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Hello my friends
The title of today’s episode is: “LEVELS OF BOLDNESS”
We are living in times where we need to be bold about our faith. The word bold means, not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger; courageous and daring. Warriors of God, we need to not be fearful but have courage.
When Jesus chose Peter, he was a fisherman. Strong and willing to do the right thing for his family. Fishermen were often rough brawlers. They were not considered scholarly or well educated. Most of them had what we would call street smarts today. They had survival skills that helped them brave the elements as they tried to catch fish. They knew how to negotiate for the best price for their daily catch.
Peter was determined to follow Jesus. He was brave enough to walk away from everything to follow Jesus. As he walked with Jesus, he started learning about miracles. He knew in his heart that Jesus was the Messiah. Many of the Jews were blind to this fact. Some were too evil to care, others were too religious to see it.
Peter was known to have a temper. He would hear Jesus preach about loving people. Yet Peter was ready to defend Jesus with a sword. In the garden of Gethsemane, Peter was bold and took on a Roman soldier with a sword, cutting off his ear. He was brave enough to fight for Jesus in the natural. He was bold in the flesh, but he lacked spiritual boldness. Once Jesus was taken to be delivered up for crucifixion, Peter lost all boldness for a moment and he let fear kick in. He allowed his fear to overtake his faith. I can see how easily that could happen. One day he is walking with the Messiah who had power to heal people and raise the dead. Then all of the sudden he was taken captive to be offered up for punishment.
He denied Jesus and found himself warming by the enemy’s fire. Jesus wasn’t concerned by his momentary laps in judgment. Jesus knew what Peter would become someday. He knew Peter would be a strong leader after He ascended into heaven.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
When Jesus was crucified, Peter’s faith waivered. His boldness spiraled and failed him. Until fortified on the day of Pentecost. Then he boldly stood and proclaimed, “This is that which was prophesied by Joel.” He never looked back. Once he walked with Jesus as a man and his friend. But after that day, God was within him. Suddenly he had HOLY Boldness. He became an empowered spreader of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He suffered much for the gospel. He may not have always done the right thing. But he never denied Christ again. Church history says that he was even crucified upside down, because he felt unworthy to die like his savior. Many people down through the years have been Martyred for the gospel. Peter went through many levels of boldness. As he walked in one and grew in faith, God raised him up a level.
One story today that is famous is the story of David and Goliath. Many use that story to describe when someone comes up against what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle or battle. David had many levels of boldness that he grew through in his life. He was a young man when he killed a lion. It took boldness to do his duty of protecting the sheep. His boldness grew as he came up against a bear, killing it. He was growing in faith in his God as each thing happened. It came time to go up against Goliath. He had to be bold to stand and convince Saul to let him meet his destiny. It took boldness to decide to not put on Saul’s armor, but to stand bravely without physical armor. But he boldly declared that God would deliver him.
Satan has always had evil men in power. Look at Hearod, he killed many young male babies in hopes of killing Jesus. Because he didn’t want to give up his crown. He didn’t understand that Jesus wasn’t born to take his earthly crown.
The Foxes Book of Martyrs is a book of church history. It tells stories of people that have been martyred for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is horrific what these people suffered. They were an inspiration to many people down through the ages. They had to have holy boldness to stand and say, “It doesn’t matter what you do, I will not deny Christ.”
Today satan has people in power that have evil intentions. We can stand strong, like Peter or David. The same Spirit that was in them is within us. We can have Holy Boldness and stand in the middle of adversity. Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is the only true God. He is the only God that died to give us life.
We need to give him back that life as an offering to thank him for Eternal life. Make no mistake about it when you decide to live a life for Jesus. The enemy will try to stop you. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
We will never win the lost with a watered down, weak gospel. People need the real truth of God. They need us to have holy boldness and stand up to evil as the early church. Where would we be today if they had not fully surrendered to the cause of Christ? Would we even know about God’s plan of salvation? I would hate to think that the gospel itself became lost because I was not bold enough to open my mouth in declaration of God’s plan.
II COR 4:1-4 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
I encourage you today to let your bold light shine to the world. They have been blinded to the gospel. But Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, physically and spiritually. If we can be bold, we can give the blind a little bit of light to start to see that Jesus is real and HE IS ALL they need.
Until next time,
BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS
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