THE BOLDNESS OF FAITH (2 OF 5)
by Steve Jones
Scripture: Genesis 18:1-33
This content is part of a series.
The Boldness of Faith (2 of 5)
Series: The Faith of Abraham
Steve Jones
Genesis 18
ILLUSTRATION: In Orlando I belonged to a real estate investment club. A speaker came in who stood in front of the group and said, "Who here believes that I'll give $50 to the first person who stands up and walks to the front of the room?" We sat there. I was thinking that I "might" believe it, but I didn't want to embarrass myself by walking to the front of the room, just in case he was pulling some kind of trick. Because the last thing I wanted was to look silly in front of all those people. Finally, someone walked forward and collected the $50. Man! Then he said, "All right, who believes I'll give $20 to the NEXT person to walk to the front of the room." We sat there. I thought NOW the lesson is going to be that second place gets nothing and I'm not going to be the second person to walk up there and get nothing. So I sat there. Someone else walked up and collected the $20. Man! Man! Okay, NOW I was ready. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I had a good shot at being the first one up for the next offer. But the next offer didn't come. His point had been made. His point was that there is so much caution, fear of being embarrassed in front of others, and TIMIDITY ingrained into us that we miss great opportunities almost every day. The problem for many would-be investors and entrepreneurs is not a lack of knowledge...it's a lack of courage.
How many times have we lost the investment, lost the game, lost the dance, lost the girl or the guy, lost the experience, the adventure, and the victory because we just weren't bold enough?
Now let's put that in the spiritual realm. Have we ever lost out spiritually because we lacked boldness? Faith is bold. Paul wrote to Timothy that we Christians have not been given a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (II Timothy 1:7). He told the Corinthian Christians to be strong, stand firm ...
Series: The Faith of Abraham
Steve Jones
Genesis 18
ILLUSTRATION: In Orlando I belonged to a real estate investment club. A speaker came in who stood in front of the group and said, "Who here believes that I'll give $50 to the first person who stands up and walks to the front of the room?" We sat there. I was thinking that I "might" believe it, but I didn't want to embarrass myself by walking to the front of the room, just in case he was pulling some kind of trick. Because the last thing I wanted was to look silly in front of all those people. Finally, someone walked forward and collected the $50. Man! Then he said, "All right, who believes I'll give $20 to the NEXT person to walk to the front of the room." We sat there. I thought NOW the lesson is going to be that second place gets nothing and I'm not going to be the second person to walk up there and get nothing. So I sat there. Someone else walked up and collected the $20. Man! Man! Okay, NOW I was ready. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. I had a good shot at being the first one up for the next offer. But the next offer didn't come. His point had been made. His point was that there is so much caution, fear of being embarrassed in front of others, and TIMIDITY ingrained into us that we miss great opportunities almost every day. The problem for many would-be investors and entrepreneurs is not a lack of knowledge...it's a lack of courage.
How many times have we lost the investment, lost the game, lost the dance, lost the girl or the guy, lost the experience, the adventure, and the victory because we just weren't bold enough?
Now let's put that in the spiritual realm. Have we ever lost out spiritually because we lacked boldness? Faith is bold. Paul wrote to Timothy that we Christians have not been given a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (II Timothy 1:7). He told the Corinthian Christians to be strong, stand firm ...
There are 24031 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
