Set Me On Fire

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.