Reverence for the Lord Brings Discernment

Good morning family, good to see you all. As we were singing, I was reminded of a verse in Hebrews 2. If you could please turn there with me, look at this together. As I was shared recently, my 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 the production of the music was so tight and so well-maintained, well-organized that I didn't see Jesus in it. Now it might have been my fault, I'm not here to judge anybody else for it. 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 the music was so good. And I fear when the music is so good that we don't see Jesus.

I thank God that the music in this church is not that great so we can actually see Jesus. And we seek to sing well and play well, nothing wrong with that, but we don't make such a big deal out of it that we hide Jesus. It's a wonderful poem, sometime I'll read it or share it with us as a church.

It talks about the effective preacher who shined his lamp, held up the lamp of 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. 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 proclaiming Jesus so clearly. Dear family, our responsibility as a 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 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 for lunch or are we going to play soccer today or baseball. Sure we'll do 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 attitudes, 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 go to heaven. Want to know Jesus more.

As I stood here singing, I wondered where Jesus is. 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 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 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. 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 perhaps. And facing different difficult circumstances.

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 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 that's ever experienced by any human being. And 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. And so well 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 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 all things. Now it's talking about it was fitting for him for whom are all things.

And through whom are all things. It's talking about the father now in bringing many sons to glory. It was fitting that the way he would do that was to perfect the author of their salvation that is Jesus through sufferings.

This is the only way it could fit. That we could be sons of God and daughters of God. It had to be through 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. 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 gonna be your brother. He who was God was equal with God and is God and always will be God. Was equal with the father.

Didn't 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 gonna hold on to my place.

He lowered himself 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. 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 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 find him where he is in the middle of 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. 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.

Though you know all my ways I praise you for your faithfulness. What are your ways? 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 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 don't know about you.

That thing which you've hidden so well. 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 what you are like deep down under the covers and she would still love you. Would you if your husband really knew what's deep down in your thoughts that they don't know would they still love you? Here's one a Savior. A God who knows 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 and say Lord you're faithful.

You truly are faithful. And 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. 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 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 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 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 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 life that is 24-7 love for every single person in the world. 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.

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 you living in the palace? Has Christ redeemed us from the curse of the lost? 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. 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 and honey. And of the people that He gave that promise to. He said I'm gonna take 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.

Out of a million. Two out of a million people. Think about it.

God said you one million people. I want all of you who 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 million.

That's .0002%. 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 fear God's word. I reverence God's word. I say Lord, let it not be that I'm one of that 99 point many many many many percent 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 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 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 must thirst. And that thirst will be proven through the fact that you will ask and you'll 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 people who said, Santosh, I've asked for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit and for years and I don't seem to have it. And then I asked them, well, have you stopped asking? If you have, then you didn't have faith.

Faith is Lord, 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 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.

As a phrase that I heard from Dale Moody, not from him personally, I've never met him. But one day I hope to meet him. But he said something.

He said, our greatest fear should not be failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter. I want you to 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 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 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 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 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, Lord, if what I'm doing right now isn't really gonna 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 gonna really matter Lord, I'd better give up now 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 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.

It's how you do it. It's the attitude of our heart to glorify God. To reverence Him.

And as I have 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 God.

Let's turn to a verse in Romans chapter 11. If we seek to do everything out of 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 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. I see joy.

Overflowing joy. 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 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 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 light. Now, maybe I'll show you a few verses in Revelation shortly.

But first, this verse, Romans 11, verse 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 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 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 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 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 successful day where my boss said, good job, here's a bonus for how well you worked. 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 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.

I want it to be of eternal value. My greatest fear today then or 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 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 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. And lest we become so super spiritual that we think, well then let's just go lock ourselves up in a monastery and pray the whole day and sing songs the whole day. He says, no, I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, present your body in the workplace and at home, in front of the kitchen sink and in the laundry room and while you're making the beds and while you're in the workplace perhaps, or while you're sitting studying physics or economics or 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 determine whether it's of eternal value or not. 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 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 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 don't have it. I'm convicted by it. I don't have it the way I want it and the way I believe it is 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 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 workplace. Okay, but that's that pales in comparison to the joy of heaven and all 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 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.

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 Jesus and just dancing my way into heaven and all that. And sure, there'll 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 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 thought I reverenced you.

Teach me true reverence and all 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 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 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 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 know I'll be ready for heaven. This is the promise of the Spirit through faith. Revelation 15, I saw, verse 2, 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 number of his name standing on the sea of glass holding harps of God and they sang the song of Moses, the bond servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, great and marvelous are your words, O Lord God the Almighty, 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. 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 1. This is 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 circumstance, you have a little bit of Revelation 19 in your heart. This is the promise of the spiritual 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 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? Revelation 19 would be true now. Revelation 19, verse 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 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 who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His born servants on her. And a second time they said, Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever.

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen. A third time, Hallelujah. Hallelujah just means praise the Lord.

And a voice came from the throne saying, Give praise to our God, all you His born servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great, you who fear Him, you who reverence Him, you who have understood 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 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 peals of thunder saying, 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 singing we did could have been like that. It's up to you.

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 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 heavenly harps, if you will.

The 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 with a few more thoughts on what it means to reverence God. If you turn with me to Revelation chapter 11, sorry, Isaiah chapter 11.

A few weeks ago I was talking about how occasionally I listen to different sermons from different preachers, local preachers. And 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 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 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 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.

See there is an earthly, well 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 what's not. Otherwise if we don't have discernment we'll believe a lie. And in 2nd 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 to be deceived. So we must have discernment. And what I find a lack of in much preaching in the world today is a lack of teaching.

Preaching on reverence for God and hatred for sin. That's why we want to have that in our midst. 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 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 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And 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 mean? And we see here 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 fear of the Lord. Let's read Isaiah 11 verse 1. A shoot 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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. 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 dear family will you go home after this meeting and cry out for an increasing filling of the Holy Spirit 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 for you and the fear of the Lord.

And what does this fear of the Lord look like? He goes on to say. As a result of this spirit coming upon it. Jesus was our great example in that.

And now he calls us to follow him this way. As a result of the Holy Spirit coming. Here's a mark of a spirit-filled person.

A truly spirit-baptized person. Verse 3. 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 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 six months let's say. Or the last nine months.

Here we are nine 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 go to. Or 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 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 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 children or for my home or for myself. Based on the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He will not make a decision by what his eyes see and what his ears hear.

See I some years ago I this this really came home to me. There were 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 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 verse and said Santosh what 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 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 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 judgment which is you hear both sides of the matter. You hear the prosecution and the defense. You say I'm gonna judge by hearing his story and hearing the other side story and then I get to decide what I think is right.

Now 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 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 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 ears hear.

But with righteousness he will judge. That means his eyes have been open to see God's viewpoint. 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 impressing it to the point where I plan 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 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 need 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'm a smart person.

I went I studied school and I worked and I 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 smart and educated and I'm speaking to the adults now the children 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 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 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 eyes haughty nor do I involve myself in great matters 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 man after God's own heart? You know you think of David as being the one who killed Goliath. Yes but you know why David was able to kill Goliath? Because this was his attitude and I believe David wrote this as an as an 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 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 attitude? 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 they had some questions and 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 if you're he was having a difficult time understanding some decisions that will be made I said imagine if your one-year old or two-year-old let's say because your two-year-old can speak comes to you and says hey dad I'm having trouble with the decision the elders are making imagine if one of our two-year-old little baby children comes to you and says dad I heard the elders made this decision about the church I'm having a problem with it what would you say to that two-year-old little boy you're two 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 little two-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 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 my soul like a weaned child verse 2 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 little child I revere God I see God is in heaven here I am on earth we read that already in Ecclesiastes 5 verses 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 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 in the home children perhaps you wrestle with 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 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 so why that because I love you it's a very simple and I tell you since then every time we say that to the kids our kids to 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 you're given an answer without giving an answer but that's there's a secret to that when you go to the Lord 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 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 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 even now where we go where I go through something I'm saying Lord 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 that's a reverence for you a reverence that recognizes that I'm clay your 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 the clay and saying hey listen I'm going to do this and I'm gonna do this to you and I'm gonna do all that to you and here's how it's gonna look and all that no he just with his hands just does it and the 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 don't need an explanation you don't need to to understand this and understand that because you have a reverence for the Lord it's turned to Psalm 25 and I'll close when we understand when we get this reverence for the Lord that comes 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 power says live in the fear of the Lord all the day long to sit live such a life you have to be 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 upon me and I'm pleased with the decision I know the promise that God will say here here's the way to choose go Isaiah 30 verse 21 you will hear a voice in your ears saying this is the way walk in it when you're not sure whether to turn to the right or to the left you will you know that verse let's come back to Psalm 25 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 paper and I now they're in my heart so Isaiah 30 verse 21 verse 21st 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 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 give you that thing that you're asking for longing for him that's a blessing in itself verse 19 all 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 hears that 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 way walk in it whenever you turn to the right or to the left he says in the next verse you'll defile your graven images you know what are your graven images those things that you used to rely on to give you guidance those other gods are there graven images in your heart dear brother dear sister dear children other 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 images you will say no more will I make my decision based on my own understanding of things my own self go back to Isaiah Psalm 25 the promise of the one who the promise to the one who fears the Lord is this 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 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 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 14 if you fear God God will show you his secrets this has been becoming increasingly a longing of 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 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 that there are secret things of the Lord here's a voice 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 reverence that causes you to keep a clear conscience at all times and set things right immediately because God I revere 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 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 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 moping about what's been done to me 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 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 council the real meaning there is the intimacy 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 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 of how I healed them and how I gave them a job and I provided this and provided that and I did this miracle for them and I did that miracle but Santos he knew my intimacy RLCF they knew my intimacy this is what will last in eternity there will be people for whom God did 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 after raising from the dead even perhaps for whom that miracle will be of no 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 pray that the Lord will do miracles if it's his will why not sure but there's something that I'm after more and that is the counsel of the Lord knowing him this is what we'll get to take to eternity what good will it be if God healed me but then I 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 the family he's got some traps ahead of you I don't know what they are you don't know what they are but he's the devil's plan some traps for you how are you gonna be how are you gonna know that that was a trap you thought it was just you didn't know that that was gonna lead you into that 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 gonna guide their steps in and he'll guide you says no don't do that don't pick that don't make that decision do this do 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 the door because you fear him you 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 this in his secret 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 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 takes it takes away from my mouth that 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 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 like that I can't stand her her 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 meetings our diligence with coming to these meetings well I can afford to skip today why it's it's only a meeting but it's a meeting of the body of Jesus Christ to my reverence Jesus is here and I'm coming because he's here and I value the gathering of the Saints because it's Jesus who my reverence the reverence of the Lord will change everything about our lives and may it do so what shall we do family let's fall on our face and say Lord fill me with the 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 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 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 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 spirit through faith give us this promise Lord we pray in Jesus name amen