{"id":88688,"date":"2025-07-16T09:11:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=88688"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T14:11:28","slug":"the-need-for-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-need-for-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Need for Courage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n<p>C. S. Lewis said, &#8220;Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When Jesus called out to His disciples on a stormy sea and said, &#8220;<em>Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 14:27), He may have been alluding to their need for bravery against more than the mere elements. He called them to have courage in the face of some frightening situations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They would have the arduous task of taking the life-saving gospel to a stormy world that threatened them with more than wind and waves.<\/li>\n<li>They would stand before hostile Jews and Gentiles, men and women, kings and paupers.<\/li>\n<li>They would need the courage that Jesus urges, and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What was true for them is true for us. While most of us may not travel the world taking the gospel to hostile foreign lands, we live in a land that is becoming increasingly antagonistic to Biblical faith and the people who hold it. They will mock you, insult you, antagonize you, and humiliate you all to shut you up and shut you down. Just as it&#8217;s been throughout history, it&#8217;s imperative that Christians stand firm and hold up under the onslaught of opposition, never giving ground to the devil and his minions. That takes determination, guts, and courage.<\/p>\n<p>The opportunities you encounter to uphold biblical faith may frighten us, and it will be tempting to simply shrink back while saying and doing nothing. But remember, God makes us strong in our weakness; He provides courage in cowardice.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s culture has blurred the blueprint for what it means to be a man. Or a woman, for that matter. Be gutsy. Hold fast.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 16:13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Zeke Flores C. S. Lewis said, &#8220;Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.&#8221; When Jesus called out to His disciples on a stormy sea and said, &#8220;Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid&#8221; (Matthew 14:27), He may have been alluding to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1126,188],"class_list":["post-88688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-courage","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-anchor\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":0},"title":"Our Anchor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores When the waves won't listen and the sky won't clear, faith becomes the anchor that holds. Acts 27 has Paul in a dangerous storm at sea along with 275 other people. The great difference is that while the majority of the other passengers were scared witless, Paul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17550,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/from-bad-to-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":1},"title":"From Bad to Good","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson Text: Philippians 1:12-14 Paul wrote the book of Philippians while in prison. His trial had probably already taken place, and he seemed to be waiting for the verdict. It appears he expected to be released but was uncertain about it. Paul, no doubt, did not enjoy being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0018-12-300x288.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63663,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-can-youth-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":2},"title":"What Can Youth Do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the Lord\u2019s work is done entirely by grownups \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sure, the boys help with the scripture reading and wait on the Lord\u2019s Table. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But what is there really for a person to do other than wait\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sermon&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/standing-for-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":3},"title":"Standing for Right","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul M. Tucker Standing for the right is very demanding of us. It is not easy. It may be very inconvenient. It may even lead to loneliness. On the mountain peak of spiritual experience, it can be a lonely place; we may even find ourselves alone. \"At my first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/alone-1-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/drawing-strength-from-the-courage-of-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":4},"title":"Drawing Strength from the Courage of Others","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall We should be thankful for wonderful examples of courage that spur us on to greater strength in the Lord's service. Paul was just such an example: \"And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63537,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/taking-courage\/","url_meta":{"origin":88688,"position":5},"title":"Taking Courage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 28:1-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Suppose your boss never gave you any feedback concerning your job. You come in, do your job and leave, but you never hear a word of criticism or praise. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It almost sounds like the ideal job. But I think most people would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}