 I want to dive into a topic that is not rarely discussed in church, and especially even by me, the topic of the fear of God. I want to title this today, Don't be afraid, fear God. I know it's a contradiction, but don't be afraid, fear God. The idea of fear of the Lord is very confusing for some people, because some people are saying how can you love God and fear Him at the same time? The Bible says love casts out fear. Why does Bible expects us to fear the Lord and love the Lord? It's very simple. How can you fear someone you deeply love? You can understand that when you get married, how you would love this person deeply and be terrified of them at the same time. Fear of the Lord is not being scared of God. It's living with the awareness of His presence that causes us to change how we live. If you've ever seen a police officer on the road, how many of you know that if you're not aware that the police officer is on the road on the side, your driving is by grace? The signs are there, but they're for other people. They're not for you, because you're in a hurry, because you have your own rules. And the police officer doesn't change anything until you become aware of the police officer. Then quickly, grace goes out of the window and the law steps in. You quickly, you slow down, you right away check, buckle up, you turn off your phone, and then prayer language starts. Father God in the name of Jesus, Mary, anybody out there, just kind of Lord, I promise. And then you begin to make vows. You begin to make promises. You're driving changes. You go from a reckless by grace driver to a person who obeys the law, your heart begins to beat. You're not scared that the person is going to do something bad to you, the police officer. You're just simply scared. You're just scared a little bit, and that changes your driving. Now God is not your police officer. He is the Father. But when you live with the awareness of His presence, you're driving changes. You're talking changes. How many of you had a morning when you spent time with the Lord and you felt an overwhelming presence of His? You felt like you were walking on water after that. Your spouse was nicer. You were nicer to them. That you didn't beat the dog, didn't curse the cat. Everything around you seemed a little bit better. You walked out with a different attitude. Why? Because when you live with the awareness of God's presence, you will always live, speak and have a different attitude. And my friend, that is the fear of God. Come on somebody. Fear of God is an incredible respect and reverence growing out of the greatness and the power of God. Young people especially always ask this question of me and they probably ask of you, how can I have the fire of God? I just want to have a fire of God and I hope they don't mean by have a hype for God but have this burning desire for God. I always tell young people this, don't seek the fire of God. Seek the fear of God. Any time you have a fear of the Lord, you will always have the fire of God. The fire of God is not emotionalism. The fire of God is not hype. The fire of God is not having an outburst of passion for God that lasts for the weekend. The fire of God is not having a one night stand with God. The fire of God is not having a weekend custody where God has a weekend custody of you. And then the rest of the week you live as you own the fire of God. It comes out of the fear of the Lord that causes you to run from sin and run after Him. Can somebody say amen? I'm going to have four points today. I didn't preach for a few weeks so it accumulated. The first thing if you have your notes or if you're watching us on live stream you can write below is this. The fear of the Lord is not the same as being scared of God. Being scared of God is not the same as the fear of the Lord. You don't have to read very far into the Bible. Third chapter of the book of the Bible and you will see a man scared of God. Adam hid because the scripture says, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. My friend, that is not fear of the Lord. That is being scared of God. Because the one who is afraid of God hides from God. The one who has the fear of God hides in God. And there's a world of difference. John Bovier said the fear of God is not being afraid of God. It's being afraid of being away from God. That will preach. The fear of God is not being scared of God. It's being afraid of being away from God. In Exodus chapter 20 verse 18 and I'm going to read the four verses. I want you to listen to these verses very carefully as I read. Now all the people witnessed thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of a trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. Verse 19. Then they said to Moses, you speak with us and we will hear. Do not let God speak with us lest we die. Verse 20. And Moses said to the people, do not fear for God has come down to test you. That his fear may be before you that you may not sin. So people, the Israel were scared because who wouldn't be? When Almighty God came on the mountain and the mountain is shaking and not two smoke machines. I'm talking about real smoke. Not controlled behind a sound booth by a man like Ryan Fink. But a smoke controlled by angels in heaven. And the mountain is shaking. There's a lightning and the people are standing far on the thing. Moses, go talk to God because we don't want to hear. When he starts speaking, imagine what's going to happen. And I want you to see what Moses says. He says, God is doing that. But don't be afraid. Why? So you can have his fear. They were scared. But that's not the fear of God. You know who had a fear of God, Moses? Because he went into that thundering. He went into that scary place. Because the fear of the Lord always draws you close. He's scared of God, pulls you away. Verse 21, it says, The people stood far off. But Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. And I'm going to coin a quote by John Bovier. He said, the one who is afraid of God stays at a distance. The one who fears God stays close. The big difference between the fear of God is it draws you close. Being scared of God keeps you at a distance. Being scared of God is one of the first signs you don't have his fear. Because his fear pulls you in. And I'm going to explain that a little bit. So for those of you who are like, man, I grew up with an abusive father or maybe I grew up with an abusive authority. And now the fear of God, the last thing I need is to hear about that. It's actually really good for you. Stay tuned. My problem personally that I see among Christians today, myself included. Many of us have a relationship with God. We lack reverence for him. We're going to heaven, but living in hell. We flirt with sin instead of fleeing sin. We can speak in towns 300 miles per hour. And our lives many times, they don't resemble any different than the people we work with and the people that we hang out with. And it's not that we don't have a relationship with God. It's that we lack reverence for the God we have a relationship with. Who we revere is our governors. Who we revere is our doctors. Because when the doctor calls you and they said, you got positive COVID, you don't even think second time is it true or not. Yes, I'm sick. When God says you heal, you're like, nah. We don't tremble before his word. We tremble before sin. And I'm not saying to doubt doctors. I'm not saying to disrespect the authorities. What I'm saying is that we have reverence for everything that moves. Except God. But the God we have relationship with. It's lovey dovey thing. Oh, I love him. My friend, that is awesome. But your Christian life can really have an upgrade if you go from having relationship with God and take a step higher and have a reverence for him. You will tremble at his word. You will honor his presence. You will live with the awareness of who he is in your life. My friend, your view of sin is going to change. Your view on the immorality is going to change. Your view on the world is going to change. Having the fear of God is not the same as being scared of God. Having the fear of God is a good thing. You're drawn to him. You have a reverence. You have a deep respect. You have an awe. You tremble before his word. What his word says, that settles it for you. It brings calm to you. And you are then number two, free from every other fear. Fear of the Lord removes every other fear. Fear of the Lord gives you freedom, not to panic, not to be timid, and not to be terrified. Fear of the Lord is amazing because fear of the Lord, especially at this hour, freezes. Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 28, he says, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Every person watching us right now and sitting in this room will have fear in their life. We just have to choose which fear we're going to have. You will never be able to live without fear, my friend marked my words. You will just have to choose which fear you want to have. You can have a fear of the Lord or fear of being single all your life. You can have fear of the Lord or fear of bankruptcy. You can have fear of the Lord or fear of cancer. You can have fear of the Lord or fear of COVID. You can have fear of the Lord or fear of being rejected. The fear of never utilizing your dreams. The fear of not being accepted. You can choose your fear, my friend, but it's not possible to remove fear. You can only replace it. And it's time to put fear in its place. Put the right fear in our life so that we walk with the fear of the Lord. Does that mean that all other things don't matter? Does that mean that we are reckless? Does that mean that we walk through the valley of the shadow of death with a smile on our face? Sometimes no, but we fear no evil. That's why the Lord says 365 times do not be afraid, do not fear. But the same God says, the reason why we can not be afraid of everything else around us is because we have a greater fear that consumes all other fears. Consumes all other fear. Every other fear is consumed by the fear of God. The fear of death is consumed by the fear of God because, you know, life will end. Whether you die out of sickness or you die at a full age, it will still end and you stand before a mighty God. The fear of failure is consumed because, you know, in Christ you're more than a conqueror. The fear of loneliness is consumed because, you know, he who raised Christ from the dead lives inside of you. The fear of my life will mean nothing. Allah have no significance is consumed when, you know, for I know the thoughts that I think of you, the Lord, the thoughts of good and not of evil to give you hope and the future. The fear of the Lord consumes all other fears. If you are consumed with the fear of sickness, if you're consumed with the fear that somebody will betray you, your spouse will cheat on you, your kids won't have a change. If you're consumed with the fear, I'll never get married. Everybody else is getting married. If you're consumed with the fear that, you know what, my business will not take off because I got for load and that I'm going to go bankrupt. I want to give you another fear, a good fear today. Swap fears. Replace fears. Don't just try to remove it because some other fear will come in. Put another fear that will push everything else out. My God. Now all the people in Exodus chapter 1 verse 17, it says, But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved male children alive. And those of you who, maybe it's a little bit harder for you to swallow, how can we have service and defiance to the governor's orders? This is just our collective, maybe not every person's inclusive in this place, but we're not scared. We have a fear. I have a fear that beats in my heart. And this is not a fear of a governor and even COVID. Midwives, the Bible says they feared God and they saved children against the governor's orders. Because at that time, what we'll be honoring the pharaoh would be to kill children. And so today I want to let you know that God wants you to live in the fear of the Lord and you will be free from the fear of man. You will be free from the fear of failure. You will be free from the fear of disappointment. You will be free. You won't feel that fear. You won't be paralyzed by that fear. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 29-25 it says the pharaoh man brings a snare and whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. See because when I fear God, I trust in God. I trust in God to provide for me. I trust in God to protect me. I throw myself in the mercy and the grace of God and I say God I will tremble before your word. I will honor your presence and I just refuse to be paralyzed by man. I don't want to be ensnared by a man or by my past or by my future because he who fears God will be safe. Somebody say amen. My friend whoever you fear that is truly who you revere. Who you fear is who you revere. Many believers have a relationship with God but they only revere man. Because if somebody sends them a call if they see that person texting shortness of breath your palms are sweating and you become scared your boss, your ex or maybe your present your spouse your child your employees, your coworkers while we have relationship with God but truly we revere man I want to love men and revere God I want you to love God and revere God so then you can be free to serve men without seeking to please them because whoever you revere you will always seek to please and God never called us to please men he called us to love them. You can't love someone you depend on you can't love someone like that be free to serve them if you need constantly something from them and their approval you're bound by them you're a slave not their servant God wants us to revere God not to be afraid of man not to be afraid of the future not to be afraid of the past and not to be afraid of other people the best way to overcome fear is not to remove it but to replace it William Gurnel said we fear men so much because we fear God so little we fear the future so much because we fear God so little that we will be reckless I am not saying we will be without concern without caution but when you fear God you can look boldly in your future people have went through worse my friend people who followed Christ before us have faced very uncertain things right now they're facing very challenging things all around the world what caused these people not to deny their faith when they looked at 20, 30, 50 year prison sentence what caused them to not still deny the Lord it was one quality my friend and it's not a relationship with God it's a reverence for God because believers today have a relationship with God on Sunday and they go to a nightclub on Saturday they live sin they come in all kinds of things and they come and say Jesus loves me this I know you just don't have reverence for him and God wants us not just to have a relationship with him he wants us to have reverence for him number three the fear of the Lord causes me to flee sin having relationship with God only causes me to flirt with sin the difference between someone who has a fear of God and someone who has only relationship with God is in how they react to sin and temptation we all get tempted we all fall into sin and Satan has access to every single person in a sense to cause us to feel tempted if we only have relationship with God we will flirt with sin if we have reverence for God we will flee sin when I say flirt with sin I mean this it's when Christians us we say things like how close to sin can I get without going to hell it's kind of like me coming to my wife and say hey babe how close to cheating on you can I get without committing adultery what do you think she's going to say it's like oh yeah just as long as you kiss but don't do like french kissing hold hands but don't like interject with the fingers just like like this and then if you go for a coffee make sure that it's not after 9pm other than that I'm fine how many of you know that woman if my wife don't say that we have a problem in a marriage because real marriage the man should be afraid to bring that question up there should be a fear of your wife to think that question and that's exactly why when a Christian comes and say things like hey how close to sin can I get without committing sin that tells me there is no fear of God there already because when you are in love with God you understand God doesn't want to be the first out of many lovers he wants to be your only one God doesn't want to be the first among many idols he wants to be the only one in your life and therefore the question to God is Lord how can I be closer to you that I don't have a desire for sin that I run from that thing that I don't have an appetite for that thing God how can I be closer because man with a relationship has a reverence for God come on somebody Proverbs 166 it says in truth atonement is provided for iniquity and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil one of the reasons why Christians practice sin indulge in sin and feel no remorse whatsoever is for this reason no reverence for God no fear of God and if you mark those Christians closer you will see they are consumed by inferior fears they are living in fear just the wrong one they are still bound by fear that controls their decision that paralyzes them keeps them in a snare that leads them that fear is still there oh they are not fear less they still fear something except not someone who is worthy to be revered and last thing I want to share is lack of fear of God brings lots of foolishness lack of the fear of God not only it causes me to flirt with sin lack of the fear of God causes me to commit a lot of foolish decisions Proverbs 1 7 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction most of us learn somebody said he said that wise people learn from other people's mistakes smart people learn from their own mistakes and foolish don't learn at all I would like to paraphrase that wise people learn from God's word smart people learn from their mistakes and foolish people don't learn at all to avoid foolishness in life you don't need to have a degree you just need to have humility to avoid foolishness in life if you are a teenager right now listen very carefully it's very simple read book of Proverbs every single chapter has this thing listen to your mom and your dad stay away from bad friends and don't have sex until you get married and have only sex with one person these four rules will keep you away from jail even if you don't have a degree you will have money in your life you will stay away from heartbreak there's gonna be no need for child support there's gonna be no need for divorce lawyers there's gonna be no need to buy things you don't need with money you don't have to impress people you don't even like why because your parents in the beginning will steer you in the right path that only when you and I become 35 we're like they were right I wonder how much money I would have saved if I would have not done this, this, this I wonder how much all my heart would have still been intact if I would have not dated him hang out with them and my parents were telling me that and the reason you and I don't obey our parents is because we are too busy wanting to be smart but in order to be smart you have to make mistakes God wants you to be wise don't make mistakes but how will I learn God simple, very simple and trust me, you live long enough you will have many of your friends to learn and spy on and I was tempted to death so glad I listened to my mom and dad I look back in my life I have a high school diploma don't have anything above that I'm not the smartest kid on the block people still make fun of me for writing a book writing books and they're like you write books I'm like yeah I think exactly the same I'm amazed at myself sometimes because I'm like that's not me I'm not smart kid on the block but I avoided a lot of foolishness in my life not because I was smart it's because very simple practical things that a lot of teenagers did not do one of them is I listened to my mom and my dad for a very long time I'm talking about don't hang out with her be at home at 9 and I'm 20 years old and I'm a youth pastor but I'm gonna tell you one thing those years passed quickly and I look back I didn't have heartbreaks I didn't have debts I didn't have those things and other friends who then tried to go and get a master's degree and compensate I overpassed them, surpassed them because I'm smart not because I'm better not because my IQ is better in fact I'm the slowest the only difference is this is what I found is that God will give you wisdom beyond your years if you fear Him and the reason why young people don't obey their parents it's not because your parents are demanding and not because your parents are hitless siblings it's because you lack the fear of God and because the culture tells you be smart my friend, you don't have all of your life to make all the mistakes your heart is too precious to break it into a million pieces you're not Bill Gates to be able to waste all of your money on all of your wrong decisions you don't have your only God short period of life you can't learn from every mistake people have went before you and God has documented in His Word and if you choose the fear of God yes, you might not be the smart in the beginning but wisdom trumps smartness wisdom trumps smartness because you will see a person who is maybe very very exrespected in the community have a particular cleverness in this one area but you see, they can't put marriage together you see them, they're even maybe doing a heart surgery on people or they're a lawyer and attorney went to so many years for college and you're realizing six four relationships already children from different countries why is this person so smart here because being smart and being wise are big difference because wisdom comes from the fear of God smartness comes from university and smartness comes from experience and smartness comes from watching youtube videos smartness comes from taking online courses smartness comes from, oops I did it I'm not gonna do that again that is where smartness comes in but wisdom comes, God says don't do it you're like but I want to my friends are doing it, everybody is doing it I trust you, you're not trying to hurt me you're not trying to steal my fun you're not trying to destroy my life, God I trust you, God I fear you God I will place my life in your hands God I want to follow you and God says I'm gonna protect you from this dumb mistake that dumb mistake, that crazy person that crazy person I know you don't have this and you don't have that but God I will add as a bonus what other people are seeking as I go, ah my God Jesus my God God will add as a bonus what other people seek as a goal that's wisdom you know Joseph was a man who was very smart in the eyes of the world Pharaoh called Joseph, whom can I find who has a spirit of God in him Joseph had a gift of translating dreams but I want you to notice one thing that Joseph used to describe himself when his brothers came Joseph said this this is your day do this and live for I fear God the secret of Joseph's wisdom the secret of not flirting with Porifer's wife when he had no accountability partner no software on his computer and his phone to track his purity life no Bible teacher to remind him that immorality leads to poverty and leads to bad things how could a teenager a young man, good looking young man who was rejected by his family who had appetites that you and I have who have the same urges that you and I have he had the same flesh but he ran from sin instead of flirting with sin how can a man do that and he didn't have the Holy Spirit like we do did not know the blood like we do did not have a church like we do and there's one thing Joseph uses to characterize himself I fear God in jail I served other people because I fear God when I had opportunities to commit immorality someone who actually wanted to sleep with me not like some of you who are trying to beg another person to sleep with you never mind that was for not for us not for you guys on live stream that was for somebody who will be rewatching it 20 years down the road Joseph actually had a woman who wanted to sleep with him and Joseph said no where does he get that I fear God and that's why when he had the power and his brothers came in who caused him harm and pain he didn't destroy them fear God my friend the secret of your blessing is to have wisdom and the secret of wisdom is to have the fear of God maybe you were born on the wrong side of the tracks maybe you were never handed anything that was good you may feel maybe you feel like man but so many things are against me fear God you will have wisdom you might not be the smartest but you will be wise you will protect you from foolishness and that alone will give you peace prosperity and protection generally speaking there are exceptions yes but generally speaking that alone will give you that in the conclusion I look over my parents' lives my mom and my dad they don't know I'm going to mention this but I'm the oldest so I'm going to say it I might not be going home after church my dad and my mom they don't speak very good English in the United States we moved 20 years ago I've watched them they're quiet people most of you don't know about them they're sitting right now here with us they raised 5 children my dad was never allowed to go to college because he was a Christian when they found out he was a Christian they didn't allow him to go to college when he came to the United States he didn't test because he didn't speak well English so he started to work for post office and that's where he works my mom works fixing and assembling wheelchairs both of them are the most generous people I've met in my life the top 10 givers in the church my parents are one of them I have not had a birthday where my parents did not give me a large sum of money we just had a birthday a week ago my mom brought a gift with my dad and then they brought a seed into the online school they do that every time in the church for over 15 years when we needed to fix anything in the church after work while my dad was building his house he would come here work here and manage finances for 15 years when we offered to pay him he always declined we have a lot of people today who won't come to pick up a rock if they don't give you an invoice and I've seen that in my parents they just finished building a house and this is just me being proud son of my parents and they build that house for cash my mom drives that red Tesla it's hers she doesn't know electronics and she drives a Tesla they don't have education English is their third language because Russian and Ukrainian and I look at them and I said what is the secret if I could use one word to summarize my parents and that would be this I've seen them they're very minimalistic people they don't watch movies they don't go out to eat they're very simple, they focus on God they focus on the church, they focus on their family and they focus on each other never seen my mom and dad raise voice against each other never seen them threaten each other with divorce they stayed as one couple for over 30 years they focused on giving to church they focused on serving and I've seen God this quiet, simple couple God bless, God raise and I watched that and I said God I said God I have so many more gifts I have so many more opportunities but God I want to have that that they have because I've seen people with opportunities and gifts who will fall flat on the ground who will end up in jail who will do all of these things their marriages fall apart they only maintain a relationship with God and they lose reverence for God and I said God no matter how big the ministry gets no matter how much you enlarge my territory and influence God my prayer is God I fear not to fear you I've seen it for 30 something years and for 20 years living in the United States going to school and kind of watching over people's lives I see where the fear of God brings and I see where education cleverness, good looks, connections everything on the outside without the fear of God where that brings and I said God I fear not to fear you you can be impressed with my gift the world can be impressed with my anointing but I know one thing longevity and God's blessing rests on those who fear the Lord for as heavens are high above the earth so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him He will bless those who fear the Lord both small and great if you feel small God says I will bless you if you fear me those of you who are great God says I will bless you as well He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him He will also hear their cry and save them the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who read their Bible and come to church on Sunday no it's just those who fear Him and He delivers them can somebody say amen my desire church is not to belittle anybody it's my cry it's my prayer I turned 34 a week ago and I prayed to God I said Lord help one characteristic to stay with me until I die and it's not my speaking it's not my writing it's not a large church it's the fear of God if I have His fear I'll be wise I won't be doing shady stuff if I have His fear even with nobody's watching I will walk under His eye the blessing amen I pray that over you today that God will give you His fear if you lost that if you're living a shady, loose life I pray to God He's going to convert you right now I'm going to tell you one thing life will punish you life in America will punish you sin will punish you but God has a way of leading people away from those foolishness things He takes those people who are small they seem like you're looking at them they're not going to make it and God just guides them through that and then you're like I'm surprised myself those who fear Him He blesses them with wisdom even if they lack smartness cleverness they'll never lack wisdom it's not about material things it's about the issue of the heart if you lost the fear of God if honestly like you have no reverence for God whatsoever God is not trying to guilt trip you He just wants to wake you up today and I know this message has woken you up and I know that I just want you to just pray this prayer I know you prayed before God give me a husband give me a saved my children God give me a house give me this but I want you to pray this prayer right now say God fill me with your fear God give me your reverence God I fear not to fear you God bless you