Fan the Flame

You know when I was a student at Olivet one thing I loved to do was people watch (I still love to people watch)

But probably my favorite day to people watch is when the Freshman were moving in to their dorms.

and all of the sudden It dawned on me that all of the Notre Dame students were moving in and were ge

Because it would be like watching a drama, I mean the parents have went their whole life raising their kids, training them what to do, telling them how to behave

and now they are getting ready to let them loose.

and my favorite part is when they get to the point right before their parents are saying goodbye and its such a cool emotional thing to watch.

because parents are telling their kids how proud they are of them, some parents are praying for their kids, tears are being shed and parents are saying their final words of advice before their kids are getting ready to leave to be on their own.

Probably many of you remember a point like this when you were getting ready to leave your child and you are saying your final goodbyes for awhile whether it be their first day of kindergarten, camp or college.

And today we are beginning a series called “Final Words.” and what we are going to be doing over the next five weeks is looking at passages of scripture in a letter called 2nd Timothy.

and this is an emotional letter, because their is a guy named Paul who mentored another young man named Timothy so much that Paul began to call Timothy his son.

but they are now separated and Paul is in prison for preaching the Gospel, and he is most likely going to be put to death very soon.

So he writes this letter to this young man named Timothy saying what he thinks will be his last encounter ever with this adopted son of his that he just loves.

So this is a really emotional letter,

and with that the things that are written in this letter are Pauls final words of advice before He is gone.

So I want to invite us to lean in this morning to this letter because what Pauls says here is important for Timothy, but its important for us as well

So turn with me to and today we are going to be looking at the beginning of this letter.

because before we even get into the body of the this letter their are a few things I want us to understand about Paul and Timothy’s relationship, Timothys background, and one thing that Paul instructs Timothy to do.

And I know this sounds like we are doing a history lesson (last week we had science, today history), but really their are some huge points that I pray we will leave here today and apply to our lives.

So once again we are in and it says:

(NIV)

Thanksgiving

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am 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.

Appeal for Loyalty to Paul and the Gospel

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 the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

So as I mentioned their is a mentorship relationship between Paul and Timothy

and I probably don’t talk about this enough but really if you look throughout the Bible most of the people in the Bible who we think of as people who did amazing things for God had a mentor in their life.

Jethro Mentored Mosses, Samual mentored Saul and David, David Mentored Salomon and a group of misfits, Elijah mentored Elisha, and Jesus mentored 12 disciples and Paul mentored Timothy.

Literally you can look throughout the Bible and almost see a huge chain of people who have been mentored.

and God wants all of us to be mentored in our life in some way. .

And what is so neat about this letter that Paul is writing is it shows us what that mentorship should look like.

and look at verse three because Paul says “Timothy, I thank God for you”

Paul knew timothys mistakes and issues, some of it he talks about in the letter he sends before this one, but in the middle of that he still says I thank God for you.

He sees Timothy how God see’s Timothy,

He knows his mistakes yet Paul sees Timothy’s potential and says I just can’t help but thank God for you because of who God is redeeming you to be.

and God is wanting us to find a mentor in our life who is sees us how God sees us,

they don’t go wow you are a mess and this is how I am going to improve your life, but they go wow you are a child of God who has some things to work on but I thank God for you because I see the potential you have.

And look at what Paul says next, he says He served God with a clear conscience, meaning, he was obedient to where God was calling him

they know we have flaws and theuy help us with that

This is probably the most important part for us to get. We need a mentor who is obedient to God.

Imagine you had a recipe for cake and it taste awful, well chances are if you pass that down to someone who is learning to make cake their cake is going to taste awful as well.

because the recipe is bad.

but we need to have a mentor who is on fire and obedient for God, because otherwise we are just going to replicate that disobedience in our own life.

Then the final characteristic a mentor should have is at the end of verse 3 and it is they are someone who is going to pray for you.

Really pray for you day and night

because they care for you so much that they are willing to intercede to God on your behalf.

But God is calling all of us to have a mentor and really be intentional about mentoring others

I have a mentor in my life who pours into me and he prays for me and is obedient to God and he sees my flaws and mistakes yet works with me through that.

and God wants us to have that so we can accomplish His will in our life.

So that was just verse 3… but Paul starts the letter by saying Iv’e poured into you

and we are going to jump to verse 5 because He moves to saying your family has poured into you.

and he says I remember your Grandmother Louis and your mother Eunice and how they had faith in God and I know that because of them you are living out the faith they lived out.

How cool is that? That Paul is saying well yeah I poured into you, but even more importantly your family poured into you!

Did you know that we are the primary spiritual care givers of our children and family.

You can come to church and your kid will leave with a great message and the body of Christ will love on them and it will be a transformational experience

But that is maybe only a max of two hours of the week.

and you know how many hours you spen with your family? A lot more then the church.

Imagine what would happen if you lived out a faith to your children and family in everyday life.

Imagine how that would effect them.

because often times what will happen is they will

You know one thing that I am starting to love about being a parent is Liam is starting to get a small personality, and he recently has started copying what me and Arika do somtimes

So I will stick my tongue out and he will sometimes stick it back out at me

I will make a noise or sound and he will occasionally copy it

But our children love to copy us and when we are living out this life glorifying toward God often time what will happen is they are going to copy that life.

So Paul says I have poured into you, your family has poured into you, but he says don’t miss this next part because you need to continue to fan the flame that me and your family have been helping you fan.

You know some of us have family members whether it be kids or siblings or whatever and they were raised in a family who were obedient and lived out their Christian faith, but they have strayed away (my brother is in that boat)

But if I had to guess why this is it is not because of somthing the parents or grandparents did (altough it could be) but often times its because they didn’t fan their flame, because God gives us the choice if we want to grow closer to him or drift away.

And just so were are all on the same page fanning the flame is where we use the resources and gifts God has given us to glorif Him and deepen our relationship with him.

and every single one of us is called to fan that flame.

and we need to look at our life and ask God am I fanning the flame you have given me in my life.

You know I was at a friend of mines house the other day and he made pulled pork with a smoker and it was amazing.

and we started talking about smoking meat and I learned that smoking meat is almost an art

because their are certain types of meats that to smoke it properly you are supposed to smoke it for over 20 hours.

and unless you have a really fancy smoker its a huge challenge because you are supposed to keep the meat a certain temperature the entire time.

And so almost every hour you need to check what the temperature of the meat is

which if you know how many hours are in a day, it means that this is your entire weekend.

and forget about sleep!

Because every hour you need to go out check the temperature and if its to low you need to blow on the coals to make it warmer otherwise the meat could turn out bad.

But you know God is asking us today examine our life and see if we are being obedient to Him.

And if we aren’t He wants us to fan that flame until we are right where He is calling us to be.

and look at the results

because one other thing we need to understand is that Timothy he was in a rough area for ministry,

He was in

Ephasis which in a way we could look at the biblical days las vegas and from what we can tell people are rejecting the gospel message that he has tried delivering

He probably felt like a failure, he probably felt like God called him to minister to this area and He’s done nothing

but Paul rights this letter and says Timothy… You might feel like you haven’t made an impact but when you are fanning your flame and our in God’s will in your life

you are not going to not be sacred and timid (tim), but you are going to be courageous for Christ.

You know there have been points in my life where I just feel like I have fallen short and failed God.

and when that happens it really is easy to get discouraged.

But the amazing thing is God still pursues us.

And he doesen’t fill us with shame, or dicouragement.

But because of his Grace He fills us with his Holy Spirt which gives us Love and disipline where we can keep going in those momenents of discouragement.

and we need that Grace in our lives. and today we are going to end my receiving communion together

and communion is really an amazing way for us to be reminded of the Grace that is given through Christ.

the Grace that dosen’t keep us the same but it changes us

and in effect we change others

we change our family, we change people we are mentoring and really we can change just about anyone through what Christ has done in us.

So I was to pray for us and then I want to invite you to come forward during this last song and every person who has placed their trust in Christ is welcome to receive communion.

and this is also a great time to pray and reflect on where you need to fan your flame in your life.

maybe you need a mentor and you want to pray about that

Maybe you want to step it up to be a model of Christ in your families lives.

Maybe there is some other area but lets prepare our hearts for recieving communion and as always come forward first to get the elements and then bring it back to your seat and we will receive it together as the body of Christ.

Pray with me

On the night before Jesus was betrayed Him and the disciples were having a meal together and Jesus took the bread that was on the table and broke it and He said “This is my body broken for you” Christ Body broken for you: Recieve and be grateful

Then at the end of the meal Christ took the cup and held it up and said this is my blood shed for you. The blood of Christ shed for you and the forgiveness of your sins. Drink

Pray