Sermon

A Call To Courage!

Cross Kingdom Sermon of the Week

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  1. That she would just be a fully surrendered vessel to

  2. whatever you want to say. And we are so excited

  3. to hear what that is. And I pray for everyone's

  4. hearts that our hearts would be like fertile soil, ready

  5. for the seed of the Word of God to be planted.

  6. And my bless her in Jesus name. Amen, Thank you.

  7. Cam, Good afternoon, Good afternoon. Good to see everybody today.

  8. Justin is out of town as many as you know,

  9. and I have the honor of getting to share the

  10. word with you this morning.

  11. I would like to I would like to talk to

  12. you today about courage. I've been thinking a lot.

  13. Well, there's been a lot going on in the last

  14. few months, hasn't there. You know, as the darkness grows darker,

  15. the brightness grows brighter.

  16. And we're seeing that right now.

  17. In the midst of the questions, in the midst of

  18. the loss and the grief, we're seeing the name of

  19. Jesus Christ spoken from more stages and platforms than we

  20. have in decades.

  21. Right now.

  22. When you go through a hard time, it can either

  23. shake you or it can awaken you. And right now,

  24. in our country especially, I think we're seeing a large awakening.

  25. Happening right now.

  26. And I feel a stirring happening in the spirit, and

  27. maybe you feel it too, And I can't help but

  28. think about Acts two. And that's really what I've just

  29. been meditating on a lot lately. And people talk about

  30. crying out for revival, and some say we're in the

  31. middle of revival.

  32. But revival is for the church.

  33. And while I'm hungry for revival and I want to

  34. see a revival because the church desperately needs revival, I

  35. also want to see thousands and hundreds of thousands and

  36. millions of souls saved.

  37. And that.

  38. Is what I believe our assignment here on this earth

  39. is about. You know, I said it a few weeks ago.

  40. Heaven is home and Earth is assignment. And are we

  41. participating in that thing of which the Lord has called

  42. us to do? And I ask that about myself. I

  43. asked myself that question. I've been thinking a lot about.

  44. The disciples and their perspective.

  45. They actually were here on the earth on both sides

  46. of the cross, and I was thinking, you know, you

  47. had a group of men. I just started decided to

  48. put myself in their shoes, and I invite you to

  49. do that. This morning, you have a group of men

  50. who had followed Jesus, had been chosen by Jesus to

  51. come and follow him, and for three years they sat

  52. at his feet. They heard from him, they learned from him.

  53. They watched him heal people. They saw blind eyes open,

  54. deaf ears opened, they saw the dead living.

  55. They had celebrated the Passover Supper.

  56. With Jesus, and as far as they knew, everything was

  57. just trekking along as normal.

  58. There was no suspicion.

  59. I believe that anything was about to change, that their

  60. lives were about to change. And I just wonder if

  61. maybe they weren't thinking at the ages where they were at, now, Wow,

  62. what if we get to do this the rest of

  63. our lives.

  64. This is amazing.

  65. We've been called, we've left our family, We've been called

  66. by this man named Jesus, and we get to listen

  67. to him, and this is what we're gonna do forevermore.

  68. I wonder if they were thinking that.

  69. And I wonder in the moment when Jesus was arrested,

  70. if there wasn't confusion. I wonder if in the moment

  71. when Jesus was crucified and they watched him be taken

  72. from them. One moment he was with them, in the

  73. next moment he was gone. I wonder if they had questions.

  74. I wonder if they were in shock, if they were confused,

  75. if they were wondering what the last three years were

  76. even about? Was this even real?

  77. I don't understand.

  78. Now.

  79. What now? Who do we turn to? How could he

  80. die not knowing that he had already risen.

  81. I just wonder what they were experiencing and what they

  82. were going through. Turned with me to John chapter twenty.

  83. We're gonna be going through a lot of scripture. There's

  84. a lot of readings, so just buckle up and hang

  85. tight with me. I'm going to actually start in verse

  86. one now. On the first day of the week, Mary

  87. Magdalen came to the tomb early while it was still dark,

  88. and saw that the stone had been taken away from

  89. the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon, Peter

  90. and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and

  91. said to them, they have taken the Lord out of

  92. the tomb, and we do not know where they have

  93. laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple,

  94. and they were going toward the tomb both of them

  95. were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and

  96. reached the tomb first, and, stooping to look in, he

  97. saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not

  98. go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went

  99. into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,

  100. and the faced cloth which had been on Jesus's head,

  101. not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in

  102. a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had

  103. reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw

  104. and believed, for as yet they did not understand the

  105. scripture that he must rise from the dead. But the

  106. disciples went back to their homes. Then Mary stood weeping

  107. outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped down

  108. to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels

  109. and white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain,

  110. one at the head and one at the feet. And

  111. they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She

  112. said to them, they have taken away my lord, and

  113. I do not know where they have laid him. Having

  114. said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but

  115. she did not know it was Jesus. And Jesus said

  116. to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?

  117. Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir,

  118. if you have carried him away, tell me where you

  119. have laid him, and I will take him away. And

  120. Jesus said to her Mary, and she turned and said

  121. to him in arabaic Rabelonae, which means teacher.

  122. Jesus said to.

  123. Her, do not cling to me, for I have not

  124. yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers

  125. and say to them, I am ascending to my father

  126. and your father, to my God and your God.

  127. Mary Magdalen went and announced to.

  128. The disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he

  129. had said these things to her. On the evening of

  130. that day, the first day of the week, the doors

  131. being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews,

  132. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them,

  133. peace be with you. When he had said this, he

  134. showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples

  135. were glad that they saw the Lord. Jesus said to

  136. them again, peace be with you, as the Father has

  137. sent me, even so I am sending you and When

  138. he had said this, he breathed on them and said

  139. to them received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the

  140. sins of any they are forgiven them. If you withhold

  141. forgiveness for many, it is withheld. And now Thomas, one

  142. of the twelve called the Twin, was not with them

  143. when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we

  144. have seen the Lord. But they said, but he said

  145. to them, unless I see the hands the mark of

  146. the nails, and placed my finger into the mark of

  147. the nails, and placed my hand into his side eyes,

  148. I will never believe. Eight days later his disciples were

  149. inside again, and Thomas was with them, And although the

  150. doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,

  151. peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put

  152. your finger here and see my hands, and put out

  153. your hand and place in my side. Do not disbelieve,

  154. but believe. And Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God.

  155. And Jesus said to him, have you believed because you

  156. have seen me? Blessed for those who have not seen

  157. and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs

  158. in the presence of the disciples, which are not written

  159. in this book.

  160. But these are written.

  161. So that you may believe in Jesus, that he is

  162. the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing,

  163. you may have life in his name.

  164. The Disciples had been following with Jesus.

  165. They were by his side, and during his arrest and

  166. after his crucifixion, they were hiding.

  167. For fear of the Jews.

  168. They saw Jesus being beaten, being falsely accused, being led about,

  169. and dying the worst death known to man. And there's

  170. no story of any of them saying, no weight, he

  171. really is the king of the Jews. No weight, he

  172. really did heal no weight. This is what he's saying,

  173. is true that we don't have any story of that.

  174. I wonder if they were afraid.

  175. Of having the same consequences for being around Jesus, for

  176. being associated with him. And then we read after the

  177. crucifixion that they were afraid of the Jews and they

  178. were hiding in a locked room for at least nine days.

  179. Turn with me to ax one. I'm gonna skip over

  180. the last chapter of John John chapter twenty one for

  181. the sake of time. In that book, we hear, we see,

  182. or in that chapter we see that the disciples have

  183. gone fishing.

  184. They came out of the locked room. They're going fishing.

  185. Jesus meets in there, cooks up the fish for them,

  186. and proceeds to tell Peter basically how he's gonna die,

  187. and Peter, John is with Peter. If you want to

  188. go back and read it, John's with Peter, and Peter says, well,

  189. what about him?

  190. How is he gonna die? Weren't you talking to him? Lord?

  191. Let's make this fair.

  192. And then we move on to Acts one in the

  193. first this is Luke has written and acts, and this

  194. is what he says in the first book, Oh, Theophilis,

  195. I have dealt with all that Gjesus began to do

  196. and teach until the day he was taken up. After

  197. he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the

  198. apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive after

  199. his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during the

  200. forty days and speaking about.

  201. The Kingdom of God.

  202. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to

  203. depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of

  204. the Father, which he said, you heard from me. For

  205. John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with

  206. the Holy Spirit not.

  207. Many days from now.

  208. So, when they had come together, they asked him, Lord,

  209. will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

  210. And he said to them, it.

  211. Is not for you to know the times or seasons

  212. that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But

  213. you will receive power. Everybody, say power when the Holy Spirit.

  214. Say the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you

  215. will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria,

  216. and to the ends of the earth. And when he

  217. had said these things, as they were looking on, he

  218. was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of

  219. their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as

  220. he went, behold, two men stood by them in white

  221. robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand

  222. looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from

  223. you into heaven, will come in this same way as

  224. you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to

  225. Jerusalem from the Mount of Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,

  226. a Sabbath day journey away. And when they had entered,

  227. they went up into the upper room where they were staying.

  228. Peter and John James, and Andrew Philip, and Thomas Artholomew

  229. and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon the Zalah,

  230. and Judas the son of James, and all these.

  231. This is what I want you to catch.

  232. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer

  233. together with the women and marry the mother of Jesus

  234. and his brothers.

  235. The first thing that.

  236. They did after they saw Jesus as sind is they

  237. gathered together in unity and devoted themselves to prayer as

  238. they waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit from

  239. the Father. They go on in this while they're in

  240. the upper room together to replace Judas one of the disciples.

  241. So they cast lots. Move on to Acts two.

  242. Remember where were the disciples after Jesus was crucified. They

  243. were hiding. After he was risen, he came and they

  244. encountered him again. They encountered this time they encountered the

  245. resurrected Jesus, and they had been told to go and wait.

  246. So they're up here in the upper room and they're

  247. unified in prayer. This is, to my knowledge, the first

  248. time that prayer has been recorded since Jesus assumpsion, and

  249. it's by the disciples, as they're gathered together in unity.

  250. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they all together in

  251. one place. They all they were all together in one place,

  252. and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a

  253. mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where

  254. they were sitting, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to.

  255. Them and rested on each one of them. And they

  256. were all filled.

  257. With the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues

  258. as the spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling

  259. in Jerusalem Jews, who were the disciples hiding from Who's

  260. hearing them right now?

  261. As the spirits falling upon.

  262. Them, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at

  263. this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered

  264. because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

  265. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, are not all

  266. these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that

  267. we hear each of us in our own native tongue?

  268. Skip down to verse fourteen. But Peter, standing with the eleven,

  269. lift it up his voice and addressed to them Peter

  270. is also I want to mention the one who who

  271. point blank denied.

  272. Jesus three times.

  273. Now he's been filled with the Holy Spirit after encountering

  274. encountering a resurrected Jesus, and Peter with boldness, stands up

  275. with the eleven, lifting his voice and addressing the very

  276. men he was hiding from, men of Judea.

  277. And all who dwell in Jerusalem.

  278. Let this be known to you, and give ear to

  279. my words, for these people are not drunk as you suppose,

  280. since it is only the third hour of the day.

  281. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

  282. And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

  283. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and

  284. your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men

  285. shall see visions, and your old men shall see dreams,

  286. shall dream dreams.

  287. Even on my male servants and female servants.

  288. In those days will I pour out my spirit and

  289. they will prophesy.

  290. Suddenly, Peter gets it.

  291. Suddenly, the scriptures that he was told as a kid

  292. in Joel about the Father God pouring out his spirit

  293. on all flesh. He's seeing it happen right now before

  294. his eyes. And he's connecting the two and saying that

  295. thing that promised that Jesus told us to wait upon,

  296. that promise that was made in the Old Testament by

  297. the prophet Joel. That's what we're experiencing right now. That's

  298. for you to know that Jesus Christ is who he

  299. says he is. And I will show wonders in the

  300. heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and

  301. fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned

  302. to darkness and the moon to blood before the day

  303. of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day, and

  304. it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon

  305. the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is

  306. the first time Peter is declaring salvation is not just

  307. for the Jews, but everyone who calls on the name

  308. of the Lord shall be saved. Suddenly Peter gets it.

  309. He realizes that Jesus Christ that was crucified for all flesh,

  310. for anyone who who believed. It wasn't just for the

  311. Jews anymore. It was for the gentiles and all who believe.

  312. And he's declaring this to the Jews.

  313. Men of Israel.

  314. Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to

  315. you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs

  316. that God did through him.

  317. In your midst.

  318. As you yourselves know this, Jesus delivered up according to

  319. the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and

  320. killed by the hands of lawless men.

  321. What boldness.

  322. He was just hiding from the Jews, and now he's

  323. speaking boldly to the Jews and saying you killed him

  324. and crucified him by the hands of lawless men. God

  325. raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it

  326. was not possible for him to be held by it.

  327. For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always

  328. before me, and he is at my right hand, that

  329. I may not be shaken. Therefore or my heart was

  330. glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell

  331. in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to

  332. hades or let your holy ones see corruption. You have

  333. made known to me the paths of life. You will

  334. make me full of gladness. With your presence, Brothers, I

  335. may say to you with confidence about the Patriarch David,

  336. that he both died and was buried, and.

  337. His tomb is still with us today.

  338. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn

  339. with an oath to him that he would set one

  340. of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke

  341. about the resurrection of Christ. He's not speaking about the

  342. resurrection of himself. What David was talking about was Jesus Christ.

  343. That he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his

  344. flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of

  345. that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the

  346. right hand of God, and having received from the Father

  347. the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out

  348. that this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For

  349. David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

  350. the Lord said to my Lord, stood at my right hand,

  351. until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the

  352. house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has

  353. made him both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified.

  354. Now when they heard this, when they heard the word preached,

  355. because Peter is speaking from scripture, when they heard the

  356. Word preached, and when they heard the Holy Spirit's power

  357. coming through Peter. They were cut to the heart. See

  358. that doesn't happen. Conviction doesn't happen just on our own

  359. words and our own opinions. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit.

  360. Peter wasn't speaking on his own accord. The power of

  361. the Holy Spirit came upon him and gave him utterance

  362. to speak the truth. Now when they heard this, they

  363. were cut to the heart and said to Peter and

  364. the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do.

  365. And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every

  366. one of you in the name of Jesus, for the

  367. forgiveness of your sins, and receive the gift of the

  368. Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children,

  369. and for all who are far off, everyone whom the

  370. Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words,

  371. he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save

  372. yourselves from.

  373. This crooked generation.

  374. So those who received his words were baptized and were

  375. added that day about three thousand. See the minute that

  376. Peter quit hiding and he encountered the resurrected Jesus.

  377. The minute that he received the power of the Holy Spirit.

  378. He walked encourage and boldness, and souls were saved three thousand,

  379. and they devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching and the fellowship,

  380. to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. In awe

  381. came over every soul, that is the fear of the Lord.

  382. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles,

  383. And all who believed were together and had all things

  384. in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings,

  385. and distributing proceeds to.

  386. All as any had made.

  387. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking

  388. bread in their homes. They received their food with glad

  389. and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with the people.

  390. And the Lord added to their number day by day those.

  391. Who were being saved.

  392. See the very thing that Jesus was doing by himself.

  393. His death and resurrection allowed him to be able to

  394. empower his disciples. And thousands were being added as they

  395. received the power in the of the Holy Spirit. When

  396. they encountered the resurrected Jesus. If you'll know in John,

  397. which is.

  398. I held it.

  399. Together very well while I was reading that, because it

  400. is actually very funny to me. If you read about

  401. John writing about himself. You know, Peter in the Disciple,

  402. Jesus loved love with me by the way we ran

  403. to the tomb and high one. Why why is that

  404. even worth mentioning? And it makes me wonder as I

  405. read that, because it's actually so funny, I'm curious what

  406. is their personalities? Like? I have to believe that they

  407. were both very competitive, and that they were both very outspoken,

  408. and they were both in the forefront at all times,

  409. needing to be seen. Because right after that, after Jesus

  410. was resurrected and Jesus is talking to Peter and he's saying, hey,

  411. you're gonna die a death like this, He's like, hey,

  412. what about John? Talk to him too. Let it be

  413. just as bad. So look at Acts three. Now Peter

  414. and John together again. We're going up to the temple

  415. at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a

  416. man lame from birth was being carried whom they laid

  417. daily at the gate of the temple that is called

  418. the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of anyone entering. Seeing

  419. Peter and John about to go into the temple, he

  420. asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him,

  421. as did John, and said, look at us.

  422. And he fixed his attention to.

  423. Them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said,

  424. I have no silver or gold to offer you, But

  425. what I do have, I give to you in the

  426. name of Jesus Christ.

  427. Rise up and walk. And he took him by the

  428. right hand and.

  429. Raised him up, and immediately his feet and angles were

  430. made strong and leaping. He stood and began to walk,

  431. and entering the table the temple with them, walking and

  432. leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him

  433. walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one

  434. who has been lame. After John and Peter had encountered

  435. the resurrected Jesus, and after they had been empowered by

  436. the Holy Spirit, they had realized and had an awakening

  437. that it is not about them. They are no longer

  438. competing to be seen, they are no longer looking for

  439. a platform. They're walking together, spreading the word of Jesus,

  440. seeing the lame healed and walking. This isn't about your

  441. talent being greater than the next person's. It's not about you.

  442. It wasn't about Peter, and it wasn't about John. This

  443. isn't about me. You have an assignment. Earth is your assignment.

  444. You have something that this world needs. Jesus placed part

  445. of himself in you that the rest of the world needs.

  446. It's not about you, It's not about me. It's about

  447. us fulfilling the thing that He's called us to do

  448. and doing our assignment here on this earth, because people

  449. out there need what you have. People who don't know Jesus,

  450. who haven't experienced him, who are lame, who are sick,

  451. who are defeated, who are depressed, who are dealing with anxiety,

  452. who are lost, who are overwhelmed.

  453. They need to know the Jesus that you've encountered.

  454. Jesus paid it all in the cross for them, He

  455. paid it all in the cross for you. He paid

  456. it all in the cross for me. Are we ready

  457. to walk? Encourage and to start speaking up? Let me

  458. tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you about this

  459. Jesus I've encountered. He is the king of kings, He

  460. is the Lord of lords. He does rule and reign

  461. in heaven. He is the creator of all. He is

  462. the only one who could purchase us back from sin,

  463. and he did die on the cross, and he did

  464. rise again. He's the only one who can heal you,

  465. who can set you free and deliver you. You know, they

  466. say that America is usually the country that's behind on everything.

  467. We're kind of the last ones to the fashion world everything,

  468. you know, new fashion starts taking place in Europe and

  469. it kind of trickles its way over to America. Technologies, science,

  470. we kind of are behind, and we catch up with

  471. the rest of the world. We just have we tend

  472. to have more funds, so once we catch up, we

  473. can kind of get ahead and caught up. And I

  474. propose to you that the American church is behind. See

  475. in other countries, they live with war going on around

  476. them all the time.

  477. They know Earth isn't their home.

  478. At least they probably are hoping it better not be.

  479. Because we've gotten real comfortable here.

  480. We have freedoms that men and women have died for

  481. in this country that really every country should be experiencing.

  482. But because of those freedoms, we've gotten real comfortable and

  483. we don't always want to rock the boat. And we'll

  484. just work on being politically correct, not awkward, not making

  485. the room uncomfortable. But there's been a shaking happening and

  486. it is awakening America and it is time for the

  487. church to speak up. So are we ready? Are we

  488. ready to speak up when you have a chance. Are

  489. you afraid of persecution? Will we be hiding afraid of

  490. being persecuted? Or will we receive the gift of the

  491. Holy Spirit and be empowered and full of courage to

  492. go out and speak the truth even if it means

  493. our life. You know, I used to be really comfortable

  494. up until June of this year and think that, hey,

  495. I know heaven is real, but this is my home

  496. right now, and one day we'll be there. But I mean,

  497. if we're promised, I mean we're not not that the

  498. word says that we're promised to anything. But on average

  499. people live to be in their late eighties, and so

  500. I have a waste to go. And I was pretty comfortable,

  501. and I had dreams. There's a lot of things I

  502. wanted to accomplish on this earth. Nothing that had eternal value.

  503. I mean, there were things I wanted to accomplish that I

  504. had eternal value, but the ones I'm about to tell

  505. you about we're not of eternal value. I wanted to

  506. travel the world I wanted to see. I used to say,

  507. tell my husband, we got to go see all these

  508. places that Jesus created before he comes and picks us up.

  509. Like if I'm here, I want to go see these places.

  510. You know.

  511. I want to raise my family. We have five kids.

  512. I want to see him grow and get married and

  513. have their own kids, and all the things that we

  514. dream of doing in America. But when our world was rocked,

  515. none of that had any value to me. And suddenly

  516. I felt very foreign here, and my eyes were opened,

  517. and I was awakened to the fact that this isn't

  518. our home.

  519. That is our home. What do you have for me

  520. to do here? Lord?

  521. And let me get busy about doing it, because time

  522. is of the essence, and the clock is ticking, and

  523. he is coming back one day, and we owe it

  524. to him to tell people about Jesus, to walk encourage

  525. and boldness, because it takes that not without the Holy Spirit.

  526. Though you can't do it on your own strength. But

  527. Jesus has given you. He's given me, just like he

  528. gave the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.

  529. It is for all people.

  530. You know, Peter and the rest of the disciples. They

  531. went from hiding out of fear of persecution locked in

  532. a room, to boldly declaring who Jesus is, to then

  533. being arrested for declaring who Jesus is probably one of

  534. the very things that they were scared about.

  535. And while they had been arrested, they.

  536. Were then they decided to let Peter and John go,

  537. but not before beating them to teach them a lesson

  538. and told them, hey, don't do that again. And if

  539. you remember the addam to that Peter and John had

  540. when they left from being beaten and imprisoned for talking

  541. about Jesus, they said, oh, that we would be counted

  542. worthy to receive such persecution. They were honored, from hiding

  543. to being honored and telling the others pray that we

  544. remain courageous.

  545. Because we've already been beaten, but it's not going to

  546. stop us from going back out. Are we there yet?

  547. I asked myself the same question, Am I there? Am?

  548. I worried? What other people are going to think? What

  549. about praying for the lame?

  550. Peter didn't say, Oh gosh, I wonder what he's gonna

  551. what happens if he doesn't get up? I've said that

  552. before what happens if I pray and it doesn't work.

  553. That question can only remain when we fear a man

  554. over fearing God and doing stuff out of obedience because

  555. of our fear of the Lord, our respect are awe.

  556. What is it that he's asking you to do today?

  557. Who is it that he's inviting you to talk to?

  558. Who is it that he's bringing across your path? Because

  559. you have something to offer, because you have something to say,

  560. because you've encountered the resurrected Jesus. If you're in school, students,

  561. it's hard enough for adults to be willing to be

  562. bold and courageous.

  563. I know it's hard as a student.

  564. I've been a teenager before, and when I was a teenager,

  565. maybe you're not like this, but I was very concerned

  566. about what people thought about me, and I thought about

  567. it all the time. I thought they were thinking about

  568. me all the time. They were not thinking about me

  569. all the time. And they are looking for a fellow

  570. student to speak up. Courage, bears, courage. We are all

  571. called to be leaders. He's chosen you, and he's brought

  572. people around your path to speak to. Don't be found

  573. hiding in a room with the door locked, So I

  574. want to invite you today. This has been the challenge

  575. where I have been at.

  576. Lord, give me.

  577. Courage to be bold, because we're gonna need courage. I

  578. know that there are times that I have, as an

  579. adult in recent times, worried about what people would think

  580. if I said I believe in the Holy Spirit, or

  581. there were certain theological matters. Sometimes you can just read

  582. the room and you know that they're not in the

  583. same place as you, and you're like, oh, I can

  584. tell they don't really believe the same. So I'll just

  585. stay quiet. So I don't rock any boats. I don't

  586. want to offend anybody or make it awkward or not

  587. be invited to the next gathering. But if the Lord

  588. puts something on your heart, and I'm not saying to

  589. do it abrasively and offensively, But if the Lord puts

  590. something on your heart to start speaking up, maybe he's

  591. already been working on their hearts.

  592. And they're just waiting to hear it from you.

  593. So put fear to bed and pick up courage and

  594. open your mouth when the Lord gives you utterance and

  595. puts something on your heart, and speak life and speak

  596. truth and love to the people around you because this

  597. world needs it.

  598. Yeah, thank you. So I want to invite you.

  599. If you say, Lord, I haven't had the courage that

  600. I want to have. I haven't had the boldness that

  601. I want to walk in. Maybe you haven't received the

  602. gift of the Holy Spirit. Then I want to invite

  603. you to come forward and ask the Lord to breathe

  604. on you, to give you more boldness, to give you

  605. more courage, to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

  606. So, if that's you, I just invite you to come forward.

  607. I would like to pray for you. This is me too,

  608. This is me coming to the front. I stand it

  609. with you. We'll wait for you.

  610. You make your way down, Come on forward, Lord Jesus.

  611. First of all, we just repent for when we've been silent.

  612. We repent for when we've cowared. Jesus, we thank you

  613. for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And right now

  614. we say that we receive the gift of the Holy

  615. Spirit and the gift of empowerment.

  616. Jesus, we ask.

  617. For courage, we ask for deeper boldness.

  618. Teach us to fear you and not men.

  619. Open our mouths to speak truth and love at your calling,

  620. that your word would go forward and spread across the

  621. nation and across the world. Let the people in our

  622. circles be changed by you because we were willing to

  623. open our mouths.

  624. Let us not be silent anymore.

  625. Jesus, we've experienced the shaking, and we thank you for

  626. the awakening.

  627. Make as bold as lions.

  628. Jesus, we are asking for many souls to be saved,

  629. set free, healed, and delivered. You are worthy, and you

  630. paid it all in the Cross. So we say here

  631. are we send us, Whether it's to our neighbor, to

  632. someone at the grocery store, to somebody in our workplace,

  633. to somebody we go to school with, if it's across

  634. the world, Lord, wherever it may be, cause us to

  635. be obedient and quick to be obedient.

  636. Thank you for listening.

  637. For more messages and other resources, please subscribe to this

  638. podcast or go to our website at www dot Cross

  639. Kingdom dot org.