Father in heaven, speak to us this morning, we
ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Once again, it is a
privilege and an honor to be here at the Rainbow
Church. This is my first time here. We have a
beautiful facility. I drive by this road all
the time, and I've always wondered what this
church was like. As soon as I walked into Sandler
School, I thought to myself, I wonder what this
church is like. And the first announcement, to
my dismay, I was a bit discouraged, I saw on
the screen was... Potluck is next Saturday. I
said to myself, man, I should have come next
Saturday. Come on back. Maybe I'll come back
just for Potluck. How does that sound, right?
But it's good to see that there are still some
churches who hold on to the tradition of Potluck.
Potluck, friends, is more than the food. It's
more than just eating food. You know, I passed
it for a number of years, and I've said this
to my elders and my leaders. You know, Potluck
is not about the food. It's about connecting
with people. It's about fellowshipping with people.
And there may be times where the food will run
out. That's okay. Because it was never about
the food. And I'm so happy to see that some churches
are still holding on to the tradition of potluck.
It's a time to connect. It's a time to visit
with each other. And as the pastor, it's a time
for me to visit those that I couldn't visit during
the week. And so I just want to commend you for
that wonderful tradition that you're holding
on to, potluck. It's one of my favorite parts
of the Sabbath. Well, today I've entitled my
sermon, Courage. Courage. I've thought a lot
about this, and I've prayed about it. The Lord
has impressed upon my heart to preach on this
subject, this thing called courage. Ladies and
gentlemen, if truth be told, if you're honest
with yourself, and if we're honest with all of
ourselves, if we're honest with ourselves, and
if truth be told, we all admire courage. When
we see it, we have this great respect. When we
see courage being exemplified, it's an admiration.
And I believe that the reason why courage is
often admired is because it's a rarity. We hardly
see it. It's a virtue that's lacking not only
in our churches, not only in our families, but
also in society today. When I think of courage,
the metaphor that comes to mind, is a diamond
or diamonds. You see, when we see a diamond,
we're in awe. You know, we're amazed. We're excited.
Why? Because diamonds are a rarity. And the same
is often true when it comes to this virtue called
courage. It is a virtue that is lacking today.
It's a rarity. It's an anomaly. And I'm not just
making that based on pure observation. As a matter
of fact, research confirms it. There's a company,
a survey was done and conducted by HisCos in
partnership with Forbes Insiders insurance companies.
And what they did was they came together and
they wanted to measure the level of courage across
aspects of American life today. And this survey
was done over a span of 10 years. And they came
up with a metric system called ACI, American
Courage Index. And so they wanted to quantify,
they wanted to measure this thing called courage
in everyday American life. And over a span of
a decade, the final conclusion was, according
to the survey, is that in America, courage is
on the decline. Research confirms it. Courage
is on the decline. It's a rarity. It's a virtue
that's lacking today. As a matter of fact, another
independent research states that as courage is
declining, fear is increasing. What's very interesting,
according to this research, is that we are living
in the most safest era in Earth's history. And
what doesn't make sense according to these researchers
are why is it that we are living in the most
safest era when we talk about safety. Never before
have we had so many locks on our doors. Never
before have we had so many surveillance cameras.
We are living in the most safest era in earth's
history and yet fear is still increasing. That's
what boggles the mind of these researchers. But
here's the conundrum that I want to submit to
your attention. Courage is on the decline. Courage.
in the land of the free, in the home of the brave,
is declining. If there's ever a virtue that we
need in the Christian experience today, it is
courage. Without courage, victory is impossible.
Without courage, you cannot do the impossible.
Without courage... You cannot share your faith
without courage. You cannot tell others about
Jesus. If there's ever a time, Ringgold Church,
we need courage, it is now. Why? Well, first
and foremost, this is the reason why we need
courage. Because God commands it. God doesn't
suggest it. God doesn't make it an option. You
heard the scripture reading this morning in Joshua
chapter 1 verse 9. Jesus said, God says, have
not I commanded you? Courage is a command. God
commands it of us. Be of good courage. He doesn't
suggest it. He doesn't request it. He says, have
not I commanded you? It's a command of God. It's
a virtue in the Bible that we often overlook,
but it has serious implications. It's crucial
and imperative to the well -being and the success
of the children of Israel in the Old Testament
and also to the spiritual children of the New
Testament. As a matter of fact, whenever you
often see the word courage, Be of good courage.
This is why God commanded courage. Please listen
to what I'm about to say next. This is why God
commanded courage in the Old Testament. Because
it is a life or death issue. We often just read
courage and we think, well, that's okay. But
if you read it in its context, when the 12 tribes
scattered the promised land, God commanded them
to be of good courage because it was a life or
death issue. Be of good courage. When the children
of Israel were to cross over to Canaan land,
God commanded them, be of good courage. Why?
Because it was a life or death issue. If we are
to prosper, if we are to triumph, if we are to
be successful in reaching out our community,
we must be of good courage. It's a life or death
issue. There are so many verses in scripture.
That we can read and we can see. But let me just
share with you a few of them here this morning.
Numbers. There's a plethora of promises, of commands
where God commands his people. Be of good courage.
Be of good courage. He doesn't request it. He
doesn't make it optional. He says be of good
courage. It's a life and death issue. And it's
a rarity these days. It's lacking. Numbers chapter
13 verse 20. Let me read it to you. And be ye
of good courage and bring of the fruit of the
land. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6. Be strong and of
a good courage. Fear not nor be afraid of them.
Deuteronomy 31 verse 7. The Bible says, And Moses
called unto Joshua and said unto him in the sight
of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage.
For thou must go with this people unto the land
which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers
to give them. Deuteronomy 31 verse 23, And he
gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said,
Be strong and of a good courage, for thou shalt
bring the children of Israel into the land which
I promised you. Ezra chapter 10 verse 4, Arise,
for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also
will be with thee. Be of good courage and do
it. You see, Satan knows that when we have courage,
he will be defeated. Be of good courage. Psalm
27 and verse 4. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait,
I say, on the Lord. Psalm 31, 24. Be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,
all ye that hope in the Lord. Isaiah 41 verse
6, they helped everyone his neighbor. Everyone
said unto his brother, be of good courage. You
see, this phrase, be of good courage, is written
in a way that we're not supposed to just say
it to ourselves. We're supposed to encourage
each other with it. We turn to our brother, turn
to our sister and say, brother, be of good courage.
Be of good courage. That should be a habitual
thing. Be of good courage. First thing you wake
up in the morning, tell yourself, be of good
courage in the Lord. First person you see at
church, brother, happy Sabbath, be of good courage.
Would you say amen to that? This statement, this
promise is not confined, nor was it designed
to be kept to yourself. It was meant to be shared.
You imagine being on the receiving end and someone
comes up to you and says, brother, be of good
courage. Right? Turn to your brother. Be of good
courage. You see, Satan wants your mind. I was
reading a psychology paper and I came across
this very interesting statement that I want to
excerpt from it. It had this one -liner and it
said in this psychology paper, it said, Courage
is a buffer to mental illness. Courage is a buffer.
To mental illness. According to a survey of 1
,000 soldiers in a brigade unit in the Iraq war,
the results show that in this survey that brave,
courageous soldiers who were, the results show
that courageous soldiers who were able to effectively
handle or regulate fear and show courage showed
less. Combat fatigue showed less anger and showed
less post -traumatic stress. Courage. Courage
is a buffer to mental illness. You see, if there's
anything that Satan wants, Satan wants control
of your mind. The battle of the great controversy
we all know, yes, it's the battle between truth
and error. But the battle of the great controversy
is the battle over our mind. Who has our mind?
Who has your mind? For the servant of the Lord
tells us that out of our mind come our actions.
Out of our thoughts come our words and our actions.
And the more we repeat our actions, those actions...
become our habits. And the servant of the Lord
tells us that our habits lay the foundation of
our character and our character determines our
destiny. And Satan will do anything that he can
to control your mind. And if it means destroying
courage, he will do that. If it means crushing
your courage, He will do that. That's the reason
why, friends, Satan is not concerned about your
destiny. Satan is not concerned about your character.
Satan is not concerned about what you do. Satan
wants your mind. Because once he has your mind,
he has your actions. He has your character. Once
he has your mind, he has your destiny. That's
the reason why the Bible says, let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Courage.
Satan wants control of your mind and he will
do anything that he can to crush your courage.
It has an effect on your mind. Now I want to
make it very clear. I want to be very specific
and precise when I use the word courage. Because
courage is often used very openly. So let me
just kind of define what I mean by courage. And
let me define courage by telling you what courage
is not. I don't know if you think like me sometimes.
Sometimes in order for you to know something,
I've got to know what it's not. Do you guys think
like me? I've got to find out what this is what
it's not. By process of elimination, if this
is what it's not, then this is what it must be.
So let me define courage from that perspective.
This is what courage is not. Courage is not confidence.
There's a difference between courage and confidence.
You see, when someone is confident, confidence...
means that you have no fear. You're confident.
If someone were to stand up here and sing or
preach, and they were to sing and preach confidently,
they have no fear. They preach confidently. Right?
Confidence is the absence of fear. They're so
confident in what they do. That's not courage.
So let's not mix up the difference between courage
and confidence. Courage, on the other hand, listen,
courage... is mindful of that fear, and yet you
proceed to do it. That's what courage is. Courage
is acknowledging the fact that you're fearful
to do something, but you go ahead and do it anyhow.
Can anybody resonate with that? Right? Let's
take, for example, singing. Someone can stand
here and sing with confidence, and at the same
time, standing next to that person is someone
singing with courage. One person has no fear.
The other person has fear, but yet they still
proceed with it. Right? So courage is not the
absence of fear. Courage is the presence of fear,
but yet you still move ahead with it. That's
courage. You know, if there's ever a place I
learned, I started in my ministry learning courage,
it was when I was a literature evangelist. When
I was a coal porter. You know? When I had to
go knock on those doors. It took a lot of courage,
and we would knock on about 70, 80 doors a day.
Each door, each door, each door taught me to
be courageous. Each door, right? You have this
internal fear that they might do something, but
yet you still proceed along with it because someone
needs to know about Jesus. So courage is not
the removal of fear. Courage acknowledges fear,
but yet still proceeds with it. Tell you what
courage is not. is not recklessness I was driving
the other day and as I was driving on interstate
75 I saw this car group of young people they
were weaving between the cars they were going
at least at least 130 miles an hour and they
were just weaving from car to car and I could
see the young people inside they were high -fiving
each other and I could probably I could probably
see and listen to their conversation saying to
the driver, wow, that was courageous of you to
dodge that truck. Friends, that's not courage,
that's stupidity. So let's not mix up courage
and stupidity. Courage and recklessness, that's
presumption. I want to make it very clear what
courage is not. Courage is not coercion. If you
are forced to take an action, that's not courage.
If you are forced to stand up here and sing so
you can have someone singing with confidence
and standing next to that person is someone who's
singing with courage and then standing next to
that person is someone who's being coerced to
sing. You see, in order for courage to be genuine,
it must be a voluntary act. Or a choice. That's
courage. Courage is not when you are forced to
do something. And we see in scripture the display
of courage. The three Hebrew boys, they refused
to bow down to the image. That's courage. Not
because they were forced to do it, but because
they chose to. They loved their God so much that
they willingly surrendered their life to God.
Jesus displayed courage. No one forced Jesus
to go to the cross. Courage is not coercion.
He laid down his life voluntarily. That's courage.
When we think of courage, we often think of physical
courage, emotional courage. But I want to make
it very clear what kind of courage I'm talking
about this morning. If there's ever a courage
that matters, it's moral courage. That's the
kind of courage that will get us into glory land.
No other courage matters. That's the kind of
courage that Ellen White says the greatest one
of the world is the one of men. Men who will
not be bought or sold. And when she talks about
men, she's not talking about the gender man.
She's talking about mankind. The greatest one
of the world are men and women who will not be
bought or sold. Men who will call sin by its
right name. Men whose true to duty is a needle
to the pole. That's moral courage. That's the
kind of courage we need today. And courage, I
believe, when I analyze courage and I think about
courage in our everyday life, I truly believe
that courage should be our first virtue. If you
want to be successful, it takes courage. If you
want to learn and explore new things, you've
got to have courage, yes or no. If you want to
forgive your neighbor, You've got to have courage
to call that person up. You've got to have courage
to cross over to the other side and shake their
hand and talk to them. It takes courage. If you
want to reconcile with someone that has offended
you, it takes courage. If you want to discover
truth, it's going to take some courage, my brother.
When I didn't grow up an Adventist, I grew up
a Methodist. I'll tell you if there's one truth.
that I needed courage to accept. It was the Sabbath.
Now for those of you who were born and raised
in the church, you may not realize this, but
for those of you who did not grow up in Adventist,
you probably can resonate with this. You see,
in order for me to accept the Sabbath, I had
to reject Sunday. And that takes courage. Can
you resonate with me? It takes courage to discover
truth. It takes courage. In order for me to accept
that my body is the temple of the living God,
I've got to reject certain kinds of foods. That
takes courage. So you see, dear friends, courage
is the first virtue. If you want to love your
enemy, it's going to take courage. If you want
to grow your church, it's going to take courage.
If you want to do evangelism, it's going to take
courage. You can have a nice articulated vision
for your church. But it takes courage to act
on that vision. You can have board meetings all
day long. And you can come up with nice agendas.
But it's going to take courage to implement those
agendas. Courage. Greatest one of the world is
the one of men. Courage is the first virtue.
One of the most encouraging promises in scripture.
I'm coming to a close here. Joshua chapter 1
verse 9. Listen to this. God says, have not I.
I've often wondered about this and I've asked
myself, why is this in a question form? Why is
it in a statement? Why doesn't just God come
out directly and say, Joshua, be of good courage.
But instead the Bible words it in a question
form. It says, have not I commanded thee? And
I can't help but think that the reason why God
puts it in question form is because Often times
we easily forget. And so God will have to keep
reminding us. Didn't I command you? Didn't I
command you? Be of good courage. Don't you remember?
What was it that Joshua was supposed to remember?
You see 40 years earlier. This was the same word
that God gave Joshua. When they were about to
scalp Canaan land. Be of good courage. And so
here in Joshua chapter 1 verse 9. God was reminding
Joshua. Of what he told him in Numbers chapter
13. Didn't I tell you? Before you were to go
and scout this new territory. Be of good courage.
May you never forget that. We have nothing to
fear for the future. Except we forget how God
has led us in the past. Have not I reminded you?
Be of good courage. Be of good courage. Joshua
and Caleb displays this courage. One of the things
we must remember. Courage doesn't come by just
walking out there and says, well, I'm going to
have courage. Courage rests upon God's word.
Here in this book is the source of courage. When
you spend time in God's word, when you make this
book top priority in your life, you will find
and you will notice your courage being strengthened.
Day by day. No other book can give you courage
like this book right here. I often have to remind
my students every now and then what the pen of
inspiration says. Ellen White says, no other
book can do to your mind what this book can do.
No other subject can do to your human brain what
this subject can do. The subject of redemption.
She says, no other book can do to your human
brain. She says, this book, this subject. can
expand the faculties of your mind. And I say
that with all respect to all the other disciplines
that are being taught in university, but know
what a subject can do to your human brain, what
this subject can do. And it's the same as courage.
There are psychology books on courage. There
are magazines on courage. But if you want godly
courage, here's the source right here. I believe
as we're about to embark in the next few weeks
with this upcoming evangelistic meeting, I'm
convinced we already have all the knowledge.
We just need courage. We have all the light.
We need courage. Would you say amen? We've sermonized.
We've taught. We've listened to Sabbath school.
We have this podcast, that podcast. With this
media ministry, we have all the knowledge and
information on how to do evangelism. Let's step
out in courage. And let's put these things into
practice and the Lord will bless. May God bless
us. May God keep us as we pray for the success
of these evangelistic meetings. It's going to
take courage. It's going to take courage for
you to step out in faith and invite someone to
give a Bible study, to receive a Bible study.
It's going to take courage for you to invite
someone to these meetings. Yes, you will be ridiculed.
You will be misunderstood. You will be tired.
But be of good courage. And the Lord will bless.
This courage can only come from the Lord. How
many of you today want to say, Lord, give me
that courage? I don't have that courage in and
of my own self. I need that courage from you.
Is that your prayer this morning? That's my prayer
too. Let's pray. Father in heaven, give us the
courage that we don't have, that only comes from
your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.