FREED | Fear

Tonight's teaching text will come out of the Gospel of Matthew 25, 14 through 30. But before we dive into that, very, very excited that tonight we take very seriously who brings the Word of God to you guys. And a dear friend of mine who's been with us before, but not on a Sunday. If you've been to the Altars Conference the past few years, we have our good friend Luke Lefevre with us tonight. Fair warning, you might get sick tonight, you might catch the Lefevre. Luke is seriously a dear friend of mine that I get to serve a lot of spaces with. His wife Rebecca is here with him as well. He's an evangelist, he's an author, and really helping move and steward something God is doing in Gen Z. And so we're just so blessed and honored that he is here with us. And I can say this because it's a six o'clock service, I often joke about the revival of Avengers. If you've seen the movie The Avengers, Luke is Captain America in the revival of Avengers in this hour. So he will, he convicts me for how much he prays for this nation and what he's sensing God is going to do in this hour. So we're in for a treat, and so let's lean in tonight. The teaching text is Matthew 25, 14 through 30, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying,

Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here, I have made five talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little. I'll set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he who also had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here, I've made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, have what is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given to him. And he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. This is a fascinating passage, isn't it?

When Jesus here in this text is talking about the kingdom of God, when he opens and he says, for it will be like a man going on a journey, what is he talking about with the it? He's talking about the kingdom of God. And he dives into this and he talks about these three servants that he gives these different amounts of his wealth to, right? So he comes to the first and he says, to the first he gives five talents, to the second he gives two, to the third he gives one. And they steward these different endowments differently, right? The first one it says he immediately puts it to work. The second one likewise. And then the third one buries the talent in the ground. Now I would look at that third servant and in my estimation I would go, I think he probably did a fairly good job. When the master comes back and he comes to this third servant and he says, you know, what did you do with what I gave you? What he returns to the master is exactly the same. exactly what the master had given him. He had not lost a penny of what he had been given. He returns it exactly to him. But in this passage, we see that the estimation of Jesus' estimation of their stewardship is very different from our estimation of their stewardship. Because when Jesus looked at this, and what Jesus is outlining here, is he's outlining the day when we will all have to stand before him. We'll talk about this in a moment, but the scripture talks about two different judgments that will take place. The first is what's called the great white throne judgment.

This comes from Revelation, when John says, I saw a great white throne and the living and the dead were brought before Jesus to be judged. Now, that's a judgment of unbelievers, of whether you are in Christ or not, whether you spend eternity with God or separated from God. But there's a second judgment that the scriptures speak of, and this is called the judgment seat of Christ. This is how Paul refers to it. When one day you will stand before God and you will give an account for what you did with what Jesus gave you. And if you're in Christ, you have, one, you have natural abilities, you have spiritual gifts, and you have an assignment and a call of God on your life. The word of God says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, not quickly and haphazardly. You were made with intention. Like, have you ever thought about the fact, I think about this, these are the things, these are the things Luke thinks about at night, okay? I'm like, why was I not born 200 years ago? Like, why am I here now in this time? It's because Jesus has an assignment for you in this moment of history. There is a reason he wanted you here on the earth now in this season.

There is something he has entrusted into your care to steward. Now, when the master comes to this servant, right, he's speaking to the ones who had stewarded well, what had been given to them, and what does he say? He says to them those words, those famous words that we all want to hear when we one day stand before the Lord. He says, well done, good and faithful servant, which is this exact juxtaposition to what he tells the servant who had the one talent. What does he say to him? He calls him wicked and lazy. He says, well done, good and faithful servant. And we can look at that and we go, well, why did he bury this talent in the ground? Because when the master returns, he asks him, he goes, why did you bury this? And he gives this really long spiel of an answer, right? But the key is found in three words of his answer. He says these three words. He says, I was afraid. Fear. He buries what he'd been entrusted with out of fear. And in this passage, we see a couple of things about Jesus' estimation of our stewardship that's often different from how we look at our stewardship, what we consider good stewardship of what's been given into our hands. See, the first thing is that Jesus

does not equate faithfulness with maintaining what you have been given, but with multiplying it. That servant, he hadn't lost a penny of it, not a cent of it. I'm looking at that and going, look, he didn't squander the master's money. He didn't go out and do something foolish with it. He didn't make a bad investment with it. He just did nothing with it. And Jesus calls that wicked and lazy, because he goes into self-preservation mode and goes, I'm afraid of making a mistake, so I'm gonna bury this thing in the ground. And the other thing we see in this passage is in Jesus' estimation of his stewardship, one day when we stand before Jesus and he goes, what did you do with what I gave you? Fear will not be a valid excuse for burying your assignment in the ground. You know, I look at the Western church, and I think for us, we consider disobedience to Jesus unacceptable in every circumstance except one, if we're afraid. Where we're going, there is no circumstance where Jesus is Lord of my life that I'm allowed to say no to his direct command and request of what I do with my life, except one, if I'm afraid. And often, we'll change the wording

to take the teeth out of it. We'll go, Jesus, I know you were asking me to do this, but I was concerned that. I was concerned of what this person might think, or I was worried about what the outcome might be, and it's the same answer that that servant gives, I was afraid. And I look at that third servant, and I look at his stewardship. And what I start to think when I'm looking at this servant and how he stewards what's been given into his hands, you know what I think was probably going through his mind? I think he was looking at the other two servants and going, well, I haven't been given as much as them, so it's not a big deal if I bury what I've been given. And how often do we do that in our own lives? We go, well, I'm not as gifted as him. I'm not as talented as her. What could I really do for the kingdom of God? What could I really do? And we bury what we've been given in the ground, and here's the thing, you have to kill comparison. You've gotta kill that thing. Because Jesus has you on the earth now for this moment in history for a reason. He wanted you here. Man, I just sensed that tonight. There are callings on lives in this room of eternal significance. You have been given something

of eternal weight and significance. Do you know how much a talent was worth? There are some estimations that would say in today's money, a talent would be $600,000. And you're like, that's what I pay in rent every month. In Nashville, where I'm from, that's a lot of money, okay? He had been entrusted with an enormous sum of money to steward. There are no insignificant assignments in the kingdom of God. There are no insignificant members of the family of God. What you have been entrusted with is eternally significant and irreplaceable. And there is a responsibility that rests on you to steward what has been given into your hand. Craig Rochelle, who pastors the largest church in the United States, their church came up with the YouVersion Bible app. So if you're reading the Bible on your phone, you're most likely using that app. It's on over a billion devices now. He said this, he said, the fastest way to kill something special is to compare it to something else. You have been entrusted with something of eternal and invaluable significance. And you have to dethrone fear. From over your life. And I'm using that term purposely because here's the thing. Whatever has the power to determine your actions

or influence your yes to Jesus is your master. And so when you allow fear to make you tell Jesus no, you have removed Jesus from the throne of your life and you have enthroned fear in his place. And that's called idolatry. Which is no longer just unadvisable, that is sinful. It's something that requires more than just remorse or regret, it requires repentance from us. To go, Jesus, I have enthroned something in your place and you have to get that thing off the throne of your life. Now here's the thing, I think most of the conversation around fear mostly revolves around our comfort. Of going, Jesus, would you free me from fear because I don't want to feel this anymore. But can I tell you something? Your freedom from fear is bigger than your own comfort. There is something at stake that is greater than your own comfort and it is the glory of the son of God. The word says this, it says, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. Not that you bear some fruit, that you bear much fruit, the father is glorified. And there's this push in our generation to get to ease as quickly as possible. It's in every generation, it's always there. For my parents' generation, you know what it looked like? For my parents' generation, it was work your job until you can retire as early as possible

and play golf until you die. Like that was, I mean, that sounds pretty good, honestly. I do like golf. Not very good at golf, but I do like golf. For our generation, you know what it is? It's start a TikTok business, become a travel influencer so you can just work by going to Santorini. I'm like, do you guys get these ads? I get these ads all the time. Maybe it says a little something like about my algorithm, but it's like all the time. They're like, I started a business where I now make $900,000 a second and you can too. Buy my course. And I'm like, me buying your course is what's making you $900,000 a second, okay? It's a scam. But it's all a push to go be able, quit your job, travel the world through your TikTok business and get to ease as quickly as possible. You know what an entire generation is finding out? Ease is empty. Like we have a whole generation that's not dying out of a lack of ease, but that is starving for lack of purpose, for lack of calling, for lack of reason to live. So how then do we dethrone fear from our lives? I'm gonna give you two things, two tactics that you can employ, and then one thing that God does for you.

And the first thing is this, if we are going to dethrone fear from our lives, you have to have an eternal perspective. You've gotta lay hold of eternity in your mind. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes to the Corinthian believers and he says this, this is 1 Corinthians 3, 10 to 14, I'm gonna read this, it says, by the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it, but each one should build with care, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is because the day, capital D, what is he talking about? The judgment seat of Christ, the day when you stand before Christ, will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames. What Paul is describing here is he's going every action that you take with your life to build something with your life,

he's equating it to a piece of building material. Every action of something you will build that one day when you stand before God, you will stand before him and there will be a house over here to the side that will be the summation of what you did with your life. And God on that day is going to put it to the fire test. And he talks about these different materials that you can build with. He talks about wood, hay, or straw, which what happens when you put fire to wood, hay, and straw? They're consumed and burned to ashes. When you build with gold, silver, precious stones, right? When you build with those things, the fire reveals the purity of those things. It doesn't consume them, it exposes the purity of what's been built. And what he's saying is what you have been built with your life, if you live in that self-preservation mode, living in fear and burying your assignment in the ground, one day you're gonna stand before God and what you built with your life will be consumed. And he's talking about this and he says, there are some, he goes, that will be saved, he said, even though as one escaping through the flames. This would be like somebody saving their entire life for retirement and then on the day they retire going bankrupt. Everything that they built,

that they had nothing to show for their lives when they stand before Christ one day. Do you guys remember when NFTs were like a huge thing? You guys remember this? Do you remember when Logan Paul bought that NFT for $630,000, you remember this? I think I have a picture of it actually, maybe not, but it's not worth seeing anyway. Okay, yeah, there it is. So he pays $630,000 for this NFT. Do you know what it's worth now? $155. When you live in self-preservation mode and build something out of fear and not laying down your life for the kingdom of God, everything that you thought was once so, so valuable is gonna be worthless in a moment when you stand before Jesus. And this is what he says, he says, if what has been built survives, listen to this, this is fascinating. He goes, the builder will receive a reward. He is talking about eternal rewards from Jesus. Now, like, what is this? Now, it's not extremely clear in Scripture exactly what these eternal rewards are, but if Jesus has an eternal reward for you, I think it will be so far beyond any capacity of our comprehension. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard

what the Lord has in store for those who love him. There will be something he rewards us with so far beyond our comprehension. But this is also what he says, but if it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss. Now, you're gonna look, what the heck does this have to do with fear? What you're willing to. Attempt with your life changes based on what's at stake. There's this place outside of Nashville where you can go cliff jumping, and I don't know how high it is. It's like maybe 40 feet. It's high enough to make me wanna throw up, so it's real high. But it's high enough that if you jump off and you hit the water wrong, like you could break something, it's high. If we're out there hanging out and some friends are like, Luke, you should jump. Do it, dude. I'm gonna be like, nah, fam, I'm good. Like, I got two kids. I'm not breaking a leg for a good time. If my four-year-old daughter were to accidentally tumble off that cliff, there is nothing you could do to keep me from jumping off that cliff. What you're willing to do with your life

changes based on what is at stake. And what Paul is talking about here is not simply what's at stake being a purposeful or purposeless life. He's going, what is at stake? What is eternal loss or eternal reward? There is something at stake here. Now, these eternal rewards, one of the things that Paul pulls out in Scripture, and we can kind of infer of like these things that he talks about in the, what might these eternal rewards be? Well, one is in the parable of the miners, which is this parallel passage of the parable of the talents. Jesus is talking about how the person who stewards well what they have been given are then rewarded with stewardship over 10 cities. So there's an element to this of authority in the kingdom to come. Where he's going, this is a dress rehearsal of going, can you steward this life so you can show that you can steward true riches of what's to come? Can you steward authority in the kingdom to come? So there's an element of this eternal reward that is influence and authority in the kingdom to come. The other piece that Paul pulls out, and he uses this language kind of just like it pops up in these random spots around Paul's letters.

But Paul will refer to these different crowns where he talks about one, he talks about the crown of rejoicing. He talks about the crown of life. He goes, if you persevere, he goes, you will receive the crown of life. There's one that theologians call the soul winner's crown. And now whether these are legitimate crowns or they're just representative of something else is up for debate. But when we look in the book of Revelation and you have the elders around the throne, we're just saying this. What happens when the angels cry holy? They all throw their crowns before the lamb. Where did they get those? They didn't bring them with them. Jesus gave those to them. And here's what the great tragedy of that day would be when you stand before Christ. I think there would be two great tragedies of that day. One is that you realize in that moment that everything you built with your life, that you do not get a do-over. You do not get a do-over on stewarding what Jesus put into your hand in his life. That you cannot go back and change it and everything that you built is burned up by fire. But I think perhaps the greater tragedy of that moment when we stand before Christ

is not that we would have no crown to wear in his presence, but that we would have no crown to lay at his feet. To go, I've got nothing to lay at your feet of what I spent my life, that you gave me something and I give it right back to you. The author Ambrose Redmond once wrote, he said, courage is not the absence of fear, but the conviction that something is more important than one's fears. You've got to find something more important than your fears. Dr. King, when he was preaching in Detroit, and this was just a few months before the great march to freedom that would happen in Washington. And just a few months prior to this, he had just been imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama, where he wrote his famous letter from Birmingham jail. And he gets up in front of the crowd in Detroit and he's talking about nonviolent protest and the courage that it requires to engage in nonviolent protest. And this is what he said, he said, even if the opponent tries to kill you, you'll develop the inner conviction that there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for. Can I just pause here for a second? I just feel the spirit of God. The glory of Jesus is worth dying for.

We got to get that gripped into our soul to just say, Jesus, we say this to you now, Jesus, your glory is worth our lives. It is worth it, God. And this is what he would go on to say. He said, if a man has not discovered something, he will die for, he is not fit to live. If you've seen. in the images or the footage of the Selma marches. I mean, these are concussive images of the march on Selma, right? This is during the civil rights movement. Fire hosed, tear gas. I mean, they're wrapping barbed wire around bats. I mean, horrific things. I remember watching some of these clips and just going, where did they get that kind of courage? They had found something more important than their fears. The fear didn't all of a sudden disappear. They had said, there is something more important than my fears, and here's the reality. Until you lay hold of an eternal purpose that is more important than your fears, you will forever live enslaved to what scares you. Now, here's the thing that God will do for you. You know, at the beginning, you might've gone, Luke, like, this idea that it's bigger than just my comfort, right? You might be like, I feel like that's a lack of compassion. And can I just go, like, guys, I get it. Like, I have felt those fears that, like,

keep you up at night, that go so deep into your soul that it starts to hurt your physical body, where it is painful, like those nights where you can't sleep and, like, I'm laying down on my floor in my living room, just, like, prostrated before God, going, God, you gotta help me. Like, I don't know what to do. You have to help me. And here's what God will do for us. In Exodus chapter 13, God is leading his people out of slavery in Egypt, and they've seen all these miraculous works of God, and he's bringing them out of Egypt. And this is what it says. It says, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though it was shorter. For God said, if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. So instead of taking them the short route, point A to point B, he takes them the long route, because he goes, if they face war, they might go, we wanna go back to enslavement. We wanna go back to Egypt. He's going, so I'm gonna take them the long way around. But then listen to this next sentence. I find this one so funny. It says, the Israelites went up out of Egypt

ready for battle. My wife and I were talking about this passage the other day, and she brought this out, and I thought this was so good. And she's going, I find it so funny that they're leaving fully convinced they're ready for war. And God's going, you are not ready for war. They think they're ready, but God can see a fear in their own heart that they can't even see. And he's going, you think you're ready, but you are not. And what does God do? He leads them, not just where they might face war, he leads them where they are trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. They can't go forward, and they can't go back, and they are trapped in an inescapable confrontation with their deepest fears. This is God's version of exposure therapy, okay? Where he's got them there, and they cannot go forward, and they cannot go back, and what do they do? They flip out. They go, Moses, you brought us out here to kill us, now we're gonna die, and they just start freaking out. And God's going, like, I told you, you weren't ready. But here's the thing. God brings them out here, and they're going, you brought us out here to kill us. And he's going, no, I brought you out here to deliver you. And God will bring you into a place of inescapable confrontation with your deepest fears. Like, I feel like in the past two years,

I have been baptized into some of my greatest fears. Inescapable confrontation with these fears. Because you know what God is doing? He's going, you think you're ready for war? He goes, you think the Egyptians are cute? Where I'm trying to take you, there's giants. I'm trying to take you into a land where there are giants. And so what he will do is to prepare you for the call of God on your life. He will bring you into confrontation with your deepest fears where it is inescapable to where he will prove himself to deliver you. Because this is what God will do. He will expose you. to your fears to eliminate them from our lives. Because this is what it says. He tells me, he says, the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. And so many times, God brings us into confrontation with those deepest fears. We're going, God, you brought me out here to kill me. And he's going, no, I brought you out here to prepare you. He's going where I'm trying to take you, that thing can't live. Several years ago, we were in this season where it was just like, God, it felt like God was speaking. We were obeying. And it was just like miraculous thing after miraculous thing. It just felt like we were batting a thousand.

It was just like, boom, boom, boom. And it led to this season where we saw over a thousand young people come to Christ in Nashville in a span of two years. Like during one period, 400 young people got saved during a rave. It was like the craziest, just like God speaks, obey God, bam, like he moves. And I'm in this, that kind of season. And I feel like the Lord speaks to me and he goes, I want you to, the sense of like, I want you to have an event in this particular city with these particular leaders and call a generation to rally together to consecrate their lives to Christ. And so we're getting ready for this event. And we're mobilizing for it. We're pouring ourselves into it. And like, I'm feeling pretty good. Like God is confirming stuff. Like God is confirming the things that we're doing. And so we're getting ready for this event. God is confirming stuff. There's just like miraculous provision. We get given this free venue on a college campus that holds like 1200 people, a gorgeous venue for free that we can host it in. And it's just like, things are moving. And like the Lord had connected me with these kind of new, like some of these new, very influential leaders

within the body of Christ. And they all agree to come speak. And I'm like riding high. I'm like, this is gonna be awesome. We have over a thousand people registered for the event. So we're coming in, we're like, this is gonna be awesome. We have a leaders gathering the afternoon before the first night session. And like 100 of the most influential leaders in the city and the nation come to this gathering and all like these kind of key leaders that we had invited in. They did a panel and it goes amazing. And I'm like, tonight is gonna pop off, let's go. And then we get to the night and the session's about to start. And I start looking out into the room and there's only 100 to 200 people in the room. And like my worst nightmare is realized in this moment. Because if you've been in a room that holds 1200 people and there's 100 people in it, it feels like two people. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Because not only did I have to go up and lead that night, I had to do it in front of my, these new friends who are some of those influential leaders in the body of Christ, do it in front of them who I told them the room was gonna be full. And then I had to lead through it for another day and a half. Like I couldn't just be like, well, that sucks, going home. It's like I had to keep going through it.

And that whole time, I'm going, there was a moment where we had had a moment similar, was like, man, this didn't go the way we thought. But then like a few weeks later, this miraculous provision from God had been like, oh, that's why that happened. Oh my goodness, like God was gonna, he was trying to do something to provide. And so as the weeks went on after that gathering, I was just going like, what, what happened? And I was like, well, God, maybe some miracle is gonna show up in a few weeks. And a few weeks go by and nothing. And a month goes by and nothing. And I'm just processing through this, I'm going, God, like, did I mishear you? Did like, and it was such this deep feeling of God, I obeyed you and it felt like you hung me out to dry. You left me, you just left me out there. Why would you do that to me? And for months I'm wrestling with this, I'm like, we had a thousand people register. Like, did they not know where to go? Like, was the communication not clear? Like, did they not know where to park? And there was nothing that made sense. And so months went by and months went by and I'm asking the Lord, God, what happened? And he's just like dead silence. He'd speak to me about lots of other stuff.

He'd just be like, I love you. And I'm like, yeah, but what about the thing? And he's just like, I love you. It doesn't feel like it. And just about a year later, when I had first gotten the word about this gathering, I was running on a treadmill at a hotel, looking out a window. And a year later, my wife and I were just about to have our second child, so we took some time away. And I'm in this hotel and I'm on a treadmill and I'm looking out the window and I'm just jogging. And all of a sudden, I feel like I hear the Lord go, do you want to know what happened at that event last year? And I was like, not now. No thanks, honestly. Like, six months ago, sure, not now. I'm like, I'm over it. Actually, you bringing it up right now is kind of triggering, to be honest. I'd forgotten about it. You had to bring it up. I was just having a nice jog by myself. And you're like, hey, remember that thing that sucked? Awesome. And there was this moment of being like, God. It's just like the Lord was like, but you wanna know though. And it just like melted to an ache if I was like, God, yes, I want to know.

And you know what I felt like I heard him say? He goes, I had to kill the fear of man in you. He said, you cared way too much what all your new influential friends were gonna think. Where you were so excited that they were gonna think you're a good leader, that you're a successful leader and you wanted a packed out room so that you could prove you're a good leader. And he's going, and where I'm trying to take you, that cannot live in you. God will expose you to your fears to eliminate them from your life. And here's the final thing. There is one great and preeminent way you break the spirit of fear off of your life. And if the worship team would even just begin to come, and if the worship team would even just begin to come, in the book of Ezra, at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the walls of Jerusalem had sat in ruins for 140 years. And you know why it had been so long? It wasn't necessarily a lack of resources. It wasn't a lack of know-how necessarily. It was fear. Because when the walls of Jerusalem get torn down, there's this redistribution of power in the area. It's like the wild, wild west where there's no authority in the region. And so all of these power brokers

start jockeying for position. And they wanna control what's happening in the area. And so they're going, we cannot let the walls of Jerusalem be rebuilt, otherwise we will lose our hold on this space. And this is what it says in Ezra chapter four. It says, then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They employ a fear campaign against them. Have you ever felt that? You start to step out in obedience to God on something, and all of a sudden the fear hits. The irrational thoughts. What's gonna happen? You start seeing dominoes in your mind of this is gonna happen, you start seeing dominoes in your mind of this, this, this, this, and then it's gonna be disaster. When you begin to step out in obedience to God, expect a fear campaign to come against your life and against your heart. But this is what it says in Ezra chapter three. This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It says this in Ezra three, three, it says, despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundations and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices, despite their fear.

You wanna know how to rip fear off the throne of your life? Do it scared. Do it anyway. Elizabeth Elliot, who is the wife of Jim Elliot, they moved to Ecuador to take the gospel to the Aka tribe in Ecuador with five other families. And her husband, Jim, he was 27 years old. They go to preach the gospel to the Akas. And when they do, the Aka men that they're trying to bring the gospel to spear all of their husbands to death. And they die on a beach in Ecuador. Well, Elizabeth, who's there with all their little kids, I think they had five kids, raises those children and she takes those grown kids and they eventually go and they lead the same Aka men who had speared her husband to death to Christ. And this is what Elizabeth Elliot would say. She said, sometimes fear does not subside and one must choose to do it afraid. You know what I think terrifies the kingdom of darkness? Someone who will feel the fear and consistently choose to obey God anyway. At some point, they're gonna go, this doesn't work. See, fear is not like, I think when we start to attempt something significant for the kingdom of God in any act of obedience to Jesus is a significant act for the kingdom of God. When we do that, we're not gonna be able to do it. When you begin to step out in faith,

like I think we get this idea that sometimes like fear We're not gonna be able to do it. We're not gonna be able to do it. is just this like fly to be swatted away. We're not gonna be able to do it. It is a death match with a dragon. That you've got to wrestle that thing down. Where you get in the trenches with that thing. I feel, I have felt this so acutely. Like I wish this wasn't, honestly, I wish this was not true. But when you get into that wrestling match with that thing, it becomes this war where it goes, it's going to be me or you. And you've got to get a resolve in your spirit when you're wrestling that thing. You're going, it's going to be me or you. And it's not going to be me today. I'm going to wrestle this thing to the ground and kill it. Now you might be coming in and going, Luke, I didn't need to come to church today to hear this. Like, you're not telling me anything. I don't know. It's like, do it scared. I'm like, tell me how to get rid of the fear, dude. Tell me how to stop feeling the fear and then I'll step out in faith. Like, doesn't scripture say, I've been given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.

Like, tell me how to get ahold of that spirit of power and then I'll step out in faith. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from the German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, who led 74 million people to Christ, 74 million. He said, no one needs power to do nothing. Act, attempt, and do nothing. Act and God will back you. God will give you the power. So this is what we're gonna do. Would you just take a moment, would you close your eyes with me for just a minute? I get the strong sense that there's some of you in this room that are called to the mission field and you've been suppressing that call. Fear. And I just sense an opportunity for God asking you to dig that talent up. I think we just need to take a moment to break this fear off of our lives. And if you would say, I have, Jesus, I have succumbed to fear. And I have or I have been tempted to bury my assignment in the ground. What I'm gonna ask you to do is just to take a step of faith and act of courage and just to stand to your feet and say, Jesus, I've succumbed to fear. Jesus. We just break that off in Jesus' name. Come off spirit of fear in Jesus' name.

Jesus, I pray you'd fill them with power, love, and a sound mind. Spirit, come and fill them freshly right now, I pray. Yeah, if that's you and you're sensing, you're just going, I buried, there's something I've buried in the ground. Holy Spirit, I just pray you would bring those things to mind. They'd pop into their hearts or just conviction of going, I have buried something out of fear. I've told God I'll go this far and no farther. Holy Spirit, I just pray you'd take the limits off right now. Those boxes off, break them open. God, whatever you ask me to do with my life, it's a yes. And if you in this moment, others in the room, and you're going in this moment, Jesus, I am re-consecrating my life to you as a commitment to say, Jesus, I will not bury what you have given me. Would you just stand? Jesus, we ask that you would find in us willing vessels, God, you'd find in us people that would say, what do you want done in the earth? God, we're here. The voice from heaven still cries, who can I send and who will go for us? Isaiah didn't even know what the, send where, do what? And his answer was immediately, here I am, send me.

That's the invitation. That's the invitation I feel in this moment. God is inviting. in this room right now, to go, I will give God my yes to steal Sam, to steal Sam's answer is yes. What's the question, God? The answer is yes. What is the question, God? God, would you find in us willing vessels, Lord, yielded vessels, and I just feel like there's a breaking that God wants to do deep in our spirits of going, God, we will break the bottle. We will give it all, God. The costly yes of just freshly reconsecrating our lives to say whatever you ask, Jesus, the answer is yes. Here we are, Jesus. We love you, Lord. Holy Spirit, I ask that you would come right now. You would give us grace for the consecration, Lord. Lord, we know, Lord, we are weak human beings. We have so many faults that we can't even see, fears we can't even identify, blind spots that we don't even know, but Jesus, you see them, and God, by your grace, by your Spirit, God, would you give us grace and power for the consecration, to reconsecrate our lives in a fresh way that says my whole life for your glory, my whole world for you only, everything for the honor of your name, God, would you find a room consumed by that cry tonight, we ask.

In Jesus' name, amen.