Words week 1 Courage

Courage is about doing the right thing when no one else is doing it, doing the right thing though everyone else ridicules you for it, and staying true in that belief no matter what it may cost.

1.      Courage requires us to live a life that inspires others.

1.      I believe with all of my heart that courage is born into every one of us.

1.      I mean God specifically made each of us in His image and He is by far the most courageous that I know.

Jesus our greatest model even in the face of death said, Luke 22:42 NLT [42] "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."

2.      Courage is a game changer.

3.      Courage is a life changer.

4.      Courage is a career changer.

5.      And courage is a eternity changer.

1.      Bold enough to believe though we have not seen.

John 20:29-31 NLT [29] "Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me." [30] The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. [31] But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His Name."

courage: the ability to do something that frightens one-strength in the face of pain or grief.

6.      Courage is facing impossibility and stepping forward any way.

7.      Courage is facing tough times and honoring God in His plan and promise any way.

1.      Courage grinds away the doubt.

2.      Courage grinds away the insecurity.

3.      Courage grinds away the distractions.

4.      And courage grinds away the inability.

2.      Courage requires us to live a life that engages others.

Job 1:1,6-12 NLT [1] "There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless-a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. [6] One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. [7] "Where have you come from?" the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, "I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that's going on." [8] Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed (considered) my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless-a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil."

1.      Vs. 8 God says have you noticed, have you considered attentively?

1.      Why?

1.      No true, sincere, passionate servant of God escapes the eye of the adversary of God.

2.      I promise the Devil pays attention to your faithfulness.

3.      He sees courage acting out.

1.      He is looking for your weaknesses and your weak moments.

2.      Looking even for your successes that you might get prideful that he may use either to destroy you.

2.      Any person who is committed to God should expect Satan's attacks.

[9] Satan replied to the LORD, "Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. [10] You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! [11] But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"

3.      Vs 10 But God you protect him, and the things he cares deeply about if you would take that away...

4.      Vs 11. He will surely curse you to your face.

1.      How will you be found if ever tested or tried?

1.      Courageous, standing in faith and purpose or would Satan's words be true of you as they are to so many.

2.      Take away their prosperity, take away some of the things they care about and many times you take away their belief altogether.

1.      People get tested and immediately God is to blame and they turn their previous courage in God into hate and distain of Him.

1.      Be careful how you treat the Word of God, be careful how you treat the Spirit of God speaking to you.

2.      Don't be like this culture:

Malachi 3:14 NLT [14] "You have said, 'What's the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying His commands or by trying to show the LORD of Heaven's Armies that we are sorry for our sins?"

2.      Many resume their same murmurs against God.

1.      Employing and empowering further stages of the same skeptical attitude and spirit.

2.      We leave our belief, we leave our trust, we leave our salvation to again agree with the Devil, that God doesn't matter.

1.      His truth isn't truth, how can His Word be truth or even that He isn't truth.

2.      The Devil uses every means necessary to divide, destroy, and disengage you.

[12] "All right, you may test him," the LORD said to Satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So Satan left the LORD's presence."

5.      Vs.12 God says,"You may test him" so we see that Satan has no power against man till God gives it.

1.      God would not touch Job with His own hand, though Satan asks this in Job 1:11, "your own hand", but He allows the enemy to do so.

2.      God's hand will not be in judgment to His children until death.

Hebrews 9:27

1.      Job, a blameless and upright man who had been greatly blessed, was a perfect target for Satan.

2.      Originally an angel of God, Satan became corrupt through his own pride.

1.      He has been evil since his rebellion against God.

1 John 3:8-10 NLT [8] "But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. [9] Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God. [10] So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God."

2.      There is a standard to Godly living and there is a standard to living in courage.

6.      Satan tries to hinder God's purpose in people.

1.      He actively attacks people through temptation and trial working to make them hate God, using lies, trickery and deception.

3.      Courage requires us to live a life that changes others.

Revelation 21:8 NLT "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars-their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

1.      Being a coward is a sin.

1.      Those who quit their fight of faith or who draw back from the fight.

1.      Courage allows us to take risks, make sacrifices and to be, dangerously unselfish.

2.      Courage helps us to withstand and grow through ongoing pain, suffering, isolation and related difficulty.

1.      Right living requires courage, and the Bible commands us to be bold and courageous more than 25 times.

2.      There are people who fall away from their faith, Christ said, even when they experience initial joy, they possess no staying power or rootedness in their belief.

Matthew 13:21 NLT "But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word."

1.      Perseverance, one of our core values, is one of the primary benefits of courage.

2.      What Jesus was really saying is that some people leave their faith because they are cowards.

courage: the ability to do something that frightens one-strength in the face of pain or grief.

3.      We as Christ followers must remember that, "we can choose courage or we can choose comfort, we cannot have both."

1.      We must refrain from choosing cowardice in our giving, our serving, our believing, our evangelizing, our our discipleship.

3.      Courage is uncomfortable, that's why it's rare, in it's truest form. 

1.      The bravest among us will always be the most brokenhearted because they have the courage to love.

2.      Those who care and engage will always be disappointed because they are filled with the courage to teach, train, and trust.

3.      Those of us willing to be creative and innovative will know failure for if you are courageous enough, often enough, you are going to fail. 

4.      Although God loves us, believing and obeying Him does not shelter us from life's disastrous events.

1.      In and through our tests, our trials, God calls us to remain faithful and continue following Him that's where courage lives.

1.      How do you respond?

1.      Do you ask God, "Why me?" or do you say, "God use me!"?

Job 1:20-22 NLT [20] "Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. [21] He said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!" [22] In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God."

2.      Could it be that we are to submit to trials we face?

1.      Not because we see the reasons for them, or because we believe they were just matters of chance, but because God wills them.

2.      Could it be that God has a right to send them, and has His own good reasons for sending them?

1.      We preach and live out a pretty safe gospel here in the states not realizing or recognizing all of the extreme sacrifices among Christianity in the entirety of the globe.

4.      Extraordinary courage was displayed by so so many within the scriptures.

1.      As strange as it may seem, this pattern is evidenced in the deaths of the greatest and most godly men and women throughout the ages.

2.      For instance, Stephen was stoned, James (the brother of John) was beheaded, Peter was crucified upside down, Paul was beheaded, Philip was crucified, Matthew was slain with the sword, James (the brother of Jesus) was stoned and clubbed, Matthias was stoned and beheaded, Mark was dragged to pieces, Jude was crucified, Bartholomew was cruelly beaten and then crucified; Thomas was thrust through with a spear, Luke was hung, and John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil (and removed unscathed) and then exiled to Patmos.

1.      But in all their deaths, these Christian men exhibited a superhuman behavior—a pattern for facing the most extreme suffering with a brave calm and a steadfast courage.

1.      And it is this pattern that we as Christians need to be practicing in our daily lives.

1.      Courage is the ability to master our fears in the face of danger.

1.      Courage is knowing what to fear and what not to fear.

1.      Be afraid of being unjust, uncaring, or ungodly – rather than being afraid of the ridicule, abuse, or discrimination that often comes to people who devote their lives to justice, love and Godliness.

2.      Take courage because God Himself is with us.

1.      Take courage because God has a plan for us.

2.      Take courage because Jesus has overcome the world.

3.      Take courage because nothing can separate us from God’s love.

1.      And if He loves us, we can take courage that He will protect us, provide for us, and guide us.

3.      Whether we lose our jobs, our homes, our health or even our minds, Jesus will hold us in His love and never let us go.

1.      Courage dispels cowardice. Ask Peter.

2.      Courage can not be contained.

3.      Courage can not be confined!

1.      I challenge you to have the courage this morning to face your sin.

2.      Face your insecurity.

3.      Embrace the courage to challenge and overcome your addiction.

4.      Connect to the supernatural courage of reaching your community, your friends, your family, your home.

1.      Courage releases us from the hiding and accelerates us to a place where we can share the fullness of the Christ life with everyone that we possibly can. 

Boyz 2 Men-How God makes men

Manhood principles that I desire to teach, instill, and reproduce.

Manhood Principles:

•   A Real Man Rejects Passivity.

•   A Real Man Accepts Responsibility.

•   A Real Man Leads Courageously.

•   A Real Man Expects The Greater Reward.

1.      A real man rejects passivity.

1.      Passivity is the quiet inside of all of us that refuses to stand up to culture and speak truth.

1.      Could be a measure of fear.

2.      Could be a measure of pride.

3.      Could be a measure of unbelief.

4.      Could be a measure of disdain.

1.      "You are what you are when no one is looking."

2.      When God creates men He chisels the childishness off of the man.

1.      He chisels off the sin and it begins to expose the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

1.      God chisels off the selfishness, the pride and the impurities.

2.      God chisels off the inaction, the laziness, the rebellion, and the lack of leadership.

3.      Inside of each of us professing Christians lives the Son of God and for us to live in and operate in that fullness takes heavens tools of change.

1.      Chiseling to expose peace, generosity, kindness, humility, character, and cause.

1.      When Christians impart a code of conduct, when they establish boundaries and reinforce truth, it's forever strengthened.

2.      Ethical standards become a beacon in the midst of a darkened society, a lighthouse that steers us away from the rugged coastline of moral destruction.

Proverbs 11:3 "The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them."

4.      Christians become more like Christ or they become religious.

1.      Christ is patient.

2.      Religion is judgmental.

3.      Christ is love.

4.      Religion breeds hate.

1.      Become exactly like me or you don't fit into our mold.

5.      Christ is joy unspeakable, religion is depressing.

6.      Christ embodies compassion.

7.      Religion embodies works.

8.      Christ is mature.

9.      Religion is childish.

5.      Men allow God to shape them, boys throw a tantrum.

6.      Men receive correction boys work to function in rebellion.

7.      Men embrace responsibility boys dodge process.

8.      Men fulfill their mission boys plan play dates.

9.      Men treat women with respect and honor boys play with their emotions and feelings.

1.      Man up, boy!

2.      It's time to Man up!

10.Men live by a code of conduct boys live for the moment.

1.      A real man rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously and he expects the greater reward.

Proverbs 20:7 NLT "The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them."

2.      A real man accepts responsibility.

1.      God makes men of standard.

1.      Some standards are demanded, some are expected, some are given merely out of respect but all of them are important.

2.      Standards are those things you hold  yourself to most importantly.

1.      Many have standards for others but refuse to live any themselves.

1.      Unloading, placing, and creating, even demanding greater standards on others!

2.      Requiring high standards, impossible standards for others but requiring very little for themselves, human nature.

3.      Standards are something you can encourage in others but we must be careful on whom we demand them.

1.      I believe we can demand standards in Christian Leadership because the bible declares we should.

2.      I believe we can formulate and instill standards into our children and into the next generation.

3.      Finally, I believe we can inspire and impart standards with our lives into others.

4.      You can not demand standards upon others.

1.      You can teach them, you can communicate them but in demanding them we can become judgmental, critical and demeaning.

1.      Many do it, and many think they can do so privately and publicly.

1.      I mean it truly makes us feel better when we tear others down measured by our own greatness.

2.      Now the Word of God can demand standards and it does.

1.      Jesus Christ can, God can, and the Holy Spirit can and all of them do!

1.      Belief in Jesus Christ and Him as the way, the truth and the life is the standard!

2.      There is no substitute for personal character and integrity, by it disciples of Christ become advantaged, empowered, and inspired.

3.      A real man leads courageously.

1.      This culture gets so upset when truth is shared.

1.      This culture can not redefine marriage because it didn't create marriage, God did.

1.      Of this, be sure: No declaration by any government can change a definition from God. Genesis 2:24

1.      This culture can work to redefine any thing they wish it but it does not mean that it's truth.

2.      The Supreme Court can rule in accord with the truth or in opposition to the truth but they can't "change" truth.

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seems right unto a man but in the end thereof are the ways of death."

1.      The Devil has been working to redefine sin for thousands of years.

1.      Lying is still lying.

2.      Murder is still murder.

3.      Gossip is gossip.

4.      Judging is judging.

5.      Adultery is adultery.

6.      Pride is still pride.

1.      And truth is what defines all of those sins.

2.      Wise men recognize their privileged position and build upon it by modeling the message they preach.

1.      They know that words are only as strong as the source from which they arise.

1.      The Bible is still the unadulterated, unashamed, uncompromising Words of God.

1.      We are to align our selves with it!

2.      God makes men as they measure themselves by it!

1.      I will not be paralyzed by fear.

2.      I will not be directed by frustration.

3.      I will not be driven by government, religion, policy or culture.

4.      I will not be ruled by inaction.

5.      I will not be swayed, controlled, or influenced by the Devil and his mission to destroy belief, faith, Christianity, the bible and miracles. 

1.      I will declare the Good News of Jesus Christ, His birth, His healing, His miracles, His Word, His truth, His trial, His death, His burial, His resurrection and His second coming!

2.      He is the Son of God and beside Him there is no other.

3.      God has formed this boy into a man, a man of God.

1.      A man continually growing in standard, principle, honor, ethics, holiness, and purity.

1.      A man of His word and a man unwaveringly possessed of the Holy Spirit to reach, teach and baptize.

4.      A real man expects the greater reward.

1.      God makes men that appreciate people, never taking them for granted.

2.      God takes us from boys to men by teaching us to reach out the less fortunate and refuse bigotry.

3.      We must display patience and trust into the next generation.

4.      Teaching them to do their very best in every thing and trusting the promises of God more than any thing.

1.      The chilvaric code of conduct stated that a knight would choose even unto death to: "Live pure, speak truth, right wrong, follow the King."

2.      This ancient decree is a powerful principle of manhood: Only the son of a knight (a real man) can become a knight (a real man).

1.      This next generation is desperately crying out for men who live like knights.

1.      Men who not only know what they believe but live out what they believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:10-13 NLT "[10] You yourselves are our witnesses-and so is God-that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. [11] And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. [12] We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For He called you to share in His Kingdom and glory. [13] Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received His message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God-which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe."

3.      The Word of God works in those who, believe.

5.      Expecting God's rewards, expecting His promises to overtake my life.

1.      When God makes men He makes them passionate about their standards so much so they would be willing to battle fear, frustration, anxiety, stress, the Devil, and even death!

1.      Manhood teaches, models, imparts, empowers, shares, and challenges!

1.      From principles, I was taught the meaning of hard work, discipline, absolutes, values, and the true definition of family.

2.      Those of us engaged in the war for our heart must exercise spiritual discipline.

1.      We must prepare ourselves for spiritual combat as though our life depended on it.

1.      Because it does!

6.      Our identity in Christ is so vital.

7.      He is the source of our life and power.

1.      Grace is the means by which God transforms us, we must prepare our hearts for that grace to be released.

Galatians 6:8 NLT "Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit."

8.      A farmer is helpless to grow grain.

1.      He can provide the right conditions.

2.      He can plow the ground, plant the seed, and water the ground, but then all he can do is allow the natural forces of the earth to take over.

3.      After a few weeks, the life in the seed germinates and up comes a plant.

9.      In the very same way spiritual disciplines do not produce spiritual growth.

1.      They are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where He can work within us and transform us.

2.      They are the environment where the grace of God can produce the life of Christ in us.

10.As I encourage men to strengthen the warrior within I suggest they make four spiritual disciplines a part of their daily routine.

1.      Read the Bible.

1.      Before you read it ask God to use His Word to show you areas of your life that need change.

2.      Pray.

1.      Get a hold of God through communicating with Him.

3.      Express love to your family.

1.      Take time each day to tell your wife and kids you love them.

2.      If you’re single, make a habit of expressing appreciation to family, friends, and fellow employees.

4.      Maintain sexual purity.

1.      Begin each day with a fresh commitment not to let your eyes look for or linger on an erotic image.

2.      If you’re married, focus your thoughts on your wife.

3.      Dwell on images that you know would please God.

1.      You alone control your eyes and ears they are the primary gates through which impurity enters.

11.Self control is a fruit of the Spirit.

1.      Imagine an out-of-shape and overweight man approached a personal trainer and said, “I want to get in shape.”

2.      Showing the trainer a picture of what he wanted his body to look like—washboard abs, steel pecs, and gruesome biceps.

1.      Would the personal trainer tell him, "Tomorrow I want you to run seven miles and work out with weights for an hour."

1.      He'd start with a light workout.

2.      Over time the exercise routine would expand.

3.      If the man faithfully followed the regimen, his body would begin to resemble the picture.

12.If you wish to resemble Jesus, you must work out.

1.      Commit to a regimen of daily spiritual disciplines.

13.Even a small change in your behavior will radically transform your life.

1.      Let's say a plane departs London, England heading for Seattle, Washington.

2.      If the pilot makes a one percent change in the trajectory of the plane, it will end up in Portland, Oregon—a very different destination than the pilot had planned.

1.      That's 173 miles.

14.A small change in the trajectory of your life will put you in a dramatically better place in one year.

1.      How much difference God can make as we allow Him to work?

Psalm 34:8 NLT "Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him!"

2.      Experiencing His presence is contagious and compelling.

1.      You will crave His Word and celebrate the way He uses it to change your life.

1.      Your family, and this city desperately needs people who will lead courageously, live missional, love relentlessly, and leave legacy.