Boldness in the Holy Spirit

AG News - Breaking chains

Ephesians 3:12 KJV 1900

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

AG News - Breaking chains

The church needs an anointing of boldness

1990 on Monday Night Football 8 players gathered for the first time and prayed midfield, something that became common. After the 97 Superbowl, Reggie White and the Packers gathered to pray, and one Packer, Eugene Robinson explained the purpose. “ We don’t pray about who wins the game or any of that stuff. ; That’s not what it’s there for. We pray basically as an acknowledgment of who God is and that men will see that He exists”. The players took a lot of heat, but stood firm, willing to be fined, and the huddles continued.

It is a defining moment when a believer publically identifies with Jesus Christ.

It also is a defining moment for church bodies to publically stand for Jesus and His principles.

Hope for Morgantown - Pastor Sean & Junius

Hope for Morgantown - Pastor Sean & Junius

Amendment 1 - churches that will not openly support the unborn

The early church had a crisis of fear after Christ’s death

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Holy Spirit promised, commanded to wait for it

Power as a witness for Jesus, locally and throughout the earth

- Pentecost - Peter delivers a message “be saved from this perverse generation” that brings 3000 people to believe and be baptised. - Same man who lied and shrunk from a servant girl.

Act’s 4:1-31 - Peter and John arrested

(Vs1-2) Preaching Jesus & resurrection - first priority

(vs 17-18) So it spreads no further… - We are called to pray for ALL men for kings and those in authority, that we may live quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence”

(vs 19) “whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.”

Stand up and be counted - In Charles Kuralt’s America the author recalls a meeting he attended in Strafford, VT: “What happens at a town meeting is pure democracy. Every citizen may have his or her sat on every question. For a half-hour that day for example, they debated the question of whether to go on paying $582 a year for out side health services deemed unsatisfactory by a farmer named Brown. The moderator, rail fence maker James Condict, said, “I’m going to ask for a standing vote. All those in favor… and then it came, the Yankee expression that is the soul of the town meeting.... “Stand up and be counted”!

To stand up and be counted is pure democracy, and it is pure commitment. As Christians, we are called to stand up and be counted.

Ephesians 6:11 KJV 1900

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Hymn; Stand up, stand up for Jesus

Hymn; Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross.

In 1858, Presbyterian minister George Duffield, Jr. was an associate of Dudley Atkins Tyng who had recently been removed from his local Episcopalian community for speaking against slavery. Duffield assisted Tyng in supporting an evangelical revival in Pennsylvania. In March 1858, Tyng gave a sermon at a YMCA meeting of over 5,000 men on , "Go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord", converting over 1,000 men listening in the crowd. The following month, Tyng was maimed in a farming accident. Before he died a few days after the accident he told his father "Tell my brethren of the ministry, wherever you meet them, to stand up for Jesus." Duffield then wrote the hymn based on those words, and also incorporated the phrase "Ye that are men now serve Him" from Tyng's memorable sermon the month before he died. At a memorial service for Tyng, Duffield gave a sermon based on , "Stand firm, wearing the whole armour of God", and ended it by reciting the new hymn he had written as a tribute. The hymn was first brought into public knowledge through leaflets printed by the superintendent of the local Christian school containing the words of the hymn. One of these leaflets ended up being published in a Baptist newspaper, and "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" was published in The Church Psalmist in 1859.

After first publication, the hymn was popular and was sung by both the Union and Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War.[1][2] The hymn also became popular among British revivalists,[8] and within public schools in England.[1] As a result of the images of Christian militarism in the hymn, some people object to the hymn, and some people do not stand to sing it.[9][10][11] The hymn was excluded from a more politically correct volume of The Presbyterian Hymnal published in June 1990, in order not to offend handicapped people.

After first publication, the hymn was popular and was sung by both the Union and Confederate soldiers in the American Civil War. The hymn also became popular among British revivalists and within public schools in England. As a result of the images of Christian militarism in the hymn, some people object to the hymn, and some people refused to stand to sing it. The hymn was excluded from a more politically correct volume of The Presbyterian Hymnal published in June 1990, in order not to offend handicapped people.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross; Lift high His royal banner, It must not suffer loss: From victory unto victory His army He shall lead, Till every foe is vanquished, And Christ is Lord indeed. The trumpet call obey; Forth to the mighty conflict In this His glorious day: Ye that are men now serve Him Against unnumbered foes; Let courage rise with danger, And strength to strength oppose. Stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you, Ye dare not trust your own: Put on the gospel armor, Each piece put on with prayer; Where duty calls, or danger, Be never wanting there. The strife will not be long; This day the noise of battle, he next the victor’s song: To him that overcometh A crown of life shall be; He with the King of Glory Shall reign eternally.

Kenya, Iraq / 4 Macabees 12; Tyrant Antiachus, Eleazar and the 7 brothers

4 Macabees 12; Tyrant Antiachus, Eleazar and the 7 brothers

God has your back, and will give you boldness to live and proclaim the gospel - ()

God has your back - ()

He will work all things together for your good

Illus - Today’s Christian Woman - contemporary Christian singer Susa Ashton tells of how God arranged for her to sing in a setting she never dreamed of: “Garth Brooks brother Kelly dates a woman who likes my music. One day, after she played my recordings for Kelly, he called Garth and told him he should take me on the road. So he did! When I got to know Garth better, he admitted he hadn’t heard me sing until I stepped on stage in Spain. That night, he was floored, he said he loved my voice and found my song lyrics moving. But I was scared! I was afraid I might be booed off the stage while the audience screamed, Garth, Garth! But incredibly, I received a standing ovation. I was overwhelmed with how open the audience was to my talking and singing about what it means to be a Christian and know Jesus.”

God is very capable of opening doors of opportunity, and giving us boldness and favor as we use our gift and share Jesus

God is very capable of opening doors of opportunity, and giving us boldness and favor as we use our gift and share Jesus

Are you bold in the Lord? Have you prayed?

To stand up and be counted is pure democracy, and it is pure commitment. As Christians, Jesus calls us to stand up and be counted.

Are you ready?

It is a defining moment when a believer publically identifies with Jesus Christ.

It also is a defining moment for church bodies to publically stand for Jesus and His principles.