Fear of God: Living in Spirit and Truth - 10.19.2025 - 9AM (Pastor Dylan Hunsberger)

Spirit of wisdom, the understanding, Spirit of

counsel, Spirit of might, Spirit of God.

We need the fear of the Lord. We want the fear of the Lord.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Love Quest International

Church podcast where we seek to love all nations, equip the

church, mobilize the equipped, and serve all.

We're super glad you're joining us from whenever and wherever

you're at in the world. Welcome to the family to get

your Bibles ready, get some water, get some coffee, maybe

some tea, and get ready to receive.

It's go time. Let's get into it.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Well, welcome everybody to Love

Quest International Church. I am so blessed to see each and

everyone of you guys here today. My brothers and my sisters in

Christ, thank you for being here.

My name is Dylan. I am one of the pastor's here at

Lovequest and I am blessed with the opportunity to preach a word

here today that I believe will encourage you guys in the Lord.

I believe that this message is straight from God.

He's continuing to unpack it to me even as I preach it to you

guys. I know it has been a blessing to

me as I was putting it together. And I want to take this time and

just give honor to where honor is due.

And that's to our lead pastors, Pastor Terence and Pastor Julia.

Thank you guys for doing such an amazing job in leading this

church and specifically personally in leading me and

raising me up in the faith and in the way that I should go.

And for calling out the gifts in me, the preacher in me when I

did not see them. And also for activating those

gifts in me, mobilizing them through opportunities like this.

So I'm forever grateful for you. I love you, and I don't take it

lightly that I'm entrusted with this microphone.

And so today I am going to continue to preach on the

subject of the fear of God. 2025 the year that we are in the Lord

gave Pastor Terence this theme, the fear of God, a year of awe

and wonder. And this was to be a year where

where we really believe as the church to grow in the fear of

God. Now when we speak about the fear

of God, this is not that we are to be afraid of God.

Rather, this saying, fear of God speaks to a reverence or an awe

or a deep respect for God, a deep awareness of who God is and

who I am in relation to God. And so the word that the Lord

gave to me to preach was the fear of God living in spirit and

in truth. And as I was meditating on the

essence of the fear of God, what the fear of God truly means, the

Lord gave me a picture of what it might have been like when man

first discovered fire. Imagine a day like today.

It's dark out, it's gloomy, it's cold, it's wet.

Before civilization really took place, before buildings were

constructed, before there was technology, before there was

electricity, there was a time when man was without fire and

left to try and survive through the cold of winter, just

huddling in the warmth of a cave.

Maybe they found some animal hide to wrap themselves around

with. But imagine the first time man

discovered fire and how exciting that would be.

Fire represents warmth. Fire would present a better

possibility to survive throughout the cold winter

months. Fire brought comfort.

Fire brought a level of security from predators.

Fire would bring the ability to cook and sanitize water.

It brings a level of nourishment to which man hadn't experienced

before. Fire brought the ability to

create pottery vessels as well as forge metal into weapons.

Fire radically marked humanity, and fire marked the time where

mankind began to not only just exist in the world, but begin to

shape the world by which they live in.

And so the Lord gave me the idea of the fear of God parallel and

not to what it might be like for when man first discovered fire,

and how discovering fire radically impacted man's

is in mindfulness of God. Amen.

So come with me as I unpack this word this morning and help me

out by letting me know if stuff is good and you're tracking with

me. You can go on and say things

like preach on, preach up. That was good.

And so the fear of God does not speak to being afraid of God,

but it speaks to reverence towards God.

Proverbs 19 verse 23 says this, that the reverent, Worshipful

Proverbs 19:23

fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests

satisfied. Isn't that what we're all after

in life is to be satisfied, to arrive at a place of contentment

and find true peace? He cannot.

The one who worshipfully fears the Lord, he cannot be visited

with actual evil. So what this scripture is

telling us is the one who lives in the fear of God, that they

find true life, that they become truly satisfied and they are

above evil. Death no longer has a sting in

their life. The enemy that once had a hold

on you no longer has a hold on you.

And that is good news. And so God is not calling us

forth to be afraid of Him. He's saying no.

Be mindful and aware and reverential of me because I

desire to satisfy you, my people.

I decide to bring you true life and life in abundance, and I

require to get you out of place where the devil is under your

feet. That is great news.

Hallelujah. And so this word reverence means

a deep respect for someone or something other words that can

be interchanged with the word reverence.

I believe it was. I believe there's synonyms.

Is that right, honey? Yeah.

Interchangeable words. I looked at a thesaurus, if that

helps. So other words for reverence

should be respectful, Worshipful, adoring, loving,

admiring, devoted, dutiful, obedient, odd, submissive,

humble, and meek. Again, think back to the first

man that discovered fire. Think about how much he would

have respected this fire. The same fire that could bring

all the blessings when mishandled can do a lot of

damage. Fire has the ability to consume

a forest. Fires to be respected,

reverenced. Imagine the man, how much he

would adore and love that fire when it was his only companion

at night to keep him warm. Imagine, oh, have you ever got

lost just looking into a fire or at a candle?

Something about it that's just sucking your gaze into that

thing. It's so peaceful.

It's so admiring so to be odd. I look at you that way too.

My wife, thank you. Take notes, fellas.

I'm learning from my elders and pastors.

And so this reverence means a deep respect for someone or

something. And so the fear of God, as Elder

Brett was unpacking last Sunday, the fear of God is to know God.

If I'm going to handle something correctly, I must know the thing

I'm handling in order to position myself before it

properly. And so Elder, Elder Brett did a

wonderful job last week unpacking just the vastness and

the greatness and the almightiness of our God that we

serve, the one who formed the heavens and the earth.

He is a mighty God. He is a loving God.

He is a good God, and so the fear of God is to know God.

And so if it is the fear of God or reverence that brings life to

us, that brings satisfaction to us, that brings safety to us,

that sets us above all evil, we need to know God, the true

essence of who He is, in order to rightfully position ourselves

before Him. God is spirit, the Bible tells

us, and we church our try part beings.

We are first spirit. We were created in the image and

likeness of God and we possess a soul.

That's our mind, our will and our emotions, our thinker, our

feeler, our chooser. And we live in these bodies

which have a sinful nature which we inherited from our ancestors,

Adam and Eve, who allowed sin to enter into mankind when they

disobeyed the Word of God. And so we are three-part beings.

And so there is 1/3 of us that is made in the image and

likeness of God. There is 1/3 of us that is made

right before God. There is 1/3 of us that once was

dead in sin but now has been made alive by the blood of

Jesus. And so there is one part of us

that we need to learn to grow in and engage in because for the

majority of some of our lives we lived not being led by the

Spirit. For the majority of my life up

until the age of 27, I did not know what it meant to live a

spirit LED life. I did not know what it meant to

worship God in Word which became flesh.

And nothing has come into being apart from the word of God.

Jesus said my word is spirit and life and as a follower of Christ

we are to build our lives on the word of God.

It is our firm foundation. The word of God is spirit.

John 4 verse 24 says that God is a spirit, a spiritual being, and

John 4:24

those who worship Him or those who engage with him must worship

Him in spirit and in truth. And so we don't worship God

simply just by showing up here this morning at church.

It's less about a physical location and it's more about a

heart posture before the Lord. And that heart posture only

comes through the revelation of the living Word of God.

My heart is only pure before the Lord by the good news of

salvation in Christ alone being revealed to my heart, my

receiving that, my believing that, my confessing, that makes

me right before God, pure before God.

And it's in that place of knowing that it's in the place

of gratitude for that, that I'm able to engage in the Lord,

worshipping him in spirit and in truth.

And so the fear of God is to engage with God in spirit.

And as I mentioned before, there was a time where I didn't know

how to engage my spirit man to encounter the Lord.

And so we must learn this life to be led by the Spirit to

engage with God. God's word is truth.

God formed the world, the heavens and the earth with His

Word. God's word is the bottom line.

It is truth. And PT often says, as a believer

walking by faith, we don't ignore the facts, we simply just

stand on the truth that if the Word of God says this is the way

it is, then that is the way it is.

And it doesn't matter what the circumstances in the natural are

telling me, because God, who is supernatural, the Word who is

supernatural says this. It doesn't matter what my soul

is telling me, what my emotions are telling me.

It doesn't imagine. It doesn't matter what the lies

of the enemy is telling me. What matters is what the word of

God is telling me. The word of God is truth.

The Bible says let all men be a liar and God's word be true.

And you sound silly to the world talking like that because you

can be sick with a runny nose coughing and say by the blooded

by Jesus's stripes I am healed. When your Co workers saying bro

you should have take a sick day because you're coughing and

snorting. And I'm not saying be unwise.

But when you become so convinced that the word of God is truth,

you begin to renew your mind so that your soul comes into

alignment with the Word of God, which is spirit.

And as your soul comes in alignment with your spirit man 2

out numbers one, the last which is your body.

So your body has to now come in alignment with your soul and

your spirit. And that church is what's called

being single minded or walking in the fullness of the mind of

Christ. There is a wrestle between the

flesh and the Spirit. Romans 8 says, And when I am

living according to the flesh, I am at war against the things of

God, the mind of the Spirit. And I have to make up in my

heart God's word is truth. We are in this world, but we are

not of this world. And so this world is going to

present lies to me. That may be facts, it may be the

way it that it is in the natural, but I am a supernatural

being and God's word Trump's the facts that this world is

presenting. Hallelujah.

So to truly walk in the fear of God, we must come to this

conclusion that God's word is true.

So to walk in the fear of God, I must walk in a fear or respect

or a reverence or a mindfulness of the Word of God.

The Word of God must have final say in my life.

Hebrews 4 verse 12 says that the word of God is living and

Hebrews 4:12

powerful. Say living and powerful and

sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing even to the the

division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a

discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We have to allow the Word of God like a sword, to discern, to

cut, to separate what my thoughts are.

How my soul is navigating through this situation and

present to us how the Spirit is is navigating through this

situation and how the Word of God says I am to navigate

through this situation. Your word is truth.

So Jesus's prayer for us to the Father is that the Father would

sanctify us, that he, the Father, would purify us by the

truth, which is His Word. And so as we spend a life

meditating on the Word, keeping the Word before us, and speaking

the Word, there is a purification process that is

taking place within our hearts. We are being cleansed by the

Word of God. We are being purified by the

Word of God. Remember, Jesus is the word

which became flesh, and Jesus is the one who came to deliver us,

to redeem us, to sanctify us by cleansing us with the pure blood

of the Lamb. And so there is a there is a

cleansing process that takes place in your heart, in your

mind, the renewing of the mind through a relationship we build

with God's Word. His word is truth.

John 8 verse 31 to 32. So Jesus said to those Jews who

John 8:31–32

had believed in him, If you abide in my word, hold fast to

my teachings and live in accordance with them, you are

truly my disciples. He's talking about living in the

Word. The Word is not just something

to encourage you on Sunday morning, it is something that

you are to build your life upon Monday through Sunday.

Every day of your life is to be in reverence towards the Word of

God, mindful of the Word of God. Every decision I am to make, I

am to be fearful or reverent or respectful of.

What would the Word have me do in this situation?

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus goes on to say, and you will

know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

It's only the truth that you know that will set you free.

The Lord has given you everything you need to walk in

freedom. It's up.

It's up to us to search out the truth, to come to this place of

knowing the Word, who the sun sets.

Free is free indeed, so that when the soul, my soul, or my

thoughts, or the enemy or anybody else tries to tell me I

am not free, I could say no, no, no, no, because I know the truth

that who the sun sets free is free indeed, and I am one with

the sun. And so Jesus encourages us to

abide in his Word. So we don't read the Word simply

just to memorize it, though it is powerful to memorize

Scripture. I have Scripture I remembered in

Sunday school as a child. But we don't simply just read it

to know it, just to know it. We get in the Word to build a

relationship with the Word, to abide and to dwell and camp out

in Scripture. I know Psalms 23 is one of my

favorite camping spots in the Word of God.

I'll set up my tent there and I will build a little campfire

there and I will just meditate on that scripture because the

Word of God is alive and there's times when I want to draw near

to the Lord. I just want to remember the Good

Shepherd who has everything I need.

And he caused me to walk along still waters, and he caused me

to lay down in green pastures. He restores my soul.

Sometimes I'm looking to the world to restore my soul, but I

need, I need to be reminded. No, it's the Good Shepherd that

restores my soul. He anoints my head with oil.

Because of him, my cup runs over.

And so we get in the Word to meet the Lord there, to build

relationship with the Word of God.

The fear of God is to let God's Word reign in my life, to let

God's Word have the final say, to let God's Word reign supreme

in my life. And so I'm not allowing the

facts, the current situation, my current emotions, I'm not

allowing my desires. I'm not allowing what the world

is telling me to rule in my life, to steal my peace, to be

my peace. I'm choosing.

I'm actively choosing to let the word of God reign in my life. 1

John 416 says that God actually go back before that.

God is love. Remember to walk in the fear of

God we must properly know who God is.

God is spirit, His word is true and God is love.

True love agape love this that spirit love this is a love

unlike we have ever known before you know, leading up to our

encounter with Jesus Christ, we thought we might have known what

love is but the love that we know knew before God is

conditional love. I love you because either I got

to because you came from me. I love you because you've done

XY and Z to earn my affection. But God is a God is love.

It's who he is. Everything God does is out of

this posture of love, this correction, guidance, equipping.

Everything God does is rooted in and motivated by love, because

God is love. And we must become well

acquainted with this agape love because, well, I was yet a

Sinner, Well, I was an enemy towards God.

The Bible says Christ died for me, demonstrating this agape

love of God, this unconditional love of God.

When Jesus was being nailed to the cross for the remission of

sins, for the one that was nailing him to the cross, Jesus

cried out and said forgive them Father.

The ones who are crucifying me right now, forgive them Father,

for they know not what they are doing.

That kind of love, agape love which always believes the best,

always sees the best, always gives the best.

God so loved you, He gave you his best, His only begotten Son,

that if you believe in Him, you will have eternal life.

And so we must become well acquainted with the love of God

if we are to continue on in this love. 1 John 416 says God is

love and he who dwells. There's that word again next

slide. He who dwells and continues in

love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and

continues in him. And so we see this promise here,

this promise that that says that if you dwell and continue in

love and you continue in God, God promises in return that he

will dwell and continue in you. And so you can see as I, as I

mentioned earlier, like God inhabits the praises of his

people. As we engage God, he engages us.

As we engage God, he engages us. And so you can see how powerful

a life lived in the fear of God. As we are reverent and mindful

towards God, He is reverent and mindful towards us.

As we position ourselves before God, God is positioning himself

before us. There is this perpetualness

about choosing to abide in love, choosing to abide in God.

And who knows that love is not always easy.

Me only. OK.

As few of us, the moment you're born again, you're born into a

new Kingdom. And Jesus says it's an upside

down Kingdom. We are called to act opposite of

how the world acts. The world lives by eye for an

eye, tooth for a tooth. You do me bad, I'm going to

return that with more bad. I'm going to try and out bad

you. But Jesus says that or I'm

really getting on them. It's those moments where we are

presented the opportunity to walk in love, God love.

And those times you choose to do that, it catches your enemy off

guard. They say what the heck and it's

powerful and God is in it and and ultimately the battle

belongs to the Lord. Only the Lord can change your

enemy's heart. So why not bring them into the

fight by choosing to love when it's hard to love?

And who knows that Love Tests brings out Love's best when we

choose to let love have its way in that situation.

Love tests also bring out our worst, and it's for good reason

so that we can leave it out. Sometimes Love Test shows us

what's in us, but God works all things together for good.

And so we must come to know that God is true love, agape love,

and become acquainted with this love in order to live in it, in

order to share it, in order to see the world come to know

salvation in the name that's above every name, Jesus Christ.

The fear of God is to is to dwell and continue in God's

love. There's no end in your pursuit

of God's love. Every day we are to go after the

Lord with our whole heart. Every day we are to pursue God

and his love. And he continues, and is

faithful to pursue us in turn. John 3 says this, that Jesus

answered him. I assure you, most solemnly I

tell you, that unless a person is born again anew from above,

he cannot ever see, know, or be acquainted with and experience

the Kingdom of God. And so Jesus tells us, in order

to live in this upside down Kingdom, you must be born again.

You must be born again of the water and of the Spirit.

And so if Jesus is telling us we must be born again, then we must

be OK with being a baby in the Spirit, and we must commit

ourselves to be raised up in the way we should go in the Spirit.

Paul tells the church, you have many teachers but few fathers.

And we are blessed to have pastors that truly carry the

heart of the Father. Here at Love Quest International

Church, we have pastors who hear from God and obey God's leading.

And we as children of the house, as sheep of the flock, must

engage with the process of growing in the Spirit.

Acts 17 says For in him in Christ, that is, we live and

move, and have our being, as also, some of your own poets

say, have said, for we are also His offspring.

The fear of God is to live, is to move, and is to be in Christ.

It is a lifestyle. The fear of God is a lifestyle.

And like of fire, the fear of God grows as you feed it.

It takes intentionality to feed that thing.

Two slides past and you'll have it.

The fear of God grows as you feed it and I will just end by

releasing Psalm 34 verse 9, the last slide.

Psalms 34:9

This is to you church. Oh, fear the Lord, you His

Saints Revere and worship Him, for there is no want to those

who truly Revere and worship Him with godly fear.

And so Church, the Lord desires for us to know Him as the Good

Shepherd, that the Lord is your shepherd you shall want for

nothing. Church, the Lord desires for you

to walk in a life knowing who God is and who you are as His

Beloved, and that in Him you find everything you need for

everything that you need for life, and godliness has already

been lavishly poured upon each. But as we posture our heart

towards You, Lord, that we find everything that our soul is

searching for, we thank You. That as we live a lifestyle in

the spirit built on Your Word and we choose to dwell and live

in love, Father, we thank You. That as we make this decision to

set you on the throne of your heart and keep you there, that

You are faithful to Your Word, I thank You.

That right now, in this moment, being made to go from in to all

in lukewarm to burning hot. That right now in this moment,

people are making decisions to come to know You by Your Word.

That there is a burning desire to get into Your Word, which is

life and spirit, to set up a camp in Your Word to build

relationship with you, our loving Father.

I thank you Lord God, that the wind is blowing and as the wind

comes to blow and make a fire burn hot and big and overtake

and consume, that the fear of God is being new.

Life is being brought to the fear of God in each and every

one of our hearts. Wind blow, wind blow, wind blow.

Have your good and perfect way in this place.

In Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen.

Amen. If you receive anything that was

preached, give Jesus a great big handclap.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen. God is good and all the time.

God is so good, man. Yeah, the fear of God kind of

often had a scary feel about it for me in the past, but as I

grow in revelation of it, the Lord's just saying, Nah, I want

to get good stuff to you, but it only comes through being mindful

of me. And so I hope that was as much

of A blessing to you as it was to me.

Few announcements to get to you guys.

Starting October 22nd through to November 30th, we will be doing

our through the ribbon 40 day fast.

Who's excited to grow in the spirit now?

Fasting isn't all about going without.

It's about going within. It's about living this thing

out, life in the spirit, life in the truth, life in love.

And so be excited for that. There is more information about

the fast, about the list of things we will be eating and the

list of things we'll be going without as well as there's some

lifestyle stuff in there that we encourage you guys to engage in

as well. Private devotional time, word

and prayer, exercise. Because remember, we're tripart

beings. There's some body, soul, spirit

stuff happening in this fast as well as no to gossip and social

media just for 40 days, social media after 8:30, just for 40

days. And then you could choose if you

really missed it and it was benefiting your life up until

that point, you can choose to go back.

I'm just kidding. We should never gossip.

It's not good. Yeah.

So there's more information about the fast on social media

baptisms we will be having on November 1st.

If you have made a decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and

Savior, this is just an outward declaration of an inward

decision you've made. And if the Lord is working on

your heart and you feel like, man, I have truly taking a stand

for my salvation in a new fresh way and the Lord's tugging on my

heart to be re baptized, do it. Be obedient to the Lord's

prompting within you. And so anyone who is would like

to be baptized, sign up via e-mail at

[email protected]. Or if you have any more

questions about that, you can just speak to our guest services

in the back or any other leader here.

The homecoming table, sorry, yeah, not guest services, the

homecoming table at the back. OK.

And then lastly, no immersed next Sunday, November 20, it

says November 26th, but I think it meant to say October 26th.

There will be no evening service in Vancouver, but we will carry

on business as usual here with our two morning services.

Does that sound good to you? Awesome.

Well, we are all out of time, but we are.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's sermon.

We pray you were challenged, equipped and encouraged.

Make sure to follow us on all platforms.

That's love quest Intl church. We out here for real.

We're really doing it. That's Facebook, Instagram,

YouTube and TikTok. You can find us anywhere you

need to find us. But until next time, you know

the drill. You know the motto, get your

love fixed man and we'll see y'all real soon.