February 5, 2012
Morning Worship
Text: 2 Timothy 1:3-7; Revelation 2:1-7
Subject: Passion for God
Title: Set Me on Fire
I ask God questions. Do you do that? I mean, if you are curious or bothered do you ask God, “Why?” I want to know why people aren’t flocking to the church. I want to know why young families don’t come and get locked in to ministry at this or any local church. I want to know why the power of the Word of God isn’t enough of a weapon in our hands to prepare the field for the Holy Spirit to draw people to be saved.
You know, you better be careful about what you ask God! One morning last week when I was at church in prayer one word began to fill my mind and I couldn’t get away from it. It got hold of me and still won’t turn me loose.
PASSION! That’s it! Just one word… but oh what a word it was to me. The church has lost its passion… passion for God, passion for His Word, passion for his church, passion for doing His will, passion for power, passion for truth, passion for the lost, passion for the Spirit of God, passion for the baptism in the Holy Spirit and subsequent refillings, passion for healing, the passion for miracles… the truth is, in every area of our faith the passion suffers.
There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher."
"What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all."
Macready’s answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction."
G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36.
When I read that the light came on for me! We don’t really believe what we proclaim. As I was finishing up my sermon I noticed that our daily devotional for Saturday was about passion. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Today I want to show you that God wants you to restore your passion…
Read 2 Timothy 1:3-7
I believe this is God’s word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I appropriate it to my life today…
Let’s see how Paul’s message to Timothy corresponds to a message for the church today.
I. THERE IS A FOUNDATION THAT HAS BEEN LAID. 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. Every one of us here today is here because someone cared enough to share the gospel with you – whether it was a parent or a friend. And after you were saved someone cared enough for you to take you alongside and help you build a foundation of faith. I know people who have been saved but never get locked into a local church. They spend all their time listening to this radio program or watching another TV evangelist. What they end up with is a hodge-podge of theology but no foundation to put it on. Without that fundamental knowledge and basic understanding of God’s word it is like trying to build a skyscraper on sandy soil. Ephesians 2:19-21, 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. OK, now let’s get this straight. It is not the apostles and prophets themselves that are the foundation but the words from God that they spoke as His church is being built. There are some here today who are in the process of building a foundation on the word of God that I preach. You need to keep coming and keep the building process going. Many of you already have a foundation built and are building a great house of faith upon it. Good for you. 2 Timothy 2:19, Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm… You are built or are being built on a solid foundation.
II. THERE IS A FIRE THAT HAS BEEN BUILT… 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. Three things here… 1) the gift of God… Whether this refers to your salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or the anointing of God for special ministry, it doesn’t matter. It is a gift from God – not from yourself. 2) It came by the laying on of hands… this would seem to favor either of the last two and not salvation. The bible mentions the laying on of hands with both. Acts 8:14-17, 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:1-3, 1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 3) It is your responsibility to do something… I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… I love wood heat. In a house we built in 1984 we had a wood - burning furnace installed. I took me a couple of years to figure out the best way to use it, but I figured it out. You had to have a bed of hot coals built up. You could have one little ember at the bottom of an ash pile and it wouldn’t do much good. It might eventually catch fire but not likely. I kept the coal bed hot by cleaning out the ashes that would tend to smother the fire. Then I kept a good supply of wood available. The furnace was set up so that when things upstairs began to cool off the thermostat would send a signal to a fan in the firebox that would blow on the coals and ignite the wood. It was my responsibility to keep the ashes cleaned out, keep good wood, and set the thermostat. The furnace did the rest. In this case it is your responsibility to keep the coals alive by removing the ashes (anything that would smother or keep the coals from doing their job), to keep a good supply of wood (study the word and spend time in a prayerful relationship with God), and to set the thermostat. Perhaps this is the most difficult thing. Many grow cold a little at a time and don’t even realize it. So it requires that you set your level of expectation at a point where you don’t sense the presence of God in your life you know something has to happen. That is what happened to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-16, 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
III. THERE IS A CHALLENGE THAT IS ISSUED… One of the great benefits of a wood furnace instead of a wood stove is the central heating idea. The heat went into the heat duct and was distributed throughout the house. Now if the electric would go out we could still stay warm, but only if you got close to the fire.
7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. You have a foundation. You have a flame. Now I need to ask you this question, “What are you willing to do with it?” If the fire is just making you feel good about yourself you have missed it. The Spirit you have is not a spirit that makes you timid or a spirit of fear. Just the opposite. When the passion is there you are fearless. The Spirit you have does not leave you powerless. He is a Spirit of power – the same power, the same Spirit, that raised Jesus from the dead. But power without passion is useless. Passion for the things of God will renew your love for others. 1 John 4:7-8, 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Passion for the things of God gives us spiritual discipline. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. The word translated “self-discipline” or “sound mind” means “self-control”. The power and love that you have is under your control. 1 Corinthians 14:32, The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. This fire that Paul was writing Timothy about, the passion for the things of God, are only beneficial if you do something with it.
Years ago, Eugene Ormandy was reported to have dislocated a shoulder while conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. That must have been some kind of music they were playing and he must have been directing with passion.
Here is the challenge for you. Has your passion for God ever caused you to dislocate anything? If it hasn’t then you must question whether it is real passion or not.
I want to close this morning by taking you to a passage in Revelation chapter 2. Verses 1 - 5, 1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
The revelation that Jesus is bringing us here is not that the church had forsaken its salvation “first love”. What was missing was the passion that came with the first love.
I want you to notice something specifically here though. Who was this letter written to? It wasn’t the church of Ephesus. It was “To the angel of the church in Ephesus …” The angel was the messenger or the pastor of the church. Because the pastor had lost his passion the rest of the church has followed suit. In verse 5 Jesus gives a stern warning, If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
The lamp stand is the church. The truth is, if the church has lost its passion for the kingdom it will eventually be removed. It will cease to exist – die out.
Passion… The definition of passion
: the state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces Is your passion fueled by the Holy Spirit or by the things of the world?
a (1): emotion (2)plural: the emotions as distinguished from reason passion for the things of God even when it may not make sense… b: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction - desire for kingdom things… c: an outbreak of anger… against the prince of the power of the air…
a: ardent affection : love b: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept c: an object of desire or deep interest
How do regain your passion? How do you fan the flame?
1. Meditate on the word of God…Joshua 1:8, 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.
2. Prayer…James 5:13-16, 13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. The Amplified bible says it like this, The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
3. Fasting… Isaiah 58:6, “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Fasting will set you free to be passionate for God again.
4. Praying in the Spirit… Jude 1:20-21, 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God
It’s your choice. I challenge you to make it you desire to restore the passion so those outside the church will see that there is a reason for your passion and come to know the Lord as their Savior.
