Be Bold

This morning, Hope woke up a bit earlier that I would've liked, but we got ourselves downstairs and situated on the couch for breakfast. I typically watch the news while I nurse in the morning, but on Sundays like to flip through the 'church' shows. It's usually to roll my eyes at the overly made-up ladies, or the way off theology I hear. This morning though, I started watching a sermon without cringing. It was biblically and theologically accurate, as far as I could tell, and they wern't asking for money. I was intrigued. The sermon was about "BIG CHURCH" and how the gospel message survived in 1st century Rome. He was talking about having boldness in sharing the gospel, and the boldness that the disciples demonstrated in Acts 5:17-42. They are brought in and flogged for spreading the word of God, and after being beaten, are told to leave and not to speak in the name of Jesus again. So what did they do?

⁴¹ The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. ⁴² Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

They rejoice. They are bold. They proclaim Christ.

The pastor noted how we are 1st graders when it comes to boldness. He says we rarely pray for boldness, and if our boldness has gotten us in trouble before, we change our prayer and ask for "wisdom" instead. It was a very convicting message by pastor Andy Stanley. I like to pray for wisdom. You can watch it here.

I'm reading through Joshua for my devotions. "Be strong and courageous" are words that are repeated throughout the book. Of course, in a very different context, but they are words that speak to God's omnipresence in our lives even today.

I'm going to be praying for boldness and courage. I want to share the love of Christ with MORE than just my lifestyle. Too often people rely on the good old idea of  "preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words." There are so many problems with this idea! Most importantly, the Bible tells us to TEACH and PREACH the word of God! The great commission as just one example in Matthew 28:

¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So, we need to use WORDS, spoken BOLDLY to share the GOSPEL.

Let's add 'boldness' to our list of things to pray for each day and see what happens. You with me?