Take Your Baton and Be Faithful

Verde Valley Christian Church
April 24, 2022

Series:   Fan Into Flame
Title:    "Take Your Baton and Be Faithful"
Speaker:    Doug Freeman

"I know of  nothing which I would choose to have as the subject of my ambition for life than to be kept faithful to my God till death."

~C.H. Spurgeon

"Intentionality is the measuring stick of faithfulness."

Philippians 3:12-16 ESV
<small><font color="#999999">12</font></small> Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. <small><font color="#999999">13</font></small> Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, <small><font color="#999999">14</font></small> I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. <small><font color="#999999">15</font></small> Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. <small><font color="#999999">16</font></small> Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
https://bible.com/bible/59/php.3.12-16.ESV

"Nobody finishes well by accident."

~John Maxwell

Luke 6:46 ESV
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?

"Nothing in life can take the place of faithfulness."

~Warren Wiersbe

I.     REKINDLE your gift

2 Timothy 1:6 ESV
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,

II.     REMEMBER your resources

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

III.     RECOMMIT to the cost

2 Timothy 1:8-10 (ESV)
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,…

"It is impossible to be faithful to Jesus Christ and not incur the opposition of the world."

~William Still

IV.     REMEMBER your calling

2 Timothy 1:8-10 (ESV)
…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 Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

"Faithfulness to God is our first obligation in all that we are called to do in the service of the gospel."

~Iain H. Murray