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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you let us you you you you God, we thank you for the book of Acts. We thank you for this church. Thank you for the souls that were saved today. And God, we thank you for just saving us and allowing for us to have the right to the tree of life and to be saved. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And they're like, Who are these guys? Who are these poor, ignorant folk? And look at this. And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Oh, Jesus rubbed off on them. That's a little bit of Jesus there. Because Jesus was bold. And we're going to end up closing the sermon looking at something that Jesus said too. But if you want to increase your boldness, one of the first things we saw here is that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and we'll see a little bit more of that, too, in Chapter 4 as we read a little bit further. The Holy Ghost will give you the boldness that you need. There is a high correlation. This is absolutely without a doubt. If you are filled with the Holy Ghost, you will have the boldness. So you want to increase your boldness. You need to make sure that you're going to fill yourself with the Holy Spirit, with the Holy Ghost. So how am I going to do that? Good question. I'm glad you asked. Well, first of all, you're going to communicate with God through prayer, right? And we're going to see examples of all of these. This is coming up. The next point I have is praying. You're praying for it. You're asking God to fill you with the Holy Ghost and with His power. If you've heard or if you notice, a lot of times when we pray, you know, before we go sowing, I'll pray, sometimes I'll pray just out on the road as well as here in church. But when we pray for God, fill us with your spirit. Fill us with the boldness. Help us to speak to the people that are, you know, this is what we want. This is what we need. We're asking God for that. It's not a one-time request. It is a regular request. God, fill us with your spirit. Now, we also know that the Bible tells us how we can walk in the spirit, right? If you walk in the spirit, you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So, if you're walking in the spirit, you'll probably be filled with the spirit as well, right? So, we're reminding the heavenly things and not the earthly things. And we'll get into that a little bit more in a minute. But let's continue on here in Acts 4. Jump down to verse number 27. The Bible says, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. So, here's the prayer going up to God. God, look at how they're threatening us. Look at the opposition. Look at what they're saying to us, God. Now, please, grant unto us. Please give us the ability that with all boldness we can speak. God, we need help. We need you to strengthen us. We need you to increase our boldness. Here's the opposition. You can see it, Lord. Please embolden us to be able to answer them. Please embolden us to not be shut down or quieted by these people who are against you. Give us the boldness that we may speak thy word. Verse 30, by stretching forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. So, they're also asking, right, to say not just for them to speak boldly but to be able to do these other signs and wonders and really just show the power of God, right? But the sermons focus on the boldness to speak. So, that's what we're looking at here. Verse number 31, and when they had prayed, 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. So, prior to them praying, prior to them asking, the place didn't shake and they were all filled with boldness. That happened after the fact. It's clear, hey, look, you want to have boldness, pray for it. Pray for God to help you with that. Pray regularly. You're a silent partner, you want to be a soul winner, you want to be a talker, pray God for the boldness. Ask Him to help you with that. Pray regularly. Hey, God, fill me with the boldness. Fill me with your spirit because when you're filled with the Holy Ghost, guess what? You will preach the word with boldness. And their request and their prayer went up and God answered so powerfully that the place shook. I mean, where they're meeting, it's like an earthquake. The power of the Holy Ghost coming through and then resting on them and filling them with His power to be able to go forth and it's like, man, now we're out. Now we're hitting the streets. Now we're talking to people. Now we are just on fire to preach the word of God. Pray. Verse 32, and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. Collectively, as a church, when we've got the Holy Ghost upon us all, when we want to do a great work and we're praying to God, God filled with the spirit of power, look at the unity here. They're all united in this objective, in this mission to preach the word of God. And God answers, God loves that. God says, here you go. Yes, go forth, do. But you have to ask. Kind of like salvation. Hey, it's available, just ask for it. Boldness, it's available. Just ask for it. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Flip it over, if you would, to Ephesians chapter six. There's one more reference here about praying for boldness. And as I mentioned earlier, I don't know anyone who doesn't need this. I don't. Now, outwardly, sometimes people look like they don't need it at all. And that's fine, that's great. But inwardly, it's gonna be a different story. And the reason why I know this to be true is because if I'm looking at bold people in the Bible, obviously Jesus Christ is the first one. But he's God in the flesh. He knows what it's like to be human, absolutely. I know he's a human being. But if we're looking at someone not Jesus, that still had a lot of boldness, I think the Apostle Paul is right up there with some of the most bold people. The reason I say this is because the Apostle Paul faced a lot of opposition, right? And a lot of the prophets did, right? They all had their own struggles and trials and things and oppositions they had to face, for sure. But maybe we just read more about the Apostle Paul. I don't know, but it's like over and over and over again, he has all these trials, all these tribulations, everything else, and he's still going. He has boldness. But look at what we see. We get a little bit of an insight, in Ephesians 6, verse 18, the Bible says this, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me. So he's telling them, pray for this, pray for this, and praying always, and then he says this, and for me. Now he's including himself in the request for their prayer. His prayer request to them. And pray for me, is what he's ultimately saying here in verse 19, 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. The guy who's in jail for preaching boldly is asking them to pray for him that he has boldness to speak. He needs it, just like anyone else does. And you can look at him and be like, how could he possibly ask for boldness? Don't you have enough, Paul? I mean, you landed in prison, you're in jail. But no, he needs more. And you know what, those are the times you really need more. Because he's experiencing the punishment for doing what he was supposed to be doing. And that's the whole point of that punishment. That's the whole point of the wicked people throwing you in jail, is to get you to shut up, is to get you to stop. And those are the times you need the boldness most of all so that you don't stop, you don't back down. When that gut-wrenching feeling comes, when people are opposing you, when people are saying all manner of evil against you falsely for his name's sake, that's when you need the boldness most of all. So ask for it. Pray about it. Have other people pray for you, too. That's what the Apostle Paul's doing. Hey, when you're making all these other prayers, pray for this, pray for this. And you know what, pray for me, too. Pray that I'll have the boldness that I need to continue preaching the word of God. I put this number one, my number one point, because I think that's the most important point. You need to be filled with the Holy Ghost to have that boldness, the two go hand in hand. No doubt about that, pray to God. You want boldness, pray to God. If you leave without getting anything else from this sermon, just understand, look, if you want boldness, pray to God and ask for it. Now there's other things we could do, too, to help embolden us. But the number one thing we see here clearly without any doubt, ask God to give you boldness. God wants you bold. God wants you preaching His word. This is not something that would be consumed on your own lusts, this is something that He absolutely is all for. There's no reason why God won't grant that unto you. Boldness, boldness is increased with your confidence. I made that statement earlier. The more confident or sure a person is, of course boldness will go hand in hand with that. If you have confidence, you're bold, right? I think about things that I know in my job, in my work environment, things that I know really well, I'm really confident in those things, right? So if anyone were to challenge me on something that I know really well, I'm gonna be bold to say, no, no, no, no, this is how it's done, right? If someone's trying to say, no, I think it's this way. When you know it, you have the confidence to be able to say, no, no, no, no. And then you could boldly just say, whereas if you're uncertain, you're a little shaky, maybe that person's right and I'm wrong, right? But when you know, you've got boldness. When you know, you've got that confidence. So, and I'll go a little bit out of order here. Turn to Hebrews 4, wisdom will provide you with confidence. So it's talking about when you know something that gives you confidence, having knowledge, knowing how to do it provides you with the confidence and you have that confidence, you have boldness. Hebrews 4, verse number 14, the Bible reads, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So what you're saying is we're seeing that we have a great high priest, seeing that we have, and it's the same as knowing, right? Seeing here is knowing, having that knowledge, understanding, seeing that we have this great high priest, Jesus Christ, he says, we don't have a high priest that can't be touched. We have a high priest that was at all points tempted like as we are, yet with our sin. He knows about us, we have the knowledge of Jesus Christ, so let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. Having this knowledge, now let's be bold and just approach unto the throne of grace because we know that he's there, we know who he is, we know that we may obtain mercy, we know it. When you know that you're gonna be able to receive it, you can go boldly, just like asking God for knowledge. The Bible says that he gave it to all men liberally and upbraideth not in the book of James, James chapter one, I believe, talking about asking for wisdom and understanding. Turn, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, look at Proverbs chapter number 28, Proverbs 28. I mean, wisdom just makes sense, knowing something is gonna give you the boldness that you need. The more you know and just really are confident and secure and just 100% you know the gospel, anyone bringing up any type of opposition, I mean, no way. It's similar to the Apostle Paul and Barnabas, right? When they were confronted with the people who were teaching, well, no, you gotta be circumcised. And they were like, no. And they gave place to him, no, not for an hour. Like, they didn't need any time to hear this alternate way of salvation or these extra works that needed to be involved. And they're like, no, no, it's faith, sorry, no. And they're like, well, maybe we should go back to the apostles and see what they think about all this. And they're just like, whatever, but no. The whole way they're preaching about how they, all the great things and all the people that got saved are the Gentiles, like the whole way. And that's what's cool about that story. And man, I wish I had the reference here. I could probably find it quickly, but I don't wanna take too much time on that. It's as they're traveling back, like they're literally just talking about all the great victors and winning the Gentiles to Christ. So just kind of like putting it in their face, like, no, it's not circumcision because all these people who led to Christ, they didn't get circumcised and they were all saved. And when you have that confidence, you know, you have that wisdom, you know, like this isn't, there's no question on this. You're not gonna trip me up on salvation. I'm gonna be bold on the gospel because I know what's true. You're in Proverbs 28. Another thing that will increase your confidence, which in turn brings boldness is being righteous, living a righteous life, getting the sin out of your life. You know what, that helps you be bold. Why? Because then you're not a hypocrite. Hypocrisy makes people, well, some people, it should make you not be so bold. Unfortunately, there's a lot of bold hypocrites out there that their hypocrisy doesn't prevent them from. But I would say probably for most people, the hypocrisy will limit you. It will cause you not to want to speak. I know it did for me. When I was saved but not living a righteous life and just living a really wicked life, I never wanted to talk about Jesus. Not that I didn't love Jesus, like, in my heart. You know, of course I was happy I was saved, but who's gonna want to listen to me? So the hypocrisy of just saying, yo, you believe the Bible, yet you live like this? No boldness, none at all. Even when I heard from people, and I had to force myself practically sometimes to speak to people when it was just these situations where I had this friend, had a near-death experience, and then he's talking about now he wants to find God, and it was a big deal for him, and he's turning to Mormonism. But because I lacked the righteousness, I lacked the boldness, I wasn't full of the Holy Ghost, I wasn't even going to church, all that stuff, I'm like powerless to just be like, oh, well, you know, you shouldn't believe that because, you know, like, this stammering and stuttering and not even able to give a good testimony or good witness or good truth, because I have no boldness, because I'm not filled with the Spirit and because I'm not living righteously. Look at Proverbs 28, verse number one, the Bible says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Lions are pretty bold, right? Lions don't have fear. When they're hunting and prowling, they're not afraid of that animal turning around on them and like trying to kill them. They hunt and they're gonna pounce, and they have no fear. They have that boldness. And that's what the Bible says, the righteous are bold as a lion. The wicked, they're scared of their own shadow, right? That's what the Bible is teaching here. When you're wicked, you're gonna be, you know, no one's pursuing you and you're still gonna run away. It reminds me of, I knew someone that worked in insurance and they were commenting on how so many homos buy like some of the biggest insurance policies that are out there. And it's just like so fitting for this, that the wicked flee when no man pursue it, they're just like, oh, I need this insurance and this insurance, you know, and like all packed full of all kinds of different insurance because they're afraid. Anyways, a little bit beside the point, let's keep going here, look at verse number four, jump down to verse number four, the Bible says, they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law, contend with them. So when you're righteous, what are you doing? You're keeping the law. And when you keep the law, you're gonna have the righteous, you're gonna have the boldness like a lion to be able to contend with the wicked that aren't keeping the law. You have a lot more confidence. Hey, if you're keeping the law, like, hey, well, why don't you keep the law? I could do it, why don't you? You could have that confidence and you could have that boldness to be able to preach like, no. And that's why though, it's the stuff that you do keep that you need to be able to be bold about. And that's why it's so important to get as much sin out of your life as possible so you can be bold in all things, right? Flip over real quick to Ecclesiastes eight, just a little bit forward from Proverbs 28. Real close, just a little bit forward. Ecclesiastes chapter eight, verse number one, the Bible says, who is as the wise man and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine and the boldness of his face shall be changed. That should have been under the wisdom. That's just out of order. I'm going, yeah, that's not righteousness, that's wisdom. But there was another supporting text for a man's wisdom making his face to shine and having that boldness from the wisdom. Turn if you would to Ephesians chapter three, Ephesians chapter three. So multiple things will help you with your confidence, will help you ultimately to improve your boldness. Number one, pray, pray Lord. Being filled with the Holy Ghost, of course, goes hand in hand with being able to preach the word of God boldly, speak the word of God boldly. Being righteous increases your boldness, increases your confidence because you're doing what's right so you can speak on a lot more things because you're actually doing it. When you're not being a hypocrite, you can speak on a lot more. Wisdom, having that knowledge, you know what's right, you know that this is true, is also gonna increase your confidence, is gonna increase your boldness. When you have more answers, when you just know more, like no, no, no, you can't fool me, I know this is true. It gives you more boldness. Also, your faith, faith, increasing your faith, increasing your faith in the word of God is similar to having wisdom, right? Because you know through your faith, you're trusting in the word of God, and it's very similar to the way that wisdom works in knowing it's true, the faith is also providing that same level of boldness or confidence in the word of God. Look at verse number eight of Ephesians chapter three, the Bible says, "'Unto me who am less than the least of all saints "'is this grace given, that I should preach "'among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.' "'And to make all men see what is the fellowship "'of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world "'hath been hid in God, who created all things "'by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now "'under the principalities and powers in heavenly places "'might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, "'according to the eternal purpose which he purposed "'in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness, "'in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness, "'and access with confidence by the faith of him.'" So that we have the boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. So that faith gives us that confidence in Jesus Christ that we have. "'Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations "'for you which is your glory.'" Turn, if you go to Philippians chapter one, this is very similar to what we just read here in Ephesians chapter three, because he was talking about, at the very end there, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, that you're not discouraged, that you're not backing down in his tribulations, right? But tribulations are actually one way that could embolden people as well. And you'd be like, how in the world does that work? Well, let's read the Bible first, and I'll show you where it says that, that people can have more boldness through tribulation of others, and then we'll understand how that makes sense. Look at verse number 12 in Philippians chapter one, the Bible reads, "'But I would ye should understand, brethren, "'that the things which happened unto me "'have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.'" Sorry, it's this theme that we've seen before. What's he saying there in verse number 12? "'I would ye should understand.'" He's teaching something here. I want you to understand this fact, brethren, that the things which happened unto me, now, do you think those are good things or bad things that happened unto me? Well, in the context, we know they're bad things. He's not talking about all the blessings that have poured out from heaven for me. No, the things that have happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. I am receiving, I just want you to understand this, that even though I'm receiving a bunch of bad things, it's still good for the cause of the gospel. It's gonna bring the gospel further. Sound like something we talked about this morning? Amen. Yeah, bad things oftentimes can be turned for good for the cause of Christ. And the apostle Paul wasn't ignorant of this, and he's even making sure he's teaching that to people so that you know, hey, I might be going through a lot of hardship right now, a lot of tribulations, a lot of trials, but guess what? It still is pushing the gospel forward. It still is being used in a good way. It's unto the furtherance of the gospel so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. So, he's brought attention to the gospel. Now, because he's in bonds, because he's going through these trials and tribulations, guess what? Now the people in the palace, which I would guess you probably wouldn't just be able to go up and knock on the door and talk to the people in the palace. Maybe you would, but probably not. He's having influence, he's having reach, and he's getting the gospel to spread even further, why? Because now people are talking about it. Hey, have you heard about this guy Paul? Yeah, that crazy guy, that zealot, that guy that's just always talking about Jesus? Yeah, that guy, yeah, he's in prison. Furtherance of the gospel, people are gonna wanna know, people are gonna look into it. This is why I don't mind when all the crazies out there and the cuckoos out in TikTok land wanna promote our church and get us to go viral. And it's funny because they'll say things like this, like I've got another comment that said, we're shutting you down, we're making sure you go, yeah, please do. Because someone tried doing that a few years ago, and we've only been growing since then. So please, go ahead, post Mike's sermons up online and do it anywhere you think you can. And take them out of context and throw them up there, great. More people are gonna find out about us, thank you. Amen. Thank you, because this church has been growing for the past five years in a very, very successful percent increase year over year over year. God's been blessing, so whatever you're doing to shut us down isn't working. I don't wanna say that too loud, because you think you're really gonna shut us down, but go ahead. Even putting the Apostle Paul in prison and slandering him and all the things he were doing to him, it didn't stop the work of the gospel. So he's saying that in my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Look at verse 14. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Say, well, why? Why would, why? Why would they be more bold to speak the word without fear if the Apostle Paul already got put in a prison for? Wouldn't they be scared? No. Here's how this works. People who really care about the things of God, right? Sometimes people can get silence just in general, but when someone else is going through a hard time, you love that person, you're gonna want to help that person, and you see them taking all the heat, then a lot more people are gonna be willing to stand up and be like, oh, no, no, no, no, wait, because you want some of the heat to come off of that guy and say, oh, he's in bonds? No, no, because if it's just one person, it's a lot easier for everyone to demonize that one person. But when you've got this person and a bunch of other people now stand up and be like, hey, no, I stand with Paul. No, we believe the same exact thing. No, it emboldens them to now get up and get in the fight, and they see, hey, this guy isn't gonna be the only guy that suffers. I'm gonna help too. I'm gonna come to his aid by speaking up, speaking boldly, and saying the things that I ought to say, and letting the world understand he's not alone in this. He's not just some cult leader. He's not just some crazy guy that's off to lunch and just doing his own crazy things. He's beside himself, much learning, just make him mad. That's not, no, that's not true. There's a whole bunch of us that all believe the same thing. So it stirs people up to be a lot more confident and say, no, I'm gonna be there too. I'm gonna join side by side by the apostle Paul, and I'm gonna preach up too, speak up and preach out too. That's how that works. So even in others' tribulation, that could help make you more bold. And I've been there before. I've seen it. I mean, anytime I see some of my friends just going through the ringer and going through heat, I wanna show my support for them. Amen. Give them the encouragement. Help them out. It helps the boldness to be like, no, no, I'm not gonna, you're not gonna bear all the brunt. Let's try to deflect some of that. And if that has to come our way, then fine. So be it. And other people can see then, once you see, like there's this fear of the unknown, but once you just see what happens, also other people can be like, oh, okay, I could do that too. Somebody just takes one person to step out in faith and break the mold and be able to say, no, you know what, I'm calling your bluff. I'm gonna preach Jesus anyways. Now what are you gonna do? And once one person does that, hey, maybe they're gonna come down hard on that person, but then a bunch of other people say, yeah, we're not gonna do it too. We're gonna speak up too. It's like when you get a driving pack on the freeway and you're speeding and you're like, hey, they can't catch us all. They might get one of us. But if enough of us just keep speeding, they can't get us all. We're gonna preach Jesus, right? And maybe one or two guys are gonna get caught, but you know what? They're not gonna get us all. Brute force. Verse 15, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. So he's even saying here, and then in verse 18, this is kind of the conclusion. What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ has preached, and I there and do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. What's he saying there? No news is bad news. Hey, if people are just pretentiously delivering the message, if people are trying to get me in more trouble by showing and showing the word of God being preached, great. And in other people, if they're preaching in love, great. Hey, either way, it's getting out there. So you wanna take the clip of us reading Leviticus 20, 13, and you want to do that for evil, and oh man, look at what these guys, great, go ahead and do it. Hey, either way, the Bible's being preached. So that's good. That's why it's good, go ahead. You hate us and you wanna publish our stuff, please, by all means, do it. Have the same attitude that the apostle Paul has here. Hey, either way, Christ is being preached. Whether in pretense or in truth, I'm gonna rejoice. Great. Verse 19, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but 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. Whether it takes my life or not, whether they kill me in my death, in my life, either way, Christ's gonna be magnified. And I'm gonna see to it that it's all about Christ. So they could kill me or whatever. And notice the contrast between that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness. So the opposite of being bold would be being ashamed. And we don't wanna be ashamed as Christians either, right? Don't be ashamed of the word of God. Don't be ashamed of your church. Don't be ashamed of your brother and sister or Christ that are preaching the truth. Have boldness. Stand up, stand up for the apostle Paul, even though he is in jail. Who cares? Who cares what the world thinks? Turn to John chapter seven. We're gonna see now the boldness of Christ. Because when you have the boldness, you know you don't have fear. That boldness goes beyond the fear. I'm not saying you'll never have fear and never be afraid, but when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you're gonna preach the word of God. And you know what happens? That fear just goes away. Fear normally comes in before you start preaching the word of God. Who's ever experienced this when you go out sowing? Before you knock the very first door, you've got the fear. Anyone ever, look, I've experienced that too. Now thankfully, I've been at it long enough with the experience that it can or it does go away. I don't have that feeling anymore now. But for years, before I knocked the first door, going out there, stepping out of the car, getting ready to preach the gospel, it was, but then you go anyways. But then as soon as you start talking, gone, right? Gone. It's not even a thought anymore. Now you're engaged in a conversation with someone. It's just that getting, and so look, don't feel bad. All right? We've all been there. If you have that feeling, don't worry about it. Experience will come, it'll pass, it'll subside over time. And even if it doesn't, so what? Just do it anyways. Pray for more boldness. Because once you get going and you get filled with the Spirit, none of it's gonna be a thought. You'll have the boldness, you won't have the fear, and you'll be able to say what needs to be said. Look at the boldness of Jesus Christ here in John chapter seven, verse number 25. The Bible says, then said some of them of Jerusalem is not this he whom they seek to kill? So this was at the feast. Remember, he went up, his brethren went up first, and they're like, hey, well, why don't you preach over? He's like, well, no, you guys go on without me. His time wasn't yet come, so he comes in later. This is that story, this is what's going on. And now other people are hearing Jesus preach and they're like, isn't this the guy that they wanna kill? So the reason I bring that up is because this is the opposition that Jesus is facing, people who wanna kill him. So just by being there and preaching is showing and demonstrating some good boldness, right? Imagine showing up to an event that you know there's people that want to kill you there because of what you say. And you're like, I'm gonna go there anyways. And I'm gonna say the things that they don't want me to say, and I'm gonna preach the things that made them hate me to begin with. People are gonna call you crazy, stupid, full of faith, there's lots of things that people might say about you, but you definitely are bold. Now you're preaching the word of God, you're not stupid. Right? All the boldness of faith is a good thing. But being able to do that, this is what Jesus is facing. People wanna kill him. Verse 26, so they're still commenting about him. Isn't this the guy they wanna kill? But lo, he speaketh boldly and they say nothing unto him. Which by the way, when you speak with boldness, a lot of times you'll find out that even people oppose you, they won't have anything to say. Like when the martyr Stephen in Acts chapter seven is rebuking the Pharisees and the Sadducees, whoever was around him at that time, the wicked people, the wicked Jews, they had nothing to say. They couldn't answer the wisdom of Stephen. So they had to just stop their ears and run on him and kill him. Like that's all they could do. But they couldn't answer him. Why? Because people with the boldness and the truth from the Holy Spirit and just preaching God's word, they had nothing to say. All they can do is attack him. They had nothing to say unto him. He confounded them through the word of God. Jesus spoke boldly and they said nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? So now they're questioning, well, I mean, they're not saying anything, so do they know now that this is Christ? Like are they accepting that this is Christ since it's a guy they want to kill yet he's preaching boldly and they're not doing anything about it? So have they finally accepted him as the Christ? That's what they're asking here. Howbeit we know this man whence he is, but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. So these people, they're like talking about Jesus as he's preaching. And Jesus knows what they're saying and look at what he does here in verse 28. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught. Cried isn't weeping. He's not going, they don't like me. No, he cried out. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, ye both know me and ye know whence I am and I am not come to myself, but he that sent me is true whom ye know not. But I know him for I am from him and he that sent me. And who's answering the nonsense and saying, you know me and you know where I'm from, but you don't know the guy that sent me and but I know him and I'm from him and I'm telling you the truth. And his boldness even just more increased and he's just yelling at him, he's crying out. And that made him mad. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come. You know what else we see in this? Okay, look, Jesus, we know had to fulfill the prophecy, had to fulfill the scripture. We know that there's situations where he presented himself or didn't and kind of maneuvered strategically in order to make sure he fulfilled every prophecy and all the work that God had laid out for him to do, right? We know that. But we also know that God has work for us to do too. We also know that God is able to keep us safe just as much as Jesus was kept safe, just as much as Jesus didn't have any man lay hands on him because his time was not yet come. Hey, look, if you wanna have the boldness and you're gonna preach the word of God, don't worry, don't fear what man can do unto you because if it's not your time, no one's gonna be able to lay hands on you. So you can preach with boldness. You can preach without fear. You can go and do the work that God has for you because you don't have to worry about anyone laying hands, anyone harming you, anyone hurting you because if it's not your time, then God will protect you. Nothing to fear. And if it's your time, then praise the Lord. Go out, faithful, doing what he's wanting you to do and telling you to do. If it means you're a martyr, you just got an awesome reward in heaven. I mean, seriously, a martyr's reward? That's a great crown. Not everyone gets that one. He's gonna weigh more than balance what you have to go through. Stay faithful, don't be afraid, don't fear. Last place, we'll look at Romans chapter 10. Romans 10, my favorite soul-winning reference, just in general. Not only does it give the great formula of people getting saved and how they're gonna hear and how they're gonna preach and everything like that, but I love this quote from the Old Testament. Starting in verse number 19 of Romans 10, the Bible reads, but I say, did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Isaiah is very bold, Isaiah, Isaiah is very bold. And saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. Using that boldness to go forth and preach the word of God, even when people aren't asking you for it. We need that boldness. We need to bring the gospel to people. We need to be able to go forward. You know, the people that were knocking on our doors, they didn't ask for us to come there, right? We're showing up anyways. And why do we do that? Because a lot of them receive it and get saved. But you need the boldness. You need the boldness to go forth unto the people that aren't calling you there. If people are inviting you over, you don't need boldness. If I invite you over to my house, how much boldness does it take to be like, well, I don't know, what's he going to say when I show up? Is he going to be angry? Is it, you know, like, your friend's inviting you over. Like, you don't need boldness. But if you're just going to show up unannounced, well, I mean, friends are still a little bit different, but you know what I'm saying? People aren't looking for you, you need that boldness. You're bringing a message from the word of God. Be found of them that don't seek you. We all need to increase our boldness. Start with prayer, get filled with the Holy Spirit. Be righteous, get the sin out of your life. Gain wisdom, the confidence in knowing what's right, knowing the truth, right? Increase your faith. Just build more trust in the things of God, in the word of God, and knowing that you're walking the right path with all the other things. All of these things are going to help you to increase your boldness. When you see other people going through tribulation, hey, be there right there with them. Join them. Let that stir you up to increase that boldness so that you can be like our great example Jesus who had no fear and was willing to put himself forward even when people wanted to kill him and still not backing down and still being able to preach the truth and no man was able to lay hold on him. That's where we need to be. That's where we need to be. So, you know, please take this with you and increasing your boldness is only gonna increase the fruit of our labor as a church, as we grow to do more to serve the Lord. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we love you, we thank you so much for the great opportunities you've given us with tasking us with preaching the gospel and just preaching your word even in general, dear Lord. I pray that you would please increase our boldness, increase our faith, increase our wisdom. Lord, help us to continue to gain confidence in preaching your word even in the face of all the opposition and people who might try to scare us with their words or try to cancel us or whatever threats they may have against the word of God and against the truth, dear Lord, please just fill us with your spirit and we ask you for these things. We know that you're a God that answers prayer, that you hear us, and Lord, we're asking you tonight for your Holy Ghost, for the spirit to come upon us, that we can continue to preach your word boldly. God, thank you for building this church. We love you, it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, we're gonna sing one last song before we're dismissed for the evening. Brother Peter, will you please lead us? All right, church, if you can open up your handles, Psalm number 347. Psalm number 347, fill me now. Psalm 347. P-7. Now let's sing this out in the verse. Cover, hold me, holy spirit, paint my trembling heart and crown. Fill me with thy humble presence. Come, O God, and fill me now. Fill me now, fill me now, fill me now. Jesus, come and fill me now. Fill me with thy humble presence. Come, O God, and fill me now. Now, kids, fill me, gracious spirit. No, I cannot tell thee now, but I will tell thee now. God, I need thee, praise thee, need thee. Come, O God, and fill me now. Fill me now, fill me now. Jesus, come and fill me now. Fill me with thy humble presence. Come, O God, and fill me now. I am being missed. The meekness hath thy sacred me, I vow. Blessed by eternal spirit. Fill me now, fill me now, fill me now. Jesus, come and fill me now. Fill me with thy humble presence. Come, O God, and fill me now. On the last week, cleansing comfort, blessing, saving, laying away my heart and brow. Thou art comforting and saving. Thou art sweetly filling now. Fill me now, fill me now. Come, fill me now. Jesus, come and fill me now. Fill me with thy humble presence. Come, O God, and fill me now. Good singing, church. Thank you so much for coming, you guys.