Rekindle the Gift of God

July 27, 2026

Sermon Summary

• Speaker / Pastor: Rev. Douglas Dill

Scripture References

• [2 Timothy 1:1-14] – Read at length to encourage Timothy (and listeners) to hold the gift of God, not be ashamed of the testimony, and rely on the Spirit that gives power, love, and self-discipline.

• [Luke 17:5-6] – Quoted to show that faith, even as small as a mustard seed, is powerful and can act beyond expectation.

Central Message

• God is always with us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit; faith is a gift that can waver but can be rekindled through community, remembering God’s promises, and persistent spiritual practice.

Key Points

• 1. Jesus is with us in good times and bad — God does not abandon us, even when we feel lost or make mistakes.

• 1. Faith is a gift (often passed down by God, through family or mentors) and is sustained by the Holy Spirit; it brings power, love, and self-discipline.

• 1. Community rekindles faith — talking, serving, Bible study, and reaching out to one another help restart and strengthen belief.

Notable Quotes

• > “Jesus is always with us in the good times and in the bad times.”

• “God doesn’t abandon us.”

• “Faith without doubt is no faith at all.”

• “The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

Application

• Reach out when you struggle: tell someone “I need some help” and allow parents, leaders, or friends to support you.

• Attend and participate in Sunday school, Bible studies, and small groups to hear, verbalize, and process faith.

• Serve and gather with others — serving one another kindles your faith and rekindles others’.

• Name your struggles and keep returning to trusted people and practices that help you stay on track.

Prayer Points

• Thanksgiving for Jesus being with us at all times and for God sending His Son.

• Prayer of gratitude that God’s Spirit is present to give strength, power, love, and self-discipline.

• Corporate affirmation: giving thanks in the name of Jesus Christ and concluding with Amen.

Reflection Questions

• 1. Who first kindled the faith in your life (mother, father, grandparent, teacher, friend)?

• 1. Who has rekindled your faith recently? Have you reached out to thank them?

• 1. When you struggle, who do you go to for spiritual encouragement?

• 1. Do you need your faith to be rekindled now? If so, how can you seek that help?

• 1. How can you serve or join a group to help kindle someone else’s faith?

Transcript

Rev. Douglas Dill
Yeah. Well, in the prayer that we did for the backpacks, we said Jesus is with us a lot, didn’t we? That’s because Jesus is always with us in the good times and in the bad times when we struggle.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I struggled a lot trying to find the right bus, let me tell you. A couple times I did get on the wrong bus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Ooh, that’s okay. They figured it out real quick and threw me off.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But even as an adult, sometimes we struggle to get into the right places. I took a bus and I ended up 10 miles in the wrong place.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But Jesus was with me and the bus driver said, You get off here and I’ll tell the next bus that does not stop here to stop and pick you up anyhow. So they did.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when we struggle, God doesn’t abandon us. God is always there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Through His Son, Jesus is always there. The Holy Spirit is with us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when you were struggling and going, Oh, where are you? God is there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Even if we can’t see, feel, or hear, God is there. And you have a lot of people here to help you in your struggles.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Parents will help you. Everybody here will help you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because part of what we do in baptism is we promise to help those who have been baptized, right? And so we do that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You can reach to any one of these people and say, I need some help. And what they’re going to hear about today is rekindling faith.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Faith is something that is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. But there’s people here that help you in that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I know you’re going to head off to Sunday school. And hopefully you’re going to hear things that will inspire you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And that you’ll know more about the faith that God gives you. And you’ll hear that Jesus is always with you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So let’s give a prayer and say thank you that Jesus is with us at all times and all places. You ready?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son and making us aware that He is with us at all times. We say thanks in His name, Jesus the Christ.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And all God’s children said, Amen. Amen.

Rev. Douglas Dill
All right. Head on back to your speaker.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Head off to Sunday school. Whichever comes first.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Are you going to stay with me? I know one of these times if I ask her, she’s going to run right up there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
No, I thought maybe you weren’t. How about we help each other?

Rev. Douglas Dill
All right. That’s what we’re talking about rekindling and helping each other.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There you go. Good morning to be back.

Rev. Douglas Dill
A reading from Timothy. Paul and Apostle Christ Jesus by the will of God in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
To Timothy, my dear son. Praise, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rev. Douglas Dill
I thank God who I still, as my ancestors did, with clear conscience at night and day. I constantly remember you in my prayer.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Recalling your tears, I longed to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which is first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I am persuaded. Now, there’s no reason I say.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Now, there’s no reason I say. For this reason, I will remind you to stand and to claim the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Rev. Douglas Dill
For this fear that God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything that we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

Rev. Douglas Dill
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but is now revealed to the appearing of our Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and who has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. And of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

Rev. Douglas Dill
That is why I am suffering as I am. There is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But you have heard from me, keeping as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, and guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
The word of the Lord. According to Luke.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Glory to you, O Lord. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith.

Rev. Douglas Dill
He replied, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the seed, and it will obey you. The gospel of the Lord.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You may be seated as we continue our series in Timothy. Last week, I spoke about the eternal life that God promises us in Jesus, and that we live in that life right now.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There’s a promise that will happen, but we live our lives like that is true and that it is happening now. And we share what we have.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We share all the blessings that we have with others so that they come to the full realization of what God is doing for them. Now, in this letter to Timothy, the author, whether it’s Paul or somebody else, obviously knows Timothy and is trying to give encouragement to him as he’s trying to lead a congregation, a group of

Rev. Douglas Dill
people in their faith. And sometimes it can be struggles.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And you hear the author say, you received your faith. I know you have faith because it came through your mother.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It came through your grandmother. I’ve laid hands upon you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
The Spirit is with you. In other words, saying, take hold.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You’ve got this because of God. Your faith will not abandon you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Now, it may be silly for some when they think of Christians and they’re, oh, we’re just going to lay our faith in this unknown, unseen, for some of them, unseen God. But even when bad things happen, we know the promises that have been made to us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We know the outcome. We know who the victor is.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And for us to lay and wait for this is not silly. For us to proclaim this is not silly.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God provides us the strength that we need even when things seem, well, sometimes hopeless. Who kindled your faith first?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Was it your mother or your father? Grandparents.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher. Confirmation teacher.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe it wasn’t until you got to a Bible study and somebody said something that really clicked and you’re like, got it. But also, who has rekindled your faith?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because let’s face it, if we’re going to be honest with one another, and I’m not asking you all to jump up and tell me about that, although I know one person would be happy to tell me. When we struggle, who do you go see?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Who do you talk to to get that faith rekindled? Where does it start?

Rev. Douglas Dill
And how do you keep it going? I know for me, faith started about the time that I met this woman that’s sitting in the back there and she brought me to the church.

Rev. Douglas Dill
For guys, it’s always the gals that bring you to the church, okay? They bring you to the church and that’s where it started, but that’s not where it ended.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There was many people along the way that helped bring me and kindle that faith inside of me. And I have reached back to them in times of struggle to say, I am struggling with this.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Am I perceiving things wrong? Am I thinking that God is not here right now?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? As much as I said I had the faith and I believe I had the faith, but even during the times when I didn’t have a call, it was still a struggle.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And it still took time to talk to people to help me stay on track. Maybe some of you have had health scares and you wonder, really?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Where are you? Got jobs that didn’t go quite the way that you expected.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe you’ve lost a family member who has died and has now made it to eternal life. You believe that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
I believe that. But that doesn’t make it easy as we come to grip with that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God loves us and never abandons us. God will make sure that He is always with us through the Holy Spirit and the promises that God makes to us in Jesus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We get all those things through God. Not by our own doing, but by God.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So the author here is reaching out to Timothy and letting him know, hey, things might be going not so good. How many of you have ever had at least one or two employees, you know, one or two or more employees?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Somebody that reports to you. And when everything goes wrong, whose fault is it?

Rev. Douglas Dill
It’s always Sebastian’s fault, right? It’s never their fault.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So think about Timothy as he’s trying to lead this congregation of people. And things aren’t always going smooth and they point at him.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It’s you. It’s you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You just doing this. Can you imagine the weight that that takes?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Some of you don’t have to imagine. Some of you don’t have to imagine at all what it is to have the weight of the responsibility and think, where is God?

Rev. Douglas Dill
How has God helped me and going to help me? But I want to tell you that God will always help you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God will always be with you. No matter what.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because it has nothing to do with your ability to love God. It has nothing to do with your ability to do the right things.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It has nothing, let’s face it, it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with me, other than that God loves us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
That’s what it is. Now, do we have the ability to reject and we say, thank you, no thanks?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Sure, we can do that, but God’s going to do what God’s going to do. So don’t think that you can make God love you anymore because you’re love, period.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You are love and God will never, never abandon you. Ever.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Your faith may struggle, but there’s something about struggling that grows faith as well. Martin is the one who said, faith without doubt is no faith at all.

Rev. Douglas Dill
When I have doubted, my faith has grown. Not right then, but over time.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So who is it that has first kindled that faith in you? Have you reached out to them?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Have you told them? Who have you shared faith with to help them?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Have you struggled with your faith? And needed it to be rekindled?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Who do you reach to in those times? Who can you reach to?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Sometimes when we reach to be rekindled, we’re actually rekindling the other person’s faith because they’re talking about it with us. That’s what helps the other person as well.

Rev. Douglas Dill
How can you serve to help kindle somebody’s faith? Just doing a Bible study.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because when you’re talking with others, the Spirit is there. When two or more gathered in His name, He promises to be there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And what you say, even if you think you’re out in left field, it helps people to verbalize and think about what they believe and where this all connects. Being together, serving one another is how we get rekindled and we kindle others.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But who was it? Who was it that actually helped first kindle that faith in you?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Do you need to be rekindled? And how can you be rekindled?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Thank you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Yeah. Well, in the prayer that we did for the backpacks, we said Jesus is with us a lot, didn’t we? That’s because Jesus is always with us in the good times and in the bad times when we struggle.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I struggled a lot trying to find the right bus, let me tell you. A couple times I did get on the wrong bus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Ooh, that’s okay. They figured it out real quick and threw me off.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But even as an adult, sometimes we struggle to get into the right places. I took a bus and I ended up 10 miles in the wrong place.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But Jesus was with me and the bus driver said, You get off here and I’ll tell the next bus that does not stop here to stop and pick you up anyhow. So they did.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when we struggle, God doesn’t abandon us. God is always there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Through His Son, Jesus is always there. The Holy Spirit is with us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when you were struggling and going, Oh, where are you? God is there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Even if we can’t see, feel, or hear, God is there. And you have a lot of people here to help you in your struggles.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Parents will help you. Everybody here will help you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because part of what we do in baptism is we promise to help those who have been baptized, right? And so we do that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You can reach to any one of these people and say, I need some help. And what they’re going to hear about today is rekindling faith.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Faith is something that is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. But there’s people here that help you in that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I know you’re going to head off to Sunday school. And hopefully you’re going to hear things that will inspire you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And that you’ll know more about the faith that God gives you. And you’ll hear that Jesus is always with you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So let’s give a prayer and say thank you that Jesus is with us at all times and all places. You ready?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son and making us aware that He is with us at all times. We say thanks in His name, Jesus the Christ.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And all God’s children said, Amen. Amen.

Rev. Douglas Dill
All right. Head on back to your speaker.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Head off to Sunday school. Whichever comes first.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Are you going to stay with me? I know one of these times if I ask her, she’s going to run right up there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
No, I thought maybe you weren’t. How about we help each other?

Rev. Douglas Dill
All right. That’s what we’re talking about rekindling and helping each other.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There you go. Good morning to be back.

Rev. Douglas Dill
A reading from Timothy. Paul and Apostle Christ Jesus by the will of God in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
To Timothy, my dear son. Praise, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rev. Douglas Dill
I thank God who I still, as my ancestors did, with clear conscience at night and day. I constantly remember you in my prayer.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Recalling your tears, I longed to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which is first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I am persuaded. Now, there’s no reason I say.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Now, there’s no reason I say. For this reason, I will remind you to stand and to claim the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Rev. Douglas Dill
For this fear that God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything that we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

Rev. Douglas Dill
This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but is now revealed to the appearing of our Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and who has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. And of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

Rev. Douglas Dill
That is why I am suffering as I am. There is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But you have heard from me, keeping as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, and guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
The word of the Lord. According to Luke.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Glory to you, O Lord. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith.

Rev. Douglas Dill
He replied, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the seed, and it will obey you. The gospel of the Lord.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You may be seated as we continue our series in Timothy. Last week, I spoke about the eternal life that God promises us in Jesus, and that we live in that life right now.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There’s a promise that will happen, but we live our lives like that is true and that it is happening now. And we share what we have.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We share all the blessings that we have with others so that they come to the full realization of what God is doing for them. Now, in this letter to Timothy, the author, whether it’s Paul or somebody else, obviously knows Timothy and is trying to give encouragement to him as he’s trying to lead a congregation, a group of

Rev. Douglas Dill
people in their faith. And sometimes it can be struggles.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And you hear the author say, you received your faith. I know you have faith because it came through your mother.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It came through your grandmother. I’ve laid hands upon you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
The Spirit is with you. In other words, saying, take hold.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You’ve got this because of God. Your faith will not abandon you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Now, it may be silly for some when they think of Christians and they’re, oh, we’re just going to lay our faith in this unknown, unseen, for some of them, unseen God. But even when bad things happen, we know the promises that have been made to us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We know the outcome. We know who the victor is.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And for us to lay and wait for this is not silly. For us to proclaim this is not silly.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God provides us the strength that we need even when things seem, well, sometimes hopeless. Who kindled your faith first?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Was it your mother or your father? Grandparents.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher. Confirmation teacher.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe it wasn’t until you got to a Bible study and somebody said something that really clicked and you’re like, got it. But also, who has rekindled your faith?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because let’s face it, if we’re going to be honest with one another, and I’m not asking you all to jump up and tell me about that, although I know one person would be happy to tell me. When we struggle, who do you go see?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Who do you talk to to get that faith rekindled? Where does it start?

Rev. Douglas Dill
And how do you keep it going? I know for me, faith started about the time that I met this woman that’s sitting in the back there and she brought me to the church.

Rev. Douglas Dill
For guys, it’s always the gals that bring you to the church, okay? They bring you to the church and that’s where it started, but that’s not where it ended.

Rev. Douglas Dill
There was many people along the way that helped bring me and kindle that faith inside of me. And I have reached back to them in times of struggle to say, I am struggling with this.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Am I perceiving things wrong? Am I thinking that God is not here right now?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? As much as I said I had the faith and I believe I had the faith, but even during the times when I didn’t have a call, it was still a struggle.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And it still took time to talk to people to help me stay on track. Maybe some of you have had health scares and you wonder, really?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Where are you? Got jobs that didn’t go quite the way that you expected.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Maybe you’ve lost a family member who has died and has now made it to eternal life. You believe that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
I believe that. But that doesn’t make it easy as we come to grip with that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God loves us and never abandons us. God will make sure that He is always with us through the Holy Spirit and the promises that God makes to us in Jesus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
We get all those things through God. Not by our own doing, but by God.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So the author here is reaching out to Timothy and letting him know, hey, things might be going not so good. How many of you have ever had at least one or two employees, you know, one or two or more employees?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Somebody that reports to you. And when everything goes wrong, whose fault is it?

Rev. Douglas Dill
It’s always Sebastian’s fault, right? It’s never their fault.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So think about Timothy as he’s trying to lead this congregation of people. And things aren’t always going smooth and they point at him.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It’s you. It’s you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You just doing this. Can you imagine the weight that that takes?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Some of you don’t have to imagine. Some of you don’t have to imagine at all what it is to have the weight of the responsibility and think, where is God?

Rev. Douglas Dill
How has God helped me and going to help me? But I want to tell you that God will always help you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
God will always be with you. No matter what.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because it has nothing to do with your ability to love God. It has nothing to do with your ability to do the right things.

Rev. Douglas Dill
It has nothing, let’s face it, it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with me, other than that God loves us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
That’s what it is. Now, do we have the ability to reject and we say, thank you, no thanks?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Sure, we can do that, but God’s going to do what God’s going to do. So don’t think that you can make God love you anymore because you’re love, period.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You are love and God will never, never abandon you. Ever.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Your faith may struggle, but there’s something about struggling that grows faith as well. Martin is the one who said, faith without doubt is no faith at all.

Rev. Douglas Dill
When I have doubted, my faith has grown. Not right then, but over time.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So who is it that has first kindled that faith in you? Have you reached out to them?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Have you told them? Who have you shared faith with to help them?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Have you struggled with your faith? And needed it to be rekindled?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Who do you reach to in those times? Who can you reach to?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Sometimes when we reach to be rekindled, we’re actually rekindling the other person’s faith because they’re talking about it with us. That’s what helps the other person as well.

Rev. Douglas Dill
How can you serve to help kindle somebody’s faith? Just doing a Bible study.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because when you’re talking with others, the Spirit is there. When two or more gathered in His name, He promises to be there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And what you say, even if you think you’re out in left field, it helps people to verbalize and think about what they believe and where this all connects. Being together, serving one another is how we get rekindled and we kindle others.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But who was it? Who was it that actually helped first kindle that faith in you?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Do you need to be rekindled? And how can you be rekindled?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Thank you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Yeah. Well, in the prayer that we did for the backpacks, we said Jesus is with us a lot, didn’t we? That’s because Jesus is always with us in the good times and in the bad times when we struggle.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I struggled a lot trying to find the right bus, let me tell you. A couple times I did get on the wrong bus.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Ooh, that’s okay. They figured it out real quick and threw me off.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But even as an adult, sometimes we struggle to get into the right places. I took a bus and I ended up 10 miles in the wrong place.

Rev. Douglas Dill
But Jesus was with me and the bus driver said, You get off here and I’ll tell the next bus that does not stop here to stop and pick you up anyhow. So they did.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when we struggle, God doesn’t abandon us. God is always there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Through His Son, Jesus is always there. The Holy Spirit is with us.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So even when you were struggling and going, Oh, where are you? God is there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Even if we can’t see, feel, or hear, God is there. And you have a lot of people here to help you in your struggles.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Parents will help you. Everybody here will help you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Because part of what we do in baptism is we promise to help those who have been baptized, right? And so we do that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
You can reach to any one of these people and say, I need some help. And what they’re going to hear about today is rekindling faith.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Faith is something that is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. But there’s people here that help you in that.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And I know you’re going to head off to Sunday school. And hopefully you’re going to hear things that will inspire you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And that you’ll know more about the faith that God gives you. And you’ll hear that Jesus is always with you.

Rev. Douglas Dill
So let’s give a prayer and say thank you that Jesus is with us at all times and all places. You ready?

Rev. Douglas Dill
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son and making us aware that He is with us at all times. We say thanks in His name, Jesus the Christ.

Rev. Douglas Dill
And all God’s children said, Amen. Amen.

Rev. Douglas Dill
All right. Head on back to your speaker.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Head off to Sunday school. Whichever comes first.

Rev. Douglas Dill
Are you going to stay with me? I know one of these times if I ask her, she’s going to run right up there.

Rev. Douglas Dill
No, I thought maybe you weren’t. How about we help each other?

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All right. That’s what we’re talking about rekindling and helping each other.

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There you go. Good morning to be back.

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A reading from Timothy. Paul and Apostle Christ Jesus by the will of God in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

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To Timothy, my dear son. Praise, mercy, and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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I thank God who I still, as my ancestors did, with clear conscience at night and day. I constantly remember you in my prayer.

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Recalling your tears, I longed to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which is first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice.

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And I am persuaded. Now, there’s no reason I say.

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Now, there’s no reason I say. For this reason, I will remind you to stand and to claim the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

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For this fear that God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me, his prisoner.

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Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything that we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace.

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This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but is now revealed to the appearing of our Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and who has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. And of this gospel, I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.

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That is why I am suffering as I am. There is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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But you have heard from me, keeping as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, and guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.

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The word of the Lord. According to Luke.

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Glory to you, O Lord. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith.

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He replied, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the seed, and it will obey you. The gospel of the Lord.

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You may be seated as we continue our series in Timothy. Last week, I spoke about the eternal life that God promises us in Jesus, and that we live in that life right now.

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There’s a promise that will happen, but we live our lives like that is true and that it is happening now. And we share what we have.

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We share all the blessings that we have with others so that they come to the full realization of what God is doing for them. Now, in this letter to Timothy, the author, whether it’s Paul or somebody else, obviously knows Timothy and is trying to give encouragement to him as he’s trying to lead a congregation, a group of

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people in their faith. And sometimes it can be struggles.

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And you hear the author say, you received your faith. I know you have faith because it came through your mother.

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It came through your grandmother. I’ve laid hands upon you.

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The Spirit is with you. In other words, saying, take hold.

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You’ve got this because of God. Your faith will not abandon you.

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Now, it may be silly for some when they think of Christians and they’re, oh, we’re just going to lay our faith in this unknown, unseen, for some of them, unseen God. But even when bad things happen, we know the promises that have been made to us.

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We know the outcome. We know who the victor is.

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And for us to lay and wait for this is not silly. For us to proclaim this is not silly.

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God provides us the strength that we need even when things seem, well, sometimes hopeless. Who kindled your faith first?

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Was it your mother or your father? Grandparents.

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Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher. Confirmation teacher.

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Maybe it wasn’t until you got to a Bible study and somebody said something that really clicked and you’re like, got it. But also, who has rekindled your faith?

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Because let’s face it, if we’re going to be honest with one another, and I’m not asking you all to jump up and tell me about that, although I know one person would be happy to tell me. When we struggle, who do you go see?

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Who do you talk to to get that faith rekindled? Where does it start?

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And how do you keep it going? I know for me, faith started about the time that I met this woman that’s sitting in the back there and she brought me to the church.

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For guys, it’s always the gals that bring you to the church, okay? They bring you to the church and that’s where it started, but that’s not where it ended.

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There was many people along the way that helped bring me and kindle that faith inside of me. And I have reached back to them in times of struggle to say, I am struggling with this.

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Am I perceiving things wrong? Am I thinking that God is not here right now?

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Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? As much as I said I had the faith and I believe I had the faith, but even during the times when I didn’t have a call, it was still a struggle.

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And it still took time to talk to people to help me stay on track. Maybe some of you have had health scares and you wonder, really?

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Where are you? Got jobs that didn’t go quite the way that you expected.

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Maybe you’ve lost a family member who has died and has now made it to eternal life. You believe that.

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I believe that. But that doesn’t make it easy as we come to grip with that.

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God loves us and never abandons us. God will make sure that He is always with us through the Holy Spirit and the promises that God makes to us in Jesus.

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We get all those things through God. Not by our own doing, but by God.

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So the author here is reaching out to Timothy and letting him know, hey, things might be going not so good. How many of you have ever had at least one or two employees, you know, one or two or more employees?

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Somebody that reports to you. And when everything goes wrong, whose fault is it?

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It’s always Sebastian’s fault, right? It’s never their fault.

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So think about Timothy as he’s trying to lead this congregation of people. And things aren’t always going smooth and they point at him.

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It’s you. It’s you.

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You just doing this. Can you imagine the weight that that takes?

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Some of you don’t have to imagine. Some of you don’t have to imagine at all what it is to have the weight of the responsibility and think, where is God?

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How has God helped me and going to help me? But I want to tell you that God will always help you.

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God will always be with you. No matter what.

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Because it has nothing to do with your ability to love God. It has nothing to do with your ability to do the right things.

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It has nothing, let’s face it, it has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with me, other than that God loves us.

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That’s what it is. Now, do we have the ability to reject and we say, thank you, no thanks?

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Sure, we can do that, but God’s going to do what God’s going to do. So don’t think that you can make God love you anymore because you’re love, period.

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You are love and God will never, never abandon you. Ever.

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Your faith may struggle, but there’s something about struggling that grows faith as well. Martin is the one who said, faith without doubt is no faith at all.

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When I have doubted, my faith has grown. Not right then, but over time.

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So who is it that has first kindled that faith in you? Have you reached out to them?

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Have you told them? Who have you shared faith with to help them?

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Have you struggled with your faith? And needed it to be rekindled?

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Who do you reach to in those times? Who can you reach to?

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Sometimes when we reach to be rekindled, we’re actually rekindling the other person’s faith because they’re talking about it with us. That’s what helps the other person as well.

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How can you serve to help kindle somebody’s faith? Just doing a Bible study.

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Because when you’re talking with others, the Spirit is there. When two or more gathered in His name, He promises to be there.

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And what you say, even if you think you’re out in left field, it helps people to verbalize and think about what they believe and where this all connects. Being together, serving one another is how we get rekindled and we kindle others.

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But who was it? Who was it that actually helped first kindle that faith in you?

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Do you need to be rekindled? And how can you be rekindled?