Stand Close To the Fire Pentecost 2006
Acts 2: 1-12 Pastor Mark Nieting

This, being my last sermon at Emmanuel, is dedicated to the honor and glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to our four confirmands: Taylor Baldwin, Owen Cothran, Kelsey Keller and Emily Parker. May God bless you richly.

Dear Friends in Christ.

I want you to imagine, for a moment, that you are out in the woods on a camping trip. You??ve hiked by yourself into the deepest, darkest woods you??ve ever been in. The sun is setting, the shadows are getting longer and darker, and the nighttime sounds are beginning to fill your little campsite. You??ve been out gathering wood, started yourself a fire, and cooked your dinner and now you??re just sitting, and imagining what??s ?¨out there.?Æ You??re high in the mountains and as darkness falls, so does the temperature. So, what??s the normal response? You move in closer to the fire, right? After all, it??s the only way to stay warm! You??ve GOT to stay close to the fire. If you don??t, you just might freeze to death.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Holy Christian Church. It is on this day that we give thanks to God for sending us His Holy Spirit, who has called each of us to our saving faith in Jesus Christ, the faith to which Emily, Kelsey, Owen and Taylor testify on this special day of their lives.

I remember the day of my confirmation?ñ.back on June 8, 1962 at Elm Grove Lutheran Church. I remember rehearsing the day before, being nervous over what questions Pastor Bartelt might ask me. I remember the service itself, marching into church proudly during the first hymn and sitting in alphabetical order between Robert Kari and Eleanor Quandt. I remember reciting my memory verse and taking communion for the first time, trying not to choke on the wine. I felt SO grown up?ñ.and that fact was born out because for the first time, in Nieting family gatherings, I got to sit at the ?¨big people table?Æ with all the adults in the actual dining room, instead of with all the kids in the kitchen. Whoa, that was huge. Now I had TWO forks and TWO spoons! 

It was also kind of scary?ñ.sitting at the big people table. After all, I was the youngest one there, just like you are now the youngest confirmed members of the church. I had to carry on ?¨grown up?Æ conversation. I had to sit there, still dressed up in my white shirt, suit and tie, until the entire meal was over, instead of scattering with all my cousins as soon as they could escape to the back yard. It was my day of ?¨transformation,?Æ just like this is YOUR day of transformation. You are now part of the ?¨big people?Æ of the church. That??s quite a change.


Pentecost was a day of transformation and change for the disciples too. Only a few weeks before, they had squabbled over who got to sit next to Jesus in the Upper Room. They argued over who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. They wanted to get things THEIR WAY, each one believing they deserved the place of honor. And each time they acted this way, they actually moved ?¨away from the fire?Æ and out into the coldness of sin. They locked the doors and shivered in fear, worrying about what might happen to them.

Then came Pentecost and the FIRE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?ñ and everything changed. A Spirit of UNITY and BOLDNESS came over the group. Fear left them and they began to make a difference in the world around them, a difference that has led to BILLIONS of people coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection and the Faith brought to them by the Holy Spirit changed their lives forever. Peter and John performed miracles. Philip baptized a man out in the desert. Stephen was martyred. Pentecost changed everything.

We know, young friends, that God has changed you too. We have heard, or read, your testimonies of faith and we know that God has touched your lives?ñ.and will continue to do so?ñ.. IF?ñ. And this is important, IF?ñYou stand close to the fire.

Let??s go back to our imaginary campsite in our imaginary woods. It??s nighttime and the fire is the only light and the only heat around. You??re sitting on a log with your hands spread toward the fire?ñ.so which side of you is warm? The front side, of course. Which side is cold? The side away from the fire. And then your ears think they hear noises in the woods and you imagine MONSTERS, big hairy, scary MONSTERS sneaking up on you from behind! What??s the only think that makes any sense to do? Throw another log on the fire and get closer to the fire?ñ.because MONSTERS hate the fire, don??t they? Monsters won??t get you when you??re close to the fire! It??s the fire that not only keeps you warm, it keeps you safe!

The problem, as I see it, with the Christian church and with many Christian people today is we worry more about getting burned by the fire than we do about being dragged off into the woods by the monsters of the world. Far too many Christians step away from the fire and let themselves grow cold in their faith. They worry about what their friends will say if they pray in public, or if they carry a Bible in school, or if they gather around the flagpole on the National Day of Prayer or if they behave in a Christian manner when others aren??t. They would rather fit in with the crowd than sit tight with the Savior. They?ñand we?ñ can become self-centered and quarrelsome, even when it comes to our Christian faith and our church?ñ..and when that happens, the fire of our faith can grow cold, and it might?ñ.just might?ñ.even go out. 

So what can you do so this doesn??t happen? You STAND CLOSE TO THE FIRE! My call to you, Emily, Kelsey, Owen and Taylor, is to STAND CLOSE TO THE FIRE. How do you do that? 

Let me share with you some ways to do that. First, remember that you are not ?¨graduating?Æ today. I KNOW you are graduating from 8th grade this year?ñbut there??s no way you are done with school, right? Who can survive in this world with an 8th grade education! Who can ?¨stay close to the fire?Æ if you stop growing in the knowledge of God??s word? Keep coming to worship. Keep coming to Bible Class. Stay active in youth group. Keep serving the Lord. Develop a pattern of tithing, even if it is on baby-sitting money?ñ.just keep doing it and you will stay warm and toasty in the fire of your faith. 

When you??re outside sitting by the campfire, sometimes you have to turn around to keep your back-side warm, right? I encourage you to do the same thing spiritually. Turn one way?ñ.and keep that side warm by serving the Lord. Turn another way and keep that side warm with times of prayer and meditation. Turn all the way around the keep that side warm by giving to God of your time and your talent and your treasure?ñ..but the most important thing to do is keep your face?ñ.keep your front?ñkeep your heart?ñ.facing the fire.

There are so many things in this world that would love to turn you?ñ.and all of us?ñaway from our Savior Jesus Christ. They are things that might even seem, on the surface, to be good?ñ.but they are NOT. NOTHING can replace Jesus Christ. Nothing can replace the Fire of the Holy Spirit. Today, my final word of encouragement to you as I leave this ministry and this pulpit after 14 years among you is simply this: STAND CLOSE TO THE FIRE! And as I say this, I realize that there is a tremendous paradox at work in these words. IF you DO stand too close to a real campfire, you might get burned?ñ?ñ..but know this. You can NEVER stand too close to the Fire of the Holy Spirit. You will never be burned by being as close as you can to Jesus Christ. In fact?ñ.. it is the other way around. If you wander away from the fire of the faith?ñ.. it is then that you will get burned!

People of God at Emmanuel. Owen, Kelsey, Taylor and Emily. STAND CLOSE TO THE FIRE, so close that you too will become ABLAZE with, and for your Savior Jesus Christ?ñ..forever.

And to that, the people of God say, Amen.