SPEAKER_00 2:18

Hello and welcome to Let's Talk About It Podcast. I am your host, Apostle Rosemary of RCN Ministries and One Sound Global Alliance. Along with my wonderful husband, Apostle Herbie, we thank you all again on today as we come back here again with our season six. We're currently in season six, and we're going to be coming to you today with episode six with the voices of the church in a divided world. Amen. At this time, Apostle Herbie will be opening with prayer.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Heavenly Father, we honor you as Lord, King, and Sovereign Ruler over this platform. We thank you for the opportunity to speak life, truth, wisdom, healing, clarity, and kingdom understanding into the hearts of those who will hear this podcast. Father, let every conversation be governed by your spirit and anchored in your words. Let this platform be a place where faith is strengthened, family are restored, minds are renewed, and purpose is awakened. We pray that every listener would receive divine insight, encouragement, correction where needed, and flesh and fresh direction for the season of their lives. Lord God, our words from error, mixture, distraction, and confusion. That every every decision, discussion carry integrity, compassion, wisdom, and kingdom, authority. We decree, we decree that this podcast will be a voice of light in the midst of darkness, stability in unable times, and truth, and stable times and truth in the compromised generation. We cover every listener, every family, every home, every marriage, every leader, and every emergent voice under the blood of Jesus Christ. Let healing flow, let peace enter trouble places, let strength arise in weary hearts. Let the assignment increase. Let your glory rest upon this assignment. We dedicate this time to you and declare that all glory, honor, and praise belong to you alone. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Apostle Herbie. He is our global governing covering for all that we do globally for RCN ministries in every branch and stream that flows from under that covering, which is the governing body. On today, we come to you with episode six. The title of today's episode is this The Silent Church when fear muzzles the pulpit. The theme is breaking the fear of speaking truth. So let's just kind of look at what the first phase so far of the first five episodes so far, and this is going to be the six. There's a total of 12, but just with the five that we've already done, let's look at the progression here. The very first episode of season six title was Christ over culture. And the theme was Kingdom Identity Over Cultural Pressure. Episode two was The Church and Cancel Culture, Responding with Grace and Truth. Episode three was Faith and Politics, Engaging Without Losing Your Witness. Episode four title was Kingdom First, and it dealt with navigating nationalism and faith. And we are coming to you today with the theme of breaking the fear of speaking truth. Amen. Amen. So we're gonna dive right into this. Let me see here. Yeah, we're gonna go right ahead and dive right into this now. So welcome back to Let's Talk About It. As we continue our season six series, Voices of the Church in a Divided World, we spent the last several episodes talking about truth, identity, grace, culture, politics, and kingdom priorities. But now we arrive at a critical question, people of God. If truth is so important, why are so many believers silent? Why are so many pulpits quiet? Why are so many Christians hesitant to speak when truth is under attack? Today's episode's title deals with this topic: The Silent Church, when fear muzzles the pulpit. Because before the church can become a voice in a divided world, it must first overcome the fear that keeps it silent. So, people of God, let's talk about it. Why is the church, why the church, excuse me, become silent? Fear has always been one of the enemy's most effective weapons and tools. Not because fear makes people evil, but because fear makes people quiet, my God. Many believers know what is right, they know what scripture teaches, they know what God says, but fear convinces them to remain silent. Fear says, don't say a thing. You might offend someone, you might lose followers, you might be misunderstood, you might be criticized, and gradually fear begins to dictate behavior. We're going to look at 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7. And Apostle and I will be coming from the Amplified to just simplify this for everyone who is listening that they get the meat of what is really going on here.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a song mind. Paul reminds believers that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a song mind. Fear does not come from God. Fear is often the doorway through which compromise enters. Paul is written to Timothy, a younger ministry leader, who is being urged not to shrink back from his calling or become ashamed of the testimony of Christ. The surrounding verse matters, Paul tells Timothy to stir up the gift of God and immediately follow verse 7 with be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

That's it. And then when we back down after verse 7, he tells them to be not be not thou, therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. That is verse 8. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

So this is bigger than simply saying Christians shouldn't be afraid. Paul is dealing with fear that could interfere with ministry, witness, calling, and public in identification with the gospel. The preacher. How truth is delivered, a sound mind bring discipline and judgment. Yes. The teaching point many Christians are not lacking truth, they are lacking courage. A courage is not the absence of fear, courage is obedience, despise fear.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

That's it. Despite the fear, baby, we still got to have courage.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

My God. So now let's deal with the cost of silence. Silence is never neutral. When truth is absent, deception grows. When believers remain silent, culture fills the void. This is why silence carries consequences. When we look at Ezekiel chapter 33, it begins to let us know about one of the weapons and the tools in the arsenal, the kingdom arsenal, which is a weapon of warfare, and that is the watchman. The watchman was responsible for sounding the alarm. The watchman could not control how people responded. But the watchman was responsible for speaking. That principle still applies today, people of God. The church cannot control whether people accept truth. But the church must continue proclaiming that very truth. When we look at Ezekiel chapter 33, it deals with the watchman cannot see danger and refuse to sound the alarm. Hear me, people of God. What has happened in the churches and in the body of Christ in today's society globally is the fact that the watchmans are no longer in position. They're not on the wall where they should be. And the ones that are in position that are on the wall are afraid to say anything because of the rejection, because they they they'll lose their platform, they'll lose their following. All of this. You've already ingested as you hear it through your ear gates. You've ingested what we're we're putting out on this platform today on Let's Talk About It. But I need this thing to get down in your heart and let God do a gully wash. Ask yourself that. Fourth part of this. Uh-huh. Said we're gonna break it down in four. Verses 30 to 33. Hearing the word without doing it. We cannot be hearers of the word, we must be doers of the word. My God. This ending is especially relevant to the modern church. The people come to hear Ezekiel, they listen to his words, they even speak favorably about him, but they do not obey what they hear. My God, my God. We got people with itchy ear syndrome. They want something to make them feel good, something that doesn't convict them, something that doesn't bring them out of their mess, in their sins, in their polluted pools of sin. My God, my God, Jesus. That means Ezekiel 33 confronts two kinds of silence. The watchman who refuses to speak, and the hearer whose life refuses to respond. My God, that'll speak right there. Oh, my God, my God, my God. That's good right there, y'all. That is so good to me. My lord, my lord, that's good. Ooh, that's that's okay. Let me go ahead. See, we we've entered into a strong territory here on this podcast. And it's okay because we're gonna keep on cutting. We're gonna keep on cutting because anytime there is an infection, it must be exercised. It must be excised, it has to be. You got to dig into it in order to get the infection, the rot, and the decay out of the wound. My God, my God, in order for it to heal. Because what don't heal will kill. My God, that's good right there, Apostle. Put that down. What doesn't heal will kill. That's a whole nother sermon. A church can become comfortable hearing truth while becoming uncomfortable obeying truth. So let me teach right here and bless somebody. We are not responsible for people's response to what God tells us to release. We are responsible for our obedience to obey God no matter what the cost is. And sometimes the greatest danger is not opposition, the silence. My God, my Lord, finding your voice again. Apostle, we'll go back and forth. You wanna you want me to do these? How do you want to do it? Go ahead. I'll let you jump in and tell us how you want to do it.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

How do you believe? How do believers overcome fear? Number one, know the soul. Of your authority. Your authority comes from Christ, not public approval, not popularity, not influence. Number two, remember the purpose. Truth is not spoken to win argument. Truth is spoken to transform life. Number three, speak with love and conviction. Boldness is not arrogance. Boldness is clarity. Acts chapter four, twenty nine. The early church prayed for boldness, not comfort comfort, and God answer. In chapter four, verse twenty-nine, the early church answer to intimidation was greater boldness. And now, Lord, behold the threatening and grant unto thy servant that will all that with all boldness they may speak thy word. The context, the context make this much stronger. Peter and John has been arrested and commanded by the authority not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. In Acts chapter 4, verse 18, after being threatened and released, they return to to the believers. What is remarkable is what the church prayed. They did not pretend the threat weren't real. They said it essentially, Lord, behold their threatening. They acknowledged the pressure, but they did not ask fear to determine their response. They pray. Their prayer was, Grant unto thy servant boldness. And the verse 31 gives gives the result. So Act 4 gives you the antidote to the silent church. The answer, the answer isn't merely telling frightening leaders. Try harden to be courageous. The early church prayed together, was filled afresh, and spoken the word with boldness.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

The thread connecting all three of these is 2 Timothy. When we look at 2 Timothy 1 and 7, what is governing you? That's what we need to ask ourselves, people of God. Fear must not govern the messenger. If you are someone who is fearful to speak forth the sound doctrine, the unadulterated doctrine, the undiluted, unpolluted, unsugar-coated doctrine, you don't need to speak. Sit down and ask God to help you and to deliver you from a spirit of fear, in man's opinion. Ezekiel 33, what is your responsibility, people of God? Paul says, I charge thee. As a minister of the gospel, there's a charge we have to keep and a God to glorify. The watch must sound the warning entrusted to him. The watchman has to sound that alarm. Tying in Acts 4 and 29, how does the church respond when speaking becomes costly? We pray for boldness and keep speaking God's word, people of God. So when we begin to look at the apostolic progression of episode six, it tells us we move from fear to responsibility to boldness. And one statement could anchor this entire conversation, people of God, that the issue is not whether the church has a voice, the issue is whether fear has gained enough influence over that voice to determine when, where, and about what the church is willing to speak. So let's break down a teaching point here. The church does not need louder opinions, the church needs clearer voices. My God, that are, let me add something else, that are Holy Spirit filled, that are led by God, not politics, not whatever, a political party that are not led by culture, that's not led by race. We need people that are governed by the kingdom of God. Because power gives courage. Love governs how truth is delivered, and a sound mind brings discipline and judgment. People of God, hear me real close. The world does not need a silent church, the world needs a courageous church, a church that speaks truth, a church that loves people, a church that refuses compromise, and a church that understands that silence is not always wisdom. Sometimes silence is fear. My God, my God. Hear me what I say. The notes from this on our episode title, The Silent Church, when fear muzzles the pulpit. And the theme is breaking the fear of speaking truth. The scriptures we use today are these. Am I seeking approval more than obedience? This week also, the activation challenge is this. This week, people of God, ask God for boldness. Speak one truth you've been afraid to say. Speak it with love, with wisdom, and all humility. So now we're gonna get to four different questions here in our segment. Question and answers. We're gonna go one, two, three, and four. Um, apostle's gonna start us out with question one.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Is boldness the same as being confrontational? No. Boldness is clarity, boldness is clarity, confrontation with Allah is not biblical boldness.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Okay, question two. Why do believers stay silent? Answer is this often because of fear, rejection, criticism, or misunderstanding. Question three.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

What is what is the watchman? The responsibility to one, speak, and remain faithful to truth.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Uh-huh. And the fourth question: what if people reject what I say? People of God, hear me clear. Your responsibility is obedience, their response belongs to them and them alone. That's why the word of God tells us, if they don't deceive you, knock the dust from your feet and keep it moving. That's where we're at, people of God. Obey no matter what the cost. We have a closing declaration here. And it is, I will not be controlled by fear. I will not remain silent when God calls me to speak. I will not walk in power. Excuse me. I will walk in power, love, and a sound mind. And I will be a voice of truth in a divided world. My God. Episode seven next month is going to deal with destruction versus this discipleship, rebuilding faith the right way. All right. And this episode for next month will explore why people are walking away from faith, spiritual wounds, and disappointment, false foundations, what real discipleship looks like, how believers rebuild a stronger faith. And it's going to continue our progression, which is truth, courage, endurance, holiness, influence, balance, discernment for the remnant, my God. So we thank you for joining us on today for season six, Voices of the Church in a divided world. May God bless you and may God keep you. And we're going to go ahead and have our closing prayer on Let's Talk About It podcast of RCN Ministries and One Sound Global Alliance is our apostolic network. Father, we thank you for every word that has been spoken and every seed that has been planted during this time together. Lord, we pray that what has been released would not fall on hardened ground, but will produce wisdom, growth, healing, maturity, and transformation in the lives of the listeners. Strengthen faith. Restore families, God, refocus the minds and the hearts back towards your will and your purpose. Give your people discernment for this hour. Courage to stand in truth and grace to walk in obedience. We pray, O God, for protection over every listener and their households. Cover them spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially. Let your peace rest upon them and let your hand guide them throughout this week. Father, help us not to only hear truth, but to apply it. Let us become disciplined disciples, wise stewards, loving family members, and kingdom-minded believers who reflect Christ's well in every area of our lives. We declare, O God, that no weapon formed against your people shall prosper. And we decree divine alignment, stability, wisdom, supernatural strength over every listener connected to this podcast. As we leave this episode, may your presence continue to go before us. Strengthen us and lead us according to your perfect will. In Jesus' mighty name, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you and God keep you until next month. And again, we want to thank you for joining us today on Let's Talk About It podcast. I am your host, Apostle Rosemary, along with my wonderful husband, Apostle Herbie. Go with God, obey his word, walk in his purpose that he has given you and grace you to do so. In Jesus' name we pray. God bless you. Have a great rest of your day.