Walking in Holy Fear

In this message Pastor Kelly talks about fearing the Lord in your life above those who oppose you. 

Transcript

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So, Pastor Aaron, I am not today. Pastor Aaron, I am not. He is in Canada doing some fishing this morning. He and Jesse are out on uh one of the big lakes up there in Canada and getting a little time of refreshing. They're getting some relaxation. So we're excited for them to be able to get that time to get away. If you haven't been around here lately, it has been wild. We have been busy. We have had a lot going on, and I'll tell you, it was good for our pastor to get away and get a little bit of restoration. So grateful for that. And with that, I'm grateful to get the opportunity to speak. So, and I'm glad most of you showed up still. Those of you are watching who didn't show up, shame on you. I know which ones you are. But you know, today we get the opportunity to wrap up our Fear of the Lord series. How many of you have really been digging into this Fear of the Lord series? It is really the fear of the Lord is such a big subject, but it's yet such a simple subject. And it's really the truthfulness of it's it's the foundation of where our relationship with God goes. And it's it really is, it can be a little confusing, but at the same time, it can be really, really clear. And that's what we're gonna wrap up today. We're gonna wrap up with the fear of the Lord brings. We've talked about the fear of the Lord, uh, lots of different things, but today we're gonna talk about the fear of the Lord brings. Now, Steve would be upset if I didn't tell a story about my childhood, my youth, something to that effect, and the stupidity of my my life at one point or another here. And I always like to tell a story about my dad. So, dad, if you're watching, I'm sorry. But I had this fear of my dad. Now, some of you have met him, and you think he's this really sweet older guy, gray hair, you know, just calm, cool, collect. That is not the man I knew. My dad was a is a man of strong conviction and discipline. He he had a rough life. But he brought that sense of of discipline to everything that he did. Still does. He's just a lot nicer about it. And to a young boy, sometimes, most of the time, it meant that I was afraid of him. For good reason. He was big, he was strong, he was he was he was very disciplined. That's how we're gonna say it. And and and and because of that discipline, I knew it to be strong and harsh at times. Right? Didn't really always understand it at that time, but I didn't want to get in trouble because I knew my dad was a man of conviction and discipline. I'm gonna repeat that a couple of times. My friends, those who knew him, my wife included, would tell you they were downright scared of him. Like shaking in your boots, kind. He was the kind of guy that if you were misbehaving in church, we used to have the teenagers, we all sat over here, right? He would come yank out his not me, the other kids out of church. Right? He was that guy. And so they were kind of scared of him. I would just tell you that he didn't tolerate any kind of bad behavior. That was who he was. But there's something that came out of this fear of my father that was kind of interesting. As I began to think about my childhood, as I began to think about a lot of this, because I believe my dad was a really good example of the Heavenly Father. Not everybody gets that, and I'm fortunate enough to have gotten that. But what came out of it that might surprise you, that all of us, myself and all of my friends, knew that uh my dad loved us. He wanted what was best for us. That without a moment's hesitation, that he would have given his life for us. To this day, I'm left with this sense. Because within that fear, I experienced some interesting things. I experienced peace. And you say peace, because I understood his love and that discipline was motivating him to demand me and my behaviors to line up. It wasn't because he was mean. It was because he loved me. In my fear, I felt safe. Does that seem a little weird? I felt safe and I felt like I could grow. I felt like I could grow because I understood that no matter what, he was watching me, he was protecting me. Even when the situation was uncomfortable for me, I knew he was watching out for me. It made me teachable. It was a heavy hand that taught sometimes. But I was teachable. And I was able to grow into the man that my dad knew that I needed to be for my son, for my wife, for my church, for my work. That within that fear, I felt all of these things. And then my relationship had this interesting turn. I can't even really tell you exactly when it is. It turned from not wanting to, I was worried about being disciplined. The fear was about being disciplined. The fear then transitioned into I don't want to be apart from him. Interesting. And at 50 years old, in my father's presence, when I go down to Crowley, Texas, I still feel safe. Secure. And still, believe it or not, maybe a little afraid of him. But a fear that says, I don't want you to stop teaching me. Don't stop investing in me. Don't leave me alone. Do you see how the fear transitioned? It changes. Now let me ask you these questions, though. What do you think about when you think of fear? So I I knew none of you would respond. So I Googled, what does what does fear look like? What do people think of when they think of fear? And the first thing that came was anxiety, worry, depression, and believe it or not, for some people, it actually brings pain. According to Google and AI, it said that it brings on fear can bring on a myriad of physical ailments. Any of you ever been so fearful that you're sick to your stomach? Maybe? Maybe you? Bunch of liars. Right? And so as we go through this series called Fear of the Lord, why in the world would you ever want to live in fear? Right? If this is what it produces and it isn't healthy, why would you want to live in fear? Steve, why would you want to live in fear if that's what it produces? That's kind of interesting. Because God's word continues to tell us live in holy fear, live in holy fear. And the symptoms they feel completely in contrast to what God would have for us. Right? If it tells us the Word of God doesn't want us to live in fear, but yet we're told to live in holy fear. And you might be asking yourself this question like many of us do, why God would want me to live with anxiety, depression. But the truth of it is, in God's kingdom, fear produces the absolute opposite. It produces an entirely different result, taking us to an entirely different place. So today I'm going to take you through what fear of the Lord actually produces in us. What it brings about. We've talked about how to how to have holy fear. Now, what does it produce in us? What happens when we go from small F, fear, to capital F, fear. Fear of the Lord. So let's pray. Bow your heads with me. God, I declare that you are holy in this place today. God, you are good. We invite you into this place today. God, as we open up our hearts to you and your word, have your way in this message. Open ears and hearts, Lord, as we understand what it means to fear and develop a relationship with you. Help us see that the key to wisdom is through fear that brings us into a deeper and dependent relationship with you. Lord, let these words flow directly from your heart and your lips to our hearts and ears as we and let it produce new lives and a deeper love for you. In Jesus' name. Amen. How many of y'all know our key scripture for this sermon series? Connor? Proverbs 9, 10. Good way to look behind me, Connor. I appreciate you not leaving me hanging. So it says, Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Oof. Isn't that good? That is so good. And there's a lot to that. We're going to look at a little bit of that today, and then we're going to look at our second scripture today, which is Acts chapter 9, verse 10. If you have your Bible, open it up today. Because this is a powerful, but it seems like such a simple scripture. So while you're turning there, I'm going to give you a little history. Acts chapter 9, we see the conversion of Saul. Saul, for many of you maybe who don't know, Saul was the persecutor of the church. He was, he had some, he had some wrong ideas. And he began to persecute the church in a way that they had never experienced before. He was a man on a mission. And then in chapter 9, we see him have this moment with God on the road to Damascus. And in an instant, his life is changed. He goes from Saul the persecutor to Saul the Saul the preacher. And what happens before we get to our scripture here is Saul doesn't follow Watchman Knees method here of sit, walk, stand. He goes directly into Jerusalem and begins to preach. Maybe not the smartest thing because the people that he worked for prior got a little upset and they decided to have him killed. Now, coming into Jerusalem, Saul was full of the Holy Spirit. He's ready to preach, he's ready to go on, but he's got a reputation, right? And so the church is a little bit scared to death of him. They're not for sure what to do with him. And so this little death warrant goes out, and the Lord speaks to the church. And what happens is then is the church smuggles him out of Jerusalem, sends him away so that he can get some time to sit for a little bit. And that's where we pick up the story at in Acts chapter 9, verse 31. It's a very simple scripture. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers. So there's a lot to be packed into these, into these, into this scripture. But I want to take you back first to the Proverbs scripture, Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10, right? Where it says the fear of the Lord is the foundation of all wisdom. Because I think we have to kind of start there with it. That's how we sum it up. This is how we wrap it up. And most of you, when we read that scripture, we focus in on the word wisdom. But I want to take you somewhere else. I want to focus in on the word foundation. This fear of the Lord develops a foundation within us. How many of y'all are builders or consider yourself a builder? Maybe you've built something. Maybe? Okay. The fear of the Lord develops our relationship with the Father first. That's how it starts us out. It sets us on a path to a deeper relationship with Him. That's what the fear of the Lord starts with. As we see in our key verse in this series, it's the foundation. What is a foundation? The foundation is a starting point. A foundation, though, is meant to be built upon. Is that right? If you pour a foundation, what's the use of it? Unless you build on it. And I had some time to think about this week. So Heidi and I were out camping at our place this week. And I say camping, clamping, I don't know, really, you know, whatever you want to call it. Because I've seen my wife in the tent. It's not pretty. It's not good. So we we do the camper thing on a big spot. And so outside of our camper, on the other side of the fence, is this open space. And out of the middle of this open space is this foundation. And you might say, well, Kelly, that's not unusual. Well, I know that it's been there for about four years, sitting there with just a foundation. And I began to dwell upon that a little bit this week as I was looking out the window and I would think about her sitting in my chair, and I would begin to think about it. I'm like, what good is this property with a foundation on it with no building? What happens to a foundation that eventually doesn't have a building on it? It begins to crumble, fall apart, rot, right? All of these things if we don't build upon it. It's no good to anyone. So I want you to think about this. Foundation. The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. It's the very beginning, it's the starting point. Foundation, it's meant to be built upon. It meant to set you up for building your success within your relationship with the Father. This is what the fear of the Lord does for us. It gives us a foundation to build that very much, that beginning of our relationship, that middle of our relationship, and the end of our relationship with him. It helps us develop a true, a true relationship with him. The fear of the Lord brings in awe in his presence. And I think this is really important. I want you to understand this. This is really important before we get to Acts chapter 9 to understand these things. Fear of the Lord brings an awe of his presence. While still maintaining, see, we get caught up in the awe. Sometimes we forget about, we get the awe, we go, ah, you know, and we forget about the other things. But within that awe, we're still maintaining the understanding that God is in control, can do what he likes and what he desires, but what he desires is a closeness with him. That's what the fear is driving us to, is a closeness with him. And it starts with the acknowledgement of the awesomeness of God. We see that in our scripture here, our next scripture. It's Exodus chapter 20, verses 18 through 20. It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It's about the Israelites. And we'll read it here because there's a lot to it. It's the contrasting story of two people, the Israelites and Moses. And you think, well, how do you separate them? We'll see really quickly here how the fear of the Lord separates them. When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. They got the first part right, didn't they? They got the first part right. And they said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen, but don't let God speak directly to us, or we will die. Don't be afraid, Moses answered them. For God has come in this way to test you, so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning. As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was. Now, within this story, you think, well, this is pretty cool. I mean, people are getting it right. But there's really two contrasting pieces of it. Because in that moment, the Israelites, they understood the power of God. They got the awesomeness part, right? They got the fear, the shaking, the trembling, because there's lightning going off, and there's storms going off, and they're they're they're shaking in their boots. And that's important. It's the beginning. But God was calling them just like he was calling Moses to come closer. He's saying, Come closer. They got stuck in the first part, and Moses, he transitions. He transitions. He's just seeing the same things that they are. He sees them exactly like they are. But they get stuck and trembling because of who God is. Not they're so afraid of him. But that fear was never meant to keep you from drawing closer to God. See, that's what happens to a lot of us. We just God will strike me dead if I walk into a church. Oh man. No. That fear is meant to draw us closer. And we do it still in trembling, in awe of God, because not just because of his power then and his discipline or his ability to destroy or kill us, but because of his greatness and his goodness. Do you see the transition starting to happen? Well, we can see God moving from the punisher. How many of you see God as the punisher at times? How many of you in your relationship have seen God as the punisher? Come on, be honest, raise your hand. You see, God is gonna smite me. Come on, you've heard that. You felt that way. But what this allows us to fear of the Lord allows us to move from punisher to the hope and the lover of our lives. That's what happened to Moses. Moses said, God, I can't live without you. I gotta hear more. I gotta know you more. And the Israelites stood back here. And the interesting part is you go at finishing, you keep going through the story, the Israelites always stayed back here. And it always led them into trouble. Right? But Moses continued to draw closer. Psalms 147, 11 tells us, no, the Lord's delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love. And you're gonna notice today, by the way, there's gonna be a lot of Psalms, there's gonna be a lot of Proverbs. Let me tell you, David and Solomon, they got it. They figured it out. But we also know that fear of the Lord leads us to trust him in all things. Moses is a great example of that. He went from trusting, he began to trust the Lord. I know, Lord, that you have good things for me if I come closer to the mountain. If you're calling, your voice. See, all the Israelites heard was the booming. Within that, Moses heard the come closer, come closer, come closer. I want to tell you something. He wanted that directness. He got the directness. When we allow the Lord, when we allow that trust to develop out of that fear, we're no longer blown about by our circumstances. See the Israelites, that's what happened to them. They were blown around by the circumstances, the storm that was going on. Moses didn't see it quite that way. He understood that he wasn't going to be blown away by the storm, but that he would be drawn in. We're no longer blown by that circumstance, but our foundation's been built upon so that we can trust God no matter what, even when life seems unfair. And it does seem unfair sometimes. But we can trust him because our foundation is solid based on the fear of the Lord. Within that, we develop this reverent trust, right? It's it's it becomes a holy thing. God, I can trust you even when you, even when it's the darkest day. I can trust you. I know it's okay. I know that you still have my back. And then that trust leads us into awe because we understand who God is and how much he cares for us and loves us. And we understand our place within his relationship. And the anxiety all of a sudden is replaced with a fountain of life because of God's love for us. Proverbs 19, 23 says, Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm. As the foundation, fear of the Lord is built. And it takes us to our scripture today, right? It takes us right to where we want to be today, into Acts. If we understand what fear of the Lord brings us, then we can understand what it produces within us. And it produces, shows us how to have that key to the life that God intended for each and every one of us. It's almost like this is a two part sermon. Because now, in the second part of it, the fear of the Lord produces in us. I want you to understand this. I really want you to see the lasting result the fruit, right? That's what we would talk about. The fruit. What good is a tree without fruit? Jesus said that. So there has to be fruit.

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And we look

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At our scripture today, and it was very clear it produced three things. Three things within the in within the church. And the first of it was that the fear of the Lord brings peace. Remember how weird that is to think about peace in the middle of fear? And it might seem backwards to a lot of us because when we think of fear again, we think of anxiety, we think of all of those things, but with the Lord it brings just opposite. Because here's what John 14, 27 says. This is Jesus' words, says, I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And a peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. The peace that God gives is not something that you can ever find outside of him. Another place it calls it the peace that passes all understanding. How can I stand in the middle of the storm and be completely at all at ease? How can I be that way? So what does peace mean? It doesn't mean that we're free of the storms of life. Because sometimes life stinks, guys. Sometimes it's rough. Sometimes we lose people. Sometimes financially things aren't great. Sometimes our job is just pure stink. But what it in the middle of all of that it means is that we can rest easy because we know that God has a plan. He has a purpose for us. Jesus, he had peace in the middle of the storm, not because he could stop it. He knew he could stop it, but because he knew he was in charge of the storm. Sometimes it feels like we're all in prison and we're chained up, you know, by the all of these things. But we can have peace because we know who holds the key to freedom. I look back to the story of Paul and Silas. And how could they praise in the middle of a prison? How could they? Because they knew who held the keys to the to the gate. In Acts, it's not because they weren't persecuted, because they were still being persecuted, even with Saul moving on, but because they had seen the persecutor redeemed and understood salvation and freedom comes from the Lord, whom they feared. Because the Lord was greater than the persecution. Peace means that we can rest assured in our identity, who God created us to be. Sometimes that's one of the biggest things we we we lose. We lose who are we? Who are we supposed to be? Who am I? Kelton, have you ever said who am I? What am I doing here? Why am I like this? What's my purpose? And we lose our identity within all of that. But within this peace, we can find our identity. We don't have to listen to what the world tells us. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too fat. Too thin. We can look at that. And we can rest assured of who we are in Christ. Peace comes because we know that we're loved and we're treasured. Not because of what somebody else says, but because of what God the Creator says. He says, You're treasured, you're loved. You're called a sons and a daughter. I want you to hear that part. Sons and daughters of God. And within that, we have the backing of our Father. That's even more important. Remember what I said about my story? I was assured of who I was. It's really interesting to have a junior behind your name. If you ever look at my signature, that's what it says. I know I guess I probably don't say it enough. But you know, one of the things that was cool about that was I knew I had my dad's backing. I was assured of who I was because of him. 1 John chapter 3, verse 1 tells us that it says, See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are. But the people who belong to the world don't recognize we are God's children because they don't know him. See, we all pull them back to that deeper relationship which starts with fear of the Lord. You can have peace because you have a, you could know your identity is cemented, no matter what you feel or think. I want to, there's a lot of that going around in our world today. We don't know what our identity is, we don't know who we are. I'm telling you that you are a son and daughter of the Most High. Come on, that's that's who you are. There's peace in that. There's so much peace, there's so much turmoil when you don't know who you are, but within him, we're given identity. And there our hearts can rest and have peace. Because peace isn't is not a feeling. Come on, Steve Diana, is peace of feeling. It's not a feeling, but an assurance that God is in charge, that he is the Lord of all, that he loves us, has a plan for us, even when we don't feel it, see it, or deserve it. Peace is actually a promise. You can take it to the bank every single time. Nextly, we see in the book of Acts, chapter nine, that fear of the Lord produces strength and confidence. Come on, what is about fear bringing strength and confidence? That's interesting. Again, the question might pop up in your mind how does fear make me strong and confident? And I thought this was interesting as I thought about it more. First, it turns us away from our destructive paths that tend to lead us away from eternity spent with the Father. Fear of the Lord, that's the first thing it's supposed to do. It's supposed to get you back on track. That's the first portion of it. And that that it alters our course, if you will. It replaces our other fears that are unhealthy. Remember all those things we talked about: anxiety, depression, physical ailments. And it replaces with a fear of the Lord that we learn that drives us into deeper relationships. It gives us confidence in his wisdom rather than the world's and our own abilities and plans. You know, I thought about that this week. Any of you ever feel inadequate? I have a job where I feel inadequate almost every day. Right? I mean, seriously. I mean, who put me in charge of anything? That's kind of nuts. And I feel inadequate. But you know what I what I stand on every day? And it and he's never let me down. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. His wisdom is greater than mine. John chapter 14 talks about the Holy Spirit that teaches us. He gives me abilities that I don't even know I have. I shouldn't have them. But he teaches me them. Let's look at it even a little deeper. Fear of the Lord turns us from our path, destined from hell, and puts us on a path for eternity. Proverbs 14, 27 says, Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain. It offers escape from the snares of death. When we draw near to God in fear, it leads us to Him and to that eternal life. We don't have to trust our own decision making anymore, because let me tell you, most of ours is suspect. Mine for sure. And we can just follow the path that was proven and provided for us. It strengthens our relationship. The fear of the Lord does it strengthens our relationship with the Father. And I look back at my dad and I thought, well, why would that strengthen? Oh man. 50 years old, I'm still counting on him because I've it's our relationship got stronger. Even though distance separated us, our relationship got stronger. We saw this in Moses at Mount Sinai. He and his people stood before the Lord, right? Moses let his own personal fears go. Because he saw the same thing the Israelites did. But then it was replaced with fear of the Lord, that he had to obey his command to come closer. He feared not experiencing. He had the fear, that fear of not experiencing what God had for him more than his own objectives. Right? He couldn't get in the way anymore because he feared so much that he would lose out on what God had for him. You can do the things that God's called you to do, which reflect his glory without fear, because you only desire that you not disappoint God. That's what happened with my dad. I didn't want to disappoint him. I didn't want to disappoint him ever. That fear of disappointment then drives us to move in what he's called you to do. Sometimes some of you may need to move out in what God has called you to do. God may have a bigger plan for you, Nate. You might need to just step out in some interesting ways that you're scared to step out in, but you should be so driven by that fear to disappoint the father that you no longer are afraid to step out. That person you've been needing to talk to that God's put on your heart. Oh, you don't want to disappoint the father, so you won't, you won't not do what he asks you to do. You become like David. Your fear becomes replaced with fear of losing out on God's presence more than anything else. Psalms 51, 11 says, Do not banish me from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. That's what he was afraid of. You gain confidence in God's wisdom through fear of the Lord above all else. Psalms 111.10 tells us, For the fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom, and all who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. And I love what David says here at the end. Praise him forever. By obeying his commands, the pressure is off. You've got the roadmap, and all you have to do is follow. When we look at the earlier church, we see strength and confidence come to them as they depended less on themselves and more on God's wisdom through the leading of the Holy Spirit. We begin to see a little bit later, they actually are talking and it's recorded. They said, it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit, meaning that they were relying upon him. When they sent Paul and Barnabas out, that's exactly what they did. And then it takes us to the next point, maybe the last point here. Fear of the Lord leads us into a closer relationship with his Holy Spirit. Without knowledge of who God is, which leads us to fear him. Notice how this is all pointing together. It's all coming together. How do we expect his Holy Spirit to operate within us? Many of you are asking yourselves, why the Holy Spirit isn't operating in me? Why don't I have the gifts that Sarah has? Why don't I why doesn't God speak to me like he does to Pastor Kelly? Why isn't God just speaking to me? And the simple answer is this do you fear the Lord? Do you fear the Lord? You know, when I God called us to move back to Iowa, I don't know how many years ago, 15, 16 years ago, I can say I've heard God's voice in an audible tone just several times in my life, probably on a hand, one single hand. And and the word that he said was, come home. Come home. And I kept thinking some neighbor was out hollering at me. I was on a jog, believe it or not, I used to jog. It doesn't look like it anymore, but I used to. And I heard this voice say, Come home. And I would stop and I would look around. And I would stop and I would look around. And on the third time, this presence came over me that I really thought, come home. And I thought I might die if I didn't answer. Here I am, I'm coming. I had no idea what I was gonna do. I had a house that was just a couple years old, brand new house, let me tell you, in the middle of a recession, in the middle of a down housing market, all of these things, but I just said, God, I'll come home. Because my fear was so great in that moment that I thought, I will die if I don't listen. If I don't obey. It was greater than the fear that I knew my son was gonna hate me for a little while because he loved Texas. It was greater than my job. What am I gonna do? It led me to trust him because that fear drove me. Because it became like David did to God, just don't take your Holy Spirit away from me. I'll do whatever you say. And it drew me closer to him. And that's what the Church of Acts understood. They understood the fear of the Lord, they allowed it to guide them and lead them. They didn't shrink back when God moved, but instead they pushed deeper into what God was doing. You want to send the persecutor? You want to send us out? Okay, fine. We'll spread the gospel everywhere you want us to go. That's exactly what happened. Saul persecuted the church, it drove him out of Jerusalem. And guess what they did? They just pushed in deeper to the Lord and spread the word to everywhere across the nation, across the entire world. When healings happened, they weren't skeptical, but they were overjoyed and they celebrated within them. When Saul was transformed, they embraced him and helped him because the Lord led them to. They acted because they feared the Lord and desired him above everything else. Fear of the Lord drives us to seek out God's Holy Spirit in all things and not exclude him from anything. It allows us to allow it allows us to be encouraged by his Holy Spirit. That was the last thing that it said. That the Holy Spirit was able to encourage them. Fear of the Lord drives us to seek out God's Holy Spirit in all things. I said that, yeah. I'm gonna take you to Romans 8, chapter 26. It says the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in words. Ephesians 3.16 tells us, I pray that from his glorious and unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. God's spirit, guys, it longs to teach and comfort you, lead you and work through you, just as Jesus promised in John that the Holy Spirit would do. But it starts with a heart that fears the Lord. A heart that allows us to listen to his voice. When we follow the Holy Spirit and we fear the Lord, we grow both in numbers. You want to grow as a church, you want to grow as small groups, you want to grow. Oh man, it starts with fear of the Lord. Could you imagine if we were like the Church of Acts? I thought about this. There's some amazing things that have been happening in this church, growth that's come, things that have that have come about, new people. Oh. But what if we all gathered together in fear of the Lord? What if we all came with that same motivation to dig deeper into Him? To find a deeper relationship. Could you imagine what would begin to happen? The peace, the people would walk in here and they would begin to feel peace. The chaotic world that goes on outside. They walk in and they begin to feel peace and comfort. And then they begin to grow stronger. Families reunited. The Bible tells us where two or three are gathered, right? We're powerful. What about if we were able to really lean into the Holy Spirit, to allow him to encourage us and teach us and grow us? Oh, we'd be unstoppable, wouldn't we? We would be a force. And this is what the fear of the Lord does for us. This is where it leads us. All of the things that we've been talking about, the trembling, the trust, the deeper relationship, all starts there. Acknowledging who God is and his awesomeness. And then it draws us closer. It draws us closer to who he is. In the book of Acts, we saw how that holy fear produces great fruit. It brings about peace. Not a feeling, but a fullness. Which leads us to trust God and His plans. We don't have to worry because we can find who we are in Christ. Our relationship with God, it strengthens us through our knowledge of Him as we begin to seek Him out in a deeper way. It drives away the insecurities of who we think we are and allows us to be replaced. It allows that to be replaced with His strength and His power. And finally, that holy fear. It allows the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives, to live confidently in who God created us to be, because His Spirit is welcome in our lives. I'm going to ask you to bow your heads this morning. But I just got two questions. Really simple today. If you're here and you say, I want to know the Lord. I want to experience that foundation. Because I don't want to be separated from his presence. I want to live in eternity with him. And you've never done that before? You've never said, Jesus, I want you to be in my heart because I don't want to be separated from you. If that's you, just raise your hand this morning. See that hand? Yeah. Yeah. And the second question would be that if you want a deeper relationship with him, if you want to have a deeper relationship with the Father, you want to get to know him, you want to go from being the Israelites standing far away to being a Moses who steps up. If that's you today, raise your hand. You want to step up, you want to step closer, you want to walk forward. I see those hands. I see them. Stand up with me.