Episode 3 - Blazing Boldness: Walking the Line Between Faith and Folly

Transcript

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Welcome to another episode of guilt-free faith with your host, jimmy James Johnson, where we of little faith come to discuss our doubts and differences and have some laughs along the way.

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Just a warning things can get kind of crazy here.

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In terms of the material, it's kind of a no-holds-barred situation here.

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This is a piece of commentary, bible study, performance, art etc.

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And what this means is that you are not to take anything that I say seriously or for the gospel, as it were.

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This is a safe space for everybody to just be who they are and say whatever the hell they want.

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So, in that spirit, what we're going to do here today is talk a bit about the subject of boldness and how we progress in building up that aspect of our walk and our personality and our faith, something we can all use.

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So we're going to have a few verses, we're going to talk about that, and then Jimmy James Johnson will bring it all together with his insane commentary, which is only occasionally helpful.

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Okay, let's get right down to it.

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I'm going to start with a verse here.

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This is Acts, chapter 4, verse 13.

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Now, when they sold the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they wondered and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

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Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 16.

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Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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And finally, acts, chapter 4, verse 31.

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And when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.

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When we think of what boldness looks like on someone, we think of a person who is daring, courageous, brave and fearless.

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Some people think they are bold, but they are merely rude, arrogant and impudent.

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They would be much better off to be honest and admit being afraid but keep going, rather than try and pretend to be brave while living a lie.

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It takes true courage and boldness to walk in faith and wait for God to vindicate you when you are ill-treated.

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Genuinely brave people not only have the courage to take action, they also have the courage to wait when they need to.

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During the three years of Jesus' earthly ministry, many people thought he was crazy.

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His own brothers were embarrassed by him and, in an effort to save their reputation, they told him he needed to go somewhere else to do his works.

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If he was unwilling to do that, they had another option for him.

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They told him to take action and stop doing his works in secret.

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They tried to convince him it was time to show himself and his works to the world.

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In other words, they wanted Jesus to impress the people with what he could do.

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He responded to them by saying my time has not come yet.

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John, chapter 7, verse 6.

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How many of us could show that type of self-control?

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It is good to have plans, and we should plan boldly and assertively, but we must be wise enough to know that our plans will ultimately fail without God.

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If our confidence is a fruit of us being first rooted in God, then we have the right kind of confidence which produces true boldness.

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As Paul said, we are self-confident in his confidence.

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Be confident, but let your confidence be rooted in God.

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We are what we are due to his grace and mercy.

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Confidence breeds confidence.

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You don't have to keep telling people over and over again that you are nothing without God, but keep repeating that regularly to the Lord.

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With God's influence covering us, we can all learn to take a risk much more often than we usually do, as our boldness increases gradually and progressively under the nurturer and direction of our Lord.

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We must always remember that our boldness must include consideration for others, cloaked with a continual dosage of faith, hope and love.

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Let's mix in a few more verses.

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But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how, on the road, he had seen the Lord who spoke to him and how, at Damascus, he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

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Acts, chapter 9, verse 27.

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Accordingly, though, I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet, for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you.

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I Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner, also for Christ Jesus.

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Philemon, chapter 8 and 9.

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This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him.

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Ephesians 3, verses 11 and 12.

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Is it possible to be humble and bold?

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Not only is it possible to be humble and bold, it is impossible to be truly bold without humility.

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Joshua was a man who was both.

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God told him to finish the job, moses started and take the Israelites into the promised land.

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Only after giving Joshua the command, god announced that he be with him, the same as he was with Moses.

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Joshua 1, verse 5.

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Joshua's confidence rested in the fact that God was with him and because of that he was able to go forward to do something that he felt unqualified to do.

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Joshua must have felt fear, because the Lord repeatedly told him to fear not.

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God told Joshua that if he would be strong, confident and full of courage, that he would cause the people to inherit the land which God had promised them.

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Notice the emphasis that God places on himself.

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Joshua was to keep his eyes on God.

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He was not to get entangled in other things that might frighten him.

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He was to stay focused on his goal.

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If he obeyed God, he would not only help himself, he would have the privilege of leading multitudes of people into a better life.

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Joshua 1, verse 9.

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God's discourse to Joshua is evidence that there would be reasons in the natural for him to fear and become dismayed.

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When we take steps of faith to make progress in life, there is no guarantee that we will not experience opposition, but we do have God's guarantee that he will always be with us, and that is truly all we need.

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We don't need to know what God is going to do, how he is going to do it or when he is going to do it.

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We only need to know that he is with us.

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Like Joshua, we all need to learn that there are some risks worth taking.

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In fact, when we are grounded in the Lord, many of our risks may culminate in fruit-bearing productivity, through which many others are able to benefit.

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Bonus represents a faith extension.

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In this extension, the Holy Spirit partners with us to facilitate divine and supernatural results.

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Trust the Lord and you will receive the proper type of spiritual guidance to enhance the godly momentum of your assignment.

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This at first reminds me of the guy at the bar who had a bit too much to drink and starts the shit out of him.

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He was bold, but he was a damn fool in the end.

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There are plenty of examples of foolish boldness that we have all run into or have bought into or acted out in our own lives.

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On the surface, regardless of its source, boldness may look the same Someone that is courageous, they are willing to do something, they are willing to take action.

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We really need to peer under the hood to figure out what is motivating that or what is the foundation of that.

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When you think of it, you see bold people do stupid shit all the time.

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I love watching extreme sports, but those guys that are jumping off the mountains and those wingsuits and flying centimeters away from the rocks and all that, that's some bold but stupid shit, let's face it, that's you know.

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Wow, okay, I mean, I love you guys, I love watching the videos, so keep them coming, but damn, that's just kind of risky as hell for a much or worthwhile purpose.

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You know, a lot of times when we, you know, see boldness, it's under circumstances which are questionable.

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There's such circumstances, right, the person that you know is a braggart and you know starts fights with people and knowing full well that he's going to lose or he's going to have to basically just run away.

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Or the people that make a bold decision at work to fake some sick days or steal a little money here and there, and they feel emboldened, they feel justified by the fact that they don't like their work and the word.

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They don't like their boss and, frankly, the company owes them and so they're gonna do whatever they want and they're gonna be bold about it, and obviously that can lead to some bad places.

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There was a girl in management at some company that I think was like pretty small, like where people kind of you would know one another or you would see one another, like it wasn't like a mega corporation of thousands of people and you know everybody was just like a number.

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You know, it was not like that at all.

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It was a small team and she was in management and there was a guy there who was working like on the docks.

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Apparently he had had, you know, a pretty extensive criminal background.

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The only type of job he could get was on a dock at a little you know local company.

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The girl in management and this guy crossed paths and again, this would not be unusual because they're like in a, you know, situation where there aren't that many people, it's not like you have to go out of your way to, you know cross paths with somebody.

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So I'm not sure if he floored with her or vice versa, or if it was mutual or what, but apparently they started getting together like outside of work and this became a regular thing where you know they were then together like for a few months and the next thing, you know, they don't come into work one day and you know word, you know spreads like wildfire that they had been arrested.

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Now, what they were arrested for was pretty damn bold, I have to say, because, for one thing, as I'm telling you, their affair or something going on was not a secret, you know, or was a huge open secret.

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Obviously nobody was saying it straight out, but everybody in the building knew what was going on, or certainly anyone in management, because they saw them interact and overheard things, or, you know, some person confided in another person and you know.

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So the work got out.

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So they decided to take their boldness to another level.

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They decided to kill the girls husband, the husband of the manager quite a bold plan.

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Now, the fact that I'm telling you the stories to let you know that was a boldest build on sinking bullshit, right, like that's a real dubster fire.

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You know series of events that didn't do anyone in the equation any good.

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So, yeah, so they got caught.

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I don't know what they eventually pleaded and down to or whatever, but I think at least initially they were charged like with attempted murder and a conspiracy to commit murder.

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There's a boldness there that was driven by lust and you know, perhaps greed, you know, perhaps there was money at stake, or you know a life insurance, or even just a greed of, you know, quote, having it all and then wanting more on top of it.

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But you know, when you have a boldness that's that's underlined by impulsiveness and greed and lust and unhealthy desires, that type of boldness can lead to disaster.

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Another type of boldness that we see built on a poor foundation is when people get drunk.

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People get drunk, they say shit, they do shit, they make a show of being bold, they may even feel bold that's the whole like liquid courage thing and they just get themselves all fucked up somehow.

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Maybe they start a fight with somebody, or maybe they decide to drink and drive.

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You know their infinite varieties of goofiness that happen when people start drinking.

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One example I remember there's this girl who she went to this kind of a new, kind of hot, trendy bar and I think, just because it was popular and it was so crowded, like the security and everything didn't have like a full handle on the place, like it was a little bit kind of like bubbling over, you know, and in the midst of like all that you know pandemonium, this girl who was drunk, you know, and like in her early 20s, I think she was just like hitting the club circuit and her drunk and boldness she decided it would be cool for her to climb up on the bar and you know do her twerking and dancing and stuff, you know try to get a little the guy's attention, you know.

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And so, as you may imagine, she got up on to the slippery wooden bar and she fell off the whole goddamn bar.

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She literally fell off the bar and I think maybe like hit the stool and then like hit the ground and I think she may have like broken her leg or something.

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I mean she pretty seriously injured herself, like I mean she would recover, you know, thank God.

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But it was just like you know, you got all boldened up, you got emboldened, you got up and you thought you were cool and you just end up the most fucking killing yourself.

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And just as a footnote to that story, I recall hearing that she actually went on to sue that establishment for her injury.

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Sometimes we have the boldness of you know, as a guy particularly, I can relate to kind of people daring you to do something or you wanting to look like the the big guy.

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You know the guy that will.

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You know skateboard off.

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You know the biggest ramp, you know.

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Or you know ski down the most difficult.

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You know black diamond hill, or you know X, y and Z, but that boldness is based on insecurity and really a desperation to show oneself, as you know, better than they are, better than they feel they are.

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Once again, that type of boldness is a disaster.

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The boldness that God is interested in us embracing is that which is undergirded by his love, his forgiveness, his promises.

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That's really the type of boldness that moves us towards something positive.

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That's the type of boldness that has a good outcome, because in our relationship with God, he knows it's important that he keeps his promises.

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Now, granted, a lot of times, like I don't know how he's keeping the promise, because I'm like dude, this don't seem like you're not keeping the promise.

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In a way, I want you to keep it.

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You know I want delivered from this, I want healed from that.

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I want, you know, money in my pocket.

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You know I want a girl on my arm.

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I want, you know, my mom in a new house.

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You know, I want.

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You know you have this.

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You know kind of laundry list of once which I believe God totally understands, right, like obviously, if he created us, he knows the type of types of wants and desires that we have and whether you want to attribute that to you know, original sin or whatever.

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Regardless, I think we can say that a lot of the things that we want as human beings aren't necessarily like in line with the word and, on top of it, they were not materializing, right?

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I mean, there are a lot of things that generally we're praying for, for ourselves and for others.

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I mean, I pray for, you know, depending on the day.

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I, you know, I pray for family, friends, enemies.

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Sometimes I pray against my enemies, right, like I'm going to just, you know, try to be in some prayer, you know, even though it's going to go off in some astonishing directions.

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Right, the type of boldness Christ is suggesting and recommending to us is one that's actually built on a very solid foundation, that is, a foundation of his forgiveness, his sacrifice, his love, his faithfulness and his many promises to us.

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Those are all things that are at least put forth in the word as like the solid ground that we can stand on.

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Now, I have to say I have trouble standing on that ground when I feel like I've been praying for something and I'm it's, you know, I'm really in a lot of pain from it and nothing seems to be happening.

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You know, I don't feel very bold, you know, or I don't feel like justifiably bold.

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I don't feel like I'm can you know, ask to you know for the seized the part, or I don't feel like I suddenly get you know this like name it claim it power.

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You know, in life it's easy to become afraid.

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It's easy to become afraid of living because you don't know what's you know next around the corner, or what you know you're going to be able to stand or endure.

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So it's easy to get to a place of hesitance.

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But at the same time I think we all kind of know instinctually that if we want to improve our lives and we want to kind of hit, you know, new vistas of experience, we're going to have to be bold.

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We're going to have to be bold people, you know, because after we make those changes, it's going to step out into that, whatever that is.

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That could be a new job, it could be, you know, moving to a new city, it could be starting or ending an important relationship.

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We know that it's like it's going to require at least from our standpoint, from where we've been, it's going to require a shit ton of boldness to make like any, any alterations in the kind of unsatisfactory pattern in which we've been living and so that's not easy.

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Most of us are that are, you know, attempting to be in prayer, to attempting to be in these conversations with God.

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You know, privately or publicly, you know we want to stand on those promises.

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Obviously, you know we were reassured when we come across something like that, like in the Bible or in a sermon or whatever, that reminds us that we don't need to fear or reminds us that you know God's always walking with us.

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But when we're not, you know a lot of times that we're not feeling that or we're not seeing that like in the natural, like it's not like a concrete thing.

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I know for myself and you know I'd be very interested to hear your experience to kind of get a sense of my suspicion is there, are this, can this, you know, these types of the relationship people have with God, I think can take all kinds of twists and turns, you know, during their lifetime.

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My impression is that it's rarely one kind of solid, you know, monolithic path.

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Like person was born, person was raised Christian, they rolled with that and then they died and then we had a Christian burial.

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Like some people find Christ later, some people had Christ earlier and lost them or, you know, renounce them later or whatever.

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And you know I'm not judging any of that because in my opinion and just from what I've seen, like in myself and in others, that's like realistic being a person of faith, being a person that stands on God's promises.

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You know, being a person of that type of boldness and that type of courage really isn't that common.

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But even for the person that does reach that or experiences that, I don't think for most people that's just like this unbroken state of bliss that lasts for decades and decades.

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I think for most of us we have like some ups and downs, because we're having ups and downs in our lives and because we have, you know, some type of spirit or psyche or something inside of us that is sensitive to ups and downs and is sensitive to its curiosity about, you know, what the world really is and its purpose.

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Within it there's going to be some ups and downs.

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There's going to be some questions, there's going to be some doubts, there's going to be, you know, finding new ideas or theories or faiths that align with a person or comforts a person or empowers the person, and then there's going to be times when people are falling away, when they're disappointed, when they're downtrodden, when they're defeated, when they're despairing and they don't feel like they can trust God.

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They're not emboldened, they're quite the opposite, they're actually, they're really tapped out when it comes to optimism about, you know, moving forward on something that's going to require God's hand to bring to pass.

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Now, as always, though, one of the you know, whatever cousin or sister or something to boldness is faith, and when we're talking about faith being that this is the guilt free faith podcast we have to acknowledge that, to the degree that we've accumulated guilt in our lives or on our spiritual walk, that's going to impact how emboldened we are in making, you know, even positive moves in our lives.

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See, because we're going to once again, we're going to have this sense of like a transaction or some type of judgment happening where you know we did this wrong and now God's, you know, mad, and now he's not going to bless, you know, this thing that we need help with.

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So our guilt really subtracts from our reservoir of courage and initiative, and that's again why it's so important that we have to really counteract that guilt by reminding ourselves that Christ's work in covering our guilt and our sins was finished on the cross or we don't need to have.

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You know what the Bible refers to like guilt consciousness.

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Now, granted, the Bible is like aspirational right, like we're, you know, we're not literally going to reach that level of perfection, right, I mean, we're seeking that, we're trying to take hold of it, but as human beings, we know that, like we're never going to like be God right, so we're going to be, you know we're going to slack and fall down and you know all types of shit's going to happen, and I think God's totally okay with that, because that's that would be, that's a normal human thing to do.

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We were designed to do that.

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It's a really just summon it all up.

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Boldness is a quality that we need to take our lives to the next level.

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You know, no, no risk, no reward.

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And many times in life we have opportunities or we have decisions to make and they really require a good deal of courage and daring.

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And the fact is that to kind of rustle that up, to kind of gather up that type of courage, that type of faith, that type of strength and determination to to make that change or take that step forward, that boldness needs to be based on a solid foundation.

00:34:18.077 --> 00:34:21.831
And, as we discussed.

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You know God's love, god's forgiveness, you know the word, the promises, or even just doing something that you believe is right, that has right motivations, all of that produces a movement towards new opportunities in your life.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:14.192
And whether you fully realize those opportunities, or they turn out to be the wrong opportunities and you need to kind of redirect or whatever like when you've built your boldness on, you know a wholesome foundation and you know, perhaps even better yet, a wholesome spiritual foundation.

00:35:14.192 --> 00:35:41.552
You know, in your faith, you're going to feel, not only you're going to feel better about the journey toward the destination you have in mind, but even if that journey does not end where you would like it to, or somehow put on hold, you still, you will still feel better about it.

00:35:44.829 --> 00:35:57.724
See, the boldness that relies on full hardiness, or being drunk, or being insecure or arrogant.

00:35:57.724 --> 00:36:03.617
That type of boldness leads to disaster.

00:36:03.617 --> 00:36:14.563
So it may look the same on the outside, but it's just, you know, a real house of courage, right?

00:36:14.563 --> 00:36:24.264
Because it those types of motivations, those types of things you know not sanctioned.

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You know by God, things that you haven't asked God to guide you in, those are the things that end up as a problem on.

00:36:35.922 --> 00:36:42.846
You know, on one hand it could be something as small as being embarrassed, you know, in front of your friends.

00:36:42.846 --> 00:36:47.398
You know, because you you try to be the show off and you got broke.

00:36:47.398 --> 00:37:00.117
And now you know your friends or your classmates or whatever are looking at you and laughing and that was like full hearty, you know, boldness on your part.

00:37:00.117 --> 00:37:05.552
Or it could go into some of the very serious you go.

00:37:05.552 --> 00:37:26.773
You know you may go out and do something that's, you know, irreparable and destroy, you know, your life or the lives of others, while you're being kind of carried away in this boldness that is built upon some ugly stuff.

00:37:28.956 --> 00:38:00.266
But I believe that as we internalize God's love for us, the more we do that, the more we highlight the scriptures that really drive home the idea of how much God loves us and what he's given to make us whole in his eyes.

00:38:00.266 --> 00:38:42.028
I think as we internalize more and more of that, as we are kind of bridging more of the gap between us and the heavenly judge, as we get closer and closer to him personally and really start to embrace and surrender to that kind of parent-child relationship the reality of God's love and his support and his determination to bless us.

00:38:42.028 --> 00:38:47.579
As it says in the scripture, that he has a good plan for us.

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That's the type of thing that really is going to embolden us more and more, because when you have a loving parent there beside you you're going to feel stronger, you're going to feel more courageous.

00:39:12.163 --> 00:39:32.784
I mean, when you're first starting, starting, you know, to learn a bike, you know you sit on the bike seat and put your feet on the pedals, but what happens you know everyone your parents or relatives or whatever you know gives you a push and kind of holds to the bars and gives you a chance to get your balance.

00:39:32.784 --> 00:39:40.916
When you have those kind of training wheels on man, like you're ready just to lick the world.

00:39:40.916 --> 00:39:47.302
I think that's what God really has for us.

00:39:48.534 --> 00:40:14.201
I think that's what he's encouraging us to do, because it's really hard to be double-minded and move forward in life with big decisions If you think God loves you and hates you at the same time, or you feel like you're supposed to feel guilty about X, y and Z and then at the same time you're asking God to help or bless or touch something or someone.

00:40:14.201 --> 00:40:24.208
I mean that's just what a difficult way to kind of juggle life's burdens.

00:40:24.208 --> 00:40:33.755
So my prayers that we all are like, hey, I'm trying to get bold because my father loves me.

00:40:33.755 --> 00:40:51.625
Like not because I have all the answers, or I know what I should be doing, or praying for, or whether that's the right thing, or does God want me to do it, or what are the signs, or whatever that like that's all fine and I have those doubts or whatever.

00:40:51.625 --> 00:41:04.360
But the overarching thing is, hey, like Jesus loves me and that's good enough for me to take bold steps forward.

00:41:07.597 --> 00:41:14.228
Well, that wraps up another episode of guilt free faith with your host, jimmy James Johnson.

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I hope you found this refreshing and uplifting, or perhaps like it gave a little clarity or kind of put some words to some thoughts or feelings you've been having.

00:41:25.625 --> 00:41:28.059
I'd love to hear from you.

00:41:28.059 --> 00:41:34.405
You can leave a voicemail message by going to guilt free faithcom.

00:41:34.405 --> 00:41:38.422
There's a button there that you can leave a voicemail.

00:41:38.422 --> 00:41:50.458
I do receive all of those, I do listen to all of them personally and I use them to design, you know, the next lessons or discussions.

00:41:50.458 --> 00:42:03.378
Those messages are more valuable than you know, because usually what you're saying, you know whether it's just something funny or whether it's a question or whether it's a concern.

00:42:04.974 --> 00:42:19.438
When you leave me that message like you're actually speaking on behalf of a lot of people, you know, because it's extremely unlikely only you have that thought or that feeling on any given topic.

00:42:19.438 --> 00:42:25.740
So you're actually doing all of us a favor, including me, when you share whatever it is on your mind.

00:42:25.740 --> 00:42:27.405
You can do that right now.

00:42:27.405 --> 00:42:30.460
Just go ahead and click on that, leave a brief message.

00:42:30.460 --> 00:42:41.438
It'll be awesome If you leave your name or username attached to that, unless you'd rather it kept confidential and you specify on the message.

00:42:41.438 --> 00:42:45.326
I'll give you a shout out on air for what you shared.

00:42:47.094 --> 00:42:53.378
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00:42:53.378 --> 00:43:05.717
But, most importantly, right now, text this show to a friend, send this just right now.

00:43:05.717 --> 00:43:09.260
Tell them this is worth a listen to.

00:43:09.260 --> 00:43:17.065
Who knows, maybe they'll get a laugh out of it, maybe they'll get some relief out of it, but well, it's fresh on your mind.

00:43:17.065 --> 00:43:18.599
Please just send that on there.

00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:28.387
The ratings, the sponsorship, all of that is great, but the most important thing is that we continue to reach more people that need the message.

00:43:28.387 --> 00:43:31.599
So I would greatly appreciate that.

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Until next time, don't do anything that I wouldn't do.

Episode 3 - Blazing Boldness: Walking the Line Between Faith and Folly

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Episode 3 - Blazing Boldness: Walking the Line Between Faith and Folly

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