Are you living an ordinary, mediocre Christian life… or are you ready to fan into flame the gift of God that is in you?
In this powerful message from 2 Timothy 1, we look at Paul’s final charge to Timothy — a call to stir up the gift, reject fear and timidity, and step fully into the extraordinary life Jesus purchased for us.
Paul reminds Timothy (and us) that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Faith is meant to be lived out with boldness. Spiritual gifts are for today. The Holy Spirit wants to turn the ordinary into the supernatural.
This is a call to:
- Stop settling for lukewarm faith
- Blow on the embers and fan the flame
- Refuse to be ashamed of the gospel
- Rise up in power and live effectively for the Kingdom
God is calling His people out of the natural and into the supernatural. The question is — will you answer?
When the Lord took me to this scripture, I thought, “I’ve probably preached on this not too long
ago.” I looked last night — it was October last year — and I said back then that we were on the
precipice of a new move of God, a new move of the Holy Spirit in our midst. What I didn’t know was
what was going to happen in this church during the course of this year.
Do you know there are around about 25 people who have given their lives to the Lord on a Sunday
morning here since Easter? That’s something worth being excited about. And that’s why we’ve got
so many baptism services — because so many people are getting saved. These are good problems
to have for a church.
This message sits within the context of what Arthur set the scene for last week. Arthur was talking
about the spiritual realm — the demonic realm, the battle for our mind and our soul — and the fact
that we need to be aware of the reality of the demonic realm. We are more spiritual than natural
beings. The bodies we have are only for the here and now; they are not forever.
We need to understand that we are in a spiritual battle. It doesn’t matter whether you want to be
engaged in it or not — we are. Why? Because that’s the reality of the present world in which we
live. There’s a verse that says, just before Jesus is arrested: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak.” Sometimes we can all reach that point in life where we want to do more for God, but our
flesh is at war with us and holds us back.
But we should be encouraged on two fronts. First, Jesus sets people free. He has already healed
people here this morning. Second, all demons and foul evil spirits are under the authority of Jesus
Christ. If you go up to someone possessed and politely ask the demon to move along, it’s going
nowhere. But if you command that foul demon to come out in the name of Jesus, that demon will
flee. We’ve seen it here before.
That’s where we’re going as a church. If I can be vulnerable for a second: it scares me a little,
because when you enter into spiritual battle in that way, there’s no way back. People are going to
start hearing that people come here and get set free — and the devil is going to get absolutely mad.
That is both a warning and an awareness. But it doesn’t mean we don’t go there. Our job is to open
our arms and say to Jesus, “Do You want to come and do something?” rather than, “Do You want to
come and do something within this box I’ve already confined You to?”
If you want God to really move in your life, you have to break out of the box. In fact, you’ve got to
get rid of the box totally. Otherwise you can’t expect God to operate within a tiny little box when
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your problem exists outside of it.
Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 1:3–14
“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. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I
may be filled with joy. 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. 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 gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but
share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy
calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave
us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the
appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,
which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I
am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow
the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to
you.”
Background: 1 Timothy vs 2 Timothy
The first letter to Timothy is all about the institution of the church — organising the various parts,
qualifications for leadership, structure and hierarchy, the purpose of the local church, and
addressing particular concerns that were going on primarily at the church in Ephesus where
Timothy had been sent.
This second letter is different. It is all about the individual. It is directed much more to Timothy as a
person. We also need to understand that this is Paul’s last writing to Timothy. Paul is in a dark,
dingy jail in Rome, awaiting execution — not because he did anything wrong, but simply because
he followed Jesus. Yet he doesn’t lose his joy or his hope. He is not ashamed, because he knows
that his Redeemer lives and that he has been saved.
Paul is writing to encourage Timothy, to stir him up, and to urge him to go further in walking out his
faith. There is a sense of urgency we haven’t seen before — almost a passing of the baton. “Guard
it well by the power of the Holy Spirit. It has been entrusted to you. Now you run with it.”
Today we’re looking at what it means to stir up our faith — to fan into flame the gift of God within us
— and to step into the life Jesus desires for us rather than accepting the mediocre existence many
of us end up settling for.
Leave Behind the Ordinary
Arthur started last week with John 10:10 — a scripture of two halves:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it
abundantly.”
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And 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the
new has come.”
Nothing about these two passages means we continue in our former life — holding onto any form of
bondage, living some kind of ordinary, mundane existence. People ask how you are and you say,
“Yeah, not bad.” What does that even mean? Salvation is not “not bad.” It is the greatest thing.
I remember years ago in sixth form there was a boy from another school. None of us really got to
know him because he never really spoke. One of my friends nicknamed him “Average.” It got so
bad that even the headmaster called him “that Average boy.” Everything about him was simply
average — average rucksack, average jeans, average hairstyle, average build, average height,
average speech, average writing… and he got a C, an average grade.
Some of us can end up walking in a little bit of an average life when we should be living anything
but average. We should be living an extraordinary life because we live in the extraordinary power of
the Holy Spirit. So why is it so often different on a daily basis? Why do we end up on a rollercoaster
— up and down, up and down — when I want to stay at the top?
Sometimes we allow the devil to creep in and put us down, often very subtly: lack of ambition, lack
of motivation, endless scrolling, a mundane existence. Yet Jesus says He came to give us life in all
its fullness. If we really believe the words of Scripture — if we actually put them into practice — it
can dramatically transform our lives. When the Bible says go and lay hands on the sick and they will
be healed, do we believe they are going to be healed? Or is it just box-ticking? When we share the
gospel, are we going the full way and believing that person will be saved?
The early church went about laying hands on the oppressed and they were set free, on the sick and
they were healed. They saw demons cast out. They saw people saved. The church grew
exponentially because the gospel was preached and people saw the power of God in action. When
people see the power of God, it raises faith — even in those who don’t yet believe. We’re starting to
get a glimpse of that here, but we can go so much further. There is so much more with God.
Fan into Flame the Gift of God
Paul notes the faith that first dwelt in Timothy’s grandmother Lois, then his mother Eunice, and now
in Timothy himself — a rich inheritance of faith passed down through the generations. Paul is
urging Timothy not to take that inheritance for granted, but also pointing to the anointing that came
through the laying on of his own hands.
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you…” Whether your
version says “stir up” or “fan into flame,” it means the same thing.
I was on holiday recently and the fire in the fire pit had died down to glowing embers. Everyone else
had gone to bed. It was half past midnight and there I was breathing gently on those embers. Over
a couple of minutes the glow increased… then a tiny blue flame appeared… then it caught the next
bit… and suddenly the whole piece of wood was fully alight. It starts with fanning the flame. It starts
with blowing on it and saying, “Come, Holy Spirit.” It starts with daring to step out of the boat,
knowing that when we do, the embers will turn into a burning furnace.
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You cannot expect someone else to stir up the gift in you. It is your responsibility. You need to take
action yourself. No one else can do it for you.
Yesterday at the Family Fun Day we had a barbecue — way too much food, I had to roll myself
home. Kenneth had marinated the chicken with all these amazing ingredients. The flavour was
incredible. But what if he had just lined all those ingredients up neatly on the side? The kitchen
would look fantastic, but the food would be utterly tasteless. He could put all the ingredients in a
pan, but until he actually gets his hands in and mixes them, then rubs them into the meat, it’s not
doing what it’s meant to do.
It’s the same with the gift of God. Some of you have been prayed for and filled with the Holy Spirit
— but it doesn’t stop there. We have to stir up the gift. We have to bring all the ingredients together
so the fire of the Holy Spirit can rise up and come out of us in the form of spiritual gifts.
Jesus desires for us to have and use spiritual gifts to accomplish extraordinary exploits — not in our
strength and not for us, but in the power of the Holy Spirit and for God’s glory alone. Any gift we
have needs continual practice, otherwise it declines. The same is true of spiritual gifts. And yes —
they are for today. It is utter nonsense to suggest otherwise. If anyone tells you the gifts have
ceased, ask them exactly when. They cannot tell you, because they are denying the power of God.
The Bible says some have a form of godliness but deny its power.
Not a Spirit of Fear — but Power, Love and a Sound Mind
Verse 7: God did not give us a spirit of fear (or timidity) — that comes from the devil. It is a lie.
We should be confident in our faith and our salvation, because it is the greatest thing ever. But fear
holds us down.
Fear is irrational because it is based on what-ifs and maybes, not on reality. Fear is the opposite of
faith. The two cannot coexist.
Fear and Faith compared:
Fear is rooted in the darkness of the natural realm ® Faith is rooted in the light of the
supernatural realm
Fear comes from the devil ® Faith comes from God
Fear is a curse ® Faith is a gift
Fear is death ® Faith is life
Fear sees certain defeat ® Faith sees certain victory
Power — of the Holy Spirit. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord (Zechariah
4:6).
Love — “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). “We love because he first loved us” (1 John
4:19).
Self-control / Sound mind — “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:6–7).
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Timothy was not naturally a bold character. Paul therefore urges him to arise, stand up, stand firm,
and be unashamed of his faith — something made possible only through the anointing of the Holy
Spirit. We too need to stir up and fan into flame the gift of God in us today. It does not come by
default. It doesn’t just happen. It needs work. It requires continual determination.
Why the Nation Is in the State It Is
The devil wants us to abandon our faith. But if he can’t have that, he’ll happily settle for a lukewarm,
quiet Christian sitting on the sidelines — ineffective, posing no challenge to the devil. The devil
fears someone filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, because that person poses a direct threat to
his dominion.
The reason our nation is in the state it is: the church sat back, kept quiet for too long, evacuated the
public square. A vacuum resulted and the devil leapt into it. Now we see all hell kicking off across
our nation.
A convicted fraudster currently acting as Prime Minister while the PM is on holiday. Politicians being
assassinated in their own homes. An MSP who thinks rape is a spectrum and is overly demonised
— who doesn’t even have the right to work in the UK. National borders a joke. Rising tensions on
the streets. Basic common sense and decency out the window. We’re failing on every metric.
Yet we have the antidote. We have the answer — new life. We have the assurance that evil will be
ended. We have hope. And hope has a name: Jesus.
But much of the church just says we need to “listen” (to anything but truth), “disagree well” (rather
than present truth), pay £100 million in reparations for past alleged crimes while churches rot,
develop interfaith dialogue where we learn from pagan, false, evil religions rather than telling them
the truth, and celebrate a diverse society where everything that is evil is celebrated and everything
that is good is presented as evil (Isaiah 5:20). It’s all warped — and it’s the church warping it.
No. We must stand up, speak out, live out our faith daily, proclaim the gospel — and stir up the gift
of God in us. We’re not meant to be a sticking plaster that covers the wound. We carry the truth that
heals the wound itself and leaves no scar. We are ambassadors of Christ. We carry this glorious
gospel truth: that God loves everyone so much He came for even those who rejected Him, and that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish but be saved.
Our enemies are living what they believe. We aren’t. So when are we going to start really living it?
Do Not Be Ashamed of the Testimony
Verse 8: “Therefore…” — now we know the context, we can understand what Paul says next. For
these reasons, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.
Elsewhere Paul writes in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Why be ashamed of something so great as salvation?
Yet so often we are. Timidity and fear creep in and take over.
You might not think you’re ashamed — but how many times have you crept away when people ask
about your faith? I’ve done it too many times, and I’ve come away thinking, “There was an
opportunity to present the truth and I failed.”
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Have you ever seen a shy Muslim? No. They are proud of what they believe and they live it out as
the number-one thing in their life. Yet we have the truth. We’ve been set free. We’re saved. And
we’re too shy, too timid, or too ashamed even to admit to following Jesus. Why?
Share in Suffering — Yet It Is Well
Verse 9 speaks of sharing in suffering. Yay, suffering — sounds good, doesn’t it? It is the reality of
living for a God whom the devil, and those who have rejected Him, hate. Jesus said, “Remember
they hated Me first.”
The Holy Spirit gives us strength so that we can say, despite it all, “It is well with my soul.” Though
trials, tribulations, pain and suffering come — all is still well because we know we are merely
passing through. This life here and now is not everything. Everything is eternity. That’s where our
focus should be. But God will also bless us in this life when we put Him first. We can get caught up
in the idea that it’s just pain and suffering, when God actually promises to bless us — even though
we don’t deserve it.
The Gift — Not Earned by Works
Verse 10: That salvation — the gift — is not earned through our works, but is the gift of God through
Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus always existed. He is revealed to us in His birth, life, death and resurrection.
If we could earn it, the price wouldn’t have needed to be paid. If our works gained salvation, the
focus would be on us. But this means the focus is towards Jesus.
Verse 12: Paul says he is not ashamed despite it all. Why? Because he is sure of his salvation. He
knows with all certainty that God is able to sustain and bless him until he is called home. It’s part of
the witness — never backing down, never surrendering, never wavering.
Verse 13: The urging to hold fast to sound teaching — the truth. We need to do likewise today.
There are so many distractions, deceptions and temptations. We need to be on guard and keep our
focus on Jesus always. There is so much nonsense in the church — so much veering from the truth
and wandering from what Scripture actually says. Romans 12:2 says be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. That does not mean read the Bible and try to fit it around your existing life. It
means read the Bible, do what it says, and alter your life accordingly.
Verse 14: How do we do this? Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do it in our own
strength. Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).
That same power that was there for the apostles then is there for us today. I believe it with all my
mind, body and soul.
Conclusion — What Are You Going to Do About It?
So what are you going to do about it? What do you need to do about it?
God is calling us as individuals, and as a church here at East Gate, to a higher place. He is calling
us to live our lives totally for Him. He is calling us out of the natural and into the supernatural. It’s
time to leave behind that mediocre life of dullness and boringness and start living fully in the power
of the Holy Spirit.
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Don’t stay sitting on the side of the pool with your feet dangling in the water, watching everyone
else having a great time. Dive straight in. Dive into the deep end. You’ll come straight back up. I’ve
tried it — it works.
It’s time to step up, because the hour is late and the need is great. But it’s not too late, and the need
is not too great — because we serve a God who is so powerful and so able to change things.
If we want to see our nation, our towns, our cities, our societies and our families turned around, it
starts with us. It starts with not being ashamed of our faith. It’s time to take the shackles off that hold
us down. It’s time to start reading, believing, and then putting into practice these glorious words of
Scripture. Then we blow on the embers and fan the flame. We stir up the gift of God within us.
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind.”
What’s your response to this call today? We are right on the edge of a major move of God that will
shake this area and then the nation. Do you believe it? Are you prepared to be a participant in
God’s plans? If you will dare to step up for Jesus, He will use you for extraordinary things. Will you
carry on existing in the mediocre, or start living in the extraordinary?
Response today: Salvation. Need to respond — to rise up, to stir up, to be unashamed, to remove
the shackles, to be free from fear. Do it today. Don’t delay. Start living how Jesus intended for you
to be. Start being effective for the Kingdom. And see the ordinary turned extraordinary, the natural
become supernatural.
