This sermon emphasizes the importance of walking in the fear of the Lord, highlighting the confrontational nature of this topic and the need to understand God's attributes beyond just love. It discusses the impact of fearing God on overcoming worldly fears, finding comfort in reverence, and experiencing God's peace and multiplication in life. The sermon also addresses the need for spiritual resurrection and restoration through fearing God and turning to Him for eternal life through Jesus Christ.

The topic this morning is an interesting topic. If churches are trying to win a popularity contest, we're not going to talk about this. If I'm trying to win a popularity contest, I'm not going to talk about this topic. Many of you know there was a debate last week at the college I had the privilege of participating in, and this topic upset a lot of people there as well. The topic is walking in the fear of the Lord. Walking in the fear of the Lord. The reason a lot of times these types of topics aren't popular is because they are confrontational. They're sometimes difficult. Personally, I don't have a problem with the fear of the Lord. I thank God for the fear of the Lord because then you don't fear the government. Then you don't fear poverty. Then you don't fear death. Oh death, where's your sting? Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated. We sing that song, and walking in the fear of the Lord to me brings tremendous comfort. And it's interesting to find the word fear and comfort in the same sentence, but we're going to find that in the book of Acts. But the reason a lot of times we don't understand these things is because we think of God as love, and the Bible says God is love. But we don't stop there. We remember the other attributes. That God is holy. God is righteous. God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. He is our King. He is our Savior. He is our judge. He is our lawgiver. So it's not just this one attribute of God being love. And actually, perfect love casts out fear. But we will always have fears on this side of heaven, and we either fear God or we fear man. Many of the decisions that people make are because they fear man and they don't fear God. So where we're at this morning, we are in Acts 9, Acts 9 31, and I'm not going to do a long sermon on all of Acts 9. I'm actually just going to pull this verse out of Acts 9 and talk about walking in the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is very healthy. It reminds me of when I was in construction, and when I was digging heavy equipment, I was operating a heavy equipment operator for water districts and myself. And when they would paint something on the street, it was in yellow, and it would say HP, which is high pressure, gas main from Texas is right here. You hit that and you will cease to exist. On the other side was a 12,000 volt line from Southern California Edison, and also fiber optics from Verizon. And all these things, I had a very, very healthy respect and reverence for these things in order to live, in order to also not hit things and put people out of power and water. And that's the type of respect and reverence for God. It's not this, we think of here comes the lightning bolt, right? I'm walking out, here comes the lightning bolt. God hates me. I'm fearing God. But that's not the image the Bible paints. There's a respect and there's a reverence. In the same way I had reverence for these things, we have reverence and respect for God. Now there is a wrong view of the fear of the Lord. And some people on a very legalistic side will use this to hurt people and to harm people and to scare their children under their beds. God's watching all the time, you little rascal. And he just, and he wants to just hit you with a sledgehammer. You better keep yourself in order. And we have this, sometimes this image of God as we had as our father. And this, this angry, and we don't see that in the Bible. So I'm going to hopefully unpack what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord. Acts 9 31. Then the churches throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. Now they didn't have peace earlier when Paul was running havoc. Saul was running havoc on the churches and wanting to kill Christians and throw them into prison. There wasn't a lot of peace going on. And the church isn't real big right now. It was just starting in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, out to the ends of the earth. But right now it's right here in Judea, southern part of Israel, and then Samaria, and then Galilee moving up north. So it'd be like the churches in the Yellow Valley, the churches in Bishop, and the churches in Lake Tahoe reaching that area. So all these churches now had peace and they were edified. They were being built up and they walked in the fear of the Lord. It says, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. Right here you see the word fear and comfort in the same sentence. You don't think you'd ever see that, would you? I fear the government, but I feel very comforted. Or I fear darkness. Like my kids, they don't like the light off. You know, I fear darkness. I feel very comfortable. No, I want the light on. So often we don't see fear and comfort in the same sentence or in the same type of framework. But with God, that brings comfort. Because I fear I have reverence and respect for an all-knowing, all-powerful God who can, who has my back. He has my front. He has my sides. Nothing can happen. No demonic realm can hurt a person walking in the fear of God unless God allows it. And there was at the debate, I don't know if some of you knew this, but there was people from the satanic temple of Los Angeles there. It's like, oh gosh, are you scared? Not at all. Not at all. They actually left when I began my closing statement. Like get me out of here. We don't, can't hear this anymore. But see, so that brings tremendous, because I fear God and respect God, and He wants, wants what's best for me more than I want what's best for me. Because He knows. So I rest in His fear, and then I can walk in comfort through my daily life. When trial comes, when, when circumstances come, when the courts or whatever it is come against you, there's comfort because you're trusting in God. Now you will fight bouts of anxiety and worry. I do. Because our human tendency, our, our corrupt DNA from Adam has put in us that type of fear. But God says, I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of peace and of sound mind. So when we walk in fear, and we fear man rather than God, that's not of God. It's our sinful nature taking over. And you're, you're seeing that, you're going to see that a lot more in the unrest. The civil unrest that's going on in our nation is directly related to fear. They fear, and it's not going to, without God moving and awakening our nation, that's not going to get better. It's going to be more unrest and more unrest and more fear and more fear. And then you see the people of God trusting God and resting in Him. You see this conflict that's going on. That's really what this is, a conflict of good and evil, of truth and error, of right and wrong, conflicting in the light and the darkness and different things. So we see here first, there was a season of peace. So the church had a season of peace. Saul brought the church to her knees and scared the church. And then there's a season of peace. And then in Herod in chapter 12, will bring in some more persecution to the church. But there's a season of peace and comfort. Now, interesting here, John Calvin said, let us learn not to abuse external peace by being involved in pleasures and idleness. When the churches had peace, they were not drunk with the pleasures of earthly joy. What he means there is peace can be a double-edged sword. When there's peace, often, what do we do? Bye, God. Thank you very much. I had fun and thanks for helping me. But now I'm pursuing the things of the world. I'm drunk with the pleasures of this world. Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying life to a certain degree. Please take your spouse on a date night. Watch a good movie. Case for Christ is coming out pretty soon. And sit out back and drink some decaffeinated organic tea. You know, I mean, take care of, enjoy what God has given us. The problem is when these joys and these pleasures begin to crowd out and choke out our relationship with God. And we don't want anything to do with God, but everything to do with the world and the pleasures of the world and entertainment. It's this thirst for entertainment. So that's what he's talking about here. Peace is wonderful, but the downside is that of that is it brings us off and towards this other side away from God. Have you seen that in your own life? When things are going well and everything's going good and there's tons of peace and it's hard to follow God. It's usually in that furnace of affliction, that sledgehammer of difficulties, and the vice of hard circumstances. Those usually draw us to God. And that's usually when a church is healthy, is when it's going through some amount of difficulties. If you were to compare the church in America to the church in China, you would be embarrassed. You guys ready for some truth this morning? Because you would be embarrassed. The length of their worship services, the heart for God. When they get the Bible in their language, they cry, they weep, they spend hours. But it's the persecution. Because what happens in persecution, you really see who's serious. If persecution would come here, you would see the churches a lot less, well you would see them a lot less full. They would not be filled to capacity. There wouldn't be a lot as many people when persecution comes. So that's one downside to peace, is you have to be careful. Also the churches were edified. Edified means to improve morally or intellectually. They were edified when they feared God. Now I'm glad I remember this, because during the first service I sang, I should have wrote that down. But I've seen Christian believers, three, four years in the faith, and they are way more mature, if that's okay to say you English professors, they're much more mature than those who've been Christians 25 years, or 30 years. Why? Because they're walking in the fear of the Lord. And there's obedience there. There's commitment. They're surrendering to God. They're walking. So as a result, they're edifying. They're growing. That's how you actually grow spiritually. Many people think you grow spiritually. I've been coming to church 40 years. Well, your heart's as hard as a stone. You don't win anybody to the Lord. You're negative. You're unforgiving. You're bitter. You're resentful. You've been stuck with the baby binky in your mouth for 20 years, because you're not growing. You know what binkies are? Those little things that pop out. You run. Oh, it didn't touch the ground. Here you go. Or you find water, clean it real quick or something. But, or moms do, right? So that's, but that's spiritual maturity. You're edifying, and you're being built up when you walk in the fear of the Lord. So if you're not growing spiritually, if you're stuck and stagnant, then this could be an area where you want to pay great attention to. Because here's what it is, in short. Walking in the fear of the Lord is walking. I'm walking in obedience to what He's called me to do. I'm removing jealousy and bitterness and anger. And even though I might struggle with it, you're forgiving. You're repentant. You're broken before the Lord. You're humble. You're spending time in His words. You're reading. You're worshiping your Lord. Keep me back on track. Keep me back on track. You're walking in the fear of the Lord. And as a result, you grow spiritually. You grow. There's no way not to grow. That is spiritual growth. The amazing thing is, I'm going through the book of Acts, is the most mature believers in this book of Acts were not believers very long. The reason they were mature is because they were walking in that fear. Also close, of course, the church is multiplied when they feared God. Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. So a person who fears the Lord, that is the beginning of knowledge. If you're wondering, what is God's will? I'm having a hard time discerning God's will. What is God's plan for my life? Start here. The fear of the Lord is the foundation on which you build your house. Then go the walls, and then go the roof, and the insulation, all those things. We want the house without the foundation. We want to know God's will without the structure and the support. But Proverbs is clear that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of all understanding. It has to start here. And also, the interesting thing about fear is, fear is a restraining force. Fear restrains people. Only fools would want to remove this restraining force. Robert Winthrop, who was one of the founders of our nation, said, men must be controlled either by a power within or by a power without, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or by the bayonet. Fear, in that sense, restraining force. So first, three things we see where fear is important looking at Scripture. God fearing people should lead our nation. Oh, you better be good. Even the balcony can clap on that one. God fearing people, our nation should fear God. Rulers should fear God. When the Supreme Court justices put on those gowns, they should fear God. The legislature, the president, all those areas should fear God. Our nation was founded on fearing God, and we should have a reverence and a respect for that. That's why Psalm says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Verse 18, behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him. This is interesting. I didn't read the first service, but I'm gonna read it here. The Delaware Constitution, 100 and some years ago, I don't know, well, no, actually, 1776, the Constitution, probably 1800s. So the Delaware Constitution said this, required that everybody appointed to public office must say, I do profess, wait, right hand, I do profess faith in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son. What happened? What happened? Separation of church and state. Guys, be quiet. Don't talk about this God stuff. Remove the foundation. Remove the foundation, the building will come crumbling down. You couldn't even run for office unless you feared God. You couldn't even vote, voice your opinion, unless you feared God. There was a healthy fear of God. Alexander Hamilton, signer of the Constitution, said, the law dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding all over the entire globe and in all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if they are contrary to the laws of God. Blessed be the name of our God. Where is this? My goodness. This, I don't know, just gets me fired up to see how far we have drifted. And you know, I probably should head it off before I get the emails. What about slavery? Well, let me tell you about that terrible mark in our nation's history that you actually had. I've got pages and pages and pages and pages of founding fathers who abhorred the practice of slavery that was brought over by Britain. It was actually William Wilberforce, a Christian. It was Christians who fought against this. So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Anytime I mention the founding of America, that's what they say. But the truth is you had many Christians fighting for the things that are right. You had God-fearing men fighting for the things that were right. So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Be careful in this area. Clearly, it was a nation founded on God. The Mayflower, when they came back on the Mayflower, Cape Cod Bay, 1620s, they said for the advancement of the Christian faith, the proclamation of the gospel. You look at the constitutions, you look at the laws, you look at the legislation. Noah Webster, you ever heard of the Webster's Dictionary? Do you know what it used to have by every word it defined? It's scriptures to support that word. Folks, if you look into how far we have drifted, you would either laugh or cry. Laugh saying, God help us, and crying saying, how could we? We've drifted. We have drifted. If you want more information, if you have a passion about this, let me know. I wrote a book entitled One Nation Above God that I will give you that documents all of these things. They would even—I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said he would recommend that every school taught the Word of God, and primarily the New Testament. Actually, the public school system, I believe, was founded in 1620 in order to teach kids the Word of God. Just ponder that for a minute. America was blessed. Of course, yes, there's some bad areas, but overall, they walked in the fear of God. Men made legislation. Before they wrote the Constitution, they quoted or referenced the Bible four times more than any other source. I'm just gonna go off in a minute, so I'm just gonna get back on track. The church is a gathering of God-fearing people. You have a nation that fears God. You have a church that fears God. See, in church, there should be a healthy respect for God. When we walk in here, at least when I do, when I walk in here sometimes early in the morning and turn on the worship, and you just—you're in God's house. Yes, He's everywhere, but there's a special place sometimes where worship is felt, where prayer is being exercised, where the Word is going out, where there's an awe and a respect. God's people should fear Him, and that changes the way you do church because you make sure the worship songs are doctrinally sound. There's some leeway, of course, but you make sure that the messages don't compromise the essentials. You make sure that prayer—you make sure that church discipline takes place. We love the person, but we're not going to allow certain things, and I know a lot of different churches. I know a lot of different churches that will just—oh, we're not going to say anything. There's one church right now, I wouldn't even say if it's our area, I wouldn't say, but I can't even call them to tell them that one of their members who involved in worship has a girlfriend while he's still married because they won't do anything. We hate sin, but love the sinner. We aim for a high standard of living, but we offer grace when we miss the mark. We love unconditionally, but we still warn the prodigal son. And there's a big misconception on this area. Yes, sometimes a church is hard with people because they won't change until that—that they're abruptly stopped and they're confronted. And then when they see the error of their way, they repent and they seek forgiveness, then their arms are open. Paul says that have nothing to do with a person caught in sexual immorality. It's interesting. He goes, now, I'm not talking about the world because you'd have to go outside of the world to find those—anybody who does that. And I'm not supporting aliens. That question was asked Sunday night. I'm not supporting aliens. But you—he said, but believers who name the name of Christ, who want fellowship with you when they're involved in tons of gossip and covenants and sexual immorality and all these things, Paul says, don't have anything to do with them. See, it has nothing to do with, I'm better than you and I'm not going to play with you, ha ha ha ha ha, like kids do. But it has to do—I love God so much in his word, I fear him, that I cannot condone what you're doing as if it doesn't matter. You see the difference? There's a big difference there. So when a church has to step in and reprimand or lovingly confront, it's not with a judgmental attitude, it's with a broken, humble attitude that wants to help the person. But if we just say, I know that's going, I can't allow it. I know they're doing, I can't, I just don't want to, I don't want to, gosh, we don't want, we're losing too many people. It's spring break or, you know, it's, we don't want to say anything. Let's just, let's just hope God convicts him, right? Just hope God convicts him. But that's why he's given us the word of God and others to come alongside and convict. Church is a gathering of God-fearing people, but so is the family. You have the nation, you have the church, you have the family. God should be feared and reverence in our homes. Listen, I've been in a lot of homes. I don't know if he's fear and reverence very much. I don't know. What's popular? What's promoted? What are our kids watching, viewing? What are we allowing in our homes? There's no, there's no fear. And actually the home, it all starts in the home. Let's get a little honest here. As the home goes, so goes the nation. We would love to complain about the nation, but not our homes. So you fix the home, you fix the nation. You fix the home, you fix the church. Everything is, everything is in that, that, that incubator, if you will, that the fear of God, the love of God. Now there's broken homes, there's single moms, single dads trying, and I'm not coming against that at all. I think God is in there in a powerful way, and they can make a difference, but it starts in the home. You look at God-fearing people often are created in the home. Psalm 33 18, but the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him. His eyes are on those who fear him. This is the cure for many problems. I'm going to help you right now. Free counseling appointment. Shane, do you charge for counseling? No, I don't, but just free. We'll just throw it out there. The cure, I wish I had more time to counsel. Actually, it's, it's, I'd go on a rabbit trail on that one, but I won't. My, my prayer often is, Lord, 100 hours in the course of a day. That's all he needs, 100 hours. Can you do that? Can you make some time? But on this issue, the, the cure, the cure for many problems right now, I'm going to tell you what it is, is to fear God, is to fear God. This would cure many problems. I'm actually reached out to a man who doesn't go here, decided to leave his wife, and she just had a three-month-old. And we go, oh God, that's what happens. That's when you don't fear God, that's what happens. This would fix many, if people would just fear God, they would treat their spouse better. If they would fear God, they would treat their children better. If they would fear God, things would change in the home. See, it starts with fear. Shane, how's that possible? I fear God. Sometimes we can fear, fear Him here, but not here. I know many religious people that fear God, but they act as if they're Howard Stern. That'll catch up when you get home. But there, there has to be a fear here and here. See, I fear in reverence God, so I'm going to walk it out. Actually, walk, oh, we just read that. Walking in the fear of the Lord. Your faith has application. Boy, you're stepping on toes. Exactly. We are stepping on toes this morning. Psalm 86, 11. Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. So that tells me divided hearts don't really fear God. Do you know what a divided heart is? Ask the, let me ask the question. Do you have a divided heart? Okay, good. I'm glad you asked. Here's an example. We're going to go to, well, let me, let me talk about walking in the fear of the Lord. I think I clarified it, but walking in the fear of the Lord is living it out. You are living God's word out. You're living it out. Romans 8, 1. Therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. There's no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now, I've heard good Bible teachers say, well, that last part really shouldn't be in there. It should say this. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are Christ Jesus. And that's true, because we don't work for it, do we? We don't maintain it. So why is that added? Well, I believe it's, this is why it's added. There's no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus. And how do you know if you're truly in Christ Jesus? How do you know if your faith is sincere? You will walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. So those who walk according to the Spirit, there's no condemnation. So it's not a works-based thing we're doing. It's saying there's no condemnation in you, but if you're walking just like the world, you look just like the world, there's, you might want to check your faith. Now, we all struggle, don't we, to walk towards the world. We all struggle a little bit, but a person I found that is truly a believer, they want to please God. They're not just saying the right things. They don't know the lingo, and they don't act Christian. Let me speak Christianese, and let me do the right things and say the right things. A person who's truly walking in the fear of God walks it out, not perfectly. It looks like this, but it is walking in that direction. So here's an example of God, of God's people not fearing Him. And here's why, here's what happens. When we forget who He is and what He did, we begin to stop fearing Him. So 1 Kings 18, I'll just read it. Let me give you a little backdrop. Have you heard of Elisha in the Bible? The prophet Elisha, he was harassing King Ahab and wicked queen Jezebel. That's why you don't have any kids named Jezebel. I don't think you've ever heard any kings named Ahab, right? There's a reason for that. There's not too many Samsons out there. I don't know of a Delilah. The reason is because the Bible doesn't speak. Maybe there's a Delilah. I don't know. Well, I'll find out. I'm sure I'll get an email. So we have this, Elisha is rebuking the wicked king Ahab. He's rebuking Jezebel. He's going about and saying, you have left God. Look at all these bells that you're, these gods, they're called Bell. And it was a god of fertility. So they would have all kinds of things going on in these parties and worshiping Bell, this fertility god. And the people said, I like that, but I also like Yahweh. I like this. And they would be going back and forth. So Elisha rebuked the king Ahab. And as he was coming towards the king, he said, oh, you troubler of Israel. Why have you come? So Elisha is troubling Israel. Hello. This wicked king is one troubling Israel. But it's funny how when a person's caught in sin and they love their sin, they'll call you the troubler. I mean, I know there's a lot of people right now saying, oh, Shane, you troubler of America. Would you just be quiet? Leave us alone on these things, right? We love our sin. We love our debauchery. We love how we're living. So anyway, the king said, you troubler of Israel. And then Elisha comes, verse 18, chapter 18 says, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house, and that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the bells. Therefore, now therefore, send and gather all Israel to meet on Mount Carmel. Now that's a pretty powerful man of God. If he can tell the king to be quiet and go get all these false prophets and meet them at Mount Carmel. So what happens, Elisha comes to Mount Carmel. They build this altar and he says, let the God who answers by fire, let him be God. Let's see if your God is real. So all these false prophets are up on this altar, jumping up and down and cutting themselves. And they're bleeding and they're making this loud noise. And Elisha's going, maybe your God's sleeping. He doesn't hear you. Maybe he's on vacation. Better scream louder. And they're just going crazy on this altar. And nothing happens. So he cleans it up a little bit, puts tons of water on this altar, water all around it. And within a second, when he said, let the God who answers by fire, let him be God, fire consumed that entire altar. And the people said, and the people said, okay, clearly that we've been rejecting the one true and living God. So they killed all those false prophets. But Elisha, the sermon he gave is a real quick one. How long will you waver between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. Another translation says, how long will you falter between two opinions? And I think the same call goes out today. How long will you falter? It actually means hop. How long will you hop back and forth between two opinions? And Elisha, the name actually means sent by God. God's messenger. He's sent by God. My God is Yahweh. So he sends a prophet named my God is Yahweh to challenge the people why their God is not Yahweh. It's interesting. If you dig deep, God is mathematical. He's, he's psychological. He's everything fits within the parameters of what he's doing. But that's what we do. We hop. I love the bell God because it's a God of fun and addiction and, and bondage. And I love, I mean, I don't really love him, but my sinful side loves him. We love bell. But then we, we, we, we do serve Yahweh. I mean, come on guys, you know, that's okay. But we, we, and they're going back and forth. They're, they're popping between two opinions. So that's not serving God. See, we think, we think we can serve both God and the God of this world. We think we can serve two masters, but Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. You'll either love the one and hate the other, or you'll love this one and despise the other. See, when I love God, I hate this God. I hate this God that is sending kids to their graves and parents to divorce court. I hate this God. I hate this God that pulls at the flesh and pulls and pulls. I hate this God. Yes, he wins sometimes. He wins, but I'll kick him right in the face and get back on track. I hate this God. I love this God. I don't want to waver between two opinions. But then you have the people that love this God. They love this God. Don't go to church on Sunday. See, I love this God. No, you don't. You love this God. And they call themselves believers. And, and there's even a group in between here. There's a group that's not saved. They say the right things, and they go to church around them, but they're not saved at whatsoever because there's no fruit. But then there's a group who I have a heart for. They've fallen into this side, and they can't get out. They're stuck, and they want to. They want to please God, but they're stuck in the sin. It's like the story I've told before about the lamb and the pig that find their way to the mud. The mud represents the sin. So the pig waddles in the mud. He just lays in the mud, and he even leads other pigs in, or sheep in, whoever gets in the mud. But the lamb is stuck in the mud. It hates its miserable condition. It's stuck, and it's crying out, God help me. I want Yahweh back. I want, so I have a heart for that group. But we have to fear God. Both of these need to come out of there and fear God, and put Him in the right place, and not go back and forth between two opinions. So that's what that whole story was about. When we don't fear God, we compromise. We compromise. We'll live, okay, I went to church, but I'm living like the world. And that's why you'll hear things, and like when I say, God is not a doting grandfather or a cosmic ball of love. He's not, but that's what this side would say, isn't it? Oh, you know God. Wink, wink. Or just a cosmic ball. He just loves, just love brother out there somewhere. Just connect to your inner self and meditate. You'll find Him. Just that love. Just you got to get linked up with that electricity, and that aura, and that karma, and all that, you know, just this. That's not God. God is holy and righteous. It's not about compromising. It's about fully surrendering our lives. And I'm careful on this point, because I don't want people leaving here going, oh, I could never measure up. Oh my gosh, Shane has set the standard so high, it's pointless. No, it's not. See, but here's the problem in preaching. You either hit the mark high, and we miss it, or you sit it too low, and we hit it. That's the challenge. But one of the goals of preaching is to build and to push you to a higher level, to a higher mark, to a higher following of God, and wanting more of Him. Psalm 3119, oh how great is your goodness which you have laid upon those who fear you. God's goodness, it's like an umbrella that just shelters you. God's goodness on those who fear Him. And we know this, don't we? We all go through challenges, but there's peace in the midst of the storm for those who fear Him. Now be careful, though. Some storms are self-created, aren't they? We can't just, because some people say, oh, God is testing me. No, you're testing yourself. You brought on this own, you brought on your own problem, your own situation. The devil's after me. No, he's not. You're just spending money terribly. The devil's after my children. No, you're watching Oprah and eating bonbons and drinking beer at night. Does her still make bonbons? You know, those ice cream things. But that's why some of our problems are self-created, but God's goodness will flourish in the heart of those who fear Him. Well, Shane, how do I know if a problem, if what I'm going through is self-created? A very easy test. I use it often. Ask, is the fruit of the Spirit evident in my life? In other words, if I'm filled with love and joy and peace, doesn't mean I don't get angry a little bit over the things, but if there's love and peace and joy and goodness and self-control and I'm gentle, but I'm persevering, God is with you. But if there's no fruit, there's just bitterness and anger and all these things going on in your heart, you might be creating that problem. You might be creating that situation. Psalm 23, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear, here's the word again, I will fear no evil. So when I fear God, I don't fear evil. When we're filled with things of God, we don't feel evil or fear evil. I feel this a lot of times after a Sunday service. You know, you leave here, and maybe it's just me, but you leave here, you're filled with the Spirit of God. Worship came on. I'm like, you get home like, I don't care if ISIS just took me out right now. I could care less. And then come Friday, you're like, oh, watching the news, right? Watch, oh no, oh no, fear factor. Oh, China's going to bomb us. Russia's going to do this, and we'll go into fear factor mode. But though who walk through the valley of the shadow of death isn't just about death, it's walking through difficult times. And when you fear God, you don't fear man. When you fear God, you don't fear death. Now, our flesh struggles with fear, and there's struggles we go through, but ultimately, the more we focus on fearing God and devoting our lives to Him, the other fear has to flee. See, both fears can't exist in your body, in your mind. When you fear God, the other fear must flee. But when you fear man, then you don't have the fear of God. They can't, they cannot coexist. But back to the church's walking in the fear of the Lord. I want you to read chapter 9, the rest of chapter 9, if you can this week. And you'll see that Peter was walking on the fear, walking in the fear of the Lord. He was visiting all the coastal cities. He was, he was preaching. He was, he was healing people. And he was raising people from the dead. And I believe that the more we walk in the fear of the Lord, the more miracles we will see. We will see God working in our life. We will see God moving in our life. The closer we walk in the fear of God, the more we can be used by God. Ask anybody that they don't, they don't know about the miracles of God. They don't know anything about God if they've never been walking in the fear of God. Because that's where the power of the Holy Spirit comes in, when we fear God. So let me throw out two questions. Do you need to come back to life? Like Peter, we saw resurrection. You know, we read about a resurrection. But it also applies spiritually. Do you need to come back to life? Spiritual resurrection takes place when we, we, we reposition ourselves to fear God. So if you need to be revitalized, you know who you are, don't you? You're just dying spiritually. There's no fear of God. You're just withering away. If you need spiritual life again, if you need resurrection, reposition yourself in the fear of God. Not worrying about lightning bolts, but worrying about being filled with the Spirit. Fearing God, having a reverence and a respect. We, sometimes we walk around with major sin issues as if it's no big deal. And we wonder why there's no fear of God, no respect for God, no reverence for God. Those things need to be dealt with and repented of, and have that life come back to us. Resurrected from the dead, you can be resurrected spiritually. Listen, I've seen this probably more, more times than anything else. Somebody dead to the things of God. God is kind of boring. Church is irrelevant. They're just dying. You know, no more needs to be said on that. But they're just, and then they come to life. They're filled with the Spirit. There's a fear of God, a reverence for God, and everything comes alive. That's the difference maker. Or do you need spiritual life? Maybe somebody in here has never had spiritual life. They've been fearing God, but they've never had spiritual life. And we're going to read in Acts 10, there was a devout man, Cornelius. This is interesting. He was a devout man, means he was disciplined. He did certain things. He fasted even. Oh goodness. And he feared God, but he wasn't safe. Now, there's many people in religions, you can think of some right now, they're very devout, aren't they? They even have spiritual disciplines. They fear God. There's something created all this. I know it, but it doesn't matter if you don't have a relationship with God. Cornelius didn't have a relationship. He was, a better Christian than most people I know. Christian, I mean, going through the things. But Peter was sent to him, sent to the Gentiles, and led him to the Lord, pointed him to God in this relationship to God. In his pride, probably in his arrogance, he didn't think he needed to humble himself. So ask yourself, do you need spiritual life? Francis Collins, I think I read his quote Sunday night. He was a renowned geneticist, and he was head of the Human Genome Project. Genome is where they study the DNA and the genes and how it's connected to the DNA. He put all this together with different scientists, and he said this, I had started this journey of intellectual exploration of the DNA to confirm my atheism. That now lay in complete ruins as the argument from the moral law forced me to admit the plausibility of God. In other words, he said, not only the creation of life and the DNA, and as a side note, do you know what DNA is? It's 3.2 billion letters that tell your body how to reproduce life. Bones, teeth, amino acids, the building blocks, all these little DNA are working together, little letters, putting sequences together to build life. And people think all that just happened. All the sequencing just happened. It's impossible. And inside of your trillions of cells are DNA. So every 3.2 billion letters of information are in every cell. That's a lot of information. That is creation of life. It's how life was created. But he said, because of the moral law, what a moral law is, is everybody on the planet has something written on their heart. They have to worship something. You go to the farthest remote African village or India, wherever you go, and people know your neighbor, you shouldn't steal your neighbor's chicken, or your neighbor's pig, or you shouldn't steal your neighbor's wife. Everybody knows that. Where's the moral code come from? Because see, here's what you have to, here's how, if you're rejecting God, you have to deal with this. If an atheist or somebody who doesn't know, if they believe in evil, they have to believe in good. Right? I mean, how do you, if you have nothing, you can't just have evil and nothing. Evil and good, to be able to gauge that evil. Now, if you have evil and good, you have to have a moral law that explains what they are. How do you differentiate between moral, between evil and good without a moral law? And if you have a moral law, guess what? You have a moral law giver. So it points you right back to God. That's what he was dealing with. He said agnosticism, which is a person, oh, I don't know. I guess there could be. Right? I mean, come on. I mean, I don't know how this happened. Did we come from an ape? Did we come from, I don't know. I don't know. It's just, I mean, maybe not. I think there might be something out there bigger than me. I like when people, there's something bigger than me. Like, is it this big? I mean, but that's what, that's what they say. So he said agnosticism, which had seemed like a good second place haven, somewhere to set. He said, now loomed like the great cop-out it often is. Faith in God now seemed more rational than disbelief. And he was the head of this project. He saw the DNA. He saw the structure. But here's the kicker. That still doesn't matter. That still doesn't cut it. This person is still on the broad road to destruction. He can acknowledge there's a God. Clearly there's a God. Moral law giver, there's a God. Creation, there's a God, but not be in right relationship with that God. There's a lot of people in churches, they fear, it usually comes from conservative backgrounds. Oh, I fear God. You know, I have a fear of God. Oh man, the man upstairs, that's what they say too. The man, I know there's something out there. There's a man upstairs and I fear him, but they're dying and they're on the same path to judgment as an unbeliever. So this is a big deal. You can fear God and still not know him. We need to be restored. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned to come short of the glory of God. All have sinned. That's why I feel broken. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. That's why I feel condemned. And Psalm 51.3, my sin is always before me. That's why I feel convicted. See, that was my closing argument. That's why there's shame and guilt. That's why people feel broken. That's why they feel condemned. That's why they feel convicted. People are walking around with a death sentence. I mean, there's not a pretty way to put that, is there? But that's the truth. People without Christ are walking around with a death sentence. Another reason it confirms it's true is because they don't want to talk about it. I mean, think about it. If I said, Mickey Mouse appeared to me, and you're on the road, you're going to hell unless you believe in Mickey Mouse. You would yawn as you fell asleep, right? You know, that poor guy. I feel sorry for Morgan and the kids. He's lost it. Poor guy would just pray for him. He'd smile. But why when I say there is a God who would judge a secret man things of men's heart, people get upset because they know it's true. He's put the moral compass inside of every person that knows they know that God exists. I believe that's why when the scripture says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord, they will eventually bow because they know it. They've just been rejecting it their entire life. So if we truly believe that, wouldn't we lovingly tell more people? Wouldn't we share the gospel? I mean, that's why I spoke about that at the debate. That's the whole reason I brought up this point is to tie everything in. This is the point that upset everybody that doesn't love God. I didn't even get to this point, and that's when the people from the satanic temple left. Hell's Satan, and we're leaving. Okay, you might as well leave because your boss works for my boss. But why is it so upsetting? Why is it so upsetting? Honestly, why is this so convicting upsetting? Well, you're narrow-minded. No, if it's not true, who cares? You're not gonna get mad. You just dismiss me and go somewhere else. But there's something here. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. But God demonstrated his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. See, the beautiful thing about God's Word is, when I went up there Sunday, all I have to do is proclaim it. And the power of the Holy Spirit was some boldness, right? Just proclaim it. I don't care if you believe it. I'm just a messenger. Take it up with the author. That Jesus Christ died for us while we were still sinners. So God says, yes, you're convicted. Yes, you're broken. Yes, you are caught in sin. You're condemned to death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Only a prideful, prideful, arrogant heart would reject that gift. Only a prideful, arrogant heart would reject that gift. So what must I do? Fear God and turn to Him. Fear God and turn to Him. It's not how eloquently you pray. And people, I get emails too. I want to know, Lord, but what exactly do I say? You don't have to exactly say anything. Your heart has to break, and you say, God, I need you. Lord, I surrender my life to you. I repent. I need to know your Son. I don't know, but I need you. God's not going, no, you didn't get that right. Actually, he didn't say it in the original Greek. Actually, let's go back to the Hebrew of fearing God. You didn't quite, you know, you missed it here. No, he actually doesn't look for words are just the way we communicate. Communicate is just communicate coming off of my tongue, off my vocal cords. It's just the sound I'm making. Do you understand? These are just sounds. So God doesn't hear the sound. He hears the sound of the heart, the heart breaking. That's why a deaf person can come to know the Lord. Somebody who doesn't pray, Shane, I just broke him before God, and they humble themselves, and they're filled with the Spirit. They didn't pray any type of prayer. Now, hold on before you get mad. Praying is a good thing. Praying and saying, God, I need you, and I love you, and I want to do your will, but you don't have to say a perfect prayer with all the nuances and the correct terminology because I know a lot of people that say, if you just say, pray after me, pray after me, God, I love you, God, I love you, and you lead them through a prayer or they raise their hand, they're not necessarily saved because a prayer and raising a hand doesn't save you. It's exercising faith in the heart. A broken and contrite heart, God says, I will not turn away. A broken, that you can take that to the bank more than your 401k and your retirement, everything else we're trusting in. When God says, if a broken and contrite heart comes to me, I will not turn them away. It doesn't matter who they are, what country they are, that's when people get mad. They say, what about people who never heard from God? They're denying. They're denying the conviction that God gives them. His invisible attributes are clearly seen so that they're without excuse. They're suppressing the truth, and they're without excuse. So, God gives everybody that internal compass, and it's up to them to accept or reject them. Reject that. To live your entire life fighting God, mocking God, and rejecting God, and to trust your soul to the ever-changing theories of science and the winds of speculation, to me, is the greatest tragedy that man has ever known. A life of rebellion leads to an eternity of separation from God. In the end, the rebel gets his way. In the end, the rebel gets his way. You have to fear God. Folks, if we could sum everything up in this, you must fear God. Your carnal nature, the enemy, the world, everything around you is telling you not to fear God. Everything around you is telling you not to fear God. Actually, the world, doesn't the world live like the scripture says, eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die? That's the focus. And trust me, as someone who has talked to people before they die, on their deathbed, or close to death, the sinking reality of the life they've wasted suddenly implodes, and they break down. Oh, you can't rob Peter without paying Paul. You know, the old saying, I mean, something, you pay now, you pay later, but you're going to pay. You have to deal with this now. Do you truly fear God? Because you want to live your life fearing God, filled with the Spirit of God, looking to Him, looking to Him for the answers.