0:00 Morning [Music] family. It's good to see you all. As we were singing, 0:17 um I was reminded of a verse in Hebrews 2. If you could please turn there with me. Look at this together. As I was uh shared recently, my 0:36 times of singing and praise in the church have been transformed over the last few years where it's not just singing songs or listening to others sing songs. I've been in many churches before I came here where 0:54 uh the the production of the music was so uh tight and so well maintained, well organized that I I didn't see Jesus in it. Now, it might have been my fault. I'm not here to judge anybody else for it. 1:12 We can never blame our circumstances for not being able to see Jesus. Jesus is there if you want to see him. But those things can be a distraction I believe. And for immature Christians like I was at that time, it was difficult for me to see Jesus because 1:29 the music was so good. And I fear when the music is so good that we don't see Jesus. Thank God that the music in this church is not that great. So we can actually see Jesus. Um and not, you know, we seek to sing well and play well. Nothing 1:47 wrong with that, but we don't make such a big deal out of it that we hide Jesus. There's a wonderful poem sometime I'll read it or share it with us as a church where talks about the effective preacher who shined his lamp, held up the lamp of 2:03 truth so close to the face of Jesus that you couldn't see the one whose hand was holding the torch. And I've thought about that often when I sing, when I lead the singing or preach to shine the lamp on the face of Jesus. 2:18 The poem goes on to talk about a trumpet blast so clear that you don't see the face of the one who's blowing the trumpet and uh proclaiming Jesus so clearly. Dear family, our responsibility as a 2:37 church is not to draw people into this building. Praise God that he does add to our midst, but our responsibility is to present Jesus so clearly that people go away wanting to know him. After every meeting, I leave here wanting to know 2:55 Jesus more. And I hope that's why you're here at RLCF that you want to be around a group of people where when we meet. I'm not interested in what's at for lunch or are we going to play soccer today or baseball or that will sure we'll do 3:11 that. But I leave here saying Lord I want to know you more intimately. My heart has been drawn to you through this meeting that we just had that I want to know you. When I go home and I'm by myself in my thought life, in my 3:26 attitudes, in my motives, I want to know you. Our job as elders in this church is to fan the flame of that desire that you'll know Jesus more and that God will bring into this place those who want that. not just people who want to 3:43 go to heaven, who want to know Jesus more. And as I stood here singing, um I wondered where Jesus is. And I've often pictured Jesus here on a throne in front of us that we're looking towards. And that's true. He is seated on a 4:02 throne. We look to him. He's seated in the heavenlies. But I also saw a picture in a in a wonderful way of Jesus right here in the middle. In fact, that's what we're told here in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews 2 4:21 verse 9. We do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels. We sang about that for a time made lower than the angels, namely Jesus. because of the suffering of death. 4:39 You know, just the fact that Jesus died is worse. For God to suffer death is worse than anything anybody could ever experience. That's what I see in this verse. We've all gone through suffering. We are all going through suffering 4:56 perhaps and facing different difficult circumstances. Uh I when I think about how the way the ways in which some of the people suffered during World War II in concentration camps and such like that and it's just breaks my heart to think 5:14 about what all they had to suffer. Immense innocent people simply because of their race or whatever. They had to suffer such torture, gas chambers and they died there. And I think about the worst suffering 5:32 that's ever experienced by any human being. And there nothing nothing comes close to the fact that God had to die. Now we don't really fully understand that because we are in flesh. Death is our natural our natural destination. 5:51 And so we're like death. Yeah, we've learned now that death is okay because of what's on the other side of it. But I think only when we see God, the eternal being, will we know what it was for God to suffer because of the suffering of 6:07 death. Because of that, because Jesus was the one willing to suffer death, he's crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him, for whom are 6:23 all things. Now it's talking about um uh it was fitting for him for whom are all things and through whom are all things. He's talking about the father now in bringing many sons to glory. 6:41 It was fitting that the way he would do that was to perfect the author of their salvation that is Jesus through sufferings. This the only way it could fit that we could be sons of God and daughters of God. It had to be through 7:01 Jesus suffering. Then this verse where I wanted us to get to. For both he who sanctifies, that's Jesus, and those who are sanctified, that's you and I, are all from one father. 7:19 For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to lower himself to our level and say I'm just going to be your brother. He who was God was equal with God and is God and always will be God who was equal with the father didn't 7:38 consider equality with the father something to hold on to. If he had held on to that equality we would have never had a way of salvation. And because he didn't say, "I'm going to hold on to my place." He lowered himself 7:52 and made himself like us. We have a way of salvation. For this reason, he's not ashamed to say, "I'm just your brother." The one we sang to, the one who sits on the throne, 8:09 saying, verse 12, "I will proclaim your name to my brethren." And in the middle of the congregation, I will sing your name. I found Jesus sitting next to me, right here in the middle. I saw a little bit more of the humility 8:27 of Jesus that he's he doesn't even want to be the song leader. Many people say, "I want to be the song leader. I want to be the preacher." They don't know Jesus. If you really want to know Jesus, you'll find him where he is in the middle of 8:42 the congregation singing, allowing somebody else to lead the singing. So be it as it were. This is Jesus, man and God. And yes, forever he will be the lamb upon the throne 9:00 and we'll sing to him. I pray that Jesus becomes more precious to us, church. Then we're really growing spiritually. That we understand Jesus in all his glory and majesty and his humility and his humanity. 9:17 Though you know all my ways, I praise you for your faithfulness. What are your ways? I often think about that whenever I sing that song. My ways are what you don't know. You know my words. You know my actions, but what you don't 9:34 know is my ways. And even I believe even our closest friends and companions, our spouses don't really know our ways. That is a secret secret area that only I know and God knows. Imagine if everything about you, those things that even your closest friends 9:54 don't know about you, that thing which you've hidden so well, you really nobody really knows that that's who you are deep down, what's in your blood, as it were. And if somebody knew that, would they still love you? If your wife really knew 10:11 what you are like deep down under the covers and she would still love you. Would your if your husband really knew what's deep down in your thoughts that that they don't know, would they still love you? Here's one. A savior, a God who knows 10:26 you through and through. He knows the darkest thing you've done, the worst possible thing you've done. He knows what you're going to do, the ways in which you're going to sin. and he loves you. And I sat there, I said, "Lord, you're 10:44 faithful. You truly are faithful that you would love a wretch like me. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. He set you free from prison so that you would come and live in the palace." 11:02 He set you free from prison so that you would come and live in the palace. There's a simple question the spirit asked me today as I was singing, as I heard the children say that verse over and over again. Are you living in the 11:17 palace? I want to ask you that question, dear brothers and sisters and children, are you living in the palace? For a lot of Christians, Christ has redeemed them from the curse of the law, but they're not in the palace. And the 11:31 palace, I want to tell you, you've heard it in this church many times, it's not heaven. And if the devil has fooled you into thinking that the palace is heaven, let's open our eyes. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the 11:45 law so that I would live in the palace. And what is the palace? Somebody who memorized that verse can tell us. It is that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith. And yet there are so many Christians living dry 12:01 lives, lacking the power of the Holy Spirit, lacking a life that is joy 24/7. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. Lacking a jo a life that is 24/7 love for every single person in the world. 12:20 Doesn't matter who it is. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. A life that is 24/7 peace in every circumstance. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. A life that is free from complaining and bad moods. 12:36 This is the promise of the spirit through faith. A life that is free from gossip where I have control over my tongue. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. Now when you break it down like that, brother, sister, are 12:47 you living in the palace? has Christ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so that and we're told over and over again about the bad example of the Israelites who were set free from Egypt but never made it into the promised land 13:07 when God made a promise to the people of Israel that he would set them free from slavery in Egypt he said and I'm taking you to a land flowing with milk of milk and honey and of the people that he gave that promise two, he said, "I'm going to take 13:22 you out of the land of Egypt and take you to a land of flowing with milk and honey." It was one promise, two parts to it. And of the people that he gave that two-fold promise to, do you know how many actually received the full promise? How many? Two 13:42 out of a million. Two out of a million people. Think about it. God said, "You 1 million 1 million people, I want all of you who I'm I'm taking out of the land of Egypt," which he did, to go into the land flowing with milk and honey. And two out of a 14:00 million, that's 0.002%. Two out of a million. What a sad story. Do you think that that story is going to play itself out again with Galatians 3:13 and 14? It is, brothers. I I fear God's word. I 14:19 reverence God's word. and say, "Lord, let it not be that I'm one of that 99 many many many many z% of people and you look at me and say, Santosh, I said that I set you redeemed you from the curse of the law so that 14:39 you would have the promise of the spirit through faith and you just sat around and went day after day without receiving the promise of the spirit through faith that I wanted you to have this life here on this earth. Let's claim it. Brothers 14:54 and sisters, you don't have to be good enough. You don't have to try hard enough, but you must have faith. Two things we've heard about to receive the promise of the spirit through faith. You must believe first of all, and you 15:07 must thirst. And that thirst will be proven through the fact that you will ask and you will keep on asking. And you will seek and keep on seeking. You will knock and keep on knocking until you receive it. And I hear testimonies of 15:22 brother of people who said Santos, I've asked for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the spirit and for years and I I don't seem to have it. And then I asked them, well, have you stopped asking? If you have, then you 15:35 didn't have faith. Faith is Lord, I'm you said you would give it to me. You didn't tell me how long I needed to ask or anything like that, but you said you would give me the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the spirit through faith, and I'm not 15:50 going to stop asking. That's how much I trust that you're going to fulfill your promise. Amen. Let's do that, family. Let's receive the promise of the spirit through faith. Let's ask um as a a phrase that I heard from Dale 16:12 Moody, not from him personally. I've never met him, but one day I hope to meet him. Uh but he said something. He said, "Our greatest fear should be should not be failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter." I want you to 16:29 think about what he said. Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding in something that doesn't really matter. And I think about that often in terms of building the church that 16:47 what would it be like if in the world's eyes we were a successful church? The many churches in the world today that people consider that's a successful church and they may even look successful. They've been around for so 17:00 long, decades, dozens of years, centuries, even hundreds of years. Some churches have been around. They pride themselves. Some of them say, "We were the first church or we were the second first church." And this is what's going on in Christendom 17:17 today. And none of that means anything. Are we doing that which will really matter? That's my greatest fear that we will succeed at something here on this earth. We'll have a successful church and perhaps even a successful looking 17:34 marriage and a successful looking family and successful looking children and all that, but it won't really matter in eternity. And I keep that phrase goes through my mind often when I think about everything that I'm doing and say, 17:46 "Lord, if what I'm doing right now isn't really going to matter in eternity, then show me, Lord, and I'll quit. If my job that I'm doing isn't I'm not doing it with eternity in view. It doesn't matter how much money I'm making. If it's not 18:00 going to really matter, Lord, I better give up now and and do something that will matter. Now, it doesn't mean that we quit our jobs and just become monks and nuns and lock ourselves up in a monastery or form a commune like some people think it 18:14 means to live for God. No, God is glorified in the everyday things of our lives. in the jobs you do, in the school that you go to children or homeschooling that you do and the lessons you learn is how you do it. It's the attitude of our heart to glorify 18:30 God, to reverence him. And as I've been speaking over the last few times that I've been speaking, the reverence for the Lord is what's on my heart much. This is what will last for all eternity. That which is done out of reverence for 18:47 God. Let's turn to a verse in Romans chapter 11. If we seek to do everything out of 19:04 reverence for God, then we know it will be of eternal value. It will last in eternity because that's what heaven is about. That's what we're going to do for all eternity. Reverence him. When I read the book of Revelation, I see two 19:19 things. I see reverence and joy. It says, "In thy presence is fullness of joy." That's what I see in heaven. I read the book of Revelation and I see how it describes the multitude that's before him. I see joy, overflowing joy. 19:35 And I see reverence for God. They bow down before him. They cast their crowns before him. And as I read that, I start to examine my own life and say, 'Lord, am I experiencing more of heaven? Here's a simple test, family, to know that 19:50 you're growing more and that you're actually a little bit more ready for heaven than you were, say, a year ago. Here we are, October 5th, 2025. Compare that with October 5th, 2024. Are you really a little bit more ready 20:07 for heaven? You say, "Lord, come and take me to heaven." Well, are you ready for heaven? How? More reverence for God and for his name and more joy in God himself despite my circumstances. That's readiness for heaven. So, we can examine our lives in that 20:27 light. And I'll maybe I'll show you a few verses in Revelation shortly. But first this verse, Romans 11:36. For from him, we're speaking about reverence for God. From him and through him and to him. I think of it like a 20:44 cycle. From him, everything beginning with God. What you're doing is it is God the origin of it? Yes. Sure. Maybe you have to code something today or write a document or do something with your hands and excavate something or build 21:01 something. It doesn't matter what it is. But are you doing it out of a calling from God? God originating it through him. That is by his power saying, "Lord, help me today. I've got to go to these meetings or I've got to 21:16 do this and I've got to earn my living by working hard. Help me, Lord, to do it. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. that what I do will be through you. You see how we speak so often in the church about the importance of being filled 21:29 with the Holy Spirit because if you did it and you did it without the power of the Holy Spirit, guess what? It's not going to matter in heaven. You did it in your own strength. And like Moody reminded us, our greatest fear should be not of having a 21:45 successful day where my boss said, "Good job. Here's a bonus for how well you worked." That's that that's what I fear that I get that but I didn't do it out of the power of the Holy Spirit. It didn't come from God through God and to God for his glory. I 22:02 did it for some earthly gain or for some earthly glory. I say, Lord, whether I get the bonus or not, whether I get the increase in salary or not, that's up to you and up to my boss. That's fine. But I want it to matter in eternity. 22:16 I want it to be of eternal value. My greatest fear today then ought to tomorrow ought to be that I go to work and what I did was a waste where somebody else doing exactly the same thing did it for God's glory and for his 22:31 honor and out of a desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So tomorrow, before you do whatever it is you're going to do tomorrow, whether it's school, home, or in the workplace, say, "Lord, fill me with your spirit that everything I do today, every word I 22:45 speak, every thought I think, every deed I do, every attitude and motive and goal will be by your power. For from him, through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen." 23:04 Unless we become so super spiritual that we think, well, then let's just go lock ourselves up in a in a monastery and pray whole the whole day and sing songs the whole day. He says, "No, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present 23:17 your body in the workplace and at home in front of the kitchen sink and in and in the laundry room and um while you're making the beds and while you're in the workplace perhaps or while you're sitting studying physics or economics or 23:32 math, present your body as a living sacrifice." You see how practical it is to do something that's of eternal value. this living body, a living sacrifice. Present your body, present your eyes to him. What you look at tomorrow will 23:51 determine whether it's of eternal value or not. What what you say with your tongue, what you listen to with your ears, every part of your body, break it down. where you go with your legs, what you do with your hands, what you think 24:03 with your mind. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice in this from him, through him, and to him. Let's turn to the book of Revelation. I think a few verses maybe where we get a little bit of the taste of heaven, the 24:19 reverence for God, and the joy in his presence that we ought to be experiencing. I believe I want it. And I'll be honest with you, family, I I I don't have it. I'm convicted by it. I don't have it the way I want it and the 24:33 way I believe it is going it's going to be like in heaven. And I wanted to grow. Think about this. Reverence for God and real joy. Such joy that the ups and downs that used to determine my joy on this earth are not noticed anymore. What 24:49 do I mean by that? Oh, you won the soccer game. Yeah, it's irrelevant. Why? Because I've got a joy, the joy of heaven in my heart. Oh, you got a little bit more money in the in the workplace. Okay, but that's that pales in 25:01 comparison to the joy of heaven. And oh, that the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts with such joy from heaven that the little trifling joys of this earth don't affect us as much anymore. Revelation 1, let's begin. Let's see 25:19 verse 17. This is John. The same man who when Jesus was here on this earth leaned his head on his shoulder and he was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. The same John. Now he's 90 years old. And he sees Jesus again 25:37 60 years later. He sees Jesus. When I saw him, the same one whom I leaned my head on his shoulder. I fell at his feet like a dead man. This is reverence for the Lord. I hear a lot of songs that speak about 25:56 Jesus and um just dancing my way into heaven and and all that. And sure, there will be joy. We'll get to the joy. We'll see that here. But I know that my first response when I see Jesus will be like John's to fall on my face like a dead 26:11 man. This is the one who died for me. This is the one who suffered and wore the crown of thorns and was beaten and scarred. This glorious one. This is the one whom I dared to call friend and brother. I say, Lord, I 26:29 thought I re reverenced you. Teach me true reverence. And oh that we might see this now on earth. A true reverence for God. Turn a few chapters. That's reverence for God. Chapter 15. Revelation chapter 15. Revelation 15. This is John getting a 26:57 picture of heaven. And it's been recorded in the book in the Bible so that we can get a picture of heaven. For what purpose? Is it simply so that I know when I get there I'll have that? No. Then you haven't received of the 27:11 promise of the spirit through faith. Has heaven really come down into your heart so that when you read Revelation 15, you say, "Lord, if that's happening there in heaven, in your presence right now, and you've the curtain has been rent so that 27:24 I can come into your presence here in Loveland, Colorado, then this ought to be true in my heart today. Give me heaven here on this earth, Lord." Make that the cry of your heart, family. Give me heaven here on this earth. Then I 27:37 know I'll be ready for heaven. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. Revelation 15, I saw verse two, I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the 27:50 number of his name standing on the sea of glass holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bondervant of God, and the song of the lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your words, O Lord God, the Almighty. 28:06 Righteous and true are your ways, King of the armies. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. 28:24 See that reverence that they have for him. I mean, these are the ones who actually are seeing him face to face. Is this spirit in your heart today, brothers, sisters, children? Turn over. Revelation chapter 19 verse, let's begin reading in verse one. 28:49 This is um the rejoicing that's happening at the marriage of the lamb. Again, as you listen to these words, family, let's say, Lord, give me this spirit in my heart today. What a difference it would be if tomorrow in your everyday mundane looking earthly 29:07 circumstance, you have a little bit of Revelation 19 in your heart. This is the promise of the spirit through faith. I'm not waiting for Revelation 19 to be true a thousand years from now when I'm in in heaven physically. I'm saying, Lord, you 29:20 came and you rent the veil so that I could come freely into the presence of the father. We say, "Lord, let your presence be in our midst, in our meetings, and let your presence be with us in everything we do." So that what? 29:31 Revelation 19 would be true. Now, Revelation 19:1, After these things, I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, "Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God." Make that the prayer of your heart 29:50 today. Is that the song that's rising up from your heart? Because his judgments are true and righteous, for he has judged the great harlot and was corrupt who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his bond 30:05 servants on her. And a second time they said, "Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever." And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen." A third time, 30:19 hallelujah. Hallelujah just means praise the Lord. And a voice came from the throne saying, "Give praise to our God all you his bondervants. You who fear him, the small and the great. You who fear him. You who 30:37 reverence him. You who have understood this this reverence for God. You for whom your first instinctive reaction is to fall on your face before him." He says, "Rise up and praise me." Now, have you fallen on your face before God in 30:51 reverence for him and for his name? Then he says, "Rise up. You're worthy of praising me." Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of a mighty peels of thunder saying, 31:04 "Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him." When is this going to happen family? It can happen today. Today that song of praise can be in our hearts. Today the 31:24 singing we did could have been like that. It's up to you. It's I don't believe it's something that you can hear audibly with your ears either. It's something in your heart. You hear it in your heart. You have heaven in your 31:37 heart. You hear this experience and you have this experience in your heart. And I long for it more and more. And it will change the way we sing even. It'll get more and more like heaven, the the heavenly harps, if you will, the 31:53 heavenly voices because our hearts are experiencing the spirit of heaven. This is our God. This is the spirit we want to have. I want to finish uh with a few more thoughts on what it means to reverence God. If you turn with me to 32:09 Revelation 11, sorry, Isaiah 11. A few weeks ago, I was talking about how occasionally I listen to different sermons from different preachers, local 32:27 preachers. And I have I don't despise anybody. I don't disrespect any of them. Even some I might disagree with on things they teach and stand for. I'm not here to judge anybody else or compare myself with anybody else. But I believe 32:42 it's useful for me to see what's going on in Christendom today. What's being taught and preached and what are people teachers pointing their congregations towards as Jesus compared to who we know Jesus to be from the Bible and this must 32:58 always be our compass. The Bible must always be our compass. Otherwise, people will say this is Jesus and this must be Jesus. Jesus would have done this and Jesus would have done that and you just wear the bracelet that says WWJD. But 33:10 you really don't know what Jesus did. What Jesus did has nothing to do with wearing a bracelet. It's all here. And this is the book we must know to know what Jesus actually did. Not imagine what he would do because of how I feel. 33:27 See, there is an earthly and that's what I want to talk about. I want to talk about discernment. There's a great need and there's going to be an increasing need, dear family, for us to have discernment. We must discern what is really Jesus and 33:39 what's not. Otherwise, if we don't have discernment, we'll believe a lie. And in 2 Thessalonians 2, we see that because we don't love the truth, if those who don't love the truth, God himself will send a deluding influence and allow you 33:53 to be deceived. So, we must have discernment. And what I find a lack of in preaching in the world today is a lack of teaching, preaching on reverence for God and hatred for sin. And that's why we want to have that in our midst. A 34:09 a hatred for sin because sin is what will ultimately destroy you. Destroy your soul. Sin will destroy your soul. The bad habits that a lot of churches are helping you get over are not the things that you have to be worried 34:23 about. It's sin. That's why there must be a preaching against sin so that we have a hatred for sin and a preaching on the fear of the Lord and reverence for him. But this reverence for God is not something, you know, it says the fear of 34:37 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And if if you've been hearing about the reverence of the Lord, has it produced in you a longing and a desire to really have that reverence? Say, Lord, I want to fear you. I really do. What does that 34:49 mean? And we see here that the the that the true fear of the Lord is a spirit. It's a mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. When you're truly filled with the Holy Spirit, the proof of that is that you'll have a greater affair of 35:04 the Lord. Let's read Isaiah 11:1. A chute will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Here's the spirit of the Lord. It's described this way. This is the promise of the spirit through faith 35:19 that we heard, we've been meditating on hopefully through this week as you've been memorizing that verse. The promise of the spirit of the faith produces this kind of a life in you. the spirit of wisdom and understanding where you've 35:32 got wisdom in circumstances where you know what to do. Understanding of what's going on in the world. When you see political events and other things going on in the world, wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and all of 35:47 that that's happening and will continue to happen. You have an understanding of it. you know what's going on in the heavenlies more than what's going on in Washington DC or in Ukraine or in the Middle East. Sure, it's good to know 36:02 what's going on there. But do you have the spirit of wisdom and understanding? I mean, to know what's going on in the world, you just need a few newspaper sources, if you will. But to know what's going on in the heavenlies, what's 36:14 behind this war, what's behind the political thing that's going on, you need the Holy Spirit's wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength where I'm not getting weaker as the pressure is getting greater, 36:32 as the pressure is increasing, as the affliction is increasing, as the suffering is increasing. I have the spirit of strength that resists that and the spirit of knowledge and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. If you really want to fear Lord the right way, 36:51 want to have the fear of the Lord the right way, it's the spirit, the Holy Spirit that will teach you that. Do you long your family? Will you go home after this meeting and cry out for an increasing filling of the Holy Spirit 37:05 that will result in an increase of the fear of the Lord in you? I pray that you'll do that if you haven't done it before. I've been praying, Lord, I want to know the reverence your the reverence for your for you and the fear of the 37:18 Lord. And what does this fear of the Lord look like? He goes on to say, "As a result of this spirit coming upon us, Jesus was our great example in that." And now he calls us to follow him this way. As a result of the Holy Spirit 37:32 coming, here's a mark of a bapt a spiritfilled person, a truly spiritbaptized person. Verse three, he will delight in the fear of the Lord. And the proof of that, here's what the fear of the Lord looks like. He will not 37:45 judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear. I want you to think about how you made decisions over the last 6 months, let's say. Or the last 9 months. Here we are, 9 38:03 months of 2025 have been completed. How did you make decisions? A lot of us had to make decisions. Some of you had to pick a new job. Some of you had to try to find another job. Some of you had to decide which doctor to to 38:16 go to or who who to take your kids to and should you do this for their school or are they allowed to do this in the school? How did you make those decisions? Was it simply well let's talk about it? Let's think about it. Let's do 38:28 some research on it. All of that's wonderful. But were you was there a at the end even at the beginning or through it all was there a falling on your knees and saying Lord I'm about to make a decision and I dare not make a decision 38:41 by what my eyes see and what my ears hear because that would be something that will be of no eternal value. Fill me with your spirit, Lord, and give me the spirit of the fear of the Lord that I'm going to make that decision for my 38:54 children or for my for my home or for myself based on the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He will not make a decision by what is I see and what is yours here. See, I some years ago uh I this this really came home to me. 39:10 There were uh there was a there was some conflict in which I I was I wasn't part of the conflict but I was involved in the situation and somebody went to other people's said they heard their side of the story and then they said we want to 39:25 hear your side of the story now what do you have to say for yourself and I meditated I wasn't in a rush I knew I was innocent I knew I was that what was being said about me was untrue but immediately the Lord took me to this 39:38 verse and said Santosh What do you want them to hear? See, there's there's three ways to go about judging a matter. Let me explain that to you. This is exactly what the Lord spoke to me at that time and it became life in me. I hope it will 39:52 become life in you as well through the Holy Spirit speaking to you. One way to judge a matter is to only hear one side of the matter. That's partiality. What kind of a judge would be who only heard the prosecution and didn't hear 40:06 the defense? You'd say, "Well, that's an unrighteous judge. He only heard the prosecution and they could have made up a whole bunch of lies and just judged him on the basis of that. That's unrighteous judgment." Well, then there's another kind of 40:21 judgment, which is you hear both sides of the matter. You hear the prosecution and the defense. You say, "I'm going to judge by hearing his story and hearing the other side's story, and then I get to decide what I think is right." Now, 40:35 that's good for the earthly courts, but that's not of eternal value. And remember what I said, our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of doing something that's not going to matter in eternity. And a lot of us had made 40:49 decisions based on weighing this side and weighing that side and saying, "Yeah, I think you're right. We judge in favor of the defense or judge in favor of the prosecution." And then the third side is I refuse. I don't need to hear both sides. In 41:07 fact, I don't even need to hear any side. I hear God's side. He will not judge by what his eyes see or what his hears here. But with righteousness, he will judge. That means his eyes have been open to see God's viewpoint. 41:25 What does God have to say about this matter? You can only get that by the fear of the Lord. This is discernment, dear family. And I want to tell you, I believe it's been impressed on my heart. The Holy Spirit's been writing it and 41:36 impressing it to the point where I planned to share this about a month ago these what I what I'm sharing now. And somehow the Lord directed me otherwise. And here we are today and I'm sharing it with you. And it's been even more 41:51 impressed on my heart. Sometimes I don't get to finish what I was planning to say and then I just say, "Okay, God didn't mean for it to for me to share it." That's fine. Other times he says, "No, you still have to say it, but I I need 42:02 it to be worked into your heart for another month before you can speak it." And this is one of those messages. I say, "Lord, I've been judging myself and saying, Lord, I'm I I'm a smart person. I went I studied school and I worked and 42:15 here I am old enough to be able to make decisions for myself, but I I want to be more like a child." Let's turn to Psalm 133. Our danger family is that because we're so 42:35 smart and educated and I'm speaking to the adults now. The children uh are are the ones that don't need to hear this. Psalm 131, sorry. Psalm 131. Because we're adults and we're educated or we're skilled in what we do and we're 42:54 the ones that get to tell our children what they can and can't do. We decide things for them and we decide what jobs we're going to take. We're the ones in danger of this of not having the fear of the Lord and not having discernment that 43:07 comes from make that causes us to make decisions only on the fear of the Lord. Psalm 131. Oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyesaughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters 43:25 or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against his mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me. You see why David was a 43:43 man after God's own heart. You know, you think of David as being the the one who killed Goliath. Yes. But you know why David was able to kill Goliath? Cuz this was his attitude. And I believe David wrote this as an as an 43:57 adult. Perhaps even after he was king, 30 years old, 40 years old perhaps, ruler of all of the greatest nation on the earth at that time. And all his enemies were under his control. and he's established king over Israel and Judah. 44:13 And he thinks, "Ah, I've worked hard to get to this point. I know what to do. How to defeat the Philistines. You want to know, man, I'm the guy that killed Goliath. Which Philistine is going to stand up against me?" Was that David's 44:24 attitude? And yet, he says, "Lord, I'm not resting on my laurels. I'm not looking on how old I am and how much experience I have. My soul is like a weaned child within me." I was recently talking to somebody who was going through a difficult time and 44:42 uh they had some questions and I we face this here in our church too where people asked us questions about decisions that the elders have had to make and I was telling this person I said you know uh if you he was having a difficult time 44:56 understanding some decisions that were being made and I said uh imagine if your one-year-old or 2-year-old let's say because your 2-year-old can speak comes to you and says hey uh dad I'm having trouble with the decision the elders are 45:09 making. Imagine if one of our 2-year-old little babyuh children comes to you and says, "Dad, I heard the elders made this decision about the church. I I'm having a problem with it." What would you say to that 2-year-old little boy? You're 2 45:22 years old. You don't know much. They We know what we're doing. And you see that David's soul within him was like the little two-year-old boy says, "I don't have to try to understand all the decisions that they're making. I'm I'm a 45:36 little 2-year-old son. I My heart is not lifted up within me. If God wants me to be the one to make that decision, sure, he'll give me the wisdom. He'll put me in that position. For those of you who are husbands and wives and fathers and mothers, you have 45:53 to make decisions for your home. For those of us who are elders in the church, God has placed us. We didn't choose to be here, but God has placed us with that responsibility, which means he's given us that wisdom. And read it again. 46:09 My soul like a weaned child, verse two, rests against his mother. My soul is a like a weaned child within me. You see this attitude of the fear of the Lord. You see how the reverence, a true reverence for the Lord makes me like a 46:26 little child. I rever God. I say God is in heaven. Here I am on earth. We read that already in Ecclesiastes 5:es 1 and 2. And so let my words be few and I'm not going to think that I am so important that God should give me an 46:39 understanding about a particular matter. I want to hear his perspective on it. And I'll tell you it will free you dear family from so many situations. Even in the home if you think about it in the home, children perhaps you wrestle with 46:53 decisions your parents make. I want to give you a little secret. Seek for the fear of the Lord. Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit as a little child. And you won't need to get an explanation from your parents about why they did 47:04 this and why they did that. You know, we have a simple way of solving that in our home. Megan came up with a very very cool way. Why, mom? Because I love you. That's it. Why? Why? Why this or why that? Because I love you. It's a very 47:17 simple. And I tell you, since then, every time we say that to the kids, uh, our kids are kind of get, they get that look on their face. We know what you're going to say. You're going to say, "Because I love you." It's kind of like 47:29 you're given an answer without giving an answer. But that's there's a secret to that. When you go to the Lord and say, "Lord, why? Why is this happening or why that's happening?" And you hear him say, "Because I love you." Then you learn the 47:39 reverence for the Lord. A reverence for the Lord leaves me in a place where he doesn't have to explain to me what he's doing with me. I'm the clay. He's the potter. He said that. Does the potter have to explain to the clay why he's fashioning 47:56 a particular way? Does God do you does God owe you an explanation for why you're going through that suffering or why you're going through that affliction? Then you don't know the reverence for the Lord. And there were times in my life and there are times 48:08 even now where we go where I go through something I'm say Lord I I wish you would explain it to me and then if you want me to if you want to explain it to me sure go ahead Lord but there's one thing that's more valuable to me and 48:19 that's a reverence for you a reverence that recognizes that I'm clay you're a potter can you imagine I don't know if you've ever watched I've sometimes seen a potter making something with clay can you imagine the potter leaning down to 48:32 the clay and saying hey listen I'm going to do this and I'm going uh do this to you and I'm going to do all that to you and here's how it's going to look and all that. No, he just with his hands, he just does it and the 48:43 clay is yielding to him saying, "I'm yours." Think about clay in the hands of the potter. Dear family as you think about reverence for the Lord, it's a precious place to be. I tell you, you'll find peace. You'll find that you 49:00 don't need an explanation. You don't need to to understand this and understand that because you have a reverence for the Lord. Let's turn to Psalm 25 and I'll close. When we understand when we get this reverence for the Lord that comes 49:19 through the filling of the Holy Spirit, look at the life that we get to have the life of the fear of the Lord. Living in the fear of the Lord. So proverbs says live in the fear of the Lord all the day long. To s live such a life you have to be 49:36 filled with the Holy Spirit all the day long. Psalm 25 verse 12. Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. What a wonderful promise. When the spirit of the fear of the Lord comes 49:54 upon me and I'm faced with a decision, I know the promise that God will say, "Here, here's the way to choose. Go." Isaiah 30:21. You will hear a voice in your ear saying, "This is the way. Walk in it." When you're not sure whether to 50:07 turn to the right or to the left, you will. Do you know that verse? Let's come back to Psalm 25. I want you to see Isaiah 30. Write it down, family. These verses are engraved on my heart. I used to write them down in my phone or on a piece of 50:22 paper and I now they're in my heart. Psalm Isaiah 30 21 verse 20 first. Let's go back. Let's read verse 19. Why not? Verse 18. Let's read there. Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you. And therefore, he waits on high 50:41 to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who long for him. Do you long for him? You're blessed, brother. He doesn't have to answer your prayer. He doesn't have to heal you. He doesn't have to 50:55 give you that thing that you're asking for. Longing for him, that's a blessing in itself. Verse 19. Oh people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem. You will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he 51:10 hears it, he will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, he your teacher will no longer hide himself, but your eyes will behold your teacher and your ears will hear him saying a word behind you. This is the 51:27 way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right or to the left. He says in the next verse, you'll defile your grave and images. You know what are your grave and images? Those things that you used to rely on to give you guidance. those 51:41 other gods. Are there graven images in your heart? Dear brother, dear sister, dear children, are there other things that you rely on to give you guidance on how to make a decision other than God himself? You will defile your graven 51:54 images. You will say, "No more will I make my decision based on my own understanding of things, my own self." Let's go back to Isaiah uh Psalm 25. The promise of the one who The promise to the one who fears the Lord is this 52:12 verse 13. His soul will abide in good. His soul will abide in good in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land. You know that I believe most of us work because we want to provide for our families and have a good future for 52:31 them. Set them up for success so they too will be able to have families. But you know that long before that, if you fear the Lord, you have a promise from the Lord. Your descendants will inherit the land. They'll have jobs. Their 52:42 marriages will be be good. They'll have families. God will bless them according to their his plan for their lives. But begin with fearing the Lord. Father, mother, his descendants, his seed will inherit the earth. Verse 53:00 14. If you fear God, God will show you his secrets. This has been becoming increasingly along in my heart. Lord, I just don't I don't want to know the things that everybody else knows about you. The obvious things about God. Most 53:15 Christians are content with that. That's impressive enough. But is there a longing within your heart to know the secret of the Lord? His secret. Something so intimate that he only shares it with a few. Did you even know 53:27 that there are secret things of the Lord? Here's a verse that makes it clear. And he says, "Fear me. Let me see a reverence for you, for me in your heart, a reverence at my word, a reverence over my name that you a reverence that causes you to keep a 53:43 clear conscience at all times and set things right immediately because God, I rever him." It will change the way we live at home. I believe we can't go on holding grudges against our spouses and against each other in the church or bad attitudes and 54:00 bad moods. Why? It's not it's no no longer about well let time heal all wounds. No. The longer I drag out this thing, this bitterness or this matter unsettled, God's name is being dishonored by my bad mood, by my silent treatment of my spouse. 54:20 Maybe we've gotten past the point where we're not speaking harsh words. But what about silent treatment when I'm still I need some time to get over what you've done to me, honey? Well, what about God's name during that time while I'm 54:33 moping about what's been done to me? Ah, who cares about God's name? And when the fear of the Lord comes upon us, there's such a reverence. I say, Lord, I don't care. My feelings don't matter anymore. Your name is the most precious thing. 54:47 And when God sees such an attitude in our hearts, he says, "I've got a secret to tell you. I want to show you a little bit about who I am." That will delight your heart. The secret of the Lord, the counsel, the real meaning there is the intimacy. 55:04 The intimacy of the Lord is for them that fear him. And he will make them know his covenant. The intimacy of the Lord. Meditate on that phrase, family, this week. Lord, I want to know your intimacy. I want to know your intimacy. It says 55:19 about Moses that the people of Israel knew his deeds. Moses knew his ways. Psalm 103. Think about God saying that all the other Christians in Loveland knew what I could do for them. They could testify how I healed them and how I gave them a 55:35 job and I provided this and provided that and I did this miracle for them and I did that miracle. But Santosh, he knew my intimacy. RLCF. They knew my intimacy. This is what will last in eternity. There will be people for whom God did 55:51 miracles, for whom that miracle was of no eternal value. Let me say that again. There will be people for whom God did miracles, physical miracles, healing, abs raising from the dead even perhaps for whom that miracle will be of no 56:07 eternal value because they didn't know the intimacy of the Lord. There are people for whom Jesus did miracles who are in hell today. No eternal value. I know in Christendom where people are taken up so much with miracles. And I I pray that the Lord 56:25 will do miracles if it's his will. Why not? Sure. But there's something that I'm after more and that is the council of the Lord. Knowing him. This is what we'll get to take to eternity. What good will it be if God heal me? But then I 56:37 died a sinful man. Verse 15. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. The devil's got some nets laid for you this week, family. He's got some traps ahead of you. I don't know what 56:54 they are. You don't know what they are, but he's the devil's planned some traps for you. How you going to be How are you going to know that that was a trap? You thought it was just You didn't know that that was going to lead you into that 57:06 trap. But because you fear the Lord, the Lord says,"I see a man who fears me. I see a woman who fears me. I'm going to guide their steps and and he'll guide you." Says, "No, don't do that. Don't pick that. Don't make that decision. Do do 57:19 this instead because that's a trap. I know it looks good to you right now. I know it looks like they're offering you more money to take that job, but I've got something else for you." And when God closes a door because you fear him, 57:31 you'll say, "Thank you, Lord. I wanted that. But you're going to show me in eternity how you saved my soul by closing that door. Thank God for the closed doors for those who fear him. This is a secret of the Lord. His protection. The in his secret. 57:49 We sang in that song. Your hallowed name. Oh may I bear with honor. Your hallowed name I may. Oh may I bear with honor. And may you feed a hungry soul through me. Family. The fear of the Lord is not some mystical thing that we just 58:05 imagine. It's practical. It changes the way we interact in our homes with our husbands and our wives, with our children. It changes the way we interact with each other in the church. It takes away complaining from our mouths. It 58:18 takes takes away from my mouth a right to know what God is doing. Like I said, this is the fear of the Lord. It changes how we value each other. It changes how we value the body of Christ because it's his body. I can't speak lightly against any part 58:37 of the body of Christ, no matter what they're like. Carelessly, callously. Oh, that brother, he's always like that. But you know that that's a brother of Jesus Christ whose name you claim to reverence. Oh, that sister, she's always 58:49 like that. I can't stand her. Her I I don't She rubs me the wrong way. That's a sister of Jesus Christ whose name you claim to reverence. You see how reverence for the Lord changes how we value his body. How we even come to the 59:05 meetings, our diligence with coming to these meetings. Well, I can afford to skip today. Why? Yeah, it's it's only a meeting. But it's a meeting of the body of Jesus Christ whom I reverence. Jesus is here. And I'm coming because he's 59:19 here. And I value the gathering of the saints because it's Jesus whom I reverence. The reverence of the Lord will change everything about our lives. May it do so. What shall we do, family? Let's fall on our face and say, "Lord, fill me with 59:33 a spirit. Give me a fresh anointing of your Holy Spirit that reverences your name." Heavenly Father, I pray that you will pour out your spirit within us. A spirit of the fear of the Lord. Do it, Lord. I pray. I want to fear you more 59:46 and reverence you more than I've done before. And I know that when I have that, when I get your intimacy and your counsel, I will have such joy from being in your presence that nothing on the no other joy on this earth will come close. 1:00:00 Help me, Father. Pour out your spirit. I pray. I open my mouth wide believing you will fill it. I lift up my cup believing that you will fill this cup, Lord, with that spirit, the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Thank you. Do it for our 1:00:12 children as well. You said the promise of the spirit was for our children as well. Give us, Lord. Thank you that you set us free from the curse of the law so that we would all every one of us experience the spirit the promise of the 1:00:24 spirit through faith. Give us this promise Lord we pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
