2 Timothy

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of god in keeping with the promise of life that is in Jesus. So Timothy, my dear son, grace, mercy, and peace from god, the father, and Christ Jesus our lord. I thank god whom I serve as my ancestors did with a clear conscience as night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother, Lewis, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also.

For this reason, remind you to fan and to flame the gift of god, which is in you through the laying on on of my hands. For the that god gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self discipline. So do not be ashamed of the symphony about our lord and of me is prisoner, rather join with me in suffering for the for the gospel by the power of god. He has given he has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time Boya has now been revealed through the the appearing of our savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and life and immortality to light through the gospel.

And of this gospel, I was I was appointed as herald, as a herald, Sorry. And of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a and a teacher. That is why I'm suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause no cause for shame because I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard where I have entrusted him until that day. What you heard from me, keep as a pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Guard the good deposits that was entrusted to you guarded with the help of the holy spirit who lives in us. You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, included Figeilis and homogeneous. May the lord show mercy to the a household of on his operas because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the lord grant that he will find mercy from the lord on that day?

You knew very well in how many ways he helped me in ephesus. Thanks, Sophie. Let me add my welcome to you. My name's Philip Cooper. I'm I'm 1 of the elders, at the church, we're gonna pray and then we'll turn to this passage.

Father god help us this morning to hear your word to be attentive listeners as poor prayed for us. Help us not to be distracted, help to, want to hear you speak to us through this passage. Lord, take this word and buy your spirit, put it in our hearts and change us. In Jesus' name, our men. Well, fire is both frightening and fascinating, isn't it?

You know, we saw earlier in the in the summer, don't know if if you saw the pictures of this, an out of control fire up in Bolton, I think it was. Hundreds of acres were destroyed, and and the the firefighters were struggling to get it under control. You see it in California, regularly, but not often in Bolton. Yeah, on a winter's evening, you know, 1 of those cottages that people hire for New Year's Eve or, you know, wherever it is on a winter's evening sitting in an armchair looking at a log fire can be as as pleasing as watching TV. We love it.

It brings warmth to us. It's fascinating. I I actually switched this summer from a gas barbecue back to a charcoal 1. Mainly because the gas 1 broke. But it is it is a great fun, really, getting the fire going.

Know, getting it lit watching with satisfaction as it gets it gets going and then hopefully hot enough so that you can cook the food properly instead of having that sort of charred outside and raw on the inside. But how do we go from, you know, the fascination and the fear frightening aspect of fire to the idea of being on fire because that's really what what this chapter is all about. Look at verse 6, with me. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of god, which is in you through the laying on of my hand. That is the key to this chapter.

Paul is saying to Timothy fan into flame or rather he's saying let's make sure you're on fire. In fact, he's actually saying more than that. He's saying, let's make sure the fire in you is really hot. Really burning. He's saying, Timothy, I want you smoking.

That's what he's saying. I want you smoking. See he's not saying to Timothy, is he? Come on Timothy. Let's try and light a fire in your life.

He's not saying Timothy Mate, the fire's gone out. He's not saying, remember Timothy, as you get older, the fire will tend to die down. No, he's saying, fan the flame that's already there because it's something that you have to do continuously. It's something that you have to do constantly to keep it going. Very important that we understand the mechanism that Paul is describing here.

He's saying Timothy has a gift given to him by god, but he's also saying he didn't just land on him and take him over you know, in a sense despite himself. It's the same as we look at this gift, as we go through this passage this morning, as we look at the gift, it's the same for us. We haven't just been given it in the sense that it just arrives like, chicken pox, you know, There's nothing you can do. You just have to live with it until it's gone. You've got spots.

Everybody knows, therefore, you've got it. Ask Portland Fin about that illustration, they've been battling it for the last couple of weeks with the kids, but it's not how god works. He doesn't drop it on you and then that's it. Yes, we receive this gift from God. He likes the fire in us.

But according to Paul here, we then need to feed it We have to use it. We have to keep it hot. That's why the image in the passage of the flame is so good. You know, we know when we build a fire, don't we that it needs oxygen? So to get it really going, we might well fan piece of cardboard or something fan it into flame.

Put but you'd be a bit of an idiot standing there fanning if the charcoal is in the light if the wood hasn't been set on fire, fan the flame. That's why Paul is so clear here. God lights the fire, but we have the privilege and the responsibility of getting it really going of fanning the flame of keeping it going, of making it really hot in our lives. Now this is 1 of the so sort of so called pastoral letters, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus, Paul is writing this letter from prison in Rome, and it's not like the previous prison that we've heard about, you know, the house arrest type thing. This is nasty, cold, smelly, pretty disgusting.

He's facing the end of his life here. And is writing to Timothy who is in the church in ephesus that they planted, that they started that Paul spent 2 years teaching in. Now we know that from Timothy 1, 1 Timothy 1, just flick back a couple of pages. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3. 1 1 9 1 is the page.

And he writes this. As I urged you, verse 3, as I urged you, when I went into Macedonia, stay there in ephesus. Okay. That's how we know Timothy's in ephesus. But let's pay attention to the reason he's asked Timothy to stay there.

So just look at the rest of verse 3. So that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer. Or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advance god's work, which is by faith. So Paul is concerned about the false teaching coming in the church and then the church going off the rails.

Now that fits in with what we read into Timothy. It also fits in if you put together everything we know about the church in ephesus, from ephesians, but also from acts, you know, when Paul left ephesus after he spent 2 years there, as I've just said, teaching the plant, he calls the elders together at the church. And in acts 20, he gives them really quite a big speech, but the key points are this to the elders of the church. Keep watch over yourselves and the flock, because the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Well, that sounds fair enough, doesn't it?

Keep watch over the flock you're responsible for? But he goes on to say, because I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. And then he says, even from your own number, even from the congregation, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples. So that's the background here. Timothy has been left to deal with this church where Paul has said this is gonna happen.

And he's saying here in his second letter, look Timothy, in the face of some real attacks on the gospel, in the face of people doubting its truth, in the face of people doubting its validity, in the face of people using my imprisonment to try and discredit the gospel that I taught. In the face of all this, get yourself fired up for the gospel. That's what he's saying. Fan the flame because you're coming under attack. But although it's addressed to Timothy and it is very personal in places, God is speaking to us through this letter too.

See, it was never just a letter to Timothy. If you turn to the very last verse, chapter 4 verse 22. Just go over the page. He writes this, the lord be with your spirits, grace be with you all. Now that final sentence, grace be with you all, is plural, not just the all, the you is plural.

So Paul expected other people to be reading this letter and he's asking for grace to be with them as well. Timothy is to fan into flame the gift he's been given by god, but so are we? In fact, this is a is a bigger theme than I realized when I started work on this, from Paul. It's very explicit in this passage, but in in Romans 12 verse 11, he writes this. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the lord.

It's exactly the same idea. Keep your zeal up, keep your fervor, whatever the word is, fervid. Keep your flame burning. It's the same thing. That's what he's saying.

And remember, fires go out without continuous fuel. That's why when we have dense woodland areas susceptible to fires, we put in a fire break. We put in a man made strip, if you like, where there's no fuel for the fire. It's the same idea you'll have heard this. This is a classic Christian illustration.

It's the same idea when you hear those that illustration about the coal fire. And if you take the 1 piece of coal out and put it on the half, it soon goes cold. It's a bit cliched, actually, because it's said so often, but he's right, isn't it? That's talking about fellowship in the church. It's saying, this is what happens if you withdraw and you're put on the hearth on your own, there's no fuel for the fire to keep going.

So this gift of god is reliant on Timothy's obedience to that verse that we read verse 6. He's saying feed it Timothy fan it again and again because it will go out if you don't. So what is the gift? Must be the question of my mind. What is this gift we've got a fan into flame?

Well, look at verse 5. I'm reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, now lives in you also. Saying there, Paul's writing, Timothy, I am convinced of your faith. I know the background. So then he writes verse 6 for this reason for this reason, I e because I'm convinced of your faith, I want you to fan into flame.

Because I know about it, do this, So the gift isn't faith itself, is it? And he's not referring to the spiritual gifts we read about in Corinthians's song because it's singular. And it clearly, which is how 5 and 6 linked together, it clearly relates to being born again. He's saying because you have faith in Jesus Christ, then fan this gift into flame. So if you are a Christian here this morning, you have this gift, whatever it is, it's in us.

Well, the next verse begins to open it up. Verse 7, for the spirit god gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self discipline. So whatever this gift is, we need the spirit to work in us, to make us courageous, to make us bold, as the spirit gives us power and love and self discipline. And then verse 8, we really get to what the gift is. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our lord or of me, his prisoner, rather join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of god.

So now we get it, we see that if if If we're Christians here this morning, then it's a gift that you have and it calls you to live in a certain way And it means that we're to fan into flame god's gift of unashamed courage to speak about Christ. Unashamed courage to speak about Christ and suffer for the gospel. It's a gift that means we can stay faithful in the face of all kinds of challenges and attacks. That's what this letter is about, staying faithful, having courage And it's what god wants to say to us at Cornerstone through this letter this morning. We're to keep this flame burning in our lives, but not passively See, we're not like 1 of those gas effect fires that looks good but there's no heat.

Instead, it's saying here we're to get so hot that in us there is a willingness, a desire to speak about Jesus Christ to people and a willingness to suffer embarrassment, mockery, even persecution the sake of the gospel. So the question is, will you do it? Did you know that without fuel the flame can die out? You know, perhaps you're at a stage in your life when it's been so long since you talked to anybody about Jesus, that there's already you're down to some members perhaps you'll like the, you know, the little pilot light on the boiler? Well, god is saying this morning, let's get fire going again.

Let's get it burning hot. That's the goal. And Paul shows us 3 things this letter about how we're going to form this flame and we're going to deal with them over the next 3 weeks. And the first 1 that we're dealing with this morning is this remember your heritage. Remember your heritage.

Paul wants us to remember how we got here. Verse 5, I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I'm persuaded now lives in you also. It's interesting, isn't it? There's no mention of his father silent, no mention of his grandfather, actually, for that matter. There's no mention of his father.

In acts 16, we read this, Paul came to Derby and then to list where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek Now perhaps his father wasn't a Christian. We don't actually know, but I think the word but in the phrase, but whose father was a Greek, certainly isn't flattering. It's, so it implies that It doesn't really matter. Paul is commending both Timothy's grandmother and mother, and they undoubtedly had a great influence on him. They passed on the faith accurately.

So Paul's doing 2 things here in 2 Timothy. He's reminding Timothy to be thankful for these 2 women. In his life who told him about Jesus. And it's a subtle way really of reminding him that to do that, they had to tell him. They had to speak it out.

You know, you don't become a Christian by osmosis. Therefore, Timothy needs to speak it out. Because in the end, it's the gospel that changes lives. Secondly, he's reminding Timothy that this Christianity that he has wasn't something that he just came up with. You know, it wasn't something he invented.

It wasn't something he misheard. It wasn't even something that he learned only from Paul who's now discredited a bit because he's in prison. No. It came from his mother and his grandmother, and that is his Christian heritage. Turning me over.

I know we've turned over a few times, but it's not many more to go. Turn over to chapter 3 because he essentially repeats the point. Look at verse 14, down the bottom of the page, chapter 3. But as for you, this is Paul to Timothy still. As for you, continuing what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you have learned it.

And how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, who are able to make you wise, for salvation through faith in Christ. Jesus. Same point, isn't it? Remember how you learned it. Remember who taught you remember that since you were a baby, you've been hearing this stuff.

I saw Joel and Janine talking about last in the past like Helen. I saw Joel and Janine on, Thursday briefly. They've been looking for somewhere to live, and a new church. And they're doing it the right way because church is the crucial factor in deciding where they're gonna live. Now they thought they found 1.

It was if good first sermon, they said. The people were welcoming and some of the churches they've been to that has not been the case. The kids were looked good. But they soon became aware that on 4, 5 areas of doctrine, the church wasn't on the same page. And so they couldn't settle there.

Where did they learn that doctrine? Yes, of course they were Christians before they came, Yes, they've had other teachers, but a lot of it was here. A lot of it was from the teaching that goes on here week on week, from the home groups, from other people in their lives. And Paul is saying, look, continuing what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you have learned it. See, it would be wrong, but many people do it for convenience, they begin to doubt what they heard a few years ago.

They begin to excuse away some of the things that are now uncomfortable. And for us, as we seek to fan the flame in our lives, we too should remember how we got here. I wasn't brought up in a Christian home. I was converted, I think I was 21. And for quite a few years after I'd been converted, I have to say I thought it was an advantage not to have been brought up in a Christian home.

I didn't have the baggage that others seem to bring with them from childhood, you know, never feeling like they'd, made a decision for themselves. For Christ. Or, you know, they'd been through or they'd experienced poor teaching or sort of rubbish, boring, dead churches that some parents put their kids and and families through because that's all available in the town perhaps. Or because that church used to be good 20 years ago when the parents started going there. When I set up in business, actually, it was with an older Christian, man who'd stayed in a church for many years.

Some of you heard this story before. He'd stayed in a church for many years as it had got more liberal, and the teaching had got worse and worse. Eventually, after 10 years at least of prayer and internal battles politics, all that sort of thing, they won, and the church appointed an evangelical again a man all about teaching the Bible. And I remember saying to John, how fantastic it must have been to have stuck at it, to have persevered to have prayed that the church would turn around and then see it happen. I'll never forget his response because his response was no.

On reflection, he said the cost to the children of 10 years of poor teaching was too high. See, my original view was wrong. It's a tremendous privilege to be brought up in a Christian home, although of course that's only true if the gospel is nurtured and passed on and witnessed to as Paul is talking to Timothy about. So a few applications as we think about parental heritage. Firstly, if you're a parent here or a grandparent, speak out the gospel to your children.

Make Jesus real in your house. See if Paul is saying in this chapter that the gift of god is speak about Jesus and suffer for the gospel, then the very least that must be in your home. Both Lois and Eunice here in this passage may have taken some stick from Timothy's dad. We don't know. They may have taken some stick for being Christians, certainly for trying to teach Timothy, but they did it Secondly, don't assume it should be the other parents that does it.

You know, I hope when you read verse 5, you feel the yawning gap of no input from a father or a grandfather. Now it shouldn't be that way but Paul is commending lowest in units for what they did. It can be any parent or grandparent Now hopefully if you're both Christian parents in your house, then by you speaking for the gospel it'll encourage your spouse to do the same. But if you're on your own, do what you can do too. See it's not enough, is it to say, well, you know, if I had a supportive spouse, I'd talk about Jesus or if he if he or she hadn't left me on my own, then I'd get round to the gospel.

Or if my kids, didn't weren't so hostile about me talking to the grandkids. I'd do it. Doesn't work. You can still do it. When you are with them, if you're on your own, if you have a a difficult domestic situation, is saying fan the flame and talk about the gospel.

You might not be able to do a great job. You might not have much chance. You might be under attack. I understand all that. Do what you can.

As parents thirdly, please see the importance of this heritage to your children don't move house or town because of a job or a lifestyle choice without thinking through church. Just like I believe Joel and Janine are doing. Similarly, don't be consumerist about church children pick up this stuff really fast. You know, I remember years ago talking to the oldest son in a family, All the kids were growing up believers. I think he was 19 at the time.

And I asked him, you know, what what has his parents done with them that caused this outcome? I'm not even sure I had kids, but, if I did, they were young. I was and I said to him, was it bible studies, was it prayer times, and all the stuff that makes your heart sink? You've got to try and put into place. He said no, actually, in our family was none of that.

He said, what it what my parents did was that they showed us that they obviously believed it themselves. He said it didn't matter how tired mom and dad were when they got home from work, how low, how fed up, how much going wrong at the time, what what the finances were like, off they'd go to the prayer meeting, off they'd go to home group, and he said to me, the kids saw by the way the parents lived that they really believed in Jesus and were admitted to his people. Now let's make sure that can be said of us whether as parents or simply as adult role models in the church. Because kids pick it up. Fourth application, on this point, look back and recognize how valuable it was if you were brought up in a Christian home and cherish it.

No parents are perfect but they were believers, and that heritage is important. So there are 4 applications for us there we think about our home and the Christian heritage and that. Just think about that. Can we create that in our families? Was it created for us we give thanks for that?

I can't, many of you can. Verse 5, though, isn't the only heritage Paul refers to in chapter 1. Look with me at verse 2. To Timothy, my dear son, verse 3, I thank god whom I serve as my ancestors did with a clear conscience. As night and day, I only remember you in my prayers.

Verse 4, recalling your tears. I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. Verse 6, which we've looked at already, fanning to flame the gift of god, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Verse 13, what you heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. And then chapter 2, which we have read verse 1, you then my son.

So Timothy has another heritage and it's Paul himself See, the apostle is very close to him. He was his spiritual father. He taught him and worked with him for years. And he prayed for him and he missed him. We can see here.

He misses him. He's a very important part of Timothy's past and Timothy's life and he's reminding him of that. So again, there's an obvious application too, actually, for us. Who's the equivalent of Paul in your life? Who's your mentor if you want to use that phrase?

Maybe somebody at Cornerstone, maybe somebody perhaps you don't see very often. Perhaps you need to find 1. Who is it? So I said at the beginning, we're gonna talk about Helen a bit. But when Helen was on the staff here, she did Paul's role for many girls, many of whom are still here.

It was very important to them at that time in their life to have somebody like Helen who cared for them and spent with them, and all the things Paul is talking about with Timothy. Have you got that? Now pray for them if you have. Get in touch with them, find out what's going on in their life, tell them what's going on in yours, all parents, spiritual or otherwise, all parents like to hear from their kids. And if you have a spiritual father or mother and you don't see them very often now, Just as Paul with Timothy, they want to hear from you.

Verse 4, recalling your tears. I longed to see you so that I may be filled with joy. Secondly, who are you appalled to? Who could you mentor who's your son and daughter in the faith. See, it's the other way around, but the principle's the same, pray for your child, contact them, reassure them, challenge them, urge them to fan into flame god's gift.

And if you don't have that at the moment, if you don't have a spiritual son or daughter, then look out for the opportunity to be a mentor to someone. There are more than enough young people in this church. Routed members, students. Why not pray that god will use you in that role to someone else? But be aware if you do, and he answers that prayer that it takes time.

Paul was with him years. It's not something you can do in 5 minutes on a Sunday. It's not something you can do by text. You're all aware, aren't you that there's changes going on at the moment in home groups? Fairly not major, but there are changes going on.

What about when you go to your group again in September and perhaps there's some new people there? Perhaps the group's new. Can you be of mother or father to somebody in that group? Can you pray for somebody and encourage them in their walk with Jesus Christ. So firstly, we have a family heritage.

Secondly, we have a sort of mentoring heritage. And thirdly, we have a heritage through the scripture. You see, we need to understand and appreciate that in our walk, we have Timothy and Paul and many others as our heritage That's 1 of the joys of the Bible, isn't it? We learn from it. We see how they did relationship.

We see how they lived their Christian lives. In many cases, we see how they died well as Christians. Spirit, they are our heritage. And that includes Jesus Christ. He is part of that heritage, is the peak of that heritage for us.

Look at verses 9 and 10. He has saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace, this grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. That is the heritage we have in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, god put his hand on you through the cross Christ saved you from your sin. And that is our heritage, along with Timothy, along with Paul, along with many others. In Hebrews 11, the writer lists a whole load of people who are Christian Heraches, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Joseph, Jacob, and so on.

But then he says in chapter 12 verse 1, Therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, so he could write, therefore, since we're surrounded by this great Christian heritage, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross. Scawning its shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. That is the peak of our heritage let this cloud of witnesses in particular Jesus Christ inspire you and then run the race. That's what he's saying in Hebrew. And he isn't exactly the same here.

Because of your Christian family, because of your heritage, because of Jesus Christ, fan the flame. So the Hebrew's example is saying, look, life, the Christian life isn't a walk. It's definitely not a walk in the park. It's a race. It's running, it's training, it's tough.

And it's exactly the same when it asks not to be like a little pilot light, not to be like a gas effect fire when it's asking us to be white hot for Jesus Are you up for that, or are you really still treating, I don't know, Christianity as as a leisure activity you know, something you do along with other things. You go to home book, you go to church, you go to prayer meeting, whatever it is, you read the Bible. If you can fit it in, if you're not too tired. If work isn't a priority. Something you do to add to your life.

Perhaps you might make some friends. Perhaps you get god onside in case things don't go well shortly. So that's not what it's about. It is our life. And Paul is saying here, fan the flame, and the first way we can do that is to remember our heritage remember where we come from.

Now I hope that's in your heads now, but we can't end on it. We can't end on it because yes, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. Yes, we need to be obedient. Yes, we need to be involved in getting this fire going, but in the end, it's god that changes lives. It's the gospel that we're to speak out courageously, that's what he's saying, but then the spirit does the work in somebody's heart.

It's not down to us. It's not down to our clever words and and, stories and illustrations. The point is therefore we're going to suffer disappointments. We're going to suffer disappointments as we do it. We'll think we're parenting well.

We're doing what we can. We'll do what our friends are doing, and their kids will become Christians and ours won't. The person that we spend time with and we mentor will after a few years drift away. And we'll be depressed and wonder what we did wrong or what we could do or what we can do now. You know, there'll be somebody in your home group and you'll spend time with them.

And you hang out with them, perhaps they become a friend. And then they'll make a ridiculous decision to move for a job, and they haven't even thought about church. And there isn't 1 that's any good in that town, and you'll wonder why you bothered. Well, the answer is because god is sovereign. He knows.

We can't control what happens, all we can do is courageously speak out and let him do the rest. Look at verse 15. You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Fylulis homogeneous. Chapter 4 verse 16, he says this At my first defense, no 1 came to my support, but everyone deserted me may not be held against them. Now how let down must Paula felt?

He's proclaimed the gospel probably over and over again. He's witness to them. He's taught them. He spent years there. He spent time with them and still some walk away.

Doesn't mean it wasn't worth it, does it? Doesn't mean that, well, we found the flame until somebody chucks a bucket of cold water over us and then we stop. The results are down to god. He works in people's hearts. What we have to do here is be obedient and fan the flame, to be obedient and stay faithful to the truth and accept that suffering might come because of it.

And then we leave it to god. Now, can you do that? In your life? Can you fan that flame? Can you get the fire burning again.

What is the purpose of the fire so that you will speak courageously so that you'll be prepared to suffer Catherine and I, I'm finished on this. Kathleen and I, as many of you know, I've just got back from holiday. And we we got to know a retired couple over the over the last few visits. And we went out for dinner with them for the first time, the 4 of us, they are Christians. And we had a terrific evening actually.

Well, in America, as you probably know, it's crept in here a bit. The the waitress or or waiter will come over and be very sort they have a pat thing. So she came over and said hi, I'm Claire, and I'm gonna be looking after you this evening. Can I get you a drink to start? Like she's buying you 1, which it clearly isn't.

And and you order a drink, and then she comes back and takes your takes the order. So we've gone through this process and she's taken the order and she's about to go and the other lady said, oh, Claire, this, by the way, Claire isn't her name. I can't. I just remember what her name was. Claire, we're gonna pray in a minute.

We're gonna pray in a minute. What can we pray for you? And I thought, silence. And you could see that the waitress was a little taken aback by this, but she recovered very quickly and suddenly opened up, and we got all this stuff about relationship with her mom and her past, and it was a remarkable 5 minute conversation, actually. And sure enough, she went off to put the order in, and we prayed, and this lady prayed for her, and it was I I thought it was absolutely fantastic and completely simple.

She obviously does it all the time. And it was quite interesting because she starts it. She's probably less threatening because the husband's quite intimidating. But but then he picks up. So he then when she'd spoken, he then asks the questions to draw her out.

It was brilliantly done, and I left thinking that is I've been thinking about it for weeks because it wouldn't even occur to me And that's the point. How can you fan the flame so that that comes naturally so that you think like that That's what we've gotta do. That's what he's talking about. Be courageous. She might have stormed off.

We might have got the wrong order food. But it worked. Now, which she didn't say she didn't we didn't get into the full gospel, but you don't know what the impact is, do you? You do what you can do. And what Paul is saying to Timothy and to us is do that.

Do what you can do. You know, let's go from a pilot light to a little bit of flame. Father god, we thank you for This message, we thank you for, drawing to our attention the need to fuel the flame. Thank you for the gift that you've put in us. That we can be courageous for you, that we can be courageous for your gospel, that we can be faithful to the truth.

Help us to be mentors. Help us to remember the people that mentored us. Help us to give thanks if we were brought up in a and family, help us to be aware of the importance of Christian heritage. But most of all, lord help us to be aware of the heritage we have from the scripture. Of the heritage we have from Jesus dying on a cross for us and help us to be bold because of it.

In Jesus's name, our