Fan Into Flame | And Again I Say To You | Pastor Adam Bishop

Your life is no longer your own. I would rather someone take their time and really think through whether or not they wanna give their life to Jesus than walk an aisle or sign a card so they can say, I'm going to heaven. That is not a version of Christianity that you will find in the New Testament. Now, you'll find it in American culture, just not in the New Testament because church, if Jesus truly saves you, your life should look different. Being holy means you're set apart. And here's the thing, we read that. I'm called to live a holy life, and here's what we do. We tap out. We go, I can't live a holy life, and that's the point. Of course, you can't, which is why the passage said, God gives you that through his grace. [00:45:38] (42 seconds)  #CalledToHoliness

If you ever are around someone like that, let me tell you what you are witnessing in person, someone who has been fanning in the flame the gifts God's given them for a very long time. For a very long time. And church, I'm gonna tell you something that nobody else will tell you because it's not popular. It won't fill up churches. It certainly won't sell books or get me on a podcast. But let me just go ahead tell you this straight up. Okay? God does this one decade at a time. Not one month at a time. Not one year at a time. One decade at a time. [00:38:51] (30 seconds)  #DecadeByDecadeGrowth

Someone says, man, I just became a new Christian. I I'm ready to lead a life group. No. You need to be in a life group for a little while first. Right? You need to That's the leaf blower. We don't need to let you lead. We we need to let you learn. Okay? Someone says, I've just been called to ministry. I need to preach. No. That's like cutting on a leaf blower. No. No. We're gonna we're gonna fan that flame a little bit. So how do I fan my flame? You spend time in God's word every single day. You pray. You meet with God's people. You show up on a Sunday. You you get in a life group. You you start serving somewhere. And and here's the thing, you just consistently keep doing this over time. [00:35:48] (31 seconds)  #LearnBeforeYouLead

Don't miss this. We're gonna be in this letter for a month, and so it's easy to forget this little principle that Paul has invested his life into Timothy, into the next generation, and it's that investment that is producing this great level of joy even at a time where he knows he's about to die for his faith. We talk a lot about the next generation here at New Hope. We spent all of last year renovating our entire kids ministry space, And we don't do that, and we don't value the next generation because it's some passing fad or because it's something that we're supposed to do to be relevant or be pertinent for the times. We do that because it's a biblical mandate [00:29:06] (35 seconds)  #InvestInNextGenerations

Remain faithful regardless of who stays or goes. Listen to me, church. In your life, you're going to experience both. You're going to experience both. If you haven't been deserted or abandoned or betrayed by someone who is close to you yet, I hate to tell you that that day is coming. Listen, we we we like to just skip over these parts of the bible because they don't they don't make us feel good. But it's there for a reason. Don't miss this. We're not talking about lost people. I'm talking about brothers and sisters in Christ. People who you thought had your back. People who you were in a life group with. People who you prayed with. [00:54:24] (54 seconds)  #RemainFaithfulAlways

I would tell our production team to show the video of this sermon because I would need to go wherever they needed me. Do you have someone like that in your life? You cannot get through this thing called life on your own. You've gotta have other Christ followers, and don't let the past pain of being deserted by someone keep you from the future opportunity of what a trusting friendship could look like. Don't don't project that onto someone else. You gotta have your people. [00:58:16] (28 seconds)  #YouNeedYourPeople