We welcome you to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast.
We are a church based in Chennai, India.
We are so happy that you tuned in today and hope that as you
listen in, you will be inspired, strengthened and empowered to
live for Jesus everyday. As we enter 2026, we believe
that this is the year of a divine takeover.
We believe that when we surrender our lives to Him, He
will take over every aspect and bring breakthrough and blessing
like only He can. Today we look at how we hand
over the details of our lives before He takes over.
Would you keep your eyes, ears, and hearts tuned into God today
and every day of this year? Would your hands and feet be
strong to do what you have been called and created to do?
Hi Charles, this has a joy and a privilege to be able to be God's
word to you today. We are right in the second
Sunday of this year. And for those of you who watched
our New Year Eve service, our theme for the entire year is
Divine Takeover. And I don't know how you guys
are feeling right now, 10 days into the new year.
I hope it's been a divine takeover for you personally.
For me, you know, as I was preparing that sermon, there was
a lot of areas that God revealed into me that showed the areas
where I have not intentionally allowed him to have a divine
takeover. And so even as we read that
particular verse, I wanted to go back to that verse again.
And we are starting a brand new sub series under this theme
because I believe we cannot partake of the divine takeover
or even allow the divine takeover to sustain us through
this year if we don't go through this sub series that we're going
to see over the next couple of weeks.
But before that, I just want to take some time to read that
passage from Zechariah chapter 8.
And so can we just read that passage together?
It says in Zechariah chapter 8, verses 11 to 12.
But now is the time since you began to build.
I will not read the remnant of this people as in the former
days declares the law of hosts, but there the seed will produce
peace and prosperity, the wine will yield its fruit, and the
ground will produce its increase, and the heavens will
give their due. And I will Causeway the remnant
of this people to inherit and possess all things.
I believe that God's calling us to come and possess what He's
promised for us. And I don't know how you've been
viewing this, but I've been viewing this very closely
because there are so many areas in my life which I have tried
striving hard enough to see if I can possess it.
And with this theme, God's told and reminded me time and again,
and I hope He's reminding you that do what He's called us to
do. And when we do that, when we
pursue Him with all of our heart, when we say, Lord, we are
committed to this journey as your children, that we will run
this race that you've marked out for us, not what we've marked
out, mind you, many times you're so pleasure to mark out some
things for us. We feel that is our achievement.
But here God saying, would you rely on me?
Would you come with me? And so in this divine takeover,
as we pursue him, there's this one posture that requires us to
be completely aligned in so that we can allow this divine
takeover, and that is nothing but the fear of God.
And so over the next couple of weeks, you're going to be seeing
through God's Word what this fear of God really is.
And for me personally, as I was preparing this, you know, as we
were just jotting down how do we take this forward this remainder
of the year? How do we how do we build this
up? And as I'm giving an
introduction to what the fear of God is over the next couple of
weeks, you're going to see from different lives of how people
held onto this fear of God, Southern dear, even as explained
in the new year that we can't serve 2 masters, we can't
worship 2 masters, we can only worship 1.
And so with this fear of God, how do we journey better?
How do we allow this fear of Godness not to be a phrase, but
to be something that we live by, something that is innately
ingrained in US? And mind you, what we'll see in
the next couple of weeks is how did these men and women of God
be in a culture where there was number fear of God?
And we're living in a time today such as that.
So you and I need to be reminded.
Are we living in the fear of God so that we can have this divine
take over? And the worst that I've taken
today is from Proverbs chapter one, verse 7.
A lot of us know this verse and it says the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and
instruction. You know, when it says here the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
A lot of us have knowledge here. We've acquired it through
different streams of education, through different work
experiences, through different other courses that we've done.
But why does it say here the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge? It's that knowledge that comes
from knowing Him completely. When it comes in submission to
Him, there's something different.
Wisdom starts appearing. And so even as I was meditating
on this, I realized we need to have a better understanding of
the fear of the Lord, because many a times we've masked this
fear of the Lord by what we've gone through, by different fears
that have kept as captive for that's been induced on us for
that environment that it's created.
And so even as we look into this verse, even if as we go into the
Greek word of what this word fear means in Greek, it says
it's Yara, which means it's an attitude of awful reverence.
Reverence because of what? Not because of the fact yes, he
is an all consuming. 5. Yes, he is the king who is
seated on the throne. Yes, the earth is its food
stool. Yes, he is the Lord of hosts.
Yes, he is the God of Angel armies.
Yes, he is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.
All that, yes, can bring in few, but there is this awe filled
reverence. Why?
Because sin cannot go near him. Because he's sovereign over
everything. Because through his words
everything is created. Because he controls time in his
hands. And so when we look at him, we
are not looking at him and trembling.
We're rather trembling and saying, Lord, you are more than
enough for me. There's nothing else that I
need. And so today this fear is an
attitude of awful reverence. So today what we are going to be
looking and what I want to leave you with in this introducting
part of this entire series of the fear of the Lord is that we
will desire for this everyday. We will live out of this place.
And what does it look like? This attitude of awful reverence
is what moves us towards obedience, is what moves us
towards obedience. It moves us towards obedience.
And I love that this is where we get to start this journey.
I know what you're fearful about.
You and I can be fearful of so many things.
If I have to ask you today, we, we many a times are fearful of
the things of this world. But the Bible talks about this
fear. In fact, when you see the fear
of God, it occurs more than 300 times in the Bible and in the
message version, it says beautifully, conveniently, that
it says start with God. The first step in learning is
bowing down to God. Only fools thumb their noses at
such wisdom and learning. It says start with God's today.
And you and I are going to start this divine takeover with God.
You're going to say God, everything is going to be
because of you. And so I'm going to ask you
today, you know, even if for those of you who are who are
like, you know, get you, where are you going?
This is today when we hear this, Are we ready to surrender
everything else that's occupying our fear, everything else that's
causing us to, you know, worry. Do a Plan B, see what are the
possibilities, because if he had the fear of God, his presence
will cover everything. It will work everything out.
We will realize this all falls within the plan God has for you
and for me. If we do not learn to bow down
before God, if we don't, if we struggle to start with God, we
will start with something else or someone else.
And so today I would urge you, church, that we will bow down
and start with God. Let us learn down to let us
learn to bow down to God. Let us learn to bow down to God
in every circumstance. When I understand, when I don't
understand, when it's my strength, when it's my weakness
in everything, I will learn to bow down before God.
This becomes our ultimate goal because he's the one who knit
us. He's the creator.
He's the one who knows us. He knows us from the very womb
that we were conceived in. And so when we are allowing
ourselves to come to a posture of bowing down, what we are
saying is God, even this uncharted territory, even this
new venture, even this new thing that you're calling me to do,
even this place where I've been there for the longest.
But I still feel I don't know how to handle this God saying
I've got it because you, my child, have the fear of God in
me, which means I am inviting. I'm in this posture to say God,
this is not out in my control. It's saying you can step forward
and awful. They're saying God, you are the
one that's needed for the situation.
So as I mentioned, it's mentioned in the Bible 300 plus
times, which means there was an innate weaving that God's done
that we have to be dependent on him.
Fear of God is a dependency issue.
A lot of us today are dependent on South, many other things, but
God's saying, can you be dependent on me?
When you're dependent on me, I love it.
When you're dependent on me, I love the fact that I can care
for you, I can nurture you, I can correct you, I can do
everything that is needed for you.
The word wisdom that it talks about which fools despise it
says that is the Hebrew word for wisdom is chokhmah, which means
it's a God centered quality of mind and life that discerns what
is truly right and acts accordingly.
It's a God centered quality of minds.
When I have the fear of God, I give room to the wisdom that
comes from God, which is centered around God.
And it's interesting that this is everything that I need, my
moral, my spiritual, my practical insight, my technical
skill, my administrative aptitude, my relational
discernment. And this is what God wanted his
people to actually have. It says that in the Old
Testament this appears 149 times, but yet people look to
the left, to the right, to the north, to the South for wisdom.
They put man, they alleviated man when God wanted to be the
king of his nation. They said no, we want man
because other nations are having.
So today I pray and ask that you and I will be able to make this
decision of walking in the fear of God.
When we walk in the fear of God, we are making room to say, God,
I want your wisdom. Your wisdom that will encompass
everything today. Are you lacking the wisdom to be
a parent? Are you lacking wisdom to be a
spouse? Are you lacking wisdom to be a
team leader? Are you lacking wisdom to be an
employee? Are you lacking wisdom to run
your business? Maybe it's time we started
acknowledging God. I want to have a healthy fear of
you, Lord. I want to have a healthy fear of
you because what He does in and through US becomes holistic.
He changes us fully. A lot of us have grown up with
fears. As I mentioned earlier, some of
you are scared of heights, spiders lying enclosed spaces,
needles, injections, dogs, snakes, water, public speaking,
and these are all things that we are scared of.
But if you notice, we found work around that.
If you're scared of the lift, you take the stairs.
If you're scared of heights, you don't just go and do start doing
roller coaster rides. If you're scared of spiders,
what do you do? You kill the spider.
If you're scared of flying, you make sure you travel by train
most often. Scared of dogs, you make it
aware that you're scared of dogs.
Scared of public speaking? You make sure you're not putting
a hand first to actually speak in the front.
Some of us have acquired fears because of our circumstances,
because of the things that have happened in our lives time and
again. Fear of failure where we feel
we've not matched up to someone else's.
Our parents understanding of what we need, our teachers or
you know, the thing that is being set across our boards.
This is what is the standard. And we feel like if you're not
achieved, that we've failed. Fear of rejection.
Some of us have been rejected because of the way we look, the
colour of our skin, the way our body type is, the way we don't
have hair or have hair. The rejection is 1 big thing
that we all have gone through. Probably have a fear of death.
You, you love your loved ones so much that you're scared that
they might pass away. And so if they pass away, you're
dreading how life will be with them.
Fear of the unknown. A lot of us are struggling to
take that step now. These are all real fears, fear
of social interaction and crowded spaces.
And I pray that as we grow up in our Christian faith, all these
fears will not be heightened, but rather come down, and that
the fear of God will be heightened because the fear of
God has to be heightened in yours And my life.
I'm realizing overtime, because of COVID, because of all that's
happened across my life, different fears have been
heightened. Different months, different
fears are heightened. Towards March.
I'm heightened. Oh, that's the month of tax.
So businesses will be low during the month of April.
It's exam seasons. And so the kids are heightened
in terms of how they'll perform. You and I are struggling in
these spaces and this is where we have to ask God.
God, I want the fear of God that you have spoken in your Word to
come in. It's something we start allowing
in our lives. We desire it, we allow it, and
then we start living by it. And we've taken the same
experience even into church. OK, if I don't come into church,
OK, if is God punishing me with regard to my money because I've
not tithed or how is God punishing me because I'm not
going to church? Is God punished me because I'm
not involved and the beauty is and we saw what is supposed to
be a healthy fear of God becomes a forced fear of God.
And I want to move us to a place at the end of the sermon where
we are like God. I want to desire it because I
want to be closer to you. I want to be closer to you.
And I pray that this fear of God that God wants us to have, we
won't just judge by what was happening by our lives because
of certain things we are not doing right, but rather we'll
move to a place of saying God, I want to have this posture alive
and active in my heart. Each of us, I believe for those
of us who say we are followers of Christ, who committed our
lives to Christ, who say that Christ is a central in my life,
have this area and I need to ask God, can this be made alive and
active? How does it become alive and
active? The more I read God's Word, it
becomes alive and active because His Word is alive and active.
And so when I'm reading something alive and active,
anything that's dead in anything that's hard, anything that's not
awakened will be awakened because I'm reading this.
When I read those stories of transformation, when I see
stories of obedience of God coming through, I'll start.
You know what? Probably the one thing that I
lack is obedience. And I pray that this fear of God
is reverent or that we need to have awful reverence.
It will move us towards obedience easily and not
forcefully. So I pray today that we won't be
crippling in fear. We won't be crippling.
So you might be like asking Keshav, Keshav, why do we have
to have this fear of God? Because we are people who
inherently are sinners. Anyone who's born into this
world, it says we are born with sin, which means you and I are
not taught to commit sin. It somehow just comes on to us.
Our human nature has fallen and so today you and I are in need
of this compass which will bring us back to the track of what the
Creator had his original design in.
And many a times the fight is because that that particular
meter is not moving. We are so in tune with our
sinful nature that we've learnt to put on a 2 hour act.
We've learnt to put on a Sunday act.
And so for Sunday, the fear of God activates Monday to
Saturday, dead ends. But I want to challenge you
today because I've been challenged God.
Can I allow the fear of God to be there when I'm alone, when
I'm there in my room alone, when I'm there in the company of
family, when I'm there in the company of friends, when I'm
there in the company of those who know me, those who don't
know me, will I be the same person?
Because you are in me, you are in me.
The fear of the God makes us aware that He's in US.
And so when I was preparing, I went to this beautiful verse
which talks about Jesus, and it was prophesied by Isaiah, and I
want to read that for you. In Isaiah Chapter 11, verses 1
to 5 is what it says. A shoot will come from the stump
of Jesse, from his roots. A branch will buy a fruit.
The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and
of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit
of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, not decide
by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will
judge the needy. With justice He'll give
decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, With the
breath of his lips. He will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around
his waist. This is a prophetic declaration
that Isaiah talks about Jesus coming into this world.
And what we see happen here is Jesus is the shoot that is
coming out of Jesse. And he talks about Jesus will
have the Spirit of the Lord on him and the spirit of the
knowledge and the fear of the Lord will be on him and he will
delight in the fear of the Lord. Remember Jesus who was born of
the Holy Spirit knew no sin lived on the earth without any
sin. He was blameless.
That's why he didn't he refused to answer pilot even then he
just walked and he asked whose authority and that very act when
we see that he was operating as a complete sinless person here
on this earth. Yet because of his human nature,
like you and me, because he walked on this earth, He was
very much in human form, like you and me, He still.
In his physical body with which you and I have had the fear of
the Lord and He was delighted in it.
So today the call for you and me is to delight in the fear of the
Lord. We all delight in so many
delicacies. We just finished Christmas.
We just had our festivities, the different biryanis we would have
had. But as we move on, I pray the
fear of the Lord will be a delight.
Which means we will be able to stay nourished in that.
We'll find nourishment in that. Because when we find nourishment
in that, we'll see what Jesus sees, we'll hear what Jesus
hears. We'll do what Jesus does.
And I pray that will be something that we will be able
to put into our own lives and see that come through.
So even today before we go ahead, 3 reminders for us, three
reminders for the fear of for the fear of God to be in our
life so that we can delight. Because if you're not careful,
we will be using our life situations to actually diminish
the fear of God in our lives and we suddenly will be plagued by
other fears. The first thing I want us to
look into is the fear of God deflects evil.
The fear of God deflects evil. When we read in that verse in
Isaiah, what does it say? Knowledge, wisdom, righteousness
was part of him, was his belt. Faithfulness was the shash
around his waist. So which means when the fear of
God, when I'm delighting on the fear of God, I deflect evil.
Anything that comes to me goes back.
Why? Because it can't penetrate,
because the fear of God is here. It's like a shield in itself.
It won't find room. It will.
It will go back to the sender. Who's the sender?
The devil. He should know.
This man has the fear of God in him.
He's not going to sway to the left or he's not going to sway
to the right. The fear of God liberates us.
Any earthly fear we have cripples us.
The fear of God liberates us. When Satan wants to actually use
evil of any form, it's one to cripple us, to control us.
But the fear of God liberates us.
I pray that God's plan over our lives will never make us live in
a state of fear. It'll never make us live in a
state of fear because a lot of times we've used so many of our
life circumstances to be the very lids that we've laid on top
so much that we're struggling to live this Christian life.
I pray that we will delight in the fear of God and we won't see
what He's calling us to do out of a place of rigor and
hardship, but one of deep desire and love.
And that automatically changes. You know, one of the beautiful
things is the, the kids nowadays, the, the entire Gen.
Z term uses the word aura. And I was just going through the
meaning. It's this distinctive atmosphere
of quality that seems to be surrounded or generated by a
person, thing or place. Satan's aura is one of control.
God's aura is 1 of flourishing. So if I delight in the fear of
God, God wants me to flourish. But when I delight on the things
of evil, which Satan keeps showing it to me makes me
attracted towards, I am controlled by him.
So I pray today that you and I will make this clear
distinction. We won't allow sin to come and
be caught unaware that we will. We'll succumb to the fears that
sin brings. So I pray today, if you've
allowed the fear of God in your life to be completely, or you
know, seven days out of seven days, six days in a week being
bombarded by evil and you've responded to that.
I pray you would ask God to come in and cleanse every area.
He's willing to repair those Shields.
He's willing to repair your arm and say you can hold it back,
which means you need to get back everything that that Satan has
used to cripple you. Now you need to stand and say
who you are in Christ. When you delight in him, you'll
be able to say, this is who I am in God, who I am in God.
And so suddenly you don't feel like you're giving up.
It's rather saying, God, I love the freedom that I get to enjoy
being in you. I want to read from Proverbs
chapter 16 verses 1 to 9, and it's what it says.
Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has a last word.
Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good.
God probes for what is good. If you put God in charge of your
work, then what you've planned will take place.
God made everything with the place and purpose, even the
wicked, I included, but for judgement.
God can't stomach arrogance or pretence.
Believe me, He'll put those braggarts in their place.
Guilt is banished through love and truth.
Fear of God deflects evil. I mean, God approves of your
life. Even your enemies will end up
shaking your hand. Far better to be right and poor
than to be wrong and rich. We plan the way we want to live,
but only God makes us able to live in it.
So I pray that guilt will be banished.
Whatever lie the enemy has told you will be replaced with God's
love and the truth that comes from him.
So I pray that you and I will be able to deflect evil.
What is the wise person who's written the same?
This plan is not about me. Am I going for what looks good?
Am I planning everything my way? Or am I asking God?
Am I judging it by what I want to judge by?
Is arrogance and pretense part of what I'm trying to do?
Am I trying to approve? Am I approving a life which I
can so that I can be partakers and shaking hands with everyone.
These are things God will start working in and through US.
He'll soon start showing us you don't have to do and work
everything out. I'll bring things to you, I'll
bring things to you. He will real he will the fear of
God will when we deflect evil will be help the when we are
when we're in this the place that we will have is 1 of
flourishing, which means we'll enjoy the Shalom that comes from
the fear of God that actually deflects evil.
We will soon be in this place where saying God, you're in
control of everything. I trust in you.
And so today I pray every time we think what the enemy is going
to throw at us. Remember, we need to have His
word as our ammunition. A best example is Jesus.
When Jesus was tempted, what did he do?
He deflected the He deflected the enemy with the word of God.
When he threw hunger, what did he say?
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
When he took him to the temple and said, throw, throw yourself
down with the angels, but he should not.
You shall not test what the Lord has said, and I pray you take
Him at His Word. You don't have to put it to
test. The third thing what He said is
you bow down. I'll give everything control.
Jesus said you will bow down to no one else, but to only to the
true and living God. You and I have to counter Him
with the Word. The deflecting thing that we can
do is only counter Him with the Word.
So I pray that we will be clear when we're deflecting evil.
We won't be like, OK, let me just see what's coming my way.
And then as it comes closer, I'll try to move and we'll go.
We aren't doing this is not our life story, is not being shot in
100 or 240 frames per second. It's short in real motion, which
means when it comes, it really comes fast.
He's not saying, OK, I'll give Geshum a little bit of time to
deflect evil. No, Satan is merciless.
So I pray you and I will be encouraged in the Lord.
We will delight in the fear of the Lord so that we'll be able
to deflect evil. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 23
says the fear of the Lord leads to life.
Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
I love the word that one rests content.
You know, one of the things which I've been trying to really
put into practice in my life is contentment.
Contentment because there's this, because what I want to see
happen and the pace that I'm running is not matching.
And I've realized there are so many things in my equations
which have been wrong. And God is setting that right.
And even with this theme, it's just done a big thing on me.
It's it's changed me upside down.
You need to talk to my wife to really see it actually unravel
me and do a number on me. I thank God for her because
she's been able to really pivot me in key places back to God.
And so in this, I would ask you that you and I will learn to
delight in the fear of the Lord because it leads to life and all
of that. We find rest, one's rest
content, untouched by trouble. So I pray you and I will do
that. I want to read a quote which I
read which is by Richard Alene and this is what it says.
He who knows what it is to enjoy God will dread his loss.
He who has seen his face will fear to see his back, will fear
to see his back. The minute we partake without
deflecting evil, we are sure to see God's back because there's
only so much God can have. And even as I spoke in the 1st
of the year with regard to divine take away, pray our
hearts won't be that of Flint, that we'll be so moldable to
what our Creator wants it to be. The second thing, the fear of
God draws us into His presence. The fear of God draws us into
His presence. I know about you, but we are
living in a land which is a spiritual land and everyone has
a heightened level of spirituality.
So which means they know you know, I can't do these things
otherwise karma. They use the word or they
whatever goes around comes around.
I'll get if I so evil, I will reap evil if I so good, I reap
good. The movie look at the Bible.
We see we many a times can be like the Israelites where we
wanted things done now. And I've realized as I was
writing this, the Israelites were con content that there was
a tribe set apart to handle God and they just had to do bare
minimals through the, you know, through this feast or that they
they could go and do and they were they were they were content
in that space. But over time that contentment
dissolved. And then that just broke down.
People didn't take God seriously.
And we saw the Israelites move into captivity.
And even as they read from Zechariah, that's the remnant
that's coming back. And I believe we all need to
learn to delight in the fear of the Lord because that's only
which will draw us into his presence.
A lot of times you're trying to have this equation of, OK, if we
do these set set of songs, if we do this, if I, if I partake of
this, I think I can, you know, gain access to his presence.
But no, I don't want to gain access.
I want to be in his presence, which means I want to take his
presence everywhere I go with me, which means I carry the
Prince of Peace into the areas of peacelessness.
I carry hope into the areas of hopelessness.
I carry his love into the areas where there's highly people and
things that I can't love. So today you and I are called to
be in that place. You know, there's this verse in
Exodus chapter 20 where we see where Moses is calling all these
people and there's they get to see the Thunder of the Lord.
They get to see all this, but they're so scared that they just
say, Moses, you alone go. So let's just read that.
It says in Exodus 20 verses 18 to 21, when the people saw the
Thunder and the lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the
mountain and smoke, they trembled with fear.
They stay at a distance and said to Moses, speak to us yourself
and we will listen, but do not have God speak to us or we will
die. Moses said to the people, do not
be afraid, God has come to test you so that the fear of God will
be with you to keep you from sinning.
The people remained at a distance while Moses approached
the thick darkness where God was.
This imagine God brought these people out of Egypt, walked them
through a couple of different miracles, and as he brought
them, he wanted to enjoy, He wanted this remnant people who's
come out of slavery to really see and enjoy his presence for
him to give those commands. And if you see from Exodus 20
all the way to Exodus 30, God starts giving these commands to
Moses. He says no idols, no altars.
He gives instructions for how you have to be as Hebrew
servants with regard to injuries.
He talks about the property, social responsibility, justice
and mercy. He talks about the different
festivals, he talks about Sabbath.
He talks about what it about the covenant and what God wants the
elders of the of Israel to do. And all again, he gives even the
temples and its specifics and all these things you will see
was only given to Moses because he went.
There's a time when we see Aaron come.
There's a time when we see Joshua comes and he waits there,
but between this and between chapter 20 and between chapter
32, what happens is the proximity changes the fear of
God, which actually they had to be delighting in to go into the
presence. When Moses said come, he wants
to give you he wants. Just imagine they were content
listening to the messenger. They didn't want to listen to
the message himself. So today you and I are called to
listen to the message himself, which means you and I have to
wait to hear from him because it's in the delight we will
enjoy his presence. And so a lot of us today are
content like how the Israelites were like, you know what, I, I'm
OK, you know, just being there. How many of us can just read the
Word and allow God to soak those words and allow that to sink in?
Yet we want to hear, we want this aid, we want that aid, all
that is good. But I pray and I ask, are we
replacing the very one who wants to speak to us?
You know, when Jesus went up to heaven, he said, I'm giving my
Holy Spirit so that he'll be your comforter, He'll be your
guide, He'll be your everything He wants to mend.
So which means you and I can invite the presents wherever we
are at. So you today and me included,
can we have the altar right where we are at?
Because I pray and ask for me delight in the fear of God.
We are saying, God, I want your presence.
I want to move closer to you. I want to move nearer to you.
It draws us into the presence. It draws us into the deep
secrets that he wants to hear hear.
He wants to share those deeper secrets with us.
Are you in? Are you struggling with certain
things not coming through? Have you been listening to him
clearly? Have you been waiting on him?
You know, me and Tina have been waiting on quite a few things,
but the more we've been waiting, we realize the answer is getting
clearer. It's not getting fuzzier, It's
getting clearer. So I pray that you and I will
learn to wait well, wait well in His presence, not away from His
presence. So I pray that we won't respond
like how the Israelites responded in fear, but rather
you would draw closer to Him. We would draw closer to him.
I believe that they wanted control over certain things.
But here as we are followers of Jesus, we relinquish saying,
God, you control everything. I'll just do what you're calling
me to do. You give the command.
I do what you're calling me to do.
Hebrews 12, verse 20 to 24. This is what it says.
But you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon
thousands of angels and joyfulness to the Church of the
first born whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God the judge of all and to the spirit of the
righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks in a better word than the
blood of Abel. And one of the things that we
see is God is speaking to a living community.
God is speaking to a living community.
If you and I are thinking we, that's why we gather.
We gather where his people are. We gather.
This is a depiction of what it will look like the, the, when
we, when we are in heaven, you're going to be standing
around with many others who've journeyed, with many others
who've listened to God, with many others who feared God.
And what are we? We're all going to enjoy his
presence. We're all going to go deeper.
And so today you and I cannot be devoid of community.
It's in this community also. We draw, we understand, we are
edified, which means I take encouragement when someone else
shares. I take encouragement when
someone else shares. I my heart goes with when
someone else is in lack. All this happens because we are
committed to the community of believers.
The fear of God is alive in community.
It's alive and coming to when we all come.
This fear of God starts encouraging, starts standing
into another, and this is where we see the evidence of the
holiness of God. Suddenly the we we realize the
things we are fretting about, everything we laid at the altar.
And suddenly when the community sings, what happens is we
realize that the sweet incense is rising up to heaven.
As it rises up to heaven. It's that awful reverence that
rises up. And suddenly his presence is so
thick. Suddenly his revelation is so
clear. Suddenly his his outpouring is
very evident. Suddenly we are able to
experience healing. Suddenly we are able to
experience signs, wonders. We are able to experience the
miraculous because of us all responding to the fear of God.
I pray that we will be people who run towards him.
So I pray that you all participate in community.
You know, that's why we gather together.
We gather together. We, we, we have times of
intercession together. There's no divide, no clergy.
In fact, I believe if the Israelites had responded, it
would have been a little different.
And so suddenly we are OK with this one person.
No, God came for all. Which means we all respond.
We all respond. The third thing we see is the
fear of God dispenses God's transformative nature through
us. When we delight in the fear of
God, what happens internally is it dispenses what comes out is
God's transformative nature. So when fear of God happens,
when I said we deflect evil, whatever Resident Evil that's
been in, in terms of sin, everything, it starts going
through a transformative work. Suddenly anger starts slowing
down, slows down. God teaches us patience, He
gives us self-control and suddenly that transformative
nature suddenly moves and is suddenly spreading to the people
around us. What is dispensing?
Dispensing is what to distribute.
You have these dispensing machines, a Coke dispenser, you
put money in. What happens you get a coke.
So when suddenly because I'm delighting in the fear of God
and I'm allowed fear of God to take resident, what do I
dispense? I dispense his trans for me to
work. I dispense the miraculous that's
been working in and through. So when we are agreeing to this
journey in reverent, on delight, in wisdom, our partnering, what
happens? The world internally changes and
the world around starts changing.
The world itself doesn't change. Our internal world changes.
And because of our internal world, we start seeing things
differently. We start participating in things
where we can see transformation happen.
What what does that look like? Where there is slavery, you
start working towards freedom. Where there is hardship, you
start working for his breakthrough to come in Two
Corinthians chapter 6 verses 14 to 18 and continuing on to 7
Chapter 7 verses one. This is what it says.
Don't team up with those who are unbelievers.
How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness?
How can light live with darkness?
What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?
How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
And what union can there be between God's temple and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God.
As God said, I will live in them and walk among them.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers and separate
yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don't touch their filthy things and I will welcome you and I
will be your father and you will be my sons and my daughters,
says the Lord Almighty Chapter 7, verse one.
Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse
ourselves from everything that can defile our body, our spirit,
and let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
What is God saying here? Yes, he's talking about do not
be yoked with an unbeliever. But I wanted to draw our
attention to what are our what is our internal heart yoked by A
lot of us today are OK with, you know, I can have this sin and
have this goodness of God. But the truth is the internal
conflict doesn't result in anything transformative.
Rather it it whatever comes out of us is confusion.
Whatever comes out of us is a murky grey in shade.
It could be one of the 50 Shades of grey, and I pray that that
very aspect is what God's wanting to set right in us.
He's saying, if you are saying that I will delight in the fear
of God, which means I need to allow the authority of the fear
of God to go on, which means everything that my sinful
nature's desiring, I send it through the fear of God, and
that filters out everything that's sinful.
Suddenly I understand with clarity what this particular
addiction does. Suddenly I understand what this
thing will do to me if I press into this, which the enemy is
asking me to do. Suddenly I realize if I'm not
careful with my words and when it comes out, it will break
hearts, it will diminish people, it will enslave them.
So you suddenly start seeing things and patterns in your own
life. We are quick to point out the
problem in others, but I pray that we'll be quick enough to
see the hard areas of our heart that have adjusted so well to
sin that it's repelling the fear, the delights that it has
to have on the fear of God. So I pray because when Paul
talks about this, what is he saying?
He's saying anything that's defiling it.
Let's cleanse it and we would move towards holiness.
And mind you, this is not a one time thing.
It's an everyday thing. This is just not a one year
thing. It's an every year thing till we
are alive here on this earth. You and I have to walk day by
day in this area of holiness. And it's, it's a life's journey
because we we are in different stages and in different stages,
God shapes what we thought we've we've got figured out.
And this is where I would love for God to work in and through
US. Because what happens when you
read stories in the Bible where Jesus walked?
One of the stories which really you can see this transfer made
to work happen is in the story of Zacchaeus.
When Jesus sees him, he says coming into your house, when he
goes in the very fact that a rabbi can come in, the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords walks in, What does it do?
Everything. He Jesus doesn't convict him
doesn't no, the very presence and that's what I think happens
in our heart when we delight and I love him.
He's saying, hey, I want to come and stay with you, I want to
work with you and I love him. What happens?
He comes and he says, Geshwam, this area of control that you
have given money has to go off. This area of control you've
given lust has to go off. This area you've given your
heart to pornography, it has to go out.
This area you've given your heart to consumption of drugs
has to go off. This area given to alcoholism as
well. This area that you've given to
beating up your wife has to go off.
This area that you've given to verbally abusing your kids has
to go off. All these start changing, all
these start changing. And that happens because I'm
allowing the transformative part of Jesus, the fear of God, to
work in and through me. And I allow that what happens, I
say, God, I'm surrendering to you, do as you may.
And so suddenly what happens? We dispense out of us.
Goodness starts flowing out of us.
Healing starts going out of us. The likeness of Christ starts
flowing in and through US. Jesus wants to step in so that
when he sets us right, nothing is shakeable.
You know in Hebrews chapter 12 when we continue reading that it
goes on to say what it talks about from Zion as to what we
will see and why we are in need of talks in 1225 to 29.
So don't turn a deaf ear to these gracious words.
If those who ignored earthly warnings didn't get away with
it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly
warnings? His voice that time shook the
earth to its foundations. This time he's told us this
quite plainly. He'll also rock the heavens.
One last shaking from top to bottom, stem to stern.
The phrase one last shaking means a thorough house cleaning,
getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so
that the unshakeable essential stand clear and uncluttered.
Do you see what we've got? An unshakeable Kingdom.
And do you see how thankful we must be?
Not only thankful and brimming with worship, deeply reverent
before God. For God is not an indifferent
bystander. He's actively cleaning house,
torching all needs, torching all that needs to burn.
And he won't quit until it's all cleansed.
God himself is fire. So even as I conclude, I want to
conclude with that, that I want to delight in the fear of God so
that he torches everything so that when he shakes all of his
remains and everything goes on. For the some of us, we need to
allow and delight the fear of God so that our marriages will
be better. Some of us have to allow so that
our parenting will be better. Some of us have to allow so that
we can take care of our parents better.
Some of us have to allow so that we can go back to church and
realize we need to be part of our community so that we can
offer sacrifices of praise, adoration, so that we'll be able
to see his presence come through.
Just remember, we can't just be content of where we are at.
So I pray that we won't be people who are reactive to the
fear of God, but I pray we'll be responsive to the fear of God.
What do I mean reactive in the sense we make these harsh
things, Oh, I'll do this, I'll do that.
And we again rely on our strength.
But when we respond to the fear of God, what is it you're
saying? God, I can't do it with my
strength, but I'll do it with your word, which will bring
life. And so may I, I'll invite you
and may I delight in you so that you will be able to work in and
through me so that I'll be responsive to what you're doing.
I'll be responsive because it will make us responsive to his
grace, his love, his kindness, and the cross, which shows us
what we really need to see. You know, before we close, I
just want to have another quote which I came across, it's by
William Secker. It says as faith is a grace that
feeds all the rest. So fear is a grace that guards
all the rest. Today, you and I, yes, we
operate out of faith that feeds all the rest, which means
everything that we believe in Christ, which are yes and Amen,
the promises. Yes, faith it's fueled by, but
it's fear that God's all the rest.
So I pray today that we'll allow this delight that we need to
have in God because of the fear that will be in that reverent
awe which will cause us to have that wisdom with complete wisdom
that we'll be able to live in that and see it does not work in
our own personal life, but in every facet of our life, every
facet of our life. So I pray when we deflect, we
deflect evil. But it will help me to receive
what the fear of God has kept for me.
It'll help me. I'll be aware of His presence.
It will draw us in where we are in rest, in His presence, where
we receive and we don't have to hustle and we dispense what
we've tasted and lived out. So when others see, they know
that this is something only what God can't do.
So even as I close, I just want to pray and ask that God will
work in it through your lives because this is a lifelong
thing. And over the next couple of
weeks, as we unpack this, as Tina unpacks this next week, I
believe God wants to work in it through us.
So I pray and ask that God will work.
That's what we will be delight in the fear of God in reverent
or and see him come through. Can I pray for your loving
heavenly Father Lord, I thank you Lord, for each and everyone
for those who are listening and watching that you'd be with us.
Lord, I pray Lord, if we've moved a veil or Jesus out of our
own earthly reactions to what your fear is.
I pray we will draw back him Lord, I pray if we've if we've
if you've shook our hands of the world and we've not been
deflecting evil, I pray, Lord, today will be a day where our
lines will be marked clear. Lord, these are Shields will be
up that we'll start deflecting evil.
I pray for those of us who resisted your transformative
work, Lord, I pray you would walk in and through US.
Lord, I pray shake off everything Lord that the enemy
is planted. Shake off every dead weed, shake
off every tawny Bush. Shake off everything that's not
bearing fruit. Cut off everything, Lord Jesus,
that is unnecessary so that we will be able to see the
transformer to work in and through US and we'll be able to
dispense Your life, giving lessons to each and everyone who
comes across our way. Lord, I pray that even as we
step into this week, go before us, be with us.
I pray for those who are travelling that You would enable
us, Lord, that You'll give us journey mercies.
I pray for those who are going into important meetings.
Give us wisdom, Lord. I pray for those, Lord, who are
stepping into areas where they seek Your guidance or who are
waiting on an open door. I pray You'll give them
patience. Your word would come through.
I pray, Lord, even as I spoke, Lord Jesus, that Lord, we all
will learn to delight in Your word.
Spend time, take nourishment and draw closer to you, Lord, I pray
we'll all have our personal alters where we'll be able to
enjoy a deep sense of presence and we'll have enjoy the
community presence that you've placed us in.
Go before us, be with us. In your mostly name we pray,
Amen. Amen.
I pray that you have a blessed week and I also pray that even
as you step into this week, God will bless you in everything
that you do. Remember this, that word finds
Jesus finds life. God bless you all.
Have a blessed week. Thanks for listening to this
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