Praise the Lord Saints of the most high God! Praise the Lord everybody! Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's always a wonderful feeling to be in the house of the Lord. It's always a blessing to be with the children of the Lord. It's always a thrill to be in the presence of the Lord, to feel His presence, His anointing, His peace that passes all understanding.

There's nothing I enjoy more than dwelling in the presence of the Lord. In taking the opportunity to join in fellowship with the saints, to partake in the offering of joint praise and worship to our Lord. That's exactly what we'll be doing in heaven Saints! That's exactly what we'll be doing for eternity. If you don’t like praising God down here, you're not going to like heaven!

Since the name of our church is "Tabernacle of Prayer", let's take a few moments to pray before we get started on this message. Let's take a few moments to ask the Lord to anoint me as I attempt to bring forth His word. Let's take a few moments to ask the Lord to anoint our ears to hear the word and help us to apply it to our lives. Let us pray!

Pray for as long as the Lord directs:

As many of you know, I work in the oilfields. Some of you may have worked in the oilfields, but I would venture to say that most of you haven't. I want everyone here to know that you can relate everything that you do in life to Jesus Christ, to our walk with Him, even to life in the oilfields.

You might be surprised at just how much your job relates to the Lord and to how His kingdom works. Think about what you do at work and ask God "how does this relate to your kingdom?" Hopefully by the time this message is through, He will have started showing you that very thing.

Could we all please stand at this time for the reading of God’s word.

Our text this morning is:

Revelation 3:14-16 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Body:

What I would like to speak to you tonight is about producing oil. You would think that the parable of the ten virgins would be something that more relates to oil than this text but I think that you will agree in the end that this is the correct text to use.

You see, people are very much like oil wells. Some produce and some don't. Some wells flow, while other wells need a device to bring the oil to the surface, such as a pumping unit. (Does everyone here know what a pumping unit is?) Some wells need continual stimulation while others can go for several years before they have to be worked over.

One way to stimulate the heavy oil that I work with is to steam it. This is where the heat comes in. Now there are multiple ways to do this. One way to do this is to 'cyclic steam' the well. This is where you put steam directly down into the producing well.

The oil that I work with is like tar. You can roll it up into a ball and roll it. What happens when you steam a well is that the oil down in the well gets hot, thins out to a consistency more like motor oil, and it flows easier into the well bore. The well bore is just a big piece of pipe with holes in it, that's sunk into the ground. Thinner oil flows through those holes easier, therefore allowing you to produce more oil from the same well than you did when it was cold or lukewarm.

This is what happens when we disciple someone. When we spend time with someone on a regular basis, we help them to grow in the word, or at least we should be helping them grow. We help them to grow faster, be stronger, and be a more fruitful witness, and to win others to Christ.

When we do this, we need to be careful not to just criticize their faults, but learn to be sparing in our criticism. Instead, we need to be lavish in our praise of their growth. Just as we can force too much steam down a well and ruin it. Too much criticism can ruin a budding Christian.

We need to remember they’re just babies regardless of their physical appearance. They need seasoning just like a fine steak. Too much seasoning ruins a steak; it hides the flavor of the meat. Too much meat too soon can ruin a baby Christian. They can’t digest it all yet. So we need to be reassuring, instead of overly critical.

Another way to steam a well is with a 'steam drive'. What a steam drive does is put the producing wells in a circular or square pattern with a dedicated “Steam Injection Well" in the middle. This well does nothing but inject steam into the ground. This allows you heat up several wells at the same time, this way you can get more oil out of the ground for a cheaper price.

This is kind of like the Sunday school teacher, they can reach several lives all at the same time. While this is a cheaper way to disciple people in that it takes fewer people to do the work, it has its drawbacks as well.

One draw back to a steam drive is that you can't pick and choose which wells you want to get what amount of steam. You just put a predetermined amount of steam in the ground, and you hope it goes equally to all wells.

However it rarely works that way. What usually happens is that one or two of the wells in a pattern will hog most of the steam and the others, while still affected by the steam, won't get as much of the heat.

This is what happens in a classroom. We try to give all the students equal attention, but some get more than others and some absorb more than others. To get the best results out of someone; we still need discipleship on top of the teaching.

Just as we 'cyclic steam' some wells in a steam drive area to give them more heat. We still need to have discipleship, at the same time. When a Pastor teaches a congregation, he can preach and preach and preach. But without discipleship many people in any given church just won’t grow.

The scriptures teach us that “iron sharpeneth iron”. Most of us won’t get a finely honed edge unless we’re hanging around with someone that will rub off our rough edges. Back when I taught Sunday school; I used to have a sign on the wall of my classroom that says “If you aren’t discipling someone, you have need of being discipled”.

Now as I mentioned before, sometimes one well can get too much steam and it blows out. This well has so much heat that it produces nothing but steam. I'm sure you've heard the term 'So heavenly minded they're no earthly good'. This person needs discipleship for another reason. To keep them humble.

Just as in an oil well, where we have to take measures to keep too much uncontrolled steam from entering into a well bore; we also have to control the steam in a person’s life. This doesn't mean that we keep them from church because they're on fire for God. It means that we disciple them, so that in their zeal for God they don't become a Pharisee. So they retain their love for God yet don’t look at sinners as beneath them, and therefore fail to witness to them.

We have to remember that we were all sinners once, and we've been blessed abundantly; let's not waste that blessing on just ourselves! We need to share the gospel with those that are still lost. I believe it was the Apostle Paul who once said, “But for the grace of God there go I.” Thank God we’re not what we once were. But let’s not be satisfied with where we are now. Let’s grow in the Lord everyday.

As I've said, steam is one way to stimulate a well. But where does that steam come from? It comes from a steam generator. A steam generator uses a very big flame to heat up water until it becomes steam. If you can imagine a giant hot water heater laying on its side, and its eighty feet long and twenty feet in diameter, you'll probably get the picture.

But where does our spiritual steam come from? We might think that it comes from God. Well, yes and no. The inspiration and the anointing comes from God, which equates to the fuel and water in a steam generator. But who fires up the generator? Who keeps it running? Who makes sure the steam is high enough in quality and not just warm water? The Pastor, that's Who!

The Pastor is the one who worries if we’re getting enough steam or not. He's the one who worries about whether the quality is good enough or not. He's the one who seeks God for more fire, or more water, to give us the right amount and quality of steam when we need it.

God determines whether or not we need more steam, he's the engineer of this whole project. But the Pastor has to listen to God so he'll know when to pour on the coal or when to back off. We need to seek God for a little fire on our own too! That way a Pastor can work on those who don’t have as much and probably need it a little more.

If we're truly wise we'll pray for our Pastor, because if we give him prayer support he'll do a better job. You see, we're not only the oil wells but we're also the electricians, the mechanics, and the maintenance people too. If we do our job the steam generator will run much smoother, and much longer without breaking down.

I heard one time that the average life of a Pastor was 58 years old. That’s not much considering the average age of a male in America is 74 years old. People are hard on Pastors! We need to go easy on Pastors, he’s only human. Just because a man's a Pastor, it doesn’t make him superhuman. He needs rest just like everyone else does. He needs prayer time just like everyone else does. He gets sick just like everyone else does. He has emotions just like everyone else does. Is everybody getting the picture yet?

Now, I want to go back to the oil wells for just a minute. I want to cover some of the types we haven't mentioned at this time, and I want you to figure out what kind of an oil well you are?

The first type of well I want to cover is the flowing well. In the area that I produce oil in, this has the fewest number of any type of well. This well as it states flows oil on its own. It needs no artificial lift system. Just open a valve and it flows to the surface. This is kind of like a new Christian. They’re just bubbling over with joy and the love of Christ. It says in:

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

If you’re on fire for God, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. This type of person can't wait to share what God's given to them.

· They get all excited about going to church.

· They get there early for prayer

· They love to give testimonies

· They have a hallelujah hoe-down when the praise leaders sing!

· They’re just bouncing off the walls and hanging from the chandeliers.

· They shout when the pastor preaches.

You see, they haven't had time to get bored with their relationship with God. Unfortunately, you don't see many long time Christian’s like this any more because they've lost their first love. It says in:

Revelation 2:4-5 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Don’t lose your first love Saints! It’s extremely hard to get it back! For some people it may even be impossible. Why? Because it takes an incredible amount of work to get it back and they won’t put out the effort anymore. Because they’ve gotten lazy in their spiritual walk.

If we’re on fire for GOD, we need to stay on fire for GOD. If we’re not on fire for GOD, we need to get next to someone who is. It’ll make it easier to get back on track. We need to fast and pray, and ask God to give us a burden for souls. Pray that we’ll be given opportunity to witness to someone. Get to church early to pray so that the spirit will be moving before sinners ever enter the doors! Please, don't let your fire go out!!!!

If we’re not excited about going to church, we need to ask God to help us get excited. If the preaching of the word bores us, we need to ask God to stir us up. If we have no desire to read our bibles, we need to ask God to put a burden in our heart for His word.

If we don’t like to witness, we need to ask Jesus to make us like the prophet Jeremiah. He wanted to quit witnessing and prophesying in the name of God because people wouldn’t listen to him. But he said I have a fire shut up in my bones. Praise God!

The next type of oil well; is the kind that needs some form of artificial lift, like a pumping unit or an electric pump down at the bottom of the well. This type of producer responds well to artificial stimulation. If you steam this well, it greatly increases the amount of oil it produces. There are other forms of stimulation that I could explain to you, but this one type is enough for now.

When a pastor preaches the word in a sermon or a bible study, the people that are like these wells get all heated up and produce greater amounts of fruit. They still know the feel of the fire of the Holy Ghost. They like it and they want it. But sometimes, because of the strain of the battle, they need stimulation. They need this in order to re-enter the fight and create havoc for the devil, to be able to produce fruit in the amounts that they should. Some wells will respond for a longer period of time to a steam job than others. Tell me, how's your heat level today? It says in:

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Now I want to talk about the last type of well. This is the non-producing well. These wells are shut in for various reasons such as, down hole damage to the well bore, depletion, or just too much water and not enough oil. These wells for whatever reason, no longer produce oil economically.

Those of us with down-hole damage may have been told that we're crippled or handicapped and we can't produce fruit anymore. Maybe we've been hurt in the church and it's all we can do to just go to church these days. Maybe we think we're just too old to witness to any one.

Well don't believe that garbage for a minute! We don’t have to lead a street service like we used to do, or go door to door.

· Just pick up the phone and call a backslider, or a shut-in on the phone.

· Call the sick and encourage them. If they're in the hospital, visit them.

· Be an intercessory prayer warrior.

· Write letters or send cards to visitors.

· Ask me for something to do, I guarantee you I'll find something you can do!

Some of us may do these things already, and the people in the church don't know it. But in some of these areas maybe we should make it more public. Not to glorify ourselves, but as a witness to the more able ones that you're still valuable to GOD, and that they have no right or excuse to quit!

For those of us with depletion; don’t think that we've done our duty and we don't need to do anything anymore. We can’t just sit there and absorb all the food out of the message, but never share it with anyone. We're just dying on the vine and we don't even know it. We don't even have to be old to get this attitude. Some of us just older than the young folks can do a pretty good job of this too.

The younger generation tends to think that just because they're out of school that they don't have to witness anymore. Not so my friend! Every day is a new day. Find someone new to witness to! Get on fire for God so He can fill that empty vessel you’ve been walking around in! Be an example to the other youth of what a more mature Saint is supposed to act like.

I don't know about you folks, but I've read my bible through several times, and while I could be wrong, I don't recall the word retirement ever being in there. We don't get to retire until we get to heaven. Then it's party time but not before! Therefore we need to:

· Call up the new Christian who's struggling with life.

· Call up the long time Christian who needs a reason to get back on fire, or even to just keep fighting the good fight of faith.

· Start having a family altar, or start a home prayer meeting or bible study.

· Get back on fire for GOD!

· Because nothing makes the devil madder, than people that are on fire for God! And I like making the devil mad, because it means I’m doing something right. Praise the Lord!

Finally, you have the wells that have too much water and not enough oil. In many ways these wells are similar to the wells I just described. They talk of the old days constantly. The brush arbors, the old time tent revivals. The early days in their church, and their walk with their God. Believe it or not, this is all well and good, this is oil. But the problem starts when they start complaining about the church of today.

· They complain about how the choir doesn't make them want to shout anymore.

· They complain that they don't see the miracles anymore.

· They complain that things aren't the way they used to be.

· But they never realize that they aren't doing the same things that they used to do to get them to happen.

· They complain that the pastor doesn't minister to them anymore, or should I say stoke their ego anymore.

You see a Pastor often spends a considerable amount of time in vain trying to get them to produce fruit. Finally he saw that like the water well, it isn't going to get you any return on your investment. Therefore like the good steward, he wisely invests his time in the wells that will produce the best for him.

Another point we might want to consider "They" and "Their". People in this category can be extremely selfish; and sometimes when it comes to the things of God, extremely lazy. They probably reaped where they didn’t sow in the old days too! These types of people need to quit complaining and start doing! We forfeit our right to complain the second we quit working for God!

We all probably ought to forfeit our right to complain the second we’re born again! That's right! We all probably complain way too much! You, Me, everyone. The way God's blessed us by saving our souls instead of sending us to hell; there’s no way we should ever open our mouths to complain. If most church's spent half as much time working for God as they do complaining and gossiping, there isn’t a church in town that would hold all the people that could be won to the Lord.

If we've spent 10, 15, 20 years or more in a church, we need to watch that we don't get caught up in that stuff. It's easy to think that we're an expert in all things and have a right to murmur. Trust me, you don't. Look at what happened when some people complained about Moses in the wilderness. The ground opened up and had them for lunch, tents, families and all. It says in:

Ephesians 5:15-16 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Keep in mind that a Pastor has a limited supply of time, just like the steam generator can only produce so much steam. Therefore, he has to put it where it will do the most good. If a pastor isn't coming up to us all the time either he thinks we're doing great, or he doesn't want to waste his time on a dry well. Then again sometimes he has so much to do that he doesn't have time to remember his own name, much less spend a few minutes with everyone.

If the musicians will come:

So have you figured out what kind of well you are? Are you a flowing well? Are you a pumping well? Or are you a non-producer?

· How is your temperature tonight?

· Are you on fire for God? Or

· Are you a cold well?

· Are you a lukewarm well?

· If you aren't a hot well you need to get on fire

· We all need to become flowing wells.

· That rivers of living water would flow out of our bellies.

· That we would all be soul winners.

Because if we really believe that hell is real, we surely can't want anyone to go there, and still have the audacity to claim to be saved. I'm asking everyone to come down to the altar today, and to rededicate ourselves to the work of the Lord. Let's put some fire back in our lives.

If we don’t need more of the Holy Ghost than what we already have, spend some of it on those folks at this altar that don’t have enough. If we like being filled with the spirit, we need to pour it out on those less fortunate so that God has room to fill us again and again and again.

If you don’t know the Lord today, you can find Him at this altar. You can find fulfillment in Jesus Christ. You can find the peace that passes all understanding right here at this altar. The Lord will be found only by those who seek Him.