Rev. David Holwick U
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 8, 2001
Joshua 1:7-9
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I. Everyone admires courage.
A. Old Dan Rather sign-off: "Courage!" (seemed too melodramatic)
B. Pearl Harbor movie with videogame-like aircraft dogfights.
C. We admire courage so much we'll fake it.
Historian Joseph Ellis has won the Pulitzer Prize.
He also won the National Book Award in 1997 for "American
Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson."
Even before he became a best-selling author, Ellis was famous
for his vivid lectures.
In his popular courses at the exclusive Mount Holyoke College in
Massachusetts, he would often enliven classroom discussions
by describing his own combat experience in Vietnam.
As Ellis's reputation grew, the history professor began to
tell local and national reporters about his memories of war.
Last year, after The Boston Globe carried accounts of Ellis's
experience as a platoon leader with the 101st Airborne
Division in Vietnam, someone who knew the truth about
Ellis dropped a dime.
All of it was made up.
Why would such a famous author do a dumb thing like this?
One commentator says an experience like war defines a person's
character, especially in front of other men.
I always read the obituaries that have the little flags.
Which war were they in? Did they see combat?
If you can be brave in war, you can be brave anywhere.
Those who have never been to war might as well fake it.
#19514
D. We don't have to lie. Life is enough like combat on its own.
1) Will we face it with courage?
2) If we don't have it, where can we get it?
II. Israelites faced a daunting task.
A. Outnumbered by a foe they knew little about.
1) What the spies told them wasn't encouraging. Giants!
B. Going against fortified cities.
C. Plenty of failure under their belt already.
1) Abortive invasion at beginning of Wilderness wandering.
III. Who doesn't?
A. What can shake our courage:
1) Economy and losing job.
2) Questions about faith.
a) (we live in a harsh, confusing world)
3) Family and relationships.
4) Our health, and health of loved ones.
5) The future, personally and earth-wise.
B. Courage is not abstract.
1) It only comes out when it is needed.
2) Only fearful people can have it.
"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."
-- Mark Twain #16631
IV. Types of courage.
A. Physical courage.
1) War and physical danger.
When Ben Strong and Michael Carneal arrived at school in
Paducah, Kentucky, on that 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 says Ben is a hero.
"I have no doubt that Ben saved my life," says 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.
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2) Health.
a) Trusting in God.
b) Focusing on needs of others, not just self.
B. Moral courage.
1) West Point cheating scandal in 1976.
As most of you know, my father wanted me to go to a very
special school - West Point.
Maybe it is a good thing I didn't, because in the middle
of my college career West Point was shattered by a huge
scandal.
235 students who took a take-home engineering exam were
suspected of cheating.
At West Point, this is a big deal. Its honor code states:
"A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal,
nor tolerate those who do.
A cadet who violates the Cadet Honor Code shall be
separated from the United States Military Academy."
151 were found guilty or resigned on their own.
How was it found out?
One student wrote on his test that he received help.
An instructor compared the other tests and found very
similar answers, and the scandal split wide open.
You might say that this student cheated with integrity.
He made an error but admitted it right up front.
How much moral courage do YOU have?
If everyone around you is cheating, will you stay honest?
Do you compromise in any area of life?
What is your standard for morality?
The average morality of society, or something higher?
The Bible's morality is not a human invention but God's
gift to us.
It doesn't have to be whittled down and made more palatable.
#19515
2) Standing up for what is right, when no one else will.
In his autobiography Phil Donahue shares an experience from
Holden, West Virginia.
He and a CBS television crew had gone to this Appalachian
community to cover rescue attempts of thirty-eight miners.
They had planned to be there one night but stayed three,
eating doughnuts and drinking Red Cross coffee in
bitterly cold weather.
At last the rescue teams emerged, covered with soot and
grime, weary beyond words.
Relatives of the miners were waiting in the snow.
Gathered around a smudge pot, a preacher said, "Dear God,
let us pray."
They joined hands and prayed, then sang, "What a Friend We
Have In Jesus."
Donahue says it gave him goose bumps.
He knew it would make a great film for CBS, but the camera
was frozen; by the time it was warmed up, the service
was over.
At 2:30 in the morning, Donahue approached the pastor with a
request.
"Reverend, I am from CBS News.
Would you please go back through your prayer again?
We have 206 television stations across the country who will
hear you pray for these miners."
The humble minister looked at him and said, "Son, I just
couldn't do it.
I have already prayed to my God, and any further praying at
this time would be wrong.
No sir, I just can't do it."
Donahue was shocked that anyone would turn down a chance to
be on CBS News.
Finally he made his way to a pay telephone to report to
New York: "The _____ won't pray!"
Donahue claims that the preacher's stand was the greatest
demonstration of moral courage he has ever encountered.
The man would not "show biz" for Jesus.
He would not sell his soul - not even to CBS.
Donahue says he often thinks of that preacher and than night.
"I don't know where he is now, but if he isn't going to
Heaven, no one is."
#15059
C. Spiritual courage.
1) Disappointments of Job.
2) Darlynis, losing young husband. Many questions.
3) Believing when it doesn't seem to work.
V. Key to courage.
A. Keep the Bible. 1:7-8
1) We need a standard, something to cling to.
2) Meditate on it, masticate it.
3) Don't swerve from it.
a) Cowardice comes from thinking, I can find an "out."
b) Little compromises lead to big failures.
B. Know God is with you. 1:9
1) We can get courage by looking at someone greater than us.
a) (Battle of Bulge book, German spy looks at his leader.)
b) "Fix your eyes on Jesus." Hebrews 12:2
2) God commands us. (gives direction)
3) He will be with us wherever we go.
a) You will never be in a situation where God can't
reach you.
b) He may have you where you are for a specific reason.
c) Don't try to figure it all out. Just be faithful!
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#15059 "Donahue," by Phil Donahue, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979,
pages 66-67; quoted in Fredericksburg Bible Illustrator
Supplements.
#16631 "Quotes on Courage," from Quotes From The Masters, editor Jim
Rohn, August 25, 2000.
#19500 "Split-Second Courage, Ongoing Faith," Mark Moring, Christian
Reader magazine, Jan/Feb 1999, http://www.christianitytoday.~
com/cr/9r1/9r1020.html; condensed from Campus Life magazine,
Dec 1998.
#19514 "Campus Life: Improving on History," by Peg Tyre with Brian
Braiker, Newsweek magazine, July 2, 2001.
#19515 "Duty, Honor, Country and Too Many Lawyers," John H. Jorgenson,
http://www.west-point.org/publications/aba_article.html;
original article is copyrighted by the American Bar
Association Journal, April 1977, pages 564-567.
These and 18,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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