us that we must do if we want to create a rich environment for the spirit to work in our midst, and that is we must appreciate our fellow workers.

And leaders and teachers in the church and esteem them very highly in love. It's an odd place to begin, but it's striking that Paul identifies for us that we as a church need to be a community that is rich in appreciation. rich in gratitude, gratitude for one another. He says, we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, have charge over you and the Lord, and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Paul is telling us here that we need to be an appreciative people. when the Spirit has its way, has his way with us, we are giving thanks. We learned that in Ephesians chapter 5, people that are filled with the Spirit are a people. That are giving thanks.

This is a manifestation of the spirit at work in a congregation that we are appreciating and giving thanks for one another. He says that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, who have charge over you. So all of your brothers and sisters that are laboring in the congregation in any way, shape or form. From the lowliest, most menial task to the highest task that you might assign to somebody, I don't think in God's economy there is a high and a low, but in the way that we think, sometimes we operate and think that way.

But Paul would say anybody that is laboring among you for the good and the benefit of the church, appreciate them. Those who have charge over you, who stand before you, care group leaders and ministry leaders and pastors and elders who carry the responsibility for this congregation, to lead this congregation and to shepherd the brothers and sisters in this church body, Paul would say appreciate them, and he also says, appreciate those who instruct you and literally the Greek word is the word for admonish.

which is a corrective word. Those who say things to you in their teaching that leave you convicted and challenged, which in the moment, we're not naturally feeling all that appreciative, right?

But Paul says, no, appreciate those who admonish you. Though none of us in the moment enjoys being admonished, we all know deep down, don't we, that, that our worst nightmare. Our worst nightmare is to go through life and never be admonished by anybody. Imagine being a part of a church where those who preach and teach never say anything convicting to you.

That's, that would be your worst nightmare. And what that means is 40 years later, you're exactly the same person you were 40 years earlier. That's not only your worst nightmare, that's everyone around you's worst nightmare, right? so be appreciative.

This word that is translated appreciate is actually the Greek word no. so to appreciate, you got to know first, know those who labor among you, know those who have charge over you and know those who admonish you. I would encourage you that when you show up at a Bible study or at a care group meeting or you come here on a Sunday morning, that, that you look around and try to get to know who's doing what? Who's responsible for this thing that's happening that I'm being blessed by?

Who's responsible for, the worship leadership that was provided for me this morning. I want to know who these leaders are. I want to know what was involved in making this happen. I want to appreciate their service to me and my brothers and sisters.

It's easy to come on a Sunday morning. I was so blessed by the worship team this morning, weren't you? And it's easy to show up on a Sunday morning and just, 20 minutes, 25 minutes of worship and, OK, and somehow I'm sure this all just happened, but no, there was a lot of labor that went into helping to shape your worship of God through song this morning. Somebody early this week selected the songs through prayer.

And there was a worship team that an email that went out and the worship team was selected and they showed up on a Wednesday night. They could have been doing other things on a Wednesday night. but they were here rehearsing and getting ready to lead you in the worship of God. And then there was a sound crew that began showing up at 6 a.m.

this morning, and then the worship team showed up at some point after that and they rehearsed again and they did this in the first service and now again in the second service. There's a lot of time and labor that's been invested. In order to craft and shape your 25 minute 30 minute worship experience through song. do you think about that?

Do you realize I've been served by people who have diligently labored on my behalf. When you're being preached to here at Cornerstone, I can guarantee you that every sermon you're going Ever hear from this pulpit has a minimum of 10 hours of preparation and sometimes 20 or 30 hours spread out over 1 or 2 or even 3 weeks. A lot of time goes into preparing these meals that you get to benefit from and be fed by. And how would you respond if your mom said to you, what, I'm so glad you're here.

I've literally spent 20 hours preparing this dinner for you. 20 hours. I started a week ago. And, and, the labor that she put into that.

Would you just sit down at the table when it's dinner time, and just pick at the food and just be distracted and maybe take a bite or two? no, you would feel like, no, that, that would not be showing appreciation of the labor that she went through on my behalf. Just we don't think about this in our selfish culture, but you're being served all the time. And when you come into the church, whether it's a Bible study, men's women's Bible study, care group, or our service, basically everything that you are experiencing, somebody has put some effort into serving you so that could happen.

Do who they are? Do who's watching your children? Do who's leading the nursery ministry, making sure that somebody is there? Do who they are?

Do you appreciate their labor on your behalf? God wants us to be an appreciative community. We can start off the bat this ministry. And everyone's gung ho and involved in ministry, but if no one's appreciating and saying thank you and respecting the work and ministry that people are engaging in, it won't be long before the spirit is quenched and people are discouraged and things are not getting done that ought to be done.

Paul says, appreciate those who labor among you and esteem them very highly in love. This is crazy what Paul says here, and he's straining the limits of human language to try to communicate to us How grateful we ought to be. Literally this expression esteem them very highly in love literally can be broken down this way esteem them over plus out plus beyond measure in love. In other words, he's saying esteem them in love, but don't just do that, esteem them beyond measure in love, and don't just do that, but outdo esteeming them beyond measure and love and whatever it means to outdo esteeming them beyond measure and love, go over that.

That's the gratitude, the love, the esteem, the appreciation that we ought to have for one another who labor on behalf of their brothers and sisters in this local community of faith. And Paul says esteem them and appreciate them in this way because of their work and embodied in that is esteem them and love and appreciate them because of the preciousness of the institution which they serve, and that is the church. Of regenerated brothers and sisters in Christ. Be an appreciative, grateful person.

We all should be this way. Don't let a Sunday morning go by that you've not said thanks to 5 other people for the blessing that they are, and for some service that they have rendered, that has enriched your life and your journey with Christ. There's a second thing that Paul tells us to do that would serve to create and nurture a rich environment for the Spirit to work powerfully in our midst, creating us into a community that gives off light and warmth to the surrounding community, and that is we must work to live in peace with one another.

We must work to live in peace with one another.

Paul says, be living in peace with one another. And understand that when Paul uses the word peace, both the Hebrew and the Greek idea of peace, like whenever you see the word peace in the New Testament or Old, think of wholeness, wholeness, and think of the word flourishing. Shalom, peace speaks of human flourishing. and wholeness.

And so when we're called to live at peace, don't be thinking, I'm in an all out war with someone in the church right now, but I've got to live at peace. So I will restrain myself and withhold hostilities from that person. I will stop fighting. So Pastor Melton, look, we've stopped fighting.

We're living at peace with one another. Paul would say, no, that's not what I'm talking about at all. The idea of peace speaks of the absence of hostility. But it speaks also positively of the luxurious presence of all that is needful for relationships to flourish.

In other words, to live in peace with your brothers and sisters is to value your relationship with them and to make deposits into your relationship with them. And to deposit things into that relationship that create and nurture the luxurious presence of all that is needful for a rich and vital relationship. It means that you do good things in your relationship that bless and nourish the other person. It means that you abstain from doing those things that do damage to the relationship, and it means that when you do do things that damage the relationship, as we all do, that you apologize and ask for forgiveness.

And it means that when somebody does wrong you in some way and ask for your forgiveness that you grant in a heartfelt meaningful way, forgiveness for their failure. We've learned as a church that That true transformation of life happens most richly in the context of loving. Relationships. we can preach till we're blue in the face from the pulpit, absolute perfect flawless scriptural truth, but if none of us are in relationship with one another, and then we all go home and, upon entering the house, we all separate into our separate rooms and we're all on our laptops and no one is ever doing community with one another, even in the home, trust me, not a lot of transformation, at least good transformation is going to happen.

For there to be true life change and transformation, there needs to be a matrix of loving relationships. And that's why Paul is saying, listen, if you want the Spirit, the fire of the Spirit, to burn freely in your midst and set you as a church on fire with transformation and impact, then invest in your relationships with your brothers and sisters in the Lord and live in peace, in wholeness. Enjoying the luxurious presence of all that is needful for the flourishing of your relationships with one another.

There's a 3rd thing that Paul tells us to do in this passage to create an environment where the Spirit works freely in our midst, and that is we must each be involved in ongoing and patient ministry to one another.

Every person involved in ministry, every person viewing himself or herself as a staff member of Cornerstone, and they take it upon themselves to be involved in ministering to their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Paul says in verse 14, we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and while you're at it, be patient with all of the above, as you minister to them. notice what Paul does not say. He does not say.

If you see an unruly person in the church, call one of the pastors and tell them to get on it right away. He doesn't say that. He says, no, you go and you admonish the unruly. The unruly are those who are walking out of step with the teaching of scripture, walking out of step with the rest of the body because they're violating the teaching of God's word.

Paul says you need to admonish them. You need to go to them and point out their error and stick around and be a part of the solution and helping them to walk in a way. That is in step with the teaching of God's word. He also says, encourage the fainthearted.

Notice that it's a different ministry depending on the person. There are some people who admonish the unruly, they admonish the fainthearted, and they admonish the weak. Same ministry, same drill, no matter who the person is or what the need is. Paul says, No, you need to be a student of other people.

What is the need? Are they unruly or are they faint hearted? If they're fainthearted, that calls for a different ministry. Parents, you can apply this to parenting.

Sometimes your children are unruly. They need to be admonished. Sometimes they're faint hearted. Sometimes they are weak.

Minister to them in a way that is appropriate to their need. This word faint hearted literally means small-souled. In other words, having a small psyche, OK, and the idea is people that through discouragements and circumstances and trials have been reduced to discouragement, despondency, and despair. They just can't even imagine going on.

And Paul says, Here's what to do to them, encourage them. This is a relational term. Literally the idea is come close to them, come alongside of them, and speak to them. This is a relational term, and there's an idea of tenderness here.

You don't bark at a person like that from a distance. You come alongside of them as a friend and you speak tenderly to them in a way that lets them know you're with them. And that encourages them and lifts them up. He also says, help the weak.

The weak speaks of those that are without strength, and he says, help them and, and literally it means lay hold of them. And you say, well, I, I do lay hold of the weak, I lay hold of them and shake them. Until they're strong somehow. No, that's not what he's talking about.

The idea is coming alongside of someone who's without strength and putting yourself against them, taking their arm, putting it over your shoulder, holding their arm in place, and then supporting them, helping them to walk. They're obviously at a season of their life where they're unable to walk on their own. And they need someone to come alongside of them and to walk with them. Do you realize that in God's providence there are times in the church where there is an isolated brother or sister who literally lacks the strength to do what Christ wants them to do?

You say that's heresy. We have all things in Christ, and you are right. But God would say to you, what, that brother or sister does have the strength that they need to do what I want them to do. It just so happens that some of that strength that is a part of their inheritance is inside of you.

I have given you strength to move towards them and to help walk with them. And to get where they need to go. This is why, in isolation, we don't have the full package, but in community, we have all the gifts and the full package. Kent Hughes, a pastor and a prolific author, tells a story.

About a very dark season of his life and ministry where just given some things that had happened, he became very bitter, very cynical, doubtful, a lot of doubts were assailing him and his faith was, he felt just all but gone. And he said to his wife one day, he just laid it all out for her, and he just said, I don't think I can go on. And his wife looked at him and said, Well, I just want you to know that I've got enough faith for the two of us right now, and for right now you can lean on my faith.

And he did.

And leaning on her faith, he got through that difficult season. God did a number of wonderful things, and he wrote a book about it because he had a companion. who was there to help to lay hold of him and say, hey, put your arm around me, and I'll help you walk through this season. Imagine a congregation where we're doing that thing for each other, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And Paul says, he sums it all up by saying, and in the meantime, be patient with everyone. when you're admonishing the unruly, be patient. When you're encouraging the fainthearted, be patient. When you're helping the weak, be patient.

That word patient, is the word anger and the word long. It literally means be long angered. OK. And you say, Well, I got that nailed because when I get angry, I stay angry for a long time, but that's, that's not what the word means, right?

What it means is that you're able to endure provocations, disappointments for a long time without giving way to anger. It's easy to get involved in ministry and then to get impatient with those unruly people. I've already admonished them once. I can't believe they haven't totally radically experienced transformation in response to that one admonition that I delivered to them.

I've told my children this. I don't know how many times, and I have to tell them again. And you are put off with your children as if God only ever needs to say anything to you one time. And you just are there permanently.

Come on. when you're encouraging the fainthearted and, your ministry to them doesn't seem to be going anywhere, or they're not being strengthened and encouraged at the speed that you think they ought to be, or maybe they are encouraged, but by the next day they've taken a tumble again. It's easy to be impatient with them and helping the weak. You come alongside and you expend your energy to help them and You feel OK about doing so and you're grateful God has used you, but you think, OK, I think they're on their own now, and you're not even out of the first inning with them.

There's a long way to go, and it's easy to be And patient with them. Paul says, Minister, with patience, realize that the Christian life is a journey. It is a long journey as people are transformed from one level of glory to another. It is often a long slog, and you are never more like Jesus than when you lovingly, patiently come alongside of people and minister to them with the patience and beauty that Paul is describing here.

There's a 4th thing that Paul tells us that we need to do, that he demands that we do if we want to be a church where the Spirit of God is burning freely and working freely in our midst, and that is that we must mirror the gospel toward those who wrong us. Now we've talked at length about this in recent months, so I won't belabor this, but notice what Paul says in verse 15. See to it that no one repays evil. With evil for evil.

That no one is retaliating in a vindictive way, letting a root of bitterness spring up in their hearts, and they're attacking another person and responding with evil for evil. Notice Paul says, see to it. what that means? It means that you've got a twofold responsibility.

It means that you should not give way to bitterness and respond with evil for evil. It also means that you are assigned the duty of being one of the watchmen or watchwomen in the church, and you are to see to it that no one else is doing that. You are to look out for your brothers and sisters. And if you see a root of bitterness springing up in their hearts, you've got to be all over that and come alongside of them and maybe they need to be admonished, maybe they need to be encouraged, maybe they need to be helped, but you need to be there to call them on that and help them to walk in grace.

Paul says, don't, and see to it that no one repays. Another with evil for evil, but always seek or literally pursue after that which is good, beneficial, and beautiful for one another and for all people. So you don't just withhold retaliation, but you actually chase after the opportunity to do good and beneficial and morally beautiful things to those who are undeserving, to those who have wronged you. There may be someone in your life that you're ticked at, you're disappointed in, and And you want to retaliate against them.

Maybe you already have, you need to repent of that, or maybe you've not retaliated, but you've patted yourself on the back thinking, I've not been retaliating, so I'm doing what God wants me to do. I just want to ask you, have you chased that person down? Have you pursued the opportunity? That's literally what he's saying.

Seek after, chase after, pursue the doing of morally good and beneficial and beautiful things for that person. Are you loving them in that way? See, this is what Jesus has done for us. This is what God has done for us.

We have sinned against God. We deserve his wrath. We deserve His justice. but God withholds that justice from us.

And not only that, but he sent His Son into the world to live the life we failed to live and die the death we deserve to die, and he raised him from the dead and ascended them to his own right hand. And from that position, Jesus is giving out relationship and forgiveness and freedom and power. And salvation to anyone who sees their bankruptcy and calls upon him to be their Lord and Savior. He's giving that freely.

See, God not only withheld from us. The justice and the wrath we deserved, but he chased us and came into this broken world. and live the life we failed to live and died in our place, that he might give us the salvation that we enjoy from day to day, and we would say with the psalmist surely goodness and mercy are going to follow me, they're going to chase after me all the days of my life, and all through eternity as I dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We every day are the beneficiaries of a salvation that has come to us because we have a God who has already lived the ethic of verse.

what verse is it? 15 towards us, and now we get a chance. Paul says, turn around and be that and do that towards those who have wronged you and whom you would deem undeserving. what, it's when we respond this way that the world would look at us and say something supernatural is going on here.

If the church was a community of people where no one ever did wrong, you were never on the receiving end of any wrong. Everyone was always kind and polite and considerate and appreciative towards you, and you responded by just loving them in return. Well, any worldling that's watching you loving all these perfect people would never be impressed. Jesus says even pagans do that.

In a way, you need imperfect brothers and sisters in the church. In order for you to go deeper in your understanding of the gospel, and for you to actually be able to put the gospel on display. So that the world would look at what's going on here amongst the people in this imperfect community, and observe how we love one another and know thereby that we are truly disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a 5th thing that we must do if we want to give the spirit free run of this place and to operate freely and powerfully.

In our midst, and let's say it this way, for lack of a better way, we must be joyful, prayerful and grateful persons. We must be joyful, prayerful and grateful persons. Paul says be rejoicing always, all the time, good times and bad. And Paul would say this is not pie in the sky.

I'm not just telling you to rejoice always as a Christian because it's the pious thing to do. I'm telling you to rejoice always for this reason. And that is because there is always something God is doing that you can rejoice in. There's always something that you can be rejoicing in, and this does not mean that you never weep or grieve, as Paul says, I believe in 2 Corinthians, that we find ourselves sorrowful and yet always rejoicing.

Even through our tears and our grief, we can still rejoice. In fact, many in this church body would testify. That it's in their moments of deepest mourning. and tears.

That they are able to lock on to the true cause of their joy in Christ. Our richest rejoicing often happens in the context of our tears. So this does not mean we never weep, but it does mean that we are always clued into what we're rejoicing in. And let me tell you something, when we as a people are rejoicing and praising and worshiping God, giants get slain, victories are won in powerful ways.

Write down 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat, leader of the people of Judah, some enemies came against them, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites came against them. Jehoshaphat freaks out, calls the people together, prays to the Lord, we need your help. We can't withstand this assault. A prophet steps forward, says, here's what to do.

So they come up with a plan. Next day Jehoshaphat says to the people, Let's go out to this lookout point that God has directed us to. And God says, Just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He's going to fight this battle for us.

And so the next day they had to this lookout point to meet the enemy. And they don't take weapons with them, but they arrange a choir, and they plan to sing and in the text, it says, when they began to sing, and to praise God, that's when God routed their enemy. God just He enjoys musical accompaniment when he's destroying the giants that assail us. he enjoys the atmosphere of worship when he fights on our behalf.

And so if we want the Spirit to have his way in our midst and accomplish great things, then we do well to create a spirit inspired atmosphere of rejoicing. and worship and praise to our God. He also says pray without ceasing. We need to be a praying community, crying out to God, pray without leaving off, is literally the idea.

In modern day terminology, it's Talk to God without hanging up the phone. That's the idea. Often we'll pray to the Lord and then we'll say in Jesus' name, amen, and we hang up the phone. And what Paul is saying is don't hang up on God.

Don't hang up the phone. Stay on the line. my wife and I are in the very beginning stages of becoming empty nesters. And having a daughter that got married and a son that's away at college and, so in the weeks following our daughter's marriage, our two youngest were, on trips and doing stuff.

They weren't at home a lot. So my wife and I just found ourselves sitting at home, feeling like an elderly couple. And I remember on one of those occasions we were just sitting on the couch just talking and our daughter, recently married, called and And I was chatting with her on the phone, and I was doing everything I could to keep her on the phone as long as I possibly could. What else can I talk to her about?

and it was just a weird Feeling, But it gave me a feeling for the heart of God and his relationship with us. He tries to keep us on the phone as long as he can. In fact, he's saying, please don't, don't hang up. Not in a needy, clingy way like me.

but because he loves us and he cherishes his relationship with us. He's like, talk to me and you're like, well, I got to hang up and Jesus' name. Amen. He's like, no, no, no, well, what are you doing right now?

well, I'm driving right now and, well, where are you going? And what's going on in your heart and in your mind? Talk to me about that. What are the needs?

What are the burdens? What are you happy about? I want to go with you everywhere. I want our relationship to go everywhere.

Don't ever hang up the phone. Always stay on the line with me. Part of the idea here is pray without giving up. Pray without giving up.

Don't ever give up on prayer. Don't ever give up on God. Don't ever give up on that person that you're praying for. Some of you are praying for wayward children and other situations in your life that so much time has gone by and it seems like God has not really done much that's visible to you and you've begun to despair that anything good is ever going to happen.

Is God really interested in working on your behalf in this way? Is he really listening? And it's easy to give up and stop praying and God's like, no, no, don't, don't stop, just keep talking to me, keep praying, keep pouring out your heart to me, pray without ceasing, pray without giving up. Don't give up on me.

God says, don't give up on prayer, and don't give up on that person that you are praying for. Paul also says in everything, give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ and plied in this again, as Paul would say, I'm only telling you to be thankful, to give thanks in everything because in everything there is always something to be thankful for. There's a promise and a solid reality that lies underneath this command. Of Paul, that word thanks is a combination of the word good and grace, be good gracing everything.

In other words, see every favor, every kindness, every blessing as an undeserved grace and pronounce it good and pronounce it to be a grace and receive it from the loving hand of your God. In everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Again, giants get slain, victories get won. Destruction is averted when we commit ourselves to gratitude.

Ironside the commentator says unthankfulness is connected to unholiness. Thankfulness and gratitude to God and holiness of heart and life are linked intimately together. John Henry Jowewitt says it this way, gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic. Imagine a congregation full of this antitoxin.

This antiseptic, this vaccine. You read Romans 1 and the downward spiral to spiritual ruin., the very first step to spiritual ruin. They did not give thanks. And so just imagine right at that point, and we're all at that point every day in a variety of ways.

Will I give thanks and honor God or will I not? And when we choose to reject gratitude, we are choosing to go on that spiral. But when we choose gratitude, we are holding at bay a whole lot of ruin. And a whole lot of sin, a whole lot of brokenness, guys.

If we can just trust the wisdom of God, this is sheer genius here. wisdom for us. God says, let me just make it real simple for you. There's a lot of giants to be slain and victories that need to be won.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. And everything be a grateful person giving thanks. This is my will for you.

Meaning all of my will for you. is encompassed in this, and all the good things that I want for you and all the evil I want you to avoid is encompassed in you simply doing this. This will enable my spirit to work freely in your life and in your midst as a congregation. Finally, there's a 6th thing that Paul calls us to do as believers and as a church, to give the Spirit free reign, to burn in our midst and set us afire as a church to give off light and warmth and healing to our surrounding community, and that is we must be good listeners to the prophetic word.

We must be good listeners to the prophetic word. We don't have time to elaborate on this, but just notice what he says, Don't quench the fire of the Holy Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances, which in a nutshell, is somebody, a human being, speaking forth revelation from God. Now, we have today God's prophetic word recorded for us.

On the pages of holy scripture, OK? and this is his revelation. So when I or any teacher or you across the table from somebody at Starbucks open up God's word, and you speak forth his revelation communicated in His word, you are doing something that has profound kinship with prophesying. And this is why here at Cornerstone we gather together for a service that's 1 hour and 20, 1 hour and 30 minutes, and over half of that time is devoted to us falling silent and listening to God's revelation through an imperfect human instrument.

As Christians, we would say that our faith is a, our religion is a revelation-based religion. It's built around revelation. We don't just come together as a club and say, Well, how do you think we should live our lives? Oh, that's interesting.

Here's how I think we should live our lives and handle this or that. No, we're not gathering together and pooling our ignorance. God has spoken. In grace voluminously, we have it here.

And we deliver. By the grace He gives us, God's revelation. And so we need to be good listeners to the prophetic word, good responders to the prophetic word, but look at what he says. He doesn't want you to listen to me or to any preacher from this pulpit or any Bible study leader.

He doesn't want you to listen to anyone preaching God's word, proclaiming his revelation, to just take all of that in unthinkingly. He says examine everything carefully, examine it carefully. And then upon examination hold fast to that which is good and literally hold yourself away from anything that you see is not good or that is evil. Part of what's implied here is every time you come, just imagine coming next Sunday.

to church, and one of your prayers is, God, through the preached word, teach me what to hold fast to in terms of beliefs and practices, and I will hold fast to those things and teach me, Lord, what you want me to hold myself away from. Through your revelation, show me what to hold fast to and what to hold myself away from. Come to God with that open mindset, week by week, day after day when you approach his word. For Cornerstone to be everything God wants us to be, we need to go further than just being a church that preaches God's revelation.

We need to be a church full of good listeners to God's revelation and good responders to God's revelation, and good practices of God's revelation as it is being learned. And then no matter what our culture says, to hold fast to, if God's revelation says don't hold fast to that, then we don't hold fast to it. And whatever our culture may say to let go of, if God's word says hold fast to it, then we're going to hold fast to it. If our culture says this isn't bad, you can enjoy this, but God's revelation says you'd better hold yourself away from that, then we hold ourselves away from that.

And as we live that way, guess what guys? We're going to look very different from the world around us, and that's OK. That's OK. We are called to be different.

One writer has said that people who come from the world into the church often come into the church because they're burned out on what the world has had to offer them, and we render them a tremendous disservice when all we do in the church is just give them more of the same. Let's be a different community that listens to, responds to, and obeys God's revelation. Man, if we can just operate according to this, these 6 things, very simple, we will be a church on fire, and the light that we give off will be redemptive, profound, and helpful in providing guidance for many in this community.

We will give off a warmth that will invite others.

into what it is that God is doing here. Let's pray and ask God to help us to do this. Lord, you're a good God, you've spoken to us so graciously, so helpfully, so thoroughly, you think of everything, and we just receive what you're saying to us this morning. You're a good God.

You're a good God. We thank you for letting us hear your voice and for the direction you provide us. If there's any in this room, Lord, who've never repented of their sins and come to you and cried out to you to be their Lord and Savior, I pray that you would just touch their hearts and enable them to do that even now where they're seated, Lord, that they might be born again. And become your children and be transferred from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of your beloved Son.

bless us as a church in the weeks and months to come that we would truly be a church on fire with the fire of God Himself. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity we have to give up our offerings to the Lord, receive these funds and do much with them for the glory of Jesus. In His name we pray, and all God's people said.