All through the New Testament, boldness with respect to evangelism is illustrated. The Early Church Christians, if they were anything, were bold.

When Jesus commanded the disciples to go and preach the gospel, they went, without discussion or debate.

Acts 5:40-42 is just one great example. Take a moment to read these verses.

The Apostles were the Church leaders.

These were the people who had walked and talked with Jesus.

Jesus Himself appointed them as leaders.

They were out evangelising.

They were caught by the religious authorities of the day, flogged, and then released.

And what did they do? They gave each other a high five, and went straight back to doing evangelism.

That’s boldness.

Yesterday I found myself being bold in evangelism.

My shoes needed repairing so I went to a shoe repair shop nearby.

When I walked in the shop, it looked like there was no shop keeper in attendance.

But when I eventually made it to the counter, which was high, the owner was behind the counter with his head down, surfing the internet on his phone.

He was about 45 years old, with a shaven head and tattoos. European.

So there I was, standing at the counter, watching this man playing on his phone. Me on one side, he on the other.

He was so engrossed, he didn’t even look up. All I said was “Hi”

He said “Hi” but didn’t look up. He kept right on playing with his phone.

Without any warm up conversation, I said (firmly but gently) “Put in this web address”

Again, without looking up, He said “Go for it. What is it?”

I said “dub dub dub. Bible – that’s B I B L E (spelling it out letter by letter) I N 1 1 dot Com”

He typed the letters and numbers in except on the first attempt he spelt Bible with two “B’s”.

Still, we had no eye contact. He simply followed the instructions.

When the video finally appeared on the screen, he looked up for the first time and we had eye contact.

He said “what’s this all about?”

I said “Let me ask you a question. What’s you’re first name?”

“Vaughan” he said.

I said (smiling) “Vaughan, I am going ask you a bit of an ‘out there’ question. It’s pretty out there, so put your seat belt on. Are you ready?”

He said (also smiling) “Go for it”.

“Say you were killed in a car accident on the way home tonight and you died. Things happen you know. Anyway, say you were killed and you came up before God at judgement and He said ‘Vaughan, give me two good reasons I should let you into heaven’.

He said “I have tried my best in life, and been good to people”

I said “So those would be your two answers – you’ve tried your best and you’ve been good to people?”

“Yes”

I said “Vaughan, can I be straight up with you? Your answers are great, and God loves that stuff, but…with those answers you’d go straight down.  They are not the right answers for entry to heaven.”

Vaughan (looking shocked and surprised) said, “Well, what are the two right answers?”

I said “They are on that video you now have on your phone”

He said “Is this going to be easy to understand? Six weeks ago, I stopped smoking marijuana and cigarettes. I want to clean up my life, inside and out. So I have been thinking about spiritual things lately. I am going through withdrawal symptoms. But I am hanging in there.”

I said “The video is REALLY easy to understand. Just watch it over and over until you really get it. I used to be a smoker and gave up. It’s really hard, I know. If you have gone six weeks without one, you are over the worst of it.”

We had a bit more conversation about that, and then I moved on to explain what I needed done for the shoe repair.

At the end, he told me my shoes would take two days to repair.

I said “when I come and pick them up, let’s have a discussion about the video”

He said “That would be great. It’s amazing that you would come in and talk to me about this stuff when it was already on my mind.”

I said “That’s how God works. He connects people.”

I left the shop.

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That’s boldness. Boldness is not to be equated with being brash, harsh, “in ya face” and obnoxious.

No.

It’s about being gentle and loving, but resolute, not caring what anyone thinks, or the consequences of our actions.

Really, it’s about taking risks.

No one will be or can be used by God without being bold.

Another word for ‘bold’ would be ‘brave.’