Ignite the Flame: Enthusiastic Faith in Witness and Worship

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. 6 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, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

- 2 Timothy 1:5-7

Power to shine, not shrink back

6 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, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power

- 2 Timothy 1:6-7

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

- Acts 1:8

Love that’s expressive, not evasive

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love…

- 2 Timothy 1:7b

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

- 1 John 4:18

Freedom to act, not hold back

7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

- 2 Timothy 1:7c

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. 3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

- 2 Samuel 6:1-5

The Power of the Holy Spirit

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

- Romans 15:8-9

Humanity is distant from God by default.

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

- Romans 3:23

We’ve been fooled by fakes.

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

- Romans 1:25

A real God does real things.

24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

- Romans 3:24

17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

- Romans 15:17-19

Let God do something real in you and through you.

20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. -

Romans 15:20

“Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

- Romans 15:21

The Purpose of the Holy Spirit

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

- John 14:16-17

The Holy Spirit came to be everything we need.

We need someone to lead us to Jesus.

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

- John 15:26

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

- John 16:13-14

We need someone to help us grow.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

- Galatians 5:16-17

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

- Galatians 5:22-23

We need a purpose and the power to fulfill it.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

- Acts 1:8

Seek the Holy Spirit.

Seek the presence of the Holy Spirit.

8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

- Galatians 6:8

Seek the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

- Acts 1:5

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

God made a great promise.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

- Joel 2:28-29

God keeps His promises.

'This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. '

- Acts 2:32-33 

6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

- Galatians 4:6-7

If we want to experience God’s promise, then we need to fulfill God’s premise.

32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved…

- Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21

Draw near to God.

' On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. '

- John 7:37-39

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

- Acts 2:37-39

12“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

- Joel 2:12-13

Rediscovering the Holy Spirit

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. - John 14:16-18

The Holy Spirit Is Not a 'Something,' He’s a ‘Someone’

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, - John 14:16

The Holy Spirit Is Not Forceful, He’s Faithful

"Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

- John 14:17

The Holy Spirit Is Not Distant, He’s Intimate

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

- Romans 8:15-16

The Holy Spirit Is Not Just Present, He’s Transformational

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,[a] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

- 2 Corinthians 3:18