Holy Humble Courage

Over the last several years I have been praying for myself, my family, my faith family and my friends that we would have Humble Holy Courage.

Holy Humble Courage is a courage that come from Jesus not us. It is a courage that is not boastful, proud or arrogant. It is a courage based in know the truth and being willing to live and speak it out.

A great picture of what Holy Humble Courage looks like and what is results in is found in Acts 3 and 4.

Acts chapter 3 begins with Peter and John going to the temple to pray at three in the afternoon. They encounter a lame man who is at one of the gates of the temple begging for money. Peter and John tell him they have no money, but what they do have they will give him. Peter tells him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to get up and walk.

The man with Peter’s help gets up and not only walks, but leaps. The man is healed.

News about the miracle spreads through out Jerusalem. The miracle and Peter’s sharing about Jesus lead many people to surrender their lives to Jesus as Lord.

This brought Peter and John to the attention of the religious leaders. They had Peter and John brought before them. Peter then preaches to the religious leaders.

The religious leaders notice something about Peter and John. In Acts 4:13 it says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

They saw boldness in these uneducated, common men and the only thing that could attribute it to was that they had been with Jesus.

They boldness didn’t come from:
Being Educated
Being of Noble Birth
Being Wealthy

Their boldness came because they were connected with Jesus.

I see in the church today more education and wealth then boldness. I would have to conclude that we as the church, God’s people are not connected with Jesus as we should be.

The religious leaders although impressed with Peter and John’s boldness were still ready to punish them.

They couldn’t because the man healed in Jesus’ name was standing right there in front of them. The proof of the reality and power of Jesus was staring them in the face.

The religious leaders decide to just warn Peter and John not to speak in the name or about Jesus any more.

But Peter and John answer in verses 19 and 20. They say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Peter and John in a very humble and respectful way tell the religious leaders that they not only will, but they have to go on speaking about Jesus.

When Peter and John get back to the church they share what they had been told and the threats they had been given.

In Acts 4:24-30 the church prays. In verses 29-30 they pray, “And now, Lord look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word will all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and sign and wonders are preformed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

The church did not:
Complain
Whine
React With Anger.

They ask God to give them more boldness to share His word and for Him to continue to do mighty acts that could only be explained by the fact that God had done them.

The result of their prayer is recorded in Acts 4:31. It says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”

When was the last time your church came together to pray and the place was shaken?

When was the last time your church came together to pray and the church was filled with the Holy Spirit?

When was the last time your church came together to pray and the church left the building and spoke the world of God with boldness?

In Acts 4:32-35 describes the church. These verses tells us that the church was:
- United - One Heart and Soul
- Sharing - No One Claimed Anything as Their Own
- Proclaiming - With Great Power the Resurrection of Jesus Was
  Preached
- Grace Covered - Great Grace Was Upon Them
- Giving - No Needy Among Them They Gave out What Came In

They church was like that because it had Humble Holy Courage.

The church in Acts is described in Acts 17:6 as the people who turned the world upside down.

Has your church ever been described as turning the world upside down?

What allowed those early believers to have Humble Holy Courage?

It wasn’t just because they believed that Jesus is the savior. Christians today believe that.
It wasn’t just because they loved Jesus. Christians today love Jesus.
It wasn’t just because they believed God’s word. I believe that Christians today believe God’s word.

The difference is in they willingness to give over everything to Jesus and for Jesus.

In Acts 14 Paul is stoned for preaching about Jesus in Lystra and he is dragged outside the city. They thought he was dead. But Paul gets up from being stoned and goes back into the city. Preaching the Gospel was more important to Paul then his life was.

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are in Philippi. They exorcise a demon from a slave girl. As a result of doing that they are beaten, arrested, and throw into prison. In prison Paul and Silas were praying and singing. It was more important for Paul and Silas to do the work God had called them to do than to consider their own safety and comfort.

In Acts 20:24 Paul says, “He considers his life to be worthy nothing compare the finishing the course and completing the task God had given him, the task of testifying the gospel of God’s grace.”

John writes in Revelation 12:11 how we as God’s people can overcome Satan. He says, “And they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even into death.”

They were willing to die if that was what it took.

Am I willing to give up everything for Jesus, even my life?

I see the early believers not just being willing to give up everything, but DOING IT!

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about God’s people have Humble Holy Courage. That comes only by giving everything to Jesus.

I look at those early followers of Jesus and I am in total awe.

I want our culture to look at followers of Jesus today and to be in total awe because we have Humble Holy Courage because we desire Jesus more than we desire our own lives.

This has to begin with me.

With Humble Holy Courage Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe