From Fear to Boldness: Empowered by the Spirit

"And being let go they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And so when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and they said, ‘Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them and who, by the mouth of Your servant David, have said, “Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilot, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.’ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.” [00:00:55]

"Let’s pray. Father, indeed our souls are thrilled when we hear accounts such as these of Your visitation upon the early church with the power of the Holy Spirit that changed these fearful people into people of great boldness. We pray that You would do that same work in our souls in this day. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen." [00:01:46]

"But if we’ve been paying attention to the last weeks in our study of the book of Acts in the early church, the adjective that comes over and over and over through the pages has to do with the boldness of Peter and John and the early church. And when the New Testament speaks of the quality of boldness it is describing an attribute of virtue, an attribute that is to mark the life if the church in every generation." [00:03:50]

"And so when they heard that, all of them” – this whole body of Christian people in the first century – “raised their voice to God with one accord, and they said, ‘Lord, You are God.’” What could be more obvious than that, and why were they doing it? They were saying, “What we’ve just experienced before the highest court of the land – we’ve been before the highest authority that this world can say to us, but we are saying now in our prayer, acknowledging You, O God, are the Lord, and it’s to You that we bow in adoration and submit to Your authority.” [00:05:36]

"John and Peter go back to the people of God and tell them what happened, and they begin to praise God, “God, You are God. You are the one who made the heavens and earth…” And they remember. Now we know what David was talking about, about the rulers of this world taking counsel together. And listen to what he says, “For truly Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel, and all of them were gathered together to do whatever they wanted to do against Him.” That’s not what it says. He said, “They gathered together in an unholy alliance to do whatever Your hand, O God, to do whatever Your purpose determined beforehand to be done.” [00:10:12]

"You see the early church had no debates about Calvinism and Arminianism. There wasn’t an Armenian to be found in the early church. Every Christian believed in the sovereignty of God, and they believed in it absolutely. They never negotiated the sovereignty of God because Jesus revealed exactly who God is and the power of the Almighty against all of the machinations of the people of this world. And so the early church said, “All this power that we’ve seen by the Romans and the gentiles and the Sanhedrin – nothing; Just a few weeks ago Your Son was delivered into the hands of these people to be executed by Your hand and by Your determinant purpose and counsel from the beginning of the world.” [00:11:05]

"And so they understood that in the drama of redemption, despite all of the antagonistic actions of those in this world, God was still sovereign. God was still in control of all of this and he said, “Now Lord, look on their threats. Look on these threats that these same kings and rulers are breathing out against us and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word.’ And a moment later,” we read, “and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness” – boldness, boldness, boldness." [00:12:41]

"Can’t you see the character of the first century Christian church was marked over and over and over again of unparalleled boldness? And yet, just a matter of weeks before this moment, when the lanterns were appearing in the Garden of Gethsemane as the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, His disciples fled in panic. At Calvary when Christ was being executed, yes there was John, yes there was Mary, but where were the rest of them? Peter huddling over there in the corner cursing, denying that he ever even met Jesus. Boldness?" [00:13:48]

"But yet we see this sudden transformation. Again, just a few days before that they’re in the Upper Room hiding, cowering, terrified, locking the doors for fear of the Jews, and now they’re standing up against the highest authority in the land fearlessly. What happened? Two things: The resurrection and Pentecost." [00:15:05]

"The resurrection galvanized the faith of the early church. When they saw the risen Christ, when they saw His victory over death and over His enemies, when He burst alive out of the tomb, a faith was born in the breasts of the apostles and the disciples that the whole world could not extinguish. And adding to the power of that faith was the power of Pentecost, in which God the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they began to proclaim the Word of God fearlessly into the whole world." [00:15:35]

"Billy smiled and he said, “Well Jack, have you thought about repenting? Because you know you need to, and yes, I am concerned about your soul because without Jesus, Jack, you’re going to perish.” And I’m standing there as a college kid listening to this, and I said, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” Billy Graham wasn’t nasty. He wasn’t mean. He wasn’t insensitive, but I’ll tell you what he was, folks: He was bold before the whole nation. He wasn’t going to be manipulated into being silent about the truth of Christ." [00:17:11]

"Where is that boldness among us? Yes there’s a difference between being brash, being fool-hearty, being obnoxious and as offensive as we possibly can be. That’s not what I’m talking about, but I’m talking about being done with cowardliness and living the proclamation of the Gospel with the boldness that characterizes a Christian who has been persuaded of the resurrection of Christ, of the defeat of death – that we may have the same change in us that was in these men, who, from the moment they celebrated the Last Supper with Jesus, went into infidelity in fearfulness, but the Christ who fed them that night was raised from the dead and raised them from their fears and turned them into valorous saints." [00:18:03]