Fan the Flames

I think that means they're ready for me. They kind of had a little nod as they walked off. Well, thank you so much for the beautiful music. We are so incredibly blessed in this area to be able to have such a variety of music. Appreciate the ensemble, the string ensemble, as well as the—I know they said small group. That's a big choir. Like, small group. Nothing small about that. I mean, the larger choir this afternoon will certainly encompass more people, but— No, it's impressive. It's wonderful. And thank you so much for all the effort in putting it together. Actually, very much appreciated the lyrics of that last song. I think it's going to tie in well with where we're going to head today in this first sermon this morning on this day of Pentecost. Well, many of you know that I grew up in the Spokane area, and growing up up in Spokane, we had our fair share of winter weather. And you're thinking, Mr. Light, it's spring. Stop talking about winter. Yeah, you're right, but I need it to get to where I'm going.

I remember as a kid, we got pretty consistent snow in that area. It got less consistent as time went on. And, quite frankly, it was a lot less appreciated as I got older and had to actually drive in it. But overall, I remember as a younger kid, waking up in the morning, seeing the significant snowfall on the ground, grabbing a quick breakfast, suiting up, putting on my awesome snow suit, and tearing off to go sled down the large hills behind our house. Or, if there was enough snow, we'd go down to the gravel pit. Now, down at the gravel pit, the reason the gravel pit was nice is the gravel pit had these 8 to 10 foot drop-offs from one edge. And you could get going down the hill and launch off of these drop-offs into these big, powdered drifts down below. If you had enough snow, it was very comfortable. If you did not have enough snow, it was a lot less comfortable. You would end up hitting a little more of yourself on the rocks that littered the bottom of the gravel pit. But we had so much fun as kids doing this, we would spend hours out there in the snow. We would go, we would come home, soak to the bone, frozen solid, you know, noses and cheeks red and stinging. And the first place we would go when we would get home is we'd grab ourselves a cup of hot cocoa and we would go sit in front of the wood stove. Now, our family had a wood stove. We heated primarily with heat during the winter time. And so we kept a fire going pretty frequently. We kept that pretty consistent. Kept the chill at bay, especially on some of those sub-zero nights. And many of you who heat with wood or have the experience of having heated with wood, you know that you can get a fire started. Pile the wood in before you go to bed, damper it down at night, let it just smolder. It'll sit and combust as the night goes, keep the house nice and warm. And when you wake up in the morning, you've still got some coals at the bottom of that wood stove. You know, sometimes they're buried underneath the ash, but you can generally gather enough of those coals together and kind of fan them a little bit and throw a little wood on there and whoosh! Up goes the fire again. It saves you from getting up at two o'clock in the morning to feed the wood box, which is nice. But we're largely removed from wood as a source of fuel today. In fact, you know, most homes heat with natural gas, electric, other forms of energy more predominantly. And so in a way, we have a whole generation of youth that grew up without it. How many of you young people under the age of 18, how many of you grew up with wood as your primary source of heat?

One or two. You know, there's an old joke that says, wood's the only energy source that heats you twice. Those of you that are older, you know what that means. Those of you that are young, you're going, what? You get warm twice? Yes! Because you've got to go split and stack it. That's the first time it warms you up. And the second time it warms you up is when you burn it. Right? It's not very common to us today, wood heat. It's really not all that common. But individuals who lived in the first century would have readily understood this concept. They would have understood this method of heating. They would have understood this as a method of cooking. And quite frankly, in many parts of the world today, especially developing world, this is the primary method of cooking heat in many locations throughout much of Africa, as well as Southeast Asia, even today. The Apostle Paul uses these concepts to help build an analogy when it comes to the description of the Holy Spirit that's only used in one location in Scripture. It's only used in one spot. But there's echoes of it in other portions of his writing. If you would turn over, please, to 2 Timothy. That's where we're going to begin today. On the day of Pentecost, in what we believe was 31 A.D., we see the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the early church. God gives the disciples the instruction to go and tarry in Jerusalem, to go and wait, to go and sit, and just to wait for what God was going to do. I don't know if you've ever thought of what that might have been like. As you're there, going, God said something's going to happen today. Something is going to take place. What is that something? But they were to go and they were to tarry in Jerusalem until they were with power from on high. And so they did. They went, they waited, and on the day of Pentecost, God worked an incredible miracle. You know, as God's Spirit rested on those that were gathered, they were given the ability to hear and to understand in their own languages that which was being said. Peter preached a powerful sermon. A powerful sermon that just cut right to the heart, right through the fog, right through the thickness of everything, and it punched them right in the chest.

Peter preaches this powerful sermon, and the conclusion of that sermon was their repentance, their baptism in the name of Christ for the remission of their sins, and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, as we go down through Scripture in the story of the New Testament, we see example after example of the Holy Spirit of God being provided after baptism, being provided after the laying on of hands. You know, we follow this practice today in the church in the modern era because we see that laying on of hands as being a foundational doctrine to the church. It's listed as one of the foundational doctrines in Hebrews 6, along with so many other places in Scripture. But in 2 Timothy 1, which is where we're at today and where we're going, the Apostle Paul builds this concept, and he builds this analogy as he writes to the young pastor he was mentoring. Timothy was a younger man. Paul was in many ways a father figure, a mentor, and he is writing to Paul—or I'm sorry, to Timothy—to be able to provide him with this information. Let's go ahead and pick it up in verse 3 of 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 3. Paul writes, I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing, says, I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and he says, I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore—verse 6—I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Paul expresses his thankfulness for Timothy, expresses his thankfulness for this genuine faith that he observed when he saw Timothy, a faith that was handed down through the generations from his grandmother to his mother and then ultimately to Timothy. But then he provides Timothy with something to think about. He provides Timothy with something to consider, something to kind of think about and consider as he paints this word picture that I'd like to explore today in this sermon on the day of Pentecost. He tells him in verse 6, stir up. Stir up the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of hands. Paul very clearly referencing the Holy Spirit of God. And then Paul goes on to describe that that spirit that God has given us is not a spirit of fear. It is a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of a sound mind. As we mentioned just a bit ago, the word that is used here for stir up in verse 6 is the Greek word anesopareo. Anesopareo. It's used once in Scripture. One time. Right here. This is the only spot where it's used. And the word is made up of three separate Greek roots. Anna, which means up or again. Zo, which refers to life, specifically that of the animal kingdom. And pyreo, which, yeah, you might have guessed it, refers to fire. Right? Pyro. That's where we get the term from. Pyro.

Anesopareo essentially means to stir up a fire to life once again. To stir up a fire to life once again. To fan the flames, so to speak. As the New King James puts it, stir up, as in the stirring of the coals of a fire, to the point where that fire reignites.

You know, fire's fascinating. It's a fascinating thing. It's a combustion reaction. You have heat, you have light energy that comes together here of the fire from the combustion of that material. When that fuel is combined with oxygen, you have a source of ignition. You get a chemical reaction that only ends after the fuel, the oxygen, or the spark is removed.

So it will continue on and on and on and on, provided it continues to have fuel, provided it continues to have oxygen, and provided there is some means of a spark to keep it burning. A reduction of any of those things will cause that fire to die down and eventually go out.

So the context is really implicit in the word in Asa Pareo, with respect to a fire that has died out, is this idea that it is dying out, and it needs to be fanned back to life. That is what this word has in it, implicit. The title of the message today is, Fan the Flames.

And with the time that we have left, what I'd like to do is explore this concept as it relates to the giving of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and as a part of God's plan for mankind that is fulfilled in part by this day of Pentecost. You know, contextually, we're not really given a great vision into why Paul specifically wrote to Timothy and exhorted him to fan the flames of the Spirit. We can get this idea based on the overall context of the letters to Timothy, of the challenges that faced him as he served in Ephesus. Paul is admonishing him to maintain sound doctrine. He's admonishing him to fight the good fight against the heresies and the issues that were cropping up in the early church. You know, that early portion of the church was a little bit like whack-a-mole at times. It was like you had this heresy pop up and you knock it out, and just as you knock it out, this other heresy pops up and you knock that out, and this other heresy pops up and you knock that out. It was just a game of whack-a-mole. We know Paul gave him the specific qualifications for elders and deacons, so it's possible. Paul thought, you know, Timothy, you need some help. Here's, look for guys that have these qualifications because you need some help. These are the guys you should be considering to fill these roles. Paul speaks in numerous places of a great apostasy that was to come. He encourages Timothy to be a good servant of Christ, putting his faith in a promise of that life which was coming. So we don't know, really, the reason exactly why Paul tells Timothy to fan the flames, but in 1 Timothy 4, if you want to go ahead and turn over there, we see him make another mention of this. 1 Timothy 4, we see an admonition to Timothy in regards to his service. 1 Timothy 4, we'll go ahead and we'll pick it up in verse 22. 1 Timothy 4, verse 22. Not, I'm sorry, verse 22. You're looking for verse 22. It's not there. You need verse 12. That's where I'm going to go ahead and go. You can go to 22 if you'd like. Verse 12. Sorry. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 12. It says, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. He says, Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. And then in verse 14, Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. So Paul exhorts Timothy not to neglect the gift that was in him, not to disregard or to make light of, is kind of the way that that Greek word can be translated, not to take the gift for granted or to otherwise disuse it.

God's plan included for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be provided after Christ's first coming. He told his disciples that unless he went away, the comforter could not come. God's Spirit could not dwell with and in them. There were certain aspects of God's plan which had to take place, and as God does, all things are done decently and in order. There is a plan, there is a process, there is an order to these things that God has put forth. When we commit to God in baptism, when we enter into that covenant, we accept Jesus Christ's blood on our behalf. God places a piece of himself in us. It's a portion of him. It's his power, it's his mind, it's his character. It's a down payment toward eternal life.

In that moment, our body becomes a temple in that sense. It becomes a temple, a physical location where God's divinity resides. That seed grows, it changes us. That's the process, that's the image, that's the picture that's being provided through this. Now, how that flame is nurtured going forward, that's entirely on us.

Each and every one of us have a responsibility for how we nurture that flame that has been provided going forward. How we give it fuel, how we stoke it, the oxygen that we provide it. We are responsible for that. That's not on God. That's on each and every one of us. That's our choices. That's our actions. It's up to what we prioritize in our lives.

Whether we feed that fire, whether we tend it, or whether we ultimately quench it or let it die down in our lives to a flicker. Was Timothy one that Paul maybe thought was neglecting it? I don't think so. Based on the context, it's impossible to know for sure, but it is likely that Paul, as a result of his experience in the region, of his experience of starting up a number of congregations, had seen the effects of that neglect in other men. He'd seen the effects of what happened when they let off the gas, so to speak. They'd seen the effects of fear up close, in the membership, in the leadership, and he wanted Timothy to get off on the right foot. He wanted Timothy to start strong, so to speak, as he's going through this process. It's possible Timothy was a little bit timid. It's hard to tell. He was definitely a little bit anxious. He had some stomach challenges. Paul tells him a couple of times, drink a little wine, Timothy, for your stomach. Settle those nerves a little bit. Maybe Timothy wasn't so sure that he was the right guy for the job, despite the prophecies that led to his ordination. So maybe he shrunk back from those responsibilities a little bit. Paul reminding him here of the calling that he was given. Again, we don't know for sure. This is all speculation in that sense. But I think as you read the pastoral epistles, as you read what Paul wrote, not just to Timothy, but also to Titus, you know, some of even his own epistles in other places, you see bits and pieces of these things throughout these concepts. But Paul tells Timothy very plainly in 2 Timothy, where we started. He says, Timothy, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. The spirit that is in you is not a spirit of fear. It is one of power. It is one of love. And it is one of a sound mind. So, Timothy, fan that flame. Stoke that fire to conflagration. Stir it up. Step into whom you have been called to become with every fiber of your being, unencumbered, fully surrendered to his will. You know, it's interesting in conversations I've had with people over the years, quite often people wonder why. They express the why. They say, why me? Why me? What does God see in me that he would call me to this way of life? Doesn't he know who I am? Doesn't he know my thoughts and actions? Doesn't he realize my struggles, the challenges that I face? And they conclude that if he truly did, well, he'd have thrown me away a long time ago, is the conclusion. Your God knows you better than you do. Your God knows you better than you do. He knows just how broken you are. He knows for an absolute fact that you can't do this on your own. He knows you're not perfect. And yet he called you anyway. Despite all of those things, he called you anyway.

And not only that, but as part of his plan, he gave you his spirit. He calls you a first fruit. He calls you a son. He calls you a daughter. Because you've been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Brethren, in that sense, Paul's message to Timothy is a message to all of us. Don't neglect the gift that you've been given. Don't let that fire die. Fan the flames. Stir it up. Become who you were called to become. Go forward in the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. I'd like to look at those three concepts today as we think about how do we go forward in these things in our lives today?

This idea of a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of a sound mind. If you want to turn over to Acts 2. Acts 2. As we kind of examine the accounts of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, one of the things that stands out in the descriptions of the Holy Spirit is the accompanying miraculous events that came with it. In Acts 2, you want to turn over there again?

Acts 2. You can follow along here. We see these mighty wind that comes in. This tongues of fire. This passionate speech of Peter. We see examples of men who prophesy. We see examples of people who are healed. We see demons that are cast out in accordance with the power of the Spirit.

We see as we go through the New Testament, people brought back to life, we see the promises that Christ gave His disciples in Mark 16 and verse 17. He says, all those signs will follow those who believe. In my name they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents. And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. During the time of the Gospel going out, these signs and wonders brought many people to the Gospel message.

These things were needed at this time to be able to achieve the goals of God in spreading the message of the Gospel far and wide. And from what we can see in Scripture, there's a time in which these things are coming again. Visions, miraculous signs, wonders. Compared to some of the things that we see in Scripture during the first century as a result of God's Spirit, the Spirit of God in our life today seems kind of demure, in a sense, when we think of how God is working today.

But brethren, do we acknowledge and do we recognize the incredible miracle that God's Spirit is working today? Do we even recognize it? Let's go to John 14. John 14. We're going to pick this story up after the Passover as Christ is talking with his disciples. He's taking these final moments to instruct them as, you know, necessarily so they understand what is coming, why it needs to happen, and as usual, they didn't fully understand.

But they would. They would understand as time went on. John 14. We're going to pick it up in verse 1. John 14, verse 1. John 14, verse 1 says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And then he says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may be also.

Right? That is that hope that we are anchored to. That promise of God. That promise that comes through Jesus Christ. Verse 5, Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. Thomas says, look, we don't have GPS here. We're not sure where you're going, actually, when it comes down to it. We're not sure where you're headed. Jesus said to him, or sorry, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way.

The truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. And from now on, you know Him and you have seen Him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it's sufficient for us. Jesus to Thomas says, or I'm sorry to Philip here, says, have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me?

He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority. But the Father who dwells in me does the work. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.

Most assuredly I say to you, He who believes in me, the works that I do, He will do also, and greater works than these He will do, because I go to my Father. Christ tells His disciples that those who believe in Him, those who believe in Him will do the works that He does, and greater than those works, He says.

Greater than those works, because He goes to the Father. Greater than Christ. Wait, what? Christ walked on water. He raised the dead. Christ operated in the power of the Spirit. How can we do greater works than that? God became man so that man could become God. And for that process to continue, for it to go to its planned end, He had to go for a time so that we could receive His Spirit. We are all in the process of taking a stubborn, hard-headed, and stiff-necked human.

All of us are in the process of taking a hard-headed, stubborn, and stiff-necked human with a heart of stone bound in sin, and with the power of God's Holy Spirit, softening that heart to a heart of flesh, one that can be circumcised, one that can cause us to be driven to repentance, yielding ourselves to God's way of life, and transforming our carnal human nature into the nature and characteristics of God.

Look back over the story arc of your life and tell me that's not a miracle. Tell me it's not a miracle, what God is doing in your life, that He has not begun an incredible work in you that He will see through to completion. Brethren, you are a miracle. You're a miracle. And God is working in you and continuing to work in you, and it is through the Spirit of God that we sit here today at this day of Pentecost.

Each of us, different walks of life, individual embers that individually on our own are capable of next to nothing, individually on our own. But when you gather those coals together, and when you fan that flame, the fire catches. The power and the strength is there, not because of us, but because of God.

The Greek word here for power is dunamis, and it's where we get the word dynamic, dynamite, dynamo. You're familiar with all of those words. It's a power that was given by God, and brethren, it is a power that God expects for us to use.

He expects us to use it. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 12. In the book of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, and he's describing the various gifts, the various skill sets, you might say, that individuals receive as a part of their yielding to God's spirit in their life. Certain people have talents. Those are inherent talents, innate talents, that God's spirit can magnify and strengthen, that God's spirit can work with.

At times in the New Testament, we saw examples of people who were capable of doing things they couldn't do before. So there's a couple of different ways that God uses this. 1 Corinthians 12, we'll pick it up in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 4, says, There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.

Differences of ministries, differences of service, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it's the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. Not for the prophet of self, but the prophet of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

But, verse 11, Paul's point, But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills. One of the challenges with the Corinthian congregation is they were quick to split into factions. They were quick to split into different groupings and different things. And at times, some of these gifts were maybe seen as being a little better, quote-unquote, than the others.

And so Paul's addressing that. He's making the point that there is one Spirit, but there is a diversity of gifts, and the goal of the diversity of that gift is to support and to edify the body itself. He goes on to describe an analogy that intuitively we can all understand. Verse 12, he says, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact, Paul writes, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? Now, indeed, verse 20, there are many members, yet one body, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, or the head to the feet I have no need of you, Imagine if every part of your body but one just quit, all of a sudden, like if my head kept functioning, but the rest of my body just went, not today, I mean, it's crazy, but that's the idea that Paul's bringing out here.

Your body needs all of these parts functioning in the way they need to be functioning for you to be functional. That's a lot of functioning, all in one sentence. Verse 22, And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. And he brings this conclusion here in verse 27, 28, on through verse 30, 31. He says, God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers. After that, miracles, the gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. He says, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles?

Gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret? He says, earnestly desire the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way. There are times in which we see the gifts that God's provided, and we might desire to serve in that way. Paul's point is, if the whole body was one thing, we'd be missing out on a very critical role that the hands and feet provide.

If we were all hands and feet, we'd be missing out on a very important thing that the eyes and the ears supply. We cannot be a body without all those varied gifts, without all of those skills, without all of those talents. So what's your superpower? I ask that kind of jokingly in some ways, but really, what is it? Are you an encourager? Are you someone who's been given wisdom or knowledge? Are you someone who's been given the gift of discernment? Are you an administrative type for administration? Are you hospitable? Are you merciful? Good at talking about this way of life to others and the love that you have for God.

Do you have a heart of service? Ephesians 4 talks about the working of all of these parts together effectively as a whole body joined and knit together by whatever joint supplies. It says that when that happens, it causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself and love. These gifts are critical. These gifts are powerful because God designed them to be. God designed them to be used. He designed them to be used.

He designed believers to need community, to need a body, to need one another. Because the gifts that I have, you may not necessarily have, and vice versa. Let me tell you what. The gifts that all of you have are gifts that I don't have. I am so thankful that we can all be together to be able to utilize these things.

But by fanning the flames of God's Spirit in our life, by adding oxygen and fuel, so to speak, to that spark that was placed in us at baptism, these gifts can reignite. We can see them more clearly. In fact, one of the ones that Paul talks about is the one we'll look at next, this idea of the Spirit of love. Right? Spirit of love. God gave us a spirit of power.

He gave us a spirit of love. Verse 31, 1 Corinthians 12, says to seek the greater gifts, and it is no coincidence that the passage that follows it, 1 Corinthians 13, talks about the greatest gifts.

Love is one of those gifts that is listed, along with faith, along with hope. And as Paul writes, he says, the greatest of these is love.

He says, you want the greatest gift? It's love. That's the greatest gift. It trumps prophecy. It trumps all these other things. Love is what matters, because if the gift that you do have is not being applied with the context of love, what's the point? What's the point? Right? He says, even if we have prophecy without love, what is it?

You know, love can be really challenging. I don't think I have to tell any of you that. Love can be challenging. You know, we've all experienced relationships where we desperately try to love the other person. And sometimes, as a result of their words, as a result of their actions, it can be a challenging endeavor at times. The Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, verse 6, that the spirit of God was a spirit of love, spirit of agape.

There are three—well, technically four, we don't really use the fourth one very often—but primarily three Greek words that describe the concept of love. There's Eros, there's Philaeo, and there's Agape. Right? Eros is a romantic and sensual love. Philaeo describes the love that occurs between brothers or brethren or friends. It's kind of a warm affection. It's a love of the heart, so to speak, and it's driven very emotionally. But Agape is a love of the head.

What? Does it make sense? What do you mean it's a love of the head? It's a love of specific choice. It's a choice. It doesn't come from how we feel about someone. It doesn't come about how attracted we are to someone or how connected we feel to someone. Agape comes from the conscious choice to love. From the conscious choice to love.

And it's Agape that's being described in 1 Corinthians 13. When it talks about love in 1 Corinthians 13, that's what it's talking about. It's the love that is profitable above all else. It's a love that's patient. A love that's kind. It's not envious. It's not boastful. It's not rude. It's not selfish or provoked. It doesn't assume evil intentions. Instead, it believes in hopes and endures all things. In fact, Agape is a love that can be extended to all, even your enemies. Even the people who spitefully use you, you can make a conscious choice to love. Let's go to Romans 5 real quick. Romans 5. Romans 5, Paul's talking here about faith and the justification that comes from faith, the peace we have with God through Christ. It speaks about how our tribulation produces patience, that patience produces character, character produces hope, and that hope is a direct outgrowth of the love that God has poured into our hearts by the Spirit. It mentions in verse 5, we'll go ahead and pick it up. Well, pick it up in Romans 5 and verse 6, actually. It says, For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

God loved us while we were still sinners. He made the conscious choice to love us despite us. Not to spite us, but despite us. He made the conscious choice to love us while we were in active rebellion against his way. While we were still enemies, he chose to love us and not just a little, but chose to give his Son for us. Agape is a love that is unconditional. It's unconditional in the sense that it's not dependent on the follow-through of the other person. Reciprocation is not necessary for agape. You can love someone else while they actively hate you.

Agape is a choice. It's not dependent on words. It's not dependent on choices or actions that the other individual makes. Agape enables us to love even the, quote-unquote, unlovable. I put that word in quotes because while a person doesn't exist that is truly unlovable, you probably know some people who make it actively difficult to love them.

Often it's because of feelings of negative self-worth. Their goal is to frustrate and upset people through words and actions, and if they do so, then they'll be right. They truly are not able to be loved. The beauty of agape love is it blows that paradigm to pieces because it illustrates that anyone is capable of love.

That love is a choice. The words and the actions that we provide is a choice. Agape in that sense is a verb. It's a verb. It's outward action. It's a response to the recognition of the love that has been shown to us by God. And as an understanding of that love, we then show love to others because we were loved while we were still very much unlovable. Very much unlovable.

Now the reality is this kind of love, being able to love people who may actively be wishing for your harm, is not capable without God's help. It's not a normal human thing. Our human proclivity is to respond in kind when we're wronged. That's our human proclivity.

That human carnal response is to be offended, is to become bitter, is to become angry, and to ensure that that other person knows exactly what we feel about them. Well, what we're going to do is everything we can to illustrate how we feel. Now I've got the opportunity this year to teach Daniel in Revelation at ABC. And so it's been flexing some muscles that I've not had to flex teaching General Epistles over the last three years. I'm doing a bunch of research, finding information on the different books and perspectives for the class, going back into the histories. I've gotten the opportunity to read a lot about the ancient world, which has been really fun, to be honest. It's really enjoyable. You know, Revelation 2 and 3, you don't need to turn there. We see the message to the seven churches. Revelation 2 and 3, we have the message to the seven churches. We recognize many of those churches at the time were experiencing significant persecution. They were dealing with all manner of issues, such that the time when John wrote Revelation, God was very much aware of those challenges and included them within his message to those churches. Revelation 2, verse 8 to 11, Christ acknowledges the persecution that the church in Smyrna was receiving. The church in Smyrna was receiving this persecution. Historically, at that time, they were receiving persecution at the hands of both the Jewish population of the city, as well as at the hands of the Romans. Okay, so they're getting it on both fronts. They're stuck in the middle. They're getting it from the secular societal side, and they're getting it from sort of people that they could almost maybe kind of consider as brothers. But they're getting it from both sides. What's interesting is, in Revelation 2, 8 and 11, Christ cuts right through society. He cuts right through politics, and he identifies the source of that persecution.

He places it right on the one being upon which that responsibility belonged. Satan the devil. He says point blank that it's the devil who will be placing some of them into prison. Right? It is as a result of his actions that that would take place. Now, the Jews and the Romans in Smyrna, they may have been the instruments of that persecution, yes. They may have been the tools through which Satan was working in order to persecute the people of Smyrna at that time. But the one pulling the strings, so to speak, was Satan. There's a gentleman named Polycarp. Many of you are probably familiar with Polycarp. He was one of John's disciples. Very prominent figure in the battle over Passover in Easter, the quarter decimin controversy. And he was a bishop of Smyrna in the mid-second century. And according to the Histories, according to the Histories, at 86 years of age, he was martyred after refusing to deny Jesus Christ. When the authorities came to his home, the history records that he fed the guards who came to collect him. Knock, knock, yes, we're here to take you to the arena to be killed. He did two things. He said, can I please have an hour to pray? And while I do, here's some food. Enjoy, enjoy this meal. I'm going to go pray. According to the story, he prayed for two hours, causing some of the guards to actually question why they were putting to death this kindly old man who had offered them food. But duty called, and so they brought him to the arena. He was killed in that arena. His life was taken as a result of refusing to deny Jesus Christ. But Polycarp prepared a meal for the soldiers who arrested him and ultimately led him to the arena to put him to death. Even in his final moments, he showed love to those who were set to do him harm. You know, as we experience challenges in society today, our natural human proclivity is anger and bitterness. That's the natural human part of us speaking. We're angry at the government officials that made this law or that law. We're upset at society. We're upset at the culture around us that's moved so far from God's intent. But all too often, we lose sight of the fact that the individuals that are doing these things are simply puppets in a much bigger spiritual battle. Do we show these individuals love? As we interact with the world, do we show them love despite their position on X, Y, or Z? Whatever that may be. Or do we write and say hurtful things? Do we poke fun? Do we make fun of them? Do we call them stupid? Do we call them morons? Do we ensure that we can show somehow that we're smarter than them or we're wiser than them or we're somehow better than them? Brethren, I don't know how else to put it. That's the behavior of a bully. That's the behavior of a bully. That's not love. Agape is a choice. Agape is a choice. It's a choice that we make when we choose to love. And John 13, verse 35 says that by our love we will be known as His disciples. Which means that there is some aspect of this that is either seen or perceived by someone else. Which means, again, that the outward actions of that love are what really matter. It doesn't matter what we say. It matters what we do. That's what really matters. A selfless attitude, humble, serving, outgoing concern for the welfare of others, whether they deserve it or not. Quite frankly, more so if they don't. Brethren, if these things are not evident in our life, it may be a sign that that fire needs to be fanned. That we need to spend a little time making sure those coals are back together and that that fire's got some oxygen.

Because it may be a sign that we're letting that slowly die out. With the various things of the world, the various challenges that we face. But as the model for how we live, and as the model for the goal that we're seeking to become more like Jesus Christ, to become more like God the Father through yielding to their nature, through yielding to their characteristics in our lives. Brethren, that's our purpose. That's why we're here in this life. It's the reason for our existence. The final thing that Paul reminded Timothy of regarding the characteristics of the Spirit of God was that that Spirit is one of a sound mind. That word in Greek is sophernismos. Sophernismos in Greek. And it's a concept that encompasses self-discipline, moderation, prudence. Spirit of God provides wisdom, it provides moderation, sensibility, self-restraint. However, it only does so if we yield ourselves to it. It only does so if we yield ourselves to it. A few passages later in 2 Timothy, if you want to turn back over to 2 Timothy. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy a warning of what's to come. He tells Timothy, point blank, this is what the conditions of the world are going to be at the end. 2 Timothy 3, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. 2 Timothy 3 verse 1, Paul writes, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. He says, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And then Paul goes as far as telling Timothy, and from such people turn away. Paul insinuates in this passage that perilous times are going to involve not just society, but in this case the church. These individuals that he speaks of are individuals that have an embodiment of godliness, but deny its power. It's dunamis. And as a result of that denial, they're lovers of themselves, they're lovers of money, they're boasters, they're proud, blasphemous, stubborn, rash, puffed up, loving pleasure rather than loving God. And Paul concludes this statement by telling Timothy to stay away from people such as this, not allow that influence to influence him, to distance themselves from people that are in open rebellion against the authority of God's Spirit in their life, to have that form of godliness but deny its power. In Titus 2, similar things said to Titus. I'm going to go over to Titus 2. Titus 2, there's something similar here that Paul writes to Titus, another young man that Paul was mentoring. Beginning in verse 11 of Titus 2, he says, Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That word soberly comes from the same root as Sophernesmos, comes from the same Greek word. Paul is telling us we must live soberly, life of self-control, righteousness, and godliness. Denying ungodliness, denying worldly lusts, the desires of the world around us, so to speak, the things that Galatians 5 describes as lusts of the flesh. To avoid those things, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfishness, dissension, heresy, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Right? It's a laundry list of stuff. But the idea here is that these are the things that are present in a life that is spiraling out of control. That these are the things that are present in a life in which that flame is flickering. A life in which the spirit is not leading the way. In which the spirit is not, in which a person rather is not yielding themselves to that spirit. But stirring up those flames, causing that fire to reignite, brings the fruits of love and joy and peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

You know, again, when we look at and we consider the words that Paul gives to Timothy, we don't know the specific challenges that Timothy was facing. We have no idea, really. We don't know exactly what it was. But what we see is that Paul warned him not to neglect the gift that he was given. To stir up, to fan the flames of the Spirit of God that is in him. Is that because he saw maybe Timothy pulling back a little bit? Did Timothy write to Paul and express his concerns? The challenges that he was facing? We'll never know. It's lost to history. But we see what Paul wrote back. We see what Paul felt was important. And brethren, those words are as meaningful and pertinent to us today as they were to Timothy then. Without the events of the day of Pentecost, without the events of God's Spirit being poured out upon mankind, our transformation to become like God, putting on his character, putting on his nature, living his way of life, would not be possible. Wouldn't be possible! We couldn't do it. We have not been given a spirit of fear. We've been given a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of a sound mind. And so in that sense, brethren, if I could leave you with something today, dare to do the hard things. Dare to do the hard things. Dare to become the person that God called you to be. Don't shrink back from that calling. Accept it fully and step forward into that gap to fulfill it. Dare to love fearlessly. To love fearlessly and without expectation of reciprocation. Love the unlovable. Let the light of God shine through your example to all. And then dare to live a spiritually disciplined life, yielding yourself to God and accepting his will for each of us. Identify, quench those places in our life that are in rebellion to God.

Stir up that gift that God has given each of us through the laying on of hands and fan those flames as we come out of these spring holy days. I don't know where your flame is at right now in your life. I don't know where you're at, but I know as we go through our lives, we have seasons in which sometimes that flame is burning hot and other times that flame might be a little bit of a flicker. It doesn't have to be that way. Fan the flames. Take what God has given you and bring it back to life. Happy Feast of Pentecosts.