You can have all of me
Every single little piece
You can have it all
Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.
To get connected or to give online,
go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.
If at any point during this message
you feel called to make a change in your life,
text change me to 970-00.
Thank you and enjoy the message.
Please help me welcome back to the stage, Hub City Worship,
as they bring you evanescence, bring me to life.
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core
Will I become so alone
With my soul so cold
Will spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find a star and leave it behind
Wake me up, wake me up inside
Hold my name and see me from the dark
I'll give my blood to rest before I come undone
Leave me from the nothing I've become
Now that I know what I'm without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me
And make me feel weak
Tonight
Wake me up, wake me up inside
Hold my name and see me from the dark
I'll give my blood to rest before I come undone
Leave me from the nothing I've become
Bring me to life
I've been living a lie
There's nothing inside
Bring me to life
Frozen inside without your touch
Without your love, darling
Only you are the light among the dead
All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me
I've been sleeping for a thousand years
It's been hard to open my eyes to everything
Without thought, without voice, without soul
Don't let me die here
There must be something wrong
Bring me to life
Wake me up, wake me up inside
Hold my name and see me from the dark
I'll give my blood to rest before I come undone
Leave me from the nothing I've become
Bring me to life
I've been living a lie
There's nothing inside
Bring me to life
Thank you, thank you. Just kidding.
It gets harder and harder to share a message after a Summer Jam, of course.
Excellent performance. June's Summer Jams at HCV, a series that focuses on music and its connection to culture.
If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space.
Every year we bring a live musical performance to our stage as a means of growing our relationship with Jesus.
Last Sunday we kicked it off with the hit song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.
If you missed it, you can go back to YouTube and listen in.
This morning we heard Bring Me to Life by the rock band Evanescence.
It was actually on their debut studio album Fallen.
It was released on Wind Up Records and it was actually released January 13th of 2003
following its inclusion on the soundtrack of the film Daredevil.
For all you Daredevil fans out there, this song received a generally positive reception
with critics praising Lee's vocals and melody.
It became a commercial success, reaching number five on the US Billboard Hot 100,
but actually garnered a lot more attention around the globe, going number one in 19 different countries.
And actually in the UK, it was number one on the charts for four consecutive weeks.
One of Evanescence's most commercially successful songs.
It gained triple platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2019
and Bring Me to Life won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2004.
Now, interestingly enough, the band Evanescence was formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1994
by singer and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody.
The two met at a Christian youth camp when they were 13 and 14 years old respectively
and Lee thought they would be great at playing music together
because they didn't fit in very well at the youth camp.
Hmm, sound familiar? Look around.
Now within a month, Lee gave Moody a cassette tape of her singing
and playing guitar on a song that she had written
and the two began writing and recording music in their parents' houses
and playing in different coffee shops.
Evanescence was on Wind Up Records, the same label that Creed broke through on
and actually it was the fourth record label that finally accepted them.
The first three that they applied this song for, this Bring Me to Life song,
turned them down and said there's no way it's going to be successful
because there was a woman leading the vocals.
At that point, at the late 90s, early 2000s, there was no female leads
and the record labels actually turned them down
and that's why they end up on Wind Up Records.
Now the album was actually distributed to the Christian community initially
and it caused the band to absolutely shut it down and say no, they didn't want that,
we're not a Christian band, we don't want to be labeled as a Christian band
even though if you listen to the lyrics really closely,
it can certainly be interpreted as a cry out to God to set her free
and allow His Spirit to come inside of her.
However, the song is about abuse and depression.
It's actually about feeling trapped in a dark place in your mind
and not feeling able that you can get yourself out of it.
The line that says, how can you see into my eyes like open doors?
It suggests that she felt this way for a long time
but someone comes along of course and really points it out,
hey, you're unhappy and this actually all happened.
Amy Lee confirmed this interaction in an interview with Metal Hammer magazine.
She says, this song is actually written about my now husband.
I was in a very abusive, bad, difficult relationship for a long time
and I was sitting at a dinner table across from Josh.
Remember, she didn't even know this guy.
He was a friend of a friend of another band member.
They sat down to have dinner together and as he looked across the table at her,
he asked her a simple question, are you happy?
Those three words ended up initially writing the lyrics to this song that you just heard.
The lead singer, she was living in fear.
She was living in a fear of the unknown.
She wasn't allowing herself to experience a freedom
that can simply come with a choice to change.
This morning, I believe that so many people within our culture live in fear.
It's both in and outside of the church.
It's not just a church thing.
I mean, think about it, wages, right?
They're not going up, but the cost of living is.
I think, look at the cost of groceries, building materials, gas, anything that you have to buy.
It just continues to increase dramatically.
Politics is not comforting to anyone.
Who can you trust?
Is anyone telling the truth?
Are they all liars and thieves?
Because it certainly does seem that way.
There's a lot to scare us happening in the world right now.
We have wars, we have terrorism, cancer, diabetes, neurological diseases, and much, much more.
Heck, even when we get sick, right?
We don't even want to go to the hospital or doctor
because in the back of our minds we're thinking,
I don't have the money to pay those bills.
And that whole scenario is literally crippling our culture,
and people are living in fear.
Then, as you just heard when you throw in verbal, mental, and physical abuse, right?
Singer Amy Lee, she feels like she was lost.
She had been hardened.
She was questioning life.
She was wondering, how could I ever be set free?
And there's a lot of persons, places, and things that can bring fear into our life.
And this morning, I specifically felt God leading me to talk about the fear of God.
Because I wonder if the reason so many people experience fear in this life
is because they don't understand the fear of God.
And could it be possible that it's a loss of the fear of God
that has created this culture of anxiety and fear both in the church and outside of the church?
And I wonder if the fear of God is actually the antidote to the fear of man.
It's actually the antidote to the fear of the things of this world.
And it may sound simple, but remember, we are people.
And we have a tendency to make the simple things complex
and the complex things really simple.
To start with, just think about this.
There are over 300 references in the Bible where you will hear
fear of the Lord, fear God, or fear His Word.
Over 300 references.
And there's no way that I can completely cover the depth of the fear of God
in a 30-minute talk on a Sunday morning,
because there's so many directions I can go in, but I'm going to do my best.
For example, let's just jump into the Bible for a second.
The book of Proverbs. What is the book of Proverbs?
It's simply wisdom for dummies. Okay? So we all understand it.
Proverbs 1, 7, the very beginning of the book,
fear of the Lord is foundation of true knowledge and wisdom.
But fools despise wisdom and discipline.
So just to jump right into the book, the verse sums up what the entire book is about.
When we fear God, we're going to grow in wisdom.
But we must understand there's a difference between knowledge and fear.
By show of hands, how many of you know someone that's really smart, but not wise?
Really smart, and you think to your head, why are you dating them again?
Why did you choose to do that? Proverbs continues, chapter 9.
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Foundation.
Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
Fast forward, chapter 10, verse 27.
Fear of the Lord lengthens one's life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.
Right? So it tells us that we're going to live longer if we have a fear of the Lord.
Verse 14, 26, 27.
Those who fear the Lord are secure. He will be a refuge for their children.
In other words, when we fear God, it means we walk away from insecurity and doubt.
And we walk in confidence.
Verse 27, fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain.
It offers escape from the snares of death.
So we learn the fear of the Lord is actually what Jesus points to when he says we're going to live abundant life.
So the Bible, as you can see, is full of truths about fearing God.
Look at Psalm 2, verse 11.
Serve the Lord with reverent fear and rejoice with trembling.
It almost sounds like a song, right?
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Let's all sing it. You want to try it?
Let's all sing it. You ready? Ready? We can get it.
It's a great way to memorize the verse. Ready?
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with...
Oh, that was terrible. Come on.
Look, I can't even sing and you're not singing with me.
Are you ready? Serve the Lord with fear and...
Okay, that's better. All right, we're getting there. We're getting there.
We're getting there. All right, I got it.
Maybe that was a little too fast for you.
Look at Psalm 115.
He will bless those who fear the Lord both great and lowly.
You can turn that into a hymn.
He will bless those who fear the Lord both great and low, both great and low.
See? We can turn them into songs.
Right? Let's go to the book of Ecclesiastes.
What? Look, the whole book of Ecclesiastes is summed up with one sentence.
That's the whole story.
Here now is my conclusion.
Fear God and obey His commands, for this is everyone's duty.
I mean, think about these words are written in the same chapter as the meaning of life.
You want to know the meaning of life?
Fear God, obey His commands.
That's everyone's duty. It's our responsibility.
Jump into the book of Job, Job 28, 28.
And this is what he says to all humanity.
The fear of the Lord is true wisdom.
To forsake evil is real understanding.
Now think about it.
There's over 300 more references just like that in the Bible.
Right? Now some of you are thinking,
what's this have to do with the song bringing to life?
What's this all mean, Chris?
Well, I believe that many people have an unhealthy view of God.
A very unhealthy view of God.
And it's because, could be because of their relationship with the earthly father.
They had a bad relationship with the earthly father and they just put that on the God.
Maybe they experienced abuse in this life just like Amy Lee did.
Or maybe they're just walking in sin and they feel like they're never good enough to be accepted.
There's so many people within our world that simply turn away from God, run from God,
out of fear rather than running towards Him.
When in reality, God is the one sitting across the table from us every single day asking us the question,
are you happy?
Church, are you happy?
And that's the question God is asking us this morning.
Now I get it.
Some of you are biblical scholars.
Some of you had communion for breakfast and you rolled in here on a highly holy cloud.
Right? And you're like, oh, well, Chris, all those verses were from the Old Testament.
You know, what about the New Testament?
What does Jesus have to say about that?
Well, that brings us to our first thought.
The Church of Acts walked in godly fear.
Look at Acts 9 verse 31.
The Church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.
And it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord.
And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Hold up, hold up, hold up.
Now you're telling me, right, that this church, this early church in the Book of Acts that we're reading about multiplied,
not because they had a great marketing plan using billboards and mailers.
Yep, that's what I'm telling you.
And to take it a step further, guess what?
They didn't, they probably didn't have the best worship.
They didn't probably have the best preaching.
And no, they weren't using Instagram and TikTok offering people to come simply by swiping.
Join us at HTV by swiping.
And I'm not saying those things aren't useful and God can't use them.
But guess what? The church that we read about in the Book of Acts, they grew,
they multiplied because they walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
They were depending on God for strength, for direction, for guidance, for healing.
And God provides, right?
Humanity lets us down.
And I believe this healthy fear of God came from the disciples daily walking with Jesus
and listening to his challenging teachings like this one in Matthew chapter 10.
Are you ready? Jesus is going to go gangster on them right here with these simple words.
Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body.
They cannot touch your soul.
Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
I mean, he just draws a line in the sand, right?
And he says, this is what it's all about.
You need to learn to understand what the fear of God is and apply it to your life.
And we benefit from it because we are awoken.
Our spirits are awoken. The chorus of the song, right?
Wake me up. Wake me up inside. I, I can't wake up.
Wake me up inside. Save me.
Call my name and save me from the dark.
Well, God wants to. God wants to save us. God wants to set us free.
But again, it all goes down to a choice and an understanding, which leads us to our next song.
See, there's a fear to be accepted and a fear to be rejected.
There's differences. Exodus 20, 20.
Notice what Moses says to the people.
Don't be afraid. Moses answered them.
For God has come in this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning.
Let me read this to you again. Let me read this to you.
You ready? You ready?
Moses says, don't be afraid. For God has come in this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning.
If you're anything like me, have you ever read the Bible and you simply begin to scratch your head like,
Moses, what you said just doesn't make sense.
Like, aren't you contradicting yourself? Like, what's going on?
Moses, you just told me don't be afraid.
But then you said, well, God's coming at you to test you so that you will fear him.
So how am I not afraid, but then I'm fearing?
What Moses is trying to tell us is this. He's not contradicting himself.
He's simply letting us know that there's two types of fears.
Right? There's a fear we reject and there's a fear that we accept.
And when we learn to walk in the fear that we accept, it will change your life.
It will make you a new person.
While the fear of man and the fears of this world, they literally cripple our lives and they don't allow us to move forward.
All throughout the Bible. Right?
We read about these two different fears.
For example, two scriptures for you that many of you know.
Second Timothy 1, 7.
For God has not given us the spirit of fear.
Right? He didn't give us the spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
First John 4, 18. Such love has no...
Are you guys awake?
Like, I'm full of energy. I'm excited. You just heard a great song.
You're like, fair.
Okay, I'm going to try this again. Ready?
First John 4, 18. Such love has no...
Fear. Thank you. Because perfect love expels all.
Fear. And if we are afraid, notice these words that so many of us skip over, we don't expel the fear.
But if we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment.
And this shows that we're not fully experienced as perfect love.
See, that's the...
When we're fearing God that way, we're not receiving His love.
We're running away from Him.
Which leads us to our next song.
See, fearing God is not the same as being afraid of God. They're different.
Notice Isaiah 8, verses 13, 14. The Lord rules over all.
So you must think about Him as holy.
You must have respect for Him. You must fear Him.
Then the Lord will be a holy place of safety for you.
See, when the Bible says fear God, it is saying that we, as a church, if you're in a relationship with Him,
from church, if you're in a relationship with Jesus, we need to live in reverence of Him.
We need to respect Him. We need to stand in awe of who He is.
Right? We know that the God we serve, He's set apart.
He has power. And we are called literally to stand in awe.
Look at Illuminus 19.
The Lord also said to Moses, give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel.
You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
See, He calls His church to be set apart from culture, to be different.
Don't blend in. Stick out like a sore thumb. Right?
Just start randomly singing songs in the middle of church and make things up over a song.
It's okay. Right? It's called being different. It's called being set apart.
And since God is holy, we are called to be holy.
Now, the difference is this is not the same kind of fear that came into the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were disobedient.
So we're going to jump back in to Genesis chapter 3. We're going all the way back to the beginning of the Bible.
And this is what we're going to read.
At that moment, their eyes were opened.
And they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So their eyes were open to the reality of sin.
So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.
So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.
Then the Lord God called to the man, where are you?
Have you ever thought to yourself in a second, when you're reading about creation, you're thinking,
Adam and Eve are playing hide and seek with God.
I mean, they're setting themselves up to lose.
Right? Like God knows where they are.
And then the crazy thing is this.
They thought they could run away from God.
And here you got God walking into the garden and he plays along with them.
Where are you?
In reality, God knew where they were the whole time.
Right? They ran away. Why? Because sin had entered the world.
They cover themselves up with shame.
And there's so many people that run away from God and are afraid of God because of their sin.
Because of their mistakes, because of their choices.
This is not the same fear that God describes about himself.
God doesn't want us to run away from him.
He desires that all of humanity run towards him.
He desires that the church run to him and come before him in what?
In reverence, in knowledge, right?
In love.
And friends, we can't do it on our own.
We need to be empowered.
So simply stated this morning, if you want to personally know whether you're living in a healthy fear of God or not,
check your feet.
Just check your feet.
If you're living in a healthy fear of God and struggles come your way, are you running towards God?
Or are you running away?
Because if you're running away, you have an unhealthy fear of God.
Because God wants us to run to him.
You have the wrong fear if you're running away because you're scared.
You have the right fear if you're running towards him with praise, adoration, and thankfulness, even in the midst of storms.
See, we experience abundant life when we run after God because he is the meaning of life.
And all throughout the Bible, there is this contradiction of people being afraid,
a fear that will keep them enslaved, and having a holy reverence of a God who is what?
Holy and set apart and desires to set us apart.
That one of my favorites, and many of you will know this, is in Mark chapter 4, right?
The disciples and Jesus hop into a boat and they start to cross to the other side.
I'm going to read it to you, right?
But soon, a fierce storm came up.
So they're in a boat, they're in the middle of the water, high waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
Now remember, Paul's there a second, remember, most of these men were fishermen, right?
So fishermen are used to being in a boat.
So when we read that it's recorded that a fierce storm, picture a hurricane, right?
A major storm on the water.
You got to picture a hurricane because these men knew what a storm was, right?
What was Jesus doing? Now this is awesome. I love how Mark records this.
Everyone check this out.
Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion.
So Mark just throws in the reality that Jesus grabbed a pillow, put it down, and just was, you know, just asleep on the pillow, right?
Just throws that in there.
So you know the disciples were mad when Jesus is not just asleep, but sleeping on a what? On a pillow.
He's fast asleep. Now listen to the response.
The disciples woke him up.
You can see, Jesus!
You know they were shaking him like, Jesus, wake up!
Teacher, don't you care we're going to drown?
I mean, they're freaking out.
Don't you care we're going to drown?
Now I love this.
When Jesus woke up, notice what he does.
He doesn't even acknowledge the disciples are there.
Look, when Jesus woke up, he just walked right by him, walked to the front of the wave and said,
Be still.
See, you got to just get up!
Can you just picture him getting up?
Still asleep.
Peace.
So he did!
Now listen to what happens.
Suddenly, the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
Now when that's translated from the Greek, the scholars suggest that the storm went from a hurricane,
picture hurricane force winds, shaking everything,
to a sea as calm as glass.
Just by his words.
Peace.
So then, Jesus walks back from the front of the boat and addresses his disciples.
Now notice what he says.
Then he asks them,
Why are you afraid?
Do you still have no faith?
Now notice the disciples' response.
The disciples were absolutely terrified.
Who is this man?
They asked each other.
Even the wind and waves obey him.
So suddenly, after they saw that miracle, they had a reverence.
They had a respect.
See, they forgot who was on the boat.
They forgot who was asleep on that pillow.
The disciples, who walked with Jesus for three years, lost their reverence of him.
The ones who spent the most time with Jesus in the flesh forgot the power that he was exhibiting when he was healing and performing miracles.
That's why they were freaking out.
Because they forgot.
And friends, we know we lost our reverence, our respect for God, when we quickly jumped to fear and doubt.
Think about it. In the middle of a storm, and not just any storm or hurricane, Jesus was sleeping on a pillow.
And if Jesus is snoring in the middle of a storm, what difference is it going to make if I'm running around screaming in fear?
It's not going to change anything.
We have to trust that God is in control.
And think about how much our lives will change if we learn to walk in the healthy fear of God.
If we learn to stand in awe of the one who sleeps in the boat, rather than focusing on all the storms of life.
Friends, we'll have a quiet confidence that shapes our very life.
We won't remain stuck living in fear.
Amy Lee again writes,
Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb, without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold.
Why did she write those words?
Because she was living in the fear of man.
She was living in the fear of abuse.
She was living in the fear of judgment.
And if that's you this morning, church, you've got to learn to begin to pray.
God, give us a fear of you.
Give us a reverence of you.
Don't allow us to become like the disciples who got casual and comfortable with the savior of the world.
And they forgot how powerful he really is.
I want to challenge you, don't just come to our Sunday gatherings to check a box.
Because that's not what it's about.
God, help us.
That every time we gather is an opportunity to meet with the God of the universe.
See, we have to be careful, especially for those of you who have been in a relationship with Jesus for any length of time,
not to lose the fear of God.
It can become so easy to lose our reverence,
to treat holy things as common, to make Sunday gatherings just a spectacle rather than a meeting place of God.
See, we have to be careful that we don't approach God like we do at animals in a zoo.
How many of you guys like to go to the zoo?
Does anybody like to go to the zoo?
I love to go to the zoo.
We like to take our kids to the zoo.
We go to the National Zoo quite a bit.
I have an image here for you of my daughter, Lily.
And we were actually at the National Zoo.
And this was, okay, it's coming, I promise.
And this was Phoenix's first trip to the National Zoo.
Oh, there she is.
Isn't she beautiful?
Lily, our Lily, Lily is so beautiful.
So this is Lily at the National Zoo.
Now notice when you go to the zoo, you have a wonderful steel fence and electric cables surrounding those animals.
True or false?
Right?
So you can stand out there and you can smile, be like, oh, look, it's an African elephant.
It's beautiful.
There's nothing to be afraid of because it's in an enclosure.
Right?
Directly after that, we visited the lion's exhibit, right?
And at the lion's exhibit, you have the lions up there by the tree.
They have a moat, a moat around their enclosure and a large wall.
Right?
And on the wall, it says Predator viewing area.
Keep your distance.
Do not cross.
Right?
So there's something about a zoo, right?
That's created for us for our viewing pleasure that takes away the fear, the reverence that we should have for these animals.
Right?
Now, how many of you know there's a big difference between looking at an elephant or a lion in the zoo and looking at an elephant or lion on a safari?
How many of you know there's a big difference?
Okay.
Now, let me tell you, for those of you who didn't raise your hand, there's a real big difference.
Okay.
And I'll tell you why, because I was just on safari a month ago.
Okay.
So just now, at the end of our trip to Kenya, it was beautiful.
We had the opportunity to spend two days out in the middle of nowhere, and I do mean the middle of nowhere, in Africa in an open air land rover.
Okay.
Now, this is, you can flip it.
This is Jess.
This is our, isn't she beautiful in our safari?
Okay.
That was like 6 a.m. in the morning.
So, yeah, they make you get up early and then you get in an open air land rover.
And then before you drive out, they say, oh, we just want to let you know that four weeks ago, three people were killed by elephants because they decided to get out of the vehicle.
And when they got out of the vehicle to take a picture, the elephants stampeded them and they died.
Okay.
Thank you for that.
And then, okay, so he tells us that, our God tells us that, and then our God continues and says, oh, and by the way, I want to let you know that I survived a lion attack.
And since I survived a lion attack, I've become famous.
I have my own TED Talk.
I'm not going to tell you about it, but if you go and watch me, you'll hear all about it.
So he's trying to get famous with his TED Talk.
But so that's the two things we hear before we go out.
Okay.
On safari.
And then he says, oh, we're going to have a great time.
Let's go.
And he starts driving.
Okay.
So here we are driving and it's beautiful.
And it just so happened that that morning, this is what we saw.
Ready?
Next slide.
Okay.
Isn't that awesome?
Okay.
So this is the king of the jungle.
Okay.
Everyone say king of the jungle.
Yeah.
And where were we?
We were in his jungle.
Okay.
That's how close we were to this lion.
Okay.
So we're about 10 feet from this lion enjoying a water buffalo.
Okay.
And he goes on to tell us as we were driving 90 miles an hour in an open air Jeep without
seat belts over bumps going into the air, we're going to see lions.
We're going to see lions.
You're just like, oh my gosh, I'm going to die.
I'm going to die.
Okay.
But anyway, so we get to the lions.
He pulls up and that's what we see.
Oh, they just killed a water buffalo four hours ago.
And then he goes on to tell us, oh, this is a pride of lions.
There's not just one lion.
There's four lions.
But just stay calm.
And be quiet and don't make sudden movements.
And you can take all the pictures you want.
Okay.
I'm like, I took those pictures.
Okay.
I'm good.
You can leave.
So, so remember our guide attacked by lion survived.
Joseph survived a lion attack.
He turns the car around, heads out.
Right.
And as he heads out, pulls off the road to this.
Now, listen, listen.
That's how close I was.
I took that picture and you can see his friend wasn't happy about it.
So I'm in my seat taking pictures.
And all the people in the car with me are making fun of me.
You're afraid.
I'm like, you want to sit here?
Come on up and join it.
There's nothing between me and a 500 pound lion.
And the only thing I thought was, please don't jump.
Please don't jump.
Now here's the reality.
There's a big difference between seeing a lion in the zoo and seeing a lion in the wild.
Because when I was in the wild, I was in their country.
I was in their land.
And that was a predator that made me aware that they could take me down at any second.
And it wasn't just the lions.
I didn't add the video.
He pulled me up beside an elephant that was a mom that was protecting its cub or whatever
it's called.
I don't even know what an elephant baby's called.
And she starts stomping her feet.
I'm like, bro, pull away.
Like, why are you doing this to me?
I wonder though.
Now listen, I wonder if we forget that when we gather here on Sunday mornings, he welcomes
us into his presence.
And I wonder if we get so casual that we lost the reverence of God, that we've lost the
reality that every time we gather, every time we worship, God is here.
Every time we wake up in the morning, God is living inside of us because he put his
Holy Spirit inside of us if you're in a relationship with Jesus.
And it's almost as if the church has lost that reverence, that love, that understanding.
So I decided that I wanted to bring a lion to church.
Are you ready?
I wanted to bring a lion to church to prove a point.
Now be careful.
Everyone quiet.
Quiet.
Don't make any sudden movements.
Quiet.
Now his name's Aslan, okay?
And Aslan, right, in the wild, he's 500 to 550 pounds and can tear you from limb to limb
in about 10 seconds.
And the point is, God is known as the lion of Judah.
And a lot of times we forget what a lion does and who a lion is.
And we focus on our enemy who roams around like a lion.
Everyone hear that?
Like a lion, looking for someone to devour.
But God, our God, is the lion of Judah.
And God is calling us back to a holy fear and a reverence of who he is.
Because it's so easy, church, to lose our awe, to lose our wonder, to lose our excitement
for who God is and all that God does in our lives.
For example, last Friday, not just past Friday, Friday before, we had a chance to go to the
Boxcars game in the new stadium in Hagerstown.
It's beautiful, right?
The little leg was going to the Boxcars game.
We took the whole family.
I wish I would have put a picture in there for you, but I didn't.
So we're there.
We're watching the game.
The stadium's beautiful.
We're walking around, seeing everything.
Baseball's okay, but it's all right.
It'll get better, I hope.
But anyway, so we're enjoying the stadium.
We're checking it out.
We're walking all around.
And then Phoenix got thirsty, so we had to go wait in a long line.
Long line, just to get a water, right?
Only to learn that they didn't have water, so we had to buy smart waters that were 10
dollars.
I mean, just, oh my gosh.
You don't have water?
So anyway, but anyway, while we were waiting in line, right, their mascot was walking through
the hallways, right?
You know the mascot.
And who's the mascot of the boxcarts?
It's just some pilot that drives a plane, right?
He's just some big tall guy or gal dressed up in a suit.
And we were there holding Phoenix's hand.
And we said, oh, Phoenix, let's go get a picture, because everybody, you know, all the adults,
what are the adults doing?
Oh, what's up?
I don't even know his name.
Does anybody know the boxcarts, mascots?
What is it?
Striker.
Oh, Striker, they're getting selfies.
Striker, have a beer with me.
All right, getting selfies.
We love Striker.
All the adults.
That's what the adults are doing.
Oh, Striker, let me get your picture.
Phoenix, you want to, Phoenix, you want to go get your picture with the mascot?
I didn't know its name, with the mascot.
He's like, no.
I said, oh, I'll go with you.
I said, Phoenix, I'll carry you.
We'll get a picture.
I'll hold you over here.
I'll put my arm around him.
He's like, I'm not getting near that thing.
He's like, I don't want to be anywhere near.
He wouldn't even get close to that mascot.
He didn't want no picture.
He didn't want to know its name.
He didn't think it looked cool.
Like to Phoenix, that pilot was intimidating.
But see, Phoenix, now listen, listen, Phoenix was exhibiting a reverence, a fear, a sense
of wonder.
That's the first time he saw this mascot when he was looking at him.
While all of us older fans, we've become so comfortable with getting our picture taken.
This is awesome.
I wonder, do we gather on Sundays to take a picture with God?
Oh, hey, God, I'm in HTV.
Checking in.
God doesn't want that.
God wants us to stand in awe of his presence and his power because he wants to experience,
right, all of us living in abundance.
And the only way we live in abundance is if we live in the fear of God, which leads us
to our final fault.
See, fear in God makes us live when awareness of his presence.
Jesus, again, another challenging scripture.
Then he said to the crowd, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own
way, take up the cross daily and follow me.
If you try to hang on to your life, you'll lose it.
But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
And see, for many of us, we don't even understand what carrying the cross means.
When in reality, his disciples, they knew what that illustration was.
They knew when they saw someone carrying a cross surrounded by Roman soldiers, what their
fate was, their fate was death.
They were carrying that cross where they were going to get nailed to it and hung on it where
they would die.
And Jesus is challenging us.
Are you carrying your cross?
Are you willing to die for me?
See, Jesus was describing and challenging us.
Don't live in your own strength.
Don't live for yourself.
Live for me.
And we must realize that fearing God is much more than having a relationship with him because
we can have a relationship with God and not have reverence, not have fear.
The point of the lion is to remind you, God's here, man.
Every time we gather, God is in this room and his presence is living inside of us every
single morning that we wake up.
And when we become aware of this, it will change us.
It will change how we live our lives.
We have to be real careful.
I'm going to challenge you to this, church, if everything that we do in our life lines
up with God, maybe we're not serving God.
Maybe we're serving us.
Because I tell you what, God's going to call us to do things that make us uncomfortable.
God's going to call us to do things we don't want to do.
God's going to call us to change the world.
But carrying the cross, understanding and reverence for God means that we lay down our
agenda so that we can be committed to him.
God is committed to our change.
And so many people, they're afraid of God because they feel that conviction and they
feel like he's going to just punish them and judge them when in reality, conviction brings
about change.
Conviction brings about an awareness that I'm making a mistake, I need to change.
When we get in the presence of God, it changes our entire outlook, our entire direction of
life.
Fearing God makes us say no to temptation, no to sin.
I don't want to mess up our relationship with God.
God's becoming aware of his presence.
It's not enough just to believe in God.
It's not enough just to follow the rules of religion.
That's empty.
There's even more than a relationship.
Because so many people, oh, I'm in a relationship with God.
I love God.
Okay, I understand that, but do you fear him?
For example, think about this.
I know several police officers that attend Hub City Vineyard.
We have several police officers.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for keeping us safe that attend our community of faith.
I high-five them, I hug them, I encourage them, I pray for them every week because I
know their job is hard.
But isn't it true?
I know them, I have a relationship with them, but isn't it true?
As many of you know, when you drive and you're running late, all the rules go out the window.
As soon as you get in your car and you start driving somewhere and you know you're late,
you're like, okay, I gotta get there quick, I gotta get there quick.
I know I can go 10 miles over in the speed limit and not be pulled off.
Okay, so if it's 70, I can go 80.
Well, maybe I can go 85.
It doesn't really matter.
You know, oh, there's a speed camera, a speed camera, a speed camera.
I gotta slow down, slow down.
Oh, there's no school today.
I can speed up.
Right?
It doesn't matter that I have a relationship with a police officer.
It doesn't change my behavior when I'm running late.
Right?
I'm running late, I gotta get there.
But everyone knows where I'm going.
But when you're driving down the interstate at 85, 15 over the speed limit, and you're
about a half a mile away and you look up and you see a police car at the bottom of the
mountain, everything changes.
Think about it.
As soon as you see that police car, right?
As soon as you see that police car, you're like, oh, 10 to 2.
10 to 2.
You got kids in the car, you're like, quiet, quiet, quiet.
Get on your screens.
Right?
Taylor Swift, turn this crap off.
I need Maverick City.
Come on.
And then you calmly drive by.
And then as soon as you get by them, what do you do?
Are there lights?
Oh my gosh.
Oh, he's pulling out.
He's pulling out.
Okay.
Oh, Jesus, I love you.
You know what your laughter means?
You do it.
That's all it means.
It means you do the same thing that I do.
And the point is this.
The point is this.
The police offers presence changes our behavior.
And my question to you churches, does the presence of God change your behavior?
Does it change?
Does he change the way you live?
Does he change what you love?
Does he change where you go?
Does he change the words that you use?
Does he change what you watch?
And that's why the fear of God is mentioned over and over and over again.
Because it's living with that fear that it creates an intimacy that makes us change.
God wants to be close to us.
You know, I described for you Exodus chapter 20.
I shared it with you earlier.
Notice Exodus chapter 20 verses 2 and 18 to 20.
I am the Lord your God who rescued you from the land of Egypt, a place of your slavery.
When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn and when they
saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at
a distance trembling in fear.
And please understand, this is when Moses received the Ten Commandments.
God was up on the mountain and God had invited the people to come and meet with him.
But what did they do?
They stood at the base of the mountain trembling in fear because they knew because of the thunder
and the lightning that God was real.
They knew because that mountain was shaking that God was real.
Now notice what Moses says.
That's why he says don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid Moses answered them.
For God has come this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning.
Because remember the Israelites, they were going everywhere worshiping stuff because
they didn't think God was for them.
God wanted them to come up the mountain to meet with him but they were so afraid they
couldn't get close to him because they didn't understand what the fear of God was.
They didn't understand what God was trying to do.
So God had to make Moses his mediator to speak to him and give the people the Ten Commandments.
When in reality God didn't want to just speak through one man, he wanted to speak to all
the people.
He wanted to be there for them.
You see when God brings us out of sin, out of hardship, out of struggles, when we meet
Jesus for the first time, he changes our life and he sets us free.
And that's why he told the people in Exodus chapter 20 verse 2, I am the Lord your God
who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
He's saying you don't have to live in bondage anymore, you can be free.
And that's why you fear me.
That's why you follow my commandments.
And Moses did his best to be the best mediator he could to the people but again the people
just constantly wandered away because God didn't want a mediator, he wanted to meet
with us.
And then fast forward to today, God sent his son named Jesus to die on a cross so there's
no longer a mediator.
He took Moses' spot so that now we can go directly and boldly to God.
We read this in Hebrews 4, let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
See?
God just wants us to be with him.
God wants us to be close to him.
And when God reveals to us his truths and convicts us of sin, he simply wants us to
respond.
He doesn't want us to become complacent.
He wants us to learn what a holy reverent fear is.
And as we learn and grow in that reverent fear, we will change our lives and the lives
of many others because he's doing the work in us.
Amen?
Which leads us to our action steps.
Four simple steps, growing in godly fear.
And before we get to it, it's so cool, I'm wearing a shirt.
I found this shirt.
Isn't this a cool lion shirt?
And it's got a cool R on it and I'm telling you it means reverence.
Even though it means something else, it means reverence.
But the name of this shirt, the reason I ordered this shirt is because it's called Be the Lion.
Okay?
So it's actually a workout shirt and it challenges you to be the lion in your workouts.
Right?
You be the lion.
You overcome.
You do it on your own.
You are good enough.
But I want to tell you this.
Don't try to be the lion because we're never going to be the lion.
What I want you to do daily is to release the lion.
Because when we release the lion, that's releasing the spirit to do whatever it wants inside
of us.
So it changes us and it changes the world.
So four simple steps in developing a godly fear.
Number one, we got to draw close.
Draw close.
I love James 4, 7 through 8.
So humble yourselves before God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
So those of you who are struggling with temptation or sin or doubt, all you have to do is humble
yourselves before God.
Come close to God.
And what will God do for us?
He will come close to us.
Wash your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
So when we draw close to God, God reveals to us those areas of our lives that are not
living up.
And it empowers us to be the people he's calling us to be.
I love what John Bevere says.
I didn't say this.
This is author John Bevere.
He says it this way.
The fear of God means that I'm afraid to be away from his presence.
Can I read that again?
The fear of God means that I'm afraid to be away from his presence.
The fear of God is not running away from him.
It's not being afraid of him.
Because when we run away from him and we're afraid of him, it breaks our connection with
him.
But when we live with a reverence, a respect, and a love, it transcends all human understanding
because that's when he fills us with his presence.
Which leads us to our next step.
We come close and then we read and apply.
Read and apply.
Look at Psalm 112, verse 1 through 4.
Praise the Lord, how joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands.
Their children will be successful everywhere.
An entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
They themselves will be wealthy and their good deeds will last forever.
Light shines in the darkness for the godly.
They are generous, compassionate, and righteous.
Now by a show of hands, I want all of you to participate please.
Okay.
How many of you, show of hands, please.
How many of you want your children, grandchildren, and family to be blessed?
How many?
I think everybody's hand should be up, right?
Because so many people, they want the favor of God.
They want to be blessed by God.
And God tells us that we will be blessed.
How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands.
We simply, our families will be blessed when we walk in the fear of God.
For example, for example, let me tell you this story about our family.
So many of you know my daughter Trinity is a softball player.
I've told stories about her before.
She played at the University of Maryland for four years.
She got a fifth year, went down to FAU this past season.
Okay, and played at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
She's living the real hard life, you know.
Goes to the beach every day.
It's beautiful.
But anyway, while she was there, right?
While she was there, she led the team in wins, led the team in home runs and RBI's, okay?
And was a part of leading her team to a, won the championship in her conference and then
qualified for a regional at Gainesville in Florida.
Many of you know I went down and saw her play at Gainesville.
It was almost like the culmination of success for her.
It was a goal for her to make a regional cut.
I mean, they didn't win at the regional, but it's okay.
They played in it, right?
So she played in it.
She felt good about it.
They lost.
She went home.
Well, the Wednesday after, after playing in the regional tournament, she was named an
All-American this year, okay?
So Trinity, she reached another goal.
Yeah, it's a great success.
Trinity reached another goal in her life where she became an All-American at the end of the
season.
So all of her hard work paid off by being acknowledged as an All-American.
Now she came home for a couple days, okay?
We thought she was going to be here like three weeks.
And then all of a sudden she got a phone call last Wednesday while she was here with us.
And on the other end, she got a phone call from Texas, right?
And she was talking to the coach that was on the other end.
And we quickly learned that it was coach of a professional softball team.
Trinity now is on her way to Austin, Texas.
And she just signed a professional contract to play with the Texas Monarchs.
Now, you know, we clap and we say, hey, that's awesome.
Great job.
But I firmly believe the only reason she got that contract is because she loves Jesus.
I firmly believe that this is simply God's blessing coming down through our family.
And it's not just her, it's all of our kids.
All of our kids are blessed beyond measure because we live, her mom and I live in a holy
fear and reverence of God.
And when you do that, it changes you.
So if you want your family to be blessed, allow God to change you.
How do you do that?
James 1 22.
Don't just listen to God's word.
Do what it says.
Otherwise, you're only fooling yourselves.
Do it.
Live by the Bible.
And you say, well, Chris, does it really work?
Okay, listen, remember what I said, read and apply, right?
Read and apply.
No, I'm going a little long.
Just stay with me for three more minutes.
Testimony, I just received this past Tuesday.
Hey, Chris, it's Greg Farmer.
I wanted to say thank you for the past few series that you have given.
I've been struggling with diabetes for 20 years.
I followed the message on eating better.
Even though I can't walk right now with a broken foot, in three weeks, I've managed to
lose 25 pounds.
My diet and the way I was living before was shakeable.
God had to wake me up and cancel my plans to save my life.
I've also lowered my glucose levels to 6.3, which is also real close to being normal.
In other words, he's no longer diabetic.
Okay?
I can only pray that God sees me changing and heals me.
Please know that I hear you on Sunday mornings.
I apply it and I appreciate you.
So what's my point?
This is the point.
What I share with you on Sunday mornings is not my ideas.
It's not Chris being successful.
Oh, Chris is so good.
Chris, it's not me.
It's God in me.
And God uses me to challenge you.
My challenge to you is read it and apply it, and your life will be changed, even if it
means changing your diet so you're no longer a diabetic.
Last time I checked, that's a pretty big deal, which leads us to our third step.
Cultivate an awareness of his presence.
Psalm 139.
I can never escape from your spirit.
I can never get away from your presence.
Now think about Adam and Eve.
What did Adam and Eve do?
Right?
They ate the apple.
Sin entered the world.
And they're like, ah!
They were what?
Fearful.
I can never escape from your spirit.
I can never get away from your presence.
Touch me, oh God.
Know my heart.
Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
God's presence is here.
Will you get close?
Will you allow him to change you?
Will you cultivate an awareness of his presence that releases you from the bondage of fear,
doubt, frustration, and negativity, which leads us to our final step.
If you're going to do all that, you've got to learn to walk in forgiveness.
Ezekiel chapter 36.
I will give you a new heart.
I will put a new spirit in you.
I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
And I'll put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to follow
my regulations.
And see, here's the reality.
He fills us with his spirit.
When he fills us with his spirit, we experience conviction.
We know we made a choice that's wrong.
When it doesn't line up with what it says in the Bible, say, God, forgive me, change,
and run towards him.
That's called repentance.
See, when we run towards God, that's repentance.
When we run away from God, that's living in sin.
That's the difference, right?
There's not a good or bad word.
The question this morning is, how do you respond with your feet?
Do your feet point you to running towards him?
We run towards him by saying, God, forgive me.
And there's some of you in here that have lost your connection with God because of your
unforgiveness with others or maybe even yourself.
And God is inviting you back into his grace.
Matthew 6.
If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive you.
Amen.