Alright, turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4 verse 29,
this is right after Peter's great sermon in Acts chapter 4 and him and John are praying
to God and this is what they pray, and now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto
thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, verse 31 this is the result
and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness, let's
pray.
Heavenly Father I just pray that you would give me boldness right now as I preach that
you'd help me to convey the truth from your word, to edify your people, in Jesus name
I pray, Amen.
The title of my sermon tonight is Be Bold, Be Bold, and when you think of boldness some
of the words that are associated with that in your head are probably courage, confidence,
a lack of fear and those are all godly aspects, those are all aspects that we should strive
for in our life and the opposite of this is obviously fear and fear today is something
that is absolutely epidemic among Christians and amongst God's people and it's something
that we need to get away from.
Boldness is a super important part of the Christian life, I want to make three quick
points about boldness tonight.
Turn to Joshua chapter one, Joshua chapter one.
So point number one, boldness is a command, boldness is not optional, Joshua chapter one
verse nine, have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
And you know God may have been talking directly to Joshua in this scripture but this scripture
is just as applicable to us as it was to Joshua himself, he didn't just want Joshua
to be strong, he didn't want just Joshua to be of a good courage, he wants all his people
to be that way and just like God was with Joshua wherever he went, he's with us wherever
we go, so you know you say, you hear a lot of people say well I'm just not gifted in
that area, I'm just not a real bold person, you don't have a choice, it's a command of
God and if you're not gifted in that area, you need to get gifted in that area because
that's the command of God.
God wants all his people to be bold, why?
Part of the reason I think why is because it makes God look weak to the world because
whether we like it or not, the world when they view your life for better or for worse,
they view it through the lens of Christianity and through the lens of the Bible and when
they see you being weak and cowardly or if they see you being strong and bold, that's
going to affect how they think about your God and your Bible.
You know Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 says, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might if you want to, is that what it said at the end of that
verse?
No, it said be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, that's a command, we don't
have an option in that, so if people know you're a Christian, they're going to view
your life that way so you should take that into account if you're a shy person, you need
to work on that.
Turn to Proverbs chapter 28 and you know, maybe one of the ways you need to work on
that is to pray like John and Peter did in Acts chapter 4 and ask God for boldness and
he gave it to them, he'll give it to you, Proverbs chapter 28.
So we see that boldness is a command, number 1, Proverbs 28 we see that boldness is a common
characteristic of godly people, okay?
Proverbs chapter 28 verse 1, the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are
as bold as a lion.
So we see here the Bible clearly teaches that the righteous are bold, boldness is a characteristic
of righteous godly people, okay?
And there's plenty of examples of that in the Bible, you think about Moses and Aaron,
the boldness that they had to preach against Pharaoh saying let my people go, Rahab the
harlot, the boldness she had to harbor the spies, the men of God against her own life
to do what was right, David, the boldness he had to stand up to Goliath, Jeremiah preaching
an unpopular message facing prison, okay, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to
bow to face the fiery furnace, Daniel prayed to God when it was illegal to do so, John
the Baptist preached against King Herod ending up getting beheaded because of it, Jesus Christ
the ultimate boldness facing the death of the cross, you know, Paul preaching under
the Gentiles, like Remy said, he got beat three times, stoned once, shipwrecked three
times, the apostles, the boldness they had to preach God's word to turn the world upside
down, Stephen preaching that hard sermon against the Jews right before being stoned, what do
all these people have in common, boldness, boldness, it's a characteristic of godly people,
you know, yet you're afraid to preach the gospel to your neighbor after all that they
did in the Bible, you know, those stories in the Bible aren't there just for us to be
entertained by, they're there as an example to us and we can do the same great things
and have the same great effect those people have if we would just have the boldness that
God wants us to have in our life, all these men and women have one thing in common, boldness
right, and it's not just examples of that in the Bible, we see examples of that in leaders
in our day, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 13 it says, for they that have used the office of
a deacon well, purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which
is in Christ Jesus, you know, part of what I think makes our movement so awesome is the
boldness of the preachers in our movement to get behind the pulpit and thunder forth
the whole council of God without holding anything back and I thank God we have a church where
brother Aaron is going to get behind this pulpit every time he preaches, he's going
to give us the whole council of God, I thank God for our pastor, pastor Jimenez, that's
a man of boldness, look up Christian Orlando, you know what you're going to find, pastor
Jimenez, he's a bold man of God, hey I thank God that when I got saved I started listening
to a man of God named pastor Steven Anderson that had the boldness to rip face and preach
hard against sin that changed my life and made me a better man, I'm glad he had the
boldness to say hey, if you drink alcohol, you're a loser, that changed my life, I'm
glad he said that if you're not a soul winner, you're not following Christ because Jesus
said follow me and I will make you fishers of men, praise God for that, you know thank
God for all manner of other sermons where he ripped my face off, lots of sermons he
ripped my face off, you know, what do you think, let's think about what most churches
are like, what most pastors are like, you see a bunch of mice with their tail in between
their legs that are afraid to preach anything, they're afraid to stand for anything so their
people fall for everything because the Bible says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,
and you know what, they're afraid to preach the Bible and their whole congregation falls
because of it, you know, they call themselves a pastor and a preacher but they're afraid
to preach the Bible, can you explain that to me, you know, they're afraid to preach
against the filthy sodomites, how they should be taken out stone, you know, they're afraid
to preach against women wearing pants, they don't want people leaving the church, you
know, they claim to be a messenger of God and of his word but they won't preach against
the modern Bible perversions, they can't even get worked up enough to stand for the
words of God and they call themselves a pastor, unbelievable, they won't preach against worldliness
and covetousness and alcohol, they're afraid to preach anything in the Bible and it's a
sad thing today, you know what, these pastors are not doing anything for God, these churches
are not doing anything for God, they're hurting the kingdom of God, they need to sit down
and shut up and let a man like Brother Aaron or a man like Pastor Jimenez preach the Bible.
So we see boldness is a command of God, boldness is a common characteristic of godly men and
women and boldness is critical to achieve God's blessing in your life, Ephesians chapter
3, go ahead and turn there, Ephesians chapter 3, I'll start reading in verse 12, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, wherefore I desire that
you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory, for this cause I bow
my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, here's the result, that he would grant you according to the riches
of his glory.
Boldness is necessary for the blessing in your life because like I said boldness, another
word for that would be like courage, right, confidence and you remember all those examples
I gave you of people in the Bible, what did they have, they had confidence in the promises
of God, they had the confidence to step out and do what God commanded them to do because
they had boldness, okay, and if you want the blessings in your life, you're gonna have
to be the same way, I'll read for you my favorite passage in the Bible, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6,
trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, in
all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths, look it takes boldness to
obey God a lot of times, it's not always easy thing to do, but that's why you can't trust
in your own understanding and that's probably what prohibits most people from being bold
is they say, well, if I do this, this will happen, if I preach that way, I'll have no
one in my church, if I go and preach the gospel to this person, they'll hate me, that's what's
probably prohibiting a lot of people from being bold, why are the pastors and the churches
in our movement being blessed, you know, I think it's because they're rejecting the wisdom
of this world and having the boldness to go with what the Bible says, you know, pastors
in our movement are saying, hey, I don't care what your Bible college says, I don't care
if your Bible college teaches pre-trib because the Bible teaches that it's after the tribulation,
you know, I don't care if the whole world says that sodomites are born that way, you
know what the Bible says, that sodomites are pedophiles and that they need to be killed,
that's what the Bible says, you know, I don't care if all the Baptist are out there with
their cute little door hangers, I'm gonna open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel, you know, I don't care if there's all the nurseries and the day cares, we're
gonna have a family integrated church because Jesus said, suffer the little children to
come in unto me, you know, forget your stupid Israel Sunday because the Bible says that
Judaism is satanic, so what's the title of the sermon, be bold, right, I'll read for
you 2 Samuel chapter 10 verse 12, be of good courage and let us play the men for our people
for the cities of our God and the Lord do that which seemeth him good, so we saw boldness
as a command of God and it's a common characteristic of great men and women of God and that it's
necessary to achieve the blessings in your life and you know what, I'm just gonna pattern
myself after this verse, I'm just gonna be of a good courage, I'm just gonna be bold
and you know what, I'm gonna get behind the men and the leaders that are playing the men
for our people and the Lord do that which seemeth him good, I'm gonna let the chips
fall where they may but you know what, I'd rather people look at me and say that guy's
crazy than for people to look at me and say that guy's lukewarm or like Josh always says,
you weak, you weak, I'd rather people think I'm crazy than any of those things, I hope
you feel the same way, let's pray, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and for this
church God and for the movement that we have, I just pray that you'd fill each and every
person here with boldness, I pray that you'd fill the next preacher with boldness God and
that you would help us all to work and in proving this in our life and in Jesus name
I pray, amen.