Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious.
To him coming is unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture,
Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
He left, precious.
He that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
Unto ye therefore which believe he is precious,
but unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner,
and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
were unto also they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
and holy nation, a peculiar people.
Ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light,
which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles,
whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation.
Submit yourselves therefore to every ordinance of man
for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king as supreme,
or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him
for the punishment of evildoers,
and for the praise of them that do well.
For so is the will of God that with well-doing
you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,
as free and not using your liberty
for a cloak of maliciousness,
but as the servants of God.
Honor all men, love the brotherhood,
fear God, honor the king.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear,
not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the foward.
For this is thank worthy,
if a man for conscience toward God
endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, if when you be buffeted
for your faults, you shall take it patiently.
But if when you do well and suffer for it,
you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
Who when he was reviled, reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not,
but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes you were healed.
For you were a sheep going astray,
but now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you for this opportunity
to be in your house.
Just ask that you would meet with us here now this morning
and please fill a pastor with your spirit as he preaches.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
- Amen.
Okay, well this morning we are in 1 Peter chapter two,
and the title of my sermon this morning,
what I wanna preach on this morning
is the subject of fear.
I wanna talk about fear this morning.
Fear is often viewed as something
that is inherently wrong.
We instinctively associate fear with sin,
and rightly so, right?
Because the Bible repeatedly condemns fear
and commands us not to fear,
especially when it is rooted in unbelief.
We often say that fear is the opposite of faith, right?
And while it is true
that the Bible consistently commands us not to fear,
it is equally true that the Bible also instructs us
to fear, right?
We're supposed to fear certain things.
The Bible talks about that.
The problem with Christians today
is that they often fear the wrong things
and fail to fear the right things, okay?
This morning, I wanna walk you through
the right and wrong things to fear.
Let me begin by talking about the right things to fear.
Let's start just by talking about this.
How about this?
Fearing God, right?
A lot of Christians in churches promote this idea of,
oh, we need to make sure we overcome fear.
And we need to make sure that we exercise faith
and not fear and not be afraid.
But almost to the point where they even exclude fearing God.
And more people know about overcoming fear
than they know about fearing God.
And make no mistake about it,
the Bible repeatedly, consistently, over and over again
commands us to fear the Lord our God, okay?
That is a strict demand.
And in fact, it's found permeated
throughout the Bible more than telling us
not to fear the things of this world, okay?
It's far more important for us to fear our God
than anything else.
Look at 1st Peter 2 verse 17 says,
"Honor all men, love the brotherhood."
I want you to notice this,
"Fear God," the Bible tells us, "Honor the king."
Now, this is basic Bible knowledge, right?
You know, this is part
of just foundational Christian teaching
that one of the things that we should adopt,
one of the things that we should embrace,
a mentality that we should consistently have
is to fear our God, and for a variety of reasons.
One of the reasons is because of the fact
that we don't wanna suffer the consequences of our actions.
So fearing God motivates us to stay right with God, right?
It helps us to recognize that there is a consequence
to our actions, our repercussions to our decisions.
This is basic Bible knowledge.
As Christians, we should be labeled as a God-fearing people.
This is something the Bible consistently commands us to do.
Go to Isaiah chapter eight, if you would,
Isaiah chapter number eight.
Let me read you a couple of verses
before I expound on this particular point.
As you're turning to Isaiah chapter eight,
I'm gonna read to you from Psalms 34.
Psalm 34 verse nine says,
"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints,
"for there is no want to them that fear him."
Psalm 25 verse 12 says, "What man is he that fear the Lord?
"Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose."
Psalm 111, verse 10 says,
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
"A good understanding have all they that do his commandments,
"his praise endureth forever."
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 13,
"Give heed," it says,
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
"Fear God and keep his commandments
"for this is the whole duty of men."
I submit to you that it is your God-given duty to fear God.
And when you have a people who don't fear God,
you know what the result of that is?
It's sin permeates society, false doctrine is taught,
wickedness is tolerated.
Churches become filled with heresy
and false doctrine and false prophets,
and abomination is tolerated in our nation.
Why?
'Cause God's people don't fear him, that's why.
Whereas the Bible tells us that it is our God-given duty,
it is our responsibility to fear the Lord, our God.
Now, why is that?
Well, fear in God is the entry point to knowledge, right?
We understand that.
Wisdom and confidence.
Now, you're in Isaiah,
I'm gonna keep reading some verses from Proverbs.
Bear with me if you would.
Proverbs chapter one, verse seven says,
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
"but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs nine, verse 10 says this,
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
"and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."
Proverbs 14, verse 26 says this,
"In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence,
"and his children shall have a place of refuge.
"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life
"to depart from the snares of death."
Proverbs 19, verse 23 says,
"The fear of the Lord tendeth to life,
"and he that hath it shall abide satisfied.
"He shall not be visited with evil," the Bible tells us.
So this is just a couple of examples
of what the Bible says are the result of fearing God.
We accumulate knowledge, we accumulate wisdom,
we accumulate confidence, and according to the Bible,
we end up embracing life because of it, okay?
Now what does it mean to fear God?
Well, modern Christians have essentially dwindled
the meaning to fearing God as just mere reverence, okay?
And this is kinda crazy to me if you think about it.
Because, you know, Christians in churches spend so much time
discouraging Christians and encouraging them
to not fear the things of this world and not be afraid.
But when it comes to fearing God, it's like,
well, that doesn't mean like actually be afraid of God.
That doesn't really mean like fear God,
like you're scared of him.
It just means to like respect him.
It just means to just reverence him.
It just means to just honor him.
No, fearing God means be afraid of God.
Fearing God means be afraid of God.
And you know, it's high time that churches and Christians
stop making excuses for what the Bible actually says
and just tell people when the Bible says fear God,
that means be afraid of him.
You know, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God.
That's what the Bible says.
Does that mean it is a reverential thing?
It's an honoring thing to fall into the hands
of the living God?
No, it means be afraid.
Don't disobey God.
Don't disrespect God.
Don't dishonor the Lord because you might suffer
the consequences of being in the hands of an angry God.
That's what the Bible teaches, okay?
You know, obviously there's instances in the Bible
where we can say that fear is coupled with reverence,
but let's just be honest.
Fear means fear.
Fear means be afraid.
Fear means dreadful.
Fear means that you are terrified of God.
That's what the Bible literally says.
Are you saying that I should just be terrified of God?
Yeah, you should.
Now look, folks, if we're saved,
if we have the Holy Spirit of God living within us,
we have eternal life.
We obviously know that the reason we fear God
is not because he can cast us into hell
because we can't lose our salvation.
Then why fear God?
I'll tell you why,
'cause God can destroy your life here.
He can make your life miserable here.
He can take your life here, right?
He can destroy your finances here.
He can destroy your health here.
He can absolutely send you strong delusions.
He can cause you to reap the consequences
of your actions here,
and he can do it in the greatest of ways.
That's why the Bible says, let him be your dread, okay?
Christians spend so much time learning
how not to fear that it even extends to their view of God.
It's almost taboo.
It's just like, well, we shouldn't really be afraid of God.
He's a loving God.
Yeah, of course he's a loving God,
but not at the exclusion of being a dreadful God.
Of course he is a gracious, compassionate God,
but not the exclusion of the fact that he is a just God
that punishes the evildoers, okay?
Well, you shouldn't be afraid of God.
No, yes, you should be afraid of God.
And I'm not just talking about the unsaved out there.
They definitely should be afraid of God, okay?
'Cause the Bible says that he that believeth on the sun
hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the sun shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.
You know, a person who does not know Jesus Christ
as their savior, that have not placed their faith
exclusively upon him for salvation,
you know, they're an inch away from hell.
They're one step away from falling right into hell.
And that should cause people to fear, right?
But you know, God's people should fear too,
not because of eternal damnation,
but just because we don't want to dishonor God
and knowing full well that God can punish us
for our actions.
Look at Isaiah chapter eight and verse number 12.
It says, "Say ye not a confederacy,
to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy,
neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid."
So, you know, a lot of churches will quote verses like this.
See, don't be afraid, don't fear, don't be scared.
Don't be afraid of what the enemy can do unto you.
And to that I say, amen.
Now let's use that same definition of fear and afraid
in verse 12 and apply it to verse 13.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself
and let him be your fear and let him be your dread.
Now that doesn't say let him be your reverence
because if we were to define it based upon its context
in verse 12, it's referring to the fact that
don't let God be the one that you are afraid of.
And let me just make myself very clear.
When you fear God, you will not fear man.
Why?
God is a higher power, he is someone who can destroy
all things if he wants to.
He can absolutely disseminate the enemies.
He is all powerful, almighty.
And so when we recognize how great God is,
you know, the liberal, you know,
people who threaten you, what is that?
The enemies of God, they just kind of,
they're like nothing compared to the severity
of God's judgment, you understand?
So this is a good verse, this is a good passage
to disprove this idea that fear only means reverence.
No, according to the Bible, fear means to be,
to have dread and to be afraid, okay?
Go to Acts chapter five, if you would,
Acts chapter five, Acts chapter number five.
Now, why should people fear God?
I've already mentioned a couple of reasons,
but let me re-emphasize them.
Fearing God motivates people to get saved.
Now, you know, I know a lot of people,
they're out there like, well, you know what caused me
to be, to get saved, to look for the truth,
'cause I love God.
Well, very, very, you know, very hallmark of you,
very hobby lobby of you to say such a thing.
But let's just be honest,
the vast majority of the reasons why people get saved
is 'cause they don't wanna go to hell.
You know why? 'Cause hell is scary.
'Cause hell is fire and brimstone and damnation.
And this is why the Bible describes it as thus,
in order to motivate people to flee
from the wrath to come, right?
Let me read to you from Matthew chapter 10, verse 28.
"And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell."
These are the words of Jesus Christ.
Jude 22 says this, "And if some have compassion,
making a difference, others," listen to this,
"save with fear, pulling them out of the fire."
Now, what does that mean?
It means that when we go out and preach the gospel,
we don't beat around the bush
when it comes to the doctrine of hell.
You know, there's a lot of gospel presentations out there
that don't even wanna mention hell.
They don't wanna mention eternal damnation.
They don't wanna mention revelation 21 eight.
They don't wanna mention the lake of fire.
They don't wanna mention the fact that God will burn them
in the lake of fire for all of eternity.
Why? 'Cause that's too offensive.
But folks, let me just tell you something.
That will motivate someone to get saved
'cause they don't wanna go to...
That's why I got saved.
You should have gotten saved because you love God.
Well, sorry, no.
A lot of people don't get saved 'cause they love God.
They get saved because they find out about hell.
And look, folks, the Bible literally calls
Jesus Christ the savior.
What is he saving you from?
It's called hell.
So in light of the fact that you deserve hell,
deserve eternal damnation, what do you do?
You run to the foot of the cross and ask for a savior, okay?
And there is no gospel presentation
without explaining hell.
It doesn't exist.
And if you know of someone who claimed to have gotten saved
without even hearing about hell,
that person didn't get saved.
That person got a Ted Talk.
That person got an encouraging sermonette or whatever,
because you need to talk about hell.
You need to talk about damnation in order
to exalt the grace of God and the mercy of God
that saves you from hell through Jesus Christ.
It says, "Others saved with fear,
pulling them out of the fire."
So this is showing us conclusively
that fearing God motivates people to come
to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And let me just say this.
If you're in this room today and you
don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that you are going to heaven, you have doubt in your mind.
You know you're going to hell.
You better get saved today.
You better recognize that Jesus Christ died on the cross
to pay for your sins, that he resurrected on the third day,
and that by placing your faith exclusively upon him,
meaning at the exclusion of everything else--
your works, false religion, your ability
to repent of your sins, your ability to keep God's commands--
at the exclusion of those things,
you have to trust in Christ solely.
And once you do, the Bible says you have eternal life,
and you can never lose it for any reason whatsoever.
Now, if you have any doubt about that,
you're like, well, I don't believe that, yeah, fear.
You better be afraid, 'cause hell awaits.
Fearing God motivates people to be saved.
Enough of this watered down Christianity
that doesn't want to offend the unsaved.
The unsaved will always stumble at the stumbling block.
And it's not our job as Christians
to make the Bible palatable for people,
make it taste better for people.
We need to preach the truth
and tell people what the Bible actually says.
And you know what, let God work in their hearts.
Not cut down the message, not water it down,
just because we're afraid we might offend someone.
Folks, I'd rather offend someone,
but at least I told them the truth
than to love them to hell, amen?
And I promise you, there'll be more people
in heaven thankful that we came to them
in the boldness of the spirit to tell them
that hell exists, that they were going there,
but they can find salvation
through Jesus Christ exclusively, amen?
So fear in God motivates people to get saved, okay?
Acts 13, you're in Acts chapter five.
Let me read to you one last passage.
Acts 13 verse 26 says this,
"Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham,
and whosoever among you feareth God,
to you is the word of this salvation sent."
So what does that say?
It's saying here that people are more likely to get saved
when they fear God, right?
That means that someone who is open to the gospel,
they are humble, they are afraid,
and therefore open to receiving the gift of salvation.
And look, people in our church, myself included,
can testify to this,
that we've knocked on hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of doors.
And I guarantee you, the people who've gotten saved,
the quickest, the most receptive people
were those who were afraid.
They're like, you know, I was just thinking about that.
I'd just been afraid about hell.
I'm just afraid that I'm not saved.
And you know what?
They're receptive to the gospel and they get saved.
The ones who are not God-fearing people,
who mock the word of God, they don't get saved.
Point that I'm making here is it says,
whosoever among you feareth God,
to you is the word of this salvation sent.
So fearing God motivates people to be saved,
but it also keeps Christians honest and right with God.
Like, oh no, I just, I still don't agree with that.
I think we should just, I think the Bible means
to just reverence God, to respect God.
Well, those are given.
Obviously you're supposed to reverence God.
Obviously we're supposed to honor God.
Fearing God is like its own separate category though, okay?
Why? Because it actually motivates you.
It operates as an incentive to keep you right with God,
to keep you from breaking the commandments of God,
from keeping you from committing grievous sin
that can destroy your life.
Now in Acts chapter five,
you have the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
We're not gonna go through the whole story,
but basically they lie into the Holy Ghost
regarding an offering, and what happens to them?
They die, like God kills them.
You know, I thought God only killed people
in the Old Testament.
No, he kills a ton of people in the new.
And if you don't believe that, read the book of Revelation.
He kills more people in the book of Revelation
than he did in the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.
OK, look at Acts chapter five, verse five.
And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell down and gave up the ghost.
Look what it says, "And great fear came on all them
that heard these things."
So in case there was someone in the group who was potentially
looking to do the same thing as Ananias and Sapphira,
not anymore.
They're like, you know, I was planning to lie too,
but I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.
Why?
Because now they fear God, because they
know he means business.
Look at verse 11.
After both of them die and they're buried,
it says, "And great fear came upon all the church,
and upon as many as heard these things."
You think this means great reverence, great honor,
great respect?
No, they're afraid to die.
They're scared.
They're like, I don't want to die.
Ananias and Sapphira were part of the church.
They lied into the Holy Ghost.
And guess what?
Now they're dead.
You know what?
Lest I should lie, lest I should die, I'm not going to lie.
I'm going to be honest.
I'm going to do things the right way,
because I don't want to follow the path of Ananias and Sapphira,
showing us conclusively that fearing God
helps us to stay right with God.
When you see another Christian punished for their evil deeds,
for disobeying God, you know what
causes others to do?
Fear.
When you see someone suffer the severe consequences
of their actions, you know what motivates you to do?
You know what?
I think I'm not going to do that.
I wasn't planning on it.
And in fact, I'm going to stay very clear from even being
tempted to do something like that, because I'm afraid.
Well, that's not a great way to live-- no, it is a great way
to live your life, which is why the Bible says to fear the Lord
and to depart from evil.
Fearing God motivates you to get away from sin,
to depart from evil, to be an honest person,
not just when you're in the presence of other people,
but even behind closed doors.
Why?
Because you fear God.
You understand God is presently there with you,
regardless if your spiritual leaders are there,
regardless if your parents are there, regardless if eyes are
watching you.
You stay right with God, because you know God is watching me,
and God can punish me.
God can expose me at any given time.
And so therefore, I shall depart from evil
and not participate in that.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 1.
1 Peter chapter 1.
2 Corinthians chapter 7.
As you're turning to 1 Peter chapter 1.
2 Corinthians chapter 7.
I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1 says,
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit."
This is what we would commonly refer to as sanctification.
Living a godly life requires a daily cleansing,
making sure that we are repenting of our sin,
not to maintain salvation, but to maintain fellowship
and communion with God, to be pleasing unto the Lord.
And obviously, there's various benefits that come with that.
You don't destroy your life.
You become a virtuous individual.
It says, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God."
Fearing God motivates us to cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 15.
It says, "But as he which hath called you is holy,
so be holy in all manner of conversation."
This is God's standard.
He's saying that you should live a holy life,
a sanctified life, in all manner of conversation.
The conversation there is referring to your behavior,
your conduct.
So look, folks, it's not enough that you're clean in here.
You gotta be clean in here,
but you also gotta be clean here as well.
That's what God is interested in, right?
He wants you to live a sanctified life, holy.
And I don't mean holy as in H-O-L-Y,
I mean holy as in your whole self,
in mind, body, and spirit.
He says in verse 16, because it is written,
"Be holy, for I am holy.
And if ye call on the Father,
who without respect of persons,
judgeeth according to every man's work,
pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."
The Bible says.
What does it mean to sojourn?
It means to journey, right?
A sojourn is referring to a temporary journey,
a temporary trip.
And God describes our journey here on this earth
as temporary, okay?
We're not gonna be here forever.
We might be here for 80 years, some 90,
maybe even 100 years or so.
But let's just say 50 to 80 years,
that's not a very long time in comparison to eternity.
And so the Bible's telling us
that the way we should approach life is in fear.
Fear of who?
Of God.
Why?
Because when we fear God,
we live in all godly conversation
and abstaining from sin,
abstaining from things that will destroy your life,
not only keeps you from suffering
the consequences of those actions,
but it actually gives God's blessing to you as well.
You become a blessed individual of God
because of the fact that you feared the Lord.
Turn with me, if you're in 1 Peter,
go to chapter two, if you would, chapter two.
Chapter number two, what's the point that I'm making here?
The point that I'm making is,
hey, I'm here to remind you to fear God, okay?
You better fear God at your job.
You better fear God when you're at home.
Hey, teenager, if your parents are not around,
you better fear God and not allow yourself
to get caught up in all manner of sinfulness
and youthful lusts.
You better watch out what you're looking at on the internet.
Why, 'cause God can watch you and you should fear God,
knowing full well that he could expose you,
he could destroy you if that's what he so wills.
Man, you're scaring me, good.
You should be afraid, be afraid, be very afraid.
I just don't know if that's the best way to live my life.
Well, let's see the alternative.
Let's see what happens when you don't fear God,
you become emboldened, you become brazen to commit sin
and do things that are contrary to the word of God.
And let's see how it turns out for you at that point.
Bible honors people who fear God,
fear God in their families, at their jobs,
in any given situation.
And here's a good way to explain the fear of God.
It's basically recognizing that God's presence
is always there.
'Cause we obviously know that God is always present,
but our recognition of that presence isn't always on, right?
We don't always recognize that God is present.
Well, fear in God is recognizing that God is present.
It's realizing like God is watching me right now,
and therefore I need to behave myself.
I need to behave myself.
I need to make sure I think the right things,
say the right things, behave the right way,
because God is present, okay?
And so we see here, according to the Bible,
we need to make sure that we fear God
and not be like these godless, fearless people out there
that don't fear God, that speak brazenly about God,
they disrespect God, or even people who may love the Lord,
but they don't fear God, and because of that,
they suffer the consequences of their actions.
Not only that, but let me also say this.
You know, you need to fear earthly authority as well.
You know, the Bible encourages us to fear authority.
Look at 1 Peter chapter two, verse 17 again.
Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God,
honor the king, servants be subject to your masters
with all fear.
Now, what is this talking about?
It's talking about your bosses.
Master in the Bible here is referring to a boss, okay?
And servants is referring to an employee, okay?
And it says that the employee should fear their boss,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
Now, why should people fear their boss?
'Cause you don't wanna get fired,
and you wanna keep earning a paycheck.
I'm not afraid of any boss.
Well, then you're disobeying the Bible.
'Cause the Bible says that the boss is the boss,
and you should fear the boss.
And in fact, in other portions of scripture,
it teaches us that we should serve our boss
as unto the Lord, how about that?
You know, the Bible doesn't teach anarchy.
The Bible is for authority, it's for earthly authority,
and it commands us to fear that authority.
And you know, sometimes people, Christians are like,
well, you know, I don't fear my boss
because he's just not a God fearing person.
He's so godless.
He just, he cusses me out.
Well, don't mess up and he won't cuss you out.
That's a good solution.
Well, I just don't like, then go find another job then.
But if the boss is not happy with the job,
that's not the boss's fault, that's your fault.
Who's the boss, right?
You know, if God judges us for our sins,
if God judges us because we did something wrong,
we can't point to God and blame him for that.
He's the boss.
And you know, we need to raise a generation
of individuals who are not soft,
they're not these employees that can't take a rebuke
or a correction from their boss.
Fear your boss, do a good job,
and you'll be honored of God.
Well, you know, but he is froward, you know,
he's not a Christian.
What it says, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward.
So it's literally saying you should fear
the one who is froward.
And you know, if you wanna win your boss to the Lord,
one of the best ways to do it
is just by being a good employee.
But quite frankly, you're not even there
to win him over to the Lord,
you're there to earn a paycheck
and make him successful, amen?
He says, "For this is thank worthy
"if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,
"suffering wrongfully," the Bible tells us.
And so, you know, we can't have,
go to chapter three, chapter three if you would,
we need to make sure that we have this right attitude
about fear that God wants us to fear him,
but also he wants us to fear earthly authority.
And we're not even talking about church authority,
we're just talking about authority just in general.
Meaning that, hey kids, you should fear your parents.
And look parents, if your kids don't fear you,
it's because you don't spank them.
Plain and simple, that's why,
that's why they're not scared,
that's why they talk back,
that's why they roll their eyes at you,
that's why they disrespect you,
because you don't whoop 'em.
You know why I fear my mom?
'Cause she whooped me, she whooped me bad.
And you know what, that made me obey my mom
as best as I possibly could growing up.
And yeah, was I upset at certain times?
Of course, because getting whooped is a grievous thing,
it's not joyful.
But you know, looking back, I'm thankful for it.
And yes, I feared my mom.
I feared my mom to the point
where if I did something wrong in a public setting,
all she had to do was look at me.
She'd just give me the look and I'm like, I'm dead.
I'm dead, I'm so dead.
And then like we'd go home and I'd try to change the subject,
you know, like try to act all happy or whatever,
but she didn't forget.
You say, why were you acting like that?
'Cause I was afraid of my mom.
And guess what?
But I also loved my mom too.
So I can do both.
Yeah, but you know, what's the result of that?
Well, you're looking at a pastor, aren't you?
Aren't you looking at someone who's a God fearing man
who's teaching others how to fear God
and teaching the word of God and standing for the truth?
That's the product of fearing earthly authority.
And my mom wasn't even a Christian at the time.
She was just a good parent who whooped me.
Now, whether she did it out of anger or not is irrelevant.
Whether she did it 'cause I just annoyed her or something,
that's not what we're talking about here, okay?
The point is, you know, when I disobeyed, I was whooped.
And you know what?
We need to make sure, parents,
that we practice this as well.
This is a commandment from God.
Don't be afraid what other people might say,
what other people might do.
They're not raising your kids.
And you know what, if you want to raise rebellious,
bratty, lazy, disrespectful members of society,
don't whoop your children.
But if you want to spare your child from misery,
if you want to spare your child from ever being a liberal,
if you want to spare your child
from being just an absolute reproach to the society,
spank that child.
You know, if you spank your children here,
I'm not going to be like, hey, what are you doing?
This is God's house.
We're not going to interfere
with your discipline of your children, you know?
And don't interfere with mine either.
The point being here is that, you know,
if you want your children to fear you,
you have to institute some form of discipline
or else why would they be afraid?
And when I say discipline,
I'm not talking about taking away their Xbox or something,
or taking away their iPad or something like that.
I'll take away their iPhone.
It's got, I know that hurts them a little bit,
but that, and I'm not talking about a timeout either.
I'm not talking about, don't do that.
I'm talking about actual discipline
as the Bible prescribes, okay?
And so, you know, and obviously the type of discipline
we promote is the discipline that the Bible promotes,
which is chastisement on the backside, right?
The hinder parts, as the Bible puts it.
Look at 1 Peter chapter three.
We need to fear earthly authority,
such as, you know, we have the earthly authority
of our bosses, but guess what?
Even household authorities.
You know what the household authority is?
The dad, the husband, the man.
Look what it says in verse one.
Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands,
that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word
be won by the conversation of the wives.
Now what does it mean to be in subjection?
It means that you have to obey your husband.
Now listen, oh ye who have been influenced by feminism,
this is in the Bible.
This is what the Bible says.
Be in subjection, it can be interpreted no other way.
It means you need to submit to your husband,
to the desires of your husband,
to the leadership and authority of your husband.
That's what the Bible teaches us, okay?
And I don't know what your modern version says,
but the King James says, "Subjection to your own husband."
It says that if any obey not the word,
meaning if the husband is not a Christian
or they're just a person who's not obedient to the word,
they're not living in subjection to the Bible.
The Bible's telling us here that your subjection
will aid him in submitting themselves to the Bible.
He says that they also may be, without the word,
be won by the conversation of the wife.
Now let me clarify something.
The conversation of the wives is not referring to nagging.
You need to do this.
It's because you don't do this.
Conversation is referring to conduct.
You can't win your husband by nagging your husband.
Can I get a witness?
Fear not, men.
Bling twice if you do.
Bible says if you want to win your husband over to godly
living, to getting saved or by godly living,
it's by actually your conversation, your conduct,
by the way you behave.
And in context, it's referring to being in subjection.
So when you submit yourself to your husband,
that actually works as an incentive
to cause them to submit themselves to the word of God.
Now, by the way, this doesn't give a timeframe either.
Well, I've already tried that, it doesn't work.
Yeah, but for how long, like a week?
How long for like a month?
Try a couple of years, how about that?
Folks, the Bible says it works.
It didn't tell you, it doesn't tell us, you know,
you know, you'll get in in six months time flat
or something like that.
It just says do it and keep doing it until it works.
Now here's the point that I wanna make, look at verse two.
While they behold your chaste conversation,
coupled with fear.
What that means is that the man should be feared in his home.
That's what the Bible says, right?
Why, because he's the authority.
And you know what?
God wants children and wives to view the husband,
view the father, right, in light of God.
Not that he is God, but they serve him as unto the Lord.
That's what the Bible says.
And this is a way for people,
this is a good way to motivate people
to serve their father and serve their husband,
even when they feel he's not worthy of it, right?
So when the husband or the father
is not behaving in a godly manner,
God still commands you to submit to him,
to serve him, to fear him, why?
As unto the Lord, 'cause you're doing it for Christ.
That's what the Bible says.
So you should fear your earthly authority.
Hey, ladies, you should fear your husband.
Yes, that's what the Bible says.
Fear to displease him.
Fear to not make him the meal that he likes.
That's what the Bible teaches, right?
To fear your husband, children fear your dads.
That's what the Bible teaches us.
And you know what?
This is the kind of culture that we need to cultivate.
In 2026, feminism just needs to die out.
It needs to be destroyed.
All this nonsensical philosophy that's being put forth
by these feminist, limprasted pastors in these churches
needs to die out.
You know, men are sick and tired of it.
Sick and tired of it.
They're sick and tired of all the pastors in churches
just catering to women,
catering to going on the side of the woman
and not siding with the male,
not siding with the husband,
not siding with the father.
We're sick of it.
Let's get back to biblical Christianity.
And obviously, this isn't teaching us
that we should institute some sort of fear
upon our wives or anything like that.
We're supposed to rule benevolently, right?
So the Bible teaches us, right?
Rule benevolently.
I'm the dictator of my home,
but I'm a benevolent dictator.
I'm not necessarily ruling with a rod of iron, per se,
at my home, 'cause I don't really need to.
And so the point that I'm making here
is that God wants us to fear God, of course,
but he also wants us to fear the earth, the authority,
our bosses, our parents, our husbands,
and I'm speaking generally here,
this is what the Bible is showing us.
Go to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13, if you would.
Let me also say this, when it comes to earthly authority,
you know, you should fear governments to a certain degree.
So what do you mean?
You know, basically fear them to the point
that you don't break the law, right?
Don't be a lawbreaker.
Well, I don't care what the police say.
Okay, okay, we'll see how that goes for you.
Folks, do I agree with every dumb law that's out there?
Of course not.
Wait, if I get a parking ticket,
I'm probably gonna pay the parking ticket.
I got a street stripper ticket.
You know, if a police pulls me over
and he asks me for my license,
you know what I'm probably gonna do?
I'm probably gonna give it to him.
I'm not gonna start rebuking him for doing his job.
And look, you know, I don't get pulled over, you know,
because I'm typically like, you know, hair parted.
You know, I'm not blasting hip hop or anything like that,
or, you know, have my registration expired
and, you know, the smoke coming out of the muffler and,
you know, I don't really give the police a reason
to stop me is what I'm saying.
You know, they don't really racial profile me very often.
I'm wearing a suit, shirt, and tie, or whatever.
But, you know, if that were to happen,
'cause I might be speeding a little bit,
you know, for the Cody, you know.
I might speed every once in a while,
not because I'm paying attention,
just because I'm on a mission or something.
And let's say I get pulled over,
I'm not gonna be like, you know,
don't you know that I'm a man of God?
Are you really gonna touch the Lord's anointed here?
You know what I'm probably gonna do?
I'm probably gonna say, yes sir, no sir,
I didn't realize that, you know,
speak kindly, respectfully,
because that's what you should do, why not?
And by the way, I got bigger fish to fry,
so why am I gonna spend, why am I gonna go viral,
just because, you know, I talk back to a police officer
or something like that, you know,
and then get shot or something.
You know, if ice pulls me over,
now that's messed up, you know what I mean?
But I'll just throw on my country accent,
like, what's going on, officer?
Look, I'm joking, but I'm not,
and here's what the Bible says.
For rulers, verse three, are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil.
Will thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good,
and thou shalt have praise of the same.
What is the Bible saying here?
Be afraid of the authority, okay?
In other words, the fear that you have towards authority
should prevent you from breaking the law, understand?
And this is why I'm against protest.
I'm against protest in every form.
You're not gonna catch me protesting anything out there.
This is the protest that I do right here.
This is the protest that God wants us to be a part of.
'Cause then you place yourself in a situation
where you wanna protest some sort of movement,
'cause you don't want people to be deported,
and then you lose your life for it.
That's your fault.
He says, "Be afraid of the power."
And look, folks, whether you think it's wrong or not,
if people take the lives of these people who are protesting,
it's irrelevant, 'cause it happened,
regardless of the motive.
You put yourself in that situation,
you disrespect someone.
If there's someone,
if I'm arguing with someone with a gun on their hip,
I don't think I'm gonna argue.
I think I'm just gonna walk away.
Why?
Because it's not worth losing my life.
Now, here's the thing, folks, when it comes to doctrine,
when it comes to what the Bible says,
there's no apologies made about that.
And there comes a time where being a Christian
becomes illegal or something,
or evangelizing becomes illegal,
preaching the Bible becomes illegal.
You know, we're still gonna do it.
Regardless of the consequences, just kill me.
You might as well just shoot me now.
For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
That's what the Bible teaches.
We're talking about, you know,
movements and protests over frivolous things
that don't really matter,
that Christians should not even be a part of.
It says here to be afraid of the power.
Look at verse four, "For he is the minister of God
to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil,
be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.
For he is the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."
And it doesn't even give necessarily the motive.
It just says he bears the sword,
meaning he has the potential to kill you.
And you know what?
Social media might cry about it, but that's about it.
Look folks, you know, in this world,
we as Christians will never really have justice.
This Friday, we celebrated five years
of our church being bombed, right?
Back in 2021, our church was targeted by the rainbow people
and they threw an IED into our building
and blew it up and messed up the structure
and they protested us, blah, blah, blah, this and that.
And, you know, the FBI got involved.
They put a $25,000 reward to capture the person who did it,
even though we're literally giving them
all the information they need.
We have all the pictures and they're just like,
oh, I don't know where they're at.
Yeah, we're working on it.
Nothing ever happened, okay?
And here's the thing is that I'm not really upset about that
because I know that they're gonna get theirs.
Vengeance is my safe, the Lord I will repay.
That's what the Bible teaches us.
And so they should be afraid.
They should be afraid for attacking God's people.
They should be afraid for bombing the church or whatever.
And let me just mention this real quick
'cause this just came into my mind.
The whole Don Lemon's thing in Minneapolis,
never gonna happen to a church like ours.
Just not a thing here.
Where they stormed into a church to protest
and justice for whoever, and then the pastor's like,
"You're in God's house, what are you doing?"
That's not gonna happen here.
And in fact, I would almost venture to say
that men in our church would hope that it would happen.
They almost hoped that it would.
And let me just say this.
If someone storms into our church
trying to assert dominance in this church,
we're not gonna say this is God's house.
We're gonna whisper get out three times
and hope that they don't
so we can physically grab 'em and throw 'em out.
That's exactly what we're gonna do.
And every church has the right to physically pick someone up
and throw their rear ends out of the church.
But what would Jesus do?
Well, I'm actually at a lower standard
because he would make a scourge of small cords.
How about that?
And with that, I just don't have the time.
You know what I mean?
I don't know how to make a whip.
Those queers are not gonna come into this church
and try to assert dominance in this church.
It's just not gonna happen.
It's not gonna happen.
And if they try to infiltrate a church, they will go viral,
but not for the reasons they want it to go viral.
And we need more churches to be like this.
Not tolerate bullying, people just coming into the church.
Don't touch me, you can't touch, oh yes I can touch you.
And you know what, hands might fly as I throw you out.
I don't know, we just don't know what might happen.
Passions are heated, things happen, we just never know.
Point that I'm making here is that in this house of God,
there is authority.
And you should be afraid to ever try to infiltrate
a church like this because there are consequences to that.
Don't let the gray suit fool you.
Don't let the parted hair fool you.
Don't let all the suits fool you.
Be afraid, it's high time that people become afraid again.
Yes, you need to fear.
Fear disobeying earthly authority.
Fear disobeying church authority.
Fear disobeying the police.
If the police tells you, hands up, put your hands up.
What are you doing?
And look, I don't even agree everything that the police does,
but you know, if he's pointing a gun at--
Now, if they're persecuting me for preaching the word of God
and they say, hands up, I'm not putting my hands up.
I would say, stick it.
I'm going to keep preaching the word of God.
And I'm going to walk away.
If you want to take my life, then God will judge you
sevenfold for doing something to me
because you're touching the Lord's anointed
and you're disrupting the service of God
is what you're doing.
That's what the Bible says.
Don't touch the Lord's anointed.
And it says here that they are not a terror to good work.
So the government should not be punishing Christians
for doing good things, for preaching the word of God,
for preaching the gospel.
And look, quite frankly, we've never really had issues
with law enforcement, even when we were in El Monte.
The law enforcement in El Monte actually protected us,
believe it or not, not because we asked for it.
It's just because they had two brain cells to rub together
and they realized who's on the right side.
And they specifically told me like,
hey, we're not here to defend you.
And I'm like, no worries, you know?
And they're like, do you have any guns?
I'm like, hey, no worries.
Like, do your people have any guns?
I said, hey, I said, no worries.
And you know, eventually they had to step in
and protect the church and escort people to their vehicles.
Why?
Because they're fulfilling their duty
of not being a terror to good works, that's why.
And I even remember times when we would go out
zoning there and the police would stop by and say,
are you guys okay?
Is everything okay?
We're fine, we're just evangelizing.
Okay, be careful while you're out here,
just watching over us.
That's exactly what the police should be doing, amen?
And so, but I'm saying, you know, if they pull us over,
if they pull you over for whatever, you know,
don't be a hero, especially if it's for something
that's not like a traffic violation or something.
Just obey and move on with your life.
That way you save yourself a hundred bucks or more.
Now, if you're getting pulled over for,
because you're drunk, yeah, you should get a DUI.
Point that I'm making here is that God wants,
look at verse seven, render therefore to all their dues,
tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Obviously there's probably some police officer
who's on meth or something while he's on the job
and the guy is crazy.
I'm not justifying that at all.
I'm not justifying anybody in the government
or in places of authority who are abusing their position.
I think it's wicked.
Point that I'm making here is that you have too many people
and obviously it's not Christians.
It's not conservative so-called.
You know, it's these liberals who want to fight.
There are these social justice warriors
who want to interfere in the affairs of the government
or whatever these police officers and ICE
and then they end up losing their lives because of it.
It's not worth it.
Common sense tells us I'm not going to get involved
in a situation where there's a bunch of guns
and start wrestling people just because I want to go viral
and be considered a hero.
Most of those people are not even saved.
You know what happened?
They lost their lives and they split hell wide open.
You think that person's in hell thinking to themselves,
it was worth it?
Nope.
Hebrews 11 27 says this,
by faith he forsook Egypt,
referring to Moses, not fearing the wrath of the king.
So I'm not saying, you know,
be afraid of governmental authority at all times.
There's instances where we should not be afraid
of the wrath of the king when they're trying to impose
laws upon us that go against the Bible, right?
When they try to impede us from serving God,
impede the gospel, impede whatever, you know,
at that point, don't fear the wrath of the king.
We ought to obey God rather than man, right?
And that's why, you know, here's the thing, folks,
a situation like COVID, that will never happen again.
I'm not saying that the disease will never happen again.
I'm talking about trying to close down churches,
it'll never happen again.
'Cause far too many churches are recognizing like,
that was stupid, you know, if that ever happens again,
you know, we're still gonna meet,
the doors will still be open,
we'll just share all the bacteria,
we'll just get COVID 2.0 or whatever,
and move on with our lives and so forth.
Point that I'm making here is that God commands us to fear.
Go with me if you would,
to go to 2 Corinthians chapter seven,
2 Corinthians chapter seven.
Proverbs 20 verse two says this,
"The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion,
who so provocath him to anger,
sinneth against his own soul."
We ought to fear God, we ought to fear earthy authority,
we ought to fear finding out.
Fofo, there should be a fear of finding out.
Are you guys laughing?
You should fear to find out.
And this is a very, this is,
I'm giving you common sense here, this is wisdom, okay?
You know, there should be fear of finding out
what would happen if you did disobey God.
There should be fear of finding out of what would happen
if you break the law,
if you do something that is contrary to the Bible.
Fofo!
1 Timothy 5:19, "Against an elder,
received not an accusation,
but before two or three witnesses,
them that sin, rebuke before all,
that others may, excuse me,
that others also may fear," the Bible says.
So the Bible's telling us here
that when someone sins in the church,
we're talking about a grievous sin
that merits excommunication.
If someone does that,
it should motivate others in the church to be afraid.
Fofo!
Why?
They should fear finding out what would happen to them
if they also committed the same grievous sin, okay?
And let me just say this,
our church practices church discipline.
And I don't mean like discipline,
like dieting or something like that or Bible.
I'm talking about like throwing you out of the church.
And it's a biblical concept, okay?
First Corinthians chapter five, Matthew 18,
various scriptures teach the biblical concept
of excommunicating people from a local New Testament church.
Not just for any sin,
because we all sin to a certain degree.
We're not perfect in other words.
There's none righteous, no not one.
But there are certain sins that the Bible talks about
that according to God merit excommunication
if the person who's committing them is unrepentant of it.
Like, you know, drugs, alcohol, like fornication.
So if you are a Christian committing fornication,
you don't get automatically thrown out,
but you better repent of it.
And if we find out that you don't repent of it,
then you're out of here.
Oh, I thought this was a church.
It is a church and churches should do that.
So what do you think we should just let you continue
to fornicate and destroy your life?
What is that?
The idea here should be that either you repent of it,
get it right, or two, you get married.
What's wrong with that?
Marriage is great, amen?
It's a blessing.
Man, that sounds kind of cultish.
No, a cult tries to keep you in.
Our church is like, if you want to keep fornicating,
you need to get out.
Because a little leaven living at the whole lump.
Idolatry, railing, for example,
saying evil things about others that are not true
and trying to disseminate lies within a local congregation,
that merits excommunication.
And I have no shame to tell you
that I've literally thrown people out of this church
for railing, even within recent weeks.
There's a guy in our church who's railing,
he's online making articles about us.
He even said that I bombed my own church.
Talk about a railing accusation.
Oh, he bombed his own church
and he's making AI images where my face is imposed
upon one of the protesters.
It's just delusions, but it's railing though.
You know what?
The guy is thrown out of our church.
He's never welcome to come back.
Keith Revis is his name, by the way.
So in case someone follows you on Instagram named Keith,
and by the way, let me also clarify this,
is that according to the Bible,
Christians in a local New Testament church
should have no association with people
who have been thrown out
in order to teach them to repent and get right with God.
So let's just say, let me give you an example, okay?
Let's say someone is a fornicator,
and you're like, no, I love my girlfriend,
I love my boyfriend, we're just gonna keep doing this.
Like, okay, you're outta here.
This person leaves, let's say six months from now,
they come back and they said,
hey, I was wrong about that,
I wanna come back to church and I repent of it,
can I come back?
Absolutely, and you know what?
This person is forgiven
and they get to move on with their lives.
We're not like, hey, the fornicator came back,
welcome the fornicator, you know?
But they're not doing it anymore though, you know?
We just kinda pick up where we left off.
'Cause the goal of church discipline
is to discipline that person
with the intent that they would repent
and come back to the fold in a sanctified manner.
That's the purpose of church discipline.
The problem with churches,
they don't wanna practice church discipline
'cause they don't wanna lose tithers.
They don't want their numbers to drop.
So they allow sin to just permeate throughout the church.
And you know what, people become fearless
to commit sin and disseminate nonsense
and just do all manner of wickedness
because they know the pastor
is not gonna discipline anybody.
No one's gonna do anything about it.
They can just live sinful, wicked lives
with no consequences.
That's not the way it works, folks.
Fear, others may fear, meaning,
oh man, this person was thrown out
for this particular sin.
I better not be a railer.
And isn't that a good thing, right?
Like, oh man, this person got thrown out
for being a drunkard.
I guess I'm not gonna drink alcohol anymore.
Oh man, but that's like, you know,
you're not giving people the liberty.
Yeah, it's called restrictions.
You know what restrictions do?
They help you as a Christian.
A dietary restriction helps you to not gain weight.
There's restrictions in the Bible
to protect you from destroying your life.
And you know what?
There's restrictions in this church as well.
And again, we're not talking about sins common to man.
We're talking about the sins that the Bible
literally specifically talks about
in First Corinthians chapter five in Matthew 18.
Raylene being a drunkard, an idolater,
a fornicator, an extortioner.
Things of this nature, according to the Bible,
if the person remains unrepentant, merits excommunication.
So I say that to you so that you fear.
So that you fear.
So that you're like, you know what?
I was thinking about taking a shot
this Friday with my friends.
I was thinking about like drinking alcohol,
but I guess I gotta change my plans.
I guess it's apple juice from here on out.
I guess it's kombucha from here on out.
Then that sin rebuke, but if that's your thing, you know,
then that sin rebuke before all
that others may fear, the Bible says.
Look at 2 Corinthians 7 verse 10.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation,
not to be repented of,
but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
For behold, this self same thing,
that you sorrowed after a godly sort,
what carefulness it wrought in you.
Yea, what clearing of yourselves.
Yea, what indignation.
Yea, what fear.
Yea, what vehement desire.
Yea, what zeal.
Yea, what revenge.
And all things ye have approved yourselves
to be clear in this matter.
So according to the Bible,
godly sorrow is associated with these virtues.
Carefulness, clearing of yourselves,
indignation and fear.
That's what the Bible says.
Point that I'm making here
is that the reason the Bible encourages us to fear
is because of fo fo.
You should have fo fo.
Fear of finding out.
Don't find out what's gonna happen to you
if you disobey the commandments of the Lord,
if you disrespect God,
if you live in unrepentant sin
and you're coming to church, fo fo.
There should be a fear of finding out
what the repercussions are to your actions.
Let me also say this is that,
there should be a fear of people not getting saved.
Go with if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
2 Corinthians chapter 11, we're almost done.
The last like five minutes of the sermon,
I'm just gonna talk about things that you shouldn't fear,
but you already kind of like know those things.
We've been hearing about it for like the last 20 years
through different churches, okay?
We need to hear more about the things that we should fear.
But you know, we should be afraid
about people going to hell, right?
We should be afraid about like our families going to hell,
friends, cousins, our sisters, complete strangers.
Why? 'Cause hell is real.
People go to hell every single day.
And that should put a level of fear in us
that we don't want them to go to hell.
You know, you said, why should I fear
about people going to hell?
'Cause it motivates us to like reach out to them
and try to give them the gospel so they can get saved.
It motivates us to pray for them.
And if you don't know how to preach the gospel,
it motivates you to bring them to church
so that someone else can preach the gospel to them.
You should want to get your family saved
'cause you love them.
But along with that love is a fear
of what might happen if they don't get saved.
You know, that's called a burden, right?
I think everyone here has someone close to them
that's not saved.
And maybe you think about them from time to time.
You think to yourself like,
man, I hope this person gets saved.
I'm afraid that like,
they're just gonna keep rejecting the gospel
or something might happen to them
and they might die and go to hell.
Like, that's a healthy fear.
You know, it's a healthy fear to have,
to worry about your lost loved ones.
And you should never lose that.
You know, we should not become cold hearted,
hardened towards the lost, right?
There should constantly be a burden within our hearts,
thinking upon those who are not saved.
'Cause it could be, you know,
it's very easy for us as Christians
to kind of like lose heart regarding those things
and not think about our cousins,
our sisters, brothers, uncles,
whoever it may be, people that are close,
maybe like your best friend that you grew up with
or something like that.
You should think about those people.
And not think just of, eh.
Obviously there's people in this world who are like, eh,
because they just absolutely hate God.
But we're not talking about them.
We're talking about people who are just deceived.
They're born according to the course of this world.
They are, you know,
maybe delusional regarding certain things.
Maybe they become delusion because of a church
or something like that.
We should be burdened for them and want to get them saved.
It says in 2 Corinthians 11 verse three,
but I fear, let's by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through a subtlety,
so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ.
In Galatians chapter four, you don't have to turn there.
Verse 11, the apostle Paul says, I am afraid of you.
Lest I bestow upon you labor in vain.
He's saying, I'm afraid that you're not saved.
And we should have that healthy fear
of being afraid of that.
Why, 'cause it'll motivate you
to actually start learning how to preach the gospel.
It'll place a sense of urgency in you
to not just come to church
and listen to the preaching of God's word,
but actually be meat for the master's use.
Learn how to systematically deliver the gospel
because only you run into the person that you're burdened for.
I don't know that person.
I don't know your family member.
I don't know your neighbor.
I don't know the person you grew up with.
I don't know that you have contact with them.
You're the only person
that's gonna be able to give them the gospel.
You're the only person
that's gonna be able to win them to the Lord.
But if you don't know the gospel,
how's that gonna happen?
I'll tell you what'll motivate you to get them saved
is fearing them going to hell.
You know what that'll do?
That'll help you to say, you know,
I need to start learning how to preach the gospel.
I need to stop messing around.
I need to stop taking church lightly.
I need to start applying this stuff.
I need to start memorizing the verses.
I need a soul winner's Bible.
I need to highlight the verses that I can go over.
I need to learn an introduction.
I need to get on a team.
I need to learn to start how to soul win
and to evangelize because I don't want my family member.
I don't want my best friend to go to hell.
And it is appointed for a man once to die,
but after this, the judgment.
And you know what the thing is, God is gracious,
but death is not.
God is gracious, but death is not.
You know, God is merciful, but death isn't.
Death comes upon all men.
And you know what, we don't know when people are going to die.
And that should place within you an urgency and a fear
that you may not reach this person before it's too late.
You need to make sure you learn how to preach the gospel.
And thankfully, you're in a church where we literally
show you how to do it.
This is not just the church that talks about it.
It's like, oh, outreach and get them to Christ.
No, we actually show you systematically how to do it.
So fear that.
All right, let me just finish up here by talking about the wrong things to fear.
Obviously, we know that the Bible tells us that there is no fear in love.
But perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
And this is referring to the fact that there are certain things in this world
that we should not fear.
We do not have the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind, right?
Go with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 13.
And I'm going to just finish off here.
First and foremost, don't fear man.
Don't fear what man can do unto you.
And often, Christians, the reason they don't stand for truth, the reason they're embarrassed
to talk about the fact that they're a Christian, the reason they are held back from preaching
the gospel, from living out the Christian life, is because they're afraid of what people
might say about them.
That's literally the reason why.
They're just embarrassed.
Well, what will people think?
Well, you know, people are really dumb out there, first and foremost.
So you need to stop, like, esteeming the opinions of people who don't know God.
Even if there's, like, a hundred thousand people who criticize me online, I don't care.
It's a hundred thousand people that are just wrong.
That's just it.
Even if they...
Look, folks, the Bible says the broad is the way to lead to destruction, and many there
be which go and there are.
And they all disagree with me.
They all disagree with you.
So why esteem people who are hellbound?
Why esteem the opinions of people that are hellbound is what I meant.
The point that I'm making here is that we should not fear man.
Hebrews 13 verse 6 says, "So that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper,' and I will
not fear what man shall do unto me."
You need to make sure you practice not fearing what man can say or do to you.
You don't have to turn to Proverbs 29-25.
It says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso puteth his trust in the Lord shall
be safe."
What does that mean?
When you fear man, it withholds you from doing the right thing.
It withholds you from actually preaching the gospel to someone because you're afraid of
what they might think about you.
You're afraid to post a verse because you're afraid of what people might think about you.
You're afraid to repost my video because you don't know what people are going to think
about you.
You're afraid to talk about your Christian faith because you're just afraid of what people
might say about you.
But you know what?
You've been ensnared by fear that is holding you back from actually doing that which is
right in the sight of the Lord.
And of course, we are not to fear circumstances, meaning that there's going to be times this
year where you are in need, your finances are low, your situation is not going according
to plan. Do not fear your circumstances. Things can change overnight. It happens all the time.
And even if they don't change overnight, they eventually will change.
You don't have to turn there. The Bible says in verse 25 of Proverbs chapter 3, "Be not
afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh, for the Lord
shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken." And so don't fear
man and don't fear circumstances. But here's the main message is just fear God. And let
me just tell you, when your fear of God is in its rightful place, you're not going to
fear other things. You're not going to fear people. You're not going to fear the circumstances
because your fear of God is so great. It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what
the repercussions are. It doesn't matter what people say because you fear God. And so fear
the right things and refuse to fear the wrong things. Let's pray. Father, we thank you
so much for your word. And Lord, help us as your people to remain a God-fearing people.
We're not perfect. We fall short. We often don't practice the presence of God in our
personal lives. I know that I don't as much as I should, but I pray that you would help
us, Lord, aid us into recognizing that you are always present. Help us to grow in our
fear of you, Lord, that we may accumulate knowledge and wisdom and understanding, confidence,
but also that we may recognize that it helps us to depart from evil, it keeps us from destroying
our lives. Fear is a good thing in certain instances, Lord, and I pray that you'd help
us to recognize its rightful place in our lives as Christians. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.