Moving Forward with Conviction, Commitment and Courage

Greetings, everyone. It's an honor to be able to speak to you today, even though under these circumstances we can be together. The title of my message is the same as the theme of this year's General Conference of Elders, Moving Forward with Conviction, Commitment, and Courage. In 1995, I was serving as the head football coach at Hattiesburg High School, one of the largest schools in the state of Mississippi, and I was teaching world history.

As a coach and teacher, you're always looking for ways to motivate players and students to bigger and better things than they ever dreamed was possible. One of the mottos I continually emphasized was, be a hero, not a hero worshiper. You can become much more than you ever dreamed you could be. In one of those world history classes, there was a little Jewish boy who was a member of the Civil Air Patrol, and he gave me a little handbook that introduced me to some of the concepts of conviction, commitment, and courage. I called them the Three C's. I have over the year studied the elements of the Three C's from a biblical perspective and also from a secular perspective, and I have used these concepts in coaching, teaching, and preaching ever since the spring of 1965. This coupled with a philosophy of what constitutes a truly educated person and what is real freedom. Jesus Christ says that if the Son makes you free, you should be free indeed.

My philosophy of education is based on John 832, where Jesus says, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Shortly after I stepped on to the campus of Delta State University in 1959, I was walking toward the administration building, and I caught an engraving over the entry into the building, where these words were inscribed, The state hath decreed that only free men shall be educated, hearkening back to ancient Greece, in which only the free man could be educated, but God hath decreed that only educated men are free.

This is in keeping with John 832, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. A true education is one that frees you from fear, ignorant superstition, and the dogmas of man. This kind of education is only achieved through understanding the answers to the great questions of life. Does God exist? Who is God? What is God? And what is His purpose? Who is man? What is man? And what is His purpose? God is our Father. He is spirit, and His desire and His purpose is to bring sons and daughters to glory in His family.

And the same for man, his corollary to that man was made by his Creator with certain faculties akin to God, made in the image of God. But man is made at the dust of the ground, but he can receive eternal life from God and Jesus Christ upon repentance, faith, and baptism, and the laying on of hands. If you were named the president of a college or the head coach of any team at any level, or a pastor, a teacher, or preacher, what would be the philosophy you would communicate to those you're responsible for leading?

One of the first assignments that I usually assign to any class is for each person to write a paper on his or her philosophy of life. I asked the elders in the first online Bible class I taught to write an essay on their philosophy of life. The papers were quite revealing, and they all agreed that they had learned quite a lot from these papers, very helpful to them. When Ambassador College was founded, two overriding principles, mottos, you might say, emerged, and the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge, and the second recaptured true values.

I would venture to say that virtually every person that ever attended Ambassador College still remembers those two overriding concepts. The Word of God is a foundation of knowledge, and we're here to recapture true values. So what is your philosophy of life? What are your hopes, goals, and dreams for the future? Every person's life should be directed by a clear vision of what he or she hopes to achieve in life. To a large degree, every person's philosophy of life is shaped by the culture that they grow up in. We all learn method and not content.

By that, I mean we learn from example. We learn to do things the way that our parents do things, our teachers, and those that we are able to come in contact with, especially as young people, we learn method more than content. Children mimic what they see their parents, their peers, and the members of the community do. No matter how talented a person is, they will never even begin to realize their potential until they begin to see that life requires an abundance of self-discipline and self-direction.

In other words, you must be convicted from within, convicted of what you believe. If you hope to achieve, you're going to have to be convicted if you're going to really conduct your life in the way that God would have you to direct your life. And going hand in glove with our hopes, goals, and dreams for the future is a standard by which we're going to live. We're going to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, as it says in Matthew 4.4. From a time a child is conceived, he or she begins to absorb the emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual environment that they're living in.

We now know that a great deal of learning takes place even in the womb.

Parents who create a positive emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual environment are helping the child to develop self-discipline and a knowing within that can result in deep conviction, self-discipline, and self-direction. As a child growing up, we did not have a lot of books. We had two books on the place, the Bible, that we kept inside in the Sears and Roebuck catalog outside. But my parents set a great example of a work ethic and self-discipline and self-direction, and so you'll learn a lot from that example. In today's world, there are many distractions that are designed to keep you and I in a state of perpetual childhood and adolescence.

The advertising world, along with the world of entertainment, would have you believe that the good life resides in satiating all of your senses now. And one advertising slogan says, get all the gusto that you can get now. And so we are called, to some degree, the now generation.

So one of the greatest obstacles that you will have to overcome is the ever-present temptation to just go along with the crowd and go with the flow. Let others do your thinking for you.

So many people wind up in devastating circumstances because they went with the flow.

They may have had good intentions, but in a moment of carelessness, they abandon their convictions and jump the track. As stated earlier, you must be convicted from within. So what is this word conviction all about? Conviction is a deep-seated belief that goes to the very core of your being, that what you are doing is right, to the point that you are willing to die for it. Conviction is somewhat analogous to your conscience. It has to do with discerning right and wrong, but it goes further in that it produces a sense of urgency and a desire to actually see your convictions move to action. You want to do something about it. There's a weight upon your mind. You want that weight to be relieved. You want to act on your convictions.

Christ taught this kind of conviction. Let's note now Luke chapter 14. It's a passage of Scripture that we often cover. In fact, we always, I think, cover this in pre-baptismal counseling. Luke 14 verses 25 and 26. And there went out great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and love not less his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. So we must be convicted to the point that we are willing to die for our convictions. So have...

Are you convicted to the very core and depth of your being? Have you been convicted to the very core and depth of your being? Conviction, apart from action, is of no lasting consequence.

The wood is full of peoples who have intellectual assent to the truth. They will say they believe in God, but Jesus says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So conviction, apart from action, is of no lasting consequences. In other words, if you're doing whatever you're doing because it is what you believe and what you're convicted of, then your action can be of lasting consequence. It can lay up treasure for you in heaven, where rust and moth do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.

There are different ways in which we become convicted of certain things.

First of all, we become convicted of certain physical things. We become convicted of those things through experience. There are four main ways that people come to knowledge. One is through experience, called experiential knowledge, trial and error. Another is what's called empirical knowledge. That is, knowledge through the five senses. And then there is rational knowledge, knowledge that is gained from human reasoning and putting two and two together. As a child, we learn physical things. As I said first, we learn that the fire is hot, the stove is hot, the heater is hot. We learn that if we drop something, it is going to fall. And we become convicted of those things to the depth of our being. So we learn how to deal with fire. We learn how to deal with the law of gravity. Our parents began to teach us that we should apply ourselves to school so we will be better prepared for life. Our parents, hopefully, began to teach us the values of honesty, responsibility, hard work, and doing unto others as you would have them to do unto you. And we become convicted of these values and begin to direct our lives accordingly.

So how is spiritual conviction developed? Spiritual conviction is the product of the Spirit and the Word of God. Over and over, you understand from the Bible that the Spirit of God and the Word of God are the two principal convicting agents. So let's turn now to John 16.

John 16, verse 7. And John 16, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away the comforter, and in John 14, 26, the comforter is identified as the Holy Spirit, the paracletos, however you want to pronounce it, the one alongside the comforter, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send it unto you. And when it is come, it will reprove the world of sin.

Now the Greek word, therefore, reprove is elancho in the Greek, and it means to convict, to lay a weight on one's mind, to motivate them to move to action. And when it is come, that is the Holy Spirit, it will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

Now we note further in John 16, verse 13, a few verses down. Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, it will guide you into all truth, for it shall not speak of itself, but whatsoever it shall hear, that shall it speak. So what does the truth hear? The truth hears the Word of God. John 17, 17, sanctify them through your word. Your word is truth, and He will show you, that is, the Holy Spirit, and it will show you things to come. One of the reasons Christ commissioned the disciples and raised up the church was so the peoples of the world could hear the truth and become convicted. So Christ tells us in Matthew 28, 19, and 20, He says that we are to disciple all nations, go into all the world, disciple all nations, teach them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you, even to the end of the age. So Christ raised up the church. He commissioned the church.

And now we read from Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 and verse 14. Romans 10 verse 14.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So one of the reasons for the church, of course, is to provide the ministry and to provide the kind of care that is needed in a congregation. And how shall they preach except they be sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord who has believed our report. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So the other convicting agent is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us along with the Word of God. So the Holy Spirit working in concert with the Word of God convicts us of the truth. Perhaps the greatest charge that is given to the ministry is contained in or written in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 4 where Paul admonishes the young Timothy. Of course, this is a prison epistle. Paul is in prison. He's encouraging Timothy who had apparently begun to draw back and become somewhat fearful and ashamed of Paul. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the Word, be instant end season, out of season, and be instant reprove. And once again, here's his word, reprove. It is to convict, elancho, convict, and to rebuke with all long-suffering and doctrine. So we're charged to do that, to preach the Word. And he goes on to say that a time is coming in which they will turn to fables with itching ears, hoping to hear some new thing. But we are admonished to preach the Word in season, out of season, with all gravity and seriousness. True spiritual conviction, once again, places a weight on a person's mind, impressing upon a person that these things are true, and we need to respond to our conviction. Of course, a conviction can be resisted. And just as the Roman ruler told Paul, come back a more convenient time, and people oftentimes put things off. But it says in Proverbs 29.1 that the person who hardens his heart will suddenly be destroyed and without remedy. So be careful with trying to not act on your conviction, hardening your heart.

You begin to realize that God has your best interest at heart when you're really convicted, and he wants to see you in his kingdom, and that apart from God and Christ, you're going to die. This conviction begins to burn within your being to the point that you're willing to forsake all to follow Christ. And we've already read Luke 14 verses 25 and 26, that you must be able and willing to forsake all, even your own life. Whether right or wrong, there have been men and women over the years in the course of human history that were so convicted of certain truths to the point that they gave their lives, probably not members of the true church. Obviously, some were not. We can think of Joan of Arc, Galileo, Giordano, Bruno, and many others. Some began to understand that the earth is not the center of the universe as taught by the Catholic Church.

They invented telescopes and peered into the heavens and came to realize that the earth revolves around the sun. And so, heliocentric universe, they were called on to recant, or face being burned at the stake. Reportedly, Galileo recanted at the last moment, while whispering under his breath the truth. Others were burned at the stake or were tortured in some way because of their belief. Perhaps the most quoted statement that came out of the American Revolution were the famous words of Patrick Henry, who said, I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. Some of the great men and women of faith who remain true to their spiritual convictions are chronicled for us in Hebrews chapter 11. It is encouraging to read those examples, and perhaps you would want to do that.

Men and women who gave their lives as chronicled in Hebrews chapter 11.

After you have been convicted by the word and spirit of God, it requires your active participation. In other words, you have to open the pages of your Bible, begin to read the word of God, and pray to God for understanding. Remember what we read from Romans 10-17? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So if you want to increase your faith, you go to the word of God. You begin to study, meditate on the word of God. The present-day trend is for society to teach men and women to act according to the expectation of others, not from transcendental convictions. A popular sociologist, David Reisman, several years ago, wrote a book called The Lonely Crowd, even way back then, decades ago. He wrote this book, but it still describes the phenomenon that we see today. And of course, it has progressed much more now than it was in the day of when Reisman wrote the book. He described this phenomenon of being other-directed. He wrote before World War I that Americans were typically interdirected. The pre-World War I society helped a person to develop an internalized set of goals which emphasized self-reliance and conquest over life's challenges of ups and downs. The Industrial Revolution was reaching its apex to some degree then, but of course we have had tremendous revolutions, jet age, space age, nuclear age, and many other things. The technological age that is now upon us and revolution that pales into insignificance, some of those things. But at that time, people were to a large degree self-reliant, and when met with a crisis such as we're facing today, they were able to deal with it much more capably than we are today. The aim was mastery by the individual of the total environment. The basis of this master involved mastery of self. As a result, the individual acquired an inner gyroscope, a compass to guide him or her that gave them the stability so that they could deal with difficult times and grave inconsistencies that they might see or hear. As we have seen recently, many people panic in the wake of trials and are unable to stand when situations are tough. Today, the emphasis is on image, political correctness, and going along with the crowd. So even adults might say or ask, what will my friends think?

Instead of thinking, what do I believe about this, and what am I going to do about it?

We need leaders who have an inner core, leaders who are not just empty shelves, leaders who will stand in the gap and make up the hedge, as Ezekiel writes about in Ezekiel 22.

Reisman writes, the present American character is other directed. He seeks not to be independent, but to fit in. He lives as though he were directed by a radar set fastened on his head, continuously telling him what other people expect of him. The other directed person receives his or her motives and directions from others. And of course, brethren, we cannot be that way. We must get our direction from the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The other directed person confuses freedom to respond with real freedom. Oh yes, people are free to respond, but what are the consequences of the response? True freedom stems from one's ability and willingness to direct their life based on internalized transcendental values. Once again, if you go back to what nearly everyone could quote from the early years of Basterd College, all the way up now into ABC, the Word of God is a foundation of knowledge, and we are to recapture true values. If you are truly free, you will have an effective center, a center of motivation within yourself. In other words, your actions will be based on deeply held convictions and commitment to upholding your convictions. You must be convicted by the Word of God to the point that you're willing to forsake all. This is the third time that we've said this, that you're willing to forsake all, to conform to the example of Jesus Christ, who loved not his life and to the death. That kind of conviction requires that your thoughts, the meditations of your heart, be directed toward God. As David writes in Psalm 119, verse 97, we've seen this hymn quite often, Oh, how love I your law, it is my meditation all the day.

This is where commitment enters into the picture. After you are convicted of the great spiritual truths of the ages, God expects you to be committed to them. After you're convicted of them, God expects you to be committed to them. The word commitment literally means to give in charge, to place in trust, to pledge, to bind. God has placed his precious truth, the pearl of great price in sacred trust with each one of us. It is incumbent upon you and I to totally give ourselves upholding the trust that has been given us. A committed person is willing to forsake all in order to live by his or her convictions. God's truth is a sacred trust and a charge that should be taken into life's battles. The truth that has been committed to us, is that we are to hold in sacred trust, to live it and teach it to others.

Note what the apostle Paul writes to Timothy. So this is 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1.

2 Timothy 2 verse 1, 1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit you to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. You therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And we sing the song, Onward Christian Soldiers. Are we truly marching in our spiritual warfare with conviction and commitment? And of course, we still have one sea to go. Christ expressed his commitment at age 12 when he was there at the feast and his parents left and were looking for him and went back and found him. And he said unto them, How is it that you sought me? Why will you come looking for me? Don't you know that I must be about my father's business? And salute to you in verse 49. Later in his ministry, Christ states in John 4.34, Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me and finish his work.

Christ was totally committed to doing the will of his father. He did it with zeal and with passion, and yet at the same time he was filled with compassion.

That brings us to the third sea, courage. Courage is the quality of being fearless.

Courage is a product of conviction and commitment. I couldn't say that often enough.

Courage is a product of conviction and commitment. If you have not meditated and obeyed the word of God, if you've not committed your entire being, heart, mind, and soul, you will lack courage. You may be witty, you may be clever, you may have a great personality.

But when all is said and done, if your words, thoughts, and actions are not based on the word of God, you will be spineless and you will fail. Note the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy once again. In 2 Timothy, as we mentioned earlier, Timothy was becoming fearful. Paul was in prison, and apparently Timothy was having a difficult time. He was a very young man, and Paul writes to him and says to stir up the spirit that was given him by the laying on of Paul's hands.

And he further said in verse 7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of a sound mind.

So we need to be bold, courageous, not afraid to look others in the eye and speak. Once again, courage is a product of conviction and commitment.

Now we want to read the words of the Lord's brother James in James chapter 1 and verse 17.

But be you doers of the word. Intellectual assent to the truth, as we have mentioned, is not enough.

You can't just say, I believe. Be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

But if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he's lacking to a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholds himself, goes his way, and straight way forgets what manner of man he was. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. You'll be blessed if you act on your convictions, if those convictions are from the word of God. To the degree that you are convicted and committed, you will respond courageously. So how important is courage? Let's notice now Revelation chapter 21, Revelation chapter 21 and verse 7. Revelation 21 verse 7, He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

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 of fire which burns with brimstone which is the second death. The famous words of the Greek, I guess you would call him a philosopher, teacher, his name is Epitetus, a very apropos for what we're talking about here today.

Here's what Epitetus wrote, and these words need to be engraved on our foreheads and backbones.

When you do a thing because you have determined that it ought to be done, never avoid being seen doing it, and if the opinion of the multitude is going to condemn you, for if your action is wrong, then avoid doing it altogether. But if it is right, do not fear those who will rebuke you wrongly, for they are as dust in the wind, easily swayed and controlled by the slightest breeze. The Bible is filled with examples of heroic leadership, men and women who stood in the gap, men and women who were convicted, committed, and responded courageously. When David confronted Goliath on the battlefield, he was but a teenager. The three Hebrew children, when thrown into the fiery furnace because they would not bow down and worship the image to Nebuchadnezzar, were probably teenagers when they were thrown into the furnace. Remember the conviction and commitment and courage of Daniel in the lion's den. Remember the courage of young Queen Esther and her appearance before the king. Remember Christ and all of the things that he endured in his ministry and his words as he suffered on the stake. Remember the words of Paul on Mars Hill as he confronted the detractors of his day, the skeptics. So what about you and I? Will we be chronicled as one who stood against the maddening crowd, a person who loved God, truth, and freedom more than we loved our own lives?

Will we stand in the gap? Will we seek the truth? Will we provide heroic leadership in this critical crucial times that are before us? So, indeed, as the theme of this conference is, the GCE of this year, conviction, courage, and commitment, let us move forward with conviction and courage and commitment. And let's remember the words of the Apostle Paul.

Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, but you are not of those who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. So, brethren, we will move forward with conviction, commitment, and courage.