Everyday Church
Be Bold in Your Faith
(upbeat music) - Hello, friend. Welcome to today's podcast, Everyday Church, with Pastor Jason Keefer. Everyday Church is a daily podcast where believers learn together, grow together, and serve together. - But this morning, we're gonna look at this idea of being bold in the faith. What does it mean? How can you and I be bold in the faith? Believers can be bold in the faith by being engaged spiritually. They can be bold in the faith by being engaged spiritually. If we were to take the time and we went through first Timothy, there would be some things that stuck out to you, some warnings that Paul gave Timothy. One of the most notable ones is where Paul tells Timothy in chapter four, and he says, Timothy, you cannot neglect the gift that was given to you with the laying on of hands. But now he says this, Timothy, you have to stir up that gift within you. I wonder sometimes if you and I have neglected our faith and we need to come to a place where we can stir up our faith within us. Well, we've kind of neglected our walk with God if we're not careful, and that's how we get to a place where we're in fact timid in our walk with God. What is the evidence? What is seen? The Bible says that the wicked flee when no man pursueeth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Boldness is one of the ways that you identify faith in the righteousness of God, not by any boldness we have. That's why the Bible says through the work of Jesus we can come boldly to the throne of grace. The book of Hebrews says that we might boldly say, the Lord is our helper. I will trust in him. Nowhere in God's word will you find that he calls us to be timid in our faith or just kind of hiding in the shadows in our faith but that every one of us could be bold in our faith. And what a day and time to live in when we need people to be bold in their faith for the cause of Christ. I'm not talking about being brash and rude and arrogant. That's not boldness. Sometimes those characteristics actually are hiding fears in people's life. I'm just saying be bold in the spirit. We're gonna look at some things this morning that we must do in order to be bold in the faith. Number one, the first thing that we see this morning is that believers can be bold in the faith by walking in the spirit. And so Paul in his introduction to this letter it's a typical introduction. He's an apostle by the will of God. He's called according to the promise of life. He's saved, which is in Christ. He's writing to Timothy, his beloved son. And the typical greeting is grace, mercy and peace which can only come from God. And he thanks God, he said, I thank God whom I serve from my father, the forefathers with pure conscious that without ceasing I have remembrance of me, of thee in my prayers night and day. So he prayed for Timothy continually. He's continually praying for Timothy. Timothy's always on his heart and mind. And I think the next verse may kind of give us some insight there. He says, greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears when Timothy and Paul had parted the last time. It probably, it was probably kind of in their minds that this is good chances the last time we're going to see each other. And so it's evident that when they left the last time Paul had saw him, Timothy must have been emotional about it. He was brokenhearted and Paul says, man, that burdens me. That bothers me. And Timothy, I'm praying for you, man. I'm praying for you. And he said, I desire to see you. And if I could see you, I know it would feel me with joy. And then he says in verse five, he says, when I call to remembrance the unfanged faith, this unfanged faith is just a pure faith, a true faith. It's not a hypocritical faith. Like what he saw in Timothy was the real deal. He's like, look, what I have seen in you, the unfanged faith that I have seen in you, that first was in your grandmother. So he seen a true faith in his grandmother. He seen a true faith in his mother, Eunice. And now he said, Timothy, I have also seen that true faith, that real genuine faith in you. Man, what a reminder it is as parents and grandparents that our faith, man, is such a foundation to our children's faith. It is not their faith, but man, it really sets the tone for their faith. But then he says this, he gives him some instruction. He says, Timothy, I remember your faith, it's strong. And the problem is not in what you believe, the problem is not in the doctrine, you've got that right. Timothy, the problem is the spirit behind your faith. It's like you're timid in your faith. And so he says this, he says, "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on on my hands, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Timothy, you're going to have to stir up that gift. The gift that I told you in the first letter that you weren't going to neglect, it's kind of apparent that Timothy's disposition has caused him to withdraw and neglect the gift of God. Now for Timothy, it was the preaching of God's word. It was the spirit of an evangelist. It was the heart of a pastor for Timothy to carry on the work that he had seen under Paul. And Paul was there when Timothy was called and commissioned into the work of Christ. And somewhere along the line, Timothy's timid spirit had caused him to withdraw from that. And he says, Timothy, you're going to have to stir that up. The idea of stirring this up is like a fire. If you've ever set around a fire. And when I go to my in-laws house, we, they like to build fires on holidays and stuff. It can be fourth of July, 100 degrees outside. They want to build a fire by the car. And, you know, you sit out there and how many of you have set around a fire and it's a nice fire, it's good, chilly outside, you know, and you get to talking, right? You start telling stories, you start to laugh, you start to joke and you start to cut up. And man, pretty soon time will go by and man, that fire is all but dead. You ever done that before? And that's really kind of the picture Paul's giving us here. It's like the fire, the intensity of the passion of Paul of Timothy's faith has just kind of died. And he says, look, you're going to have to stir that up. So when you stir that up, man, what do you do? You get you a poker stick, right? You start stirring them embers up a little bit. Maybe you'll go get you a little piece of wood, right? You start fanning it. And once it starts to build up, man, you put some wood on there, right? And pretty soon, man, you're back into business, right? That's the, that's what Paul's kind of the picture he's given, Timothy, or you got to stoke that fire, man. You got to stir those embers. Listen, how are you going to stir those embers? Well, he says in verse seven, he says, here's how God hath not given us the spirit of fear. It's a spiritual thing. Look, I just want to tell you this morning, like I can get up here this morning saying, hey, you got to get excited, you got to, you got to want to do this and you got to want to do that, man, that ain't challenging anybody, right? I mean, right? I mean, some of y'all are like me and y'all kind of like got that. Y'all got that spirit going on where that would cause you to actually withdraw even more. Like who's this guy I think he is, you know? How are you? You know, I mean, you can do that and sometimes there's a need for that, but this is a heart spiritual thing. And Paul said, look, according to the spirit, for you and I, listen, the Holy Spirit is the gift of God that lives and dwells within us. And sometimes, listen, we neglect that. We neglect that and man it, it just comes to this place where we got to stir up within our heart this spirit of power and this spirit of love and this spirit of a sound mind after sometimes we have neglected that in our walk with God. And so the stirring of the spirit is a call to action for the cause of Christ. This call of action is needed because of what we neglect. Listen, this spirit of our faith, this boldness in our faith is what helps us to identify each other. I think it's interesting that back in the Old Testament, think with me for a moment of the story of Elijah and Elisha, right? And so Elijah is getting ready to go. The Lord has told him, said, Elijah, you're not gonna die. I'm coming to get you. And he tells Elisha this. And Elisha says, well, Elijah, I want, this is what I want. He said, I want a double portion of your spirit. The spirit that's in you, the spirit that is in you, Elijah, that's what I want. I want twice, double the amount. And so Elijah tells me, he says, okay, Elisha. He said, if you're with me, when the Lord takes me up and you see me, all right, it's gonna be granted unto you. And so men, I mean, almost immediately, a chair to fire comes down and picks Elijah up crazy story, right? And Elisha's sitting there, the only thing he has of Elijah is his mantle, his coat. That's all he has. But what is interesting is this. What is interesting is that when you go to 2 Kings, chapter two and 15, when he goes back amongst God's people, this is their response. And when the sons of the prophets, which were to view a Jericho of Sallheim being Elisha, they said, the spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elisha. The spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elisha. Now, I just wanna tell you for a moment, what they were actually seeing was the spirit of God twice on Elijah, right? I should say I want your spirit. I want twice the spirit that is on you, right? Which is what he's looking at. And so look, what they saw though, what they thought they saw, they recognized was man. He is bold like Elijah. Look, the identifier in our faith should be the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the boldness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, though he got of the universe and the creator of all things. I mean, he comes to earth, walks among men, confidently preaches the word, and authority expounds the word, and look confidently under the grace of God, walks to the cross and defeats death, hell in the grave for you and I. Listen, that is the spirit of power. That is the spirit of love. That is the spirit of a sound mind for you and me. So we have to stir that spirit within us. And so when you and I come to the place and people begin to identify our life as a life that has a spirit stirred within them, they see a confident, a bold faith. How do we do this? How do you stir your faith? Well, I wanna show you real quick, David in Psalm chapter 42. David's a great example of how you stir your faith. And so David in 42, Psalm chapter 42, he's crying out to God, remember? And what does he say in Psalm 42? He says, oh my soul, why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou and God. Look, David is at this place where for two chapters, he's just like, man, it's bad. And he's even talking to himself. He's saying, okay, David, why, what's going on? What's going on in your heart? You gotta recognize that, right? And when you recognize that, you begin to look in your heart, but you're looking to God. And so David takes his looking into his heart, and he begins to look upward to God. I'm just saying this morning, nothing will stir your heart like the Lord will. Take your Bibles real quick to Psalm chapter 34. This is a great example of having your heart stirred in times of distress, in times where maybe you've neglected some things, maybe sometimes where you just really, maybe even in disobedience, I don't know. And so Psalm chapter 34 is this Psalm where David, he's hiding in a cave and he's just left a bimalek. This is the story where he leaves a bimalek, and the Bible says that he's like a crazy man, he's clawing on the walls, he's got spit running down his face, and he has nothing, he has no food, he has no men, he's running from Saul. I mean, David is in a really bad spot. It's a great time to be timid. He's hiding in this cave and his brothers hear about this, his family hears about it, and they come down and meeting. The problem is, the people that come down to meet him are the people that are in debt, the people that are in trouble, the people that are upset with Saul. I mean, these are, they're all struggling, all these people are struggling. And so listen to the voice of David, and we don't have time to go completely through this. He says, "I will bless the Lord at all times, his phrase shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord, the humble show here thereof, and be glad, oh, magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me." Look at verse six, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him." David is stirring his heart in this song. David is in trouble, his spirit is just dead within him, and you know what he's doing? He's saying, all right, God has not given me a spirit of fear, he has given me the spirit of power, he has given me the spirit of love and of sound mind. And so David is stirring his heart, he says, "This poor man cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles." Verse eight, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." Like David has no physical food. The problem is David, he's having to ask for food. David's in a place where he doesn't have nourishment, he doesn't have what he needs to replenish himself, and he says, "You know what, O take you, David, taste and see that the Lord is good." Sometimes we read that and we feel like David's talking to us, but in reality, like David is just saying, David, taste and see, like go to God. You know what it's like, you've been in his presence, and so then in verse 10, he says, "The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Many of the fictions in verse 19 of the Lord are the righteous, but the Lord deliverth him out of them all. David begin to stir up his spirit within himself. Psalms 142 is another great example where David is just in trouble in his heart. He struggled and he finds out, "Man, my heart is overwhelmed. Lord, I need you to come rescue me." And David stirs his heart. Now, when I read those psalms, I don't know about you, that stirs my heart. How many of you agree with that? How many of you say, "Man, when I hear David's like, all right, this poor man cried unto the Lord, and he saved him out of all his troubles?" Like you read that a few times, I meditate on that, and it'll begin to work in your spirit, and pretty soon you're over there in 2 Timothy, and you're like, all right. Like, I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to live in fear. And so I will tell you this this morning as we continue, that the stirring of the spirit is a spiritual matter. It's you going to God. It is you crying out to God and you relying on his word. The spirit has to be spared. Third, God has not given us the spirit of fear, this power, this love. The idea of a sound mind will get to this moment when we talk about the scriptures as this morning. It is that our mind would be clothed with the word of God. It's like that our mind, I'm sorry, would be disciplined in our walk with God. And it seems that Timothy might have gotten a little undisciplined in what God had called him to do. And in his faith, because of his fear, I think sometimes fear can be the reason why we get undisciplined in our walk with God. A disciplined mindset, a disciplined, not a legalistic mindset. There's a difference, you understand that. But a disciplined mind, a mindset under control of the spirit, a mindset under control of the love of God, a mindset under control of the power of God. So that when my mind begins to go to those places of fear and anxiety and things of timidity, the discipline of God's word draws me back in and says, no, no, no, no. The spirit of God is a spirit of power. You don't have to go there. The spirit of God is a spirit of love. You don't have to go there. And so that helps us to start our spirit. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening to Everyday Church, a daily podcast where believers learn together, grow together and serve together. If this episode was an encouragement to you, be sure to hit like, share it, and subscribe for future content. (upbeat music)