Set Your Eyes on Jesus | Acts 4:23–31

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. I am moving into what I thought

would be First Samuel chapter 18, but I'm going to wait on

1 Samuel 18 · chapter mention

that until next week because I really feel like I missed

something in first Samuel 17 that's I'm actually going to

take from another Bible story in Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And I just want to encourage you.

I know we've been talking about walking through the valley.

I know we've been talking about facing your giants, but what I

really want to encourage you to do today is set your eyes on

Jesus. The only vision that we have in

the valley is first by mean that God is with us in the valley.

And so I want for us to look at a picture of the story in the

book of Acts of disciples that came to a spot in their life.

And they even though they faced great difficulty, they still

made a choice to worship. And so I want to just infuse

this, some of these principles into us as we kind of close out

this little mini series in a series.

All right, So if you have your Bible, Acts chapter 4, Acts

Acts 4 · chapter mention Acts 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 in the New Testament, if you have a Bible handy, if

you're not familiar with where Acts is, if you could just go

all the way to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and then you'll

hit the book of Acts, the book of Acts.

Our youth lived out the book of Acts yesterday, serving at the

foster care home and making it look more beautiful, making it

look presentable. And so we just want to thank you

for that, for all of you that donated and gave and your giving

of what you give to Bridgetown infuse some of this and allowed

this to happen. So thank you for Steve and

Evangelia for doing that and reaching out into that area and

seeing God work. So if you have your Bible handy,

if you could turn to Acts chapter 4 beginning in verse 23

Acts 4 · chapter mention

of your Bible and being let go. They went there to their own

companions and reported all that the chief priest and the elders

had said to them. And so when they heard that,

they have raised their voice to God with one accord, and said,

Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth in the sea, and

all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have

said, Why did the nation's rage and the people plot vain things?

The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were

gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

For truly, against your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed

both Herod and Pontius Pilate with, the Gentiles and the

people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever Your

hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that

with all boldness they may speak Your word by stretching out Your

hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the

name of Your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the

place where they were assembled together was shaken and they

were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word

of God with boldness. If you could just look at your

neighbor and say, neighbor, my neighbor, we will work it out.

We will work it out. Yes, we will work it out.

I want you to remember that statement as we go through this

whole sermon is that we will work it out.

The place for me was Loma Linda Hospital.

It's not exactly where I would think I would be spending a few

nights. At the age of 33 years old, I

was at the top of my health. I was running avidly every week,

I was exercising, and I had taken a group of young men and

women to Ensenada, Mexico, where I'd found myself not realizing.

But I was a bit by a tick, which I found out a year later.

But this was month 3 in the process and I had been hooked up

to all these heart monitors and as I was hooked up to all of

these heart monitors, I was laying there questioning my

future, telling God about my future, giving God all of my

plans about my future, telling God what He should actually do

with my future. I had falsely believed that in

my Christianity that because I followed the Lord and because I

was saved and because I served Jesus, that I would never face

any type of pain, trial or heartache in my life.

And here I was at the age of 33 and the doctors were telling me

that I had something happening within me, but it was all in my

head. My heart was doing all of these

strange things. And I remember one instant as I

was hooked up to several heart monitors in the hospital, that

as I was laying there, I was questioning God.

And in walked an older friend. And as he walked into the room,

I began to tell him my complaint against God.

I began to tell him how I had planned for my future to look

differently. I began to tell him all of the

options that I had sovereignly planned as a human being of what

should be happening in my life. I told him the story that I

wrote and he looked at me and he said these words.

He said God does not want your options, He wants your

obedience. Once again He told me as I was

laying there. It seemed a little harsh at the

time, but I don't think he was trying to be harsh.

I think he was trying to get to the heart of the matter, which

was the matter of my own heart in the moment as he looked at me

and said in my eyes, God doesn't want your options.

He wants your obedience. Now, I don't know about you as

you've walked into this room, that if you have found yourself

in your life right now at a spot where you have given God all of

your options, you've given God all of your future, You've told

him the story that you wrote about your life and the story of

what you wrote doesn't look the same as what God has sovereignly

engraved upon time. I think the best way for us in

our lives right now to be those who would be working it out is

worshipping through. I think we have to come to a

spot in our lives and if we're going to truly work it out that

we're going to be people who will actually worship through

the moment that we are actually in.

I believe that the reality is it the is that the righteous face

real pain? The reality is, is that your

story doesn't always match what God has planned in your life.

The reality is, is I was talking to a gentleman about meeting

countless people. He said, Casey, I've seen God do

the miraculous and I've also seen God work slowly and

methodically and sanctifying people.

He said I rarely see the miraculous in these situations,

but he said this, I do see the slow, methodical, sanctifying

work of God, and I call that progress, he said.

And many times he told me that many times we don't want to walk

through the slow progress. I want the instant miracle.

But what happens when God doesn't give your instant

miracle? What happens when you are

righteously living, but you're living in real pain?

The righteous lose their jobs. The righteous have letters that

do not get accepted at school. The righteous often will have a

cancer. The righteous will have family

struggles. The righteous will find

themselves that that we might think if we believe hard enough,

if we sing long enough, if we claim long enough, that this

experience of pain will go away. And sometimes God requires me to

walk through a pathway of pain as a process of Him working in,

in and through my life for His glory.

And I know that that's not often a popular message.

At that time in my life, it was not something that I really

wanted to hear and listen. That message that the man gave

me, it didn't release my pain, but it did change my

perspective. Do you see?

It didn't really change my health in that moment, but it

did transform my heart in that moment.

Did you see the destination of a tick bite would not diminish

what Jesus wanted to do. That was still good even though

I was facing something that was bad.

And sometimes because we're facing something that's bad, we

often characterize that as Jesus not being good.

But look, all throughout biblical history, you will find

that great men and women who followed after God, walked

through valleys and had the vision and the audacity to keep

worshipping God even though they didn't feel like it, Even though

Abraham, it didn't look well for him and Isaac, even though God

would say to Abraham, now I know that you will not withhold your

son, your only son from me. Thus I will bless you in the

moment. He would place everything on the

altar. It happened to David.

In David's life. You think the greatest battle

might be that David fought Goliath.

That was not the greatest battle.

The greatest battle would come when David would.

You have to face Saul after the battle, and we'll get into that

next week, so make sure that you're here.

But this is what David would say when he's running for his own

life. He said these words.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He didn't say that laying out at a beach in Cabo.

He didn't say that in a palace sitting with Saul.

He was running for his life because Saul was trying to kill

him. Listen, it not only happened to

David, it happened to Job. If you're at the Men's Study

with us on Saturday mornings, we're going through the book of

Job with John MacArthur. And this is an amazing story of

a man who made a decision that even though he would face

tremendous pain, would say these words.

In Job 19, verse 25, he wrote these words.

Job 19:25

I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at the last

on the earth. I love what God did with the man

by the name of Daniel, who would now stand up and say with

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, we will not worship your false

gods. I will keep praying no matter

what. And people came against them,

and Daniel was thrown into the lion's den.

You remember the story in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the

lion sleep tonight. All you heard was the hit song

running through the pit. And there Daniel said to the

people who come, it would come coming to get him.

My God sent his Angel and he shut the mouths of lions.

Notice he did not remove the mouth of lions, He shut the

mouth of lions. What I often want is removal.

And what God often does is quiet.

Even though there's lions, God is still God.

And now when we come to this area of our story, I love what

happens in Mary's life in regards to this life of Jesus

and hearing the news. She said, my soul magnifies the

Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

I don't understand your plan, but I receive your plan.

Did you hear that? And this is where we might find

ourselves today. I don't always understand God's

plan, but I receive God's plan in the moment, so I have my eyes

fixed on Him. And I live as Matt Redmond once

said in his book, that the heart of God loves a persevering

worshipper who, though overwhelmed by many troubles, is

never overcomed and moved away from the beauty of God.

Do you see, sometimes the beauty of God in the midst of things

that are broken seem to leave a St. bitter.

And in this moment, the one thing that will continue you in

health towards Jesus is that you are willing to work it out by

worshipping through. And so we come today to this

spot where you might be sane in your life.

Casey. It's my marriage.

It's my health right now. Casey, it's my it's my anxiety,

it's my depression. It it's my parents, you might

say, young men and women. It's my kids, you might say as a

parent. It's the divorce that I went

through. It's the abuse of my past.

It is the hurt of the present. It is the unknown about my the

future. I want to just stamp something

different today. Instead of saying it's my, I

want you to say he is over it. He is.

He is the strengthener of my marriage.

He is the one who has purchased my body.

He is the one who calms my anxiety.

He is the one who lifts my head of depression.

He is the one who is given to me, these parents.

He is the one who's provided for me, these kids.

He is the one who heals me even through the wounds of divorce.

He is the one who could take my past and not allow me to be

defined in the present. He is the alpha and the Omega.

He is the beginning and the end. He is and He was and He still is

to come and He is going to continue to work in and through

my life today. And here are the disciples in

the book of Acts. Now we look at the book of Acts

and we read 27 or 28 chapters and we'll look at the book of

Acts and go, wow, miracle after miracle after miracle after

miracle, instant things happening.

But understand the context of the book of Acts is the Acts of

the Holy Spirit through the apostles.

The context of the book of Acts is written over a 40 year

period, 40 years now. We read it in one shot and we're

like, why aren't we experiencing these types of miracles?

This happened over 40 years. Mundane Mondays, terrible

Tuesdays. We'll work it through on

Wednesday. I'm thoroughly exhausted by

Thursday and thank God it's Friday.

These are mundane days that they experience the power of the Holy

Spirit. Not every day in the book of

Acts was filled with a miracle, but we read it in context like

it is. But we have to understand 40 day

for 40 year period of this time where it is written that we

understand the disciples are following Jesus.

We would say that these are radical disciples.

They weren't radical, they were normal.

We've often taken radical in America and it should be normal

in our Bibles. And we take what's radical and

we look at these guys and say they were bold, they were

strong, and these guys were sent to prison so much so that they

would stand up in this this time.

And then the book of Acts, the Bible tells us that in John,

John, the life of John in Acts chapter 4, verse three, that

Acts 4 · chapter mention

John had been detained at this moment.

John had been questioned at this moment, and then they were

threatened at this moment, and then they were commanded and

then they were imprisoned by the religious rulers.

Now it is like today, if someone were to walk into this place and

they were to arrest us for worshipping Jesus, would you

come? Thank God for our freedom.

Thank God this Memorial Day weekend is more than a BBQ.

We get to celebrate soldiers who fight for our freedom.

Thank God that we live in a country where men and women

would shed their blood and sacrifice their lives so we can

experience the freedom that we have in this country to come and

worship. They didn't have it in the book

of Acts. They were now threatened and

then these disciples were thrown into prison because they would

not stop speaking about Jesus. And so in this story, we find

ourselves having to understand that we should be men and women

who are constantly living in the awe and the wonder of God.

I think that was special about these disciples.

They lived in the awe and the wonder of Jesus.

I think we take Jesus for granted.

I, I think we take the blood of the Lamb for granted.

I think we take forgiveness of God for granted.

I think we take the grace of God for granted.

I was reading a story some years ago, a guy on a train who was

crossing the continent that everybody was unhappy on the

train. It was hot, it was stuffy.

This was this was before air conditioning and it was a place

that was just miserable except for one man who was over by a

window and he was having the time of his life.

Every once in a while he'd look out the passing scene that was

before him and he would cry out, wonderful, wonderful.

And finally somebody could take it no longer.

They went over to him and said, my friend, the rest of us are

miserable and you're having the time of your life.

Can you tell us why you keep saying wonderful?

He said well I was a blind man until a few weeks ago and then a

great doctor restored my sight. And what is perfectly

commonplace to you is out of this world.

For me, I think Christ in our lives has just taken commonplace

rather than a wonderful place. And we no longer look out in

life and say wonderful, we'll often say horrible.

It won't turn out this way positively.

I'm going to be bitter for the rest of my days.

I love what G Campbell Morgan, the old British preacher, used

to say. He said begin as though you had

never known him. And I just want to challenge you

with that today as we jump into this text, as we live in the awe

and the wonder of God that you can know beyond a shadow of a

doubt. We can work it out by worshiping

through it. Now, worship is not just

singing. Worship is obediently living.

And I think we've mixed that a little bit in our Christianity

in America as we equate worship to lyrically lifting our voices

to God. It is that, but more

encompassing is obediently living for God.

So what happens in the obedience of the disciples because they

lived in this awe, in this wonder of God, Remember they

were imprisoned and listen to what happened.

The Bible tells us in verse 23 of Acts chapter 4 and being let

Acts 4 · chapter mention

go, they're let out of the prison.

And I want to show you some things that they did so we could

actually live in this place and live out what God's calling us

to do. Number one, if you're taking

note, their crisis pushed them to community.

Their crisis pushed them into community.

No, notice the Bible gives us the, the intention, literally,

they were let go, which literally means they were let

loose. They were no longer bound hand

and foot by the religious rulers.

And now they find themselves, the Bible says not only just the

intention that they were let loose, but notice the direction.

That's a great place to say answer God's call on your life

because He's setting you free with sounding bells and amazing

blood. Listen, listen.

And they being let go, they went to their own companions.

Now notice the intention that they're let loose, but notice

their direction. The Bible says that they went.

They had an intentional direction.

They went to their own companions.

Now in my Bible this is italicized, which means that

this was not necessarily in the New Testament documents, but the

writer is continuing the thought through of where the disciples

were actually headed. Now now notice what happens.

They came to their own companions.

They came to their own now. Now this is used in John chapter

one verse 11. The Bible says he came for his

own but his own did not receive him.

The Bible also uses this word in John chapter 13 verse one where

John 13 · chapter mention

it talks about Jesus what was with his own disciples.

The, the, the word there means for us of companions and owning

this their own companions is that these two men left prison

and they went to their people. These two men, they left prison

and they went to their people. They, they found themselves at a

spot that although the rulers had bound them, they were set

free. They had such a strong

relationship with people who weren't just in the jailhouse,

but the church was at a house. They went back to their people.

Now understand this, if I get out of prison for preaching the

gospel, if I'm ever put into prison, I just want to set this

expectation so you're not upset with me.

I won't probably come see you. I'll probably go see my wife and

my kids. These guys went back to their

community. That was the first spot where

they would end up going to is they went to the spot where they

were going to be encouraged. As they're looking at this Peter

and John, they leave their crisis and this crisis leads

them right into their community. Now listen, the Bible does not

say being let go. They isolated themselves.

Notice the Bible does not say and being let go, they were

offended. No, the Bible doesn't say and

being let go, they stayed in their pajamas and they watched

church online. The Bible doesn't say that.

The Bible doesn't say and being let go, they were discouraged

and being let go they were agitated, frustrated, irritated

and annoyed. If you drove to church that way,

the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible tells us.

Then being let go, they went to their own companions and notice

this word. They reported all that the chief

priests and the elders had said to them.

They went back to their community and they were

truthfully honest. Now they might have been feeling

irritated, frustrated. They might have been feeling

hurt, upset, but none of that pushed them away from getting

back to their community. The greatest thing that you and

I could do in this moment is to be honest with what you're

feeling. Be honest as they reported what

the religious rulers had told them.

But here's the danger for every single one of us is that when

life gets hard, we feel as though we are a wait to those

who are waiting on the Lord. Can I just say that again, when

life gets hard, we feel as though we are a weight to those

who are waiting on the Lord. Can I just speak some things to

you today? You are not a burden.

I don't know why the people on the right got that better than

the people on the left. You are not a burden, you are a

blessing. I just want you to tell your

neighbor I am valuable. There you go.

I am valuable. I am valuable.

Do you know one of the hardest things for me in community is

not to give help, it's to receive help.

I have a hard time. I want to give.

I want to make sure people are OK.

I, I, I have a hard time in my own life receiving and letting

people know I need help. And I don't know if I'm speaking

to anybody today, but here's if we're going to build right, you

have to believe that you're not a burden, you're a blessing.

And if you were worth the blood of Jesus, you are worth building

his Kingdom. All right, so this is what we

often hear. I've heard it all.

People come to church, they enter into the community.

No notice the the disciples did not go into their community and

say, oh, there's too many old people here.

They didn't go back into their house and go, there's just too

many young people here. This is a church for young

people. They didn't say any of that.

They didn't go back into the house and say, well, this

community is too small, or this community is too big, or this

community is too. No, no, no, they didn't do any

of that. They didn't go back to their

community and say, well, I'm just too hurt.

They didn't go back to their community and say I am too and

fill in the blank. Listen, They went back to their

community and they reported all that the rulers had told them.

Do you see what's happening in the midst of all of this is I

could come out with all of my excuses about why I can't allow

this crisis to push me back into community.

And we can find that in and of that self.

Yes, we need healing. We need honesty, but also we

need obedience. And what God desires to do in

the midst of all of this is not your withdrawing, which might be

your nature or your instinct of survival.

But notice this, they would not withdraw.

Thus they would enter into community that would bring

healing. Now understand this, you don't

find good community, you build good community.

We're not going to just find good community.

We're going to build good community.

And in that, isn't it interesting that in community

they're both rises hurt and healing in that community.

Not everything about the early church was perfect.

And some of us were like, I just want to go back to the New

Testament church in the book of Acts you do.

We're going to go back where they're drinking so much

communion that they're drunk. You want to go back to a place

where they're eating this communions that that they're

eating stuff sacrificed to idols there, there, there is sexual

promiscuity. There's there's Ananias and

Sapphira falling to the ground because they lied to the Holy

Spirit. What if that happened in our

church? Listen, it is messy.

It is going to be something that we walk through and worship

through and process, and you have to make a decision.

And I have to make a decision of resisting the urge to withdraw.

I'm going to have to resist that urge.

Don't let those who have sinned against you determine your

future you you let God lead that for you.

No notice this if you would we must learn that that Christian

community again write this down is is not just found it's built.

Write that down somewhere we have to build community.

It doesn't happen like Taco Bell fast food going through the

drive through it takes time and it takes a truth.

It takes working through different situations.

Listen, listen. Can you reset your life for

relationships? Reset your life for

relationships. Slow down.

Slow down enough slowing down to allow you to build up community

around you. And if you would just write this

down. We must be vulnerable,

accountable, and know that you're lovable and valuable all

in the same breath. All of this happens at the same

breath. Their crisis pushed them into

community and in that they're going to experience the healing

power of the Spirit of God. Notice also if you're taking

note, if I want to walk, work it out and worship through.

Notice this report caused them to raise their voice.

The report they said they, they came to the the house and they

reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said

to them. They heard everything that the

senators and the governors had laid out for them.

And notice the Bible says so when they heard that they raised

their voice to God. No, no, no.

Notice that when they heard it, they raised their voice to God.

Notice if you would, they came to a place where they would lift

up their voice to the only one who can actually help them in

the moment that they were in this, this, this was a spot

where the Bible says they lifted up their voice to God with one

accord. And they said this, let's, let's

just try that. This morning they lifted up

their voice to God in New King James Version, said Lord, you

are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that

is in them. Oh, we didn't do it together.

Here we go. We're going to lift this up.

We're not in different accords, We're in one accord.

You ready, Lord? You are God who made heaven and

earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Now notice this, who by the mouth of your servant David have

said, why did the nation's rage and the people plot vain things?

The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers were

gathered together against the Lord and against the Christ.

No, notice this. Their crisis would push them

into community, but the report would cause them to lift up

their voice to the Lord. The report could not determine

their praise. Did you get that they were told

not to speak in the name of Jesus ever again.

Don't ever hand out a no strings attached card.

Don't ever tell anyone that you're loved by God.

Don't ever see people in your life be transformed.

And they brought this report. They heard it, they brought it,

and then they lifted the report to God in an act of prayer.

Now notice what they said. They said Lord.

Now that's interesting that they would say Lord because this is

what the Roman rulers would call Caesar Lord.

That's why it was such a push in the face of Rome, of

Christianity, because the Church did not serve and submit to

Caesar alone. They served a greater Lord.

The one who has listen to this, the word Lord is the one who has

absolute authority, the one who has supreme strength and the one

who is in complete control. They not only said Lord, but

they said you are God, You're God.

He has not only the preeminence, but he also noticed this.

He has the power. He has the power.

Notice this. Who made heaven and earth and

the sea and all that is in them. Listen, Listen to what they

said. They lifted up with one of one

accord, their voice to the Lord. Everything that we face, we're

bringing it before the preeminent Lord.

We're bringing it to the powerful God.

And then notice who by the mouth of your servant David, have

said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things?

This was written and said in Psalm chapter 2 hundreds and

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

thousands of years before it happened.

And here the kings of the year to take their stand, the rulers

were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ,

the anointed One. For truly against your holy

servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate

with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together

to do whatever your hand and Your purpose determined before

to be done. Notice He is this, He is, He is

Lord, He has pre eminence. You are God, you have power.

But notice this, you are also Lord who works in your purpose.

He has purpose, He has purpose for all of this and working this

out for His glory. Thus we cannot move forward

without the fear of God. You will not move forward

without the fear of God. You will not move forward unless

you have the fear of God. Now we, we, you, you put in

there that they, who's Herod now?

Who's Pontius Pilate for you? Who are the people that have

come against you in this way, against the Lord in this time?

And we would say that you still have a purpose in the midst of

this. I would encourage you to do one

thing throughout as you read the Bible and that is this.

Know the heart of God and see the hand of God working and you

will understand and I will too, that God is faithful to meet us

in this moment. The Bible says now Lord in verse

29, look on their threats and grant to your servants with that

with all boldness they may speak your word.

Notice with Jesus what happens in the life of the disciples is

this is they faced real things, they faced real threats.

At this time you might remember that it is the Roman rulers who

are putting tar over Christians bodies and lighting them on

fire. At this time it is the Roman

rulers and the religious rulers who are taking and locking up

Christians of the way and bringing them to be fed to the

lions that this is real pain. Please understand this is so

important in our lives. Is that just because you follow

Jesus doesn't mean you won't experience pain.

This is so important for us to grasp.

It is so important for us to set the expectation in the place

that we are God. We are not God.

Excuse me. And although bad things happen

in life, the God that you still worship is still good in your

life. So I want to just wrap this up

with one last thing if I can, and that is this.

If I'm going to worship through something, I want you to write

this down. This is going to be kind of hard

to grasp in the minute. Their when determined their

where, so they could actually live out their what?

Their when determined their where so they could live out

their what. Now listen to this.

You might go. Where's that?

Where's that in the text? The Bible says in verse 30 by

stretching out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be

done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Notice this verse 31 and when notice this and when they had

prayed there, when determined their where the place where they

were, notice that assembled together was shaken.

It'd be amazing if the Holy Spirit just shook the building.

I mean louder than any stadium. Can you imagine?

Can you imagine? I think a lot of times I want

the shaking of the house without the shaking of my life.

I want to see the shaking of the house, this outward without God

shaking my life in the process. And I think what we have to

realize that when the house is shaking also their lives were

shaken. And this is what happened when

their lives were shaken, they were all filled with the Holy

Spirit. Now you might say, well, I

thought they already had the Holy Spirit.

They did. The Holy Spirit had sealed,

redeemed the Holy Spirit's given us a down payment.

The filling of the Holy Spirit was for the empowering of the

mission. Now notice the mission.

This is the what? They were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God in boldness.

Now notice this, the Bible doesn't say that the place was

shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they went

out and performed tons of miracles.

It doesn't say the house was shaken and their lives were

shaken. They were filled with the Spirit

and they all just bursted out and speaking in tongues.

Although I believe in the gift of tongues, it says that they

spoke the word of God with boldness.

Did you see what happened? They had a greater boldness

because the house by the Holy Spirit was shaking, thus their

lives were filled. Now follow with me.

The Bible says that they spoke the word of God with boldness.

What was the one threat that the rulers gave to these disciples

not to speak the word in the name of Jesus ever again?

Now we have to ask ourselves, what is boldness?

Some might say boldness is for me to stand up in your face and

to tell you the truth. OK, that's part of it.

How about speaking the truth with confidence and love?

Boldness, I think, also takes another approach and that is

this. I am coming with confidence in

Christ but humility towards man. Boldness doesn't erase fear.

It makes me obedient in spite and in the midst of fear.

Boldness is something that God gives.

Now in my life and in my teaching, I can often highlight

the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which I believe in healing.

I I believe that that God has given the gift of wisdom, the

gift of faith. I believe that God is called in

in Ephesians 4 for the equipping of the Saints and evangelism,

the the teaching and the preaching gifts, all of these

gifts. But here's what we do.

We will often highlight gifts and diminish the fruit of the

Spirit. So we highlight the gifts of the

Spirit, but we fail to live in the fruit of the Spirit.

So you could have a preaching and a teaching gift but have no

love. And what we often do in, and

what I've often done in my own life is I will say I'm gifted in

this area. But the fruit of the spirit is

Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,

self-control. Against such things there is no

law. So real boldness is not just

expressing a gift, it's bearing fruit.

The apple tree does not. With boldness go and apples

come. The apple tree is just being an

apple tree, and because of that, what flows from that are

watermelons. No Peaches?

No, just apples, just apples. What if it takes more boldness

to plant, to stand, to root, And from that boldness of planting,

standing, and rooting, people get to experience the fruit of

what it took for you to stay standing?

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.