BOLD: FINDING YOUR VOICE | SUNDAY 26TH JULY | PS AARON MORE

and grab a seat.

Fantastic. Good to be together, eh?

Couple of people think it's good to be

together. That's good.

Awesome.

Hey, uh this morning we are actually

starting a new series and uh it's

actually a series that um we will uh be

doing on a Sunday, but they'll also be

um a study series for our life groups.

So, our life groups have the option of

um of going over that study material. So

if you go to a life group and they don't

do the study material, it probably means

they didn't enjoy this morning's

message, your leader. But um so we'll

we'll find out um whether uh whether

that's happening or not. But that means

actually as well at the end of this

morning, there is actually an

opportunity if you're not currently part

of a life group. We are having sign up

Sunday. And so there is going to be an

opportunity for you to um sign up um to

a life group and uh Sarah will come up

at the end of the message and she's

going to lead us in that time. So, just

so you know, that's where we're heading

that we will be having life group sign

up because uh man, we so believe that

it's amazing to be in gatherings like

this with um the church together where

we can join our voices and praise and

sing and and just be together. And then

it's also so important that we can

gather in smaller groups where we can

encourage one another, where you can be

seen and see others. And so um that's

kind of uh where we're heading this

morning. So uh our series that we are

starting is called uh bold. And uh I

wonder for you what kind of uh thoughts

and what kind of emotion is invoked when

you hear the word bold. probably for

many of us when we hear that word we

straight away think of someone else

right like have you ever noticed it's

always easy to see boldness in the life

of someone else rather than in your own

life and like naturally sometimes people

will say to you um you know oh well that

was really bold and you thought well no

I didn't really think that was just me

like who's ever encountered that and

then you see someone else and you're

like how on earth could you do that man

YOU ARE SO BOLD AND they're like oh well

no that's just kind of what I do and

you're like man I wish I could just kind

of do what what they kind of do and uh

this idea of boldness we can sometimes

feel like there is this uh gap between

when we hear the word boldness man I'm

not living that but I even want to start

this series by saying as we begin to

consider this concept and we are so

aware of maybe the gap in in our lives.

Can I suggest you are probably far

bolder than you realize?

It doesn't mean we can't grow, but

you're probably far bolder than you

realize. And there are probably things

you do in your world that other people

wish they had the ability and the

boldness to do.

And and so it's important because we are

going to talk about how we grow in

boldness. But we are it's an important

starting point because all of us

inherently have something to grow from.

All of us do have some inherent

boldness. And the the subtitle of this

uh series is actually finding your

voice. And uh it's an interesting

subtitle because sometimes when we uh

come to uh uh a topic like boldness and

we even discuss something like finding

your voice, it can kind of be like, wow,

is this just some journey that I go on

to discover the real me? And uh and in

one sense that is true, but but we're

not coming at this from a humanistic

point of view where we're saying, "Wow,

what does boldness look like in our

humanity?" But we're actually coming at

it from a biblical point of view. And in

Proverbs, it says this, "The righteous

are as bold as a lion." The righteous

are as bold as a lion. And so that tells

us that if you are a follower of Jesus,

if you've received him and you have the

righteousness of Christ, boldness is

part of your new identity.

>> It is part of your born again identity

and part of my bornagain identity to be

bold.

>> Right?

But if any of us have been to the UK and

you've ever got on the subway systems,

you'll know they say that famous phrase,

mind the gap, because you know when you

want to go from one place to another,

you need to get on the train, but

there's a gap. And uh it's actually

pretty hard to fall down the gap. But of

course, when you're there the first

time, you're like, mind the gap and you

like uh it's this massive step to step

into. like it's feeling like, "Oh my

goodness, how I don't want to fall

through that." And then by the time

you've rode two or three trains, you

realize you mind the gap without even

thinking about it. But sometimes there

can be a gap in our lives between where

we feel we're supposed to be and the

boldness that the Lord is inviting us

into. And so over this series, I want us

to be able to look at what would it like

look like for us to grow in boldness?

What would it look like for that to

increase in our lives? And not just any

boldness, but a biblical boldness.

Because how many people have ever met a

Christian that was bold, but it was not

a biblical boldness?

You ever been the second Christian on

the scene behind the person who was

bold, but it wasn't a biblical boldness?

That's not very fun uh either. So, we're

confessing. Have you ever been a person

that had boldness and not biblical

boldness? Absolutely. are right here. So

this gap between maybe hearing the word

that the righteous are as bold as a lion

and feeling like wow that doesn't really

feel like it's me. The good news this

morning is if you feel like like that

like wow I don't know the righteous are

as bold as a lion. I don't really feel

as bold as a lion. I can probably

suggest in one sense you're probably in

pretty good company. I would suggest

most of us in some sense don't get up in

the morning and go you're a lion as you

look in the mirror. You probably uh

sometimes if you're anything like me

feel more like a mouse. Um

but this idea that the righteous are as

bold as a lion and then wow I don't seem

to be living that out. I'm f um I'm

thankful for a famous uh piece of

scripture that's really well known where

Paul writes to Timothy and uh he says

that God has not given us a spirit of

fear but of love, power and a sound

mind. So here he he's writing to this uh

young leader Paul is writing to him and

he says I want to remind you something.

God has not given us a spirit of fear.

See, can I say this morning, boldness is

not a personality type.

You can be an extrovert and not be bold

and you can be an introvert and be as

bold as a lion. It is not, we are not

talking about a personality type. So,

we're not saying, "Hey, you need to

discover a new personality." Maybe some

of us do, but that's not what this

series is about. Um, you know, we're not

saying, hey, you need to be someone

completely different. We're saying that

there is boldness is actually the fruit

of righteousness. So, what stops us

walking in boldness? It is not our

personality type. Here Paul writes to

Timothy and he says, God has not given

us a spirit of fear.

Now I I think in this context he's

actually talking about a governing fear.

So he's saying, "Hey, God has not given

you a spirit where fear should govern

your life." And for us as believers, God

has not given us a spirit where fear

should govern our lives. And so I guess

the question is if if we are living

sometimes feeling like we are being

pulled back and we cannot express who

we're supposed to be, if that fear does

not come from God, where does it come

from?

And uh if maybe the obvious answer might

be well it comes from the devil and that

might be the obvious and true answer and

I believe that is true but it's also a

little bit simplistic because it does

come from the devil but how does it come

to us? comes through experiences and

moments where we step out or we do

something for the first time and we have

an experience of being pushed back

against and we learn something in that

moment that it was not appropriate for

you to be bold then. And so for many of

us, we've had moments in childhood,

growing up, first job, uh at school, all

those kind of things where we have

stepped out in some form of boldness.

And what we have uh the message we have

received is no, you just need to be uh

pulled back a little bit. And so a

spirit of fear has come in that begins

to resist the call to be a bold person.

And so my prayer as we uh look at this

over the next few weeks is that we will

uh begin to

discover again what it is to grow in a

holy righteous boldness that God would

have for all of us.

So I don't know exactly where the fear

that might govern your life and might

leave you feeling repressed. I don't

know exactly where that came from. But I

do know this. It did not come from God.

God does not give a spirit of fear or

timidity. But the good news is if we are

in a governing uh and feel like we're

being governed by fear, the Lord says uh

sorry, Paul says that the spirit that

God gives us is a spirit of love, power,

and a sound mind. He doesn't use the

word boldness, but I believe this is an

awesome definition of what it means to

be wholly bold,

love, power, and sound mind. I remember

when I was first saved, at many times I

was bold in my workplace, but I wasn't

always loving. Sometimes my boldness uh

was on a level higher than my loving.

And I remember I I I shared with this

lady who I sat next to and I would um

share a few times a week with her and it

was boldness and mostly my heart was in

the right place but I was probably a

little bit um

a new Christian passionate and my

boldness was greater than my love even

though maybe I had a little bit of love

there. And I remember she had a

Christian flatmate, this girl, and one

day she came into work and she was like,

"Oh, my flatmate said that you're really

discouraging to me." And I was like, "Is

she a Christian?" She's like, "Yes." So

I thought, "Well, I'm never going to her

church." Like uh and uh in that moment,

I initially thought, "Oh, yeah, that

flatmate's one of those weak Christians,

you know, she's this is seriously what's

going through my head." Like here I am

boldly sharing the gospel. Like I'm, you

know, it was at Inland Revenue

Department of all places. Like let me

tell you, you want to go into the lion's

den, you go into a government

department. But hallelujah, Jesus came

to be with tax collectors. And so, uh,

I'm like, I'm claiming it. I'm Matthew

there in that place. And I can tell you

it was dark. AND I'M LIKE, HERE I AM

SHARING THE GOSPEL. And then her

flatmate who's meant to be on the same

team as me isn't challenging her. She's

challenging me through her sending the

message back that maybe what I'm saying

isn't actually landing. Why? Because I

was being bold, but it wasn't a bold

that was anchored in love, power, and

self-control. And so holy boldness looks

like love, power, and self-control.

And this morning is really just an

introduction to this series. And over

the next uh three weeks we are going to

look at at this from different angles.

But I wonder if we are to grow in

boldness what is the expression of that?

What is the expression of boldness to be

in our lives? I mean boldness will look

different for different people but we've

called this series finding your voice

because so often boldness is attached to

our speech in some way. So often it's

the inability to say the thing that I'm

supposed to say or to pray the prayer

that I'm supposed to pray or to put the

boundary in place in a relationship that

I'm supposed to put in place. And so

over the next few weeks we are going to

be looking at this topic through the

lens of finding your voice because there

is a Greek word uh it will come up on

the screen uh the Greek word uh paracia

and it is regularly translated bold in

the New Testament but the way it is

translated bold is it actually means

finding your voice or an unreserved

speech.

This week we were down in I was down in

Wellington um Sarah and I down at an

elim pastor's day and we had a um

a mental health expert sharing with the

pastors and he was sharing on different

types of leadership and um I'm aware we

I'm we're about to do this series on

boldness and in the midst of it he

shares about two paradigms times of

leadership where which are both good but

if either is taken to their extreme you

end up in not a good place. And so he he

paralleled these two thoughts. He was

like it's good to be a driven leader but

when you are hyperdriven you begin to

care about results at the expense of

everything else. And then the the the

other thing that he began to talk about

was a compensating leader. And that is

where you don't want to address things

because um you know you you think hey I

won't address that I'll just move on and

you end up compensating for things

rather than actually being willing to

address the things that we need to

address. And I'm sitting there thinking

I'm preaching on boldness this weekend

and I I am through my mind I am seeing

both don't worry I was mistakes of both.

I'm like, here's where I'm too driven.

And I'm like, man, here are situations.

I don't just mean as a leader. I just

mean in my life where I realize I'm

actually not finding my voice. I'm

compensating. And sometimes I can put

the great language around it. Oh, the

reason why I didn't say anything like

have you ever been like me and said

like, "Oh, I just felt, you know, the

spirit that it wasn't the time to

address it."

You ever realize that? You ever like me

and it's like, and if we're really

honest, sometimes it wasn't the fact

that the Holy Spirit was telling us not

to address it. It was that we were

uncomfortable to address it. And we

needed to find our voice.

And maybe, yes, there was a feeling of

discomfort, but maybe that discomfort

was actually the Holy Spirit inviting us

into finding our voice that we would be

able to say what would need to be said,

not in a boastful or arrogant way, but

with love, power, and self-control that

we would be to express that. And so I

realize that sometimes I take my fear

and I baptize it and I call it an asset.

Like sometimes I actually take my

inability to find my voice and I

spiritualize it and try and say, "Oh, I

just had discernment. It it wasn't the

right time." And uh and then you know,

funnily enough, it was like, "Oh, it was

going to be the next week." But you know

what? The Holy Spirit decided that

wasn't the right time either. And uh

after a while I felt the gentle nudge of

the Holy Spirit saying, "You've got to

stop blaming me

because I am actually the one who wants

you to find your voice, not to have it

repressed." And so my prayer for all of

us as we um do this series is that all

of us would find what it is in a holy

loving way with no sense of arrogance

but with absolute humility. We would

know what it is to find our voice in the

place of prayer. We would know what it

is to find our voice in our

relationships. We would know what it is

to find our voice in evangelism. and we

would be able to minister to people that

we would not be driven by fear, but we

would be free. I'm going to pray and

then um Pastor Sarah is going to come

and and just talk about uh sign up

Sunday. But Lord, I thank you that you

have not given us a spirit of fear. Why

don't you lift your hands if you're

comfortable? Lord, thank you that you've

not given us a spirit of fear,

but of love, power, and a sound mind.

And Lord, I bless each person who feels

like they do have no courage within

them. Lord, I bless them first of all

that you would give them eyes to see the

courage that is already there. Lord,

would you illuminate that over their

lives?

And Lord, I pray that they would sense

the invitation of heaven

into a journey of finding their voice.

Lord, that we would be a company of

people who would be loving,

powerful, self-controlled, Lord, wrapped

up in boldness, serving you with

everything you have for us. Lord, I

bless each person in the mighty name of

Jesus. Amen. Amen. Awesome. S