\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Audio\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\tText: I Samuel 14:6-14<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. When we were teenagers, my brother, after a history class, pointed out that wars are\ncyclic. They tend to break out once per generation.\n
A. If a war appeared glamorous and popular, the next war would come sooner<\/p>\n B. If a war was bitter and carried heavy losses, the next war would be long in\ncoming; though within the life of the next generation. Time dims the memory of\nthe horrors of war\n
C. The idea makes sense. <\/p>\n 1. On the one hand, wars appear glamorous. Men find honor in serving their\ncountry. Often a noble cause is found to justify a country’s participation in\nthe battles. \n 2. But once the reality of war sets in, once people realize their loved ones\nwill never return to them, once they sense that these young men and\nwomen who leave may never be seen again, then fear grips the people of\nthe nation.\n
D. War is a scary business. <\/p>\n 1. During World War II, General George Patton was met by a military\ngovernor who praised his bravery in battle. General Patton replied, “Sir, I\nam not a brave man – the truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have\nnever been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole\nlife that I wasn’t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.” \n
2. How could such a man function with these fears? <\/p>\n 3. Many years later Patton wrote in his autobiography, “I learned very early\nin my life never to take counsel of my fears.”\n
II. The Bible records the amazing deeds of David’s closest friend, Jonathan<\/p>\n A. In a rash and daring move, Jonathan decided to cross the lines of battle into enemy\nterritory. \n
1. The Philistines had tight control over the iron market. <\/p>\n
2. No Israelite was allowed to work as a blacksmith – I Samuel 13:19-22<\/p>\n 3. Farm implements were available, but the charge for these tools was so\nhigh that few could afford the price. \n 4. When Saul lead the Israelites in rebellion against the Philistines, only Saul\nand his son Jonathan had swords. The remainder of the army used\nsharpened farming tools.\n B. It was during this war that Jonathan and his armor-bearer approached a garrison of\nPhilistine soldiers who had sealed a pass between Israelite and Philistine territory. \n
C. Jonathan and his armor-bearer walked boldly up to the Philistine camp. <\/p>\n D. A Philistine sentry spotted them, seeing them alone, decided to have some fun\nwith these silly Hebrews. He invited them to come up into the camp to “tell them\nsomething.” Jonathan had already determined that this would be a sign to him\nfrom God as to where to wage the battle. He entered the camp and slaughtered 20\narmed men in a small section of ground.\n E. What gave Jonathan the courage to attack an enemy garrison by boldly walking up\nto it? \n
1. It was his faith in God. Moses told the people – Deuteronomy 20:1-4<\/p>\n 2. God fought alongside of Jonathan, sending an earthquake that so terrified\nthe enemy that they began to kill each other – I Samuel 14:15, 20\n
III. God wants us to be brave<\/p>\n
A. With God on our side, there is no fear – Deuteronomy 31:6<\/p>\n
B. With God near, there is no fear of death – Psalms 23:4<\/p>\n C. Jesus gave us his peace, not outward peace that the world looks for, but inward\npeace – John 14:27\n
1. There is no fear<\/p>\n
D. God has not given us a spirit of fear – II Timothy 1:7<\/p>\n
1. Thus, we must bravely teach God’s Word<\/p>\n
IV. Developing Courage<\/p>\n
A. Most of our fears come from our own imaginations – Psalms 53:5<\/p>\n
1. At times, what we fear is actually a blessing<\/p>\n a. Recall what happened to Joseph. Much evil happened to him, but\nin the end, Joseph told his brothers – Genesis 50:19-21\n b. Recall Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They were thrown in a\nfurnace because they defied the king, refusing to worship an idol –\nDaniel 3:28-29\n
2. Righteous wins in the end – Romans 8:28<\/p>\n
3. Fearing God is safety. Fearing men is a snare – Proverbs 29:25<\/p>\n
B. Fear from a guilty conscience – Proverbs 28:1<\/p>\n
1. With God’s salvation, there is no fear – Isaiah 12:2<\/p>\n
C. We need to face the things we fear<\/p>\n
1. Paul fought the fight – II Timothy 4:7<\/p>\n
2. Timothy was told to be a good solider – II Timothy 2:3<\/p>\n
“Do you fear the force of the wind,<\/p>\n
The slash of the rain?<\/p>\n
Go face them and fight them,<\/p>\n
Be savage again.<\/p>\n
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,<\/p>\n
Go wade like the crane:<\/p>\n
The palms of your hands will thicken,<\/p>\n
The skin of your cheek will tan,<\/p>\n
You’ll grow ragged and weary and swarthy,<\/p>\n
But you’ll walk like a man!” (Hamlin Garland)<\/p>\n
V. There is no need to fear men<\/p>\n
A. Against God, what can man do? – Psalms 118:6<\/p>\n
B. I can be in the middle of a battle and not fear – Psalms 27:3<\/p>\n
C. Even when surrounded by thousands, there will be no fear – Psalms 3:6-8<\/p>\n
D. This is why David was fearless in facing Goliath – I Samuel 17:32-37<\/p>\n
E. Courage is a sign of salvation – Philippians 1:27-28<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: I Samuel 14:6-14 I. When we were teenagers, my brother, after a history class, pointed out that wars are cyclic. They tend to break out once per generation. A. If a war appeared glamorous and popular, the next war would come sooner B. If a war was bitter and carried…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[1126],"class_list":["post-90105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-courage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/holy-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":0},"title":"Holy War","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Ralph Walker How could a just God order His people to slaughter whole nations, including women and children? Preaching the Bloody Bible","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45476,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/learning-from-war-joshua-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":1},"title":"Learning from War – Joshua 10","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Austin Hausner","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/never-again-will-they-learn-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":2},"title":"Never Again Will They Learn War","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 65:17-25 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0King Nebuchadnezzar had enough with the rebellion of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He removed the nobles to retrain them in his ways; yet, the stubborn Jews continued to rebel. Jehoakim was removed and his son Jehoachin was put in his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63092,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/neutrality-in-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":3},"title":"Neutrality in War","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Obadiah 10-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Obadiah is directed to the nation of Edom. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Edomites were related to Israelites through Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While never fond of each other, they usually managed to live peacefully next to each other. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Israel fell, Edom did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-wars-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":4},"title":"Why Do Wars Exist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 59:1-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In my youth, the Vietnam War was being fought. It was an unpopular war that generated a lot of protest songs. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One song called \u201cWar\u201d by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong exclaimed, \u201cWar! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25105,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-predict-a-future-war-in-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":90105,"position":5},"title":"Does the Bible predict a future war in Korea?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a friend online who sent me this message; \"I HOPE you know the SERIOUSNESS of this approaching Korean war! The Bible mentions it! So it MUST be a MAJOR MAJOR WAR (to be mentioned in the Bible!) My guess, (for it to be SO MAJOR that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90105","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=90105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}