Holy Boldness!

Text:  Ephesians 3:12

 

God made each of us in a unique way.  We are each very different from each other in personalities, height, weight, hair/skin color, dialect, interests, etc.  Some of us appear to be more bold in nature than others.  Some appear to be able to take control over a situation and handle it more easily than others.  Some are nurturers.  Some work best with their hands, such as with crafts or construction.  Some seem to know just what to say at any given moment.

 We are unique and different from each other in our DNA or our inner structures.  A structure is "anything that is composed of parts arranged together in some way".  Well God has certainly arranged our inner structures in ways that only He can and for His purpose.  The one thing on the inside of us that is the same for all of us Sons of God is the Almighty God who dwells within us!

I want to share with you an example from God of the uniqueness of geese and their bold nature.  I was on the way to work one morning, and I reached a location near a pond.  There are often geese nearby, and this day was no exception.  As I approached the pond, there was a mother goose and her gosling just reaching the opposite side of the road.  As I drove past those geese, God gave me the words "bold";  "having boldness".  My thought was this:  God, you are so right!  These geese have incredible boldness when it comes to crossing the roads where cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other vehicles travel.  Geese are so bold that they don't stop to look for traffic coming - they simply waddle into the road and continue until they reach their destination.  Now that's pretty bold!

A few days later, God confirmed this to me again on the way home from work near this same location.  Up ahead, I could see that traffic coming toward me had stopped.  Once I reached that point, I saw 4 geese crossing the road while the traffic waited.  That is boldness!

Now I am not suggesting that we all cross streets without even looking for oncoming traffic!  But I

am suggesting that the geese exemplify a type of boldness that we should have as Sons of God - one

that will give us confidence to step out in faith and proclaim the kingdom message.  I'm talking

about "Holy Boldness", which is what I have entitled this  message.  Holy Boldness!

EMBRACE YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

TEXT:  MATTHEW 3:13-17

Matthew portrays Christ as our “Promised Messiah”!  It links us up with the old testament.

EMBRACE - means to accept; to take in or include as a part; to be equal or equivalent.

IDENTITY – who someone is; the name of person/thing.

If I asked you to show me an ID, you would reach in your wallet and pull out a card with your picture, name, and address.

If the question was asked, “Who are you?”, what would you say?  “I’m a nurse, freshman, football player, dancer, etc.".

Well, you have based your identity on what you do. 

If that’s the case, then who are you when you quit doing it?  Basing your identity on your performance, appearance, your abilities or anything else sounds good, but its false identity!

God wants us to know our true identity!  In order to allow the power of God to reign freely in our lives  and flow through us, spilling out into ministry, we must accept certain spiritual truths!