Boldness

We are going to talk about boldness. It is a continuation from what we talked about at

the camp because at the end of the day it is sometimes intimidating to face the world

and face things that are happening in the world and how people look at Christians, rightly

or wrongly. So then we need boldness for a day and it is an internal condition first.

Before the Lord releases a new mantle, whenever God wants to give a people a mantle as in,

Hey, this is what I would like you to do. So before the Lord releases a mantle,

He challenges your heart to a place of greater boldness.

It is like when you take your kid out and he has done the swing and he has done the

seesaw and now you are taking him on that monkey bar thing. I still am frightened of

the monkey bars. But it is his idea of, okay, now take him further and you challenge him

to greater boldness. Before a new mantle can be released, He challenges your heart to a

place of greater boldness. He prepares you for it. Most of the things that God throws

us into is almost never without preparation. Only you do not realise that He has been preparing

you. So it is still a shock for you but He has been preparing you. He never, like any

good father, He will never throw you into the deep end without knowing that the boy

can swim. It is this absurd notion that we have that God throws us into the deep end

and expects us to learn how to swim. That is a cruel father and He is not. It is just

that when He is training us, you are not aware that He is preparing you. But every time He

wants us to do something new and He is asking this church to go and touch the 20s and the

30s across the earth and when He is asking us to do that, with the mantle, He challenges

your heart to a new place of boldness. And when you do not step up to it, you can always

say no. When you do not step up, when I do not step up or you do not step up, to what?

To the training of the heart. That is what we do not step up to. When you do not step

up, you find yourself in the ebb and flow of unfinished battles. You find yourself in

the ebb and flow of unfinished battles. As in, occasionally when you are not trained

and you go anywhere, when God wants to train my heart to face deeper challenges, if I do

not step up, then I will find myself in situations where sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. It

is the ebb and flow. Some days I will sing a song and feel the pain of losing. Sometimes

I will feel the pain of losing. Sometimes I will feel the pain of losing. Sometimes I

will feel the pain of losing. Some days I will sing a song and feel fully ready, fully

bold. Other days the song did not cut it, did not do nothing for me and I am scared.

So we get caught up in the ebb and flow of unfinished battles. So at a time like this,

when God is saying, hey Jacob, look at what awaits you. Do you have the courage for it?

My answer should be, no I do not. All right, now that you do not have the courage for it,

let me train you. And that is when I need to step up. So in ten days I have got to stand

before 2500 young people between the ages of 14 and 25. I have got to tell them how

to go into different countries and maybe lose their lives. It scares me. The responsibility

scares me. I do not know how to anoint them with the Holy Spirit. I do not know how to

give them the boldness they need because I do not have the boldness yet. What if some

of these guys go die in Iraq, die in Syria? That is one of the things I ask the pastors.

I ask the pastors, are you scared that when you send them, you may have to go tell their

parents that your child died on the mission field or was put in prison? And they say it

is a scary thought. And ten days from now I am supposed to do that. So now what happens?

Now God says, hey, so you want to step into that mantle? Well then, why do not I challenge

your heart? And then the question is, will I step up or will I not? Hey, can you take

the echo off? There is a slight echo. Will you step up or will you not? And if I do,

then he begins to bring me to a place of boldness. That is how this works. Then when you actually

step into the situation, you are not afraid because you are trained for it. You still

do not know how to do it. You are still dependent on the Spirit, but your heart is ready. They

call him Richard the lion-hearted. They did not call him Richard the lion-faced or Richard

the lion-footed. They said Richard the lion-hearted. Why? Because his heart was that of a lion.

All boldness is internal before it is external. External boldness without internal conviction

is bravado. This internal boldness is something that only the Spirit can give.

It is not a mind thing. I remember when I was... Go ahead.

Can you give an example of preparing your heart in the area of boldness?

When I had to meet a businessman who asked for prayer and he flew me across to another

city and the Lord is asking me, tell him he is an adulterer. I knew this man was powerful

enough to do harm. And here I am sitting there saying, Father, my response to God was, Father,

can you start with something nicer? Do you have to start with the line, you are an adulterer?

Just give me a small example. When I went to Mongolia, it was the same thing. You go

to a nation where you do not know anybody, you spent a lot of money. It takes boldness

to spend money knowing that you could lose it all. Then you go there and you wait. Sometimes

when you confront something enormous that God is asking you to confront and he is sending

you alone or with somebody and you know that they might be pushed back or collateral damage,

you require boldness. When these kids stand in the line for a visa to go to Iraq or Sudan

or Syria, they require boldness but their hearts have been prepared for the last two

years. This is all they have lived for. These are fourteen year olds who go in the morning

and sell old clothes so they have enough money for the ticket and then they don't even know

whether their visas will be rejected. It gets rejected once, twice, thrice. They still go

up and then they get it. How much money do they have in their pocket when they fly to

these places? Zilch. It's an internal condition. As I talk about it, we think to ourselves,

boy, we don't have boldness. Boldness is for things that God has called you to and it changes

from person to person. Jonathan's boldness was different from David's boldness. What

was Jonathan's boldness? I am going to forego my right to the throne. I'm going to turn

my back on my father's desires and I'm going to attach myself to David who is not from

a royal family but will be the ultimate king before Christ comes. Jonathan's boldness was

a different boldness. David's was another. David's was this uncircumcised Philistine,

I can take him down. Boldness so depends on what you're being called for. This is not

Tarzan, Kriga, Bandola. It's not that. This is all being recorded, right, on video too?

Alrighty, so it's not boldness. It's not that. What am I being called for? Oh God, I want

to be bold enough so that I complete everything you asked me to. That's the beauty of it and

it's first internal. God has attained this internally to be ready for it. Sorry, my notes

keep going off because I don't have paper notes because I was at the retreat. Alrighty,

so how do we define boldness? It's courage in action. It is courage in action. It's courage

in action by the power of the Spirit. By the power of the Spirit. By the power of the Spirit.

On an urgent conviction for a task that ignores the cost. That is aware of it but ignores

the cost or consequence in the face of threats. It's the power of the Spirit. It's the power

of the Spirit. What is boldness? It is courage in action by the power of the Spirit on an

urgent conviction for a task that ignores the cost and the consequence. That ignores

the cost and the consequence in the face of threats. So it is courage and it is courage

that expresses itself in action. It is brought about by the Spirit. It is internal first

but it is then external. There's an urgency to it. Boldness is not something that's long

out where in the street by and by it happens. There's an urgent conviction to it. And it's

for a task that God has mandated and it ignores the cost, it ignores the consequence in the

face of threats. This is impossible without the Spirit. Are you ignoring the consequence

or you're willing to pay the cost? You're willing to pay the cost but you're aware of

the consequences but you're not focusing on it. So maybe ignore is the wrong word. You're

not focusing on the consequences. There's a good chance that it's going to end up not

well. Courage does not guarantee preservation of life. Ouch. It's not going to end up well.

Courage does not guarantee preservation of life. That is...

True. But like I said, I don't mind dying. You can kill me, I've got no problem. But

don't torture me before that. I don't like that. Yeah. Death I'm not afraid of but I

don't like being tortured. I don't want pain. That is the hard part. Remember we talked

about conviction. What are the five tests for conviction? One, your beliefs are convictions

and not preferences if you will not succumb to peer pressure. If family puts pressure

on you and you say no. If someone sues you and it's a lawsuit but you still not change

your way. Someone threatens you with jail time and you will still say no. Someone threatens

you with death and you will still say no. And so personally I don't think Christians

should be afraid of death. Yeah. But pain sometimes scares me. When I see people who

have been persecuted through torture and stuff like that, yeah that scares me. I'm just

talking from my emotions. It doesn't mean that... That means I'll turn my back on faith.

It's just that... Yeah. Death we don't need to be afraid of. This is what we... This is

kind of what we see in Daniel 3 verse 18 when the boys were taken before the fire and so

Daniel 3:18

was Daniel, Esther 4, 16 when she had to take a step, Acts 9, 13 to 17 where the apartment

fossils were threatened. They were able to stand. What happens if I don't have boldness

is this. Boldness when absent, boldness when absent spawns indifference, non-conflict

and sophistication. By sophistication I mean we come up with all kinds of sophistries to...

Basically the same thing. It's indifference. If I'm not bold, I'll have to go for indifference.

If I'm not bold, I'll have to go for indifference. I remember this lady long ago calling me

a man. She said, I'm not bold. I'm not bold. I'm not bold. I'm not bold. I'm not bold.

I'll have to go for indifference. If I'm not bold, I'll have to go for indifference. I

remember this lady long ago calling me to a prison in the Philippines that is notorious

for people that they execute. That's all that they do there. They just execute prisoners.

Anyone who goes to that prison gets executed. And it was somewhere near Mindanao which was

at that time a haven for terrorism. A lot of militants used to come from there. And

I met her here in Vancouver. She was very affected by the way I taught and the way I

preached and the healings that she saw. She asked if I would come to that prison and spend

some time ministering to the prisoners there. And when I checked on what the conditions

of the prison were, how close it was to these places that were really hotbeds of all kinds

of things, I came up with a reason not to go because I was scared. So the only way you

can avoid boldness is to go indifference or sophisticated reasons for not doing so. Therefore,

one of the things I need to develop and you need to develop for any task we are called

to is, father, if this is a task that you have mandated, give me the boldness. And here's

the catch. One of the tasks mandated to everybody here is to go preach the gospel. Two things

that I must ask for every day. Oh God, give me wisdom. Oh God, give me boldness. Two requirements

for Christians every day. Oh God, give me wisdom. Oh God, give me boldness. Because

one task that's mandated for everybody, this is not the realm of evangelists or professionals,

it's the realm of everybody. How do we proclaim the gospel? We talked about it this morning.

Seek and engage people. Second, build relationships. Third, open your life, open your home. And

fourth, does the spaghetti stick? Five, minister to them. Intersect their lives with ministry

and prayer. Six, make the gospel known. Getting them healed does not give them eternal life,

gives them physical life. Make the gospel known. Wait for God to convert them. It might

take a while. Kamal testified to that when he was at the camp. It took a while. His wife

kept at it. And one day, I remember Kamal standing up in the middle of a meeting at

Acts 29 when we were at Ross Street, and he stands up while I'm preaching, and he says,

so what does it take to become a believer in this church? And that's how he got born

again. Yeah. And so wait for God to convert him. Then baptize him and teach him how to

observe everything that God has taught. This requires boldness. This requires boldness.

This requires boldness. When boldness is present, holy imagination kicks in. When boldness is

present, holy imagination kicks in. What does that mean? You begin to attempt things. Attempt

God things that your reason would never entertain. You begin to attempt God things that your

reason would never entertain. Who thinks they can win a war by putting a lamp in a pitcher

and go up a mountain and break the lamp and shout, for Gideon and for the Lord? And thousands

and thousands run away. Doesn't make any sense. But one of the things that happens is holy

imagination kicks in, as in you begin to imagine the things that God is saying is possible.

It only comes with boldness. I remember about a week or 10 days after I was born again,

I was in this Muslim country and I'm at the airport and I see this man and I sense God

saying, you need to give him a Bible. And I'm thinking to myself, bad idea. Not the kind

of environment you give someone a Bible in. But he says, no, give him a Bible. And so

what was the holy imagination part of it? God's saying, write on the first page of the

Bible that this book will change your life on this flight today. It was meant for you.

Take it. And then he said, go look at his luggage and see what his name is and say,

dear whatever, this book will change your life. I write down his name on the first page,

I go up to him and I say, hey, this is for you. He said, I don't want it. I don't have

any interest in it. I said, it's got your name on it. He said, what do you mean? I flip

it open and he sees his name on it saying, this book will change your life on this flight

today. This was meant for you. He takes it and he walks into immigration. That's what

I mean by holy imagination. He gives you ideas that your reason would not entertain. And

this is not just for evangelism. Please understand. It's for business moves. It's for moves on

the sports field. It's for how to approach people, how to sometimes get houses. Boldness

gives permission. It's back to the people. It's back to the people. It's back to the

backbone. I'll explain that. And let the spirit move freely. Let's say I'm giving you permission

to do something. I'm your boss. I'm in a company. I've got this new AI technology.

It's the only thing that I want to revolutionize the world with. I pick you and I say, hey,

go do it, Don. And permission has been given. But Don is so scared because he doesn't know

whether he has the knowledge for it, he has the backing for it, he has the resources for

it. He's scared. He goes and prays and asks God, oh God, give me success. But even though

permission is given, permission doesn't have a backbone unless there is boldness attached

to it. Once you ask for boldness, even though he doesn't have the resources, the knowledge,

the ability, something begins to stand up in him saying, I can do this. What was happening

in Judges Chapter 6 and 7? What was being given Gideon? Gideon was being given a backbone.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

What was being said to him? Mighty warrior. Why call him that? He needed a backbone. One

of the ways God gives backbones when we ask him to is by saying something about us that

we know, but nobody said us. He says it and something clicks. Something clicks because

that was in you before you were born. That was part of your DNA even before you were

born. Tim, get out of where you're working right now. God will open a door for you. You

work hard. God loves it. You're diligent. You work hard. And when you work with your

people, if I went and asked the people that work around you, they'll say, he's such a

good worker. He doesn't take part in the politics. He does his work. He doesn't blame anybody.

He takes responsibility. And God is saying, I've seen how faithful you are in your work.

And he's saying, Tim, it's time to leave your job and I will open a door for you. You won't

even have to worry about it. It'll be like walking towards the door and it opens and

you'll get another job where you have time, where you have time to think. You're a thinking

man. When was the last time you got time to take a breath, put up your feet and think?

Even that is not being allowed you. God is saying, great, you started in this. Time to

leave it. And do not be afraid because I'm saying to you, son, that I'm giving you a

spine that will give you the boldness to say, I'm done with this and walk. And as you walk,

the door will open. This church will help you. That is how sure I am of this. So now

that he's received that word, boldness will give him the backbone to begin to step out.

And it happens because God says something. God says what? God says stuff like, I haven't

seen him work, that you are faithful, that you're a thinking man, that you haven't had

time to breathe, that you enjoy thinking. Little things that God knows and he says,

son, I want this for you. It gives permission. Once you get that permission, you're willing

to go. I dislike going to some countries. I'm scared. Once I get back on the air can

and a flight, I'm happy. I don't know whether the phones are bugged. I don't know if there's

anyone following. I stand out like a sore thumb. One of the cab drivers looked at me

and said, you are very fat. And he took his hand and put it around my wrist and said,

see I cannot meet. I didn't know when he said I cannot meet whether he meant M-E-E-T or

M-E-E-T. But I left it. I didn't ask. Some countries are not fun to go to. I pray for

boldness in those countries. I'm so relieved when I leave those countries. But when a task

is given, ask God for help. This car thing has been happening often. I went with this

guy called Tiju. You met Tiju in Maria, right? We went to Shillong recently. Slopes, a high

slope. He's got a tiny little Maruti car. It came to the top of the slope and stopped.

And he's looking at both of us saying, get out of the car. So we had a, I think it was

Tiju, not me. Like I'd have been okay. So we both had to step out of the car before

it went over the hill. Well, these are details you don't need to know. And I keep forgetting

I'm being recorded. I hope Tiju watches this.

Okay. Boldness upsets people. Boldness upsets people. Boldness upsets people. Why? Because

you are flouting traditions, norms, limitations, reasonable limitations. You're flouting it

and you're flaunting God and your faith. So it bothers people. It irritates people.

Just expect that, eh? So how do we sustain it? How do we get it going? That's what we

look at.

So, how do we sustain it? How do we get it going? That's what we look at.

Boldness upsets people because it flouts traditions, it flouts norms, it flouts limitations, reasonable

limitations. And instead, it flaunts God and flaunts your faith.

So, where do we start? Thing is, guys, boldness fled when Adam hid. Boldness fled when Adam

hid. He had a bold relationship with God. Do you realize that people are still hiding

from God? Do you realize that you and I used to hide from God? Do you realize that Christians

hide from God? Do you realize how hard it is for Christians to go to Him as Father?

They come up with all kinds of excuses to keep a healthy distance between God and them.

Protestant Christianity and Catholic Christianity is full of people finding ways to keep a healthy

distance from God. Just like they said to Moses, Moses, you go and speak to God. So

we say. In Catholicism, it is, Father, you go, as in the priest. In Protestantism, it

is the same. We think there is no clergy lady divide in Protestantism. It is not true.

Prophet, you go. Pastor, you go. Only we don't kiss their rings. That is the only difference.

So boldness fled when Adam hid. And one of the first people we hide from is God. And

so sometimes the way back to boldness is quite simple actually. And so when boldness fled

when Adam hid, what was it replaced by? Self-reservation. Adam goes into such self-reservation mode

that he even says, he even begins to blame his wife. He even begins to blame his wife.

He even begins to blame his wife. Oh, by the way, this was based on, this is on the side.

Someone at the retreat was saying how man is meant to live for 70 years or 80 and that's

what's appointed to us. I want you to understand the context of Psalm 90, verse 10 where it's

Psalms 90:10

talked about. God said to Israel, anybody over the age of 20 will die in the desert

in the next 40 years. It was a curse. He took into the promised land everybody that was

under 20. But anybody over 20 did not make it to the promised land. And so God said,

make it to the promised land. It was a curse saying anyone over 20, 23, 24, 29, none of

them would make it to the promised land. It was in that context that 70 was said. And

so that doesn't apply to the rest of us or to the world right now. Yeah? Cool. Because

if you were anything about 23, you'd die. Or 21. So where do we start? To walk in boldness.

Remain at the center of the world. Remain at the center of the world. Remain at the center

of God's affection. To walk in boldness, intentionally remain at the center of God's affection. Check

Acts 4.13. You'll find that the people said of the disciples, these guys have been hanging

around Jesus. Look at the boldness with which they preach. They're not going to be able

to talk to you. Posters 18, 19, 21, 22, 23. Mark 7.13. In Garden of Spr meaningless

Mine and Mama, Twenty-Two hookahs. The Yepes come to John, 23.김해fort이 arrive.

and God. Mark 438. Let's go to John 19. John 19, I'll explain this, 26 and 27. Who was

there at the cross when everybody else fled? John, the disciple that said that he was the

beloved of the Lord. It's very easy to display this. Just give me a second. Mark 438. Mark

438. Mark 438. It says there, Jesus is sleeping at the helm of the boat in the middle of a

boat. Guys, have you seen Joey, Judah? They will come and they will slowly climb up these

steps and then they climb up the steps and then they're looking. They're looking for

either their dads or looking for Vibi or looking for someone they trust. And then they stand

here and they launch themselves off. And it's quite high actually when you stand. I did

this once. I went with my sister. We climbed a wall. I told her to jump. She jumped because

she loved me. Then I stood on the wall and I realized, oh my God, this is very far. It

is scary. People are gathering and I wouldn't get off the wall. My sister's saying, you

made me jump. You jump. I said, no, I won't. It's too far. But the point is this. Judah

and Joey stand here and the reason they're able to jump off is because they are the center.

They intentionally remain at the center of their parents' affection. They will not trust

me. They will not trust some of you. But they trust Vibi. They trust Remy. They trust Aaron.

Sometimes they don't even trust their moms because their moms don't have enough strength.

But they jump off from here. You have no idea how true this is. To walk in boldness, intentionally

remain at the center of God's affection. Then Romans 8.35 kicks in. What can separate me?

What can separate me? It's one of the first things. Boldness fled when Adam hid and I

recover that center space in the intentional, when I intentionally recover that space that

I have in the affection of God. Affection is a strange thing. It's not even love. Affection

is what oozes when somebody loves. Affection is what oozes when somebody loves. You see

a child's affection when he runs his hand over his mother's face. You see a spouse's

affection when everything that she does, the way she talks, the way she touches, the way

she speaks, the look of her eyes, it just oozes affection. It comes from love. You stand

there. You'll be as blooming bold as you need to be. One of the things that's stuck in my

head from Chronicles of Narnia is when Lucy goes with a little dagger, and I know I've

said this before. She goes with a little dagger and there's an enemy horde before her and

they're coming on the bridge and she decides she's not going to let them pass and she goes

with the dagger, stands there and threatens them with a dagger that this tiny, you can't

even eat chicken with it. And she's standing there. What she doesn't realize is that Aslan

is behind her. And she threatens them with the dagger and they begin to run. And she

thinks it's she who did it. She doesn't realize that there's a...Judah's not here. Aslan is

behind. When you remain intentionally in the affections of Aslan, you can face things with

a tiny little knife. In the mandate that you go for, in the morning, when you have to meet

people, this is one of the things that we first should do. When you pray for boldness,

God will say, hey, come. Let me collect you on my lap and hold you in my arms. And while

I'm holding you in my arms, just feel my biceps. Second thing. How long will I go today? 645.

Because we started at what time? 4.30. I'm being kind. What was...You know, self-reservation

is what happened when Adam hid. What does self-reservation look like? Timidity. Fear.

What is it? A spirit. What did God replace it with? Second Timothy. 1.7. We are all born

or our human spirit is conditioned to be timid and to be fearful. Those that are timid

and fearful are either bullies or are half-baked spirits. Those that are timid and fearful

are either bullies or are half-baked spirits. So, all of us are all not human spirits. We

to be timid and to be fearful. Those that are timid and fearful are either

bullies or are highly compliant. It's only one or the other. Anyone who is timid

and fearful ends up either being a nasty bully or utterly compliant. That is the

condition of every human being. And then at some point Christ enters. But we are

so conditioned to timidity that we cannot leave the carcass of that life

and shift to what has become. Very hard. It's through practice that it happens.

It's through practice. One of the things that often happens when you want to

learn a teaching like this is God will bring situations into your life so you

can practice it.

For you and I will face situations where there'll be a call to be bold. It's the

only way to learn, right? Otherwise it's just theory. God trains through actual

situations.

Next one. I love this one. The spirit you have received. This is not, we're not

talking about the Holy Spirit. We are talking about the human spirit. You get

a brand new spirit and that brand new spirit is one that is not self

preservative. It is not timid. It's not fearful. It is different. You actually

have it but we don't get to practice it so we don't believe it. But then we are

also given the Holy Spirit and in Isaiah 11 2, in Isaiah 11 2 and this

should really boost us. In Isaiah 11 2 it says you have been given the

spirit of counsel. You've been given the spirit of counsel and might or in other

words the Holy Spirit is the spirit of counsel and might and that is

deliberate strategy. That is what it means. Deliberate strategy.

Deliberate strategy and valiant courage. That's what is meant by you have been

given the spirit of counsel and might. Can you trust this? Can I trust this as I

go and speak to these men that oh God you are sending me, you mandated this. I

actually operate by a spirit that is deliberate in its strategy. Boldness is

not the absence of strategy. Boldness is the courage to put into effect divine

strategy. And so can I stand there knowing that it has been given me by

the Holy Spirit, the spirit of deliberate strategy as I watch these 2500 each

needing different ways. Deliberate strategy and valiant courage to trust

that what God will say he can bring to pass. Forget 2500. Let's take two people.

I remember going to Victoria. There were some here with me. We are there and we go

to a square where we need, we need, we know we need to pray. We go to that

square and as we are entering that square a man comes and he takes a stick

and he slams it and says you cannot pass. And under normal circumstances I

beat a ten to ten hasty retreat, hasty retreat and this time it was you've been

sent to Victoria because this is a city that God wants you to have so what are

you gonna do? And we prayed and we prayed and the next time and shortly after when

we began to walk the man started bowing. He started bowing and saying you're

welcome here, you're welcome here, you're welcome here. He's backing off and bowing.

Boldness brings results. This is a God thing. It's deliberate strategy, it's valiant

courage.

You are bold when you receive a commission from God. You are bold when

you receive a commission, whatever you want to call it, commission, mandate,

mantle, commission, when you receive a commission from God. You're bold when you

receive a commission from God. Deuteronomy 9.3 says here's what God says, hey Israel

just want you to know I'm sending you into a land where you've heard of those

terrible guys, those giants, there'll be plenty of them and have you heard of

those walled cities? Yeah that's where you're going and these giants and these

walled cities nobody's ever been able to overcome them and you that's where I'm

sending you. That's not a very rara message and then he goes on to say I'll

send hornets before you and I'll make sure that they are cleared from the land

and so the moment you receive a commission, God's commissions are always

spelled out, he tells you what you're going to face and after he tells you

what you're going to face and your knees start shaking then he'll tell you how

he'll go about it. It does not guarantee safety, occasionally he'll say to you

I'm sending you to this place and I'll bring you back safely, sometimes says

that but do not think that boldness requires a guarantee of safety. If a

guarantee of safety is there you don't require boldness. Boldness is only

required because there is no guarantee of safety. There's no guarantee of reward,

there is no guarantee of success.

Beautiful eh? I can see many hallelujahs and amens being shouted out.

Yeah.

It's an act of obedience knowing that obedience always ends up being fruitful.

Anytime someone obeys it's fruitful. Anytime a martyr, someone spills blood it's

ridiculously fruitful. It's a very important thing to know.

Anytime a martyr, someone spills blood it's ridiculously fruitful. Anytime Satan

brings about the death of a believer he loses like crazy. He still hasn't learned

that lesson. Jesus spilled his blood, he lost like crazy but somehow

because he's not Omniscient he keeps repeating the same mistake. Nations get

opened up because one man dies. Because the blood of Abel sought revenge but the

blood of any believer does not seek revenge, it seeks mercy. And God will

avenge what he wants to avenge. Vengeance is the Lord's. But the blood spilled cries

out mercy. Boldness loses momentum, boldness loses momentum, boldness loses

momentum when proclamation is subdued. Boldness loses momentum when proclamation

is subdued. If you don't speak it, it usually dies. Boldness loses momentum. You

cannot be bold without a voice. Please hear this. You cannot be bold without a

voice. Boldness is expressive. Doesn't matter whether it's a war cry or a

lament. It always speaks. How many of you have seen Braveheart? Boy this is a young

church. You're old, Tooni. Today was your birthday, remember? No, in Braveheart

there's a scene where Mel Gibson is going up and down and he's stirring up

the army. It always speaks. Boldness speaks. And so when we choose not to

speak, sometimes, and I know I've said this at the retreat, sometimes the things

that God wants to birth through you die a slow death because you refuse to speak

it because you will look foolish. Which brings me to the next point. Boldness

will always look foolish. Boldness will always look foolish. Many of the things

we don't say is because we are scared of how we'll sound. And people may mock

people may laugh, people may think, boy what does he think of himself? But the

fact remains that if you don't speak, doesn't work. David spoke before he slew

Goliath. The woman with the issue of blood spoke before she got healed.

Here's another one. Boldness is triggered by a greater cause.

By a greater cause. Boldness is triggered by a greater cause. Which begs the

question, if I'm not bold, is it because there's no greater cause than me?

Let me ask that again. If I'm not bold in a situation, is it because there is no

other greater cause than myself? I am my greatest cause. What is another word for

another word for that phrase, I am my greatest cause? Another word is self

reservation. Self reservation is when you are your greatest cause. And I am my

greatest cause. So there must be a cause greater than me. That's how the world

operates. How do you think men and women of the world have the boldness they do?

Because they find a greater cause and it's not God. It fascinates me. It's not

God but they have the boldness to do things because they find a greater cause.

Bothers me, fascinates me and bothers me. What is my greater cause? How is it that

they risk? What is it that motivates them to risk? I'm telling you this, very few

things as evil as self preservation in the kingdom. We'll stop now. We'll finish.

I think we need to make sure that tomorrow when we go out we begin with a

prayer that father, give me the wisdom and give me boldness today because

nothing in your kingdom progresses without these two things, wisdom and

boldness. It is internal first day. Please remember that boldness is internal and

the internal is the work of the spirit. Throughout the book of Acts you'll see

it. I'll just give you these scriptures if you feel like you can check them out.

Acts 1 8, it's the Holy Spirit. Acts 4, 29 to 31. Acts 9, 29. Acts 13, 46. Acts 14, 3.

Acts 18, 26. Acts 19, 8. Acts 28, 31. Acts 29, 1. It says, it says that we must pray

for it. The disciples prayed for it. I know you know this verse well but can

you go to Acts 4, 29? Acts 4, 29.

Now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word

with great boldness, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs

and wonders through the name of your Holy servant. After they prayed the place

where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy

Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

It's internal first.

Let me read you something. Tidhu is watching on online, he just heard. Who has a question?

Lenny, go ahead. No, you are called to go but the going is not effective enough

when I'm not bold. I sometimes will do well, sometimes I'll do poorly. So my

second sentence was, if I refuse to step up as God says, hey let me train you to

be bold. If I refuse to step up on a daily basis so that he can make me bold

for what he has for me, then I'll be caught up in the ebb and the flow of

unfinished battles. So there'll be times that I'll get up and I'll be full of God

is fighting for us and then the other day then two days later I'll sing the same

song and it does nothing for me. So I'm caught up in the ebb and the flow of

unfinished battles. A song does do things for you but it has to be something that

is a daily prayer.

Who's that?

Okay, laugh, laugh.

Trying to find this bit.

Trying to find this bit.

Okay, I'll end with this. Try and listen to this. Say I'll read it out a couple of

times. Some of you have heard this before. Self-preservation. Remember what happened

Dave, we were bold people. Adam was bold. Adam was bold over a large territory. Adam

was bold over the animals. Adam was bold over receiving the mandate from God. Adam

was bold in walking with God face to face. Why do you think every time people

meet God in the New Testament and the Old Testament, the first thing God has to

say to them is, do not be? He was bold. When Adam had boldness fled and it was

replaced by self-preservation. Self-preservation is the greatest enemy

of the kingdom. It spawns or gives birth to avoidance and indifference.

The sin of self-preservation is that we choose to prioritize our own well-being,

our safety, our comfort, our provision, our plans and even our very lives over

the leading of the Spirit and the commands of Jesus in Scripture. Jesus

would never ask us to lose our job, give up a month's salary, risk our lives or

our livelihood. It is perhaps the most basic instinct of our flesh and the most

deadly to our faith, to our witness and to the rest of the world. One more time.

Self-preservation is the greatest enemy of the kingdom. It spawns avoidance and

indifference. The sin of self-preservation is that we choose to prioritize our own

well-being, my own well-being, my safety, my comfort, my provision, my plans and my

life over the leading of the Spirit and the commands of Jesus in the Scriptures.

Jesus would never ask me to lose my job, empty my bank, give up a month's salary,

risk my life or my livelihood. It is perhaps the most basic instinct of my flesh

and the most deadly to my faith, to my witness and to the rest of the world. As I

say that, our minds go, that's an extreme way of living. Oh God, help me to get there

one day. That's again avoidance. So how do we deal with it? We deal with it by

saying tonight and tomorrow morning, Father, give me the boldness, give me the wisdom.

And if you ask for that with a genuine heart, he will give you situations where you

can exhibit the boldness and exhibit the wisdom. And as you get used to it, you will

move further and further into deeper waters. Please hear that, eh? Ask and he will.

Those that ask, receive. That's what we need to do. Please don't sit here like I am and

think what I'm thinking. Oh, this is an extreme, yes, it's a great ideal to aspire for. But

enough, we did enough at the retreat. Oh God, remove self-preservation from my life.

Hallelujah. Shabba rabba kabba ya. That's pointless. Instead, what we do is, Father,

this evening as we leave, give me boldness and give me wisdom. And then a situation

presents itself. And as I'm bold and as I'm wise, because I have asked for it and he

gives it without grudging and because the Spirit is present with me, I'll realize, easy

peasy, this is so normal. Tomorrow it will be a little tougher, a little tougher. That's

how children grow, right? You want your child to be a hero? Help him to deal with

cockroaches and rats first. Yeah? Let's pray. Jesus, this message is for now. It isn't

something I pulled out of the hat because I needed to do something this evening. It

goes and it's continuous with what you've been doing and what you've taught us at the

retreat and now I pray just one simple thing. Will you remind me tonight and tomorrow and

will you remind everybody who's listening to pray this simple prayer of, oh God, can

you train me in wisdom and in boldness? I ask for wisdom and boldness. Can you train

me in wisdom and boldness? You're our Father. Let's assume that you actually gave me this

message to preach to us. You're our Father. You're very deliberate in what you're doing.

Then, starting tomorrow, you'll give me situations where I'll have the choice of boldness and

the choice to exert wisdom. If I don't, you won't turn your back and walk away. You'll

start again the next day and the next day. Why? Because you heard your son's prayer and

you know your son is genuine in his desire even if he fails and he is scared. And a day

will come when the boldness of every person in this room right now will be different from

what it is today. And then another day will come when it will be greater and we'll begin

to wade in ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, boldness till one day we'll be swimming in

wisdom and boldness. That kind of church, that kind of people, they'll be the sons of

Issachar who knew their times and discerned what was necessary. They had both the ability

to know the times and then there was the other tribe which fought with left and right

hand. Oh God, let this be our gift to you. What's our gift to you? Simple prayer. Please

give me wisdom and boldness and please train me in wisdom and boldness. Prayer answering

faithful God, we bless your name. Thank you for a great week and I hope you enjoyed it

as much as we did. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you guys for sticking with this for the

last two and a half days and there'll be people here to pray with you so feel free

to come up and they'll pray with you, yeah? Bless you guys. I might be here next week.

I won't know till maybe two or three days from now. If I don't see you, I'll see you

when I see you. That doesn't help at all.

you