SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of The Road at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Road Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: My heart is to empower you to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this message impacts you.
SPEAKER_00: So Liz, Liz and I were talking, and at first Liz was gonna do the message.
SPEAKER_00: Then as we talked, we realized this really isn't a message for the women.
SPEAKER_00: This is a message for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna we're gonna do this together.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna toggle back and forth.
SPEAKER_00: It'll probably be messy.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because she's a firstborn, and I'm a firstborn.
SPEAKER_00: And we've always locked horns over most things important in life.
SPEAKER_01: But she's found out I'm right, so true.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the key to a happy marriage is when she's right, go with it, baby.
SPEAKER_00: And when you're right, she needs to learn to go with it.
SPEAKER_00: So um, so anybody does anybody have any marriages with two firstborns?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody in here?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's a few, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you feel like that the other one was a firstborn, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Liz had it her way when she was growing up.
SPEAKER_00: I had it my way when I was growing up.
SPEAKER_01: And we both had little brothers to boss around so we could practice here.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go back and forth and interrupt each other and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we're calling this the Fear of the Lord Revolution for Disabled Saints.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's Liz's title.
SPEAKER_00: I thought it was pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: The Fear of the Lord Revolution is for disabled saints.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's why we're saying that is because the last year and three months has to have been the biggest paradigm shift that our country has ever gone through.
SPEAKER_00: And most of it has created fear in most of us.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, it has been disabling.
SPEAKER_00: And in some cases, it's actually brought kind of spiritual, emotional paralysis.
SPEAKER_00: At this church, we want to do our part in breaking fear off of you and setting you free.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, listen, to walk in a different kind of fear.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the bottom line: unless you discover the fear of God, you will walk in tons of phobias.
SPEAKER_00: You will.
SPEAKER_00: You'll fear this, you'll fear because here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Most of us fear death.
SPEAKER_00: But when you get free from the fear of death and you walk as a wholehearted disciple in the fear of the Lord, which by the way, when you walk in the fear of the Lord, it breaks off the fear of death.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's got nothing on you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really freeing, it's really exciting.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a process.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen overnight.
SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna happen today in many cases.
SPEAKER_00: It might.
SPEAKER_00: It'd be awesome if it did.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is you're in a process, and we're chipping away at the fear of man to talk about the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so on February 21st of this year, I taught on the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: And in that message, I talked about what the fear of God is.
SPEAKER_00: This message is different.
SPEAKER_00: It's really not about what the fear of God is, it's about how to walk in the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: So turn in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: One of the coolest verses in the Bible because the smartest man in the world is the one who wrote it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Solomon is considered the wisest man who ever lived.
SPEAKER_00: But he messed up his life.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that just because you're wise doesn't mean you're smart?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so one of the smartest men in the world right now is trying to ruin our life.
SPEAKER_00: But I won't name his name.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a hint.
SPEAKER_00: The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, just a little hint.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: So here he's writing Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Ecclesiastes, you guys, is really about, I would say, if I would put a rubric over it, it'd be the chagrin of Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a book where he's just so despairing about his life and what he's learned in life, how much he's blown it in his life, but he comes to this conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Ecclesiastes 12, 13, you should underline it, highlight it, star it, check it, however you do it.
SPEAKER_00: Mine's underlined with a check beside it because it's so important.
SPEAKER_00: He says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
SPEAKER_00: So the conclusion of everything that he's talked about in Ecclesiastes, fear God, keep his commandments, for this is man's all.
SPEAKER_00: So we are dovetailing into Solomon's wisdom and perspective that you could blow it in a lot of areas of your life.
SPEAKER_00: You may not be the smartest guy in the room, you may not be the sharpest pencil in the drawer, you may not have had anything but failure in your life, but he's saying if I could sum up everything, if you learn to fear God and walk in his commandments, that's what life is all about.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what this message is about.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the fear of God and even the disabilities that we carry.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in order to have a kingdom of God revolution, which we've been talking about a lot here, you have to have a fear of the Lord revolution.
SPEAKER_01: And I would say, for me, I accidentally fell into a fear of the Lord revolution.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you how that happens because it didn't happen for you.
SPEAKER_01: So it started with a prayer meeting that three of us had right here.
SPEAKER_01: And it was on the stage, and we were praying about somebody who that we had a heart for badly, and it was somebody who was telling their kids, you can be any gender you want.
SPEAKER_01: So we we decided, um three of us, and one person's right here, Miss Christine Hawk, we said, we're not gonna leave here until God shows us he's answered that prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We didn't know what exactly we were doing, but we were like, he's gonna tell us.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you go into prayer, you should go in for that kind of victory.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you should.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: Everything, you should, and you should battle because he says he'll answer our prayers.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't wait enough, we don't do, we just want it like microwave, and sometimes you have a crock pot thing going on.
SPEAKER_01: So we stayed here hours praying.
SPEAKER_01: We prayed, we cried out to God, and you know what happened the next week.
SPEAKER_01: That person called another strong believer and said, I don't know the truth.
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me what it is?
SPEAKER_01: I just want to know about truth.
SPEAKER_01: Like, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: We were like, he answered, like he did it.
SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing is um school in a box.
SPEAKER_01: That's the other thing with that kind of prayer that's created an inferno in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And if and I said yes to that assignment.
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really like that.
SPEAKER_00: When you say I'm on an inferno, you're in a you're an inferno.
SPEAKER_00: Damn, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: But this is how it happened.
SPEAKER_01: If you want it, I'm telling you how to get it.
SPEAKER_01: This is the recipe, right here.
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys like that?
SPEAKER_00: Inferno.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: You go after all your prayers that you have, and you say, I'm not leaving until you answer.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: And he does, but because we believe.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, the school in a box.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, ugh, I have to do school in a box, really.
SPEAKER_01: Like, ugh, I was like so reluctant to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and what's happened is we're going through Genesis.
SPEAKER_01: And when we go through it, the team, we feel very responsible that we're not gonna teach heresy to any kids.
SPEAKER_01: So we go through it with a fine-toothed comb.
SPEAKER_01: We go through Bible commentaries, we go through the lexicon, Hebrew lexicon.
SPEAKER_01: We go through it so much that it's like, ugh.
SPEAKER_01: And then we kid friendly it.
SPEAKER_01: So we're always thinking about it.
SPEAKER_01: And God's saying, You thought it was for the kids?
SPEAKER_01: It's for you.
SPEAKER_01: Ah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So that's created.
SPEAKER_01: I have a different walk with God because of those two things in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And I didn't do it, God did it.
SPEAKER_01: I give him the praise, he set me on fire.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, everybody, it's sometimes obnoxious, but all right.
SPEAKER_00: So here's an inferno quote for you.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is an inferno quote.
SPEAKER_00: This is good by Oswald Chambers.
SPEAKER_00: Write this down.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, the reason I say write things down is because 80% of your retention is based on what you write down.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't write it down, you lose 80%.
SPEAKER_00: If you do write it down, you retain 80%.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to retain what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what Oswald Chambers says.
SPEAKER_00: He said, The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear him, you fear nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas if you do not fear him, you fear everything else.
SPEAKER_00: Hello?
SPEAKER_00: So here's some powerful promises about the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 29, 25.
SPEAKER_00: Write that down.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 29, 25.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good word to us these days.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 27, 1.
SPEAKER_00: David says, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?
SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, if the Lord's your light and the Lord's your salvation, why do you have anything to fear?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 118, 5 and 6.
SPEAKER_00: I called on the Lord in distress.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is on my side, I will not fear.
SPEAKER_00: What can man do to me?
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 1 7.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the way I would describe it.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh, if there was a Proverbs 1-7B, okay, that's you heard Proverbs 1-7, that's Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: Now Proverbs 1-7B, Steve.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: So here's how it would read: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of man is the beginning of stupidity.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we all fear man, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, so we all have this struggle.
SPEAKER_00: You're born with the fear of man.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way you're born.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not weird that kids have peer pressure.
SPEAKER_00: It's not strange that gangs get formed.
SPEAKER_00: It's not strange that we want to know what everybody is thinking, and it's not strange that we want to wear fashions that everybody thinks is cool.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's probably related to just our human nature that way.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what happens when we get born again again.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you would like to be born again again?
SPEAKER_00: All right, so that's a lot of you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get born again again.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, in a lifetime, it should be born again, again, again, again, again, because you keep growing, right?
SPEAKER_00: So the fear of the Lord breaks the power of the fear of man, and you start to think right.
SPEAKER_00: You actually start to have God's thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's key.
SPEAKER_00: Because, hello, God's thoughts are not our thoughts, right?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna tell you what a fear of the Lord looks like in my life and we both in his life, because we both collaborated.
SPEAKER_01: It's standing in awe of him.
SPEAKER_01: And we stand because we respect.
SPEAKER_01: We stand in awe of God, wanting to honor him with my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I have to give, my life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, utmost respect for God.
SPEAKER_01: Loving his reputation over mine.
SPEAKER_01: We can write these down.
SPEAKER_01: Good things write down.
SPEAKER_01: Loving his reputation over mine, willing to love his thoughts over my thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Willing to say yes to his thoughts over my thoughts, willing to love his ways over my ways.
SPEAKER_01: Well, um, I just want to say a little bit about this Isaiah 55, 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_01: It says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: The way God's designed us is we can have a lot of information in our heads, but we can only have one thought we're focusing on.
SPEAKER_01: So pretty much every thought, well, think about thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Thoughts make our ways, ways make our life, right?
SPEAKER_01: So every thought is important.
SPEAKER_01: So every thought is going to be a God thought, a flesh thought, or a devil thought.
SPEAKER_01: And it's up to us to decide what one we have room for.
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's I'm gonna tell you, it's hard to get the God thought just because it's usually about libs.
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, you know, so God's thoughts aren't my thoughts, but if I make room for them, I get and I ask him, and I'm thinking, I want to have an antenna that I am understanding your thoughts, God.
SPEAKER_01: It's a reverence, it's a standing in awe, it's getting giving him my attention, even as I go through my day.
SPEAKER_01: I want to have his thoughts because they will make up my ways, and that will make up my life.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we think about God's thoughts, I I have actually two really quick stories about how God sometimes leads us to things that we actually fear to do.
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you know God's thoughts because there's no way you would do that.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So I think about a year and a half ago, God giving me this dream.
SPEAKER_00: And you guys remember that dream?
SPEAKER_00: I if you've been a part, if you were part of a church the last year, then you remember me sharing it, so I'll do it really quickly.
SPEAKER_00: But in the dream, I saw this landscape, this sea cityscape in front of me of black buildings against a sky, a white sky, but then I saw darkness coming across this city in my dream, and the Lord said, ominous times are coming.
SPEAKER_00: This is eight months before COVID.
SPEAKER_00: Ominous times are coming.
SPEAKER_00: And then written in white across the buildings was 2 Chronicles 7.14.
SPEAKER_00: That's about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And so we began to pray, you guys, and all last summer on Wednesday nights we began to pray.
SPEAKER_00: We started noonday prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're at 215 straight days of noonday war room.
SPEAKER_00: We've done we've done Elijah Fire prayer, which is an invitation only, small group of prayer that's kind of growing.
SPEAKER_00: But prayer, we we went from being a church that does prayer meetings to being a praying church.
SPEAKER_00: And the more we've prayed, the more the power has come.
SPEAKER_00: The more people get healed, the more we see freedom in people's lives, the more we take stands.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in the midst of that, COVID comes, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I drank the Kool-Aid for about six weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And then in May, I started calling pastors, and I said, You guys, let's just open up our churches.
SPEAKER_00: I don't care what the governor says.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm, I believe we have a higher power than our governor.
SPEAKER_00: And so 85 pastors showed up.
SPEAKER_00: 85 pastors showed up in this room, and and Al Pittman and me and Lawson Purdue and others, we challenged them to open up their churches, and I think like 25 or 30 did do that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some closed later, but there were about 20 of us that never closed.
SPEAKER_00: We closed one time in COVID.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we've had 10,000 or more people come through our doors.
SPEAKER_00: You see it.
SPEAKER_00: Here we are.
SPEAKER_00: One person hospitalized for two days.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, this thing has been planned for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: It's a pandemic, not a pandemic.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna get the flu sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a bad flu for some people, I have no doubt about it, but it's a flu.
SPEAKER_00: It's a flu vein, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you this.
SPEAKER_00: You take this one to the bank.
SPEAKER_00: We've had this vaccine going for about three months.
SPEAKER_00: I know more people that have died of the vaccine than anybody who died of COVID.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just warning you be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful, hear from God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not telling you what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: And as your pastor, if I'm your pastor, I'm gonna tell you from time to time maybe some things you don't want to hear.
SPEAKER_00: But that's okay, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because the best truth I know, and this is coming from scientific evidence.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so proud of Pam Heiler and others in our church that have gone before school boards and challenged some of the stuff that's going on in our schools.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud of Jeff Hall and others that took guys and went, and so, guys, this is a time to be engaged.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the reason I share that.
SPEAKER_00: When you make the fear of God your primary responsibility by standing in awe, as Liz was talking about, standing in awe of him, fear of man melts off and you do sometimes radical things.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not a time for sitting on the sidelines, this is a time for engagement.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I think a kingdom revolution is preceded by a fear of God revolution.
SPEAKER_00: You can't be a revolutionary if you're always walking around scared of everything.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you grew up in a fear-based family.
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Pam grew up in a fear-based family, totally.
SPEAKER_00: And God's just broken that off her, and she's a revolutionary now.
SPEAKER_00: I've seen transformation, unbelievable transformation in her life over the last two years.
SPEAKER_00: It's been awesome.
SPEAKER_00: So if anybody understands what I'm saying, go like this.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna have a kingdom, you gotta have a king.
SPEAKER_01: And you're the one that puts enthrones him.
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_01: He's not gonna beg to be up there.
SPEAKER_01: You enthrone him.
SPEAKER_00: I need to take notes every time you speak.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you just talk about the sex ed bill.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's saying that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I one of my favorite stories that I ever got to be a part of is when Pam Heiler, again, and I accidentally got to a God thing got to be um influential in the sex ed bill.
SPEAKER_01: It was five 5280 in 2019, and um it was the most controversial bill that year, that legislative year, and it was the sex ed bill saying lots of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And it was written by Planned Parenthood and another state representative, and the final edit was going to be with a certain senator, and so we just knew that.
SPEAKER_01: And um anyway, um, I was the children's director here, and I'm thinking, you know, maybe I should pray, just kind of like I'm gonna jump through a hoop.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I like I don't really think God's gonna answer like the way I don't want him to, but I thought, you know, I'm just gonna pray if I should go up there to the Capitol, that he'll just let me know.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, I'm sure he can see my life, and I'm so busy, and I have many important things to do here, so I'm sure he'll say, No, you don't have to go.
SPEAKER_01: So then um, then I said to the Lord, well, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how to get there.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where to park, so I'm gonna need a ride.
SPEAKER_01: So I remember sitting at my kitchen table and I get this text from Pam Heiler as I right after I prayed.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, I don't really want to go to the Capitol, but I think God wants me to go, and I have a ride for you and me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I have a lot to do that day.
SPEAKER_01: It's busy for me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, I don't even have time to make a really cool poster because all the media is gonna be there, like some really catchy slogan, and you know, like, I don't even have time for that.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know why God has me going because I'm just gonna be a warm body there.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, okay, I'll go.
SPEAKER_01: I do say yes.
SPEAKER_01: I usually complain, or a lot of times I complain about the things God asked me to do because I don't understand them.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't see what God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, I don't see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: My thoughts are not your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, so I'm Telling you what my thoughts are, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm hearing from God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like and and I'm like, oh, really?
SPEAKER_01: Ugh.
SPEAKER_01: So I and then God says, take your anointing oil.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, and by the way, our ride was with a warrior here who always speaks at the Capitol.
SPEAKER_01: Her name is Jana Anderson, and she fights for us all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And I love that lady.
SPEAKER_01: Is she here?
SPEAKER_01: Not here today.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: She's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: I love her.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, well, this will be to anoint Jana.
SPEAKER_01: This is obviously, because I know what God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, oh sure, I'll do that.
SPEAKER_01: So then we get up there, and um I'm just imagining, like, I don't have time to do a cool poster.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I can stand by somebody who has one, like just like this.
SPEAKER_01: Like, go.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like that's what I'm thinking I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: So um, so then we're all sitting there, and all the hearing rooms get clogged up, overcrowded, and Pam and I are sitting in the hall.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we don't even go into a hearing room.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, this is weird.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are we doing up here?
SPEAKER_01: So we said, let's just pray, because God told us to come.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing here?
SPEAKER_01: So we just sat in the hall, and we're about the like, we were like among maybe 20 people who couldn't get into a room.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're like, Lord, what tell us what you want us to do?
SPEAKER_01: We just want to know.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we pray that, Pam gets a text from the lady who is editing the sex ed bill.
SPEAKER_01: And she has um emailed her that day and said, This is what I don't like about the bill, and actually she knew her son.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that lady texts Pam, texts.
SPEAKER_00: She's a senator.
SPEAKER_01: She's a senator in the she texts Pam and says, Can you come to my office in 15 minutes?
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk to you about the bill.
SPEAKER_01: And then she looks at me and she goes, You're the leader of my church, so you're going with me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest, about that time, we feel like we're Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz at the Capitol.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Like, God, we're gonna go and talk to them about everybody that's under 40.
SPEAKER_00: That was a sitcom that old people used to watch.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, we're like, what is going on?
SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking, we didn't, I didn't even prepare.
SPEAKER_01: Ugh.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what am I gonna say?
SPEAKER_01: And you know what the Holy Spirit said?
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm gonna give you the words.
SPEAKER_01: So we are, but we honestly feel like we want to run away.
SPEAKER_01: Not because we're afraid of the sinner, we're afraid of the opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: You know what God says about that?
SPEAKER_01: He's like, oh, I see that lady, Liz.
SPEAKER_01: She doesn't want to do unimportant things, but she doesn't want to do important things, and so I think she's a proud, mediocre Christian.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what I feel felt like.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, but I like those rebukes.
SPEAKER_01: I do.
SPEAKER_01: Because they help me get better, and those are instructions from the Lord, and he promises to instruct us by our by correcting us.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, we go up there, and as we're going up, I hear the Lord say, anoint the meeting place.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh my gosh, anoint the meeting place?
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, okay, they're gonna arrest me for putting strange liquid on the Capitol, and I'm gonna be really in trouble now.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, and so so what I did was I stuck some oil on my finger, and when I walked through the door, I went like, Jesus, this is your place.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I and then she and I said it together.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, this is yours.
SPEAKER_01: So um the senator talks about why she wants to do the bill, then she says, My emails are so clogged up with all these people against the bill.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, we should email because she told she called us in for that reason.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, What's wrong with this bill?
SPEAKER_01: What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_01: We're like, really?
SPEAKER_01: Um so uh I went first, like the one who thought she didn't have anything to say, and I said, you know, I said, what I don't like about it is you're presenting every uh sexual orientation as equal.
SPEAKER_01: I said, you're you're doing heterosexual, homosexual, transgender, as if like you can just pick one.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, they're not equal.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there are different uh health effects, there are different suicide rate, there's a different life expectancy, there's a different exposure to violence in these um these lifestyles.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do that to the kids.
SPEAKER_01: We can't do that, and she's writing down what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, she goes, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just a farm girl from Kansas.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, like it's great.
SPEAKER_01: And then Pam says, you know what I am struggling with is that you've made this bill does not leave any room for a Christian student to say, I have a different perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Because it was shut down in the bill.
SPEAKER_01: You weren't allowed to share another perspective.
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Oh, that's that's true.
SPEAKER_01: So she wrote down everything that happened, and when Planned Parenthood does something, they put the sting of death in it, and I believe God had us go up there to take out the sting of death.
SPEAKER_01: It was it wasn't great, but it was headed to be worse.
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end, we said, let's all gather and pray.
SPEAKER_01: And we all stood around in a circle and we prayed for this bill with the author.
SPEAKER_01: Only God could do that.
SPEAKER_01: Only God.
SPEAKER_00: So, what what causes us to be disabled?
SPEAKER_00: So, if you just jot this down, why are we disabled?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we struggle with hearing God's voice?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we struggle with the fear of God?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first one, and this is the most important one: pride.
SPEAKER_00: Pride.
SPEAKER_00: I find that the more I get around people who have all the answers to everything, they've usually got big P pride.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason God humbles the prideful and He raises up the humble.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I would say after watching this past year, how many of you guys have gotten involved with the school of education, with the uh school boards, with city council stuff, with all the different things we've done, taking taking the gospel into your businesses and things like that.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of you that have said, I don't know what I'm doing, is usually the one that God does the most through.
SPEAKER_00: And that some of us that have the most experience, who think we have it all together, are sometimes the ones that God uses the least.
SPEAKER_00: So number one is pride.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is too busy.
SPEAKER_00: We get too busy.
SPEAKER_00: We we let our life just kind of go by and we're always busy.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you that are in your jobs, it's because of your jobs.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you that are retired, you're you're too busy with your recreation.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have time for how God wants to use you mightily in your twilight years.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that if you're if you're over 60 and you've been walking with God for, say, just at least 10 years, at 60, you have so much more wisdom than most people have.
SPEAKER_00: And God wants to use your twilight years to tear it up for the kingdom in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_00: So number two is busy.
SPEAKER_00: And then number three is ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: Just ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: Um, for some of you, how many of you have never, let's just, let's just drop February 21st, where I spoke on the fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: I remember I asked this same question there, but there's so many new people to our church.
SPEAKER_00: How many have never heard a message on the fear of God before?
SPEAKER_00: Until today?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are pretty educated then, because most last time I did it, probably over half the church raised their hands.
SPEAKER_00: And that's and so ignorance is a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what the fear of God is, and we and I and I shared before the fear of God and being afraid of God are two different things.
SPEAKER_00: So you'll have to go back and see that it's not what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say that um what I've heard, what I've seen is there in my head, is there's frequencies.
SPEAKER_01: There's a fear of the Lord frequency.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking to us all the time.
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times we have a different station on the fear of man.
SPEAKER_01: And we can even have the devil on our stations, like the one we're tuning into, and it's very discouraging.
SPEAKER_01: And so we can also um have a viewing channel where we we're not seeing what God is doing, but we're just seeing what every all the humans are doing, and even what the enemy's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And it feels so yucky, and a lot of times that's what we're doing, and we wonder why we have heavy yokes, why we have misery, because we we just need to turn off those channels, switch over to what God has, because He has a great plan for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: That's right, but we have to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah it's not gonna my plan's not gonna be like your plan.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's very unique.
SPEAKER_01: And if we hear God, we have to say, I'm doing that, no matter how little it seems.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I had I want to say real quick, and like somebody came up and said, I don't know if I'm hearing God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying, Well, all you do is just say, I want to hear you.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, one time I heard God, and you know what he said?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Make dinner, make a good dinner for your family and clean up well.
SPEAKER_01: Like, simple.
SPEAKER_01: It's not always these big things, it's little things.
SPEAKER_01: And you know why I had to say that?
SPEAKER_01: Because I didn't want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about your seesaw.
SPEAKER_00: This is great.
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, yeah, um, this is something God asked me to make.
SPEAKER_01: Um our team has um we're going through Genesis and we were studying when when uh Abraham lied about his wife being his sister because he was afraid.
SPEAKER_01: So we so we decide we need a fear art project.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and no one wanted to do it.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: That just sounds like a really fun art project.
SPEAKER_01: So I go, okay, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know what it is, and I have these ideas, and then at night God showed me this and he spoke what it is.
SPEAKER_01: He said, make a fear of the Lord seesaw.
SPEAKER_01: And on one side it says, fear of man, expecting danger, rejecting the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Fear of God, expecting the goodness of God, rejecting danger.
SPEAKER_01: And when he said do that, you know what he was teaching me?
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're walking in one of those fears all the time.
SPEAKER_01: So, like if you're walking in the fear of man, the fear of God is out.
SPEAKER_01: If you choose the fear of God, fear of man is out.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't get to do, like a seesaw doesn't work like this where it's neutral, you're walking in one of those.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so blown away.
SPEAKER_01: Wow, so glad I did this homeschool curriculum.
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm learning all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to say our school in a box team feels led to do a summer box with five devotional lessons on the fear of God and the fear of man, and it's called summer fear.
SPEAKER_01: What fear are you walking in?
SPEAKER_01: Because we all are walking in a fear.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God showed me through this project.
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, too much.
SPEAKER_00: So, Pastor Steve's um addition to this is that I think it's the weight that presses down on the fear of God is the glory of God through the fire of God.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, glory of God actually means weight, the weight of glory.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis wrote a great treatise on this.
SPEAKER_00: But the weight of God is the fire of God, and that what weighs down the fear of man is the glory of your own reputation and your the and your fear of the fire of what people will say about you that's negative.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: So, so I want to encourage you, you know, in your life, to be allowing the fire of God to come through the glory of God and say, God, I just want your glory, I just want your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Say that every day.
SPEAKER_00: God, I want your glory.
SPEAKER_00: I need your fire, and fear of God will follow.
SPEAKER_00: I know it will.
SPEAKER_01: So Isaiah 42, 18 through 20 says, hear.
SPEAKER_01: That means to listen with great attention to God.
SPEAKER_01: Hear, you deaf.
SPEAKER_01: And look.
SPEAKER_01: That means to look with great attention, you blind, that you may see.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what see is?
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: It means to have vision, it means to behold with enjoyment.
SPEAKER_01: When we see, we get joy.
SPEAKER_01: When we hear, it says that God's God will speak peace to his people.
SPEAKER_01: It's in Psalm 85, 8.
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
SPEAKER_01: So every time we hear God, we get peace.
SPEAKER_01: Every time we just want to go around with our problems and not say, What do you say, God?
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get peace a lot of times.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where you get uh Philippians 4, 6 and 7.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so three things, and we'll close it up here.
SPEAKER_00: Worship team can come up.
SPEAKER_00: Um, how do we grow in the fear of God?
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you three thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, slow down.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, so write that down.
SPEAKER_00: Write it in big letters, write it in the front of your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Slow down.
SPEAKER_00: We're moving too fast, to quote Paul Simon.
SPEAKER_00: Um carve out time in God's word every day.
SPEAKER_00: Carve out time to read God's word, carve out time to study God's word, carve out times to meditate in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you guys, if you don't walk in the word, you won't walk in the fear.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't walk in the word, you will have the fear of man.
SPEAKER_00: Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, number one is, yes, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01: I love to talk.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I want to tell God all the time.
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
SPEAKER_00: You do, you talk a lot.
SPEAKER_00: So when we pray together, so when we pray together, I said, Amen to her prayer so I can pray.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying what God tells me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm just telling you after 35 years that what you just said was true.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Well, anyway, so um, you know, but it's listening.
SPEAKER_01: What is God saying to you?
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be fresh.
SPEAKER_01: It is fresh manna.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And then listen and then do it.
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't know, ask for confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: Because his voice, if we're listening with great attention, gets louder.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, and this is a big, big problem is getting from one to two.
SPEAKER_00: We I think as evangelicals, especially as word-rooted people like we are at the road, number one, maybe the first point is maybe a little easier than number two.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is be brave.
SPEAKER_00: Number one is slow down, number two is be brave.
SPEAKER_00: Do what God tells you to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard.
SPEAKER_00: So, so if God says to you, men or women, start having a devotional with your family.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody shows up.
SPEAKER_00: We study God's word together.
SPEAKER_00: The very first thing you're gonna think about is who doesn't want to come, right?
SPEAKER_00: Your 18-year-old son's going, I can't do that, you know, or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Or your wife or your husband or somebody, there's gonna be like you're thinking about the battle, that's fear of man.
SPEAKER_00: You're already back into the fear of man.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal: God's not gonna tell you what to do next if you haven't done what he asked you to do last.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes what happens is disobedience, disobedience.
SPEAKER_00: You were doing great, and then you quit listening to God and then obeying what he said, and you're way over here now, and that's when you come to me.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not interested in your problems when you've been disobeying God.
SPEAKER_00: So you've been disobeying God and find out and say, look, wake up and smell the coffee.
SPEAKER_00: It's really good coffee.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal: God's got enjoyment for you, he's got love for you, but you need to repent yourself back to the will of God because he's been telling you what to do.
SPEAKER_00: He said, quit looking at porn.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't ever obey it.
SPEAKER_00: And now you're in a divorce with your wife who found out that you're looking at porn, and then you come to me, and what am I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, you guys, it's not that hard.
SPEAKER_00: Just have the courage and the bravery to do the next right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about 10 years from now.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about it, just do the next right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Even now you're going, Steve, you're reading my mail.
SPEAKER_00: I know I am.
SPEAKER_00: Because I work with men.
SPEAKER_00: I know you do.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm saying, look, just wherever you are right now, maybe you've made six bad calls in the last, say, six months.
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about that.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, what's the next right thing?
SPEAKER_00: Just obey God.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll do that, then you'll string another one and another one, you start connecting it off, and you'll get yourself back home.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: And also I was gonna say, last time, or last service, God said the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: On listening and hearing and doing what he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so slow down.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, be brave.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, face your fears.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys are just walking in fear.
SPEAKER_00: You're just you're just a fear-monger.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you just you attract fear, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And it's because you grew up that way.
SPEAKER_00: In some ways, it's not your fault.
SPEAKER_00: You had parents that were always fearful about everything.
SPEAKER_00: I was on the phone with a guy yesterday when I was coming out of the mountains.
SPEAKER_00: Man, Steve, my whole family was always in fear, and every time things got tough, we booked it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we just figured that's not God.
SPEAKER_00: This is a Christian home.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what, you guys?
SPEAKER_00: Closed doors can actually be God's will.
SPEAKER_00: Because He's trying to train you to fight to open that door.
SPEAKER_00: So I think you should realize that sometimes when we're in God's will and we're fearing God, it gets harder before it gets easier.
SPEAKER_00: But the more you train the sinews of your spirit, the stronger the person you become.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast, is to empower people to change their world.
SPEAKER_00: My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the road.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless you.