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(Sermon Notes by John Mitchell)

It is June 6th, 1944, and you are in a landing craft bobbing in the sea 200 yards from Omaha Beach, a small strip of sand on the shoreline of France. Here you find yourself, an 18 year old boy, who is about to become a man in a matter of minutes. You huddle with your Army buddies in the protection of the steel sides of the craft as German machine gun fire rakes the area with deadly precision. You hold your M-1 rifle close, and check your gear. Your thoughts turn to home, somewhere in the U.S.A. You think of your parents, sisters, brothers, the girl you left behind with the promise to return to and marry, and those thoughts are the last comfort you will know for a long time. Reality jerks you back and you slowly raise to see the beach drawing closer and closer. You see the tracer bullets from the machine guns firing at you, each 7th round enabling the enemy gunner to get a better sight on your craft. 88 mm. shells begin exploding around you and the sea is churned into a heaving, tossing torrent of death and destruction as you see other landing craft with their soldiers being blown apart and the sea turns red with blood. You drop your head and vomit the contents of your stomach onto the floor, and once again look at the beach that is now only 100 yards away, and the full force of an unspeakable, unyielding FEAR grips you and you realize that within a matter of minutes, if not seconds, you may die before you even have a chance at life itself. Your eyes cannot believe what they take in, and if you live through it, this hell of war will forever change you!! The FEAR you now know will be with you all your days!! It is THE FEAR OF TERROR!!

You lie in a hospital bed, your body racked with the pain of the cancer that has slowly been eating away at your body, and has now advanced to the point where you know you only have days to live, if that. You were somewhat of a church-goer. Every now and then you dropped a couple of bucks into the collection plate as it passed where you sat. You heard that if you were good you went to heaven, but if bad, to an ever-burning hell to be tormented by fire forever. You reflect on your life, and you realize there is no way you have done what you should, that you really have not been such a good guy. You can’t redo it, it is too late. You are staring straight into the face of death, your own mortality, and an ever growing FEAR begins to gnaw at your mind. You don’t want to die, you want another chance, and deep inside you know based on what you have heard all your life that you are going to hell. You will burn in torment, but not die, and it will last forever and forever. As death approaches, as it does for all men, your mind becomes frantic and you want to stop the progress of time you see on the clock on the wall. You mentally cry out, No, No, but to no avail!! It is THE FEAR OF DREAD!!

You sit in your easy chair at home, with your wife of many years beside you, and your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren gathered around you. You have called them all together today because you have something important to tell your family. You begin by telling them that last week you received the news that your heart was failing and that soon you would die. No cure was available, not even a heart transplant. The news is shocking to them all but your wife, who was with you at the Dr’s. office when all the tests came back. You however are very calm, accepting your mortality with a strength that comes from deep within your very being. You reach for a well used, marked up book on the table next to your chair, and retrieve your Bible, the Holy Word of God. You begin to speak to your family and they listen intently, even though their eyes are wet from tears.

You tell them of your life’s journey, how you and their mother met, married and raised each of them in love and care. They listen from respect, even though they know the story because they lived it with you. They realize that you want to impart to them the reason for the strength from deep within you that has sustained you all your days, through good times, bad times. The reason that you have taught them from that worn book, the Bible, the values, teachings, and wisdom of God all these years. You are secure, and your family knows it, that at a certain time, you all will be together again in an eternal life and relationship that will never be again broken. Your mind is calm and peaceful some few weeks later as you too face death. Yet, there is a FEAR, but it is different. It is what has sustained and strengthened you. It is "THE FEAR OF THE LORD"!!

Three Different men, each with FEAR in their lives. Of the three, which would you prefer to be? Of course you would choose the Third Example!!!!! I want today to explore from that worn book, The Holy Bible, what it means to have "The Fear of the Lord"!!

PR. 1:7-If we are to have any knowledge, even a beginning of knowledge, we must have a Fear of the Lord. In PR.9:10-It is described here as the "beginning of wisdom". And who among us doesn’t desire knowledge and wisdom?

The meaning of the word fear in Hebrew is yara’. In the Old Testament it has a three-fold meaning.

DEUT. 1:29-Here it means DREAD.
JONAH 1:9-10-Here it means TERROR.
I KINGS 3:28-Here it means to stand in AWE (in reference to a king).
LEVIT. 19:3-Here it means to REVERE, to RESPECT (in regards to parents).
EXODUS 20:18-20-When God descended upon Sinai amid these geophysical convulsions, Moses encouraged the Israelites to not be afraid of God arbitrarily striking them dead for no reason. ("Do not Fear"). Moses informed them that God revealed Himself in such a terrifying manner to scare them from sinning.

The proper kind of fear is that which causes you to stand in awe, to revere, to respect.

What does "fear" mean in the life of a Christian-You and I? Well, for starters turn to

MATTHEW 10:28-We are to fear God, not man.
ACTS 9:31- The early church walked in the fear of the Lord.
PHIL. 2:12- We are to work out (at) our own salvation with FEAR and trembling.
HEBREWS 10:26-31 & 12:28-29-We should be FEARFUL of apostasy, serving God with Godly FEAR. We should FEAR to go contrary to God’s plain teachings.

The FEAR of the LORD is expressed in us by reverential submission to His will! So, with a proper understanding of "The Fear of the Lord", we are more likely to appreciate the value of the “Fear of the Lord” as revealed in the Proverbs.

With the "Fear of the Lord" firmly instilled in us, we then see that certain Godly attributes grow within us throughout our Christian lives.

PROV. 8:13-We will hate evil!!
PROV. 10:27-We will prolong life!!
PROV. 14:26-27-We will have strong confidence & a fountain of life!!
PROV. 16:6-We will be motivated to depart from the evil that so easily surrounds us!!
PROV. 19:23-We will have a satisfying life, spared from much of life’s evils!!
PROV. 22:4-We will enjoy riches, honor, and life!!
Sounds like a wonderful life to me, how about you?

Without the "Fear of the Lord", going our own way, working it out ourselves, we begin to compromise Godly character and certain things happen to us that rob us of a full Godly life. We deprive ourselves of the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge! We will flirt with evil and are corrupted by it! Our lives could be shortened by our refusal to heed God’s Word. (e.g.-suffer sexually transmitted diseases if we do not heed God’s word on proper sexual relations.) (suffer painful or debilitating disease by not heeding God’s instructions on what is clean to eat and what is not clean to eat)! We will not come to really know the LOVE of GOD that gives assurance and confidence of salvation! When we do sin, we won’t be motivated to quickly repent and come back into the right relationship with God! We will not be motivated to truly “ work out (at) our own salvation!

Sounds like a Dreadful or Terrifying life to me, how about you? The “Fear of the Lord” should be a highly regarded and sought after trait, one that we desire to develop in our lives, especially in the days in which we live.

How then do we develop "The Fear of the Lord" in OUR lives?

ROMANS 10:17-Just as Faith comes through hearing God’s word:
DEUT. 31:10-13-The same can be said for “The Fear of the Lord” Israel was to gather every seven years to read and hear the Word of God. Why? That they may learn to FEAR The Lord.

As you read the Word of God, you gain a healthy degree of "The Fear of the Lord". For example, let us consider the words of the Apostle Paul in:
ROMANS 2:4-11- How about the words of Peter in 2 PETER 3:7-14!! When we read the Word of God, and obey God, we then develop a proper "Fear of the Lord". But we must read ALL of God’s Word and maintain the right balance. Many people read only about God’s Love, and have no fear of the Lord. Other people read only about God’s judgment, and know nothing of His kindness. The one develops an attitude of permissiveness that belittles God’s righteous judgment. The other develops a mind- set of terror that forgets God’s grace and compassion. Either one is unbalanced!!
We must be careful HOW we use the word of God, but use it we MUST!!

If we desire to be truly wise and have knowledge, then let us begin with "The Fear of the Lord". Understanding it, appreciating it, and developing it in our lives as the children of God. If we want our church of grow, both spiritually and physically then let's follow the example of the New Testament church found in ACTS 9:31!! When we some day face our mortality, we can do so with a mind that is calm and peaceful, assured of the promises of God. "The Fear of the Lord" is that inner strength that sustains us throughout our lives and is what we should pass on to our children, grandchildren, and great grand-children!!

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"THE FEAR OF THE LORD"
(Sermon Notes by John Mitchell) It is June 6th, 1944, and you are in a landing craft bobbing in the sea 200 yards from Omaha Beach, a small strip of sand on the shoreline of France. Here you find yourself, an 18 year old boy, who is about to become a man in a matter of minutes. You huddle with your Army buddies in the protection of the steel sides of the craft as German machine gun fire rakes the area with deadly precision. You hold your M-1 rifle close, and check your gear. Your thoughts turn to home, somewhere in the U.S.A. You think of your parents, sisters, brothers, the girl you left behind with the promise to return to and marry, and those thoughts are the last comfort you will know for a long time. Reality jerks you back and you slowly raise to see the beach drawing closer and closer. You see the tracer bullets from the machine guns firing at you, each 7th round enabling the enemy gunner to get a better sight on your craft. 88 mm. shells begin exploding around you and the sea is churned into a heaving, tossing torrent of death and destruction as you see other landing craft with their soldiers being blown apart and the sea turns red with blood. You drop your head and vomit the contents of your stomach onto the floor, and once again look at the beach that is now only 100 yards away, and the full force of an unspeakable, unyielding FEAR grips you and you realize that within a matter of minutes, if not seconds, you may die before you even have a chance at life itself. Your eyes cannot believe what they take in, and if you live through it, this hell of war will forever change you!! The FEAR you now know will be with you all your days!! It is THE FEAR OF TERROR!! You lie in a hospital bed, your body racked with the pain of the cancer that has slowly been eating away at your body, and has now advanced to the point where you know you only have days to live, if that. You were somewhat of a church-goer. Every now and then you dropped a couple of bucks into the collection plate as it passed where you sat. You heard that if you were good you went to heaven, but if bad, to an ever-burning hell to be tormented by fire forever. You reflect on your life, and you realize there is no way you have done what you should, that you really have not been such a good guy. You can’t redo it, it is too late. You are staring straight into the face of death, your own mortality, and an ever growing FEAR begins to gnaw at your mind. You don’t want to die, you want another chance, and deep inside you know based on what you have heard all your life that you are going to hell. You will burn in torment, but not die, and it will last forever and forever. As death approaches, as it does for all men, your mind becomes frantic and you want to stop the progress of time you see on the clock on the wall. You mentally cry out, No, No, but to no avail!! It is THE FEAR OF DREAD!! You sit in your easy chair at home, with your wife of many years beside you, and your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren gathered around you. You have called them all together today because you have something important to tell your family. You begin by telling them that last week you received the news that your heart was failing and that soon you would die. No cure was available, not even a heart transplant. The news is shocking to them all but your wife, who was with you at the Dr’s. office when all the tests came back. You however are very calm, accepting your mortality with a strength that comes from deep within your very being. You reach for a well used, marked up book on the table next to your chair, and retrieve your Bible, the Holy Word of God. You begin to speak to your family and they listen intently, even though their eyes are wet from tears. You tell them of your life’s journey, how you and their mother met, married and raised each of them in love and care. They listen from respect, even though they know the story because they lived it with you. They realize that you want to impart to them the reason for the strength from deep within you that has sustained you all your days, through good times, bad times. The reason that you have taught them from that worn book, the Bible, the values, teachings, and wisdom of God all these years. You are secure, and your family knows it, that at a certain time, you all will be together again in an eternal life and relationship that will never be again broken. Your mind is calm and peaceful some few weeks later as you too face death. Yet, there is a FEAR, but it is different. It is what has sustained and strengthened you. It is "THE FEAR OF THE LORD"!! Three Different men, each with FEAR in their lives. Of the three, which would you prefer to be? Of course you would choose the Third Example!!!!! I want today to explore from that worn book, The Holy Bible, what it means to have "The Fear of the Lord"!! PR. 1:7-If we are to have any knowledge, even a beginning of knowledge, we must have a Fear of the Lord. In PR.9:10-It is described here as the "beginning of wisdom". And who among us doesn’t desire knowledge and wisdom? The meaning of the word fear in Hebrew is yara’. In the Old Testament it has a three-fold meaning. DEUT. 1:29-Here it means DREAD. JONAH 1:9-10-Here it means TERROR. I KINGS 3:28-Here it means to stand in AWE (in reference to a king). LEVIT. 19:3-Here it means to REVERE, to RESPECT (in regards to parents). EXODUS 20:18-20-When God descended upon Sinai amid these geophysical convulsions, Moses encouraged the Israelites to not be afraid of God arbitrarily striking them dead for no reason. ("Do not Fear"). Moses informed them that God revealed Himself in such a terrifying manner to scare them from sinning. The proper kind of fear is that which causes you to stand in awe, to revere, to respect. What does "fear" mean in the life of a Christian-You and I? Well, for starters turn to MATTHEW 10:28-We are to fear God, not man. ACTS 9:31- The early church walked in the fear of the Lord. PHIL. 2:12- We are to work out (at) our own salvation with FEAR and trembling. HEBREWS 10:26-31 & 12:28-29-We should be FEARFUL of apostasy, serving God with Godly FEAR. We should FEAR to go contrary to God’s plain teachings. The FEAR of the LORD is expressed in us by reverential submission to His will! So, with a proper understanding of "The Fear of the Lord", we are more likely to appreciate the value of the “Fear of the Lord” as revealed in the Proverbs. With the "Fear of the Lord" firmly instilled in us, we then see that certain Godly attributes grow within us throughout our Christian lives. PROV. 8:13-We will hate evil!! PROV. 10:27-We will prolong life!! PROV. 14:26-27-We will have strong confidence & a fountain of life!! PROV. 16:6-We will be motivated to depart from the evil that so easily surrounds us!! PROV. 19:23-We will have a satisfying life, spared from much of life’s evils!! PROV. 22:4-We will enjoy riches, honor, and life!! Sounds like a wonderful life to me, how about you? Without the "Fear of the Lord", going our own way, working it out ourselves, we begin to compromise Godly character and certain things happen to us that rob us of a full Godly life. We deprive ourselves of the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge! We will flirt with evil and are corrupted by it! Our lives could be shortened by our refusal to heed God’s Word. (e.g.-suffer sexually transmitted diseases if we do not heed God’s word on proper sexual relations.) (suffer painful or debilitating disease by not heeding God’s instructions on what is clean to eat and what is not clean to eat)! We will not come to really know the LOVE of GOD that gives assurance and confidence of salvation! When we do sin, we won’t be motivated to quickly repent and come back into the right relationship with God! We will not be motivated to truly “ work out (at) our own salvation! Sounds like a Dreadful or Terrifying life to me, how about you? The “Fear of the Lord” should be a highly regarded and sought after trait, one that we desire to develop in our lives, especially in the days in which we live. How then do we develop "The Fear of the Lord" in OUR lives? ROMANS 10:17-Just as Faith comes through hearing God’s word: DEUT. 31:10-13-The same can be said for “The Fear of the Lord” Israel was to gather every seven years to read and hear the Word of God. Why? That they may learn to FEAR The Lord. As you read the Word of God, you gain a healthy degree of "The Fear of the Lord". For example, let us consider the words of the Apostle Paul in: ROMANS 2:4-11- How about the words of Peter in 2 PETER 3:7-14!! When we read the Word of God, and obey God, we then develop a proper "Fear of the Lord". But we must read ALL of God’s Word and maintain the right balance. Many people read only about God’s Love, and have no fear of the Lord. Other people read only about God’s judgment, and know nothing of His kindness. The one develops an attitude of permissiveness that belittles God’s righteous judgment. The other develops a mind- set of terror that forgets God’s grace and compassion. Either one is unbalanced!! We must be careful HOW we use the word of God, but use it we MUST!! If we desire to be truly wise and have knowledge, then let us begin with "The Fear of the Lord". Understanding it, appreciating it, and developing it in our lives as the children of God. If we want our church of grow, both spiritually and physically then let's follow the example of the New Testament church found in ACTS 9:31!! When we some day face our mortality, we can do so with a mind that is calm and peaceful, assured of the promises of God. "The Fear of the Lord" is that inner strength that sustains us throughout our lives and is what we should pass on to our children, grandchildren, and great grand-children!!

"THE FEAR OF THE LORD"