Acts 5- Be Bold

In Acts the 5 the apostles are arrested and placed in prison... then in the middle of the night an angel broke them out of jail and gave them this bizarre command to go back to where they were arrested and "tell the people the full message of this new life." (Acts 5:17-21)

First off, I just have to note that they were so bold... the result of preaching in the public square was a whooping. They got beat on and flogged and they went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy of suffering for The Name. My question for us is... are we that bold? Would we speak up even if we knew it might cost us? If you can easily answer yes, or even maybe, then ask yourself, 'have you spoken up lately?' Having a treasure like eternal life with God is something that is meant to be shared. If you had the cure to cancer and kept it for yourself I would say you are an evil and selfish person. The same is true for Christianity. You have a cure for eternity. All sickness and decease and sin cured. No more tears. No more separation from God. How can we possibly keep that to ourselves? We should boldly proclaim that everyday in everyplace no matter the cost. So be bold!

But I see a second element that concerns me about this verse... 'tell the people the full message of this new life.' What is the full message? Can you outline the full message? Do you have a working definition of saving faith? If God put you in a situation to share would you have words to articulate the Gospel? We often talk about sharing our testimony and being ready. If you do not have your testimony figured out then I think that is a good place to start. 1) explain your  pre conversion life 2) Explain your conversion experience 3) Finally, tell others what life has been like since you joined Jesus' team. Sharing your testimony is as easy as 1-2-3. But, is that enough? Acts 5 doesn't say, 'share your story.' It says share God's story. So, we need to start figuring out what God's story is. Every christian should be ready to give the Gospel. I would say memorize Romans 3:23-25 and be ready to explain it. More Christians need to think through this. The reason why sharing is so scary is because so few know what to say. Search the scriptures to find the full message and write it down so you can share it when God puts you in the town square or the temple courts or in your school or at your job or with your friends. Be ready. Be bold.