Boldness - Revolver Part 1

"According to my earnest expectation and my hope, 

that in nothing I shall be ashamed, 

but that with all boldness [bold added], as always, 

so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,

whether it be by life,

or by death."

Paul's letter to the Philippians 

Phil 1:20

What a verse to meditate on!

Do you have the boldness of God reigning in your life?
Boldness in Greek is parrēsia,
Which means:

1) freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech

   a) openly, frankly, i.e without concealment

   b) without ambiguity or circumlocution

   c) without the use of figures and comparisons

2) free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance

3) the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

I love those. Do you have free and fearless confidence? Do you have cheerful courage?

I believe God has been teaching me to start preparing now, for difficult, life and death situations and choices that will be coming down the road very soon.
What would you do in this situation, if you were Joe?

Story
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One day, a 17 year old young man named Joe was walking on the sidewalks of downtown Aurora, IL.
He was passing out some Million $ Tracts by Ray Comfort, and was getting the average responses from various sorts of people.
Few would say no,
Most would accept the tract,
And few would accept and ask questions about what it was, and get into a spiritual conversation about how to go to heaven.

As Joe was joyfully, soberly, and passionately sharing the gospel of Christ, little did he know that 3 young gangster style dressed men eerily watched from an alley 2 blocks away, whispering to each other in their car, as he slowly made his way in their direction.

Joe's friendly countenance and the fact that he was talking to so many people made him look like he was a person who would be easy to lure over to a car, maybe without even needing to be forced. So they three gangsters each agreed that he was the one who was going to give them all the money and things that he had.
The one who was their leader, named Sean, picked up a wooden bat. The second man's name was DJ, and he readied a knife under his large sweatshirt. Brandon, the last of the 3, concealed a short barreled revolver in his belt under his jacket.

Joe finished talking to what seemed to be the last person on the block, and then continued walking in the same direction.
The three men got out of the car, and walked toward Joe. They pretended to laugh at each others jokes, as though to act as inconspicuous as possible. As they approached him down the sidewalk, they let Sean as the leader step in front and initiate conversation and contact. Joe made eye contact with them, and glanced down a Sean's wooden bat. He thought: "Hmm that's interesting. A guy holding a wooden bat, with 2 friends, walking directly towards me, from an alley. And... What's that?! something Silver which looked like a revolver underneath that guy's belt..." Joe looked around to see if there were any other people around - and didn't see any. He slowed his walk slightly, and swallowed a gulp of uncertainty.

That's the moment, that Joe realized if he shared the gospel, if this guy had a temper, and if the Bible was true that we will be persecuted for Christ, he could literally be dead within 5 minutes, from the swing of a bat to the head, or the shot of a revolver to the chest....
=========


What will Joe do?
What would you do?
What would I do?
Would we have the boldness of people like Paul, or any of Jesus disciples, who were ready to do all to save some, even risking their lives?

I'd certainly appreciate your prayers for this!

More next week!

God bless you all with boldness this week in the little things,
so we can prepare for the BIG things.
Your brother in Christ,
Landon

Recommendation of the Week:
Paul Washer. His sermons are amazing.