(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Proverbs 28 we're going to look at the very first verse Proverbs 28 verse number one the Bible reads the wicked flee when no man Pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion and title my sermon tonight is the righteous are bold as a lion what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be going through various parts of Scripture and Seeing how can we gain? Boldness, what is it that we can do to increase our boldness and hopefully you're edified and encouraged by the sermon tonight Because if we want to do great things for the Lord we need to be bold We need to have the boldness to go forth and do the work that needs to be done We're not we do not just come to church to sit back Listen and then go and do nothing Okay, if that's why you're here you are here for the wrong reason and you might as well just go to any church for that matter What is the point of being here? If you're not willing to get up and go out and do some work and For people who might end up watching this just online who don't go to church who aren't sitting in a good church What is the point? What are you doing? get off your rear and get into a church and get into a church at serving God and get some boldness and get out there and Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and do the work that God has laid before you because we all have a job to do and Don't just sit back and say oh man things are so bad And oh, there's so many snowflakes and oh, there's so many liberals and oh, there's so much wickedness I know that everything's just go, you know and just complain about everything. Why don't you get up and do something about it? You know you're never gonna get up and do something about if you don't get some boldness if you don't get the courage to get up and Go out and actually confront people and actually talk to people and actually do something about it Now you don't naturally people don't naturally just have the boldness to do everything that needs to be done We need to increase boldness and you know what I want to increase my boldness, too And hopefully you want to increase your boldness, too. So we're gonna look at various scriptures tonight They're going to talk about being bold how people have the boldness that they have in the Bible Which is why we're spend a lot of time in the book of Acts because guess what? The book of Acts is a book of action and things a lot of things getting done You have a lot of people going out a lot of disciples going forth and doing great acts for the Lord So lo and behold guess what there's gonna be a lot of places that Demonstrate and show and talk about the boldness that the people had in the book of Acts makes perfect sense We're starting in Proverbs 28 though. I just wanted to show you this first verse the Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursueth But the righteous are bold as a lion the first place that we can look to to get Righteousness you want to increase your to increase your your boldness. You want to be bold is increase your righteousness People who are engulfed in sin and just wicked people You're always gonna have it in your mind Something's gonna catch up to me. What am I gonna get mine, right? I mean, what am I caught? When is when is the other foot gonna drop what's gonna happen? That's gonna that that I'm gonna get what's coming to me because even people who don't believe the Bible Can see and observe in the world that what goes around comes around, you know what you reap what you sow And people who are involved in in just you know being thieves and drug addicts and drunks and whatever the sin may be There's always ramification. There's always things that are come back and get you in the end So you're always paranoid you're always looking over your shoulder. I was wondering what's gonna happen. That's gonna decrease from your boldness Because you're just waiting for something to happen and to come back and get you but you know what when you're righteous You have nothing to fear you have you have nothing holding you back You have no reason not to move forward and do things why because you could stand as a righteous person and say you know what? Go ahead examine me. Go ahead. You want to pick apart what I'm saying go right ahead Because you're not gonna find anything. You're not gonna find any dirt You're not gonna find anything to uncover to just try to slander me and and and and make me stop doing what I'm doing The righteous are bold as a lion and it makes perfect sense Flip back if you would to act chapter 4 Which is one of the reasons why Jesus had so much boldness Notice when you read through the Gospels you read through the life of Jesus Christ He wasn't afraid of anything. He wasn't afraid of anybody He wasn't afraid of any of the established powers or the governors or the Pharisees or the Sadducees or anyone in the world He didn't care who you were. He wasn't afraid to speak the truth and to speak his mind Jesus is the epitome of boldness Nothing stopped Jesus from saying the truth Except himself when he chose to write when people were already Had dark in their you know dark in their ears, you know to stop their ears dark in their heart harden their heart towards them Then he said, you know what? I'm not gonna give you the truth people had opportunity to hear it. That was his decision It's not because he was intimidated. It's not because he was scared. It's not cuz he's worried about repercussions Didn't have a fear because that's the opposite of boldness is fear Right, and the only fear that we ought to have is a fear of the Lord That's we should fear. It's godly fear Shouldn't have any fear of man that fear not what man can do unto you, you know We just need to be bold in our actions and what we do I'm gonna read for you from John chapter 7 Verse 25 the Bible reads then said some of them of Jerusalem is not this he whom they seek to kill This is when Jesus is going around at the feast and he's preaching You know, this is when his family went like oh are you coming and he's like no he's tarried and waited behind and then he went to to the feast and You know, everyone's there and they're kind of looking for him and he's preaching and then the people are here I'm preaching going like isn't this the guy that that they're trying to kill right Verse 26 says below he speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Even when people headed out to kill him now, he was wise in his actions and what he did But he preached when he preached he preached boldly He went and he did we want to do obviously he knew that there was a certain course that he needed to run and there was a certain You know Set of events that need to happen and how he was gonna die and be crucified and every and all of that He knew that all had to play out. So he didn't allow things to happen prematurely before their time Like when people want to take him to become king He didn't allow that to happen when people wanted to have him killed and put to death He would go into you know Flee in other areas when it's so required because he needed to avoid things happening out of order But at no point was he scared or in fear and at every single turn when he would preach he was preaching boldly He didn't care if there are people around her that wanted to kill him. Guess what? He preached boldly and you know what happens when you preach boldly Oftentimes the bullies are the people that want to have it out for you. Anyways, they'll shut up People who are bold in their actions and bold in their speech and are willing to just stand up and say this is what I Believe this is what the Bible says. This is what's right Most people won't oppose that They may have their own opinions or everything else, but it's very few people are going to actually stand up and oppose Anyone or anything which is why when wicked people get bold and wicked people? Will make assertions and try to promote their wickedness and depravity when no one stands up against that People tend to go towards that direction. Even if they don't buy everything they're saying Some of it's gonna sink in that's why we as God's people need to be bold as a lion We need to have the righteousness to give us that boldness We need to stand up and speak boldly and you know what when you speak boldly You're gonna find very few people are willing to stand up against you. I Mean even even the the soldiers that were supposed to arrest Jesus earlier said, you know, they're like no man spake like this man Why because he taught with authority and how do you teach with authority? He had boldness? One he had the truth obviously, right? So he's able to just expound on God's Word completely with all understanding and just give the truth and just be like this is what? So that no one could argue against that we need to have the truth and we need to have the righteousness But he also spake boldly There's confidence You can't have artificial confidence either you have to have confidence because you study and know the Word of God Confidence that I am living a righteous life No, I'm not perfect. But you know what go ahead you want to throw some things at me that I'm doing wrong Fine, right if they're hopefully they're just more, you know smaller things But the righteous it's not going to affect you Right. Go ahead I'll own up to what I do But this is what the Word of God says the righteous are as bold of a lie as a lion Jesus Christ spake boldly They say nothing unto him At chapter 4 us where we started we're going to read through this chapter. There's a lot of things here. That's going to bring Boldness and one of the first things that we're going to see here. Is that being with Jesus Jesus had boldness Jesus said the truth Jesus spake with authority Spending your time with Jesus being with Jesus is also going to bring you boldness It did for his disciples And we'll go over how I can for you in a minute Verse number one the Bible reason as they spake unto the people the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees Came upon them. So who is it that's coming on the priests a captain of the temple You know a person in charge the Sadducees all these rulers Right, he's people in authority come upon them It says being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead So these people are all upset at what they're preaching Opposition Right. These people are going to come and try to oppose what's being done verse number three and they laid hands on them and put Them in hold until the next day for is now eventide. So you see they come and arrest them Like we're saying we don't like we're preaching so they come and arrest of verse number four How be it many of them which heard the word believed? And the number of the men was about five thousand. So they're doing a great work They're going out and preaching the word and I mean five thousand people got saved before they got arrested amen verse number five and it came to pass on tomorrow that the rulers and elders and scribes and Ennis the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered together At Jerusalem's have all these important people and all these rulers come down, right? And it says in verse seven and when they had set them in the midst So here they are in the middle of all these rulers that don't like what they're saying that can be intimidating Right just being surrounded you're arrested and you're surrounded by a bunch of people that really don't like what you're saying now It's easy to look back at a story and go man. Yes. Oh, you know like I can be encouraged if I buy that's great It's easy, but it's another thing to be in the place of those people We need to realize this in your mind Because there may come a day where you're surrounded by people who hate what you're saying And we need to remember and think back to the book of Acts and not be Fearful and to be able to still be bold as a lion. It's great to get excited right now But you know what when you really need the boldness is when you're actually out there in the midst That's when you need the boldness It's great to be bold right now. It's great to be bold in your seat It's great to be bold. Oh, yeah, man. I'm so bold. I'm willing to do anything. I'll go say anything anyone It's easy to say that right now when there's no confrontation but let it sink in and Make the decision now while you don't have to make a decision on the fly as to what you're going to do And think about these situations so that you can decide in advance I'm going to be bold And I'm going to understand it may be intimidating, but I'm going to do it anyways So here they are in the midst Verse 7 and when they had set them in the midst they asked by what power by what name have you done this? So they're saying who do you basically who do you think you are and what gives you the right and authority to do what you're? doing Verse 8 then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said unto them ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel if We this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole Be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Whom ye crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him that this man stand here before you whole Did Peter hold back anything? No now we already know that They had they had made it a rule if you will that you know no one's supposed to be preaching Jesus Christ No one's supposed to be preaching register you know if you do that you're gonna be kicked out of the synagogue and there's all these repercussions and Here he is Peter, and you know some other disciples, and they're in the midst of all these rulers and He's not backpedaling he's not saying well well you know He comes right forward and says the truth with a hundred percent clarity and look this is what we need to do We don't we don't you know beat around the bush Just come out and say it Come out and say it forthright because we don't need to hide behind anything if you've got the truth just proclaim it and the truth is Hey The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he says whom ye crucified You're the murderers you killed him But you know what by that authority and that power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth God raised him from the dead even by this by him that this man stand here before you whole This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders Which has become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven Given among men whereby we must be saved Powerful statements see when you're filled with the Holy Ghost, and you don't have fear of what man can do unto you you could be bold as a lion and What awesome you know works can be done as a result? In the great faith and a great testimony now put forth Peter had a bad testimony when he betrayed Jesus Christ when he when he Denied him three times right, but you know what as we saw already earlier this morning People can make mistakes and be repentant and come back and still serve God and do great things for God And this is exactly what Peter do you know what that was a low point for Peter? But he was able to turn around now and now he's not denying him and now we have no record of him ever denying Jesus Christ ever again after that moment And now he's able to go forth and do great work verse number 13 says now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and Perceive that they were unlearned and ignorant men now. This is important It says they marveled so they're amazed because who were Peter and John they were fishermen they were blue-collar workers They weren't these scribes right they weren't these Pharisees. They weren't in the education and theologians and being taught and trained and going through all these schools and everything else like the rabbis were So it's kind of like who are these guys and normally? You know you have people who will speak with conviction or boldness That have a lot of study done because they're going to be able to Come forward with information and be bold about it and say you know even people who don't have the truth if you have a lot of You know Research study whatever you want to call it. It doesn't have to be factual. You can still boldly make claims and statements Right because you've studied like you you know a certain material a lot To be able to make statements understand these guys are unlearned men Right they don't know all you know they didn't go through all the training, but they still had the boldness Now they had boldness they're preaching the truth, and they knew the truth very well. They were taught under Jesus Christ They weren't ignorant of God's truth They were ignorant men of the sense of not having the formalized training right so in the world's eyes Oh, yeah, these are unlearned and ignorant men when in fact. They were very learned and Not ignorant at all of the truth of God and the truth of God's Word and the Bible because they learn that stuff And that's why they were able to be bold they spent time with Jesus says that when they were unlearned and unlearned men They marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus So they made a note of that when they saw they're like You know these guys these guys are just fishermen, but you know what the difference was they've been with Jesus Because they already saw the boldness of Jesus they already saw Jesus was able to just boldly Confront anybody and preach against the Pharisees and preach against the Sadducees and preach against the lawyers and doctors and scribes and anyone else That we had that that was teaching falsehoods He came forth with the truth, and it didn't matter who it was that got offended He would still preach the truth And they had seen well these guys spent time with Jesus and now here They are coming out and being bold just like Jesus was you want to gain boldness spend some time with Jesus Say how am I going to spend some time with Jesus? The word The word was made flesh. That's who Jesus is but you know what we have the word today spend some time with the word Know it live it study it This will get you close to Jesus spend time with Jesus, and you'll get boldness Righteousness have the righteousness bring you boldness spend time be with Jesus You know what you're gonna start seeing more and more and more what you need to do And that'll give you encouragement that in hey spend some time in the word You'll see all these stories of all these other people that did great things and how many of them you know? Oh, I was just a hurtman. Oh, I was just a shepherd. Oh, I was just this I was How many people that God used there were not just you know prim and proper and trained right and all had all these things They're regular people Because God's looking for the humble of heart God's looking someone to yield themselves to be used of God God's looking for people to stand up and stand in the gap and be willing to serve God and not their own Intentions and not their own speak out their own heart, but just do the will of the Lord That's who he's looking for it doesn't matter what your background is Amen, that's good news for all of us You don't have to have the perfect background. You don't have to have the perfect upbringing. You don't even have to have the great education You know the so-called great education at least now obviously I believe that we should be educated we shouldn't be Ignorant we should be smart. We should be intelligent. We should use the minds that God gave us But the the best way to get your mind ready and not be ignorant is with the truth, right Fill your mind with with truth It's all you need it's really all you need to be able to be bold to be able to use of God fill your mind with the truth Let's jump down to verse number 17 So we see some more threatenings from this group because obviously Peter is just real bold I mean he has called him out said you guys crucified him God raised him from the dead, and that's why this guy is healed For 17 did they talk amongst himself or 17 says, but that it spread no further among the people Let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus So here they are again, they're threatening I'm saying okay, you better not be you know All these authorities They're in the midst of them. It could be an intimidating scene But it wasn't for Peter wasn't for John They're not intimidated by what by what these guys are going to do to him First 19 says but Peter and John answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to harken unto you more than unto God judge you says okay? Basically yeah, yeah, you tell us what should we do should we listen to God or listen to you? For We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard you can't stop us from speaking the truth We're gonna obey God not you You need boldness To be confronted by a bunch of people Opposing you and threatening you and everything else to be able to make that statement that claim you need to get boldness We need to have boldness How are we gonna get that well being filled with the Spirit brings boldness Righteousness brings boldness being with Jesus brings boldness Being filled with the Spirit brings boldness jump down verse number 29 The Bible says and now Lord behold their threatenings and Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word By stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus 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 So one of the after-effects of being filled with the Holy Ghost is speaking the word with boldness So When we go out to preach the Word of God, you know what we need to do We need to be walking in the spirit You want to go out and have success out? so winning you want to have boldness when people confront you and and try to yell at you and try to get you to stop doing saying Don't go around and knock on any other doors either without a mask Right. Hey be walking in the spirit Have the boldness to not just you know, tuck tail and run because someone opposed you You need boldness to continue and to go forward and preach the truth And you'll wear your boldness is through the Holy Ghost Now we're gonna get to prayer in a minute because it's another way to receive the Holy Ghost But we see here just by it by hat by walking in the spirit God will bring you the boldness that you need The Bible says walk in the spirit you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh So you're either as a human being has saved you've got a kind of a dual nature You've got the old sinful man the old sinful nature, right? But then you also have that newborn-again spirit that new creation a new man the inner man The Bible talks about is born of God that cannot sin so you've got the flesh It could do nothing but sin. You've got the new man that cannot sin in Every day every moment we're choosing are we gonna walk in a new man and we're gonna walk in the old man The more you can choose and actually walk in the new man and and mortify the deeds of your flesh The more boldness you're gonna have So be conscious of that when you know sit when temptations present themselves When sin presents like I want boldness Goes back to righteousness Right having a righteous the righteous are bold as a lion why because they're walking in the spirit because the Holy Ghost is gonna bring you that boldness that you need verse 32 says in the multitude of them that believed were of One heart and of one soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own But they had all things common verse 33 and with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection Of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all with the great boldness with the great walking in the spirit Great works are being done They have this witness of the resurrection and Great grace was on them all Hey, we want to do great things here. We need boldness Collectively, we need to all be of one spirit of one mind and and have one goal And get the boldness that we need to go out and do the work and Not worry about the repercussions of the stands that you make Because they need to be made and they need to be made by as many people as possible Not just one not just a pastor All of us need to make a stand because we all have our own scope and realm of influence Flip back to Acts chapter 2 day of Pentecost Acts chapter 2 verse number 4 the Bible reads and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak With other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So again, we see being filled with the Holy Ghost. What are they doing? They're preaching They've got the boldness now to preach the Word of God Jump down verse number 17. This is now Quoting Joel right of them Speaking with other tongues and in this great miracle and them going out and seeing you know thousands of people saved Because they're filled the Holy Ghost and they're preaching the Word of God Verse 17 says and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy a prophesy means they're preaching Okay, he's poured out of his spirit and as a result your sons and daughters shall prophesy new young men shall see visions your old Men shall dream dream verse 18 and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy you want boldness get in the spirit Walk in the spirit Put away the flesh Turn over to Acts chapter 14 since you're in the book of Acts I'm gonna read for you from Ephesians chapter 6. We already saw in Acts in Acts 4 That they had prayed unto the Lord They had asked God for the boldness it says in in Acts 4 29 and now Lord behold they're threatening so they're going to God saying look we're being threatened by these guys God basically help us us help us out grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word God give us that boldness seeking the Lord asking for boldness and It says in verse 31 then 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 when they had prayed You struggle with having boldness Pray for that boldness Pray yeah If you have if you have fear in your heart When we go out soul winning you have fear when you go out and knock on doors You have fear when you're when you're confronted with someone Pray to God that God will help you and give you the boldness that you need He'll answer that prayer God wants you to be bold Yes righteousness, yes spending time with Jesus Yes being filled with the Spirit and yes prayer ask God I'm gonna read for you from Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 18 Bible says in Ephesians 6 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and For me, so he's telling them these different things for prayer right for praying with all prayers and supplications watching perseverance supplication for all saints and for me He's talking about himself that utterance may be given unto me utterance You know speaking with his mouth that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel For which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak the Apostle Paul is Asking for prayers from other people to God to pray for him to continue to have boldness to preach the gospel Because he was thrown in prison for preaching the gospel and you know things that happen Persecutions that happen to you as a result of preaching the word can make you want to stop and be like no I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to go to jail. I don't want to get beat I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to lose it, you know Because those things may happen as you preach the gospel as you do what's right persecution will come But you need to be bold You need to continue because that's the course that God has for us It'd be easy for me to back down on It certain issues that have cost me a livelihood. It cost me, you know jobs or whatever because like man I don't want that to happen again, man. I want to deal with that. You know what? That's not what God's called us to do. I don't want to be a coward. I want to be bold I want to stand for the truth That's why the the the you know, the the new video coming out the side of my deception. I'm all for I'm gonna promote that It may cost me my job again It might it's reality But It's not about me it's not We need to be bold and honestly No one wants to follow a weak person they're just gonna back down because it's gonna I'm not gonna be as comfortable Toughen up man Look whether I'm a based or whether I abound I'm still gonna serve Jesus Christ and we need to have that attitude And it may be tough sometimes which is why we need boldness We need to be bold. Just move forward do it Don't worry about what what what could happen? God will provide if you look anyone who chooses the right path and is gonna stand on God's Word I guarantee you that God will not just let you go by the wayside and make you be a beggar of bread Not gonna happen not going to happen as sure as your salvation is not gonna happen Requires faith You're gonna trust God to take care of you Why not I Don't worry what people can do don't worry don't whatever Have the boldness to preach the truth and Be like Paul Paul even knew this could influence influence him because it could influence all of us And you know what I'm talking about my own experience is nothing Nothing compared to what the Apostles were going through We start getting physical beatings And cast in the prison and you know, I'm pretty sure the prisons of his day probably weren't the same as the prisons we have in America and the prisoners rights and everything else And TV sets and that you know, no, I don't think that's what he was experiencing. I really don't It's not fun and How many times was the puzzle Paul stoned I mean people picking up rocks and pelting them like Being whipped getting beatings Lots of reasons to buckle under pressure But we need boldness and one of the ways you get that is by praying asking God for boldness And you know what praying for other people? He's coveting prayers here saying you know what please pray for me pray for me I'm an ambassador and bonds for the gospel sake but pray that I could still preach boldly as I ought to Because we all need to preach boldly pray for one another Pray for me pray that that I don't lose any boldness that I can still preach the Word of God with boldness because I need It and you need it to pray for everybody pray for one another We need to be more bold as the days get darker and darker Acts chapter 14, you know in a in a in an odd way Oftentimes persecution could bring boldness to Persecution because we persecution on others When you see someone attack your friend That could provoke you to stand up right it should Hopefully it does you say like no no. No. Hey. Hey, that's my friend Hey, that's my friend over there. What do you think you're doing and you stand up, right? Acts chapter 14 look at verse number one It says and it came to pass Nikonium that they went both together and in the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews And also the Greeks believed but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil affected against the brethren long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord Which gave testimony unto the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done By their hands. So this is them now getting these oppositions Right that could instill some boldness and be like hey, oh no, no, no We're not gonna let you you know, because they're trying to make people's minds evil affected against the brethren So they're just gonna say no we're gonna speak more boldly now, we're gonna buckle down Back down to this pressure We will preach the Word of God which actually gave testimony unto the word of his grace The Bible says here look at Philippians chapter 1 flip over to Philippians chapter number 1 Philippians chapter 1 verse number 12 the Bible reads But I would you should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather Unto the furtherance of the gospel. So he's trying to explain look. I know a lot of bad things have happened to me I know I've been put in prison and being everything else saying but you need to understand that this happened for the furtherance of the Gospel that yes one person may need to suffer But through that suffering a lot more people can still end up being reached it wasn't you know, hey Jesus Christ had to suffer and bleed and die That we can all receive salvation, right? So one man took the brunt and for the benefit of others and in similar fashion You know you may have to face Persecution and you may have to endure beatings and you may have to go through some hardships For the benefit of others to benefit many other people and he explains this here He says that he's saying look You know that the thing which happened to me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the guy It's actually helping the gospel be promoted more, but you're in prison Paul. You can't even go on preaching You know what though these things have happened unto me now I have made the gospel get reached you get taught even further verse 13 says so that my bonds in Christ are Manifest in all the palace and in all other places verse 14 and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing Confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear So seeing what happened the Apostle Paul, they're going oh man, he's in prison. You know what I better step up You know, I need to do something about this now. I'm gonna get up because he's in prison See, it's easier for people to rely on a leader. Oh, yeah, he's doing all this work great But then he gets put into prison And that stirs up a lot of other people to say no. I'm a man. This is important. We all need to do this right Persecution of others can help bring boldness now. We shouldn't be relying and waiting on that But when you see that happen You know let your spirit get stirred to rise the occasion and stand up in defense of what's right in the truth And not let the bullies and not let the wicked people just try to tear down the one person who's standing Or the two people who are standing or whatever right whoever it is. That's burying the brunt at the time stand up with them and you know what you continue to work and and you know if More people hear that as they did here They're doing way more work than just what one then just the Apostle Paul is able to do So as more and more people are hearing oh man, he went to prison for that. Well, we better Start preaching Right Let's stir you up verse 15 some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and Some also of goodwill the one preached Christ of contention not sincerely Supposing to add affliction to my bond so some people are just trying to cause more damage to the Apostle Paul He says, but the other of love Knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel What then? Notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and I therein do rejoice. Yea and will rejoice This is akin to you know, the people the media and whoever wants to blow up these big issues about people who believe the Bible Many of them are going to publish what we believe To try to inflame others and cause injury and damage and persecution, but you know what you know what they're doing They're exposing the truth To a whole bunch more people than they're gonna want to have hear it Because they want to actually bring damage, but you know what? Hey if the truth of God's Word is being taught. Amen and You know when when those instances occur when media shows up and they want you know, do you really believe this do you? Hey, you an opportunity right there to preach the Word of God. Let them hate on you And you know what? Yeah, maybe things will be uncomfortable for you Yeah, maybe you will have to deal with some persecution as a result, but you know what how many people could you possibly help? That hear that message Yeah, it might incite a whole bunch of people against you But you know what? There's gonna be some people out there that hear that and go amen That hear the truth that are going to respond to the truth And then how many more people will see that or hear that and then step up their game I Mean When when we went through our little our little thing here at the media I had a bunch of people that were local that I don't even know pass I people I'd never met before don't even know that contacted us and said hey, man, I'm with you I support you, you know keep staying strong or whatever hopefully they you know turned up the volume a little bit on their messages against the sodomites and whatever and and and Start doing more as a result. I don't know. I'm not following all these people or whatever I don't know them all but you know, that would be the goal That would be the hope that that happened and just the fact that they've reached out and talked to me I would imagine that it probably did happen We know what happened with the Apostle Paul Saying hey Christ is being preached Amen, that's good news. That's a positive result I may have to suffer but you know what overall Christ is being preached Verse 18 what then notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is preached and I there and do rejoice Yea, and will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed But that with all boldness as Always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death We need the boldness to be able to glorify Jesus Christ and honor the Lord whether we whether it's through our life and our actions or our life or whether it be by our death and to be committed to to Offer up ourselves a living sacrifice that hey If it be the Lord's will that I even give my life for the furtherance of the gospel and so be it and Have the attitude like the Apostle Paul verse 21 says for me to live as Christ and to die as gain My life here for Christ, you know what when I die however that may be Amen I'm going to be with the Lord that's gain Turn your food to Romans chapter 10 Lots of ways to increase boldness righteousness Righteousness increase your righteousness get your boldness walking the Spirit praying unto the Lord Confidence in the Lord or faith in the Lord Will also bring boldness Hebrews 13 verse 5 the Bible reads let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me So we need the boldness be able to say hey the God's my helper I will not fear what man shall do unto me, but the verse Preceding that tells us how For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee knowing that hey God is with you You have confidence in the fact that God is there. He is your defender. He is your shield. He is with you He will strengthen you he will provide you the power you need so that we can boldly say hey God is my helper I'm not gonna fear we could do to me You know judging yourselves Are we gonna listen to you or we listen to God? God told us to do this. I think I think I'm gonna listen to God not you Hey, God commanded us to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ God commanded me to go out and preach the gospel every creature and you're telling me not to preach the gospel of people guess who? I'm gonna listen to It ain't you And I don't care how loud you get and I don't care what you try to do I don't care about your threatenings. I don't care if you call the police I don't care if you try to beat me up and cast me in the prison or take my life I am gonna listen to God Not you Romans chapter 10, so those are all the ways Many of the ways I'm gonna say all the ways to get boldness, right? We need to be bold and the most important reason to be bold is to preach the gospel Bring the light preach the truth, right? We need that boldness Every Time we need but look I still need boldness I've been doing this for a real long time But there's days where I need boldness, too Right, even though it could be easy to to get into a habit or routine You just kind of do it that makes it easier and less intimidating stuff But you know what? There's still times where the flesh is gonna try to make you be fearful for one reason or another we need boldness And we need to be thinking about being bold All the time and praying for it regularly and doing everything we can to maintain boldness living the righteous life faith increased in the Lord to be bold Romans 10 verse 16 The Bible reads but they have not all obeyed the gospel for as I as saith Lord who hath believed our report So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but I say have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth and their words on the ends of the world But I say did not Israel know first Moses saith I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people and By a foolish nation, I will anger you but as I as is very bold in saith I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me But the Israeli saith all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and Gainsaying people this is talking about a people who didn't really want to hear the Word of God This is people who had their own righteousness. This is actually I'm gonna go back to Isaiah 65. We read this passage this morning This is where we got the holier-than-thou passage from Isaiah 65 And if you remember you don't have to turn or you can if you'd like I'm gonna read from it again It goes through the characteristics of the people of the children of Israel That Isaiah was bold to go and Was found of them like Romans 10 20 says hey I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me They're not seeking the truth. They're not you know they're not trying to ask as I say hey What's the way of the Lord you know what he's bringing it to them? And we'd have the boldness to go preach the gospel to every creature now obviously We're not gonna waste time if someone just doesn't want to hear it you move on, but you know what they They're not all gonna be seeking you out. You can't wait for people to come to you and ask you What must I do to be saved? Because that doesn't happen very much you need to go and seek them out and try to be heard you know by them That they don't even know that they need to hear it And that requires boldness And you may need to walk up to a group of people where it seems like man these people you know to the group of bikers or gang bangers or Whatever group that looks like they're not going to want to hear anything about the gospel of Jesus Christ They don't look like church, or you know it doesn't matter. Yeah, they don't look like churchgoers. They need it You just want to let them die and go to hell But don't you be the judge of the power of God first of all and Don't you be the judge of who's worthy of the grace of Jesus Christ? You give them the opportunity You be found out by them Even though they may not be seeking they may not be calling you over and be like hey come over here I see you got a Bible in your hand. Can you tell me what this or this means don't wait for that to happen I? Mean this is the people that Isaiah was sent to Isaiah 65 verse 1 says I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not this is the quote from Romans 10 I Said behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name I have spread out my hands verse 2 describes it I've spread out my hands all the day unto rebellious people people rebellious which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts a People that provoketh me to anger continually to my face that sacrifices in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick Which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments which eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things in there is in the vessels Which say stand by thyself come not near to me for I am holier than thou These are a smoke in my nose a fire that burneth all the day, but you know what? Isaiah made himself known unto those people He was bold he went out there because they needed to hear the message they needed to hear the gospel They needed to hear the warning from God now. It's not up to Isaiah to decide. Well. They're not gonna listen anyways He was sent forth with a job to preach the message Isaiah's was very bold and said I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me We need that same boldness to preach the gospel Don't pick and choose You know who you're going to approach, and here's the reason why people won't Let you know approach certain people because they're intimidated or scared Hey, I've been there too, I understand People may look mean or gruff and just yeah, I don't really want to deal with that. Oh They look like they're busy. Oh, they look like they don't want it. You know what why don't you just ask? Why don't you just approach them? Why don't you be bold? Why don't you get some boldness? And here's a tip when we go out soul winning right don't get so focused on the doors That you ignore the people are out and about in the streets Don't ignore those people Run to those people right don't freak them out Don't make it look like you're gonna. You're gonna. You know jack him or something you're gonna Go and tackle them or whatever like they're gonna be pulling a weapon on you or something But go go seek those people out. You know hey What why why you don't even know if someone's gonna come to the door go talk to that person that's out and about Get the boldness don't oh no. No. They just don't look like they would be very interested. You don't know that I can't tell you time and time and time and time again where I've had the foolish thought in my mind Oh, this person's not gonna want to listen and how many times they actually listen and get saved Countless times I can't even I could start to think about all these different scenarios in my head where that's happened and I've just been proven wrong over and over and over again and You know it's just a foolish thought to think that I'm gonna know in advance who's gonna listen and who's not gonna listen So we need the boldness to just approach Everybody Let God's Word do the work, but you offer it to him you present it God's Word is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword And it's capable of dividing the asunder of soul and spirit. I mean God's Word cuts through the heart So that that that you know the person that might seem rough and gruff and not interested You know what God's Word could penetrate through all that facade And if they've hardened their heart well, that's on them If they lash out at you for it so be it God didn't say oh, I want you to preach the gospel unless they say something nasty to you then You know then you could stop Because I don't want you to be offended Yeah, no we're not supposed to be in shame ashamed or offended of our Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for us and Doesn't matter who the person whether you're family friends strangers Everyone deserves a hearing let's pray for boldness. Let's get more boldness as a church pray for one another pray for me Walk in righteousness and Be bold as a lion Spy rides have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord. We thank you so much For your words for the encouragement dear Lord for the edification we need it dear Lord This world is wicked as hell and is just getting worse God help us to be lights in the darkness help us to stand fast help us to Hold fast to your words and and to preach them and to preach what we hear in Secret up on the housetops and that we wouldn't be afraid of what man can do unto us dear Lord But that we would have the boldness to stand firm Lord Give us increase our faith increase our wisdom our knowledge dear Lord and help us to do Great works to reach as many people as humanly possible dear Lord for you. We need your spirit. We need your power God bless this church. We love you to Jesus name we pray amen