Spiritual GPS - Boldness

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David had experienced God move and work in mighty ways. He’d been annointed by God to be king. He’d been giving the strength to kill a bear with his bare hands (pun completely intended).

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STORY - David the Bear Fighter

David had this totally awesome, powerful experience with God. He could have went down in history as David, the guy who ran around Israel fighting bears. That’s pretty cool - I’d feel good with that one.

1 Samuel 17:37 NIV

The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

1 Samuel 17:36–37 NIV

Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

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So, David has one big thing going on for him - he knows that, because God moved in the past, He can do it again. BECAUSE - he knew God had a future plan for him, a future destination.

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A challenge wasn’t the place for David to turn away and go ‘oh well, I guess I’ve gotten all I’ll get from God, this is just too big’. And it was a big challenge - Goliath was over 10 feet tall. I read a book that said that realistically, Goliath’s armor weighed more than David did. When the thing the enemy has to protect himself from you is bigger than you are, well...

But see, God made him a promise - seeing a challenge to that promise was just another opportunity for David to see God move again. Not only did he hope for it - he expected it. And this gave him great boldness.

He knows that because God moved in the

Last Sunday, we talked about how God’s destination for all of us is to make us more like Jesus, and that the vehicle God will use to get us there is an ever increasing set of encounters with His glory. And one of the most foundational convictions we need to hold is the conviction that God is never finished revealing His glory - we can never stop encountering more awesome things about God.

Well, this is the point I want you to take home today.

Boldness comes from continually desiring to see the Spirit keep moving in new ways

Now, I want you to understand something here. I want you to hear what I DIDN’T say. I didn’t say that Boldness comes from...

Education

gifting to speak in front of others

Growing up from birth in a solid Christian family

Memorizing a minimum amount of scripture

being a pastor or a missionary

your skills or abilities in any way

Boldness comes from seeing God move, in even the slightest way, and saying ‘Great - now let’s find out what He’s going to do next. Because he will do something next.’

Now, I want you to understand a few things about boldness.

Boldness strengthens our gifts, because it gives us more opportunities to use them.

2 Timothy 1:6–7 NIV

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Now, I want you to understand. I’m NOT saying ‘If you are timid, you don’t have the spirit’ - that’s not the point. What the point is, is that the spirit moving in our lives moves us towards power, towards self-discipline, towards greater and greater things, and that we can stand on that truth. And that anything going on internally that tries to say you can’t do great things for God, you don’t have the right gifts, you aren’t smart enough or you aren’t (BLANK) enough - that thing isn’t from the spirit. Everything that happens happens through the power of the spirit - do you really think God needs my skill of being able to stand in front of a crowd and speak in order to do things?

The difference between boldness and hope is conviction

Hope says ‘I have seen God move before. I want to see God move again’. Boldness says ‘I have seen God move before, so I KNOW he will move again’.

Boldness causes us to move

You can’t be bold standing still. It comes in answer to a challenge, it comes in tandem with movement. Boldness demands of us to stand up and do something.

But here’s the thing - spiritual boldness reminds us that this is all God - His power, His kingdom. Spiritual boldness is the deep conviction that through God, we can do anything.

So how do we start?

Great news - the start isn’t self confidence. It’s not ‘I know i’m strong enough to do that’. News flash - we’re not. Let’s get that one out of the way right off the bat. I’m not, you’re not, none of us are strong enough to do what God does. I may be stronger than you in one area, or you may be stronger than me in another - but we’re all little tiny ants compared to God’s strength.

The starting point of boldness in the spirit is wanting to be a part of the next thing the Spirit is doing. if you’re happy to sit on the sidelines, watch God move and eat popcorn, then God’s not going to empower you with boldness. It sits on the foundation of a deep conviction that God still moves every day in new and greater ways than He ever has. But the bricks and mortar of boldness is that desire to want to be a part of it. It’s that, ‘Here I am God, send me!’

David wasn’t just bold because He knew God could save him. He was bold because he knew, he knew that God was going to rescue His people - and he wanted in on it. Because that’s where God’s spirit was. That’s where God’s power is. He wanted a radical encounter with God’s power, so he went to the place he knew God’s power was going to be radically poured out.

The truth is, we keep asking, we keep begging God to send His spirit to us. We keep asking him to send his power, his might, his glory. And that’s good, we definitely should keep doing that. But following the spirit, this spiritual gps, the first essential question is -

What is the Spirit doing right now?

and boldness causes us to say, ‘let’s go there’.