Building With Courage
Pastor Albert Almore
We kicked off 2023 with a series titled, "BUILD.” It’s a study on the book of Nehemiah that we’re slowly but surely making our way to. Nehemiah is known for building, rebuilding the wall for God’s people as we’ll take a look at in the weeks to come. But before we get there, we’ve been tasked with these questions:
WHAT IS GOD ASKING YOU TO BUILD?
WHAT IS GOD ASKING YOU TO START?
WHAT IS GOD ASKING YOU TO RESTORE?
When I say build we’re not limiting that to an actual building or edifice. In fact,
Our vision here at Motion Church is to:
BUILD PEOPLE
BUILD COMMUNITIES
BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Last week talked about FAITH IN THE WAIT. This week we’re going to build on that because…
When it’s time to come out of the wait, you must come out with COURAGE.
This morning I want to talk to you from this subject,
BUILDING WITH COURAGE
Here’s our working definition of courage this morning…
📝 Courage is the IMPULSE you need to MOVE ON what you believe.
Impulse- sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act. A driving or motivating force
Courage is a BIG DEAL because….
📝 Courage CARRIES OUT the plans of faith.
There’s a tragic story in the Bible that clearly paints the picture of what happens when we don’t move in courage. The end result of the children of Israel not having the courage to take hold of what God had promised, ended in God’s anger towards them, to the point where Moses had to beg for God’s mercy not to unleash His full wrath in that moment. When Moses finishes speaking, Numbers 14:20 says,
“The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, NOT ONE OF THOSE who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—”
Numbers 14:20-22
“NOT ONE OF THEM will EVER SEE THE LAND I PROMISED on oath to their ancestors. NO ONE who has treated me with contempt WILL EVER SEE IT.”
Numbers 14:23
“NOT ONE OF YOU will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, EXCEPT CALEB son of Jephunneh and JOSHUA son of Nun.”
Numbers 14:30
“As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I WILL BRING THEM IN TO ENJOY the land YOU HAVE REJECTED. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.”
Numbers 14:31-32
Good God almighty. One question comes to mind after reading this. What in the world happened? Let’s go back one chapter to find out. Numbers 13:1 reads,
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.””
Numbers 13:1-2
“So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.”
Numbers 13:3
“Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,”
Numbers 13:17-18
“and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,”
Numbers 13:19
“and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. BE OF GOOD COURAGE and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.”
Numbers 13:20
“So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.”
Numbers 13:21
“When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.”
Numbers 13:23
“They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.”
Numbers 13:26
“They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.”
Numbers 13:27
“But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”
Numbers 13:28
“The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.””
Numbers 13:29
“Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “LET US GO UP AT ONCE AND TAKE POSSESSION, FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT.””
Numbers 13:30
“But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.””
Numbers 13:31
“And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.”
Numbers 13:32
“There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.””
Numbers 13:33
This is why God was exasperated with the children of Israel in the following chapter. The courage of Caleb said, "LET US GO UP AT ONCE AND TAKE POSSESSION, FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT!” But the majority said, "NO WE’RE NOT.” I highly encourage you to go back and read Numbers 13 & 14. It’s so much to learn from this story, that time won’t allow me to cover but let’s touch on a few takeaways. Point number one,
📝 Take God AT HIS WORD.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, WHICH I AM GIVING TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.””
Numbers 13:1-2
God literally said, "WHICH I AM GIVING TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.”
📝 As you take God at His Word, be sure to take FAITH and COURAGEwith you.
It’s going to take both, and here’s why….
📝Courage is EMPLOYED by faith.
Luke 5:4-6 gives us a powerful example of taking God at His Word. Luke 5:4 reads,
“When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.””
Luke 5:4
“But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; NEVERTHELESS AT YOUR WORD I will let down the net.””
Luke 5:5
“And when they had DONE THIS, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.”
Luke 5:6
📝 OBEDIENCE is my portion, but the OUTCOME is God’s.
There’s no pressure there on God because Isaiah 55:11 tells us,
“So will MY WORD be which goes out of My mouth; IT WILL NOT RETURN TO ME VOID (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11
Another thing that jumped out to me from this story begins in verse 27. It says,
“They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.”
Numbers 13:27
“BUT THE PEOPLE who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”
Numbers 13:28
📝 GO WITH THE RIGHT BUT.
Don’t y’all get silly on me now, or miss what I’m saying. Here me out. Go with the right but. How many times have we said something like….
I really like that job, BUT I’m not qualified.
I really want to start a business, BUT I don’t have the experience.
I really want to write a book, BUT what if nobody buys it. All of those are the wrong buts.
1 Corinthians 10:13 has the right but….
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; BUT GOD is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able . . .
1 Corinthians 10:13
Acts 13:29-30 has the right but…
When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. BUT GOD raised him from the dead . . .
Acts 13:29-30
Psalm 73:26 has the right but…
My flesh and my heart may fail, BUT GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26
Genesis 50:20 has the right but…
You intended to harm me, BUT GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Genesis 50:20
BUT GOD>BUT PEOPLE.
BUT GOD>BUT I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE.
BUT GOD>BUT I HAVE NO MONEY.
“If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, BUT THE LORD IS WITH US. Do not be afraid of them.””
Numbers 14:8-9
Our next point for today is this….
📝 BORROW HIS EYES
They concluded the chapter by saying in verse 33,
“There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers IN OUR OWN SIGHT, and so we were in their sight.””
Numbers 13:33
I never asked you to look at your situation through your eyes. I always wanted you to look at your situation through my eyes—the eyes of victory. Proverbs 21:31 says,
📝 The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But DELIVERANCE andVICTORY belong to the LORD. Proverbs 21:31
Do your part. Pray, plan, prepare, but understand that deliverance andvictory belong to the LORD.
When you can’t see what God sees. When you can’t see a way out. When you can’t see how. When you don’t see it in yourself, can I tell you what to do—BORROW HIS EYES.
God sees more inside of you, than you’ll ever see in yourself. Borrow His eyes. It’s in there. You just don’t see it in you, therefore God calls it out of you. The same thing that God told Joshua in the beginning of Joshua’s quest, is the same thing that I say to you in this moment. God tells Joshua in Joshua 1:6,
“BE STRONG and of GOOD COURAGE, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.”
Joshua 1:6
“Only BE STRONG and VERY COURAGEOUS, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:7
“Have I not commanded you? BE STRONG and of GOOD COURAGE; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Joshua 1:9
It’s as if God was saying, "Don’t you allow this moment to get the best of you. Don’t you allow the magnitude this situation, cause you to forget the magnitude of my greatness.”
There it is right there…
📝 I will not allow THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS SITUATION to cause me to forget THE MAGNITUDE OF MY GOD.
One morning before dawn the disciples found themselves in a situation while in the boat. Matthew 14:25-26
“Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”
Matthew 14:25-26
“But Jesus immediately said to them: “TAKE COURAGE! It is I. Don’t be afraid.””
Matthew 14:27
It’s as if Jesus was saying, "No, no, don’t you allow the situation to take your courage from you. Take courage! Take your courage back…”
WHAT SITUATION HAVE YOU ALLOWED TO TAKE YOUR COURAGE?
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