Fresh Fire, Part 1: Faith on Fire
Type: Sunday Morning Service
Series: Fresh Fire
Sermon: Part 1: Faith on Fire
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
As a new year begins, faith is compared to a fire that can slowly fade unless it is intentionally tended. Spiritual passion must be stirred through prayer, community, Scripture, and courageous commitment rather than left to drift into apathy or fear. When faith is fanned into flame, it produces power, love, clarity, and a renewed sense of purpose that impacts future generations.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
Faith That Burns Bright in a New Year
A new year offers more than a fresh calendar; it presents an invitation to examine the temperature of our faith. Faith is not lost overnight but cools gradually when it is neglected. Like a bonfire left unattended, spiritual passion can dim even when no one intends for it to fade.
Faith Begins with God’s Fire
Faith does not originate in human effort. It is ignited by Jesus Christ and sustained through the work of the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches that God baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit and with fire, creating inner transformation that reshapes desires, priorities, and purpose. This fire changes people from the inside out.
Why Faith Grows Cold
Faith often cools through distraction rather than rebellion. Busy schedules, familiar routines, unresolved disappointments, and lingering fears can smother spiritual passion. Even past successes can become ash that blocks what God wants to do now. Without intentional care, faith naturally drifts toward apathy.
Stirring the Flame
Scripture calls believers to fan into flame what God has already placed within them. Prayer clears away spiritual ash and invites fresh movement from the Holy Spirit. Worship renews passion. God’s Word fuels faith. Community strengthens belief, because faith burns brightest when believers gather together.
The Power of a Burning Faith
A living faith produces spiritual power, genuine love, and disciplined thinking. Fear loses its grip when faith is active. Discernment increases, purpose becomes clearer, and courage replaces anxiety. A burning faith does not burn out quickly but continues steadily, shaping both personal lives and entire communities.
Passing the Fire Forward
Faith is meant to be shared. Spiritual fire spreads from one generation to the next as believers live visibly transformed lives. When faith burns brightly, others are drawn to its warmth and light. A renewed faith today becomes a legacy for tomorrow.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Discuss what causes faith to cool over time even when belief remains.
Share practical habits that have helped rekindle spiritual passion.
Talk about how community influences personal faith.
Action Step
Commit this week to one intentional practice that fans your faith into flame.
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Second Timothy was written by the apostle Paul near the end of his life while imprisoned in Rome. Timothy, a young leader overseeing the church in Ephesus, faced pressure from persecution, false teaching, and personal discouragement. Paul’s encouragement to “fan into flame” the gift of God reflects a mentor urging perseverance rather than correction for sin. The emphasis on courage, faithfulness, and endurance fits the historical moment of early Christianity, when believers needed resilience as opposition increased.
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Introduction: Talk about how fire keeps people warm and helps them cook food. Ask what happens if a fire is ignored.
Scripture: Second Timothy 1:6–7, explained simply as keeping God’s love and courage alive in our hearts.
Craft: Make a paper flame with words like “pray,” “love,” and “help” written on it.
Game: Fire Relay where kids pass a “flame” (paper) without dropping it.
Discussion questions: What helps your love for God grow? Who can you encourage this week?
Wrap-up prayer: Thank God for His love and ask Him to help everyone keep their faith strong.
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Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you right now in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
And my prayer for this congregation is that we don't just watch a video, but that it becomes a conviction of our lives.
And that in 2026, Father God, that you would light something inside of us that is beyond comprehension.
I pray, Father God, that you would do a miracle in our midst.
That you would literally double the size of this congregation.
That people would come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That this year, Father God, would be your year.
We dedicate our lives to you. We dedicate this year to you. And we look forward with expectation, Father God, of what you are going to accomplish through us in 2026. I pray this in Jesus' name. And together everybody says? Amen. Amen. Happy New Year! It's so good to see so many in the house of the Lord today. What did you think of the choir today? Let's give them a round of applause, man. That was awesome. I mean, wow.
I didn't even fit them up there. That's more than amazing. Today I'm beginning a new series entitled Fresh Fire. And the sermon is Faith on Fire. So I want to do a little exercise as we get started. I just want you to close your eyes with me. And I want you to use your imagination because I'm sure at some point in your life you have been around a bonfire. And I want you to think about the biggest bonfire
that you can imagine. Maybe hundreds of literal logs in the middle and the fire reaching up to the night sky and the dark being pushed back by the fire. And hundreds of people gathering around this fire singing and resting and sitting and roasting marshmallows. And we do that for an hour, a second hour, a third hour. And all of a sudden something changes.
The flames aren't as high as they used to be. The heat isn't as strong. The light doesn't reach as far. Nobody did anything wrong. Nobody poured water on it. Fire just dwindles. Slowly, it's still there, but it's not what it used to be. If your eyes are still closed and you haven't fallen asleep yet, would you just look back up here? This is what I'm trying to communicate. Bonfires don't go outside.
they fade gradually. And that's how people's faith often works. Nobody wakes up one morning and says, you know, today I'm going to deconstruct my faith. Today I'm not going to believe any longer. No, no, no, no. Fire cools slowly. Fire drifts away. The light of the fire dims. So as we begin a brand new year, let me ask you,
I ask you a simple but a very honest question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how hot is your faith? 1 is cool. 10 is as hot as it can get. So I can imagine that in a congregation this size, there are people that fits the gambit. There are even some here who don't even have the fire of Jesus Christ. Now listen, this is not to make anyone feel bad.
It's not to condemn anyone. It's not so that I can compare my fire to your fire.
We just need to be honest with where we are. Because 2025 is over. Who can say amen? It's over. We have a new year and this sermon is all about what God wants to do in 2026 starting right now. So we're going to a letter that Paul wrote to a young man by the name of Timothy.
He actually wrote Timothy two letters. The first letter, 1 Timothy, was written to my true son in the faith. In other words, Paul had full confidence that he was pastoring the church that he was pastoring with all of his strength, with all of his gifting, with all of his might. He was confident that this young man was doing the job. Something changed in 2 Timothy. Something's not happening quite the same.
For some reason, Timothy's faith has cooled. It hasn't gone away. But Paul is challenging this young man. And he's saying, Timothy, you need to fan your own flame. You need to stir up the gift that is within you. We have a responsibility in this. And that's what today's sermon is all about. Look at 2 Timothy 1, the first two verses. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Say Jesus.
Jesus.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child. Do you notice that? In the first letter, he addresses him as his true son in the faith. Now he's addressing him as my beloved child. He's tenderly saying, Timothy, something's not right here. Timothy, we need to make just a little course adjustment.
make the same course adjustment. He goes on and says, I give you grace and mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. That's for the third time. Paul is communicating to Timothy that he didn't start his own fire. As you read this scripture, you learn to understand, especially in verse 5, that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit were intimately involved in the fire that started inside of
Timothy. Jesus is the one who first lit the fire of our lives too. Who can say amen? If you're a Christian here with me today, and you can remember back to when you got saved, wasn't there something just magnetic about Jesus? There was something so appealing. You were convinced deep down in your heart that He really is the Son of God. That He really is the
of the Trinity. That he is the exact representation of the Father. And then when he arose into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit. And in Matthew 3, verse 11, it says he was going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Holy Ghost and with fire. Eugene Peterson paraphrased the entire Bible. And in Matthew 3, verse 11, this is how he paraphrased that same
Jesus will ignite the kingdom life within you. A fire within you. The Holy Spirit within you. Changing you from the inside out. In other words, this fire is transformative. It doesn't just burn away your sin. It changes who you are in your nature. You become a new creation in Christ Jesus who can say amen. And so what that means is even your
desires have been transformed. Sometimes you don't notice it any longer. When we're first saved, we have a hunger for the Bible. We want to read it. We want to go to every service possible. We have this desire for God. All of a sudden, we start enjoying people and loving people, and we sense deep down in our heart that there's a calling, that there's something that I've put on this planet to do, that God literally has a purpose in my life.
And as you read the first seven verses of 2 Timothy, Paul says, Timothy, I've seen it in you. I'm actually the one who laid hands on you when you received the gift that God gave you. In 2 Timothy 1.5, he says, I'm reminded of your sincere, authentic, real, honest faith. A faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and now I'm sure.
dwells in you as well. I love that scripture because it communicates that faith is often sparked through others. Are you hearing me? Paul is telling Timothy, your fire started in your grandmother and then it went to your mother and then it went to you. How many of you have a mom or a grandma who prayed you into the kingdom of God? Let me see your hands. All across this place. Now, if you didn't have one and you're a first generation Christian, you are
the lowest. You are the eunus. God wants you to spark a flame in someone else's life. Who can say amen? And this is what he says. I see this fire is now in you. And your job, Timothy, your job, church, is to pass that fire down to the next generation. Timothy chapter 2 talks about how you need to find faithful people who then find faithful people who then find faithful people.
who then start fires and more people and more people and more people.
That's the whole plan. The next generation needs to be lit on fire because fire sparks fire.
And it's not as difficult as we think it is.
The reason I say that is because whenever we talk about evangelism, a lot of people clam up.
A lot of people get all nervous and it's like, oh, no, I can't share my faith.
I can't share my faith. But let me share a story with you. My youngest son Trent was here with us over the Christmas holidays. And he and his wife were here. And it's hard sometimes when your youngest son is 30 years old. You're like, I can still remember when you were three. As a matter of fact, I remember it was 4th of July. And we had set up this, I don't know,
I bought all these fireworks from our youth group because they were selling fireworks as a fundraiser. And I bought the big one. That's what it was called. The big one. And so I had all of these bottle rockets and all of these things set up. And we started lighting them one after another. My oldest son was 13 at the time. So he got the honor of setting off the fireworks. But he didn't aim them very well. Because one shot straight over us. And it exploded. And it was beautiful. And one of the sparks.
came floating down and landed on my three-year-old son's blankie.
And it immediately caught fire.
And he runs off this blanket.
And, you know, we were actually happy because he'd carried that around too long.
It was like burning the chaff and the sin out of his life is what was actually taking place.
And we were so excited that that thing left.
But I'm telling you, it caught on fire and it was gone.
I mean, we were throwing water on it and stuff, and it just, you know, I think those blankets had a little plastic in them, and it literally was gone in a moment. Why am I sharing the story? Because we don't have to worry so much about our evangelism strategy, although we're going to communicate that in March, okay? That we have an evangelism strategy. But we have to be concerned about, is the fire in our heart glowing? Is the fire inside fanned? Are people seeing it?
If they see the fire, they will see Jesus Christ. Who can say amen? They can see Jesus in you. Point number two. The natural tendency of fire is for it to burn out. So don't be hard on yourselves if the glow has ebbed. It's actually natural for us as human beings. We are not Jesus. We reflect Jesus, but we're still human.
The Fire is burning super hot. And sometimes it begins to fade. There is an ebb and flow in our humanity. I don't like it. And Paul is warning Timothy in verse 6 for this reason. Because I know you're a man of faith. That's what he's saying. I know you're a person of faith. I want you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you. There's already something there. It can be the Holy Spirit. It can be the
the charismata that God has placed in you. It can be your natural passion or supernatural
passion. It is already burning, but fire fades through neglect. Not rebellion. It's not a matter of doubt. It's a lack of intentionality. We have to be purposeful. Life gets busy, I know. Faith becomes familiar, and our passion gives way to
And what ends up happening is apathy sets in.
And apathy is nothing more than a lack of passion.
One of the challenges that I'm facing at my age right now is my age right now.
Okay?
Welcome.
I get it.
Because I'm like, what in the world happened to all my energy?
I mean I used to get up at five in the morning and head to the Sherwin-Williams paint store and work until nine or ten o'clock at night and now I want to sleep till nine in the morning and go to bed at six o'clock at night. I want to take a nap at twelve or one o'clock. I was thinking about it this week. Why am I taking so many naps? I never used to take naps and I found out what the problem was. I get up ten times a day at night time because I have to go pee all
So I need a nap in the middle of the day.
I digress just a little bit here, okay?
What I'm saying is this, if we're not intentional, time will diminish our fire.
Age can diminish our fire because fire is also smothered by ash.
Have you ever made a barbecue in the back and everyone's eaten and someone comes late to the barbecue? And when they show up late to the barbecue, you put the hamburger, you put the steak on the cooker there. But the fire is gone. So you have to make sure that the ash, it can be anything that's left over from an earlier fire. Unfortunately, we human beings, we want to keep the old fire even though it's dying and not realize that God has something new for us.
us today who can say amen? He's got a fresh wind to come on in and start that thing up again. Ash can be what's left over from yesterday's fire. It can be successes. It can be failures. It can be disappointments. It can be wins. Yesterday's ash can suffocate today's flame. Ash can also be bad habits that God wants to burn out of your lives. Yes, I am a grandfather of nine.
And I still struggle with habits that I'm not proud of. There are times that I get angry in traffic and I'm like, what's wrong with me? That is not a fruit of the Spirit. I live in the villages. But I don't live in the villages, but I do drive through the villages, okay? And when you drive around this place, there's a lot of traffic. But you know what? There's a lot of traffic everywhere nowadays. And God has an expectation.
Listen to me.
Of us to possess the fruit of the Spirit.
It is planted in the inside of us at our salvation.
And it matures as we take care of it, fertilize it, and nurture it in Jesus' name.
What are some of those things that I already talked about?
Anger, that's one.
All these sinful habits.
We know them.
We can identify them.
You know what I'm actually more concerned about?
I'm concerned about all the ways we waste time nowadays.
Now, I've never met someone who didn't say they weren't busy. Right? How you doing? Oh, I'm busy. How you doing? Oh, man, I'm busy. I can't wait till I retire. Then you retire and I go, how you doing? You go, I'm so busy. I'm gardening, you know, in the morning and golfing in the afternoon. And the list just goes on and on and on and on. And we're busy. It's so bad that an immigrant who immigrated to our country, she thought that was our
formal greeting for hello. So when someone asked her, how you doing, she'd say, I'm busy.
And what she meant was she was doing good. But she didn't know that everyone says they're busy.
Video games. Ooh, man, I've got two boys in their 30s right now that play sometimes two, three hours a night.
One's in Arizona and one is in Atlanta, Georgia. They can play from anywhere with anybody in the world. Please understand, games are innocent in and of themselves. But if they steal your time away from God, they're a habit that needs to be burned out in Jesus' name. Scrolling through reel after reel after reel on Facebook and trying to find stuff that entertains you can become a colossal waste of time.
Again, this isn't to make you feel guilty. You might say, but pastor, what could I be doing? You could be praying. You could be fasting. You could be serving. There's so many things that God wants us to be doing. Not to check off of our list, but they become the habits of our lives. That's what God desires. Ash can be negative thinking. Anybody read about the 19-year-old girl? Beautiful girl from Texas. On Christmas Eve, she disappeared.
And they found her in a field. She had shot herself in the head and killed herself. Can you please explain to me in a country that was founded on Christian principles how do young 19-year-old girls have no hope? How do they not have an example of at least one Christian in her school who is so on fire for Jesus that she at least gives it a try? That she says, you know what? There's no hope in these secular worldviews.
But let me try Jesus.
Because when you try Jesus, you will never go back in the mighty name of Jesus.
Jesus is still the answer to the world today.
These unhealthy mindsets sabotage us.
Worry, anxiety, fear.
Fire is quenched by fear.
I'm just telling you, that's why he says,
For God has not given you a spirit of fear.
One night during a violent thunderstorm, a mom is tucking her precious four-year-old son into bed and he's just scared. He's shaking. He looks at his mom and says, Mom, will you please sleep with me tonight? And she responds, I'm sorry. I have to sleep with your father. And as she turns to walk away, he goes, he's a big sissy, isn't he?
Now, a four-year-old afraid of a thunderstorm is natural.
That's something that we can coach. That's something that we can teach. That's something that we can share truth to and remove that fear. But fear is at an epidemic proportion in our country. And I read three articles, maybe more this week, that said the reason there's so much fear in America is because America has lost her faith. Are you listening? America has lost her faith.
And these are people who aren't even Christian
academians. They just recognize that faith makes a difference in lives.
I'm not losing my faith. I'm doubling down on Jesus in the mighty name of Jesus.
I'm going all in with my Savior. I'm going to be a 100% Christian, not a 99%er, a 100%er in Jesus' name.
That's my decision for 2026. Paul says that we can fan into flame the gift of God,
which is in you. Why? Because you've not been given the spirit of fear. You don't have to fear the future. God's got it under control. You don't have to fear failure because it doesn't matter if we fail or succeed. Fear of being disappointed again is not important because, yeah, we will be disappointed again. God will walk us through it in Jesus' name. Fear of criticism can be paralyzing. You know, it's funny. I still remember my first sermon.
It was called Power Outage. And I preached to this congregation in Eugene, Oregon, that there was no power in the church any longer. And so it was similar in content to what I'm speaking today. And I gave it my all. I preached for over one hour. And people were shocked because they said most of the time, the first time someone preaches, it's five to ten minutes and they're done. I just went on and on and on. And I was shouting.
I was jumping. I was sweating like crazy. And after the service, one of the guys in the praise team comes up to me and says, Pastor Tom, you're an idiot. I go, what? He goes, you are wasting so much passion and energy. You will never be able to keep that fire your entire life. 35 years later, I'm still going strong. 35 years later, I am not cooling off.
I am fanning the flame, stirring up the gift in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And I believe God has a revival for this house in Jesus' name. Something big, something glorious. Criticism is like a bucket of water thrown on faith. And fear is also an imaginary bucket of water that lands with just as much impact. So if fire can fade and smother and be quenched, what do we do?
Tend to the fire. Make sure it doesn't go out. Make sure it doesn't die down. He doesn't say pray for fire. I find that interesting. He says fight for fire. You got to fight to keep that thing going. Fan those flames. Stir up that pit a little bit. Over the next few weeks, we're going to talk about fighting for fire. Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights. This first Wednesday, we got first Wednesday coming up, a special evening of praise and prayer and worship. I
I need you to be there because we're going to be talking about more fire.
Because fire is awakened by the wind of prayer.
Who can say amen?
So you've probably done this.
Fire starts going down so you go over and you start blowing on it.
If you've not done it, when you blow on fire, you're doing a couple things.
You're clearing away the ash.
You're adding fresh oxygen.
You're awakening embers that were already there.
That's why glowing coals can suddenly burst back into flame when you blow on them. The oxygen turns the embers into flames and prayer does the same thing for our faith. You might say, Pastor, Pastor, I've prayed and it's not working. Pray again and again and again and again. The scripture says in 1 Thessalonians 5, pray without ceasing. As Christians, we never, say never, we never give up.
We keep going strong. Fire is strengthened as people come together. I learned a long time ago
that fire dies in isolation. When people distance themselves from the church, their fire always goes out. Nobody quits going to church and says, man, my walk with the Lord has really improved. It never happens. When you distance yourself,
separate yourself, isolate yourself. The fire will always go out. But as we come together, the fire will burn hotter and brighter. My fire needs your fire. Your faith needs my faith. Together we can create a bonfire who can say amen. And that's why the Hebrew writer says that we should continue to meet together on a regular basis.
The church needs to be a place of excitement. A place of enthusiasm. A place where we might come in a little low on fire, but when we walk out, we are burning bright in the name of Jesus Christ. Not just because of the great preaching. Come on. But listen, listen, listen. Because of the cheerleaders. Are you a cheerleader?
sports when I was younger. Especially junior high and high school. That's when I started noticing the cheerleaders. Okay? And I remember that when our team would get behind, they would do this cheer. It went like this. Let's get fired up. Let's get fired up. Let's get fired up. Now listen, listen, listen. They never did the cheer when we were ahead by 10 points.
We had like 3,000 people in our gymnasium when I played high school basketball. And when those people, along with the cheerleaders, started cheering for us, there was an energy surge inside of me. Their support actually helped us. We won something like 37 home games in a row while I was in high school. It was a record that probably still is a record because the crowd and the cheerleaders made a difference in our lives. I'm here to tell you, you need to be a cheerleader, not a water thrower.
Amen. Fire sustained by fuel. Here's a proverb that sometimes you wonder, how do these get in the Bible? Without wood, a fire goes out. Nothing profound there, right? We all know if you don't keep feeding the fire, it's going to go out. Paul is trying to communicate to Timothy, are you feeding the fire?
Fire is sustained by fuel, reading the Word. Listen to what Jeremiah says. But His Word was in my heart as a burning fire shot up in my bones. It burns on the inside of us. Worship. I mean, one of the things that we come together and we worship and praise God is because praise reignites our passion. Who can say amen? But did you know serving others can also reignite the fire?
That when you're feeling down, discouraged, feeling sorry for yourself, that if you serve someone else, all of a sudden those feelings start to dissipate. Your feelings can actually follow your positive biblical actions. So in 2026, make a commitment that your life will spark a fire in someone else's life. Through your words, through your acts of love, through an invitation, and when fire is properly taken,
It produces something inside of each and every one of us. What fire produces inside of us, Paul says. God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and love and sound mind is what I grew up on. The ESV says self-discipline. Some say self-control for that last one. The bottom line for that last one is simply the battle is up here in your
This is where the war wages. This is where the devil sends you lies through demons. He sends you lies through the media. He sends you lies through the school system that is going on in America today. We cannot listen to the world. It is filled with lies. So we turn our attention to the Word of God which produces the needed power in our lives.
1, verse 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. So what happened in chapter 2? In chapter 2, they're all praying, and all of a sudden the Spirit comes with wind and with fire, and all of a sudden power fills all of these people. 3,000 of them get saved. But listen, it's not a one-time phenomena. In chapter 4, after the persecution of a couple of the disciples, they go back to the
the church and they say we were beaten for Jesus name so they all started praying that God would protect them and the spirit fell again in Jesus name the spirit is still falling on people today in 2026 are you ready for an indwelling in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that's what God has in store for us power for witnessing power for persevering power for fighting power for overcoming the enemy fresh fire
This is one of the most disappointing things for a pastor my age is to see Christians act like comets. Or no, I take it back, act like meteors where they're flashing through the sky for a momentary time and then they land inert on the planet earth. Too many Christians are in the inert stage. They need to fan the flame. They need to restore the passion.
Do you understand that Revelation 2.4 says this? I only have one thing against you. And that you have left your first love. I don't want to be a church. I don't want to be a person. I don't want to be a people who've left their first love. Jesus Christ. Do you understand that Romans 12.11 commands you to be passionate? Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Eugene Peterson puts it this way.
Don't burn out. Keep yourself fueled in a flame. Charles Spurgeon said this, all you've got to do is pour a bucket of kerosene over yourself. Set yourself on fire and people will come to watch you burn. Listen, listen, listen. I have heard of atheists going to revival meetings. A reporter will stop them and say, you don't even believe. Why are you going? And he says, I'm going because the preacher believes.
He knows there's something to it. It's not just human charisma. It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself. And through the preaching of the Word, and through the gathering of the church together, the Spirit still moves supernaturally in the name of Jesus Christ. And finally, Fresh Fire brings clarity and direction. It's that mind thing that I was talking about. You can see what is right and wrong.
discernment becomes a part of your life. You no longer fall for the temptations of the devil. And God begins to give you a vision for the future. A vision for where it is he wants you to go and where the church needs to go. So I want to ask you to all stand up right now in the name of Jesus Christ. And I want to take you back to where we started. Do you remember the bonfire? When a bonfire begins to fade, there are still embers under your eyes.
the fire isn't gone. It's just waiting. And the way you bring a bonfire back is not complicated. You don't have to get saved all over again. You don't get started anew. You don't condemn yourself because you've let the fire dwindle. Fires dwindle naturally. You don't stand back and wish, boy, I wish for the good old
I wish things were like then. No. You step closer to what God is doing right now. You stir the embers. You add fresh wood. You let the wind of the Spirit do His work. That's exactly what Paul was telling Timothy. Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you. I believe God wants to start a fresh fire, a fresh bonfire at OAG in 2026.
This isn't a fire built on hype. It's not built on weirdness. It's built on surrender, prayer, and a genuine hunger for God. So this is what I want you to do. Pastor and the team, come on forward team. They're going to start singing a song. One of them I know, Pastor, has actually written just for this sermon in this series. I want as many people who can, I want you to come to the church.
Come forward. And those of you who come forward first, I want you up on the platform.
We need more room. Come on. Come on, Robin. Come on.
And you're saying, Pastor, what are you doing?
I want you to imagine this is a bonfire pit.
And remember I said, people, come on up if you can.
If you're able, I need you to come up on the stage.
This is a bonfire pit and we're going to pray a prayer of dedication for 2026. We're going to dedicate our lives to whatever it is that God wants to do in our midst in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. And Pastor Tom can't do it by himself. Pastor Tom and Pastor Jeff and the worship team, even if we have a hundred people in the choir, we need the congregation behind us. We need everybody to be a part of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
So go ahead and start singing and I'm going to keep encouraging.
