-

6:00-6:40pm --> Worship / Prayer

o Lords Supper Matthew 26:26-29
We remember the blood of the covenant every covenant required blood
We remember what Jesus did for us
We remember that he is coming back one day He made a covenant, a promise
Well continue to play music, but as the music plays, come forward and grab the bread and
wine, and lets spend some time praying and thanking God for His covenant with us, and
when you feel ready, drink the bread and the wine as a reminder of all God has done for you
6:40-7 --> Offering / Announcements / Testimonies
o Suggestion Cards We want to get to know you better, let you know whats going on
o Fasting and Prayer Mondays
o Worship and Prayer Every Night 7pm at new building
o Every Night at 7pm Worship and prayer at new building
o Women's Group Every other Thursday night at 6:30pm at Unirii
o English Conversation Club --> 2-3pm at Starbucks Unirii
o Saturday evenings --> Visiting refugees
o Friday 6pm - Biserica Sion
o Saturday 3-5pm - Children's Ministry at Biserica Sion
o ??? 6 February 6pm - Men's Group at Costi's house ???
7:30-8pm --> Preaching - "Bold Faith"
8-8:30pm --> Worship (leave time for prophecies, tongues / interpretation, words of knowledge/wisdom)
8:30-9:00pm Hang out

Matei 26:26-29 - 26 Pe cnd mncau ei, Isus a luat o pine i, dup ce a

binecuvntat, a frnt-o i a dat-o ucenicilor, zicnd: Luai, mncai;
acesta este trupul Meu. 27 Apoi a luat un pahar, i, dup ce a mulumit lui
Dumnezeu, li l-a dat, zicnd: Bei toi din el, 28 cci acesta este sngele
Meu, sngele legmntului celui nou, care se vars pentru muli, spre
iertarea pcatelor. 29 V spun c, de acum ncolo, nu voi mai bea din acest
rod al viei, pn n ziua cnd l voi bea cu voi nou n mpria Tatlui
Meu.

Bold Faith
7/2/16
Main Theme: We gotta have bold faith in God as a church in this new place, and as individuals
Motivate Toward: Stepping out in faith and trusting that God will hold you up, taking bold risks for him

Intro
Story: Smith Wigglesworth Raises the Dead Man There was an
English man named Smith Wigglesworth who died about 70 years ago. He
was a man who walked in bold faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. He
was an uneducated plumber, but many were saved, delivered, and
miraculously healed by his ministry. My favorite testimony is when he
walked into a funeral home and healed a man who had been dead for 3
days. The grieving family asked him to come and pray, but he when he
saw the dead man, he got angry at death, and faith for a miracle rose up in
him. He told the family to leave the room, he closed the door, and then,
alone with the body, he began to pray. He took a look at the man lying
there dead, he picked him up by the lapels, propped him against the wall,
and commanded, Live! He fell down with a crash. Wigglesworth picked
him up a second time, propped him against the wall again, and
commanded him, I told you once, and now Im telling you a second
time Live! Again, he fell down with a crash. Once more, a third time,
Wigglesworth picked him up, leaned him against the wall, pointed at him,
and commanded, Look, I told you once, then I told you a second time,
now Im gonna tell you a third time, and this is it. I wont tell you a fourth
time Live! Suddenly the man coughed, shook his head, opened his
eyes, and walked out of the funeral home alive.
God is calling us to bold faith in our walks with Him, where we grab
ahold of what God says and we dont let go until we see it happen.
If we were in Wigglesworths position, most of us would have given
up after the first time, or maybe the second Most of us probably
would have never been there praying for the dead man to rise up!

 But if we want to see the hand of God move in power, were gonna
need bold faith, where we hear what God says and we dont give up,
no matter what difficulties may come.

We Need Bold Faith

As Christians, we cant be content with just a little faith. We need bold
faith. Its easy to have a little faith, but if you want to see God move,
youve got to have bold faith, faith that says, I dont care what else
happens, Im gonna stand with God and see Him fulfill His promises.
Its easy to believe God to help you barely live, to help you survive
but it takes bold faith to believe that God will overcome every
obstacle and bless you and empower you to do the impossible.
I want to see revival in Bucharest
I want to see this church growing and strong
I want to see this building filled with people who are hungry for God
I want to see families restored, the sick healed, the tormented set free
I want to see people filled with the power of God, saved, delivered,
and transformed
I want to see many churches planted out of this church
I want to see missionaries sent out from this church all over the world
I want to see this city turned upside-down for the glory of God (like
in Acts)
I want to have conferences, events, training seminars, and Bible
school courses here at this place
I want the presence of God filling this church and all of our lives
This takes bold faith.
We dont have a lot of money
We dont have enough chairs
We dont have an amazing band or wonderful sound equipment
We dont have a big church with a lot of people

 But we have a big God!

Moving to this new location, Im a little nervous, because its a step of
faith for us, but I know God loves steps of faith. God is honored when we
take a step into something thats a little difficult, a little uncomfortable,
where He has to hold us up or we fail terribly.

Its Always Easier to Not Step out in Bold Faith

God is calling us to have bold faith in Him, to go places where others will
say were crazy, were foolish, were wasting our time or energy or
money but because God told us to go, we just go and we see Him move
in power.
Its a lot easier to just try to survive, to keep things as they are. Its not
easy or comfortable to take steps of faith. Its risky, its dangerous, its
scary but if you want to see the hand of God, you gotta take steps of
faith and not just do whats comfortable or easy or smart.
2 Kings 18-19 Assyria Attacks Jerusalem
2700 years ago, there was a king who stood in bold faith, King
Hezekiah.
Vs. 5-7a 5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there
was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among
those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord. He did not
depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord
commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went
out, he prospered.
o Hezekiah trusted in God. Hezekiah had bold faith.
o How do I know this? Because of what he did next. Bold faith
requires bold moves. We cant say we have faith in God and

then do nothing. If we have faith in God, that faith should propel

us to take bold steps.
Vs. 7-8 - 7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he
prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not
serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its
territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
o Background:
The largest, most powerful empire on the planet at this time
is the Assyrian Empire. Their armies are destroying
everyone in their path. They have more powerful, more
advanced weapons (iron swords and spears and chariots).
They have fearsome, brutal tactics (hunted down survivors,
mutilated victims very gruesome war tactics)
Assyria is on the way to take over most of the Middle East
In the north, Israel is largely controlled by Assyria
In the west, the Philistines have taken much of Judahs
territory
In the south are the powerful Egyptian armies
And to the east is the empty Arabian desert
The king of Judah at the time, Ahaz, was worried about
being destroyed by any one of these enemies, so he signed
a treaty to serve Assyria
When Hezekiah became king, it was a dangerous time.
They were surrounded by enemies, and their only hope for
peace was to keep that enemy happy by giving him
whatever he wanted.
o Hezekiahs Bold Faith:
So the smart, comfortable, easy thing to do would be for
Hezekiah to keep serving Assyria, but hes got bold faith.
He sees that theyre supposed to serve God and Him alone.
He reads the Bible and sees that God promised the land to
Israel. He reads the story of David and Goliath and sees
David, a shepherd, defeating a mighty man of war.

 So Hezekiah doesnt do the smart, comfortable thing. He

does the crazy thing. He does the thing that requires bold
faith.
He serves God and rebels against the King of Assyria.
He refuses to serve him.
And he starts fighting the Philistines, their enemies to
the west, winning back some of their territory.
o Bold faith looks at the problems and says, My God is greater.
My God is more powerful. Bold faith looks at the enemy and
says, My God can overcome. My God can give victory.
Acts 3 - Peter and John Heal the Lame Man Peter and John are on
their way to the Temple to pray. They see a lame man begging for money.
What do Peter and John do? Not the easy thing. Not the comfortable thing.
They do the crazy thing, the thing that required bold faith. Peter looks at
him and says, In the name of Jesus, get up and walk. That was crazy.
That took faith. And because of their faith, they saw the man get healed
and start walking again.
If you want to see the hand of God, if you want to see Him do
miracles, you need to step out in bold faith.
Its easier to stay where you are. Its easier to not fight when the
enemy has you surrounded. Its easier to just sit down and try to
survive. But if you want to win, you need to fight with bold faith.
Story: Victor Prayed for His Neighbor A couple months ago, Victor
was sitting at home when a thought came to him. A woman in his building
had been laying sick in bed for months, and the thought came to Victor
Go pray for her. The easy, comfortable thing to do is to just ignore that
thought, rebuke it, pretend you didnt hear it, run away in fear. But Victor
took a risk, he didnt do the easy thing, but he chose to do the thing that
took bold faith. He got up, he walked to his neighbor, and he asked if he
could pray for her. He talked about the love of Jesus, he prayed for her,
and she was very receptive. She wasnt instantly healed, but Victor did
what God asked him to do, so he felt good. A few days later, she died, but

Victor has peace, because he knows he stepped out in bold faith, he talked
with her, prayed for her, and hes confident that he did all he could for her.
What if we dont step out in bold faith? What if we just always do
whats easy and comfortable? We dont see the power of God and
people suffer.
What if Smith Wigglesworth had stopped praying for that dead man
after one time? After two times? What if he had given up? What if he
hadnt stood in faith? That man would never have come back to life
and bring so much glory to God.

When You Walk in Bold Faith, Things Will Get Harder

The devil doesnt like you to have faith. He doesnt want you to take steps
of faith, he doesnt want you to trust God. So when you take a step of
faith, he fights back.
But real faith doesnt give up when theres a problem.
2 Kings 18-19 Back to King Hezekiah
Lets go back to King Hezekiah
So he rebels against the King of Assyria. This is a risky, bold move.
Hes putting all his faith in his God.
And at first, it looks like things are going OK. For 4 years, theres no
problems.
But then things get a lot harder.
o Assyria is growing in power.
o Assyria takes over much of the Philistine territory to the east.
o But whats worse, the king of Israel, the northern kingdom,
rebels against Assyria much like Hezekiah had just done and
Assyria invades and completely destroys his kingdom. They
remove all the people from the land and transplant a whole new
population. Israel is just completely destroyed.
o And Assyria moves closer, they come into the land of Judah and
begin taking some of their most powerful cities.

o The situation is looking very bad.

Peter and John Heal the Lame Man Peter and John walk in bold faith,
they take a risk, they heal that lame man. Its an amazing miracle and
theyre probably expecting revival to break out in Jerusalem but instead
theyre thrown in prison, questioned, and threatened.
When you step out in bold faith, expect the situation to get harder,
because the enemy doesnt want you to succeed

The Alternative to Bold Faith is Enslaving Fear

The alternative to walking in bold faith is allowing the enemy to rule you
with fear. You have a decision to make either hold onto God in faith, no
matter what kind of opposition comes, or turn away from God in fear.
2 Kings 18-19 Hezekiahs Unfolding Story
Lets go back to Hezekiahs story again
So Hezekiah steps out in faith, he takes back some of their lost
territory, he refuses to submit to an enemy king but then things
begin looking really bad.
At this point, Hezekiah loses faith. He surrenders to the enemy.
Instead of continuing in bold faith, he falls to fear.
o He sends a message to the King of Assyria Ive done wrong.
Im sorry. Whatever you tell me to do, Ill do. Ill serve you
again.
o He allowed fear to control him instead of being led by trust in
God
Exodus Fear Controlled the Israelites
The same thing happened when Israel left Egypt
They left in great bold steps of faith. They challenged the most
powerful king on the earth, a man who thought he was God, a man

who controlled the lives of millions of slaves and they won. God
did incredible miracles for them.
So they leave Egypt, taking a big step of faith
But then immediately things got worse
o Theyre stopped at the Red Sea.
o And Egypts armies come behind them.
o Theyre trapped.
o The people start to fear, and they cry out, It would have been
better to stay slaves in Egypt! Why did you bring us out here?
Were going to die!
o When their faith was challenged, instead of continuing to trust
God, they allowed fear to terrorize them.
And where would that fear lead them? Back to slavery.
Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the
Lord is safe.
Trusting God doesnt always seem safe. If youre Peter walking on
water, the safe thing seems like swimming back into the boat. If
youre Israel trapped between Egypts armies and the Red Sea, the
safe thing seems like going back to Egypt and saying youre sorry for
running away. If youre Peter and John the safe thing seems like
telling the priests youre sorry and then never talking about Jesus
again. If youre Hezekiah, the safe thing seems like making peace
with Assyria and giving the king whatever he wants.
o But the thing that seems safe never really is
Fear Makes You a Slave
o When fear controls you, you cant do anything else.
o When fear controls you, youre stuck.
o Fear of rejection, fear of what others might say or think, fear of
failure, fear of debt, fear of looking foolish, fear of death, fear of
poverty

 Story: Shining Deer In Wisconsin, where I come from, we have a

lot of deer, and every year hunters kill thousands of them. Ive never
gone deer hunting, but its a big part of our states life. One of the
easiest ways to kill a deer is by scaring him. You go to the woods to a
place where a lot of deer are, and you shine a bright light right at
them. The deer see this strange light and get terrified, and they freeze
in place. So hunters shoot them. Its so easy to kill so many deer this
way that its illegal and if police see you doing this, youll have to
pay a big fine.
o This is what fear does to us. It freezes us. It ensnares us. It traps
us so we cant serve God.
Bold faith isnt easy. Bold faith is hard. Bold faith is risky. Bold faith is
uncomfortable.
But the alternative is to live in slavery to fear, which appears safe, but
it never really is.

Fear Robs God of His Glory

When we walk in faith, we give glory to God but the opposite is also
true. When we allow fear in, we rob God of His glory.
Peter Walking on Water (Matthew 14) Thats what happened to Peter
when he walked on water. He starts out with this great faith. The other
disciples probably thought he was crazy. Maybe even Jesus thought he
was crazy! But Jesus called to him and he walked on water! But then
things got difficult. He saw the wind and the waves. He got scared, and
that fear caused him to lose focus on Jesus. Fear robbed God of His
glory and Peter began to sink.
2 Kings 18-19 Hezekiahs Fear Stripped God of Glory
The same thing happened with Hezekiah when he allowed fear to
steal his faith in God.

 He told the king of Assyria Whatever you want, Ill do it.

o Assyria demands a huge payment of gold and silver
o So Hezekiah gives him all the silver and gold that he himself has
o But thats not enough, so he goes to the Temple and he takes the
silver and gold given to God as offerings and tithes, and he gives
that to Assyria
o But even thats not enough, so he strips the gold from the doors
and doorposts in order to please the king of Assyria
When we allow fear to control us, instead of faith, we end up robbing
God of His glory.
God wants to get glory when you step out in faith
He wants people to get healed and give Him praise
He wants people to be saved when you preach the Gospel
He wants people to say, How did that church succeed when theyre
so small and they have so little money? How did those missionaries
do all that when they barely speak the language? How did that church
of former drug addicts, thieves, liars, and criminals become a pillar in
this city?
Bold faith gives glory to God but fear robs him of His glory

No Matter What the Enemy Challenges You With, Bold Faith Always
Wins
God is calling us to be a church that is bold in our faith. Thats not always
easy or comfortable, its a little scary, and the enemy will throw all his
weapons at us but in the end, faith always wins, so we will overcome.
Matthew 16:18 - And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Churches are meant to attack the gates of hell, not to sit back in fear
and try to survive until tomorrow

 Attacking the gates of hell is risky, it requires faith, but if we do that,

we have a promise from Jesus that we will win, no matter what
difficulties we encounter
o How can we fail as a church? If we dont attack the gates of hell.
If we sit back in fear. If we wait and allow the gates of hell to
come and attack us because were not sure if were strong
enough, big enough, rich enough, smart enough, powerful
enough
o How can we fail as people, in our walk with God? If we allow
fear in, if we refuse to keep moving forward in faith, if we dont
take risky, bold steps of faith
But if we take steps of faith, if we move forward in Jesus, it may look
terrifying, the enemy may attack us with everything he has, but we
will win.
2 Kings 18-19 Hezekiah Comes Back to Faith in God
Lets go back to Hezekiahs story again.
Hezekiah learned real quick that fear brings a snare and that trust in
God is the only safe place
o Assyria took the gold and silver they demanded, but then they
demanded more
o They sent their army to surround Jerusalem, to defeat this nation
just as theyve defeated every other.
o But this time, Hezekiah doesnt surrender to fear. He stands in
bold faith, resisting the intimidation of the enemy
The Assyrians come and challenge Hezekiah further, and these are
some of the lines the devil always uses when he wants to defeat you:
o Youre trusting in Egypt, but theyre weak and will fail you.
Well, thats fine because Hezekiah isnt trusting in Egypt. Hes
trusting in God.
The devil will come and tell you, You cant succeed. You
cant win. Youre friends arent powerful enough, your
church isnt big enough, you dont have enough money,
youre job isnt good enough, you dont know enough

Well, thats true. But were not trusting in ourselves. Were

trusting in God.
Youre trusting in God, but youve torn down his altars, so he
wont help you. Youre not serving him enough.
Again, the devil always says this. He says were not doing
enough good for God, were not worshiping him right,
were not fasting or praying enough, were not holy
enough, were not giving enough money, were not reading
the Bible enough.
True, we need to do those things more, but our job isnt to
give more and more sacrifices but to obey him.
Look, God himself told me to come and destroy you, so if you
surrender to me, youll be doing what God wants.
The devil says this all the time Just accept this sickness,
this poverty, this hardship, these nightmares, this sin, this
addiction God sent this to you, so just receive it.
No, God is a good father and the devil is always a liar. I
dont want anything the devil says I should take.
Make peace with me. Lets be friends. Stop all this fighting and
hardship. Then everyone can be blessed and prosperous and
happy.
If the devil cant outright defeat you, hell try to get you to
make peace with him, to surrender, to be content just
staying where you are and not growing any more in God.
But this is all a lie. He says hell bring peace, but the reality
is that the devil doesnt want your peace. He wants your
death. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but
Jesus wants life for you.
Look, Ive defeated everyone else, so why should you win?
Again, the devil always says this. He wants you to see all
the failures, all the times people have resisted him and lost,
all the times people stepped out in faith and failed and he
wants you to think, Well, if the devil beat them, hell beat
me too. I might as well give up now.

 But no, we cant give up. We need to look to Jesus and His
word, not the failures of others, not the intimidation of the
enemy.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
So Hezekiah resists all the intimidation of the Assyrians. He refuses
to lose his faith in God but stands in boldness resisting their army.
o 2 Kings 19:1 - As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his
clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the
house of the Lord.
He doesnt run to Egypt. He doesnt gather his army. He
doesnt surrender to the enemy. He doesnt sacrifice to
Assyrias gods (like their former king Ahaz had done)
He runs straight to God, because hes learned that bold
faith in God is the only safe place to be.
Isaiah prophesies Dont be afraid. The armies of Assyria will leave
and will not destroy Jerusalem.
o Sure enough, the commander hears a rumor of another rebellion,
so he and the whole army leave temporarily
But the enemy isnt finished. He sends a threatening letter to
Hezekiah, again demanding their surrender. Once again, Hezekiah
has learned that only bold faith in God works, so he runs to God for
help.
o 2 Kings 19:14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of
the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house
of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
The only one who can help them is God.
So Hezekiah prays to God for deliverance
vs. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his
hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you,
O Lord, are God alone.
God loves when we step out in bold faith, because the He
gets glory. People see and realize that what God did was
impossible without him, but He did it.

 And God answers Hezekiahs prayer for deliverance God goes into
the camp of the Assyrians and kills 185,000 in one night. We dont
know what he did (maybe disease?), but it terrified the Assyrians, so
they ran away.
o When he got home, the king of Assyria, who was so proud,
boasting in the power of his gods, goes to his temple to worship,
and in the very presence of his god (who really isnt a god), his
own sons murder him.

Conclusion
1 Samuel 14 Jonathan and His Armor Bearer
Let me close with this story from 1 Samuel 14.
Israel was living in fear of the Philistines, enslaved by their more
powerful armies
Jonathan, the son of King Saul, went to check out the enemy army
with his armor bearer.
Vs. 6 - Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor,
Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may
be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord
from saving by many or by few.
So these two young men fight a whole garrison alone and God
does a miracle.
They kill 20 soldiers, the rest of the garrison flees in panic, and
the rest of Israel hears the news and rallies to war, leading them
to an astounding victory.
All this from two young guys who thought, Hey, maybe God
will do something, because God can save Israel even if its just
the two of us.
God is calling us to a place of bold faith in Him like Jonathan, like
Hezekiah
Its not easy or comfortable to walk in bold faith

 Things get hard when you step out in faith

But the alternative to bold faith is enslaving fear that robs God of His
glory
And the only safe place is total trust in God, bold faith in Him, and
its only there, in that place of bold faith, that were guaranteed
victory

Pray

Next Time:
- 14 Feb Kingdom of God is at hand whats this mean? Gods rule in our lives,
church, city, nation, world (PLUS: Mirela bday)
- 21 Feb Kingdom of God is advancing
- 28 Feb - revival / transformation / change the world (PLUS: goodbye Becky)
- 6 March - 13 March - Vision for going to America / My last Sunday / etc
- 22 May - Back from America / Update / New Vision
* After Holy Spirit series, maybe "Victorious Christianity" - living in holiness, joy,
faith, etc.