”Fear God” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Joshua 8

If I don't have Jesus, I don't have

anything. But with Jesus, I have

everything. Amen. He is everything to

me.

Take your Bibles and join me this

morning in Joshua 8.

Father, we love you. I love you, Lord,

and I need you now. I pray you'd help me

as we open your word for a few moments.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit, Father. I

pray

pour out yourself on this place so that

not one of us can leave the same way we

came today.

Lord, I pray that through the preaching

of your word, you would revive our

hearts today.

Help us to be more close to you than

we've ever been. And may you receive all

the glory and the honor through

everything that's done.

We love you. We ask these things in

Jesus name. Amen. I want to preach this

morning on th this thought. Two little

words that is really a followup to last

week's message. Last week we talked

about fear not.

And this week I want to preach on fear

God. We talked about what we're not

supposed to fear last Sunday. But this

morning I want to talk about who we are

supposed to fear. We are to fear God. At

just the mention of the title, some of

you have already said in your mind, "Oh

yeah, I do that." And I would agree with

you that you probably do fear God in

some way. But most of us do not fear God

in the biblical way. I'm a very

practical person. I could give you deep

theological uh explanations or

definitions of what it means to fear

God, but I want to help you this

morning. I preach practical because I

want to give you something you can hang

on to. So, let me give you three

practical steps. This is my

introduction. I want you to write down

three practical steps, three indicators

to see if you fear God, or rather to

discover what or who you truly fear.

Write down number one. What you follow

indicates who you fear.

What you follow indicates who you fear.

You see, most of us fear God up until

the point until his word demands us to

follow him somewhere we are not

comfortable going.

We're we're okay being a follower of

Jesus up until the point where the Bible

says, "Thus saith the Lord, do this.

Don't do this. this is sin, this is

wrong. And at that moment when God

begins to meddle in my personal life, I

begin to get uncomfortable following

him. And what I follow, what I chase is

an indicator of who I fear. Can I make

it real practical for you? Here's what

we say in our minds in our American

society, in this culture. As long as God

leads me to nice paychecks, good

friends, a beautiful home, a moral

family, nice vehicles, three weeks

vacation, I can sprinkle in a little bit

of time to have some religion, but I

cannot be no more than a 10-minute drive

from Starbucks. I've got to have all of

my com I've got to have all of my

comforts close. And as long as God can

fit inside of my American dream, my

American men mindset, as long as God can

fit inside of the comfort of how I want

to live, then I'm okay following God.

But at the moment when God demands I

give up something that is comfortable,

that's where I draw the line. This is

where most people live. Do we fear God?

We fear him in a sense, but but we don't

follow him like we fear him, do we?

We follow him as long as it's easy to

follow him. But what we're going to find

this morning in our text is that a true

a person who truly fears God is willing

to follow him anywhere. The moment that

he directs our steps away from what is

comfortable, we immediately reveal that

we fear our flesh more than our father.

Because we follow our flesh more than we

follow our father.

Most of us reveal that we fear our flesh

more than our father because we follow

the leading of the flesh more than the

leading of the father. Y'all know this

is true. Right? Don't look at me like

that. I'm telling it right this morning.

I know this is not a a fun way to start

a sermon. You want some silly story or

something, but I'm coming right at you

this morning. All right? You follow God

up until the point where it gets

difficult. And when your flesh

complains,

when your flesh says, "I don't like

this. This isn't what I picked. This

isn't what I would have chosen. This

isn't what I had planned." Then we

immediately put the brakes on following

God. And we begin to follow our flesh.

And you know what that reveals to me? We

fear our flesh more than we fear our

father. We would rather have God upset

at us than our own body upset at us.

Think about that.

We would rather have God upset at us

than have our own body upset at us.

So, who do you follow? What you follow

indicates who you fear. Write down

number two.

What you feed indicates what you fear.

What you feed indicates what or who you

fear. If you fear God, then your desire

will be to make God happy. But if you

fear your flesh, then your desire will

be to keep yourself happy.

Most of us

aren't excited to satisfy the Holy

Spirit. But we sure are desperate to

satisfy ourself.

This is why I believe fasting has become

such a strange concept in the local

church

because the our our mindset is feed the

flesh. And I mean literally we would re

we would rather sit down and and eat a 8

oz or 12 ounce or 16 ounce steak.

I love good steak.

We would rather sit down and eat a good

steak than we would see somebody get

saved. You say, "No, no, no, no. That's

not that's not true, Pastor John. I want

to see people get saved." Okay. When's

the last time you skipped a meal for the

sole purpose of praying for your lost

family members and loved ones?

When's the last time you told God,

"Their salvation means more to me than

my own physical consumption of food."

It's an indicator of who we truly fear.

We fear our stomach growling more than

we fear an eternity for our loved ones

in hell. I know this is strong, but I'm

trying to get you to to understand we've

all got room to grow when it comes to

fearing God. Because what I feed

indicates who I fear. And if I fear God,

then what I'm going to recognize is that

he is holy and just. And I've got

friends and family who need Jesus. And

if they stand before a thrice holy God

in their sin, they will have to spend

eternity in hell. And that's just and

right for God to do that.

Because I fear his righteousness,

because I fear his holiness, and because

I love my family, I'm going to make some

personal sacrifices and feed the Holy

Spirit instead of my flesh. Does this

make sense to everybody? What you feed

indicates who you fear. Let me give you

a third thing.

Who you fellowship with indicates who

you fear,

who you fellowship with. Where do you

spend your time?

What's more important to you? Talking to

your neighbor or talking to God? I'm not

preaching against being neighborly. We

have to be neighborly. I want you to

talk to your neighbors. But what has the

first priority? Your relationship with

Bob or your relationship with God?

Right? What's your first priority in

your life? Who do you talk to? What's

more important? Your social media

notification or that still small voice

invitation?

Which one is more important to you? How

many of you have been praying and you're

really trying to pray and you're really

trying to focus and ding

buzz

and you go for it?

You know what you're indicating is what

just happened on my phone is more

important than the person I'm talking

to.

I fear missing a notification more than

I fear God.

You see what I'm saying this morning?

Who you fellowship with indicates who

you fear. So where do you spend your

time?

Where do you devote yourself? What is

the most important relationship in your

life? it ought to be your fellowship

with God. And this morning I want to

preach to you on the topic of fearing

God from our text in Joshua 8.

And so I'm trying to just give you a

practical definition of it to see where

you stand. How are we doing? Do we fear

God?

Oswald Chambers said this, "The

remarkable thing about God is that when

you fear God, you fear nothing else.

Whereas if you do not fear God, you fear

everything else.

If you're afraid of everything else, if

you're if you're constantly uh uh

anxious and worried and upset and you

have to make sure things are listen,

you're fearing people. You're fearing

your flesh. Fear God first of all. The

rest of it will take care of itself.

Here's another quote by Jerry Bridges.

The person who fears God seeks to live

all of life to the glory of God. All the

activities of life should be pursued

with the aim of glorifying God. Is that

how we live our life? That everything we

do, we do it with the purpose of

bringing glory to him. Every meal that I

eat, every conversation that I have,

every day that I wake up and go into the

job site, every person that I meet when

I'm out and about, everything I do, I do

for the purpose of glorifying God. A

person with a healthy fear of God will

do all that they do for the glory of

God. Awtoer said it this way. When men

no longer fear God, they transgress his

laws without hesitation.

And you can tell our society has lost

their fear of God because we are

transgressing his laws without

hesitation.

Even churches today

have lost their fear of God because we

live and do whatever we want, however we

want, with with no desire to do it God's

way.

We break his law without hesitation

because we have lost our fear of God.

Solomon talked about it. Proverbs

Proverbs 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and verse 7, the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of knowledge. He's

he talks about it again in Proverbs

Proverbs 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 and verse 10. The fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Or what about Ecclesiastes in chapter 12

and verse 13? What is what is the

purpose of man? Why do we exist today?

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole

matter. Solomon writes, "Fear God and

keep his commandments for this is the

whole duty of man." You know why you're

put here in the first place is to fear

God and bring glory to him. That's why

we exist this morning. That's why we're

in church this morning is because we

fear God. But sadly, sadly in many

churches and probably in our church,

there are people who are in the pews

just because it's a good thing to do and

I have to check my little box for the

week.

Oh, that we would have a healthy fear of

our God.

That we would long to bring glory to

him. I'm just trying this morning to

help us understand what it means in a

practical sense to fear God

because we're getting ready to jump into

a passage in Joshua chapter 8. And we're

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

going to walk through it very quickly

this morning. I know I'm taking a lot of

runway to get the plane up, but we're

going to get up. All right,

we're going to look at h how they

demonstrated they that they feared God.

The nation of Israel, when we come to

Joshua chapter 8, the nation of Israel

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

has just defeated the city of Jericho.

You remember the story? We were there a

few weeks back. During that defeat,

Achen, who was an Israelite who was

fighting in Jericho, disobeyed God and

stole something from the city of

Jericho. That sin caused Israel to have

a devastating defeat at their next

battle, which was the city of Ai.

36 Israelites died when they attacked

Ai. They only took a few thousand men.

They were supposed to have an easy

victory. They walked right up to the

front gate of the city of Ai. and the

men of Ai came out against them and the

children of Israel fainted. They they

they became afraid and fearful. They

turned and ran and they fled back to the

Israelite camp. And 36 of them lost

their life because there was sin in the

camp. And we spent a great deal of time

talking about getting the sin out of our

life. That's exactly what the children

of Israel did. They cleansed the camp.

They took care of Achen. They got rid of

the sin. And they go back to Ai in

Joshua chapter 8. And that's where we

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

find the story. It's now time to return

to Ai and face the enemy that has just

defeated them. And God gives Joshua a

command that he wants Joshua to give to

the nation of Israel. A charge. We find

it in verse number one. We looked at it

last week. Verse number one of chapter

8. And the Lord said unto Joshua, here

it is. Fear not. Neither be thou

dismayed. Take all the people of war

with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See,

I have given into thy hand the king of

Ai and his people and his city and his

land. God says, "Fear not, Joshua. Don't

be afraid of the people of Ai." And we

talked last week about we are not to

fear our past. We're not to fear the

past sin. Uh that we're not to focus on

Achen. We're not to be caught up in our

past mistakes, but we're supposed to

move forward by the grace of Jesus

Christ, by the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Don't fear your past, but also don't

fear your future because you're going to

battle. Yes, you're going to face AI.

Yes, you're going to have a war. I mean,

it's going to be difficult. It's going

to be challenging. But don't fear your

future because God has given them into

your hand. And this morning, I want to

talk about who we are supposed to fear.

We are to fear God. I want to show you

three ways this morning that Israel

demonstrated that they feared God from

our text. Number one, you can write this

down. They did it God's way.

They did it God's way.

In verse number two, we pick the story

up and I'll read several verses, so

follow along with me. Verse number two,

and thou shalt do to Ai and to her king,

as thou dst unto Jericho and her king.

Only the spoil thereof, and the cattle

thereof shall ye take for a prey unto

yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for the

city behind it. So Joshua arose and all

the people of war to go up against Ai.

And Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men

of valor, and sent them away by night.

And he commanded them, saying, "Behold,

ye shall lie in weight against the city,

even behind the city. Go not very far

from the city, but be ye all ready, and

I and all the people that are with me

will approach under the city. And it

shall come to pass that when they come

out against us as at the first that we

will flee before them, for they will

come out after us till we have drawn

them from the city. For they will say,

they flee before us as at the first.

Therefore, we will flee before them.

Then ye shall rise up from the ambush

and seize upon the city, for the Lord

your God will deliver it into your hand.

And it shall be when ye have taken the

city, that ye shall set the city on

fire, according to the commandment of

the Lord shall ye do. See, I have

commanded you. Joshua therefore sent

them forth, and they went to lie in

ambush and abode between Bethl and Ai on

the west side of Ai. But Joshua lodged

that night among the people. And Joshua

rose up early in the morning and

numbered the people and went up. He and

the elders of Israel before the people

of Ai. Here they go. They're going to

war. Verse 11. And all the people, even

the people of war that were with him

went up and drew nigh and came before

the city and pitched on the north side

of Ai. Now, there was a valley between

them and Ai. And he took about 5,000 men

and set them in to lie in ambush between

Bethl and Ai on the west side of the

city. And when they had and when they

had set the people, even all the host

that was on the north of the city and

their liars in weight on the west of the

city, Joshua went that night into the

midst of the valley.

The the Bible doesn't say this, but I I

like to assume that Joshua is just going

down there to look around and pray a

little bit. Just go down there and seek

the face of the Lord before he goes into

this. By the way, whenever you're

getting ready to face a spiritual battle

in your life, a spiritual decision in

your life, it's a good idea to take some

time and just pray over it. Just take a

walk and pray over it before you make

any decision. Verse 14, it came to pass

when the king of Ai saw it that they

hasted and rose up early, and the men of

the city went out against Israel to

battle. He and all his people at a time

appointed before the plain, but he

wished not that there were liars in

ambush against him behind the city. And

Joshua and all Israel made as if they

were beaten before them and fled away

into the wilderness. And all the people

that were in Ai were called together to

pursue after them. And they pursued

after Joshua. And they were drawn away

from the city. And there was not a man

left in Ai or Bethl that went not out

against Israel. And they left the city

open and pursued after Israel. And the

Lord said unto Joshua, "Stretch out the

spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for

I will give it into thine hand." And

Joshua stretched out the spear that he

had in his hand toward the city. And the

ambusher rose quickly out of their

place, and they ran as soon as he had

stretched out his hand. And they entered

into the city, and took it, and hasted,

and set the city on fire. And when the

men of Ai looked behind them, they saw,

and behold, the smoke of the city

ascended up to heaven. And they had no

power to flee this way or that way. And

the people that fled into the wilderness

turned back upon the pursuers. And when

Joshua and all Israel saw that the

ambush had taken the city, and that the

smoke of the city ascended, then they

turned again and slew the men of Ai, and

the other issued out of the city against

them. So they were in the midst of

Israel, some on this side, and some on

that side. And they smoked them so that

they let none of them remain or escape.

A great victory. What a great battle

strategy. What a great plan. Am I right?

It was a great plan. It was a great

battle strategy. God designed it. God

put it together. God knew exactly what

he was doing when he was putting all of

this together, right? God had a plan and

God said, "I want you, Joshua, to do it

this way. I want you to go into Ai. I

want you to set an ambush behind the

city. I want you to go right up to the

front gate just like you did the first

time. And when they all come out against

you, I want you to turn and run from

them just like you did the first time.

And they're going to think that you're

defeated. They're going to think that

you are running for your life again.

They're going to think that they have

won again. And they're going to chase

you. and then the ambush that's lying

behind the city will come up into the

city and you'll be able to get a great

victory. Now, this is a good this is a

okay, from a human perspective, this is

a better battle strategy than Jericho,

right? But it's still a little bit

intimidating.

What happens what what happens if they

kill more of us? Because last time when

we went up to the gate and we turned and

ran away, 36 of us died. So, what

happens this time, God? What? Why are we

running right up to the gate? Maybe

there's a better way. Maybe maybe we can

lure them out some other way. No, that's

not what Joshua does. Joshua doesn't

argue. Joshua doesn't set his plan out

there. Joshua just says, "God has said,

we're going to walk right up to the

front gate. They're going to chase us

away just like they did the first time.

We're going to turn and run and then the

ambush is going to rise up and come into

the city and take it and we're going to

turn around and we're going to have them

surrounded and we're going to beat

them." Joshua said, "This is what God

has said, so this is what we're going to

do. This is the plan God has given. So,

this is what we're going to do. This is

an indication that they feared God more

than they feared Ai. They feared God

more than they feared their enemy. It

would have been very easy for Joshua to

make up his own plan and say, "I really

don't think it's a good idea to walk

right up to the front gate again like we

did last time. I think we can come up

with a better plan. I think we can come

up with something else to do." No,

that's not what Joshua did. He said,

"God has said we're going to do it this

way, so we're going to do it this way."

They did it God's way. What a great

application for you and I this morning.

How many times has God told us, "This is

what I expect of my people." And you and

I decide it's a good time to argue and

give our opinion.

You know, people do this all the time.

By the way, can I just throw in a little

extra plug here? I don't ramble much in

my sermon, so you'll forgive me every

now and then.

Be careful who you watch.

We we live in a digital age.

Be very careful who you watch on your

phone or on your YouTube channel because

there are a lot of people out there who

are taking the Bible and they're taking

it out of context and they're arguing

with what God has said. And if you watch

them argue long enough, you'll hear an

argument that makes sense to you and I.

Because you know the thing about God's

ways, it doesn't always make sense to

the human mind. That's why faith is

required. But you listen to human people

argue against the way of God long enough

and you're going to think, "Oh, that

makes some sense, actually." Well, yeah,

it makes sense. God's way doesn't always

make sense. His ways are higher than our

ways. He's better than us. He He knows

far more than you and I know. So, I'm

just telling you, be careful who you pay

attention to. Find somebody who believes

the Bible above anything else. And what

the Bible says is absolutely true.

Nothing else matters. The Bible is our

source of truth. The Bible is the only

source of truth in the world. God said

it, so they're going to do it. Go do the

same thing as last time. God said God

had a plan. God always has a plan, by

the way. If you trust him and do it his

way, he will provide. In the following

verses, following verse two, Joshua was

going to communicate and execute the

plan down to the detail. God said, "Do

it this way. We're going to do it this

way." They did it God's way. Did you

know that God has given us exactly what

he expects of you and I? Of course, you

knew it. You just don't always like it,

right?

Oh, yeah. We know that God has told us

what we're supposed to do. We know God

has told us how to live. We just don't

always like what God has said.

And so, we like to pick and choose.

Well, I like this. I like what God says

about this, but I don't really like what

the Bible says about that. So, I'm going

to I'm going to obey this and I'm not

going to obey that. Listen, you want to

know one of the reasons why I preach the

Bible chapter by chapter and we just

take a book and we just go chapter by

chapter and chapter. You know, one of

the reasons why I do that for a lot of

reasons. One of the reasons is because I

don't want to pick and choose what part

I want to preach. I want to preach all

of it cover to cover. It's all good.

It's all right. Whether it makes me

comfortable or uncomfortable, whether it

convicts me or whether it brings me

peace, it's all good and we need all of

it. Don't pick and choose what you want.

God has given us exactly what he expects

from his people. But we would rather do

things our way and face God than do

things God's way and face ourselves.

We would rather do things our own way

and face God than do things God's way

and face ourselves, face our flesh.

That doesn't seem very comfortable to

me. That's not socially acceptable.

That's not culturally acceptable.

Doesn't matter. They did it God's way.

When you fear God more than anything

else, you're going to do things God's

way. Whether you like it, whether you

don't like it, whether it's convicting

or not. Can I give you some practical

examples? God's told you how to live

your life. There are some very clear

things in scripture, some things that

you are not supposed to do, some words

you are not supposed to say. The Bible

says, "Let no filthy communication come

out of your mouth. Don't be unclean. God

has told you this is what I expect. I'm

not calling us to be perfect this

morning,

but but God, we all we can't deny that

God hasn't told us what he expects of

us, right? And if we fear God, we'll do

our very best to live up to his

expectation. Sure, we'll fall short.

Absolutely. We live in a a flesh, a

sinful body, and we'll fall short until

we get our glorified body. But is your

desire above anything else to live up to

the expectations that God has set for

your life? What you do, what you don't

do, what you say, what you don't say,

where you go, where you don't go, the

priorities that you have. God has given

us clear instruction. You say, "I've

never seen that." Well, you've never

read your Bible. We'll talk about that

more here in a minute. I'm getting

there. God's told you what he expects

for your marriage.

Do it God's way.

God's told you what he expects on

raising children. Do it God's way. He's

told us how to stay away from immorality

and uncleanliness. Just do it God's way.

He's told us how to operate in the

church and the how the church is

supposed to function. Do it God's way.

We don't have to come up with our own

battle strategy.

We just fear God and we do it his way.

We do what God has commanded us to do.

What has God told us in his word? Have

you read it? Do you know? Get in there

and figure it out and say, "God, how am

I supposed to deal with this situation?

There's instruction in there for you."

I heard a story, and I did not rehearse

it, so I'll probably mess it up, but but

I heard a story this week

about um a big oil company, and it was

John Rockefeller's oil company years

ago. They were trying to expand and take

the company global. And so one of

Rockefeller's aids, one of his primary

assistants was in charge of finding the

next location they were going to expand

their oil company to.

And he was a Christian man. And so he

had a lot of pressure on him from this.

He was trying to figure out what what

direction they were supposed to go, what

country they were supposed to go to,

what was the next step in this in this

major move. And he was feeling a lot of

pressure about it. And so one night he

got his Bible out and he was just

reading his Bible and studying the word

of God. And he went to the book of

Exodus and he began to read in the book

of Exodus about uh Moses's mother making

a ark out of bull rushes and she put

pitch on the bull rushes. And he thought

if they had pitch in Egypt back then, I

bet there's still oil in Egypt today.

And so he went over to Egypt and they

started digging. And sure enough, they

found oil in Egypt. And they had the

first oil rigs in Egypt was from John

Rockefeller. And they made millions and

millions of dollars pumping oil out of

Egypt because somebody read the Bible.

Don't tell me that the Bible doesn't

have answers. Right? The most practical,

simple thing. Sometimes all it takes is

just opening up the word of God and

saying, "Lord, I need something.

I need to know what I'm supposed to do

because more than anything, I want to do

it your way. More than anything, I want

to do what you have instructed me to do.

I want to live by your rules. I want to

live by your expectations. I desire you.

We wonder why we don't see spiritual

victory. Could it be that we are trying

to fight the enemy our own way instead

of God's way? Most often, I think that's

a big problem.

We want to fight the enemy in our own

strength, our own way, and we wonder why

spiritual victory eludes us.

when if we would just say, "God, I'm

going to do it your way. Just obey him."

Can I give you point number two? How do

we know that they feared God? Well,

number one, they did it God's way, but

number two, they were devoted to God's

worship.

They were devoted to God's worship. Look

at verse number 30.

After the the

defeat has they've defeated Ai, the

battle is over. They've gone into the

city. They've they've taken all all of

the stuff. God allowed them to go in and

keep the stuff from the city of Ai. And

so they go in and they they take all of

the stuff and and then what do they do

after the battle is over? Look at what

they do in verse 30. Then Joshua built

an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in

Mount Ebal. What's the first thing that

they do after they win this victory?

They're on a mountaintop. They're at

they're at a high point in their in

their military strategy and their

success. They're moving right along.

They've conquered now the city of Ai, a

city that had defeated them. What do

they do? Do they throw a party? Do they

have a great big a fling? Do they have

some some big commotion? No. What do

they do? They go on top of Mount Eall

and they construct an altar.

A symbol that was mo most important to

them was the worship of their God.

Can I meddle just for a moment this

morning?

You look around at our culture and I

want you to Honestly, in your heart this

morning, you look around at our culture.

Can you honestly say

that our culture

is devoted to worship

this morning? The bars are full,

the lakes are full,

the ponds are full, the rivers are full,

the beaches are full,

and the churches are empty.

Why is it that our culture is so good at

prioritizing everything except the

worship of God?

We find a way to make it everywhere else

except the church house.

We make it work everywhere else except

when it's time to come to church. Now

listen, I know there are reasons at

times when when you just cannot be here

for physical reasons or in a family

emergency. I'm not preaching against

those. Please don't misunderstand.

But how often does that really happen?

Not very often, right?

But we allow everything else, every tiny

little thing to come up in our life and

we're going to say, "Well, I just can't

make it this morning."

Whereas, if it was ball game time, you'd

still go.

If it was vacation time, you'd still go.

And we make up all of these reasons why

we cannot go to church. we cannot

worship God. Why is that? Honestly, I'm

I'm curious. I want to know

why is it that that we can make make

stuff happen. Every other area of our

life, it happens no matter what.

But not church.

I grew up in a home where if we planned

something, we did it. And that's how we

do our home. We make plans and unless

there's an emergency, we stick to the

plan. You know, the first thing on our

calendar when I was growing up and in

our home today, the first thing that

goes on our calendar, Sunday morning

church, Wednesday night church, and

church activities,

that's the most important thing in our

life

is making sure we're in the house of

God. Why? Because worship is important.

We went I'll tell you this story. I

don't know why I'm feeling talkative

this morning. I hope that's okay with

y'all.

We were when I was a kid, we was going

to go to the was going to go to the zoo.

I was just a little kid. We was going to

go to the DC zoo and it was I was

homeschooled, so it was going to be a

big field trip day. And like I said, we

made a plan. We stuck to the plan unless

there was an emergency. Well, that night

we had really uh strong thunderstorms

and uh it blew a tree over. It knocked a

tree, lightning struck a tree and

knocked it over on top of our minivan.

And uh so we all woke up the next

morning. We're all getting ready. We

didn't even I don't even know that we

looked outside. We're just getting ready

going. We're going to go to the zoo

today. And we walked outside to go to

the zoo and our minivan is just crushed

underneath this giant this giant tree.

There are times when emergencies take

place.

Here's what I know about my family,

though. If we had not been going to the

zoo, which we did not go to the zoo, but

if we had not been going to the zoo, if

it had been Sunday morning and we had

been going to church instead, we would

have been in church that morning. We

would have called somebody. Hey, can My

dad would have called somebody. Can you

can we get a ride? Tree fell on our van

this morning. We would have been I have

no doubt in my mind. You call my dad and

ask him, he'll remember the day. If if

it had been Sunday morning, we would

have been in church that morning.

Where is that in this culture now?

If a tree falls on one of your vehicles,

you'll miss church for a month.

And when I call you and say, "Hey

brother, hey sister, I just we missed

you at church lately. What's going Well,

you know that tree fell on my car a few

weeks back.

Am I right about it this morning?

What has happened to our devotion to

worship

where the first thing that we've got to

do is get with God?

Here's what's pro. Here's the problem.

We don't fear him anymore, do we?

God won't mind if I miss.

God won't care. What's God gonna do?

I've missed many times and nothing's

ever happened.

And we've lost our fear of a thrice holy

God. You know what God has said in his

word in the New Testament. God said,

"Forsake not the assembling of

yourselves together." God said, "Go to

church." That's what that means. Go to

church. And by the way, interesting that

word is assemble, not gather. You ever

thought about that? I'm gonna preach

this message someday.

The word is a symbol, not gather. Oh, we

come to church and we just gather

together and we think that's good

enough. No, it's an assembly. You ever

put something together? Kid gets a gets

a toy and you got to put that thing

together. You assemble that thing. Why?

You put all the pieces in the right spot

so that the whole thing works together.

That's the church. We assemble. We come

together. We get all the pieces. We put

it together and then we serve the Lord

as a local church.

This is foreign to our culture.

People don't even they don't even know

this stuff. church people.

Church is just optional. It's a thing

that if I have time for it, if I I'll

sprinkle in a little religion, I'll go

once a month, maybe twice a month if I'm

feeling really spiritual, and that'll be

enough for me. And we wonder why we

don't grow spiritually.

Y'all forgive me this morning. I don't

know what's got into me. I have people I

have people call me and ask me questions

who wasn't at church for two weeks and

they'll call me and ask me a question

and be like, "Why did you do this or or

why did you say that or why do we do

this in the church?" And I'm like, "If

you had been in church last Wednesday

night, I actually preached a message

explaining from the Bible why we do this

and this, but you weren't there, so you

don't know. So, you're just left to

assume."

Am I meddling a little too much this

morning?

We've got to get back to a place where

we're devoted to worship.

A person who fears God is devoted to

worship.

Build the altar.

Let's get back on our knees before God

and say, "Lord,

we need you

more than anything else." Sunday

morning, you know, the thing I need most

Sunday morning is this group of people

right here.

I can't miss it.

We went to Florida. We was on vacation.

We went to church. By the way, we go to

church on vacation, too. That's unc

that's not popular either. We were on

vacation. We missed the Sunday here. We

was uh we went to campus church on that

Sunday. And can I tell you, it was a

great service, but I missed being right

here.

Something about having your family,

your church. You are assembling together

to worship the King of Kings.

Oh, may we get back to a place where we

are truly devoted

to worship. We could talk a lot more

about that, but I'm out of time. Let me

give you number three.

Number one, they did it God's way.

Number two, they were devoted to

worship. Number three, how do we know

that they feared God? They delighted in

God's word. Number three, they delighted

in God's word. I want to read some

verses to you and close out the chapter

beginning in verse number 30.

Then Joshua built an altar under the

Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As

Moses, servant of the Lord, commanded

the children of Israel, as it is written

in the book of the law of Moses, an

altar o of whole stones over which no

man hath lift up any iron. And they

offered thereon burnt offerings unto the

Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And

he wrote there upon the stones a watch

this now. He wrote there upon the stones

a copy of the law of Moses, which he

wrote in the presence of the children of

Israel. and all Israel and their elders

and officers and their judges stood on

this side of the ark and on that side

before the priest and the Levites which

bear the ark of the covenant as the L of

the Lord as well as the stranger as he

that was not born among or as he that

was born among them. Half of them

against Mount Garazm and half of them

against Mount Ebal as Moses the servant

of the Lord had commanded that they

should bless the people of Israel. And

afterward he, notice it, read all the

words of the law, the blessings and the

cursings, according to all that is

written in the book of the law. There

was not a word of all that Moses

commanded, which Joshua read not before

all the congregation of Israel, but the

women and the little ones and the

strangers that were conversant among

them. What is going on? Well, they build

this altar. They're going to worship

God. How do they worship? They get out

the word.

They write the law. What what what was

their Bible at the time? They had the

law of Moses. That was the Bible that

had been written. Whatever Moses had

written. So the penetuk probably first

five books of the Bible is what they

had. That was their whole Bible. What

did they do with that? They wrote it and

they read it.

They they had an emphasis on the word of

God. Did you notice it as we read

through that? There was an emphasis on

the law of Moses. We've gathered

together to worship. What are we going

to do when we worship? We're going to

read the word of God. There is something

powerful about the word of God. In fact,

I would say it is the most powerful

thing about the church is the Bible.

You can't have the presence of God

without the word of God. You've got to

get in the Bible. It is the the

foundation of truth. There is no truth

outside of the Bible. The Bible is the

source of all truth. So, we've got to

get into the Bible. Not just in church,

though. What about in your personal

time? When we say we fear God, the

question I would ask is, "Do you love

your Bible?"

You cannot say, You cannot argue with

me. You have no argument whatsoever. If

you say you fear God, but you have not

picked up your Bible since last Sunday.

You just don't fear him.

Because when you fear God, you fall in

love with the word of God.

You know what this is? This is God's

revelation to you and me about himself.

Everything I need to know about God,

about the church, about life, about

relationships, about everything is found

in this word. God has told me everything

I need to know. It's right here, the

Bible.

Somebody who I want to fear. Somebody

somebody who I fear, I want to know

about him. Right? My fear of God is

developed through understanding. The

knowledge of God comes through the

Bible. And the more I know him, the more

I fear him.

If you've not read the Bible, you don't

know God. And therefore, you cannot fear

God.

So get in the Bible. Fall in love with

the word of God. Can I give you some

verses this morning and we'll be

finished. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

12. For the word of God is quick and

powerful, sharper than any two-edged

sword, piercing even to the dividing of

sunder of soul and spirit of and of the

joints and marorrow, and is a discerner

of the thoughts and intents of the

heart. How about Matthew 4 and verse4?

But he answered and said, "It is

written, man shall not live by bread

alone, but by every word that proceedth

out of the mouth of God." Hey, deny the

flesh every once in a while and just get

into the word of God.

Fear God. Psalm 119 and 105. Thy word is

a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my

path. 2 Timothy 3:16-1 17. All scripture

is given by inspiration of God, and is

profitable for doctrine, for reprove,

for correction, for instruction in

righteousness, that the man of God might

be perfect, truly furnished unto all

good works. How about John 17 and verse

17? Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy

word is truth. Matthew 24 and verse 35.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my

word shall not pass away. Psalm 19 verse

Psalms 19:7–10

7-10 is one of my favorite passages of

in the Bible about the Bible. The law of

the Lord is perfect, converting the

soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple. The statutes of

the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes. The fear of the

Lord is clean, enduring forever. The

judgments of the Lord are true and

righteous altogether. More to be desired

are they than gold. What is the they?

All those descriptors are describing the

word of God. It's more to be desired

than gold. Yay. Than much fine gold.

It's sweeter also than honey and the

honeycomb. The greatest thing in this

world is the word of God. Psalm 119

Psalms 119:9–11

verse 9 through11. Wherewith all shall a

young man cleanse his way by taking heed

thereto according to thy word. With my

whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let

me not wander from thy commandments. Thy

word have I hid in my heart that I might

not sin against thee. Someone once said

that either your Bible will keep you

from sin or sin will keep you from your

Bible. Which one's true in your life?

It's the greatest book that's ever been

written.

It's a miracle. You're holding a living

miracle in your lap this morning.

It was written over 1500 years on three

different continents in three different

languages by a number of different

authors who did not know each other at

all. And yet it agrees on some of the

most controversial topics known to

mankind. It is in perfect harmony. It's

a miracle that you're holding in your

lap. They have tried to destroy it. They

have tried to ruin it. They've tried to

kill it. They've tried to eliminate it.

And they can't. And that's why they hate

it so much because they cannot get rid

of the Bible. Today it is still the

bestselling book in all of the world.

King James version of the Bible. It's

the bestselling book in all of the world

of all the books that have ever been

written. More copies of the Bible

have been sold than any other book. It

was the first book ever printed on the

on the printing press. The word of God.

It's special.

Do you love it?

If it is, if you don't love your Bible,

then you're going to have a real hard

time convincing anyone that you fear the

God of the Bible.

Well, you and I are supposed to fear

God. What does that mean? Well, do it

God's way.

Do it God's way.

Be devoted to God's worship.

Fall in love with God's word. Delight in

God's word.

You can come. I'm finished.

Friends, we live in a culture today

that, if I can say it bluntly, does not

fear God at all. And I'm afraid that

some of the culture has crept into the

church.

And religion has taken the place of

genuine worship.

We read our Bible. If we read anything

at all, we read a verse

so that we can check the box.

We go to church and if if we go at all,

we just go when we absolutely have to so

that we can say we were at church so

that if the pastor calls us, we can say,

"Hey, I saw you on Sunday."

Here's what I have learned. People fear

their flesh

a whole lot more than they fear God.

Here's how I know that's true.

I know me.

And it's a whole lot easier for me to

please my flesh than it is to please my

God.

And if you're honest this morning, the

same is true of you.

It's a whole lot easier to please your

flesh than it is to please your God.

Can I tell you, if you fall in love with

him,

perfect love,

and you fall in love with Jesus,

you will develop a healthy fear of God,

and you'll begin to do things because

you love him. Hey, can I give you an

illustration and we're done this

morning? When I was a kid growing up, I

got whooped. Y'all know what that is?

There's a difference in getting spanked

and whooped, right? Some of y'all just

got spanked and we can tell I got

whooped.

When I was just a little guy,

I would mess up, disobey, go to the

bedroom.

I'd get the belt.

And there was a time once I figured out

the belt and I knew it was coming for

certain offenses, I stopped doing those

offenses. Not necessarily because I

thought they were right or wrong. I I I

could care less if they were right or

wrong. Not really even because I loved

my dad.

I just didn't want to get the belt.

So, I'd do what dad said to do and I

would not do what dad said not to do

because I was afraid

of getting whooped.

But as I grew

and as I matured,

I began to realize something.

Dad was right about that.

My dad actually knew what he was talking

about. And

and I'm glad that he protected me from

those things. At the time, I didn't know

any different. I I didn't know what was

right or what was wrong. I just knew I

didn't want to get the belt.

As I became older and I began to look

back and now I have kids of my own and I

begin to tell them the same things. My

kids get whooped, too.

That probably shouldn't be posted out

there. I'll get fired.

I begin to do the same things and I

begin to protect my kids

and I begin to show them, hey, this is

right and this is wrong and and I begin

to realize my dad,

he knew what he was talking about. And

can I tell you when I became an older

teenager and I began to realize that my

dad loved me and that's why he was doing

those things, I began to do what my dad

desired. Not because I was afraid of the

belt. I didn't get spanked anymore, but

I did it just because I loved dad now.

Right? And a lot of us as baby

Christians, we look at the Bible like a

list of rules, like a list of dos and

don'ts. And God's got these great

expectations for us. And we're like a

child who's getting spanked. We don't

understand. God, why is that so wrong?

And why would you say that? And why do

you think why the church? Why all this

stuff? But as you grow in your faith and

you begin to open your Bible and you

begin to read and study the word of God,

all of a sudden, you begin to mature

spiritually. And as you get older in

your Christian life, you begin to

realize God knows what he's talking

about all along. And there's a reason

why he said, "Don't go there." And

there's a reason why he said, "Don't do

that." And he's told you all of these

things and he's given you this book not

because he's trying to be a dictator

over you, but because he loves you. And

the [music] moment that you can

transition from serving God because

you're afraid of the discipline to

serving God just because you love him

will be the greatest day in your

Christian life.

You'll just begin to serve him because

you realize he's got your best interest

in mind. This Bible is not a rule book.

It's a love letter from God.

He loves you.

so much

that he wrote 66 books over 1500 years

of time and it was perfect

and he said this is everything you need

to know child

now take it and grow and until you

understand you just trust me

but as you grow and develop you're going

to realize I've had your best interest

in mind all along

I wonder this morning if there's some

people here today.

Or maybe you're watching online

and you say, "I I've

I've not feared God like I ought to.

It's kind of just been going through

motions. I just thought it was what I

was supposed to do.

This morning, I want I want to give God

my love.

I want I want to know him."

How many of you have a Bible phone? If

it's on a phone, let me see it. If it's

on, if you got a Bible, hold it up. Let

me see it. See it.

You're holding right now the greatest

love letter that has ever been written

to mankind.

I promise you, if you'll get in, it'll

change your life. You'll find out about

your God. You'll figure out that he

loves you so much that he sent his only

begotten son into this world to die, to

take your place on the cross so that

your sins could be paid for. You'll find

that his mercies are new every morning.

You'll find that he's faithful and true.

And as you begin to grow in your

knowledge of God, you'll begin to

develop a fear of God.

That'll eventually lead you to a immense

passionate love for God.

When you fall in love with Jesus, you

don't just walk away.

You hang on for dear life.

I know I rambled some this morning. Will

you forgive me for that? Would you stand

to your feet?

If the Lord's spoken to you at all,

would you take a moment and pray? Say,

"Lord, I need to rededicate myself to

you today. Yeah, I want to get back in

the