Key points
- 1
1Courage is a condition of the heart, not of circumstances — if you wait for it to feel safe, you will never go where God is calling you.
“What's going on around me, behind me, is distracting me from what's in front of me. And I came for what's in front of me”
“The sixth condition of courage is a resolute soul”
- 2
2External opposition is the first wave of attack against courageous faith; the response is to build and battle at the same time rather than dropping the mission to fight only.
“the enemy never attacks a non strategic position. If you think you're in a war and there's no attack, you're probably in a place that doesn't matter”
- 3
3Internal conflict is the second wave, designed to divide God's people; it must be confronted directly, and commitments must be made concrete — pledged before God — because good intentions alone fade.
“we have to learn that we have to build and battle at the same time”
- 4
4Personal attacks are the third and most intense wave; a resolute soul refuses to come down off the wall to defend its honor against every accusation.
A story from life
The preacher's father advised him that a leader cannot go defend his honor every time someone makes a personal attack — 'if people don't like your peaches, they don't got to shake your tree'
- 5
5When God's people choose courage and finish what He asked them to do, the world notices and recognizes that God is real — the completed wall brings glory to God, not to the builders.
Illustration
A highly decorated marine with a Rhodes Scholarship chose to ship to Vietnam in order to protect the forty men he had trained, rather than stay safely in Oxford
- 6
6Jesus is the ultimate example of courageous love — He entered a broken world and gave His life simply to bring His friends home, and communion calls us to remember that sacrifice so we will trust Him enough to pick up our own cross.
“Jesus sat on the throne in heaven and saw our messed up broken world. And he could have stayed there and declared his power. He could have declared justice. He could have declared you know, he could have stopped the problems. He had no reason to to become a man and come into this world except for one reason, and that was he came here into a broken world to do what? To bring his friends home”
“Those walls are going up so walls in people's hearts can come down”
A story from life
Pastor's outing to a Monday afternoon movie with his son, disrupted by a noisy late-arriving patron sitting directly behind him
Application
The pastor's challenge is straightforward: stop waiting for the road to feel safe before you move. Three waves of attack — discouragement from the outside, division from the inside, and personal shots aimed at you — are not signs that you missed God's will; they are signs you are exactly where He wants you. The call is to hold both things at once: keep building what God has asked you to build while fighting what comes against you, and never abandon the mission to go defend your honor on the Plains of Ono. Practically, that means making your commitment concrete — pledge it, write it down, put your name on a brick — because good intentions alone do not survive pressure. And when the cost feels too high, remember communion: Jesus counted the cost, picked up His cross, and brought you home. If He would do that for you, you can trust Him with whatever He is asking of you right now.
