Courageous Living

Contents

Session 4: Courageous Faith

It takes courage to stand with Christ.

Appendices . .53

Changing The World

 

About The Authors

Michael Catt is a husband, father of two grown daughters, and, since 1989, he has served as senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia (www.MichaelCatt.com). With Jim  McBride, Michael is also executive producer of Sherwood Pictures. The church’s mission is “to touch the whole world with the whole Word, motivated by a passion for Christ and compassion for all people.”

Stephen Kendrick is a husband, father of four, and associate pastor for Sherwood Baptist Church. Stephen oversees the church’s prayer ministry and produces all Sherwood movies. In addition to this study, Stephen and Alex co-wrote the The Love Dare best seller, The Love Dare Bible Study, and the McBride (center back), the fourth member movie-release curriculum Honor Begins at Home: of Sherwood Pictures’ leadership team.

Alex Kendrick is a husband, father of six, and associate pastor for Sherwood Baptist Church. He is a speaker, actor, writer, and the director of all Sherwood movies. Alex acted as Grant Taylor in FACING THE GIANTS and as Adam Mitchell in COURAGEOUS.

Nic Allen is a husband, father of two girls, and pastor. After 10 years in student ministry at Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee, he transitioned to family and children’s ministry to focus on parents, specifically fathers.

 

Honor Begins at Home:

About the Movie

Four men, one calling: to serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners in the sheriff’s department, David Thomson and Shane Fuller, are confident and focused. They willingly stand up to the worst the streets have to offer.

While Adam is winning at work, he struggles to connect at home. He and his teenage son are running in different directions. Between Dylan’s video games and late-night training runs, there seems to be little common ground between father and son. And while his young daughter is his pride and joy, Adam definitely doesn’t share Emily’s zest for life.

Nathan, who grew up not knowing his dad, has done all he can to break the cycle of fatherlessness in his family. Nathan’s young sons look up to him, but his teenage daughter is turning away as she begins to attract the attentions of young men.

Shane struggles as a divorced father attempting to stay involved in his son’s life and to get ahead financially. Young officer David is single, with a well-hidden past.

Spending time together is a value of these men who eagerly welcome a new friend, Javier, into their circle. Javier finds humor in life as he works diligently to make ends meet. Focused on God, Javier lovingly strives to provide for his wife and two young children.

When tragedy strikes, these men are left actively wrestling with their hopes, fears, faith, and fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God and to their children? How will their stories impact your family?

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LoRD” (Josh. 24:15, NIV).

 

Introduction

Live a Courageous Life

The word pandemic describes a disease outbreak that is larger in scale than expected and covers a large geographical area, often crossing international borders. It is broader in scope than an epidemic and often more threatening.

The influenza outbreak of 1918 claimed in excess of 20 million lives word-wide and could easily be described as pandemic.

Studies today prove that children living without fathers are more likely to be poor and to endure significant emotional, educational, medical, and psychological problems. Similar studies reveal that more than 24 million American children currently live without their biological fathers. That statistic is in excess of 36 percent of American children, making fatherlessness a problem of pandemic proportions.?

The only solution to this widespread problem is a return to biblical fatherhood: men of courage taking a powerful stand in their homes and communities to love, lead, and protect their children and thereby eliminating the problems associated with fatherlessness. In the COURAGEOUS movie, four men recognize this need and boldly answer the call to be better fathers.

While Adam Mitchell and fellow law-enforcement officers Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller consistently give their best on their job, “good enough” seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark. They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift further and further away from them.

Will they be able to find a way to serve and protect those who are most dear to them?  As is the case with these four dads, taking the principles outlined in this Bible study and applying them to your life as a believer will take courage.

The COURAGEOUS movie and this Bible study sound the call for the:

• father who is always working and feels somewhat disconnected at home

• soldier who has been deployed for months and can’t wait to engage with his wife and kids

• dad who is home on weekends but flies out every Monday morning to work out of town

• young guy whose relationship went too far too quickly and who became a dad too young

• divorced dad who becomes a full-time dad every other weekend and one month during the summer

• stepdad who lives full time with step kids

• single mom raising three children while wearing both parent hats every day

• young man with a new wife waiting for the arrival of their first child

• mature father who looks back on his life with regrets and wants to now impact his grandkids

• dad who never knew his father and longs to discover how to lead his family well

This is a call for believers to take a courageous stand for the sake of their children and their future. This study is for you!