Boldness

Transcript

well good evening everyone uh it's nice to be here it's nice to uh have my opportunity to present the class um this evening um on Sunday uh after service uh brother Chris Clark came up to me I don't know if Chris is on with us uh tonight or not but brother Chris came up to me after Steve had read the blurb about my topic and he said to me do I hear a little hint of your Pentecost classes in the uh in the blur and I said uh yes you do uh for those of you who uh don't generally join us on Sundays although are here on Wednesdays uh last month we did a presentation uh entitled uh for about four weeks entitled The Power of Pentecost and it went from you know uh the Feast of Weeks and a consideration of what happens there through to the Pentecost that takes place in Acts chapters one and two so I think uh I think Peter Pi I think Chris picked up on uh some of the things about Pentecost that I was emphasizing and recognized in the title boldness in Christ that that was a big part of what I was talking about in Pentecost and it really was um I was trying uh to make the point that um although I didn't use the word boldness and I didn't even really consider it from that direct perspective but I was talking quite a bit about the idea that

um Pentecost gives us a golden an opportunity to stand up and to proclaim the gospel and to have uh confidence in Christ uh that what we believe uh is transformative and meaningful and so um so yeah so that's that's part of what uh I was considering when we were talking when I put this class together in fact we're going to take a look at Acts 3 and 4 in just a few minutes which follows up from Pentecost and the boldness of Peter and John when they went into the into the temple and just so we can talk about uh boldness one of the points I was making uh in the Pentagon class Pentecost classes if you remember uh had to do with the Feast of

Weeks and in Deuteronomy 16 and it says

this in um Deuteronomy 16 if I get this to pop up there it is remember the Feast of Weeks is really what Pentecost was you know the New Testament calls the Pentecost but in the Old Testament was called the Feast of Weeks because it was 49 weeks after Passover and one of the things that it that the rule of Pentecost um highlights is the ideal of a free will offering from your own hand it says in Deuteronomy 16:13 and thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a free will offering of thine hand which Thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee all right so what were we talking about

uh what we were talking about was uh the Feast of Weeks I apologize for the delay I have no idea what was going on there and now it's reading my words there we go um so the whole key of of the Feast of Weeks was the fact that that that uh Pentecost was supposed to be a free will offering um you know when Passover and and Tabernacles comes in um it's not about a free will offering but Pentecost is all about a free will offering that's what it is to walk in Christ it is to live a life in which uh we are both thankful and we are both transformed in a way that we offer our lives as a free will offering uh to the Lord and what Pentecost talks about it says offer uh according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee and so one of the questions is is how has the Lord thy God blessed us that we should be offering these things as a free will offering well the answer really is is Truth uh we have been blessed to know the truth of the Gospel to understand what the plan and purpose of God is to understand what the word teaches and we should be offering up our understanding of Truth as a free will offering now we do in many in many cases offer up our understanding of Truth as a free will offering for instance none of us gets paid uh to do any of these any of these things uh but tonight what I want to focus on is what it means to be bold in that offering uh not the way uh the world thinks of boldness but the way what it means to be bold in in Christ

so um when we looked at the events uh surrounding pentacon

uh in Peter's boldness when he preached uh at Pentecost um let's remember what he said because you know when you look at it from a perspective of boldness you can see that Peter was being quite uh bold in what he was saying he says uh therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this seen Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ and so Peter doesn't pull any any pun es in his preaching uh when he says listen this is the guy you crucified you're the ones that cried out crucify and crucify him and God has made him Lord in Christ and so Peter uh was quite bold in what he had had to say but Peter was a was a pretty bold guy uh generally speaking uh so the boldness that he uh exemp exemplified in Pentecost was it the same type of boldness that he exemplified in his in during the gospels and we're going to look at those in a minute and hopefully highlight the difference between where the boldness uh comes from remember at at this time when when Peter spoke with such tremendous boldness it says that 3,000 people gladly accepted the gospel and were baptized and that as we were pointing out is the power of Pentecost it's it was the power of Pentecost was Unleashed so to speak with uh Peter's boldness at Pentecost and Peter again did speak boldly but more important we are emboldened ourselves to let this wonderful truth Shine for others to see both out in the world and also within each other but again where does this boldness come from and how is it

manifested you know consider again with all the different times in those three and a half years that Peter was with Jesus those those different times in which Peter was was quite bold

uh in what he had to say look at some of the things when you consider Peter and his boldness I mean obviously he was bold um when he got out of that boat you know it took a lot of guts uh for Peter to get out of that boat but of course no sooner that he got that boat than he started to sink and it took it took a lot of guts for Peter to uh rebuke Jesus when Jesus said that he was going to be betrayed and killed and yet Peter was rebuked for saying it because his boldness was was not just poorly Ted but was very self-

servant and it took boldness when Peter spoke uh when Jesus was going to wash his feet and Peter said you know you're not going to wash my feet and Jesus had to reprimand him again and say if you don't let me wash your feet you can have no part of me and it certainly it took boldness when Peter pulled out his knife and cut the cut the ear of um the man in the garden took a lot of boldness Peter was Peter was a a a very uh bold

guy and consider probably his most bold moment of all when Peter tried to tell Jesus that he would never betray him in Matthew 26 it says then saith Jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will Smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad Peter answered and said unto him though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee that this night before the [ __ ] Crow Thou shalt deny me Thrice Peter said unto him though I should die with thee yet I will not deny thee likewise also said all the disciples but was Peter bold sure he was he was definitely uh

bold but he did deny him

so the boldness came from Peter and not from Christ and that's the emphasis in in in contrast to his boldness when he preaches the

gospels right it says in Acts 20 uh 2:38 again repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promises onto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the Lord shall call then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day were added onto them about 3,000 Souls so he had this tremendous boldness again but this time it's not it's not about him it's about Christ and this is the essence of that boldness but again we want to understand how the boldness manifests itself and it comes out beautifully in chapters uh three three and four of of the Gospel of Acts where the word boldness itself pops up a few times as it is but just for a few minutes let's just consider the way the world uh sees boldness what what is boldness to them right Society tends to glamorize boldness so whether it's you know the boldness of you know uh Sinatra or John Wayne or the Iron Man or or you know uh the Highwire Walker or even you know Star Trek to boldly go where no man has gone before and as individuals ourselves like this young lady here we tend to accentuate our own boldness we like people to think that we have a lot of guts that we have a lot of boldness well I told him don't you let don't you know who you're talking to don't you know what you know we tend to have that that feeling within us that we have to be bold and stand up for ourselves

um that's what you you know might wonder why that woman's there that's what you're supposed to see in her on her face we even have Expressions about boldness that emphasize the same thing there's a very famous expression that goes all the way back to the Iliad and the honesty which is fortune favors the

Bold so even way back when boldness was considered you know a great Act of of an individual Robert Frost once says Freedom lies in being bold I found this I found this one quote by this woman who wrote a book there's a a bold young guy right there don't mess with me and this woman I I I don't um know the woman uh but I thought her the way that she expressed she she wrote a book called uh the single woman life love and a dash of sass her name is um Mandy hail but this is what she had to say about

boldness line as you grow older that's kind of interesting you learn as you grow older that rules are made to be broken be bold enough to live life on your terms and never ever apologize for it go against the grain refuse to conform take The Road Less Traveled instead of the road well beaten instead of of the well-beaten path laugh in the face of adversity and leap before you look dance as though everybody is watching March to the beat of your own drummer and stubbornly refuse to fit in is the boldness that uh the world uh accentuates this idea of standing on your own and uh marching to your own drummer and all and all of those types of things and it's probably not fair to I mean I have no idea who this woman is um so let's turn to somebody that that you would know what about the chairman of the board he he wrote a song and he became famous for a song that's really all about boldness I did it my way and look what he says in his in one of his verses for what is a man and what has he got if not himself then he has not that's human boldness to say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels the record shows I took the blows I did it my way and that's the boldness uh that the world glorifies that idea that I did it my way and people belt out this song I belted it out myself to be perfectly truthful uh this idea of standing on your own and being the boldest of the Bold unfortunately Peter lives as a classic example of somebody who was just that type of bold and oftentimes paid uh the price for us the boldness of itself is not necessarily A Bad Thing uh it took incredible courage incredible boldness uh for Christ to allow himself to be

crucified remember what it says of him it says that he set his face like a flint towards J Jerusalem when he knew the day when he knew the day was coming and it took incredible boldness on him to keep his uh to say nothing at the time of his trial right in fact it was it was such a a bold and overwhelming situation that pilot was amazed that he didn't stand up for himself and so it took tremendous guts and and and boldness and and strength of character if you will to do just that type of

thing and again of itself it's it's not about about being bold but it's about being bold For What and how does that boldness manifest itself and again I think the way it manifests itself in chapters 3 and four of Acts really show showcases what boldness in Christ is all about as opposed to boldness in the world and I think we can get confused sometimes as brothers in Christ as to what it means to be bold we think it means to be like the world and be you know fighting against the against the windmills and all of that kind of stuff and that's not what real boldness in Christ is all about boldness in Christ is being bold to be like Christ to be to be of his character that's what it means to be bold in Christ it doesn't mean to pick fights and and all that that entails and all the things that uh that that woman says in her book about about SAS and I mentioned that boldness is actually mentioned three times in Acts chapter 4 in the the chapters we're going to look at in just a minute it says in Acts 4 ver 13 now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John talking about uh the elders in the and the Sadducees uh interviewing Peter and John we'll look at that in a few minutes uh they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men and they marveled that they took knowledge of them and and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus in Acts 4:29 it's a prayer uh spoken by everyone which we'll look at also which is kind of interesting it says and now Lord behold their threatenings and Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy word so again it's not about boldness itself uh we need to be uh bold Servants of Christ in 31 it says and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake the word of God with boldness chapter 4:3 31 so again there's this great idea of boldness that takes place but how does it manifest itself does it manifest itself in the same way is that you know that kid with the superhero costume on or does it manifest itself with a boldness of of love and of Truth and of standing standing up for what what God has taught us is true so let's if you're willing to take a look at chapters 3 and four um I'll try to do this quickly because we lost a lot of time but uh if you want to turn to acts 3:1 or if you don't want to turn to I'm going to put up most of the words uh anyway but Acts chapter 3 let me get my

uh Bible set up verse one and again this is right after Acts chapter 1 and two it's right after Pentecost uh remember 3000 had been uh converted at Pentecost and it says they were all of One Accord together uh working together and caring for each other and then immediately up comes act chapter 3 so it's not long after Pentecost at all I don't believe that acts chapter 3 uh steps in and remember when we talk about yeah the Pentecost was over at the end of Acts chapter 2 but the period of Pentecost continued on and continues on to this day we live as we pointed out in The Penton Pentecost class in the period of Pentecost until the in gathering takes place and we're called uh to the Judgment seat of Christ so we are still in uh Pentecost and so Acts chapter 3 starts out this way now Peter and John went up together into the temple at The Hour of Prayer being the ninth

hour now before we get into the lame men that they meet it's interesting that it starts off that way why does it give us the information that they went together at The Hour of Prayer being the ninth hour which is I believe 3m. why does it give us that piece of information it certainly couldn't have been connected to the healing of of the lame man

um so why does it tell us that they went to the temple to pray it being the ninth hour well I think I think there's two reasons for it I think because it was not their plan to perform Miracle it wasn't like they went there and said hey let's go let's go to the temple and see see what uh trouble we can we can rack up or let's see what what uh we can take these gifts now and make something happen that's not the reason that they went they went because it was The Hour of Prayer and if you were going for the purpose of making up a stir or of healing somebody and creating something something that way then you wouldn't do it at the ninth hour you wouldn't do it late in the day you do it in the morning so you could deal with the repercussions of it in fact they end up being a locked up overnight because it got too late so I think that's why it's told us specifically that were going to the temple in The Hour of Prayer because that's what they were going there for but something happened it says and a certain lame man from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the Gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask arms of them that entered into the

temple so

again the the the facts that Luke gives us always have a purpose I know that's that sounds that sounds basic enough but it's really easy for us to just sort of look at something and go oh that you know I don't know what that is but just move on notice it says a certain man lay from his mother's womb was carried well why does Luke tell us that the man was lame from his mother's womb when it again when it comes to the miracle that doesn't really make a difference it's not like if he'd only been lame for an hour uh Peter and John wouldn't have healed him so then why does it tell us that the man was lame from his mother's

womb and I believe the reason is this because this healing is not going to be about Sin this healing is going to be about the grace and kindness of God and you say what's that to do with the fact that it was from his mother's womb remember um the man born blind in John chapter n in John chapter 9 remember the man's born blind and the disciples say to Jesus Jesus who sinned this this man or his parents that he was born blind and the answer of course is as Jesus said neither you're not you're not born blind because in the case of uh John chapter nine either this man's going to committ a sin sometime later so he's suffering for it beforehand or his parents committed some sin so therefore the man was born blind as punishment for the parents that's not the way our God works he doesn't work that way and so specifically we're told that this man was lame from his mother's womb so that we won't think about or we won't get caught up in the idea that somehow this man needs his sins forgiven now of course he's a sinner like anybody else but that's not what this miracle is supposed to be representing again this is Pentecost this is this is a miracle that by the grace of God is being performed onto this man who by the way never asks to be healed he's asking for arms right

and yet and yet he's healed so that we won't get caught up in the idea of of forgiveness of sins it says in Acts chapter

3:3 now you're going to want to open your Bibles because you can't see my slides anymore uh it says who seen Peter and John about to go into the temple asked in arms and Peter fastened his eyes upon him and with John and said look onto us look on us and he gave heed unto them expecting to receive something of them then said Peter Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have given thee in the name of H such as I have give I Thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk so let's consider there a couple things there notice again the man's not asking to be healed not that he doesn't want to be healed but that's not what he's thinking about when they come to him notice he's the one that that instigates the conversation Peter and John are going there to prayer but it's the man that calls upon and asks for arms which he did he did

regularly and then Peter it says that Peter fastened his eyes upon him with John and said look on us and why would that have been important do you think why would it have been important for them to look that Peter says look me in the eye because something miraculous is about to happen and this man to know that this is where it's coming from and this is what it's about so he's he's grabbing his attention there's all kinds of people walking by and if Peter didn't grab his attention he would have had no idea why all of a sudden he could stand up and walk if the heal if the miracle was performed and so Peter goes up to him and says look at me look right at me he says I got nothing to give you except one thing in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth

stand up and

walk and and that's Pentecost right because Peter is is is performing a good will offering a free will offering with the way that the Lord had blessed him he now has the power to heal and so not not to forgive Sins Not as as some act like that as a simple Free Will offering he goes over to this man and he says say you know what I can heal you this I can do for you I got no money but I can do this and then notice what it says next it says in verse seven and he took him by the right

hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength why does it tell us I I always ask this question because it always fascinates me why does it tell us that he took him by the right hand

right you think about it the author is Luke right so Luke is the one that's telling us that he took him by the right hand and yet Luke wasn't there so when Luke was putting the account together about what had happened in Acts chapter 3 whoever it was that gave him the account maybe whoever it was maybe it was Peter or maybe it was John or maybe it was one of the people there whoever it was very specifically said to Luke so then Peter took him by the right

hand and lifted him up so why by the right

hand well because that's representative of Christ Christ is God's right hand and we know Peter was going to make it very expressly known when he speaks later that it wasn't by him or by John but by Christ and so Luke gives us this little piece this little tidbit here that says he takes him by the right hand because it represents Christ and that's that's that's the inference here and the expression that Peter gives us a little bit later it's just one of those beautiful connections that the word of God offers up and then it says and immediately his feet and ankle bones receive strength so Luke is telling us what part of it was of the man that didn't allow him to walk remember it said that he had been lame since the womb but it didn't tell us where he was lame it didn't say it was his knees it didn't say it was his hip it didn't tell us but now Luke is telling us specifically that it was in the feet and ankle bones that needed to be healed why why does he make that point and the point is this brothers and

sisters because the sacrifice and resurrection of

Christ makes us a new man who for the first time can stand up in faith on his feet and walk this man represents all those who could never stand before because because of the

flesh because of what the flesh is all about this Mortal weak flesh he's representative of it in the same way that we look at the the man born blind and we should see ourselves in the man born blind that we could never see until Christ called us it's the same thing here we

are the impotent man we are the man lame from birth I was completely lame until the word of God came I could not stand up and walk we don't have true boldness without it we have we have self-centered ego that's all we have but when we have strength through Christ look what happens and he leaping up stood and walked and entered into the temple walking and leaping and praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God if you can't get turned on by the joy that this man is expressing as he's literally leaping he is over 40 years old we learn later has never taken a step in his entire life he's been carried everywhere and popped down and left to beg and now at this moment two minutes ago he had no idea this was going to happen just a couple minutes before and now he can stand up and he's jumping and leaping and overwhelmed what an incredible incredible moment and it didn't go

unnoticed it says in verse 10 of chapter 3 and they knew that it was he which sat at Ms at the beautiful gate of the temple and the people were filled with wonder and amazement at at that which had happened onto

him and as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John all the people ran together onto them in the porch which is called Solomon's greatly wondering it didn't go unnoticed at

all everybody saw it they out side at the at the gate beautiful interestingly Enough by the way it is only in this um story where that gate is called

beautiful and that word beautiful when you look at where it comes from it comes from the idea of blooming beauty isn't that spectacular that that's what and it says it twice the gate beautiful the blooming gate and the people saw it and this guy is different than the man Born Blonde in this regard when we considered in the past the man born blind the man born blind was invisible virtually nobody knew the guy was even there even his neighbors couldn't tell after he got his sight if he was the same guy he had to go around and tell people yeah I'm that guy that's not this guy everybody knows this guy everybody that walked in that gate day after day month after month Feast after Feast for 40 plus years would see that same man sitting there begging

arms and now all of a sudden he is walking into the temple and he is jumping up and down for joy and they are amazed by

it what an incredible thing what what what an amazing moment to have been there to see to see such a thing and we are there we can appreciate it we should appreciate it because we should understand that that's the same strength that we've been given so in Acts chap 3:12 it says

this and when Peter saw it he answered unto the people he said ye men of Israel why Marvel ye at this or why are you looking so earnestly on us as though by our own power or Holiness we had made this man to walk now think about

that the first thing Peter says is why are you Amazed by this you know it only been a few months before that Jesus was performing these same t

Miracles right I mean we're Pentecost is 50 days after Passover we're probably no more than a week or a little period of time like that afterwards so we're not that far from when Jesus was walking on the earth performing these same types of Miracles but there's something that happens when when you have a leader that's doing something spectacular and then that leader dies and I think it was Gia that actually pointed it out he said look we've had had these guys come along before they've been wonderful and then they're gone and then their whole movement goes

away but not this

time this time they're going to be those that are going to walk in Christ's feet like Peter and by the grace of God like like you and

I and so of course they're amazed because they must have thought to themselves well that's the end of him and it wasn't by any means the end of him plus it was just a remarkable situation anyway but Peter says what are you why are you marveling at this why do you think it's why do you think it's me I'm just like you he says the god of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the god of our fathers hath glorified his son Jesus whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence of pilate when he was determined to let him go pilot was going to let him go and you said no but you denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted onto you and killed the Prince of Life whom God has raised from the dead where are we our Witnesses you know Peter didn't have to say

anything right he wasn't he didn't have to

speak he could have just let the whole thing just just happen and say well I can't say anything because if I if I say anything next thing you know we're going to get in trouble and he he hadn't planned for this to

happen so then why did he say why did he speak why and speak so boldly look at you you you denied him you asked for a murderer instead you killed the Prince of

Life

why I I'll tell you why brothers and

sisters because of Christ because what Christ had done because of all that Christ had done because of who Christ

is he couldn't not speak because of who Christ was in the gospels he spoke in boldness because of who he thought he was but now he's in a situation eventually as we know he's going to pay a price for it but it doesn't matter what the price

is because as the expression goes we can do all things through Christ but without him it's meaningless so of course Peter had to say what was true and he had just done it you know in in the previous iteration and had had saved 3,000 by doing it and now of course we know this time he saves

5,000 but he doesn't just leave it there because that's not what it's about he just left left it there and just walked away and said yeah you crucified him and now we can do this kind of thing

now and through faith in his name hath made this man strong whom you see now and see and know whom you see and know because they knew this man ye the faith which is by him uh ye the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all and now Brethren I want that through ignorance you did it as also did your rulers but those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all of his prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted

out and so just like with all the prophets just like with everything that Christ did there's an open and and hard honesty that Peter hits them with and then then it's like yeah but there's still hope there's still opportunity you know you did it in ignorance just like Jesus on the cross saying forgive them for they know not what they do you did it in ignorance and so did the rulers now this is what you do is you repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out and of course he says uh a little bit more after that but let's move on to what happens in Acts chapter 4 and as they spake unto the people the priests and the captains of the temple and the Sadducees Came Upon them being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead so you have you have Peter and John who have just healed this man who's been impotent he's been lame his entire life and you have the man who had been laying his entire life and he's leaping for Joy he is so overwhelmed and you have all the people that are there it's the third hour it's the it's the time of prayer there's many people coming to the temple and they're all amazed and wondered and overwhelmed by the miraculous event that has taken place and then Along Comes the leaders and they're

grieved grieved that that this is that this is being uh this is being done what a con

it must have been and it didn't go unnoticed because 5,000 people said I I can't I can't see it that way and nor should we see it that way obviously it says in verse three and they landay hands on them and put them in hold on the next day for it was now even time so again you don't start these things at 3 o'clock in the afternoon that that's what you're planning of course that wasn't what they were planning that's the whole that's the whole point but they get locked up overnight how be it many of them which heard the word believed and the number of them was about

5,000 same number as those that uh the feeding of the 5,000 notice the number of the men was 5,000 so you have this marvelous marvelous uh event that takes place and and they're put you know they're put in hold uh over overnight for having done this good thing so of course they come to Peter and let's let's pick up on that for a minute and we're going to pick it up on verse five of chapter

4 and it came to pass on the marrow that their rulers and elders and scribes and Annis the high priest and Caiaphas so we're not we're not talking about a different set of people now and John and Alexander And as many as were in the Kindred of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem and when they had set them in the midst they asked by what power or by what name have you done this and Peter filled f with the Holy Spirit said unto them ye rulers of the people and Elders of Israel and I love this next line if we this day be examined for the good deed done to the impotent Man by what means he is made whole be it know unto you all and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God has raised from the dead even by him do this man stand here before you whole so Peter's not allow him to change the subject they're like so so who who's on whose authority you given this and Peter says if we here because we did this for this guy which is what the whole thing was all about this guy was just you know laying by the by on the by the temple and we gave him strength the Lord Jesus Christ gave him strength to walk if we're here for this good deed then just you should know that it's because of Jesus that we did it

so he doesn't he doesn't let them change change it he says this is the stone which was said at not of you Builders which is become the head of the corner neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given unto men whereby we must be saved so there's nothing else this is the only name there is is the Lord Jesus Christ

and yet everything is possible with Christ and Peter is speaking with tremendous boldness but he's he's he's not being arrogant he's being honest he's not he's not making a name for himself he's making sure that everybody understands that it is through Christ that these things are possible I mean it's it's a tremendous testimony but it's not the same boldness that he was exe he was exemplifying before now now it's all about now it's all about Christ and about bringing glory and honor to God through his son so then it goes on goes on from there but when they had

um but when they had commanded them to go outside out of the council they confer among themselves saying what shall we do to these men for that indeed a noble Miracle ha been done by them is Manifest to them all that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it look at where they've placed themselves an incredible Miracle has taken place and they placed themselves on the outside looking in we can't deny it 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 this is this is where we never want to be

but this is where they they put themselves and then Peter again uh but Peter and John answered and said unto

them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge

you for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard in other words we have no

choice we have this is this is truth and that's truly where we are as well isn't it we have no choice this is truth and if somebody wants to know what it is we're happy to talk about it now we don't get we don't get persecuted uh for for speaking the truth

today but we want to make sure that we are speaking and living the truth both without and within there should be no fear and what we do and in the walk that we

have and and sometimes in in our

community I see decisions made based upon fear based upon what ifs well you can't do that because what if somebody doesn't understand what if what if this and what if that it's not that complicated brothers and sisters we're here to speak boldly of the things concerning Jesus Christ all the wh ifs they're all about somebody else they're all about fear and we should never be about fear but our boldness doesn't come from oh we we we we know it is right or we have some sort of uh special knowledge or special something it's not it's not about that it's about Christ it's about everything he has done everything he's doing that's what gives us the boldness and the strength to speak words of

truth and that's what should be driving us each and every day notice notice what happens with them we'll pick it up in verse four um verse

23 it says in being let go they went to their companion company and reported all that the chief priests and Elders had said unto them when they that H and when they heard that they lifted up to their voice with god with one Accord and said Lord Thou Art God which Hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that is in them is who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said why did the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing before I go on let me let me point one thing out about this because it's an interesting Dynamic that's going on here

it says they lifted up their voice to God with one Accord and then there's several verses of quotes of what's being said so did the entire congregation that was there all simultaneously and miraculously all start saying the same 10 11 12 13 vers

verses and I I don't think that's what it's what it's saying what it's saying is whether one person was saying it or then one person spoke and then another person spoke and then another person spoke it wasn't that you it wasn't like a universal uh uniform

prayer it was everybody felt the same way what was being said by each individual that spoke was exactly what the other person was thinking and was feeling for whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined for to be done 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 he to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy Child Jesus and when they had prayed again it's all of them the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were filled with the holy spirit all of them and they spake the word of God with

boldness that's what we're called to do that's the example that we're called to

emulate That's The Power of

Pentecost

that's the blessing that we've been blessed

with and we shouldn't we should be like the leaping lame

man or like the man who was born blind that could

see it should change us forever what's happened to us and while we are incredibly humble by the fact that we can be Sinners and yet still be forgiven and yet still be called and yet still have a purpose and yet still be able to do all things in

Christ it should make us bold in our

walk and when we people get caught up in things that are unimportant for what we've been called to do we have to be able to say that that's not about what I'm about that's not what my calling is about that's not what we're about we're not about division we're not about second guessing we're not about calling out we're about praising the name of God and bringing glory and honor to him and telling people the good news just the way Peter did just the way John did just the way Paul did just the way a Remnant has been doing for 2,000 years praising God and bringing glory and honor to him by by studying this word of Truth by teaching it by talking about it and by reflecting it because as we reflect the word of Truth we reflect Our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ