Pentecostal Dna

Pentecostal DNA

By: Pastor Donny Granberry

Remembering Our Spiritual Roots:

Our choice of text tonight is a letter Timothy received from Paul, who at the time of this letter was imprisoned and about to be executed by Nero, a psychotic tyrant who murdered his own mother, wife, step-brothers and many others.

Nero imitated the first great persecution of the church in a time that was called “The Carnival of Blood.”

It was a time when being a Christian was not just unpopular, but dangerous, especially to the Christian leaders.

The theme of 2 Timothy was “ Don’t compromise, and Don’t quit.”

Paul reminds Timothy:

• 2 Timothy 1: “v13 Hold fast to the form of sound doctrine.

• 2:15 “Study … not to be ashamed … rightly divide the word”

• 3:14 “Continue in what you have learned…”

• 4:2 “Preach the word … in season, out of season.”

In the opening of the letter, Paul reminds Timothy of his Spiritual DNA.

2 Timothy 1:2-6

To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers 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 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.

Paul begins to remind Timothy of his heritage, that he was walking in the footsteps of the faithful.

He reminds him that he owed it to them to neither compromise or quit.

Another man Timothy owed a deal to was Paul.

Paul was a Pharisee, the strictest sect of all Jewish religion, and in his early life was very proud of his Jewish heritage.

Before his conversion he was the leading persecutor of the church.

Yet when Paul was converted to Christianity, he was just as faithful of his Pentecostal heritage, or DNA.

Timothy knew the price that Paul had paid for the cause of the Gospel..

• Paul was stoned in Lystra, Timothy’s hometown.

• Timothy was with Paul in Philippi, where Paul was severely beaten and jailed.

• Three times he received 39 stripes +1.

• Many of the Christians still feared Paul and the Pharisee’s wanted him dead.

• Yet nothing had been able to cause Paul to compromise his message or quit his ministry.

Romans 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:

Timothy was just going through a time of fear and discouragement.

ILLUSTRATION

Andy Griffith Show.

Episode where a bully was taking Opie’s milk money.

Andy told him, there will be a lot of bully’s in the world; you have got to stand up to them.

He stood up to the bully, got a black eye, and lit into that bully like a whirlwind.

At the end Opie said, you know what Dad, a sandwich sure tastes a lot better with milk.

There will be a lot of people who will try to bully you into Pentecostal compromise, but the pathway to Heaven sure is a lot better with the Holy Ghost’s help.

Paul was reminding Timothy, do not compromise. It will be worth it all when you see Christ.

Stir into flames; stir up the gift of the Holy Ghost in you.

The product is worth the price.

If I am going to go out to the Houston Raceway to race cars, I want a nitro fueled car and not a hybrid.

I am not going to be concerned about the price of the fuel, the emissions it puts out; I am going to be concerned about power and speed.

We live in a time when far to many are willing to compromise anointing for animation, power for prosperity, and supernatural for superficial, but I’m here to remind you, God has not lowered His standards or the price for the real thing.

I am not concerned about who might be offended by me speaking in tongues or the gifts of the spirit in operation in this church.

Have you taken a look at the appearance of many people today?

• They have more gel in their hair than a Jell-O factory,

• You don’t know the real color of most people hair,

• They have pierced noses, tongues, eyebrows, and who knows what all else,

• Boys wear make-up as much as girls.

• They speak some foreign language that sounds somewhat like English, and we think they will be offended by our speaking in tongues.