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[0:00] I want to draw your attention to Acts 4, and I was looking at your slides, your announcement slides, and saw that you guys are going to be doing some evangelism training.

[0:17] And what I'd like to do, I didn't know that until today, what I'd like to do is go through just one of the lessons that I brought our church through when it comes to witnessing.

[0:27] Because we're talking about being bold, and we saw it in the life of Elijah Friday night. And then looked at, I mean, you know, if you think about it, Caleb was a pretty bold guy, you know, and I'm thankful for him.

[0:42] But, you know, we need the boldness in witnessing. I'm going to tell you this, I'll just be a little, I'll be vulnerable to you. I need it. I struggle with it.

[0:53] You know, there are times where the Lord says, you need a witness to him. Like, yeah, but Lord, you know, it's, you know, Lord, it's, you know, and we, all right, am I the only duck in the pond?

[1:04] Okay, we, do you struggle with that? And we all do, and we all need that boldness. And so, it'd be a good reminder. We're going to talk about some of the aspects here in verse, or chapter number four.

[1:20] And, but we got to remember that when we're witnessing with people, you're going to get some training here. And man, just jump into it and get yourself equipped. And I know the pastor will do a great job with that.

[1:34] But, you know, when we think about witnessing, some of the things, our objectives is to expose the curse of religion. You know, reality is, is that everybody's following a religion.

[1:46] Everybody is. Yes? Yes. Okay. And, and then what we need to do is, and once we expose that, and what we need to then bring about, by the spirit of God does this, ultimately, of course, is to establish a conviction of sin.

[2:02] Why do they need Jesus? Why do they, so that they could, and then the third part is to experience new life. And, and I'll tell you this, I know some of you are probably working with the kids, but when I led that young lady to Christ in that Bible study, on the UCM campus, pagan, pagan, pagan, most universities are pagan.

[2:24] And, but University of Central Missouri also at one time ranked fifth in Missouri for party schools. There are people in Kansas City that know a street in our town, Little Warrensburg, called Pine Street.

[2:40] That's where all the bars are at. They leave Kansas City to come to Warrensburg. I don't get that. And, but anyhow, but we want them to, leading her to Christ, and the sweetest thing is hearing her pray and ask Christ to save her.

[2:56] The tears and the, and the joy and just, you could see in her, in her eyes just this, ah, this relief from sin. It's just, it's just amazing.

[3:07] And, and, and here's the thing that, you know, God gives us all divine appointments. God sets things up for us. You know, with, and we interact with people on our path.

[3:19] You know, sometimes we don't have to create a situation. There was one, me and one of our deacons, we're, we're at the truck stop, um, about 15 minutes north of the church.

[3:30] We went to Subway. We're sitting there talking Bible. A guy, a trucker walks by us, hears us, stops, starts talking to us. And he wasn't saved. We witnessed to him and led him to Jesus right in Subway.

[3:43] I mean, we weren't praying, dear God, you know, nothing like that. God just had this guy walk by us. People on our path. Walmart, grocery stores, wherever it may be.

[3:56] And God has someone for you. And so that's why we guys say, okay, God, I need to be bold. But here's the first point we're going to look at if you're taking notes. Boldness is biblical. I'm sure you already understand that, but let's be reminded of the, um, of the fundamentals.

[4:11] Boldness is something that is going to be biblical. Again, as I mentioned Friday night, it's not an issue of personality. Now there's some people, I, you know, I have guys in my church, they could talk to a wall and have a good time.

[4:26] They'll talk to anybody. And, uh, they'll just, boom, start a conversation and, and so forth. And, uh, and some of you, some of you are not like that. So it's a little bit more, it's a little more difficult, isn't it?

[4:39] And, uh, but that doesn't relieve us of our responsibility. But boldness is biblical. Uh, look at Acts. We'll get to four, four in a, here in a minute, but let's go to Acts chapter nine and verse 27.

[4:49] If someone, uh, preacher, I didn't ask permission, but is it okay for them to read the Bible? Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. I thought it would be. If someone could read Acts chapter nine, verse 27 and 29.

[5:03] Acts chapter nine, 27 and 29. Someone, who wants to read that? Anybody? Okay, brother. Go ahead.

[5:13] Thank you. I'm sorry. You all have to tell me again. 29 and 29. Acts nine, 27 and 29. And you could, you could read 28 if you'd like, but you could skip it too.

[5:23] So. But Marvus took him and brought him to the altar. And he declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way. And that he had spoken to him. And how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

[5:38] And he was with them. And he spoke boldly before Jesus. And disputed against the Grecians. All right.

[5:51] So we see, is this still holy water? Okay. All right. Okay. Excuse me. Okay. Thank you so much. Look at Acts 13, 46. Acts chapter 13, verse 46.

[6:05] And someone wants to read that for me. Acts chapter 13, 46. Then Paul and Marvus waxed boldly and said it was necessary that the word of God first have been spoken to you.

[6:16] That seeing you are worthy and judge yourselves unworthy, you have ever left in life. Though we are the Gentiles. Okay. So again, very, everyone is familiar with this basic.

[6:27] Boldness is biblical. But at the same time, being brash and being rude is not biblical. You know, so I think sometimes we interpret boldness as, you know, being brass and so forth.

[6:42] But, or being, even being rude. That's not biblical. The Bible says a soft answer turneth away wrath. But grievous words stir up strife. You see, when people witness, oftentimes, unfortunately, there's a tendency to stir strife up.

[6:57] And now understand when you're given the message, guess what's going to happen? You're going to stir some things up. So, I'm talking about those who purposely, or maybe sometimes unintentionally, but, because what I have found is a lot of people will reject the message because they reject the messenger.

[7:17] It's really, it's not the message, it's the messenger. And, and you know how it is, you know, you watch these talk shows and they bring these people up that represent biblical Christianity.

[7:28] And I'm like, where did they get these people from? They, they must have been living in a cave, right? And, and that's not, that's not what God wants us to do. And the Bible says in Matthew 10, he says, I send forth, he says, behold, I send you forth as sheep.

[7:44] Now think about this. I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Boy, that doesn't make sense, does it? Meh, right? Wolf. Lunch.

[7:55] Are you with me? But Christ, he says, and therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Now the reality is, is that, you know, when I was witnessing to this young lady, boy, there was, there, I was truth, truth to her.

[8:11] I was trying to get a feel of where she was at and so forth. And, but I wanted to be wise. So there's questions I asked. I had to listen. All right. And there, and, and even if they make some outlandish statements, don't go, you see, because body language says something, doesn't it?

[8:29] Right. And it may sound crazy to you and you shouldn't be surprised by that because they're what? They're lost. Right.

[8:40] And we are not living 50 years ago or however long ago. There, maybe, maybe even further than that. There used to be a biblical kind of foundation, whether people believe the Bible or not.

[8:55] We are dealing with people that have no Bible foundation. At all. Right. So there's, we still got to preach the gospel, but we have to understand there, some people, you got to start in Genesis.

[9:11] Yes. We're getting to that point. And so understand that Missouri's kind of a year in the Bible belt. We lost our buckle a long time ago. Okay.

[9:21] It's not what it used to be. It's even changed in the 23 years we have been in Warrensburg. And so the thing is, is that, you know, the Proverbs says, now think about this.

[9:33] Let me, let me ask you this question. There, there are only two basis for religion, right? Two ideas of religion, two. What do you think they are?

[9:44] It's only two types of religion. What do you think they are? Fake and real. Okay. That, I like that one.

[9:55] Works and grace. Fake and real. You just said it differently. Okay. They're either, it's either works or grace. I don't care what title they put on their religion.

[10:06] Okay. Now, I don't, I'm not in a religion. You guys aren't, we're not in a religion. We're in a relationship. Religion dams people to hell. Let's just be honest.

[10:17] Okay. I think I could speak. We're all family, right? And the reality is, is that everybody's either in those two categories. Works or grace. So your approach to that is to get them to understand boldly that their works are wanting.

[10:36] It's by the grace of God. Doesn't matter what religion they are. It's either works or grace. So it makes, to me, when I step back and look at it that way, it makes things a little more simpler. Not that it's easier, but it's simpler.

[10:49] Okay. And so boldness is biblical, but also, again, trying to ram in this idea home again. Boldness is not an issue of personality. We could, there's a lot of different personalities in this room.

[11:03] And guess what? Praise God. God. I'm glad everybody's not like me. I'm going to change my message. Let's go to Ephesians. Right? But boldness, okay, think about this.

[11:16] It carries the idea of confidence. Of course, openly and plainly. So it's having that confidence in God that, listen, what God has entrusted me with since I've been saved, that's what people need to hear.

[11:35] Listen, think about it. We have the answer the world needs. Boldness is not about being introvert or extrovert. Boldness is about being confident in God Almighty.

[11:49] And when we think about, look at Matthew, let's go to the Great Commission. And again, I'm not going to give you anything earth-shattering today, but just a reminder of the fundamentals. I remember I played a lot of baseball growing up.

[12:03] And because of decisions I made when I was a teenager, I got saved when I was 10, got out of church with my parents, and just kind of went the way of the prodigal for a while.

[12:15] But if I would have remained in baseball, I probably maybe could have got a scholarship, not a Division I or anything, but I was good enough for maybe a two, definitely a three. But I can remember every spring training, coach would have us do the same fundamentals over.

[12:33] It's like, we're tired of this. And he goes, until you get this and dream about it, you're not done with it. That's how he was. And so, but Matthew 28, verse number 18, because sometimes we just go to 19, right?

[12:47] But Matthew 28, 18, it says, All power, okay, so there's your boldness. You got all power. It's given unto me both in what? Heaven and earth.

[12:58] Go ye what? In that power. So I have the power of Jesus Christ to go and tell people about the gospel. It's not my own power.

[13:11] It's like, pray the silent witnessing prayer. Lord, help me. I am so scared. I feel like I'm going to die. And he's going to give us power.

[13:22] And he said, I give you power. Go ye therefore. Let's look at Acts chapter number one, verse number eight. Acts chapter one, verse number eight. Someone read that, please. Acts chapter one, verse number eight.

[13:34] You shall receive power. After that, be the Holy Ghost to come on you, and you shall be witnesses unto the people of Jerusalem, all of you. Yeah. Samaria, the only place of the earth.

[13:46] So God, so listen, God's power is in every place, no matter where we are witnessing. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost.

[13:59] You know, you think about what he's saying there. He says, and ye shall. Is that a promise? Is that definitely going to happen? Okay. So again, there, it comes in that, that trust.

[14:11] I got to trust. Okay, God, I know. Well, I've been praying for a family. And by the way, family members are the hardest to reach. Amen. And, and so, but we still got to, still got to keep praying and searching and, or praying and witnessing and so forth.

[14:27] But, but what, what, what do you think replaces boldness? What is it? Fear. Absolutely. And then we go to 2 Timothy chapter, I think it's 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7.

[14:42] God has not given us the spirit of fear. So where's that fear coming from? It's not coming from God, so it's coming from. And what does he want to do? He wants to keep the eyes of the lost blinded.

[14:58] Right? So I don't know about you, but I want God to win. And, and the reality is, is that I think sometimes we're afraid because sometimes in witnessing, we're afraid we won't say the right thing.

[15:11] Yes? Okay. Think about the Samaritan woman. Did she have any evangelism training? Uh-uh. She went to the, hey, come and tell, come and see a man that told me.

[15:26] Right? That's all, that was her witnessing thing. But we're afraid we're going to say the wrong thing or not enough things. And then we're also afraid of what? Rejection.

[15:37] Right? So let's just say John. I met John and he likes pierogies, man. So he's my buddy. And so I introduced my wife to John.

[15:48] John, this is my wife and, and so forth. Now what John does with that introduction is up to John. It's not my responsibility for them to like each other. But she is, you wouldn't like her.

[16:01] I'm sure you would. Okay. So I introduced John to my wife and then he does with it what he wants to. If he doesn't like my wife, he's not rejecting me. He's rejecting who?

[16:13] My wife. So what I want to do is I want to introduce people to Jesus. And what they do with that is up to them. And it's hard because we feel, walk away, I'm defeated.

[16:25] No, here's the thing. Isaiah 55, what does it tell us? That God's word will accomplish its purpose. Now, I always want his, I always want people to come to Christ.

[16:38] But there are people that are not. And when they stand before God, they're going to be reminded. You remember that day that Rich shared the gospel with you and you rejected it? I don't like that part because they spent eternity in hell.

[16:53] Who are some of the people in the Bible that feared? Anybody think anybody that? Joshua. Okay. Who else? Peter.

[17:04] Yeah. I wasn't thinking about him, but yeah, Peter. Who else? David. Jonah. Right. Who is it? Moses.

[17:15] Okay. These are all main Bible characters. So we're in good company. Yes? Yeah. Right. Do you think they got it right all the time?

[17:28] Nah. But the issue is, is that they kept moving. So boldness is not an issue of personality, but here's the source for our boldness. This is going to get us back in our text.

[17:38] Go to Acts chapter number four. Okay. Verse number 13. Okay. Acts chapter four, verse number 13. Again, the church has just started just kind of spreading its wings, if you will, and so forth.

[17:51] And so forth and so on. And God is working and it was empowered there in Acts chapter two. And now it's moving forward. So, you know, it's facing persecution.

[18:04] And this is exactly what was going on here. And it says, and in verse number 13, it says, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John.

[18:15] So they saw their boldness. It says, and they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. So it's not based upon our, our boldness, not based upon our, our, our background or our education or learning and so forth.

[18:33] It says, they marveled and they took knowledge that they had been with. Wow. You see, I love the simplicity of Christianity.

[18:46] Is they didn't hear about the boldness, by the way. They saw the boldness. Boldness is something that's supposed to be seen. That tells us that boldness is not how loud you shout, but rather the life you live.

[19:04] There's some people that are, I have some folks that work in specific, specific jobs. And I'm going to tell you this. It's tough to be a Christian where they're at, but they're bold and they're witness.

[19:15] There, there are guys that, you know, that, um, some, some retired now military. We have a lot, we have some military retired and active in our church. And, uh, there's one guy who, uh, honestly, his career, uh, really came to a halt.

[19:33] Uh, he, he was a, um, uh, security forces guy and he just didn't go to the bar after work. Amen. Amen. And because of that, he didn't get certain assignments.

[19:46] He, you know, and all these things that could have helped his career. But he said this, my walk with God is more important than getting promoted. And when he came to our base, white men, his career went to a screeching halt.

[20:01] Oh, you're not going to go hang out with us. You're not going to go, Hey, let's just, let's go crack one and throw one back. He goes, no. He goes, I, he goes, I'm going home. That's boldness.

[20:12] You know, and, and he didn't go, he didn't lay out Romans road, did he? No, he just said, Hey, listen, I'm going to stand firm on the word. Boldness.

[20:23] Bold, biblical boldness is something that comes from being with Jesus. And even those religious laws, religious leaders understood that. And these men, they were commercial fishermen, uneducated.

[20:35] Here they are standing in the city of Jerusalem in the presence of powerful, educated Jewish leaders that day. And that should, that should have intimidated them.

[20:47] But they were not. It kind of reminds me, you ever see those, you know, those little dogs, you know, little dogs. They just have an ad. If you have one, don't be offended by what I'm about to say.

[20:58] Okay. But they just have this attitude about them, right? No one's going to mess with them. Are you following me? It's kind of like, you know, you see some of these commercials, this little yapper is at this big dog.

[21:11] And it's like, this dog's looking at him and going, you're a toy. You're a toy in my mind. And so understand that, again, at no point were they rude or were they crude.

[21:24] They were respectful, respectful, yet firm. You know, you all know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, right?

[21:36] We all know that. And they were firm, didn't they? They said, Lord, we don't know what the Lord's going to do, but we're not bowing. And you know what? They didn't bow, they didn't bend, they didn't burn. And they came out and they got promoted.

[21:47] And so in Acts, the enemies of Peter and John, they knew their source of boldness. They said they had been with Jesus. And I want people to look at my boldness and identify it, not with, well, you've been in the ministry for a long time, or you have this much education, or you have this.

[22:04] No, I just want them to know that, hey, that guy's been hanging out with Jesus, spending some time with him, getting to know him. You know, Proverbs 28, verse number one, let's take a look at that.

[22:14] Proverbs 28, verse number one. Again, going back to these fundamental truths, hold your finger in Acts 4, we're going to be there after this message. But Proverbs 28, verse number one, if someone could read that for me, Proverbs 28, verse one.

[22:28] The wicked flee when no man pursue it, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Right? Talk about a roar. Because of who? The lion, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

[22:43] Now notice what it says, the righteous. Those who live by righteous commandments of God, they're relying on God's grace, they're using his grace as God would have it to be intended, as God would intend for them to use it.

[22:58] And we can live, we can never live boldly when our life is filled with carnality. We can't do that. And so the thing is, is that, I mean, think about it, what am I afraid of?

[23:12] What am I afraid of? If someone kills me, okay, that's going to be bad news. Understand that. But I get to go to heaven. Are you going to threaten me with heaven? And so what am I afraid of?

[23:26] And so the reality is, is that, so spending more time with Christ and walking with him and getting to know him more, it's going to give me that boldness of being able to speak.

[23:37] Now understand by getting in the word, knowing the word more, we're going to have more knowledge and we're going to be able to give more word out. It was, and I'm not saying this is the exact time for everybody, but it wasn't until I was 40.

[23:54] For some reason, when I turned 40, things that I've been studying for years, 20 something years, all just kind of gelled together. I don't know what it was.

[24:05] It just all came together. And, and now it's, it's, it's gotten even better. But what is that? Continually marinating my life with God's word.

[24:19] Marinating, meditating, thinking about, okay, how does this connect with this? How does this connect with that? How does this, you know, and I don't have all the, I am not good off my feet. If I was ever to get in debate, I'd lose.

[24:32] They say, you want to debate? No, I lose. I'm not good at that. I'm really not. But it's amazing to see what God could do with me. Sometimes I'm, I walk away. I go, Steph, did you hear what I said?

[24:43] She goes, yeah. I said, did it sound okay? Yeah, it was awesome. I'm like, I don't know how that happened. Cause I'm not good at that. Not good at it at all. That's those, hey, he's been with Jesus, right?

[24:56] And so guess what? You could do that as well. And so what are we afraid of? And let's go back to Acts chapter four and verse number 16.

[25:07] Acts chapter four, verse number 16. And when they were talking about the, you know, the miracle that took place, this is saying, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifested to all them that dwell in Jerusalem.

[25:24] And we cannot deny it. What miracle are they talking about, class? Here. The lame man, right? Remember, he was lame and he ended up leaping.

[25:37] Remember that? I mean, he interrupted a church service. Okay. And here's the thing. Nobody can argue with a changed life.

[25:48] Amen. That's an apologetic you can't argue with. Right? And so that's what they have to see in us. Not that they're perfect. Not that we're perfect.

[25:59] I, you know, I got a little side gig that I do. I drive bus for a school district in our area. And I do that for several reasons. One, most importantly, is I'm able to interact with a lot of lost people.

[26:13] I need that. Because, man, I could lock myself up and study and do, you know, stuff. But I need to be among the lost. And I get kids and I slap a big old Bible on a dashboard of the bus.

[26:26] And, you know, holy Bible, King James, right? And I had kids go, wow, I like your Bible. I'm like, yeah, that's cool, isn't it? And they'll stop and they'll look at it.

[26:37] And they'll walk away and get off the bus. And, but what it does, it gets me out to reach people. I want them to see a changed life.

[26:50] I want them to see someone that's different. Someone that's nice, right? There's two little, there's twins. When they first came on my bus, their backpacks were bigger than them.

[27:03] And mom and dad were not Christian by any means. I had them for three years because all my, all my routes on base. And I impacted these folks so much. They buy me gifts and this and that.

[27:16] I mean, you name it. And they're lost. And, and they know I'm a Christian. So I'm praying that one day, now I can't, you know, get on the loudspeaker on the bus, go, okay, sit down and here's the gospel.

[27:29] But the reality is, is that they know. And understand people don't get saved by observation. They get saved by proclamation. But they want to see a real Jesus in a real world.

[27:42] Right? And I can remember one time she, she asked her, her name was Kate. She said, Mr. Richie, just, you looked at, you okay? You know, I'm like, ah, I said, I'm just struggling through some things right now. I pull on base and in the mornings and there's nobody on my bus and the guard will check.

[27:59] He'll check my pass. He goes, is it only you on the bus? And I said, just me and Jesus. And they just look at me. You say, well, that's corny. No, but I want him to think about Jesus.

[28:11] Yes. That makes sense? So we look at, I remember one time I was in an elevator and got on and there was a lady there. She goes, going up. I said, one day it got quiet. You see, you know, just using these opportunities.

[28:24] And I'm not that, I don't have that much ingenuity. I can't even pronounce the word. And, but the reality is God just gives us these moments and you never know what that moment's going to do.

[28:35] Okay. And, but he said, there's a notable, notable miracle. Also, we see that you need to know that boldness is born out of a prayer life.

[28:48] Now, look at verse number 24. Okay. Verse number 24. It says, and Acts 4, I'm sorry. It says, and when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord.

[29:01] Now, let me ask you this question. If every, every prayer on your prayer list was answered, how many people would be in heaven?

[29:14] Right. And I, and I just, I don't think, I just don't think we pray enough for people to get saved. Because the Bible says in 2 Timothy, God would have all men to be saved.

[29:28] Now, they got a free will and they got to make a choice. So, and we know what, here's the thing that the, that the early church learned right away. Right.

[29:40] In Acts chapter one, they were in the upper room in one accord, wasn't a Honda, but one accord. Okay. And they were praying. They were with one accord in prayer.

[29:52] That's all they had. Listen, they had no political clout. They had nothing. They had no money. They were broke and without a politician. But they had prayer.

[30:05] And that's what you'll see consistently through the book of Acts. They prayed. They prayed. They prayed. They prayed. Is that all you got, Pastor Rich? That's all I got because that's what God gave us.

[30:17] That's good. We got to get to this. So, how did they pray? Well, they prayed recognizing, number one, here's, here's their prayer list, if you will. They prayed recognizing God's control over everything.

[30:31] Verse 23, it says, and, and let them go. They went to their own company. So, they got out of prison and they reported all that the chief priests and elders had sent unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voices to God in one accord.

[30:43] And I said, Lord, thou art God. Notice here it is. Thou art God, which hath made heaven and earth and the sea and all that.

[30:54] You see, they went back to Genesis and said, God, you're the God. If you can control all this, you could take care of these piddly people. They prayed recognizing God's control.

[31:06] They also put the situation into biblical perspective. One of the things, listen, that has helped my life so much is when I'm reading, it's not just, when I'm, when I'm reading, I'm praying.

[31:20] It's not just a one-way conversation. Did y'all catch that? When I'm reading, God's speaking to me and I'm reflecting back. Okay, God, how does this work in my life? What do you want me to do with this?

[31:30] So there's this, I'm praying the word of God back to him. Why? Because these are promises of God. God, you tell a five-year-old, hey, we're going to go, we're going to have McDonald's after lunch today.

[31:43] That five-year-old won't remember anything else you told them, but they're going to come to you and say, hey, we're going to McDonald's after church, right? And you're like, how in the world did you remember that?

[31:56] They forgot everything else you told them. But they were, see, it's not demanding, but it's saying, hey, you made a promise, God. That, you know, holding God, and he doesn't mind being held to his promises at all.

[32:09] And so that a biblical perspective, look what it says. It says, verse 25, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen rage, he's quoting from where?

[32:20] Psalm 2. He's quoting Psalm 2. Why did 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 and against his Christ.

[32:32] And it says, for of a truth against thy holy child, or thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

[32:50] They had a biblical perspective. They put, also, another aspect of their prayer, they committed their situation to God's care. And notice what it says here. And now, Lord, verse 29, behold their threatenings.

[33:06] They said, God, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. That was in 2 Chronicles 20. Peter tells us what? Casting all your care upon him. They also prayed, listen, they prayed for boldness, not for protection.

[33:20] Isn't that interesting? It says here, and grant unto thy servants that with all protection we may speak.

[33:31] Is that what your Bible says? If it does, just scratch it out and let me give you a better word. But it says, and that with all, what? Boldness.

[33:42] Now, they knew if they were going to preach, what would have happened? What could have happened? They just got let out. What could have happened? Put back in.

[33:53] Right? Frequent flyers. Right? They didn't say, oh, God, oh, God. They said, God, we just want to declare the name Jesus. We want to declare the name Jesus.

[34:04] So understand, when we begin to start praying for boldness, when we begin to start seeking God to witness, it's amazing what God will do.

[34:18] It's amazing. I have led, last year, I led one or two or three people, all at fast food restaurants, just going to have lunch.

[34:29] Say, hey, tell me about how you got saved. And one guy was in our church as a child, got out of church, came back, led him to Christ at Arby's over curly fries.

[34:42] Oh, praise God for that. Amen. And led another guy to Christ at a fast food. And I think there was three of them. But all it was was conversation. Listen, understand, you could eat your way through the book of Luke with Jesus.

[34:56] Amen. He spent time with people, getting to know them, hearing their stories. Because in a day and age in which we live, man, people got to really trust us before they hear us.

[35:09] But we have to be bold at that point. We pushed aside the Arby's sauce and the curly fries for a moment. Walked this kid through the scriptures. And man, he got gloriously saved, got discipled.

[35:21] And we baptized him, got discipled. And man, he's one of our key young men in the church in my Sunday school class, the college ministry. It's awesome. But it doesn't come because we have this knowledge necessarily, although that helps.

[35:36] But it comes because we're with Jesus, spending time with him. So we could all be bold. And then we're with Jesus.

[35:54]  And then we're with Jesus.