Intro: Acts 4

• Favorite passage is in Acts 4
• My bible has the heading ‘Prayer for Boldness’ at vs 23
• The church is praying to God to give them boldness in speaking the word
• This has helped me in the past in getting up in front of people to deliver lessons
  • Shows that even the early church had fears they needed to overcome
  • Lets look at all of chapter 4 and we’ll see the four things the early church did that helped them gain boldness as Christians

1. Followed those that set an example

• Beginning of the chapter: Peter and John
  • Preached Jesus and the resurrection – 5000 men believed
  • Sanhedrin arrested them, and even while surrounded, still preached
  • Vs 13 mentions that even the Sanhedrin recognized this boldness
• The elders and other men of our congregation step up regularly and provide an example of boldness
• Missionaries like Christina’s mom
• The young men leading prayers, leading singing, giving lessons… At their age I was a big chicken and didn’t dare to try to overcome my fears.
• Examples we may not think about:
  • Hannah understanding the truth and being baptized

2. Tell other Christians so they can help

• After being threatened Peter and John went and told the church vs 23
• They sought comfort and strength in the family that God has provided.
• Paul – Gal 6:2 – "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
• We cannot bear each others burdens without first baring our burdens to one another
• God has given us each other as a support group.
• Several years ago when I first started attending Grandview Pines, I asked David if he would talk to the elders about opening up Wednesday night devotionals to the men of the congregation — so that some day when I felt comfortable enough I would have the opportunity to get up here and preach.
• Since then, you’ve all poked, prodded, and encouraged me to get up here.
• I would not be able to be up here if it weren’t for my Christian brothers and sisters!

3. Pray!

• Vs 24-29 The church asked God for help: "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word"
• James 1:5 – "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting."
• When we need strength, ask God without hesitation — He will provide!

4. Just Do it!

• Vs 31 And when they had prayed…they spoke the word of God with boldness.
• Having examples to follow, asking people for help, and praying for God’s blessings will not get you anywhere if you at some point you don’t just do it!
• As David said in his lesson Sunday, "Man Up!"

Conclusion:

Not just referring to public speaking. All parts of our lives as Christians require boldness.

• Bold Choices
  • Movies and TV shows we choose to watch or music that you listen to
    • Have you ever changed the channel or walked out of a theatre because the content in the movie was not something that a Christian should dwell on? Phil 4
  • People we choose to spend time with
    • Sometimes this is the hardest part – people we thought were friends are actually horrible influences on us against Christ
      •  Prov 1:8-19 Talks about this exact thing.
        

        Vs 15: "My son, do not walk in the way with them,
        Keep your foot from their path; "

      • We have to do the right thing and make that difficult break for the sake of our own souls.

          

• Lewd Jokes
  • Ever stopped someone in the middle of a joke they were telling just because it wasn’t something that should be told

• Standing up against those making fun of or talking about people – Titus 3:2 "speak evil of no one"
• Backing up those who are standing up for Christ
  • Much easier to be bold when we have others being bold with us. That goes back to having an example to follow and asking others for help.
• Finally – Realizing that we’ve sinned and making it right with God
  • Everyone has sinned.  Rom. 3:2
  • Everyone has an opportunity to overcome that sin.
• A Christian:  Repentance — not just an apology, but a desire and bold attempt to resist further temptations — is required to overcome sin
• A non-Christian:
  • Must hear the word of God – Not a miraculous voice, but a simple study of the scriptures. Romans 10:17
  • Believe that word – Hebrews 11:6
  • Repent of Sin – just as it is for the Christian it’s not just an apology, but a desire and bold attempt to resist further temptations – Acts 17:30
  • Confess that Christ is the Son of God – Matthew 10:32
  • Baptized for the remission of sins Acts 2:38 — Not a washing away of filth, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. 1 Peter 3:21
  • Strive to be Faithful and BOLD
    • Heb 3:12-14 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called  “Today,”   lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end

If you have failed to be a BOLD Christian and need our help and prayers or if you need to step up and make that BOLD decision to be a Christian, come tonight as we stand and sing.

Just about every year around this time you can read in the news about wildfires raging, posing a dangerous threat to cities and towns. Fortunately, we have highly trained men and women we call firefighters that come in and work tirelessly to stop these fires. One of the main methods they use is what they call a controlled burn. They start a fire that can be managed, to stop the one that cannot.

I. This shows us that fire has a dual nature – it can be beneficial, or it can be destructive.

A. When controlled, fire is an awesome thing:

A. It keeps us warm!

· I’m sure that even during our two days of winter here in Alabama that we can appreciate the roaring fire in the fireplace.

B. We cook our food with it:

· I’ll take a good, medium-well steak over cold sushi / raw fish any day.

C. We use it to make electricity:

· The International Energy Agency states that nearly 80% of the world’s power comes from burning oil, gas, and coal.

D. We also use it to purify and harden metals so we can build better things with them:

· Buildings, cars, computers, all this would be impossible without the hardening and purifying power of fire.

· And back in the days when swords were used instead of guns, they’d take a piece of metal and heat it up so that it softens, shape it, plunge it in water, then reheat it, fold it over, and reshape it. Sometimes they’d do this multiple times, each time strengthening the metal. This would make for a very strong sword that could hold a cutting edge throughout battle.

B. But uncontrolled, fire is a powerfully destructive force.

I’m pretty sure we all know — or know of — someone that has had their house burned down. Everything they own, scrapbooks, photographs, clothes — gone — destroyed in a matter of minutes. Sometimes, even loved ones are lost to fire. One of the leading causes of house fires is the fireplace itself. Why is this? The fire gets out of control. It escapes the boundaries we’ve put it in, usually when we grow lax in watching over it.

II. The Bible also shows us the duality of fire.

A. Fire is used as punishment

Leviticus 10:1&2: Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
 

The most well known punishment fire is used in is of course, Hell. Revelation tells us of a lake of fire, Chapter 20 starting at verse 11:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

B. God also uses fire in beneficial ways:

A. Exodus 13:21 tells us that God used a pillar of fire at night to guide the Israelites to Canaan.

B. Yearly sacrifices were one of the requirements in the covenant with Israel. And as I read before, God commanded them to use specific fire to burn the sacrifice and incense required, so fire was needed in order to keep the covenant with God.

C. And a figurative fire is used to test us, to strengthen us:

1 Peter 1:6-9 says: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Like the sword was heated and shaped and reshaped, we are too through the trials and temptations we endure. When we succeed in resisting temptation, we become stronger, better. But we cannot do that without God’s help.

III. We have a fire inside us. And like the examples above, this fire can be an awesome power. But when it is misdirected, when left alone to rage uncontrolled like the forest fire, when it is improperly contained, it destroys lives, and most importantly, it destroys souls.

A. Two great examples in the Bible of the fire inside a person being misdirected are the Apostles Peter and Paul:

1. In the Gospel accounts, when Jesus was at Gethsemane, Peter drew his sword and took a swing at one of the men coming to arrest Jesus, cutting off Malchus’ ear. Peter was READY to fight for Jesus. He was on FIRE and no one was going to take his teacher! But what did Jesus do? He stopped him, picked up the ear and put it back on. Obviously Peter’s intentions, however noble, were painfully misdirected, but Jesus was there to set him back on the right path.

Peter ended up preaching the first sermon on Pentecost, guiding many lost souls to salvation.

2. The book of Acts tells us of the Apostle Paul, who — when he was still called Saul — hunted Christians down, imprisoned them, and persecuted them, all in the Lord’s name. After Jesus appeared to him at Damascus and he was baptized into the Church he was a changed man. Acts chapter 9, particularly verses 10 through 22. And through Divine Inspiration his writings have shaped the Lord’s church, giving us guidelines of how to be faithful Christians.

A. These examples show that God has the power to take the fire in our hearts and do things that no one can imagine with it.

The problem is that we cannot control this fire, only God can. Oh we can try, and often we think we have it under our thumb, but really we are deceiving ourselves. We must give God control over our fire, over our passion, over our desires in life, and only once we do will we find salvation.

Christians, I’m sure we all remember well that day when we came up out of the watery grave of baptism. We were on fire for God! We had made our decision and we were committed! There was nothing in the world more important to us at that moment than serving Him.

I’d like us to take a good look at ourselves right now, comparing how we are now, to how we were then. Let’s be as objective as we possibly can and ask ourselves: Have we let work, or school, or dating, or friends redirect our fire away from God? Do we desire spending time with the world more than we desire spending it with our spiritual brothers and sisters? Would we rather go to a ballgame, a party, a work event than to a devotional, a fellowship, or even just generally spending time with other members here? If we don’t want to spend time with each other on Earth, why would we want to spend time with each other in Heaven?

Or maybe we’ve grown complacent, happy to sit in our pew once or twice a week, thinking that we’ve checked off a box on our to do list and by doing so, we’ve done all we need to do as Christians?

If this is how we are now then we are dangerously close to destruction. For lack of a better phrase, we’re playing with fire, and we will get burned.

The good thing is, we have a choice in the matter! God has given us a way to come back to Him, to put our fire back in His hands so that He can once again direct our lives.

We start doing this by making that conscious decision to give God that control again. Then we need to repent of our sins, because yes, if we’ve let something get between us and God, even if it’s something as simple as complacency, we have sinned and we need to turn away from it.

Every minute we have is an opportunity to return to Him, so take this time, right now to make it right with God. If you need prayers, help, or anything, let us know. I know that the Elders, as shepherds of this congregation desire nothing more than to know that their flock is fully under God’s control, and they will do whatever is necessary to help. And I’m sure the same goes for the Deacons, and every Brother and Sister in here.

For those of you in the audience who are not Christians, you’ve heard the word of God, not only tonight but I’m sure many times before. So the question I’d like to put before you, is do you believe what you’ve heard?

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

Do you believe that you have sin in your life? Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. If you do believe these things, then you know that the only way to get rid of sin is through Jesus himself. In John 14:6 Jesus says “…I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

If you believe all this, then I have just one more question: What are you waiting for???? We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, all we have is NOW.

If you believe come tonight and confess his name. Matthew 10:32 says: “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”

Then repent of your sins. Acts 17:30 This is more than just apologizing for what you done, it’s taking a complete 180 away from the sins in your life and dedicating yourself to God. It’s refusing to let your sins control you anymore. This is probably the hardest part, but thankfully, He will not tempt us more than we are able to bear, I Corinthians 10:13, and through Christ all things are possible. Philippians 4:13. So resisting temptation, while it seems an insurmountable task, with God we can do it!

Then all that’s left is to be baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins, Acts 2:38, so you can live the rest of your life faithfully, free from sin, giving God control over the fire in your heart.

I know the walk alone up to the front pew can be pretty intimidating. Don’t let that be the reason that keeps you from this decision. If that is the reason, just raise your hand and we’ll come to you – we’ll embrace you knowing that you are ready to take this wonderful and EXTREMELY important step. The important thing is that you make that decision tonight, RIGHT NOW. So please do so as we sing this song.