Divine Rules of Order for the Local Church (2025)

Rejoice, pray, give thanks, and never quench God’s Spirit. Paul’s closing words to the Thessalonians offer timeless principles for every believer. Rick Hughes unpacks four divine mandates that sustain spiritual stability—rejoicing in every circumstance, praying consistently, giving thanks in all things, and keeping the Holy Spirit’s power active. These truths form the framework for peace, gratitude, and effectiveness in the Christian life based on thinking, not emotion.

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Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Welcome to the Flat Line with your host Rick Hughes.
For the next 30 minutes you'll be inspired, motivated, educated
but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
Good morning and welcome to the Floodline.
I'm your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please

(00:29):
stay with me. Only 30 minutes of motivation, a
lot of inspiration, a whole lot of education, 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 foryour life.

(00:49):
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.
FLOT stands for Forward Line of Troops that concerns 10 unique
problem solving devices found inthe Bible that we base this
radio show around. If you learn those 10 unique
problem solving devices, you canstop the outside source of

(01:12):
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,

(01:34):
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 e-mail us, Rick, at
rickhughesministries.org or you can go to our website,
rickhughesministries.org. The 800 number that you might

(01:55):
have called before is not working right now.
We changed servers and they inadvertently changed our number
without asking us and has affected everything.
And so you may not be able to get through an 800 number, but
you'll have to e-mail 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

(02:15):
time this morning. Last week when I spoke to you, I
talked about the soul, the soul of man, and we stopped actually
talked about the body, soul, andspirit out of First
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 when I look at First
Thessalonians, First Thessalonians 5 verses 12

(02:38):
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'll kind of get the 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

(03:01):
after going through 12/13/14. Warn the unruly.
That's 14 and thirst. 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

(03:22):
now and 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 notpreaching or prophecy.

(03:45):
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.

(04:06):
I call it the divine rules of order for a local church, and
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?

(04:29):
What is it place? This church was the
establishment of the Thessalonian Church and is
recorded in the Book of Acts. Doctor Luke wrote about it
during Paul's second missionary journey.
That's when this church started.Very interesting history about
it. Paul went along with Silas and

(04:50):
Timothy and arrived in Thessalonica after they had gone
through the town of Philippi andwent through a couple of other
towns and came to Thessalonica and they met in the Jewish
synagogue. Remember there's no New
Testament church yet, so the thethe Jews that are assembled in
the synagogue and Luke says as was his custom, Paul went in and

(05:12):
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 in joy and Paul
and Silas, along with a large number of God fearing Greeks and

(05:33):
quite a few leading women. The church faced immediate
opposition immediately in Acts 17, five through 9 again Luke
writes describes how some of theJews 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

(05:56):
decrees, claiming there was another king besides Caesar and
they're claiming Jesus is 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.
It acts. Here's what he wrote in Acts 17,

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five through 9. 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

(06:38):
other believers before the city officials shouting.
These men who have culch troublehave come from all over the
world. Now they've come here and Jason
welcomed them to his house. They are all defying seizures
decrees saying there's another king, one called Jesus.
When the crowd heard this, they they had the city officials

(07:01):
arrest them. The crowd was in a turmoil and
they made Jason get arrested, Evans, some others and made him
post bond before they'd even lethim go.
So they had to come back for trial.
So this is all kind of trouble in this Church of Thessalonica.
So in Paul's first letter, this is what's interesting about

(07:21):
this. In Paul's first letter, we find
God's divine rules of order for a 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.

(07:42):
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 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

(08:06):
the local church, Paul wrote this, he said this know them who
labor among you. The Greek word for know is ido,
EIDO, ido. 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

(08:29):
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 ofcommand.
Here's a 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,

(08:52):
but don't try to run him off. I've seen that happen in
churches where people that remember, 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 wayhe talks, they don't like the
way he dresses and they run him down.
You're to hold them in the high spiritual regard because their

(09:12):
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.

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You're asking for trouble from God when you do that.
You're asking for a 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 to you are to regard them or consider them in love.

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The word regard Haget O my in agape Haget O my in agape
personal love, which is the fruit of the Spirit.
Remember the Galatians 5. The fruit of the Spirit is
Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering. A man with a gift of pastor
teacher who has that gift taughtin Ephesians 411 is to be held

(10:15):
in high regards because of his work, his air gone, his work,
his sacrifice that he's to studyand 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.

(10:38):
You're not to celebrate him because of his style.
You celebrate him, you regard him, you would steed him.
You hold him high because of thecontent 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.

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I have known congregations that ran preachers off because he did
too much teaching, not enough visiting, not enough calling on
people and holding people's handand being people, 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.

(11:23):
I'm doing this because my time is limited, but I'd like for you
to read for yourself First Thessalonians 514 through 15
because these divine instructions are critical in for
order in the local church. Those verses say warn the
troublemakers, encourage the weak in faith, be patient

(11:43):
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 of
First Thessalonians 5, here is the command in verse 16, two
short words, rejoice evermore. This verb, Cairo, CHAIRO Cairo,

(12:07):
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

(12:30):
of us as well. This word means to be filled
with joy. What is joy?
It's the fruit of the Spirit. Ephesians 522.
Cairo, the fruit of the Spirit. This word is just the opposite
word of grief and sorrow. It implies happiness in every

(12:50):
circumstance. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
source of our joy for those who trust in Him.
Did you know the scriptures eventell us there's a joy in heaven
when someone gets saved? Listen to Luke 15.
Seven I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven.
There it is over 1 Sinner that repenteth more than over 99 just

(13:13):
persons who need no repentance. And then in Luke 1510, likewise
I say unto you, there's joy in the presence of the angels of
God over 1 Sinner that repentethin our lives.
We certainly are to be joyful inour ability to pray for other
people. Paul wrote in Philippians 1/4
that always and every prayer of mine for all of you making

(13:34):
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

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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 long-suffering.
So joy, critically for you, I'm Speaking of the manifested he
what's what's manifested even inwhat, even in adverse

(14:16):
circumstances, even when things aren't going right, you can
still have joy. James 112 said my brother, and
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 letthe circumstances of your life
steal your joy. What does that mean?

(14:39):
First of all, it means you've committed mental 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
now here, the imperative mood mandate, rejoice evermore,
continue in an attitude of joy. And then in verse 17, in First

(15:02):
Thessalonians 5, we have anothermandate from God through Paul.
Pray without ceasing. The word pray is proseucobai,
and it's a verb. And that verb is also in the
imperative mood. It's a command.
It's a divine command. Without seeking does not mean
24/7, Doesn't mean you get on your knees 24/7.

(15:25):
What does it mean? It 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.

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If you have unconfessed sin in your life, you quench the power
of the Holy Spirit. Thus that prayer will not be
heard. You you 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 6618. If I regard iniquity in my

(16:08):
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 826. Likewise, the Spirit also helps
our infirmities, for we know notwhat we should pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with

(16:29):
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 cometo 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.

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But in America, there are many, many people who request prayers
for something that may or may not even be God's will in first
John 514. 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

(17:13):
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 theLord Jesus and in the power of
the Holy Spirit. Adoration, intercession,

(17:35):
supplication. That's the order of our prayer
life. Remember Jeremiah 2912?
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.

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It's sad to know that so many ofthose prayers are not even going
to be heard because people don'tfollow instructions, people
don't follow the divine command.If you are 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

(18:20):
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 and not be effective.
So then we move into the next verse.

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First Thessalonians 518 and everything.
Give thanks for this is the willof 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

(19:03):
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.

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Should you thank God if you havea a wreck and a car?
Well, this verse says in everything give thanks.
Did it say only the good thing? 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.

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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 seven.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every

(20:09):
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.

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With Thanksgiving, again, in everything, give thanks.
First Thessalonians 518I challenge you today.
If you have a situation in your life like I have in mind
sometimes, and they're uncomfortable, they make you
angry, they frustrate you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Stop cropping an attitude of of anger and give thanks.

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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 got to understand that every
Christian, every one of us facedcircumstances that are well
beyond our control, our finances, our health, our

(21:18):
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

(21:40):
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

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as from God the Father, approvedby the Lord Himself and
supported by the Holy Spirit. Did you hear that?
The best I can do is accept thisas from God the Father, approved
by the Lord Himself and supported by the Holy Spirit.
This is a wonderful mindset, an example of a believer who uses

(22:27):
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

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give thanks and everything give thanks.
In Psalm 56 three, 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 828 the Bible says,
and we know that all things, everything work together for

(23:11):
good to the ones that love God and to them who are called
according to his predetermined plan.
Notice it says to them that loveGod.
If you don't have personal love for God, all things don't work
together for good Work together for bad sometime maybe you're
under divine discipline. If you have a personal

(23:32):
relationship with the Lord JesusChrist 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 down
the road. He has a plan and a purpose for
your life. As it said they are called to

(23:53):
them who are called according toa predetermined plan.
All things, everything works together for good and Isaiah
4110 fear not, for I'm with you.Do not dismayed, be not, be not
dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen you, I will
help you, I will uphold you withthe right hand of my

(24:16):
righteousness. What a phenomenal promise.
Strengthen, help, uphold all because of his righteousness,
I'm with you. He didn't abandoned 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 First Thessalonians 519.

(24:39):
Quench, not the spirit. We start off with the word
quench with what? 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

(24:59):
put out the fire. Don't quench the spirit, don't
put out the fire. This word is followed by the
particle may me, which is a negative particle, which means
do not, not say, say sabenumi may do not put out the fire.

(25:20):
So the fact is that this is a present tense verb means they've
already begun to do this, and it's indicated by the
instructions in verses 4 through8 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

(25:41):
church. When you have bickering, when
you have jealousy, when you haveinordinate competition, all
these things lead to a powerlesschurch as simply as ritual
without reality. No prayers are going to be
answered, no growth will be evident, no joy is present at
the church where the Holy Spiritis quenched.

(26:02):
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

(26:23):
Spirit? Well, first, John 19 tells us if
we confess our sins, he's faithfully 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

(26:45):
promote it, and they are nothingbut 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 maxim.
I hope this has been instructiveand helpful for you.

(27:07):
I pray that it was. Until next week, I'm Rick
Hughes, your host, and I thank you for listening to the Flood
Lion. Thank you for listening.
To the Flood Lion with your host, Rick Hughes.
If you'd like to contact Rick, please write to him at PO Box
100, Cropwell, Alabama 35O54 or online at

(27:31):
www.rickhughesministries.org.