Sermon Tone Analysis

*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.