2026.05.24 Sermon Notes: By Building Bonfires: Cultivating A Life Lived For God

Westside Family Church

Building Bonfires: Cultivating A Life Lived For God

Pastor: Jonathan Hansen

Notes: 

Building a life with God, takes work!

I. CLEARING THE LAND

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

Sin entangles our lives and drags us down.  There are things we have to cut away.

The Lord will cut some things from our lives!

Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

John 15:2

This reframes the pain of clearing. It's not punishment, it's preparation. God cuts things away that need to be thrown into a burn pile. This is part of his work in our lives.

"Midway along the journey of life (midlife crisis), I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. How hard it is to tell what it was like—this wood of wilderness, savage and stubborn. A bitter place. Death could scarce be worse.” ~Dante’s Inferno

All of us at some point is going to wake up in a dark place.

On the outside, our marriage looks great, intimacy and romance is quietly dying

External marker of success, a hollow ache

Relationships with Children, may be in the same room, but not on the same page.

What does it mean to CLEAR THE LAND?

Watch movie: Warrior

"When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane, and the ultimate darkness was coming down on Him, He didn't abandon you. He died for you. If Jesus Christ didn't abandon you in His ultimate darkness—why would He abandon you now in yours?" ~Tim Keller

Notes: 

THE TREASURE TEST 

The dark wood forces you to face something: what you are actually treasuring.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord... I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:7–8 (NIV)

II. STACK THE WOOD

A fire never stays lit on yesterday's fuel.

Once the land is clear, you have to stack the wood. And here's the thing about a bonfire that most men miss: A fire never stays lit on yesterday's fuel.

The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood...The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

Leviticus 6:12–13 (NIV)

Notes: 

Your life is the alter!  What fuel will keep the fire burning?

1. THE WORD

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord?

Jeremiah 23:29

2. PRAYER

"Prayer is an encounter of wills until one will gives way to the other. Prayer with us has largely ceased to be wrestling." ~P.T. Forsyth

A simple conversation with God, no fancy words.  Merely talk to God!

3. BROTHERHOOD

ACTION STEP: Commit to a daily altar time—15 minutes in the Word and prayer. And find your CrossFit crew—a band of brothers who will keep you accountable.

Notes: 

III. FAN THE FLAME

King David: A man after God's own heart!  Tenderhearted warrior. Thick skin and soft heart.

THE REFINER'S FIRE

These trials have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor.

Is your faith real or not?

God is burning certain things away.  Refiner is burning things away.

1 Peter 1:6–7 (NIV)

IV. A BEACON OF LIGHT

When a man is living a life fully alive, your life becomes a burning fire!

He (John the Baptist) was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

John 5:35

That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

Philippians 2:15

2 GIFTS OF THE BONFIRE

Sense of protection (men over our families):  

1. Warmth
2. Protection

Notes: