Message summary: Today we encourage each of you to continue to express your faith in the resurrected, ascended and coming Christ with boldness as you patiently await His coming Kingdom!

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"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). “Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body”  (Mark 15:43).

Brooksyne has taught children since she committed her life to Christ in Junior High School over 50 years ago. Over the years she's had her share of memories from the impromptu expressions of children, some rather humorous.

Once she was teaching on Elijah and, in describing him, she told the children that he was a "bold man". Making sure that she was not talking over their heads, she asked her preschoolers, "What does the word "bold" mean"? Little Mandy quickly waved her hand in the air and answered in her excited, confident voice, "He didn't have no hair". Being careful not to chuckle out loud, Brooksyne very simply and delicately pointed out the difference in the words, "bald" and "bold". Interestingly, Elisha, who followed Elijah, was indeed a bald man! (2 Kings 2:23)

We sure need boldness in our age. We consider Riley Gaines, a swimmer who has taken a bold stand against the perverseness of men (who are pretending to be women) participating in women's sports. Who would have imagined just 20 years ago that such a stand would be needed? And she is viciously attacked but stays bold. Just today we read comments on an article about her. Gaines is a Christian and has stated that her faith has shaped her activism.

An amazing thing has happened in our lifetime. Today in many places it is increasingly politically correct and even considered enlightened to mock God as well as traditional and Biblical standards of morality. At the same time one standing up for God and Biblical standards of morality may very well be seen as intolerant, bigoted, hateful, and ignorant!

We need to stand up boldly for Christ regardless of what the world will say, think or do to us. Joseph of Arimathea provides a good example for us.

This Joseph was a member of the ruling Jewish Sanhedrin who had an interesting role during the time of Christ’s crucifixion and burial. Along with Nicodemus he approached Pilate concerning the body of Jesus. We primarily know of Nicodemus due to his famous discussion with the Lord at night recorded in John 3. But prior to this, Joseph of Arimathea is never mentioned nor is his name referred to again in Scripture.

This is an instance where we glean complimentary information from each of the four gospels in seeing a composite picture of a situation.  Regarding Joseph, Matthew tells us he had become a disciple, but John adds the significant detail that he was a “secret disciple for fear of the Jews”.  Luke tells us he had not consented to the action of the Council in regard to the decision to have Christ sent to Pilate.  But Mark provides the detail I want to ponder for a moment in today’s encouragement.

He was a “prominent member of the Council”.  His prominence likely made his decision to be a disciple all the more difficult and contributed to his “fear of the Jews”. Prominence in any worldly institution can do this. Business leaders, politicians, entertainers, socialites and so forth all experience an additional “cost” in following Christ, the likely loss of prominence among their secular peers when they follow the Lord. Of course as mentioned above this is increasingly the case.

But Joseph “was himself waiting for the kingdom of God”. A foundational outlook for the believer is expressed in our Lord’s model prayer for His disciples, “Thy Kingdom come”. Real disciples are always looking for the Kingdom that is to come and yet remains unseen.

But it’s the final detail that grips our hearts today as we again seek to take a steadfast stand for my Lord. Joseph “went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body". Consider the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit in this transformation. This was, of course before Christ was resurrected. This secret, fearful disciple saw something during Christ’s final days on earth and perhaps during His death that transformed his fear into boldness.

Today we encourage each of you to express your faith in the resurrected, ascended and coming Christ with boldness as you patiently await His coming Kingdom!