"What Does It Mean to Fear the Lord?" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

WEBVTT

00:00.947 --> 00:04.933
I have an emergency. What is your location?

00:26.546 --> 00:29.855
'Cause there's a war for your soul. Yeah, that's for sure.

00:30.417 --> 00:33.517
Lord, we thank you for the war. We thank you for the revelation

00:33.614 --> 00:37.132
of the victory that gives us peace and

00:37.228 --> 00:40.521
joy and courage. I thank you, Lord God, that your kingdom

00:40.617 --> 00:44.119
come, your will be done on earth, in and through us, your kingdoms

00:44.536 --> 00:46.849
on earth, as it's being done and declared in heaven.

00:47.428 --> 00:51.074
Lord God, we thank you for Jesus dying on the cross, for emptying out

00:51.574 --> 00:55.766
himself, completely disregarding his blessings

00:55.798 --> 00:58.963
and his merit, his good fortune,

00:59.012 --> 01:03.318
whatever, his health, his everything, giving it all up for us so

01:03.334 --> 01:06.773
that we could live and enjoy eternity

01:06.869 --> 01:09.601
with you. I thank you for salvation. I thank you for the fear of the

01:10.101 --> 01:13.297
Lord. I thank you for people waking up. I thank you for people being waken

01:13.797 --> 01:18.277
up from this enchanted stupor that most people have been brought

01:18.777 --> 01:21.964
under. I thank you, Jesus, for the Holy Spirit. I thank

01:22.464 --> 01:25.570
you for giving us your word. I thank you for teaching us through your word,

01:25.586 --> 01:28.856
Lord God, to walk in the fullness of the favor and blessing and

01:28.873 --> 01:32.383
power and authority that you gave us. You said you shall tread on serpents and

01:32.399 --> 01:36.006
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any

01:36.506 --> 01:38.571
means hurt you. So we thank you for that favor and that blessing and that

01:39.071 --> 01:42.001
courage to use the authority that you've given us today. And I thank you that

01:42.501 --> 01:46.249
you also promised us that no weapon formed against us will prosper.

01:46.409 --> 01:50.021
None. No word said, deed done, action taken, You know how the

01:50.102 --> 01:53.553
enemy is trying to throw lots of roadblocks in front of your people

01:53.585 --> 01:57.020
these days, and you just blow away those roadblocks and walk with

01:57.069 --> 02:01.040
us as victorious in this life,

02:01.104 --> 02:03.346
in this journey. In Jesus' name, amen.

02:04.976 --> 02:08.940
Amen. Well, we're going to talk about a subject that

02:09.440 --> 02:12.840
is hardly ever talked about these days. Oh yeah, what would that be? Well,

02:12.857 --> 02:16.319
first of all, I want you to imagine

02:16.819 --> 02:20.110
a turkey dinner without turkey. It sounds

02:20.126 --> 02:22.761
like something I don't want to go to. And then we want to imagine,

02:23.018 --> 02:25.991
uh, apple pie without apples. Okay.

02:26.553 --> 02:29.911
And then there's a basketball game without a ball.

02:31.389 --> 02:36.338
Where are we going? And that is like Christianity without

02:36.434 --> 02:39.744
the fear of the Lord. Yeah. And what, what is the fear of

02:40.244 --> 02:43.276
the Lord? It's not talked about much. It's like, are we supposed to be scared

02:43.776 --> 02:47.222
of God and just run away from him or whatever, freaked out by God?

02:47.831 --> 02:51.151
Well, basically, to know God is

02:51.216 --> 02:54.728
to fear him. To fear him is to love him.

02:55.546 --> 02:59.364
To love him is to obey him. So basically,

02:59.396 --> 03:02.428
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

03:02.524 --> 03:05.780
It's Proverbs 9:10.

03:05.828 --> 03:09.309
It says fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In other words,

03:09.967 --> 03:13.098
If you don't have fear of the Lord, you don't have any wisdom at all.

03:13.419 --> 03:16.614
Exactly. No counsel. And knowledge of the Holy One

03:16.710 --> 03:19.985
is understanding is the last part of that verse. But the fear of the Lord

03:20.660 --> 03:23.935
basically is— what is it? It's essentially,

03:24.031 --> 03:28.173
it's a deep or holy desire to

03:28.205 --> 03:31.866
please God and a healthy dread

03:31.978 --> 03:35.559
of displeasing him. So you dread displeasing God

03:36.233 --> 03:40.233
but you desire to please him. It's, it's loving him,

03:40.249 --> 03:43.767
loving what he loves, hating what he hates. And it's

03:43.783 --> 03:47.285
basically the fear of the Lord. It's a holy reverence for God.

03:48.040 --> 03:51.558
It's an attitude of the highest respect

03:51.574 --> 03:54.193
and actually alarm and awe of him.

03:54.851 --> 03:58.996
It is an ever-present awareness of his presence

03:59.606 --> 04:04.135
and our accountability to him and our judgment to come. So This

04:04.263 --> 04:07.551
is so important, but in our day, Romans chapter

04:07.615 --> 04:11.431
3:18 says there's no fear of God before

04:11.464 --> 04:14.751
their eyes. Well, in Romans 1, it talks about that too. It says they've given

04:14.831 --> 04:17.958
over being thankful and

04:18.054 --> 04:22.609
God had to give them over to a depraved, deceived mind because

04:22.769 --> 04:26.553
they refused to acknowledge him as the creator when creation

04:27.053 --> 04:29.873
is all around us. Every tree, every bug, every bird,

04:30.306 --> 04:34.788
Everything cries out to the revelation of God's truth. So wisdom

04:34.821 --> 04:38.258
and foolishness are bound up in the fear of the Lord too. It's like,

04:38.275 --> 04:41.536
if you don't recognize that God is the creator,

04:42.275 --> 04:45.809
the one true God, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who created and

04:46.309 --> 04:49.665
filled the earth with the creatures and the purposes and created the

04:49.745 --> 04:53.070
ecosystem and invite— and in all of this to

04:53.215 --> 04:57.039
connect the life forms, to sustain life and promote their, their, um,

04:57.536 --> 05:00.501
gainful advancement. If you don't recognize that,

05:00.517 --> 05:04.251
then all you have left is foolishness. All you have left is the Thanksgiving

05:04.444 --> 05:07.954
dinner without the turkey. And so what's happening is people

05:08.050 --> 05:11.255
have been so sedated, seduced,

05:11.336 --> 05:14.974
deceived, drawn away of their own

05:15.166 --> 05:19.173
lust and enticed and over—

05:19.590 --> 05:22.330
deceived, programmed, propaganda. I don't know.

05:22.939 --> 05:25.904
The world has overtaken the common sense.

05:26.786 --> 05:30.253
Of most people? Well, it comes to fear the Lord, to recognize that

05:30.753 --> 05:34.265
God is the Creator, that he is the one who has ultimately created heaven

05:34.765 --> 05:37.844
and earth, and it is his heaven that we want to go to,

05:38.117 --> 05:41.215
not our own. You know what I'm saying? Well, the whole deal is,

05:41.712 --> 05:45.099
you know, in the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament,

05:45.243 --> 05:48.678
Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, goes on and on and

05:48.854 --> 05:53.299
on about life and everything like that. He comes to the conclusion He

05:53.799 --> 05:57.771
says finally, he says, okay, in Ecclesiastes chapter

05:58.271 --> 06:02.323
12, verses 13 and 14, let us hear the conclusion of the

06:02.823 --> 06:06.507
whole matter. He discusses every possible thing you can discuss

06:07.007 --> 06:10.867
pretty much. He says, here's the deal. Well, here's what really matters. Bottom line,

06:10.899 --> 06:14.088
here it is: fear God and keep his commandments,

06:14.441 --> 06:17.855
for this is man's all. The King James says, for this is

06:17.967 --> 06:21.480
the whole duty of man. Yeah. For God

06:21.980 --> 06:25.205
will bring every work into judgment, including every secret

06:25.705 --> 06:29.123
thing, whether good or evil. Lots of secret things are going to

06:29.623 --> 06:32.543
be brought into the light and are being brought into the light. But the thing

06:32.575 --> 06:35.963
is, okay, so why, why is there so—

06:36.412 --> 06:39.287
is the fear of the Lord such a scarcity? Why is it that that is

06:39.303 --> 06:42.578
not preached? Why is it that that is not part of our

06:42.610 --> 06:45.549
everyday thought? Well, I'll tell you what.

06:46.704 --> 06:50.648
The reason is partly is there's kind of a general denial

06:51.148 --> 06:55.090
of his existence. You know, there's an address that—

06:55.138 --> 06:58.922
there's a special day called April 1st, April Fool's Day,

06:59.532 --> 07:03.268
which is dedicated to all atheists because

07:03.861 --> 07:06.956
Psalm 14:1 says, the fool has said in his heart,

07:06.972 --> 07:10.484
there is no God. Can we talk about foolishness then for just a second as

07:10.500 --> 07:13.162
you're on that word and subject, which we're going to go down to the other

07:13.662 --> 07:18.171
things too. But in Proverbs where it says that The

07:19.338 --> 07:22.679
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So when you look

07:23.179 --> 07:26.600
at wisdom, understanding, of course, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

07:27.100 --> 07:30.906
and understanding. So the opposite of that is foolishness. So what Proverbs

07:31.406 --> 07:36.769
is talking about in a kind of a parallel is that wisdom has prepared

07:37.269 --> 07:40.272
her table, her turkey, her apple pie, all that.

07:40.320 --> 07:43.759
She's prepared the good things with the genuine articles

07:43.791 --> 07:46.267
and ingredients. And, but people,

07:46.746 --> 07:50.530
Um, she's inviting people to come in, to join with her,

07:50.594 --> 07:53.801
to eat my bread and drink my wine, which I have mixed.

07:54.138 --> 07:57.810
Forsake foolishness, verse 6, and live. So the contra—

07:57.986 --> 08:01.322
contraindication is that if you're not walking in the wisdom of God, the fear of

08:01.338 --> 08:04.368
God, which are both the same thing, you're walking

08:04.400 --> 08:09.227
in foolishness. And, you know, forsaking foolishness is the ingredient

08:09.531 --> 08:13.460
to live, to being alive, to live. Forsake foolishness and turn

08:13.960 --> 08:17.361
away from it. Turning away means repenting. So people

08:17.377 --> 08:21.264
have to give up, repent, change their mind, stop going

08:21.312 --> 08:25.070
in that direction, whatever all that means spiritually, carnally,

08:25.247 --> 08:28.844
whatever, to change their mind in order to get rid of the foolishness.

08:29.101 --> 08:32.939
Yeah. Well, you know, why is there so no or very

08:33.052 --> 08:36.135
little fear of the Lord? You know, we deny his— we can deny

08:36.167 --> 08:39.909
his existence or we can misinterpret his nature

08:39.957 --> 08:43.376
and character. Yeah. So we make God after our own image instead of recognizing

08:43.408 --> 08:46.377
that we're created in his image. That's exactly what they did in Romans. Yeah,

08:46.522 --> 08:50.598
in Ecclesiastes chapter 8, beginning with verse 11,

08:51.192 --> 08:55.574
because the sentence against an evil work is not executed

08:55.670 --> 08:59.426
speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully

08:59.458 --> 09:03.680
set on them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil 100 times

09:03.712 --> 09:06.906
and his days are prolonged, yet surely know that it will

09:07.082 --> 09:10.517
be well with those who fear God, who fear before him,

09:10.854 --> 09:14.674
but it will not be well with the wicked. Nor will he prolong

09:14.771 --> 09:18.204
his days, which are as a shadow, because he does

09:18.397 --> 09:21.895
not fear before God. He doesn't fear God, but he's distracted by everything

09:22.071 --> 09:25.152
else, so he doesn't even know the stakes, what the stakes are in this war.

09:25.441 --> 09:28.907
Yeah, and sometimes, you know, there's no fear of the Lord because we're busy

09:29.407 --> 09:32.308
serving other gods, demon gods, ourselves, fear,

09:32.982 --> 09:36.705
pride, success, you know, and that

09:36.769 --> 09:40.588
Romans chapter 1 again talks about that. And then there's the ignorance of his

09:40.700 --> 09:44.242
word. You know, um, you know, we read

09:44.742 --> 09:47.943
about Samuel when he was a boy, 1 Samuel 3:7. It said he did not

09:48.072 --> 09:51.613
yet know the word of the Lord. So people are ignorant

09:52.113 --> 09:54.769
of the word, or they just— and they depend on his word,

09:55.346 --> 09:58.471
or there is a perversion of the gospel. So they're

09:58.971 --> 10:01.868
depending on someone else to give them that word, to bring the word, especially if

10:02.368 --> 10:05.457
they're young and they're not getting it. They're getting video games and

10:05.957 --> 10:09.625
Instagrams and all kinds of other things, but they're not getting the word, the serious

10:09.690 --> 10:12.981
word of the Lord that's able to save their lives. And so

10:13.318 --> 10:16.834
the problem is Satan has blocked or plugged

10:17.334 --> 10:20.222
up all those avenues and channels of giving the word of God. And like you

10:20.722 --> 10:25.327
said, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been mutilated.

10:25.520 --> 10:30.529
Twisted. Yeah. Uh, just, you know, and they have not really given

10:30.802 --> 10:34.447
an accurate understanding that people, even the theologians,

10:34.912 --> 10:38.679
are still fighting about big issues and they can't

10:39.179 --> 10:42.510
seem to get it straight. And so some churches preach grace,

10:42.670 --> 10:46.454
some churches preach, uh, what, what, I don't

10:46.534 --> 10:50.541
know, do the best you can. Um, some preachers preach

10:51.041 --> 10:55.655
it doesn't matter what you do. I mean, the gospel has been so messed

10:56.155 --> 10:59.839
up that the fear of the Lord has been lost in that translation. And another

10:59.983 --> 11:03.750
thing too, there's warnings that come out, but if you don't take heed

11:04.250 --> 11:09.590
to the warnings of God, I think of, uh, in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16

11:10.184 --> 11:13.989
talks about— it's kind of a summary about God had sent

11:14.198 --> 11:17.715
prophets over and over again, rising up early and

11:17.731 --> 11:20.958
sending them, rising up early. They got up, they did year

11:21.022 --> 11:24.635
after year after year. They warned the people to turn from their wickedness,

11:24.940 --> 11:27.927
turn to the Lord, and they did not take heed.

11:28.408 --> 11:31.989
And it said it came to the point where there was no remedy.

11:32.342 --> 11:36.271
Right. No remedy. It was too late for them to repent

11:36.771 --> 11:39.960
anymore because they'd hardened their hearts. They'd resisted the warnings of the Lord.

11:40.040 --> 11:43.922
Well, he's talking to the nation, the kings, the ruling

11:44.050 --> 11:48.140
body that was leading Israel at the time. There's no hope

11:48.640 --> 11:52.711
for them. They wouldn't turn. They wouldn't bow. They wouldn't repent and

11:53.016 --> 11:56.255
recognize that they're in big trouble. They thought they could handle it.

11:56.319 --> 11:59.736
They thought they had allies. They thought they had a plan. And the only

11:59.992 --> 12:03.427
ones who really At that point, when you can't get the

12:03.459 --> 12:06.510
group to repent, when you can't get the society to see

12:07.010 --> 12:10.106
what's gone wrong, when you can't get them to admit they've been deceived, when you

12:10.606 --> 12:14.313
can't get them to admit that they're lost, the only thing left is to admit

12:14.813 --> 12:18.086
it yourself. You have to get to your own individual, this is

12:18.214 --> 12:22.148
okay, you know, this is my life, my eternity is at stake

12:22.648 --> 12:26.243
here. I'm not going to walk away acting like they're

12:26.323 --> 12:30.000
all right and I don't know anything. You have to make your own decision

12:30.578 --> 12:34.592
and turn from the foolishness. King James says, Foolishness is defined as void

12:35.092 --> 12:38.350
of understanding or sound judgment. Foolishness is defined as

12:38.446 --> 12:41.915
a lack of good judgment, or we would say maybe even common

12:42.415 --> 12:44.726
sense or wisdom. So poor judgment,

12:45.352 --> 12:49.029
unwise or irrational choices, silly behavior,

12:49.527 --> 12:52.707
careless, poorly thought out ways. Um,

12:53.638 --> 12:57.653
the opposite of wisdom, not properly thought out. So this is what people

12:58.153 --> 13:01.665
are in there. They're, they're not properly thinking out the word

13:02.165 --> 13:05.336
of God, the consequences, the destiny, and the fact that God's word is God's word

13:05.352 --> 13:08.943
and God is God and God created everything. It's just like we can take it

13:09.103 --> 13:12.405
or leave it. And we prefer most of the time to leave the word of

13:12.905 --> 13:15.916
God because for all kinds of excuses, I don't get it. It's too hard to

13:16.416 --> 13:20.260
understand. It's boring. I, you know, I don't like what it says. Um, I don't

13:20.760 --> 13:23.530
know how to make God happy. And so I'm just going to do the best

13:24.030 --> 13:26.736
I can. Don't do the best you can. That's not going to work.

13:27.137 --> 13:30.888
What works is accepting Jesus Christ as your, as your

13:30.904 --> 13:33.872
redeemer, as your Savior, as the one who paid the price for you to get

13:34.372 --> 13:36.424
to heaven, and then do the second thing he said to do, and that is

13:36.536 --> 13:40.002
follow him. And following him means denying yourself, giving up,

13:40.051 --> 13:43.116
you know, you know, what did Jesus say? How do you say,

13:43.276 --> 13:45.924
come follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.

13:46.390 --> 13:49.423
So it's really what, what is

13:49.519 --> 13:53.178
eternal life worth to you? I mean, what is, what are you given?

13:53.291 --> 13:56.388
He says, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Do you

13:56.420 --> 14:00.734
want foolish, you know, temporary remedies

14:01.728 --> 14:05.094
to fill your days until your days are done. And then you have to

14:05.594 --> 14:07.867
give an account to God for the foolishness and the way you spent your time.

14:08.364 --> 14:12.227
It's not going to be good. 2 Timothy chapter 4 talks

14:12.727 --> 14:16.604
about the time will come, verse 3. Paul is warning Timothy. He tells

14:16.620 --> 14:19.008
him, verse 2, preach the word.

14:19.745 --> 14:23.015
Just bring the word of God. He says, why do

14:23.031 --> 14:26.221
you do— and he's basically explaining why. Verse 3,

14:26.237 --> 14:30.163
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,

14:30.211 --> 14:33.784
but according to their own desires. They want it the way

14:34.284 --> 14:38.270
they want it. Because they have itching ears, they will heap up

14:38.770 --> 14:42.020
for themselves teachers, and they will— these teachers— so

14:42.260 --> 14:46.538
if they don't want the truth, the enemy will send teachers, will give

14:47.038 --> 14:50.256
the people what they think they want, which is not the truth, and they will

14:50.288 --> 14:53.701
turn their ears away from the truth and be turned

14:53.894 --> 14:57.020
aside to fables, foolishness,

14:57.180 --> 15:00.755
fantasy, folly, foolishness, all these

15:00.867 --> 15:04.025
things. That's what we're feasting on.

15:04.715 --> 15:08.530
We're eating at imaginary dinners of Thanksgiving dinners, imaginary,

15:08.626 --> 15:12.634
you know, uh, virtual dinners, not really sit

15:13.134 --> 15:17.187
down at the table, eat and fellowship. We're being satisfied with nothing,

15:17.684 --> 15:21.467
with, uh, visions and images that

15:21.967 --> 15:25.813
are not even real. And yet where is reality?

15:25.877 --> 15:29.003
Where's truth? Where's seriousness? It's like, um,

15:29.083 --> 15:32.402
God, Jesus said, follow me, you know, the fear

15:32.531 --> 15:35.753
and the reverence of the heaven and maker of heaven and earth. That is where

15:36.603 --> 15:40.115
in Romans 1 we've lost it. You don't reverence, we don't reverence

15:40.211 --> 15:43.369
the fact that God is God and he is over and in control of all

15:43.869 --> 15:47.121
these things because we have given all that power and authority to the devil.

15:47.666 --> 15:51.001
And with your phone now, you can just make yourself

15:51.113 --> 15:55.810
look like anything. You can make anybody look like anything. You can just make— create

15:56.002 --> 15:58.310
images. And so that— but that's what we've done,

15:59.224 --> 16:02.767
created false images. We've created our false

16:03.267 --> 16:06.758
images of who God is, the record of heaven, rather than

16:07.258 --> 16:10.782
examining, like you say, the record of heaven. The record of heaven.

16:10.910 --> 16:14.902
My book, it says the books are written. The book of your life is being

16:14.934 --> 16:18.508
recorded, the real life of you, not your fake identity

16:18.845 --> 16:22.486
and your foolish silliness, but really the divine

16:23.416 --> 16:27.042
choices we're making either for or against ourselves

16:27.542 --> 16:30.988
and eternal life. And so if there's no fear of God, no fear and reverence

16:31.052 --> 16:34.822
for the maker of heaven and earth and his laws that govern that

16:35.322 --> 16:39.971
earth and us, which simply— his law simply reduces

16:40.035 --> 16:43.420
down to one very simple thing: do unto others as you'd have them do unto

16:43.920 --> 16:47.302
you. It's the law of love, the golden rule. And so Really

16:47.495 --> 16:50.897
following Jesus and walking in the fear

16:51.010 --> 16:54.316
of God will promote the love

16:54.816 --> 16:58.329
of God, and it will promote righteousness and truth and justice and equity

16:58.829 --> 17:01.747
for everyone. And so when there's no fear of the Lord,

17:01.763 --> 17:06.466
there's, there's chaos, there's anarchy, there's corruption,

17:07.220 --> 17:09.772
there's lying, there's injustice,

17:10.527 --> 17:15.084
there's frustration. There's sickness and death. There's plagues

17:15.164 --> 17:19.691
and epidemics because people are being destroyed

17:19.835 --> 17:23.735
literally, physically, mentally, emotionally by the very things

17:24.169 --> 17:27.860
that we permit because there is no fear of God and there's no love

17:28.360 --> 17:31.825
of one another. God's law of love. What's so bad about that

17:31.937 --> 17:35.292
law? When God says love, forgive. When God says forgive

17:35.725 --> 17:38.871
and God says love. So if God is commanding us to forgive and love one

17:38.919 --> 17:42.918
another and forgive ourselves, forgive then what kind of a God would

17:42.934 --> 17:46.145
say that if it's not a God who practices the same things? Why would

17:46.161 --> 17:48.506
God tell us to love if he doesn't love? Why would God tell us to

17:49.006 --> 17:52.793
forgive if forgiveness isn't that important? Yet we realize

17:52.825 --> 17:56.341
that God is asking us to live in the mandates

17:56.841 --> 17:59.954
of love, forgiveness, and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord,

17:59.970 --> 18:03.326
we tend to think of as, you know, being scared of God and

18:03.826 --> 18:07.716
just, you can't do anything right. And you're just under the gun all

18:08.070 --> 18:11.970
the time. Well, God is keeping track of our

18:12.034 --> 18:14.500
lives, right? And we're accountable to him.

18:14.597 --> 18:18.057
That's in a sense that way we're under the gun

18:19.706 --> 18:23.407
from, from the Lord. But here's the deal, is the fear of the Lord

18:23.907 --> 18:27.417
is something, it's so marvelous, it's so wonderful. It's life-giving.

18:27.835 --> 18:31.439
It really is. It says in Proverbs 14:26-27,

18:33.723 --> 18:37.185
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence,

18:37.794 --> 18:41.385
and his children will have a place of refuge. Amen. And,

18:41.577 --> 18:44.944
and then in the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is a

18:45.444 --> 18:49.047
fountain of life to turn one away from the

18:49.547 --> 18:53.408
snares of death. Right. So it's a fountain of life, it's life-giving,

18:53.456 --> 18:57.175
it's the beginning of wisdom. It's basically the fear of the Lord is

18:57.351 --> 19:00.782
really, it's a monitor of our behavior When we have

19:00.975 --> 19:03.702
reverence for God. And it's not,

19:04.585 --> 19:07.761
I think I could do this, I want to do this,

19:08.659 --> 19:11.692
but I— there's a temptation to do this,

19:12.269 --> 19:15.333
but I have a fear of the Lord that I'm not going to do it

19:15.833 --> 19:19.729
because I have reverence for God. It's interesting, in Genesis

19:20.229 --> 19:23.900
chapter 39, verse 9, Joseph was a

19:24.400 --> 19:27.709
young man away from home. Long ways away from home,

19:28.419 --> 19:31.730
working away, no hope of being reunited with his family either,

19:31.827 --> 19:35.396
working though with integrity, doing a great job.

19:35.460 --> 19:38.818
But then he had Mrs. Potiphar saying, you know, come to bed with

19:38.834 --> 19:42.255
me. And he said no. He resisted

19:42.755 --> 19:45.786
her over and over again. And finally his reason was, you know,

19:47.216 --> 19:50.719
that you could think, okay, then I said this would be fun.

19:50.848 --> 19:53.740
You could do this. Nobody will know. Nobody will know.

19:54.456 --> 19:58.430
You know, but anyway, but the fear of the Lord—

19:58.930 --> 20:02.164
why? He said, how can I do this thing? This is how he replied to

20:02.664 --> 20:05.849
her when she was trying to pressure him to have sex with her.

20:06.490 --> 20:09.983
He said, how could I do this great wickedness,

20:10.320 --> 20:13.028
this great evil, and sin against God?

20:13.525 --> 20:16.729
And also sin against himself, right? Against himself,

20:16.745 --> 20:20.559
against her, against Potiphar, and all that stuff. But his primary

20:20.992 --> 20:24.887
motivation was, I am not going to sin against

20:24.903 --> 20:28.270
God. Well, here's the interesting thing. If you declare, I am

20:28.286 --> 20:31.924
not going to sin against God, and that's your standard and that's

20:31.956 --> 20:35.579
the way you make your decision, then you're not going to sin against yourself and

20:36.079 --> 20:38.705
you're not going to sin and do something you hate yourself for. And you're not

20:39.205 --> 20:42.344
going to sin against another person who is being defrauded or being

20:42.456 --> 20:45.614
used by the enemy through you to be hurt.

20:46.095 --> 20:49.189
So when you have the fear of the Lord, you're going to walk in counsel

20:49.285 --> 20:52.764
and godliness. And that can apply to every area of your

20:53.264 --> 20:56.551
life, not just, you know, religious things. I mean, the fear of

20:56.583 --> 21:00.787
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is the contradiction or

21:00.835 --> 21:04.045
the destruction of foolishness. Foolishness is based on, like you said earlier,

21:04.366 --> 21:07.206
the fables, the fantasies, the fairy tales, uh,

21:07.720 --> 21:10.865
and all of that stuff that people are just taken up with.

21:11.411 --> 21:15.454
It is terrifying if you really stop and think about how

21:15.535 --> 21:19.322
many people are being seduced by that,

21:19.450 --> 21:23.670
that feeling, that foolishness and that folly and not walking

21:23.766 --> 21:26.908
in the fear of the Lord. I mean, if there were a fear of the

21:27.408 --> 21:31.060
Lord, there would be a fear of sinning. There would be— sin would

21:31.076 --> 21:34.539
be curtailed and not exploding all over

21:35.039 --> 21:38.819
the place. And there would be safety because people wouldn't be killing each

21:38.915 --> 21:42.987
other randomly just to shoot their gun or whatever

21:43.003 --> 21:46.289
they're trying. They're insane. They're being taken over by

21:46.789 --> 21:50.072
demonic forces. And there's no, there's no way

21:50.152 --> 21:54.689
to restrain them because the fear of the Lord is a restraining spirit

21:54.721 --> 21:58.779
because it brings us into the place of being in our right

21:58.811 --> 22:02.389
mind. In your right mind, you know that this earth

22:02.437 --> 22:05.694
is a temporary dwelling place, that this earth is not my eternal home.

22:06.095 --> 22:09.641
We— a temporary dwelling place that I need to, I want,

22:09.721 --> 22:12.753
I must understand what is the

22:13.253 --> 22:16.604
call here? What is the purpose here? Why am I here? And it's

22:17.104 --> 22:19.764
not just to live under the trees and have a picnic all the time.

22:19.893 --> 22:23.295
And yes, that's fine, but You— it's to know your

22:23.795 --> 22:27.854
eternal identity and destiny in Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah

22:28.354 --> 22:32.156
23:23-24, it says, am I a God near at

22:32.252 --> 22:35.896
hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? He's saying,

22:36.024 --> 22:39.476
I am— he's saying, I am a God near at hand. I'm right here all

22:39.976 --> 22:44.115
the time. Verse 24, can anyone hide himself in secret

22:44.131 --> 22:47.453
places so I shall not see

22:47.502 --> 22:51.367
him, says the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and

22:51.867 --> 22:55.534
earth, says the Lord. Hebrews 4:13 says everything is naked

22:56.034 --> 22:59.301
and open with whom we have to do. And so he,

22:59.382 --> 23:02.395
he basically sees us. He sees everything.

23:03.213 --> 23:06.563
He's always here. He's always watching.

23:06.900 --> 23:10.090
And we, we are accountable to him. And it's not like he's watching in

23:10.138 --> 23:14.113
it like a hawk to try to

23:14.613 --> 23:18.025
find a fault with us. God already knows the difficulties

23:18.041 --> 23:22.289
you're in today. He knows the battle you're having with folly and foolishness

23:22.305 --> 23:26.667
and lies. He knows how the enemy is, the liar, the snakes

23:26.699 --> 23:30.404
are trying to wrap themselves around you to choke you, to bite

23:30.468 --> 23:34.605
you, to sting you, to discourage you, to poison you. He knows all

23:34.653 --> 23:38.181
these things and he is here as a refuge. He's here

23:38.502 --> 23:42.222
as a protection. He's where he walks this road with

23:42.254 --> 23:45.445
us by the power of his Holy Spirit and through the word of his word.

23:45.814 --> 23:49.565
So you can make it. You can walk this road and be

23:50.065 --> 23:53.506
successful in the, in the wisdom and the counsel and understanding the fear

23:54.006 --> 23:57.063
of the Lord. You can do it because if it would be impossible, then God

23:57.095 --> 23:59.851
would be unjust to expect us to do something that cannot be done.

24:00.363 --> 24:04.065
It's not like you have to be— he's not saying be perfect.

24:04.449 --> 24:07.830
Jesus, when the rich young ruler came and he listed, you know,

24:07.846 --> 24:10.634
what must I do to be saved or do to inherit eternal life?

24:11.178 --> 24:14.110
Jesus asked him, what were the commandments? The guy told him what the commandments were.

24:14.158 --> 24:17.604
And Jesus says, great. He says, but you missed one. That is, you know,

24:17.684 --> 24:21.259
go sell all that you have and follow me. In other words, the kid was

24:21.371 --> 24:24.785
trying to be good, good, good, perfect, good, A+ on his report card

24:24.818 --> 24:27.639
every day, perfect in every way. And Jesus said, what? Whoa,

24:27.783 --> 24:31.550
whoa, that's— you missed something. And the big thing he missed was, you know,

24:32.095 --> 24:35.558
can he part with his idol? Can he part with

24:36.058 --> 24:40.111
his wealth, his self-righteousness, his religious perfectionism?

24:40.367 --> 24:43.800
Can he let go of that and follow Jesus,

24:43.960 --> 24:47.172
roll up your sleeves and get messy to help other people get saved.

24:47.268 --> 24:50.286
I mean, the kid was not ready, but Jesus,

24:51.025 --> 24:54.204
he said in the beginning of that conversation, there's none good but one,

24:54.252 --> 24:57.576
and that's God. Because the man said, good master, what must I

24:57.704 --> 25:00.932
do to inherit salvation? And Jesus said, there's none good.

25:01.172 --> 25:04.512
So God does not expect us to be— I'm not giving you a blank

25:05.012 --> 25:07.113
check to go be naughty. You don't want to be naughty. You're not created by

25:07.613 --> 25:11.154
God to want to be bad. But we don't have to be perfect. We follow

25:11.170 --> 25:14.423
Jesus, and in that following, he perfects

25:14.711 --> 25:18.862
that which concerns us. And we don't have to be paranoid that, ooh, I gotta

25:19.362 --> 25:22.740
just be perfect, do everything just— or God will be mad at me, you know.

25:22.804 --> 25:26.778
So you— God isn't calling— God isn't like that— to neurosis,

25:27.435 --> 25:30.688
right? To be neurotic about following the Lord. It's just interesting.

25:31.281 --> 25:35.049
Psalm— God is our Father. Psalm 24, beginning with verse

25:35.549 --> 25:39.127
12. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him he shall

25:39.641 --> 25:43.045
teach in the way he chooses. So he— if you have fear

25:43.093 --> 25:46.866
of the Lord, the Lord is going to teach you, right? He himself

25:47.366 --> 25:50.720
shall dwell in prosperity. There's prosperity that's going to come to you.

25:51.186 --> 25:54.365
His descendants shall inherit the earth. So you—

25:54.477 --> 25:57.753
when you fear the Lord, I think the best thing that,

25:58.411 --> 26:01.734
you know, I heard a broadcast

26:02.234 --> 26:04.574
a few days ago saying the best thing you can do for your kids is

26:04.607 --> 26:07.704
follow the Lord yourself. Don't be praying so much

26:08.218 --> 26:11.893
for them to follow the Lord. Yes, you do, but when you follow the Lord

26:12.393 --> 26:16.066
yourself, that's the best thing to have influence

26:16.566 --> 26:20.575
your kids, that they too will follow the Lord. It says he himself

26:21.619 --> 26:25.502
will dwell in prosperity, his descendants shall inherit the earth. I just repeated

26:25.551 --> 26:28.887
that. The secret of the Lord is with those

26:28.984 --> 26:32.738
who fear him, and he will show them his

26:33.090 --> 26:36.507
covenant. So the, the arrangement that he has made with us—

26:36.604 --> 26:40.053
so there's going to be revelation, the secret of

26:40.553 --> 26:44.143
the Lord, those things God is going to reveal things to

26:44.224 --> 26:47.384
you that you need to know. But here's the bottom line: if you have

26:47.432 --> 26:50.159
the fear of the Lord, well, the fear of the Lord helps us to make

26:50.659 --> 26:53.928
right decisions, and the right decision is to Walk in fear of the Lord.

26:53.976 --> 26:57.246
Now that doesn't mean, again, God calls himself,

26:57.551 --> 27:01.799
reveals himself as our Father, our Heavenly Father, as Jesus told

27:02.299 --> 27:05.550
us and showed us. So a Father, he is a perfect

27:06.050 --> 27:09.477
Father, a perfect Father that lets us, lets things kind of play out sometimes when

27:09.977 --> 27:13.068
he's teaching us, letting us learn things, exercising our free will,

27:13.373 --> 27:16.627
deciding that he's the right answer. And so as we

27:17.127 --> 27:20.762
learn to make right decisions, wise decisions, that foolishness, he says foolishness

27:20.859 --> 27:24.113
is bound in the heart of the child. So when we walk in wisdom

27:24.161 --> 27:27.373
and the fear of the Lord, of that foolishness dissipates and we're becoming more and

27:27.873 --> 27:32.449
more righteous in our faithfulness and

27:32.513 --> 27:35.147
in the finished work that God has for us. But I'm gonna tell you something,

27:35.163 --> 27:38.649
people, we are in such a critical place right now.

27:38.778 --> 27:42.296
You cannot play around with this anymore. You can't wait another

27:42.796 --> 27:46.472
day. You can't say, well, I'm just stuck. I'm demonized.

27:46.568 --> 27:50.327
I'm done. I'm bad. I'm this. Cry out,

27:50.343 --> 27:53.555
surrender your whole mess to God and say,

27:53.635 --> 27:57.054
Lord, will you give me not only the fear of the Lord, but also an

27:57.150 --> 28:01.018
understanding of why I should fear you? Because you love me.

28:01.724 --> 28:04.998
And so it's a— we think of fear as being a bad

28:05.030 --> 28:08.384
thing, but love is the— I fear the

28:08.400 --> 28:10.599
Lord because I love the Lord. I love the Lord because I fear the Lord.

28:11.513 --> 28:14.803
Yeah. And Jesus, as he, you know,

28:15.365 --> 28:19.378
lived here on earth in the fear of the Lord, it says in Isaiah

28:19.878 --> 28:23.715
11:2, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and

28:24.215 --> 28:28.196
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge

28:28.469 --> 28:31.440
and of the fear of the Lord. So,

28:32.083 --> 28:35.311
and then it goes on to say here, his delight—

28:35.376 --> 28:38.957
this is referring to Jesus— his delight is in the Lord,

28:39.134 --> 28:41.897
in the fear, is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by

28:41.961 --> 28:45.541
the sight of his eyes nor discern by the hearing of his ears,

28:45.653 --> 28:49.100
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for

28:49.600 --> 28:52.947
the weak of the meek of the earth. So his delight is in the

28:53.447 --> 28:56.730
fear of the Lord. And I think of in the book

28:56.778 --> 29:00.690
of Acts, there was— there were people that, well, when Ananias

29:00.866 --> 29:05.002
and Sapphira tried to lie to the Holy Spirit, God knocked

29:05.034 --> 29:08.737
them down dead. And there was a fear of the Lord, the reverence for

29:09.237 --> 29:12.424
God. It's like God is just saying, draw the line here. He says, I'm not

29:12.924 --> 29:15.758
going to put up with this lying to the Holy Spirit.

29:15.870 --> 29:19.444
But now Nowadays, you know, when the correction

29:19.492 --> 29:23.322
doesn't come quickly in an error, then people think, well, I got

29:23.822 --> 29:26.462
by with that. I can do that again. There's no big deal. There's no consequences.

29:26.527 --> 29:30.324
There's no judgment. Don't be fooled. There is a judgment

29:30.436 --> 29:33.433
and it is coming. And you do not want to be on the wrong side

29:33.933 --> 29:37.535
of that judgment for your sake, for your children's sake, for even

29:37.583 --> 29:40.836
God's sake. So this is serious. I mean,

29:40.852 --> 29:45.404
your life can be full of the joy of the Lord, as you walk respectfully

29:45.436 --> 29:50.005
and in the fear of the Lord. So again, this is a crisis

29:50.505 --> 29:54.429
point we're at right now with people just pushing away the fear

29:54.929 --> 29:57.443
of the Lord and just saying, I'll do it my way, or I don't have

29:57.943 --> 30:00.777
to do this. I, you know, or I give up on doing anything.

30:00.969 --> 30:04.881
I, you know, people are giving up on their lives. They're getting

30:04.929 --> 30:08.006
sick. They're getting medically diagnosed. You're going to die in

30:08.038 --> 30:11.212
3 months, whatever. You got this, this, and this. People are just giving

30:11.309 --> 30:13.905
up on their lives. And if you've been diagnosed and are giving up on your

30:14.405 --> 30:18.376
life, at least do one thing right before you go. Begin to reverence

30:18.876 --> 30:22.559
and fear and seek God. Cry out to him for your life. Repent.

30:23.023 --> 30:26.596
Turn around. Get serious about your life. It's not too late.

30:26.644 --> 30:28.840
It's not even too late if you go up to the last minute. Please,

30:28.888 --> 30:31.387
it's not too late because you can still,

30:32.060 --> 30:36.291
um, make that thing right with God. Here's a wonderful description

30:36.419 --> 30:40.008
of the churches, the early churches in the book of Acts.

30:40.553 --> 30:42.299
Acts chapter 9, verse 31.

30:43.534 --> 30:47.369
Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria

30:47.869 --> 30:51.379
had peace and were edified. They had peace and they were built

30:51.879 --> 30:56.353
up and walking in the fear of the Lord and

30:56.385 --> 30:59.626
in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were multiplied.

31:00.139 --> 31:03.444
So they were living in the fear of the Lord, respect and

31:03.944 --> 31:07.503
obedience, respect for God, reverence for God. And along with that,

31:07.519 --> 31:11.291
they had the comfort the strength and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

31:11.612 --> 31:15.996
And they were multiplied. Well, the fear of the Lord, one more thing, is believing

31:16.269 --> 31:19.641
what God says in his word. And if you fear

31:20.141 --> 31:23.591
the Lord and obey the Lord, then you'll have the rewards and the outcome that

31:23.639 --> 31:27.155
the Lord says. So the outcomes we're looking for

31:27.268 --> 31:30.206
begin with fearing the Lord. So Father God,

31:30.864 --> 31:33.546
in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, who you know,

31:34.974 --> 31:38.483
has come to give us life. Oh Lord,

31:38.532 --> 31:41.701
forgive us for being so ignorant,

31:43.100 --> 31:46.868
so distracted, so unaware of the

31:47.383 --> 31:50.781
stakes, of the things that are at stake in this matter

31:51.281 --> 31:55.031
of being on this planet. Father, I pray that

31:55.531 --> 31:59.279
your Spirit would move quickly and deeply in the hearts and the minds

32:00.087 --> 32:03.280
and the souls and the spirits of the people who are listening,

32:03.793 --> 32:06.681
that they will repent, that we will all repent,

32:07.306 --> 32:10.660
that we will change our minds, stop doing what isn't working and

32:10.708 --> 32:14.430
surrender to you, Lord God. Let the fear of the Lord come upon this nation,

32:15.168 --> 32:18.441
uh, in, in a, in a true reckoning,

32:18.794 --> 32:22.548
a true opportunity to repent and

32:22.564 --> 32:25.756
be brought into the fullness of your

32:26.256 --> 32:29.402
salvation and your eternal life. Thank you, Jesus.

32:31.320 --> 32:34.668
Amen. Hey, another thing here too, in the fear of

32:35.168 --> 32:38.695
the Lord, that affects of course our relationship with God first

32:39.195 --> 32:43.094
of all, with ourselves and with one another. And you have a wonderful book

32:43.126 --> 32:46.741
called Doing Relationships God's Way. Tell us a little

32:47.241 --> 32:50.374
bit about that. Yeah, there are many relationships we have. The one we have with

32:50.874 --> 32:53.902
ourself is probably the primary, most important one brings,

32:54.817 --> 32:58.171
defines all the other relationships we have with other people. But there's

32:58.251 --> 33:02.214
one, our relationship with God, our relationship with how

33:02.343 --> 33:05.937
we see him, who he is to us, and what does that

33:06.437 --> 33:10.382
mean? So I would say doing relationships God's way starts

33:10.882 --> 33:13.800
with your relationship with yourself and with God. So again,

33:14.314 --> 33:18.229
you can find that on amazon.com

33:18.325 --> 33:22.048
or amazon.com. I think this is Amazon and then, or liferecovery.com.

33:22.096 --> 33:26.410
So we encourage you, Pick it up and

33:26.910 --> 33:30.834
be encouraged. Read your Bible most of all. Just find the places where

33:31.334 --> 33:34.344
God— read about Jesus in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

33:34.681 --> 33:38.592
Open the book and start reading. Open the book. As the

33:39.092 --> 33:42.551
Bible says about Samuel when he was a little boy, God revealed himself to

33:43.051 --> 33:46.687
Samuel by the word of the Lord. And you will come into a

33:47.187 --> 33:50.293
great reverence for God, an appreciation for God, his power,

33:50.373 --> 33:53.435
his magnificence, his beauty, his grace,

33:53.499 --> 33:56.931
his love, his truth, as the Word of God is going to

33:56.947 --> 34:00.346
reveal you and develop in you that proper

34:00.410 --> 34:03.985
reverence for Almighty God. So take a hold of your life. Pay attention

34:04.017 --> 34:06.984
to your life. It's your life. It is your life that you're going to give

34:07.484 --> 34:10.367
an account of someday. It is precious. It is a gift.

34:10.912 --> 34:14.984
Pay attention. And God bless you. And hopefully we'll see

34:15.484 --> 34:18.929
you again soon. I have an emergency. What is your location?

34:40.367 --> 34:43.813
Rescue Radio, 'cause there's a war for your soul.