Hello and happy Tuesday. You know, now that I say that, I realize it’s Taco Tuesday! Happy Taco Tuesday! I hope that you’re all getting back into the rhythm of the post-holiday season, which I guess is basically January through October or “the rest of the year.” It’s good to see Margie getting back to a much more normal retail schedule and my schedule is doing just the opposite. Since I work with university students, my schedule flows with the university academic calendar, so I have gone from relatively silent to ‘all in’ in the last few days. I’ve got on-campus workshops stacked up like cars on 635 in Dallas. I’ll be heading to Seattle next week and then spending the remainder of the Spring semester in and around Dallas. One of Margie’s favorite movies is Return to Me and in it Carrol O’Connor (Archie Bunker) delivers a line, “I am blessed with work.” I always love that line, I pray today that God has blessed you work that you love.
Today we have the privilege of starting yet another new book in God’s Word, the New Testament book of 2 Timothy. Since we just finished 1 Timothy, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that we can figure out the timing of this book. Yep, you guessed it, Paul is the author and he wrote it right after 1 Timothy in about 68AD. It is of course written to Timothy who is still pastoring the church at Ephesus. The interesting thing about 2 Timothy is that this was the last letter Paul wrote before his death. His swan song. You know a man’s (or woman’s) dying words usually have great emphasis. You’ve got a lifetime to look back on and hopefully in that life you have garnered wisdom, knowledge and experiences that can benefit others. At one time we had a little book that was nothing but famous people’s last words. It was one of those little paperback books you’d pick up at Cracker Barrel or something. It was fascinating to flip through it and see men and women’s departing words. Some were very solemn and serious, some were down right funny. Paul’s last letter to Timothy is full of wisdom, Godliness, sentiment and it’s very personal. In fact, Paul has approximately 25 references to specific individuals over the short 4 chapters. Paul was at the end of his journey for Christ, he knew it and these were his last words.
As I read and prayed and studied chapter 1 this morning God gave me a verse. Out of this verse He gave me points in reverse to support it. 2 things continue to amaze me in my daily time growing closer to Him in His Word. 1) How He speaks and 2) the amazing depth of His Word. I think its safe to say that if we were all honest about a new year’s resolution, that one of them would be to grow closer to God. My friends, if you want to honestly grow closer to God in 2019, time in God’s Word is the way. I pray that God moves in your heart and you would make time in His Word a priority in 2019. Your world will be changed, God promises it.
The verse God put on my heart is one of beauty and power.
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…” 2 Tim 1:6b
The imagery and message from Paul here is so vivid and practical. I can see it in my mind. We have a wood burning fireplace in our home and I LOVE to enjoy fires. The process of building and maintaining a good fire is one of more skill than you think. Stacking the kindling and logs properly is essential to start a good fire. You can usually get the fire started rather easily as all the wood is dry, and ready to burn. But keeping the fire going for a long time is the trick. The other night when it was in the low 30’s, we had the day off, I built a fire around 4pm and the plan was to warm up the den with it until we went to bed that night. Fire is a funny thing. Once you get to that combustible temperature, the fire needs only fuel and oxygen, and it will do what fire does. But it needs to be tended. As the wood is consumed, the fire needs to be kindled, stirred up and agitated a little bit. It needs to be fanned. Exposing the wood and coals to fresh oxygen causes something really cool. The wood that looks like it was about burned out, starts burning again as the coals turn to a bright red. I toss on some fresh wood and the fire that was docile is now roaring with new life. What a beautiful image we have here about our walk with Christ. That when our journey walking with Jesus Christ becomes normal, routine or docile, we simply need to fan the flames, add new wood and tend the fire until it once again is active and alive.
This picture is great but the question you might have is “I appreciate Paul’s imagery but how do I REALLY fan the flames of my walk with Christ today?” I’m so glad you asked. The answers we seek are right before us. Throughout this chapter if you look closely enough, Paul gives us the formula to fan the flames of our walk with God today into a roaring fire that brings forth life and light to the world. We’ll look at 5 points, all from chapter 1 of 2 Timothy, that will revolutionize your walk with Christ and allow us to rekindle a relationship with Him that might only be smoldering today.
1) Living in the power of the Holy Spirit. “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” 2 Tim 1:14. It is so important to see that the Christian life can only be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have within us a war that is raging. If you have called upon Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there is a bitter battle that rages within you each moment of every day. If your honest, you can feel it and its real to you. Your Earthly sinful flesh wants to take you one way, but the Holy Spirit of God wants to take you another. At moments in my life I have felt like I was going to be torn in two. The battle is real and we always have a choice. Even seasoned, mature Christians will engage in this battle daily. Your embrace, acceptance and yielding to the Holy Spirit is the pathway to God’s peace, joy and comfort. When the Holy Spirit speaks a request of you and you deny it and go with your old ways, it hurts the Spirit, it “quenches” the Holy Spirit. (1 Thes 5:19) (How funny that the Holy Spirit is associated with fire in God’s Word and that Paul is speaking of fanning the flames here.) So, how do you quench a fire? By denying it what it needs. I can deny the fire more wood or I can deny it more oxygen, either would cause my fire to die. If I were to douse my fire with water, the flames would die and smoke, the fire would be well on its way to going out. BUT. A quenched fire can be rekindled. It can be saved. Your salvation is forever and God and His Spirit will not leave you, even if you quench it. Add more wood, stir the coals and “fan the flames.” Obedience is what God desires. Your obedience is what He asks. Listen to the Spirit and do as He asks, and your fire will once again burn brightly and as a result it will send light into a dark world.
2) Consuming the Word of God. “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” 2 Tim 1:13. If you guys read the 5MC, you knew this was going to be at the top of the list. God takes His Word very seriously. Why? He knows fully the power, life, wisdom, knowledge, peace, joy, goodness and abundance of life that it holds. A loving, caring God wants all of these for us and it sits right there in that Bible that’s waiting on your bookshelf. Reach over, pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to the Words and simply read. The God breathed Word of our Lord and Savior resides on the pages of Scripture. We have no excuse to God on this one. If you want to fan the flames, read God’s Word. If you don’t want to fan the flames of your relationship with God don’t read. It’s back to that battle going on inside each of us. We have a choice, and this is one of them.
3) Prayer. “ I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.” 2 Tim 1:3 Paul says, night and day. Paul says constantly. This is how Paul prayed for those on his prayer list. Prayer isn’t reserved for before meals, before Sunday School class or for when our lives are falling apart, prayer to God is a way of life. Paul talked to God about everything and cried out for those that needed God’s help. I have a prayer list that hangs on my fridge and I’ll have to tell you, it’s getting unbelievable long. I just reworked it into an outline format so when I add people I can put them under a heading with other ‘like’ prayer needs. I just added a pastor and his wife to it 2 weeks ago. I added a pastor friend in Hawaii that’s dealing with major health issues last week. I added someone that else that is dealing with the introduction of cancer into their lives a few days ago. I bet Paul’s prayer list was pretty long. By the way, your prayer list should be FULL of pastors. The giving out of God’s Word today has got to be one of the toughest jobs around. You have the attacks of satan, extremely difficult people assaulting anyone giving out God’s Word and overall just a hostile world reacting to the truth of God’s Word. Pray for all the pastors, past and present that God has put in your life. In fact, pray for anyone that is giving out the Word of God. They need it.
4) Fellowship. “ As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” 2 Tim 4-5. Paul remembered the tears Timothy shed as he and Paul parted in Ephesus. Paul longs to see Timothy again so that he can be filled with joy. My friends, we are witnessing a loving fellowship between two men of God that touches the heart. Do you have a brother or sister in Christ today that you feel this way about? God wants you to. So if you don’t, how do you build this type of fellowship. Well, it takes time, just like building any other relationship. Are you experiencing the sweet fellowship that God affords believers? To do that you need to be a member of a local body of believers and be exercising the gifts that God has given you within that body. Side note on fellowship…fellowship is not a bunch of church people getting together for a potluck and talking about football. Fellowship is not several church people getting together and going to a movie. True fellowship or “Koinonia” is when believers in Jesus Christ get together and talk about God. If you get together and talk only about Shakespeare that is not fellowship in God but fellowship in Shakespeare. Get together with fellow believers and talk about what God is doing in your life, how He has belssed your life and how you can help others in their walk with God. Talk about His Word, talk about prayer, talk about His Will. That is true Godly fellowship and that is what Paul and Timothy had and took joy in.
5) Be careful who you hang out with. “You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.” 2 Tim 1:15. Paul is warning Timothy of those who have harmed Him and the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, in 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul mentions two men that have blasphemed God and he “turns them over to Satan.” Now it’s very important to note this was something afforded an apostle. We DO NOT have the power to turn people over to satan today. Don’t go there. But what we can do is distance ourselves from people that teach a different doctrine than the gospel of Jesus Christ and we can distance ourselves from evil people. You might say, but aren’t we supposed to love all and try to save all. The answer is of course yes, but some people need to get help from God before they can get help from us. I’ve met people that have a heart as hard as Pharaoh, God was going to have to work on that heart, not Dan. You can kinda think about it like this, I love bears and lions, but I don’t hang out with them. You see if you’re spending a lot of time trying to evangelize evil, non-believing, blaspheming people, who is having the effect on who? Paul was quick to say, watch out who you allow into your flock. If you’re truly fanning the flames you can’t have others throwing water on your fire.
What a powerful message from God today. Fan into flames the gift of God. I pray today that you are in tune with where your walk with God is at. Does it need to be fanned? Is it burning brightly to offer light to the world? If it needs a few logs tossed on, I pray that you adopt God’s ways of ensuring that they will burn brightly for Him.
God bless you in your continued effort to draw ever closer to God.
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