John Bevere emphasizes the critical importance of the fear of God in the life of believers, lamenting the alarming trend of people leaving the faith and the need for a genuine move of God. He reflects on his own experiences of God's presence and the necessity of character development in the church to handle God's glory. Bevere asserts that true holiness and intimacy with God stem from a deep reverence and awe for Him, which leads to obedience and a transformative relationship. He warns against the dangers of losing this fear, as it can lead to spiritual complacency and disconnection from God's will. Ultimately, he calls for a return to the fear of God as the foundation for a vibrant faith and a deeper understanding of His love.

I have to be honest with you because 35 years ago, tonight, I was probably sitting in a chair right there as a youth pastor. 35 years ago. Kathleen was probably in the congregation. Nathan, you were probably in the congregation. It was really great times. The thing I loved the most was the presence of the Lord, and Pastor Benny walked in a real holy fear of God. I've been in ministry now for 40 years, and I too share that burden, Pastor Michael. I'm just deeply grieved at the amount of people that are walking away from the faith. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3 tells us that, but I didn't realize it would hit the number of over 40 million in 20 years, just in America. With 20 million of those people saying that they are spiritualists, agnostics, and atheists. People that were once walked into our churches and worshipped Jesus. They say now we're losing a million young people. A year. A million. And so we're in an epidemic right now, and we really need a move of God. But I remember, so much has gone through my mind tonight. Being out in that parking lot, I'd come in early about an hour and a half every morning and just pray, walk around in the trees out there and in the parking lot, and God's saying to me, I'm bringing my church into a desert, into a wilderness. And he said, I'm going to develop character in her to handle the full measure of my glory. See, I got saved at the very end of the Jesus revolution, and there's a movie coming out next month called the Jesus revolution, and the Irwin brothers did it, and I was privileged to be able to view it about three months ago, and you need to see it. And it's really cool because it really hit the unchurchy people, the hippies. And I came to know Jesus at the end of that move. And I remember just thinking, okay, these awesome moves of the spirit, that's a part of Christianity. I mean, normal Christianity. I mean, my church in Dallas, where I first started, I watched people walk in with red and white seeing sticks and walk out seeing. I watched ambulances pull up and then wheel a guy off a gurney. And I knew, I was the pastor's assistant, I knew this was no fake. He had less than 24 hours left to live, and I watched him miraculously healed before my eyes and pushed his gurney back out. I remember Jesus, one of our services, Jesus appeared, 800 people over in the balcony over there. We had a 4,000-seat auditorium with a balcony that wrapped around. 800 people saw him on this side. He appeared with two angels, just like that, gone, and left an imprint of his face about eight feet high, five feet wide. This stayed on our wall for a year and a half. It looked just like the Shroud of Turin, and it gradually faded out. People came from all over the United States to see it. Now, I'm just thinking, you know, this is normal Christianity. Then I come here, and I'm under Pastor Benny Hinn, and I'm just thinking, normal Christianity, right? But then the Lord speaks to me, and he said, Son, I've given my church a thimbleful of my power to see how she would handle it, see if she'd market it, make money off of it, use it to draw people to herself. We didn't handle it very well, and so God said, I'm going to bring my church into a desert, and I'm going to purify her character so she'll be able to handle the full measure of my power, the full measure of my spirit. And I believe, you know, I just recently, I started thinking, this happened in the early 80s, and we're in the early 2020s. It's been 40 years, almost 40 years, and I believe that we're on the verge of one of the greatest moves of God the earth's ever seen, and God, I do, and God spoke to me, and he said, the final move of my spirit before Jesus returns would be a move of the fear of God. And he said, that will produce the holiness that my bride will walk in that Jesus will return for. Because Paul the Apostle made this statement, he said, that holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord. The Bible tells us that we work out our salvation, or we mature in the fear and trembling. Not in love and kindness, don't get me wrong, I love love and I love kindness, who doesn't? But we mature our salvation in the fear and trembling. I just feel like the atmosphere is too precious right now to do anything else other than just pray, and just share. Okay, so can I do that? I cannot thank you enough for being my friend, cannot thank you enough for being a man of God. When I first met you, I knew in my heart, I don't mean to say this, let me just say it right, I just knew you were a man who feared God, deeply feared God. Jess, I look at you, and you deeply fear God. Our phone conversation today is I walked away from it, thanking God for the conviction of obeying the Holy Spirit in your life. And I'm praying as you're sharing tonight that you're not violating what the Holy Spirit told you to do. Because it's that important to me that you walk in integrity before Him. And so you guys are in a great place, you're with leaders who really do love people, but even more importantly, they do fear God. And so I just want to pray, and I don't know where we're going to go tonight, we'll find out, but let's just go there, okay? Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you so much for Jesus' image. Thank you for this church that you've raised up. Lord, I believe it is a church that you saw from the foundations of the world, a church that you, Lord God, put your heart in, that you placed your hand upon. And I'm asking tonight, Lord God, this is a group of people, an ecclesia, a gathered together people, who don't care where they meet, they just want to be with you. But Father, I am asking that over this building, divine order and authority would remain. I am asking for, Lord God, the full measure of heaven's authority to be upon this atmosphere and to remain here. For Father, I am asking in Jesus' name that you would establish this church the way you want it to be established. And so Lord God, as we go in tonight, Holy Spirit, there is something you desire to deposit, to impart into this people. It is not because of John of Bavir being here. It is because you have ordained it and you desire it. And so I'm asking, Lord God, that it would manifest in here tonight on earth as it is in heaven. For I decree your kingdom has come. Your will shall be done in this place tonight on earth as it is in heaven. And for this, we give you all the glory and the honor and the praise and the thanksgiving. And it is in Jesus' mighty, wonderful, majestic, holy, awesome, magnificent name that we pray. And everybody that agrees, shout! Come on, give him praise! Give him praise! Amen. Amen. You can be seated. I want you to close your eyes. Just be seated and close your eyes. Why am I asking you to close your eyes? I'm not going to do anything sneaky. I just want you not to be distracted. But I want to share something with you and I don't want anything around you to distract you. So everybody just close your eyes and listen. It will only be for a few minutes, not even a few minutes, a minute. Listen to these words. What if you were told of a hidden virtue that in essence is the key to all of life? It unlocks the purpose of your existence. It attracts the presence, the provision, and the protection of our creator. It is the root of all noble character. It is the foundation of all happiness. It provides the needed adjustments to all in harmonious circumstances you may face. To firmly embrace this virtue guarantees success, safety, good health, a long life, and a noble legacy. Open your eyes. These words sound too good to be true? You think it's a fiction? I assure you they're not. These words were written by one of the greatest leaders that ever has walked this earth. He was a king. But he was raised as a young man in a household with a mom and dad who feared God and taught him the fear of God about this virtue that I'm speaking about. He became wise. He became a leader. He became the leader of millions. People, kings, queens, ambassadors would travel from nations all over the world just to be in his presence, to hear how he ran his nation, to observe how happy his people were. The Bible says that under his leadership every family in his nation had a home and had a garden. There was no poverty, no welfare, no unemployment. He could speak about anything. He was wise, wrote songs. He's been admired for generations. It was the virtue of the holy fear of God that gave him this wisdom. But here's the problem. He didn't treasure it. He didn't value it. And he departed from it. And when he departed it, God gave us a gift. And that gift is called the book of Ecclesiastes. There are two books that preachers avoid in the Bible, Job and Ecclesiastes. Why? Because they are two inspired books written by two uninspired men. Look at the book of Ecclesiastes. I'm going to just read, I'm going to read some of the statements that Solomon wrote. Everything is boring, utterly boring. No one can find meaning in it. History merely repeats itself as there's nothing new under the sun. What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. The day you die is better than the day you're born. Who writes these things? I will tell you who writes these words, a pessimistic cynic, a man who's become jaded. And in my 40 years of ministry, I have met so many jaded, cynical people in our churches, in our ministry, our ministries, in green rooms, at lunches. What happened? They lost the fear of God. But you know what? God gives us this book, this entire book that you just sit here and read and scratch your head. But then the last chapter, Solomon writes in one way or another, seven times to remember your creator. And the very last verse of this book, we get a window into his soul of his recovery. And he writes this at the very end. He says, here now is my final conclusion. Fear God and obey his commands for this is everyone's duty. That word duty actually means this is everyone's whole or entirety. What is the fear of the Lord? What is it? First of all, it is not to be scared of God. How can you have a relationship of intimacy with somebody you are scared of? And yet this is God's desire for every single one of us. His desire is to be intimate with us. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Let me ask you a question. Where was his destination when he took Israel out of Egypt? Where was he heading? Everybody say it. Come on, shout it. No. What do you say to Pharaoh? Five times. Thus sayeth the Lord, let my people go that they might worship me in the wilderness. Why does Moses want to bring the people of Egypt out? People of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land before first bringing them to the promisor. If you bring them to the promised land before first bringing them to the promisor, you make the promised land into a place of idolatry. This is what we did in the 80s and the 90s. We preached more of what Jesus would do for us rather than who he is. What we created was disciples that would only seek God for what I could get out of him. Moses brings them straight to Sinai. Why does he bring him to Sinai? Because that's the place he met with God at the burning bush. See, I find something totally amazing. I look at Israel and Israel is abused by Egypt. They live in the slums. They are eating the leftovers. Their children are abused and killed. They have stripes on their backs. They're working all their life just to build somebody else's inheritance. They come out of Egypt and we see them constantly saying, let's go back to Egypt. It was better for me back in Egypt. I look at Moses. He is raised in the wealthiest man's house in the planet. There is nobody wealthier than Pharaoh. He's the richest man on the planet. Pharaoh is Moses's grandfather. Moses can throw a national party. He can have a national sports day. He can drive any Ferrari he wants. He can have any Harley in the collection. He can have any girl in the nation. But he comes out of Egypt and he never once says, I want to go back to Egypt. It was better for me back in Egypt. Now Israel is getting abused. Moses is living in luxury. Israel is saying, I want to go back. Moses never says it. What's the difference? I'll tell you the difference. Moses had one encounter with God at the bush. Israel had a chance and blew it because when Moses brings Israel to that mountain, he and God have a private meeting. Most people don't read this. If you go to Exodus 19 verses 3 and 4, you will find out that God says to Moses privately. He said, you go down and you tell the children of Israel, the whole reason I delivered you out of Egypt was to bring you to myself. That's the whole reason I delivered you. And he said, I've called all of them, every one of them to be a kingdom of priests. I want every one of them to be able to come to me personally. He said, tell them to get ready. Tell them to clean the filth off their clothes over the next two days, because on the third day, I'm going to appear to them. Now, why does he tell them to clean the filth? Because they still had the filth of Egypt on their clothing. This is why Paul says having the promise of him dwelling in and with us in his glory, let us cleanse ourselves. He doesn't say the blood of Jesus is going to cleanse you. Wait a minute. Are you telling me the blood of Jesus doesn't cleanse me? No, I'm not telling you that it does cleanse us, but don't confuse the work of justification with the work of sanctification. John, those are two big words. I don't get it. Justification is what Jesus did for you on the cross. He forgave you of all your sins, past, present, and future, how it writes. However, sanctification begins the day you're born again. It is when what is done on the inside of you works its way to the outside that we cooperate with. Justification is totally by his grace. It is his gift. You can't do a thing to earn it. Sanctification, you got to cooperate with. That's why the Bible says we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. So Paul says having the promises of him dwelling in us and among us in second Corinthians chapter six, the end of the chapter, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, not just flesh spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So God tells Moses, tell him to get the filth of Egypt off their clothes for the next two days. A day with the Lord is a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. It has been 2000 years since Jesus has left. We've had two days to cleanse ourselves and we're not doing very good right now. You tracking with me? So on the third day, what happens? God comes down and when he comes down, he gets their attention. And when he comes down, you know what happens? The people run away and Moses draws near. And you know what the people said? Moses, tell God to talk to you. Whatever he says, we're going to do it. They couldn't do it. Pastor Michael, tell me whatever Jesus says and I'll do it. Oh, yeah, it was a whole nation that tried that. They didn't want to go into the presence of the Lord. So Moses makes this statement. Moses is absolutely. Devastated. He's gone through all this hassle to get these people out of Egypt, to get them to God, and now they don't even want him. They want his blessings. They want their land. But they don't want him. So Moses says to the people, look what he says. He says to the people in Exodus 2020, he says, do not fear. Everybody say do not fear. For God has come to test you. What's the test? To see that this fear is in you so that you may not sin. Now, look, look at this. This is interesting. Do not fear. Because God's come to test you. What's the test? See if his fears in you. Now, is Moses contradicting himself? Is he speaking out of two sides of his mouth? No, he's differentiating between being scared of God and the fear of the Lord. There is a difference. The person who is scared of God has something to hide. What does Adam do as soon as he sins against God? He hides from the presence of the Lord. What is the person who fears God has nothing to hide. That person is terrified of being away from God so that you may not sin. So what is it to fear God? It's to venerate him. Okay, what does venerate mean? Venerate is a big word. It means to honor, respect, esteem, value, reverence, and to stand in awe of him more than anything or anyone else. You don't know how many times I have been told, well, the fear of God just means to reverence God, just means to reverently worship God. I'm like, literally, I'm in a green room in a national conference, and I'm being told this by one of the key speakers. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I went to the Lord about this. I said, what about this? And the Lord opened my eyes to this. You know the Bible says love is patient and kind. Do you know that? Let me tell you something that happened when we moved here 35 years ago. There was a very well-known leader in the area, and his son-in-law had a new business opportunity, and he came to our house. Lisa and I were 40 years old at the time, and oh my gosh, that guy was so kind. And I remember him sharing with Lisa and I for two hours about this investment opportunity. We virtually didn't have a lot of money, but he said, you know, it will grow. Your money will grow. This is a great, great business opportunity. We had questions. He was very patient with us, very kind. I remember leaving. After a couple days of praying, Lisa and I felt, we're not going to invest in this, right? I'm glad we didn't, because the man spent years in jail for running a massive Ponzi scheme. Now, was he patient? Yes. Was he kind? Yes. But he certainly wasn't walking in love. A child molester can be patient and kind with a child while he's destroying that child's life. Does that mean he loves the child? No. This is the love of God that we keep as commandments. There's a whole lot more to love than being patient and kind. There's a whole lot more to the fear of the Lord than reverence and reverential worship. I mean, to be honest with you, Moses is the one that is so close to God. And when God comes down, the Bible says in Hebrews, the new Testament, he was trembling and quaking. He was terrified. Isaiah was very close to the Lord. Isaiah was a preacher of righteousness. He said, woe to those that are proud. Woe to those who call good and evil and evil. Woe to the drunkards in Isaiah five. But Isaiah six, he has one glimpse of God in his glory. It's no longer woe to the center. It's woe is me. He's literally dooming himself because he realizes who this God really is and who he is before this God. See, we've got to remember God did not reveal himself in the Bible originally as love. He revealed his holiness and in his blazing, glorious holiness. And in the center of that holiness is his love. That's the thing we've got to remember. When we, when we fear God, we firmly embrace his heart. We love what he loves and we hate what he hates. Someone says God hates. Yep. You can do a word study on it. There's a lot of things he hates. He hates gossip. He hates a deceitful tongue. He hates haughty eyes. Are you still with me? So now, now let me, let me, let's go over there. Let's, let's, let's expose, let's protect you from that religious legalistic spirit. Okay. You ever hear somebody go, I fear God. That's why I hate those sinners over there. You don't fear God at all because you hate what he loves. He loves those people over there so much that he died in their place. Now what he hates is the sin that undoes them. When you fear God, you don't dislike sin. You hate it. So I asked the Lord one time. I was actually, when I was you pastor here, um, I said, God, why isn't there a stronger anointing on my life? And I was frustrated. I said, Lord, I get up at five o'clock every, well, I got up at four 45 every single morning. I would drink an entire glass of warm lemon water. I would go outside and I would pray for two hours. I would read my Bible. I would study. I would listen to, I would listen. I'm sorry. Tapes. Okay. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. I don't know how else to say it, but anyway, I, I'm listening to every preacher's tapes. I've got the, what Benny Hinn used to call the walk a man. And, um, I mean, seriously. Okay. I mean, we were really, really, anyway. Um, and, and, um, I, I don't know if I was in here. I don't know where I was out there, but I think I was actually around here and I just, I was frustrated. I said, God, why isn't there a stronger anointing on my life? How come when I preach, my words just go bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. How I just basically screamed out. Why isn't there a stronger anointing on my life? And you know what the Holy spirit said to me? I mean, immediately he speaks to me. He said, because you tolerate sin, what he said, because you tolerate sin. And then I heard the spirit of God say, read Hebrews one. So I go get my Bible. I opened up. We didn't have, you know, iPads back then. I opened it up and I started reading Hebrews one. And this is where God, the father inaugurates Jesus as king of the universe. And look what God, the father says to Jesus on the day he inaugurated great inaugurates him because you have loved righteousness. He said, stop right there. Every Christian America loves righteousness, but I didn't stop there because you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. What is lawlessness? Not being submitted to the authority of God. It's sin. Sin is lawlessness. That's the definition of sin. Sin. If you ask somebody, what is sin? They really many times can't even answer you. It's adultery. No adultery is sin. It's murder. No murder is sin. What is sin? John tells us for Sean for three sin is lawlessness. Lawlessness means you're not to the word of God. Adam didn't jump in bed with a prostitute in the garden. He simply obeyed what God told, disobeyed what God told him to do because you have loved righteousness and hated, not disliked lawlessness. Therefore, God, even thy God is anointed you more than your companions. The holy spirit said, learn to hate sin the way I hate sin. You'll see the anointing of God increase on your life. See, the Bible says by the fear of the, let me see in Proverbs, go Proverbs. It says, all who fear the Lord, look at this. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. So you don't hate people. They hate the evil that undoes people. There's a huge difference. That is why I hate notice the word, not dislike hate pride. I hate it. Stop and think about it. Hate, hate, hate, hate. What do you hate? Do you hate hospitals? Do you hate knitting? What is it you hate? Think of something. You absolutely load. You hate it. See, that's the word that's being used here. I hate pride. I hate arrogance. I hate corruption. I hate perverted speech. That's deceptive talk. That's the fear of the Lord. See, God has given us two great forces to keep us on the narrow road. Did you ever notice Jesus said, narrow is the gate. And he talks about a broad gate and a narrow gate. And then he talks about a broad way and an airway. And people always think the broad way is all the cults of the world. No, no, no, no, no. Jesus talks about the gate first, then the way he's talking about the life of Christianity. He said, it's narrow. Now, on every road is two ditches. Right? The path of life has a ditch on both sides of it. First ditch is called legalism. Church was in a legalistic ditch in the 60s and 70s. That's what the Jesus revolution blew us out of. We found out our daddy loved us. We found out God is a good God. Oral Roberts had a major revelation spread throughout the world. God is a good God. You know what the love of God did? It delivered us from the ditch of legalism. But you know what we did? We said, I want so far from legalism. We went to the other side of the ditch and fell or other side of the road and fell into the other ditch. And that ditch is called lawlessness. And God's given us a force that keeps us out of that ditch. It's called the fear of the Lord. I was, uh, I was in Malaysia. I think the year was 1999. And it was the largest Bible school in the nation. And they had opened the nation up for people to come from all over. And I remember there were people there from just basically all over Asia, not just Malaysia. Malaysia state law is Islam. It's the, it's, it's the only Muslim state. Now, Indonesia is more, has more Muslim people in it. But Islam is state law in, in Malaysia. And it's the only Muslim state in all of Asia. I think, and I'm there and we did 10 meetings and by the 10th meeting, the building was packed. However, they were nine of the toughest meetings. I think I can ever remember in my 35 years of traveling. I literally fought devils at breakfast in my sleep. It was so dark, so heavy, so tough. And I remember we came to that 10th meeting and the building was like this. It was very wide, more than it was deep. And so the platform was like really wide. It was even wider than this one, lot wider than this one. And I remember the 10th meeting I preached on the fear of the Lord. And I remember saying all the women that are called to preach the gospel, but you've never publicly acknowledged it. I want you to come down front. Well, whoa, did people come forward. We had, and remember this, this thing's much wider than this platform. We had four to five deep of women all the way across the front. Okay. And I remember there were stairs like this. And I remember started walking, I started walking down the stairs and all of a sudden the presence of God fills the building. And it was, it was daddy, like wonderful. And all of a sudden, you know, I kind of stopped halfway down the stairs. All of a sudden I started the wind. I started seeing the women's smile and within probably 60 seconds, they were laughing hysterically. And within another 60 seconds, every one of them was on the floor and nobody caught them. And I remember seeing three women on top of each other because they just, that, I mean, it was, and, and, and, and I remember watching these women howling, laughing. Now Asian women are really quiet and I was enjoying it so much. I just sat down like this and I just sat there and just watched. And I remember seeing this one woman now got to remember I'm raised Catholic. I'm not raised Pentecostal. Okay. I saw this woman had her hand on her belly going back and forth, laughing hysterically. And I thought to myself, I wonder if that's where holy rollers came from. Seriously. I thought that. So I'm watching this. I I'm just like, I realized I'm out of it. I'm out of the picture and it's just wonderful. And it lasts about five minutes. And all of a sudden the Holy spirit speak speaks to me. And he said, son, I'm coming in in a different way. Well, within just seconds of him saying that all the women kind of quieted down and this presence comes in the building. Now I had recognized that presence from two years earlier when I was in Brazil, I was in Brazil. And I remember it was a national meeting and I was the Friday night guest speaker. There were thousands in the arena and they were all talking and walking around to the concession stands, had their hands looking around during the worship worship was over. The leader got up and started reading from scripture. And now I can hear a low mutter of people talking while the scriptures being read. And I remember I'm getting really angry at this point. And this is my first meeting ever in Brazil and it's a national conference. And I remember the Holy spirit said, you got to deal with this. So I walked up to the podium and I said, I have two questions for you. First words I ever spoke in public in Brazil wasn't thank you for having me. Wasn't it's great to be here. I'm so honored that you would have me. I just said, here's what I did. I walked up to the podium and I just stared at him like this. Now they're still talking, walking around, but when the Friday night guest speaker gets introduced and he's just glaring at you for about 60 seconds, that gets people's attention. And after 60 seconds, I realized all the rot talking stopped and every eye was on me. They were like, what are you doing? And I remember I said, I have two questions. Question number one, you're talking to somebody sitting across the table. The whole time you're talking to them, they got their arms crossed, looking around, they got their hands in their pocket, looking down, or they're whispering to somebody sitting beside you. Are you going to continue to talk to them? They didn't say anything. I said, no. I said, what if every time you go to your neighbor's house, you knock on the door. When he opens the door and sees you, he goes, oh, it's you again. And he turns around, walks away, leaving the door open. I said, you going in? No. I said, I've been in this arena for an hour and a half and haven't sensed a drop of the presence of God. I said, because God will never come into a place where he is not held with the utmost of respect. I said, Psalm 89, verse seven says, God is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him. Oh, gosh, you guys are good. And I remember, I remember for the next 75 minutes, I preached to them. I said, do you know what I said? I said, if the president of Brazil walked on this platform tonight, you would have given him 10 times the respect you gave the Holy Spirit. I said, if Pele, one of your greatest soccer players would have walked on this platform, you would have been on the edge of your seats anticipating every word. I said, you have given no respect to the spirit of God. And I preached them on the fear of the Lord for 75 minutes. At the end of 75 minutes, I said, all you that lack the fear of God, you say you're saved, but you lack the fear of God. You're willing to repent, stand up. 75% of the place stands up, right? Presence of God comes in for the first time, right? Wonderful. People crying. It's wonderful, right? Lifts. I pray with them. Another wave of this presence comes in more people crying lifts. Then the Holy Spirit said, I'm coming one more time. And I'll never forget this as long as I lived. There's no way I can ever do it justice, but it's like you're down there at Orlando airport and you're about a couple of hundred yards away and a Boeing jet takes off. That kind of a violent wind came blowing in that arena. When it did, the people started screaming yet. The wind was louder than the people. It lasted 90 seconds. It left in this way. People collapsed all over the chairs. The next morning, you cannot believe how much people received. And it was confirmed for 22 years. People sent emails, talked about it. I went and talked to 12,000 pastors in Goiania, Brazil in 2016. The guy that meets me, the pastor said I was in the meeting in Brasilia in 2007. My life has never been the same sense. My wife goes to Brasilia, the capital country, capital of the country. She said, we, the leader of the whole conferences. I was in the building when the wind blew 22 years ago. My life has never been the same. We got emails. We got letters. So that presence comes in to Malaysia. I sensed it again because I've sensed it about five times in my life. Okay. And I remember, remember just, just minutes ago, the women are laughing hysterically, right? And then the Lord said, I'm coming one more, one, one more time. And I remember they got quiet. And that presence that I remembered from Brazil came into the Malaysia, uh, uh, auditorium. And I remember when it did, I got up and it started getting stronger and stronger. And all of a sudden, these women who are laughing hysterically without anybody saying anything to them started screaming like they were on fire. Okay. I hope this isn't irreverent to you. I am not trying to, to, to be honest with you. I don't look for manifestations. People that look for manifestations are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy. Jesus said, you seek me for the signs just because your stomach got filled. You're not seeking me because of who I am. I'm telling you people there seek manifestations. It's ridiculous. I mean, man, I never satisfied anybody manifestations don't satisfy you. We're looking for a person, not a manifestation. I watch people twitch and do this and do that. And I'm like, yeah, three years ago, God might've done that when you met his presence. Now you're trying to get his presence back by doing your twitching, but he's nowhere in the building. So frustrating. I've had the presence of God come into arenas and people start laughing and they start twitching. And all of a sudden the spirit of God leaves faster than he came. And I get so angry. I'm like, what are you doing? We are looking for a person, not a station. Sorry. That's my soapbox. Okay. So anyway, these women start screaming. Now I've listened. I have seen demon possessed people. I've been in Indonesia. I watched a woman come up like a snake through all the people's legs. I mean, I I've, I've, I've seen a woman's face turned into a skull in Indonesia. That's another story. Anyway, this wasn't demonic. This was holy. Okay. This was holy. And I remember, I'll never forget this. His presence, there was an authority that came in there that was frightening. Okay. And I'm walking back and forth on this long, long path forward going, Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. And it's getting stronger and stronger. And the thought goes through my mind, you know, it goes through my mind, this thought. And the same thing happened in Brazil. Same thought, John Bevere, you say one wrong word, you make one wrong move. You're dead. What did have happened? I don't know, but it happened with a man and wife. When they brought an offering in their church service and acts chapter five, they fell over dead just because of motive. There's nothing wrong with giving an offering, but the motive was they wanted to be the big givers of the church and be seen as that. They were more interested in appearance. They had no fear of God. And you know what the Bible says in X five, go read X five 11. So great fear came upon the whole church, not the city, the church. When a husband and wife fell over dead, that kind of presence was in there. The king had come into that audit arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And I'm going, oh my God. And I remember that's when I found out there's a difference between my heart and my head. Remember how the Bible says that the word of God will discern between soul and spirit. I remember sitting there, my head is going, I can't handle this. God, you know, you, this can't get any stronger. I can't handle any more of this. And my spirit was going, Lord, please don't live. Please don't live. Please don't, please don't live. I'm literally having an argument between my heart and my head. And I remember I'm walking back and forth and out of my mouth comes this. Okay. Now what I was about to say, I had never thought of in my entire life. I had never heard anyone preach it in my entire life, but out of my mouth comes these words. This is the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And all of a sudden my mind kicked in. I went, oh my gosh, that's it. That's one of the sudden manifestations of the Holy spirit. Remember what Isaiah said, that there would be a root of Jesse, Jesus, right? And the spirit of the Lord would be upon him guys. It's Isaiah 11 three. If you want to help me on that, thanks. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Now look at this. Keep reading his delight. His delight was in the fear of the Lord. You know, it is one thing. It is one thing to pray. It is a whole nother thing to be heard. Do you know what the Bible says? Jesus was heard because of his godly fear who in the days of his flesh, right? I've been in atmospheres where people are worshipping, worshipping, worshipping, and there's just very little of the presence of God. I'll tell you why. There's no fear of God in the people. They want a manifestation though. They want to be blessed. They want the presence of God, but they don't want to fear God. Still with me. I'm probably upsetting some of your theology right now. Go read the Bible. You'll find out it's there. So I'm walking back and forth and I said, oh my gosh, that's one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, right? So this lasts about probably three minutes and it subsides and I'm standing there and I'm just waiting. God, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? And finally after 10 minutes, I realize it's like I'm through with you. So I turn it over to the leader, right? Okay, so I turn over to the leader. He comes up. He's a very wise man. He didn't end it with a song. He said, guys, there's nothing I can do right now. You just stay here as long as you want. This service is over. Whenever you feel like God releases you, just walk out, but please don't talk until you get out in the foyer of the auditorium. I stayed for a while and then I felt to leave. So I leave and I walk out and there's this couple from India and they're in the Bible school and she was one of the ones that just got hammered, okay, just hammered. And she's looking at me and I'm looking at her and I'm looking at her husband because he's in there. Everybody, and we're just looking at each other and like, what do you say? So we're just looking at each other like, but then she spoke up and she said, Pastor Bevere, I feel so clean inside. I went, that's it. That's it. That's it. I'm serious. I didn't yell it out like that because it was too reverent of an atmosphere, but in my mind, I'm screaming, that's it. That's what I felt in Brazil. When the wind blew, when it was over, I felt so clean. I stayed at my balcony worshiping until one 30 in the morning of the hotel. That's, that's what I felt in North Carolina. That's what I felt in California. That's what, cause there's, there's five, about five times I've experienced it. And I thought that's it. She's finally identified. So the next morning I'm getting ready to go play basketball with the Bible school students in Malaysia and I'm putting my gym shorts on and the Holy spirit speaks to me. I'm in the hotel room still. And the Holy spirit says, son, read Psalm 19. Now I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to read in Psalm 19. Okay. So I just turn over there and I start reading and I get to the ninth verse and look what I find in the ninth verse, the fear of the Lord is clean. But then look at the next words enduring forever. Now, listen, it's the spirit of God speaks to me in that hotel room. He said, son, Lucifer led worship right before my throne. He was anointed. He beheld my glory and my full glory on unveil glory. He didn't fear me. He didn't endure forever. He said, son, a third of the angels were around my throne. They beheld my glory. They didn't fear me. They didn't endure in heaven forever. They were fallen angels. He said, son, Adam and Eve walked in the presence of my glory. They didn't fear me. They didn't endure forever. He said, every creative being who surrounds my throne throughout eternity will have been tested in the Holy fear of God. I started thinking afterwards, many pastors start the ministry passionate, wanting to serve God, wanting to bless people. They don't fear God. They didn't endure in the pastorate forever. Many people came to church. They got touched emotionally. So blessed. Lives got changed. They didn't fear God. 40 million of them didn't endure forever. What is the manifestation of someone who fears God? And let me end with this. Do you understand what I mean by what is the manifestation? What's the outward evidence of somebody truly walks in the fear of God, right? Like, let me put it to you this way. If I take a knife and I go put it in an outlet and you're not doing my funeral three days later, that is evidence that there's no power in the outlet. But if you are doing my funeral, that's the manifestation or evidence that there is power in that outlet. Simple. What's the outward evidence of somebody who truly fears God? Number one, they'll obey God instantly. You ever hear somebody say, well, you know, the Lord's been dealing with me about this now for several months. You are laughing and you're actually joking about your lack of Holy fear. I read it. I read in Psalms. It's in the new living translation. Psalm 119. There is actually a verse that says, I will hurry and obey you. It's in the new all of God book. Number two, you'll obey him even if it doesn't make sense. Has God ever told you to do something that didn't make sense? Oh yeah. Does it make sense to tell 257 skilled sailors to not get off a sinking ship when there's lifeboats right there available to them? Yet they listened and they were all saved. Did it make any sense to spit and make mud and put it does it make sense to forgive the person who is deeply wounded your child? Does it make sense not to get even when somebody has used their authority to abuse your child? Let's keep going. I'd preach all night. If I keep up on this one, it means you obey him. Even if it hurts as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves for the same. Most Christians aren't armed to suffer when they go through pain, they react instead of act. They go into a state of shock, bewilderment and amazement instead of acting means you'll obey him. Even if you don't see a benefit, do you realize how many Christians we have to show the benefit before they all obey God? Believe me, I have found over 40 absolutely crazy. Amazing. I shared something with you when your eyes were closed promises in scripture to those who fear God. I'm telling you, there's over 40. I've studied this for years and years and years. There are 40 absolutely that you will fear. No. Do you know that the fear of Lord swallows up all other fears? Show me a person who is not fear anything that's coming on the earth. Fear any bad news. I will show you a person who probably fears God or is crazy because the fear of the Lord swallows all lesser fears. Okay. But the problem we have today is you don't find people lining up for an obedience conference. They don't travel hours to come to a holiness conference. They just don't. You're an exception. You're kind of different here. Okay. You probably would. Okay. It means you'll obey him to completion. Do you know Saul? King Saul did 99.99% of what he was told to do. But yet God said through the prophet Samuel, you've rebelled against God. He killed 999,999 Amalekites. He saved one of them live. Why? It's all personal benefit. See, fear of Lord deals with motives. It goes right down to your motives. And a nice Sapphire, probably the leaders in the church, you know, they were putting on Instagram, you know, man, hey, loving doing life with my babe, my wife's the fire. They're arguing at home, throwing things at each other. Kids are a mess, but we're on a family vacation. Isn't it wonderful? They come to church and they're all smiles and hugs. Oh, it's all seems harmless until the day. The man from Cyprus brings a massive art offering. The man named Barnabas in acts four, and they've been outdone. They were probably the big givers at the church at time. They go and sell the biggest plot of land they own. They say it's way too much to get, but we want to appear. See, it's all about appearance. You have your projected image. You have your perceived image and you have your actual image. The fear of the Lord keeps you in touch with your actual image, but they're projecting. We're giving it all. And they fall over dead. Why don't people fall over dead now? Wait, Huffman. Listen, excuse me. Uzziah steadies the arc and is killed. Nadab and Abihu Aaron's sons come in with irreverent fire and they're dead, but Eli's got some sons. Huffman and Phineas, they're committing adultery that line up. They're committing adultery. The women that come to this tabernacle, 90 feet from the presence of where Nadab and Abihu were slain because they were irreverent in the presence of God and nothing's happening to them. Why? Some men's sins are evident preceding them to judgment. Others, men's sins will appear later. The greater the glory, the greater and swifter the judgment. The building is shaking in the book of Acts. They're lining people up on the streets and Peter just walks by in his shadow, raises up everybody here. I mean, it's like walking through a hospital and emptying it, but they choose to focus on their projected image. We want to appear as if we're giving it all. Nothing wrong with the offering. It was actually godly. Dead. How many people have done that in the 20th century church and the beginning of the 21st century? It won't happen very much longer. You still with me? Now, here's one of my favorite verses in the Bible. You ready for it? Psalm 2514. Look at this. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show them his covenant. Secret. The word secret actually is secrets. The secrets of the Lord are with those who fear him. Okay. How many of you have secrets? Let me see a show of hands. Put them up really high. What do I do with the rest of you? Pray for you for lying now or afterwards. How many of you have secrets? Can I please see? How many of you know that not all secrets are bad? There are good. There are secrets. My Lisa knows that you will never know about me. Okay. There are not, then they're not bad secrets. Okay. So now how many of you have secrets? Okay, good. Now you can relate to what I'm saying. Okay. Who do you, who do you share your secrets with? Acquaintances? Intimate close friends. God's no different. God says, I share my secrets with my intimate close friends and my intimate close friends are those who fear me. Now I'm going to show you, I'm not taking this out of context because look what the new living translation says. Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear him. You know what he's saying there? God's not everybody's friend. Let me go a little further. God's not everybody's friend in the church. It's true. It's true. There are two men that were called the friends of God in the old Testament. Who were they? Abraham and Moses. Were there other friends of God in the old Testament? You better believe it. Daniel's a friend of God. Deborah's a friend of God. Esther's a friend of God. I could go on and on. Joseph's a friend of God, right? But these two men's lives exemplify what it takes to have a relationship of friendship with the Lord. Who's the first guy? Abe. Abraham, right? Why is Abraham called the friend of God? Because when Abraham's old, God comes to him one night and says, Abe. Yes, Lord. Yes. Abe, you know your son that you love so much that you waited 25 years for, who is more important to you than anything? Yeah. I want you to go kill him. Take a three-day journey and kill him for me. Okay. Now God doesn't say, if you do this, I will send my son. And you don't have Genesis to read. God just said, go and kill your son. Offer him as a sacrifice. Can you imagine? I imagine he got no sleep that night, but you know what my Bible says early the next morning, early he's on his way. Now God gives him a three-day journey. Think it over. It's a little easier when you heard the booming voice of God the night before, but what about two and a half days later, when you're looking at the mountain, you're going to put the most important person or thing to death in your life, just because God said, do it. And didn't give you a reason. Abraham tells his servants, stay here. Isaac and I are going up. They go up, build the altar. Can you imagine the emotions? He now comes the moment he ties Isaac on the altar. He lifts the knife. I mean, he is ready to put to death the most important person or thing in his life, just because God asked him to do it and didn't give him a reason. Right when he's ready to thrust the knife through Isaac, an angel of the Lord appears. And you know what the angel says, Abraham, stop. Don't touch him because now I know that you fear God. How does the angel know that Abraham feared God? Because he obeyed instantly. Because he obeyed when it didn't make sense, because he obeyed when it hurt, because he obeyed when he didn't see a benefit and because he obeyed to completion. Abraham puts the knife down, unties Isaac, lifts up his eyes. There's a ram caught in the thicket and out of his spirit comes this Jehovah Jireh. Now we sing songs about it. We talk about it, but nobody had ever known that facet of God's personality. He was the first person that God ever revealed that aspect of his personality to. Do you get what I'm saying? I know you do. Let me help the rest of you there. All of you know me as John Bevere speaker, minister. Some of you know me as John Bevere author, but there is a lady and whoa, she is a lady. We've been married 40 years. Okay. She knows me as John Bevere G daddy. She knows me as John Bevere dad. She knows me as John Bevere husband. She knows me as John Bevere best friend. She knows me as John Bevere athlete. She knows me as John Bevere lover. Can I say this? None of you will ever know me as John Bevere lover ever. That is a facet of my personality is reserved for one human being on this planet. And she is the closest person to me on this planet. God just revealed a facet of his personality to Abraham. Nobody had ever known before because he's my friend. Now look at the relationship dynamic between God and Abraham. It is amazing. One day God says, should we do to Sodom and Gomorrah? We're planning on doing without first talking to our friend, Abraham. So God comes down at the terrible trees, has a meal with Abraham with two angels. And then two angels go down to Sodom and God and Abraham go to the cliff. And the Lord says, Abe, yes. I'm thinking about blowing up those two cities. What do you think? Abe goes, Sodom. And Laura goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Gomorrah, what do you think? Abe goes, thank, thank, thank, thank my nephews down there. My nephew's down there. Oh my gosh, my, my nieces are down there. Oh my gosh. Thank my nephews are done. Okay. Lord, you, you, you, you would like blow up those two cities. If there was 50 righteous people, the Lord goes, excellent idea. Excellent idea. Huh? Glad we talked to our friend, Abraham. We will not blow up these cities. If there's 50 righteous people. All right. Abraham goes with there's isn't 50. Okay. Lord. What? Wait a minute. Whoa. What about 45? Would you blow up? There's 45 and Lord goes, another good idea. Okay. We will not blow up the cities if there's 45. So Abraham talks them all the way down to 10. He figures there's gotta be 10 lots. One, all I needs nine others, but there isn't. Now this is what's really, really, really, really, really scary. The Bible says Sodom and Gomorrah is buying, selling, marrying, giving in marriage, trading where some of the other planting and harvesting. Okay. Let me put that in today's vernacular. Life is great. The economy's booming. And if there is a God, he doesn't mind our lifestyle. They're 24 hours away from being obliterated and they're clueless. Okay. That's not scary. This is what's scary. Lot. Everybody say lot. The Bible calls righteous. Let me put it today's terminology saved born again. He's 24 hours away from being obliterated. He's as clueless as Sodom. It takes two messengers of mercy, two angels because Abraham prayed, go read your Bible. Thank God. Abraham prayed because a lot would have been there. They came in and got them out. Now, boy, there's a lot there I could talk about. Here's two righteous men. Let me put it in today's vernacular to saved born again. Men. One righteous man knows what God's going to do before he does it and helps God decide how he's going to do it. The other righteous man is as clueless as the world. Why? Because this righteous man fears God. Therefore, he's the friend of God. Therefore, God shares his secrets with him. This righteous saved born again man does not fear God. Therefore, he's not the friend of God. Therefore, he does not know the secrets of God. Only difference is not how many hours they worshiped. Look, guys, I'm gonna be really honest with you. Israel was worshiping God and said, you worship to me like offering pig's blood. And they were like, what? He said, because when I spoke, you didn't hear me. You didn't obey. What brings the presence, the authoritative presence of God, the authority of God, the authority of the kingdom into a room is the holy fear of God. If you look at Moses, Israel knew God's acts. Moses knew his ways. What does that mean? Israel knew God by his acts. Israel knew God by how he answered their prayers. How many people know God by how he's answered my prayers? Israel knew God by his manifestations. I mean, come on, man. They saw pillar of fire, pillar of cloud. They saw the Red Sea split. They saw frogs all over people's beds. Moses knew his ways. Moses knew what God was going to do before he did it. And even twice, he changed God's mind. The Bible said the Lord relented from what he was going to do because of what Moses, his friend, said to him. If you want to see this in the New Testament, then I'll close and I'll pray. Jesus makes a statement. He said to his 11, Judas is already gone. John 15, 15, he said, no longer do I call you servants. Hey, look up at me. Look up at me. Look up at me. No longer do I call you servants. You know what that means? At one time, these guys were looked at and merely regarded as servants. That's not a revelation. That's an English lesson. Now, why does God do that? Why does God keep us at the level of a servant, even though we're heirs? See, remember Galatians 4, 1, as long as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from the servant. Why does God do that? To protect us because he loves us so much. God doesn't want what happened to Ananias and Sapphira to happen to you and I. I'm going to give you a really, really stupid example, but it works. When Lisa and I, we worked here, we came out of this ministry and the other ministry that had 450 employees. We had worked for seven years. We said, we're going to do leadership a little different. One of my, and some of my leadership difference was stupid. So, one of my deals was I'm going to be every one of our employees' best buddy. So, the first guy we hired, 1992, I think it was, or 91 actually, I made him my best buddy. I mean, man, we played basketball. We watched videos. He hung out at our house. Man, it was wonderful for the first year. But after about a year of this, one day I sat him down. I said, hey, when people go to our resource table, you need to have a smile on your face. You got to look on your face like bug off. And I said, these are God's sheep and you need to be warm and inviting. Oh my gosh, when I said that, he pointed his finger at me and started railing at me. He said, you're this and you're this and you're this. And I went, oh my gosh. And I remember real quick, I said, Lord, what do I do? And the Holy Spirit said, fire him. So, I let him vent. I let him vent. And I said, hey, you can't work for us anymore. I'm sorry, I got to let you go. And he's mad. He storms out of my house because I didn't have an office then. We worked in our house. He storms out of my house and I'm crying. I'm crying. And the Holy Spirit said he'll be back and he'll be twice as faithful. Three months later, I've not heard from this guy in three months. Three months later, he calls me. He says, John, God has never spoken to me like he has in the last three months. He said, I took you for granted. I lost sight of the place God had placed you in my life. I lost sight of the place God had placed Miss Lisa in my life. I lost sight of the place God had placed me in your lives. I treated you as common. I treated you as ordinary. I am so sorry. I went, wow. I said, I forgive you. We talked a little while and I said, would you come back and work for us? He said, yeah. And he came back and I never had problems in that area again. Now I have a different mindset. We have 40 team members here in the United States and we have about a thousand globally. And my policy now is I won't share the intimate secrets of my heart with any of our employees until I know they're firmly established in who I am and firmly established in who they are. I don't do that because I'm trying to protect me. I do that because I'm trying to protect them. I almost destroyed that young man's life. I don't want to do it to anybody else. Once I know they're very established in who I am, I bring them in and some of my employees are my closest friends. You got it? Now, this is what God says to us. Until you're really established in who I am, the fear of the Lord and who you are before me, I got to keep you at the level of a servant because I don't want what happened to Anna and I since the fire to happen to you. But when you get established in who I am, the fear of the Lord, I can bring you in as my close friend. Because look what Jesus says. This is amazing. No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing. The master's way, secret wisdom. But I have called you now my friends. Then he gives the universal statement to the church and the universal statement. I don't have it on the PowerPoint. I'm so sorry. He's John 15, 14. I just noticed that. John 15, 14. Jesus said, You are my friends if. Go look it up in your Bible, if you didn't say you are my friends, period. He said, You are my friends. If we write songs about it, we preach sermons about it, we write books about Jesus being my friend. But there's a condition. If I say to you, I'll pay you $2,000 if you work for me next week and you don't work for me next week, I don't give you the $2,000. You come to me and say, Where's the 2,000? I said, I said, I would pay you if you work for me. You didn't work for me. You didn't fulfill the condition. Jesus said, You are my friends. If, if you know what the F is, you do whatever I command you. That's the fear of the Lord and trembling at his word. You want to be a friend of God. He wants to be a friend to you, but he's going to protect you first because he loves you so deeply. You're the one that chooses. That's why the Bible says you draw near to God. And then he will draw near to you. You do the first draw. And that's walking in the holy fear of God, the holy awe of God. I want every head bowed. I want every eye closed. Father, in the name of Jesus, I preach what you've commanded me to preach. And I thank you so much for your faith on this Holy Spirit. Now, Lord, I'm asking draw men and women to the heart of Jesus with your heads bowed, your eyes closed. I want you to be honest with yourself. If you can't be honest with yourself, you're in a very dangerous place. Paul made the statement to the Corinthians constantly. Don't fool yourself. So just be honest. Say, John, I, I really do. I do believe in Jesus and I am a I am a born again believer, but I lack the fear of God. I want you to identify. Secondly, and this one I'm going to ask for first. You may be in here and you may like what you sense in this atmosphere because God is in this atmosphere. You may like the community of beautiful people in this place, the young people that are in this place. And you may have prayed a sinner's prayer. But my question I have for you tonight is, is he. Jesus, your Lord, the Bible says that if you confess the Lord Jesus, not the Savior Jesus. The word Lord appears over 7000 times in the Bible, the word Savior appears 36 times. The apostle Paul made a statement. I want you to listen to these words. He said a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, the two shall become one. This is actually an illustration. Of the way the church and Jesus are one, Jesus is called the groom, we are called the bride. There is something that a bride does on the day she marries a groom. She walks down that aisle with that white dress on and you know what she's saying goodbye to about three point nine billion guys. She's saying this is the one and only man I'm giving the rest of my life to. The question I have for you, you may have prayed a sinner's prayer, you may attend church. But have you given your entire heart and life to him? If you can't say yes to that, then I want to give you an opportunity tonight. I don't care how many times you've been in church. I don't care if you've been around ministry all your life. My question to you is, do you do what that bride does? Do you say goodbye to everything that offends him in your heart and say, I will not touch you again? I will not flirt with you again. I will not give you my phone number again because I am giving myself to my groom. If you haven't done that, you're not saved. I don't care what anybody tells you. The Bible makes it very clear. The only way you can follow me is do what a bride does, denies herself, takes up her cross and follows her husband. If you're in here and you'd say, John, that's me. I got news for you. If you could see him right now, he's not angry. He's not disgusted. He's got a hopeful look on his face. He's got his arms outstretched. If you'll remember the prodigal son's father came running with gifts before the son ever said anything. He is hoping you'll respond. He's already died for you. So if you're in here tonight, you'd say, John, truth be told, I have not done what that bride does and I want to do it right now. I got news for you. He's waiting for you right now. I want you to stand to your feet. That's you stand up right now. Yes, sir. So proud of you. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Stand up quickly. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Yes. Up in the balcony. Yes, ma'am. Stand up quickly. I don't want I don't I don't want you to wait and look around. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm so proud of you. Young men. Yes. Yes, ma'am. I'm so proud of you. Anyone else? I want to make sure nobody's missed. Yes, sir. I'm so proud of you. Anyone else? Don't fool yourself. You can fool the person sitting next to you, but please don't fool yourself. Not everybody's supposed to be standing, but there's about 50 people standing right now. I just want to make sure there's nobody else. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. Anyone else? Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. All right. I want you to do one more thing. This is what you're going to do. I want you to bury whatever it is that God has dealt with you about. Obviously, there's some lovers in your life that the Holy Spirit dealt with you about. Whatever it is, I want you to bury it right there at your seat. And I want you to come to the front. And I want to pray for you. And I want everyone else to keep your heads bowed and eyes closed. So you all that are standing, come down. If you're up in the balcony, go ahead. I'll wait for you. Come on down, because you're going to get radically touched. You can stand if you want. You can kneel. It's fine either way. Keep coming. Keep coming. You know what? I'm going to ask you to stand. I'm going to ask you to stand up and gather close to the front. Keep coming. Keep coming. There's more. There's more. There's more. Keep coming. Come on down here. Come on behind these guys. I want to see all of you. I want to look at you. There's more coming. Come on down, guys. Oh, they got stairs on the side. That's right. I forgot all about that. Come on down. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Okay. The rest of you out there, with your heads bowed, your eyes closed, you say, John, I truly am a believer, but I want the fear of the Lord. I lack it in my life. If that's you, stand up right now. Wow. Okay. Ninety percent. I'm so proud of this church. I want all of you to look at me. Everybody that's come down here in the front. Can I minister to these guys first? Look at me. Why do you have such sad looks on your face? This is like the most amazing thing you have ever done. Okay. This is like really, really cool. You got it. I've never seen a bride come down an aisle with expression on her face like some of you have right now. Okay. She is like majorly excited because he is majorly excited. You have to realize if you could see him right now, he would have the biggest. He has the biggest smile on his face because he's been waiting on you. Do you understand that? I want you to bow your heads. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to show you the rest of you. Stay standing. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to show you. Lift up your hands. Now, Holy Spirit, I'm asking you, master, open, open their eyes and give them a glimpse. Lift your hands up. We're looking for a person, not a feeling. We're looking for a person. Now, look, open the eyes of your heart. That's why I had you close your physical eyes. You see those eyes? Wow. So powerful, but yet so full of love. He's here. Do you see the expression on his face? One of delight. Do you see the smile? I see the smile. Do you see it? There's his presence right there. There's his presence right there, right there. Now, those of you that are standing, put your hands up and say this out loud. Father in heaven, forgive me for taking lightly what you call holy. I'm so sorry. On this day, the 8th of January, I give my life to your lordship. Jesus, I give you my spirit, soul and body. Everything I am, everything I have. I am completely yours. I repent of living for myself. I am now yours. I'm asking you to baptize me in your holy spirit and your holy spirit of fear. I cry out to you to walk in the fear of God, to live in the holy fear of God so that I can know the depths of your love so I can know the depths of your person so I can be one who you call friend. Now, lift your hands, everyone. Jesus, thank you. He's here. I'm asking you to cleanse. Cleanse our souls. Wash them. Cleanse our conscience with your blood. Renew a steadfast spirit within us. Thank you for creating in us a clean heart, oh God. Purify our motives, our intentions. Let there be no dark secrets. Let there be no hidden motives. May I learn to love what you love. May I love what you love and may I hate what you hate. What is important to you, may it become important to me. What is not so important to you, may it not be so important to me. Fill me with your holy fear in Jesus name. Now, I want you to thank him for it. Come on, thank him. That's a patty cake right now. Thank him. I want you to be honest with me. I want you to be honest. Don't lie. How many of you could sense almost a different presence than you have sensed before? Put up your hands high, really high. All right, that presence cleans you. It cleans you. Do you understand? We live in a filthy world. When I get up in the morning, it used to be that I would go out and I'd pray and I'd immediately start praying. Now what I do is I stop and I ponder how awesome my dad really is. And his presence manifests so much quicker. Did you get something out of tonight? That's all that matters to me, is that you're changed. How many of you can say, I'm changed? I'm serious. You say, I know I'm changed. Praise God. Pastor Michael, would you come up and pastor this?