Fear Courage and the Kingdom Life 1984

Beginning from Mark, chapter 14, verse 26. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not.

And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said vehemently, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same.

Here we have a description of Christendom in this country at this hour. Boldness inside the walls. Boldness when we're together.

This is the feast of victory for our God. Hallelujah! For the Lamb that was slain has begun His reign. Hallelujah! And we mean it.

Jesus is Lord. He's on the throne. We're His servants.

And we won't deny Him, even if it costs us our life. But then, two strange things happened to our courage. The first is this, reading on in the same passage.

They went to a place which was called Gethsemane. And He said to His disciples, sit here while I pray. And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

And He said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and stay awake. And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.

And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee. Remove this cup from Me, yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt. And He came and found them sleeping.

And He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not stay awake one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And He went away again and prayed, saying the same words.

And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. The first thing that happens to our courage when we leave the security of these walls is that it falters when we start to pray. Loses momentum.

Our eyes become heavy, our minds become so tired that we just can't seem to concentrate. We make resolutions, we're going to do it. We're going to be disciplined in this matter.

And again and again, it seems to slide off. Stay awake and pray, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, Jesus said. And again and again, we slip off the track.

The multitude comes with their clubs and their sticks and their swords. Jesus rises from the ground, from His prayers. And He moves toward them, toward the danger, without batting an eyelash.

He's clear about where He's going. The disciples are now wide awake. And whatever courage they had left is gone.

They all forsake Him and flee. Peter follows at a distance, even into the courtyard of the high priest. He hears them insulting Jesus, questioning Him, condemning Him to death.

He sees the soldiers beating Him, spitting in His face, laughing at Him, taunting Him. And here comes the second thing that happens to our courage. A little further in the same chapter of Mark, Mark 14, 66.

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the maids of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus. But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. He went out into the gateway and the cock crowed.

And the maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, Bystanders, this man is one of them. But again, he denied it. And after a little while, again, the bystanders said to Peter, Certainly you are one of them, for you're a Galilean.

But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the cock crowed a second time. The second thing that happens to our courage.

When we're called upon to take a stand with our mouth and with our life, with Jesus, suddenly we shrivel. We wither. Like Peter.

Now we understand, we know that Peter, in a matter of days from this episode, emerged up out of this paralyzing cowardice and entered into a life of courage by the power of the blood of the Lamb, by the power of the resurrection, and by the power of the Spirit. Peter entered into a life of courage so strong and so clear that eventually he had the privilege of also laying down his life for the name of the Lord. You could say that Peter crossed over the Jordan and went in there and took the promised land, threw his cowardice away and put on courage and went in and conquered.

But we are stuck on the timid side of the Jordan. And we've been stuck here all our lives. If there is anything that describes professing Christians in this land at this time, anything that marks us, it's to say that professing Christians in this land at this time have exchanged respectability for courage.

We walk out of our respectable churches, wearing our respectable faces, living our respectable lives, and almost never say or do one thing that might arouse the slightest serious opposition. When the world thinks of Christians, it never thinks of people who are bold. When the world thinks of Christians, it thinks of people who are respectable.

Who are a little bit prudish. Often quite a bit self-righteous. It thinks of people who are abnormally fearful.

And it's usually right. And even the Christians who like to march around with their placards and say their prayers in front of the TV cameras for whatever cause they happen to be in at the moment, give the impression largely of people who might not be so courageous if they were cut away from their peers or if the opposition started playing hardball. We have done very little to convince ourselves or anybody else that we're courageous.

Now we thank God for the outpouring of His Spirit that has touched our lives in recent years. We praise God for the increase in vision and in faith that most of us have already experienced. For the changes that have happened in most of our lives which can't be described in any other way but to say they're miraculous.

But we need to understand that the revival of the Spirit will not move until the people of God manifest courage. Courage that drives us out into that world with a burning message and lives that match it. Joshua 1, verse 1. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Be not frightened, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Again the people of Israel were standing on the borders of the promised land.

Forty years before, their fathers had been there. They had come near to the border, and the Lord had told them to go in and take the land. And they chickened out.

Forty years have passed. Conditions across the Jordan in that land haven't changed. They still have giants in that land, superior armies over there, while they have Hittites who have iron weapons coming out of their ears.

And the Lord says, go in and take that land. I'm giving it to you. But I'm not giving it to you on a silver platter.

You're going to go in and you're going to take it. From the time the people of Israel left Egypt, all through their wilderness wanderings with Moses, they manifested a pitiful lack of courage. Every time anything went wrong, they fell apart, their knees turned to jelly, time after time.

But now this has to change. And so what God says to Joshua has to go down through Joshua to the whole nation. Be strong and of good courage.

Don't be afraid. Don't be confused and dismayed. I'm with you.

Joshua responds, the people respond, and they go in and they take the land. Now, it's our turn. We're standing on the border of the promised land.

Across the Jordan, over there, is a world which has been dominated by Satan since the beginning of history. And the Lord says to us, go in there and take it. From him, in my name.

Set the captives free. And where there are people who insist on serving Satan and his kingdom, wipe the dust off your feet. Don't mess around.

Leave them for the mopping up armies, but keep moving. Don't sit around and think and talk and never do. Get in there and do it.

And we say, oh, the Lord. I'm so inadequate. I'm not ready yet.

I'm waiting for that boldness to come. I don't have vision. I haven't got enough faith.

And the Lord says, have not I commanded you? Haven't I told you? Be strong and of good courage. If I tell you to have courage, I'm giving you courage. Use it.

Do something with it. Get in there and live it. And the courage the Lord is giving us and commanding us to exercise is basically fourfold.

First of all, he says to us, have the courage to say yes. Instead of maybe or perhaps or I'll see how it goes or maybe tomorrow. Have the courage to say yes.

And he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

If Peter had said at this point, yes, Lord, if I have to put toothpicks in my eyelids, I'm going to stay awake. It would have made a difference. Tremendous difference.

Now it's our turn. He says to us, the spirit is willing. The flesh is weak.

Stay awake and pray. Get a prayer like and stick to it. And I don't care if we've tried 50 times or a hundred times and have failed.

Today, right now, this hour, the Lord is saying, the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Stay awake and pray. Have a prayer like.

There will be no courage in anybody's life until they do. And what we need to do first off is say yes. Today, yes.

And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the maids of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene, Jesus. And now, instead of saying, well, no, I don't know what you're talking about, to say, yes, I was and I still am. How many times this has happened in almost every one of our lives here? Somebody comes up and he says, oh, she says, oh, you're one of those Jesus freaks.

Right away, we back off. We want to make sure that they understand that we're not like those Jesus freaks. What a difference it will make if we simply say, yes, I am.

Go ahead, nevermind if they misunderstand or misconstrue or throw us in with a thousand crazies. To be able to say, yes, without apology, without any qualifications, yes, I am. You connect me with Jesus.

I'm proud to belong. What a difference it will make. Be strong and have good courage.

Don't be afraid. Say yes. We also need to learn how to say no.

Have the courage to say no. Luke 10, three, go your way. Behold, I send you up as lambs in the midst of wolves.

Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals and salute no one on the road. Say no to that old prophet. That old prophet waits down the road for us.

We've been sent to go down there and do a job, say what needs to be said, not to eat bread or drink water in that territory, but get out again. And we're down there and here comes the old prophet and he says, the Lord just showed me you're to have dinner at my house. The Lord showed me.

If you go and have dinner at his house, right in the middle of the meal, that old prophet will stand up and say, you disobeyed God. You're not going to get out of here alive. Sometimes the old prophet comes with a message.

He always tailors it to wherever we are with a message that yes, it is possible to serve God and mammon. Why some of the greatest Christians in this country are serving God and mammon, it's obvious. You can't do it.

Not to argue with them, not to say anything bad, no. And off we go. Sometimes the old prophet comes along and says, here's a little something for your ego to give you encouragement as you serve Jesus.

No. And sometimes the old prophet pulls out a bottle and pulls off the cork. And says, here, you can't live without this.

Let me pour you a drink. And for each of us, the content of that bottle may be different. For some, it is alcohol.

There are those among us now, no doubt, who are still saying to themselves, someday, maybe, I know I have a problem. But he's saying, today, I want you to say no. Even if you don't think you can do it, I'll help you.

Just admit that you have this problem. Stop lying to yourself. Say no.

Clear. For some, here, it's drugs. Still think I can mess my head all up and follow Jesus? He says, have some.

Let me pour you a drink. For some, it's nothing that you can touch, it won't make you wet. The content of that bottle is fantasy.

Every time life gets a little rough, we withdraw into our favorite little fantasy, whatever it is. Past, we idealize the past, or we dream about what we are going to do someday, or all kinds of weird things. For some, it's lust.

That's our escape. Lust. But, in this bottle, the old prophet has just our number.

And he says, come on, sit down. Let me give you something. You haven't had yet yours today.

You know you have to have it today. Have the courage to say no. Beginning today, say no.

Then we need to have the courage to confess, out there, that Jesus is Lord. Praise God that Arcella stood up and she said, I'm standing up for Jesus. But the place we need to do that is out there.

Listen to Peter. Just a few weeks after he denied his Lord, it didn't take him long. Standing in front of a crowd of people in Jerusalem, shouting at the top of his lungs, Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, the man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Jesus is Lord.

He's risen from the dead and he's Lord. We sing it, we say it, in here. But the place it needs to be said is out there.

Who's going to say it out there if we don't? Sure, they made fun of Peter too. They laughed at Paul. They killed James.

They stoned Stephen. But these men and women continue to confess his Lordship to their dying breath. If we really believe that he's Lord, and if we really believe that he's the one who worked the miracle in our lives, why are we afraid to say it out there? Have the courage to confess that name.

And finally, have the courage to act decisively as a man or woman of God. We know how to act decisively if somebody cheats us out of $10. You know, we holler and screech and jump up and down.

It was wonderful. Even Wednesday night, as soon as we got on the subject of money, everybody's heart was in it. Man, we had it going.

You know, we know, if you cheat us out of money, we know what to do. If somebody sells you something that's an inferior product, you know what to do. You can be decisive.

You know who to call. Better Business Bureau. Call the mayor.

But you'll call somebody. You'll get results. But when it comes to the things of the kingdom of God, we pussyfoot.

We tiptoe. Here's a man who could have tiptoed, and he needed to do something, but he didn't tiptoe. Little Zacchaeus.

Here's this crowd, and Zacchaeus is small, and he can't see, but he doesn't tiptoe. He runs down the road and climbs a tree. He does something decisive.

Listen. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. There was a man named Zacchaeus.

He was chief tax collector and rich, and he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not on account of the crowd because he was small of stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for I must stay at your house today.

So he scrambled down and received him joyfully, and when they saw it, they all murmured, he has gone to be the guest of a man who was a sinner. But this sinner at least knew what to do. He didn't mince around pussyfoot.

He got right to it, and Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house. So he climbs the tree, jumps down from the tree.

Dinner time comes, and this man makes up his mind. I've decided. Lord, half my goods I'm going to give to the poor.

$750,000 gone. And if I've cheated anybody, I'm going to restore it fourfold. Another $400,000 gone.

And with the rest, I'm going to serve you. If there is any group of people in our culture who deserve to be looked upon as people who pussyfoot, it's the professing Christians. But the revival, the outpouring of the spirit of the Lord that is sweeping over the earth at this hour is entering into a new phase.

And what you're hearing right now here, you'll hear anywhere you go, if it has anything to do with the spirit of God, the word of the Lord, the body of Christ on this earth at this hour is courage. Have courage. Be strong and of good courage.

Stop messing around. Have the courage to say yes. Have the courage to say no.

Have the courage to confess that name of Jesus. Have the courage to act, move, do something. Within the coming days and months, that courage will be tested.

By that courage, our message will have a force it never had before. By that courage, we will go in and we will take the land. Be strong and of good courage.

Don't be afraid. Don't be confused. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Let's just take some time now in total silence, no prayers, no nothing. Let's let the spirit speak to us and show us specifically that area of our life that's the bottleneck and that needs courage today. Let's just wait upon it now.