Rev. David Holwick X Joshua 1:9 Series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 3, 2016
Joshua 1:9
1 Corinthians 16:13
BE COURAGEOUS!
I. What a person does when the chips are down.
A. He spoke French the first ten years of his life.
Florent Groberg was born in 1983 in France.
He did not speak English until he was 11 years old.
His mother was Algerian and French; his father was American.
Groberg enlisted in the United States Army and served in
Afghanistan.
On August 8, 2012, he was assigned to protect some senior
commanders on a visit to an Afghan official.
As they approached the provincial governor's compound,
motorcycles came near the group - they were a diversion.
The real attackers were on foot.
Captain Groberg noticed a man make an abrupt turn toward their
formation, a man with a bulge underneath his clothing.
The captain placed himself in front of one of the brigade
commanders, then rushed forward using his body to push the
suspect away from the group.
Groberg could now tell the man was wearing a suicide vest.
As they fell down together, the attacker detonated his vest.
The explosion caused a second suicide bomber, who had not been
detected by the Americans, to prematurely detonate.
Four members of the Allied group were killed.
Several others were injured, including Captain Groberg.
He spent three years recovering and endured 30 surgeries.
Because of his bravery, many other lives were saved, and so
he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Nine of the 20 men given the Medal of Honor since Vietnam
died earning it; 3 more were severely wounded. [1]
Do you think you could do what he did?
It's probably impossible to tell unless you are there.
A sane person would not want to be there.
But with so much danger in the world, you never know...
B. What is in you?
1) We all want to be the kind of people who do the right thing
even when everyone is scared (including us).
2) How do you get that? Do you have to be born with it?
3) Since God commands it here, it must be something we can
choose to do -- and develop as part of our character.
II. The concept of courage has changed down through the years.
A. It has always involved conscious action in the face of danger.
1) There is no courage without risk.
2) It often entails self-sacrifice for the good of others.
3) A criminal who holds off 50 police is usually not said
to be courageous, but a soldier holding off 50 is.
B. In the ancient world "courage" focused on men in war.
1) The Bible often sees it this way.
a) Today's verse in Joshua has this emphasis.
2) Courage in battle was important.
a) In Deuteronomy 28, instructions are given for war.
1> Verse 8 says if anyone is a scaredy-cat, they can
go home.
2> The leaders didn't want them to infect anyone else.
b) Those who were brave in battle were honored.
1> A group called the Thirty were especially famous.
2> Their specialty was defeating large numbers of the
enemy singlehandedly.
3> Many of them are named, just like we honor heroes.
C. In more modern times we recognize courage in everyday life.
1) By the 1800s people started talking about "moral courage."
a) You don't face bullets, but you might be ridiculed or
shunned for taking a stand for what is right.
b) This kind of courage is often a LONELY courage. [2]
2) Even though "moral courage" is a modern term, the concept
is found in the Old Testament.
In 2 Chronicles 26:16, priests confronted a king who was
out of line.
King Uzziah was powerful and proud and he decided to do
something only priests could do - burn incense.
Verse 17 says, "Azariah the priest with eighty other
courageous priests of the LORD followed him in."
They confronted the king, ordered him out of the temple,
and he went into a rage.
I would not have wanted to be one of those priests!
But then something dramatic happened - leprosy appeared
on the king's face.
He left the temple quite willingly at that point.
III. The best courage requires big enemies.
A. Joshua and his people had a foe they knew little about.
1) What the spies told them wasn't encouraging. Giants!
2) They were up against fortified cities.
3) They had plenty of failure under their belt already.
a) Abortive invasion at beginning of Wilderness wandering.
B. All of us face dangers and enemies of one sort or another.
1) What can shake our courage:
a) The future, personally and globally.
b) Bad economy and losing your job.
1> Pastor Juan is actually shipping food and toilet
paper to his relatives in Venezuela.
c) Questions about faith.
1> (We live in a harsh, combative and confusing world)
d) Family and relationships.
e) Our health, and the health of our loved ones.
2) Courage is not something abstract.
a) It only comes out when it is needed.
b) Only fearful people can have it. Mark Twain wrote:
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not
absence of fear.
Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment
to say it is brave."
#16631
IV. Courage can be acquired.
A. Associate with people who will bring it out in you.
1) The disciple were often frightened.
Jesus would do things like walk out to their boat on a
stormy night at 3:00 a.m.
Mark 6:50 says, "they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, 'Take courage!
It is I. Don't be afraid.'"
2) Did it work?
a) They got through the night, and I am sure with a deeper
appreciation and awe of Jesus.
b) It was a courage that became more permanent.
1> After Jesus left the earth, the apostles began
preaching about Jesus.
2> They also performed a dramatic healing and got so
much attention the authorities threw them in jail.
3> When Peter and John were called before the
authorities, they didn't mince their words.
Acts 4:12 has Peter telling them:
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to men by which we
must be saved."
The leaders were actually intrigued.
Verse 14 says,
"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and
realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men,
they were astonished and they took note that
these men had been with Jesus."
c) Does knowing Jesus make you stand out?
1> Does anyone notice and remark on it?
2> Perhaps you don't know him the way you should.
B. Have clear-cut moral convictions.
1) Rationalization feeds cowardice.
2) You have to be convinced of what is right and wrong, if you
are going to stand up for the right when it is hard.
C. Put yourself in situations where you need to use courage.
1) I read an article this week about a British doctor who helps
medical teams in Aleppo, Syria.
2) The government is dropping barrel bombs on the hospitals and
ISIS is executing medical staff when they feel like it.
a) He even had ISIS soldiers aim rifles at him while he
operated on one of their buddies.
b) Government snipers also do their best to pick off
medical workers.
3) He is either very brave or very stupid. I think he is brave.
V. In a world of terror and violence, we need more courage.
A. Even young people can make a difference.
When Ben Strong and Michael Carneal arrived at school in
Paducah, Kentucky, on a Monday morning in 1997, both of
them knew exactly what they wanted to do.
Ben wanted to pray with his friends.
Michael wanted to shoot them.
And so at 7:37 a.m. on December 1, 1997, Ben and about 35
other students gathered - as they did every morning - and
held hands, sang songs and talked to God.
While they prayed, Michael, a 14-year-old freshman, stood
nearby, calmly putting in ear plugs.
As soon as the students said, "Amen," Michael pulled out a
pistol and started shooting.
The first bullet hit a young girl who later died.
Michael pulled the trigger about 10 more times.
The whole time Michael was shooting, Ben kept yelling,
"Mike, what are you doing? Put the gun down!"
But Michael ignored him and kept firing.
Then the principal, Bill Bond, who heard the shots from his
office, came running into the lobby.
Michael took aim at the principal.
But before he could pull the trigger, Ben stepped in front of
Michael and demanded that he stop the shooting.
This time, Michael listened.
He put the gun down, then slouched to the floor and told Ben,
"I can't believe I did that."
The principal said Ben was a hero.
"I have no doubt that Ben saved my life," said Bond.
"There was one bullet left in the gun, and I know it was
meant for me."
Ben says the tragedy has made his faith stronger, that he's
never doubted God's love, even for a second.
"God is the only one who got us through this.
God's always there for us, no matter what happens."
"If I wasn't a Christian, I don't know how I'd react to
something like this.
It would be easy to just go nuts.
But when you have God in your life, something like this forces
you to lean on him even more."
After the tragedy, the morning prayer gathering grew to 100
students.
#19500
B. How much courage do you have?
1) What are you doing to get more?
2) Ask God to give you as much as you need.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
1. Adapted by David Holwick from the articles “The latest Medal of Honor
recipient is being honored for tackling a suicide bomber in
Afghanistan,” by Alex Lockie, Associated Press, November 12, 2015;
<link>; and
“Captain Florent A. Groberg,” Organization: U.S. Army, 4th Infantry
Brigade Combat Team, Date of Issue: 11/12/2015; <link>.
2. “What Is Courage?” a review of the In Character magazine article
"Danger, Death, and... Dieting?" by William Ian Miller. The
review appears to be by Richard Avramenko; <link>. Copyright
© 2014, T.S. Tsonchev Publishing & Design, Canada. All rights reserved.
#16631 “Quotes On Courage,” Quotes From the Masters, August 25, 2000.
#19500 “Split-Second Courage, Ongoing Faith,” Mark Moring, Christian
Reader, January 1999; <link>.
Article is condensed from Campus Life (December 1998);
Copyright © 1998 Christianity Today International.
After I preached this illustration I googled Ben Strong to see
how his life had turned out and found this article that raises
questions about his heroism in the incident: "When Grief
Wanted a Hero, Truth Didn’t Get in the Way," by William
Glaberson, New York Times, July 25, 2000; <link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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