The Fear of God

[00:00:00] Proverbs, chapter nine, verse ten. It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy one is insight. And so from this verse, I'd like to talk to you all for a little bit tonight about the fear of God. [00:00:19] The fear of God. [00:00:21] Alright, let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would speak to me and speak through me, Lord, as I bring your word tonight, Lord, that your word would go forth and that it would not return void, Lord, just as your word said, but that it would fall on good ground, Lord, that it would apply, that we could apply it to our lives, Lord. Apply it to our hearts, Lord, that permanent change would be created in this house tonight, Lord, I pray that you would have your way and have your will in this service. In Jesus name. Amen. [00:00:55] Amen. All right, you may be seated. Thank you. [00:01:00] So I want to start off tonight talking about some phobias. Y'all can indulge me for a little bit, but this, I found this really fascinating, and so there. So first we're going to go through the ten of the most common phobias. And you've probably heard of these and might not know the actual name for them, but so the first one is a cluophobia, and that is a fear of darkness, right? And this is why the night light industry exists, is to help with that fear. So there's one, there's acrophobia, which is a fear of heights, and also a ride at six flags that'll help you get over acrophobia if you go on it. There's agoraphobia, which is a fear of public places or crowds. Then there's autophobia, which is a fear of being alone. So those two kind of are the opposite. You've got arachnophobia, which is a fear of spiders. [00:01:54] Amen. You've got claustrophobia, which is a fear of confined spaces. You've got coulrophobia, which is a fear of clowns, which is more common than I thought it would be. [00:02:07] You've got neophobia, which is a fear of change. You've got aphidiophobia, which is a fear of snakes. [00:02:14] And I could preach about that. [00:02:17] And then you've got trypanophobia, which is a fear of injections. This is needles. And people who pass out trying to give blood. They've probably got trypanophobia, and then there are just ten interesting ones. [00:02:31] And these might not be as common, but I found pretty cool. So there's anthropophobia, which is a fear of people. So there are people that are just scared of other people. [00:02:43] There's aquaphobia, which is a fear of water, which, if you had rabies, you would have an irrational fear of water, so you'd have aquaphobia. There's autodesomophobia, which is a fear of smelling. [00:02:55] So there are people that are scared of smelling things. [00:02:59] There's crematophobia, which is a fear of money, which I probably have that because all mine goes away anyway. So I guess I have crematophobia. [00:03:11] There's isoptrophobia, which is a fear of mirrors. And maybe it might be people are more scared of what they see in the mirror, but we'll just say it's a fear of mirrors. There's hypnophobia, which is a fear of sleep. Megalophobia, which is a fear of large things. Microbiophobia, which is a fear of small things. So, hopefully, you don't have both of those, because that'd be pretty hard. There's tris. Oh, my gosh, I tried this earlier. Triscadocaphobia, which is a fear of the number 13 and all things associated with it. And then finally, my favorite one is phobophobia, which is a fear of being afraid. [00:03:52] So there's some phobias for y'all. Y'all can say y'all learned something tonight. But joking aside, fear is a normal part of our life. It's something we experience on a daily basis, and not all of it is bad. I'm not here to preach against fear tonight. You know, we face fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of our environment that we're around. There's anxiety, which is just kind of ongoing fear. And so fear is part of our day to day life. We experience fear probably on a daily basis. [00:04:27] But my question tonight is, how much is the fear of God part of our daily life, and how often do we experience the true and intended fear of God in our lives? [00:04:41] But first, we need to answer, what is the fear of God? [00:04:46] And so I want to start off by saying that the fear of God has nothing to do with actual, like, being afraid fear. Right. Like, we shouldn't be scared of God. [00:04:57] So just wanted to put that out there. You know, you might have heard somebody say, I'm gonna put the fear of God in you. [00:05:04] That is not what we're gonna talk about tonight, so you don't have to worry about that. But the word fear that we read in proverbs, chapter nine, verse ten, comes from the hebrew word yera. Which is more closely translated as awe. [00:05:21] So, and this word encapsulates the sense of awe, respect, and reverence toward God's majesty. And so it's all that draws us in. It's like the grand Canyon, right? You see the grand Canyon, and it's just there's this sense of wonder, this sense of awe. [00:05:40] But it's infinitely more powerful than that because it's for the guy who made the grand Canyon. It wasn't wind and water that made the grand Canyon, but God did that. And so when you see something beautiful in nature, that's why you feel a draw to God, because that is a reflection of his creative ability. [00:06:00] So if you look this up, and I did, you'll see people have different definitions of what is the fear of God. But the definition that I came up with is that it boils down to knowing God for who he fully is in his full glory. [00:06:19] And so it's understanding that there's a gap between us, right? That God's here and we're here, that, you know, he's the creator, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, the author and the finisher, the wonderful counselor, everlasting father, king of kings, Lord of lords, Lord of hosts, holy king that shall reign forever on the throne. That's him. And then we're dirt, right? [00:06:45] We're from dust. Now, we are made in God's image, but we have all fallen short of the glory of God. And so God's here, and we're short of that. All of us all have fallen short of the glory of God. [00:07:01] But so to understand God is you have to have this fear of knowing that there's a difference, but knowing that he closed the gap when he came to earth and he died on the cross, and he died for our sins. And he tore the veil so that we could live in union with him, so that Jesus could be the groom, the church could be his bride, and we could live forever with him in holy union. [00:07:26] So a love of God has to first be based on a fear of God. Because if you don't understand the gap, then you don't understand the power of Calvary, and you don't understand what all happened there. [00:07:38] In proverbs one seven, it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. [00:07:45] Fools despise wisdom and instruction. But I want to focus on the first part. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And so the hebrew word here for knowledge is daath, which comes from Yadda, which is the most intimate form of knowing. It's Adam knew Eve and Seth was born. So an intimate form of knowing there. And so it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of intimate knowledge. So we can't have an intimate knowledge of God until we have a fear of God. [00:08:17] And so this fear of God. So again, it's understanding the gap. It's saying, God's here, we're here. And understanding who he is and all his glory. [00:08:27] And so this is so important that three different men in the Bible, as part of their last words. Made sure that people knew about the fear of God. Moses and deuteronomy, chapter six. Really, all of deuteronomy is Moses last words. He wrote a whole book with his last words. But chapter six, verse one, he says, now, this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. That you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it. That you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son. By keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life. And that your days may be long. So Moses saying, hey, y'all are about to go into the promised land. This is the commandment that you fear the Lord. By keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you. That your days may be long. And then a few verses later, in verse 13, he says, it is the Lord your God. You shall fear him, you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear. [00:09:35] So fearing God means we keep his statutes and his commandments. And that we serve him only. For God is a jealous God. And that's why the first commandment is that thou shalt have no other gods before me. [00:09:50] So a fear of God is an exclusivity with God. That he is the only God. That he is the only one worthy of our fear. [00:10:00] Later, in deuteronomy, chapter ten, verse twelve, it says, and now, israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? So he's saying, what's required of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God. With all your heart and with all your soul. And to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Which I'm commanding you today for your good. So he said, hey, what's required of you? But fearing the Lord your God. And when you fear the Lord your God, you walk in his ways, you love him, you serve him. And you keep his commandments and it's for your good. This isn't just rules. This isn't just blind faith saying, I'm just going to do it. It's understanding that this is for our good of following the way of the Lord. [00:10:47] Joshua, Moses successor, in his last words, in Joshua, chapter 24, verse 14, he says, now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. So again, fear the Lord and serve him, and serve him only. [00:11:09] And then finally, David in two, Samuel, chapter 23. Starting in verse three, it says, the God of Israel has spoken. The rock of Israel has said to me, when one rules justly over men ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. So when a ruler rules in the fear of God, it brings life. It says, like the rain that makes grass to sprout, it brings health, it brings joy, like we sang about. But that only happens when we rule and we live in the fear of God. [00:11:47] Isaiah is a really good example of the fear of God. So in Isaiah, chapter five, he was writing, all these woes of woe to these sinners, woe to the Israelites who have turned away from God. And then Isaiah, chapter six, he has a vision of God on the throne. [00:12:03] And all he can say is, woe is me, for I am unclean. [00:12:08] And so he had said, hey, woe is the sinners. And he was rightfully judging those who had sinned. But when he gets a glimpse of God's glory, he says, woe is me. He says, there's a gap here in all my righteousness and all my goodness. Woe is me. I am unclean. [00:12:28] John the Baptist, who Jesus said was the greatest man born of a woman, when he sees jesus says, I'm not worthy to buckle his strap, he said that again, there's a gap. I could be the greatest. I could be his messenger. I could be the one preparing the way. But when it comes down to it, Jesus is here and I'm here. [00:12:48] So again, the fear of God is understanding the gap between us and goddess. [00:12:56] And when we have a fear of God is that that makes us want to be more like God. And we want to love what he loves, and we want to hate what he hates. And so proverbs chapter eight, verse 13, tells us the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance. And the way of evil and perverted speech. I hate. The fear of God is not hating sinners. [00:13:18] It doesn't say, the fear of the Lord is hatred of those who do evil. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. And so we hate sin because sin separates us. And all the work that Jesus did on Calvary to bridge the gap, sin separates that. And so we hate sin because of what it does in separating us from God. But we don't hate those who sin. We just hate sin. We love those who sin. [00:13:45] Finally, ecclesiastes, chapter twelve, verse 13. This is Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. He says, the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man and woman, so women can't get out of this one. But this is the whole duty of man. Fear God and keep his commandments. [00:14:08] One place I read that is kind of summed it up. It says, the fear of God is respecting him, obeying him, submitting to his discipline, and worshiping him in awe. [00:14:22] Okay, so now we know what the fear of God is. But why should we do it, you know, other than it being commanded required, the whole duty of man thing, like, what's good about it? What's good about the fear of the Lord, you know? And Moses said, it's for your good. And David said, it brings health in life, and. And sure, it leads to knowledge of God and intimacy with God, but what's really in it for me, you know, what's in fearing God? I'm glad you asked. [00:14:49] So if you're looking for provision, psalms, chapter 34, verse nine, says, those who fear him have no lack. Psalms 111 and five says, he provides food for those who fear him. Psalms 112, one three says that the one who fears the Lord, his offspring, are mighty, and there are wealth and riches in his house. Psalms 145 and 19 says, he fulfills the desires of those who fear him. And proverbs 22 four tells us that the reward is riches in honor and life, so you have no lack. He provides food. He fulfills the desires. And there's riches and honor and wealth for those who fear the Lord. If you're looking for friendship, psalms 20 514 says that the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. And just like Jesus said in John, chapter 15, ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. So if you follow in the fear of God and you keep his commandments, then there is friendship with God. And psalms 140 711 says, the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him. So if you're looking for friendship, fear God. [00:15:54] Psalms 31 and 19 says that he has stored up goodness for those who fear him, and psalms 100 311 says that great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. And a couple verses later, in verse 13, it says, the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. So if you're looking for goodness, love, or compassion, fear God. [00:16:14] Psalms 33 and 18 says that the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, and psalms 34 seven says that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Psalm 64 says that he sets up a banner for those that fear him that they can flee to, and psalms 100 1511 says that he is the help and the shield of those who fear him, and psalm 145 and 19 says that he hears their cry and he saves them. [00:16:38] So if you're looking for protection, if you're looking for deliverance, fear God. [00:16:46] Proverbs ten and 27 says that the fear of the Lord prolongs life. Proverbs 1427 that the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, and proverbs 19 and 23 says that the fear of the Lord leads to life, and that he who fears the Lord will restore satisfied, and no harm will come to him. So if you're looking for health, if you're looking for life, fear God. Proverbs 14 and 26 says that in the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence. So if you're looking for confidence, fear God. Proverbs 15 and 16 says that better is little with the fear of the Lord. And proverbs 20 317 says that we should envy not sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord. So if you're looking for contentment with what you have, fear God. [00:17:28] Proverbs 15 and 33 says that the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom. So if you're wanting to be more wise, fear God. Second corinthians seven and one says that we should live in holiness to completion in the fear of God. So if you wanted to be more holy, fear God. And then acts chapter nine and verse 31 says that when the church was walking in the fear of the Lord, it multiplied. So if you're wanting your ministry to multiply, if we're wanting our church to multiply, fear God. [00:18:00] That was a lot of scriptures, and if y'all wrote all those down, more power to you. But I can share them later. For those who are interested. That was a lot, and I didn't give them to the media team. So, yeah, they're doing a great job back there. [00:18:16] So, okay, so we know what the fear of God is. We know why we should have the fear of God, and we know the benefits from having the fear of God. But what happens when we don't have it? [00:18:28] What are the symptoms? What are the consequences? [00:18:33] The main thing is that we reduce God down to our level, and we discount his glory, his holiness, and we try to make him manageable where we think that we can hide things from goddess because you can hide things from people, but you can hide things from God. But if you think God's on your level, then it makes it easier to do that. [00:18:57] It leads to taking the presence of God for granted, and that can be easy to do. You know, we can get in a routine of, well, we're going to be at church on Sunday, and we're going to be at church on Tuesday, and we're going to be at church on Wednesday, we're going to be at church on Friday, and we just expect God to show up, expect the presence of God to just be there, because our presence was there. [00:19:28] And we take it for granted. We lose our all for the glory of God, for the holiness of God, for who he is, not who we think he is, but who he is. [00:19:43] We begin to have a lack of respect, that lack of reverence for who God is. [00:19:51] I was, in my research, this guy was telling this story that he was at a conference, and this was a believers conference, and it was in another country, and they were having a service. And during the worship set that the singers were singing great, but there was no presence of God there. And so he was praying, and he said, God, why are you not here? And so he opened his eyes, and as he looked around this arena, and there was 300,000 people in this arena. [00:20:23] And he looked around, and there were people with their arms folded, people having conversations with each other, going back to the concession stand over and over for more popcorn or hot dogs. [00:20:39] And God said, why would I show up for people that don't want to see me? [00:20:46] Why would I show up for people who don't respect me, who don't revere me, who don't hold me in awe? [00:20:52] And so he gets up to speak, and he says, if the president of your country walked in right now, how would you react? [00:21:02] If a great sports player or a celebrity walked in, how would you react? Probably give a standing ovation, maybe some claps, maybe some cheers. [00:21:13] But for God, you got popcorn four times. [00:21:23] We take the presence of God for granted, almost like God owes us something. Well, hey, God, I put on, you know, my suit. I came to church. You're welcome. [00:21:42] We take it for granted. We take the awe inspiring, holy, glorious presence of God for granted. [00:21:56] This is what happens to the Israelites in Exodus, chapter 32. They've left Egypt. They're in the wilderness, and God is talking to Moses on the mountain. He's giving him the commandments, the ten Commandments and much more. And Moses takes too long, or you could say God takes too long. [00:22:19] And they don't understand what's taking Moses so long up on the mountain. And so they go to Aaron and say, hey, Aaron, we don't know what's become of Moses, but make us gods that we can serve. [00:22:31] And so Aaron listens to the people and takes their jewelry, melts it down, and lo and behold, a golden calf comes out. [00:22:40] And Aaron, it says, in verse five, it says, when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and he made a proclamation and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. Now, the Lord here is Yahweh, the holy, sacred name for God. In the hebrew language, it's so sacred that they wouldn't even write the vowels because they were scared of writing out the whole name. And Aaron says, this golden calf, this is Yahweh. This is God. [00:23:11] And what's interesting is that Aaron grew up in Egypt. He didn't grow up in the wilderness. Most of his life was spent in Egypt. And in Egypt, they worshiped golden calves. They worshiped golden images. They worshiped brazen images in the King James. [00:23:29] And so when it comes down to it, when he doubts God, he says, I'm going to make a God that's manageable for me. [00:23:38] I'm going to make a God that looks like what the world worships. So that way I can manage him and I can touch him and I can see him. [00:23:49] And Paul warned us about this. In Romans chapter one, verse 23, he says that they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. [00:24:03] And today, we don't worship golden calves. We worship man. [00:24:10] We worship people. [00:24:13] And so in our and modern american culture, we've turned Jesus into a man. [00:24:19] And Jesus was 100% man, but he was 100% God. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in him. [00:24:29] He is the everlasting father. He is the prince of peace. He is the king of kings and the lord of lords. He is not just a man, but we try to make Jesus more like us so that we can get what we want, or so we think we can hide things from him. [00:24:49] This is what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in acts chapter five. [00:24:53] They sold their land like everybody else was doing. They were blind. They were like, hey, everybody else is selling their land. Go sell your land. [00:25:00] But instead of giving it all to God, they kept some for themselves. [00:25:06] And Ananias brings the offering to Peter, and Peter says, hey, anything you need to tell me? [00:25:15] Anything you might be hiding? And Ananias says, no, this is it. This is what we got. [00:25:22] And God strikes him dead on the spot. [00:25:24] And then his wife, Sapphira, comes in, and Peter questions her, and she lies to Peter, and God strikes her dead as well, because they thought that they could hide things from God. They thought that he was just like them, but he wasn't. And it says that after this, that a fear fell on the church because God had a reminder for who he is. [00:25:51] Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the story of Uzzah in two. Samuel, chapter six. [00:25:59] I'll start in verse two, it says, and David arose and went with all the people who were with them from Baal Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark, and David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nikon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. He died in the presence of God. [00:26:57] And when you read this, it's natural to think, well, what did he do wrong? He was just trying to help. [00:27:04] He saw the ark falling, and he tried to help it. What was so bad that he was struck dead on the spot? I mean, he didn't lie like Ananias and Sapphira did. What did Uzzah do wrong? [00:27:15] Well, first he went against God's commandments in the Torah it was commanded that no one would touch the Ark of God. [00:27:25] This was what held the presence of God in the Old Testament. [00:27:30] In our day, God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. But back then, this was the symbol for the presence of God. It sat in the holy of holies, in the tabernacle. This was the holiest item in Israel, and so they were not to touch it. And God said, if you touch it, you will die. And so Uzzah touched it, and he died and said this was a means of preserving the sense of God's holiness and the fear of drawing near to him without appropriate preparation. [00:28:04] Because in the Old Testament, people could only go to, the priests could only go to the holy of holies when God called him there. And in the New Testament, it was only once a year that the high priest could go and experience God's presence and Uzzah. And we don't know how Uzzah was living, how, if he was a holy man, but he drew near to God without appropriate preparation. [00:28:32] Because in the tabernacle, and we've prayed through the tabernacle is there's a time of repentance, and there's a time of cleansing. There's a time of purification and sanctification. [00:28:43] And that's what we have to do. [00:28:46] And that comes from a fear of God where we have to live sanctified. [00:28:50] We can't live how we want Monday through Saturday, then come to church on Sunday and expect God to move. [00:28:57] We can't draw near to him without appropriate preparation and expect something to happen. [00:29:05] And when you're living sanctified, when you're living consecrated, when you're living holy, is that you just don't have to experience God at church either. You can experience him in your car, you can experience him in your house, you can experience him on your job, because God is everywhere. And so if you're adequately prepared for the presence of God, then the presence of God will show up there. [00:29:31] The second reason that Uzza, or the second principle to take from this is that familiarity breeds contempt. [00:29:41] It says in verse chapter three, it says that the Ark was in the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah was the son of Abinadab. So the ark was in his house. The presence of God was resting in Uzah's house. It would be the equivalent of like living at church. You can just take up one of these chairs and just get all comfy and living here at church. [00:30:05] But when you are around something too much, a lot of times is you'll lose your all of it. [00:30:14] You'll lose your all. You'll lose your wonder. That's why marriages, a lot of times, people lose their love because they lose that love at first sight. They lose those butterfly feelings because they don't work on it. [00:30:27] Familiarity breeds contempt. [00:30:30] It says that there are times when we, too, fail to recognize the holiness of goddess because we become too familiar with him and treat him with an irreverent attitude that, again, we get caught in the routine of, well, I'm going to see God on Sunday, and I'm going to see God on Tuesday, and I'm going to see him on Wednesday. [00:30:48] You know, if he shows up, he does. And if he doesn't, he doesn't. [00:30:54] We take his presence for granted. [00:30:58] We take the glory that Moses begged to see a glimpse of. Moses begged. He said, I want to see your glory, God. And God said, I'll show you a glimpse. [00:31:10] And we have the opportunity to sense the full glory of God, and we don't take advantage of that. [00:31:18] We settle for a glimpse every now and then, get some goosebumps and feel good about it, but not taking advantage of what God has for us. The glory of God is available. It's here, but we take it for granted. [00:31:39] And finally, Uzzah thought God needed him. [00:31:43] He says that. It says, and when they came to the threshing floor, he put out his hand and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled, he saw the. The cart maybe began to fall, and Uzah said, well, I've got to do something about this. God needs my help. [00:32:01] God needs my assistance. God can't do it on his own. He needs me, and God doesn't need us, but he wants us. [00:32:14] He closed the gap, but he doesn't need us. [00:32:18] And this is what happens when the disciples are in the boat and it looks like it's gonna sink, and they go and wake up Jesus. Jesus, don't you care? We're about to die. The boat is going to sink. And Jesus is like, you have little faith. [00:32:33] You have little faith. They thought they knew better than God, and Uzzah did, too. He felt that it was his responsibility to preserve God's integrity, that God, you don't know what you're doing, God, you don't really know that situation as well as I do. God, you don't know that person as well as I do. [00:32:58] He thought God needed him. [00:33:03] So how do we get the fear of God? [00:33:06] We talked about what it is, why it's good to have it. What happens when we don't have it. But how do we get it? How can we apply this? How can we practically get the fear of God? [00:33:20] Well, first we seek it. Psalms, chapter 86 and eleven. David says, teach me your way, o Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. [00:33:33] Unite my heart to fear your name. So if there's a uniting going on, then that means that there's differences. [00:33:42] And so, just like pastor talked about a few months ago, that there's almost two hearts in us that we're. That we're fighting against. And David said, hey, unite my heart to fear you. [00:33:57] Proverbs, chapter two, starting in verse one, it says, my son, if you receive my words, treasure up my commandments, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. [00:34:25] So this isn't easy. This isn't, you know, you just wake up and say, I'm going to have the fear of God today, and that's that. But it's something that we have to seek. He said, receive my words. Treasure up my commandments. Make your ear attentive to wisdom. Incline your heart to understanding. Seek it like silver, like it's valuable, like it's worth something. Don't treat it like it's garbage. Treat it like it's silver. Search for it. You have to look for it. It's not natural to have a fear of God. [00:34:54] It's not natural. [00:34:56] That's why you have to search for it. That's why you have to seek it. [00:35:00] We are also taught the fear of God. David in psalms 34, he says, come, o children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. [00:35:10] And he did. And we read a lot of psalms tonight. He's talking about the fear of the Lord. And so we are taught the fear of the Lord both by the word of God and by those who speak it. And there are books on it, there are podcasts about it. So if you really want the fear of God, you can get it. And then finally, we practice it. Psalms 111 and ten says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. [00:35:40] So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who practice it, this isn't something that we just say we have so we feel better about ourselves. [00:35:50] I've got the fear of God. But you have to practice it. You have to walk in it. You have to live it out. You have to pray in the fear of God. Like the church in acts, chapter nine, it says, they walked in the fear of the Lord. They didn't talk in the fear of the Lord. They walked in the fear of the Lord. And they multiplied. [00:36:09] The musicians can come. And if you want to stand, it'll help me close a little faster. [00:36:27] So again, to recap, we learned what the fear of God is. It's understanding the gap between us and God or between God and us. Sorry. [00:36:37] And understanding that there's a difference. That God is Goddesse and we are not. [00:36:42] That he is holy. That he is full of glory. [00:36:48] That he is everything. He knows everything. He can do no wrong. He can do everything but fail. [00:36:54] And that's God. And then there's us. [00:36:58] But God closed that gap forever and ever. [00:37:05] There's one verse that says that the fear of the Lord is clean and it endures forever. It is a pure love. It is a pure union that we can have with Jesus forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. [00:37:23] We learned why it's good to have it. That no matter what you're looking for, if you have the fear of the Lord, you're probably going to get it. If you're looking for provision, protection, wisdom, contentment, humility, multiplication, whatever you need. [00:37:41] Fear God. [00:37:43] Understand who he is and who we are. [00:37:51] And then we learned what happens when we don't have the fear of God. That we take his presence for granted. That we come into a sanctuary like this and expect God to be grateful. [00:38:05] Expect God to be thankful like he owes us something. [00:38:08] But he already paid it all. He doesn't owe us anything. We owe him our praise. We owe him our love. We owe him our adoration. We owe him our awe, our respect, our reverence, our obedience. [00:38:24] We owe him. [00:38:29] And why is this so important? [00:38:33] Why does this matter? [00:38:36] Because the glory of God is available. The glory of almighty God, the creator of the entire universe, is available to me and to you and everyone in this place. [00:38:49] And we don't deserve it. [00:38:51] It doesn't make sense that God would want to spend time with us, that God would care about a relationship with us, but he does. [00:39:01] He wants to know us. He wants us to love him. That's why he gave us a choice. That we could choose to love him, that we could choose to fear him. Out of all the things that we could choose to fear, we can choose to fear him. [00:39:13] Not man. Not our situations, but fear God. [00:39:21] And so, as I come to a close tonight, I pray that a spirit of repentance would fall over this place. [00:39:33] And I'll lead us in a prayer of repentance. [00:39:39] But to tell God we're sorry that we haven't been living in the true and intentional fear of God. And I'll be the first one to admit I haven't been. [00:39:50] It's easy to get caught in the routine. It's easy to get caught in the cares of life, to be choked up by the cares of life. [00:40:01] So I want us to repent, to ask God to forgive us and to give us that fear of goddess, that we can seek it right now in this place. And that after we do that, we're going to pray that the glory of God would come and fill this place in a way that we haven't seen. [00:40:26] That the Shekinah glory of God would come and fill this sanctuary in Winterville, Georgia. [00:40:38] And that God would do a mighty work. That when we leave this place tonight, we'll say, God was here. [00:40:45] God was here. Tonight we feel his glory, the tangible presence of goddess.