Bold Faith in a Fearful World | September 7, 2025
The Setup: A Prayer for Boldness, Not Safety
Sermon number nine picked up right at the tail end of the story from the previous two weeks, as Peter and John, freshly released from an overnight stay in jail, gathered with their friends in the church and lifted their voices together in prayer. Pastor Justin reminded us that this small, threatened congregation did not pray for their persecutors to be removed or for an easier road ahead. They prayed for boldness, asking God to stretch out His hand to heal and to let them keep speaking His word without flinching.
Scripture tells us that when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was literally shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued speaking the word of God with boldness. Pastor Justin lingered on that detail because boldness in Scripture consistently follows prayer, never personality or natural courage. The apostles were not naturally fearless men. They became bold because they asked God for it.
That set up the theme of the whole message, what it looks like to have bold faith in what Pastor Justin called a fearful world. He got personal quickly, admitting that even a self-described tough guy like himself felt real fear when COVID first hit and the country went into lockdown, and again more recently when his daughter-in-law's home birth took an unexpected turn and she had to be rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section, just days before his newest grandson, Ezra Lee Wyckoff, was born.
He was honest that fear does not usually show up as one big dramatic moment. It is the low hum of anxiety in the background, the stress of a hard job, the worry about crime in even a small town like Brunswick, the climbing grocery prices, and the exhausting meanness of the political climate. Pastor Justin shared that pastoring itself carries this kind of constant, low grade stress, since he regularly works fifty to sixty hours a week with no real off switch, a very different life than his old nine to five jobs.
From there the sermon moved into the first point, that bold faith begins with obedience. Pastor Justin used a long, honest illustration about parenting his seven children, especially his oldest son Sean, who as a toddler wanted every instruction explained and argued with before he would obey. He connected that to the chores his homeschooled children rotate through each week, and the way kids will insist "I was just about to do it" when a chore sits undone, landing on the simple, hard truth that delayed obedience is disobedience.
He applied that directly to the Christian life. Telling God "I will share my faith once I know more" or "I will give once I get that raise" or "I will be bolder online once the political climate calms down" is not patience, it is disobedience dressed up as good intentions. Hebrews 11 reminds us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen, and that without faith it is impossible to please God, which means bold faith cannot wait for ideal conditions.
The second point followed naturally, that bold faith trusts God more than human opinion. Pastor Justin compared the loudest anti-Christian voices online to the toughest looking men he grew up around in his old neighborhood, men covered in tattoos who were often the most fearful people he ever met, using intimidation as a survival mechanism. He cited a 2023-2024 Pew Research study showing roughly sixty two percent of Americans still self-identify as Christian, a reminder that the loudest voices online are rarely the majority in the room.
Pastor Justin was blunt that even if speaking up about Jesus costs us an uncomfortable conversation or a cold reaction from a friend, that cost is nothing compared to what Christ endured on our behalf. Bold faith trusts God's unchanging word over the shifting opinion of culture, coworkers, or family, refusing to let the fear of being disliked silence what God has already called us to say.
This Week's Application
So this week, is there a fear that has been keeping you quiet about your faith, or keeping you from trusting God with something specific He has already asked of you? Bring it to Him honestly in prayer and ask for boldness, the same way the early church did in that upper room. We would love for you to join us this Sunday as we continue walking through Acts together.