Take Courage
Take Courage. BE not afraid. It is I. Matthew 14:27
We are afraid. We look over the side of the bridge or the height and we feel as though we are going to fall. We have a sickening feeling in our stomach. The air is gone. There is no interest in continuing. We feel alone. What drives us into this feeling? How do we get there? What is missing ? Jesus would say we are missing courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but an emboldening from within. It is the warming of the heart.....
Tharsos=Courage-tharséō (from the root thar-, "bolstered because warmed up," derived from /thársos, "emboldened from within") – properly, bolstered within which supports unflinching courage – literally, to radiate warm confidence (exude "social boldness") because warm-hearted. Biblehub
" It is when we take our eyes off from Him and think of our own weakness, and worry about our own temptations , that we are imperiled. ..Christ does not rebuke us for attempting too much, but for trusting Him too little" Erdman in The Gospel of Matthew.
We all have fears and trepidation through out our lives. We must act in fear and do what He wants us to do. Fear is a human emotion. We can act in our fear to do the right thing. We act in faith. We may ask the question, " Why does God allow war?" That was the title of a book of sermons that Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones preached at Westminster Chapel in London. God is not absent from our times of crisis any more He is absent when we celebrate occasions of joy, such as a marriage, or the birth of a child.
"I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. "
W.T. Sherman from sermonillustrations.com
Doesn't courage come from Loyalty? ( the first of the " Marks of the Christian") We ask whom are we loyal to? The Christian bears in their body the marks of the Lord. Galatians 6:17 It takes courage to do the right thing when most of the people around you are saying do something else.
2. Where is courage born?
V. 23 may give us a key. " And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray..." Courage comes from within us to do what God asks us. Peter saw the water and the wind boisterous and he was afraid. Doubt came in when he looked away from Jesus' face and at the waves.
Having doubts is not wrong, but acting on them is as that was the final answer. Proverbs 23:7 reminded me, " For as he thinks in his heart so is he..."
"When somebody said that Christianity during the World War had been tried and found wanting, Chesterton replied,' No, it has been found difficult, and never tried.' "- Shatford
There are two kinds of courage too. There is courage " for critical occasions, and there is courage for the commonplace, ordinary duties of life. ...it is the constant, plodding, persisent duties of the everyday that require the commonplace kind of courage which demands all the strength and power that there is in a man." -Shatford
3. Courage comes from Christ. It was when Jesus bid Peter to take His hand that Jesus caught him. That Scripture we should all follow is Philippians 4:13 , " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Be of good cheer , Jesus said. " It is I; be not afraid." Wherever you and I walk even through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us.
" I am with you always" Matthew 28:20
Hebrews 13: 5 " Be content with such things as ye have: for He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
In conclusion, as I was working on this message, I heard this prayer from Choral Evensong in England on the radio, "
O GRACIOUS Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ , thy Son, our Lord. Amen."
We are afraid. We look over the side of the bridge or the height and we feel as though we are going to fall. We have a sickening feeling in our stomach. The air is gone. There is no interest in continuing. We feel alone. What drives us into this feeling? How do we get there? What is missing ? Jesus would say we are missing courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but an emboldening from within. It is the warming of the heart.....
Tharsos=Courage-tharséō (from the root thar-, "bolstered because warmed up," derived from /thársos, "emboldened from within") – properly, bolstered within which supports unflinching courage – literally, to radiate warm confidence (exude "social boldness") because warm-hearted. Biblehub
" It is when we take our eyes off from Him and think of our own weakness, and worry about our own temptations , that we are imperiled. ..Christ does not rebuke us for attempting too much, but for trusting Him too little" Erdman in The Gospel of Matthew.
We all have fears and trepidation through out our lives. We must act in fear and do what He wants us to do. Fear is a human emotion. We can act in our fear to do the right thing. We act in faith. We may ask the question, " Why does God allow war?" That was the title of a book of sermons that Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones preached at Westminster Chapel in London. God is not absent from our times of crisis any more He is absent when we celebrate occasions of joy, such as a marriage, or the birth of a child.
"I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. "
W.T. Sherman from sermonillustrations.com
Doesn't courage come from Loyalty? ( the first of the " Marks of the Christian") We ask whom are we loyal to? The Christian bears in their body the marks of the Lord. Galatians 6:17 It takes courage to do the right thing when most of the people around you are saying do something else.
2. Where is courage born?
V. 23 may give us a key. " And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray..." Courage comes from within us to do what God asks us. Peter saw the water and the wind boisterous and he was afraid. Doubt came in when he looked away from Jesus' face and at the waves.
Having doubts is not wrong, but acting on them is as that was the final answer. Proverbs 23:7 reminded me, " For as he thinks in his heart so is he..."
"When somebody said that Christianity during the World War had been tried and found wanting, Chesterton replied,' No, it has been found difficult, and never tried.' "- Shatford
There are two kinds of courage too. There is courage " for critical occasions, and there is courage for the commonplace, ordinary duties of life. ...it is the constant, plodding, persisent duties of the everyday that require the commonplace kind of courage which demands all the strength and power that there is in a man." -Shatford
3. Courage comes from Christ. It was when Jesus bid Peter to take His hand that Jesus caught him. That Scripture we should all follow is Philippians 4:13 , " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Be of good cheer , Jesus said. " It is I; be not afraid." Wherever you and I walk even through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us.
" I am with you always" Matthew 28:20
Hebrews 13: 5 " Be content with such things as ye have: for He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
In conclusion, as I was working on this message, I heard this prayer from Choral Evensong in England on the radio, "
O GRACIOUS Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ , thy Son, our Lord. Amen."
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