Where Do We Find Our Courage?

INTRO.

Welcome to church here at Lawrenceville and across the campuses…I’ve always wanted to say that

Again, my name is Dave and Pastor Jason mentioned I’m a husband and a dad which means I am just as surprised as you are that I made it up here on time. [Family Picture]. Let me introduce you to my family - that’s my wife Shelby, we’ve been married for 8 years. And this is our 1-year-old son, Marshall. I just want to emphasize that he is our SON, because every time we go to Costco someone stops us and tells us how beautiful HER eyes are. Sons can have beautiful eyes too, ok? So later today when you see us at Costco, you can tell us how beautiful HIS eyes are.

But this morning we’re finishing up our conversation on evangelism. And I don’t know about you, but when I think about sharing my faith, I don’t usually struggle because I don’t know what to do, I struggle because I don’t have the courage to actually do it.

Have you ever had a moment like that where you knew what to do but you didn’t have the courage to do it?

STORY.

My moment came after my freshmen year of college. I had been in a long-term relationship with my high school girlfriend. I know it sounds funny to say long term relationship and high school girlfriend in the same sentence, but 2 years is a LONG time!

The second year of the relationship was my freshmen year of college, and you’ve got to understand, I did a lot of maturing that year, I had seen some things at my private Christian college (mostly other mature, Christian girls), and I knew it was time to break up with my girlfriend.

But the night before I was going to go over to her house, she texted me and said: “are you going to break up with me?

Of course, everyone older than Gen Z in the room knows what the right thing to do…I needed to go over to her house and break up with her in person. But I was feeling the pressure of her question, and I didn’t want to lie but I also didn’t want to leave her hanging…so I did the unthinkable: I broke up with her over text.

And if you hate me now, you’re welcome to head to lunch, we’ll see you next week I promise I’ve grown! I learned my lesson. But the point is: just because we know what to do doesn’t mean we have the courage to do it.

I think that’s how a lot of us feel about evangelism. It’s something that we know in our mind that we’re supposed to do. We know it’s good to do. Maybe even for some of us, it’s something we INTEND to do. But when the opportunity comes, we lack the courage to actually do it.

Maybe you had a moment like that after CAMP where you had this incredible moment with God and you felt fired up to share your faith with your friend who doesn’t know Jesus. And day 1 of school came around and for 2 weeks you’d been planning for the opportunity at the lunch table when you were going to catch up on what happened over the summer and you were going to talk about how Jesus changed your life…and then when the opportunity came, you didn’t have the courage and you just blended in with everyone else at the table and it’s been 3 months now and you still haven’t found the courage.

Maybe your moment just happened at Thanksgiving this week. Coming out of the hospitality series and the first week of this series, you were ready for the opportunity to share with your mom who doesn’t know Jesus about how He’d been changing your life. Prep for dinner came, and then dinner came, and then dessert, and then the post dinner football coma, and before you knew it, the moment passed and she went home, and you never found the courage to do it.

We’ve all had moments where we knew what to do but we didn’t have the courage to do it.

That’s why today I want to talk about courage.

And here’s the question about courage I’d love to answer together: where do we get the courage to share our faith?

Because it’s one thing to KNOW we should, it’s another thing to have the COURAGE to actually do it.

TRUTH.

To answer that we’re going to look at two stories: one of incredible cowardice and another of incredible courage. But here’s what’s interesting: both stories are about the same person.

The first story is told in Matthew 26 and it’s the story of Peter’s denial.

The night that Matthew 26 took place, Jesus and the disciples were at dinner, and Jesus predicted that all of the disciples around the table would fall away and leave Him. And if you don’t know much about Peter, he’s a talk before you think kind of guy – and this moment is a perfect example. After Jesus said that Peter corrected Jesus…Peter corrected JESUS, and told him that, even if everyone else left Him, that he NEVER would leave Him. He told Jesus he would die for Him before he would deny Him.

Later that night, Jesus was arrested and brought into the temple before the religious supreme court to stand trial. And as Jesus was on trial, Peter followed Him into the temple and watched from a distance. And while he was watching, verse 69 says,

A servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. 70 But he denied it before them all…

2 more times this happened where Peter was recognized as one of the followers of Jesus, and each time it happened, he denied it and progressively tried to make himself blend in with the people around him until verse 75 says,

Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

I think that’s how a lot of us feel about evangelism. We know what we’re supposed to do, we just don’t have the courage to do it. Peter was in the same boat – he wanted to stand up for Jesus…but when the opportunity came, he didn’t have the courage. Most of us don’t feel courageous when we talk about evangelism, we feel like a coward. Because many of us have a story of having an opportunity to share our faith but lacking the courage.

STORY.

I had a moment last July.

The whole week I had been preparing to preach the gospel at CAMP. But one night after work I went over to the gym and, as I was walking into the locker room, I saw 3 guys over in the corner. One guy was laying on the bench, and the other two guys were standing over him, laughing at something the guy on the bench had said.

It became clear that the guy on the bench was high and was having a bad trip. So, I did what any rational person would do…I pretended like I didn’t see them and went to a locker on the other side of the locker room.

While I passed them, I literally said to myself, “don’t get involved. Just put your stuff away and get out.” While I was putting my stuff away, I heard someone behind me say, “bro?” And somehow, I knew I was bro, ya know? But I didn’t want to be, so I ignored him. But then I heard it again…”bro?” So this time I talked back…indirectly…by putting my AirPods in, just to let him know I didn’t want to talk. But before I could press play, I heard it AGAIN…”hey bro?”

He called for me 3 times…and after the third time, I grabbed my stuff, walked away, and tried to blend in with everyone else at the gym doing their workout. And what’s crazy is I spent the whole workout justifying why I did it. I just kept telling myself, “I have bigger things to do than get into the weeds with this guy at the gym. I’m trying to get ready to preach for God’s sake…” Deep down, I KNEW I was supposed to stop and talk to the guy on the bench…I just didn’t have the courage so I walked away and tried to justify it.

And maybe some of us have reasons for why we didn’t share our faith too. Pastor Jason talked about this last week. Like me, some of us justify it by telling ourselves we’re too busy. Some of us tell ourselves we’re unqualified because of our past. Some of us tell ourselves that it’s not our job to tell THEM because we don’t know THEM or we don’t agree with THEM or we don’t like THEM. Some of us tell ourselves we’re just not good at it and that we should save it for someone else who would do a better job than we would.

We all have our justifications for why we don’t. But I was convicted by this quote from Albert Camus,

“Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.”

The thing is, I never would have admitted that I didn’t have the courage, I would have said I didn’t have the time. And maybe we’d never admit that we don’t have the courage, we might have our own justification for why we didn’t share our faith when we had the opportunity. But in my experience, justifying why I didn’t share my faith is usually a cover up for the real reason – I lack the courage to do it. But there’s hope for those of us who lack courage, and that’s why I want to look at the second story in Acts 4.

Peter and John had healed a man who couldn’t walk for 40 years, and as you can imagine, the story went viral. It got so big that the religious supreme court arrested them and summoned them to stand trial in the temple to testify about what happened.

Here’s what’s crazy, the people that put Peter on trial were the same people that put Jesus on trial.

So literally, Peter was standing in the same temple in front of the same court that tried Jesus and sentenced him to death. Which means if you’d seen the previous episode of the Chosen, you’d be thinking: If Peter folded in front of a couple people in the courtyard… what’s he going to do in front of the religious Supreme Court?

And honestly, if I were Peter I’d be nervous too because I’d be thinking, “these guys found something wrong…WITH JESUS…

But this story doesn’t go the way we think it will…Look at verse 8,

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved…

The same guy, in the same place had a moment of incredible cowardice AND a moment of incredible courage. That tells me something: transformation is POSSIBLE. It’s not hopeless if we lack courage. We don’t have to be a coward every time, we can be transformed so that we have courage next time! The question is: how?

The answer is so simple but so easy to miss – look back at verse 8:

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…

What was the difference between Peter’s moment of cowardice and his moment of courage? It was the Holy Spirit.

Some of us are so discouraged when we talked about evangelism because of what happened last time and we feel like Peter in Matthew 26 where we just want to hide and cry because we feel like we missed the opportunity and it feels like we’re never going to get another one or, if we do, we’re never going to have the courage.

And the truth is, on our own, we’ll never have the courage. But the good news is: no matter what happened last time, the Holy Spirit can give you courage for next time.

If you chickened out, if you missed the opportunity, or even if you haven’t had an opportunity yet, but you’re scared when you think about it, the Holy Spirit can give you courage for next time.

And next time might be sooner than we think.

This is one of my favorite parts of the story. Do you know how much time had passed between Peter in Matthew 26 and Peter in Acts 4?

About 100 days.

Next time might be sooner than we think.

It certainly was for me.

STORY PT. 2.

Remember the guy on the bench? About twenty minutes after I walked out, I saw him again at the front desk. For 20 minutes I had been justifying to myself and the Holy Spirit why I didn’t go talk to him, but when I saw him again it was like the Holy Spirit got my attention and said “go over there.” And clearly, there wasn’t any courage in me to go talk with him, but the when I saw him it was like I got filled with something that didn’t come from me – it was courage.

Before I knew it, I was introducing myself and walking back to the locker room with him. He sat on the same bench, and I had that moment of, “Am I really doing this?” But I sat on the bench.

I didn’t have a speech ready. So, I just asked him questions. He told me he’d gotten high to escape some painful memories. I didn’t know what to say next, so I asked him one simple question, “Where does God fit into all this for you?”

He said he believed in God, but thought God was angry with him. I shared a little of my own story, how I used to think God loved me but didn’t really like me.

Eventually he sobered up, we got ready to leave, and I said, “Hey man… I go to a church called 12Stone. You should come sit with me sometime.”

There was no conversion moment. No fireworks. Just a conversation.

There was no conversion moment. No fireworks. Just a conversation.

And honestly, I walked away discouraged — feeling like a coward for ignoring him the first three times, and a failure for not changing anything when I finally did talk to him.

But here’s the crazy part: he came to church. And he’s still coming. He joined a group to find freedom from addiction. He’s learning to pray. He’s making friends. All from a weird conversation in the gym locker room.

APPLICATION.

I learned something from that conversation at the gym: Courage doesn’t mean we change the person, it means we start the conversation. I didn’t have the courage to talk to him the first time, in part, because I felt like I had to change him right there in the locker room. I needed to say the right thing, read the right verse, and lead him in a prayer of salvation in the gym locker room.

But I didn’t need the right verse or perfect theology; I just needed to sit on the bench. And by the way, HE didn’t need me to have the right verse or perfect theology…HE just needed me to sit on the bench.

And maybe some of us really need to hear that no matter what happened last time, the Holy Spirit can give you courage for next time. And that courage doesn’t mean you change the person, it means you sit on the bench and start the conversation. So…

How do we sit on the bench and start the conversation?

How do we get courage from the Holy Spirit?

So how do we sit on the bench and start the conversation?

Having courage on the bench starts before you get there.

Pray daily for gospel opportunities

It’s difficult to make the most of an opportunity that we don’t see. I think sometimes we struggle to see opportunities to share our faith because those moments are more messy and normal than we think. It’s a conversation with a stranger in the gym locker room. It’s a conversation with your daughter on the way home from school. It’s the phone call you get out of the blue from a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Pray and ask God to give you an opportunity and for eyes to see when you’re in it. This is where I messed up with my friend from the gym. I wasn’t asking for gospel opportunities. God put one right in front of me and I ignored it. But I’m tired of being afraid of the opportunity. I want to have courage to own the opportunities when I get them, don’t you?

Practice a 1-degree shift

Most conversations don’t start spiritual, but they can become spiritual. On the bench in the gym, our conversation was ANYTHING BUT spiritual. But as we were talking, there was just an opportunity to take it 1 degree closer to being spiritual – and the way I do that is through asking a question. It doesn’t have to be some deep and profound question, just something that can turn the conversation 1 degree closer to spiritual.

Or find an opportunity to

Share your story

Sharing our story is actually a biblical strategy for evangelism. Revelation 12:11 says we overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony (our story). Sometimes the best way to talk about Jesus isn’t to open up Scripture, it’s to open up your own life and show them where Jesus was in it. That’s what happened on the bench. As my friend talked about his story, it gave an opportunity to share my story.

Or, my break glass in case of emergency move is to

Invite them to church

In my conversation at the gym, I really didn’t know how to finish the conversation on the bench, so I just invited him to church. I mentioned earlier that he came and he’s been coming, but what I didn’t mention was that a couple of weeks ago he became a follower of Jesus during one of the services. Isn’t that incredible?

Sometimes I think we forget the power of being part of the people of God, getting in the presence of God and hearing the story of God. We can get so used to that that we forget how powerful it is. But don’t dismiss the power of an invitation to church. And by the way, that’s why Christmas Eve services are such a big deal to us. It’s an opportunity for more people to hear about and become followers of Jesus!

PRAYER.

And all of that is good and helpful, but at the end of the day, strategies don’t give us courage. The Holy Spirit does.

So how do we get courage from the Holy Spirit? We don’t need to overcomolicate it. The holy Spirit is a PERSON we are in a relationship with – if we need Him to give us courage, all we have to do is ask. That’s what Peter did.

As Peter and John were leaving the court, the court threatened them to try and scare them for next time they would have an opportunity to share their faith. Funny, even the court knew there would be a next time. After Peter and John left, they got together with their church and prayed…

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness…31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Even after a moment of courage, they asked for fresh courage for next time.

Whether you were a coward last time or you were courageous last time, we all need fresh courage for next time.

So, here’s what we’re going to do – we’re going to have our own moment to ask the Holy Spirit to give us courage for next time.

If you’ve got someone that you need to sit on the bench next with – and you need fresh courage for when that moment comes, then in a minute I’m going to ask you to stand.

Maybe it’s your friend from the lunch table.

Maybe it’s your mom.

Maybe you’re a dad and it’s time to sit on the bench with your 7-year-old daughter.

Maybe you’re just in town visiting for the holiday and you need courage for when you go back home. In a moment, I want you to stand because I want to pray for you what I needed someone to be praying for me last July. And when I say amen, Campus Pastors you can come up and close us out.

But there’s another group I want to invite to stand – and it’s people like me. Thos oe us who have stories of courage in the past…but it’s been a while. If you need courage to KEEP sitting on the bench, I want you to stand too.

Because whether you were a coward last time or you were courageous last time, we all need fresh courage for next time.

So right now, here and across every campus, if you need fresh courage to sit on the bench next time, I want you to stand. Go ahead, stand up right now.

Let’s ask for courage together, and by the way, if I’m halfway through praying and you realize ‘I need to stand too,’ just stand as I’m praying.

[Prayer]

Holy Spirit, we’re standing because we know we can’t muster this courage on our own.We need You to fill us — just like You filled Peter.

We need You to fill us — just like You filled Peter.

So would You give us a fresh filling for next time?

Give us boldness to see the moment, to step toward our one,

Give us boldness to see the moment, to step toward our one,and to start the conversation.

and to start the conversation.

And God, we’re asking You to move in their heart.

Prepare the way, open the door,

Prepare the way, open the door,and let our small act of courage become part of their story of finding You.

and let our small act of courage become part of their story of finding You.

Fill us again, Lord so that we’re ready for next time.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

In Jesus’ name, amen.