July 29, 2024 • 45 mins
Hey, guys! Thanks for listening to this weeks episode of A Worship Warrior's Podcast. I hope you all grew closer to God through this episode. Remember to share with someone you love.
This week's episode is all about "fear". What does it mean to fear God? Why should we fear God?
Links for this episode:
- Jerry Bridges quote: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/564098-the-joy-of-fearing-god#:~:text=We%20cannot%20separate%20trust%20in,stand%20in%20awe%20of%20Him. "We cannot separate trust in God from the fear of God. We will trust Him only to the extent that we genuinely stand in awe of Him."
- Helen Hummel’s Blog Post: https://thedailygraceco.com/blogs/the-daily-grace-blog/what-does-it-mean-to-fear-god
Go check out my
Website: www.worshipwarriorlifestyle.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
God, thank you so much for this day. I
(00:03):
Thank you for every single blessing that you've given me and everyone who's listening to this
Even the ones that we don't realize our blessings even the ones that we don't even see
God, I just thank you so much for this podcast and how it's reached
the as many people as it has and
how much it's impacted me and
Help keep me accountable and all the things God. I
(00:25):
I pray that every single person who's listening to this God
that you would plant seeds in their heart and that they would
if they haven't already started a relationship with you God that I pray that above anything else that they would and then
would further their relationship with you by being obedient to you and going out and talking to others about what you've done for them and
(00:48):
That they would just encourage others to go towards you also God
I pray that if
If it's your will that this podcast would reach so many people
And that they truly would see only you through this God
But they would see my love for you and that this whole podcast is just basically to show others and to remind myself that we are
(01:11):
sinners in
Need of a Savior and you are the Savior and I pray that if nothing else happens today from this episode
That at least one person would see that that they would have a desire to know you better
To see you more clearly
In Jesus's name, I pray
Amen
(01:33):
Hey guys, welcome back to our worship warriors podcast
Well, welcome back y'all
To our sports podcast is currently when I'm recording this
630 in the morning
That's lovely
Some of you who are listening to this probably got up a few hours later than I did maybe some of you before actually
(01:54):
And if it was before
630 while I'm sorry
I also got up early and I feel you because I am not someone who likes to get up early in the morning
As always I have a couple disclaimers you might hear whining in the background. That is my dog
He's on the struggle bus this week
He just got fixed and he also heard his little paw paws
(02:17):
His little paw paws have
Sores and burns on them the front two paws have like sores and burns on them because well long story short
He basically
Hopped up his front two paws onto this metal fence and
It was hot enough outside where the metal fence was hot and it literally left burns on his
(02:39):
Paws and it's really sad. He's been limping for like right now. He's walking. He's limping and like he'll stare at our bed
And he's just staring at it because he wants up there, but it's uncomfortable for him to jump up there
And so he still does just not very often
It's really sad because then he'll like just lay on the floor sometimes instead of jumping up on the bed
But anyway, he's staring at me right now or I guess not really staring at me, but he's wanting up here
(03:03):
Again, and we've helped him up here, but also we don't every time because it's like
Non-stop he gets down and then he wants back up, but he doesn't want to do it on his own, but it is really sad
Anyway, so he's whining
often
So that's what you're gonna be hearing. I'm sorry
Anyway
So not that anyone really cared about that, but I do so I was sharing with you
(03:28):
Anyway, so we're gonna just move on we're gonna as always just jump right into it
We're not really gonna beat around the bush a whole lot today's topic is fear of God versus fear of man
Now quick little backstory here. This has been something that God has just been and I mean
Constant he has been constantly revealing to me showing to me reminding me of and it's probably because it's something that from my whole life
(03:55):
I have struggled with probably and I feel like most people do so I know I'm not alone
But then you also know or see know of if you don't know personally, you know, you see these
strong
Christians out there who
Are just like
So grounded in their faith so grounded so close and intimately close to God
(04:20):
That they have no fear of man. It's like you can't you can't touch them and
I envy that and it's not like an unhealthy envy
It's just like a goal of mine that I want that but I know that that is a hard and long process to get to
That point so this is and this is essential. This is so essential
(04:41):
So we're gonna talk about what it actually means to fear God and we're gonna talk a little bit in depth about that today
so what does
What does fear mean in this sense? Like what whenever I say you need to fear God?
What does that mean? Because fear when I was a kid and this is a very common misunderstanding that I
Believe is just not
(05:03):
Taught enough. I think I think it's I mean, it's taught for sure. Like I've heard sermons
I've heard people talk about it on different things like whether it be a podcast or an article like a blog post or whatever
Like people do talk about it
But it's still just so
Misunderstood by many people often non-christians
(05:24):
But there are a lot of Christians who do misunderstand this or just like know that they want to live a life for God
They love God, but they just kind of ignore the term or the phrase
Fearing fear God or fear of God because they don't understand it
So they just don't talk about it because they don't want to talk about something they don't understand
But then they also don't research it and so I know I'm calling out somebody there because that was me for a while, too
(05:48):
So anyway fear of God does not mean
Dread or terror. It's like it's not like oh my gosh
I'm terrified of God and I'm so scared that he's gonna hurt me or
Whatever it is that I'm just gonna follow him so that he doesn't hurt me
It's not that like I don't fear God in that way. In fact, I don't believe God would ever harm me everything
he does is for his glory and for my benefit and
(06:12):
So sometimes I might go through struggles that is definitely an assured thing like I'm going to struggle
I'm going to have trials like that's in scripture
We're going to come across trials, but that doesn't mean that it's God being like, oh Sarah. I
I'm going to make you struggle
I'm going to send this trial so that you're so scared of me that you're not going to leave
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It's not like he's an abuser, you know, he's not holding a gun to my head so that I don't leave his side
It it's nothing like that
Fear in this sense is
Not anything negative. In fact fear can be synonymous to
Living in awe of God you you are in awe of God you
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Glorify him you have you know, you love him you have hope
Because of him you're acting out of reverence to God. That is what that is
So take all of your understandings of what fear is according to the world like being scared of
You know getting swept up by a tornado getting scared of
You know getting walking down the street and getting shot or kidnapped, you know, take all of those negative
(07:21):
Fears throw them out the window pretend like you've never heard the word fear
Okay, get in that mindset get in those shoes of I've never heard this term and now I'm looking it up and saying
Okay, what is this term? What is this term? I've never seen these four letters together. What is fear?
And it's this it's love hope glory all of God. You're acting out of reverence to God. That's what it is
(07:43):
This is for Christians though. You have to remember that if you are a non-christian
Your fear of God is actually going to look different and it's not the he's holding a gun to my head
It's more so of
If I'm if I'm not a Christian me Sarah say I'm not a Christian
I'm going to be scared if I if I actually see the power of God and see how powerful he is
(08:06):
Because he's literally the creator of all he literally can control anything
I'm going to be scared of him in the sense that if I die, I'm gonna suffer for all eternity and that's terrifying
If I'm a non-christian, I'm also scared because he's so powerful that
If I'm not living for him, he can just choose to take me out of this world anytime. He can choose to send
Punishment anytime he sees fit like he literally can do whatever he wants. He's God and that's scary
(08:31):
But if you're living for God if you have a relationship with him and you're just living a life out of love for him
You're obeying him out of love for him because you just you just love him and you don't want to do anything but love him
And when you're living that it's not a fear
Because you're like even though trials come I've got God on my side and he's gonna help me through this
(08:53):
He's gonna pull me out of my pits. He's going to help me have a self-discipline and strength that I need to do these things
I'm going to have peace because of him. It's not
You're scared of his power
It is you are in awe of his power
You are in awe of who he is and what he can do and what he has done and what he will do
For you and for others
(09:14):
and for the world in general and so let's talk about some examples to kind of just really
Write this into our minds so that we can really see what it means and these are gonna be pretty relatable for some people
I have three examples two of them are kind of similar to those so I may not do both of them, but one is a really
(09:36):
Relatable one for Christians when you first become a Christian and you first truly
Start to live a life for God. You're in your word
You are learning more about God and who he is and what he's done in the past what he's doing for you
You're recognizing these things of what he's done for you and what he can do for you
You see his promises you start talking to him
You know you break down all of the walls in between you guys you repent daily
(10:01):
You know you're getting away from these things because you see how beneficial it is to get away from these sinful things
And you're doing that with the strength and self-discipline God is giving you you know all these things
Okay, you're doing them
You're gonna start to see that some of these friends that you've had are not
Promoting God's story God's
(10:26):
His principles, he's they're not promoting anything that glorifies God and
Sometimes unfortunately God tells us
Hey, you need to break off this friendship
You need to respectfully say hey, I don't think we can be doing these things together anymore because
The life I want to live
Well, it just doesn't include these things and every person has the free will to do
(10:52):
What they want to do and so with my free will I'm choosing to go this way and it just
Unfortunately doesn't include getting drunk all the time. It unfortunately doesn't include
Having sex outside of marriage all the time. It unfortunately doesn't include all these things and well you say unfortunately
It's not unfortunate. So don't actually say that word. I guess sorry. I shouldn't have said that because it's not unfortunate for you
(11:16):
It's fortunate for you, but you're saying that because
In your saying you're telling your friend these things and it might completely ruin your relationship
And that's unfortunate for sure
But it's it's better for them and it's better for you and it really is better for them
And you may not see that in the moment
They may see it as wow that person like Sarah's a snob
(11:40):
But that first of all, you need to have the Holy Spirit guide you and how you say these things because you don't want to hurt that person
In fact, you want to encourage them closer to grow closer to God in this
So you do definitely need to be aware be aware of how you're speaking to God
Be aware of how you're speaking to them whenever you're having conversations like this
But anyway, so there's that but really let's just say a smaller scale thing instead of
(12:08):
I guess breaking off friendship sounds kind of harsh, but I don't really know how to word it right now in this moment
But instead of that, let's just talk about say another example of say like, you know
Same type of situation where you're growing closer to God and you see like say your friend texts you
And he or she let's just say she because a lot of the people listening to me are probably girls
(12:32):
As far as I know, but so say your friend texts you and it's like, hey
I really want to go bar hopping and we can just totally get drunk and call an Uber and it'll be super fun
Like those super, you know, be super laid back relaxed. We're just going to chill
We're going to have do whatever we want to do. Have fun
Do you have fun? Let's not worry about the responsibilities of this world. I just got drunk and have fun together, you know
(12:54):
Um, here's the thing folks that is not of God and let me tell you why I should have put this scripture in here
We are to be sober minded and sober minded doesn't necessarily in my opinion does not always literally mean
Don't get drunk. It's not just about alcohol. This is anything that's taking over your mind
Where it's altering your thoughts to where you're not thinking solely about God
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Or maybe you are thinking irrationally irrational thoughts like that is not being sober sober is being rational
And you are just not letting anything overtake you other than God filling up your mind
So but that does include alcohol because one drink is not going to get you drunk
A couple drinks may not get you drunk, but a few beers is going
(13:38):
You know a few beers few shots that's going to get you drunk
And that is not being like literally actually not being sober minded, but also you're allowing something a substance to take over your mind
To where you can't think clearly enough to be rational about your intentions and glorifying God
And so that's what you know, it was just an example because it's also a relatable one a very common and relatable one
(14:01):
That's why I chose it. So you need to be sober minded literally and with everything else
That being said your friend texts you is like hey, let's totally not be sober minded
Let's be irrational and put ourselves in danger and all these things just for the you know to have the time of our life over here
And you know we can call an uber we can do all these things you're like no I can't do that anymore so you text them back
(14:26):
And you just have to this is where the fear of God comes in ready
You're going to be afraid more than likely of what your friend is going to think of you
You're going to be afraid that you're going to put walls in between you and your friend
You're going to be afraid they're going to reject you that you're going to be afraid that they're not going to want to hang around you
You might be afraid that they're going to start gossiping about you around your other friends and then it could cause problems with them
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You don't want anyone you don't want anyone to have a tainted opinion of you and that's that is scary. That is a real scary thing
That is a real fear, but it's not biblical to have that fear
And so in this scenario specifically in order to have fear of God over fear of man
You have to realize in that moment as you're texting that person back or maybe right before or whatever you have to realize in your heart like
(15:16):
God's got me and here's what's going to happen
God's got me
God is way better than going to the bar and getting drunk
Like there's literally no comparison like I feel terrible for even putting that as a comparison because there's no comparison
At the end of the day if you die what what's going to happen? You're either going to go to heaven or hell, right?
(15:40):
At the end of the day, what's going to happen? Your friends could all leave you your friends could all
You know go off and do their own thing and leave you just drop you like you're nothing
But guess what you have the God the creator literally who is like don't worry Sarah
Don't worry Brooke. Don't worry John. I've got you and I want to be with you and I'm never leaving and you have to look
(16:05):
Here's the here's the essential thing that helps me
More than anything else I and I'm saying this fearing God helps me more than anything else in my walk with him and in my
Obedience to him and it's this this reason alone. You have to see the court you have to see the bigger picture
We're going to go back to this analogy in a moment, but I'm going to kind of step off to the side for a minute
(16:27):
And tell you a different analogy
Whether you like basketball or not whether you are completely like sports
It's repulsive to you or maybe you like it is your life
Don't make it your life aside. No make God your life, but you know what I mean, like you're addicted or you're not or maybe you're somewhere in between
You're going down the court. You're the point guard right? You're dribbling you have your team
(16:50):
Even if you don't like sports, you can understand this. Okay. I'm going to make this very simple terms. Okay
You are dribbling down the court
Your goal is to make a shot and make it somebody on your team needs to do that
So you look over to your right and you see one of your teammates and they look wide open when you're looking directly at them to where you can
Throw them the ball. They're going to catch it and something great is going to happen something grand and they're going to make a shot, right?
(17:15):
At least that's your hope you're looking directly at them
You throw them the ball suddenly someone from the other team comes out of the way knocks the ball out of their path out of your teammates pathway
And grabs it and goes down the other side of the court and makes it a shot and makes it and they score
Okay, here's what you got to do to prevent that you have to look at the whole court
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What is in front of you? You look at everything. You don't just look at that one person
You're looking at everyone on the court every person you are glancing you are
Stimming over that whole court so you can see every person on their team and on your team that way you can see
Oh, I see my teammates in my right here. I see that they look wide open
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But when I look at every other person, I see that there's one person just a few feet away toward their left side
Who can jump over there and possibly get the ball? So here's the thing
You have to look at the whole court so that you don't make a mistake by throwing the ball to the wrong person
You have to look at the whole court so you can see who is open what way is open
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You have to look at everything to see all possible opportunities as best you can rationally
So go back to your situation with your friend in order to look at the whole court in this scenario
This is what it looks like you take a step back in your mind and you say what is the big picture here?
If I go to this bar and I get drunk with my friend or I enable her to get drunk with
(18:44):
Even if I don't get drunk, you know
Then this is what's happening
This is what could happen is what you're gonna say and you're gonna run through all the scenarios
My friend could get so drunk and then she goes home with some guy and they go do something that they don't need to be doing
And maybe she gets pregnant like literally let's be real here
Another thing is your friend gets drunk and she gets hit by a car
(19:07):
Another thing is you get drunk and your friend get drunk and bad things happen to both of you
You could get kidnapped, you could get hit by a car also, you could get into an Uber that's really not an Uber
You could fall asleep on the side of the street and who knows what the heck is gonna happen to you then
You could make it home safely and soundly but here's the other thing that could happen after that happens
(19:29):
Your friend is going to be further away from God than she was before
You also will not be as close to God as you were before and you're gonna feel guilty about that
And then what if something happens to your friend and they die and go to hell because you did not stand up for your beliefs in God
You did not stand up for God in that situation and so they were not brought closer to God
(19:50):
But instead they were they were pushed further away from him
And then in turn not only are you discouraging your friend from growing closer to God
But you are also in turn going to discourage others through that friend because when they get further away from God
They're going to influence others further away from God also
But if you in that moment, in that moment you say, hey friend I'm really sorry
(20:15):
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or make you feel any type of way
I just am now a Christian and I personally believe that I don't need to be getting drunk anymore
And I just don't really want to anymore
It's just not a desire because it's not a desire of God's
And so I am really sorry if that offends you or if that upsets you
(20:40):
But I personally just don't want to do that anymore
So I think I'm going to pass on this on this hangout time
And then maybe wish her a good day and say please be safe and I love you
Yeah, and you know be respectful about it
And when you do that, let's step back and look at the whole court again
Okay, you step back and you look at the situation after you've said those things
(21:04):
Guess what you just did? You planted a seed in her heart
And you may not see the benefits of the seed
You may not see a you're not going to see a tree come from the seed immediately
Right a tree takes time to grow time. It takes water. It takes sun. It takes time
The roots really have to grow up and out
And so what you're doing is you're planting seeds and then as time goes on
(21:28):
The the reactions you have towards your friends actions and toward the way they speak to you
And the topics you guys are now going to no longer be talking about because of your relationship with God
Those are those conversations that you're going to have in the future from now
And I'm just going to be playing more seeds and watering those seeds
You're watering it rain is coming down on that tree
(21:51):
Sun is coming down on that tree years of you know aging for that tree. It's coming down and
That tree is going to grow and if that tree doesn't grow and it dies
It's not because you didn't do your job of sharing the gospel with that friend
It's because that friend unfortunately decided to not follow God the way you chose to
(22:12):
And at that point like I said, it's not your fault, but you have to fear God over that situation
You have to say I don't care. I mean you're going to care but just hear me out
Like I don't mean you're not not going to care. You're not going to be a cold stone person
But um, you're not going to care if you get rejected by people
You're not going to care what they think about you
(22:34):
You're not going to care if they go gossip to other people because you don't fear them
You fear God you are in awe of God and you love him so much
You want to honor him so much you want to glorify him so much because he is just that amazing to you
That you have peace knowing that no matter who rejects you you have God and that's all that really matters to you
(22:55):
That is what fearing God over fearing man is
My other example that kind of had some similarities to this and out into this example. I just gave you is I
Won't go into big detail because it's got some of the same ideas to it
It's like say you're at the store and the Holy Spirit is telling you to go talk to someone or pray for them or just ask them
How their days going or whatever it is?
(23:16):
But you are nervous of the reaction. Maybe you have a bit of social anxiety
Or whatever, you know, you're and you are just afraid of
Anything that could happen whether it be confrontation from that person
Whether it be you're just nervous to go talk to a new person that you don't know be outgoing, you know, maybe that's just scary to you
That's understandable. A lot of people struggle with that you are and I know you probably know this because this is something that
(23:41):
People talk about pretty often. I feel like is social anxiety
And it is a real thing. But let me tell you friend. It's it's not from God. You think Jesus had social anxiety?
Heck no, like I'm almost laughing at that. Like he literally did not look at scripture. Look at the Gospels
Where he's literally going around talking to anybody and every day everybody, you know, he's not afraid to talk to people
(24:03):
Social anxiety is not of God, but it is a real struggle
I struggle with this. This is actually I put this example in here because I personally struggle with this with a lot of things
Not everything but quite a few things and so it is a real struggle
So fearing God over fearing man in this situation would look similar to the texting your friend back situation
But it's just a completely different situation
(24:24):
So fearing God over man in this situation would be you're nervous of their reaction, their rejection, their potential confrontation
Their hatred, their judgment, whatever it is. Insert thing here
But because you fear God more you realize that at the end of the day what matters most is that souls are going to be saved
At the end of the day what matters most is seeds will be planted through you so that God can be glorified
(24:47):
And his kingdom can be grown by you going to talk to that person
So many things could happen if you go talk to that person and just say, hey, I just really feel led to ask you how your day's going
Or hey, I just really wanted to come over here and say I really love your bag or I really love those shoes
Where did you get those? And I could open an opportunity just being simply kind to that person
(25:10):
Could open an opportunity of them to mention something
Like even if it's not a full conversation they would they maybe they say, oh yeah, I got this bag because I just was really having a hard day the other day
And I wanted to go just walk around and look at some things just to get my mind off of what I was going through
And so I went to a thrift store and I found this for four bucks and I loved it
And then you should be like, oh man, I'm really sorry you were having a hard day
(25:34):
Is there anything I could pray for you over?
Like, can I pray for your hard day whether I know what it is or not? Do you mind?
And maybe they're going to be like, wow, no one's asked me if they can pray for me
Yes, please. Or maybe they say, no, I really don't want you to pray for me
And you'd be like, okay, that's totally fine
I just was wondering if I could, you know, pray for you, but it's totally fine
(25:56):
Well, I'm really sorry you had a hard day, but I really do love your bag
What thrift store did you get it from?
And then you could just move on and maybe close up the conversation
And then you could still pray for that person just not to them and in front of their face
You could quietly and secretly pray for them
That way where they don't know and they don't feel uncomfortable
But you're still praying such powerful prayers to a powerful God who can do powerful things in their life
(26:19):
You know? So go talk to that person
And if you didn't ever talk to that person, you wouldn't have known that they were struggling with something in the first place to pray for
So a lot of things can happen and then they could come to know God
Maybe you'll never find out that they did, but maybe they did because you prayed for them
Or maybe because they saw that people are kind
And the people that were really kind to me that day were the ones who asked if they could pray for me
(26:40):
Why would they pray for me? What does that mean?
And then they start asking questions
Literally, things can happen just from you being kind to someone
And opening, you know, allowing God to show you that door that he just opened for you to go talk to that person and walking through it
So many things and that would have never happened if you didn't go talk to that person
Wow, I'm literally speaking to myself right now because that is one of my biggest struggles
(27:01):
I can tell my friends no about things a lot, but when it comes to talking to random people, I struggle with that
I really struggle with that, so that was really for me more than anyone else
This is not really fear of man specifically, but it is fear of situation, man-made situations
So, and it's one that a lot of people struggle with
(27:23):
And I'm going to share it because it's something that my husband and I have actually struggled with
Really very quick, like few sentences back story
My husband and I have one son and when, toward the end of my pregnancy, I stopped working completely
I went from working full-time for several years to no income at all
(27:47):
In fact, when I got out of high school, I had a very part-time job, it was very part-time, like once or twice a week
That was it
When I graduated high school, I went to full-time
Let me tell you, this girl was a workaholic
Some of you can definitely relate to me, I'm sure
But I was working all the time, doubles, occasionally triples, like all the time
(28:09):
Went to a different job, still working, over 40 hours a week, like I was working a lot
So there's that, went to no income on my part for a short time
And then I went back to part-time, but it was very flexible so that I could be home with my son
So there's the back story for you
Now, I do work from home, I watch a little boy full-time
(28:34):
But I still make significantly less than I used to
So here's what I'm going to talk about fearing God over fearing man-made situations
And also fearing man, because we're going to get to that in a second
I'm going to talk about this analogy, because it's something that a lot, a lot of people can relate to
(28:58):
Fear of poverty leads to greed, let's just be real here
My husband and I have struggled with this sin
We may not be greedy on the surface to some people, but we do struggle with this
And it might be subtle, but it's very real and it affects your whole life
(29:20):
When you're greedy, even in the slightest way
Fear of being broke in poverty leads to greed
Greed leads a man or woman to a life full of evil, leads to destruction, anxiety, depression, and death
But death not meaning like, I'm not meaning death like you're literally like if I'm greedy, then God's just going to strike me dead
(29:44):
No, it's not like that, I mean if that were the case then I would be dead, I would not be on this podcast right now
Death in this sense means you're not living a life worth living for anymore
It's, you know, the phrase like it sucks the life out of you, it's that kind of death
But, when you begin, oh my gosh, when you begin to fear God above your financial status and your financial comfortability
(30:07):
Then it means that you realize that God's will, no, no, let me rephrase that
It means that you realize that God will always provide what you need
If it's important to God for you to have it, then trust me, you're going to have it
Scripture says that God is your provider and your protector
And so fearing God over the situation means that you believe that, that God is going to provide what you need
(30:30):
He is going to protect you, you know, and so what you need to do is just do your part
Which means you need to manage your money wisely, steward your money wisely
Have the self-discipline to do the things you need to do to steward your money wisely
You know, and then God's going to do the rest
You just need to have self-discipline and strength and God's going to do everything else for you
(30:51):
He's going to line up all your ducks in a row perfectly
They're going to be perfectly lined up because God's lining them up and you're not, you're not lining them up
Your line would not look like a line, it's going to be zigzag and a circle, it's not going to be a line, a straight line
But God's will be
Saying no to hanging out with someone because it isn't in the budget
They may not understand why you're saying no
(31:14):
They may not get like, oh, just use a credit card or whatever, you know, whatever it is
They may not understand, but your faithfulness in that situation to God and his principles of not spending money frivolously
Will make a lasting impression on that friend even if you don't see the impression that it made right away
Fearing God brings peace, knowing and believing that God is your hope
(31:36):
God is in control, God is your provider, your healer, your helper, your protector
And the guy who just knows the very best timing for literally everything
And that's what's going to bring you peace
Which will lead to fear of God above fear of man and fear of circumstances
So, should we ever fear man? No
Literally, fear in this sense is only assigned to our actions toward God as his children
(32:02):
No man, listen to this, no man is powerful enough to deserve our fear in this way
We should respect others and love them, but this is not the same as adoring them in a worshipful way
There's a quote, Jerry Bridges said
The one who kneels before God can stand before men
The fear of God always displaces the fear of man
(32:26):
We cannot separate trust in God from the fear of God
We will trust him only to the extent that we genuinely stand in awe of him
You've got to trust that God is who he really says he is
And the closer you get to him, it's going to be so easy for you to see he really is who he says he is
And then you're not going to want to fear anyone else over him
Because he's God, and he's amazing
(32:48):
There's a blog post that I'm actually going to link below this episode
So I recommend you go read it just because it's someone else's perspective of what fear of God is over fear of man
And they use the example of Exodus 14
And Exodus 14 is whenever God rescues Israel from Egypt
(33:10):
And there's a passage that says
I'll just read this very small part of her blog post
It says, yet the Lord
Oh yeah, here we go
The Israelites became terrified when they saw the Egyptians approaching
Well, you would have to know a little bit of the context of this
But just, we're going to read the reaction
Exodus 14, 10 through 12
Yet the Lord reassured them through their leader Moses
(33:33):
And then miraculously delivered them
That's not scripture, that's her paraphrasing what is happening
He led them through the Red Sea on dry land while Pharaoh's army was swallowed up in defeat
This is the part you need to hear
What did the Israelites do in response to this amazing miracle?
Scripture tells us in Exodus 14, 31
When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians
(33:54):
The people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses
They literally saw God's power
They saw how amazing it was
Not that it was scary, but how amazing it was
And instead of reacting out of dread and terror because of how powerful he is
They said, wow, I love that God right there
(34:16):
I love him because he is so powerful and that is amazing what he just did
So they literally started believing in him
Living for God because of who he is
In response to God's great power, glory and deliverance
The Israelites feared him
They feared God because of what they'd seen him do
Because of who they knew him to be and how he had saved them in the face of the impossible
(34:39):
That's part of the blog post
So I'm going to link that
I suggest you just read that
She gives a little bit of her backstory of what she used to think
What fear was and how it was scary to her and yada yada yada
It's not a super long blog post either
So it's not a long read
Very good
Just so you have someone else's perspective on it
I'll link it down in the description below or whatever in the notes below
(35:00):
So the very last thing and it is very last and very quick
How do we get to this point of fearing God above fearing man
Where it almost gets to be second nature
I'm saying this as someone who is not there
It is not a second nature for me to fear God above every man like above all situations and above all men
I struggle with this
(35:21):
This is something that God has been pointing out to me because I've been struggling with this
So I'm still here
It's not like I'm preaching to you from a pulpit of I used to be
I used to struggle with fear of God
No, I fear of man
No, I still struggle with fear of man
So just hear me from that perspective
There are three steps that I have here
(35:43):
To living with and for God that are the three necessities
Necessities
These are necessities
They're not optional
Three steps to living with and for God that are the three necessities to true Christianity
Hear that term true
True Christianity meaning you are truly following God
You're not just saved and then you go live a life on your own
No, you're living life with and for God
(36:05):
And these are three essentials
Three necessities
One
Talking to God
There are so many of us myself included from time to time
Where we do not talk to God enough
We don't talk to him about the good things and the bad things
We don't talk to him every day
Some weeks we might be really good about just hanging out with God throughout the day
Like just randomly talking to him while we're doing whatever and anything and everything
(36:29):
And then there are weeks where we just are like dry
We do not talk to God hardly at all except for once a day maybe if even that sometimes
You've got to talk to him y'all
You just got to vomit your thoughts to God
Like literally that's what I say to people a lot
Like you just have to throw your thoughts up
Like when you're vomiting no one has to think about this
(36:51):
When you're vomiting you're not thinking about making sure that you're looking pretty or sounding nice or whatever
No you literally are just trying to like you can't even help it sometimes
You just throw it all up
Okay that's the same thing whenever you're talking to God
It doesn't have to be coherent to other people unless
Well there's a time for that
There is a time for that
But like whenever you're just sitting with God or doing the dishes or driving in the car or
(37:15):
I don't know you're sitting at your desk at work
Whatever the heck you're doing
You're not going to be worried it's just you and God
You're not going to be worried about other people think about you because it's just you and God
So just talk to him
Just say God Lee I hate doing these dishes
Why the heck do you want me to do these dishes?
How is this glorifying you God?
Talk to him about your misunderstandings and your questions your confusions
(37:39):
Talk to him about the good things too
Maybe you just went through five lights and they were all green
And you got to work in five minutes instead of ten
That's great
Wow thanks God
Did you see that?
Like I had five lights that were green
Heck yeah
Like you just talk about it even if it doesn't even make sense talk about it
Like and then the other thing with talking to God and this is essential also
(38:03):
It just kind of goes underneath this
Zep a repentance
We're going to do eventually at some point a episode about repentance
Because it is so hard but it is necessary
And it's also literally literally one of the most beautiful things in the entire world
And I've come to realize this not even that long ago
(38:26):
And it's so amazing and I absolutely love repentance
I hate it sometimes in the moment but also it's it's amazing I love it
And whenever you're talking to God you also need to be repenting daily weekly
Like it needs to be a regular thing whenever you have nasty thoughts
Whenever you are rude to someone whenever you I don't know insert thing here
(38:47):
You know big things little things all the things when you're talking to God you need to repent of those things
And repentance is not just saying God I did this and I feel guilty
But then you don't say I'm sorry and you don't turn away from those things
That's not repentance
Is when you're talking to God you tell him God I had a nasty thought earlier
(39:08):
And I know that did not glorify you and I know if I keep having those
Then it's just going to lead me down a life of destruction and it's going to actually pull me away from you
And I'm really sorry and you know I know I'm supposed to have self-discipline in those moments
But I don't really know how that's really hard for me
You know tell him those things and then tell him like God please show me
Give me a tool give me a resource give me something show me in the moment
(39:33):
Somehow where I can have that self-discipline give me the strength I need to have that self-discipline in that moment
And you know talk to him just and whenever you repent like that you're literally obliterating
Like all walls in between you and God are obliterated they are gone they do not exist anymore
So that you can just be yourself in front of God hug him because you can't hug him intimate
(39:57):
Like you can't hug him if there's walls between you guys there's a wall there
How you gonna hug him if there's a wall there you can't hug him
Obliterate those walls so that you can hug your father hug your God hug your friend hug your companion
Dude get rid of those walls the next thing is being in his word
(40:18):
There you know I'm not coming on here and saying you have to get up at this time every day and read one chapter
No you just open your word when you have time and make time that's the other thing though make time
Open his word talk to him for a few minutes however long you want and then you open his word and read a few verses
(40:41):
Go through a book of the Bible go to John and open it and read I don't know this I'm not looking at John
So I don't really know what verses 1 through 10 of chapter 1 are but start there read the first 10 verses or whatever
First section that flows together well and jot a few notes a few observations about it and then figure out
(41:02):
Okay what is the context of this who is he speaking to here and how could I apply this to my daily Christian life
My relationship with God how do I apply this to my struggles whatever it is how do I see God in this
Where is God in this passage and what is he doing and are there any characters about God you know just learn
All the things about God and about you and about all the things that you need to know about your life
(41:26):
And when you do that it's literally God's word it's literally God's word okay this is how you listen to God
You talk to God through prayer and then you listen to him through reading his word can he talk to you in other ways
Absolutely but the main way that he talks to us is through his word guys it's his word there are words coming out of my mouth
So you are listening to my words and in order to listen to God's words you have to open his word and listen to it
(41:56):
Okay that's all I want to say about that though the last thing and the thing there's a reason I said the other two steps before this
But this is the thing that you do this is the action you do in order to get over your fear of man to where you only fear God
Ready it's a grand thing obedience to God you're obeying him but it's not like you feel like you have to
(42:28):
It is an I mean you do have to in a way but you don't it's not a job to you it's not a dreadful thing
You're obeying him out of love scripture literally says look up obedience out of love for God verses on Google
You're going to find them there's a few there's quite a few obedience out of love for him
(42:50):
Obedience is the key to fearing God above man practice practicing obedience
Practice in this step will build and it will boost your confidence to the point where you won't fear man over God anymore
You just have to do it it's going to be scary the first few times might be scary the first 20 times that you have to step out in obedience
(43:15):
But because you love God do it again preaching waza I'm literally feeling convicted I'm no joke
And you won't be able to hear and see God's commands clearly you won't be able to see what he wants you to obey him about
You know at all if you're not talking to him and listening to him obedience comes from it's the step that comes from hearing his word
(43:43):
Like hearing him speak to you and talking to him so you got to do the other two things that's why I said those things
Obedience though is active obedience practicing obedience out of love for God is what is going to ultimately get you to fear God above fearing man
And you need strength and self-discipline to be able to obey him in that
(44:04):
It also seeps into your sin cycles in order to obey God obey the Holy Spirit's promptings if you need to put this sin away in this moment
You have to have self-discipline and strength to do that and then obey God out of love and say you know what I love you God so much that I don't even have I don't want to do this anymore I feel gross doing this
So you do you obey him in that way and you have to have strength from God
(44:30):
Philippians 4 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me that's what that verse is saying it's not saying I'm going to go jump off a cliff and God is going to save me
Could he yeah he could but it's not that it'd be foolish to go jump off a cliff don't do that
What I'm what it's saying is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me I can turn away from this sin because God is giving me strength that I don't have on my own but I have it through the Holy Spirit inside of me
(44:52):
And I have to self-discipline from God because I'm close to him to say no to this thing and that's obedience out of love for God also
So alright that's all I got for you guys I hope you guys have an amazing weekend or whatever this is supposed to come out on Friday we'll see if it comes out tomorrow or not but because this is Thursday
(45:13):
But if it doesn't hopefully you have a great day and a great rest of your week or whatever day it is
God, thank you so much for this day. I
(00:03):
Thank you for every single blessing that you've given me and everyone who's listening to this
Even the ones that we don't realize our blessings even the ones that we don't even see
God, I just thank you so much for this podcast and how it's reached
the as many people as it has and
how much it's impacted me and
Help keep me accountable and all the things God. I
(00:25):
I pray that every single person who's listening to this God
that you would plant seeds in their heart and that they would
if they haven't already started a relationship with you God that I pray that above anything else that they would and then
would further their relationship with you by being obedient to you and going out and talking to others about what you've done for them and
(00:48):
That they would just encourage others to go towards you also God
I pray that if
If it's your will that this podcast would reach so many people
And that they truly would see only you through this God
But they would see my love for you and that this whole podcast is just basically to show others and to remind myself that we are
(01:11):
sinners in
Need of a Savior and you are the Savior and I pray that if nothing else happens today from this episode
That at least one person would see that that they would have a desire to know you better
To see you more clearly
In Jesus's name, I pray
Amen
(01:33):
Hey guys, welcome back to our worship warriors podcast
Well, welcome back y'all
To our sports podcast is currently when I'm recording this
630 in the morning
That's lovely
Some of you who are listening to this probably got up a few hours later than I did maybe some of you before actually
(01:54):
And if it was before
630 while I'm sorry
I also got up early and I feel you because I am not someone who likes to get up early in the morning
As always I have a couple disclaimers you might hear whining in the background. That is my dog
He's on the struggle bus this week
He just got fixed and he also heard his little paw paws
(02:17):
His little paw paws have
Sores and burns on them the front two paws have like sores and burns on them because well long story short
He basically
Hopped up his front two paws onto this metal fence and
It was hot enough outside where the metal fence was hot and it literally left burns on his
(02:39):
Paws and it's really sad. He's been limping for like right now. He's walking. He's limping and like he'll stare at our bed
And he's just staring at it because he wants up there, but it's uncomfortable for him to jump up there
And so he still does just not very often
It's really sad because then he'll like just lay on the floor sometimes instead of jumping up on the bed
But anyway, he's staring at me right now or I guess not really staring at me, but he's wanting up here
(03:03):
Again, and we've helped him up here, but also we don't every time because it's like
Non-stop he gets down and then he wants back up, but he doesn't want to do it on his own, but it is really sad
Anyway, so he's whining
often
So that's what you're gonna be hearing. I'm sorry
Anyway
So not that anyone really cared about that, but I do so I was sharing with you
(03:28):
Anyway, so we're gonna just move on we're gonna as always just jump right into it
We're not really gonna beat around the bush a whole lot today's topic is fear of God versus fear of man
Now quick little backstory here. This has been something that God has just been and I mean
Constant he has been constantly revealing to me showing to me reminding me of and it's probably because it's something that from my whole life
(03:55):
I have struggled with probably and I feel like most people do so I know I'm not alone
But then you also know or see know of if you don't know personally, you know, you see these
strong
Christians out there who
Are just like
So grounded in their faith so grounded so close and intimately close to God
(04:20):
That they have no fear of man. It's like you can't you can't touch them and
I envy that and it's not like an unhealthy envy
It's just like a goal of mine that I want that but I know that that is a hard and long process to get to
That point so this is and this is essential. This is so essential
(04:41):
So we're gonna talk about what it actually means to fear God and we're gonna talk a little bit in depth about that today
so what does
What does fear mean in this sense? Like what whenever I say you need to fear God?
What does that mean? Because fear when I was a kid and this is a very common misunderstanding that I
Believe is just not
(05:03):
Taught enough. I think I think it's I mean, it's taught for sure. Like I've heard sermons
I've heard people talk about it on different things like whether it be a podcast or an article like a blog post or whatever
Like people do talk about it
But it's still just so
Misunderstood by many people often non-christians
(05:24):
But there are a lot of Christians who do misunderstand this or just like know that they want to live a life for God
They love God, but they just kind of ignore the term or the phrase
Fearing fear God or fear of God because they don't understand it
So they just don't talk about it because they don't want to talk about something they don't understand
But then they also don't research it and so I know I'm calling out somebody there because that was me for a while, too
(05:48):
So anyway fear of God does not mean
Dread or terror. It's like it's not like oh my gosh
I'm terrified of God and I'm so scared that he's gonna hurt me or
Whatever it is that I'm just gonna follow him so that he doesn't hurt me
It's not that like I don't fear God in that way. In fact, I don't believe God would ever harm me everything
he does is for his glory and for my benefit and
(06:12):
So sometimes I might go through struggles that is definitely an assured thing like I'm going to struggle
I'm going to have trials like that's in scripture
We're going to come across trials, but that doesn't mean that it's God being like, oh Sarah. I
I'm going to make you struggle
I'm going to send this trial so that you're so scared of me that you're not going to leave
(06:34):
It's not like he's an abuser, you know, he's not holding a gun to my head so that I don't leave his side
It it's nothing like that
Fear in this sense is
Not anything negative. In fact fear can be synonymous to
Living in awe of God you you are in awe of God you
(06:57):
Glorify him you have you know, you love him you have hope
Because of him you're acting out of reverence to God. That is what that is
So take all of your understandings of what fear is according to the world like being scared of
You know getting swept up by a tornado getting scared of
You know getting walking down the street and getting shot or kidnapped, you know, take all of those negative
(07:21):
Fears throw them out the window pretend like you've never heard the word fear
Okay, get in that mindset get in those shoes of I've never heard this term and now I'm looking it up and saying
Okay, what is this term? What is this term? I've never seen these four letters together. What is fear?
And it's this it's love hope glory all of God. You're acting out of reverence to God. That's what it is
(07:43):
This is for Christians though. You have to remember that if you are a non-christian
Your fear of God is actually going to look different and it's not the he's holding a gun to my head
It's more so of
If I'm if I'm not a Christian me Sarah say I'm not a Christian
I'm going to be scared if I if I actually see the power of God and see how powerful he is
(08:06):
Because he's literally the creator of all he literally can control anything
I'm going to be scared of him in the sense that if I die, I'm gonna suffer for all eternity and that's terrifying
If I'm a non-christian, I'm also scared because he's so powerful that
If I'm not living for him, he can just choose to take me out of this world anytime. He can choose to send
Punishment anytime he sees fit like he literally can do whatever he wants. He's God and that's scary
(08:31):
But if you're living for God if you have a relationship with him and you're just living a life out of love for him
You're obeying him out of love for him because you just you just love him and you don't want to do anything but love him
And when you're living that it's not a fear
Because you're like even though trials come I've got God on my side and he's gonna help me through this
(08:53):
He's gonna pull me out of my pits. He's going to help me have a self-discipline and strength that I need to do these things
I'm going to have peace because of him. It's not
You're scared of his power
It is you are in awe of his power
You are in awe of who he is and what he can do and what he has done and what he will do
For you and for others
(09:14):
and for the world in general and so let's talk about some examples to kind of just really
Write this into our minds so that we can really see what it means and these are gonna be pretty relatable for some people
I have three examples two of them are kind of similar to those so I may not do both of them, but one is a really
(09:36):
Relatable one for Christians when you first become a Christian and you first truly
Start to live a life for God. You're in your word
You are learning more about God and who he is and what he's done in the past what he's doing for you
You're recognizing these things of what he's done for you and what he can do for you
You see his promises you start talking to him
You know you break down all of the walls in between you guys you repent daily
(10:01):
You know you're getting away from these things because you see how beneficial it is to get away from these sinful things
And you're doing that with the strength and self-discipline God is giving you you know all these things
Okay, you're doing them
You're gonna start to see that some of these friends that you've had are not
Promoting God's story God's
(10:26):
His principles, he's they're not promoting anything that glorifies God and
Sometimes unfortunately God tells us
Hey, you need to break off this friendship
You need to respectfully say hey, I don't think we can be doing these things together anymore because
The life I want to live
Well, it just doesn't include these things and every person has the free will to do
(10:52):
What they want to do and so with my free will I'm choosing to go this way and it just
Unfortunately doesn't include getting drunk all the time. It unfortunately doesn't include
Having sex outside of marriage all the time. It unfortunately doesn't include all these things and well you say unfortunately
It's not unfortunate. So don't actually say that word. I guess sorry. I shouldn't have said that because it's not unfortunate for you
(11:16):
It's fortunate for you, but you're saying that because
In your saying you're telling your friend these things and it might completely ruin your relationship
And that's unfortunate for sure
But it's it's better for them and it's better for you and it really is better for them
And you may not see that in the moment
They may see it as wow that person like Sarah's a snob
(11:40):
But that first of all, you need to have the Holy Spirit guide you and how you say these things because you don't want to hurt that person
In fact, you want to encourage them closer to grow closer to God in this
So you do definitely need to be aware be aware of how you're speaking to God
Be aware of how you're speaking to them whenever you're having conversations like this
But anyway, so there's that but really let's just say a smaller scale thing instead of
(12:08):
I guess breaking off friendship sounds kind of harsh, but I don't really know how to word it right now in this moment
But instead of that, let's just talk about say another example of say like, you know
Same type of situation where you're growing closer to God and you see like say your friend texts you
And he or she let's just say she because a lot of the people listening to me are probably girls
(12:32):
As far as I know, but so say your friend texts you and it's like, hey
I really want to go bar hopping and we can just totally get drunk and call an Uber and it'll be super fun
Like those super, you know, be super laid back relaxed. We're just going to chill
We're going to have do whatever we want to do. Have fun
Do you have fun? Let's not worry about the responsibilities of this world. I just got drunk and have fun together, you know
(12:54):
Um, here's the thing folks that is not of God and let me tell you why I should have put this scripture in here
We are to be sober minded and sober minded doesn't necessarily in my opinion does not always literally mean
Don't get drunk. It's not just about alcohol. This is anything that's taking over your mind
Where it's altering your thoughts to where you're not thinking solely about God
(13:15):
Or maybe you are thinking irrationally irrational thoughts like that is not being sober sober is being rational
And you are just not letting anything overtake you other than God filling up your mind
So but that does include alcohol because one drink is not going to get you drunk
A couple drinks may not get you drunk, but a few beers is going
(13:38):
You know a few beers few shots that's going to get you drunk
And that is not being like literally actually not being sober minded, but also you're allowing something a substance to take over your mind
To where you can't think clearly enough to be rational about your intentions and glorifying God
And so that's what you know, it was just an example because it's also a relatable one a very common and relatable one
(14:01):
That's why I chose it. So you need to be sober minded literally and with everything else
That being said your friend texts you is like hey, let's totally not be sober minded
Let's be irrational and put ourselves in danger and all these things just for the you know to have the time of our life over here
And you know we can call an uber we can do all these things you're like no I can't do that anymore so you text them back
(14:26):
And you just have to this is where the fear of God comes in ready
You're going to be afraid more than likely of what your friend is going to think of you
You're going to be afraid that you're going to put walls in between you and your friend
You're going to be afraid they're going to reject you that you're going to be afraid that they're not going to want to hang around you
You might be afraid that they're going to start gossiping about you around your other friends and then it could cause problems with them
(14:50):
You don't want anyone you don't want anyone to have a tainted opinion of you and that's that is scary. That is a real scary thing
That is a real fear, but it's not biblical to have that fear
And so in this scenario specifically in order to have fear of God over fear of man
You have to realize in that moment as you're texting that person back or maybe right before or whatever you have to realize in your heart like
(15:16):
God's got me and here's what's going to happen
God's got me
God is way better than going to the bar and getting drunk
Like there's literally no comparison like I feel terrible for even putting that as a comparison because there's no comparison
At the end of the day if you die what what's going to happen? You're either going to go to heaven or hell, right?
(15:40):
At the end of the day, what's going to happen? Your friends could all leave you your friends could all
You know go off and do their own thing and leave you just drop you like you're nothing
But guess what you have the God the creator literally who is like don't worry Sarah
Don't worry Brooke. Don't worry John. I've got you and I want to be with you and I'm never leaving and you have to look
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Here's the here's the essential thing that helps me
More than anything else I and I'm saying this fearing God helps me more than anything else in my walk with him and in my
Obedience to him and it's this this reason alone. You have to see the court you have to see the bigger picture
We're going to go back to this analogy in a moment, but I'm going to kind of step off to the side for a minute
(16:27):
And tell you a different analogy
Whether you like basketball or not whether you are completely like sports
It's repulsive to you or maybe you like it is your life
Don't make it your life aside. No make God your life, but you know what I mean, like you're addicted or you're not or maybe you're somewhere in between
You're going down the court. You're the point guard right? You're dribbling you have your team
(16:50):
Even if you don't like sports, you can understand this. Okay. I'm going to make this very simple terms. Okay
You are dribbling down the court
Your goal is to make a shot and make it somebody on your team needs to do that
So you look over to your right and you see one of your teammates and they look wide open when you're looking directly at them to where you can
Throw them the ball. They're going to catch it and something great is going to happen something grand and they're going to make a shot, right?
(17:15):
At least that's your hope you're looking directly at them
You throw them the ball suddenly someone from the other team comes out of the way knocks the ball out of their path out of your teammates pathway
And grabs it and goes down the other side of the court and makes it a shot and makes it and they score
Okay, here's what you got to do to prevent that you have to look at the whole court
(17:36):
What is in front of you? You look at everything. You don't just look at that one person
You're looking at everyone on the court every person you are glancing you are
Stimming over that whole court so you can see every person on their team and on your team that way you can see
Oh, I see my teammates in my right here. I see that they look wide open
(17:59):
But when I look at every other person, I see that there's one person just a few feet away toward their left side
Who can jump over there and possibly get the ball? So here's the thing
You have to look at the whole court so that you don't make a mistake by throwing the ball to the wrong person
You have to look at the whole court so you can see who is open what way is open
(18:21):
You have to look at everything to see all possible opportunities as best you can rationally
So go back to your situation with your friend in order to look at the whole court in this scenario
This is what it looks like you take a step back in your mind and you say what is the big picture here?
If I go to this bar and I get drunk with my friend or I enable her to get drunk with
(18:44):
Even if I don't get drunk, you know
Then this is what's happening
This is what could happen is what you're gonna say and you're gonna run through all the scenarios
My friend could get so drunk and then she goes home with some guy and they go do something that they don't need to be doing
And maybe she gets pregnant like literally let's be real here
Another thing is your friend gets drunk and she gets hit by a car
(19:07):
Another thing is you get drunk and your friend get drunk and bad things happen to both of you
You could get kidnapped, you could get hit by a car also, you could get into an Uber that's really not an Uber
You could fall asleep on the side of the street and who knows what the heck is gonna happen to you then
You could make it home safely and soundly but here's the other thing that could happen after that happens
(19:29):
Your friend is going to be further away from God than she was before
You also will not be as close to God as you were before and you're gonna feel guilty about that
And then what if something happens to your friend and they die and go to hell because you did not stand up for your beliefs in God
You did not stand up for God in that situation and so they were not brought closer to God
(19:50):
But instead they were they were pushed further away from him
And then in turn not only are you discouraging your friend from growing closer to God
But you are also in turn going to discourage others through that friend because when they get further away from God
They're going to influence others further away from God also
But if you in that moment, in that moment you say, hey friend I'm really sorry
(20:15):
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or make you feel any type of way
I just am now a Christian and I personally believe that I don't need to be getting drunk anymore
And I just don't really want to anymore
It's just not a desire because it's not a desire of God's
And so I am really sorry if that offends you or if that upsets you
(20:40):
But I personally just don't want to do that anymore
So I think I'm going to pass on this on this hangout time
And then maybe wish her a good day and say please be safe and I love you
Yeah, and you know be respectful about it
And when you do that, let's step back and look at the whole court again
Okay, you step back and you look at the situation after you've said those things
(21:04):
Guess what you just did? You planted a seed in her heart
And you may not see the benefits of the seed
You may not see a you're not going to see a tree come from the seed immediately
Right a tree takes time to grow time. It takes water. It takes sun. It takes time
The roots really have to grow up and out
And so what you're doing is you're planting seeds and then as time goes on
(21:28):
The the reactions you have towards your friends actions and toward the way they speak to you
And the topics you guys are now going to no longer be talking about because of your relationship with God
Those are those conversations that you're going to have in the future from now
And I'm just going to be playing more seeds and watering those seeds
You're watering it rain is coming down on that tree
(21:51):
Sun is coming down on that tree years of you know aging for that tree. It's coming down and
That tree is going to grow and if that tree doesn't grow and it dies
It's not because you didn't do your job of sharing the gospel with that friend
It's because that friend unfortunately decided to not follow God the way you chose to
(22:12):
And at that point like I said, it's not your fault, but you have to fear God over that situation
You have to say I don't care. I mean you're going to care but just hear me out
Like I don't mean you're not not going to care. You're not going to be a cold stone person
But um, you're not going to care if you get rejected by people
You're not going to care what they think about you
(22:34):
You're not going to care if they go gossip to other people because you don't fear them
You fear God you are in awe of God and you love him so much
You want to honor him so much you want to glorify him so much because he is just that amazing to you
That you have peace knowing that no matter who rejects you you have God and that's all that really matters to you
(22:55):
That is what fearing God over fearing man is
My other example that kind of had some similarities to this and out into this example. I just gave you is I
Won't go into big detail because it's got some of the same ideas to it
It's like say you're at the store and the Holy Spirit is telling you to go talk to someone or pray for them or just ask them
How their days going or whatever it is?
(23:16):
But you are nervous of the reaction. Maybe you have a bit of social anxiety
Or whatever, you know, you're and you are just afraid of
Anything that could happen whether it be confrontation from that person
Whether it be you're just nervous to go talk to a new person that you don't know be outgoing, you know, maybe that's just scary to you
That's understandable. A lot of people struggle with that you are and I know you probably know this because this is something that
(23:41):
People talk about pretty often. I feel like is social anxiety
And it is a real thing. But let me tell you friend. It's it's not from God. You think Jesus had social anxiety?
Heck no, like I'm almost laughing at that. Like he literally did not look at scripture. Look at the Gospels
Where he's literally going around talking to anybody and every day everybody, you know, he's not afraid to talk to people
(24:03):
Social anxiety is not of God, but it is a real struggle
I struggle with this. This is actually I put this example in here because I personally struggle with this with a lot of things
Not everything but quite a few things and so it is a real struggle
So fearing God over fearing man in this situation would look similar to the texting your friend back situation
But it's just a completely different situation
(24:24):
So fearing God over man in this situation would be you're nervous of their reaction, their rejection, their potential confrontation
Their hatred, their judgment, whatever it is. Insert thing here
But because you fear God more you realize that at the end of the day what matters most is that souls are going to be saved
At the end of the day what matters most is seeds will be planted through you so that God can be glorified
(24:47):
And his kingdom can be grown by you going to talk to that person
So many things could happen if you go talk to that person and just say, hey, I just really feel led to ask you how your day's going
Or hey, I just really wanted to come over here and say I really love your bag or I really love those shoes
Where did you get those? And I could open an opportunity just being simply kind to that person
(25:10):
Could open an opportunity of them to mention something
Like even if it's not a full conversation they would they maybe they say, oh yeah, I got this bag because I just was really having a hard day the other day
And I wanted to go just walk around and look at some things just to get my mind off of what I was going through
And so I went to a thrift store and I found this for four bucks and I loved it
And then you should be like, oh man, I'm really sorry you were having a hard day
(25:34):
Is there anything I could pray for you over?
Like, can I pray for your hard day whether I know what it is or not? Do you mind?
And maybe they're going to be like, wow, no one's asked me if they can pray for me
Yes, please. Or maybe they say, no, I really don't want you to pray for me
And you'd be like, okay, that's totally fine
I just was wondering if I could, you know, pray for you, but it's totally fine
(25:56):
Well, I'm really sorry you had a hard day, but I really do love your bag
What thrift store did you get it from?
And then you could just move on and maybe close up the conversation
And then you could still pray for that person just not to them and in front of their face
You could quietly and secretly pray for them
That way where they don't know and they don't feel uncomfortable
But you're still praying such powerful prayers to a powerful God who can do powerful things in their life
(26:19):
You know? So go talk to that person
And if you didn't ever talk to that person, you wouldn't have known that they were struggling with something in the first place to pray for
So a lot of things can happen and then they could come to know God
Maybe you'll never find out that they did, but maybe they did because you prayed for them
Or maybe because they saw that people are kind
And the people that were really kind to me that day were the ones who asked if they could pray for me
(26:40):
Why would they pray for me? What does that mean?
And then they start asking questions
Literally, things can happen just from you being kind to someone
And opening, you know, allowing God to show you that door that he just opened for you to go talk to that person and walking through it
So many things and that would have never happened if you didn't go talk to that person
Wow, I'm literally speaking to myself right now because that is one of my biggest struggles
(27:01):
I can tell my friends no about things a lot, but when it comes to talking to random people, I struggle with that
I really struggle with that, so that was really for me more than anyone else
This is not really fear of man specifically, but it is fear of situation, man-made situations
So, and it's one that a lot of people struggle with
(27:23):
And I'm going to share it because it's something that my husband and I have actually struggled with
Really very quick, like few sentences back story
My husband and I have one son and when, toward the end of my pregnancy, I stopped working completely
I went from working full-time for several years to no income at all
(27:47):
In fact, when I got out of high school, I had a very part-time job, it was very part-time, like once or twice a week
That was it
When I graduated high school, I went to full-time
Let me tell you, this girl was a workaholic
Some of you can definitely relate to me, I'm sure
But I was working all the time, doubles, occasionally triples, like all the time
(28:09):
Went to a different job, still working, over 40 hours a week, like I was working a lot
So there's that, went to no income on my part for a short time
And then I went back to part-time, but it was very flexible so that I could be home with my son
So there's the back story for you
Now, I do work from home, I watch a little boy full-time
(28:34):
But I still make significantly less than I used to
So here's what I'm going to talk about fearing God over fearing man-made situations
And also fearing man, because we're going to get to that in a second
I'm going to talk about this analogy, because it's something that a lot, a lot of people can relate to
(28:58):
Fear of poverty leads to greed, let's just be real here
My husband and I have struggled with this sin
We may not be greedy on the surface to some people, but we do struggle with this
And it might be subtle, but it's very real and it affects your whole life
(29:20):
When you're greedy, even in the slightest way
Fear of being broke in poverty leads to greed
Greed leads a man or woman to a life full of evil, leads to destruction, anxiety, depression, and death
But death not meaning like, I'm not meaning death like you're literally like if I'm greedy, then God's just going to strike me dead
(29:44):
No, it's not like that, I mean if that were the case then I would be dead, I would not be on this podcast right now
Death in this sense means you're not living a life worth living for anymore
It's, you know, the phrase like it sucks the life out of you, it's that kind of death
But, when you begin, oh my gosh, when you begin to fear God above your financial status and your financial comfortability
(30:07):
Then it means that you realize that God's will, no, no, let me rephrase that
It means that you realize that God will always provide what you need
If it's important to God for you to have it, then trust me, you're going to have it
Scripture says that God is your provider and your protector
And so fearing God over the situation means that you believe that, that God is going to provide what you need
(30:30):
He is going to protect you, you know, and so what you need to do is just do your part
Which means you need to manage your money wisely, steward your money wisely
Have the self-discipline to do the things you need to do to steward your money wisely
You know, and then God's going to do the rest
You just need to have self-discipline and strength and God's going to do everything else for you
(30:51):
He's going to line up all your ducks in a row perfectly
They're going to be perfectly lined up because God's lining them up and you're not, you're not lining them up
Your line would not look like a line, it's going to be zigzag and a circle, it's not going to be a line, a straight line
But God's will be
Saying no to hanging out with someone because it isn't in the budget
They may not understand why you're saying no
(31:14):
They may not get like, oh, just use a credit card or whatever, you know, whatever it is
They may not understand, but your faithfulness in that situation to God and his principles of not spending money frivolously
Will make a lasting impression on that friend even if you don't see the impression that it made right away
Fearing God brings peace, knowing and believing that God is your hope
(31:36):
God is in control, God is your provider, your healer, your helper, your protector
And the guy who just knows the very best timing for literally everything
And that's what's going to bring you peace
Which will lead to fear of God above fear of man and fear of circumstances
So, should we ever fear man? No
Literally, fear in this sense is only assigned to our actions toward God as his children
(32:02):
No man, listen to this, no man is powerful enough to deserve our fear in this way
We should respect others and love them, but this is not the same as adoring them in a worshipful way
There's a quote, Jerry Bridges said
The one who kneels before God can stand before men
The fear of God always displaces the fear of man
(32:26):
We cannot separate trust in God from the fear of God
We will trust him only to the extent that we genuinely stand in awe of him
You've got to trust that God is who he really says he is
And the closer you get to him, it's going to be so easy for you to see he really is who he says he is
And then you're not going to want to fear anyone else over him
Because he's God, and he's amazing
(32:48):
There's a blog post that I'm actually going to link below this episode
So I recommend you go read it just because it's someone else's perspective of what fear of God is over fear of man
And they use the example of Exodus 14
And Exodus 14 is whenever God rescues Israel from Egypt
(33:10):
And there's a passage that says
I'll just read this very small part of her blog post
It says, yet the Lord
Oh yeah, here we go
The Israelites became terrified when they saw the Egyptians approaching
Well, you would have to know a little bit of the context of this
But just, we're going to read the reaction
Exodus 14, 10 through 12
Yet the Lord reassured them through their leader Moses
(33:33):
And then miraculously delivered them
That's not scripture, that's her paraphrasing what is happening
He led them through the Red Sea on dry land while Pharaoh's army was swallowed up in defeat
This is the part you need to hear
What did the Israelites do in response to this amazing miracle?
Scripture tells us in Exodus 14, 31
When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians
(33:54):
The people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses
They literally saw God's power
They saw how amazing it was
Not that it was scary, but how amazing it was
And instead of reacting out of dread and terror because of how powerful he is
They said, wow, I love that God right there
(34:16):
I love him because he is so powerful and that is amazing what he just did
So they literally started believing in him
Living for God because of who he is
In response to God's great power, glory and deliverance
The Israelites feared him
They feared God because of what they'd seen him do
Because of who they knew him to be and how he had saved them in the face of the impossible
(34:39):
That's part of the blog post
So I'm going to link that
I suggest you just read that
She gives a little bit of her backstory of what she used to think
What fear was and how it was scary to her and yada yada yada
It's not a super long blog post either
So it's not a long read
Very good
Just so you have someone else's perspective on it
I'll link it down in the description below or whatever in the notes below
(35:00):
So the very last thing and it is very last and very quick
How do we get to this point of fearing God above fearing man
Where it almost gets to be second nature
I'm saying this as someone who is not there
It is not a second nature for me to fear God above every man like above all situations and above all men
I struggle with this
(35:21):
This is something that God has been pointing out to me because I've been struggling with this
So I'm still here
It's not like I'm preaching to you from a pulpit of I used to be
I used to struggle with fear of God
No, I fear of man
No, I still struggle with fear of man
So just hear me from that perspective
There are three steps that I have here
(35:43):
To living with and for God that are the three necessities
Necessities
These are necessities
They're not optional
Three steps to living with and for God that are the three necessities to true Christianity
Hear that term true
True Christianity meaning you are truly following God
You're not just saved and then you go live a life on your own
No, you're living life with and for God
(36:05):
And these are three essentials
Three necessities
One
Talking to God
There are so many of us myself included from time to time
Where we do not talk to God enough
We don't talk to him about the good things and the bad things
We don't talk to him every day
Some weeks we might be really good about just hanging out with God throughout the day
Like just randomly talking to him while we're doing whatever and anything and everything
(36:29):
And then there are weeks where we just are like dry
We do not talk to God hardly at all except for once a day maybe if even that sometimes
You've got to talk to him y'all
You just got to vomit your thoughts to God
Like literally that's what I say to people a lot
Like you just have to throw your thoughts up
Like when you're vomiting no one has to think about this
(36:51):
When you're vomiting you're not thinking about making sure that you're looking pretty or sounding nice or whatever
No you literally are just trying to like you can't even help it sometimes
You just throw it all up
Okay that's the same thing whenever you're talking to God
It doesn't have to be coherent to other people unless
Well there's a time for that
There is a time for that
But like whenever you're just sitting with God or doing the dishes or driving in the car or
(37:15):
I don't know you're sitting at your desk at work
Whatever the heck you're doing
You're not going to be worried it's just you and God
You're not going to be worried about other people think about you because it's just you and God
So just talk to him
Just say God Lee I hate doing these dishes
Why the heck do you want me to do these dishes?
How is this glorifying you God?
Talk to him about your misunderstandings and your questions your confusions
(37:39):
Talk to him about the good things too
Maybe you just went through five lights and they were all green
And you got to work in five minutes instead of ten
That's great
Wow thanks God
Did you see that?
Like I had five lights that were green
Heck yeah
Like you just talk about it even if it doesn't even make sense talk about it
Like and then the other thing with talking to God and this is essential also
(38:03):
It just kind of goes underneath this
Zep a repentance
We're going to do eventually at some point a episode about repentance
Because it is so hard but it is necessary
And it's also literally literally one of the most beautiful things in the entire world
And I've come to realize this not even that long ago
(38:26):
And it's so amazing and I absolutely love repentance
I hate it sometimes in the moment but also it's it's amazing I love it
And whenever you're talking to God you also need to be repenting daily weekly
Like it needs to be a regular thing whenever you have nasty thoughts
Whenever you are rude to someone whenever you I don't know insert thing here
(38:47):
You know big things little things all the things when you're talking to God you need to repent of those things
And repentance is not just saying God I did this and I feel guilty
But then you don't say I'm sorry and you don't turn away from those things
That's not repentance
Is when you're talking to God you tell him God I had a nasty thought earlier
(39:08):
And I know that did not glorify you and I know if I keep having those
Then it's just going to lead me down a life of destruction and it's going to actually pull me away from you
And I'm really sorry and you know I know I'm supposed to have self-discipline in those moments
But I don't really know how that's really hard for me
You know tell him those things and then tell him like God please show me
Give me a tool give me a resource give me something show me in the moment
(39:33):
Somehow where I can have that self-discipline give me the strength I need to have that self-discipline in that moment
And you know talk to him just and whenever you repent like that you're literally obliterating
Like all walls in between you and God are obliterated they are gone they do not exist anymore
So that you can just be yourself in front of God hug him because you can't hug him intimate
(39:57):
Like you can't hug him if there's walls between you guys there's a wall there
How you gonna hug him if there's a wall there you can't hug him
Obliterate those walls so that you can hug your father hug your God hug your friend hug your companion
Dude get rid of those walls the next thing is being in his word
(40:18):
There you know I'm not coming on here and saying you have to get up at this time every day and read one chapter
No you just open your word when you have time and make time that's the other thing though make time
Open his word talk to him for a few minutes however long you want and then you open his word and read a few verses
(40:41):
Go through a book of the Bible go to John and open it and read I don't know this I'm not looking at John
So I don't really know what verses 1 through 10 of chapter 1 are but start there read the first 10 verses or whatever
First section that flows together well and jot a few notes a few observations about it and then figure out
(41:02):
Okay what is the context of this who is he speaking to here and how could I apply this to my daily Christian life
My relationship with God how do I apply this to my struggles whatever it is how do I see God in this
Where is God in this passage and what is he doing and are there any characters about God you know just learn
All the things about God and about you and about all the things that you need to know about your life
(41:26):
And when you do that it's literally God's word it's literally God's word okay this is how you listen to God
You talk to God through prayer and then you listen to him through reading his word can he talk to you in other ways
Absolutely but the main way that he talks to us is through his word guys it's his word there are words coming out of my mouth
So you are listening to my words and in order to listen to God's words you have to open his word and listen to it
(41:56):
Okay that's all I want to say about that though the last thing and the thing there's a reason I said the other two steps before this
But this is the thing that you do this is the action you do in order to get over your fear of man to where you only fear God
Ready it's a grand thing obedience to God you're obeying him but it's not like you feel like you have to
(42:28):
It is an I mean you do have to in a way but you don't it's not a job to you it's not a dreadful thing
You're obeying him out of love scripture literally says look up obedience out of love for God verses on Google
You're going to find them there's a few there's quite a few obedience out of love for him
(42:50):
Obedience is the key to fearing God above man practice practicing obedience
Practice in this step will build and it will boost your confidence to the point where you won't fear man over God anymore
You just have to do it it's going to be scary the first few times might be scary the first 20 times that you have to step out in obedience
(43:15):
But because you love God do it again preaching waza I'm literally feeling convicted I'm no joke
And you won't be able to hear and see God's commands clearly you won't be able to see what he wants you to obey him about
You know at all if you're not talking to him and listening to him obedience comes from it's the step that comes from hearing his word
(43:43):
Like hearing him speak to you and talking to him so you got to do the other two things that's why I said those things
Obedience though is active obedience practicing obedience out of love for God is what is going to ultimately get you to fear God above fearing man
And you need strength and self-discipline to be able to obey him in that
(44:04):
It also seeps into your sin cycles in order to obey God obey the Holy Spirit's promptings if you need to put this sin away in this moment
You have to have self-discipline and strength to do that and then obey God out of love and say you know what I love you God so much that I don't even have I don't want to do this anymore I feel gross doing this
So you do you obey him in that way and you have to have strength from God
(44:30):
Philippians 4 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me that's what that verse is saying it's not saying I'm going to go jump off a cliff and God is going to save me
Could he yeah he could but it's not that it'd be foolish to go jump off a cliff don't do that
What I'm what it's saying is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me I can turn away from this sin because God is giving me strength that I don't have on my own but I have it through the Holy Spirit inside of me
(44:52):
And I have to self-discipline from God because I'm close to him to say no to this thing and that's obedience out of love for God also
So alright that's all I got for you guys I hope you guys have an amazing weekend or whatever this is supposed to come out on Friday we'll see if it comes out tomorrow or not but because this is Thursday
(45:13):
But if it doesn't hopefully you have a great day and a great rest of your week or whatever day it is
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