Taking the alternate Route
Courageous Followers, 9 Dimensions of Courage • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsJonathan took a dangerous path to victory.
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This passage reveals 9 Dimensions of Courage. Last time we presented the first, “IT’S ALL OR NOTHING.”
Sometimes you face danger. You do not know the outcome. But there is a greater danger than your enemy… it is the danger of doing nothing.
Today, we will consider the Second Dimension of Courage: “Taking the alternate Route.”
On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north toward Mikmash, the other to the south toward Geba.
If you were not here last time, Jonathan and his armor-bearer confronted a garrison of Philistines. They faced dangerous obstacles and defeated the garrison with only one sword between them. This victory sent the Philistines into confusion. Saul and the army of Israel defeated the Philistines because Jonathan and his armor bearer manifested amazing courage in the face of dangerous obstacles.
Jonathan’s character and foresight were greater than his father Saul. Who was Jonathan, son of Saul?
Jonathan’s character and foresight were greater than his father Saul. Who was Jonathan, son of Saul?
Jonathan was a man of great love. When David defeated Goliath at the valley of Elah, “Jonathan because one spirit with David, and he loved him as he loved himself.”
Jonathan was a man of great discernment. Jonathan saw God’s anointing on David. He they met, “Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan took off his royal robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, even his sword, his bow and his belt.” Jonathan surrendered his right to the throne of Israel because he discerned God’s grace rested on David. How many people do you who would give up their right to rich, power and authority because they recognize God’s grace rests on someone other than themselves?
Jonathan was a man a great courage. To reach the Philistines Jonathan and his armor bearer would climb steep and dangerous cliffs. They could have died before they even reached the Philistines.
Crossing the pass would have led right into the Philistine army; taking the cliffs was certain danger. They were not afraid of taking the hard way (the alternator route).
Matthew Henry said, “Great and generous souls are animated by opposition and take a pleasure in breaking through it.”
Courageous people take the alternate route. “Courageous people see the danger, they count the odds, but the glory of their purpose is brighter.”
Timid people turn away from difficulty. In doing so,
They lose out on their destiny. One reason you do not know your purpose is you are afraid to dream of it. You are afraid to say it out loud, so you let it die inside.
They miss God’s guidance, If you are afraid of the obstacles, you will miss God because God’s way to reward is hard.
They do not understand the values of life and character. You will never know who you are or what God has in store if you look at the obstacles and say this is too hard or it will take too long.
He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places.
Difficult conditions require imagination and courage.
Difficult conditions require imagination and courage.
Difficult conditions require imagination and courage.
I love the thought, there is no way and then finding one, coming up with something different. It motivates me to do something I’ve never done before.
The Bible mentions these two cliffs to highlight the dangerous risk to Jonathan and his armor-bearer.
Bozez means shining: the sun hit the side of the hill and made the rocks sharp and slippery. They could fall and die, required patience and care.
Senah meant thorny. I once put my hand in a cactus bush- very painful
There is no doubt both cliffs were dangerous and difficult to climb. The Philistines set up in the best military position. They blocked the road and set up on the other side of a cliff. No one in their right minds would take the pass or climb the cliffs to attack the largest army there. Jonathan and his armor bearer climbed down one cliff full of thorn bushes, crossed the ravine and climbed up the gagged rocks to the other side.
You cannot quit because alternate way is difficult. That is why it is the alternate route.
You cannot quit because your way is difficult.
M Scott Peck, in the Road Less Traveled said, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. * It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
God ordains the difficult way to prove his greatest servants...
“God gets his greatest servants from the highlands of affliction.” - Spurgeon
Most do not expect you to take the alternate route.
There is no map for it. You cannot rely on someone else’s patterns and methods…
There is no map for it. You cannot rely on someone else’s patterns and methods…
Courage says when the normal way is blocked, I will go another way. Most people will face the cliff and turn around. For me, if the way is dangerous and impossible to take, that is the way I must take and watch God work. If I take the way no one will take, I will achieve what no one else will achieve.
The Philistines laughed and mocked Jonathan and his armor bearer. They were no threat to the cliffs. Jonathan and his armor bearer took to hardest route to the philistine garrison because the Philistines would never expect it. Don’t let people count you out because something is hard.
No matter how difficult it is, keep going.
Martin Luther King Jr said
“If you can’t fly, the run, If you can’t run, then walk, If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
The Alternate Route is the way of Jesus Christ.
When we talk of Jesus Christ, I speak of him as Lord. We speak of him as the king of our religion. I want to talk of him as Jesus of Nazareth, lover of my soul. He’s called us to take the alternate route. It is the only way for us
When the Magi left the manger where Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord sent them home another way. Joseph, Mary and Jesus later had to flee to Egypt until Herod the Great died because Hosea’s prophecy declared, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
broad is the way..
If you follow me, know that Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’
If you follow me, know, ()
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth! I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
We must follow Jesus Christ on the road less traveled and accept the journey will be arduous but worth it in the end.
Take the hill all the way to glory. Face the rocky crag and know that God will keep you from falling. Go through the thorn bushes and feel the pain that leads to greatness.
He could have chosen another way for our salvation. ()
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
He became like us to experience our full suffering. ().
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
He went through Jerusalem… I must needs go through Jerusalem, knowing what awaited him
He did not take the vinegar.. He experienced the full level of suffering for sin, so we would not have too.
Take the hill all the way to glory. Face the rocky crag and know that God will keep you from falling. Go through the thorn bushes and feel the pain that leads to greatness.