What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid? | There Is More | Pastor Mike Breaux

Hey guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching every week really some podcasts that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free. An episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now enjoy this Bible teaching. Hi, what is up Lake Point family? Great to see you guys. Man, welcome to Lake Point. Hey, you want to take a chance just to welcome all of our campuses and those of you that might be joining us online. Maybe you're on fall break somewhere in the world. Thanks for joining us today. Man, super grateful for all of y'all. My name is Bro by the way, and I get to be on the teaching team here and this is one of the highlights of my life to get to show up here. So always great to see you. Hey, we're going to be at Acts 23 today. So if you got a Bible, you can turn to Acts 23. Go to the middle, take a right. You know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, then the book of Acts. We're in chapter 23. If you got an app that you use, we'll put it on the screens as well. We kind of track along together that way. But before we get started in Acts 23, I want to ask you what I think might be a life-changing question. At least it was when a buddy of mine asked me this years ago. The question is this, what would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you weren't afraid? What is it that you sense God calling you to do, but honestly, your fears are holding you back? I mean, let's be honest. The fears that there are fears that reside within all of us, right? Fears that keep us from doing what we know we ought to do. Fears that keep us from being who we know we want to be. Fears that just keep us paralyzed. So what is it for you? I don't know, maybe for you it's the fear of being alone, or maybe it's the fear of not fitting in, not being accepted. Maybe it's the fear of failure or strangers, it seems. Maybe it's the fear of success. Maybe it's the fear of like being stuck, stuck in a relationship, stuck in a job, stuck in a lifestyle, trapped by a financial situation that you think you may never get out of. Fear can just keep all of us stuck. Well, we've been tracking with this guy named Paul for the past several weeks who had to face his fears and find courage on a daily basis. And I want you to check out what he writes to a young friend of his, a young pastor named Timothy, who was struggling with this stuff. He says this to Timothy, For God did not give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love, and self-discipline. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love, and self-discipline. Now God has wired us all with automatic fear responses, like the two we come into the world with, we come into the world with a fear of falling and a fear of loud noises. And then there is discernment we learn along the way that instills in us a healthy fear for like fire and sharks and roller coasters and Eagles fans. But that's different. That's different than this spirit of fear. God didn't give us that. A lack of confidence, a lack of courage, that doesn't flow down to us from our Father in heaven. That's something that you and I manufacture on our own and can carry around in our spirit that keeps us from being all that we can actually be. Power, love, self-discipline, resolve, resilience, courage, confidence, that's the stuff that flows from God. So let me just give you a definition of the Greek word that's used in the New Testament for the word courage or confidence. It simply means this, that which stands under a foundation. Confidence means to stand up under anything because you have a strong foundation. And man, that describes Paul, doesn't it? When you talk about a strong foundation, so far we have seen this guy ridiculed, beaten, stoned, falsely accused, arrested, thrown in jail just about everywhere he goes for simply sharing the good news of God's love through Jesus Christ. The same guys who wanted Jesus dead are determined now to take Paul out as well. So last weekend we left him in Jerusalem once again, arrested on false charges, and they assembled this group called the Sanhedrin, every kind of a religious supreme court and it was made up not of Republicans and Democrats, it was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. And so Paul now is about to give his defense in front of this esteemed group. So let's pick it up, Acts 23, this is how it starts. Gazing intently at the High Council, Paul begins, brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience. Now he's not saying, brothers, I'm pretty much perfect. I'm perfect before God. In fact, other places Paul refers to himself as the chief of all sinners. He's simply saying here, you know when I've done something wrong, I've searched my heart, I've owned it, and I've gotten to God about it. And in this case, I actually, I've done nothing wrong, my conscience is clear. Well, this offends the high priest. And so he orders someone close to Paul to smack him in the mouth. And Paul goes, ah, he didn't really say that, but I'm sure he said that. And he says to him, God will slap you, you corrupt hypocrite, what kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that? Dang, that hurt. Those standing near Paul said to him, do you dare insult God's high priest? Oh, I'm sorry, brothers, didn't realize he was a high priest. For the scriptures say you must not speak evil of your rulers. That wasn't an appropriate reaction. I'm really, really sorry, but man, that hurt. I like how he owns his outburst and how it shows that he was just human like all of us. So as Paul composes himself, he's like wiping blood from his lip. He starts looking around the room and he starts to read the room. And he can tell by their hostility toward him that in this particular moment, they're not going to be super receptive to a gospel message. They just want him dead. So Paul does a really shrewd move here. Well, like I said, the Sanhedrin was made up of two groups of religious leaders. He had the Pharisees over here and the Sadducees over here. So Paul reveals his own religious heritage. And then he throws this out. He says, brothers, I'm a Pharisee as were my ancestors and I'm on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead. And when he says that, when he says the word resurrection, the room goes crazy. And all the attention turns away from him and they start fighting each other. You see, one of the core beliefs of the Sadducees is when you die, that's it. They didn't believe in eternal life. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And that is why they were sad, you see. Sorry, it was bad. So Paul identifies as a Pharisee and these guys start defending him among the Sadducees who are really now ticked off. And as they're going at it, the commanding Roman officers probably stand there shaking their head thinking, it is crazy how one word can set these people off. Yesterday it was the word Gentile. Today it's the word resurrection. What is up with these people? But it starts to get so intense that he thinks they might actually tear Paul pieces. So he orders his soldiers to get Paul out of the room and back into the barracks. And I can just see them taking Paul out of the room and the Pharisees and Sadducees are going at it. They're in each other's face or pointing fingers saying, your mama and all this kind of stuff to each other, they're going at it. They probably don't even notice that Paul is gone. And I love verse 11, after Paul gets back to the barracks in the dark of night. And I don't know, perhaps in the darkness of his disappointment, perhaps he had good intentions of standing before the Sanhedrin and actually sharing the gospel with these people. And it didn't go so well. And I don't know, maybe he's alone. He's thinking back to his reaction to the high priest and having to resort to cleverness, to escape his situation. Actually in Acts 24, we'll see next week, he refers back to this kind of with a tinge of regret. So I don't know, maybe in the dark he's thinking, Lord, I'm so sorry. I've blown it. I'm supposed to be a witness for you. And I just kind of blew it. And in this moment, I love his verse, Jesus appears to him and he says, be encouraged, Paul, just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the good news in Rome as well. Here's Jesus showing up in the moment saying, you didn't blow it. Paul, you came to Jerusalem and most people told you not to. You courageously talked about me. These guys just didn't want to hear it. And they don't want to hear from me either. You tried to show them that the door to the kingdom of God has now swung wide open to everyone from every race, every tribe, every color, every background. They just weren't having it. So that's on them, Paul. It's not on you. I'm here to tell you, take courage. I am not done with you. You're going to get a chance to share the good news all the way up in Rome. I hope you all know that Jesus still does that, shows up in moments like that, that he's close in those dark times of like discouragement, disappointment, when like guilt and shame and regret and doubt and fear start to rise up inside of us. He whispers, hey, hey, I'm with you. Come on, take some courage. I am not done with you. It wasn't Jerusalem to Rome, but it was Vegas to Kentucky for me. Some of you know that we planted a church in Las Vegas back in the early 90s. And that was one of the highlights of my life. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I got to go back and do the 25th anniversary celebration for the church that we, a church that we planted from the church we planted. And it was so fun. It's so cool to see what God is doing in the Vegas Valley there. It's just so, so fun. And I was having the time of my life and to make a long story short, God called me back home to a place where I grew up and wanted me to go there and help transition to church. And I can remember so vividly. In fact, I had flashbacks a couple of weeks ago when I drove back through Vegas. I used to play ball in a park called Pueblo Park. And I went over to the park and there's nobody playing at this time of the day. And I sat down on a picnic table and I opened up a little journal and started writing my prayers. And I was just so brokenhearted that I was going to leave. And I wish I could find that journal because teardrops are hitting the ink, you know, and as we're all rolling together. I was just pouring out my heart to God. I can remember saying to God, God, why would you call me out of the freshest, funnest thing I've ever done in my life and take me back to a place where I know they're going to not like me for making changes. And God gave me a word that day. I didn't tell anybody this. I didn't even tell my wife this, but God spoke to my heart. He spoke to my heart, the words from Joshua chapter 1 verse 9, which says, have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. And I just stuck that in my heart. No one that I would need it. I didn't know how much I would need it, but I needed it. And I can't tell you as we started making changes and criticism started flying my way. And I would get these notes on the back of prayer cards. I hope you go back to Vegas. You know, that kind of stuff. I got that stuff all the time, but I cannot tell you how many emails, how many notes, how many letters, how many cards I got where people were encouraging me. And at the bottom, they would write. And I didn't tell anybody this. At the bottom, they would write, remember what the Lord told Joshua. Be strong and courageous. Joshua 1 9. Maybe you need to hear Jesus saying that to you today. Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. For I'm with you. And like Paul did, just stick it in your heart. You see, you see, true courage isn't so much about fighting battles out there as it is about fighting battles in here. The most challenging battlefield is not out there. It resides in the secret places of our heart, where ambition wars against surrender, where pride battles against humility, where greed fights against generosity, where apathy fights against compassion and fear fights against faith. It's the main battleground where every emotion, every impulse, every appetite, every thought that exalts itself against the ways of Jesus must be taken captive. You see, the enemy's greatest fear is not that you will conquer the world. His greatest fear is that you will first surrender to the power of Jesus Christ and conquer yourself. So Jesus whispers, come to me. Do life with me. Lead on me. Take courage in me, for I am with you. Amen. Paul needed to hear that. Well, it gets up the next morning. And there's a plan in place. 40 guys have taken a vow that's saying, we're not going to eat or drink anything until we take Paul out. 40 angry dudes plotting his murder. Well, God's always one step ahead. And this is the only time we hear about Paul's family. His nephew, his sister's son, overhears this plan. And so he sneaks into the barracks and tells Paul all about it. I mean, you got to love this. God uses a teenage nephew to blow the cover of an assassination attempt. And he goes to Roman the commander and tells him, hey, listen, some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the High Council tomorrow. Pretending they want to get some more information? Don't do it. There are more than 40 men hiding along the way ready to ambush him. They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They're ready now just waiting for your consent. And the commander shoots back. He says, don't tell anybody you told me this. Then he called two of his officers in order, get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, take 200 spearsmen and 70 mounted troops, provide horses for Paul to ride and get him safely to Governor Felix. So not only does Paul get out of Jerusalem alive, he gets his choice of horses to ride. And this one guy is protected by 470 heavily armed soldiers. It's like God is saying, Paul, I told you, you're going to go to Caesarea and then you're going to go to Rome. I just thought I go a little over the top here to remind you, be strong and courageous. I got you. Well, Paul ends up in Caesarea where he spends a couple of years. He has a measure of freedom under kind of a house arrest deal. So he gets to witness to all kinds of people. And most likely most scholars believe he writes the books of Philemon and probably Colossians from Caesarea. Then we're going to pick up chapter 24 next week and hope you're back for that. But here's what God's just been saying to me through all this. All week long, this has been stirring in my heart. I'm going to sum up by saying it like this, courage comes from living life in the hands of God. Courage comes from living life in the hands of God. So let me ask you again, what would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you weren't afraid? Now fear is one of the basic instincts of every living creature. An animal without fear will become a predator's lunch, right? Fear is a natural response when our physical or psychological well-being is threatened. And rational fears are rooted in truth and they are learned for survival. But then there are those irrational fears that are rooted in false perception and lies. You see, for something to be considered a legitimate fear object, it's got to be perceived as both potent and present. For instance, poisonous snakes are legitimate fear objects, right? Now even though thinking about them is a little creepy right now, there's no fear of snakes right now because there are none present. However, if one slithered in right now, it would be both present and potent, making it a legitimate fear object. But if the snake was dead, there's no real reason to be afraid because it's no longer a legitimate fear object because it lost one of its two prerequisites. It's present, but it's no longer potent. And I love how Paul's whole life, his whole foundation was based on the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ. Because he knew the resurrected Jesus, he was not afraid to die. And if you're not afraid to die, man, you're not afraid to live. Oh, death is still present. But gang, it's been rendered powerless. Therefore, it no longer qualifies as a legitimate fear object. It's why Paul can write over in 1 Corinthians, oh, grave, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? So let me ask you again, what would you do if you weren't afraid? I like what Max the Cater writes in this little book called Fearless. He says, when fear shapes our lives, safety becomes our God. When safety becomes our God, we worship the risk-free life. Can the safety lover do anything great? Can the risk-adverse accomplish noble deeds for God, for others? No. The fear-filled life cannot love deeply because love is risky. They cannot give to the poor because benevolence has no guarantee of return. The fear-filled cannot dream wildly. What if their dreams sputter and fall from the sky? The worship of safety emasculates greatness. No wonder Jesus' wage is such a war against fear. Fear is like that bully in the junior high hallway. Remember that guy? The major kind of turn around and walk down the other hallway? Fear will steal your dreams. It will dampen your passion. It will challenge your contentment. It will suck the joy out of your life. But here's the deal. Fear, fear never wrote a symphony. Fear never cured a disease. Fear never won a championship. Fear never pulled a family out of poverty, a country out of bigotry, or a church out of apathy. Courage did that because courage comes from living life in the hands of God. And catch this. Catch this. God, God is not just present and potent. He is omnipresent, and he is omnipotent, which would make him the ultimate fear object. And that's why the Bible says that the fear of the Lord, that's the beginning of wisdom. Now, it's not talking about being afraid of God, although you take away his nature of love and grace. We would have every reason to be afraid of somebody who can just speak things into existence. When the Bible talks about fearing God, it's talking about you and me having this deep reverence and trust, a healthy sense of fall on your face all in worship, an acknowledgement of his sovereignty, his power, his supreme intelligence, and his view from above, and a daily surrender to his loving leadership. That's the beginning of wisdom. That's the wellspring of courage. Again, God loves us with an unfailing love. And the Bible says that perfect love, it drives out what? Fear. Out of all the commands that Jesus gives in the Gospels, which one do you think he gave more often than any other one? Twenty-one times. Three times as many as the one in second place. Some form of do not be afraid. Don't panic. Take courage. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Be of good cheer, which tells me that he cares about our fears because he knows we're real, but he's always calling us to trust him. So let me ask you again, what would you do if you weren't afraid? You know, whether it's the fear of pain, rejection, embarrassment, potential danger, fear is nothing more than negative expectation. And when you live your life with negative expectation all the time, man, it just keeps you stuck. I mean, some get paralyzed by the fear of failure. Some are scared to death of rejection. So many of us have been immobilized by the fear of other people's opinion about us. I heard us old story, stupid story about a young guy that was going to take a girl with a prom. And so he shows up at a candy store and the guy behind the counter says, can I help you? And he goes, yeah, I need three boxes of candy. I want a $5 box, a $10 box, and a $20 box. The man behind the counter says, why do you want three different boxes of candy as well? I'm taking this really hot girl with a prom this weekend. And man, I just, you know, if she lets me hold her hand and we'll give her a $5 box of candy. If she kisses me on the cheek, I'm going to give her a $10 box of candy. If she lets me make out with her, I'm giving her his $20 box of candy. Then he leaves with the candy. And the next night he goes to her home to pick her up and her mom and dad had prepared like a pre-prom dinner. And so they sit down to eat. And the young guy says, well, I'll pray. And he prays this long touching prayer. And the girl leans over and says, I didn't know you were so spiritual. He says, I didn't know your dad owned a candy store. Sorry, sorry, I was really stupid. There is a time to be afraid of other people, right? But look what it says in Proverbs 29, so bad. Fearing people is a dangerous trap. Let me read that again. Fearing people, man, that's a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord, that means safety. I've been there. So many of us have been paralyzed by the opinion of other people, constantly wondering what they think. If they liked it, if they liked me, did they approve? Am I in with them? You know, one of the saddest scriptures to me in the whole New Testament is about some of these same religious leaders that Paul had to deal with. It says that some of them were intrigued by Jesus. Some even believed that he was the promised Messiah. But here's that sad scripture. But they loved the praises of people more than the praises of God. And that's sad. They knew the right thing to do. They sensed they were created for so much more than a bask in the applause and approval of other people, but they were afraid. They were paralyzed by the opinions of other people. Approval seeking keeps you and me from being all God wants us to be. The fear of people is a dangerous trap that will keep us all from really living. So let me ask you again. What would you do if you weren't afraid? What's God asking you to do? How's he calling you out of your comfort zone? What direction are you sensing that God is leading you these days? What courageous thing do you know that when you leave this place, God wants you to do it? I've learned a couple of things through my life. Courage is not necessarily the absence of fear. It's moving ahead in spite of the fear. And I've also observed that my life has grown in direct proportion to the amount of courage that I've had. This week I read back through the journey we've been on through the book of Acts. And we've been doing this for a couple of years now. And I went all the way back to the beginning. I just read all these first 23 chapters. And there is just this overwhelming display of courage throughout the first 23 chapters. But you ought to go back and reread it through that lens. It begins, you might remember, with 120 men and women who get filled with the Holy Spirit of God and they run out into the streets of Jerusalem, boldly declaring the good news of Jesus. And then Peter, this uneducated, ordinary blue-collar fisherman, has the courage to stand up and preach his very first sermon, and 3,000 people are baptized. Then Peter and John get arrested for healing a lame man in the name of Jesus. And when they are warned by the same group that warned Paul that knock it off, they courageously tell the Sanhedrin, we can't stop. We won't stop talking about Jesus. Stephen boldly gives a defense for his faith before he gets stoned to death. Philip courageously go to Samaria where nobody else wanted to go. Ananias has the guts to baptize a terrorist named Saul. And then Barnabas courageously stands up for Saul, telling everybody that God has changed this dude's life. Peter followed the Holy Spirit and courageously walks into the house of a Gentile outsider named Cornelius. Then James has the courage to tell his Jewish brothers that Gentile outsiders are now definitely invited into the Kingdom of God. The believers pray bold prayers for Peter to be released from prison. Saul, who is now going by Paul and his buddy Silas, they fearlessly worship God in prison. And as a result, the prison guards whole family is saved and a church gets planted in the city of Philippi. Paul and many other people courageously share the good news of Jesus in all kinds of cities like Ephesus and Corinth and Thessalonica and Athens, in spite of strong opposition everywhere they go. I mean, all the way through just one courageous act after courageous act after courageous act. Again, you ought to go back and read it because you will see that courage comes from living life in the hands of God. There has been a lot said about courage on social media lately. It's been full of opinions about who's courageous and who's not. And all of this made me think back on my life. Now, I'm certainly not trying to say that I have risen to like executive platinum courageous status. I mean, I'm nowhere close to these people in the book of Acts. I have choked many, many times. In fact, my lack of courage is probably at the center of most of my regrets. But reading through all this and then going through all the stuff in the last few weeks, it just made me think back on my over 40 years of ministry now. Made me think of all the really good, faithful, pastor friends of mine who are just out there trying to do the best they can. Made me think back to all the amazingly brave men and women that I've encountered through the years. So I just sat down, I started to write. And I just got on a roll. Now, these are just some rambling out of order reflections, just thoughts and experiences, some pretty personal, about how courage plays out in different people's lives. So if you'll indulge me, I just want to give them to you rapid fire. It takes courage to follow Jesus. It takes courage to answer the call of God on your life. It takes courage to stand on the stage and not throw up. It takes courage to reject lucrative offers to do something else with your life. It takes courage not to quit when you want to. It takes courage to turn down notoriety to stay home and play with your kids. It takes courage to move your family across the country or across the world to offer hope to people. It takes courage to attempt to move a church from inward focus to an outward heart for lost people. It takes courage to transition a church from a country club to a trauma center. It takes courage to cast vision every week. It takes courage to trust the timing of the Holy Spirit. It takes courage to allow him to change a person's life. It takes courage to admit that you got in his way. It takes courage to say you had a bad idea. It takes courage to apologize to the team that you lead. It takes courage to unite people across racial lines when many don't want to do so. It takes courage to call out empty and haughtled traditions and ferreciacal attitudes. It takes courage to speak truth and wrap it in grace. It takes courage to not give people what their itching ears want to hear. It takes courage to smile in the midst of a tidal wave of criticism. It takes courage to watch angry disgruntled people leave your church. It takes courage not to be a workaholic. It takes courage to doubt your calling but stay anyway. It takes courage to gladly let somebody else take the credit. It takes courage to say we instead of I. It takes courage to cheer on your team from the bench when you think you ought to be playing. It takes courage to stand for integrity against the powerful and popular. It takes courage to expose abuse. It takes courage to walk away from an abuser. It takes courage to escape a trafficker. It takes courage to give a baby up for adoption because you know it's best for them. It takes courage to lovingly confront a friend. It takes courage to own and clean up a mess that you did not create without throwing anybody under the bus. It takes courage to help people navigate through fear and uncertainty. It takes courage to give sacrificially in order to lead the way. It takes courage to see yourself in every sermon. It takes courage to admit weakness. It takes courage to always be pointing people to the counter-cultural way of Jesus. It takes courage to really love those who disagree with you. Don't look like, think like, act like, or vote like you. It takes courage to engage with and genuinely listen to and learn from others who might see things differently. It takes courage to open up your home to someone who needs a fresh start in a sense of family. It takes courage to walk into that new home. It takes courage to change a diaper. It takes courage to raise kids. It takes courage to let them go. It takes courage to walk her down the aisle. It takes courage to put on a uniform and serve your country. It takes courage to wear a badge and protect your city. It takes courage to run into burning buildings. It takes courage to teach middle school kids. It takes courage to work in the ER. It takes courage to pick up a scalp public. It takes courage to fly an airplane. It takes courage to get on an airplane. It takes courage to drive a school bus. It takes courage to ride a school bus. It takes courage to drive and Dallas. It takes courage. It takes courage to express genuine love for your enemies. It takes courage not to generalize, label or demonize other people who are made in the image of God. It takes courage to admit that your position and your disposition both could use a little word. It takes courage to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God and do it daily. It takes courage to say yes to the Holy Spirit and do it daily. It takes courage to confess sin to a close friend. It takes courage to find those kinds of friends. It takes courage not to crave likes and repost and ratings and reviews and fame. It takes courage not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. It takes courage not to define yourself by what you do but only by what God says about you. It takes courage to get knocked down and get back up. It takes courage to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. It takes courage to allow the Holy Spirit to produce gentleness in you. It takes courage to do inventory of your own heart. It takes courage to forgive. It takes courage to make amends. It takes courage to call your public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public public able child. It takes courage to care for elderly parents. It takes courage to do what's best for them. It takes courage to call in hospice. It takes courage to have hard conversations and do it in a way that defines you as a peacemaker. It takes courage to walk into prisons. It takes courage to walk into a new school. It takes courage to go on a mental health journey with somebody. It takes courage to be known as a friend of sinners. It takes courage to speak before the Sanhedrin. It takes courage to stand for Jesus and do it in a way that reflects his character. It takes courage to say and believe with all your heart like Paul said, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain, because courage comes from living life in the hands of God. Well let me let me just ask you. Let me just ask you one more time what would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you weren't afraid? I've been praying that you would kind of experience that verse 11 thing today where you would feel Jesus drawing near to you and go come on have some courage. I'm here. You can do this have given up on you. I'll do it with you. So we'll give it a little time to maybe hear that voice and just maybe I ask God that question. God what do you want me to do? What what kind of fears holding me back? We're going to roll some scriptures on the screen and I just want to encourage you just to stay real still and just let God just speak to your heart through these scriptures and watch your fears dissipate. So let's just take some time to do that for a few moments. Would you let me pray to close out this moment of reflection? Heavenly Father, we just come to you now and we say that we're available here in your presence ready for you to speak to us. We say thank you for speaking to us and God what we ask really humbly is we just ask that you would help us to not be afraid but we ask you to help us to remember who you are. That you are the Lord of the universe and that also you know us deeply. And so Lord would you just like the followers in the book of Acts Lord I pray that you would fill us with your spirit so that we might courageously step into all that you are asking of us. Lord I pray that you would open our eyes to see what you see. Lord I pray this for the room. I pray that where we have loved the praise of people more than the affirmation of our Heavenly Father Lord I pray that you would forgive us and that your kindness would draw us to repentance because God you are the only one who can tell us who we really are. And so Lord we just come to you now again and we say would you help us not to be afraid but would you fill us with courage and we thank you that you're going to do that. And it's in the mighty risen name of Jesus that we pray and come on everybody said amen come on can we thank the Lord.