Stirring the Fire
Stirring the Fire
4/24/04 and 4/25/04
2 Timothy 1
5 /I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. [1]/
-All of us have gone camping or set around a campfire and you know that when it burns for a while it settles and has to be re-stacked and stirred.
-We know that the coals get cold and you have to blow on them and stir them up.
-You have to be vigilant or your fire will burn down.
-The same is true with the Christian life. You can’t start a fire and leave it. You have to fan the flame and stir the coals or you can get cooled off.
-I have been cooled off and I have been white hot. White hot is better.
How do you fan the flame or stir the fire?
1. Be a Worshipper
-Learn to live in an attitude of worship.
-Practice the presence of God.
-Worshippers are able to focus their lives on God in any circumstance and get things back on center.
-Singing is good but I didn’t say be a singer.
-Worshippers have an attitude of gratitude.
-Appreciation adds value to everything you possess.
-A an old pair of tennis shoes that you appreciate is worth more than a new pair you don’t like.
Psalm 34 Message
I bless God every chance I get;
my lungs expand with his praise.
I live and breathe God;
if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy:
Join me in spreading the news;
together let’s get the word out.
God met me more than halfway,
he freed me from my anxious fears.
Look at him; give him your warmest smile.
Never hide your feelings from him.
When I was desperate, I called out,
and God got me out of a tight spot.
God’s angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray.
Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.
Worship God if you want the best;
worship opens doors to all his goodness.
Young lions on the prowl get hungry,
but God-seekers are full of God.
/[2]/
2. Fill your mind with God’s Word
-I don’t just mean read it.
-Think about it. Consider it in your normal life.
-Ask questions. “I wonder what Jesus meant when He said….”
-That is called “meditation”.
-It literally is the picture of a cow chewing its cud. That is when the cow is digesting what it ate.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
/Whatever he does prospers. [3] /
Joshua 1
8 /Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. [4]/
1897. הָגָה hagah (211c); a prim. root; to moan, growl, utter, speak, muse:— declare(1), devise(2), devising(1), growls(1), make a sound(1), meditate(5), meditates(1), moan(3), moan sadly(1), mutter(2), mutters(1), ponders(1), utter(2), uttering(1), utters(1).
[5]
-It is really speaking to yourself and memorizing and pondering a Scripture.
Jeremiah 20
9 But if I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
/a fire shut up in my bones. [6]/
3. Pray for others that are hurting
Matthew 14
13 /When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. [7] /
-Jesus had just heard that John the Baptist, His forerunner in ministry as well as cousin had just been beheaded by Herod.
-He was probably very angry and very grief-stricken yet at a time like that instead of focusing on Himself He had compassion, healed, and then fed the multitude.
-The best way to get over feeling sorry for yourself is to focus on someone else.
-When you reach out to others you stay on fire yourself.
-If you want to see tremendous spiritual growth in someone you place them over a small group or class where others are depending on them.
-The fact that others need them causes them to dig deeper that normal.
4. Hang out with those who are on fire
Proverbs 27
17 As iron sharpens iron,
/so one man sharpens another. [8]/
1 Corinthians 15
33 /Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” [9]/
-There are some people that you get around and they just inspire you.
-Others can depress a circus clown with their whining.
Example
There is a story of a farmer’s son who had a parrot. One day the farmer took his shotgun out to shoot the crows and chase them out of his field. The parrot was out there with them and when the farmer shot he hit them all a little. The parrot is stunned and limps back to the house. The farmer’s son sees the bird and asks his dad what happened to his beautiful parrot. The farmer replies:
BAD COMPANY
5. Pray in the Spirit
Jude 20
20 /But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. [10] /
Isaiah 28
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
/and, “This is the place of repose”— but they would not listen. [11]/
-Praying in your prayer language refreshes you from the inside out.
-Someone has compared it to a battery charger.
6. Read Books about those who were on fire
-There is a scarlet thread that runs through history of people who had passion for God.
-You can get books, buy movies etc.
-I was just listening this week about the Cambridge 18. They were athletes in England and instead gave their lives to be missionaries. C.T. Studd was one of them.
-We are standing on the shoulders of many men and women who gave everything.
-We need to look in the Bible and also in history so we can follow their examples.
Hebrews 13
/7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. [12] /
-When I get discouraged I just need to think about Paul in prison or someone like John Wesley or William Wilberforce.
7. Yield your future to hope
-Fear is an expectation of evil.
-Hope is an expectation of future good.
-One of the three eternal virtues that we can walk in now along with faith and love is HOPE.
-Hope is an anchor for our soul.
-When the wind is blowing your boat along you have to look in your heart for hope.
1680 ἐλπίς [elpis /el·pece/] n f. From a primary elpo (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); TDNT 2:517; TDNTA 229; GK 1828; 54 occurrences; AV translates as “hope” 53 times, and “faith” once. 1 expectation of evil, fear. 2 expectation of good, hope. 2a in the Christian sense. 2a1 joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. 3 on hope, in hope, having hope. 3a the author of hope, or he who is its foundation. 3b the thing hoped for.
[13]
· We have the blessed hope-eternity with Jesus
· Jeremiah 29 says God has a future and a hope for us
· We expect to be on the winning side no matter how bad the score gets run up in the meantime.
1 Timothy 4
9 /This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. [14] /
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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (2 Ti 1:5). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2]Peterson, E. H. (1995). The message : New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs (Ps 34:1). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ps 1:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jos 1:8). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
prim. primary, primitive
[5]Thomas, R. L. (1998, 1981). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition (H1897). Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Je 20:9). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 14:13). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Pr 27:17). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 15:33). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[10]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jud 20). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[11]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Is 28:11). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[12]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Heb 13:7). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
n n: noun or neuter
f f: feminine
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
TDNTA Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[13]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G1680). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
[14]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Ti 4:9). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.