Make Jesus Proud of You: Be Daring, Bold, & Brave! Kelly Durant
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
2. Some people love excitement more than others. There are some people that love adventure, being in somewhat dangerous situations, while others are happy to just stay at home and be inside of their safe space wishing the world would just go away.
For example, I know of people, who love to drive their Jeeps on top of the Colorado mountains, almost flipping them over, having their hearts pump wildly for the thrill, and this is rewarding for them. This involves risk, but it is fun for them, and I hope they have insurance!
And then I know some people like how my mother use to be that would only go to the grocery store and to church on Sunday and never wanted any excitement at all. The world has all kinds of people. But all of us take decisions ‘to do or not to do’ many things, but when it comes to our faith and Jesus, we must choose ‘to do’ as it’s known, “nothing ventured, nothing gained’ as God expects it of us.
3. People will do bolder things when they are with others in a group than when they are alone. I recall when I was young there were people who would not want to do anything, but if a group was going somewhere, they would go too, even if it meant danger.
Think about Jesus and the disciples, he only had a group of 12, not of 12,000 like some mega churches, and they later went on their own, going out two by two, and they accomplished great things spreading the gospel. Mark 6:7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. Here we frequently only have a dozen of faithful ones!
We must never lose our vision of what we are to accomplish in life as Christians, and that is of the saving of the souls of the lost, of bringing love and comfort to the hurting, of obeying Jesus to love God and others as ourselves.
4. Have you thought about it, The Salvation Army was founded on being risky and exciting! Every day the Officers and Soldiers would go out and preach on the smelly muddy street corners and sometimes a few hundred at a time would come forward around a bass drum to cry, repent, and pray to receive Jesus! How glorious that must have been to have witnessed that!
But at the same time, many of them got hit with tomatoes and other objects as they brought the good news to others. But did that stop them? No! Even after they knew about Samuel Logan Brengle almost dying from blow from a brick, they continued on, even going around the world to start up new outposts, missions, and Corps. They opened hundreds of new Corps in 40 countries within the first 40 years! Now we are in 130 countries!
Samuel Brengle spent about a year and a half in a hospital bed recovering from a skull fracture that some violent demon inspired person did to him with that brick. But his heart was for God, and he wrote several books on holiness, he used his time to learn about God and today we honor him by studying his theological contributions. You cannot stop a man or woman of God, wounded or impaired, they will continue on in the fight for good! Holiness is pure love!
5. We have studied the book of Acts in the recent past. What did we learn of Peter, John, and of the other disciples? Many of them went to jail for preaching Jesus! And they were killed! The idol worshipping pagans, and the hypocrite Jews, did not want to hear about the love of Jesus. But did even being jailed stop them from talking about Jesus? No!
Have you ever made Jesus proud of you by going to jail for Him? I got that opportunity a couple of times. Once it was in a small southern town in Rio Grande do Sur, Brazil. Five policemen stopped me with machine guns for passing out salvation flyers at some apartments. One policeman got really mad and was yelling in my face that I was preaching blasphemy and if he could have his way, I whould be locked up and tortured the way the Catholic Church historically use to do it! Imagine, if a Catholic wants to harm or kill you for preaching Jesus, then could Jesus really be their center of their worship? But their church is made up of good and bad people like most all organizations.
He took offense because in the gospel pamphlet it mentioned that God had to turn His back on Jesus a few hours to allow Him to die for our sins. God allowed Jesus to die on the cross to be the ultimate sacrifice for us, but obviously this man did not know theology very well. I am thankful I was set free after being about 6 hours in that tiny facility. I have seen angry red hateful faces many times while out preaching a loving peaceful Jesus! God sees what everyone does. The world is a dangerous place and people are lost, ignorant, and really need Jesus!
6. So when something bad happens, it sometimes scares you, or others nearby, to not want to be risky or carry out the mission of preaching Jesus. My friends, if you can ever learn something in life, learn this, never let anyone intimidate or belittle you for standing up for your faith! Remember, Peter and John had boldness, and God expects us to have boldness and the Holy Spirit power as well!
Let’s read on the reaction of the people to Peter and John’s boldness. Acts 4:18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Can you do that? Can you not do anything in life but proclaim the good that Jesus has done in your life? 21 “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done”. It happened to them and may happen to us as well if we speak up for Jesus!
7. Later in this chapter we see they prayed for boldness, and they stood on God’s Word to give them strength. They quoted Psalm 2, one of my favorites, as it affirms the final destiny of the evil people of the world who hate Jesus.
Acts 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ Now look up Psalm 2 to hear the rest of it. Vs.3“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: (skip down to the final verses) 10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
8. So it is clear, we must be wise and stand with Jesus no matter the cost, no matter how the red-faced agitated demons who hate us for proclaiming Jesus’ message yelling insults at us, hit us, or even jail us, we have God’s boldness and Holy Spirit power!
To serve in this Salvation Army Church, when you serve Jesus for real, you need to be thick skinned, you need to be bold! You need to be a Soldier that battles! No one respects a wimp. I was at the International Market one day and the young Hispanic cashier I knew went to a Hispanic church (because I had seen him with other Christians before) and I asked him about his faith. I said, “I recognize you, you are a Christian and you go to church, don’t you?” I was hoping to start a conversation.
He said, “Hum” and nodded his head about one inch to indicate yes. I thought within myself, how sad! He has no boldness; he is almost ashamed to admit he is a Christian! Then I had another terrible thought, ‘Could it be some of the people in our Corps Church are the same way?’ Are they also afraid to admit they love Jesus and come to worship here’? Please, let’s be bold and make Jesus proud of us! I try to talk about Jesus with every person I meet when I am out in the city!
9. The decision is yours day by day, hour by hour, will you be bold for Jesus? All day long we will meet people who were like the pagans mentioned in Psalm 2 who want to undo us, or like the hypocrite Pharisees who hate us for standing for Jesus who is righteousness, holiness, and God’s love. The government was on the shoulder of Jesus, (Isaiah 53) and the ones of the top too want your adoration and absolute dedication as they do not like a competitor controlling your spirit!
In the Christian faith, you had better get use to adventure, excitement, danger, risk, resistance, and the battle. You are not in a Salvation Army just to look pretty in uniform, you are here ‘to fight for the good’ and to be so full of the Holy Spirit that your glow attracts others to want to get to know the Jesus you talk about!
Is Jesus proud of you? Am I and your leaders proud of you? How long has it been since you have come with a testimony to talk about who you shared your faith with? Jesus expects it of you and if you get persecuted, it will motivate you even more as the Holy Spirit will be filling you up. Be sure you live to reach the poor lost souls out there who need the hope of salvation, or you will regret it after death in heaven when you arrive empty handed!
Matthew 10:32-33
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Let’s pray…
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