.....but a Spirit of power and love, and self-discipline.

So how come we are so timid?

Bold at ball games, hockey games etc.,

Uninhibited when someone stomps on our toes,

Fluent when it’s time to raise a complaint,

Sharp when some hypocrite needs to be cut down to size.

But when it comes to witnessing to the clear

simple truth about Jesus, we cave.

When the believers prayed for boldness, “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.”

                                                            Acts 4:31

They prayed for boldness because they were aware of how

timid they were.  They refused to accept their timidity as “normal.”

And their prayer was answered.

Nor is our timidity “normal.”

It’s time to stir up the gift of the Spirit....or if we’ve never received this gift,

to pray for it. To come out of our little “Christian” enclaves and reach

real people in the real world, we need not arrogance, not brashness,

not self-righteous self-confidence, but the simple, straightforward

boldness of a disciple of the risen Lord.

“If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more with the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit

to those who ask him.”

                                                            Luke 11:13 

What’s so important about a name?

Celebrity names sell cereal.

Big names bring big bucks.

Even pills have names.

And yet.....

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain;
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in
vain.”

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!”

“....Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing
before you well...

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

There are names that demean,
names that deceive,
names that market goods,
names that are idols.

And there is a name that is holy.

“Lord Jesus, help me!”
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Respect for that name is the doorway to Life.
Arrogance toward that name is the way of Death.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him t
he name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

Then came the surprise.
She met a man “who told me everything I ever did.”
Suddenly she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
She had to tell the world.

If we're shy, if we’re hesitant to tell the folks,

If we’d prefer to go to the well at noon—when nobody’s there,

If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.  

Jeremiah 20:9