Amazing Boldness

September 10, 2023

Today we’re starting a sermon series, called BOLD. I want you to say Bold, but you can’t say it softly or quietly. Ready? BOLD!

We’re talking about the theme of boldness. We’ll look at some stories in Acts. If you’re new to the Bible, Acts is easy to find. In your New Testament there are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then there’s Acts of the Apostles.

The four gospels each tell the story of Jesus. Luke is the only gospel that has a part 2, and that part 2 is Acts! The gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus, but Luke decided, the story of Jesus is really important. But wait there’s MORE! There’s another important story to tell: the story of the disciples after Jesus went to heaven. One of the things that is really great about Acts is how BOLD the disciples became! They realized, Jesus is in heaven, it’s up to us! They changed! When Jesus walked this earth, they were like: Lord, don’t even talk about you dying. Jesus, what are you doing talking to a stranger? Master, there’s NO WAY to feed 5000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish.

But after Jesus’ resurrection they got BOLD. And the result? Where they couldn’t work miracles before, now there was miracle after miracle after miracle! Why don’t we see all these Acts-type miracles today like we see in Acts? Because miracles require Bold faith and Bold action that lead to bold spiritual results. I hope you want to see miracles! God calls us to bold faith and bold action for that to happen. So today we’ll learn how to be BOLD for God!

In two weeks, we’ll talk about bold prayers. You know, God loves when we pray, He loves to answer our prayers. But we need to pray some bold prayers. We often pray asking God to keep us and our family safe. That’s a lovely prayer. We pray, “God be with us.” That’s great. “God get me through the day!” That’s important! But God is probably saying, “Ok, give me a tough one! I’m God of the universe! Give me something that will push me!”

In three weeks, we’ll talk about being bold in speech. You see over and over in the book of Acts; they spoke the word boldly! They preached boldly! They were told: NEVER speak about Jesus again, but they preached about him anyway. They were not afraid; they wouldn’t be intimidated. They spoke boldly!

We’re going to start today talking about Peter. I can relate to him, maybe you can too. Peter often had bold intentions, followed by timid actions. He once spoke boldly to Jesus, Everyone else may turn their back on you, but I never will. I’m with you to the end!  But before the day ended, three different times Peter denied he even knew Jesus.

Peter had bold intentions, but a timid response. Well, Jesus died and was resurrected and forgave him. He commissioned Peter, Go take care of my sheep! And it’s like a switch flipped, Peter went from timid actions to bold actions. He became a BOLD leader.

Peter and the other disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. That means Peter wasn’t just in his power, but the power of God was in him. Peter went out in front of a huge crowd, raised his voice and preached one of the boldest messages ever! He didn’t preach a feel-good message. He said, “Save yourself from this corrupt generation!” Turn from your sins. And 3000 people turned and were baptized that day! The church just explodes as Peter and the disciples are bold and on fire for God! God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness!

Then Peter and John were walking one time, and they see a guy who had been lame for more than forty years. Now for those of you who are younger, lame doesn’t mean he was boring. No, what it means is he couldn’t walk. So, for us, it’s like he’s in a wheelchair for 40 years! Then John and Peter walk up to him and say, in the name of Jesus, get up and walk! And he does! And this starts a big controversy. Some of the temple guards come out and arrest Peter and John, and they bring them to trial in front of the Sanhedrin, a Jewish court. The Sanhedrin ask Peter and John, “By what name and by what authority do you do these things?” They were concerned that Peter and John were healing and teaching about Jesus, who the Sanhedrin didn’t like.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit (so this isn’t Peter’s power, it’s the power of God) Peter said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed?  Peter sounds bold!

He continues, Let me clearly state to you he was healed by (Peter’s not going to keep quiet) by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene!

Then Peter really sticks it to them: They were healed by the name of Jesus, the man who you crucified but whom God raised from the dead!

I mean that was BOLD!! The Sanhedrin hated Jesus; they were so glad he was gone! They never wanted to hear about him again. Peter points right at the people who have the power to KILL him, and boldly says, You killed Jesus, he’s raised from the dead, and his power is loose in this world! God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness!

Acts 4 verse 13 shows the response of the religious council: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Now when you see the Greek word that is translated ordinary, that they were ordinary men. That word in Greek is idiotai. The most literal translation of the word idiotai, if you know what it is or you are going to guess, go ahead and say it, it’s the word idiot! So basically the religious leaders couldn’t believe the boldness of these idiots! Now if you’re really smart, the brightest of the brightest, I promise God can still use you. It’s just that He specializes in using idiots! God loves using ordinary people.

You know what I did this week? The Learning Tree Preschool was going to have the first day of classes this week. All the parents had forms they had to fill out and get in BEFORE bringing their child. And there was a parent, who called and asked, could she bring the forms by? I said, “Yes, put them in the mailbox at church.” But by evening I checked the mailbox and there was nothing there. So, I wanted to tell her, just bring it along when you take your kid to preschool tomorrow. I decided to text her. But I accidentally texted all the parents who brought their kids to Vacation Bible School this summer! I really was an idiotai.

God loves to take people that others overlook and give them boldness! Maybe you don’t feel bold. You’re a quiet person. Or you’re not a teacher of the Bible. There are many ways to be bold.  Maybe you’re at work and everybody is gossiping. And you say, Because of my faith, I’m not going to be part of this! And you walk off. You know what you were? You were bold!

Or maybe you win a prize, and you could really use the money, but you feel like God wants you to help someone else with that, so you give your prize away. That’s bold! God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness!

Where does boldness come from? It comes from a relationship with Jesus. The goal is to know Jesus. Boldness comes from Knowing Jesus. So, when you spend time with Jesus, and you pray, and you read the Scriptures, or when you have a mentor: your faith grows! You become bolder.

So, my homework for you is to ask yourself what step you do you feel like you need to take to grow closer to Jesus?

Whenever you experience a miracle, do you get goosebumps? It’s inspiring, right? God has many miracles in store.  The Holy Spirit will work more miracles in our world when our faith leads us to act boldly for the glory of God. Let’s not play it safe. Let’s get out there encouraging people, living with integrity, serving others and people will see you and say, There’s something different about this person. God gives ordinary people extraordinary boldness, and works through them, to change the world. Amen.