The Fear of The Lord 7/12/26

Transcript

Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript

Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript Transcript I want to talk about the fear of the Lord. Is that okay? I I feel like uh and you can move over to the book of Matthew. Um we'll go to chapter 10. If I were to ask you guys if you if you feared the Lord, I think most of you would say yes. Right? Come on. I need y'all to talk to me this morning. Most

of you would say that you fear the Lord. I know that you know that this is a trick question, but I don't think it's a trick question. I think it's a pretty obvious question. The truth is we don't. The truth is we fear man more than we fear God. We fear losing followers more than we fear losing holiness. We fear awkward conversations more than we fear grieving the Holy Spirit. Oh, I'll talk about it next time. I'll bring it up next time. And some of you have gone a whole year avoiding one conversation with somebody. We fear rejection from people more than the judgment of God. And we fear offending culture more than offending Christ

himself. That's not the fear of the Lord, guys. The fear of the Lord doesn't make you run from God. It makes you run from sin. When we begin to walk in a holy fear of God, we begin to run from sin. We begin to run from gossip. You will begin I I promise you, you'll begin to tremble when people begin to gossip in your presence. Man, it's quiet in here. [sighs] Don't try to convince yourself that what you're doing isn't gossip just because you tie it up in a prayer afterwards. Guys, we we cannot be believers that claim to love the Lord and then and then devour one another with our words. When we love

the Lord, we we begin to hope for the best. When we love the Lord, we begin to have the hard conversations. And I guarantee you, a lot of times it's a misunderstanding. Satan is the king of misunderstanding. He's He That's what he does. He helps you misunderstand. It's Is that not what he did with Eve? He was like, "Did God really say that though? Did God really Eve's over there looking at the tree and he's like, "Man, look good, don't it? No, we're not supposed to touch this tree. We're really ain't even supposed to look at it." And then he's like, "But did he really say that?" And then he convinces her that if he

if she eats the tree, she will be more like God. How crazy is that? She already was the most like God. She couldn't be more like him if she wanted to be. And he convinces her, if you eat the tree, you'll be more like him. Boom. Misunderstanding. And that misunderstanding. That one little misunderstanding sent us in a whirlwind where where God himself had to come as a baby and say, "This is the only way to fix it. I'm going to have to give my life." That's that's how serious misunderstandings can be. And they usually happen when you're not walking in the fear and trembling of the Lord. This is why he says put on the

mind of Christ. You see even Jesus as he lived life walked with the fear of the Lord. That's why when he was praying in the garden blood pouring down his like sweat he says not my will but because he still moved with a fear. Amen. We've got we've got persecuted Christians all over the world. And when they gather, they know that it would cost them their life. They can't sing as loud as we could sing here this morning. Like, are we aware of that? Are are we grateful for that? I'm trying not to be hard today. I'm trying not to be rude or whatever you want to call it. There are Christians right now that

they know any given moment the government can bust through the doors and if they catch them worshiping God, if they catch them having a prayer service, that's it. They're going to jail. I think God placed Kitana in my life on purpose so that I would have a a a constant awareness. Every time I shake his hand, I see his thumb all torn to pieces because they they sat him down. They begin to torture his thumb trying to get him to deny Christ. They hung him upside down, poured boiling oil on his feet to get him to deny Christ, and he couldn't do it. [applause] I've never been tortured. I pray and I tell the Lord,

I'm like, Lord, I have made a resolve in my heart that when that day comes, I will die. I hope that you have all prayed in your heart that when that day comes, you're willing to die. And I hope that it's such a reality that you have decided to die to yourself even today. Because if you died to yourself even today, pornography is not going to be a thing. It wouldn't even be a thing. Some of you are shocked I even said it right now. Huh? You just haven't died to yourself yet. Getting drunk wouldn't even be a thing. Imagine. Imagine. Let's just do a little role play. Let's imagine that I'm able to bring

some of our friends that are constantly being aware of the next day to be persecuted and I bring them here and then I just mix them in, right? And then you're shaking their hands and you're like, "Hey, so when did you give your life to the to Christ?" And he and he talks about how he gave his life to Christ after um his his Muslim friends came and killed everybody in the house, wounded him. He survived and then he turns around and gives his life to Christ and now lives every day looking over his shoulder wondering when they're going to come and try to do it again. And you're like, "Oh, I gave my life

to Christ at Vacation Bible School." God loves you the same, but are you are you as appreciative as he is? Can you be Can we get to a place where we are as grateful to God for what he did in your life without persecution as the person who found God through persecution? I would say we ought to be more grateful. I would say we ought to live a life being more thankful that God trusted you with his seed, with his word, with his gospel, with the good news without having to put you through persecution. Thank you. Jesus is right. If you haven't figured it out, I'm trying to to push some of us out of

a lukewarm space. The Bible says, "Don't forsake the assembling of the saints for an opportunity to provoke one another to love and good works." This is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to provoke one another. Anytime you show up to President Church and I'm preaching, you better believe I'm going to try to provoke you. You You We can't be perfect. Nobody's perfect. I'm not perfect, but I'll tell you this. The more that I get close to God, the more scared I am to dabble in stuff. Like, it scares me. It scares me. It scares me for the worship team. It scares me for single men. It scares me for single women. It just scares

me. Like, I I tremble sometimes. I'm like, "Oh." Because I because I know what it's like to dapple. And that's a scary place to be. Matthew chapter 10 verse 16. We're going to read from 16 all the way to verse 26. Is that okay? This is Jesus speaking. And and just to give you kind of uh some context here. If you haven't read this, if you haven't read the book of Matthew, could you we please read that this week? Can I challenge you to read it? And if you have read it, read it again. Amen. Humble yourself and read it again. Some of you, you're like, I I don't need to read it. That's called

pride. You can humble yourself. Pr you've got to nip pride in the butt, man. If if something in you just rose up when I asked you to read it, that's pride. And you need to thank God that you found it. Now you can crucify it and be humble. Amen. Amen. [applause] Anyways, to give you um context before I jumped on that, he is giving a motivational speech to his disciples. Okay? He's given them a motivational speech to go out into the world and preach the good news. And this is a part of that motivational speech. I'm going to read it to you. Okay? Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. What a motivational

speech, right? What happens when you put sheep among wolves? The wolves are like, "Free lunch, baby." And yet, this is what he's saying. He goes, "I'm sending you out so that they can take a bite out of you and realize they just took a bite out of me." You're going to get that later. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Some of us are wise, but we're mean. We're rude. Let me keep going. Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings because of me as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when

they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. Who's going to give you the words to speak? The Holy Come on, let's say it together. Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has got to become our best friend. Not just a friend. He's got to become your best friend at some point. Amen. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father who speaks in you. Thou brother, sorry, I mis I misqued that. Now brother will deliver up brother to death and father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to

be put to death. That's terrifying, isn't it? And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. [applause] You know, Wednesday, uh I was talking about the the scripture that says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Behold, I stand at the door and knock. You guys know that verse? If anyone hears my voice, I will come in. You guys know that verse. What if I change my knock to this? What does that sound like? What if as long as you're breathing, as long as life is flowing in your veins, what if God put that heartbeat there to let you know he never

stops knocking? As long as there's an opportunity on this side of heaven for you to open up your heart, he's he's he never stops knocking. You can take as much Xanax as you want, but you can't ignore the knock from Jesus. Some of you, you just need to get prayer for a good night's rest. I get it. I get it. Trust me. I understand. But when we really embrace this, how many of you have a comforter at home? How many of you like your comforter at home? And isn't it funny how he refers to the Holy Spirit as your comforter? He wants to wrap you up in that peace. [applause] That way, whenever you need

a little bit of a little pickme up, a little comfort, a little rest, you run to the Holy Spirit, not to the bottle, not to Xanax, not to pornography, not to not to that girl that's going to tell you what you want to hear, not to that boy that's going to tell you what you want to hear just for the moment. We We live in this world in America. My gosh. Instant gratification. Oh, I could talk about instant gratification for two hours versus delayed gratification. That should be a fun study for you. You on your own time. Okay. What verse am I at? 21 22 23. when they 22 and you will be hated by

all for my name's sake but he who endures to the end will be saved. So it was 23 when they persecute you in this city flee to another for assuredly I say to you you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they called the master of the house Beelzeup, how much more will they call those of his household? Therefore, now this is my favorite part right here leading up to this one verse right here. So, please

highlight it, circle it, write it down. Therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known. There is a peace in knowing that God knows everything. Amen. That that man, let them come at you. Let them let them let them hate you. You can stand there and say, "God knows, man." See, people freak out when I don't freak out. They They freak out when I don't freak. Hey, man. shake, man. This that, that, this, A, B, C, D. Didn't you hear them? Didn't you hear this? Didn't you hear that? And I'm like, God knows. He He's your defender. You know that, right?

All right, let's keep going. Let's just keep going. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. That's right. And what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both the body and the soul. You see, we have demonized fear. Don't fear. Don't fear. Don't fear. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. So then all of a sudden, if anyone has fear, it's like this guy has fear. No, I don't have You misunderstand. I fear God. You You You're looking at something that you don't realize what you're looking at. I

fear God. I'm sorry that I don't fear you. [applause] Yeah. Come on. Put your hands together. We got to get to the point where we respect people, but we just don't I just don't fear you. I'm sorry. I'm just You don't scare me, God. I fear him. And when you begin to catch a hold of a godly fear, all of the sudden, everything else up in your life is going to start lining up. You know why? Because you're going to fear God with your finances, too. Have you not read your word, Malachi? Shall a man rob God? Lord, how have we robbed you? You've robbed me with your tithes and your offerings. You see, if

you had a holy fear for God, you wouldn't be robbing him of that either. You've robbed him of your first fruits. Some of you parents have robbed God of your own children because you think that they're yours. They're not your kids. They're his kids. He's just trusting you to raise them in his ways, to raise them in the fear of the Lord. But some of you, you don't fear him because you nonchalantly get out of bed and you don't fall to your knees. We nonchalantly take the very next breath. Even right now, guys, not realizing that all of us are only four to five minutes away from heaven. If for some crazy reason your body

stopped breathing or forgot how to breathe, you're you're you're panicking in four minutes. Some of you panicking in 30 seconds. It's no coincidence that even to say his name properly, it's it's literally an inhale and an exhale. You can't say his name properly without breathing in and breathing out because he's the very breath you breathe. Come on. We've got to start being thankful, guys. [sighs] Come on, Jake. What are you trying to say? No, it's not what I'm trying to say. Proverbs 9:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 16:6, "By the fear of the Lord, one leaves evil." So whenever you're dabbling in the evil, you're just telling on yourself.

You don't really fear him. Be careful, guys. Be careful what you watch. Be careful what you put on on TV. Be careful what you're letting scroll on your phone. It's proof on whether you fear him or not. Be careful how you come against one another. That is proof on if you fear him or not. Did I not read enough scriptures on fear? Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire. That's in the New Testament, by the way. Hebrews 12 verse 28 and 29. The modern church wants Jesus as our savior. We love him as our savior, don't we? But we don't want

him as our lord. Guys, man, are you are you really okay walking around with a guilty conscience? I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot, but but man, some of you walked in angry today. Angry at another human made in the image of God. Satan hates you enough because you're made in the image of God. Why don't you just leave it at that? Right? Why do we got to give any energy to hating someone or or or anything that's made in the image of God? Don't even put energy into hating the devil himself. He's already doomed. He's been doomed. God humiliated him 2,000 years ago. [applause] Everybody thinks that Jesus was the one being

humiliated when he was on the cross. Jesus wasn't the one being humiliated. Jesus was the one doing the humiliation to the devil. Because no matter what the devil threw at him, Jesus was like, "I ain't sinning and I'm staying here on the cross." by the way, because that's how much I love them. [applause] Because the devil knew and Jesus knew that every angel in heaven had their hands on their sword and they're like, "God, we can make light work of everyone touching our savior." And Jesus is like, "Don't do it. I must do this." Jesus, if anyone ever tries to ask you a trick question, h my heart breaks. There was a group of pastors,

I mean a big group of pastors, and then this one guy and he stumped them all with this one question. He says, "Could Jesus have sinned?" All of them got stumped. I let me tell you something. Here's the answer. Jesus had the ability to sin, but he also was full of so much love that he couldn't sin because love would not let him sin. Because if he would have sinned, he would have he would have contaminated his own blood and his blood wouldn't have been enough to wash you and me of our sins. He loved you too much. We've got to get to the place where I love God too much. Hey, listen. I got

the ability to stumble. I got the ability to trip. I can trip with the best of them, but I love God too much. I don't want to. Do you hear me? But I'm looking around at some of you, and you love status more than God. You love recognition more than God. You know why I know that? Because it's not your love for God that motivates you. It's your desire for recognition that motivates you. And if that's what motivates you, you're moving in the flesh. You hear me? You got to be very, very careful because the minute you start moving in the flesh in that area, all of the sudden what you're doing is you're feeding

the flesh. And when you feed the flesh, eventually it will be strong enough to guide you places you don't want to go and keep you places longer than you wanted to stay. You hear me? There's a there's a worldly question that was posed, but it was actually ripped from biblical perspective. You see, because how many of you know that you can apply biblical principles to your life and live a very productive life and still end up in hell? That's how powerful the word of God is. It's so powerful that you can live a an extremely productive life by applying what you learn in here to your life. You could you could live rich. You can

live as a as a ruler. You could live as a judge of just applying these principles. But if you don't know him, you're still going to end up in hell. That's how powerful the word of God is. [applause] So, so there's this there's this worldly saying and um the the saying goes you you have a white wolf and you and you have a leash here on the white wolf and he wants to go that way. Then you have a black wolf and you have him on a leash here and he wants to go that way. So the white wolf's pulling you this way to good desires. The black wolf is pulling you this way to

bad desires. Which one wins? Okay, let me let me replay replay it because she said the one you stay connected to. How about this? The leash is connected to you and it's the strongest steel imaginable. Boom. The one you feed is the one you [applause] follow. And we've got too many people nonchalantly feeding this flesh nonchalantly. And you think you think you got it as a pet and you think you got it under control. Some of you in this room, I'm just going to put you on blast right quick. You're screwing up every three months. You look back over your life and you're like, "That's weird. He's right. I'll do good for like two and

a half months and all a sudden, bam, I fall. I was doing so good. Bam." And it's like a cycle. And then somewhere along the way, a year goes by, two years go by, three years go by, and now you think, "Well, I got it under control. It's just I'm not perfect. I got it under control. You know something? You're exactly where the devil wants you. Because next thing you know, 10 years are going to go by and you still stuck in the same cycle and you didn't even realize 10 years went by. And then you're going to try to try to like wake up. You're going to try to wake up and you're going

to try to snap out of it. You're going to try to to to go to the gym more and you're going to try to do this and you're going to try to do that. You're going to try to you're going to try try try try in your own strength. And then another five years are going to go by and then another five years and you're going to wake up and realize you're 50 60 70 years old and you're still stuck spinning your wheels pushing the gas and you ain't gone nowhere. You know why? Because you kept trying. Guys, if your decision got you in the ditch, your decisions ain't going to get you out the

ditch. It's your surrender that's going to get you out the ditch. At some point, you have got to just surrender and say, "God, I'm done trying this on my own. I've tried it on my own, and this is where it's got me. It's only gotten me this far. Lord, I'm sorry. [sighs] We want grace without repentance. The problem is if you really knew what grace was, grace actually includes repentance. It includes the ability to walk this thing out. That's why whenever you begin to study the word and you and you see the way that the Lord would speak to Paul, there's there's a reason why he said, "My grace is sufficient.