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» Christian Message Boards   » Bible Studies   » Bible Topics & Study   » Who are the cowardly?

   
Author Topic: Who are the cowardly?
Found in Him
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quote:


I was reading the old testament last night and there were Israelites who were promised that God would be with them in battle. They went out and spied the adversary, came back, and said, oh no, they are too strong for us to fight. Because of their lack of courage, and trust in Gods Word they were counted among the unbelieving. I think about how that relates to our lives when we are called to go out and preach Jesus.

Caleb?
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

Caleb was the ONLY one of the bunch with any courage! He was later blessed of The Lord for following The Lord "wholeheartedly"-- interesting-- wholeheartedly--

13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. 15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.)

Makes me think!
Aint God's word good?

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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24

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Copper25
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2 Timothy 3:12) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

2 Corinthians 4)

10) Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11) For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12) So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

The moment we suffer persecution for Christ sake, Matthew 10:24) "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." is being fulfilled immensely.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18)For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

It is the hope that is born in every believer's heart that is the anchor. It is God that gives us boldness. Isaiah 41:10) "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Knowing that, what can we not get through?

Romans 8:38-39)For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Think about what this verse says, nothing shall separate us from the Lord.

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Isaiah 40:6) The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field

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bluefrog
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I forgot to list this verse, which is probably what was being refered to in the first place:

Here Jesus is talking about the tribulation period.

Rev 13:12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
Rev 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake; but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Sorry, but I don't guess this counts if one is for the rapture theory. Don't wanna get into that again though.

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becauseHElives
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Daniel ...out of the mouths of babes...the greatest revelation of God's love came to me when my 4th born (then 3 years old) ask me the question "daddy what is sin?"...

but to your question.... Who are the cowardly?

We are not to be fearful but faithful. With great battles upon us, we dare not succumb to fear and cowardice. One of the most powerful and sober verses dealing with cowardice comes from the book of Revelation. In Revelation 21:6-8 we find this very sombre warning:

“He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death’.”

Notice the admonition about being an overcomer in verse 7. But the opposite of this – cowardice – tops the list of those vices which will result in people facing a fiery end (v. 8). While all the vices are serious indeed, it is interesting that cowards are the ones who are mentioned first.

The comments of Robert Mounce on this passage are worth sharing here:

quote:
“In contrast to the overcomers are all those who have cowered in the face of persecution and joined the company of the reprobate. Leading the retreat are the cowardly, who in the last resort choose personal safety over faithfulness to Christ. They are the rootless ones of the Parable of the Sower who “when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately [fall] away” (Matt 13:21). It is not a natural timidity that makes them what they are, but a lack of genuine commitment which provides the incentive for continuing in spite of persecution. They choose to forget the admonition of Jesus that “whoever would save his life will lose it” (Mk 8:35). The unbelieving are not the secular pagan world (as in 1 Cor 6:6; 7:12 ff; 10:27; 14:22 ff) but believers who have denied their faith under pressure. In fact, all eight classes of people mentioned in the verse may refer to professing believers who have apostatized.”
fear and cowardice should not part of the Christian vocabulary.

we are told time and time again in Scripture to “fear not”.

Yahshua said “I am with you always”.

It is because God is with us that we need not fear.

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Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )

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oneinchrist
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Good Morning Found in Him,
My 5 yr old daughter actually said something very similar (in nature) to that. While she kept asking me what we do if there is a fire, I told her about the fire alarms. Later in our conversation she asked me if Jesus can put out the fire for us? I had to tell her that Jesus is the one who gave us the fire alarms that go off so that................man!, I cant believe she asked me that.

Anyways, in regards to this post. I really do believe that there is a strong connection between courage and faith. I was reading the old testament last night and there were Israelites who were promised that God would be with them in battle. They went out and spied the adversary, came back, and said, oh no, they are too strong for us to fight. Because of their lack of courage, and trust in Gods Word they were counted among the unbelieving. I think about how that relates to our lives when we are called to go out and preach Jesus.

With love in Christ, Daniel

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Found in Him
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childlike courage [Smile] thought this was cute.

A little boy was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom.

The little boy turned to his mother and said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark."

The mother smiled reassuringly at her son. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you."

The little boy looked at his mother real hard and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?"

"Yes, I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said.

The little boy thought about that for a minute and then went to the back door and cracked it a little. Peering out into the darkness, he called, "Jesus? If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?"

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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24

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Found in Him
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Thank you copper25 those are eye-openers!

I have one to add:

Matthew 25
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24

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Copper25
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quote:
Originally posted by oneinchrist:
I used to wonder why the bible says that the "cowardly" are cast into the lake of fire. I know its not because Tarzan is afraid to show his emotions or Jane is afraid to pick up a snake. I am convinced that the test of our faith is also a test of courage, the courage to take a stand for the truth.

I believe that the question that we all need to be asking ourselves is...............are we willing to bear reproach for the Name of our Lord?

With love in Christ, Daniel

Revelation 21:8) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Now isn't putting up with persecution part of the faith, in fact one of the biggest parts of it. It is easy for one to say that I love Christ when there is no persecution and nothing bad is happening but during hard times, that is why Jesus said Matthew 24:13) "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

This is why the Lord said Matthew 10:28) "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

This is why he said Matthew 10:22) "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

This is why in the parable about the sower, Jesus said Matthew 13:20-21) "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

This is the cowardly, they that don't stand in hard times. This is why when the "mother of Zebedees children with her sons" came worshipping, desiring of him asking Matthew 20:21)"Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom."

Jesus responded Matthew 20:22) "Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" If one can't bear the cross, one can't have the crown, Luke 14:27) "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."

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Isaiah 40:6) The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field

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Found in Him
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quote:
Originally posted by bluefrog:

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, Than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

[pound] That is enough to stir a few hairpins isn't it!

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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24

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bluefrog
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When you are teaching an Adult Couples bible class and want to pull their chain a little, this is a great scripture to lay on them. lol

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, Than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

Now that takes courage to read that in class.
And I love it. rivit

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Found in Him
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Bluefrog says:
"We should comfort the cowardly to see what happens"

hehehe...something like, get up and get at it chicken?
[cool_shades]

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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24

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bluefrog
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Hi Daniel...I have the courage to try to answer.

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flees when someone persues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.

On judgement day Christ will disown a coward.
Herod was cowardly toward John the Baptist.
We should comfort the cowardly to see what happens.
Religion turns man away from cowardly lives.
The most cruel are often the most cowardly.
Cowardness strengthens the hands of sinners in their sin.
Cowards deny their sin and a need for a savior.
Cowards are afraid to accept Christ and bear the ridicule of the world.

Voltaire says the only adventure open to cowards is marriage.

There is a lot said about cowardness in the bible
and I wasn't even afraid to look. rivit

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oneinchrist
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I used to wonder why the bible says that the "cowardly" are cast into the lake of fire. I know its not because Tarzan is afraid to show his emotions or Jane is afraid to pick up a snake. I am convinced that the test of our faith is also a test of courage, the courage to take a stand for the truth.

I believe that the question that we all need to be asking ourselves is...............are we willing to bear reproach for the Name of our Lord?

With love in Christ, Daniel

Posts: 1389 | From: Wind Lake, WI | Registered: May 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator


 
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