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Well, we're going to talk about the issue of boldness tonight. We're teaching through the book of Acts, and the series is called Unstoppable. And it's because we have said that the church, the early church, was an unstoppable church, and we know that because we're here today, right? What shouldn't have made it out of the first century made it far beyond that. In fact, it grew exponentially, it multiplied exponentially, meaning that the gospel, the gospel that God said, go and tell the world about who I am. Jesus specifically said, go and be witnesses of my resurrection, and that I am a gracious, loving, merciful God who offers them life if they will put their trust in me in the personal work of Jesus, right? They proclaimed that message and it just blew up. But it wasn't because of the people, right? I mean, they did obey, but what we see in the text is it was because the Spirit of God just poured out on the people of God. And when the Spirit of God pours out on the people of God, watch out, right? Because incredible things are going to happen. And that's exactly what happened in the book of Acts. In fact, the first sermon that was preached after Jesus left, Peter and John and the other apostles, they preached and they were able to speak in languages. Remember this? They were able to speak in languages that they didn't even know, but they were able to communicate to people in their own native heart language, and 3,000 people came to faith the first day. Can you imagine being in a setting like that? What an incredible moment. What a credible, incredible day. But here's what I know that if we are going to see the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ, in our sin condition, he came and he loved us and he saved us because of his work on the cross, that he suffered, that he died, but he didn't stay dead, that he rose again, right? If we are going to see that gospel, that good news message reach the ends of the earth, which is God's desire, it's his mission that all people would have the opportunity to put their trust in him, then we the church, we the people, and if you're not a part of the church in the sense that you maybe don't ascribe to what we believe, you're just here checking it out, that's awesome. We're glad you're here. We welcome you in. We are a family, but we're not an exclusive one, we're an inclusive one, okay? And so we invite you to be on this journey with us and check this thing out. And we encourage you to read the Bible and just ask questions because this is a safe place to do that. But as you are a part of this family, our desire is to be a place where we encourage one another to regularly tell others about the good news of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. You know why? Because we believe that it's true. And if we believe it's true, it would be unkind, it would be unloving not to tell people around us of this incredible message of the gospel. But you know what the reality is, is that it takes boldness to do that. Especially in a culture where people don't want to hear about the exclusive claims of Jesus. Um, one of the guys that I read a few years back, he wrote a book that says that people like Jesus but they don't like the church. And I think that's true because the church has a bad rap because honestly, church people can be pretty mean. Uh they can be pretty hypocritical, uh, they can be pretty two-faced, right? And so we know that the church has created this issue for itself where because we can be very uh exclusive and very moral-oriented, um, um, where we just keep people out rather than helping people see that Christ invites them in. Um, we've created a problem, and now it takes a lot of boldness to even engage somebody in your neighborhood, in your workplace, because you're not sure what exactly is going to come out of them, because you're not sure what their experience has been. And they may just like spew on you all the fumes that they've been uh holding on to from some experience way back. Maybe they went to a church and they were treated poorly. Maybe they uh maybe they just had a conversation with somebody and somebody said, Hey, like, you're going to hell, and they they kind of like went at the gospel very um uh moralistically, very behavior uh modification, if you will, in a sense that they were trying to get them to change their behavior before they said, Hey, like, Christ will change you. I don't have to change you. I don't have to be your Holy Spirit, I don't have to, you know, make you act a certain way. Um, God changes everything, Christ changes everything. Are you with me? You know what I'm saying? And so sometimes that those kind of conversations they create um ripple effects, and you happen to be the one that just gets to like experience some of that wrath. And I've been there. In fact, I've engaged some people before, and they were like, no, no, no, no. Don't you even start talking about Jesus to me. I know how you people are. I'm like, you people, what's you people, you know? Um, I'm not one of those people. I don't know what you're talking about, that's not me, right? No, but the truth is that I've been part of this organization called the church, and we have done some things to hurt people. We've wounded people. And I've said this before, and I'll say it again tonight, that if you have been wounded by the church, let me just, on behalf of the church, as one of the pastors that's in a local expression of this small church in South Austin, let me just say, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry that that's been your experience. Because I know that Christ is not pleased, that he is not honored when we treat people that way. And that we should proclaim the gospel and let him do the life transformation, right? Let him change people's lives, because that's not my job. But if if if that's been your case, if it's been your experience, then chances are, you know, you you kind of get a little gun shy. You get a little gun shy. If you've tried to share the gospel with somebody, if you've tried to step out and talk about Jesus with somebody, it kind of makes you a little bit scared, doesn't it? Um what's gonna happen? Where's this conversation gonna go? Is this worth this? Am I really ready for this, what they're about to say to me? Because we know that you know it hurts. And the way I've seen it is wounded people, wound people. Right? Hurt people, hurt people. So in the book of Acts tonight, we're gonna look at this idea of boldness because one of the consistent descriptions that is given to the early church, specifically the apostles, the leaders of the early church, was one of boldness. I mean, you see this word come up over and over and over again. And honestly, I'm intrigued by it because that's that's I want to be that way. I mean, I want to be bold. I want to be like my wife is when she's trying to get a discount. Right? I want to be like unashamed to talk about Jesus. Now, I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be like, oh, here comes that guy again. I know what he's gonna do, you know. I don't want to be um annoying. I'm not talking about being annoying. I'm talking about when God gives us opportunities to speak up on his behalf, or we see a situation that we can speak the gospel into. I want to be willing and ready and able to speak because one, he's called us to be witnesses, and two, there are people who need to hear the message of the gospel, like I said earlier, and we are the mouthpiece, if you will, that gets to open our mouths and speak. Because you know that scripture, or if you don't know, scripture teaches us that the gospel, this good news, that it is a word that has to be proclaimed. It's not just something you can live out. In fact, I can't remember if I've said this to you guys before, but this weekend I spent um I spent some time doing a retreat in uh uh out in near Lexington, Texas. Anybody know where Lexington, Texas is? Exactly. Um and so I was out at this retreat with about 45 men. Um and by the way, if you haven't noticed this, men's humor, it doesn't really change after seventh grade. Um it's like they kind of just hit a lid, and then it's like from then on, it's whatever is funny at seventh grade, it's funny when they're 40. And so um, but but what's interesting, I was hanging with these guys, and we were talking about this issue of boldness, and we're talking about this issue of sharing the gospel and sharing our faith. And I was just reminded again, like, uh, this is very difficult. This is very hard for us as believers. And if you're not a believer, um, you know, you don't feel this pressure that I that maybe I feel. But I feel this weight because I want to be a good witness. I want to be a faithful witness, but I struggle sometimes to be bold. So if you have your notes there, um you can you can pull that out because the first blank there is boldness is a consistent description of the early church and specifically in speaking the gospel. If you have a Bible, I encourage you to get it out and open up to Acts 4. I want you to see these verses. We don't put them on the screen because we hope you get to see the text in front of you. That's the reason we don't. But if you don't have a Bible, there's some Bibles in the front of these seats and kind of look around, there's a little brown with a cross on it. If you don't have a Bible, you don't own a Bible, take it. It's our gift to you. We'd love for you to have one because we believe it's living and it's active. It will change your life if you actually take some time to read it, okay? So let me let me just start us out by kind of giving it a little context to what's going on in the book of Acts at this point. Um we skipped over chapter three because of the we want to be able to finish this series before the end of the of uh 2020, um, because the book of Acts is so long, we could take forever to go through it. But we're gonna we're we're moving pretty quick through the book, relatively quick, and we'll be done by the end of April. But we skipped over chapter three, which is a very cool story. It was really hard to kind of jump over it, but let me just really quickly recap what happens because Peter and John, they're going with the other uh disciples and other people, other believers at the time to go to the temple to pray. And as they're on their way, there's this man who is lame, and he is begging. He's begging, and he's done what he's always done. He just sits there and he begs and he hopes that these people will show compassion, and we'll give him a little money, and he can keep making making it, right? He can keep surviving. And so he asks Peter and John because he knows that Peter and John, man, these guys look like they're legit. They look like they're the kind of guys that would show compassion to him. And he says, he says to Peter and John, would you uh would you know, would you give me some money? Basically, he's like asking for some money. And they say, hey, listen, we lead the church, we have no money. You know? We don't have any money to give you. Silver and gold have I none, is what they say, you know. When I was a kid, we used to sing this little song, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give it to thee. And they say, in the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk. Now, what would you rather have? Money or healing? I think I'd rather have the healing, right? But pretty powerful, man. They look at this guy and they say, I don't have money, but guess what? In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk. And the guy gets up and walks. And we later find out that he'd been lame for 40 years. He's over 40 years old. Can you imagine what that was like? As his body all of a sudden is able to stand up. And it says in the text, I love this, it says that he walked and then he leaped. And then he praised God. So he's like, oh, this is kind of cool. He's kind of figuring it out, and then he's like, woo-hoo! You know, he's off to the races. He's leaping, praising God. I mean, you would do that too if you hadn't walked ever. Right? And so he does this, but then all these people start to be attracted to what's going on because they see this guy, he's lame and now he's healed, and they're going, okay, well, what's happening? And Peter and John take the opportunity to start presenting the gospel. They start proclaiming the message of the gospel, which you love, right? But just like with Jesus, just when Jesus was around doing his ministry, what happens? The religious leaders, they get ticked off. You would think they would be excited, right? Excited that this man is healed. But in the text it says that everybody's like looking at Peter and John going, man, you guys did awesome. And Peter and John are saying, No, it wasn't us, it was Jesus. It wasn't us, it was Jesus. We didn't have any, we just said, in the name of Jesus, Jesus is the one who healed him. And there's a group of people, we're going to start picking us pick this up in chapter 4 here. And it says that this group of religious leaders started to get agitated because they thought they had dealt with Jesus. They thought this was all good and he was done. No more Jesus. We won't have to mess with him. We killed him. And now all of a sudden, they're hearing this name of Jesus come up again, and people are being healed. And so they're kind of getting frustrated. So, what it says in chapter 4, verse 1, let me read this to you. Now, as they were speaking to the people, the priests, that would be the religious leaders of the Jewish community, right? The commander of the temple police and the Sadducees confronted them because they were provoked that they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead, using Jesus as an example. Which I kind of like how it's worded there, right? He's like he's saying they didn't like the fact that they were talking about the resurrection from the dead because as they presented the gospel, the resurrection was an integral part of that. And the Sadducees were a group of religious leaders, they didn't believe in the resurrection. And so they're kind of hacked off that he's talking about resurrection, he's teaching all these people, and they're like, oh yeah, yeah, we want to believe that. And so they say, you've got to quit talking about the resurrection, and don't use Jesus as an example. Which I think is funny because he was their only thing, their only example, right? They were saying, Jesus, this is what we're witnessing, is that Jesus, the one you killed, he didn't stay dead, he rose again. And so in the text, they're they're trying to make this point to get them to just be quiet. It says, so they seized them and they put them in custody until the next day. Now, this is going to become a common theme throughout the rest of this book. You're going to see people step up and they proclaim the word of God, and then the religious leaders they get ticked off and they put them in jail. Since it was already evening. But many of those who heard, catch this, but many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000. Okay, so 3,000 people come to faith the first time Peter preaches. And now the second time he preaches, it says 5,000 men. So we don't know how many women and children, but 5,000 men put their faith in Jesus Christ. That sounds like chaos to me, right? We already said 3,000 was hard enough. What are you gonna do when 3,000 people come to faith? You know, uh, what how are you gonna get them into small groups? You know, how are you gonna how are you gonna facilitate that worship service overnight? Listen, God has a plan, He's got a purpose, He doesn't freak out like we do. And neither did the apostles because their trust was in God. And they didn't anticipate this was gonna happen. They just said we're gonna be faithful to proclaim the Word of God. So they did, and now 5,000, so that means over 8,000 people in just a few days have put their trust in Jesus. Now, again, whether you believe the message of the Bible, whether you're a Christian or not, let me just tell you, as a Christian, like this is what I would love to see in Austin, Texas. How amazing would it be to see this kind of group of people, this amount, this number of people come to faith in Jesus Christ. It's a lot of work to do on the back end, but praise God, like he is a God who's saved, and sometimes he chooses to pour out his spirit and people get saved in droves. In fact, I've had some friends that have spent some time in Peru. Has anybody ever been to Peru? Um, we had some friends that went down there, and in South America, I continue to hear this, and even in places like India and in China, but specifically uh in Peru, I've heard some firsthand stories where they were down there presenting the gospel and they saw three to five thousand. Sometimes I couldn't even get a good count on it, people come to faith in one day. Can you imagine? It's just crazy to think about what that would look like and how chaotic it would be. But the point that I want to make is that God is doing miracles in this story. He's healing people, and 5,000 men, again, don't know how many women and our children come to faith. And what's still going on to the apostles, the ones who are proclaiming the gospel? What's happening to them? Everything's rosy, right? Everything's comfortable, they're happy, everything's all good. Their lives have gotten so much better because they followed Jesus and they did what he said, right? No, what's happening to them? Resistance. Right? You see, because even when God is doing miracles, there are still trials. There is a gospel that is being preached in our country today that is detrimental to the spread of the gospel globally. It is detrimental to the spread of the gospel in our country. And here's why. It's because people are being sold a lie that if you follow Jesus, your life gets easier and better. Just by just, and I say better in the way that it gets more comfortable. Listen, sometimes the scariest place on earth is in the middle of God's will. Sometimes the most difficult place to be is following Jesus. In fact, Jesus even said it this way: He said, In this world, you will face troubles. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Isn't that great to know? He doesn't promise that it's going to be all good. He doesn't promise that, you know, everything's just going to iron out perfectly, that relationships are just going to be all great and that everything's going to be easy. He says you're going to face troubles, but guess what? He's overcome all those things. And one day, we believe that God is restoring, but one day he will ultimately restore and it'll all be made right. No more sin and suffering and sadness and sickness and no more resistance to the gospel. That day's coming. But until that day, we will face hardship. In fact, let me just say that I've been gripped on a number of times to consider the families that relocated from Round Rock down to South Austin over the past year, sold their houses. Even as I was telling the story to the group of men this weekend, I was telling them about that story again. And as I was telling, I was reminded of the sacrifice that it takes to say, God, we'll go. We'll move, we'll uproot our relationships, our lives, whatever it takes, we'll go. But here's the thing. Many of the people who've gone, many of the people who have come here have faced hardship. They've faced trial. They've faced difficulty. They've faced sickness. They faced job loss. They faced a hard time trying to find a home and sell a home. You see, there's no guarantees that life is going to get more comfortable when we follow Jesus. But here's the thing: we can have hope and peace and joy in the midst of that. And one of the things that erodes our boldness to proclaim the gospel is confusion in our circumstances. Sometimes what can what really messes with me about wanting to be bold for the gospel is because I think in my mind, you know, God, I stepped out, and I remember last time I stepped out, things didn't go like I thought they were going to. God, I said what I said what you told me to say, and that did not, that conversation did not go the way I expected. God, I I did what you told me. I felt with all my heart you were saying, do this. And I felt like the rug got pulled out from under me. You ever been there? It's hard, isn't it? And that will erode our boldness, our confidence that we can speak up and do what God's called us to. But listen, God is a God of miracles. God is working, He does see, and He will reward those who remain faithful to Him. He will reward those who persevere under trial. In fact, when you read the chapter Hebrews 11, which we call the Hall of Faith, kind of a play on words there, but he's got this whole list of people from the Old Testament that are these incredible faithful men. But if you read the last half of chapter 11 in Hebrews, I encourage you to go read it. It's all these men of God who did what God called them to do, and they suffered and they died. In fact, the apostles that are here that are proclaiming this message of the gospel, they uh they proclaim the message, and later on we come to find out that every single one of the 12 is persecuted and ultimately killed for following Jesus. Isn't this a great sermon? Don't you love this? Here's the point I want to make. Listen. Don't follow Jesus because it's easy. Don't proclaim the gospel and don't step out in faith because you think it's, you know, life's gonna be comfortable. It's not. But here's the deal. We have a God who understands suffering. We have a God who understands it at its deepest root because Jesus Christ experienced suffering himself, didn't he? He knows what it's like to step out, to sacrifice everything, to lay down his authority and his rights, to sit on the throne and just watch people down below to come down, put on our flesh, deal with our issues, and suffer and die. He understands. And tonight, let me just encourage you that if you're bitter or if you're struggling and you're on the verge of being bitter at God, like give that to him. He's big enough to handle it. And if you need to, if you need to just tell God, hey, God, I'm just struggling right now. Because I stepped out and I feel like you abandoned me. Listen, God's with you, He hasn't abandoned you. But the second thing that erodes our boldness is not just our circumstances that we get confused by, but the second thing that I see in this text comes in verse 13. Let's read it. It says this when they observed the boldness of Peter and John, and they realized that they were uneducated and untrained men. See that? He sees Peter and John and he says they are uneducated and untrained. Um let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel in your life like you're not good enough? You ever been there? Do you ever feel like you're just not good enough? I think if we're honest, because we're humans and we we deal with insecurity, we mean I feel like all the time fighting insecurity and not feeling good enough, not feeling capable. And that's not from God. It's not. But many times we can struggle with that. And it says in the text that these leaders are looking at Peter and John and they're saying, hey, these guys, they are uneducated and untrained, but it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. What it says is they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. I love that line. Because what he's saying is that even though they were uneducated and untrained, they didn't have the formal training, they they weren't like, you know, they weren't the leaders with all their Robes and their tassels to say how spiritual and holy they were, and they hadn't been, you know, through all the rituals that these guys had been. These were just average Joes, which makes me feel much better, right? And it says there in the text that though they were uneducated and untrained, they had been with Jesus, and that was enough. You see, even when we are insufficient, Jesus is more than enough. Even when we feel insufficient, Jesus is more than enough. There's going to be a tax on us all the time to make us feel like we can't do it. We're not worthy, we're not good enough. In fact, when it comes to sharing the gospel, one of the number one answers we get, why do you not share the gospel with anybody? And they say, I don't know enough information. I don't know how. I don't know what to say. That's like a consistent theme we always hear, right? Listen. Tell them what Jesus has done in your life. And if you can honestly say he's done nothing, then you've got to ask the question, are you saved? That's plain and simple. Because if he has saved you, if he has set you free, if he has given you life, you have a testimony to share. And people can learn about who Christ is and what he has done. And so I challenge you. When you feel insufficient, remember that Jesus is more than enough. He is more than sufficient. He can handle it. And it also reminds me that in this text that when we feel insufficient, what we need to do is we need to press into Jesus. We need to go spend some time with Jesus. You're like, well, how can I spend time with Jesus, you know? Listen, that's where prayer, that's where the word, that's where it comes in. We've got to spend time there because if we don't, we're going to be deceived and we're going to think we're incapable. But when we spend time with Jesus, our confidence grows, our boldness grows. In fact, in the text, this is what I love, it says in verse 19. I got to read it because it's just so good. But Peter and John answered them. Whether it's right, they just told them to just be quiet and not talk about it. Okay? They said, don't talk about Jesus anymore. Do you understand? We're going to slap your hand. I mean, send you out the door. But Peter and John answered them, whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. Let me tell you the number one reason why people are not bold with the gospel. They have forgotten what Christ has done for them. And they have not spent time. We have, I have not spent time. I have not spent time with Jesus. Because when I spend time with God and I think about what He has done for me, I'm overwhelmed all over again, and I can't help but talk about it. I can't help but speak about it. Maybe some of you have been around, we've talked about some of this before, but think about this. Whatever you're passionate about, you talk about, don't you? Whatever you really care about, whatever you really like, whether you like to read books, you're going to talk about the books you're reading. If you like sports, you're going to talk about the sports you like to watch or play. If you like music, you're going to talk about the bands you listen to and the instruments that you play and all those things. Whatever it is that you're passionate about, that's what you're going to talk about. You see, the problem in the United States, the problem in my own life and my own heart, is that the reason I don't share Jesus is because I'm not as passionate about him as I should be. I'm not as excited about him as I should be, because when I honestly see him for who he is and what he has done, I can't be quiet about him. I mean, that's what I believe. And maybe you disagree with me, but I think the text shows it over and over and over. They couldn't stop talking about what they had seen and what they had heard. And so what we need from God is a fresh revelation of him if we are going to be bold with the gospel. Because it erodes our it erodes our boldness, our confidence when we feel insufficient and we just try to look to ourselves. But here's what's amazing in the last section here is that the other thing we can observe in this text is that they get released. Verse 23 says they were released. And they went to their own people and reported, I love that, their own people. Their own people, and they reported everything that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, Master, you are the one who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. So they start, what are they doing? They're praying, aren't they? So they get released. They had been bold, they'd stood up to these leaders, they had said what needed to be said. They even told them, Hey, look, you killed Jesus. To their faces, they said this, right? And now they get released and they go out, and the first thing they do is pray. And they cry out to God and they remind themselves again that God is over all, that he is the highest authority, that he is the greatest, he is awesome, that he is good. I love the theology of their prayer. But he says, he goes on, and I'm going to skip down through their prayer because they they quote some of the Old Testament there and talk a little bit more about what's going on, but then notice this in verse 29. And now, Lord, consider their threats and grant that your slaves may speak your message with complete what does it say? Boldness. That your slaves may speak your message with complete boldness, while you stretch out your hand for healing, signs, and wonders to be performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak God's message with boldness. Listen, even when we are bold, we need to pray for more. Because here's what I've discovered about myself. And maybe you've seen this in your own life. Even when you're bold, the next day you can still be scared and still be fearful. Because today's boldness is not sufficient for tomorrow's boldness. Right? Don't you wish it was like you just got bold and then you never struggled with that again? I know some people who are bold about a lot of things, but when it comes to Christ, they're not bold at all. They don't talk to anyone about Jesus. In fact, statistics would say that most people who go to church have never shared the gospel with anyone. Now, that's not like me trying to put guilt on you. I'm just stating the obvious that most of us struggle with this, being bold to talk about Jesus. And I'm convinced that part of it is because we don't pray and ask God for boldness. A big part of it. Because I believe that when we cry out to a God in heaven who knows us, he's willing to meet us in our weakness. He's willing to give us the boldness that we need. And so I'm praying for myself more than I ever had before. God, would you please help me be bold? Would you help me grow my boldness? Would you help me to be willing to talk to people? Would you help me willing be willing to have conversations with people? I was looking at this text even on this week. Harley and I were sitting at the coffee shop talking through it and was sharing a little bit about what I felt like God was saying. And I just felt like God was saying, you need to be bold and go talk to the person that's behind the counter, the barista. And so I went over there and just said, hey, um, you know, we're here studying the Bible. And have you uh do you go to church anywhere? And I didn't know what kind of venom I was gonna get, right? You know, I was like, I just said the church word, uh-oh, I'm in trouble. And I just said, hey, I just, do you go to church anywhere? And she's like, no, I really don't go to church. And I was like, well, is there reason? And you know, it's something, what what what what would be your story? And she said, uh, well, I just, you know, I tried that thing and I just really didn't get anything out of it, and really didn't see it very, it was very helpful for me. And then people were very judgmental. That was kind of her big deal. I said, Well, what kind of church would you want to go to? She's like, one that's not judgmental. She's like, I get that, yeah. Me too. Absolutely. I'm with you. High five. I don't want to go to a church that's judgmental where everybody's trying to just put on a front and judge everybody else as if we're God. Only God knows our hearts, doesn't he? But here's the thing. I struggle every day, like to not be afraid to talk to people, and I don't know what that is. And I think it's just because I'm so much of the time focused on me and not on God. So worried about me and what people think about me. Self-centered versus God-centered. And I'm not telling you that if, you know, again, you've never talked to anyone about God, you know, that you're terrible. I'm just saying, like, if we're going to be the church that God desires us to be, he said we had to be witnesses for him. And that does mean that with our lives, we do live differently. But remember, the gospel is a word. It's also something that we have to proclaim with our lips. If people are going to have the opportunity to respond to it. So, even when we are bold today, we must pray for more. What helped me really get this and feel better about myself, maybe. You ever read the Bible and feel better about yourself? Most of the time I feel worse. But every now and then I feel better. There's a story in the Old Testament about Elijah. You guys remember him? If you've been around church, or you've ever heard, probably at some point you heard about this guy, Elijah. He was a prophet in the Old Testament. And at one point in his life, he was bombarded and just aware of the reality that all the people were worshiping Baal. And there were all these prophets of Baal that were encouraging the people to worship this false God. And Elijah, because the Spirit of God was on him and filled him, he says, Hey, let's have a little contest. Let's see whose God is really real. And so he takes them out to this hill. And it says that they get up there and the prophets of Baal they build this altar and they start like praying to Baal and they start saying, Okay, Baal, please bring fire down from heaven, right? You remember the story? They say, please bring fire down from heaven. Nothing happens. So then they start yelling a little bit louder. You know, please bring fire down from heaven, Baal. Come on, you can do it. You could do it. And I love it because in the middle of all that, they start like cutting themselves and they start, they start dancing around, they started just crying out, they're just trying to get this false God to move on their behalf, and nothing's happening. Surprise, surprise. And Elijah even looks over him and says, I think maybe he had to go to the bathroom. I think maybe Bell just had to take a restroom break. And they're like, it's a great line in the middle of this whole story. And then he steps up and he says, Let me show you how it's done, guys. And he asks them to dig a pit around the altar. And he asks them to fill it up with water. And then he asks them to pour more water on it and more water on it until it's saturated, it's drenched. And then he cries out to God and he says, God, would you show them who is God? And this fire comes from heaven and just consumes the whole thing, the water and all. There's nothing left. Boom, it's gone. And then the manly part happens and he kills all the prophets of Baal, right? That day. You gotta love the Bible. Don't let your kid read that part, okay? He takes that sword and he kills them all. That's incredible boldness, isn't it? To call them out and to call fire down from heaven, he had some confidence in God. Listen to me. The same Elijah that did that a few chapters later is running scared out of his mind from this queen, saying, God, why have you left me? Where are you? Why are you gonna let me die? You see, because the boldness he had that day wasn't sufficient for the next day. And even a prophet who had seen God do something amazing still struggled to be bold, to be confident in God's provision and care. So, as I said, it makes me feel a little bit better. I've never had God bring fire down from heaven for me. But I have seen God do some amazing things, but many times our boldness is connected to our ability to remember who God is and what he has done. Right? And I think that many of us, we have spiritual Alzheimer's. We forget. We lose track. We forget who God is, we forget what he's done. And so we struggle to be confident in a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Bottom line is this. Last thing for us, and then we're gonna finish up. Bottom line. Boldness comes through faith in a God who is in us, who is with us, and who is for us. Let me unpack that just briefly. First, boldness comes through faith. What is faith? It's believing in what is unseen. Don't you wish sometimes God would just come and just meet with you in physical presence right in front of you? Don't you wish that would that would happen? Like you could just sit and have a conversation with him and say, hey God, like I'm so glad you're here. I can finally see you. You know? This is so much, this is awesome. I believe in you. But God says that we have to have faith in what is unseen, right? We have to have faith in what we cannot see, and we have confidence in that. It's what Hebrews 11:1 talks about, what faith is. It's the evidence of things unseen, the things hoped for. But here's what we know is that we need to pray and ask God to give us faith in him. But faith to believe that he is a God who is in us. What does it say in the text over and over and over? When it connected with boldness, almost every time you see this idea of they were filled with the Spirit and they had boldness. They were filled with the Spirit. The Spirit fills them and then they have boldness. Why is that important? Because the Spirit of God is God, and He's God in us. And God is in us, guys. If you believe in Jesus Christ, if you put your trust in Him, God is in you. Do you believe that? He is in you. He is in me if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus. And so boldness comes through faith in a God who is in us. But not only a God who is in us, but a God who is with us. Remember what it said earlier? When he saw them, they were untrained, they were uneducated, but it says they had been with Jesus. And the scripture reminds us in several places. One place in Hebrews is it's even quoting back to the Old Testament, and it says, God will never leave you nor forsake you. We have a God who is with us. He is with us in the fire, he is with us in the trial. Which makes me think about the story, right, in the Old Testament of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they get thrown in the fiery pit. They're in the furnace. You know, even before they went in there, they said this. It was amazing. He gives them a chance. He says, You can bow down if you want to me, but I won't throw you in the fire. And they're like, listen, we will not bow down. And even if we die, we will obey God. We will follow God. We will trust God. That's incredible, bold, audacious faith, isn't it? But what's amazing about that story is they get thrown in the pit, the fiery furnace. It says that it says that the people that were throwing them in died. It was so hot that they died. But they get thrown in the fiery furnace, and when they look up, the king looks into the furnace and he sees not three, but four people in the furnace. And it says, and one looks like the Son of God. I love that story because it reminds me that even if we are going through fires in our life, even if we are going through difficulties in our life, we have a God who is with us. Who is with us. He is in us, he is with us, but the last thing is that he is for us. We're going to sing a song tonight before we leave. Ask Harley to sing it specifically. It's a song that most of you guys know. And it says, if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? Who could be against us? I think many times where I doubt is I'm not completely sure he's for us. And that's my flesh, and that's the enemy, that's the temptation that comes. But listen, God is for you. If you're his child, he is our heavenly father, and he wants to bless you. He is for you. It doesn't mean he's going to protect you from every issue that you're going to face because it's actually many times in the trial that our witness is the loudest. It's in the difficulty that our witness and our voice is the loudest to those around us. But I do know this, that we have a God who is for us. Who is for us. And it says in the scripture that if God is for us, who can be against us? So I don't know if you're struggling with boldness. Maybe this is just my issue. I got a sneaking suspicion, though, that every person in here has struggled with boldness in your life. To live out your faith, to not just go to a gathering of church people and sit around people that do believe the same things that you believe and talk about Jesus, but to talk about Jesus with people who don't believe in him, who haven't put their trust in him. It takes guts. But ultimately it takes belief, faith in a God who is with us, who is for us, who is in us. We said we were teaching this series through the book of Acts because we want to be a church that resembles the church that God intended, right? A church that resembles the church that God intended. And Acts is the handbook. It's the beginning, it's the birth of the church. And one of the consistent themes we see there is this idea that they were bold witnesses for the sake of the gospel. And here's what I will tell you, and I will tell, preach to myself right now is if we step out in faith in boldness, God will meet us there. God will meet us there, and He will give us opportunities to share the gospel.