In this sermon, the preacher talks about Christians who faced persecution and death for their faith. He describes a scenario where Christians were given the choice to bow down to a false leader or face death. Despite the steamroller rolling over them and causing their heads to pop, the Christians refused to renounce their faith. The preacher then relates this to the lack of fear and recognition of God in America, citing events like 9/11 and natural disasters as examples of God's judgment. He warns of a future judgment where the earth will shake violently, causing mountains to break apart and islands to disappear, resulting in killer tsunamis. The sermon ends with a story of a rescue team finding a survivor in the rubble, emphasizing the importance of not giving up hope.

Heavenly Father, I come to you in that name of your Holy Son, Jesus, I thank you so much, Father. I thank you so much that you provided that loaf of living bread. Father, you gave it, you broke it, you blessed it. And now, Father, I just ask, help me to pass out the bread to everyone here, Lord, and then let there be baskets of leftovers. And I thank you that you will do that in Jesus' name, amen. Seven reasons why the church in North America has lost the fear of the Lord. And our opening passage comes from Psalm 111, verse 10, 111, verse 10. And when you're there, say amen. All right, I think I have to wait a little bit here. So, Psalm 111, 10. Are you all there now? Say amen. Amen. Praise God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments, his praise endures forever. And the first part of the verse was the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And we need wisdom for life to live. We need wisdom to die. If we have no wisdom, we're going to go to hell. And I don't want that for anyone here tonight. So, as we look at this verse, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It starts with this little word fear, which we don't like. And so, the Lord will help us understand tonight what this is all about. It is early on a Sabbath day, the Jewish Sunday, a man is gathering sticks to make himself a fire. What can be wrong with that? Man came to tell him that this is against the law of God to work on the Sabbath. And he says, what are you talking about? I'm just gathering sticks for a little fire. The man taken before their leaders, Moses and Aaron, the story is told in the Old Testament of the Bible in the book of Numbers, chapter 15, verses 32 to 35. When Moses asked God what to do, the answer was given in Numbers 15, verse 35. The Lord said to Moses, the Lord, not Moses, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, what are the feelings of this great big God? He said, I made you. You breathe my air. Every day you breathe. The way you breathe, I allow you to live. I've provided for you. I've given you clothes. I've given you sustenance. I've given you a house and a home over your head. You're driving a car. You have a job. God says I've made you and I've provided for you. And so, the Lord said to Moses, this man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without outside the camp. Please note that this was a direct instruction from God. It was not a decision by Moses. This man was stoned to death and died because of sin and rebellion against God to observe a day of rest. I believe many of you are Christians here. If I asked you for how many Sundays is a catch-up day, get your laundry done, get your shopping done, get your gardening done, get whatever you need to get done, that's your catch-up day. But God said, no. I want you to have a day of rest. I want you to come to a place of worship. I want you to come and worship me. I want you to love me. I want you to spend time with me. I love you. I love you. Why don't you love me back? Why don't you love me back? Is there nothing in you that tells you that I love you and that I provide for you? Is it so hard for you to understand that these rules that I've given, they're not to hurt you, they're not to harm you, they are to bless you, they are to help you, they are to help you to live. Because if you steal, you're going to be afraid that you must go to a place before us. If you hurt someone, the police will come after you. So he says, don't steal, don't kill, don't do these things. You don't need to. I'm your God. I love you. I've made you in my image. So do as I ask you to do. Number one, in North America, most Christians do not fear the Lord. Few know that it's one of his commandments in scripture. And I'd like you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12. Now most preachers tell you, love God, love God. He loves you. There's nothing that can happen. Lies. Not, not preachers of the word of God. Preachers from the devil. Preachers from the devil. You read this word. My, my, my. You read it. Okay. Now Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12. And now Israel, what does the Lord, your God, require of you but to, what does it say? Fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all of his ways. So there is fear, there's obedience. And the third part is what? To love him. So to fear is given you first, and it's a commandment. Because in now Israel, what does the Lord God require of you? But to fear the Lord, your God, to walk in all of his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul. We concentrate on the love in that verse. We neglect the fear of the Lord, which is commanded at the beginning of the verse. You see, the law is the eternal and unchangeable rule of God's moral government. This is what he likes. We cannot be saved by the law, but this is what he likes. That's his character. He says, I tell you how to live because you're tainted by sin. So why don't you do it? Why don't you do it? What is it in us that makes us go the other way? And it is sin. And now in Deuteronomy chapter 624, it tells us that it is good to fear the Lord. Deuteronomy 624, it's good for us to fear the Lord because what? It prolongs our life. It's good for us. It's a blessing to follow the law of God. Yes, fear can help us stop sinning. Now you say, well, that's the Old Testament. Don't give it to me. Can I give you the New Testament? Is that all right? Can I bring it on? Let me bring it on. Okay. Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. That's the Lord Jesus Christ himself speaking in the New Testament, brothers and sisters, in the New Testament. Luke chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body. And after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him which after he hath killed. That's my God, my God of love. He also kills. That's what it's talking about here. You need to consider the whole character of God. And you say, why does he need to kill? Why does he need to kill? Why does he have the power to cast into hell? You see, God's perfect love ultimately has to create a heaven and a new earth without sin. There can be no sin in heaven. You want to hang on to it. You're going to go to hell. You want to hang on to it and you want to do it. Then God says, your destiny must be an eternal destiny in hell. Terrible thing, Lord. Lord, do I have to give this message? Dear brothers and sisters, I don't want to because he's a God of love. He doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants all to have eternal life. But you and I have a participation where we say, yes, Lord, is there a way? If there's a way, show me the way. Show me the way, Lord. If there is a way away from that destiny, because that's what I need in my life. So number one, in America, most Christians do not fear the Lord. Few know that it is a commandment in the Bible. Number two, in America, we no longer fear God because we believe God won't correct us or strike us dead when we sin. We feel there's no correction. I've just sinned and I've done it myself. God didn't strike me dead. So is he really there? Is he really in charge? Is he in control? Is it what the preachers are saying? Is that the truth or is it all make-believe? It ain't make-believe. It's not. It's not. Does God shorten our lifespan if we insist on sinning? God is patient and a gentle God, slow to anger. Sometimes he runs out of patience. In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead when they lied. Do you lie sometimes, sisters and brothers? Acts chapter 5 tells us about this couple that sold a piece of land and their names were Ananias and Sapphira. By the way, the story is in the New Testament when we are under grace. It's not in the Old Testament. So don't bring on grace that grace covers you for whatever evil you do because God might run short on his time for you. He's not mocked. He says vengeance is mine. Now this couple used what we would consider today a little white lie. You know, they were basically good people, we would say. They were good people. They sold a piece of land to help their brothers and sisters, right? That's good. That's wonderful. Then they got some money for it and then they gave money to the poor, to their poor sisters and brothers. Isn't that a wonderful thing? But God strikes them dead. Why? A little white lie. Come on now. Is it not a little white lie? No, it isn't. You see, in Acts chapter 5 verses 3 and 4, the Apostle Peter said that the problem was that Ananias had allowed Satan to fill his heart and lie. You see, Satan comes into us even through sin in our flesh and we want to lie. That's what we want to do. We're affected by sin. So we say these little white lies and we think, well, somehow God will let me get away with it. And most of the times he does because he has patience for you. He has love for you. He wants you to be right with him. That's why he doesn't strike you dead. Praise God. And so now here what happens is that Ananias lied because the father of lies, the father of lies, Scripture tells us, is Satan himself. So put on that armor of God, not your own armor, the armor of God. And the first one is the belt of truth. Amen. Don't lie no more because as soon as you lie, it opens up other areas in your life for Satan. He will go to your favorite or your besetting sin. Okay. The sin that really gets you. And he'll go from there, the next step over there to hurt you. Okay. And that's what happens with lies. So please stay away from lies. Ananias dropped dead to the ground and here it says great fear came over the congregation. What kind of fear do you think it was? It was a fear of God, wasn't it? And then his wife, Sapphira, came and she told the same story as her husband in verse 10 and she drops dead to the ground. And in verse 11 of Acts chapter 5, we read great, great fear came upon the church. Beloved, we have lost the fear of the Lord. No one is telling you about it. No one dares to bring it up in church because we have all itching ears. We don't like this stuff. And so I got to tell you the truth, but I tell you in love. Okay. Because I love you. I really do. And I'm a liar myself. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Okay. And so let us share the truth together. Now in Psalm 89 verse 45, and if you would turn to that Psalm 89, 45, the day of his youth, thou has shortened, thou has covered him with shame. So here it says the day of his youth has thou shortened. Can that be right? Does God shorten lives of young people? This passage says that God will shorten your life and your youth. If you don't stop sinning, you say that's the old Testament. God won't do anything like that in our period of grace. Beloved God will do it even in the new Testament. Okay. And on the internet, there's a website called the 27 club. It also goes under the name of the curse of 27. You can Google this club on your computer, go to club 27. And this club was created because many musicians have died at the age of 27. And this club includes Robert Johnson, blues singer who died at 27. It includes Brian Jones, the founder of the Rolling Stones. He died at the age of 27. It includes Jimi Hendrix, guitarist and singer. He died at the age of 27. Janis Joplin, lead vocalist, died at the age of 27. Jim Morrison, lead singer for the Doors and the Poet, he died at the age of 27. Kurt Cobain, founding member and lead singer for Nirvana, died at the age of 27. And Amy Winehouse just recently died at the age of what? 27. There are 42 others on that website if you want to refer to it. Now is that coincidence? Only God can take life. Only God can take life. And he took it at the age of 27. In Psalm 90 verse 3, the psalmist says, thou turnest man to destruction and sayest, return ye children of man. So here the reason that is given in Psalm 90 verse 3 is that God will turn you to destruction because he wants you to return to him. You see on 9, 11, 10 years ago, the churches were full. In the meantime, again, we have lost the fear of God and so there are disasters coming around our way. And we say, why does God allow this? I went to an AIDS hospital in the early days and we did ministry there. In those days, they didn't have any of the drugs and so they experienced blindness. Some of them were blind. When we went there, some of them had hearing loss. Some of them had the limbs not functioning anymore. And all of that was followed by death. And when we spoke with these men, many of them asked, why did God allow this? Few of them realized they did it. Few of them realized they did it. And you know, many of us have been there as well and God has spared us. Right? Because of his mercy. For this day, for this day today, because today is your day. Today is your day of salvation. Maybe today is your day of repentance that you say, I'm going to come back and be obedient to these laws of God. Yes, I'm a Christian, but lies get away on me. Sundays get away on me. Other stuff gets away on me. But I'm going to return to the Lord this day. And in Psalm 89, verse 31 and 32, the Lord says, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. The rod of God is a fearsome thing. It might come in sickness. It might come in poverty. It might come in rejection by your spouse, by children. It might come in the loss of loved ones where loved ones have to die because you sin. The rod might come when we're given into the hands of enemies or the rod might be physical death. Now you say, preacher, you're telling me stuff. Don't know about this stuff. Well, recently a 42-year-old preacher with a 6,000-member church was found dead in a hotel room with a bag of white powder. You see, God did it. Another preacher was exposed by sexual misdemeanors with boys. God is not mocked. Eventually all will come to light. And you know, we have even the man of God whom God loved, King David. He got into trouble. He got into idle time, was wasting his time up on the top of the roof looking all around and saw this beautiful woman and said, I've got to have her. And he went and he did it. And then after that, when she wouldn't get near her husband, her husband wouldn't get near her. He was a godly man. And he couldn't put the child on the husband. He had the husband killed. Now God could have killed him, but God said, I'm going to give you five penalties. I'll just go through the five penalties quickly. The first penalty is in 2 Samuel 12.8. And God said, via Nathan the prophet to David, I also would have given you much more. What happens is that you stop the blessings from God on your life, on your family, on everyone in your family, if you're disobedient to his commandments. You stop the hand of God. He says, I would have given you much more, David. Not going to give you stuff. Not going to give you my blessings on such and such things that I had in mind. Can't give them to you no more, because you're stopping God because you sin. When we sin, we deprive God from giving us what we need sometimes, what we want. We stop and we hurt ourselves. You hurt yourself by sinning, because God will not give you what he has planned for you to have. Second penalty, God said by the prophet Nathan in verse 10 of that same chapter, 2 Samuel 12, verse 10, the sword shall never depart from your house. The sword here meant that there would be fighting, killing, and death in the family. And the father did it. The father opened the door for his sons to start killing each other. And Absalom killed his brother Amnon, because Amnon had raped the half-sister Tamar because of sin. So if fathers, if you have problems in your family, would you stop sinning? Would you stop sinning? Would you ask God, the Holy Spirit, to show you where you're going wrong and stop sinning because you're hurting your family? Third penalty, 2 Samuel 12, 11, and the Lord said, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. And God said, your own family is going to turn against you. And in 2 Samuel 15, 13, and 14, David had to flee from his own son Absalom. Absalom was going to kill him, his own father. And so David had to flee. The fourth penalty in 2 Samuel 12, 11, and 12, and the Lord said, I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with them in the sight of the sun for you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before all of Israel and before the sun. Our secret sins will be found out, beloved. You see their recording devices. Habakkuk said, the beams in the house will even record your sins. You think you're doing it all in the dark. No one knows. God knows. God knows. And so here in 2 Samuel 16, 22, Absalom, David's own son had a tent put on the top of the house, and he went into sleep with his father's wives in front of all of Israel. And God had told him, this was one of your penalties. And the fifth penalty was that an innocent little boy had to die. And the Lord said to David, however, because of this deed, you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord. You see, when we sin, it somehow comes out. And then non-Christians say, ah, these Christians, I don't want to be like them. They're all hypocrites. Why should I be a Christian? They all don't do right. So I live my life, and at least I'm honest about where I'm at. And they are dishonest. And so they curse God by saying that and saying, I don't need you, God, because of your and my sin, if we sin. And so God said, his innocent little son would have to die. And he said that in 2 Samuel 12, 18. So beloved, we must have fear for the Lord. Number three, in America, we no longer fear God because we have adopted the lifestyle of the unbelievers and are caught up in materialism and pride. Dr. David Paul Tripp states, now he's going to say some mean thing at the end. I'm just reading it, OK? But he says, one of the greatest challenges to the Christian family is rampant, culturally institutionalized media promoted hero-driven materialism. Maybe more than ever before, our culture has embraced the delusion that life can be found in the physical material creation. The created world has no ability whatsoever to satisfy the yearnings of your heart. Can't do it. The creation is meant to be a finger that points me to the one place where real life and rest of heart can be found, God. Because this materialism plays to the deepest idolatries of the heart, it leaves us fat, addicted, and in debt. As a culture, we spend too much, we eat too much, and we are way too busy, all in the vain hope that we will find life where it cannot be found. It is hard to be a family living in Western culture and not breathe in the toxic gases of its materialism. And so, beloved, we have false prophets out there that even go with this materialism. And they say, God is a gentle old man with a white beard. He sent a clause, you give him five bucks and he'll give you a hundred. Give me your five. Come on, give it to me. Give it to me. Send me a hundred dollars, he'll send you a thousand. There's no talk about holiness. There's no talk about obedience. There's no talk about self-denial. There's no talk about abstention. See, that's what this word of God teaches us. And it says, be holy as I am holy. Deny yourself, follow me. Take up your cross, follow me. That's the son of God. And he says that because he wants to give you eternal life. You see, he wants to give you a future and a hope. He wants to lead you in the right way. He wants to have you follow him. And now, pride. Let me say something about pride. And we Christians are sometimes the most proud people on this earth because now we have been saved. We're better than our neighbor. We're better than the drunk on the street. We're better than the prostitute. We're better than everyone out there. God, forgive me. God, forgive me. God, forgive me. I could be there except for his grace, except he had mercy on me. He loves them. Who do I love? Where is my love? Am I truly a Christian? First John says, if I don't love my brother and sister, I'm still in the dark. Isn't that what the word says? And so here in Acts chapter 12, we read King Herod, the son of King Herod the Great, killed the apostle James with a sword. That means he likely beheaded the apostle James. Now, there weren't so many disciples, you know, and there were only 12 disciples, 12 apostles. And I thought, God, surely you should have gotten mad at this man. And he didn't. See, God's grace is so wonderful that he was still giving King Herod time to repent. But then we read in Acts chapter 12, verses 21 to 23, we read that Herod accepted the accolades, the affirmation, the glory from the people. They gave him tribute and said, the voice of God, not of man. And he didn't say, no, no, no, don't say that. He took it. He took it and cried. Now, look what happened in Acts 12, 23. God sent an angel to kill him because he did not give God the glory. I thought God should have killed King Herod at the time he killed the apostle James, but he didn't do that. He killed him when he stole his glory. That's the mind of God. That's the mind of God. That's the mind of God. He hates pride because he's given you everything. He's given me everything. Why should I be proud about it? Why should I lift up my feathers and run around like a cock? King Herod was filled up with worms and eaten by worms until he died. I grew up very, very poorly, and because I ate contaminated foods, I had worms growing in me. And in my excrements, I could see the worm stains every time when I went to the toilet. I don't want to die to be eaten by worms. There was once a flea inside the ear of an elephant that came to an old wooden hanging bridge. As the elephant stepped on the bridge, the hanging bridge started to swing and shake. Once the elephant got to the other side, the tiny flea said to the elephant, we sure shook the bridge. And the elephant said to the little flea, you got it all wrong, little flea. I shook the bridge, and all you did was come for the ride. And you see, many preachers are not smart enough to know that these days. They say that they shook the church. No, it's only God who can change you. It's only God who can help you. I cannot help you. I cannot change you. It's only his Holy Spirit that will move into your hearts and help you and do this. So how great is this God? We make ourselves equal or greater to God in pride when we say we don't need to tremble in his presence. In Psalm 114, verses 1 to 8, in verse 3, it gives us the reason that the waters of the Red Sea fled. Psalm 114, verse 3, it says the waters sensed the approaching God when he came to save his people from the Egyptian army. The waters felt the approaching foot of the Almighty God coming down from heaven, and the waters fled. And then it says the sea looked and fled when it saw God coming. He's so powerful, so incredible. He made this great, incredible universe. And you say, well, you know, they teach me otherwise in school. Dr. Francis Collins was an atheist. He wrote a book, The Language of God. He was one of the main scientists to put together the DNA imprints. He says there are 3.2 billion DNA four-letter imprints that need to come together in the right sequence. How is that possible? Kids, your computer doesn't work if one instruction is wrong, right? Right? If those instructions are wrong, and apparently if one or the other one is wrong in DNA, you have a sickness. But if several are wrong, you die. You cannot live. So God, in his great mercy, put all of that together. And Dr. Francis Collins said in his book, when he saw that, he believed. You see, there are scientists that teach us the wrong, and there are scientists who have realized the right. Read both. Don't just be guided by me. Read both sides of the story. Make up your minds, young people. But I tell you, it is God in his infinite mercy. A Big Bang creates chaos in the universe. It cannot create order. You can send a probe up to Mars. How can you do that? Because you can calculate exactly where Mars is. How is that possible? Because there's divine order even in the universe. Each planet goes in a certain circle, a certain time. The stars appear in certain time frames, and it is that great, great, great God of ours. Have you ever put your ear to a railroad track before the train is coming? Did you ever do that? You can hear the track sing, can't you, a little bit? Well, there were two ants on a railway track, and they were shaking their hands and fists against God, saying, where is the promise of your coming? The railway track started to sing softly. Why do you think you can make all the rules, God? We make our own rules. I make my own rules. I want to go my own way. I'm going to do what I want to do. The ants were shouting, we don't accept your laws, God. We'll sin if we want to sin, and there's nothing you can do about it. And the track was vibrating now, and the poor ants had no understanding and no fear of God. They did not know the train is coming, beloved. The train is coming. The train is on the way. The earth is already shaking at times because his coming is near. So, beloved, I pray, I beg you, don't believe me, but believe this word of God. Believe this word of God because it is your hope. It is your salvation. It is your way out. Point number four, in America, we no longer fear God because Christians believe that all is covered under grace, the unmerited favor of God. Now, this is what happened on a recent bus trip with Christians. I was on that bus. At the hotel, took two towels. Another Christian watched pornography. Another day, a Christian pastor was looking longingly at a woman, and he was asked, are you not married, and should you be looking at her with lust? And he said, oh, God knows I'm human. He's got me covered by grace. Don't be such a stickler. Don't worry. Be happy. Trust God for his grace. Is there something wrong somewhere in this argument? Is there something wrong? Romans 6.1, should we continue and sin that grace may abound? God forbid, sister. God forbid. God forbid. God forbid. Now, there's a big difference between habitual sin, when you keep on sinning, you cannot stop, and the occasional sin. If you sin occasionally as a Christian, you repent of that, and God will cleanse you, and 1 John 1.9 says he's faithful and just to forgive you from sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Now, if it's sin that is habitual ever and ever and ever, and you cannot get away from it, you have no power of it, you really need to question whether you're saved. Now, you might have said the words. There might have been a preacher who said, if you say these words, you're saved. Beloved, the proof is a relationship between you and the Savior. It's a relationship where you walk and talk with him. If you don't walk and talk with him, how do you know you have a relationship? And you walk with him, and you talk with him through the word and prayer, and he will tell you which way to go. He will help you when you're tempted. He will help you with that sin in your life. He will bring stoppage to it. He will bring a resolution, beloved. Okay? So, don't be misled. America is now the number one pornography exporter in the world, defiling many nations around the globe. We profess to be Christians, but we don't do what the book says. If I drug, and I take amphetamines or coke or whatever, and I say, well, God will forgive me, and I keep on doing it, is there something wrong with my argument? Maybe I have to go back to God and say, God, I thought I was saved, but I have no power over this. Would you help me, Lord? Would you help me? Two out of three boys grew up without a dad in the African American culture, and one out of three boys grew up without a dad in the white culture. Man, if you go and you make babies, not good. Not good. So, maybe you better talk with God. Maybe you better have a little talk with Jesus and see if he can't help you, okay? Because that passion in you was stoked by Satan and the world, and now you got to get back to where you should be as a man. Amen. Fifty percent of Christians get divorced. It's the same percentage as for non-Christians. Homosexuality has been declared by 100 ordained pastors as not being sin against the Word of God. Confusion. Confusion. And then we are told that Allah is the same as God. Not so, because who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is what? The Antichrist. So, Allah is an aberration from Satan. He's not God, and many churches now accept to have the Quran read in their services. It's happening out there. Dozens of churches are starting to do it. They're going on a new ecumenical movement called Trislam, and they're accepting Allah on the same basis as God. But when God opened up that heaven, and He spoke by a voice from heaven, there was a man. There was a man in the river. Was it Muhammad? Was it Buddha? Was it Krishna? Was it Jesus Christ? Amen. You see, God will help us know the truth. He spoke from heaven. It's from God Himself, so don't be misled. Don't think in the wrong way and think, well, somehow there's a way to get this together. No, there isn't, beloved. Be separate. And if you do, very soon you're going to be persecuted, even in this country, because as it's going, the Trislam people are saying that we are disturbers. We don't want the faith to be won. God wants the faith to be won. Jesus prayed for that. Misquoting of scripture. Yes, He wants the true Christians to be won, but He does not accept false gods. He cannot accept false gods. Number five, in America, we no longer fear God because we Christians misinterpret perfect love casts out fear. We associate God with love and not with wrath and vengeance. Wrath is violent anger. It is rage, fury, and the intent to do harm. Vengeance is retaliatory punishment. Love is taught as never ending. You can do anything to God. Few, if any, speak of God's judgments and His punishments for the unbelievers. They say, well, God is love, so brother, you must understand that there is a time when God is going to pick everyone out of hell and He's going to bring them to heaven because He's a God of love. 50,000 people believe that in a megachurch. There's a book out on that if you want to read it. So false teaching has become rampant and we're misled and then we mislead ourselves in misinterpreting John chapter four, verse 18. First John 4.18 says, let me just turn to that with you. First John 4.18, because it's so important. I want you to notice something in these verses. Hebrews, James, Peter, John. Yeah, I'm getting there. First John 4.17 and 18. Verse 18 says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love. So Christians very often say to me, I don't fear God. I don't have to fear God. Scripture tells me that I don't need to fear Him. But would you read verse 17? Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of what? So because as He is, so are we in this world. So here, verse 18 relates to what? It relates to verse 17 and it relates to judgment. It doesn't say not to fear God. Okay. It tells us not to fear judgment because once we accept Christ Jesus into our lives, then we will receive eternal life through the Father. And we will not have to fear that great white throne judgment. And on Friday, on Saturday night, we're going to go through the book of Revelation. And if you can come, come then, please. Young people, everyone come because you are being taught so many wrong things about Revelation. Come and find out the truth. Find out the truth about the end of the world. Find out the truth about 2012. Find out the truth about the Mayan culture because this is not the absolute truth. The absolute truth is in this Word of God and it tells us what will happen. So please come back if you would for a Saturday night, special youth night. Bring your friends from college, from high school, wherever you go. Bring them to find out what is truth. And we'll have some slides for you to look at that you might know what is true. But what you will also find out in that is that God needs a clean house to give to us at the end with a new universe, with the new heavens and a new earth. He cannot accept sin into his house. Now some of you are very clean ladies. You don't like footprints on your floor. You don't like dust in the house. You don't like dirt flying around. And you say, I got to clean up this house. Can't stand it. Got to get rid of it. And so the Ajax comes out and the Tide comes out and Mr. Clean comes out. And so you clean that house. And God says no one comes into my house that is not clean. And the only way you can come in is if you're covered by the blood of the Lamb, which is Jesus Christ, because He has washed you in His blood. Yes, we still have sin, but He has washed you. That's the only way into God's house. That's the only way into eternity. And so I, beloved, fear God. And there are two types of fears. And there is fear out of darkness from Satan, fear from evil. And there God says, my perfect love will cover that. Don't, don't worry about that. Don't worry about Satan. Don't worry about persecution. Don't worry about what will happen. And in Matthew 5, 12, Jesus said, rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they, the prophets, which were before you. And now he's saying that we need to anticipate persecution. We need to anticipate persecution. A few years ago in North Korea, 25 Christians were found to have Bibles. The pastor and two assistant pastors and two elders and the other 20 Christians were brought before the army. They brought out a big steamroller used for construction work. And they said to the Christians, now change your mind and follow Kim Jong-tu and Kim Tosung. If you bow to them, you will live. If you don't, your five leaders, first of all, will die and you will go to death prison tents. And no one bowed. And the five were laid in front of that steamroller. And as the steamroller rolled over them, their heads popped and the Christians fainted. And yet they would not say, I'm going to go against this Lord of mine because he has, he has an eternity for me. He has a way for me. He has a way for me of eternal life. I'm not going to give that up. It doesn't matter what comes against me. I will stand firm. I will stand firm. And so beloved, number six, in America, we no longer fear God because we do not recognize that he gives us into the hands of the enemy such as 9-11 or that he sends natural disasters. In the book of Judges, we find time and again when Israel went to sin, what happened? God let other nations come in and take them over. Okay. And so we have already many signs of a takeover. Pornography is probably the number one takeover right now. 70% of men are affected. Seven out of 10 men in this audience are affected. And then I would say about the same number of women may be affected by the afternoon shows of Days of Our Lives because you fantasize. You do the same but in a different way. You find your fulfillment. You're trying to find your fulfillment in those shows. And it's a Satan lie, lie, lie. There's no hope. There is no satisfaction. There's only more lust. There's only more want. There's no end to it. And so a Christian woman was trying to run for president, Michelle Bachmann, and she suggested that Hurricane Irene and the earthquakes were judgments of God. She was laughed at and ridiculed in the media. There was a cartoon in New Jersey where I'm from and Michelle was standing on a podium making this statement. She said, this is the judgment of God. And then on the right-hand side was another podium where Michelle was struck by lightning ending up in a pile of ashes saying, you see what I mean. Now, these people have no idea about the never-ending wrath of God. They have no idea. They have no idea. The latest Hurricane Irene brought flooding, damage and destruction, killing 15 people, leaving 4 million people without electricity, costing 4.7 billion. There have been unusual earthquakes everywhere. You've had some recently here. In Washington, D.C., the monument, Washington Monument, was cracked. There are quakes in Argentina, Chile, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tonga, Burma, Christchurch, New Zealand, Japan. In Japan, the tsunami was 130 feet high traveling six miles inland. And many of you watched that wave coming after the course and you were crying out, drive, drive, flee, get away from that tsunami, get away from it, get away from destruction because you're going to die. But sometimes we're not smart enough ourselves to take that advice. Sometimes we're not smart enough to understand that this is also for us. The tornado in Joplin killed 159 people not so far from here. There were insured losses of 2. billion. Other disasters included the historic flooding of the Mississippi and Mississuri River called 100-year floods. Massive wildfires have taken place in a number of USA states. 30% of the wheat was lost in Texas. Your bread prices are going to go up next year. Okay. The leakage of radioactive material from the Japan nuclear disaster is affecting the whole world. They don't tell you about it, but what was released is cesium, radioactive cesium equivalent to 168 nuclear bombs that were thrown on Hiroshima. Now, American food supplies such as milk, water, and food items already reflect some of that increased radioactivity. So, Ezekiel 8.18 says, therefore, while I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. And let us go to the last point, please. The last point is in America, most pastors do not teach and preach God's judgments in hell, and we don't believe the book of Revelation. Now, you say to me, yes, I believe it. Yes, I believe it. Would you go to Revelation 9.15 and tell me what it reads there, please? Revelation 9.15. The third part of man. Thank you, sister. How many billions of people do we have in the world? Seven billion divided by three is 2.33 billion people. If that verse is true and you believe it, why aren't you crying out to God? Why aren't you crying out to your family? Why aren't you crying out to people at work and say, you're going to die? I love you. I don't want you to go that route. That's what the word of God says. We don't know when that time in hour is. We don't know when that is coming. We don't know when all of these things will unfold. But if I truly had compassion, the way that God's heart is for mankind, I would cry out. I would say, save yourself. Save yourself in the son of God. He's the way. He's the only way. He's the only way to God. And then in Revelation 14.6 and 7, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. Here the angels have to take over to preach the gospel because we haven't done all of our jobs. And then it says, and then it says here to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God. Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who had made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. In the second world war, 70 million people were killed. I was shot at bombs, thrown at me, 70 million, 2.33 billion. How much is that? 310 million in America. That's the 0.3 in that number. He started this sermon with God stoning a man who disobeyed God's commandments. We're going to finish this sermon with God's 21st judgment. In the 21st judgment that is described, and by the way, there are also the thunder judgments, which are not described, but in the 21 that are described in the last one, every island will flee from its place. And it says the mountains are no more. What does that mean to you? The mountains are no more. You see, the earth is going to shake so violently. It's going to break apart the Himalayans. It's going to break apart the Rockies. It's going to break apart the Alps. And when the islands are no longer found, that means there'll be killer tsunamis from these earthquakes all over the oceans. And the islands, if you have a beloved island that comes to your mind, they were found. No more, God says. And then he says, I'm going to throw hailstones on you, 75-pound hailstones. That's the very part, the very last part of the 21st judgment. God says, you disobeyed me. You don't love me. You don't follow the way of salvation I've given you. So I will give you my judgments. And my very last one will equal what was done to that man who disobeyed the commandment of Sunday. I will throw 75 pounds of hail from heaven upon you now. Have mercy. In Habakkuk 3.16, the prophet said, when I heard my body trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered my bones, and I trembled in myself. Revival must start at the house of God if you consider yourself righteous and not affected by all of this sin that is going on around you. Beloved, there is no hope. We have covered seven reasons why the church in North America has lost the fear of the Lord. We talked about that it is a commandment from God. Number two, that we believe God won't correct us or strike us when we're disobedient. He will. Number three, we have the lifestyle of unbelievers and are caught up in materialism and pride. Number four, we believe sinning we do is automatically all covered by grace. Number five, we misinterpret perfect love, pass out fear. Number six, we do not recognize God's name when he sends us disasters. And number seven, we don't accept that there is judgment and hell in the book of Revelation. And beloved, those seven things will hurt us. So what must the righteous do? Well, humble yourself and repent. Humble yourself and repent. Fear God. Ask him for forgiveness. Ask him of 1 John 1, 9, because if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Beloved, I'm going to close with one story, if I may. I know time has gone on quickly, but I'm going to close with a short story from China. Beloved, you've had three earthquakes here. Why is it that your ceiling didn't fall down in this church? Why is it the roof on your house is still holding up? Why is it that your place of living is still standing? It's only his mercy. It's only his hand that held up and didn't let that earthquake to be seven point or eight point or whatever. We just let it be five point something to be a little reminder for you. It was after the great earthquake in China. Rescue teams were going from house to house. They were trying to find some people that were still alive. And yet all of these homes were in rubble. They could see little in these houses. And so they came to a little house and the rescue team looked at it and they said, no one can be alive in here. And they went on to the next house. But the team leader said, I cannot do this. And he had seen a little opening in the rubble. And so he went back to that place and he stuck his hand in and he felt a body underneath the beams. And then he reached a little bit further and he felt something warm. And he cried out and he said, come back, come back, come back. There is someone alive here. And so they all rushed back and they took off the beams from that house and they found a Chinese woman. And she was in a bent position like this and her back was broken and she was dead. But underneath her body was a parcel and they pulled out that parcel and they opened up that parcel and there was a little boy on the inside of that parcel. And that little boy was still breathing and he was alive. And they were so excited and they called the doctor and the doctor examined the boy, the little baby boy. And the doctor said, don't worry, he's just fast asleep. He's well. Everything is well with that little boy. Then the leader saw a cell phone. He saw a cell phone in the hand of the woman. And so he took out that cell phone and as he looked at the cell phone and he opened it up and there was a text message inside the cell phone. And the text message said, if you survive, know that I love you. If you survive, know that I love you. And beloved, God is sending you a text message today because you have survived. And he says, I love you. I love you through my son Jesus. I don't want any of these things these preacher talked about to happen to you. I want eternal life for you. I want that you are saved and that you have a future and a hope. Let us bow in a word of prayer, please. And Lord, we thank you so much, Lord. You have spoken to us Christians through this message to repent where we need to come back to you. Lord, and we ask for those that do not know Christ that they would accept your son Jesus. Lord, you know each Christian here who wants to recommit their life today, Lord. Don't let them walk out without humbling themselves before man and before God. Father, that they would come to the altar, Lord. And I pray that those that have not known you yet, Lord, those that have so much sin in their life that there is no affirmation that they're Christians, Lord, that they would come forward and help them to understand that Christ wants to give them, he wants to help them to overcome their sins, that he wants to help them to repent from their sin and to help them to ask for forgiveness. And so, Father, I thank you that you will help each person here this night. And Lord, and before we say amen, before you raise your head, please keep your heads bowed. If there is any Christian here who says, today, Lord, I have seen that I'm not following you the way I ought to and I should, would you raise your hand and let me see it for a moment? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You may put down your hands. Thank you. Thank you. And now there might be someone here tonight who has never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and says, well, if that earthquake struck again tonight, I wouldn't make it to heaven. But I want to. I want to go to heaven and I'm willing to accept that Son of God into my life. If you're saying that, would you raise your hand for a moment and let me see it, please? Would you raise your hands? If God has moved your heart and you're saying, and I beg you, sisters and brothers, if there's anyone here who has not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ yet, there is no future and no hope because He cannot take you into His heaven. We said that God must have a clean heaven. So I beg you tonight, I beg you, I don't want you to die and forever get lost. So I beg you, if God moves your heart, would you raise your hand? Okay, thank you. Father, I thank you for everyone here tonight. I thank you for every sister, for every brother, Lord. I pray that you would impress on their heart that you love them so very much and that you do not want them to go to this place of everlasting forgetfulness in hell, Lord. And I thank you so much that you are working with each heart now, Lord. And I thank you that you will do the work in each life, Father, that you would help each person here to become that Christian and to accept the Savior the way they ought to. And I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.