Do You Fear God? | Discipleship Series | Why the Fear of the Lord Still Matters

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a fear of God?

[SPEAKER_00]: And do you understand what that means?

[SPEAKER_00]: Today, Pastor Elwood and I are going to be talking about the fear of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think the word fear in itself has a lot of people confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can't have a fear of God if you don't understand the meaning of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we're going to talk about today on this episode of the Discipleship series.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pastor Elwood?

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, you know, and the world we're living in now, there seem like there is no fear, there's no fear in the churches, there's no fear in people's lives, what's so ever.

[SPEAKER_01]: And like Proverbs said, for the fear of the Lord is beginning a wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.

[SPEAKER_01]: and that we need the fear of the Lord in our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a reverence fear.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a fear like you just bury your head in the sand.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we need a reverence fear of continue thinking upon God all of our life because he holds the issues of our life in the palm of his hand, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he can do what he wants to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: But

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to fear the Lord back.

[SPEAKER_01]: I believe, truly, Caleb, if we're ever going to see a great, great, revival in our land, it's going to take getting the fear of God back in people's lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And until that happens, I think people are just going to come and go with a please and hope that they're going to make it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, fear can be characterized in different ways, and especially because our meanings are slightly different, you know, in our generation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then it was vividly.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, when you see fear, a lot of people associate that with wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they see fear and they think, ah, scared, or they think, you know, it's, it's to be avoided.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: but the Bible explains fear in a different way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And depending on your relationship with Jesus, it depends on what kind of fear you have.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, fear of God means that you have admiration and just reverence of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You realize who he is, you have read the Bible, you understand the wrath of God, you understand the glory of God, and those things come into play with your life and you fear him, because you know the power he holds.

[SPEAKER_00]: that kind of fear is a healthy fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like a child that looks at a parent where they have this healthy amount of fear, where they know that you can discipline them, that you can teach them, that you can help them out of the trials they're in.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the kind of fear that a Christian should have towards God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now you want to have the flip side of the coin and there should be a fear of God for those that don't know God, for those that don't believe in God, they should fear the wrath of God because all of us have judgment day coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every single person will stand before the Lord and have to give an account of their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: For every word said, for everything they do in their lives, they will be accountable for.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the flip side of the coin there is that there is fear that some people should have of, hey, I need to repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need to repent because the fear of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, fear of God is not a bad thing either way you look at it, it's just in how your relationship is with God, of which side of the coin you're on with fear.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'd like to thank that old Solomon sometime.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, God asked him, said, whatever you want, I'll give it to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Solomon said, I want to be able to divide, have it, my people rightfully, and God gave him wisdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_01]: but Solomon feared the Lord and we see what God did in Solomon's life.

[SPEAKER_01]: He made him one of the wisest men that ever was.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then, you know, and situations like it, we need to fear God in reverence.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look at our life, every day, see what we're at.

[SPEAKER_01]: And see what's going on in life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And watch what we say, watch what we do, watch where we go, whatever may be the case.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because if it's not pleasing to Christ,

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's in a wrong direction.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we need to have that reference fear of God in our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey man, you know I know that you are usually the one that does all the study notes that is your pastorial background that I absolutely love because you know for me I just say here and then just get a download from the Lord and then go by the Holy Spirit with whatever I need to say but you know Elwood does a whole lot of the research with these discipleship series and I'm so grateful and he brings you know so much of the scripture to back up all the points and today I was led into the Strong's Concordance.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you've ever studied in there, but it's it's pretty cool because you can kind of see the The Hebrew and aromatic writings from from what the word actually means.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and so today I was just kind of studying on fear The Lord led me to just look it up and just see what the Hebrew and aromatic writings were on the word fear and so when I did I came across Something pretty cool fear was why are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all, and it says the root is to fear or to revert, which can be frightened fear, it can be a terrible thing, a dreadful thing, or it can be a reverence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so YAR means to be afraid and stand in awe in fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: YAR fear may dictate someone being afraid of something or someone, such as Jacob where he prayed deliver me, I pray the from the hand of my brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: I fear him, at least he will come and smite me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's fear used in a frightful way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you see fear being used as an exalted position, so YAR in that stance means standing in awe.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not a simple fear, but it's reverence whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of the individual, revered and renders him proper respect.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is two different ways that the word fear is used in the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see that throughout.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, like, fearful of what's going on in their lives and their circumstances, but then you see fear being used as reverence.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that is a lost cause.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that people don't see that and they don't understand it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, when you're reading scripture and you come across all those scriptures where people are in fear of angels.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every time an angel in scripture is in front of a person.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're scared, and it says, be not afraid, do not fear every single time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is in awe, that is in reference.

[SPEAKER_00]: This person is not just startled, I mean, of course they probably heard because angels, you know, I'm sure you would be startled in all different ways, but not only were they just fearful in that way of like, ah, but they were also in reference and in awe of this, you know, creation that was in front of them that God had sent them, and no one that it came from the Creator, no one that God sent that angel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think especially whenever it comes to the fear of God, when you lose that meaning and you don't understand that there is a double-sided fear that the other side of it is reverence.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you don't understand how to fear God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly what we want to talk on today so that you understand how to fear God in the proper way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know,

[SPEAKER_01]: When I was at home, my mom would take it as church.

[SPEAKER_01]: And at that time, it was in church buildings.

[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't have the wear condition.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's saying, like, they had two before seats.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was just a two before seats.

[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't a padded piece.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's also a piece.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it would be hot.

[SPEAKER_01]: And man, my place would be packed out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I get the squirming.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, my pants were sticking to my backside and everything, but mom would sort of lean over me and she'd say, if you don't stop squirming, I'm going to take you outside and give you some of the squirm over, and I knew exactly what that meant.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she sort of put the theory in me, you know, because I didn't, I'd taste as a blonde of that switch before, and I didn't want it again, but we need a reverence.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the same way with our Heavenly Father.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, God will chastise in his children that he loves.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just as we chastise our children, that we love them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a fear.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a revered feel there, it's fear there.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you go the wrong direction, you're going to get chastised.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to, uh, uh, the penalty you're going to have to pay with a little pain on the backside.

[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, you know, and I've always remembered that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, my baby sister got me a more trouble quarter got peanut shells, you know, but anyway Anyway, but I had that reverence of fear and if we done something during a day when dad wouldn't home She said just wait till your father gets home

[SPEAKER_01]: And I had that reverence fear, and I feared that the consequences of what was going to take place.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the same way with God.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to have a reverence fear of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if we don't do what He tells us to do, that we're going to face the consequences of not doing what He has asked us to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we need to always keep our mind upon God and keep that reverence fear there.

[SPEAKER_00]: you know a lot of people that don't fear God it typically comes from pride you know a person can be boastful arrogant pride and they just think well you know I don't have anything to worry about you know there's so many Christians that don't fear God and don't fear the consequences of obeying God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, as a Christian, you should fear and have admiration for God in a way that you don't want to displease him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like you don't want to upset him.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to follow his laws and his commands.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the Bible says that if you love me keep my commands, that's what God said.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think a healthy amount of fear is a good thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just that in our society has been associated as bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a big thing that we can correct, you know, you can go back to the Bible, take everything back to the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the truth, and you can measure it up to the lies of the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a lie that fear is just something that is scary and to be avoided.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fear can be healthy in a way if it is in reverence of.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you understand the definition of fear, which we've already talked about.

[SPEAKER_00]: broke it down in the strong's cognizance and everything already of just understanding where the word fear comes from and where it's derived from is important in context.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know the context of a word, how can you use it in a proper form?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so with people in their fear, having a fear of God is a good thing when it's correct.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and pride, there's so many people, and you know, they don't fear standing before God, which is crazy, you know, God of all creation, who created you in a made all of this world, how could anybody be so prodful that they think they could even stand in front of you?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know and not fall to their knees that their tongue won't confess the Bible says that it will every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and if people don't have the fear of that it's because they just don't understand it or they don't know or they've not read their Bible or they've not had something in their life to where they're faced with the appoint of having that kind of fear of God but it's coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: judgment day is coming and I'm not saying that you know to strike this unhealthy type of fear but a good type of fear to where you want to repent, to where you want to come and and bow at Jesus' feet and just say, Lord, forgive me of my sins, I repent of the things that I've done in the past, lead me and guide me to all truths and just draw a closeness to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, you know, the Bible said in Matthew 1028 said, and if you're not them, which can kill the body, but rather fear him that can kill both body and soul and cast it into hell.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fear of that one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fear not me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you what, and a nice, you know, in chapter five of the, I believe it is acts, and a nice and sapphire.

[SPEAKER_01]: They sold a piece of property that was theirs.

[SPEAKER_01]: it was there's a start with and then they brought the money and and yes it is this what you sold it for at least a jail no one that they kept part of the bat and you know exactly what happened uh and a nice bill over dead three hours later sapphire showed up said the same thing she fell over dead and the buyable said that the fear came upon

[SPEAKER_01]: All the churches, all the churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm telling you what, our churches this day and time, some of them is an absolute disgrace.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: They blacked out.

[SPEAKER_01]: They got roller coasters inside.

[SPEAKER_01]: They got pastures that's flying around on wires and everything else.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you, I've seen some of this stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it just makes my stomach cringe.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because where is the fear of God in this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where is the gospel of Jesus Christ in this?

[SPEAKER_01]: We become more entertainers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, then we have preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and so therefore there's a brother Walker Johnson told me He said he'll let's say when you preach just wear back and preach just RBP Wear back and preach and lay the axe at the root of the tree and let the chips lay where they fall

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I have, I look back on my life and I try, I was drawn to the old-fashioned preachers out there and they didn't go to theology, cool school or whatever you may call it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They went to Neology School.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they found what they was looking for on their knees by God given it to it, but they had a reverence of fear in their life.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they listened to what God told them, and that's exactly what they did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you what, as Ananas and Sapphire, they was taking out the fear of the churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fear came up on all the churches, and we need that reverence fear back in our churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need that to stay in time.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it's just not there anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a sad realization.

[SPEAKER_00]: It truly is.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know the fear of God and you know with Paul Paul sent letters and he did send those letters out of hatred.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sent those letters out of love.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like when he sent those letters to the churches, he sent them so that it would strike a healthy fear and bring them to repentance and show them the correct change.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know that's the same way that God does with correction is that when he corrects and he changes, it's to better you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not for your worst, it's for your betterment.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I think that, you know, our church world like Elwood just said, it's a shame to see so many people not have the fear of God and they have made it something vastly different than what is biblical.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, in the Bible, there didn't need to be smoke shows.

[SPEAKER_00]: There didn't need to be the rollercoasters and

[SPEAKER_00]: there didn't need to be all the extra entertainment.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just the pure gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was just going and preaching the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that when it becomes theatrics and it becomes something different from what God intended, then you have to stop and ask yourself, what's being produced here?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like what do we not have a fear of God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this not

[SPEAKER_00]: Because a healthy fear of God is going to have you wanting to serve God in a way that you don't disappoint him, that you're fearful if you do something wrong, that that would hurt your spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just to think that you would disappoint God should be enough for a Christian to try to walk that straight in narrow and to try to just please him and to be as biblical as we can.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like Elwood said, it's a crying shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: That people have no more fear of God in the churches and there's you know, there's such a division in the church world right now There's a lot of people that just you know, it's it's one What do you call those denomination against another and you know?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no unity.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's division and there's a whole lot of hatred You know, I've walked in a lot of churches and I'm not welcome like I'm not welcome and I know that now Especially with what we're doing, you know, we're

[SPEAKER_00]: seen sometimes as radicals or whatever because we're out here doing exactly like the Bible said and we we're just we don't need anything extra we we don't need a structured agenda we just need to show up and get in the river you know or or or preach for you you know like it's it's simple and that's how it should be it should be very simple like the simple truth of the word but um

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like I said, there's no fear with the people, there's no fear of how they miss handle people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, people out here will mistreat and miss handle people and pull people away from their faith and act like there's no repercussions.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, every person that you pull away from Jesus because of your words, because of your actions, because of your malicious intent, those things you will be accountable for and people should have that kind of fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: They should have that kind of fear that they will reap what they sow.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, you know, you found people that had just didn't fear God.

[SPEAKER_01]: You take Jonah for instance.

[SPEAKER_01]: God told Jonah said, you go to Nibia and you cry out against it.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Jonah that I won't go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I don't like those people.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so the Bible said that he went down to Joppa and paid the fair and went someplace else.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in that going someplace else, as that heavenly father, who wanted that preacher to preach against the sin of Nibya, he gave him a three-day spanking.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the bell is a will.

[SPEAKER_01]: I bet you he's repented time and time and again down in there.

[SPEAKER_01]: But finally, you know, he repented the will, Spiti Malen, God said his tracks on fire.

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't, he made a believe around him real quick.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he felt the chest as another father, but Jonah went there and preached, and I'm telling you what Pope said, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what's going to set people free.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just rare back and preach, our BP, you know, just rare back and do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we need to have a reverence of God, a fear of God in our life, because the Holy Spirit will let us know when this happens and it's up to us to turn away.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_01]: we will grieve the spirit and when God tells us to do something just like he's called you out Kayla to do this and if you don't do it you're going to feel the repercussion of it sooner or later.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine you know it's when God called me to do this I mean it was obviously like a Jonah moment too because it was Jerry, you know, and now it's like

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you sure?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is terrifying, um, but I knew better, you know, from the scriptures and from what I've read and I love Jesus enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you have a fear of God like that, it's a healthy fear that you want to do what He's commission you did do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I have one question for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you fear?

[SPEAKER_00]: In life, there's a lot of people that fear a lot of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fear people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fear other people's opinions.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fear expectations and not meeting up to the expectations of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fear a lot of things around people and around the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's so crazy that people would have that kind of fear, but yet not the fear of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter what other people think, it matters what God thinks, it doesn't matter what this world is doing, it matters what God told you to do, and we have those perspectives in place, then you're able to walk with God, you're able to be obedient to Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's just so important that you understand again what fear means and understand the things that you fear have that self-reflection and look upon things in your life and see what it is that you're afraid of.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you afraid to step out on faith?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you afraid to work for Jesus?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you afraid to do the great commission?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you afraid to talk to people?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you afraid to spread the gospel?

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is that you're afraid of, analyze that.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are afraid to speak the gospel, if you are afraid to pray over people, that is not healthy, that is not a good fear, that is something that you need to be broke of in Jesus Christ's name, come out from under.

[SPEAKER_00]: But then if you have a fear of God, a reverence and awe and honorable admiration of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a good fear, that's a healthy fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: So analyze your fears.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as I look back on Mishak Shadrake and Bindagal, they stood there in that crowd.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody bowed to that idol except those three.

[SPEAKER_01]: And King Aegon, another opportunity.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, hey, this is King that we've created.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want you to bow, but they told him said, okay, even though the Lord doesn't deliver us, we are not.

[SPEAKER_01]: They had a reverence of fear of God and they knew where they come from.

[SPEAKER_01]: They knew who their God was and you know the story, how they've been thrown in the first, but then the King seemed for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then after that, through their witnessing, through those three of all the kings and presidents and princeses and all that stuff in that land, the king said, the God, a

[SPEAKER_01]: We will cut you a sunder and stand you to the four corners of the world.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it opened his eyes.

[SPEAKER_01]: It opened his eyes.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now he became fearful because of what he did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so therefore, we are a witness for Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: and whatever that you go through for the cause of Christ, I'll guarantee you, God has something in store on the other side, for people to see, just like He did with the King, with me, Shack, Shadrash, and Benco, but they had a, they was not going to bow down to that out because they feared the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so therefore, we've seen what God did through their life.

[SPEAKER_01]: to all these other people's life.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you take Jericho, you know, when the spies came in and said, and Ray had hid the spies and said, we've heard and seen what your God has did, back up to the other two kings, back there, and how he dried up the red sea, and said, now Jericho is completely shut up.

[SPEAKER_01]: because they was fearful of it, but the fear of God has been lost in our nation, it's been lost in our churches, it's been lost in our homes, and it needs to be brought back as Second Chronicle 714 says, if my people, which is called my name, would humble themselves, and that's the problem.

[SPEAKER_01]: People do not want to humble themselves before the Lord, and if they

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, man, how are you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Acts 4 and 12 said, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men for four, man can be saved.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm afraid that people is looking to everything else except Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: No other name under heaven, not Muhammad, not Buddha, not Confucius, none of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's under the name of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And through Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ only, are you going to be saved?

[SPEAKER_01]: to apply to our life, to cleanse us from sins.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need a reverence fear of Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to give a few more examples, because there was some in here, so the strong's concordance.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty much just a breakdown of the translations and the times where they've translated the words, but I'll go over a couple more instances that this says of fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there was an angel of the Lord that told Abraham, I know that thou theorist, God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, that not only son from me, and that was in Genesis.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the people who were delivered from Egypt saw God's great power, and they feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord and his servant Moses.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that fear, you know, it was produced from them seeing and witnessing something that's strike to fear in them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it says there's more involved here than a psychological fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people also shower proper honor and reverence for God and stood in all of him and his servant Moses as their song demonstrates in Exodus 15.

[SPEAKER_00]: After experiencing the thunder and the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and smoking mountain, they were afraid and drew back.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Moses told them not to be afraid.

[SPEAKER_00]: For God has come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this passage, the word represents fear or dread of the Lord, this sense is also found when God says fear not.

[SPEAKER_00]: YAR or fear can be used absolutely with no direct object, meaning to be afraid.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to give you a good example of somebody that feared God and that was Noah.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Noah didn't care about the people around him and what they thought.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't fearing what they thought or their opinions.

[SPEAKER_00]: He feared God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when God told him that there was a flood coming, he believed it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Noah built that art despite what people thought can you imagine in a drought like that and not seeing rain.

[SPEAKER_00]: And all the people around you, in their opinions and their voices and their slander and all the things that Noah had in your, but yet he feared God enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: that he knew that the Word of God was real, and that if God said that the world was going to flood, the world was going to flood.

[SPEAKER_00]: He believed the Word of God over people, and that fear of God is what produced the obedience to create the ark.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's something that can happen in both me and you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can have obedience that is produced through the fear of God, the right kind of fear in God, in knowing what He can do, in knowing what He said, and standing in that word.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you allow that to be a seed planted within you, then that seed will sprout.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will produce something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, fruit is produced, and that is out of obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your obedience to God can produce a lot of fruit in your life, but you have to be obedient to the

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, you know, even you go back to Peter when it warmed himself by the enemy's campbar.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you need to deny Jesus Christ three times.

[SPEAKER_01]: After he told him, Lord, I'll never deny.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go to jail for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll die for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Talk his sheep.

[SPEAKER_01]: Actions prove things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so you can talk all you want to.

[SPEAKER_01]: But until you put the actions behind it, well, it just, that's all it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's tall.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when Peter,

[SPEAKER_01]: when Peter looked and seen his Lord and Savior, the Bible said that he whipped bitterly openly, but then on the day of Pentecost.

[SPEAKER_01]: When Peter done exactly what Jesus said, He said, y'all go here to the upper room, and you stay till you hear from heaven, until you're and do it from power on high.

[SPEAKER_01]: 10 days prayer meeting, and I'm gonna tell you what, when the Holy Spirit came down, it was clove in tongues of fire and locked up mighty Russian.

[SPEAKER_01]: When Peter was no longer afraid,

[SPEAKER_01]: He realized back under what he did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now he was feelful the spirit which is a spirit After the Holy Ghost comes up on you and acts one night said you shall receive power And we need that power and Peter as a spealed out in the street that day began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ He didn't preach Peter.

[SPEAKER_01]: He preached Jesus Christ

[SPEAKER_01]: And 3,000 souls was added to the church daily.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now Peter was set on fire, and I'm gonna tell you what, people needs to be filled with the spirit of Almighty God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so many people are so afraid of the spirit, but he gives you the power.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you the power to witness.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you the power to testify.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you the power to stand up and praise God.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you this power.

[SPEAKER_01]: He gives you the power to a screw evil.

[SPEAKER_01]: to stay away from it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like Joe, we were the righteous man.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so therefore he feared the Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even though actress, children was taken, his wife said, won't you curse God and die, you are a mess.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, blessed be the name of Lord, Lord, give it and the Lord take it the way.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he still put his trust in Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we need to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: No matter what comes our way.

[SPEAKER_01]: the problems that comes our way sometimes is devastating.

[SPEAKER_01]: It just wants to make us put our head in a sand or get in a hole and pull it in and not come out.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm telling you, God does say, it walks us so many times.

[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't waste nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: The problems in our life that come.

[SPEAKER_01]: We, you'll see us through it and we can get looked back and we'll not go back out of way again or we learn from it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We get stronger from it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we need the fear of God, what God can do to us if we don't obey His voice.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm afraid that's where our nation is, I'm afraid that's where church world is.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go into here and sermon it, but we can run down to the Donut and have our step a cigarette.

[SPEAKER_01]: And all that good stuff, you know, and I'm telling you, we need the power of God back in our churches.

[SPEAKER_01]: People fear the Lord when they come in, that they have a testimony upon their heart, that they got one, and just a rare back and letter reapptainment, you know, I'm telling you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So long there's no longer the fear of God is there in the way it used to be and we need it back We need it back and there's only one way to get it back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_01]: My people would humble themselves and pray and seek my face He's he'd be right there with you

[SPEAKER_00]: hey man, come on.

[SPEAKER_00]: What it comes down to is that fear is misinterpreted and you know, I grew up Southern Baptist and my whole life that was all I knew.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just knew to go to church and I knew that you know the pastor would preach, hellfire, he'd preach that if you didn't come up to the altar and give your life to Christ right then that you were going to hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there wasn't anything preached around walking with Christ daily, or anything to do with your home studies, or to grow your own personal relationship with Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't a, hey, go home and read your Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: There was no personal relationship really involved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just speaking for myself and my past experience.

[SPEAKER_00]: you know, people may go to those churches today and it'd be a biblical church, but from my past experiences and the churches that I went to personally, that's how it was.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was preached of a unhealthy fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was almost like a condemnation and in a negative way where people would, you know, have the message preached to them and it was the fear of hell, but then that was it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like they would come up and they would maybe, you know, go to an altar prayer, but then

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, with any relationship, you have to have a personal connection and a deep love and a reverence and a fear of God and have that healthy relationship with Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And without it, it's just religion.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's so many people that are in just religion where it's a patterned out repetition thing where they go to church and, you know, maybe they are sorrowful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's something there every Sunday where they repent.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they go to an altar prayer every Sunday.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if the rest of their lives is not walked out in obedience, if the rest of their lives, if they have no prayer life, they have no study life where they're not reading the Bible, they don't have that personal relationship with Jesus where they know him in an intimate deep level, then it is just religion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like that all a lot of that comes down to the fear of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have a fear of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They just have a fear of religion.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have a fear of what can happen if they don't submit to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have a fear of going to hell, but they don't necessarily have a fear of God himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's the unhealthy type of fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not a bad thing if you're going to hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like everyone should not want to go there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone should have that fear of like, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be torment.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Bible says it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's somewhere I want to avoid.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like there's a whole world out there right now of religion that is preaching hellfire, that is preaching demnation, and it's to scare people rather than show them the fear and admiration that they should have for God, the healthy fear that they should have of this loving creator that gives them grace, and

[SPEAKER_00]: yet that grace is taken advantage of.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of times in the church world of people that take advantage of the grace of God and think, well, if I just come to an altar or prayer, then it cancels out what I've done this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go home and do the same thing next week as I did last week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is their lifestyle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if your lifestyle is not lined up to the Word of God and it's not lined up to obedience and walking in faith with Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's religion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you got religion and not a relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's really important to just reflect in what kind of fears that you have and where they were produced from.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it was produced from an unhealthy fear of someone preaching hell far to you or if it's from a fear of this beautiful relationship that you have with God and that you don't want to perish, that you don't want to go to hell because you've read in the Bible what that place is.

[SPEAKER_00]: But

[SPEAKER_00]: also that you have a loving desire to be with your creator.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think it's so important that you have this healthy fear and not just the unhealthy fear that is preached.

[SPEAKER_01]: it needs to be a healthy fear of us slipping up and that's what the Holy Spirit comes in that leads us in God's us and if we say something just like for instance that we didn't mean to whatsoever the Holy Spirit would be right there and we doesn't need to grieve him but going on but we need that healthy

[SPEAKER_01]: fear of fearing the Lord God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because without him we could even be made, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he knows every part about our bodies, he knows the people that comes into the water that needs a healing, needs a touch.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you've got so many testimonies of that that people has got the the touch and got their healing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that or that or make us open our eyes to see that God is in control.

[SPEAKER_01]: We put our bodies through some things sometimes.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't need to be put through.

[SPEAKER_01]: But through it all, he can steal heal our bodies.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we need that healthy fear that if I don't read every night, there's almost a conviction.

[SPEAKER_00]: Me too.

[SPEAKER_01]: That shows up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Same.

[SPEAKER_01]: And on my heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: To I need to read the words a little or need to get more in the me than what I've got when you write it up on the tablets of your heart And that is God's word.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's breath is right here on paper and that's been written down for us That we need to write it up on the tablets of our heart that if we do miss it We need to have the heavenly spirit you good need get out of the bed and go read your Bible Absolutely, you know because this is God's word.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is his roadmap for us to heaven and it helps us

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you talked about reading your Bible every night and that it's pretty much, that's your obedience and you have to do it kind of thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm the exact same way and I'll tell you years ago, I don't know if I've ever told you a story, but years and years ago was the only that was one day that I didn't read my Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I had read my Bible, I had been so faithful from the time that Jesus called me to do what I'm doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had started teaching, I had started being obedient to everything that he told me to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I went to go visit a friend in Michigan.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this was, you know, like I said it, been a year or two of me reading the word every single day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had done burned through several different translations of the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at this point, I was on a chronological order Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I had read every day since I had my encounter with Jesus every day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I went to go visit a friend, Michigan.

[SPEAKER_00]: and I brought my Bible with me and I left it in the car.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we stayed up and we were talking and everything and I just got tired and so I went to turn in for the night and I went upstairs and I laid down and I thought in my mind I had that oh no I forgot my Bible and then I was like I'll read it tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: And listen to what happened and this you won't talk about strike and fear and how you talked about earlier God chastizing you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not enough it was God chastizing me in this moment or if by me not reading my word That the devil came in but either way however it came about I had the first seizure of my life that night And it was terrifying because I I had not started to not feel good after I decided and I I had a conscious choice Yeah, I

[SPEAKER_00]: to read my bubble that night or not and I was disobedient and I said no and I was going to sleep and as I was falling asleep I started to not feel good and I got up and I went to the restroom and I'm in the restroom and I was just so sick and at this point I was like what is going on and I was so sick well I started having a seizure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I never had one in my life and I was on the floor and I had was paralyzed with fear Like I couldn't say anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't call out and my oldest son actually at the time He was coming to to go to bed and everything too and he comes up to stairs We were in that lady's house and he comes up to stairs and I'm laying like in the floor The bathroom floor like and he could see it down the hallway and he starts you know screaming and yelling for my friends And anyways, they get me to the hospital and during this whole time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can't speak

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm literally like, it's in the Bible where Paul encounters Jesus and then he doesn't see for a few days.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how I felt.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, and I knew, like, I kept thinking, oh my goodness, I didn't read my Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have my word, and, you know, some people may see that story and they may think, oh, it's all coincidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do not think it was coincidence because I have read the Bible every single day since.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then never had that issue and but the thing is is in that moment I had a conscious choice and I was disobeyed It and that produced something in me now that my fear of God It is real and I will not disobey my God and you know when God tells me things like the the small instances of my life I've lined up to obedience because if he tells me something big now like go to Texas Regardless if I want to go there or not I'm going because I'm obedient

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that instance of, hey, I will never go to bed without Reba Babel again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Has turned into years of me showing my faith to the Lord of, of, I learned my lesson.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am obedient and I don't care what goes on in my entire day.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care who's around.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care where I'm at.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will read Babel before I go to see.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Period dot into the story.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, it's just food for the soul, read his word and pray daily.

[SPEAKER_01]: Paul said, pray without ceasing and we need that in our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we're going to be all that God wants us to be, all that God wants us to be, we will activate those things in our life.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll read, we'll pray, we'll meditate and talk to him just like we talked with one another, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Some people said,

[SPEAKER_01]: You talk to him just like you do another person, you know, as you're praying and telling me about your problems.

[SPEAKER_01]: He already knows him all.

[SPEAKER_01]: He just waiting for you to confess him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we need that reverence fear in our life if we miss a night of reading a word.

[SPEAKER_01]: I jumped out of bed the other morning at one thirty in the morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: and got my Bible and read five chapters, but I went to bed and I hadn't read it, and so, but I need that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need this written up on the tablets of our heart.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need it in a mind, and I'll tell you what, it's a best sleep and peel you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't give me room for Satan to come overnight.

[SPEAKER_01]: So read your Bible before you go to bed.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Philippians chapter 2 verse 9 through 12 is that we're for God also has highly exalted him talking back cry singing given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.

Philippians 2:9–12

[SPEAKER_01]: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, who are forth my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in many presence also, but now much more in my aptum, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, fear and trembling.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I pray that this discipleship lesson has helped you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you understand what fear means and fear of God means now, and that you can apply this to your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: We just thank y'all for listening, and we'll see you again on the next discipleship episode.