The following blog post contains notes and application questions from our September 22, 2019 message, Courage. For more from this series, check out This Is The Life.

Discussing and Applying the Sermon

Where in your life can you be more courageous? (Work, home, neighborhood, etc.). What’s one way you can be courageous in that area of your life this next week? Share this with your community group and ask them to hold you accountable to doing what you identified…to being courageous!

Summary

When is the last time you saw someone do something courageous? How did it make you feel? Did it make you want to live differently? As we continue our series, This is the Life, Todd Wagner teaches us about courage…what it looks like, where it comes from, and how we should live if we have it.

Key Takeaways

• Without courage people run when they should stand, goodness gets run over and people suffer (Proverbs 29:2; 28:12).
• Courage is not brash arrogance. Moving forward in the midst of certain defeat is not courageous, it is stupidity (Proverbs 22:3).
• Courage is the ability to move forward despite fear because of well placed confidence. Don’t wait until you feel confident…move forward with your confidence well placed (Joshua 1:8).
• Courage placed in anything other than Truth is foolishness (Proverbs 30:2-6).
• Courageous men speak the truth in love (Proverbs 27:5-6).
• One of the ways God judges a land is by taking away courageous people (Isaiah 3:1-4).
• Fear is contagious. The “spiral of silence” is deadly. Courage speaks (Jeremiah 1:17-19).
• Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is the presence of a strong heart.
• Kids don’t need more laws. Kids need truth (Hosea 4:1-6).
• Not every prophet has a lion’s heart, but every prophet knows the lion.
• When courageous people are present, people rejoice. They come out from hiding.
• Courage doesn’t guarantee immediate victory, it comes from the assurance of an ultimate one (Proverbs 11:7).
• Your courage should come from whose you are, not how willing you are to fight (Romans 8:31-38; Matt 10:28; Numbers 13-14).
• Jesus is the courageous one who did not run. He is our lion, who leads us: His flock (John 10:11-14; 15:12-13).
• The wise, informed, courageous life, has been blessed to be a blessing (1 Corinthians 4:1).
• What do you really believe? Are you willing to take on the wolf? To rescue people that are headed to destruction?

Memorable quotes

• "I’d rather be a loser in an ultimately victorious cause than a winner in a losing one.” Woodrow Wilson
• "The ultimate effect of shielding men from their folly is to fill the world with fools." Herbert Spencer
• "All that is required and necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
• “I’d rather face an army of lions led by a lamb than an army of Lambs led by a lion.” Alexander the Great

Discussion and Application

• Suggested Scripture study: Proverbs 22:3; Proverbs 14:6; Proverbs 27:12; Proverbs 30:2-6; Proverbs 12:6; Proverbs 27:5-6; John 17:17; Isaiah 40:8; Proverbs 12:7; Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 11:7; Proverbs 14:26; Proverbs 18:10; Proverbs 21:29; Isaiah 3:1-5; 1 Corinthians 4:1; Jeremiah 1:17-19; Proverbs 28:12; Proverbs 29:2; Proverbs 21:29; Proverbs 28:1; Hebrews 11:32-40; John 16:33; Philippians 1:21-30; Romans 8:31-38; Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 43:1-2; Matthew 10:28; Numbers 13-14; John 10:11-14; John 15:12-13
• Sermon: How the Remnant Lives Courageously
• Sermon: Courage that Comes from Love
• Sermon: How to Love a World Filled With Rompers
• Real Truth Real Quick: When Should I Stop Sharing Truth with My Friends?