Bold

Manuscript Template

Title:  Bold

Focus Statement:  

Function Statement:  

Tweetable Phrase:  

Bold faith is not harsh - it is honest and redemptive.

Bold faith is truth paired with hope.

Bold faith doesn’t draw people to us - it points people to Jesus.

Bold faith starts with showing up and being interruptible.

Main Text:  Acts 3-4

Supporting Text:  

Redemptive Closure (point to Jesus):  Mark 5:1-20 -> Mark 7:31-8:13

Benediction:  Romans 1:16-17

WELCOME

Good morning!!! My name is Ryan Hanson, and I have the honor of serving here at The Light KC as the lead pastor. I’m so glad you’re here with us.

‌Welcome to those joining us online. We hope you're doing well and hope to see you in person in the coming weeks.

And a special welcome to those joining us for the first time. We’re so glad you chose to be here.

ME/INTRO - Tension

Ephesians 6:19-20 in the NRSV states

Ephesians 6:19–20 NRSV

19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

We are called to have a BOLD FAITH.

We are called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ BOLDLY.

But what does BOLD FAITH look like?

Growing up I was given quite a few different images about what BOLD FAITH looks like

Passing out Tracts to your waitress / waiter at dinner

Over the years I’ve known plenty of Christians that pass out Tracts at every meal with the best of intentions and I’ve also known waiters and waitresses that have shown me the pile Tracts they receive but never look at.

[Image: Gospel Tract]

Picketing for Jesus

In Grand Rapid, MI we had a huge outdoor art competition every September. During that time tons of people would come to town from all over the country and walk around looking at the art. There was always a few people with sandwich boards evangelizing. Rarely did I see anyone standing to listen to them.

[Image: Picketing for Jesus]

Door to door evangelism: Jehovah's Witness / Mormon

I know about you, but no matter where I have lived we get a few door to door evangelists every year.

[Image: Door to Door Evangelism]

You Tube Debaters

This is what gets me. The online debates between Christians and Atheists. They always get very heated, arguably they are somewhat entertaining, but I don’t think I have ever seen anyone’s beliefs change due to the debate.

[Image: YouTube debate]

Preaching to random strangers

Whereas the previous one’s are a little extreme, I have been a part of churches and (especially when I attended Christian colleges) where this was an expectation. We were taught and sent out to speak to strangers one-on-one with a scripted Gospel presentations with teh goal of planting seeds of faith.

The Bridge Gospel Presentation

[Image: Gospel Bridge]

The Three Circle Gospel Presentation

[Image: 3 Circle Gospel]

But is this how we’re called to share the gospel with others?

Are these examples of the BOLD FAITH the Bible calls us to have?

The truth is that all these “EVANGELISTIC EFFORTS” result in less than 3% of people making a verbal profession of faith.

And who know how many of those professions of faith are just empty words to end the awkward conversation that they found themselves in.

What’s scarier to think about is what percentage of these efforts actually cause people to get farther away from faith because of the impression that these efforts give people about what Christianity is all about and what the average Christian’s motives are. Many non-believers view Christians as judgmental, closed minded, and acting with ulterior motives. Some evangelistic methods can reinforce those beliefs.

And yet, we are clearly called to BOLDLY declare our FAITH.

I remember back when I bought my first house. It was 2007. I bought a house in a 1000 house development. I had a huge 1/6 of an acre lot. Consequently, I had neighbors that lived very close to me.

One such neighbor did not seem to like me. His house was right next to mine. He didn’t speak to me for months after I moved in. I would say “hi” and try to start small talk when we were both outside, but he blew me off and quickly went inside. He was the stereotypical housing development guy. Houses everywhere, but once the car is in the garage and the garage door closed, the rest of the world didn’t exists.

It all came to a head one day when I was installing gutters on the roof above my porch. I was sick of getting wet every time I left the house from the waterfall that fell on me every time it rained. Being cheap, I was installing them myself. He walked over, looked at my work, then asked, “Why don’t you just pay someone?” Then he walked away.

Being 25 at the time, I really didn’t care about grass. I didn’t have inground sprinklers and honestly would let it die in the summer, looking at the grass’ death as a great reason not to mow. He didn’t agree. He walked over again and asked, “Why don’t you just pay someone?” Then he walked away.

Later he got mad because I didn’t cut the ornamental grass around the phone box to his liking so he cut 1/2 of it; apparently the 1/2 on his side of the property line in a show a passive aggressive disapproval. I thought it was hilarious because it looked like a little chair, so I left it.

Later that winter, I was shoveling my driveway when he pulled into his driveway. But, instead of lowering the garage door and going inside, he walked outside. This time he didn’t have a problem with my snow shoveling, he got a shovel and cleaned off the 1/4 inch that had accumulated from the time his snow service cleaned his driveway earlier that day (because he did pay people to do his lawn / driveway / etc).

While we were shoveling, I tried to talk to him. He was cordial. Not knowing what to say, I asked him what he did.

It turned out he was a pastor of a relatively large church in the area.

I about fell over.

With how much he disapproved of my life I would have thought he would have looked at me (a single 25 year old, living alone in a middle class neighborhood) as someone who needed JESUS.

Yet, even after telling me he was a pastor, which church he served at, and a few other things, He didn’t invite me to a Sunday service.

It really stuck with me.

How could a pastor not invite his neighbor to his church?

Since that experience at age 25, I have given quite a lot of through to what being BOLD in our FAITH means.

But I am the first to acknowledge that in today’s very opinionated culture, where truth is relative, and opinions are offensive it feels like a huge risk to share your faith with anyone, let alone share it BOLDLY.

WE - Tension

So what does BOLD FAITH look like to you today?

One of the examples I previously shared?

Sports celebrities who openly share their faith after winning a big game

Chick-fil-a or Hobby Lobby choosing to keep their stores closed on Sunday?

Students who start morning prayer groups for their school?

Something else?

Would you consider your life to be one defined by a BOLD FAITH?

I have to be honest. The other day I got a wake up call in my own life.

I feel like I talk about my faith regularly.

When conversations with people turn spiritual I regularly invite people to church.

All my neighbors and kids friends know I am the pastor of this church and if they don’t have a church home I have invited them to join us.

Yet, the other day at Sam’s Club I was waiting in the cafe life, which incidentally is a great place to talk to people since the line moves so slowly. I was talking to this guy who arguably had no boundaries. I was with Grace and Wyatt and he started the conversation by trying to guess their ages. I thought it was weird, but he seemed harmless. We talked for a while. He did most of the talking. He told us how he worked as a janitor for Crunch Fitness and how I should get a membership so I could work out. I’m not sure why that was the first thought that came to his mind, that I needed to work out, but I let it go. He said they had people to watch the kids so they could come too and play while I worked out. We learned everything we never wanted to know about Crunch Fitness.

We got up to the front of the line and he finally asked, “what do you do?”

I answered that I was a pastor of a church right around the corner by the library on 87th street.

Without missing a beat, he looked at me, his tone changed, and he said “why didn’t you say you were a pastor earlier?”

I didn’t know what to say. I was listening to his story, and everything he wanted to tell us about his job. It seemed like it would have been poor conversational etiquette to interrupt just to tell him what I did for work.

But, just like my neighbor so long ago, I failed to live up to his expectations for a pastor.

He was more passionate about his job at Crunch Fitness than I apparently was about my faith.

How many of us fall in to that same trap? We will talk at length and with great passion about a hobby, interest, TV show, etc. but don’t have the same passion when (or if) we talk about our faith?

I did invite him to church, but the interaction left me thinking all over again,

How are we called to live out our faith BOLDLY in today’s context?

That is what we’re going to talk about today as we continue our series in Acts.

We’re going to start in Acts 3, [Acts 3: Sanctuary Bible Page # 884]

We’ll have the scripture on the screen, but if you have a Bible with you, or Bible app on your phone, I’d encourage you to turn to the passage and follow along. There is nothing that replaces having God’s word in your hand.

AND... if you don’t have a Bible, we have Bibles under the seats. If you don’t have a bible and would like one, please come see me after the service and I’ll get you one you can keep.

To give you caught up if you missed any of the last few weeks, here is where we’re at in Acts.

In Acts 1, the disciples had just received the Holy Spirit, were empowered to speak in other languages so everyone could understand the good news of what Jesus had done for them, 3,000 accepted Jesus as their LORD and Savior, and they were baptized.

In Acts 2, the disciples started leading this new church. They devoted themselves to praise and worship of God, serving other believers and engaging in personal discipleship, and ministering to and serving non-believers.

Acts 3 starts with Peter and John praying.

Let's dive in.

GOD - Text - HEAD

Expect God to Act

Acts 3:1 “1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.”

Let’s just stop here for a second.

Peter has just preached to the crowds in Jerusalem, 3,000 people put their faith in Jesus, the church was born, and I bet there was tons of things to do, people to shepherd, and lots of requests for the disciple’s time.

Yet...Peter and John put all the tasks they had to do to the side and prayed.

How big a priority is prayer in your life?

Are you so busy doing everything that you don’t stop and seek guidance from God as to what He actually wants you to do?

Charles Spurgeon one said, “A prayerless church is a powerless church. A praying church is an invincible church”

When we pray we

invite God into what we’re going

listen for God’s direction

align our actions with God’s priorities

The first thing we can learn about Bold Faith is that

To have bold faith, we need to be people in prayer.

Let’s continue...

Acts 3:2–8 “2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”

I’m assuming Peter and John were going somewhere.

I doubt they were just wondering around aimlessly.

Yet, they stopped.

They didn’t have money, but they gave of what they did have.

They gave healing through the power of Jesus Christ.

How do you respond when people ask for help, for money, or for your time?

How much margin do you have in your life?

Are you so busy that you can’t afford to be interrupted?

Do you believe God can and still does act through these unplanned interactions in your life?

The second thing we can learn about Bold Faith is that

Bold faith starts with showing up and being interruptible.

Bold faith expects God to act.

Use “God Sightings” to Witness to Others

Bold faith doesn’t just stop at creating margin in your life to accept the divine moments God gives us.

Let’s continue in Acts 3:7, which reads

Acts 3:9–11 “9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.”

God performs miracles in the bible (and today) to demonstrate to the unbelieving world that

He is real

He loves them and has compassion for them

He wants a relationship with them

He desperately wants to restore them to wholeness

Miracles are for the person who receives it, but as Peter and John recognized, God had a bigger plan and wanted to help far more people than just the lame beggar.

Let’s continue in Acts :3:12

Acts 3:12–26 “12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. 17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’ 24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.””

Peter and John recognized that God wanted to use this miracle to soften people’s hearts to the gospel message.

And when Peter saw that the crowd was paying attention, filled with wonder, and amazed at what God had done,

Peter BOLDLY PROCLAIMED THE GOSPEL

He didn’t hold back

He correctly said that it was the Jews that handed Jesus over to be killed

Even through the leaders of the Jewish faith were telling contradictory stories, Peter proclaimed the truth that God raised Jesus back from the dead

He pointed back to the Old Testament, showing that this was predicted and had to happen

He acknowledged that they acted out of ignorance

He called them to repentance

He didn’t waver, but was clear that Jesus is the only way that you can be

If you have ever shared the Gospel with something, is this how did you did it?

Boldly

Completely

Have you given the entire gospel message?

God created a perfect world

Humanity rebelled against God and brought sin into the world

We live in that broken world and all are guilty of evil

Because of that evil we cannot be in a right relationship with God, our creator

We can’t be good pay off our debt due to that sin

We need help, we need a savior

But we need someone who is perfect, who has never sinned

We need someone who is fully God and fully Human

God loves us so much that he didn’t give up on us

He sent His son, Jesus, who came to the earth as a baby, lived a sinless life, voluntarily died on the cross to take the consequences of our sins upon himself, who rose on the 3rd day giving us all hope of eternal life with God in heaven, and who ascended to heaven to advocate for us to the Father, and who send the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, healing us of our sin nature, and empowering us to live the life that God created us to live

And it is free, all we have to do is repent (turn away from) our sins, accept the free gift of forgiveness that Jesus offers, and follow the leading of the holy spirit in our lives

This is what sharing the Gospel with BOLD FAITH is

So, the third thing we can learn about Bold Faith is that

Bold faith is sharing the gospel truth paired with hope.

Bold faith is not harsh - it is honest and redemptive.

Expect Opposition

I want to take a step back and be completely honest though.

Even when God calls us to share our faith, we need to expect some opposition.

So far Peter and John have been used by God to heal a lame man and share the gospel with the crowd.

We find out in a few verses that another 2,000 people put their faith in Jesus as a result of Peter’s obedience.

Yet, not everyone was happy.

Let’s continue in Acts 4:1, which reads

Acts 4:1–7 “1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. 5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?””

Peter and John were arrested and put in Jail for sharing the gospel.

Can you imagine what they must have been thinking?

Not only did the Holy Spirit heal someone through them, they shared the gospel, 2,000 accepted Jesus, but now they are arrested and have the full Sanhedrin (the 72 members of Jewish ruling body) questioning them.

This would have been equivalent to being tried by the supreme court.

The members listed were pretty big names.

Annas as a former high priest

Caiaphas was the current high priest

John was the son of Annas

Alexander was a famous philosopher and one of the richest people of that time

But even with this, understandably intimidating group accusing them, Peter and John stood tall.

Let’s see Peter’s response in Acts 4:8-15

Acts 4:8–15 “8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.”

Peter, an uneducated fisherman, who at one point in his life couldn’t even admit to knowing Jesus to random strangers, BOLDLY PROCLAIMS the GOSPEL to the 72 leaders of the Jewish people.

And does so with such confidence and power from the Holy Spirit that he leaves them speechless.

If God calls you to do something, don’t be afraid, follow Peter’s example and BOLDLY obey, no matter what God has called you to do.

Because you are not doing it alone, you are doing it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

But the Jewish leadership had to do something.

Acts 4:16–22 “16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.”

The Jewish leadership commanded Peter and John to stop sharing the gospel.

To which, Peter said, “NO”, I think I’ll keep listening to and obeying God.

Having nothing else to say, the Jewish leadership let them go.

No matter what situation Peter and John were in, and how much opposition they faced, they

pointed to Jesus

they shared the gospel

they invited people to join them in following Jesus and living a life of service to God

The final thing we can learn about Bold Faith from this passage is that

Bold faith doesn’t draw people to us - it points people to Jesus.

YOU - Takeaway - HEART

So how BOLD is your faith?

Do you believe that God still acts and performs miracles?

Are you looking for and expecting God to act in your life?

I was on a trip to Isreal Andrea and I went on, the pastor started every morning by asking us what “God sightings” we had from the previous day.

God is still working, we just have to open our eyes and look.

WE / JESUS - Redemptive Close - Call to Action - HANDS

And sometimes you can see God working in very unexpected places.

In Mark 5:1-20, there is a story about Jesus who traveled to the Decapolis, the 10 Towns on the Roman side of the Sea of Galilee. There was a man who was possessed by a legion of demons. Jesus cast the demons into a herd of nearby pigs.

In Mark 5:18 we read that

Mark 5:18 “18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.”

But Jesus’ reply is not what I would have expected. Instead of accepting this man into his group as a disciple, Jesus says this

Mark 5:19–20 “19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”

So the man did. He told his story throughout the 10 Roman towns of the Decapolis.

And a few chapters later we find out that when Jesus went back to the area (Mark 7:31-8:13) there were 4,000 Roman citizens who had heard the story of Jesus, what he did for the demon possessed man, and wanted to learn more.

You don’t need to be a seminary student to BOLDY DECLAIR YOUR FAITH.

You don’t have to have a traumatic past that you were rescued from, to have a story that connects with people.

You do have your story, and just like the demon possessed man, that is all the WITNESS that you are called to share.

So

Expect God to act in the world and through you

When God acts, lean into the interruption, see the awe and wonder in the people around you

Share your story

BOLDLY share the Gospel and answer questions people ask

Always pointing to Jesus as the only one who can save us from the mess that we’ve found ourselves in

If that sounds intimidating, I understand

But...BOLDLY sharing your story and the GOSPEL is easy

Describe your life BEFORE you knew Christ

Explain WHAT HAPPENED that led to you putting your faith in Jesus

Describe how your life is different AFTER putting your faith in Jesus

INVITE them to “come and see”, ask questions, and if they’re ready to put their faith in Jesus

We are all called to BOLDLY live out our faith.

We are called to BOLDLY share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people in our lives who do not yet believe.

How is God calling you to do that this week?

PRAYER 

Will you join me in prayer...

SONG 

As we enter into our final song, I want to open the steps up front as an altar to anyone who needs God this week. The steps are open for you to pray to the God who is with you, who loves you, you wants to give you His peace.

‌

You may feel a hand on your shoulder as I or one of the elders join you in prayer.

BENEDICTION 

Romans 1:16–17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.””

This week...

Let’s stop hiding our faith

Let’s stop thinking that God is done acting in the world and that miracles were only for Bible times

Let’s stop watering down the truth of the Gospel when we share it with our non-believing friends

Let’s instead pray for, expect, and actively look for “God sightings” in our every day lives

Let’s build margin into our lives so when God gives us a divinely appointed moment with someone we can stop and obey God’s call to serve them

Let’s share the Gospel boldly, and be open to share the our story of how our faith in Jesus has transformed us

Let’s expect opposition, but not shy away from it when it comes

Let’s be the church, BOLDLY declaring the gospel to all who do not yet believe with more passion than we share our hobbies, interests, and passions

Quick reminder...

Digging Deeper Bible Study - Wednesday at 6:30 PM - Programming for all ages

If you’re new, please fill out the card in the seat back and stop by our info desk, or see me. We’d love to say “hi” and get you know you a bit better.

If you’d like to get more information about taking your next step of faith, fill out the card in the seat back and give it to me or turn it in to the info desk.

I hope you have a great week.

Go in peace.

You are dismissed.

DISCIPLESHIP QUESTIONS (download into APP)

How can we cultivate an attitude of being interruptible in our daily lives to better witness to others?

In what ways can we expect God to act in our lives this week?

What does 'bold faith' look like in your own life, and how can you demonstrate it in your community?

How do you perceive the role of prayer in developing bold faith?

Reflect on a time when you shared your faith; how did you apply the principles of bold faith during that encounter?

What does it mean to you to have a bold faith in your school or among your peers?

How can you create space in your life for God to work through interruptions?

Who in your life might need to hear about your faith story, and how can you share it?

How can you keep the conversation light and engaging while still being open about your faith?

In what ways can you expect God to act during your week, and how can you share those moments with others?