Fear of Losing Control Luke 19

 Fear of Losing Control  Luke 19:11-27

In our discussion of " Living Without Fear" we started with Step one, " My fear is really loneliness for God.  Therefore, I will claim His promise to never leave or forsake me." Hebrews 13:5 and Joshua 1:5. " I will never leave thee or forsake thee"  Our second message was " Fear and Forgiveness"  Our goal is and was to " let go of my hurting memories of the past.  I will not anticipate the repetition of past pain; I will accept forgiveness from the Lord and will forgive everything and everyone in the past---including myself.  "  p. 64 

1-Forget the past by remembering the Lord. 2-We must specifically confess our failures and fears to God and those whom we have offended, and last week reviewed  Last week we chatted about Romans 8:28 and saw God is our future:"

There's so much now I cannot see,

My eyesight's far too dim 

But come what may, I'll surely trust

And leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift

And plain it all He'll make;

Through all the way, though dark to me,

He made not one mistake.

Ogilvie said and we say,"  I will give up the vague idea that given time things work out.  I will boldly face the future unafraid with the sure confidence that God will work all things together for my ultimate good, and His glory."

Today we are looking at the fear of losing control thru the story /parable that our Lord tells in Luke 19. This actually fits the season, "He spake a parable...because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.."

There was an encouragement to wait for His return...He was going to be rejected and crucified, and then after a " long interval of time ....(He) would return in triumph." Erdman on Luke

1.  We are now in the season of opportunity and service.  Each talent was a sum to be used and not buried.  We have read it, and now we are pondering , what does it say to us and about fear?

We can be like the servant who lost the opportunity to exercise their faith.  He shifted the blame. " I feared thee , because thou art an austere man.."

Ogilivie says he really had no faith at all.  " An untested, uninvested faith is no faith at all.  Many of those who join the church say 'yes to carefully worded questions about their belief in Christ but then go on living self-dominated lives. When problems and challenges hit, they endure them as before, under their own control. 

Should that faith be taken from them? That's not really necessary because it was never genuine faith at all.  Saying the right words without accepting Christ's authority and our responsibility may be accomodated by some churches, but not by Christ..."   Not everyone who says to Me ,' Lord , Lord', shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."  Matthew 7:21

2.  I feared thee the servant said. We lose what we do not use.

So his portion, the one talent, pound is given to the one that the most ----v. 24, ten pounds!

Is it an issue of trust?  At the root of that is humility.  We do not need to fear because God knows all. 

Guess what?  " Living by faith is a risk."  " Today, I will turn over the control of my life to the Lord.  I will trust His control over what I was never meant to control.  With His guidance I will take responsibility for what He has given me to do for His glory and by His power."

It starts with a large dose of humility as we surrender to God .

Winston Churchill was once asked, “Doesn’t it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?”

“It’s quite flattering,” replied Winston, “But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big.” ministry127

One of my life vs has been, Proverbs 3:5-6 which I have not always lived but have tried to is , "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Letting go of our own desires, plans and dreams so that God may direct us is a difficult process, or is it?  Doors open, and doors close.  We have to choose wisely which door to go thru on our journey through life.

Conclusion.  The results of our lives are in our hands as we invest in His kingdom.  We plan, we pray, and we hope.  We wait in God's good time for His plans to unfold in our situations.  It is not easy to wait, keep silent when we want to speak. Fear grabs us, phobias, and this is not to be envied in this story Jesus tells.  

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.