John Bevere - From Fearful to Fearless (The Power of Boldness)
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Can you believe it? We’re already on lesson six! I mean, we’re flying through this and having a good time, but now we’re coming to the fun ones. All right, we’re going to talk about how to stir up the gift of God. Let’s read that scripture: «For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.» Now, we’re going to turn our attention to that second question: How do you engage the gift? How do you stir up the gift? Well, the answer is one simple word: boldness. But now let me make this very clear: The virtue of power, the virtue of love, and the virtue of a sound mind will produce a boldness in you because there is a boldness that is not fueled by godly virtue. You can look at some people; their boldness is a mask for their arrogance or their ignorance.
Other people who are bold may have roots that are actually very shallow when you consider the source, and we’re going to see this in the life of David. If you look at what David says, he states, «The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?» I want you to listen to those words again: Psalm 27:1—"The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?» David declared where his source of strength came from because we are only as strong as the source of our strength. Now, I want you to really stop and think about that. If I have a strong will and I’m a little stubborn, it may appear that I’m bold and that I’ve got strength, but in reality, I’m only as strong as that stubbornness can provide. David is saying, «I’m as strong as what my source can provide,» and that’s the Lord. That’s why the New Testament says, «Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.»
Okay, now this strength was certainly tested when David faced Goliath. We’ve all heard this story, but I’m going to share it with you from a little different angle, and I want you to really listen carefully. Goliath—the story goes like this: Israel is fighting the Philistines, and the Philistines had a champion named Goliath. Now, this guy was no ordinary man; he was over 10 feet tall. So, I want you to stop and get an image. Look at a basketball rim—this guy is six inches above the basketball rim. Okay, he’s huge, right? The spearhead—he’s got a weapon, a spear, and just the head of the spear weighed 15 lbs. If you look at his coat of armor, it weighed 125 lbs., and if you look at all of his armor that he wore, it was over 200 lbs.
So, Goliath, needless to say, was very intimidating. For 40 days, he came out and said, «All right, Israel, you choose a champion; let him fight me. Let’s not let all of our armies fight each other—let me fight your champion,» because he was really after Saul, as Saul stood head and shoulders above everyone in Israel, and that man wanted Saul. He said, «All right, you choose your champion, and let’s fight. If I win, we dominate you, and if you win, you dominate us.» Well, Israel’s hiding behind rocks for 40 days, trembling, and David’s father sends him because David is the eighth-born son of Jesse, and the oldest three brothers are at war against the Philistines. So, David comes and brings supplies, leaves the supplies with the supply keeper at the battle scene, and David goes to see how the soldiers are doing and wants to see his three older brothers. When he comes, it’s just that time of day when Goliath comes out and starts taunting the army of Israel. David takes one look at that giant and another look at the soldiers who are hiding and shaking behind the rocks, and he blurts out, «Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?»
Now, Eliab, who is David’s oldest brother—so I want you to get a picture here: this is the firstborn son and the eighth-born son—Eliab looks at David and says, «Hey, you arrogant little kid, I know the pride that’s in your heart. You want to come out and see this battle? Get back and watch those sheep and do what you’re supposed to do.» Now, wait a minute: David’s completely in line with authority; his father asked him to bring those supplies, but here’s the deal: Eliab, his oldest brother, is intimidated. Here’s what happens when you confront someone who’s under intimidation; if they have a strong soul, they’ll put the blame back on you, but if they have a weak soul, they’ll make an excuse.
Eliab is probably very strong-willed and has a very strong soul, so he attempts to put the blame back on David. He says, «I know the pride that’s in your heart, David; I know the conceitedness of your heart.» Wait a minute—who’s proud and who’s conceited? Go back a chapter, and you’ll find out that Samuel comes to Jesse’s household (that’s the father) to anoint one of his sons. Jesse brings his first seven born sons, the first one of course being Eliab because he’s the oldest, and when the prophet Samuel looks at Eliab, he thinks, «This has got to be God’s anointed.» God goes, «Don’t look at him outwardly; I’ve rejected him.» There’s only one reason God rejects a person: pride.
So, the very thing Eliab has, he accuses David of having. Often, when someone is intimidated, they’ll project their weaknesses onto you and blame you. Don’t ever forget that. David is either going to come under Eliab’s intimidation and go back home or he’s going to break it. You know what? David looks at his brother and says, «Isn’t there a cause for me being here?» In other words, «You guys have hid from this ogre for 40 days! God had to find somebody to go out there and fight him.» David breaks his oldest brother’s intimidation and goes straight to the king. Now the king is intimidated, and David says, «I’ll kill him!» The king goes, «You? You’re just this ruddy little kid!» I mean, he was a teenager probably: «You’re just this ruddy little teenager! Do you understand this is a man of experience in war?»
So, the king’s intimidated, but now listen: the king is in authority. You don’t handle someone in authority the way you handle a brother. David realizes this; the king is the king, so he entreats him as a father. The Bible says, «Don’t rebuke an older man; don’t rebuke somebody who’s in authority over you.» So, David entreats the king by saying, «But, King, God gave me the lion. I was watching my father’s sheep, and that lion came to take one of those sheep; I killed that lion. And He gave me the bear. The bear did the same thing; I killed the bear. God will give me that ogre right now!» Proverbs says that the heart of the king—now I’m going to put it in today’s vernacular, «The hearts of the leaders are in the hand of the Lord.» Because David doesn’t rebuke the king, the leader, but he entreats him as a father and appeals to him, God turns the king’s heart. The king says, «Okay, go get him.»
So, they try to put the king’s armor on David, and David goes, «It’s not tested! Just give me my sling, what I used on the lion and the bear, and I’m going after that giant with that.» Now he goes after Goliath, and Goliath tries to intimidate him. Goliath starts mocking David and says, «I’m going to kill you and feed you to the birds of prey and to the animals in the forest,» and David breaks Goliath’s intimidation by saying, «You come at me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come at you in the name of the Lord of hosts!» Where’s the strength? His strength’s coming from the Lord. You see this? His strength is not coming from, «Oh, I do six workouts at the gym at Lifetime Fitness, and I’m bench-pressing 415 pounds, and I’m going to beat you up.»
No! David goes, «I’m coming at you in the name of the Lord!» He understands his source of strength, okay? Remember, God’s given us a spirit of power. You following this? All right. He says, «I come at you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.» So, he’s speaking about what’s about to happen, right? «And I will strike you and take your head from you.» I love this: «And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines"—now, he’s talking about the whole army—to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, «that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.» Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands. I love that!
So, let me ask you: What giants are opposing you right now? Is it a disease? You know, the world fears this coronavirus. Now, I realize that years down the road you may hear me say this, but let me tell you: we’re taping this at the very moment that we’re all put into quarantines. I said, «Man, if the body of Christ needs a message it’s right now!» When people are afraid of this disease, what is the giant that you’re afraid of? Is that giant bigger than God? Is the coronavirus bigger than God? No! Is it the negative reports in the news? Is that the giant you’re facing? Is it fear of sickness? Is it addiction? Is it the fear of public speaking? Is it the fear of death, the fear of abandonment, the fear of a heart attack?
Let me tell you: the Lord is the strength of your life, and the Lord is much greater than anything I just named or anything else I could name. You have a spirit of power! Jesus made this statement: «You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.» Jesus says in Luke 10:19, «Behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.» God has said, listen to this: Hebrews 13:5 says, «I will never fail you; I will never abandon you.» So we can boldly say—did you hear that? Boldly! I love it: «The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can people do to me?»
Do you see the attitude a believer is supposed to have? Why? We’re not in this to be proud and arrogant and boast about our strength. We are in this to use our strength to bless people, to protect people, to get people to come to Jesus, to help them come to know life and salvation. That’s why we’re bold! We are not going to allow darkness to intimidate us and crawl into a hole and hide and wait for the Rapture to come. Man, we have a commission! We are to go into the nations of the world and make disciples of all nations. That’s what our commission is, and God has given us the power to do it.
That’s the disciples asking, «Are you going to restore the kingdom now?» They made it all about themselves: «We want to get out from under Roman oppression.» Jesus said, «Come on, guys!» He said, «Power is going to come upon you when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll establish my kingdom in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.» And that’s what we’re called to do, no matter if you’re in the educational field, in healthcare, in government, or in professional athletics. God has called you to shine in your world of influence so that we can win people into the kingdom of God. I’m loving this!
Hey, let me just say this in closing: Christianity is not a powerless faith. Paul said that your faith shouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Scripture speaks in these last days of people who will have a form of godliness but will deny the power. Don’t be one of those people who have a form of Christianity but deny its power. This is not a powerless Christianity that we’re talking about; it is real power, and it really changes people’s lives. Amen! We are told to walk in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). We are to know the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10). Let me give you an example, and I’ll close. I preached this one night in a big church in Florida, and a lady and her daughter got delivered. I mean, they ran down and said, «We want to break that spirit of intimidation,» and they got free. Do you know the very next night they pulled into their driveway and were held at gunpoint by two guys? They said, «Lady, give me your purse!»
You know what she did? She said, «I normally would have frozen in fear.» She compared it to a kid waking up from a bad dream who can’t even speak. But, she said, «Because intimidation was broken off in my life and I knew I had power in my life, I started praying in the Spirit out loud as loudly as I could.» She said her daughter did the same thing, and the guy with the gun started shaking. When her daughter got a little quiet, he said, «Stop, lady! Stop! Stop!» While confusion hit those two men, she said her daughter was able to slip into the house and call 911. When they realized they had grabbed her purse, they ran into the forest. The next day, a man walking through the forest found the woman’s purse, and guess what? All the credit cards and the cash were still in the purse! I guess they were so scared they didn’t want to take any of this godly woman’s money. I don’t know what happened, but she got it all back! She called our ministry and said, «That message saved my daughter and my physical life!»
One more story: I preached this in Texas at a big church, and a girl got free from intimidation. Right about a month later, she gets into her car at a shopping mall, and there’s a guy with a knife in the back seat hiding. He says, «Get on the road!» He was going to rape her and kill her, and you know what? She started praying in tongues as loudly as she could in that car. That guy was going, «Stop! Stop!» They drove around the loop of the big city three times. Finally, he said, «Pull over!» He got out of the car and shouted, «You are a crazy woman!» and ran for his life. She said, «I probably would have cowered in fear, but God—through that service—broken the spirit of intimidation off my life, and it saved my physical life.» This is what I’m believing for you. This is why I’m so happy you’re going through this course because God never intended for you to cower to fear or intimidation. He intended for you to stir up that gift that’s in you by the Spirit—what? By the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. And we’re going to talk about love in the next session, and we’ll discuss a sound mind in the following one. So get ready for lesson seven; it’s going to be amazing!