Awe of God

I don't think you understand how you impact somebody else for eternity. When you get to heaven, you'll understand that. John may not even understand that. John impacted my life and Darla's life in an incredible way, and he didn't realize it. When I was in my 20s, I was seeking a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit.

I was taught that Those kind of encounters were not for today. Prophecy wasn't for today. Signs and wonders weren't for today. But I was hungry for that. But I wanted somebody that wasn't flaky or weird to speak into my life.

And somebody said, You need to look at this guy named John Bevere. And I started to read his stuff and listen to his sermons. And God really used that to open a fresh door and a fresh wave of the Spirit into my life. That's the first way he's spoken in my life. Secondly, I don't know if y'all remember this, but about seven or eight years ago, I got into my head that it'd be better to leave the nicest part of Raleigh.

and set up shop in a creepy industrial park on the side of an interstate. And that move was tough. It really sucked the wind out of ourselves. It was very difficult. When that season of difficulty was over, moving from there to here.

The very first speaker we had in this place when we finally moved in here was his wife, Lisa Bevere. We had a women's conference, and she was the very first speaker in this facility.

So, when I think of the word Bevere, I think of the end of a tough season and the beginning of a new season. And then the third way that John has really spoken in my life. You know, last year I told you I blew out my leg in a deer hunting accident. I was on my back after surgery for weeks. My wife had had surgery.

She had donated part of her liver to a little girl in a church.

So we were both just kind of down on our backs. And I was kind of getting down and discouraged. God reminded me in Psalm 23, sometimes he makes us lie down. Did you know that? If you ain't going to lie down on your own, he's going to make you lie down.

And in that season of lying in the presence of God, God brought a book into my life called The Awe of God by John Bevere. And as I read that book. I recaptured a passion for the fear of the Lord, and it changed my life.

So we got a guy here today that's not just a speaker. He's a speaker that God has used to speak into my life and to change my life. Can we thank Jesus right now for our guest, John Bevere? John, come on out here. Stand and greet John if you would.

You guys are probably, oh, thank you, thank you for turning on the mic. Isn't it amazing Jesus didn't need a mic to speak to 5,000 people and we got to use mics. I want to know how he projected his voice when I get to heaven. Amen. Can I say it's a real honor to be here?

And the reason I'm so delighted to be here is just in meeting your senior pastors. Uh when I look at uh both um Whoa, Pastor Chad. Ah, my mind. Chris. Thank you so much, John.

Wake up. Can somebody give me some coffee, please? No, I'm just joking. No, I was just completely overwhelmed by the genuine strength and the genuine humility of both these men. And then I look at Darla, and Darla is just such an amazing woman.

And I'm just like really excited to meet you this morning because let me tell you, in traveling for 35 years all over the world, I have learned that you can learn a lot about the people long before you meet them by just meeting their leader. And I gotta tell you, I just like, why haven't I met this man of God?

So many years earlier. And I am just delighted in knowing that God is doing something very, very special here. Amen. And I had the most wonderful time with the guys this weekend. Guys, it was great being with you.

If any of you are in here, and the Lord moved in a really special way.

So I know a lot of you do not know me. And I want to say this: that Raleigh has a very special place in my heart because when I was in college, I co-opt at the triangle at IBM as a mechanical engineer. Of course, God called me to ministry. I was only in engineering for a couple years, and then I went into the ministry in 1983 or 82. And so it's been, it's a very special place here.

A lot of you don't know me. The best way I think I can introduce myself is share with you my family. And here's a picture of my family. Unfortunately, it's not recent because we're spread out a little bit. But Lisa and I have been married 42 years next month.

And I told her a few months ago. I said to her a few months ago, I said, baby, if you were single, I would be so on your trail. And she is my very, very best friend. She's ministering actually in West Virginia this morning. Then we have our four sons and our four beautiful daughter-in-laws.

All of our sons have worked with us at Messenger International for at least nine years. Messenger International, our organization, was founded by Lisa and myself in 1990. We were launched by our pastor into full-time ministry. Since then, we have had a passion to help pastors all over the world because we realize one of the things that they are desperate for is discipleship resources.

So, we've been able, by the grace of God, in the last several years, to be able to put over 69 million resources in the hands of pastors and leaders in 241 nations of the world, in 27,000 now cities. And so, our sons have greatly helped us. We've got a team of 50 men and women that work for us both in Colorado Springs and in Nashville. And then we have a thousand team members all over the globe doing the distribution, the translations, the voices, and everything else that we do. Then you can see the little ones.

Those are our G babies. You say, what in the world is a G baby? I am way too young to be grandpa, so it is G daddy and G for short. And so there's, I think we've got five of them there. You see Christian's pregnant.

We had a couple more come along, and I'll show you in the next slide. That is Azzie on the left, and that is Arthur on the right. Azzie is my first real Italian boy. Lisa's an Italian citizen. I am actually more Italian than she is, believe it or not.

I don't even have a last name that sounds Italian because they changed it at Ellis Island. But he's our little guy that looks Italian, and he gets me, and I get him.

So anyway, that's my family. And you know, the more I love my family, the more I realize how much God loves us, because how many of you know we're his big family? Can you say amen to that? All right, so now I asked for all the time that I could get because I feel like I'm carrying a responsibility from heaven. And we all do.

And I never want to make light of what any of us are called to do, but I really feel something very special on this morning. And I want to ask you if you would just open up your hearts because what I'm going to share with you is something that God started doing in my life in 1994. He started opening my eyes to what I'm going to share with you. And I can honestly say it changed me forever. And I personally believe the Holy Spirit can change us in one service.

How many of you actually believe that?

Okay, I believe it with all my heart, and I'm going to believe that for you today. And I just want you to put up your other hand, and we're going to lift our hands because the Bible says to pray with our hands lifted up, right? And we're going to ask the Lord to do this today. And so I want you to add your faith to mine. I want you to believe that God is going to speak to you.

I don't want you to hear from a man. I want you to hear from God this morning. Amen. Because if you just hear from me, you're going to get information. You hear from God, you're going to get transformation.

And that's what we need. Amen. So, Heavenly Father, we come before you, and Lord God, we're so grateful. First and foremost, that you have called us your sons and daughters. And Lord.

What an honor. You could have made us slaves, and we would have been so much better off than where we were. But you have literally brought us into your family.

So this morning, Holy Spirit of God, I realize that we've got three locations. And I'm so thankful that. Those don't limit you. That you're in North Raleigh, you're in Benson, and you're here. And I'm asking that you would do in all three locations what you love to do the most.

And that has revealed Jesus in a way like we have never, ever known him before. And as you do this, may we go from glory to glory and from strength to strength. For I decree, dear Lord. That this day, your kingdom is come. Your will shall be done in our locations on this earth.

As it is in heaven, and for this we give you all the praise and the glory and the honor and the thanksgiving. And it's in Jesus' mighty name we pray. And everybody that agrees shouts. Come on, give him praise. Amen.

Amen, amen, amen, amen. All right, you can be seated. I'm going to say this: that I am going to share with you out of the book, The Awe of God. I want to say, and I'm saying this for the sake of the campuses, because we We've got a few books here, the guys kind of wiped them out yesterday. And so, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to put this up on the screen early and in the last part of the service.

Uh, it's a QR code, and it's going to send you to Amazon. Why am I going to send you to Amazon? Because you're all Prime members, all right?

So. If I send you to our website, you gotta put your name in, your address in, you gotta put your credit card. I don't care about the money. Let Jeff Bezos have it because the money's gonna burn up. What I care about is you getting this.

Now there's 42 chapters in this book. Why did I do that? Because I asked the Holy Spirit, I said, God, people aren't reading today. He said, write short chapters. And I thought, brilliant, okay, that's a God idea.

And so they're in 42 days is basically six weeks. And the That I broke it up into six sections of seven chapters each. And so there's no chapter that is more than six pages, except two. Two of the chapters are eight pages. That is designed to get you to be able to do this in the morning.

It is not a devotional. You can sit and read it from cover to cover like a book. But this book, you know, Beta Satan is a book I wrote. 30 years ago and it just passed six million copies last September. This book is outperforming it by a mile.

And what's happening is people are realizing it's what's missing in the church. And if you see that today, I want you to get it. This is a devotional that goes with it.

So it's got the similar cover, and you can get that as well if you're doing group study or individual study. All right, this morning, in order to open up what I want to share with you, I want to share with you three scriptures. And I'm so sorry. I was reading my Bible as I should have been before. All right.

I want to share three scriptures. From To just introduce this this morning. And the first one. is going to be Isaiah 33 verse 6. I want you to take a close look at this.

Isaiah thirty three six says that the fear of the Lord is God's treasure.

Now, just stop and breathe and think about what you just read. The fear of the Lord. is God's treasure. Do you have treasures? How do you handle those treasures?

Do you just put them in junk drawers? Do you c handle them carelessly or do you protect them? Do you treat them as valuable? The fear of the Lord is God's treasure. I want you to look at Isaiah 11, verse 3.

It says that the fear of the Lord. is Jesus' delight. I would just stop and think about this. This is his delight. Is the fear of the Lord.

Now I want to bring you to the New Testament and show you what the Apostle Paul writes. He says, work out your salvation. with fear and trembling. Notice he does not say, work out your salvation with loving kindness. Work out your salvation.

with fear and trembling. So let's just take take a step back here and think about this for a second. We are talking about God's treasure. Jesus is the light and the very thing that matures our salvation. Why aren't we talking about this a whole lot more?

in the American church. First of all, Let's ask the question: what is the fear of the Lord? You say the word fear today, and people kind of recoil, they kind of shut down, don't shut down yet. What is the fear of the Lord? First of all, let me say this: it is not to be scared of God.

How can you have a relationship of intimacy with somebody you're afraid of? It's impossible. And yet, this is God's number one desire for each and every one of you, and that is to be intimate with you. He wants that with you more than you want it with him. When Moses leads Israel out of Egypt.

Where is he bringing them? Does anybody know? Say it out loud. Where's his destination? Promised land.

No, I challenge that. What does Moses say to Pharaoh seven times? Thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they might worship me in the desert. Why does Moses want to bring him to the promised land before he first brings him to the promiser? If you bring them first to the promised land before bringing them to the promised, they're going to make the promised land into a place of idolatry.

And that's exactly what they did. I find such an amazing I look at Moses, he's raised in the most beautiful home in the world. His grandfather is the wealthiest man in the world. He has one encounter with God at the burning bush. And he never says, I want to go back to Egypt.

Israel is abused by Egypt, and they are constantly saying, We want to go back to Egypt. Why is that? Because Moses entered into the presence of God, Israel had a chance, but blew it. Because Moses leads them out of Egypt, brings them right to the place he met with God on Mount Sinai. That's where the burning bush was.

And God has a private meeting with Moses. Go look this up later. It's amazing. And God says, you go tell all three million of those Jews. That I am so excited to meet them.

And that the whole reason I brought them out of Egypt was to bring them to me. I've made them to be a kingdom of priests, which means I want every one of them to be able to approach me like you approach me.

So tell them I'm going to come down and meet with them on the beginning of the third day. God comes down on that third day, and when He does, the people all scream and run away. And Moses looks at the people in Exodus 20:20 and makes this statement, it's an amazing statement. He says, Do not fear. Everybody say do not fear.

Because God's come to test you. What's the test? To see if his fear is in you. Wait a minute, Moses, do not fear because God's come to see if his fear is in you. Is Moses talking out of both sides of his mouth?

No, he's differentiating between being scared of God and the fear of the Lord. There's a massive difference. The person who is scared of God has something to hide. What does Adam do when he sins against God? He hides from the presence of the Lord.

The person who fears God has nothing to hide. That person's actually afraid to be away from God.

So, if you want your first definition of the holy, healthy fear of God, it is to be scared, and I'm going to go one step further, it is to be terrified of being away from God. All right, so what is the fear of the Lord? It is when we stand in awe of Him. It's when we tremble. before his presence.

When we do this, we literally take on his heart. And so now we love what he loves and we hate, listen to my words, hate what he hates. You say, wait a minute, you just use God and hate in the same sentence. Yes, I did. God hates things.

Now, let me make this really clear. Because this is where people shut down again. The legalist. Everybody say the legalist.

Alright, how many of you know g God hates legalism because legalism actually keeps people from God. The legalist is the person that says, I fear God, that's why I hate those sinners. No, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't fear God at all. God loves those quote sinners so much that he came and died for them.

So you hate who he loves. What God hates is the sin that unmakes The object of his love. He doesn't hate people. He hates the sin that unmakes people.

So, this is why the Bible says in Proverbs 8:13, all who fear the Lord. will hate Notice the word hate, evil. Paul brings it to a whole nother level. He says, abhor what is evil.

Now, the word abhor doesn't mean just hatred. It means strong hatred.

So If you fear the Lord, you hate evil.

Now, let me help you understand something. It doesn't say that the fear of the Lord. All who fear the Lord will dislike evil. You dislike evil, I would question whether you fear God or not. You hate evil.

There is a huge difference. You don't tolerate evil. You don't Coexist with evil? You hate it. I remember back in 1990 when we first launched Messenger International.

I would pray two hours every single morning, and then I'd read my Bible because I wasn't getting a lot of invitations to come preach back in those days, right? I remember I would get up in front of churches and I would preach, and my words didn't carry strong weight. They weren't powerful. And one day I was a little upset about it. I was like, God, you know, I didn't even want to go into ministry.

And yet you called me, and now I go up and I get up in front of people and speak, and my words aren't carrying any weight. Why isn't there a stronger anointing on me? And the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart and said, Because you tolerate sin. I'm like, what? He said you tolerate sin, not only in your life, but in the lives of others.

And then he said, read Hebrews chapter 1.

So I go over to Hebrews chapter 1, and this is the chapter where God the Father is inaugurating Jesus as king of the universe. And look what God the Father says to Jesus in verse 9. He says, Because you have loved righteousness. And he said, stop right there. He said, John, you love righteousness, and so do most Christians.

He said, but that's not all I said. Because you have loved righteousness and Hated. Everybody say hate it. Sin. Lawlessness.

Therefore, God, even your God, has anointed you beyond your companions. And he whispered to my heart right there, and he said, Son, you learn to hate evil the way I hate evil, and you'll see the anointing of God increase upon your life. That changed me forever. And so When you look at the word lawlessness, everybody say lawlessness. Do you know the Bible says that in the last days before Jesus returns, that the mystery or the hidden secret of lawlessness will be at work in our society?

He'll be at work in the church as well. Jesus said that in Matthew 24. All right. Now, what is the word lawlessness? Lawlessness means you're a law unto yourself.

Are you following me? Let me help illustrate it. How many of you remember the garden? The garden's got these two main trees. Remember the two main trees?

Tree of life? Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil illustrates lawlessness. Let me help you understand by showing you what the tree of life is. The tree of life is this.

I know God is my creator. He knows what makes me. He knows what breaks me.

So therefore, I trust him. Because he loves me.

Okay. I if you um If you look at what my four sons, when they were toddlers, Christmas Day. Is It's a workday for me. They open the gifts, and guess who's building all the toys? Me, right?

So I'm your typical dad. I rip open the box, throw the box and the instruction manual away, and I build the toy, okay? I spend an hour building the toy, and I'm finished, and there's still five pieces on the floor.

Okay, I hit the switch and the toy doesn't work.

So what do I do? I go find the instruction manual that I discarded. I then deconstruct a toy and build it the way The guy who designed the toy says to build it. And oh my gosh, it works. How amazing.

That's the tree of life.

Okay?

Now, what's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? That is when I choose what is good for me outside of what God says. When she saw the tree was good, it doesn't say when she saw it was evil and it would make her wicked. When she saw it was good. She took So it's when I choose something outside of what God says.

Now, when you look at a little child, or when you look at a 12-year-old and you put a skirt and you put a pair of pants in front of them, and you say, Which one are you drawn to? You are saying to that child, forget that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by your Creator in your mother's womb. You get to choose what's good for your life. It is the mystery of lawlessness that's permeating our society.

So, Jesus, because he hates that, because it destroys people, God says, I will anoint you with a stronger anointing. Good preaching, John. Amen. I'm going to help some of you right now. All right, so if you want to break the, if you want to, if you want to categorize the fear of the Lord into two categories, you can do it.

Okay. Category number one is to tremble at his presence. Category number two. It is to tremble at his word. I'm going to talk about each briefly in the next couple of moments, all right?

Number one, to tremble at his presence. God makes a statement to his people through the prophet Jeremiah. He says, hey, Will you not fear me? Will you not tremble? At my presence.

I think the American church, we have lost sight of who it is we're really serving. I look at Isaiah, and Isaiah is the most godly man in his entire nation. He is a preacher of righteousness. He says in Isaiah 5: Woe to the wicked, woe to the proud, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. I mean, he stands out in his nation.

Isaiah 6, God transports him right in the throne of God, removes him from his body, puts him right before the throne. And he notices these massive angels, and one is crying to the other, Holy! And he's crying holy so loud. He's shaking. The temple to its foundations.

Do you know what that temple is? It's an arena in heaven that seats over a billion beings. These angels are not singing a song making God feel good about themselves. Every moment, another facet of his glory is revealed, and one cries the other, holy. And they cry it so loud.

that Isaiah writes it three times to put emphasis. And their cry shakes the entire arena. When Isaiah sees the Lord, he doesn't go, dude, there's the man upstairs. Wow. He falls on his face and he says, I Woe is me.

He's not crying out, woe to the sinner anymore. He's like, woe is me, I am completely undone. Because for the first time in his life, even though he's a godly man, he realizes who it is he's serving. And for the first time in his life, he realizes who he is before this holy God. If you look at Job, Job, God is the one that said Job is the most righteous man on the earth.

All right, how would you like it if all 8 billion people on the earth, God said you're the most righteous person on the earth? That that's Job.

Okay?

God appears to Job. And Job says, I have heard you by the hearing of the ear. I heard about you in church. My eye sees you. I abhor myself.

For the first time in his life, he realizes who it is he's serving. If you look at Moses, Moses, the most godly man in his generation, God comes down, manifests himself, and Moses said, I was trembling with fear. If you look at John, John, the disciple, the one who loved Jesus, he sees Jesus on the island of Patamos, and he falls down like a dead man. We have forgotten who it is we are serving. I remember.

Back in 1997, I was asked to speak to the nation of Brazil at their national conference. I was so excited. I had always wanted to go to Brazil and preach. And this was the first time I was being asked, and since I've been like 30 times, but. I remember.

You know, this is a national church conference. There's over 300,000 people in this church network, and they fly me down. I remember going to the arena. This is not an auditorium, this is an arena. And I mean, this place, I walked, they put me on the platform, and there isn't a seat open in the whole arena.

And I'll never forget. This is back in the days when they put preachers on the platform. Remember when we used to sit on the platform? I hated that. You feel like a spectacle.

But anyway. I'm on the platform, and this actually worked out for the good that night. I'm on the platform. And I'm looking at a believers' conference where there's not a seat open in the whole place. The music is unbelievable because they're the best musicians.

I I am so aware. That there's no presence of God in the building. And I remember, I'm like, this doesn't make sense. What is going on? And so I closed my eyes and I said, Lord, where is your presence?

And I opened my eyes and I noticed things that I didn't notice. before I prayed that. I noticed people standing there during the worship with their arms crossed, looking around. They had their hands in their pocket looking down. I noticed people walking down the huge stairs, going to the concession stands all around the arena, getting their soft drinks or their tacos and going seeing back up to their seats, seeing somebody they know, high five in them talking.

And I'm noticing conversations kind of going on between people, and I'm like, what's going on?

So they go through the whole worship set, and I'm thinking this will calm down, but it doesn't. They go through the whole worship set, and now when the worship set's over, because there's no music, you can actually hear the lore, the mutter of all the conversations that are going on in this arena. People still walking around, and I'm like, what is going on? And then one of their leaders come up and start reading from the scripture. And you're still hearing the conversations of people moving around.

And I'm like, No way! And the Holy Spirit speaks to me and he said, son, you've got to address this. And I you know what I said? I said I know, but how? How do I even get their attention?

And he gave me an idea.

So when they introduced me, I remember, I'll never forget this as long as I live, I walked up and just put my elbow on the. on the podium like this with my translators right here. And I just stared at everybody and didn't say a word.

Now, when you're the Friday night guest speaker of the national conference and you've been introduced and you're just standing there for about 60 seconds, just not saying a word, just staring at people, that will get their attention. And I remember after about 40, 50, 60 seconds, everybody stopped moving. Everybody quieted down. And they're all looking at me like, What are you doing? And I remember when every eye is on me, I thought to myself, I can't introduce myself, I can't say nice to be here, because I'll lose their attention.

So the first words I spoke in public. Ever in Brazil. Or these. I just looked at him and said, I have a question. You're talking to somebody sitting across the table from you.

And the whole time you talk to them, they got their arms crossed looking around as if they're disinterested, their hands in their pocket, or they're actually talking to somebody sitting next to them. I said, will you continue to talk to them? No. I said. I've been in this arena for over an hour, and there's not a drop of the presence of God in here because God will never come into a place where He's not held with the utmost respect.

I said, Psalm 89, verse 7 says, God, look at this, God is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints. And to be held in reverence. By all those who surround him. I said If the president of your nation would have walked on this platform tonight. You would have given him ten times the respect.

You gave the Holy Spirit. I said, Palai. You're greatest soccer player in Brazil's history. You're Michael Jordan of soccer. Would have walked on this platform.

You would have been on the edge of your seats anticipating every one of his words. I said, you've given no respect to the Spirit of God. And I preached them for 75 minutes on the fear of the Lord. At the end of 75 minutes, I said, All right, you say you're a believer, but you lack the fear of God and you're willing to repent, stand up. 75% of the arena stands up.

For the first time, the presence of God comes in the building. I'm like, oh. We even pray and the presence of God came in. And I'm hearing people sob and weep in the presence of God. I'm like, oh, this is wonderful.

So after a few minutes, I lead him in a prayer of repentance. And when I do, his presence is there for a while, and then it kind of lifts. And I'm standing there, and the Holy Spirit said, I'm coming one more time.

Now there's no way I can adequately describe this, but I'm going to try. I want you to imagine being at the end of the runway at RDU airport. And a jet takes off. That kind of a violent wind came blowing into that arena. When it did, the people started screaming.

Okay, now can you imagine thousands of Latinos screaming? That's loud.

Okay. The wind was louder. I will never forget this. I am standing there.

Now I want you to listen carefully. Petrified. I'm terrified. I had never encountered a presence like this. I mean the authority this presence.

I had never encountered. I'm petrified, yet I'm drawn to him. I I can't explain it. You're terrified, yet you're drawn. And I I remember I'm standing there and I'm like Oh my God.

And the wind is blowing. The people are crying out like... Screaming, almost. And I'm like The thought goes through my mind. John Bevere You say one wrong word, you make one wrong move, you're dead.

Would that have happened? I don't know. But it happened with a husband and wife. Who brought an offering in Acts chapter 5? to their church service in Jerusalem.

And they came in with that kind of an attitude in that presence. And they buried them both the same day. That's New Testament. I knew in this atmosphere. Irreverence would not be tolerated.

You know, Oswald Chambers He makes a statement. That I want you to look at. He said, when we preach the love of God, there is a danger of forgetting the Bible first. Or, excuse me, that the Bible reveals not first the love of God, but the intense blazing holiness of God with His love at the center of that holiness. That's why I feel I was drawn to it.

I was drawn to the love, yet I was terrified by the authority and the presence in a good way. Are you understanding what I'm saying? I remember after 90 seconds, the wind subsided. It left in its wake. People collapsed all over the arena.

And I'm standing there, I'm like, God, what do I do? What do I do? And the Lord's like, I'm through with you. And so I look to the leader, I said, it's all yours. And I remember they walked me out to the car and then they put the soloist that night and her husband in the car.

She screams, Did you hear the wind? Did you hear the wind? I said, Maybe it was a jet aircraft flew over the arena too low. And she goes, What are you talking about? And her husband quieted her down and said, Sir, that wasn't a jet aircraft.

I said, How do you know? He said there were security men and policemen. All around the outside of the arena, he said they're union workers. Most of them aren't even safe. He said, When the wind began to blow, they came running in to see what was going on.

He said, Furthermore, I'm at the main soundboard at the back of the arena. making sure my wife's volumes were correct. For her singing? He said, I'm looking at the decimal meters the whole time the wind's blowing, and the decimal meters are at zero. He said, that means the sound did not come through our sound system.

I remember the driver goes, Where would you like to eat, sir? I said, Would you please take me back to my hotel room now? And I remember sitting on the balcony till 1:30 in the morning. I'm telling you, I'm sitting there going, Did this really happen? The next morning, you cannot believe the miracles and the salvations that occurred in that same arena because of awe.

For 20 years, we heard about this. First of all, it was snail mail, then it was emails. In 2016, I went down to minister to 12,000 pastors. In Guiania, Brazil. The first pastor who met me said, Sir, I was in the building 20 years ago when the wind blew.

And my life has never been the same since. That's because you are never the same when you encounter the awe of God. God makes the statement. He said, by those who come near me. Draw near to God, and He'll draw near to you.

But yeah, but there is a condition. By those who come near me, I must. Be regarded. As holy. And before all the people, I must be glorified.

Two years after 1997, I was in Malaysia doing a national conference there. This time it was an arena, it was an auditorium like this. It wasn't an arena. And I remember we had done 10 meetings. And people had come from all over the nation of Malaysia for the meetings, pastors, leaders.

It was the biggest Bible school in the nation. And I remember, you know, it was a tough 10 meetings. And the last meeting, I will never forget this as long as I live, that presence came in again. But this time it was stronger.

Now there was no wind this time. But that presence came in. And when it did. There was a bunch of women, because I called all the women up that were called to ministry who had never publicly acknowledged it. They all, within 30 seconds, are on the floor.

And I remember nobody caught him. That presence comes in, I'm like, oh my my. And I remember this time, because it's even stronger, I'm like. I found out there was a difference between my head and my heart because my head was going, God, I can't handle this. And my heart was going, God, please don't lift, please don't lift.

Remember, the word of God divides between soul and spirit. I thought there was a difference. And I remember during this time, these people are screaming again, like Brazil. And I'm like, Oh my God. And I'm once again, I'm thinking, but Vera don't say anything wrong.

Don't make a wrong move. You're dead if you do. I don't know if it would happen, but I know that holy awe is just, there's no description of it. And I remember I'm walking back and forth. And I'm going, oh my God.

And out of my mouth come words I've never thought of before in my entire life. I said, This is the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And I went, In my mind, I went, oh my gosh, that's it. That's what the Bible says. The Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Jesus: spirit of wisdom, counsel, might, knowledge, understanding, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

I thought that's one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And I remember this one lasted about five, six minutes. It left in its wake. Everybody collapsed all over the the auditorium. And I'm standing there again.

And I'm like, God, what do I do? And God said, I'm through with you, son. And I look at the leader, I said, It's all yours. He was very wise. He comes up and he says, We had a song planned.

We're not doing the song. You can stay as long as you want. People stayed there for a long time. And I remember because I had done 10 services, I'm exhausted.

So I remember I left after 15 minutes, and I'm walking to the back, right? And there's a double door there that I'm walking, there's a bunch of double doors for the arena. And I'm walking out one of them, and there's this Indian couple standing at the double doors. And they were Bible school students from India, in Malaysia, right? In Kuala Lumpur.

I remember both of them got kind of nailed by that presence. That's the only way I know how to say it. And I walk up to them and they just look at me and I look at them. And we just look at each other. For like 30 seconds.

Like what do you say? Cool service, yeah. Yeah man, it was rad. It was really cool. I mean, they're looking at me, I'm looking at them, and finally she breaks the silence.

And she goes, I feel so clean. inside. And I just went, yeah. And I thought, Oh my gosh, that's it. That's what I felt after Brazil.

That's what I felt here. That's what I felt in North Carolina. Because it happened once in North Carolina, in Fayetteville. It happened in California and happened in Texas. I think it's happened five times in my life.

And I went, that's it. And I remember leaving. That's all I said to them. I left and I thought. That night and I go back to my hotel room and I'm like, she nailed it.

That's what I felt. Clean in that presence, right?

So the next morning, I'm getting ready to play basketball with the Bible school students in Malaysia, right? And I'm putting on my gym shorts, and the Holy Spirit said, Son, read Psalm 19.

Now, I don't have an iPad back in those days, right?

So I go and get my Bible and I open up Psalm 19. I have no idea what I'm going to read. I start reading verse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And then I get to verse 9, and look what I read: the fear of the Lord is clean. I went, oh my gosh, there it is.

The fear of the Lord is clean. That's exactly what she said. And now look at the next words. Look at the next words. Everybody, look at the next words: enduring forever.

The Holy Spirit speaks to me right there with my gym shorts on. And he said, Son, Lucifer led worship right before my throne. He beheld my glory. He was anointed to do so. He did not fear me.

He did not endure in heaven forever. Then he said, Son, a third of the angels surrounded my throne. They beheld my glory. They did not fear me, they did endure forever. Then he said, Adam and Eve walked in the presence of my glory.

In the garden. They didn't fear me. They didn't endure forever. He said, every created being that surrounds my throne throughout eternity will be tested in the holy fear of God. I started thinking.

How many people go into ministry and they don't endure? Are you with me? Barnett tells us that over 30 million Americans have walked away from the faith in the last 24 years. 30 million, that's one tenth of America. Paul said, that day will not come until there's a great falling away.

Those who have professed faith will walk away. We're in it. Why is it? Is it because we're not preaching the fear of the Lord? We're not preaching in what Jesus delights in.

We're not preaching God's treasure to his people. Why is it God's treasure? Because it's his protection on our lives to keep us from walking away. That's why Jesus delighted in it. The first Adam failed because he didn't have it.

The last Adam succeeded. Because he delighted in it. Are you here? Are you getting some out of this? The fear of the Lord is to tremble at God's word.

Let me briefly talk about this. Everybody say to tremble at His Word. God says to his people, This is the most amazing statement. One of the most amazing statements in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 66, he said, He says, this is the one that I will look.

If I say look. The Hebrew word look means Pay close attention to. You know what God's saying right here? This is the person I pay close attention to. You remember Tommy Tenney wrote a book called God Chasers years ago?

There was a big movement. Can I say it's one thing to chase God? It's a whole nother thing to have God chasing you. You say God chases people? He sure does.

Doesn't he send the prophet Samuel to Jesse's house? And when he gets all the wrong sons, God goes, it's none of these that I'm chasing, it's the little ruddy one out there with the sheep. Doesn't he chase Cornelius, a Roman centurion? By sending an angel to him, God chases people. Yeah.

I just preach myself happy. I don't know about you. My fault. I don't know about you, but I want to be somebody God's chasing.

Okay, so God's saying, this is the one who I pay really close attention to. That's what that word look means. He or she who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. Everybody say trembles at my word. What does it mean to tremble at the word of God?

Means you obey God immediately. You ever meet somebody and they go, well, you know, the Lord's been. been dealing with me about this now for several months. And then they laugh about it. I'm like, you're laughing at your lack of.

The fear of God. I think that's amazing. I mean, you know what David says in Psalm 119, verse 60? I will hurry. With haste to obey your commands.

When we tremble at his word, we obey God even if it doesn't make sense. Has God ever told you to do something that doesn't make sense? Does it make sense to forgive somebody who has really hurt your family? Does it make sense to forgive somebody who gossips about you, and because they gossip about you, you lost your dream job? Does that make sense?

To bless them? Bless those who curse you. Sure, it's quiet in this Methodist Church. Are you here? I could go on the rest of the afternoon on that one.

Okay, it means we obey God even when it hurts. Do you know the Bible says that Jesus Obeyed the Father to the point of death, even the death of a cross, meaning that was the worst way you could die. You know what Peter said as Christ suffered for us in the flesh? Arm yourself with the same mind? The religious person seeks out suffering to please the God little G he or she serves.

The believer says, I live in a fallen world and I'm going to obey God and I know I'm going to get resistance, persecution. I'm going to obey it anyway. I might get canceled. I don't care. We lost a $500,000 gift to the ministry.

Because we chose to speak truth just this year. We were going to be gifted a $500,000 item. God's our source. And we're going to keep preaching the truth.

Okay. Number four. It means we'll obey God even if we don't see a benefit. We've almost created disciples in the West. That the only way you can get them to obey God is to show them the benefit.

If you pray, God will do this. If you obey, God will do this. If you serve, God will do this. If you give, God will do this. Does God do this, this, this, and this?

Yes, you better believe He does. He does. But that better not be your motive. What if that was Esther's motive? Esther has absolutely nothing to gain by her obedience, and she has everything to lose, including her head.

And yet she looks at Mordecai and says, Tell the women to fast, I'm going for the king. If I die, I die. She feared God. When we fear God, we obey Him to completion. Everybody say completion.

King Saul does 99.99% of what God told him to do. God says he's disobeyed. I remember one of my millennial sons. I told him to do something. He did 97% of it.

And I said, hey, Look what look I I pointed out what he didn't do. He said, Dad, why don't you look at the 97% I did do? I said, why don't you tell me why God didn't pay attention to the 99.99% that Saul did do? Why did God focus on the 0.01% that He didn't do? Remember, Jesus said, When you've done all these things which you've been commanded to do, say we're unprofitable servants.

We've only done that which is our duty. I've only got a couple minutes left. Let me focus in on the benefits. I want you to listen really carefully to me. In 30 years of praying and crying out to God.

I have discovered there are 40. Amazing benefits that God promises only to those who fear Him.

Now, here's what's scary. We apply a lot of these promises to every Christian and say they're available to you if you're in Christ. Uh-uh. They're available if you fear God and are in Christ. I I I I'll prove you I'll prove with one of them.

Can I sh prove it to you? All right, what's the greatest? Benefit of the fear of the Lord, in my opinion, of the 40. I'm going to tell you one. You can read the book to get many of the others.

All right? What's the greatest benefit? Friendship with God.

Okay?

Psalm 25 verse 14 says Friendship with the Lord. is reserved. For those who fear him. With them he shares his secrets. Do you share secrets with just anybody or with your intimate close friends?

God's no different. God says, I share my secrets, my intimate close friends. And by the way, my intimate close friends are those who fear me. Boy, it sure is quiet right now. Are you just listening really good?

Is that what's going on?

Okay. Who's the first one called the friend of God in the Bible? Abraham? Why is Abraham called the friend of God? Because when he's really, really old, God comes to him one night and says, Abe, Abe, yes, yes, Lord.

Yes, yes, yes. Abe, you know your son you love so very, very, very much. You love him more than anything or anyone else. You know, you waited for him for 25 years. I promised him to you.

Yeah, Isaac, sure, he's sleeping right now. I want you to go on a three-day journey and sacrifice him. That's all I said! He's like gone He doesn't say if you go sacrifice him, then I'll send my son. He just says go sacrifice him.

And Abraham doesn't have Genesis to read like you do. Uh, k can you imagine? Do you even think this man got any sleep that night? But you know what my Bible says? It's amazing.

You know what my Bible says? early the next morning.

Well, the Lord's been dealing with me about this now for several months. Wow, you and Abraham are two totally different people. Anyway. Early the next morning, he's on his way.

Now God gives them a three-day journey. Why? to think it over. It's a little easier when you heard the booming voice of God the night before. But what about two and a half days later, you haven't heard anything?

And you're looking at The mountain.

Now, you're going to put the most important thing or person or thing to death in your life. Just because God said do it and didn't even give you a reason I'm so glad Abraham wasn't a millennial. Oh my gosh.

So So So Abraham goes up with Isaac and he starts building this altar. And, you know, Isaac, he's 13 years old, most Bible scholars believe, adds a little salt in the wound, right? Hey, Dad, where's the sacrifice?

Okay, can you imagine? This is your- Son, you waited for him for 25 years. You build this author, you say, Isaac, come on. You tie him down, you lift up the knife, you're ready to put the most important person or thing to death in your life, just because God said do it. And He didn't even give you a reason.

And all of a sudden, the angel of the Lord appears. And the angel says, Abraham, stop. Because now I know you fear God. How does the angel know he feared God? Because he obeyed instantly, because he obeyed when it didn't make sense, because he obeyed when it hurt, because he obeyed when he didn't see a benefit, and because he obeyed to completion.

Abraham puts down the knife, unties his son with great relief, lifts up his eyes. There's a ram caught in the thicket, and out of his spirit comes Jehovah Jireh. Oh my gosh.

God just revealed a facet of his personality to Abraham nobody had ever known because he's my friend.

Okay. Some of you aren't getting this. You're looking at me like a dog at a brand new pant.

Okay, I'm going to help you.

Okay. You all know me as John Bevere, communicator.

Some of you know me as John Bevere, author. But that lady I showed you a picture of, ooh, what a lady. She knows me as John Bevere, husband, John Bevere, best friend, John Bevere, athlete, John Bevere, a G-Daddy, John Bevere, dad. Can I say this? None of you will ever know me as John Bevere husband.

That is a facet of my personality. You will never know because that is reserved for the closest person to me. God just revealed a fast of his personality to Abraham nobody had ever known before. Because he's my friend.

Okay, now look at the relationship between God and Abraham. It's amazing. It's amazing. One day the Lord says, Should we do that?

Sodom and Gomorrah, we're planning on doing without first talking to our friend Abraham.

So the Lord comes down by the terrap of trees, and he and Abraham go over to the cliffs and they look at the plains of the Jordan. And the Lord says, Abe. Yes, Lord. Yes. Abe?

We're thinking about blowing up these two cities. What do you think? Abe goes.

Sodom? The Lord goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Gamora, what do you think? Even so gosh. Think, my nephew's in Sodom, my nephew's over there.

Okay, God, you wouldn't like to blow up the cities if there were 50 righteous people, would you? And the Lord said, Excellent idea, excellent idea.

Okay, we'll not blow up the cities if there's 50 righteous people. Glad we talked to our friend Abraham. Abraham goes, What if there isn't 50?

Okay, what about 45? Would you blow the cities over there in 45? Another good idea.

Okay, we'll not blow up the cities if there's 45 righteous people. Talks them all the way down to 10. Figures there's got to be ten lots one all I need is nine other guys But there's not.

Now here's the thing, the Bible says this, Sodom and Gomorrah is buying, selling, trading, marrying, giving in marriage, planting, and harvesting. What does that mean? Put it in today's language. Life Is good. The economy is booming.

And if there is a God, he doesn't mind. Our lewd lifestyle. They're 24 hours away from being obliterated. And they're clueless. That's not what's scary.

This is what's scary. Lot. Everybody say lot. Who the Bible calls Righteous. 2 Peter chapter 2, go look it up.

And I'm going to put it in today's vernacular: born again. Christian. He's 24 hours away from being obliterated, and he's as clueless as.

Sodom. It takes two messengers of mercy, two angels, because Abraham prayed, thank God Abraham prayed. to get him out.

Now here's two righteous men. I'm going to put in today's terminology. Here's two Christian saved men. One righteous man knows what God's going to do before he doesn't, helps God decide how he's going to do it. The other righteous say, born again a man is as clueless as the world.

Why is that? Because this righteous saved-born-again man fears God, therefore he is the friend of God, therefore God shares his secrets with him. This righteous saved-born-again man does not fear God, therefore, he is not the friend of God, therefore, God does not share his secrets with him. Two righteous men. You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, this doesn't apply to Christians.

Sure it does. Look at what Jesus says to his disciples. He said, you are my friends.

Okay, everybody, we write songs on this, we write books about this, we preach sermons on this, but we, why don't we finish the sentence? Because there is an if there. And the word if means this is conditional, it's not automatic.

So he says to us, you're my friends, if what? If what, Jesus? You do whatever I command you. There it is, the fear of the Lord trembling at his word. You know what Jesus is saying?

He's saying, Not every Christian is my intimate close friend.

Now see, we come along and we say, oh, Jesus is my friend. Wait a minute. He's our friend if we tremble at his word. if we have the holy fear of God. But let me say this.

He wants to be everyone's intimate, close friend. But you choose. He doesn't choose, you choose. How close you're going to be. Holy grace.

So good. or your lack thereof. That's why. I can't understand why we don't talk more about this. I may be got four chapters out of this book.

There's another 38 chapters I didn't touch. I hope you'll get it and solidify. your walk because I am so fed up. with 30 million Americans walking away from Jesus. But I believe they're coming back.

I believe they're coming back. I guarantee you, not one of those 30 million said, one day I'm going to walk away from the Lord. They walked away because we didn't give them what Jesus delighted in. I want every head bowed, every eye closed. Heavenly Father, I've preached what you've commanded me to preach, and I thank you so very much.

I'm speaking to all campuses. Please keep me on in North Raleigh. Please keep me on in Benston. And I'm speaking to this campus. Before I pray with you about the holy fear of God, I want to make sure everyone has a genuine relationship with God.

I want to say this. A lot of people think all you have to do is pray a sinner's prayer and you've got a right relationship with God. I'm going to challenge that. Jesus is the groom, we're the bride. I've never seen a bride say, to her grand.

You will be my favorite. I will spend 360 nights in bed with you. But I would like five nights out of those 365 days. to jump in bed with my old boyfriends. When a bride marries a groom, she says, This man is mine.

I am saying goodbye to 3.9 billion guys. He's the only man in my life. You cannot pray a sinner's prayer and have all these lovers in your heart that Jesus died to set you free from. You can't sleep with the world a few nights a year. Jesus said, the only way you can follow me.

It's to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me because when you do that, you get my life, and I'll take his life over what I had any day of the week.

So, I want you to be honest with yourself this morning. Have you done what that bride does when she walks down the aisle? She's saying goodbye to 3.9 billion guys. Have you said goodbye? in your heart firmly.

To the things that Jesus died for to set you free from. Or have you been flirting with them? Have you been dating them even? While you think you have a relationship with the groom. If you're in here this morning, you say, John, truth be told, I haven't done what that bride does.

but I want to do it right now. I want to give my entire life to him. Then I want you to raise your hand because I want to pray for you and I'm talking to all three campuses. Just a while, look at the hands going up, amazing. If your hand's in the air, I want you to stand to your feet, because I've never seen a bride ashamed of her grim.

If you're ashamed to stand, then you just stay seated. Put your hand down, please. We still have a problem. Is there anyone else? I want to make sure nobody's missed.

I want to make sure North Raleigh, Benson, nobody's missed. Wow, I'm looking at over 100 people standing up right now. I just want to make sure, yes, yes, you are worth the wait. I want to make sure nobody's missed. If you want to be standing and you're sitting, ask yourself, why am I doing this?

I appreciate you being honest and God won't force you to say yes. Just as a groom could never force a girl to say yes to his proposal. But I do want you to ask yourself the question. Why is it that you're not standing? when you want to be standing.

Yes, ma'am, you are worth the wait. Thank you for standing. I want to make sure there's nobody missing. Yes, sir. I see you standing up there.

Yes, sir. I see you standing. You were worth the wait. Yes, ma'am. Yeah.

Yes, ma'am. Is there anyone else? We've got probably 120 people standing right now in this auditorium. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir.

God bless you. I want to make sure nobody's missed. Okay. Yes, sir, you're worth the wait. I'm telling you, I'm just not rushing this.

Now I'm going to do one more thing. You say, John, I am genuinely, I genuinely belong to Jesus. I genuinely am his. But I lack the fear of God. Jesus said, If you ask your Father for the Holy Spirit, He'll give them to you.

And one of the manifestations is the Holy Fear of God. He said, John, I want the fear of the Lord. I want to treasure it the way Jesus does. and I don't have it, I have not walked in it, and I want it. I want you to stand with these people.

Immediately. Wow, what a great church.

So humble, so teachable. I'm so proud of every one of you that are standing. And those of you who are sitting who do walk in the holy fear of God. We've got probably 85% to 90% of the auditorium standing here. I'm sure it's the same in North Raleigh.

Benson. Can you just lift up your hands right now? Can you pray this prayer with me? Say, Dear Lord God. Say it out loud, dear Lord God.

Thank you for speaking to me today. Through your servant. I realize Say it strongly now. I've lived life my way. Apart from you.

My Creator. But today That's all changing. On this very day. I give my spirit, soul, and body. Everything I am.

Everything I have. To you, Jesus. Jesus, you are my Lord. My king. and my bridegroom.

I'm totally yours. And I'm asking you today. Please. Heavenly Father. Baptize me.

and the holy fear of God. I cry out to you for it today. In Jesus' name.

Now keep your hands up. Holy Spirit, I welcome your presence. presence in our three campuses. Fill. your people.

In Jesus' name.

Boy, he's here. Boy, he's here. Jesus, thank you so very, very much. for what you're doing right now. in all three of our campuses.

There's his presence right there. Right there. There's this presence. People are being healed in their bodies right now. The fire of God is literally burning infirmity out of your body right now.

People are being delivered right now. from generational curses. Those curses are broken now. And the fire of God's burning all tentacles, all tentacles that would link you to your ancestors. The blood of Jesus severs those cords now.

Now, I want you out loud with your own mouth to thank him for what he's done. I want you to thank him with your own mouth. And now let's give him praise. Come on. Let's give them praise.

Give him praise. Thank you, Boy.

Now Can you uh Can you be very honest with me? Put your hands down. How many of you could sense the presence of God? I want you to put your hands up. That was God sealing you.

Yeah, okay. You're At the precipice, the beginning. of a magnificent life. Because the Bible says How full of joy and glad are the people who fear you. Psalm 112.

Obeying God becomes a delight. I want to say this, if you could please. Up the QR code, and I'm going to give you permission right now. Get your phones out. This will bring you right to Amazon.

I don't care if you. About where you go. I told you earlier. But I'm asking you, please, if you stood. To you especially that have stood, no matter what campus you're in.

I just want to see you solidify what was put in your heart because I don't want you to be another one of the 30 million. And I'm going to ask one more thing. I think you're starting home groups. Use this in your home groups. You can use it by yourself, but use it in your home groups.

There's six 30-minute videos that you can watch together or watch by yourself. and go through it. And let's strengthen our church. To be able to make a real huge impact in the Raleigh-Durham area, because I love this area so much. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for hearing my heart. Thank you most of all. For understanding that God has sent you a very precious leader. A man who really does, I believe, walk in the fear of God. And thank you for being supportive of him.

I love you. God bless you. Wow, you know, I love the biblical languages. I love great food. And there's a Greek word to describe what you just experienced.

And that Greek word is wow. That's incredible. Did you say the Greek word is... Are you as hungry as I am? For that fear of God.

And all the signs and wonders that accompany that. Are you as hungry as I am for that fear just to settle on this place? And I'm sure, I'm not jamming, this is not a rhetorical question. Are you really hungry for that? I was just reading in Acts 9.

That the early church walked in the fear of God and they multiplied. I'm hungry for that. And some of y'all are saying, well, that's that's Old Testament. That's New Testament. Maybe Old Testament, New Testament, it's the same God.

He is still alive today, and He wants to pour out His Spirit. I uh I'm just hungry for that. Y'all believe he's the same God? Lift up your hands. Lift up your mouths.

Let's just sing to that same God who's alive and in this place today and wanting to do more than you and I could ever imagine. Let's praise Him right now. Can we do that? Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you now.

How I need you now. Oh, rock or rock of ages. I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh, God, my God, I need you now.

How I need you now. Oh, rock of ages. Oh, rock or rock of ages. I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness. Oh, how I need you.

You oh, how we need you. You heard your children then. You hear your children now. You are the same God. You are the same God.

You answered prayers back then, and you will answer now. You are the same God. You are, He is providing you. You are providing now. You are the same God.

You are the same God. You ruled in power then. God ruled in power now. You are the same God. You is the healing God.

You were the healer then. You are the healer now. You are the same God. You are the same. You were the savior then.

You are the savior now. You are the same God. You are the savior. Oh, God, my God. I need you.

Oh, God, my God. I need you now. How I need you now. Oh, sick of the rock of ages. Oh, rock or rock of ages.

I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness. And that wasn't a song we just sung. That's a prayer I just prayed. I want that. And I think God.

Yeah. to you in response. I'm not sure if I can do it. They saw Adonai. Bena Velecha?

By Sim Lecha Sha. Shalom. Christmas church of the Lord bless you. Lord keeped you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom. Peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit, in the name of the Father and of the Son. the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen. Amen and amen.

God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ. God bless you. Mm-hmm.