Recorded September 01, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FM. Good morning

and welcome to Champions in Christ. We are so

glad you joined us today. This is the day the

Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in

it. Hallelujah. We're going to talk today about

the fear of the Lord and we're going to start

in Proverbs chapter 9. And we're going to go

Proverbs 9 · chapter mention

to verse 10. We're going to read verse 10 and

11, and it says, The fear of the Lord is the

beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the

holy is understanding. For by me, your days will

be multiplied, and the years of your life will

be increased. The fear of the Lord, we're not

talking about being scared in the sense of fear

of something. We're talking about a reverential

awe. of the Almighty God. That word there is

Y -I -R -A -H in the original, and it means to

behold something beyond your capability and understanding.

I mean to, wow, it's just amazing. There's no

words to describe the infinite Almighty God,

nor His love for you and His love for me. He

loves you today. He is indescribable. There are

no words to rightly define him. He's omnipresent,

which means he's everywhere. He's omnipotent,

which means he's all knowing. There's nothing

we can hide from God, but there's nothing we

need to hide from him. He loves us so much. His

mercy. is there for us every day every day today

today if you need mercy and I do I cry out for

that mercy daily why because his mercies are

new every morning and that mercy of God I mean

it's uh you know the Bible says that God is also

a consuming fire you know he will he can come

in and he can take out of your heart if you give

it to him He'll burn up all those things we desire

that aren't good. He'll burn up anything in your

heart that he doesn't want in there. And remember,

God always wants what's best for you. He always

has a reward plan for every command he asks us

to do. You know, he knows exactly who we are,

what we're all about. But we don't know what

he's all about in this scripture talks about

how the fear of the Lord that all reverence of

God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge

of the Holy is Understanding, you know, so when

we get to know him more that's Where our eyes

are open to not just the amazing all of all that

he's done and all that he will do and all that

he is, but we get to know his heart, his heart

of love and forgiveness and kindness and tenderness

towards each and every one of us. You know, in

Ecclesiastes 12 -13 it says, let us hear the

whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man. You know,

keeping the commandments outside of the fact

that Jesus died and rose again. No man could

do it. The Bible says all have fallen short of

the glory of God. We've all sinned and fallen

short. But through the blood of Jesus, because

Jesus came, died on a cross and rose again and

became that payment for our sin, you know, God

gave us two commandments in the New Testament.

He gave us a new covenant, a new agreement. And

it says to love the Lord thy God with all your

heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your

neighbor as yourself. And on these two commandments

hang everything else. So it's not about trying

to be perfect, keeping every rule in the Bible,

because none of us can. When Adam fell, that

tainted the blood, the bloodline to which...

We are, you know, in line with until we get born

again, until we accept Jesus as our savior and

he makes us a new creature in Christ. Old things

are passed away. Glory to God. You know, if you

need a new beginning today, he's there for you.

He wants you to receive his free gift of salvation.

It also benefits us by we get to go to heaven

one day. But we'll go on, let's go on to Matthew

10 28 and this is Jesus talking. He said, fear

not those that kill the body, but are not able

to kill the soul, but fear him who's able to

destroy both the soul and the body in hell. What

is hell? It's a place that was meant for the

devil and his demons, but God also, in his infinite

wisdom, when he gave us Christ as a free gift,

those that don't receive his free gift and all

the benefits thereof, when they die, they don't

go to heaven, they go to hell. If they reject

the free gift of salvation, you know, there was

such a great payment paid. That almighty God

that created heaven and earth, He came down,

he sent his only begotten son that whosoever

believes on him would not perish but have eternal

life. What does that mean for us? It means that

mankind was in a dire straits. We were separated

from God because of sin, but God in his infinite

wisdom gave us his son and sent him on our behalf

and he was. beaten, unrecognizable before they

put him on the cross. He was crowned with a crown

of thorns, nails in his hands and feet, and a

spear shoved in his side while he's hanging on

a cross. And he did it for you, and he did it

for me. But in the amazing, beautiful love of

God, he looked down from that cross and said,

forgive them. They know not what they do. You

know, his love and his forgiveness You can't

tie. I mean you just can't Equal it. It's so

big. It's so big He loves you and you may think

I can't be forgiven of this. Maybe you had an

abortion and You think you're the guilt just

weighs on you. Guess what? God will forgive you

and He's got that baby in heaven. He don't lose

those babies. Those babies go straight to heaven

Is it sin? Yes, is it murder? Yes, but guess

what? God will forgive you. If you come before

him in humility and you ask for forgiveness and

you repent, turn and do no more. Repent means

to do a 180. And then guess what? You are clean.

That thing is as far from you as the east is

from the west. That's what the word says. And

no man can judge you. You know, we are to judge

ourself. Why? Because we're all, we've all fallen

short. you know everybody has sinned in some

area you know maybe that's not your sin maybe

it's something else that's weighing you down

god doesn't want that weight weighing you down

he provided jesus for you in his awesomeness

i tell you god is such a great god you know in

romans 120 it says forever since the world was

created this is new living translation people

have seen the earth and sky through everything

god made They can clearly see his invisible qualities,

his eternal power, and divine nature. So we have

no excuse for not knowing God. That's scripture.

Because the handiwork of God, the earth, the

galaxies, the stars, the moon, the sun, is all

the handiwork of God. and all these things were

made by him and without him there wasn't anything

made John 1 3 says you know we've got to remember

God loves us so much he created this amazing

heaven if you live here in the northern neck

he created this beautiful area for us praise

God we get to enjoy the water both the Rappahannock

River the Potomac we get to enjoy the Chesapeake

Bay the beautiful greenery all four seasons.

We are a blessed people to live in this place

and the people here are wonderful. God has blessed

us. He has really blessed us. In Psalm 89 it

says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord

forever with my mouth will I make known his faithfulness

to all generations. Has God been faithful to

you? He has to me. Does he answer prayer? Absolutely.

When we believe, that's all he asks, is to believe

God. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,

and you confess with your mouth that he is Lord,

you'll be born again. You know, it goes on to

say, for I have said mercy shall be built up.

forever and thy faithfulness you've established

in the very heavens i have made a covenant with

my chosen i've sworn unto my servant david your

seed will i establish forever and build up the

throne to all generations all the heavens shall

praise your wonders oh lord your faithfulness

also in the congregation of the saints for who

is in heaven that can be compared to the lord

who among the sons of the mighty can be likened

unto our Lord. God is greatly to be feared in

the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence

of all those that are about him. Praise God.

He is greatly to be feared. Feared. We have nothing

to be scared of unless you go against this Almighty

God. You come against his children, then you've

got something to worry about. because he protects

his children. He takes care of us, praise God.

How can you become a son or a daughter of God?

Just reach out to him, call on his name, believe

on him, repent and you'll be saved and you'll

be in the family of God, the greatest family

on the planet. You know in verse 11 in Psalms

89 it says, the heavens are yours, the earth

is yours. And as for the world, the fullness

thereof, you have founded it. Glory to God. You

have made a mighty arm, a strong hand. High is

your right hand. Justice and judgment are the

habitation of your throne. Mercy and truth shall

go before your face. Blessed is the people that

know the joyful sound that they walk, O Lord,

in the light of your countenance. Glory to God.

God loves his children. He loves us so much.

Do you love him today? Do you know him today?

You can. You can know the goodness of our God.

Every day, every day he blesses us with his goodness,

with his grace, with his mercy, with his kindness,

with his gentleness. You know, even if we go

to the back of the book, Revelations chapter

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

14, And we read verse six and seven. It says,

and I saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven,

having the everlasting gospel to preach unto

them that dwell on the earth and to every nation

and kindred tongue and people saying with a loud

voice, fear God, give glory to him for the hour

of his judgment has come and worship him that

made heaven and earth. the sea, and the fountains

of the water. We are to stand in awe of this

amazing God. He is worthy to be praised. He is

worthy to be praised. He is King above all kings,

Lord above all lords. Jesus, the Son of God,

sits at the right hand of the Father, and guess

what? He ever lives to make intercession for

us. He's up there praying for you today. He's

up there loving you today. It says he he sings

over his children You know if you just look around

have you ever visited the Rocky Mountains been

snow skiing I have and I remember standing at

the top of of one of the runs and I was looking

out and the beauty just the display of God's

beautiful handiwork a picture can't even paint

it that pretty You just stand in awe of it. You

know, did you know every snowflake is different?

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? Wow.

Or to the Redwoods in California? I've been there

and it is awe -inspiring. Just the beauty of

his handiwork. I mean, just look outside in the

woods when you drive by woods at all the different

trees, yet they're all growing, they're all green.

What about the animals? Think about all the animals

God created, both here and both the ones that

have been extinct, the dinosaurs. Wow. And do

you know Adam named every animal? Everyone. That's

the capacity of brain power Adam had when he

was created. He could name every animal. How

about the waters? Have you ever been on the seas

when the seas get rough? or walked on the beaches

down in the Keys or in the islands or in Hawaii

the beautiful clear blue and you're walking it's

so peaceful the sound of the waves you know it

says that God's voice is like that the voice

of many waters so when you hear that crashing

wave next time think about his voice God's voice

yet he's so gentle he's so kind he's so loving

the Holy Spirit of God will come right where

you are and He'll give you peace, He'll give

you joy, He'll fill you to overflowing with His

goodness. Joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory.

That's our God. That's the greatness of our God.

He is a fantastic God who loves us. He loves

you today and He loves me. Have you ever walked

along a stream? Have you been in the mountains

of Tennessee? Maybe you've been around the world.

Maybe you've been in Italy. Maybe you've seen

the glorious countryside in Tuscany. Or maybe

you've been down under. You've been to Australia.

Or maybe you've taken a safari in Africa. Wow.

Behold those animals. Maybe even if you've taken

your children to the zoo and you looked at a

lion or all the various types of birds. God created

them all. That's the God we serve. That's the

God who will never leave you or forsake you.

That's the God who wants to show you a beautiful

path in your life, who has great plans for you

if you lock in with him. He says he is a light

into your path and a lamp into your feet. We're

gonna go to a song and we're gonna, a couple

songs now, and we'll come back in just a moment.

I'll meet you on the other side. Aging runs around

like a roaring lion Seeking to devour us but

Praise the Lord. We believe we believe in this

glorious God. And I just want to invite you right

now if you have never received him and you want

to know him or maybe you did receive him and

life threw you a curveball. There was a bankruptcy.

You lost of a loved one. A tragedy in your life.

Let's let me tell you God loves you and he will

heal that heart. He'll heal your broken heart.

He'll give you peace of mind. He wants you looking

forward. There's a bright future ahead. And so

just pray this prayer with me. Dear Jesus, I

love you. I ask you to come into my life. Forgive

me of my sins. I accept you as my Lord and Savior.

I repent. I renounce the things of the world.

In Jesus name. Thank you, Lord. Amen. And if

you prayed that prayer today, God loves you.

You've become a new creature in Christ. You need

to turn and tell someone today that you did that,

that you gave your life to Christ or renewed

your relationship with Jesus. The Bible says

if we confess Him before men, He'll confess us

before our Father in heaven. You can reach out

to us at any time at champions in Christ 3 at

gmail .com champions in Christ 3 at gmail .com

We want you to go out and make it a great day

today We want you to remember that God loves

you. We love you and you are a champion in Christ