“I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel”
Pastor Glenn Newton 6-2-02
“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. 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. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of
power, of love and self-discipline.
So do not be ashamed to testify about out Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.
But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us
and called us to a holy life -- not because of anything we have done but because of his
own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning
of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ
Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.
That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I
have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him
for that day.” 2 Tim. 1:5-12
This morning we are kicking off the new Church year, we are getting to start over again. I
looked at our statistics a couple of years ago on this date and we had 19 for Sunday
School and we had 29 for Morning Worship, OUCH! Thanks for being here this morning.
Last Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s Supper together and I also challenged you to
remember three things, Three things that we need to remember every week as a Christian.
I won’t ask you if you remember, I will just refresh your memory.
We need to Remember first,
1. God’s Love - His Love is for us, His Love is always available to us, amen?
2. God’s Word - His Word is Truth
3. God’s Power - Through Christ we have His Resurrection Power, to be overcomers, to
Love others, and to be witnesses for Him, Amen?
This morning I want to encourage you to develop in the following three areas in your
Spiritual journey. If you will Remember last weeks three essentials, they will enable you
to develop these three areas of your Spiritual life. What are they?
1. Faith on Fire!
2. Spirit of Power, Love, and Self-discipline
3. Your Personal Witness
I could spend a whole sermon on each of these areas, and probably have, but I want to
remind you this morning of these three important aspects of our Christian life. As we
decide to develop these areas, God is able to unleash his Power in our life.
1. Faith on Fire!
What does the Apostle Paul, who by the way is sitting in Prison for his faith and
testimony, but he’s not sitting around pouting about his circumstances, he just uses the
down time to encourage this Young Pastor to push on for Jesus.
The Apostle Paul had this Faith on Fire! His Faith was unfazed by the circumstances
surrounding his life. It didn’t matter if he was preaching to hundreds or starting new
churches, or if he was sitting in a dirty, cold, prison cell, His Faith was stoked, buring
strong for His Master, Jesus Christ.
Paul tells young Timothy in verse 6, “...I remind you to fan into flame the gift of
God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
Paul tells this young pastor, Fan into Flame this Gift of Faith that God has given you. Fan
into Flame your Christian experience, Fan into Flame your Relationship with Jesus, Don’t
settle for a dead, lifeless, religious routine. Don’t settle for what the Pharisees all were
busy teaching, a religion of rules and regulations, a life that only looked at the outside.
Friends, Is your Faith on Fire?
One dark night outside a small town, a fire started inside the local chemical plant.
Before long it exploded into flames and an alarm went out to fire departments from
miles around. After fighting the fire for over an hour, the chemical company
president approached the fire chief and said, "All of our secret formulas are in the
vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved! I will give $50,000 to the
engine company that brings them out safely!" As soon as the chief heard this, he
ordered the firemen to strengthen their attack on the blaze. After two more hours
of attacking the fire, the president of the company offered $100,000 to the engine
company that could bring out the company’s secret files.
From the distance, a long siren was heard and another fire truck came into sight. It
was a local volunteer fire company composed entirely of men over 65. To
everyone’s amazement, the little fire engine raced through the chemical plant gates
and drove straight into the middle of the inferno. In the distance the other firemen
watched as the old timers hopped off of their rig and began to fight the fire with an
effort that they had never seen before. After an hour of intense fighting, the
volunteer company had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas.
Joyous, the chemical company president announced that he would double the
reward to $200,000 and walked over to personally thank each of the volunteers.
After thanking each of the old men individually, the president asked the group what
they intended to do with the reward money. The fire truck driver looked him right in
the eye and said, "The first thing we’re going to do is fix the brakes on that
truck!"
What had looked like courage and unbelievable desire was instead faulty brakes and the
will to live.
What do you have in your life today? Is your Faith one that enables you to see beyond the
here and now? Does your Faith go beyond what your checkbook can cover? Does your
Faith move you beyond what you’ve experienced in the past?
Friends, if your Faith doesn’t allow you to believe past you have already done in
the past, or if you Faith doesn’t extend beyond your own manmade security..... then it’s
not Faith at all.
Faith on Fire,
How many of you believe that God wants us to build a new building?
Do you have Faith that God will provide what we need? Our part is to believe it and go
and share this belief with other people. Our part is to have this contagious Faith that says,
YES, God is going to do it, and I’m going to tell anybody who wants to listen.
You see, building this church has nothing to do with buildings, it has everything to
do with building people. If we will put down our doubt, if we will trust God and share
this Faith we have with other people, God will build His church through us.
I had a thought this week as I was out on the property, thinking about what would
be there in the days to come. The building that we have been talking about, may not be
big enough for what God has in mind for us......... the key is for us to be faithful in sharing
our Faith, and allowing God to build the church through our Faith in Him.
Faith on Fire is a Faith in Action. Who will you infect this week with your Faith?
Be contagious. Don’t be contagious with your lack of Faith. Don’t infect people with
your disbelief. Satan will use your bad attitudes and your lack of Faith to infect the body
of Christ, don’t you dare let that happen...... Turn to God and Trust Him for everything....
you can’t figure God out with a calculator....It’s Faith....It’s Faith... Believe... Just
Believe. You’ll feel better.
The second area that we need to develop if God’s Power will be unleashed in our life is :
2. Spirit of Power, Love and Self-Discipline
Verse 7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of
love and of self-discipline.”
Have you ever heard of the "Dependent Order of Really Meek and
Timid Souls"? When you make an acrostic of the first letters of its
name, you have the word "Doormats." The Doormats have an official
insignia—a yellow caution light. Their official motto is: "The meek
shall inherit the earth, if that’s OK with everybody!" Upton Diskson
founded the society after he wrote a pamphlet called “Cower Power.”
I don’t think God wants us to be a card carring member of the “Dependent Order of
Really Meek and Timid Souls” do you?
The apostle Paul from what many scholars tell us was not this tall, muscular, intimidating
size man. In fact, many think he was short, almost haunched over, and his eyesight was
not very good. To look at him you wouldn’t think of Power and Success.
But you see that’s our problem. We look with human eyes at things. We too many times
don’t see what God sees in us, or in others.
The Apostle Paul was one of the most Powerful Influences for Christianity that we have
ever had or will have, God took this frail looking, professor looking little man and literally
turned all of Rome upside down, and then God took this physically unattractive man and
sent him all over the known world starting churches and sharing the Gospel with the
Gentiles, or the heathens of the world.
Paul didn’t worry about what he looked like or what he didn’t look like. Paul relied on
one thing. Paul’s source of power is the same source that we have access to today..... It’s
the Power of the Holy Spirit living in us and through us.
If you will live by the Spirit, you will know this Power that Paul had in his life. If you live
in the flesh, by your own means, by your own wisdom, you will live in Fear and you will
be a discouraged Christian.
ILL.
This week a had the opportunity to talk with a Tyson employee as part of my job as
chaplain which God I believe will use to open many doors of ministry for me. I spoke to a
young man who had the responsibilities of a supervisor, and they had even given him the
title of supervisor, but He was very frustrated because they had not given him the same
authority and power to be able to carry out his duties.
I thought about how many people carry around the name Christian, they are trying to
carry out the responsibilities and live like a Christian, but they lack the one thing that
would change their whole experience, the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Unlike the Tyson employee, God does not hold back the Power from us, in fact He
instructs us to pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit so that we can know this Power and
live a life that reflects this life changing Power.
New Hope Church, We need a Church with a people who are filled with the Holy Spirit,
being empowered to serve God, and to overcome the world. The Holy Spirit not only will
enable to you to endure the trials and hard times, just as important, The Holy Spirit will
empower you to be a witness for Jesus Christ, unashamed of His Message of Hope.
Are you living the Spirit-Filled Life today?
The final area that I want to touch on this morning, this is an area that we really need to
concentrate on as a church and that’s:
3. Our Witness
In Verse 8, Paul instructs Timothy, “..Do not be ashamed to testify about the Lord..”
Our Witness, through the Power of the Holy Spirit is what can make a difference in
people’s life. It’s our life lived out in front of people, it’s also our words and our attitudes
that people will see and hear, all of these things make up our Witness.
We need to really pray that God would strengthen us in the area of being bold in our
verbally sharing our faith with others.
I’ve started to brush up on my Evangelism Explosiion presentation of the Gospel. Why?
Because it’s been too long since I’ve used it, and my goal this coming year is simply to
share the gospel at least one time a week, every week, busy week or not, every week find
an opportunity to share the greatest news of all time.
We share with people the good news that we have don’t we? This week if I would have
caught a 5 LB bass while fishing, how many people do you think I would tell that news
too?
Everybody in town would know! I would go the Graphic and ask for a picture in the
paper!
If I hit a hole in one on the Golf course and won a new car, do you think I might share
that news with anyone?
When we have a grandson or granddaughter born, do you tell anyone? I mean their
picture is being flashed all over town isn’t it?
Those are all great things to tell people about.
What about what Jesus has done for you? Is that Good News?
Have you been saved from your sins and spared an eternity in Hell? Have you been
forgiven of your past, has your marriage been saved? What has God done for you?
People need to know that Jesus can transform their Life. Jesus can heal the broken
hearted, Jesus can wipe our sin stained hearts clean, Jesus can give us hope for our
families, for our Future.
Will you be a Witness?
Will you have a Faith that’s on Fire?
Do you possess the Spirit of Power, Love and Self-Discipline that Paul describes, the Holy
Spirit?
Today you can make a decision, you can pray and ask God to renew your commitment to
Him, to renew your Trust in Him, to renew your Faith in Him, to renew your Love for
Him.
Will you get back to Jesus this morning, Is He your First Love?
