Fan into Flame

Mission and Vision

Intro

Last week was an awesome week in ministry

We finished up our dear church series last week with the letter to Laodicea

I struggled with what to preach today

We are in a little bit of a crossroads with getting ready for school to start

With the fall coming we are preparing for new

Today we are going to experience someone taking the steps of new birth and baptism

I wasn’t sure what God had for us today

But I continued to have this feeling in my heart… Plainville CHurch of the Nazarene… as well as the believers who listen to our sermons… we are in need of reminders

WE need to be reminded as to what we are called to and who we are in Christ

Context

Paul is writing to Timothy

This is his 2nd letter to his son in the faith and paul is toward the end of his life. He knows the days are short.

This is actually his last letter as he awaits his trial and execution in Rome

Paul is giving advice and instructions to the next generation that would guide and lead him as a pastor and would lead the church deeper into CHrist

Fan into Flames

I love how paul starts this letter. He tells reminds Timothy who he is

v3-5

Paul is praising God for who Timothy is… but not only that, he is reminding timothy who he is

We are in an identity crisis in the church

Just like the letters that Jesus wrote to the churches in the book of reveleation

We have let so much of the worlds identity sneak into who we are

We start to be defined by who we are not and what we are against

We let out circumstances or our pride or our preferences identify who we are

The problem with having and identity crisis is that all of our actions flow out of our identity

Part of identifying something is what it does

Theres a joke by a comedian named Mitch Hedburg about naming appliances

You just see what the thing does and you add “er” to the thing

that thing makes toast… its a toaster… I’m going on break

The OT puts it this way, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Jesus says it like this… you know a tree by its fruit

What we do flows from who we are

Because we, like the churches that we just finished studying, have identity issues… it muddies what we do because we don’t know who we are

This is why we do the mission and vision every week.

We need to keep our identity in Christ central so that we can continue living out of that identity

Paul tells Timothy in v6

Fan into flame the gift of God

He reminds Timothy who he is and then tells him to fan that flame

Not to go on and seek new flames but to feed and operate in the gifting that God has already called him to

We as the church need to be reminded who we are. Not only that but we need to fan into flame the gift of God

This church your ministry your calling… it needs to be nurtured in the Holy Spirit, it needs to be fanned

Not only to operate in it, but to be Bold about it

He goes on to say that God did not give us a spirit of fear...

Why would he have to say that unless Timothy was dealing with some timidity

Why would the Holy Spirit put that into scripture if we as the body of Christ don’t deal with timidity