Prayer for Boldness (Cont’d from Feb 06)

Acts 4:13

¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

The reason for arresting Peter and John in the first place was that when the temple priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees saw that these men were teaching the people and announcing that the resurrection of the dead was happening because of Jesus. Peter was able to boldly declare who Jesus was not because of his own strength but it was given to him by Lord Jesus the Christ Himself.

How does Jesus give someone the boldness to proclaim the Gospel? Why are so many millions of Christians living in this world but only few are preaching the Gospel and serving Him? Is it because God only choses few people to work for Him and the rest of Christians will He say, “you take rest or go and have fun!” Every true born again believer is a member of Christ’s body and if you are member of Christ’s body then you have work to do. For we are all laborers in God’s vineyard hired by God and Jesus is our master. The only difference are the times we are put in into His service. Some enter into His service early in the morning and some in the afternoon and some as close to the closing of the business. A laborer is hired for a purpose. He is hired to take care of the vineyard. From the time a vineyard is initiated there’s always work for the worker. There’s no time to chill. No time for a break.

So, in order for God to hire us into His Son’s vineyard, we need to be strong spiritually. Jesus is not going to invite into His kingdom those who are weak spiritually. He requires us to be bold in declaring His triumphant victory over death. No company wants to hire a mediocre employee. The employee has to excel in what is given to him. Later on after gaining experience he should be able train others on how to take care of God’s vineyard. Then in due time the employee will be given a raise and a promotion perhaps.

What is required to work for Jesus? Do you need a Theological Seminary degree? Do you need a PhD in religion? Do you need to write a research paper regarding the excavations in Israel? Do you need to specialize in Hebrew languages? Do you need to know about every prophet of the Old Testament or do you need to know the 613 laws that Jewish people follow? The answer is, “none of the above”. (Cont’d)

May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bless us all!

Maranatha!