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[WW] Bold and Courageous · The Wesley Word

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Our scripture today, we're going to be talking about a topic, we're going to go into Acts chapter 4.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: The I think I told you 13 through 21.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see if that's it.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, awesome.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hear these words from the book of Acts.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So they ordered them to leave the council while they discuss while they discussed the matter with one another.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: They said, What will we do with them?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them, we cannot deny it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: For all of them praise God for what had happened.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: This is the word of God for the people of God.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So now I want to talk a little about, we're gonna talk about leadership, but also courage and boldness.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Something I've been thinking about for a while.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And this is one of my favorite passages, sort of about leadership, because it is about leadership, but it's not about leadership.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: But you see a lot of courage and boldness taking place here.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now I hear courage and boldness, it takes me back to my college days.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Here's my once like way back in the day story, right?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um the guy, small group I was in, we always talked about courage and boldness and praying for courage and boldness.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't that we were praying for like real courage and boldness, but that was like our code word for like, God, please help us quit lusting and all that kind of stuff.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was our words every week was courage and boldness.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: But here in this story, we see real courage and boldness coming out.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not familiar with the chapters around that, what led up to you know the interaction with Peter and John and the leaders that be, Peter and John were walking by and they came across this person who had been lame since birth, right?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone else passes by and they give some alms, they give a little money to the person that's there.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: But um, Peter and John stopped and they looked at this person and they said, Look at me, look at me, get up.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he reached down and he pulls the man up who is lame, and all of a sudden he's able to walk, he's able to, you know, have strength.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: They walk him around.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And all the people were amazed at this.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh my goodness, look who look what's happened.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: This person has been actually healed.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: These people said, Get up and walk.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And they picked him up in the name of Jesus and he started walking, and it was this great miracle.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the people like, this is awesome.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: This we know this guy, he's never been able to walk, this is incredible.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then there started being discussions, right?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, who?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: How are they healing this person?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: By whose authority?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Who gave them the right to do this, right?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then um they ended up in front of the religious leaders, and they're, you know, they kind of talk about behind their back, what are we gonna do with this?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they bring them out and say, look, all right, so it's pretty obvious that something big happened, but we need you to chill out.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: We need you to stop doing things in the name of Jesus because you're causing a ruckus.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Things are not how they're supposed to be, things are changing, and we need you to settle down, to quit doing your healing.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And they said that they even noticed that Peter and John were ordinary people.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: They were uneducated people, they weren't the cream of the crop, but yet they're out there healing in the name of Jesus, and the religious powers were saying, You need to slow down, you need to stop.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Let's not do any more of this.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: To which you see that line where we see some courage and boldness taking place, where Peter and John tell them, say, Look, you can decide what you need to do.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: But as for us, we're not gonna stop proclaiming what we've seen.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna stop proclaiming what we've heard, we're not gonna stop proclaiming and healing folks in the name of Jesus because that is who we are in our innermost being.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: That is who we are called to be.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so I love this story because it shows this idea of what it means to be courageous and to be bold in leadership as Christians.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: He has Wesley leadership opened up, and we're gonna talk about that um towards the end of the night, just briefly, right?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: But as a people of faith, we are called to live a life uh full of courage, to live a life full of boldness, as we see in this example here.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't just done by someone who, again, the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the people that have the scriptures memorized frontwards and backwards and have all the answers.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: These are ordinary people who Jesus said, Hey, come follow me, just like we're ordinary people, and Jesus, hey, come follow me.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: They stepped up in boldness, looked at this person who needed healing, and said, Get up, walk in the name of Jesus.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And when people told them they were doing too much, you're moving too fast, slow yourself down, they said, No, we're not gonna stop that because we're doing what Jesus has called us to do.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wonder what it means for us to be bold and courageous today, or perhaps what it might be for you to be bold and courageous in your own lives.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know where you're at in your different things, but some things that I'm thinking of, right?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes to be bold and courageous means to speak up when otherwise we want to be silent.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: When we hear names being called, when we hear sexist jokes being said, when we hear racist jokes being said, and there's silence there.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, my family can be horrible, right?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like Thanksgiving is not that much fun because you gotta go and you gotta deal with these folks.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: But being able to find ways to speak up and to step out there, right?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: To be um, to be willing to be who we are and who we're called to be, and to what it means to be to be bold and courageous is to live our lives with integrity even when no one else is looking, right?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: To be who we're called to be as disciples and to be loving and to be kind and to be merciful, not just when we're at Wesley or at church stuff, but in and out and throughout all of the time.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: What it means to be courageous, courageous, and bold, we talked about this a little bit at lunch today, some of us that were at lunch together.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this theme that I've sort of tried to pick up on this year is to embrace the awkward, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: To be courageous and bold is to embrace the awkward.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It means when you come here on a Sunday night and you see folks that you don't know, you don't have to be like, not sitting at that table, right?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: But embrace the awkward and do this really cool awkward thing that says, hi, my name is what's yours, right?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And to embrace that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that one step of courage, that one step of boldness can mean the world to the person who is sitting there who's like, I wish somebody would talk to me, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: To be bold and to courageous to step out there.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about what is it that God might be calling you to do that might be bold and courageous, to take a step, to take a step in your faith, to take a step in your journey, in your growth, and to see where that might lead, right?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: One last example that's coming up next week.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would invite you, I spotch limit to 30, but I think we can fit some more, um, to consider going to the ally training that we're offering next Sunday.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you may be thinking, Steve, I'm not on board with that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm not where you're at, right?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from full inclusion, like, let's go.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: The church needs to get itself caught up this time, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you might be thinking, no, I'm not, I'm not there, I'm not there.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Ally training is not necessarily like you have to be fully on board and all of a sudden you're gonna leave there and be like, yes, I'm 100%, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've been to that training before though.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the cool thing when you go through that though is you learn, even if you're not as inclusive as maybe you you want to be, or you're kind of sketchy, you're not sure, or not sketchy, you're scared, you're not sure what to do.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: If nothing else, stepping out in a bold way and a courageous way doing there, you will learn some language that even if you're not fully on board with inclusion, you might learn some things that you can be a better neighbor to those in the LGBT community, right?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can step, learn some language, learn things that you might not realize you're saying that's hurtful, you can change some of your language by getting some of that training that would go a long way.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would encourage you, if that's something that maybe you're like, I don't know, I'm kind of on the fence, I don't know, take a step out there.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's the fire alarm goes off all the time here.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um take a step out there and think about something along those lines.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would just encourage you, um, that and other things, right?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, how might you be bold and courageous here in your time?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And to think about what it is that you believe in, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'll I quote Brene Brown a lot and she talks a lot about how most institutions are just full of a bunch of BS, right?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: She says that most institutions out there, only about 10% of people and 10% of these institutions actually know what they believe in or live their lives as what they believe, right?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: We claim here as Clemson West to be a place for all the welcome.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: We claim to be a place here where we say it's okay to ask questions.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Christopher starts panicking, I'll start panicking, but we're good.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um we claim to be a place where it's okay to ask questions, right?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: To wrestle.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: We claim to be a place where it is encouraged to love your neighbor and to grow and to serve and all those types of things.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so I encourage us not just to say those things, but to live into a life of being that way and doing that thing, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because here's the deal, and I'm I'm I'm not gonna talk long tonight, so I wanted to talk a little bit about our leadership.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you, for those that have never done that, know what's up.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: What I love about Peter and John is that they pushed the limit in the name of Jesus, right?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: If they would have walked by the person that was lame and simply given them some money like everyone else had done, they would not have gotten in trouble.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And they wouldn't even have made it into the book of Acts, right?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: What got their story in the book of Acts is they saw real hurt.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: They saw a real wrong, right?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Real hurt, real need, and they stopped and did something.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: And when the church people said, You're moving too fast, slow down, you don't know what you're doing, let's stop, let's think about this, let's form a committee, let's plan it, let's figure it out, they said, No.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: In the name of Jesus, this person is hurting.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna provide healing, right?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so, what would it look like for us as people of faith, even if the church says slow down or wherever you might be, to step out and to find ways that we might be a people of real healing, real action over and over again.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And knowing that you can do these things because just like Peter and John, who are ordinary people, who are uneducated people, you guys are not ordinary people.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've been time around you, you're extraordinary people, you're not uneducated, you're way smarter than I am.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I was smart.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are crazy smart, right?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And thinking about how you might use your gifts to bring about real healing in and among this world.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Even Joshua, right, when he was supposed to take over for Moses, was frightened.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: And we see those words where he's told to be strong and be courageous, right?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord God is with you wherever you will go.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to think about ways that you can be bold, ways that you can live into a life of courage and to live out your life for Jesus.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um that let's pray.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then you don't have to ban yet, so I'm gonna talk about something first, but we're gonna pray first, okay?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Good and gracious God, we thank you so much for this time together, for our lives together.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: For this time to worship you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray wherever our hearts meet may be here and now that you will fill us with your Holy Spirit.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: If comfort is what we need, we pray, O God, that you will bring comfort.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: If peace and resolution and reconciliation is what we need right now, O God, we pray that you will soften our hearts and that you will move us to those ways.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: However, and wherever we find ourselves, O God, we pray that you would give us the same power of your spirit that you poured upon Peter and John that day.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that when we see a need for healing, when we see injustice happening, when we say way see ways in which we can speak up and move and act in real and tangible ways to be your hands and feet.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, help us to move that way.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: When it's awkward, help us to embrace it.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: When it's difficult, give us strength for the journey, that we might be a people of healing, a people who can proudly and boldly proclaim in the name of Jesus, stand up and walk.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: As we be a healing hand in this world through your power.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: We ask all this in Christ's holy name.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.