30-04-26 - ‘ Awake, O Sleeper: The Fear of Yahweh’

In this message from the Midweek Church Service, Reverend Tim Gutmann speaks about the fear of the Lord in a world marked by darkness, anxiety, antisemitism, godlessness, and spiritual confusion. Rather than despairing, he reminds believers that God is sovereign, Jesus is King, and the light will always overcome the darkness.

Drawing from Job, Esther, Ephesians, Acts, and Numbers, the sermon calls the Church to wake up, live with spiritual seriousness, and recover a passion for holiness. Reverend Tim explains that the fear of the Lord is not terror of God, but awe-filled reverence: acknowledging that God is mighty, holy, Creator, Lord of Hosts, and King over all.

The message also warns against religious hardness and judgementalism, urging believers instead to keep soft hearts before God. True holiness is not condemning others, but examining ourselves, remaining faithful, serving others, sharing the Gospel, and keeping nothing between us and the Lord.

The sermon closes with the Aaronic blessing from Numbers 6, highlighting the tender love of God whose face shines upon His people. It ends with a call to trust Jesus, return to Him, and receive the blessing, peace, and revelation of the Father’s love.

Listeners can watch the full Midweek Church Service live every Thursday at 7pm on Revelation TV.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

I was praying about what to share and we're gonna you know we we're gonna start a new series soon because we've done some great series if you've been with us since January we did a series on lessons from Israel's history in the wilderness and we've done uh a series on worship and we'll do another one but tonight yeah but tonight I just want to kind of like talk a little bit about the fear of God because it's sometimes sometimes it can feel can't it Revelation family like there's a lot of darkness in the world and you can despair and it can almost seem hopeless but here's the thing God always wants us to know we have hope God always wants us to know He is in control the light always wins and there is there is a lot of darkness and actually things like anti-Semitic attacks terrorist attacks the godlessness you see in the media in social media amongst our young people Haley shared last week about the fact that anxiety and depression and all of these things these are actually epidemic these are epidemic levels I think you shared it with someone like 26% of all teenagers have anxiety and depression that is a worrying thing there's there is a lot of darkness and no doubt the enemy is is you know we are under attack and there are many reasons for this but here's what I know that our God is the only God and I know that Yeshua I know that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords essentially he's Adonai So we know that God is good right and therefore we know that actually because he's Adonai which means he's sovereign all things will work together for the good of his people for the good of his church he works all things together for the good of those who love him but essentially he will have his will in his way in the nations and I'm thinking for our nations this is a time not to be asleep as the church this is that challenge that Mordecai gave to Uesta for example who knows for such a time as this we kind of like turn that into a fridge magnet which you know which we call frigg magnet theology where you quote the scripture I'm here for such a time as this and it's like motivational but its deeper meaning is this God will deliver his people but who knows that maybe we have a position maybe we have an anointing maybe we have an opportunity that's right to be the vehicle that God uses or to be a church that prays and has a heart for his people and actually godlessness and that kind of like rebellious attitude to God at its core when you hate somebody so much you want to stab them in the neck and when you hate God's people Revelation 12 or when you hate Christians that you want to hurt and kill them that is a real godlessness at its core it's rebellion to who God is this is not God because the Bible tells us this and it's foolish because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the Bible says it says in Jobs chapter 4 verse 6 the fear of God is your confidence you the integrity of your ways is your hope. If a nation loses the fear of God we can expect to be unconfident you know unconfident spiritually unconfident as a nation be a bit up and down and if we lose that integrity I mean we have lost that passion for holiness the passion for holiness for for being a people that desire and look to God and want nothing to separate us from God for blessed are the pure of heart they will see God. So now's not the time to be asleep Revelation TV family let's make a decision together today let's be awake like never before let's be on fire for Jesus let's value holiness you know that that that value of letting nothing come between us and God of saying I want no sin I want nothing in my life to separate me or to to keep me from your presence Lord and He's so gracious and compassionate but when you have that fear and that awe when I say fear I mean the awe the acknowledgement God is real. He is Almighty He's the creator I'm the created but actually in that there is a revelation that brings and I'll share this at the end this is what I'll land with that brings that that revelation that actually he loves us so much and he's gracious and compassionate. Ephesians 5 14 says anything that becomes visible is light and therefore it says awake O sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you I want to share my closing scripture tonight is from number six which is the Aaronic blessing may the God's face shine upon you and here we see God's face in Jesus fully seen fully God fully man fully God and in him the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form the in vis invisible made visible so our God is to be feared and to be awed he's to be loved and I want to encourage you let this give you hope because it can be despairing it can be heartbreaking what you see what's going on just trust the Lord He is in control let's keep our eyes fix our eyes on Jesus and keep a pure soft heart to God it's so important in these days to be a people that are soft and tenderhearted to God 1 Corinthians 4 5 tells us that he will judge the purposes of our heart and sometimes even Christians we can get that religious thing down and you know how Jesus responded when he saw the Pharisees or I think of actually because we quoted from the book of Job you know Job's friends they were kind of like condemning him you you must be a sinner this and that and that made God angry because you can see that at the end of Job he says I'm mad with your friends because I mean it's like Job says miserable comforters are you instead of being a comfort an encouragement instead of having the gentle heart of God they were trying to condemn him with their religiousness I think one of them early on had this vision of a spirit that glided past him which was obviously the enemy and the spirit said can man really be righteous man is but a worm and you can just see that religious spirit there and actually God wants us to be tenderhearted wants us to have a holiness but not the holiness that judges other people and that that thing that typical thing where we judge other people where we've got a big old plank in our eye but a heart that looks out with love and if we're gonna look at anyone with a magnifying glass it's we're looking at ourself you know what I'm saying we're looking at ourself so he judges the purpose of our hearts I love this verse in Acts 11 verse 23 it says this when he came and saw the grace of God he was glad he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose faithfulness is another thing that seems to be dwindling people are not faithful to each other they're not faithful to the Lord there's a lot of apostasy people are not faithful in their jobs they're like you know you know everyone's so concerned with my rights this is mine I want my thing you're not my boss I'll do what I want all of this stuff actually faithfulness is a godly character uh a quality faithfulness means steadfast meaning being a people that that show up meaning that being a people that we are faithful to God first and foremost we're gonna make sure nothing's gonna stop us connecting with Yahweh connecting with Yeshua every single day we're gonna be praying reading our word we're gonna be faithful to God but faithful to serve each other to love each other to encourage each other and of course faithful to share the gospel with those that don't know Jesus and faithful where we work because whatever we do we do unto the Lord. Faithfulness is another thing that is dwindling and that's where we can shine as believers shine in a faithless godless seemingly hopeless world which is actually full of hope while you're here while we're still here's a lot of hope and of course it says uh in the Bible it talks about in numbers about the face of God so here's the thing here's the big idea when you fear God what it means is is not that like God hates me he's gonna kill me what it means is you acknowledge our God is mighty he's the Lord of hosts lord of heavenly armies he's a lord almighty nothing is impossible there's no other God no other name by which men are saved at his name every knee will bow every tongue will confess the king of all kings of all powers and principalities he made a public spectacle he rose far above Yeshua Yahweh Abba Father He is the Lord of hosts the Lord of all the armies of heaven we need to know he is mighty mighty mighty mighty that is the word of the of today our God is mighty but here's the thing he's also so gracious and compassionate because when you approach God humbly do you know what you receive when we approach God with that humility the Bible says this those who fear the Lord the Lord delights in isn't that isn't that precious delights yeah that's such a lovely word the Lord delights in those who make God the desire of their heart those who delight themselves in the Lord he gives the desires of their heart that's amazing when we fear when we delight ourselves in God when we come humbly when we approach him and say God the world is messed up Abba but we believe you are on the throne we believe you will work all things you will have your way in the nations you will have your way in our nation when you come like that before God oftentimes the first thing the Lord will say is fear not I love you. He is gracious and compassionate slow to anger and abounding in love that is the most cross-reverence verse in the Bible I love this sometimes you approach God and you feel like it it's you you're praying for something and sometimes it seems like he's not heard you or he's not answering. Let me encourage you in your prayers tonight Revelation TV family God hears sometimes he says yes sometimes he says no sometimes he says no comma not yet you know Moses actually God said you can't come into the promised land you remember this you can't come to the promised land and he says you can't see the face of God because it Moses said now show me your glory and he says yeah but you can't see my face and live so he sees the back of God right you know this story anyway check this out what's amazing to me about that that's like a no comma not yet because guess what that's right on the Mount of Transfiguration well who did he see exactly he saw the face of God yeah and he was in Israel might have been Mount might have been Mount Tabor probably Mount Herman who knows but it doesn't matter sometimes it's a no comma not yet here's the thing God loves you so much number 624 the Awanic blessing says the Lord bless and keep you make his face shine upon you be gracious to you we speak this over the Jewish community right now and I'll speak this over you as well Revelation TV church family let's say it together actually beautiful the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace if you've never ever put your faith and your trust your confidence you've never approached God in the way I'm saying saying God I recognize you are God I'm a man I'm a woman I make mistakes I can't live life my way anymore I can't do it alone I need you God you know when it says his face shine upon you in the Hebrew that means it it his face have joy and revelation and light up like putting a light on or another way of looking at it metaphorically is a how can you imagine a father's face with a baby? May God cause his face to shine upon you the way as a father looks at a baby because he is your father. He loves you so much and that's why Jesus came and died for you. Why don't you say this prayer if you've never asked Jesus into your life or you know you need to come home to Jesus right now just pray this prayer with me Father I thank you that you love me so much that you gave the gift of Jesus. John 316 we heard earlier God so loved the world he gave his only son I choose to believe not just believe but I want to follow you Jesus I know you died on the cross for my sin. I know you died for me and you rose again but I also want to obey and follow because you are God and I am the created I want to follow you. Help me in that in Jesus' name isn't our God awesome if you've prayed that prayer you're coming back to Jesus always let us know and for the rest of you Revelation TV church family I want to pray for you as well right now and I want to pray God's blessing over you wherever you are Father I lift up our amazing church family all around the world or the Revelation TV family I pray in your precious name your blessing your blessing of peace the blessing of your countenance your face shining that that joy and that also that revelation revelation and I pray Lord Jesus you'll bless and keep and keep them safe in the mighty name of Jesus amen