In our secular progressive age, there are a lot of cultural pressures to keep our faith to ourselves. Following Jesus is viewed as acceptable so long as it’s kept private. After all, we’re a pluralistic society, and since religion tends to divide, the pressure is always to keep quiet.
Of course, this flies directly in the face of Jesus’ commission to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Christianity is a missionary movement. We are “Good News” people. We are heralds of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that all peoples everywhere can be reconciled to God through the saving work of Jesus Christ! We cannot help but speak about what we’ve seen and heard. Jesus’ life-giving message is too good to keep quiet. We would be selfish and unloving to go silent.
We are called to be bold for Jesus! Of course, that doesn’t mean we should be obnoxious, combative, arrogant, or coercive. Tone matters immensely. We are always to give off the aroma of Christ. We are called to speak the truth in love. We are to be like Christ as we speak for Christ, serving the world with bold humility and sacrificial love.
But where does that boldness for Jesus come from? How can we overcome the cultural pressures to keep our faith to ourselves? How can we gently and firmly stand for Jesus in our cultural moment? I hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we examine Acts 4:1–31 and discover three powerful resources we have that enable us to be bold for Jesus!
Remember, you are loved, more than you know!
I have listened to Pastor Miller’s sermon several times on the Law of Love. I am saying this out of thankfulness and credit to the Lord Jesus for providing the wisdom
in that absolutely wonderful message. I’ve had great respect to the words of our Good Savior for a lot of years now, but I have never heard it said in such a accurate manner that our Lord summarized all of the Old Testament with some extremely important key notes in the Sermon on the Mount, leading to the precious words that he gave us in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you.” And to think of the promises that we have if we hear and obey those words. That old hymn “Cling to the promises of God” that was written by Elizabeth Miller about 100 years ago still goes through my mind. Best to you, and I would like to meet Pastor Miller personally someday. Thank you. Bob Luka. Berea, Kentucky.