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Inspite of Circumstances Am I Able to Ignite Others in Confidence?

and because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. 
Philippians 1:14

Mr. Edward Kimball, an ordinary Sunday School teacher in 1858, led a Boston shoe clerk to give his life to Christ. This clerk, Dwight L Moody, became an evangelist. In England in 1879, he awakened evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer. F. B. Meyer, while preaching at an American college campus, brought to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman. He was engaged in YMCA work, employed a former baseball player, Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work. Billy Sunday held a revival in which a group of local men were so enthusiastic that they planned another evangelistic campaign, bringing Mordecai Hamm to town to preach. During Hamm's revival, a young man named Billy Graham heard the gospel and yielded his life to Christ. And the story will continue till eternity. Only eternity will reveal the tremendous impact of that one Sunday School teacher, Mr. Kimball, who invested his life in the life of others.

One man on fire for God can endure thousands with new courage. It has happened here with Paul. One man on fire for God has capacity to put steel into the backbone of most of the believers in an area. It speaks of the enormity of the influence that is cast when one speaks the word of God with courage.

Because of Paul's boldness, he has edified almost all the believers in Rome. Now, they have far more courage. And courage to do what? Is it to live a better life? Well, that is a part of it, but, Paul goes beyond that. Notice what he says, "to speak the word of god without fear." They have more courage not just simply to live it, but to speak it, to bear witness of it, to testify of it, "to speak the word of God."

They are no longer hesitant to mention the name of Christ. No longer they are reluctant to witness. They are now without fear of repercussions. They are now without fear of consequences. They see Paul, and what he is willing to suffer for the gospel. and it has an enormous effect upon them. An it pulls them up to play at Paul's level, and to openly testify to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

At the end of verse 14 Paul tells us how they were doing it: "trusting in the Lord/becoming confident in the Lord." They were not trusting in Paul. And they were not trusting in themselves. And they were not trusting in a program. They were not trusting in the church or anything like that. Their trust was not horizontal; it was exclusively vertical. They were trusting in the Lord.

What was causing them to trust in the Lord and to be without fear and to speak the word of God? It was because of Paul's imprisonment, the elite of the elite, the praetorian guard were being won to faith in Jesus Christ. Because of Paul's imprisonment, the word is spread throughout Caesar's own household, and the saints in Caesar's household are greeting the saints in Philippi. And because of Paul's imprisonment, the word of the street is Jesus Christ, and people are talking about the Lord. Also the church in Rome has new boldness and new courage, perhaps as they've never had before, to speak the word of God without fear. this was God's sovereign purpose.

Dear Friends let us catch fire from those like Paul who are the boldest in the gospel for Christ. We all need to be ignited, and we all need to be igniting others. So, let us be on fire for God. And let the prison, problems, dire circumstances come, if need be, because Paul did his greatest preaching, and won his greatest converts, from his little rented quarter in Rome.

God Bless you.
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Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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