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Now, in Acts chapter 4, we have this great story about Peter and John with their boldness before the Sanhedrin, the high priest, and these people that are here. And the part that I want to focus on is verse 31. But first, let's go back and look at verse 7. The Bible says in Acts 4, 7, And when they had set them in the midst, they asked them, By what power or by what name have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, please this day be examined of the good deed done of the impotent man, by what means he is made whole. Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him did this man stand here before you all. This is the stone which was set not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now watch the next words. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Now look down at verse 29. This is when they're back with the other disciples at the house, and they're praying. And in verse 29 it says, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. Look at verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God in their boldness. Now the title of my sermon this morning is this. Pray for boldness. Pray for boldness. That's the title of the sermon. Look if you would at verse 31. It says when they prayed, what did they pray for in verse 29? Boldness. What did they have in verses 7 through 13? Boldness. I mean they're on trial for their lives, they're faced against people that just killed Jesus Christ, later they're going to kill Stephen a few chapters later. These people will not think twice about putting them to death, and they ask them, Who do you think you are? By what name? By what authority have you done this thing? And they stood up and they said, If you're asking us how we healed this guy, be it known unto you that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified, who you said it not, and he said, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. They had boldness. What did they not have? Fear. What were they not? Timid. What were they not? Weak. Now look, how are you going to get the kind of boldness that God wants us to have? By prayer. That's what the Bible teaches. I mean you say, Well I'm just not a very bold person. I'm actually a little bit timid. I'm actually a little bit shy. I actually don't have a lot of courage. How are you going to get the boldness you need? The Bible says to pray for boldness, and we're going to see it elsewhere in the Bible. Now before I get too far into the sermon though, I want to explain to you what boldness is not. Now if we're going to talk about what boldness is and why we need to have boldness and how to get boldness, which is praying for boldness, what is boldness not? Now boldness is not being obnoxious. You know what I mean? Like being obnoxious. That's not boldness. Or boldness is not being a loud mouth. Or boldness is not getting involved in other people's business when you have no business getting involved in other people's business and trying to run other people's lives. That's not boldness. Many times we confuse boldness for being obnoxious. People think that if they mouth off to everybody, that's boldness, right? Or if they get involved with everybody else's business and tell them what to do, that's boldness. Now look, there's a thing that's going on in churches today, especially among the independent Baptists. They're straying from the right way, which is soul winning, which is going out house to house, preaching the gospel, winning people to Christ, preaching the message of believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, preaching the message of salvation by grace through faith, preaching the message, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, preaching the message of blessings, the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, for to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, is faith, is talent for righteousness, preaching the message of therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, preaching the message of that no shorter believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And they're straying from that. And they have these new methods of souling. Let me tell you some of the people that are guilty of it. This thing that's on TV, and I don't watch TV, I don't have a TV, but people told me about seeing this on TV, a program called The Way of the Masters. Who's ever heard of it? It's put on by these Hollywood stars and people and supposedly it's all about getting people saved and winning people to Christ. You know what, I'm sorry, but it's not the way of the masters, it's the way of the bastards. Because anybody who's preaching works salvation is a bastard and not a son, according to the Bible. Now, The Way of the Masters is teaching this kind of soul winning where, and they consider this boldness, to go to people and tell them what a piece of trash they are. Tell them what a wicked, filthy sinner they are and that somehow some imaginary thing called conviction is going to come over them and they're going to fall on their knees and get saved. Now, it's not true, it's a lie, and it's not what the Bible teaches. You see, many of these preachers, and they believe that you have to repent of your sins in order to be saved, like you have to be willing to turn away from a wicked life, or turn away from drinking, turn away from smoking, turn away from drugs, turn away from fornication. The Bible does not say that any word as a prerequisite for salvation. It's if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. Salvation is by faith, not works. Salvation is by faith, not the works of the law, or keeping God's laws by not sinning, or willing to keep God's laws. Now, some of these preachers, you know, they've got this new method of soul winning and this is spreading like wildfire across America. I hear about it all the time in churches cropping up. My grandma was going to a church that she liked and all of a sudden they said, we're changing the soul winning and they came out with the soul winning program. It was a completely false doctrine and she ended up leaving the church, thank God. Thank God an 86 year old woman had more sense than some people who would just continue to go there and just drink the Kool-Aid. And so she separated from that church because they changed the plan of salvation and changed the gospel. And they don't emphasize the good news of salvation. Now my Bible says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew person also the Greek. So what's the power of God to salvation? It's the gospel. What does the word gospel mean? Put your dictionary away. What does the Bible say the word gospel means? Well, in Luke chapter 4, Jesus Christ quotes Isaiah 61, 1. In Isaiah 61, 1, he says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the me. And in Luke chapter 4, Jesus said, He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. So what does gospel mean according to the Bible? Glad tidings. Good news, right? The good news is what the gospel is all about. What's the power of salvation? The good news. Now, many of these preachers, they've missed the boat because they think the power of salvation is how wicked you are. And as long as you realize how wicked you are, that's going to make you get saved. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to 1 Corinthians 15, 1, that he died according to the scriptures and was buried and three days later was raised from the dead according to the scriptures, and that we have salvation through the name of Jesus Christ. Hey, that's the gospel. That's the good news. But many of these new, so many methods involved, and this is what they involve, going through it, I'm just going to name it out and just tell you exactly what it is so you can know exactly what I'm talking about. They say you need to go through the Ten Commandments with people and show people that they've broken every single one. Now, can you imagine going to somebody's door and just pointing out all the sin in their life and doing this through all Ten Commandments? Now, where's my... Anybody have one of the invitations to our church? Andy, you got one? Anybody? Anyone, anyone? Thank you. Now, look at the back here. It has a... It says the Bible way to heaven, right on the back, and it has some verses explaining salvation, okay? Number one, admit you are a sinner. Admit you're a sinner. Now, you say, well, is that part of salvation? Yes, it is, because the Bible says in 1 John 1-10, if you just memorize it, we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us, okay? And so you must admit that you're a sinner for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. But you know what? You don't have to admit that you're a filthy, vile, wretched, wicked, disgusting, filthy animal in the sight of God. But that's what these preachers are preaching. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I mean, this kind of preaching that says, you know, in order to be saved... And I had a pastor tell me he was kind of going into this whole repentance fad. You know, it's like a fad. He's catching on. It's like a sta... It's like a trend, you know? And so he's going into this repentance thing, both feet into it, and he said, you, in order to be saved, a person has to see themself as a putrefying sinner in the eyes of God. You know what putrefying just means? Like, ugh! Gross! Now, look, where in the Bible does it say that? That you have to believe that you're disgusting in order to be saved. It just says you have to admit that you're a sinner. It says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is ours. Now, has every human being in the world broken all 10 of God's commandments, of the 10 commandments? Not that those are the only commandments, but no, I don't think that my children have ever committed adultery. That is one of the 10 commandments, isn't it? My children have never committed adultery. It says thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, if you lust after a woman, you commit adultery with her. They haven't done that either. They're little kids. Okay? Has every single person on the face of the earth taken God's name in vain? No. Okay, has every single person in this world made a graven image or bowed down themselves to it to worship it, either of those two things, encompassed by the second commandment? No. Has every single person in this world had another God before Jesus Christ and Jehovah? No, not necessarily. Name the false god that my kids grew up worshiping. Has every single person in this world broken God's commandment, remembered the Sabbath to keep it holy, which does not even apply to us today, according to Hebrews chapter 4? No. No? Couldn't even break that one if you tried. Okay? Do you see how silly this is? And the same pastor told me this. He said you've got to spiritually undress them in order for them to be saved. Show them how wicked they are. Now look, you're not going to get very far. And remember, why am I talking about this? Because we're talking about boldness. But first I want to make sure that you don't walk out of the service and say I'm going to be bold and go out in need of obnoxious jerk. And that's what many people are doing. And they go to somebody's door and they say, you know, and they go through the Ten Commandments. They say, Thus shall not have any other gods before me. Have you ever put anything in your life first before God? Now is that what the commandment says? No. And then they get this graven image. Have you ever had an idol, like a car, that you put more important than God? Now look, I don't know about you, but the second commandment never mentioned the word idolatry. It mentioned making a graven image and valuing down yourself in worshiping. Now idolatry in the metaphorical sense would be covered in the tenth commandment, which is, Thou shall not covet, because the Bible teaches that covetousness is idolatry when you worship money or cars or things above God. And so they'll go through this. Have you ever taken God's name in vain? They'll just say, Have you ever said a cuss word? Now look, is saying a cuss word taking God's name in vain, a so-called cuss word, a four-letter word? That's not God's name. Last I checked, God's name was not a word for manure. Okay? And so no, that's not taking God's name in vain. God's name in vain is saying, Oh my God, or Jesus Christ, and throwing God's name around in that way. But they'll say, Have you ever cussed? And then they'll get to the fourth commandment. Have you ever not got to church on Sunday? Which again, it's not what it says. It's Saturday, Saturday, of course. And Saturday, Salvador, anybody speak Spanish? Honor that quality of mind. Did you ever disobey mom and dad? Did you ever steal? And I stood at the door while somebody did this soul-ending method. And I was the silent partner. And there was a guy standing at the door. His wife was standing right behind him. And he said to this guy, Thou shalt not commit adultery. He said, The Bible says if you look on a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery with her or her. Have you ever lusted after another woman besides your wife? Now this guy was embarrassed. Now some people may not be as embarrassed by that, but this guy was. And he's standing there, and he's like, Ahhh. And his wife's looking, and I'm like, What happened? And he's like, Ahhh. And the guy at the door was bugging, like, Come on. You know you've done it. Come on. You know you have. And the guy's like, Ahhh. That's stupid. And you know, why would somebody want to listen to you come to their door and tell them how wicked and evil they are? Now look, people later on, you know, they need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hey, that's what church is for, to come and learn one thing after another. But hey, you don't just come to somebody's door. You don't come to some stranger. Somebody's not even safe, and tell them what a wicked, filthy purpose they are. It's not right. It's wrong. It's not boldness. It's stupidity. It's not boldness. It's arrogance and pride and being obnoxious. And it's false doctrine, by the way, because you don't have to see yourself as putrid, lying to be safe. You just have to admit that you're a sinner. You just can't say that you have no sin. I usually just show people, in Revelation 21, where it says, All liars shall have their part in the legless birth with fire and burn. Have you ever told a lie before? Sure, we all have. And no, you don't have to break every commandment to go to hell anyway. James 2 10 says, For whosoever shall heap the whole law, and yet offend it at one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. You don't have to break all the commandments. You don't have to even be a wicked, vile sinner to go to hell. You just have to be a sinner to go to hell. You just have to be a sinner to go to hell. You just have to be a sinner to go to hell. But Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners of whom I have achieved, Paul said. And so we're not talking about this obnoxious, going around telling them, You're going to hell! You know, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what people in the Bible did. Now I do, every single person that I get the gospel to, I show them that they're a sinner, and I show them that they deserve to go to hell and they're on their way to hell. But you know what? I speak the truth in love. And you ought to do that, too. You don't have to be a sinner to go to hell. You don't have to be a sinner to go to hell. You don't have to be a sinner to go to hell. You don't have to be a sinner to go to hell. Not calling people names and pointing out their individual sayings. You know you've done this! They're like, No, I haven't. You know you've cussed God's name. You know you've committed adultery. You know, perhaps they haven't. Isn't that a shock? Perhaps the six-year-old boy you're talking to has not committed murder. That's what I killed. And so on and on. I just wanted to put that in there. I'm sure they're attracted to say, Number one, you must admit that you are a disgusting, revolting, filthy, putrefying, and wretched person. And then it'll probably go on for pages about all their sins, and then at the bottom, Oh yeah, by the way, Jesus can save you when I die, and ask him to save you. Look, when I go slowly, I emphasize the thing that has power. Which is the gospel. Which is the good news. Which is the freeness of salvation. Which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and the fact that it's by grace and faith alone. That's a powerful message. That's why when I'm slowly, and excuse me for taking time out of my sermon on boldness, but I need to explain this, because this will help you in your soul winning. You know, when I'm soul winning, and there's a Roman Catholic at the door, I don't just say, Well, the first thing I'm going to do is show you all the readings of why the Catholic Church is wrong. That's not powerful. Now, I must show them that. Okay, they need to see that. They need to understand that. But that's not what I'm going to start. The first thing I'm going to do is show them the powerful message. All sin that comes short of the glory of God. Jesus died for us. Go through all that. Go through the whole freeness of the gospel. Then when I get done with that powerful message called the gospel, then I say, Now, look. Does this say anything about going to the priest and getting your sins forgiven by him? Does this say that you must go to church? Does this say you must be baptized? Well, that's what the Catholic Church says. You know, and I'll show them that. But if you just start out attacking people, you're not going to get anywhere. And God never commanded you to do that either. And you can see all the examples in the Bible of preachers throughout the Bible, and they preach the gospel. They determine not to know anything, say, Jesus Christ has been crucified with unbelievers. Then among them that are perfect, man, they preach up one side of the... And, you know, if you can find a preacher that preaches harder against sin than I do, let me know, and I'll have them tutor me during the week. Okay? And so look at Ephesians chapter 6, and let me get into the meat of the sermon. But first I say, You know, I just want to go over that with you, because a lot of people get mixed up about what boldness is, and they think boldness is being obnoxious, rude. Wow, he's really bold. You really told them. You know, and when I'm not slowly, I'm not trying to tell them. I'm trying to get somebody saved. And, you know, there have been many a times when I won an argument, but the person didn't get saved. I'd rather get somebody saved than win an argument. Now, sometimes you have to win an argument to get somebody saved, but you know what? My goal is not to go out and say, Man, I told them. I showed them. Man, I tore them up one side and down the other. Hey, that's not soul winning. Okay? Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy men's lives, but I came to save men's lives. Okay? And so that's what soul winning is about. But look at Ephesians chapter 6. We're talking about how to get boldness. Pray for boldness. Like they did in Acts chapter 4. God immediately answered their prayer when they prayed for boldness. Look at Ephesians 6. This is Paul, praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. He's saying, Pray for your fellow Christians. And for me, he's saying, Pray for me, that utterance may be given unto me. Utterance. What does it mean to utter? It means to speak. He said, I want to have the opportunity to speak the gospel to somebody, to preach the gospel to somebody, to give people the gospel. He said, That utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Paul is saying, Pray for me that I'll speak boldly. Pray for me that I will go soft. Pray for me that I will become fearful and timid. Pray for me that when I have the opportunity to utter the gospel to somebody, that I will take that opportunity boldly and speak God's word boldly as I ought to speak. Turn the page to Philippians 1. Just one page over. Pray for boldness is the title of the sermon. Look at Philippians 1.12. But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palaces and all the places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident, notice that word, confident, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. You see, confidence and boldness go hand in hand. Look at verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed. See, we're seeing some contrast of what boldness is. Boldness is confidence. Boldness is not being ashamed. That I shall be ashamed. He said I want to be in nothing to be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. You see, the Bible teaches that when it comes to solely, when it comes to living our lives for God, when it comes to preaching the Gospel, or preaching the Bible being as open as a pastor, boldness is what you characterize the preacher of the Gospel. Confidence is what you characterize the soul winner and the preacher. Not fear, not shame, not embarrassment, not timidity, but boldness. You say I'm not bold. I'm timid. I'm shy. I have a lot of fear. I'm scared. Pray for boldness. You say pastor, how did you get boldness? I prayed for boldness. Countless times have I prayed, oh God, give me boldness. Pray for other people to have boldness. Paul said pray for me to have even more boldness. Sitting in a jail cell for his bold preaching, he said pray, I need more boldness. I'll pray and you pray and let's both pray that I become more bold than I am right now. More obnoxious, no. Rude, no. But no shame. Total confidence, boldness. That's what the Bible teaches. You don't have to turn there, but Acts 13, 46, and then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing he put it from you and judge yourselves in an unworthy and everlasting light, lo, he turned to the Gentiles. Acts 19, 8, and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly, this is Paul, for the space of three months disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. Acts 9, 27, but Barnabas took them and brought them to the apostles and declared unto them how that he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to them, this is about Paul, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus, and he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Greeks, but they went about to slay him, which means to kill him. John 7, 26, about Jesus, this is what they said about Jesus, but lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? You see, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1, 7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Paul said, don't be ashamed of me. He was the man who was mentor to Timothy and taught him, and taught him preaching, taught him soul, and he won him to Christ. He said, don't be ashamed of me, just because I'm in jail, just because I'm unpopular, just because people don't like me. Hey, don't be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed of Jesus Christ. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Get some boldness. God didn't give you that spirit of fear, Timothy. God gave you the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. God will give you boldness, Timothy. He's trying to bolster Timothy's boldness there. He says later on in the same book, in chapter 4, This know also that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are quite jealous and homogeneous. He says, a lot of people have turned away from me. Don't you be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed of what I preach. That's what Paul is saying. Have boldness. Look at Proverbs chapter 3. Turn there, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 3. Read the middle of your Bibles, book of Psalms, and the next book is Proverbs. Look at Proverbs chapter 3. You see, boldness is vital. Because of the lack of boldness, people don't go solely. This should be out solely. Why? Because they're scared. They're nervous, timid, shy. Why? They lack boldness. They need to pray for boldness. They need to start praying for boldness. You need to pray for them that they get boldness. People are not solely because they don't have boldness. People have an opportunity in their life to give the Gospel to somebody where they're alone with somebody. And they can give them the Gospel. And they pass up that opportunity because of the lack of boldness. See how important boldness is? People will die to go to hell because of a Christian's lack of boldness. Many young men who God would desire that they would go to the ministry and become a preacher and spend their life preaching behind them hoping that they won't do it because of the lack of boldness. Because they're afraid. Because they're not sure if they're going to succeed. They might fail. They're a little bit ashamed. They're a little bit timid. They're a little bit shy or scared. Hey, get some boldness. Look at Proverbs 3.19. The Bible reads, The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding it, he established the heavens. By his knowledge, the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion. So shall they be light unto thy soul and grace to thy name. When thou walk in the way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble, when thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid. Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh, and watch this phrase, for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Hey, your confidence as a Christian needs to come from the Lord, the Bible says. It needs to come from God. He said don't be afraid of sudden fear. Be not afraid. He said, your foot's not going to stumble. God will be your confidence. The Lord shall be your confidence. Hey, confidence behind the pulpit? Confidence outsoleting? Confidence with your friends to take the stand? I'm on the job that needs to be made? Hey, confidence comes from God. It's not about being puffed up in yourself. It's not about I can do all things through Christ, which strength it would be. Don't forget that part. Hey, the Lord shall be thy confidence. I remember I used to be shy about public speaking. I used to get up and preach or teach the Bible, and I was very nervous every time I got up to teach or preach. I remember when I was in college, a man showed me this verse, and he said, he showed me this verse, the Lord shall be thy confidence. And I remember when I used to get up to preach, I used to think about this verse. I would quote this verse. Every time I got up here, the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken. I used to say that to myself when I would get up behind the pulpit to preach because I was nervous, because I was timid. And I prayed for boldness. I prayed for confidence. I prayed that I would not be ashamed or nervous or shy. And you know why I'm not nervous or shy? Because it's not about me. It's about God. The Lord is my confidence. I'm not confident necessarily in myself, but I'm confident in God working through me. I'm confident in the word of God. I'm confident that what I'm preaching is right because it's from the Bible. Now, if I made it up or came up with it, I'd be like, man, I don't know. I hope this is right. I came up with this, and I don't know. It makes sense to me. No, if it's straight out of the Bible, I can have confidence. I can have boldness. I don't have to wonder if what I'm saying is right. I don't have to ask myself, am I sure about this? Hey, if the Bible says it, I'm sure about it. Because the Lord is my confidence. And the Lord needs to be your confidence. You say, I know myself. I'm a timid, shy person. I'm not bold by nature. Then let God be your confidence. Then get on your knees and pray, oh, God, give me boldness. I can't even count how many times I've prayed that. And if that's not a part of your prayer life, it needs to become a part of your prayer life today. God, give me boldness. Now, look at Luke chapter 11, verse 13. You say, where does boldness come from? Well, one aspect of boldness comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, according to the Bible. Now, the Bible says this. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speak to yourselves in songs, in spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart of the Lord. So boldness comes partially from being filled with Spirit. Because if you remember, in Acts 4, 31, it said, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. See how spaking the word of God with boldness is a result of being filled with the Holy Ghost? Okay? Now, being filled with the Holy Ghost is not this, you know, Benny Hinn, slapping people on the forehead, slaying in the Spirit, laughing hysterically, barking like a dog, rolling down the aisles, slaughtering himself. That's not being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's being filled with spirits. That's like when you go to the restaurant that says, find burgers and spirits. Yeah. I'm filled with the spirits. Hey, you know what? And that's why alcohol is wicked, by the way, because God says if you're not drunk with wine, you're going to successfully be filled with the Spirit. So what's the opposite of being filled with the Spirit? Being drunk. Now, being drunk will give you boldness. That's why people drink, so they can get bold. Right? Have you ever heard of people, like, they're going to drink up their curds a little bit before they go do something? Okay. Why? Because alcohol gives boldness. The Holy Spirit gives boldness. Being drunk puts you under the influence, quote, unquote. And being filled with the Spirit is when you're under God's influence. Okay? I mean, there's a lot of similarities here. And three times in the Bible, God contrasts three times in the Bible being filled with the Spirit and being drunk as two opposites. Acts chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 5, and I forget what the third one is, but there are three places in the Bible where that can contrast as many. Okay? And so, being filled with the Spirit is also, compared to the Bible, being filled with God's Word. Look at Colossians 3, 16 and Ephesians 5, 18. Put them side by side, and you'll see that letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom is equivalent to being filled with the Holy Spirit. And so, being filled with the Holy Spirit is something that will give you boldness. Now, look at Luke 11, 13. Remember how the title of the sermon is Pray for Boldness? Look at Luke 11, 13. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father... Now, are we talking to saved people or unsafe people here? Saved. Saved. Because he said, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it? Now, obviously, every believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. We're sealed by the Holy Spirit under the day of redemption. And so, we all have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, but we want to have the Holy Spirit upon us. We want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We want to have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling upon us and filling us, okay? And that comes through asking, according to Luke 11, 13. Praying for boldness. Praying that God will anoint you with his Holy Spirit. Praying for God's power in your life. Pray for the boldness to speak the Word of God to win people to Christ. And by the way, that's the goal of boldness, to judge the boldness for winning people to Christ. That's why the charismatic movement is ridiculous. They don't even have the Gospel. They don't preach the Gospel. They're a little fake phony being filled with the Holy Spirit, which reminds me more of someone being drunk, because what it looks like somebody's drunk, slobbering, laughing, falling on the ground, acting a fool. They look like they're drunk. And I'll tell you what it is. They're demon-possessed. These people are flopping around and doing all this weird stuff, these holy, golden churches. They're demon-possessed is what they are. Like it or lump it, it's the truth. I pre-sold a sermon. I go speaking in tongues and get the tape, and I prove from the Bible that they're demon-possessed in about ten different places. But the point is that nobody gets saved as a result. Right? Who got saved from that? Who heard the Gospel? The whole point of being filled with the Holy Spirit is so you can speak the Word of God with boldness. In Acts chapter 2, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and 120 people went out soloing, hey, 3,000 people got saved and baptized, that was the result of people speaking the Word of God boldly. That's what being filled with the Holy Spirit is all about. It's not about some feeling. Oh, I had all these waves rushing over me, and I was tingling all over my body when I was filled with the Holy Spirit. And oh, man, let me tell you, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I could feel it. No, that's not what the Bible says. Hey, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit was when I was not preaching the Gospel and people were getting saved. That's what being filled with the Holy Spirit is all about. Speaking the Word of God with boldness. And so the Lord is to be our confidence. How are you filled with the Holy Spirit? By asking. How are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit wants to indwell a clean vessel. Okay? He's not going to be able to fill you when you're filled with all the world's garbage. You've got to get rid of some of that junk and make room for the Holy Spirit to fill you completely. The Bible says this, and let me move on to another aspect. That was more about the soul-winning aspect and boldness and waiting for the Christ. But really, just, we need to have a little more boldness in our lives. And when I say that, I mean, it just seems like so many people's decisions are governed by fear of the unknown and they're nervous. You think about people are just paralyzed by fear. You know, young men that should be going out to start a church, they're paralyzed by fear. They don't know what's going to happen. They're afraid they're not going to succeed. They don't know what they're going to do. And they're paralyzed by fear. They don't have the boldness to take a step of faith and do what God's going to do. Look at the great name of the Bible. Abraham. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither he went. God said, go to a land I'll show you. He just started going. He didn't even know where he was going. And some people won't even go somewhere when they do know they're going. And God told them to go there because they're scared. And so, Abraham didn't even know where he was going. He had the faith and the boldness to go out and do what needed to be done. There's so many people that are paralyzed by fear. They should be solely, but they're scared. They should do God's will. They're scared. They should learn how to preach, but they're scared. They should do this, but they're scared. They're scared. Anytime fear is making your decision, you are making the wrong decision. Mark it down. If you ever say, well, I would do thus and so, but I'm a little nervous about it. I'm a little scared about it. You're wrong. If it's something for God, it has something to do with the Bible. It has something to do with something in the Bible that God's telling you to do. Anytime you say, I'm not going to do this or I'm going to do this because I'm scared, you are wrong. Mark it down. Unless you're just fearing God's laws and you're doing the right thing for you, when you're scared of anything else, you're making the wrong decision, period. Don't ever let fear make your decision for you. Make your decision based on what's right and have the boldness to step out of faith and do what needs to be done. Sometimes in life, you have to take chances. Oh, I don't like that word. Well, the Bible used that word. Time and chance happened with them all. Ecclesiastes 9 and 11. Sometimes you have to take a chance. I mean, there were times in the Bible where people were taking a chance, where Abraham took a chance, where Isaiah took a chance, and he fell upon God's mercies and took that chance and stepped out of faith and did what needed to be done for God. I mean, there have been times when I started this church. Did I know how it was going to turn out? Did I know if it was going to take off? Did I know if it was going to get off the ground? Did I know if anybody was going to come? I had no clue, but I had the boldness to step out and do it anyway and see what God would do. Can't let fear die. And thank God I did it. Thank God I did it. Thank God I'm not sitting somewhere today for the last two and a half years saying, Oh man, I don't know if I have what it takes. I don't have what it takes, but God has what it takes, and the Lord is my confidence. But I could be sitting somewhere right now saying, Oh man, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. And the whole world's going to hell because people are sitting around. They don't know what to do. Do something. Get some boldness. Get the boldness in you to go do what God told you to do and not to just be scared and live a life of fear. And our society programs us to live in fear. Threat level orange everywhere we go. Woo, so scared. People on the airplane, they're scared. I flew on eight airplanes this week. I wasn't scared at all. It's funny watching people that aren't used to flying and you hit turbulence, and if you look out the window, the wings move. They flap like a bird. Who knows what I'm talking about? They're like... I mean, they look like they're going to tear off the plane. Seriously. I mean, it's steel, and it's just... Is it steel? I don't know what it is. Oh, it's got to be steel, right? What is it? And don't tell me it's not steel if you don't know what it is. It's got to be something, a pretty strong metal, because it's sitting there going like this, you know? It's like, man, the wings are flapping on this plane. I don't think it's designed to do that, you know? And it starts shaking, you know? One time I was on a plane, and I was in business class, because my mom's a flight attendant, and so if I ever fly through her airline, sometimes I get a free upgrade to business class, and I had a glass glass. It wasn't a cup. They gave you a glass of orange juice. And we hit a bump, and the glass went flying off the tray and it shattered you. I mean, sometimes it can be terrible. But you know, we live a life of fear. Everybody's scared all the time. Oh, somebody's going to kill us all, attack us all. And we're all going to die. Well, except the Lord built the house, they laid work in vain to build it. Except the Lord keeps the city, the watchmen wait, but in vain. Some trust in horses, and some trust in chariots, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Some trust in military-minded armies, but we'll remember the name of the Lord our God. But you see, many people have gotten to the place where they've kicked out God, like the United States of America, and now they're just scared. They just have to rely on only military force because God's blessings are gone. That's a sad thing, isn't it? It's a sad thing. America needs to turn back to God. It would be a lot safer. I mean, obviously we have to have a military. Obviously, King David had a military. But he said, I'm not trusting the military. He wasn't even supposed to number the people in the military. He said, that's not where my confidence is. He said, I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as my confidence and my safety. Safety is of the Lord. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord, in reality, before the Bible. Many times in the Bible, a greater army was defeated by a far inferior army. How many times? Many times, the Goliaths of this world are defeated by the Davids. There's dogs on their side. All throughout the Bible, you'll see tiny armies, insignificant armies, one man putting a thousand to flight. How many times in the Bible? In fact, it's kind of a theme of the Bible. Because God is the one who provides safety. And our confidence can only be found in Him. The Bible says this. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts it out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Hebrews 13, 6. So that we may boldly say, boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Now turn to Galatians chapter 1, and I'm getting near the end here, Galatians chapter 1, but why do we live in fear? Why is it that we are afraid to take chances? You know, we're afraid to step out and do something. And you know what, if you want to be really safe, like here's what a guy told me in this illustration. He said if the speed limit is 55, he said the faster you go above the speed limit, the higher the chances are that you're going to get pulled over and get a ticket. Okay, the faster you go above that speed limit. The lower your speed is, the less likely you are to get a ticket. But he asked this question. What speed would you have to be going in order to be 100% sure that you're not going to get a ticket? And most people raise their hands at 55. He said no. The only way to be sure you're not going to get a ticket is to stay home. And it's the truth. I can tell you about the tickets I've got that I didn't deserve, but we don't have enough time this morning for me to go through alone. But it's true, though. I mean, the only sure way to make sure that you're not going to get any kind of ticket and that you're not going to get any kind of an accident is to just never leave the house and never get in the car and never get behind the car. The only way to make sure you're never going to get tickets is just never leave the house and never touch anybody or talk to anybody. You must live in a plastic bubble if you want to make sure that you never get sick. And so life is about taking chances, taking risks. Everybody takes risks. Every time you get in the car, you're taking a risk. Every time you get on the plane, you're taking a risk. Every time you walk down the street, you're taking a risk. You come to Faithful Word Baptist Church, you're taking a risk. So life's about taking risks. But when you know that, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths, give him the confidence to live your life, to do what God told you to do, and not be scared all the time and worried. Because you know, hey, God's protecting me. God's leading me. God's taking me where I need to go. That's going to give you confidence. That's going to give you boldness. It'll give you the boldness to obey God. But look at this. Galatians 1. I love this verse. Galatians 1, 10. This is the Apostle Paul speaking. I love what he says here. For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Do you see that? We have a choice in our life of pleasing men or pleasing God. That's what Paul said. He said if you please man, you're not pleasing God. He said if I yet please man, I should not be the servant of Christ. If you please God, you're not going to please man. You must choose in your life whether your actions and your decisions are going to be based on what other people think or based on what God thinks. Now fear is going to tell you to make decisions based on what other people think. Right? About what you wear. About what you say. About how you act. About what you do and don't do. You're going to be afraid of what people think about you. You're going to be afraid. Like Paul here, he's talking about preaching. Like if I were afraid of what people might think about my preaching. Do you think I would preach a little bit different? Who said that? Who said yes? Who said that? Hey, if I were afraid of what people were thinking about my preaching, I wouldn't preach the way that I preached. Now this is a pretty mild sermon. I'm taking it easy this morning. But a lot of my sermons, if I were afraid of what people thought, they would have come out a whole lot different. But you know what? I'm not trying to please man. Because I'm the servant of Christ. I'm trying to please God. And he said, hey, do I seek to please man or God? Am I trying to persuade man that I'm righteous? Am I trying to persuade man that I'm doing what's right? Or am I trying to persuade God that what I'm doing is right? Hey, my goal is to convince God what a great church Faithful Word Baptist Church is. Hey, my job is to convince God that I'm preaching right. Not to convince you that I'm preaching right. Not to persuade you that I'm preaching right. Not to please you. But to please God. And so I will preach things that are unpopular. I will preach against the television. I will preach against rock and roll. I will preach against girls dressing like a hoochie mama in a hooker. I will preach against the queers. I will preach against everything in our society that's wicked and ungodly and abominable and destroying America. I'm going to preach against it. And you say, well, I don't know if I like that. I don't know if you like it either. In fact, I don't even give it much thought. Because I'm so busy worrying whether God likes my sermon. But you see, that kind of boldness comes only from God. You're not born with it. I wasn't born with it. Those who haven't aren't born with it. It comes from asking. Get the sermon. Don't walk away and say, Pastor Anderson freaks on boldness. Walk away and say, I need to pray for boldness. I need boldness. I'd hate to come to a crossroads in my life where I have a major decision and I stumble because of fear. Abraham staggered not at the promises of God. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He didn't stumble and stagger at God's promises. It's not as opportunities come in your life to win through the Lord, to have an opportunity to pastor a church, to win somebody through the Lord, to stand up and preach behind a pulpit as a guest preacher. Hey, is fear going to stop you from being able to do what you need to do? Is fear going to cause you to stumble and fall because you seek to persuade men and not God? Now turn to 1 Thessalonians 2 and let me just make a very clear, strong statement. Any preacher, any preacher who seeks to please men is not the servant of Christ according to Galatians 1-10. Did you hear that? Everybody listening? You say, well, it preaches the Gospel. He's not serving Christ. There are some people who preach the Gospel, but they're not serving Christ. The Bible says, so that my bonds with Christ can manifest in all the palates and all the places, and many of the brethren in the Lord, if I must save people, many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to preach the Word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds but gather of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel. What, then notwithstanding your boy, whether impotence or intrude, Christ is preached and I there do rejoice, the aid will rejoice. Look, I'm glad for every person that's standing around in the pulpit this morning and that preaches Jesus Christ's salvation by grace through faith. I thank God for every one of them. You want to close their doors? No, every single one of them. Every single one of them. I'm glad that at least they're preaching the truth about Jesus and salvation in the Gospel. But if they're a man-pleasing preacher, they cease to become the servant of Jesus Christ because they're not the ones calling the shots anymore. See, when you're Jesus Christ's servant, he's the boss. That's what being a servant means. It means he's your Lord. He's your boss. That means he's deciding what you preach. You say, well, does God tell you every morning, like, I'm your servant. That's what I want you to preach today. No, but God does tell me verbally what to preach. I say, what? Right here. I mean, he told me verbally what to preach. He wrote it down for me. It's even better than a voice. We have a more sure word prophecy. Because I don't have to say, man, did I hear that right? God, you want me to preach? What? No, I have it written down. God has verbally told me what to preach. And this is what it is. It's everything in this book. Everything in this book. But when I become a man-pleasing preacher and begin to cut out all the things that aren't popular and not mention them and tone them down and soften them up, I cease to become the servant of Christ and I begin to do my own thing. And I begin to set my own agenda. Now I pick and choose and decide what I'm going to preach and what I'm not going to preach. That's not serving Christ. That's serving your own agenda. That's serving the people, like Mao Zedong said. That's serve the people. That's not serve Christ. I'm not here to serve. I'm not here, Pastor Anderson, at your service. What do you want to hear? Anyone? Anybody got anything you want to hear? What do you want to hear? Love. Grace. Or preach on so-and-so setting. I'll defend for a while. 1 Thessalonians 2 is the last place we'll turn. I'll close with this. Hey, if I seek to please men, then I should not be the servant of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 1. Paul, again, he's kind of the showcase person in this sermon because he was a man of boldness, great boldness. I mean, fearless. I mean, go to town after town, beaten, stoned, whipped, imprisoned. None of those things have ever happened to me. Beaten, stoned, imprisoned, whipped, attacked, threatened, left for almost dead, shipwrecked. And he said, none of these things move me. None of them move me. He just kept on boldly preaching the gospel. He said, pray for more boldness. The prison epistles. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, written from jail. Pray for me to have more boldness. He's a fearless preacher. He's a man that all of us as Christians should try to emulate for his boldness. Was he noxious? No. Was he rude? No. Did he get up and rip on people and tell them how filthy and perverted they were just because they had committed a sin in their life? No. But he did preach that they were sinners. He did preach hell. He did preach the truth. But look at 1 Thessalonians 2, 1. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance into you, that it was not in vain. But even after that, we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated. You know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. He said, maybe we're resisting it. That's with the contention there. They were struggling and battling him and trying to resist and stop him. For our exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile. But as we were loud of God, he said, look, I count it a privilege to be allowed to be a preacher. He said, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me, for that he counteth me faithful, putting me into the ministry. He said, it's a privilege for me to be a preacher. It's a privilege for me to be in the ministry. He said, as we were allowed of God, and so were you if you're a Christian man, woman, boy, and girl, you've been put in trust with the gospel. He's committed unto you the ministry of reconciliation. He said, as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God. It's not about pleasing men. It's about pleasing God. Change of preaching. Change of preaching. People don't like you. People are talking bad about you. Our church isn't growing fast enough because of you, people say. Change of preaching. Please man. No. Not as pleasing man, but God who strieth our hearts. Man doesn't try my heart. Man can't look inside my heart. Only God can, and so I'm going to have a pure heart on the side of God, not man. I'm going to do what's right on the side of God, not man. See, man will misjudge you. Man will misunderstand you, and sometimes even innocently will misunderstand you, misinterpret you, misjudge you. God knows your heart exactly, and that's the only person you're ever going to please. You're going to please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, and you can't please all the people all the time. You can't please people all the time. Keep your heart right with God. That's somebody that you know if you push the button, the light bulb will come on. If you do what's right, God's pleased. If you do what's right, maybe man's pleased. Maybe man gets upset when you do what's right. God's always pleased when you do what's right. Not as pleasing man, but God would try their hardest. For neither at any time used we flattering words. Never. You hear that? That's a pretty strong thing. Neither at any time used we flattering words. As you know. Nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. Nor have men sought me glory. Neither of you, nor yet of others. Though we might have been burdensome as the apostle Christ, who we were gentle among you, even as a nourished, charitest for children, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have a pardon of you. Not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us. Hey, the preacher who says you're dear to me. I love you. I'll do anything for you. Is the preacher who will never use flattering words. Never. Never will he soft-soak the message. Never will he tone down his preaching. But he'll preach it with boldness all the time. Never using flabbery. Never a cloak of covetousness. Never making it about the money. Never deciding what he preaches based on the money. No, the preacher who says, I'm affectionately desirous of you. I love you. You're dear to me. I'll impart not just the gospel of God to you only, but also my own soul. That's the preacher who will not use flattery. And weak, soft-soaked, sensified messages that we're hearing across America come from a heart that's been heartened by a lack of love for God's people, that's willing to let them go into sin, that's willing to let them rot their brain in front of a wicked television, that's willing to let them go to the bar and drink themselves into oblivion and commit adultery and fornication. Hey, the preacher who loves God's people is the one who totally stands up behind the pole and says, Thus saith the Lord. And you know what? You may lose some friends along the way. But you know what? Some people that I've lost as friends, they may not be my friend, but I'm still their friend. I still love them. So I haven't lost... I guess I've lost a friend, but they haven't lost a friend. Because in truth, I'm the best friend that they ever had because I'm the one that told them the truth. And so that's what love really is, my friend. It's boldly telling the truth to people. And you know what? It's not being obnoxious. Let's go back to the beginning. Not being rude. Not stepping on other people's toes. Getting involved in their business. Everybody knows me. I don't go to people and tell them this is what you need to change about your life. You stop doing this. You start doing this. But don't let fear stop you from taking the stands that need to be made in 2008 in this country because it's not popular. Because you know what? It's not popular. This church will never be popular. I will never be popular. And if you live for God, you'll never be popular. Period. If you want to be popular, we're going to pray in a few moments. We're going to sing a song. Walk out the door and never come back if you want to be popular. Because you're not going to be popular here. You'll be popular in here. We'll carry you around on our shoulders. All right? But you're not going to be popular out there if you come in here. So deal with it. But God's going to like you. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we love you and thank you for everything you do for us.