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Instruction Manual For Life | Proverbs 1 | Ben Hess · The Salt Company Denver

0:00
SPEAKER_00: It's a workshop for King Jesus.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: What's up, guys?
0:05
SPEAKER_00: My name's Ben.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: If I haven't met you, I'm on staff with Salt Company.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm up here tonight.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, guys.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Lord knows I need it.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Man, uh, we missed you guys last week.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Um it was it was sad, it was lonely around the office.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh man, we all just stood in here and mourned and wept last Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh because we missed you that much.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: But we're excited to be back with you this week.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: And we're excited to start a new series called Instruction Instruction Manual for Right Living.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that's what we called it.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Instruction Instruction Manual for Life.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Um man, but the point is uh that we're spending time in the Proverbs and talking about what does it look like for us to live a godly life as we finish out this semester?
1:02
SPEAKER_00: That is the goal of this series to talk about things that are in God's word that we see specifically in the book of Proverbs, how to live our life, how to follow God's ways, how to flourish within God's design.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, man, why is that important?
1:19
SPEAKER_00: One, I know some of you guys, how many seniors are in the room right now?
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's go.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Come on, not that many of you.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but one, I know for seniors, you're graduating, you're you're stepping out of college.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: For the rest of you guys, eventually you will.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And our goal at SALT Company is not that you would just follow Jesus for the first four weeks of your freshman year, or the four years you're in college, or even just the four years after, is that you would follow King Jesus with the rest of your life.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: You would follow him for not just four years, but 40 years, and that would impact four generations after you.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: And we actually believe the best way to do that is to follow what God's word has to say.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: So tonight we're starting that series, and we're starting that series talking about the fear of the Lord.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, man, I have any of you guys like your view of something changed, and you're like, man, this has changed everything about my life.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Any of you guys like had that moment, or like something about your life?
2:26
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it didn't change everything.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Anyone?
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, yeah, let's go.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: All right, some of you guys.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: Um man, that moment for me in many ways was with the the sweet, sweet uh liquid from heaven called coffee.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Um man, and and you guys, you guys here are probably like, oh, Ben just loves caffeine.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't love caffeine.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: I actually love the the the coffee bean, like the the ritual behind coffee, what it means to make a cup of coffee.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: And that hasn't always been the case.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I used to just drink like whatever my dad made.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he had this uh, do any of you guys know what a percolator is?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, like it was this percolator from 1940.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, he brought it back from Russia.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: It was the worst coffee in the world, but I drank it from the age I was five.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Like I I've been drinking coffee for a long time.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: But when I finally viewed coffee rightly as this glorious, magnificent thing, man, it changed everything about the way I went about making my coffee.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: I I bought a nicer grinder.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Man, I got a burr grinder.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: I I have a fellow opus grinder.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: If any of you know what that is, that's that's a nice grinder.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, man, I started to buy nicer scales and weigh out more with more precision.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: I started to apply uh knowledge that I learned to how I made coffee.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I I think life largely uh the way we apply the knowledge that we have is based upon how we view our life, or better yet, how we view God.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the reality is we're one of the most informed generations of all time, and I'm counting myself in this and staff, like this is for everyone.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: We're one of the most informed generations of all time.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: We have just about every piece of information at our fingertips, we know a lot, uh, but the reality is we apply very little.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Man, we we know guys, we know processed sugar is bad for us, and yet we consume as much as we want.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: We we know that exercise is good for us, but we can't get off our couches.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: We know social media negatively affects our life, yet we scroll for hours.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: We know it's good to be outside, yet we can't get uh from behind the gaming monitor or the TV or Netflix or whatever that is for you.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: We have all this knowledge, yet so little application.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: We have data, but we lack direction.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: You see, many of us in the Christian life as well have a high biblical IQ.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: We know the stories, but we have a very low, what we call application EQ.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Our lives aren't changing.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: The truth is that it isn't a problem with how much we know.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: We have so much information, but we're incredibly unaware of how to apply it.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the root of our inability to apply knowledge rightly?
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I said it at the start, it stems back to our view of God, guys.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: We cannot rightly apply knowledge unless we have a right view of God.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: We might know a lot about God, Salt Company, but completely miss the life that He has for us.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Right living is a result of right understanding or a right view of God.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: So, how should we view God?
5:54
SPEAKER_00: How should we view the one who created all things, who holds all things together, who knit you together in your mother's womb?
6:02
SPEAKER_00: How should we view this God?
6:03
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is pretty clear on this.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is pretty clear.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: We should fear the Lord.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: We should fear the Lord all throughout Proverbs, and we'll look at it tonight, and all throughout the Bible, we see that the fear of the Lord is the marker of God's people.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Abraham uh goes to the altar to sacrifice Isaac, and God says, Because you have feared me, I I provided a substitute.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: Man, even Jesus says, Don't fear the one who can destroy your body, but fear the one who can destroy your body and soul.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Fear is not just an old testament uh reality, but it's a new testament as well.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: We should fear the Lord.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: And I know um, man, many of us are like, Man, fear?
6:55
SPEAKER_00: I should fear the Lord, but uh 1 John 4 says, perfect love casts out fear.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about then?
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Um I think the reason why we have a hesitancy to really believe this and want to fear the Lord is because we have a misunderstanding of what fear looks like, of what fear of the Lord specifically looks like.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: We have a modern definition instead of a biblical definition.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the the fear of the Lord is this simply it's a fear of a good and magnificent father, not the fear of a servant waiting for the whip, but a trembling awe of a child waiting for direction from his father.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: It's a fear that draws near draws us nearer to God, not to turn and run from him.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: And in so many ways, one of the clearest ways we see this in scripture is Isaiah 6.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Nate, can I get an amen, man?
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, come on.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Even better.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Nate loves Isaiah 6.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, guys, in Isaiah 6, uh Isaiah the prophet has a vision of God, he has a vision of the holiness of God.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And and there's there's seraphim that the angels are proclaiming, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: And what this does is he gets a right picture of God.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Woe is me! Woe is me.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Man, I am I like it is a right fear of God.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Woe is me, you are so holy and above me.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm a man of unclean lips.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: But but in that moment, what does God do?
8:28
SPEAKER_00: He it actually cleanses him, goes near to him.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: And what we see in Isaiah 6 is once he has a right view of God, he repents and then he goes on mission.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: He he knows these things about God, but once he has a right view of God, he then is sent out and applies the knowledge.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: He's sent on mission.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: There's action from it.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: It's not just like, oh, I I fear God and then I go do whatever I want.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: No, like the fear of the Lord produces an action.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, in many ways, guys, it's like it makes me think of now.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: I know not all of us, none of us had perfect parents.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, but in a home, uh, man, you two parents, mom and dad, and a five-year-old boy or girl.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: You know what's not loving for that, that those parents to do?
9:19
SPEAKER_00: To be like, all right, go do your own thing, man.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Or woman.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, or I'll I'll go girl because like we're my wife and I are having a baby girl.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm a girl.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, it would it would not be loving for me um to be like, all right, daughter.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't have a name yet.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: So, daughter, um, go just go out, like do whatever you want.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: You're five years old.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, like that actually would not be loving of me.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: My response uh to having a child is to set up instruction and boundaries within my house for her to live so that she flourishes.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Well, which looks like maybe locking the door when she's five.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, it looks like, hey, if if she's going to school in 20 negative 20 degree weather, I'm gonna tell her, hey, you should put a coat on instead of going out in a t-shirt and shorts.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, actually, you can't just have all access to media that you want.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: You actually don't get an iPhone at five years old.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amen.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, come on.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: You don't get it at 16 either.
10:29
SPEAKER_00: You'll never get an iPhone.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, come on.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh I and I'll actually stand by that.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, um, that's a different topic.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, the fear of the Lord produces in us a desire to turn away from our phones.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's a side side note.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, okay.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, what what am I getting at?
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Her reaction also and understanding of me as her father is hopefully that she has some understanding at five that I have what's best in mind for her.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, hopefully, she actually desires to draw near to me because she sees that the the ways that I've set before her are better for her than the ways that she's gonna choose.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't always mean she's gonna be happy and she's just gonna be like, oh, this is how I want to live my life.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: But it but it does mean that like in moments of distress, she's gonna draw near to her father because she's like, Man, I know that my father knows what's best for me in this moment versus myself.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: And in a lot of ways, guys, we are living in a house that God has created.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: He's created the entire house, but also the rules, the instructions for our life within that house.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: And for us as children of the Father, the right understanding of fear is to actually not turn and run out of the house and say, I'm gonna do whatever I want whenever I want.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: It's to actually turn and stay in the house and flourish in the design that God has made.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: That is true flourishing.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: That is what the fear of the Lord results in.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: And why does this produce in us a right application of knowledge?
12:19
SPEAKER_00: Because the fear of the Lord is not, it's not just this, like, oh, I want to be near you, but it's actually this deep reverence for who God is.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: It's like this, like, man, I'm I am like trembling a little bit of like, man, I know what's best, but you're also holy and so utterly not me, and you're in such control over me that I'm like, man, I know you're good, so I'm gonna draw near to you, but I also know that you have all power in the universe to do as you please.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: And so there is still this like trembling within us, this reverence that comes from the fear of the Lord, and it results in right application because guys, we we often don't apply what we don't deeply revere.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: If if we don't deeply revere something, how often do you actually apply that to your life?
13:10
SPEAKER_00: And by revere, I mean like it's deeper than respect, but I'll use respect as as a synonym.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, if we don't deeply respect something, how often do you apply that in your life?
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, seriously, how often do you apply things that you don't respect?
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, almost have any any of you guys had a teacher, coach, someone leading something that you you don't respect?
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I know I have.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, thanks, Cole.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, Cole has.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh guys, when did you like really apply what they had to say to you?
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Often, maybe sometimes, because you're like, I guess I just gotta get the grade or whatever.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: But like for the most part, you're like, man, I'm not really gonna apply that.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to live in that light.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: That's why it leads to right application.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: You see, the fear of God is not merely an understanding, but it's something at the very grain of our heart that drives all behavior.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: It's like something deep within that actually drives all of our behavior.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we cross the gap from just knowing facts to applying them?
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we let the fear of the Lord shine on our lives.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at the Proverbs, we see this.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: So, tonight, for the rest of our time, we're actually gonna spend our time looking at how the fear of the Lord is like a sun that shines on us and produces fruit.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna look at um five fruits that come from the fear of the Lord.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Five fruits that come from the fear of the Lord.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: This is how you can you can see indicators in your life of like, man, I have a right view of God.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: Fruit number one, the fear of the Lord produces wisdom.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Produces wisdom.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: And man, wisdom we could talk about forever, but I'm gonna hit this quick.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 9:10 says this the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Pretty cut and dry.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 1 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, guys, believe it or not, you actually can't have a lot of wisdom if you don't have some knowledge.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Does that like I know like some of us are like, man, um I think there's two ditches that we'll fall into in regards to wisdom.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Is one that knowledge has nothing to do with wisdom, it's unrelated to wisdom, and two, knowledge equals wisdom.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Um the first one, an example of that would be uh, man, I I actually I don't read God's word because wisdom doesn't come from like knowing God's word, it just comes from like me kind of like drifting through doing church things and and say I have like a relationship with Jesus, and so that's how I'm gonna get wisdom.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, guys, you can't apply knowledge you don't know.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Is does that make sense?
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Is everyone with me?
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Like you can't apply knowledge that you don't actually know.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Actually, one of the wisest people in the Bible that the Bible describes is Solomon.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: When we look at Solomon's life, the the knowledge that he has is not all knowledge of God.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: It's actually the like he just knows a lot of things.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Like he knows scientific facts, he knows like different weights and measures, and people are in awe of his wisdom and how to apply his knowledge to different situations.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: So, ditch number one, knowledge is unrelated to wisdom, and ditch number two, knowledge equals wisdom.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Man, on this note, like how many of us can tend to believe the older we'll get, we'll become more wise.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, how many of you guys are like, yeah, like I fall in that boat too oftentimes?
16:54
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
16:54
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of old people who are dumb and who are not wise.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of old people who are extremely wise as well.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying like all old people, you should be like, you're not wise because you're old.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, no, like there's a lot of old people who are extremely wise, but there's a lot who aren't.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and why is that?
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Because knowledge or knowing things or even growing older does not equal wisdom.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't equal wisdom.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: The right application of knowledge is wisdom, and specifically the right application of knowledge within the design that God has created is wisdom.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And so uh this this guy's like practically man, what does it look like to have wisdom?
17:42
SPEAKER_00: It does look like to pursue knowledge.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, yes, but it's also the beginning of knowledge.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Like you should want to know things, you should read books.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like you should listen to podcasts.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh you should study for school.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Um and not just like study for for studying sake to get a grade, study to know the content.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't give a rip what you get on your tests.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do, like, you should try to be excellent.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: But you know what I care more about is that you learn and know the content because one day you might have to rightly apply that content.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know it, you can't do that.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: So, for like a lot of you, school of minds, engineers in the room, man, you should get really, really good at your studies so then that you can rightly apply that in an engineering job so that you can then build beautiful things for a beautiful guy.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Like that's wisdom.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: And that's wisdom right now for you in your seat.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Man, we guys, we know that college is one of the most formative times in our life.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: You know what you should do right now is you should you should learn um, man, all the things that it means to grow in in godliness, and and then you can rightly apply those things.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: You should dive into God's word.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: Guys, if if you're not spending time in God's word, one, you will not have the fear of the Lord, two, you will be the least wise person on the planet.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: You will not rightly apply anything because you don't know anything.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, that is wisdom.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we know prayer.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Guys, when how many of us are like, yeah, like prayer is a good thing?
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hopefully we raise our hands.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, some of you didn't, that's okay.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: Um prayer is a good thing.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: We know that.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: We should probably pray more.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: Like we, yeah, like we should we should probably pray more.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: We know it's a good thing.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: Apply your knowledge and act out in wisdom.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Get on your knees and pray.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And like I say that for myself too, like get on my knees and pray.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we gotta roll.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Number two, produces what does the fear of the Lord produce?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: It produces holiness.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3 7 says this don't be wise in your own eyes, fear God and turn away from evil.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Turn away from evil.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: What does the fear of the Lord do?
20:31
SPEAKER_00: You fear God, you turn away from evil.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: For the Jewish people, the fear of the Lord was deeply tied to the law or the Torah.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: It was deeply tied to how they live their life, what holiness looks like.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: To fear God meant to walk in his ways, to obey all his commands, to live within God's design.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: And for us today, it's the same.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian in this room, to fear God is to pursue holiness.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: If you are not pursuing holiness, that that doesn't mean that you're perfect.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: If you're not pursuing holiness, you do not fear God.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's that cut and dry.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says again that God's people should fear God.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: So it's pretty clear.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Like we turn away from evil things.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Man, to fear God, it looks like the changed man in Colossians 3.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: You put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, greed, which is idolatry.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language from your mouth.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Don't lie to one another, but put on the new self because you're being renewed in what?
21:38
SPEAKER_00: The knowledge according to the image of the Creator.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: To fear God is to have a renewed knowledge of your creator that results in holiness.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: A fruit of fearing God is the pursuit of holiness.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Number three, the fear of the Lord results in confidence.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 14 26 27 says this the fear of the Lord gives one strong confidence.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And his children have refuge.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Guys, you want to have an unshakable confidence.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Fear God, not man.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Fear God, not man.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the fear of man will rob you of all confidence.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: You will question every decision you make.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: However, the one who fears God can be confident that they're swimming in a fountain of life and they have no need to fear death, whether that's literal or social.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Guys, so many of us, the reason why we fear what people think about us is because uh we have a wrong view of who we should actually fear.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you fear man, you will second guess so, so much.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: But what the fear of the Lord does, according to Proverbs, is gives you a strong confidence.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: What does this look like practically?
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Man, practically it looks like your confidence doesn't rise and fall with people's reactions.
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SPEAKER_00: If you find yourself constantly rising and falling emotionally based on how people react to you, you don't have a fear of the Lord, you have a fear of man.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, like think about that.
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SPEAKER_00: How do I react to people's reactions to me?
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SPEAKER_00: Guys, when your life is anchored in God's authority, your life becomes steady.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean it's easy, but it becomes steady.
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SPEAKER_00: When you make decisions, you stand by it.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: You stand on your convictions, you're not wavered.
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SPEAKER_00: You're like uh the man who built his house on solid ground.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a firm foundation.
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SPEAKER_00: When you fear the Lord, your life is steady.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: Why?
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SPEAKER_00: Well, because you don't have to be afraid when you know who is holding on to you.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: But also an understanding that like God draws near to me and holds on to me.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: He's the one who holds me near, actually.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Because a right understanding of who God is results in us drawing near to him and him drawing near to us, and so we don't have to fear others, we don't have to be afraid of like what other people think.
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SPEAKER_00: We know who's holding on to us.
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SPEAKER_00: Our life becomes steady.
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SPEAKER_00: Number four, the fear of the Lord results in peace.
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SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 19, 23 says this the fear of the Lord leads to life.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: One will sleep at night without danger.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the paradox in this proverb is that fear leads to a comfortable sleep.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, man, I don't know about you guys, but there's a lot of times when I was a kid that I was scared, I had fear, and I did not sleep well.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: Man, and neither did my parents.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was screaming, my twin brother was screaming because I was screaming, and I'm like, Dad, please come look under the bed.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Please come look in the closet.
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SPEAKER_00: Um, it's like that country sign, can't remember what it's called, but um that that was the reality of my fear as a kid when I'm scared of like monsters under my bed.
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SPEAKER_00: However, the fear of the Lord allows us to not be afraid, similar to the last point.
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SPEAKER_00: It allows us to not be afraid, it brings comfort even in the night.
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SPEAKER_00: The greater your fear of God, the smaller your fear of everything else will be.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: You have peace.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Man, it reminds me of Psalm 23.
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SPEAKER_00: Many of you know it.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, you are with me.
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SPEAKER_00: Man, when I'm in dark situations, I still have peace because I fear the Lord rightly and I know he will protect me.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: He is with me, he walks with me, he guides me in those moments.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Um man, it reminds me, how many of you guys have like read Narnia, watched it?
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, if you haven't, you should like audiobook it or or just read it.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, but audiobook it, but it reminds me of a scene in Narnia when um they're talking with Mr.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: and Mrs.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: Beaver, and and they're talking about meeting, uh, they don't know that they're gonna meet a lion, but they learn here in this scene that they're gonna meet a lion.
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SPEAKER_00: Um and Susan says this, oh, I thought he was a man.
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SPEAKER_00: Is he quite safe?
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SPEAKER_00: I shall fa feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.
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SPEAKER_00: Mrs.
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SPEAKER_00: Beaver says, That you will, dearie.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: And no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.
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SPEAKER_00: Lucy says this, then he isn't safe?
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SPEAKER_00: Mr.
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SPEAKER_00: Beaver replies, Safe.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Don't you hear what Mrs.
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SPEAKER_00: Beaver tells you?
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Who said anything about Safe?
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Of course he isn't safe.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: But he's good.
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SPEAKER_00: He's the king, I tell you.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: If if you know anything about Narnia later on in the book, when they meet the lion, when they meet the king, when they meet Aslan, if you know anything about Lucy, the safest she ever feels is when she's with him.
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SPEAKER_00: The most peace that she has is when she's actually walking with the lion.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: Now, when they first meet him, they're pretty scared.
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SPEAKER_00: Like, which makes sense, right?
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SPEAKER_00: Like it's a lion.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, let's just be real.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Like when we're walking by a lion, it's kind of like, whoa, it's kind of scary.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: You might head.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, but when we understand that the lion is good, then we're actually not fearful.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: We want to cling to the lion, and it produces this deep sense of peace within us.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the the Bible describes uh Jesus as the lion of Judah.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Man, it describes God as like a lion.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: The only time it makes sense to walk beside a lion is when the lion is good and God is good, and he can be nothing other than good.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, we we have a proper fear of the Lord that results in peace, um, but we also have to understand that he's good.
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SPEAKER_00: That's why we walk so closely with him.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: All right, number five.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Number five, and this is like uh we're yeah, we're closing here.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, the fear of the Lord produces a right view of Jesus.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Um and so much of this, so much of the fear of the Lord, guys, results in how we view uh God, and Jesus is God, he's God incarnate, and and so how we view Jesus is a result of the fear of the Lord.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Guys, the cross of Christ is where the fear of the Lord is most clearly revealed.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: What do I mean by that?
29:01
SPEAKER_00: What I mean is that at the cross we see God's judgment, his wrath, and his holiness on display.
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SPEAKER_00: And because Jesus took on punishment, because he absorbed the wrath we deserve, we don't have to fear judgment or death.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Jesus took the fears that would enslave us.
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SPEAKER_00: Guys, when we have a proper view of who Jesus is and what he's done for our life, and we see the cross and we see it rightly, we see the fear of the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: Like that is a clear picture of God's wrath and holiness poured out upon unrighteousness.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Like our sin is laid upon Jesus.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: But because we know what happens in that moment, it allows us to not be afraid or enslaved to fear.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh on the cross, I don't know if you guys remember this.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: In Luke specifically, there's two thieves.
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SPEAKER_00: There's two thieves beside Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And one of them is mocking Jesus and saying, Um, man, why don't you save yourself?
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SPEAKER_00: Aren't you the Messiah?
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Save yourself and save us also.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: And what does the other thief say to him?
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SPEAKER_00: He says, he turns to him and says, Don't you fear God?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Don't you fear God?
30:21
SPEAKER_00: For this man has done nothing wrong.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: We are we are deserving of our punishment, but he is not.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: And then what does he do?
30:30
SPEAKER_00: He turns to Jesus and he says, Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus replies, You will be with me today in paradise.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: That thief on the cross had a right view of the fear of God, of what judgment looked like for his sin.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, literally on the cross, he's like, I deserve this.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the death that I deserve.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: And that's the death that you and I deserve.
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SPEAKER_00: Like, we deserve to be crucified on the cross for the treachery that we've done towards God.
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SPEAKER_00: But what the thief understands is that there's only one who can save him.
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SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know all the theology in the world, he doesn't know a lick of the Bible, but he knows that Jesus is the only one who can save him.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: So in that moment, because of his fear of the Lord, he turns towards Jesus and has a right view of him.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: And when he gets to heaven's gates, he says, Man, why am I here?
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SPEAKER_00: Because of the man on the middle cross.
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SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm here.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: That's why I can step into paradise.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: So, what does the fear of the Lord do?
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SPEAKER_00: It produces fruit in us that ultimately leads to a right view of Jesus Christ Himself.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: That's what it culminates in.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here and you're like, man, I haven't believed that.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Man, I just want to invite you quit, like, believe in that truth.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: That you deserve judgment.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, there actually is this fear of the Lord that is different when you're not in Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: Like if you're in the room and you're not in Christ, it's like, man, you deserve to be the thief on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: So do I, so does everyone else.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: But that's your trajectory.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: But a fear of the Lord in us, a right fear of the Lord, doesn't turn us away from God, but makes us run towards God.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: It makes us run towards the cross.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: And that is the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ died the death that you deserved.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: He paid for your sins and then resurrected, walked out of the grave, overcoming Satan's sin and death so that you too could have newness of life.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: And right now he reigns and rules in the heavens in majesty and glory.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: And he pours out his Holy Spirit to advance his kingdom.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord ultimately results and produces fruit within us that furthers the kingdom of God.
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SPEAKER_00: So my question for you tonight as we wrap up is are you a part of furthering the kingdom of God?
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SPEAKER_00: Like, is there fruit being produced in your life that is furthering the kingdom of God, or are you actually detrimental to the kingdom of God?
33:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you say you're a Christian or not.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: I want to I want to challenge you a little bit.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: If there's not fruit in your life that results from the fear of the Lord, you're actually not furthering the kingdom of God.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: You can say what you want, come to what you want, come every Tuesday for the rest of your life if you want, until you're 80 years old.
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SPEAKER_00: You are, if there's no fruit within you, you're not furthering the kingdom of God.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: So do you have wisdom?
34:01
SPEAKER_00: Are you pursuing wisdom?
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Are you pursuing holiness?
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Do you have a strong confidence?
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Is there peace in your life?
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And do you view Jesus rightly as the only one who can save you?
34:14
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 19, it says this.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: And this, guys, more than anything, this is how you will see the kingdom of God go forth.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: It says this the instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one's life.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: You want to see the kingdom of God go forth?
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Love the instruction of the Lord.
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SPEAKER_00: The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperience wise, the precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad.
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SPEAKER_00: The command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up, the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: The ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous.
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SPEAKER_00: They are more desirable than gold, than an abundance of pure gold.
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SPEAKER_00: They are sweeter than honey dripping from the honeycomb.
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SPEAKER_00: In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them, there is an abundant reward.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Guys, you want to live in the instruction that God has for you.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: It looks like loving God's word and loving His instruction, meditating on it day and night, loving it more than all the riches of the world.
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SPEAKER_00: It's more glorious.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: God's word is more glorious than all the riches of the world could offer you.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Money, whatever it is, social status, spend time in God's word and don't just spend time in it.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't love it, ask God that He would produce in you a love for it.
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SPEAKER_00: Spend time in it more than anything else.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: And let your view of God produce fruit within you.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: Let watch and see the kingdom go forth.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Watch you leave a great legacy behind you as you see the fear of the Lord produce fruit within you.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: Would you guys pray with me?
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Father, we are in awe of you.
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SPEAKER_00: In awe of who you are.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: God, you are holy, holy, holy.
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SPEAKER_00: And I pray right now, Lord, would all of us in this room, would every single person in this room have an Isaiah 6 moment where we see you as holy, holy, holy.
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SPEAKER_00: And we we recognize that what