From the Love We're Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love We're Finding. Kerry, today Adrian Rogers, Part 1 in a message, Holy Boldness. Our text is out of Acts Chapter 4. You know, if there ever was a time for courage, it's right now. In a world of cowardly Christians who are afraid of being criticized or disliked, we are called to be bold in our faith. God invites you to walk with Him personally, and that's our theme for the month. It's our theme across all platforms, whether you watch our weekly TV program, listen to our daily radio program, you receive our daily heartbeat emails, or you just visit us at lwf.org. All of those venues, all of our devotions, all of the articles will be centered on this same theme. God invites you to a closer walk.
Well, Kerry, He does. And as part of this theme, Closer Walk and Discipleship, we have two things we want to mention that can help people have that closer walk with Christ. And that is an exciting blog hosted by Melanie Red called Women Living Courageously. It's part of a partnership we have here at LWF. Melanie is a personal friend of mine.
I know yours, too. Absolutely. And her husband Randy and I serve together in ministry. And you can find out more about this new program, womenlivingcourageously.com. Also, I want to mention very quickly the new Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible, one of our best resources. It's a great discipleship tool. We have them in stock.
Get it now while you can. Info at lwf.org. Well, in keeping with our truism this month, God invites you to that closer walk, our radio series this month, Living Supernaturally Volumes 1 and 2. And really, holy boldness as we look at our text today, Kerry, with Adrian Rogers. You know, Adrian Rogers says that boldness is having the courage to stand for the Lord Jesus in the face of opposition.
Absolutely. You know, we are bold when somebody cuts in line, and we're bold if we're charged too much. But are we bold in our representation of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's a holy boldness, right? That we talk about the things that God has done. We talk about the cross.
We talk about Calvary in a bold way. When we talk about that boldness and how that affects tolerance in the culture today, Adrian Rogers had this to say. Obviously, tolerance is a virtue if we're thinking about things that are not moral or spiritual issues.
We need to tolerate other people's opinions and taste and their desire for music and their philosophy and politics. But tolerance really is a virtue only if it's a tolerance about things that need to be tolerated. Jesus was the most intolerant human being that ever lived, if you think about it. He said He was the way, the truth, and the life, and no one would come to the Father but by Him. And the Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death.
The toleration in the matter of morals and virtue is not a grace at all, but it is a vice. And we need to be bold. We need to be bold in proclaiming the truth, believing the truth, living the truth, sharing the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Carry boldness is really the theme as we talk about today's message. And really boldness is also part of how we see our listeners responding to the ministry of love we're finding because they're encouraged by the program and the teaching ministry of Adrian Rogers, which encourages them to be bold in the marketplace, whether it be school or their workplace. And then we in turn love hearing from those listeners. And Nicole is back this week from our ministry services. Nicole, I think you have another great response. I sure do, Byron.
Thank you for having me back today. One of our listeners wrote in and said, I have learned so much from Pastor Rogers teaching the Bible. He had such a wonderful way of explaining the meaning of biblical language and how every book of the Bible is about Jesus.
These messages are always relevant. Dr. Rogers said the man who can kneel before God can stand before anyone else. You know, being with Jesus is the really the secret ingredient that we need to have this holy boldness. Well, with today's message on how to have holy boldness, part one, here's Adrian Rogers. Would you find the book of Acts?
Turn to chapter four. And as you're finding it, may I ask you a question? Are you a bold Christian? Or perhaps are you a cowardly Christian?
May I put it this way? If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Well, neighbors know that you're a Christian. A little boy had a mongrel dog, and a man asked him, said, son, what kind of dog is that? Oh, he said, he is a police dog. The man said, well, he doesn't look like a police dog.
The little boy said, well, he's in the secret service. I think we have a lot of Christians today who are cowardly Christians. They're saved, but somehow they are in the secret service. There's the curse of cowardly Christians. They don't want to be seen in the office with a Bible on their desk. They don't want to be seen in the cafeteria bowing their head and thanking God for their food. They don't want to witness the saving love of Jesus Christ when there's an opportunity, afraid that someone may dislike them or criticize them or whatever. Now, they're saved, but they are cowardly Christians. We're going to look at some verses today, and I want you to notice the word boldness that is used in all three of these verses that I'm going to read.
One time it's associated with God the Son, the other time with God the Father, the third time with God the Holy Spirit. Boldness, boldness, boldness. Are you a bold believer?
Or are you a cowardly Christian? Do you want to be a bold believer? What is boldness in the first place? Well, it's not arrogance.
It's the ability to put your finger in somebody's face and to tell them off. Boldness is not being rude or crude. Some people think that they are bold and they're just arrogant and they have bad manners and sometimes bad breath to go with it. That's not boldness. Those people turn more people off than bring people to the Lord Jesus. We'd be gentle, apt to teach, and nothing give offense. Don't think that if you go around getting in people's face that you're necessarily bold.
Boldness is not arrogance, and boldness is not presumption where you just do things to show how much courage that you have. Now, as we look here at this particular passage, what has happened is this. There has been a man that was healed. He was lame from his birth, and the apostles healed him right there at the beautiful gate.
We read about that in chapter 3. It's the gate leading into the eastern side of the temple. It was made of Corinthian brass.
It was incredibly glorious and beautiful. This poor beggar was on the wrong side of the gate, and he was asking alms, and Peter and John said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee. In the name of Jesus, rise and walk. And a miracle was done, and those Pharisees and Sadducees and others who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, whose hearts were filled with venom, could not deny the miracle. But they thought, well, perhaps we can contain it if we tell the apostles not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. Well, of course, they were not able to stop them and keep them from preaching. They brought them before the apostles. Look in verse 9. They asked him, how are you doing this? They said, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified.
Now, this is Simon Peter talking. He's not cowardly anymore. He's not denying Jesus Christ anymore. They put him on trial, but he is not the defendant. He becomes the prosecuting attorney whom you crucified and raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole. That is, we didn't raise this man from the dead. Jesus Christ raised him from the dead. This is the stone which was set of naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
And now I want you to notice how bold he is. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
And let me just pull over and park here for just a moment. Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved. Now, if you say that today, this world's going to come down on you like a hammer. They're going to call you arrogant. They're going to call you bigoted.
They're going to call you narrow. Whatever else they may call you, they also ought to call you a Bible-believing Christian. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now, that was a bold statement. I mean, it is bold to turn to those who crucified the Lord Jesus and say, you crucified him. God has made him the head of the corner.
There's no salvation in any other. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. What is the basis of our boldness?
It's linked to the Holy Trinity. And we're going to see that right now. And I want to tell you how to be a bold Christian. And I want to give a testimony. What I am saying today is not something that I have learned out of a book. It is something that I have found from the book, the Word of God, and something that I have experienced in my life and continue to experience as I preach and witness and testify. Here is the basis of my boldness.
This can be the basis of your boldness. These three things can keep you from being a cowardly Christian and being intimidated by Satan when the Bible says we are in nothing to be terrified by our adversaries. And if there were ever a need for bold Christians, this is the time, this is the day, this is the hour. Number one, keep company with God the Son. Now, we're going to talk in a moment about God the Father and God the Spirit.
But first of all, keep company with God the Son. Now, look in verse 13. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them.
What? That they had been with Jesus. They were keeping company with the Son of God. You cannot walk in His presence and be a coward.
You just can't do it. Now, Jesus is alive and well on planet earth. They said, how did this man get healed?
They said, don't blame it on us. Blame it on Jesus. By His glory, by Him, by His name, by His presence, this man was healed. Now, walk with Jesus.
Make certain that Jesus is real to you. I want to say to you, and I say this from my heart in all sincerity, Jesus Christ is real to the man named Adrian Rogers. He is real to me. I have talked with Him. I have fellowship with Him. I love Him. He's real to me.
He's not somebody that I read about in a book. I love the song. Sometimes the people want to take it out of the hymnal because they think it's ephemeral and syrupy. It's one of the greatest songs in hymnody.
I come to the garden alone when the dew is still on the roses. And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He talks with me, and He tells me I'm His own. And the voice I hear is the voice of Jesus. No one else knows what we know as believers. Jesus Christ is not up in heaven peering through the clouds. Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst. Jesus Christ is here. That's the reason you ought to sing. That's the reason you ought to worship. That's the reason you ought to rejoice. He has not left us alone.
He is here with us always. One of the first times I was ever called on to witness. I was just a kid and not been saved very long. My dear, sweet mother, who's in heaven right now, was a young lady in the church, and they gave my mother an assignment taking a survey. That is one thing my mother did not want to do. She went to the door taking a survey, a Christian survey, and bless her heart, she unloaded that on me. She said, Adrian, will you take this survey for me?
And I said, yes, mama, I will. And there in West Palm Beach, Florida, I went to my first door, and I said, oh, I don't want to do this. I don't want to knock on that door. I'm afraid. I don't know what's behind that door.
I don't know what anybody's going to say. But the Scripture came to me. Jesus said, you go and make disciples, and lo, I'm with you.
Lo, I'm with you. I cannot tell you the change that made in my heart just as a boy, a new Christian. I said, well, listen, Jesus, we're going together to this door, and I went down that street with Jesus. You see, that's where the boldness comes from. That's where the boldness comes from, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you. He's telling us we can't take Jesus into the public schools. Oh, we can.
Let me tell you how we can take him in the public schools. I was coming back to this country, and, you know, when you come back to this country, if you've been overseas, you have to go through security. And there's several things they won't let you bring when you go through security.
You can't bring in, you know, fruits and vegetables and animal life and certain products, food products. And there was a man in front of me. He had some gourmet cheese. And the inspector there said, I'm sorry, sir, you cannot bring this cheese into this country. But he said, I paid a lot of money. No, you can't bring it in. He said, I will bring it in. He said, you will not bring it in. He said, I will, too, bring it in. Walk back there and ate it, and then walked right on through. He said, I am going to rewrap it. That's pretty smart. Listen, they may say that we can't take Jesus in the public schools, but, friend, He's in us.
He is in us. There's no way that they can keep Jesus out as long as Christ is in us. They marveled and took knowledge of them. They said they're unlearned, they're ignorant, they haven't been to seminary, they haven't been to college. Yes, but they have been with Jesus.
That's the basis of boldness. Keep company. Keep company with God the Son. You see, Jesus didn't come to get you out of trouble, mister. He came to get into trouble with you, and He will be with you.
Now, here's the second basis of boldness. Not only keep company with God the Son, but, number two, have confidence in God the Father. You know, you have to get things in perspective. If you don't get things in perspective, you're going to get spooked.
The devil's going to have you on the run. But when you have things in perspective, when you see God, who He really is, the man who can kneel before God can stand before anyone else. One fear, a holy fear of God, removes all other fears. You see, they saw God.
Look at this now. Here's the confidence they had. They had confidence in God as the Creator of all things.
Look in verse 24. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is. This is God who scooped out the oceans, who heaped up the mountains, who dotted the universe with stars, billions and billions and billions of stars out over the velvety blackness of space. And they're saying, God, you made it all. Why should we tremble when you are our Father?
Why should we be intimidated when a God who could do such things is on our side? A college student asked his pastor, Pastor, do you believe there's life on other planets, other places out in space? The pastor said, No, son, I really don't believe there is. He said, Now, pastor, think about it.
There are billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of stars, and you don't believe there's life out there anywhere? He said, I can't prove there's not, but he said, I just don't believe there is. Then the college student said, Well, pastor, why did God go to all that trouble and take all that stuff? The pastor said, What trouble?
Only God can do that. He spoke in universes dripped from his fingers. What a mighty God we serve. You see, they had confidence in God as the creator of all things, and so it follows as night follows day, they saw God as the controller of all things.
Now, listen, you've got to get your perspective right. Look beginning in verse 25. They speak of God the Father, and by the mouth of thy servant David has said, Why do the heathen rage?
And the people imagine vain things. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord. Boy, can you see that as they stand on two big feet, stick out their big chest and shake their puny fists in the face of Almighty God. They stand up together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and Israel were gathered together. Now watch this, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
I love it. God is the creator of all things, and he's the controller of all things. Do you think dark Gethsemane and bloody Calvary was a mistake? Do you think things got out of hand? Do you think God's walking up and down in heaven saying, oh, hold on, what am I going to do now?
What am I going to do now? Do you think the Holy Spirit ever meets an emergency session to say, oh, my, look now what has happened? Look, they crucified the Son of God. Hold on. Not a blade of grass moves without his permission. To do whatsoever thy hand has before, the counsel has before determined to do.
Let me tell you something, friend. God has never lost control, and God never says, oops. God is in control. Now that ought to give you courage and know that he is the creator of all things. He is the controller of all things, and therefore he is the conqueror of all things. Peter here is quoting Psalm 2, and he says the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and his Christ, his anointed.
But Psalm 2 goes on to say, yet have I set my king upon the holy hill of Zion. I want to give you good news. We win.
We win. Jesus Christ is going to be enthroned in Jerusalem. Sin can't win. Faith can't fail.
Things are not right in this world right now because things are out of place. The church is the bride, and the bride belongs with the groom. We will at the rapture. Jesus is the king, and the king belongs on the throne. He will be when he comes again.
Satan is the criminal, and he belongs in the dungeon, and he will be when Jesus comes again. Yet have I set my king upon the holy hill of Zion. You know, sometimes you look at the ebb and flow of things, and you get the idea, well, everything has gone wrong. Maybe God has failed. Maybe the Bible is not true. No. No. Sin can't win.
Faith cannot fail. I was raised in Florida on the East Coast. I love the ocean. I love to watch the ocean. I love what an unknown poet wrote when he said, on the far reef, the breakers recoil in shattered foam, yet the sea behind them urges its forces home. Its chant of triumph surges through all the thunderous din. The wave may break in failure, but the tide is sure to win. Listen, Almighty sea, thy message in changing spray is cast within God's plans of progress. It matters not at last how strong the shores of evil, how wide, how deep the reefs of sin. The wave may break in failure, but the tide is sure to win. Now, don't you get your eye on some little old wave.
I'm telling you, God's tide is moving, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. Now, what is your problem? Think about it today. You got it in your mind? Now, double it.
Make it twice as bad. Now, double what you've doubled, and now I want to ask you a question. Is that big to God? Of course not.
What is the basis of boldness? You must keep company with God the Son. You must have confidence in God the Father. When these people were terrified, they took their eyes off of man and put their eyes on God.
The Bible says the fear of man brings a snare. Take your eyes off your problems. Focus your eyes upon Almighty God, who is the creator of all things, who is the controller of all things, who is the conqueror of all things.
That's the basis of your boldness. What a great word of encouragement for us today as we conclude this message. Take your eyes off your problems.
Focus your eyes upon Almighty God. We're going to hear part two of this encouraging lesson tomorrow, but maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is or what He means to you. You can go to our Find God's Love page at lwf.org slash radio. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love. Well, thank you for studying in God's Word with us today. If you'd like to start receiving daily devotions and links to the program, sign up for our daily heartbeat emails at lwf.org slash radio and join us again tomorrow for the conclusion of Holy Boldness right here on Love Worth Finding.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-28 23:00:00 / 2023-06-28 23:10:00 / 10