Courage In The Face Of Adversity

One of the hardest things for a Christian to do is remain faithful when faced with adversity. Paul warned Timothy, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12). True godliness is at odds with the world. The wicked will always oppose the good. Jesus faced similar opposition in His time. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). The question that ought to concern every Christian is, “How will I respond to adversity when it comes my way?”

Some Christians take the easy way out. Some keep quiet when they should speak up. This led Peter to deny the Lord (Matthew 26:69-75). Others go along to get along. Paul had to rebuke Peter to the face for this behavior (Galatians 2:11). Still others give up altogether (Matthew 13:20-21). Such failure is hardly worthy of God’s blessings.

Paul is a great example of one who know how to face adversity. Consider Paul’s courage in the face of adversity, “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22-24).

Paul wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel. He was always glad to be identified with Christ. He stated on one occasion, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

Paul was not afraid of a goal. He knew where he was going. He pressed toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 3:14). He also knew what it was going to cost him to get there, yet he still refused to ease up. We need Christians today who are not lukewarm or halfhearted! Are you such a person? May we all be willing to learn the will of the Lord and have the courage to do it regardless of the personal cost.

Bruce Stulting

Encouraging Others to Become Christians: New Testament Lessons

Every generation has to come to grips with a very real need/problem: there are people in the world who need to obey the gospel of Christ, and that responsibility fails on the Christian to provide the instruction (rightly divided) that is from God, found in the scriptures. One of the questions is: how do we do that? (Is there a guide or example of how to convert our sin-filled generation to Christ? Of course there is: in the New Testament itself. The New Testament gives us many examples of people being taught the good news of salvation, and we can utilize those for the benefit of those we study with today.    

Since there are so many examples in the Bible and I am selecting just a few, no doubt there are others that you might think of as well - and that could be just as useful - but here we are highlighting these because they are familiar and easily remembered. One might want to begin with Stephen in Acts (6,7), or the first recorded gospel sermon by Peter on the Pentecost after the Resurrection (Acts 2); however, we might also look at those instances where quite a bit was at stake for the messenger of the good news (that may not have been such good news to the hearer at the time).    

Paul showed great courage when he was preaching before various officials, as he could only have created a more dangerous environment for himself. Look at the conversation he had with Felix in Acts (Acts 24:24). Here was a man married to someone who could not lawfully be his wife, and Paul did not back down or hesitate to bring the necessary truth to him. The Bible says he spoke of righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come. Imagine how such a message must have sounded to Felix - it caused him to tremble with fear. He was given an opportunity to change his life (repent) and to walk a path of righteousness, but he seemingly refused to do so. He told Paul the same thing that many have told us over the years - they need a more convenient season. He was not willing to change, but Paul spoke to him on that sore subject anyway.    

This is an example for us: to preach the word, whether those in the world want to hear it or not. It is no shame for us to preach the truth of God, even if no one wants to hear it. We might also remember the study we just concluded on Wednesday night from Matthew 14. Though the focus was on Jesus and the feeding of the multitudes, we glanced back toward the beginning of that chapter and noticed the courage of John. He had been imprisoned and then killed because of his stand for truth. He had spoke to the authorities on matter relating to morality. "For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her." (Matthew 14:3,4)    

Is that the type of courage we have in standing up for the gospel? It is that degree of selflessness that we should embody in our defense of the scriptures, which are our guides to eternal salvation. Would we really be willing to put our lives on the line for the Lord, or would we run and seek shelter from others (as Peter did when the arrested our Lord). Shall we deny him before men, or confess Him. Our salvation is dependent on that choice.    

Johnny Oxendine

Oh for the Faith of Jonah

If folks had a biblical person who they desired to be likened to, the man Jonah probably would not top that list. Yet, as members of the church of Christ, we should note that Jonah’s problem of refusing to carry out God’s will is oftentimes our shortcoming as well. For example, Jonah was told to go preach to a foreign people (Assyrians), yet we so very often fail to carry out God’s instructions.

Ironically, the reason that we fail to teach as we should is for the opposite reason that Jonah failed to teach the Ninevites. Jonah’s reason for hopping the first ship to Tarshish was in way connected to the church’s reason for failure to adequately evangelize.

For example, Jonah did not flee from God’s presence due to a lack of confidence in the power of God’s Word. Quite the contrary, he knew that if the Ninevites heard God’s Word they would repent and be saved by God (Jonah 4:2) Like the apostle Paul, Jonah recognized that God’s Word was his power unto deliverance (Romans 1:16). He also knew that the Word of the Lord would not return to God void (Isaiah 55:11).

Jonah did not flee from God’s presence due to a lack of courage. In fact, such backbone had Jonah that when the great storm from God came upon the ship that was carrying him away from Nineveh, he said, “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea” (Jonah 1:12).

These are not the words of a coward! Also, Jonah did not lack confidence in the power of God’s Word. These were not the reasons that caused him not to want to preach to them. The reason that Jonah initially refused to preach to Nineveh was prejudice. The Assyrians were a savage, militant people much like the American Indian of the 1700-1800s, and like the Indian of our recent history, they were much disliked. Jonah did not lack courage to go to Nineveh, he merely did not want to preach to the lost souls there.

How paradoxical then that we so often do as Jonah initially did, and fail to fulfill God’s instructions in the area of evangelism. Our problem is not prejudice, for most members of the church truly want all souls to be saved. Our problem is a lack of courage (II Timothy 2:1; Ephesians 6:10) that is caused by a lack of confidence in the power of God’s Word (Acts 20:32; II Timothy 3:15; James 1:22; Hebrews 4:12; I Peter 2:25).

Brethren, with the desire that most Christians have for all souls to be saved, imagine what we could do if we had Jonah’s confidence in the power of God’s Word and his courage to act when necessary. Why, brethren, we would again be accused of turning the world upside down!!!

Oh for the faith of Jonah!!

Author Unknown