1 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,920 We welcome you to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast. 2 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:13,600 We are a church based in Chennai, India. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,640 We are so happy that you tuned in today and hope that as you 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,080 listen in, you will be inspired, strengthened and empowered to 5 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,080 live for Jesus everyday. As we enter 2026, we believe 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,560 that this is the year of a divine takeover. 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,200 We believe that when we surrender our lives to Him, He 8 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,120 will take over every aspect and bring breakthrough and blessing 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,680 like only He can. Today we look at how we hand 10 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,760 over the details of our lives before He takes over. 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,280 Would you keep your eyes, ears, and hearts tuned into God today 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,480 and every day of this year? Would your hands and feet be 13 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,560 strong to do what you have been called and created to do? 14 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:00,640 Hi Charles, this has a joy and a privilege to be able to be God's 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,160 word to you today. We are right in the second 16 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,080 Sunday of this year. And for those of you who watched 17 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,520 our New Year Eve service, our theme for the entire year is 18 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,520 Divine Takeover. And I don't know how you guys 19 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:18,720 are feeling right now, 10 days into the new year. 20 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,640 I hope it's been a divine takeover for you personally. 21 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,520 For me, you know, as I was preparing that sermon, there was 22 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,720 a lot of areas that God revealed into me that showed the areas 23 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,160 where I have not intentionally allowed him to have a divine 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,200 takeover. And so even as we read that 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:40,960 particular verse, I wanted to go back to that verse again. 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,600 And we are starting a brand new sub series under this theme 27 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,160 because I believe we cannot partake of the divine takeover 28 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,600 or even allow the divine takeover to sustain us through 29 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,160 this year if we don't go through this sub series that we're going 30 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:57,400 to see over the next couple of weeks. 31 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,240 But before that, I just want to take some time to read that 32 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,520 passage from Zechariah chapter 8. 33 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:04,840 And so can we just read that passage together? 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,360 It says in Zechariah chapter 8, verses 11 to 12. 35 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,919 But now is the time since you began to build. 36 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,960 I will not read the remnant of this people as in the former 37 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,720 days declares the law of hosts, but there the seed will produce 38 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,960 peace and prosperity, the wine will yield its fruit, and the 39 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,160 ground will produce its increase, and the heavens will 40 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,280 give their due. And I will Causeway the remnant 41 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:34,680 of this people to inherit and possess all things. 42 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:40,680 I believe that God's calling us to come and possess what He's 43 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,120 promised for us. And I don't know how you've been 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,040 viewing this, but I've been viewing this very closely 45 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,800 because there are so many areas in my life which I have tried 46 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,160 striving hard enough to see if I can possess it. 47 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,120 And with this theme, God's told and reminded me time and again, 48 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,800 and I hope He's reminding you that do what He's called us to 49 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:04,880 do. And when we do that, when we 50 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,920 pursue Him with all of our heart, when we say, Lord, we are 51 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:11,360 committed to this journey as your children, that we will run 52 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,120 this race that you've marked out for us, not what we've marked 53 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,640 out, mind you, many times you're so pleasure to mark out some 54 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:20,640 things for us. We feel that is our achievement. 55 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:22,960 But here God saying, would you rely on me? 56 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,040 Would you come with me? And so in this divine takeover, 57 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,720 as we pursue him, there's this one posture that requires us to 58 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,520 be completely aligned in so that we can allow this divine 59 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,320 takeover, and that is nothing but the fear of God. 60 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,120 And so over the next couple of weeks, you're going to be seeing 61 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,200 through God's Word what this fear of God really is. 62 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,760 And for me personally, as I was preparing this, you know, as we 63 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,520 were just jotting down how do we take this forward this remainder 64 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,560 of the year? How do we how do we build this 65 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,720 up? And as I'm giving an 66 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,280 introduction to what the fear of God is over the next couple of 67 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,640 weeks, you're going to see from different lives of how people 68 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,880 held onto this fear of God, Southern dear, even as explained 69 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,000 in the new year that we can't serve 2 masters, we can't 70 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,240 worship 2 masters, we can only worship 1. 71 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,839 And so with this fear of God, how do we journey better? 72 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,560 How do we allow this fear of Godness not to be a phrase, but 73 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,040 to be something that we live by, something that is innately 74 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,000 ingrained in US? And mind you, what we'll see in 75 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,920 the next couple of weeks is how did these men and women of God 76 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,640 be in a culture where there was number fear of God? 77 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,160 And we're living in a time today such as that. 78 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,480 So you and I need to be reminded. 79 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,360 Are we living in the fear of God so that we can have this divine 80 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:50,720 take over? And the worst that I've taken 81 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,840 today is from Proverbs chapter one, verse 7. 82 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,600 A lot of us know this verse and it says the fear of the Lord is 83 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,920 the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and 84 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,280 instruction. You know, when it says here the 85 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:07,360 fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. 86 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:11,520 A lot of us have knowledge here. We've acquired it through 87 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:15,120 different streams of education, through different work 88 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,920 experiences, through different other courses that we've done. 89 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,200 But why does it say here the fear of the Lord is the 90 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,520 beginning of knowledge? It's that knowledge that comes 91 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,000 from knowing Him completely. When it comes in submission to 92 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,640 Him, there's something different. 93 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,120 Wisdom starts appearing. And so even as I was meditating 94 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:39,720 on this, I realized we need to have a better understanding of 95 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,600 the fear of the Lord, because many a times we've masked this 96 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:47,720 fear of the Lord by what we've gone through, by different fears 97 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,000 that have kept as captive for that's been induced on us for 98 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,600 that environment that it's created. 99 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,320 And so even as we look into this verse, even if as we go into the 100 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,680 Greek word of what this word fear means in Greek, it says 101 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:09,000 it's Yara, which means it's an attitude of awful reverence. 102 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,480 Reverence because of what? Not because of the fact yes, he 103 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,280 is an all consuming. 5. Yes, he is the king who is 104 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:18,640 seated on the throne. Yes, the earth is its food 105 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,320 stool. Yes, he is the Lord of hosts. 106 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:23,160 Yes, he is the God of Angel armies. 107 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,920 Yes, he is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. 108 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,200 All that, yes, can bring in few, but there is this awe filled 109 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:31,240 reverence. Why? 110 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:36,040 Because sin cannot go near him. Because he's sovereign over 111 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,440 everything. Because through his words 112 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:42,480 everything is created. Because he controls time in his 113 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,680 hands. And so when we look at him, we 114 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:47,760 are not looking at him and trembling. 115 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,920 We're rather trembling and saying, Lord, you are more than 116 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:52,680 enough for me. There's nothing else that I 117 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,480 need. And so today this fear is an 118 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,240 attitude of awful reverence. So today what we are going to be 119 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,800 looking and what I want to leave you with in this introducting 120 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:08,200 part of this entire series of the fear of the Lord is that we 121 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:13,640 will desire for this everyday. We will live out of this place. 122 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,960 And what does it look like? This attitude of awful reverence 123 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,920 is what moves us towards obedience, is what moves us 124 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,840 towards obedience. It moves us towards obedience. 125 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:33,760 And I love that this is where we get to start this journey. 126 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,360 I know what you're fearful about. 127 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:38,760 You and I can be fearful of so many things. 128 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:43,440 If I have to ask you today, we, we many a times are fearful of 129 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,680 the things of this world. But the Bible talks about this 130 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:49,560 fear. In fact, when you see the fear 131 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,080 of God, it occurs more than 300 times in the Bible and in the 132 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,520 message version, it says beautifully, conveniently, that 133 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,560 it says start with God. The first step in learning is 134 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,320 bowing down to God. Only fools thumb their noses at 135 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,680 such wisdom and learning. It says start with God's today. 136 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,120 And you and I are going to start this divine takeover with God. 137 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:14,560 You're going to say God, everything is going to be 138 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,440 because of you. And so I'm going to ask you 139 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,840 today, you know, even if for those of you who are who are 140 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,120 like, you know, get you, where are you going? 141 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,200 This is today when we hear this, Are we ready to surrender 142 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,480 everything else that's occupying our fear, everything else that's 143 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,760 causing us to, you know, worry. Do a Plan B, see what are the 144 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:36,919 possibilities, because if he had the fear of God, his presence 145 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:39,480 will cover everything. It will work everything out. 146 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,560 We will realize this all falls within the plan God has for you 147 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,920 and for me. If we do not learn to bow down 148 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,600 before God, if we don't, if we struggle to start with God, we 149 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,200 will start with something else or someone else. 150 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:59,400 And so today I would urge you, church, that we will bow down 151 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,280 and start with God. Let us learn down to let us 152 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,320 learn to bow down to God. Let us learn to bow down to God 153 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,400 in every circumstance. When I understand, when I don't 154 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,360 understand, when it's my strength, when it's my weakness 155 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,280 in everything, I will learn to bow down before God. 156 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:20,000 This becomes our ultimate goal because he's the one who knit 157 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,680 us. He's the creator. 158 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:25,200 He's the one who knows us. He knows us from the very womb 159 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,800 that we were conceived in. And so when we are allowing 160 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,080 ourselves to come to a posture of bowing down, what we are 161 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,080 saying is God, even this uncharted territory, even this 162 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,960 new venture, even this new thing that you're calling me to do, 163 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,840 even this place where I've been there for the longest. 164 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:45,680 But I still feel I don't know how to handle this God saying 165 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:48,880 I've got it because you, my child, have the fear of God in 166 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:53,080 me, which means I am inviting. I'm in this posture to say God, 167 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,560 this is not out in my control. It's saying you can step forward 168 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:58,560 and awful. They're saying God, you are the 169 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:00,120 one that's needed for the situation. 170 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:05,400 So as I mentioned, it's mentioned in the Bible 300 plus 171 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:11,800 times, which means there was an innate weaving that God's done 172 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,240 that we have to be dependent on him. 173 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:17,000 Fear of God is a dependency issue. 174 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:20,480 A lot of us today are dependent on South, many other things, but 175 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,360 God's saying, can you be dependent on me? 176 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:23,840 When you're dependent on me, I love it. 177 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,200 When you're dependent on me, I love the fact that I can care 178 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,080 for you, I can nurture you, I can correct you, I can do 179 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:31,960 everything that is needed for you. 180 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,880 The word wisdom that it talks about which fools despise it 181 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:40,880 says that is the Hebrew word for wisdom is chokhmah, which means 182 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:46,440 it's a God centered quality of mind and life that discerns what 183 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,800 is truly right and acts accordingly. 184 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,840 It's a God centered quality of minds. 185 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,760 When I have the fear of God, I give room to the wisdom that 186 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,600 comes from God, which is centered around God. 187 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:05,320 And it's interesting that this is everything that I need, my 188 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,160 moral, my spiritual, my practical insight, my technical 189 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,400 skill, my administrative aptitude, my relational 190 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:16,720 discernment. And this is what God wanted his 191 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:19,720 people to actually have. It says that in the Old 192 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,960 Testament this appears 149 times, but yet people look to 193 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,440 the left, to the right, to the north, to the South for wisdom. 194 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,400 They put man, they alleviated man when God wanted to be the 195 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,560 king of his nation. They said no, we want man 196 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:36,960 because other nations are having. 197 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:43,200 So today I pray and ask that you and I will be able to make this 198 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,600 decision of walking in the fear of God. 199 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:50,680 When we walk in the fear of God, we are making room to say, God, 200 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,880 I want your wisdom. Your wisdom that will encompass 201 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,920 everything today. Are you lacking the wisdom to be 202 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,200 a parent? Are you lacking wisdom to be a 203 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,080 spouse? Are you lacking wisdom to be a 204 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:04,200 team leader? Are you lacking wisdom to be an 205 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,400 employee? Are you lacking wisdom to run 206 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:11,680 your business? Maybe it's time we started 207 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,240 acknowledging God. I want to have a healthy fear of 208 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,560 you, Lord. I want to have a healthy fear of 209 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:24,920 you because what He does in and through US becomes holistic. 210 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,200 He changes us fully. A lot of us have grown up with 211 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,400 fears. As I mentioned earlier, some of 212 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:36,880 you are scared of heights, spiders lying enclosed spaces, 213 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:42,160 needles, injections, dogs, snakes, water, public speaking, 214 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,880 and these are all things that we are scared of. 215 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,400 But if you notice, we found work around that. 216 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,400 If you're scared of the lift, you take the stairs. 217 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,760 If you're scared of heights, you don't just go and do start doing 218 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,280 roller coaster rides. If you're scared of spiders, 219 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:58,440 what do you do? You kill the spider. 220 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,360 If you're scared of flying, you make sure you travel by train 221 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:04,720 most often. Scared of dogs, you make it 222 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,200 aware that you're scared of dogs. 223 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,360 Scared of public speaking? You make sure you're not putting 224 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,240 a hand first to actually speak in the front. 225 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,600 Some of us have acquired fears because of our circumstances, 226 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,040 because of the things that have happened in our lives time and 227 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,920 again. Fear of failure where we feel 228 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,000 we've not matched up to someone else's. 229 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,160 Our parents understanding of what we need, our teachers or 230 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,000 you know, the thing that is being set across our boards. 231 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,760 This is what is the standard. And we feel like if you're not 232 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,480 achieved, that we've failed. Fear of rejection. 233 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:41,120 Some of us have been rejected because of the way we look, the 234 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,640 colour of our skin, the way our body type is, the way we don't 235 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:49,920 have hair or have hair. The rejection is 1 big thing 236 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,680 that we all have gone through. Probably have a fear of death. 237 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,240 You, you love your loved ones so much that you're scared that 238 00:13:57,240 --> 00:13:59,080 they might pass away. And so if they pass away, you're 239 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:00,800 dreading how life will be with them. 240 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,720 Fear of the unknown. A lot of us are struggling to 241 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:08,680 take that step now. These are all real fears, fear 242 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:11,200 of social interaction and crowded spaces. 243 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:21,040 And I pray that as we grow up in our Christian faith, all these 244 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,320 fears will not be heightened, but rather come down, and that 245 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,560 the fear of God will be heightened because the fear of 246 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,560 God has to be heightened in yours And my life. 247 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,080 I'm realizing overtime, because of COVID, because of all that's 248 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,240 happened across my life, different fears have been 249 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:42,680 heightened. Different months, different 250 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:44,640 fears are heightened. Towards March. 251 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,520 I'm heightened. Oh, that's the month of tax. 252 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,360 So businesses will be low during the month of April. 253 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,040 It's exam seasons. And so the kids are heightened 254 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,920 in terms of how they'll perform. You and I are struggling in 255 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,040 these spaces and this is where we have to ask God. 256 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,000 God, I want the fear of God that you have spoken in your Word to 257 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,280 come in. It's something we start allowing 258 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:09,480 in our lives. We desire it, we allow it, and 259 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,720 then we start living by it. And we've taken the same 260 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,560 experience even into church. OK, if I don't come into church, 261 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,400 OK, if is God punishing me with regard to my money because I've 262 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:24,120 not tithed or how is God punishing me because I'm not 263 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:25,880 going to church? Is God punished me because I'm 264 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:31,280 not involved and the beauty is and we saw what is supposed to 265 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,760 be a healthy fear of God becomes a forced fear of God. 266 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,960 And I want to move us to a place at the end of the sermon where 267 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:41,960 we are like God. I want to desire it because I 268 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,160 want to be closer to you. I want to be closer to you. 269 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,880 And I pray that this fear of God that God wants us to have, we 270 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,000 won't just judge by what was happening by our lives because 271 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,440 of certain things we are not doing right, but rather we'll 272 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,480 move to a place of saying God, I want to have this posture alive 273 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,520 and active in my heart. Each of us, I believe for those 274 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:04,920 of us who say we are followers of Christ, who committed our 275 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,200 lives to Christ, who say that Christ is a central in my life, 276 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,480 have this area and I need to ask God, can this be made alive and 277 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:14,880 active? How does it become alive and 278 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:16,480 active? The more I read God's Word, it 279 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:19,960 becomes alive and active because His Word is alive and active. 280 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:21,920 And so when I'm reading something alive and active, 281 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,960 anything that's dead in anything that's hard, anything that's not 282 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:30,080 awakened will be awakened because I'm reading this. 283 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,400 When I read those stories of transformation, when I see 284 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,960 stories of obedience of God coming through, I'll start. 285 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,880 You know what? Probably the one thing that I 286 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:42,120 lack is obedience. And I pray that this fear of God 287 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:47,400 is reverent or that we need to have awful reverence. 288 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,680 It will move us towards obedience easily and not 289 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,840 forcefully. So I pray today that we won't be 290 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,080 crippling in fear. We won't be crippling. 291 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,880 So you might be like asking Keshav, Keshav, why do we have 292 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:03,840 to have this fear of God? Because we are people who 293 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,560 inherently are sinners. Anyone who's born into this 294 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,200 world, it says we are born with sin, which means you and I are 295 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,599 not taught to commit sin. It somehow just comes on to us. 296 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:19,800 Our human nature has fallen and so today you and I are in need 297 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,040 of this compass which will bring us back to the track of what the 298 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,599 Creator had his original design in. 299 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:31,240 And many a times the fight is because that that particular 300 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:35,040 meter is not moving. We are so in tune with our 301 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,920 sinful nature that we've learnt to put on a 2 hour act. 302 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,160 We've learnt to put on a Sunday act. 303 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,200 And so for Sunday, the fear of God activates Monday to 304 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,880 Saturday, dead ends. But I want to challenge you 305 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,760 today because I've been challenged God. 306 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,880 Can I allow the fear of God to be there when I'm alone, when 307 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,280 I'm there in my room alone, when I'm there in the company of 308 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:58,840 family, when I'm there in the company of friends, when I'm 309 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,080 there in the company of those who know me, those who don't 310 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,360 know me, will I be the same person? 311 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,920 Because you are in me, you are in me. 312 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,080 The fear of the God makes us aware that He's in US. 313 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,600 And so when I was preparing, I went to this beautiful verse 314 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,480 which talks about Jesus, and it was prophesied by Isaiah, and I 315 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,640 want to read that for you. In Isaiah Chapter 11, verses 1 316 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,800 to 5 is what it says. A shoot will come from the stump 317 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,440 of Jesse, from his roots. A branch will buy a fruit. 318 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,360 The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and 319 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:35,560 of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit 320 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:37,440 of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 321 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,120 And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. 322 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:43,920 He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, not decide 323 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,480 by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will 324 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,760 judge the needy. With justice He'll give 325 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:51,960 decisions for the poor of the earth. 326 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:56,120 He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, With the 327 00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:58,400 breath of his lips. He will slay the wicked. 328 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:04,480 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around 329 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,520 his waist. This is a prophetic declaration 330 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,600 that Isaiah talks about Jesus coming into this world. 331 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:15,080 And what we see happen here is Jesus is the shoot that is 332 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:19,160 coming out of Jesse. And he talks about Jesus will 333 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,920 have the Spirit of the Lord on him and the spirit of the 334 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,880 knowledge and the fear of the Lord will be on him and he will 335 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,920 delight in the fear of the Lord. Remember Jesus who was born of 336 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:36,240 the Holy Spirit knew no sin lived on the earth without any 337 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:37,560 sin. He was blameless. 338 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:42,040 That's why he didn't he refused to answer pilot even then he 339 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,120 just walked and he asked whose authority and that very act when 340 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:54,280 we see that he was operating as a complete sinless person here 341 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,680 on this earth. Yet because of his human nature, 342 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,400 like you and me, because he walked on this earth, He was 343 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,440 very much in human form, like you and me, He still. 344 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:11,200 In his physical body with which you and I have had the fear of 345 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,280 the Lord and He was delighted in it. 346 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,800 So today the call for you and me is to delight in the fear of the 347 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:18,880 Lord. We all delight in so many 348 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,080 delicacies. We just finished Christmas. 349 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:24,440 We just had our festivities, the different biryanis we would have 350 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:29,280 had. But as we move on, I pray the 351 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:30,800 fear of the Lord will be a delight. 352 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,360 Which means we will be able to stay nourished in that. 353 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:38,120 We'll find nourishment in that. Because when we find nourishment 354 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,960 in that, we'll see what Jesus sees, we'll hear what Jesus 355 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:43,800 hears. We'll do what Jesus does. 356 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,480 And I pray that will be something that we will be able 357 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,360 to put into our own lives and see that come through. 358 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,640 So even today before we go ahead, 3 reminders for us, three 359 00:20:55,640 --> 00:21:01,440 reminders for the fear of for the fear of God to be in our 360 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,960 life so that we can delight. Because if you're not careful, 361 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:11,960 we will be using our life situations to actually diminish 362 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,080 the fear of God in our lives and we suddenly will be plagued by 363 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,600 other fears. The first thing I want us to 364 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,400 look into is the fear of God deflects evil. 365 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,880 The fear of God deflects evil. When we read in that verse in 366 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:30,520 Isaiah, what does it say? Knowledge, wisdom, righteousness 367 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:34,520 was part of him, was his belt. Faithfulness was the shash 368 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:36,920 around his waist. So which means when the fear of 369 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:42,000 God, when I'm delighting on the fear of God, I deflect evil. 370 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,280 Anything that comes to me goes back. 371 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,440 Why? Because it can't penetrate, 372 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,480 because the fear of God is here. It's like a shield in itself. 373 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,440 It won't find room. It will. 374 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,760 It will go back to the sender. Who's the sender? 375 00:21:57,760 --> 00:21:59,640 The devil. He should know. 376 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,520 This man has the fear of God in him. 377 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,640 He's not going to sway to the left or he's not going to sway 378 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,520 to the right. The fear of God liberates us. 379 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:13,240 Any earthly fear we have cripples us. 380 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:19,240 The fear of God liberates us. When Satan wants to actually use 381 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:26,160 evil of any form, it's one to cripple us, to control us. 382 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,800 But the fear of God liberates us. 383 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,440 I pray that God's plan over our lives will never make us live in 384 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,520 a state of fear. It'll never make us live in a 385 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,640 state of fear because a lot of times we've used so many of our 386 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:46,280 life circumstances to be the very lids that we've laid on top 387 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,120 so much that we're struggling to live this Christian life. 388 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,760 I pray that we will delight in the fear of God and we won't see 389 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,280 what He's calling us to do out of a place of rigor and 390 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,520 hardship, but one of deep desire and love. 391 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,560 And that automatically changes. You know, one of the beautiful 392 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:09,120 things is the, the kids nowadays, the, the entire Gen. 393 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,640 Z term uses the word aura. And I was just going through the 394 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,200 meaning. It's this distinctive atmosphere 395 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,120 of quality that seems to be surrounded or generated by a 396 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:23,120 person, thing or place. Satan's aura is one of control. 397 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:30,080 God's aura is 1 of flourishing. So if I delight in the fear of 398 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:35,560 God, God wants me to flourish. But when I delight on the things 399 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,840 of evil, which Satan keeps showing it to me makes me 400 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,320 attracted towards, I am controlled by him. 401 00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:46,600 So I pray today that you and I will make this clear 402 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,960 distinction. We won't allow sin to come and 403 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,960 be caught unaware that we will. We'll succumb to the fears that 404 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,040 sin brings. So I pray today, if you've 405 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:05,480 allowed the fear of God in your life to be completely, or you 406 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,320 know, seven days out of seven days, six days in a week being 407 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:11,560 bombarded by evil and you've responded to that. 408 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,680 I pray you would ask God to come in and cleanse every area. 409 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,800 He's willing to repair those Shields. 410 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,920 He's willing to repair your arm and say you can hold it back, 411 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,520 which means you need to get back everything that that Satan has 412 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,600 used to cripple you. Now you need to stand and say 413 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,240 who you are in Christ. When you delight in him, you'll 414 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,960 be able to say, this is who I am in God, who I am in God. 415 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,320 And so suddenly you don't feel like you're giving up. 416 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,520 It's rather saying, God, I love the freedom that I get to enjoy 417 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,080 being in you. I want to read from Proverbs 418 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,360 chapter 16 verses 1 to 9, and it's what it says. 419 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,920 Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has a last word. 420 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:54,360 Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good. 421 00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:58,440 God probes for what is good. If you put God in charge of your 422 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,440 work, then what you've planned will take place. 423 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,000 God made everything with the place and purpose, even the 424 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,240 wicked, I included, but for judgement. 425 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,160 God can't stomach arrogance or pretence. 426 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,360 Believe me, He'll put those braggarts in their place. 427 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,360 Guilt is banished through love and truth. 428 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:27,040 Fear of God deflects evil. I mean, God approves of your 429 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,400 life. Even your enemies will end up 430 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,800 shaking your hand. Far better to be right and poor 431 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:37,480 than to be wrong and rich. We plan the way we want to live, 432 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,680 but only God makes us able to live in it. 433 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,040 So I pray that guilt will be banished. 434 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,280 Whatever lie the enemy has told you will be replaced with God's 435 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:52,880 love and the truth that comes from him. 436 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,000 So I pray that you and I will be able to deflect evil. 437 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:01,280 What is the wise person who's written the same? 438 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,800 This plan is not about me. Am I going for what looks good? 439 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,040 Am I planning everything my way? Or am I asking God? 440 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,640 Am I judging it by what I want to judge by? 441 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,720 Is arrogance and pretense part of what I'm trying to do? 442 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:20,480 Am I trying to approve? Am I approving a life which I 443 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,480 can so that I can be partakers and shaking hands with everyone. 444 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,480 These are things God will start working in and through US. 445 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:32,720 He'll soon start showing us you don't have to do and work 446 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,760 everything out. I'll bring things to you, I'll 447 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,720 bring things to you. He will real he will the fear of 448 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:44,320 God will when we deflect evil will be help the when we are 449 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,640 when we're in this the place that we will have is 1 of 450 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:52,400 flourishing, which means we'll enjoy the Shalom that comes from 451 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,320 the fear of God that actually deflects evil. 452 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:57,760 We will soon be in this place where saying God, you're in 453 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,880 control of everything. I trust in you. 454 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:08,440 And so today I pray every time we think what the enemy is going 455 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,440 to throw at us. Remember, we need to have His 456 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,280 word as our ammunition. A best example is Jesus. 457 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,120 When Jesus was tempted, what did he do? 458 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,000 He deflected the He deflected the enemy with the word of God. 459 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,720 When he threw hunger, what did he say? 460 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,680 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 461 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,120 proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 462 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,920 When he took him to the temple and said, throw, throw yourself 463 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,440 down with the angels, but he should not. 464 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:36,800 You shall not test what the Lord has said, and I pray you take 465 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,000 Him at His Word. You don't have to put it to 466 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,080 test. The third thing what He said is 467 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,200 you bow down. I'll give everything control. 468 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,280 Jesus said you will bow down to no one else, but to only to the 469 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,960 true and living God. You and I have to counter Him 470 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,800 with the Word. The deflecting thing that we can 471 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,440 do is only counter Him with the Word. 472 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:02,080 So I pray that we will be clear when we're deflecting evil. 473 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,680 We won't be like, OK, let me just see what's coming my way. 474 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,680 And then as it comes closer, I'll try to move and we'll go. 475 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:14,400 We aren't doing this is not our life story, is not being shot in 476 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:19,600 100 or 240 frames per second. It's short in real motion, which 477 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:21,520 means when it comes, it really comes fast. 478 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,080 He's not saying, OK, I'll give Geshum a little bit of time to 479 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,760 deflect evil. No, Satan is merciless. 480 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,560 So I pray you and I will be encouraged in the Lord. 481 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,320 We will delight in the fear of the Lord so that we'll be able 482 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,040 to deflect evil. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23 483 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,880 says the fear of the Lord leads to life. 484 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:46,040 Then one rests content, untouched by trouble. 485 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,920 I love the word that one rests content. 486 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,920 You know, one of the things which I've been trying to really 487 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,160 put into practice in my life is contentment. 488 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,680 Contentment because there's this, because what I want to see 489 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,160 happen and the pace that I'm running is not matching. 490 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,320 And I've realized there are so many things in my equations 491 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,520 which have been wrong. And God is setting that right. 492 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,600 And even with this theme, it's just done a big thing on me. 493 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,640 It's it's changed me upside down. 494 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,640 You need to talk to my wife to really see it actually unravel 495 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,320 me and do a number on me. I thank God for her because 496 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,120 she's been able to really pivot me in key places back to God. 497 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,280 And so in this, I would ask you that you and I will learn to 498 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,600 delight in the fear of the Lord because it leads to life and all 499 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,120 of that. We find rest, one's rest 500 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:43,080 content, untouched by trouble. So I pray you and I will do 501 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:45,520 that. I want to read a quote which I 502 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,880 read which is by Richard Alene and this is what it says. 503 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,640 He who knows what it is to enjoy God will dread his loss. 504 00:29:54,160 --> 00:30:01,080 He who has seen his face will fear to see his back, will fear 505 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,320 to see his back. The minute we partake without 506 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:09,360 deflecting evil, we are sure to see God's back because there's 507 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:13,560 only so much God can have. And even as I spoke in the 1st 508 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,000 of the year with regard to divine take away, pray our 509 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:23,200 hearts won't be that of Flint, that we'll be so moldable to 510 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,640 what our Creator wants it to be. The second thing, the fear of 511 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:32,800 God draws us into His presence. The fear of God draws us into 512 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,480 His presence. I know about you, but we are 513 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,240 living in a land which is a spiritual land and everyone has 514 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,520 a heightened level of spirituality. 515 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,560 So which means they know you know, I can't do these things 516 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,000 otherwise karma. They use the word or they 517 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,720 whatever goes around comes around. 518 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:54,080 I'll get if I so evil, I will reap evil if I so good, I reap 519 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:55,680 good. The movie look at the Bible. 520 00:30:55,680 --> 00:31:01,560 We see we many a times can be like the Israelites where we 521 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,280 wanted things done now. And I've realized as I was 522 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:10,640 writing this, the Israelites were con content that there was 523 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,560 a tribe set apart to handle God and they just had to do bare 524 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:18,800 minimals through the, you know, through this feast or that they 525 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,800 they could go and do and they were they were they were content 526 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,160 in that space. But over time that contentment 527 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:27,800 dissolved. And then that just broke down. 528 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:29,200 People didn't take God seriously. 529 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,640 And we saw the Israelites move into captivity. 530 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,000 And even as they read from Zechariah, that's the remnant 531 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,400 that's coming back. And I believe we all need to 532 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,720 learn to delight in the fear of the Lord because that's only 533 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:41,520 which will draw us into his presence. 534 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:47,200 A lot of times you're trying to have this equation of, OK, if we 535 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,360 do these set set of songs, if we do this, if I, if I partake of 536 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,560 this, I think I can, you know, gain access to his presence. 537 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,480 But no, I don't want to gain access. 538 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,400 I want to be in his presence, which means I want to take his 539 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,480 presence everywhere I go with me, which means I carry the 540 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,960 Prince of Peace into the areas of peacelessness. 541 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,840 I carry hope into the areas of hopelessness. 542 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:14,120 I carry his love into the areas where there's highly people and 543 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:19,000 things that I can't love. So today you and I are called to 544 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,120 be in that place. You know, there's this verse in 545 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:26,600 Exodus chapter 20 where we see where Moses is calling all these 546 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,560 people and there's they get to see the Thunder of the Lord. 547 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,560 They get to see all this, but they're so scared that they just 548 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,120 say, Moses, you alone go. So let's just read that. 549 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,120 It says in Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21, when the people saw the 550 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,680 Thunder and the lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the 551 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,840 mountain and smoke, they trembled with fear. 552 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:49,440 They stay at a distance and said to Moses, speak to us yourself 553 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,040 and we will listen, but do not have God speak to us or we will 554 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,760 die. Moses said to the people, do not 555 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,600 be afraid, God has come to test you so that the fear of God will 556 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,120 be with you to keep you from sinning. 557 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,320 The people remained at a distance while Moses approached 558 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,400 the thick darkness where God was. 559 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,360 This imagine God brought these people out of Egypt, walked them 560 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,800 through a couple of different miracles, and as he brought 561 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,120 them, he wanted to enjoy, He wanted this remnant people who's 562 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,080 come out of slavery to really see and enjoy his presence for 563 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,600 him to give those commands. And if you see from Exodus 20 564 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:31,280 all the way to Exodus 30, God starts giving these commands to 565 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,480 Moses. He says no idols, no altars. 566 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,120 He gives instructions for how you have to be as Hebrew 567 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:38,520 servants with regard to injuries. 568 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,720 He talks about the property, social responsibility, justice 569 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,640 and mercy. He talks about the different 570 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:46,400 festivals, he talks about Sabbath. 571 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:51,160 He talks about what it about the covenant and what God wants the 572 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:56,880 elders of the of Israel to do. And all again, he gives even the 573 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,920 temples and its specifics and all these things you will see 574 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,040 was only given to Moses because he went. 575 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,480 There's a time when we see Aaron come. 576 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,159 There's a time when we see Joshua comes and he waits there, 577 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,320 but between this and between chapter 20 and between chapter 578 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:19,600 32, what happens is the proximity changes the fear of 579 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,560 God, which actually they had to be delighting in to go into the 580 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,440 presence. When Moses said come, he wants 581 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,679 to give you he wants. Just imagine they were content 582 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:31,920 listening to the messenger. They didn't want to listen to 583 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:36,159 the message himself. So today you and I are called to 584 00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:40,000 listen to the message himself, which means you and I have to 585 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,400 wait to hear from him because it's in the delight we will 586 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,880 enjoy his presence. And so a lot of us today are 587 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,800 content like how the Israelites were like, you know what, I, I'm 588 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:56,120 OK, you know, just being there. How many of us can just read the 589 00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:00,840 Word and allow God to soak those words and allow that to sink in? 590 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:05,320 Yet we want to hear, we want this aid, we want that aid, all 591 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:09,040 that is good. But I pray and I ask, are we 592 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,720 replacing the very one who wants to speak to us? 593 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,160 You know, when Jesus went up to heaven, he said, I'm giving my 594 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,440 Holy Spirit so that he'll be your comforter, He'll be your 595 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:19,240 guide, He'll be your everything He wants to mend. 596 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,040 So which means you and I can invite the presents wherever we 597 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:25,360 are at. So you today and me included, 598 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,640 can we have the altar right where we are at? 599 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,280 Because I pray and ask for me delight in the fear of God. 600 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,760 We are saying, God, I want your presence. 601 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,960 I want to move closer to you. I want to move nearer to you. 602 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:44,280 It draws us into the presence. It draws us into the deep 603 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,400 secrets that he wants to hear hear. 604 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,240 He wants to share those deeper secrets with us. 605 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,960 Are you in? Are you struggling with certain 606 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,120 things not coming through? Have you been listening to him 607 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,160 clearly? Have you been waiting on him? 608 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,600 You know, me and Tina have been waiting on quite a few things, 609 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,760 but the more we've been waiting, we realize the answer is getting 610 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,640 clearer. It's not getting fuzzier, It's 611 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,160 getting clearer. So I pray that you and I will 612 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,320 learn to wait well, wait well in His presence, not away from His 613 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:16,560 presence. So I pray that we won't respond 614 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,920 like how the Israelites responded in fear, but rather 615 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,800 you would draw closer to Him. We would draw closer to him. 616 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,000 I believe that they wanted control over certain things. 617 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,400 But here as we are followers of Jesus, we relinquish saying, 618 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,200 God, you control everything. I'll just do what you're calling 619 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:36,000 me to do. You give the command. 620 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:37,680 I do what you're calling me to do. 621 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:41,360 Hebrews 12, verse 20 to 24. This is what it says. 622 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:46,480 But you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God, 623 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,520 the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon 624 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,800 thousands of angels and joyfulness to the Church of the 625 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:54,880 first born whose names are written in heaven. 626 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,280 You have come to God the judge of all and to the spirit of the 627 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:02,560 righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, 628 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,360 and to the sprinkled blood that speaks in a better word than the 629 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,280 blood of Abel. And one of the things that we 630 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:15,560 see is God is speaking to a living community. 631 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,000 God is speaking to a living community. 632 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,920 If you and I are thinking we, that's why we gather. 633 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,720 We gather where his people are. We gather. 634 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:29,520 This is a depiction of what it will look like the, the, when 635 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:31,920 we, when we are in heaven, you're going to be standing 636 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:36,200 around with many others who've journeyed, with many others 637 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,720 who've listened to God, with many others who feared God. 638 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:41,040 And what are we? We're all going to enjoy his 639 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:42,680 presence. We're all going to go deeper. 640 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:47,440 And so today you and I cannot be devoid of community. 641 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,400 It's in this community also. We draw, we understand, we are 642 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,920 edified, which means I take encouragement when someone else 643 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:56,920 shares. I take encouragement when 644 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,000 someone else shares. I my heart goes with when 645 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,160 someone else is in lack. All this happens because we are 646 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,200 committed to the community of believers. 647 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,640 The fear of God is alive in community. 648 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,080 It's alive and coming to when we all come. 649 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,160 This fear of God starts encouraging, starts standing 650 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,200 into another, and this is where we see the evidence of the 651 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:27,720 holiness of God. Suddenly the we we realize the 652 00:38:27,720 --> 00:38:30,680 things we are fretting about, everything we laid at the altar. 653 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:34,560 And suddenly when the community sings, what happens is we 654 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,560 realize that the sweet incense is rising up to heaven. 655 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,920 As it rises up to heaven. It's that awful reverence that 656 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:45,800 rises up. And suddenly his presence is so 657 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,280 thick. Suddenly his revelation is so 658 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,480 clear. Suddenly his his outpouring is 659 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,320 very evident. Suddenly we are able to 660 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,360 experience healing. Suddenly we are able to 661 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,840 experience signs, wonders. We are able to experience the 662 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:05,640 miraculous because of us all responding to the fear of God. 663 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:12,000 I pray that we will be people who run towards him. 664 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,120 So I pray that you all participate in community. 665 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,080 You know, that's why we gather together. 666 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,360 We gather together. We, we, we have times of 667 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,800 intercession together. There's no divide, no clergy. 668 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,880 In fact, I believe if the Israelites had responded, it 669 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:29,040 would have been a little different. 670 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,680 And so suddenly we are OK with this one person. 671 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,680 No, God came for all. Which means we all respond. 672 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:42,520 We all respond. The third thing we see is the 673 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:48,160 fear of God dispenses God's transformative nature through 674 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,000 us. When we delight in the fear of 675 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:55,800 God, what happens internally is it dispenses what comes out is 676 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,240 God's transformative nature. So when fear of God happens, 677 00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:03,160 when I said we deflect evil, whatever Resident Evil that's 678 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:06,360 been in, in terms of sin, everything, it starts going 679 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:10,560 through a transformative work. Suddenly anger starts slowing 680 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,640 down, slows down. God teaches us patience, He 681 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:16,640 gives us self-control and suddenly that transformative 682 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:21,000 nature suddenly moves and is suddenly spreading to the people 683 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:22,720 around us. What is dispensing? 684 00:40:22,720 --> 00:40:24,440 Dispensing is what to distribute. 685 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,800 You have these dispensing machines, a Coke dispenser, you 686 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,760 put money in. What happens you get a coke. 687 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,000 So when suddenly because I'm delighting in the fear of God 688 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,520 and I'm allowed fear of God to take resident, what do I 689 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,800 dispense? I dispense his trans for me to 690 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:41,640 work. I dispense the miraculous that's 691 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,520 been working in and through. So when we are agreeing to this 692 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:49,720 journey in reverent, on delight, in wisdom, our partnering, what 693 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:52,720 happens? The world internally changes and 694 00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:54,480 the world around starts changing. 695 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,120 The world itself doesn't change. Our internal world changes. 696 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:02,760 And because of our internal world, we start seeing things 697 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,600 differently. We start participating in things 698 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:07,800 where we can see transformation happen. 699 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:12,200 What what does that look like? Where there is slavery, you 700 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,640 start working towards freedom. Where there is hardship, you 701 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,920 start working for his breakthrough to come in Two 702 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,280 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 to 18 and continuing on to 7 703 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,680 Chapter 7 verses one. This is what it says. 704 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,720 Don't team up with those who are unbelievers. 705 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,480 How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? 706 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:35,040 How can light live with darkness? 707 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:39,800 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? 708 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,760 How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? 709 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,440 And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? 710 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:48,680 For we are the temple of the living God. 711 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:52,440 As God said, I will live in them and walk among them. 712 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:54,680 I will be their God, and they will be my people. 713 00:41:55,240 --> 00:41:59,240 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers and separate 714 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,640 yourselves from them, says the Lord. 715 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:05,600 Don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you and I 716 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,040 will be your father and you will be my sons and my daughters, 717 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,560 says the Lord Almighty Chapter 7, verse one. 718 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,720 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse 719 00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:18,440 ourselves from everything that can defile our body, our spirit, 720 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:23,880 and let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 721 00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,120 What is God saying here? Yes, he's talking about do not 722 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,600 be yoked with an unbeliever. But I wanted to draw our 723 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:35,520 attention to what are our what is our internal heart yoked by A 724 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,880 lot of us today are OK with, you know, I can have this sin and 725 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:44,080 have this goodness of God. But the truth is the internal 726 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:47,440 conflict doesn't result in anything transformative. 727 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,800 Rather it it whatever comes out of us is confusion. 728 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:57,440 Whatever comes out of us is a murky grey in shade. 729 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:04,400 It could be one of the 50 Shades of grey, and I pray that that 730 00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:08,080 very aspect is what God's wanting to set right in us. 731 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,680 He's saying, if you are saying that I will delight in the fear 732 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,800 of God, which means I need to allow the authority of the fear 733 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:19,960 of God to go on, which means everything that my sinful 734 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,400 nature's desiring, I send it through the fear of God, and 735 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,600 that filters out everything that's sinful. 736 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:30,680 Suddenly I understand with clarity what this particular 737 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:33,320 addiction does. Suddenly I understand what this 738 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:37,360 thing will do to me if I press into this, which the enemy is 739 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,400 asking me to do. Suddenly I realize if I'm not 740 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,480 careful with my words and when it comes out, it will break 741 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:47,720 hearts, it will diminish people, it will enslave them. 742 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,920 So you suddenly start seeing things and patterns in your own 743 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:54,760 life. We are quick to point out the 744 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:59,040 problem in others, but I pray that we'll be quick enough to 745 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:04,360 see the hard areas of our heart that have adjusted so well to 746 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:08,040 sin that it's repelling the fear, the delights that it has 747 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:11,760 to have on the fear of God. So I pray because when Paul 748 00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:13,320 talks about this, what is he saying? 749 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:15,760 He's saying anything that's defiling it. 750 00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:20,200 Let's cleanse it and we would move towards holiness. 751 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:22,280 And mind you, this is not a one time thing. 752 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:24,160 It's an everyday thing. This is just not a one year 753 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,200 thing. It's an every year thing till we 754 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:31,360 are alive here on this earth. You and I have to walk day by 755 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:35,840 day in this area of holiness. And it's, it's a life's journey 756 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:39,720 because we we are in different stages and in different stages, 757 00:44:39,720 --> 00:44:44,480 God shapes what we thought we've we've got figured out. 758 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,520 And this is where I would love for God to work in and through 759 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:48,600 US. Because what happens when you 760 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,120 read stories in the Bible where Jesus walked? 761 00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:54,200 One of the stories which really you can see this transfer made 762 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,680 to work happen is in the story of Zacchaeus. 763 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,480 When Jesus sees him, he says coming into your house, when he 764 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,760 goes in the very fact that a rabbi can come in, the King of 765 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:07,480 Kings and the Lord of Lords walks in, What does it do? 766 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,240 Everything. He Jesus doesn't convict him 767 00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:13,560 doesn't no, the very presence and that's what I think happens 768 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,680 in our heart when we delight and I love him. 769 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:19,200 He's saying, hey, I want to come and stay with you, I want to 770 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:21,040 work with you and I love him. What happens? 771 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:25,040 He comes and he says, Geshwam, this area of control that you 772 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,080 have given money has to go off. This area of control you've 773 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:30,760 given lust has to go off. This area you've given your 774 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,320 heart to pornography, it has to go out. 775 00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:37,560 This area you've given your heart to consumption of drugs 776 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,960 has to go off. This area given to alcoholism as 777 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:41,280 well. This area that you've given to 778 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,360 beating up your wife has to go off. 779 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,720 This area that you've given to verbally abusing your kids has 780 00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:49,880 to go off. All these start changing, all 781 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,800 these start changing. And that happens because I'm 782 00:45:52,800 --> 00:46:00,040 allowing the transformative part of Jesus, the fear of God, to 783 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:04,200 work in and through me. And I allow that what happens, I 784 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:08,480 say, God, I'm surrendering to you, do as you may. 785 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,680 And so suddenly what happens? We dispense out of us. 786 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:14,320 Goodness starts flowing out of us. 787 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:18,440 Healing starts going out of us. The likeness of Christ starts 788 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:23,200 flowing in and through US. Jesus wants to step in so that 789 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,240 when he sets us right, nothing is shakeable. 790 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:29,920 You know in Hebrews chapter 12 when we continue reading that it 791 00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:34,040 goes on to say what it talks about from Zion as to what we 792 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:38,440 will see and why we are in need of talks in 1225 to 29. 793 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:41,080 So don't turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. 794 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,960 If those who ignored earthly warnings didn't get away with 795 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,720 it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly 796 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:50,360 warnings? His voice that time shook the 797 00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:54,280 earth to its foundations. This time he's told us this 798 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,160 quite plainly. He'll also rock the heavens. 799 00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,920 One last shaking from top to bottom, stem to stern. 800 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,280 The phrase one last shaking means a thorough house cleaning, 801 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:07,520 getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so 802 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:12,000 that the unshakeable essential stand clear and uncluttered. 803 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,760 Do you see what we've got? An unshakeable Kingdom. 804 00:47:16,240 --> 00:47:18,320 And do you see how thankful we must be? 805 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:21,760 Not only thankful and brimming with worship, deeply reverent 806 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:23,920 before God. For God is not an indifferent 807 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:26,120 bystander. He's actively cleaning house, 808 00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:32,320 torching all needs, torching all that needs to burn. 809 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:34,880 And he won't quit until it's all cleansed. 810 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:39,760 God himself is fire. So even as I conclude, I want to 811 00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:44,120 conclude with that, that I want to delight in the fear of God so 812 00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:48,520 that he torches everything so that when he shakes all of his 813 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:52,680 remains and everything goes on. For the some of us, we need to 814 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,240 allow and delight the fear of God so that our marriages will 815 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:57,800 be better. Some of us have to allow so that 816 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,200 our parenting will be better. Some of us have to allow so that 817 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,040 we can take care of our parents better. 818 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:06,160 Some of us have to allow so that we can go back to church and 819 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:09,000 realize we need to be part of our community so that we can 820 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:13,040 offer sacrifices of praise, adoration, so that we'll be able 821 00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:14,640 to see his presence come through. 822 00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:19,200 Just remember, we can't just be content of where we are at. 823 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:24,840 So I pray that we won't be people who are reactive to the 824 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:28,840 fear of God, but I pray we'll be responsive to the fear of God. 825 00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:32,280 What do I mean reactive in the sense we make these harsh 826 00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:34,400 things, Oh, I'll do this, I'll do that. 827 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:36,240 And we again rely on our strength. 828 00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:39,560 But when we respond to the fear of God, what is it you're 829 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:40,960 saying? God, I can't do it with my 830 00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,640 strength, but I'll do it with your word, which will bring 831 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,080 life. And so may I, I'll invite you 832 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:51,560 and may I delight in you so that you will be able to work in and 833 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,120 through me so that I'll be responsive to what you're doing. 834 00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:58,720 I'll be responsive because it will make us responsive to his 835 00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:04,440 grace, his love, his kindness, and the cross, which shows us 836 00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:07,880 what we really need to see. You know, before we close, I 837 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,640 just want to have another quote which I came across, it's by 838 00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:15,160 William Secker. It says as faith is a grace that 839 00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:20,800 feeds all the rest. So fear is a grace that guards 840 00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:25,320 all the rest. Today, you and I, yes, we 841 00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:30,160 operate out of faith that feeds all the rest, which means 842 00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,760 everything that we believe in Christ, which are yes and Amen, 843 00:49:33,760 --> 00:49:37,440 the promises. Yes, faith it's fueled by, but 844 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,520 it's fear that God's all the rest. 845 00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:44,840 So I pray today that we'll allow this delight that we need to 846 00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,440 have in God because of the fear that will be in that reverent 847 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:54,360 awe which will cause us to have that wisdom with complete wisdom 848 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:58,880 that we'll be able to live in that and see it does not work in 849 00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:02,600 our own personal life, but in every facet of our life, every 850 00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:06,160 facet of our life. So I pray when we deflect, we 851 00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:08,880 deflect evil. But it will help me to receive 852 00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:12,800 what the fear of God has kept for me. 853 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:16,680 It'll help me. I'll be aware of His presence. 854 00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:20,600 It will draw us in where we are in rest, in His presence, where 855 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:25,160 we receive and we don't have to hustle and we dispense what 856 00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,840 we've tasted and lived out. So when others see, they know 857 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:30,880 that this is something only what God can't do. 858 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:34,600 So even as I close, I just want to pray and ask that God will 859 00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,920 work in it through your lives because this is a lifelong 860 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:39,800 thing. And over the next couple of 861 00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,280 weeks, as we unpack this, as Tina unpacks this next week, I 862 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,520 believe God wants to work in it through us. 863 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,440 So I pray and ask that God will work. 864 00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:53,280 That's what we will be delight in the fear of God in reverent 865 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:57,560 or and see him come through. Can I pray for your loving 866 00:50:57,560 --> 00:50:59,680 heavenly Father Lord, I thank you Lord, for each and everyone 867 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,600 for those who are listening and watching that you'd be with us. 868 00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:06,680 Lord, I pray Lord, if we've moved a veil or Jesus out of our 869 00:51:06,680 --> 00:51:09,280 own earthly reactions to what your fear is. 870 00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:13,320 I pray we will draw back him Lord, I pray if we've if we've 871 00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:17,240 if you've shook our hands of the world and we've not been 872 00:51:17,240 --> 00:51:21,040 deflecting evil, I pray, Lord, today will be a day where our 873 00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:25,480 lines will be marked clear. Lord, these are Shields will be 874 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,560 up that we'll start deflecting evil. 875 00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:31,120 I pray for those of us who resisted your transformative 876 00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:33,320 work, Lord, I pray you would walk in and through US. 877 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,400 Lord, I pray shake off everything Lord that the enemy 878 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,440 is planted. Shake off every dead weed, shake 879 00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:42,120 off every tawny Bush. Shake off everything that's not 880 00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:44,560 bearing fruit. Cut off everything, Lord Jesus, 881 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,920 that is unnecessary so that we will be able to see the 882 00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:50,240 transformer to work in and through US and we'll be able to 883 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:56,760 dispense Your life, giving lessons to each and everyone who 884 00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:59,280 comes across our way. Lord, I pray that even as we 885 00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:01,520 step into this week, go before us, be with us. 886 00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,120 I pray for those who are travelling that You would enable 887 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:05,880 us, Lord, that You'll give us journey mercies. 888 00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:08,080 I pray for those who are going into important meetings. 889 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:10,640 Give us wisdom, Lord. I pray for those, Lord, who are 890 00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:13,840 stepping into areas where they seek Your guidance or who are 891 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:15,840 waiting on an open door. I pray You'll give them 892 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:17,960 patience. Your word would come through. 893 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:20,920 I pray, Lord, even as I spoke, Lord Jesus, that Lord, we all 894 00:52:20,920 --> 00:52:22,440 will learn to delight in Your word. 895 00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:27,080 Spend time, take nourishment and draw closer to you, Lord, I pray 896 00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:30,320 we'll all have our personal alters where we'll be able to 897 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,200 enjoy a deep sense of presence and we'll have enjoy the 898 00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:36,080 community presence that you've placed us in. 899 00:52:36,720 --> 00:52:39,160 Go before us, be with us. In your mostly name we pray, 900 00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:40,560 Amen. Amen. 901 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:44,240 I pray that you have a blessed week and I also pray that even 902 00:52:44,240 --> 00:52:46,720 as you step into this week, God will bless you in everything 903 00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:49,600 that you do. Remember this, that word finds 904 00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:51,960 Jesus finds life. God bless you all. 905 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,480 Have a blessed week. Thanks for listening to this 906 00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:58,600 message. We hope you were blessed to hear 907 00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:02,320 more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check 908 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:04,960 out our podcast channel for past episodes. 909 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:08,760 If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us, 910 00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:11,880 subscribing and even sharing it with friends. 911 00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:16,600 That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion 912 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:21,120 and to connect with us, go to Via Zion dot in. 913 00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:25,280 Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.