Christ's Call to Courage | Finding the Courage We Need

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. It takes courage in our culture today, especially to speak up for what is true. Because culturally, we're going the wrong direction on so many fronts. And for you to stand up and say what the Bible says takes courage. Cancel culture resists the truth of God's Word. But Pastor Greg Laurie points out we have a message that must get delivered.

Now I've got to warn you, if you speak up for what is true, you might get cancelled or worse. But have courage. Many people feel they just can't function in the morning without their cup of coffee. But long ago, coffee met with grumpy, nearly global opposition for hundreds of years.

They were grumpy because they had another coffee. People opposed lots of things, but then come to embrace them warmly. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how we need to realize people need the message we share.

And we need to find the courage to share it, even in the face of opposition. The Apostle Paul said, I want to finish my race with joy. So he began his journey. And he ended up staying with the evangelist Philip, where he encountered a very colorful prophet named Agabus, who bound himself up and said, this is what's going to happen to you, Paul, if you go to Jerusalem. Like, don't go. And Paul's saying, okay, being a little dramatic, but okay, I get the point.

But I know what you're saying. So you're saying I'm going to be arrested and I'm going to be put into chains, right? Yes, that's it, Paul.

Don't go. And then Paul says to Agabus in Acts 21, why do you weep and try to break my heart? I'm ready not only to be bound, but to even die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember one thing about Paul. He had already died and gone to heaven. Remember he was stoned?

Not that kind of stone. And that's probably the moment when he was caught up into the third heaven that he wrote about in 2 Corinthians and saw amazing things that he could not even describe. So this is a man who's been to glory and he's returned. And he later wrote to the church of Philippi, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. But the Lord's called me to stay here with all y'all. And I have a ministry to fulfill. So Paul's not afraid of death. Paul's not afraid of suffering. Oh, am I going to die?

Okay, whatever. My life is in God's hands. And so he's trusting the Lord. How do you stop a man like that?

Answer, you know. And we need more men and women like this that understand that their life is in God's hands. So Paul ignored the warning of the prophet Agabus. And sure enough, when he lands in Jerusalem, he is arrested. And he's put in prison.

And here's what happened. Here's what the Lord did to encourage his servant. Acts 23, starting in verse nine.

There arose a loud outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees party arose and protested, saying, we find no evil against this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Now there arose a great dissension in the commander, fearing that Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him to the barracks. And the following night, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for you've testified of me in Jerusalem. And now you're going to also bear witness in Rome.

We'll stop there. So here is Paul in prison again. I mean, Paul's middle name could have been trouble. It was always something with him. Everywhere he went, it was either a riot or a revival.

There was never a dull day hanging around the apostle Paul. But I think here he was probably discouraged. He was probably feeling down.

And it's no wonder. He's in a Roman dungeon. And now the Lord comes to him and brings these encouraging words. Verse 11 says the following night, the Lord stood by him. Maybe he second guessed his decision to go to Jerusalem. Maybe he thought I shouldn't have done this.

Maybe I should have listened to Agabus after all. And the Lord appears to him and encourages him. And the Lord says to him, Paul, be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. How can you have good cheer when you're in a dungeon? You know, it's like when someone comes to you when you're feeling down and they say, hey man, smile. Put on a happy face, right?

Gray skies are going to clear up. Put on a happy face. No, stop, shut up. And you slap them. No, don't slap them.

But you know, you maybe felt like it at times, right? Someone tells you to cheer up when you're feeling down. That's not what you say to someone who's feeling down. But yet the Lord says good cheer to you. Be of good cheer. But actually, if we look at the original language, we find a better translation would be have courage.

And that makes a lot more sense. So here he is in this Roman prison cell and the Lord comes to him. The Lord himself, not even an angel dispatched.

Jesus comes to him. The Lord stood by him. Do you realize that the Lord stands by you wherever you go?

That's so important. It gives you courage. When the Lord is there, years ago when I was a little kid living in New Jersey, I was walking down the street with my little cowboy outfit. Had a little cowboy hat, couple of guns on my holster. Not real guns, of course.

Little cap guns. And I'm shooting them, having a good time. And he's like, I don't know what to call these guys. They're like hoodlums.

They come up to, hey, what are you doing? Hey, yo, what? They take my guns, push me on the ground. So I went home and I found my big brother. And I said, could you help me get my guns back?

And he's pretty big, a lot bigger than those other kids. So I went back and I saw them and they're shooting my guns, laughing. I said, they're there. He walked over.

They immediately surrendered the guns to him. I had a lot of courage. Why? Because I had someone much bigger with me now to protect me that gave me that courage. The Lord stands by you wherever you go.

So this is what the Lord did for Paul. Be of good courage. What is courage? It's been defined as bravery, fortitude, the ability to confront fear, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical courage is bravery and the face of physical pain or even the threat of death.

I don't know that it necessarily comes naturally to anyone because we're all afraid at times. But courage is a willingness to act in the face of fear. One person put it this way, and I quote, courage is fear that has said its prayers, end quote.

I like that. Mark Twain said, courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear. Mastering your fear. We all have moments of fear.

Courage says, I'm going to get control of this. Those that serve us in law enforcement have courage to put that uniform on every single day because they don't know what's going to happen to them. Those that serve in our military, the same. They put that uniform on.

They're serving our nation. I think of the story of a soldier named Ross McGinnis. He was on duty in Iraq in 2006. And Private First Class McGinnis was perched on the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade whizzed past him into the truck carrying four of his fellow soldiers. And in a split second, McGinnis did the unthinkable. He threw himself on top of the grenade, absorbing its impact.

He was killed immediately. But all four soldiers survived. That's courage. That's courage. And we're amazed by it.

But how long did he have to think about it? But he did this incredible thing. But there's other kinds of courage. There's moral courage as well. It takes courage in our culture today especially to speak up for what is true.

Because culturally we're going the wrong direction on so many fronts. And for you to stand up and say what the Bible says is something that is not expected. It took courage for young Stephen to not back down and share the gospel right before he was stoned. It took courage for Daniel to pray when Allah was past that no one could pray to any God but to the leader of Babylon. It took courage for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to not bow down before the golden image of the king when everybody else was. And we need that courage today.

Now I've got to warn you. If you speak up for what is true you might get cancelled or worse. But stand up for what is true. Have courage. That's what Jesus said to Paul.

That's what he says to you. Have courage. Have courage in the place where you're at right now. Don't back down for what you know is true. It takes courage to honor your vows that you made to your husband or wife to be and to be faithful to them. It takes courage to remain sexually pure as a young person and not succumb to the allurements that come your way because everyone else is doing it.

It takes courage. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you send us an email, letter, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Pastor Greg, I'm 13 years old and wanted to tell you that my dad and I have enjoyed watching your online videos and your Harvest Crusades. We've also watched the Jesus Revolution movie and enjoyed it a lot. I watched one of your sermons not long ago about evangelizing and I tried it for the first time with a friend at school. I shared one of your Harvest Crusade videos with them and I'm hoping I'll bring them closer to Christ. Thank you Pastor Greg.

Discover the resources available to help people of any age reach people of any age. Go to harvest.org and while you're at it share your story. Write Pastor Greg an email. Send it to gregatharvest.org.

Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again that's gregatharvest.org. Well Pastor Greg is presenting a message today from Acts chapter 23 titled Christ's Call to Courage.

Let's continue now. When Jesus said be of good courage, it's a unique phrase that is used multiple times in the Bible, each one showing a different facet of how to find courage in our lives. The first is the story of a man who was a paraplegic in Matthew 9. He was carried by his friends to Jesus and Jesus looks at this guy who is unable to walk and he says to him be of good courage. Your sins are forgiven. Now the guy was probably thinking well okay I'm glad my sins are forgiven but I'd actually like to walk. That was that was kind of why I was brought here to you and there's a protest among the religious leaders who can forgive sins but God alone.

Oh I hear what you guys are saying. Jesus says but just so you know that I the son of man have the power to forgive sins I say your sins are forgiven and get up and walk. And that man got up and walked but Jesus used this phrase be of good courage to him. And this is the thing we remember the forgiveness of Christ brought courage to that man. And we can be crippled by our sins.

Unable to walk, unable to move, unable to do anything. You know we fail and we say I'm a failure. I should just stop praying. I don't even shouldn't even read the Bible anymore or go to church.

That's the devil lying to you. Jesus says be of good courage. Your sins are forgiven you. You know in the book of Revelation we read about those believers that come through the tribulation period and they're martyred. And it says they overcame Satan by the blood of the lamb the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until the death. But they overcame them by the blood of the lamb. So when you've sinned you go to God and you say Lord forgive me of my sin and you put your sin in your past and walk into your future with courage because Christ has forgiven you. Don't miss his points. Because I know I'm talking to somebody right now who's crippled by their sin. You don't have to be anymore.

You can have a fresh start. This phrase be of good courage is used of a woman struggling to get to Jesus in a crowd of people. She had this physical ailment and she reasoned if I can touch the hem of his garment I'll be healed. And she reaches through and she touches him and Jesus stops and says who just touched me?

Well the fact is everyone had touched him. Who touched me? He says for I perceive that power has gone out of me. And there's a woman and he says to her be of good courage.

You are made whole. So in this particular case it was his power that gave her courage. My power has gone out of me. And a lot of times we're afraid to share our faith. We're afraid to speak up for what we believe. But there's a promise in the beginning of the book of Acts where it says you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you to be witnesses for me.

That same power that was given to the first century causing them to turn their world upside down is available for us today in the 21st century to turn our world upside down. His power gives courage. That's why it's always a good idea to start your day and just say Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit. Give me boldness. Give me courage to speak up for what is true. And so his power gave that courage and that power is here for us. Now it's also going to be there for whatever you're about to face. Sometimes we see someone go through a crisis and we say man if that happened to me I think my faith would just collapse.

If I was told I have cancer or if a loved one died unexpectedly or if this other thing happened I couldn't handle it. Listen to this. God will give you what you need when you need it.

Okay just know that. He'll give you what you need when you need it. He won't give it to you necessarily before. He'll never give it to you after.

But when you need it he'll give you what you need. So until that time he just says have courage. Number three the third time this phrase is used is when the disciples are on the storm tossed sea of Galilee and they thought they were going to drown and suddenly they see some form coming to them walking on the water and they thought it was a ghost.

But it wasn't Casper. It was Christ coming to them. And what does Jesus say to them? He says be of good courage.

It is me. Don't be afraid. He put himself between them and the thing that frightened them. Just like a parent would stand in the way of danger. I was with my granddaughter Allie a few months ago and and we were walking along and there's some guy who has a dog off the leash. And the dog came out as growling and snapping and and Allie's getting very afraid. And I stepped in front of her and I said to this guy very nicely put a leash on that dog right now. And fortunately he did it. And then afterwards she said Papa you saved my life. Well I don't think I saved your life but thank you for that.

But you know I just did instinctively what any parent or grandparent would do. You put yourself in in the way of the person you're protecting. And that's what Jesus is saying. He's there in the way of whatever is coming our way.

So let's review. His forgiveness gives courage. His power gives courage.

And his presence gives courage. Verse 11 again the Lord stood by him. Paul later wrote that those that he loved had abandoned him. Have you ever felt as though you've been abandoned by your family? By your friends?

By someone you trusted? That's how Paul had felt at one point. Everyone's abandoned me. Well the Lord's with them. The Lord hasn't abandoned him. And remember when Jesus hung on the cross and bore the sins of humanity he cried out these words my God my God why have you forsaken me? What is that all about? That is the moment most believe that the sins of the world were placed upon Christ who was dying in our place as a substitute.

So what he was describing was reality. He was temporarily forsaken by God so I will never be forsaken by God. You will never be forsaken by God because Jesus said I will never leave you or forsake you. And so I spoke with a man in the hospital on the phone last week and his vital organs were failing him and he said I feel as though God has abandoned me. And I said God has not abandoned you. He's with you in that hospital room right now. I shared some scripture with him and we prayed and he committed his life to Christ and it was a sister that asked me to call him.

And sometimes I'm very reluctant to call people when someone else asks me to call them because then I call this person like why are you calling me I don't want to talk to you right. And but this guy was happy that I called him and and I said go tell your sister what you've just done. And the sister contacted me and said my brother just called me. He was all excited. He said he felt the presence of God because he's recommitted his life to Jesus. So that's what the Lord can do. Paul was in a dungeon but the Lord was with him. Better to be in a dungeon with Jesus than anywhere else without him. Better to be in a storm with Jesus than anywhere else without him.

And then here's another point. God knew where Paul was and why he was there. That brought courage as well. Paul Jesus is saying buddy I know you're here and I'm here with you. I'm standing by your side because Paul's probably second guessing his decision. And sometimes we feel like oh God's forgotten about me.

No never. He always is aware of us. Maybe I'm talking to somebody right now that is gripped with fear and worry. And the words of Jesus to you are don't be afraid be of good courage. Important encouragement from a pivotal chapter in the book of Acts. Pastor Greg Laurie titled today's study here on A New Beginning Christ's Call to Courage.

And he'll have a final comment in a moment or two. But Pastor Greg the reassurance we've been studying today is for believers. What about the person listening who has never come to that point of entering into a relationship with the Lord?

They're open to it but they just need to know more. Well they just need to hear what the essential gospel message is and I've got a great great resource for you. We've set up a web page that's called knowgod.org. K-n-o-w-g-o-d dot o-r-g. You go there I have a video presentation of how you accept Christ, lead you in a prayer, and then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually. So just go to knowgod.org.

Do it right now. You know so many people have questions about heaven. What will we be doing there?

When we get there will we know what's going on on earth? Well Pastor Greg addresses those questions and many more in his new book called As It Is in Heaven. Pastor Greg what will a right view of heaven do for us in terms of our outlook in this life?

Well I think there's a couple of things I could say to that. Let me broaden that to the afterlife because we talked about heaven but we need to also talk about hell. Just as surely as there is a real place called heaven there is also a horrible place called hell. Hell was not prepared for people it was prepared for the devil and his angels. Heaven is not for good people and hell for bad people. Heaven is for forgiven people. But the reason I bring up hell is because the Bible says there'll be a future judgment. When you think of the horrible atheistic regimes that slaughtered millions of their own citizens over history you realize that these people did not believe there was a God. They did not believe that there were repercussions for their actions.

They did not believe there was a final judgment. If I believe there's a final judgment that will affect me in decisions I make. Now broadening that to heaven. If I believe there are future rewards that will affect me in the way I live as well because the Bible promises that there are rewards in heaven waiting for those that faithfully serve the Lord. The Bible talks about different crowns. There's a crown of life. There's a crown of rejoicing and other beautiful things that we will be given in heaven because Jesus said and as we faithfully serve the Lord it's duly noted by the Lord and he would reward us openly one day.

Future rewards. Future judgment. When I think of the afterlife it will affect me in this life. So I've written about this in this book called as it is in heaven. I think one of the most important things you can learn to do is to be heavenly minded. Oh I know I've heard the expression they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good.

Give me a break. The fact is people who are really heavenly minded do the most earthly good but I think there are people who are so earthly minded they're no heavenly good. By that I mean they never think of the afterlife and I think as we think deeply about the next life it will impact us in this life and the decisions we make and the things that we do and the way that we live and the way we invest our finances and what we do with our time and what our priorities are and the Bible actually tells us in Colossians 3 to set our mind on things above.

You could translate it this way. Think about heaven. It's a good thing to think deeply about heaven but you might say well how can I think about a place I've ever been to.

Well you need to know more about it. If I'm going to take a trip I do a little research. Oh what's the best hotel to stay in? Where's the best place to eat?

What are some fun things to do? Where can I get some great coffee? I always like to find the good coffee place and you know we're all going to heaven as Christians. Should we not know more about our future heavenly destination?

The answer is yes. So I've written this new book as it is in heaven to tell you what the Bible says about heaven and to remind you of the simple fact it's better than anything you've ever experienced on earth. Take the best experience you've ever had on planet earth. Maybe it was that special moment with a loved one watching the sunset. Maybe it was watching your baby take their first steps.

Maybe it was some other thing you can think of. Amplify that a thousand times and you get a glimpse of heaven. You see heaven is the real real thing. Earth is sort of like a pale imitation. You know earth is sort of like the moon to heaven's sun. It reflects it and it gives us a glimpse of it because there are beautiful things you can see on earth.

Beautiful places you can visit. Great experiences you can have but they're glimpses of something greater that is yet to come and that's in the afterlife in heaven. So I'll send you this book as it is in heaven for your gift of any size as you invest in our ministry and lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. If you want to know more about heaven and you want to know how to be more heavenly minded order your copy right now of this book that I've written called As It Is in Heaven.

Yeah it's solid biblical insight. You'll be glad you read this new book and we'll send it to you to thank you for your partnership in helping us bring the gospel each day here on A New Beginning. So get in touch with your support and be sure to ask for As It Is in Heaven. You can call us anytime night or day at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or just go online to harvest.org. Well next time more insights on how we should take courage when trials and opposition threaten to bring our Christian growth to a standstill. But before we go Pastor Greg comes back with these final words. I have these little trackers I think they call them air tags made by apple and you can put them in your wallet or you know in your briefcase or your purse or wherever and if you lose it you can find it.

So I misplaced my wallet so I pull out that find my wallet you know and I'm looking and finally I realize it's like one foot from me because it was under my backpack I think which is kind of embarrassing but it worked. Well God has more sophisticated tech than that. He always knows where you are as the psalmist said where shall I flee from your presence if I go to the heights of heaven you're there if I go to the depths of hell you're there God is with you and aware of where you are wherever you go. This is the day the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org