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by Pastor Mark Downey

Revised February 10, 2012

Scripture Reading: Numbers 13:30-33

Let me begin by recollecting a scene from the movie, "Patton", in which George C. Scott reenacts the encounter General Patton has with a soldier at a field hospital. The General is honoring his wounded men until he comes to this one guy shaking like a leaf and he asks a nurse, "What's wrong with the man?"  She said something like, "Oh, sir, he's suffering from the emotional stress of the battlefield."  At that point, Patton takes off his gloves and starts smacking the soldier in the face, calling him a coward; telling him there's nothing wrong with him and running him out of that hospital where other soldiers were bleeding, bandaged and dying on their deathbeds.

Do you think Patton understood the implications of cowardice among his troops if gone unchecked?  For one thing, you're not going to win a war, if your men lose the will to fight.  By the same token, do you think our God understands the ramifications of a coward in and among His people, Israel?  When the Lord declares in Jeremiah 51:20 that our race is His battle axe and weapons of war, the thought of a coward doesn't even enter the picture.  In fact, the word coward is not even in the Bible, although, as we'll see, there are cases of cowardice.  God's Word is more focused on the godliness of victory and the means in which to achieve it than having a preoccupation with defeat.  The enemy works very hard to instill a mindset of doom and futility, which leads to our surrender to the world.   

I'm going to show you why the politics of surrender is ungodly and what constitutes the ungodliness of being a coward.

by Pastor Mark Downey

January 27, 2013

Scripture Reading: Acts 27:1, 9-11, 21-26, 30-32 and 44

Perhaps one of the best examples of Christian courage is the story of Paul facing a trial in Rome, standing before Caesar.  Paul was in the custody of a Roman centurion who would escort him back to Rome and was treated favorably, because he most likely heard the story of Cornelius 25 years earlier and how the Christians had broken past the barriers of Judaism treating Romans as their racial kindred.  And now on the trip to Rome, Julius the centurion would witness the power of the Gospel in real life.

Navigation in the Mediterranean was dangerous at this time of the year in late September and Paul, an experienced traveler, warned the captain and crew that he perceived disaster if they attempted to go any further.  Paul already had been in three shipwrecks and wasn’t too excited about a fourth (II Cor. 11:25).  But, the majority decided to put out to sea.  There’s a subtle metaphor of the captain and pilot of the ship representing a denominational church leadership, as their cargo was wheat (lost sheep of the house of Israel planted in the world with mongrels) and other prisoners (sinners) as well as the centurion representing the world system of the day.  The winds were blowing against them and a sudden hurricane struck them, wrecking the ship on the shores of Malta