The "Fear" Heaven Sings About!

Mercies Every day.

I have another chance to become what you call me.

It.

Ain'T no problem that's too high For a strong and mighty God you are I can always count on you. Good morning. Good morning. Happy Wednesday, y'.

All.

How you guys doing?

Y', all, you've been in Oklahoma for, what, two days? And you're. You're bringing out the y'?

All. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody told me you're not. You're from up north, aren't you? I said, yeah, I. I am. People don't notice as much anymore, so I. I figure I'll work on my. Y' alls welcome.

My fantastic.

Yeah. How you doing, Raj?

I am great. I'm fantastic today.

Awesome. Always good to see you, man. Roy, how are you doing? I'm good.

I'm good.

You know, I got my.

I got my Internet back up last week. Last week I went around three, actually four days without the Internet. That was tribulation.

Okay. Even more reason to surrender your heart to Christ and make sure you're part of the Rapture so we don't have to endure the real tribulation. But, yeah, isn't it crazy, some of the. The luxuries we have, that when they go, it's like, how did they live even, like, six years ago?

Yeah, we've become so soft.

It's.

It's pretty, actually.

Yeah. That's a fact. That's a fact.

Well, I was actually having a conversation with somebody at church this last week, and if somebody really wanted to take out the US all they'd have to do is. Is like a big emp, like something that would knock out, like, Internet and screens. I mean, we've got an entire generation that wouldn't even know how to, like, find food or change a tire or do anything without a YouTube video. It's like, that would cripple our country.

Yeah. Yeah, sure would. Yesterday, we were driving around Oklahoma, and we were all over the state of Oklahoma. We didn't even realize we were very close to Arkansas as well. We were driving so much, I thought we were going to make our way all the way to Minnesota, but when we had service, we had to, like, screenshot the map because it kept cutting out. And it's like, okay, I might just have to follow this map on my phone. And then it's like, well, yeah, that's what people used to do back, not even so far back in the day. I remember, you know, going with my dad to the travel agency. If we took a road trip somewhere and they give you that that, that quick trip book and then just like highlight your routes and. And then if you're about my age, you're very familiar with MapQuest, you just print out the, the directions somewhere. Sean, you're nodding. You're a little bit younger. You may have been privileged with the GPS as long as you've been driving.

There's always that question of do you buy the Garmin or do you just print out the MapQuest pages? We always err on the side of print out the MapQuest pages.

Not just that, but you got to bring a wingman and they're reading the MapQuest directions and then you're getting into fights with them because you're like, you said, turn left.

I remember doing cross country trips and we'd have like the, the atlas. So it was like this giant book, you know, and you'd have one for each state and you would, you know, you'd have like a, they'd have like a US one with all the major highways in it. And then you would turn to the state and it would have the major highways broken down in the state. And then when I was, when I was working in the service business, I was a cable guy. And every day that we had, we, we routed ourselves, I'd use a Thomas Brothers guide. So, like, it was, you know, I literally using a map, driving. You know, I didn't have a phone in one hand, I had a map in a hand. And driving, doing the same thing, trying to figure out where I was going.

Wow. And not to age, Roger, but that was on parchment paper.

Yes, yes.

Actually, yeah.

That was before there was even like, like trees to cut down. That was way back then.

Not forget. Who's responsible, what generation's responsible for all this technology in the Internet, you guys, let's remember.

Yes. Very, very grateful for you old folks, Raj. Just kidding, Just kidding. I'm not too, too far behind, Raj. I'm getting up there myself. So is Riley, who's in the hotel room with me. He's gonna be 40 this year, so if you guys want to start making old age jokes, certainly feel free. They're welcome here.

We should all send them walkers, right?

Yeah. He likes to remind me of how much older I am. But once you hit 40, it's like we're all on the same, same playing field. It's all level ground at this point, so. All right. I love seeing your faces. And I make mention even Jedidiah, who was able to join prayer this morning. Ro, when you're not here, when any of you guys aren't here. It. There's a void because you guys just bring so much to the table when you offer your insight. And just the presence that you guys have, which is the. The presence we all should have as believers, right? Just the. The light of Christ shining through us and out of us, and just something is recognizable to others. Obviously, we know it's the Holy Spirit within us. So when you guys aren't here, you're definitely missed. And I appreciate that you guys hop on as much as you do. So we'll get into the Word today. We're in Revelation, chapter 15. It's the shortest chapter in the book of Revelation. So the. The notes I have for. For y', all, you know, it's not the typical 20 pages of notes. It's a little bit shorter this morning. But one of the things I really want to focus in on today, and no matter what we're reading in the Bible, no matter what passage, and somebody will probably challenge me with a verse from like, Leviticus or Numbers, but no matter what we're reading, there's always opportunity for. For God to speak to us. His word is living, breathing. It's the Holy Spirit that's speaking to us. And no matter what we read, it's fellowship with God, right? So we could be reading about a passage in maybe Leviticus and Numbers, but we just feel like we're in the presence of the Lord and we're having this conversation with them and we're growing in our intimacy with Him. And when we read Scripture, it's hard to not read Scripture and be convicted in one way or another. And it's. That's a good thing when we read the Bible and we're convicted. And I've been kind of analyzing myself just in my growth in. In my walk in Christianity, my closeness with the Lord, you know, what are like some of the. The secret sauces for me to continue to grow. And reading the Word, it just brings you to that place where if there's anything on our hearts, in our hearts that we need to confess, man, when I'm reading Scripture, it just brings me to this place of reverence for God. And we're going to talk about the fear of God a bit today. And then for me, when I have that time of worship, just me and the Lord, some worship music, it's that. That encounter, right? So there's different means and there's different tools and there's different devices for us to grow in our intimacy with the Lord. And a couple things that you just kind of see is missing in the church. One being that a healthy reverence for the Lord, the, the true fear of God, right? That, that if you remember in Isaiah 6, when he has that, that, that vision of heaven, he catches this glimpse of glory of the Lord. He was just undone. Like he says, woe is me. You're just undone when you're in the presence of holiness, right? And you have this, this acknowledgment that you are sinful, this acknowledgment of how holy and perfect God is. And it's not that you feel condemned when you have this, this thought, you feel so loved. It's like man, despite my, my sinful ways, despite me being imperfect, despite all my flaws, God loves me nonetheless. And then we get just a greater perspective and appreciation of his mercy, of his grace, that he even called us, right, and he grants us all that he does without us earning any of it. But then when we take that time of worship and we're just in the presence of the Lord and He just melts our hearts and we're crying and we're singing from the mountaintops of just who he is. It's. Yeah, I've just been really analyzing myself. What are the things, the factors that'll help me to grow even more. Because we could live till we're 150 years old and grow in our relationship with the Lord every day, but we'll never reach that pinnacle until we're in heaven. So every day is opportunity to get closer to the Lord, to surrender our hearts even more and grow in this oneness. So I pray that today we could all grow in that oneness we feel with the Lord. And I'll kind of recap last week. Well, even going back to Revelation 13, that's when we, we were introduced to the, the, the. The dragon, the Antichrist. Two different people. The Dragon being the devil, the Antichrist being the one who's most likely possessed by the devil himself. And it just ends. Revelation 13 ends with this increasing darkness on this earth. And it's not the most pleasant chapter to read. But then chapter 14 gives us this preview of the victory that comes at the end of tribulation and really whether any of us live to see the day of Rapture. And I pray if you're on this Bible study, you're. You're a born again believer and you're not in the tribulation if it happens during this lifetime, but when our lives come to an end, it's. It's victory, right? We're in a place that so, so greatly outdoes anything here on this earth. They say for believers, this is the closest that hell will ever be. But for unbelievers, this is the closest to heaven they'll ever be. And I mean, our what the kingdom is here on earth. It is, it's this like preview of heaven for us. And it's our job to, to pour out and rain down what's in heaven here on earth. And what we saw in chapter 14, we saw the 144,000, those who were sealed with the mark of God, the name of God on their foreheads. And we saw that they sang a new song, right? They're standing on Mount Zion at the end of tribulation. They, they make it through. They've been saved, their lives have been saved. But what we're going to see today is a song from the martyrs, those who turn to Jesus during the tribulation. And we, we've read in chapters past that there will be great revival during tribulation. It's going to be remarkable. We had the two witnesses who are going to preach the gospel last week we read about the angel that's going to be zipping around proclaiming the everlasting gospel to every nation, calling all to fear God and give him glory. And last week we talked about the gospel message, how we could learn from this angel that's going to be dispatched from heaven to proclaim the everlasting gospel to all the ends of the earth, every nation, every tongue, every tribe, how when we, we share the gospel, we share the goodness of God, the love of God, what it means that Jesus died on the cross. He used a propitiation for our sins. He was the substitute that if we preach a message of the gospel of just God's love and we don't talk about his judgment, then we're not preaching the whole entirety of the gospel message. And the angel last week showed us that, that he's preaching the gospel but also sharing the judgment to come. So we talked about some techniques to effectively preach the gospel where it's not watered down. Because the enemy would love us to preach a watered down gospel where we don't talk about sin, we don't recognize sin, but we're going to see in this chapter, when we do talk about the, the song that these martyrs are singing, that the reason God is who he is, he is holy, right? So he's, he's the judge, but he is holiness. He is holy. He is set apart. He is so different than we are. And in his holiness, we're called to be holy as he is. Hol. So it's not, it's not a matter of living by the law. It's not a matter of legalism to be holy. We could live holy lives if we have the healthy reverence, a healthy fear of God when we're just simply in awe of God. Because when we have that fear of God, then it causes our behavior to be, to reflect the reverence that we have for God to walk in that holiness. So. And then last week we also talked about the second angel that declares the fall of Babylon and then the third angel that comes on the scene in chapter 14. And he talks about the eternal torment for those who worship the beast. And it's, it's a somewhat scary depiction of the eternity for those who don't believe in Jesus Christ. But it's real. It's real. That's why burden should be on our heart for at all times, for those who are lost, those who haven't been born again, those who have loved ones.

Right.

Born again, those who have loved ones.

Right.

We spend lots of time in prayer praying for our loved ones even. We spend lots of time in prayer praying for our loved ones even on Wednesday mornings. And speaking of which, didn't share it on the, the prayer call that preceded this, but Riley's father in law has been battling alcoholism and he's been in and out of rehabs over the, the past couple of years. But it was getting pretty bad and Riley and Ash have just been like, just superb lovers. And I say that because the, the love in their hearts for, for Ash's father has been remarkable. And Ash went and got him when he got out of this last rehab stint. He's staying with Riley and Ash and this past Sunday at church, the call to salvation, he responded and he gave his life to the Lord. So yeah, it's, it's remarkable. Something like that. It won one person, one soul of all the billions of people on this earth, when one soul, whether you even know them or not, it's something to celebrate. It's miraculous. It really is. When you're born again, one soul of all the billions of people on this earth, when one soul, whether you even know them or not, it's something, the spirit of God dwells within you that is miraculous, that is supernatural, that that's not something that we could attain by our own celebrate it's miraculous strength. We can be the smartest. It really is when you're born again and the spirit of God dwells within you that is miraculous. Most Athletic people on earth, the brightest have the best ideas, but nobody could attain their own salvation. That is supernatural. That. That's not something that we could attain by our own strength. We, we can be the smartest. It's only by our faith in Jesus. Most athletic people on earth, Jesus Christ. And we know that comes by his grace and his grace alone. So we'll jump into chapter 15 here. The brightest have the best ideas, but nobody could attain their own salvation. And again, it's only eight verses, the shortest chapter in the book of Revelation. I'll read it through and then we'll, we'll dive into a couple takeaways here. So chapter 15, verse one. Then I, I being John, of course, the apostle John, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. Seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them the wrath of God is concerned, complete. We've already been through the seal judgments, we've been through the trumpet judgments. And chapter 15 is a prelude to the bowl judgments. And these will be the, the seven plagues that John is referring to. Here is the seven last bold judgments that come at the end of tribulation. And that's what all of chapter 16 is about, that we'll talk about next week. But these seven last bowl judgments, these plagues, they come in rapid succession. And this is going to mark the end of tribulation. And John says in verse two, and I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name. Remember we ended last week or two weeks ago in Chapter 13, his number being 666. And that mark of the beast, those who take the mark of the beast, they'll have 666 on his forehead or on the right hand. And even the Antichrist being a counterfeit as far as that goes, because we know that God's going to seal those 144,000 with his name written across their foreheads. And the, the Antichrist is such a counterfeit that he chooses to mark his people the same way with his number 666 across their forehead or on their right hand. And remember, it's not going to be something that these folks, they're, they're just kind of pressured into taking the, the mark of the beast. These are going to be bow down and worship the Antichrist, right? They're going to willfully take his mark. So John sees those who had victory over the beast and over his image. Remember, he's going to create an image, a statue of himself in the temple that's yet to be built in Jerusalem. And there's a lot of talk now and a lot of posts about the red heifer, right, that this perfect red heifer that'll be a part of the sacrifice in the Third Temple. So, and five red heifers were, were sent over to Israel from Texas actually. And people are saying, okay, if the red heifer's here, then it means the temple is going to be built soon. If the temple's built soon, then the, the tribulation is going to happen soon. And if you are a believer or you hold a view that the Rapture happens before the tribulation, then it's gotta, gotta happen. And no matter when you think the, the Rapture is going to happen, we, it's exciting to see these end time events come to pass. Unfortunately, some of these end time events that the Bible speaks of, when we know we're getting closer and closer to the end times, are natural disasters. And we saw the flooding in Texas last week or two weeks ago by this point, and then even just a couple days ago in New Jersey, floods in New Jersey, that people lost their lives. Just earthquakes I, I saw this morning there's been just succession of, of these minor earthquakes in New York. So all these natural disasters, it's all God's way of getting our attention, right? And in one sense, obviously it's tragic when people lose their lives in these situations, but that there's a, there's a piece that we could gain from it as well. Because we know this is God's word coming to pass. And we know for us, it helps us to put things in proper perspective where, okay, things are ramping up. God's getting our attention. And I need to make sure, no matter what's going on with anybody else or anything else in this world, I need to make sure right now my heart is good with the Lord. I need to make sure that if I have any unconfessed sin, I confess right now.

Right?

Even where you are right now, if there's any unconfessed sin, you guys are muted right now. Just take a moment with the Lord, confess that sin to him. Repent of that sin. Because we're called to be ready for, for when the, the Rapture happens, it could happen before the end of this Bible study, right? Like, I believe God grants me a lot of favor, right? I don't know why I, I love him. I just want to serve him. I think he blesses me tremendously. It Would be pretty cool if the rapture happens while we're doing a Bible study in the book of Revelation, right? I could kind of hang my hat on that when we're all in heaven, not that any of us will be hanging our hats on anything that happened here on earth. Even as we read this next verse here, the song that these martyrs sing in heaven. Now, what's interesting is that John sees, when it says that he sees something that's. It's like a sea of glass mingled with fire. That mingled with fire could just be the. The redness of fire. Because we see a lot of alliterations back to the book of Exodus here, including the song that these martyrs are singing. And John describes it as the song of Moses, which the people of Israel sang in chapter 15 of Exodus. If you guys remember, in Exodus 14 is when they cross the Red Sea, right? They're free. God has released them from bondage. And they sing this song to the Lord. And this song that the martyrs are singing in heaven, it's called the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. And it kind of connects the. The law of the Old Testament with the grace of the New Testament, the Old Covenant with New Covenant. And it's. They're. They're said to be celebrating the victory they have over the beast. And you might think, like, wait a second, how did they have victory over the beast? They got killed, right? How is that victory? And the victory is because they love their lives, even unto death, right? How is the devil overcome by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and our willingness to die for our faith. So when we're willing to die for our faith, it doesn't matter if the Lord if. Excuse me, if the devil actually takes our lives, we are victorious over. Over the devil or the enemy, if we die for our faith. So there's nothing he could do, right? What can the enemy do? Can he. Can he torment us here on earth? Can he put banana peels in our past? Can he put mountains in front of us? What can he possibly do to us? Because even if he takes our lives, we're victorious over him because we. We died for our faith. And that's a remarkable thing, and I've said this in the past, we. Maybe none of us on this call, because we. We are blessed and privileged to live in America. We live in the west in this day and age, right? We have freedoms. We may not die for our faith, so we may not die the death of a martyr, or we're all called to live the lives of a martyr, right? Live the lives of a martyr and you'll walk in victory at all times. And I want to make note too, in verse one there when it says that for in them the wrath of God is complete. That's the word teleos. That's where the root word from when Jesus says to Telestai on the cross, it is finished. It's paid in full. So this is. Hey, this, this is the end of it. I'm going to pour out my wrath and this is going to be the end of evil, right? It's coming to an end that. That tell yas to teleside. It is finished. It is done. It is complete. So these martyrs in heaven, they're singing the song in verse three, says they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty, Just and true are your ways, O king of the saints and saints. The same word is used in the New Testament that means holy. Like every time you see the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, it's the same word there. So all king of the saints, all. So us as saints, we're all saints because we're believers. That's what the New Testament declares. But as a saint, it's not just like, yeah, yeah, I'm a Christian, right? I'm a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ. No, as a saint, we are holy. God is holy and he's calling us to be holy. We are to walk in holiness. And what's the secret sauce to walking in that holiness? They say, who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name. It's almost like a rhetorical question. How can anybody not fear you? You've shown yourself time and time again, even by this point in. In tribulation. Everything that those who don't commit to the Lord during tribulation, they're. They're aware that it's God that's causing these things to happen, that God is pouring out his wrath. And you could have that acknowledgment of God that this is punishment for. For you not turning to him, but still not turn to him. It's remarkable. But we know that the enemy blinds the minds of unbelievers. We know that so many people walk in deception. Many of us could remember a time, could have been pretty recent, maybe a long time ago, if you've been walking with the Lord for a while. But you were deceived. We were deceived before we came to know Christ we were deceived. And then when the message of the gospel, the hearing of the word of God, that led to our faith, that heart surrender that we had, and we actually were born again when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. It's like that deception that, that veil, those clouds that make us see the world. And just through this fuzzy lens and with a fuzzy perspective, it just lifts and all of a sudden you, you feel not just you are born again. You have the spirit of God living in you. You are a new creation, a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. But you, you feel smarter, right? It's like when, when, when, when the veil that's been fogging your, your judgment, your, your, your decision making, where you're just like, even if you're passionate about something that's a lie, when all that deception is lifted and you know the truth, you believe in the truth, it's like, wow. It's like, it just feels like it enhances your IQ astronomically, right? So this rhetorical question that they're saying, who shall not fear you? It's like, how can anybody not fear you? And we should all ask ourselves that question every day. How can I not walk in the fear of the Lord today just based on what he's already done in my life, right? If the only thing he's done for us, right? If we've just had hardships and trials and we've had to endure since the moment we said yes to the Lord, how can we not fear him just based on that one fact, based on that one moment when we had an encounter with the Lord, the scales fell from our eyes and our hearts were made new. That alone, that one moment, if God did nothing else after that, we should fear him. And it should have been such a moment. And I know everybody's testimony and salvation story is different, but truth, true salvation is when we're made a new creation, when, when God takes up residency inside of us. I don't care if, if it's like me, where in a moment you're delivered from a 14 year drug addiction, or it's a moment where you're in the bathtub or you're sitting in your car, whatever it is, in that moment, you change, your citizenship changes. You're now not a citizen of this earth, you're a citizen of heaven. Everything changes in that moment. When you say yes to the Lord, So they say, who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name. And even when I read that it's convicting to me, because have I glorified his name enough? Have I just cried out to the Lord and said, lord, you're good and just proclaim who he is and all his goodness. And they say, for you alone are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you. For your judgments have been manifested.

Right.

So the wrath that he's pouring out on unbelievers, what they're saying is your judgments have been manifested and your judgments are good. Your judgments are, are for just cause.

Right.

And I, I kind of want to. Well, I'll read the, the following verses then we'll circle back to this because I want to talk about this and I want to read a couple verse song of Moses, that song that, that impromptu song they sang the Israelites when they, they're led out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea. And what we could glean from the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb, and how we could develop and walk in a greater reverence for the Lord. Where if we walk in the fear of the Lord as a church.

Right.

Well, maybe I'll put it this way. If we were as a church, not all, but the church, especially in America, if we all had a fear of the Lord, the church wouldn't look the way it looks now, and the world wouldn't. Verse 5. After these things, I looked and behold, the temple of the Tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. Remember that? The tabernacle, the instructions for the tabernacle in the Old Testament, and it's reiterated in Hebrews, it was just a model of what's in heaven. So the tabernacle is a model of what heaven actually looks like. And out of this temple came the seven angels having seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen and having their chest girded with golden brands, bands, excuse me, meaning that this, this judgment, these plagues that are about to come forth from heaven, these seven last bowl judgments, the angels are wearing pure white, pure bright linen. So it's a picture of holiness. It's a picture of holiness. God is just, he's the judge and he. He's going to judge those. And this is the, the consummation of all this. Those who are choosing to walk apart from Christ, they are essentially choosing to, to walk in a Christless eternity. And the, the torment of what that is, it's depicted in scripture. Then one of the four living creatures, remember those cherubim, those, those angels, angelic beings that are kind of hovering around the, the throne room of heaven, says, then one of the four living creatures Gave to the seven angels, seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. So once these, these seven final judgments are, are poured out, the wrath of God poured out from heaven, nobody and nothing can stop it. And we've read the mercy of God all throughout Revelation where time and time again, all these previous judgments, it gets the world's attention. And many of us needed that. Many of us need that now. Now where everything is going fine in life, everything is clicking. God's answering all our prayers. And what do we typically do? We stop turning to the one who was the provider of all the things we asked for to begin with. And then we, we start to become prideful. We start to become self sufficient. And God will give us a wake up call. Maybe he'll take something away from us, right? Because if the only time we're on our knees is when things are going bad, well, guess what? Expect things to go bad in your life. God wants us on our knees, but willfully on our knees, crying out to him at all times. So I want to open this up. I've left plenty of time in this short chapter that we have conversation about this. So all these natural disasters, it's all God's way of. So I want to mention that this, this getting our attention, right? And in one sense, song, the song of Moses. That's obviously it's tragic when people lose their lives in these situations, but that there's a, there's a piece that we could gain from it as well because we know this is God's word coming to pass. And we know for us the song of the Lamb. And in Exodus, it helps us to put things in proper perspective where, okay, things are ramping up. God's getting teen. A couple things are, are mentioned in the beginning burn our attention. And I need to make sure no matter what's going on with anybody else or anything else in this world, I need to make sure right now my heart is good with the Lord. I need to make sure that If I have 1 and 2 of Exodus and I want to read verse 11, any unconfessed sin, I confess right now. Right even where you are right now, if there's any. Again, this is the song of the unconfessed sin. You guys are muted. Moses, this impromptu song right now, just take a moment with the Lord, confess that sin to him. Repent of that sin because we're called to be ready for when the rapture happens. It could happen before the end of this Bible study, right? Where they just sing like I believe going out to the Lord. And last week, if you remember those 145 grants me a lot of favorite.

Right.

I don't know why I love him. I just want to serve him. I think he blocked a thousand they're singing blesses me tremendously. It would be pretty cool if the rapture happens while we're doing a Bible study in the book of Revelation, right? I could kind of hang my hat on that. When we're all in heaven. Not the ending, a new song, right. God will give us will be hanging our hats on anything that happened here on earth. Even put a song on our hearts. If. If we're as we read this next we're truly walking with him. When first here the song that these martyrs sing in heaven. Now what's interesting is that John sees when it says that he sees something that's it's like a sea of glass mingled with fire. That when God is showing his ways, his mingled with fire could just be the. The redness of fire because we his marvelous works. Then there will be impromptu. So and I see a lot of parts new songs that we just sang iterations back to the book of Exodus here including the song that these martyrs are singing. And John describes it as the song of Moses which the people of Israel SANG in chapter 15 of Exodus, if you guys remember it out to the Lord to declare how Exodus 14 is when they crossed the videos and that we triumphed over whatever it is in our. In our own personal testimony that Red Sea, right. They're free. God has released them that we've triumphed over. But what it says in verse one of Exodus, it says I will sing to the Lord for he has triumph gloriously. So anything we overcome, right? They I love that the Israelites and we all know in the Old Testament it's. It's a never ending story of God does something miraculous. Their hearts are for God. They're devoted to God. They love God. It's all about God. And then what happens? The self gets in the way of that, right? Then all of a sudden they mutter. Then all of a sudden they say oh, oh my gosh. You know, at least when we were slaves we knew we were getting three square meals a day. We knew what we were eating. Now all we have is this mana stuff falling from heaven. We want some, some quail. Give us the quail. Right? Give us the. The meat. Give us the birds. And then so quickly, right? And then they. They're let out there, and they're like, there's nothing to drink, and there's this. This water that's there, and the water's bitter. And they say, hey, if you continue to live for me, God says, if you continue to live for me, I'm going to make this. This bitter water sweet.

Right?

And that's who I am. I continue to do that. Anything bitter in your life, I can make it sweet. You just live for me. You put me first. And they do that. They drink that. That sweet water, and then they're like, oh, God, you're so good. You're so good. And then what happens, you know, if God doesn't show a. A miracle in her life within days? It's like, oh, where's God in my life? Where's God in my life? But the song they sing, they say, for he is triumphant gloriously. They're the ones. They cross the Red Sea. They're the ones. If they peeked over their shoulder, they see that when Pharaoh and his chariots, they were chasing them through that parted Red Sea, that once they were all safe on the other side, God allowed that water to. To. To rush and overflow and overwhelm and take out all the enemies. But they say, listen, we get no credit. We get no glory from this. You told us to. To go. You. You told us we're going to be set free. And we. We just started going. And they say that God has triumphed gloriously. Hold on. Just see this from Kathleen. The hospital just called, and my mom is awake. Your prayers work quickly this morning. Praise God. I love you for all the support through this. Awesome. I love that. I love that. Praise God. Praise God. Kathleen's mother. We've been praying for the past few weeks for those of you who haven't been on the prayer call, and really we've been praying longer than that for her health, but she wasn't even well enough to get this heart surgery that she needed. She had the heart surgery yesterday. I thought it was supposed to be Monday, but I guess it was yesterday. And she hadn't opened up her eyes yet. The doctors had said, you know, they'll know if she. She pulls through it in the first 24 hours. And we're praying that she opened her eyes and she was awake and she was well. And Kathleen just wrote that praise report in there that she is so. Praise God. Praise God. He's good. He's good.

All right.

I'M just giddy hearing that news. That's awesome. Exodus 15, the second part of verse one says, the horse and its rider, he is thrown into the sea. So again, God getting all the credit for the, the, the exodus from slavery, the exodus from Egypt. Then verse two says, the Lord is my strength and song, Right? The Lord is my strength and song. So how strong are you as a Christian God? He. He's not just the one who gives us strength, he is our strength. So however strong God is, we can be that strong. And it says that God is my song. So he's the source, the subject, the reason for all of our praise. And it says, and he has become my salvation. He is our salvation. He's not just the one who, who's a good God. He offers us salvation. He offers us a way of escape. He offers us a ticket to heaven. No, he is our salvation. And it says, he is my God, and I will praise him, My Father's God, and I will exalt him. And then verse 11, it says, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods, right? They just came out of Egypt and all these, these false gods that they had. Who is like you, O Lord? Among all the gods, all these other belief systems who are like you, there's none like you. There's none who is like you. Glorious in holiness, fearful and praises, doing wonders. So even as we, we joyfully worship God, it's His holiness of power that leave us just trembling in awe. His holiness and power. And when we can get to that place, if we could walk in that, that fear of the Lord, that, that, that fear where, as the martyrs in Revelation 15 are saying, who shall, who shall not fear you? It's crazy to not fear the Lord. But it's missing in the church. It's missing oftentimes in our hearts that, that fear of the Lord. We're dabbling in sin, we're entertaining sin. When we have this fear of the Lord, that, that's when we're. Conviction comes fast when we walk in that fear of the Lord. So I, I want to open it up and I want to hear from you guys. What does the fear of the Lord mean to you? And how can we walk in the fear of the Lord? How can we grow in the fear that we have of the Lord? In the notes that are in the, the Google Drive that Roger posted here in the, the chat, I have a lot of verses that talk about the fear of the Lord, a lot of them coming from Proverbs, as most of you know. But the Fear of the Lord is, is, is everything. Because when we don't have a fear of the Lord, you see what happens in the world. You see what happens in the church. If you don't have a fear of the Lord, one, if you're a shepherd of a church of a flock, and you're not, you don't walk in the fear of the Lord then, and you're not teaching others to fear the Lord, then it's this cookie cutter Christianity that. That's not real. And I, I think a lot of it leads a lot of people to think that, yeah, God is good, we just take advantage. We. We take his grace, his license to just sin, willfully knowing, hey, he's a forgiving God. He's a forgiving God. And yes, he's a forgiving God, but he's a holy God who's righteous, who judges. So what does fear of the Lord look like in your life, Roger? Oh, man. Man. I just.

Chapter 15, it's so, it's, it's short and it's one of those like, just kind of like I've kind of gone over it in the past, but like today I'm just like scribbled many, many notes here in, in my Bible. This is like the curtain call, right? I mean, it's. And I've got so much anxiety about this moment in this chapter right now, my palms are literally sweating. I mean, this is, this is a curtain call. Everybody, you know, the saint starts singing the song and they, they're expressing the fear of God and they're like, this is it. This is like, there are, these things are about to happen. You know, the angels are about to come out, the bulls are gonna get, are gonna get handed out. And when the smoke fills, when the smoke comes out, the mercy seats closed. Like, we're done. You, like, they're singing the song and like this last attempt to, like, who, who doesn't see how can you not fear him? Like, it's this, it's like this. It is. It's literally the curtain call. Like, we're, we're absolutely done. And it's just, it seems so final to me, you know, and it's like, you know, it says the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power, and gnome was able to enter the temple. Like, that's, that's it. Mercy seats closed. We're close for business. There's no more forgiveness. There's nothing that anybody can say. Your judgment is locked and it's done.

And makes me sad.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, so that's all I got.

Yeah. But I, I, I don't want to speak for you, but I, I share in that sadness, but what it does in me is it sparks an urgency and, and urgency. And I, I think that it's laid out exactly as it's laid out, the spark and urgenc. We're obviously not one of those who's going to be one of these tribulation saints, who's, who's been martyred during the tribulation, but who around us potentially will be right? And when we read every time we see the, the picture of God's wrath and what's going to happen on this earth and a literal hell break out on this earth, it's like, man, I, I can't let anybody that I, I know, that I love live through that. And that, that's just a, a foreshadowing of the everlasting torment, the, the real lake of fire that unbelievers will experience for all of eternity. So I share in that, that sadness, but it's, it, it propels me, right? It's like I, I gotta share more, Jesus, I gotta love on, folks. And as we've talked about in the past, it's not just, hey, I'm beating the Bible upside your head. It's not just standing on a street corner with a bullhorn saying, repent or you're going to hell. It's the way you live your life 24 7.

Right.

Unless you live in a bubble and you have no communication physically or via zoom or phone calls or nothing, the way you live your life is going to be planting seeds. Planting seeds. At the very least, planting seeds. And we all need to do that. Sean.

Yeah. I think about how merciful and patient God is and how much he does want people to repent and come to him. I was thinking like the first thing when you, when you ask about the fear of God, what that means to us. The first thing that came to my mind was when Holy Spirit was taken from the King Saul. And because of his just repeated disobedience and, you know, he, he offered the sacrifices for the battle before Samuel got there. And Samuel's like, you've done a foolish thing, Stop it. God said that your kingdom's not going to endure because of this. And then he who was the king, that he, the king of the Amalekites, I think it was, that he spared. And so this is separate occasion. Just a little while later, he's disobedient again, spares all the animals, spares the king, Stinky, spares the women. I don't remember exactly, but it was just like, God was patient with Saul in his disobedience. And he's like, finally. He's like, all right, I'm done with you. And not only is your kingdom not going to endure, I'm rejecting you personally. And that sharp distinction between when God was present in Saul's life and when he was gone, Like, I've felt the difference. I've powerfully felt the difference myself between when God is in my life and when I'm lazy with my walk with the Lord, when I'm not quick with my obedience. He reproves us, he chastises us, because he loves us. And it's just like we're talking about here in Revelation. He'll do things to get our attention because he doesn't want us to suffer. Like, every. Everything that we suffer right now is just such a small foreshadowing of a greater suffering that he's trying to spare us from. And he's using that suffering now to try and get our attention. So, I mean, if we're a little bit pestilent to people that we love who are not saved, I mean, that's okay. I don't want to beat anyone over the head with the Bible. I don't necessarily want to stand on a bull on a street corner with a bullhorn either. But I mean, if it's a little bit annoying to the people that I love to. But it's in the back of their mind always, maybe this Jesus is real. Maybe he really is Lord. And I'm gonna have to acknowledge that one way or the other. Ultimately, I'm doing my part.

Yeah. Amen. Yesterday morning, Joe Sharaldo's step grandfather passed away. And Joe had been. If you guys know Joe, you know, he. If you're not a believer, you may surrender to the Lord just to get a Joe to shut up.

Right?

Like that. That. That's Joe. But it's the heart that he has, especially for his loved ones. Coming up Catholic and all his family members Catholic and not that. If you're Catholic, you don't know the Lord. There's plenty of Catholics that. That have a relationship with the Lord, but in his family in particular, it's just all religion, right? There's no real personal relationships. So he, you know, Joe is like, did I do enough? I. I've been ministering to him. I've been sharing Jesus, but. But did I do enough? Did he actually receive the Lord before he passed away? And it's, you know, obviously his heart's gonna mourn, but all we could do is what we could do. Now, in the case of Joe, I believe Joe probably did everything he could possibly do. He shared every time he could share. He loved the way Jesus would love. But with all of us, if one somebody that we're close with right now passed away and we know they don't know the Lord, man, will we be convicted?

Right?

Like, what else could I. Could I have done that? Just maybe a simple text of encouragement, Maybe just a. An act of service, just to exemplify the service of God.

Right?

So, yeah, man, that's good stuff. Sean. Gita.

Yeah, I was just going to say, like, you know, fearing the Lord, I think for. As for unbelievers, you know, we talk about how they don't fear the Lord and they just don't worry about the consequences of their actions and things. I think that's one aspect of it. But then when we do become believers, there's a different aspect. Like, do we really fear the Lord? Right? I mean, how many Christians actually obey the Holy Spirit? When he says, go left, we go right, or we take our time? So, I mean, that's really something related to fearing the Lord, and he's been showing me that in the last year because I've just been fasting and seeking the Lord a lot, like since last September, and just walking through some. A lot of fire just to shed things off of me. And that's one of the main things he showed me idolatry. So I'm basically guilty of idolatry, right? So putting things before him, whatever it is, whether it's a person or my thoughts or even my own intelligence. So. But that's. That's not fearing Him. Right. And now I finally got to a place where I am really starting to fear Him. That, you know, out of reverence. Right, out of reverence, because I respect him so much. But, you know, it's really interesting when you talk to people in the kingdom, a lot of people are actually not having that posture. So they say, well, at least I'm a believer. You know, I'm. I'm scared. You know, I know the Lord, but that's not enough. Right. It's just there's a whole nother level to that. We can keep going deeper and deeper. It's not enough to just say, you know, believers out there doing whatever they want, you know, going to bars and, you know, living according to their flesh, whatever. But that's. That's not it. Right? Fear of the Lord is so much deeper, I think.

Yeah. Amen. Yeah. So many of us. And, and even like, as, as you said, like, we're probably all guilty of it, of doing it at times where it's more of a casual relationship with the Lord.

Right.

If every morning when you wake up, if your first thought isn't, thank you, God, for another day, and just, just that first thought, that, that first act to start your day isn't with the Lord, then, yeah, that's idolatry. Something got in the way of what should be first in your life when you first open your eyes. Whether it be, hey, I got a busy day, or I gotta, you know, I gotta make breakfast for the kids, I gotta do this right. Idolatry, as we talked about time and time again, doesn't have to be something that's necessarily sinful. An idol in your life could be something that's a blessing in your life. But if it takes precedence over the place that God's supposed to hold in your heart, heart, and even be being at the forefront of your mind at all times, then it's like that, that casual relationship we have with the Lord. And guys, gals, be around believers who don't have that casual relationship, right? Because you're, you're going to start to become and, and conform to those around you.

Right?

If everybody around you has this casual relationship, then without you even intending on it, it's gonna, it's gonna dull your heart or, or I shouldn't say dull your, your senses, but harden your heart. And all of a sudden you're going to start treating God in this casual way where he by no means should have a casual place in our life. We approach him casually, we, we pray when we want to pray. We put him first when we want to put him first. And that is the picture of the church in America today, is this casual relationship. Yeah. As long as I'm going to church on Sundays. Yep. Even doing a small group. Oh, I, I, you know, I, I serve it at vbs. It, you know, you're checking off some boxes. But this casual relationship, is he actually first in all things?

Right.

And again, even as I say this, I'm, I'm convicted as I say it. And it's okay if we fall short of that at times, but to acknowledge we fall short of it and get back to that place for like, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, Lord, for that, because I do love you. I, I, I, I am in awe of you. And you get back to this place of Reverence, Roy.

So, you know, it's like casual or intimate relationships with guys. I feel like we're never. At least for me, but I. From my observations of other Christians, you're not perpetually in an intimate relationship with God or a casual one. It ebbs and it flows. Some weeks I have very intimate relationships with God. Other weeks I just kind of flounder.

Right.

And then I'm like, oh, did I make social media my idol this week? You know, I need to get my head back at the game sort of thing. So I think it's. I think it, you know, ebbs and it flows. You know, it's not always one perpetual thing. But it's funny you brought up the Catholics because, you know, I have. Intern. One thing that Catholicism is really good at is fear of the Lord. And so since being raised Catholic, I'll always have this interpretation of it. And I think sometimes people look at me and they pity me for this thought. They're like, you poor guy, you must have been abused or something. But, like, basically the idea in the Catholic Church is that, like, God is in control of everything. He can take anything away from you. Your house, your. Your riches, your achievements, your health, any of it can be taken. So you better listen to them. And I'm totally comfortable with this idea.

Yeah.

He's the Creator. He makes the game. He makes the rules. I'm comfortable, you know, when I turn into a Protestant, a lot of people like, oh, you poor thing, you poor thing. To have this interpretation. I think it's a fine place to be.

Yeah. Yeah. And if we could have that perspective at the same time with God. Yeah. I. I fear you because you can take all those things away. You're. You're the creator. You're master, your ruler of every single thing. But in spite of all that, I love you so much. I. I love you. And I'm not even worthy that you would consider me in any manner.

Right.

So. Yeah, that's. That's good, Roy. That's good. Yeah.

Real quick. It's. It's obviously none of these things equate to God, but it's simply like this. Have you ever been disciplined by a loved one?

Right.

Somebody, maybe a father, maybe a boss, maybe whatever it is, sometimes you have to be disciplined, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not inappropriate for God to punish us or pass judgment on us when it's time. Time to do that. That's his job. At the end of the day, it doesn't mean he doesn't love You.

Yeah.

You know, he's doing it for a reason. Like, I think several parts of the Bible even mention the word tribulation. Not in Revelations, but we go through tribulation to grow spiritually as people.

Yeah. Amen. Amen. For some reason, as you were sharing that, I just. This picture popped up in my head. So this was my BC day, so I can mention this here, but I used to watch the Sopranos.

Right.

Of course, being from northern New Jersey, knowing a lot of those areas. And some of the people that they were depicting, even there was a scene where Tony's wife was. Was saying to Tony, nobody respects you. They only fear you. You. Right, but they don't actually respect you. And that's like the. The fine line. Because we. If you're in that place of authority, you want to be feared, but not. Not in a way where you're not respected and loved. And with God, he doesn't want us to just fear him because he holds our fate in his hands where he's the one that could. That could send us. Lucy said, says all the time, like, she's like, oh, you ain't gotta apologize to me. I can't put you in heaven or hell.

Right?

It's like, we don't have that power. God has that power. But to. To have a fear where. Yeah, I. We should all have a healthy fear that we. We should want to avoid hell as much as possible, the way is depicted in scripture, but not only choose God to avoid something that's worse than God. Right? To have such a respect. Respect and a reverence and be in awe of him. And that word awe, it. To me, when you're just in that place with the Lord, you're in awe. And to me, the way I feel is just. I just melt. I'm just in awe of him. I'm overwhelmed by him. I'm overcome by Him. I'm just in awe. I have this respect for him. And that radical dichotomy of feeling like you're so puny because you see God in a proper perspective of how majestic and how magnified he is.

Right?

But then that dichotomy where I feel that small because I'm seeing God for as big as I could possibly see him in this finite mind. But at the same time, I feel like I'm. I'm receiving so much love that I'm the only person on earth that's getting any of his love. If I feel this much love, you guys can't be feeling this much love right now because I'm getting it.

All right.

So to have be in that place, that dichotomy of feeling so small and so puny, but at the same time feeling so loved and so blessed and having so much favor of God, when you walk in that place, it's like, man, that you're unstoppable. I think somebody else. Raj, did you have your hand back up? No, no. Thought somebody did.

It was Jonathan. He had to go there.

Oh, Cecil honored. He had. Oh, he had to go.

He usually fails just a little bit before nine.

Okay, well, I'll keep that in mind next time. I didn't realize we're at 8001 already, but this is good stuff. Keep in mind the. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb again, that. That meshing of the old covenant with new covenant, the law with grace. And what are. What are they praising God for? What are they singing about? They're singing about his works, his ways and his worthiness.

Right?

His works, his ways and his worthiness. And what. And if we could position our hearts to. To sing that constantly, right? He is our song. As it said in the song of Moses in Exodus 15. He is our strength. He is our song. He's not just the. The God that we sing about, but he is the actual song. He's the source of all the praise, all the joy, all the peace. Everything that we have that's good in our hearts. He is the source of it. So he's not just the song we sing about, but he is the actual song. Man, we could just have that healthy fear of the Lord as a church, As a church, collectively as a church, what the world would look like. But it's 802. Riley and I have a busy day out here in Oklahoma. Everything is. Everything in Texas is a bit of a drive. Everything in Oklahoma is really a drive. So we are going to hit the road. But may the Lord bless you guys today, Shine his face upon you. And if you need help walking in that fear of God, even just go through all the verses in scripture that talk about the fear of the Lord, right? The it. The Psalm 99. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. It's godly fear that. That purifies us, right? Proverbs 1:7. Of course. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 8, 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. We did a whole Bible study on that last year, actually like three weeks on it. To love what God loves and to hate what God hates. And God hates evil. Let's see. Let's see. Which one should I leave you guys with today? In the fear of the Lord, there's strong confidence. A fountain of life, Proverbs 14:26. But ultimately, Hebrews 12:28, 29 says, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. He is a consuming fire. He's going to consume with fire everything that is corruptible, right? But for us, these corruptible mortal bodies are going to be transformed to glorious, incorruptible, immortal bodies one day. So anything you're holding on to in your life, know that God is a consuming fire. And if our heart's posture could be. I love God even more because he's consuming fire. Because he is just. Because he is a righteous judge. That's a healthy fear, a healthy reverence for the Lord. So I'll leave you guys with that. Praise God again for. For Kathleen's mother, Carol, opening her eyes. Lord, continue to just pour out your love and your strength and your peace and your just healing upon her body and be with that family. In Jesus name.

Amen.

Love you guys.

Y' all have a good week.

Amen.

Y' all have a blessed one. Come back next week.

See you again.

Love you guys. Bye.