Awe-inspiring Leadership

Foundations that fortify the family We are at the midpoint We're halfway through And the five preceding foundations led to this one And the five after this will. stem from this all important principle or foundation that we will share with you this evening Now they build one upon the other They are intertwined one with another, and they are all significant to the foundation of your home The Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it So, what does God have for us that Will help us understand the foundations that fortify the home

Well, foundation number one was a forgiving spirit That without that, then it's hard to move And the Bible says in Psalm 86 that our God is a forgiving God He is ready to forgive We too must be ready to forgive the sins of those. that we live with, that we might overlook a transgression transgression Proverbs 19, 11 says that the glory of the man, the brightness of a man, Is when he overlooks a transgression And so a forgiving spirit is where you begin And that is the principle

Of alliance, where we align our will with God's will, that we want to look like God the best way we possibly can, and we look more like Christ when forgiveness is at stake than at any other time in our lives So foundation number one is a forgiving spirit The principle there is the principle of alliance And then there is over prayer because prayer is significant That's the principle of reliance because we rely upon the Lord for everything, like King Jehoshaph Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you

And when you stand praying, you must stand praying, having already forgiven your brother, according to Mark 11:2, or your prayers will not Be heard by the living God So, therefore, prayer must be over all that we do in our home It must be intertwined in every aspect of our lives, or We won't be able to have a foundation that's strong in the Lord So, a forgiving spirit is foundation number one, which is the principle of alliance And then there is the Foundation of overarching prayer, which gives you the principle of rel And then you have an understand mind That is the second or the third

Foundation because the Bible says in Proverbs 24, 3 and 4, that by wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, it is set erect, it is set Strong, and so you need to have an understanding mind You can't lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways, you are to acknowledge Christ That he might direct you in the way that you should go And we told you at that time that that is the principle of compliance, where I comply with everything that God says that I might have an understanding mind

And then the fourth foundation was a non-compromising life, which is the principle of defiance. I defy everything that comes against me in terms of sin. I defy sin. I flee from sin until I'm free from s And I won't be free from sin until I'm glorified So I'm constantly fleeing sin. I want to live a life of integrity For a righteous man who lives a life of integrity, how blessed are his children after him And so a non-compromising life is the fourth foundation, and that gives you the principle of def And then number five was a Was demonstrating faith

That was the principle of appliance, where I take everything, move it into action, so people will understand what true saving faith is all about And all that has led to this sixth foundation, which is absolutely essential in terms of how it is everything comes together And that is this awe-inspiring leadership Awe-inspiring leadership The word awe-inspiring means majestic, it means remarkable You just can't have any kind of leadership in your home You must have awe-inspiring leadership in your home We live in a day where leadership in the church, in the country, is at its lowest point

And we need to be able to demonstrate in our homes the kind of leadership that magnifies the name of Christ We are at the lowest point in evangelical churches when it comes to leadership in the home We have, for the most part, passive Men Very passive Passivity rules more so than productivity or pro The Bible says in Daniel 11:3 that those who know their God shall display strength and take action It doesn't say that those who know their God will sit back and do nothing And be passive But they will know their God

They will display strength because they know the God of strength and they will take action, the necessary action, to accomplish what needs to happen for the sake of the kingdom of God We need men who will rise up and lead Without awe-inspiring leadership in the home, your home is bound to turn further and further away from God instead of turning Closer to God We need men who will lead, no longer be passive We have men who are passive spiritually in their homes They don't lead spiritually

What have we told you over the years? Over the years, the number one thing you, as a man, can do for your home spiritually is to make sure you take your family to a Bible-believing church Number one You can do nothing else If you do one thing, and that's the one thing you do, you've accomplished much for the kingdom of God But you must lead them to a Bible Believing Bible-teaching church because they need to be a part of the family of God for the sake of accountability, that they need to be under the authority of God's Holy Word They need to know that from a very young age

And yet, we have men who lead such passive lives that, when it comes to the spiritual emphasis in their home, they just kind of Hope it happens instead of lead their family in that whole area We have men who are passive when it comes to financial responsibility and fiscal responsibility They sit back and do nothing They expect their wives to do all the financial work They expect their wives to supply. the financial needs They expect their wives to work

Instead of being the producer for their homes and being the kind of leadership that provides for their homes, they expect their wives to provide and expect their wives to do what needs to be done Instead of leading that area, they're very passive Instead of being proactive and doing what they need to do and have the kind of leadership in their homes that moves their family in the right direction, they sit back And allow their wives to take the leadership when it comes to finances, when it comes to spiritual things And all of a sudden, they do nothing

And you know what? After over 30 years of passional experience, women are tired of passive husbands They're worn out They're absolutely worn out And so the Bible speaks to the fact that we as men need to step up and lead Because if we don't, the foundation of our home begins to crumble And we need to be strong spiritual leaders Strong financial leaders, strong emotional leaders, strong mental leaders We need to be leaders in every area of our home So that our children know exactly where they should be going and what they should be doing, because they have someone who leads the way

We did that whole series on Father's Day. I don know, it was last year or the year before that Act like men, Acts 16. I mean, 1 Corinthians 16:1 Act like men What does it mean to act like a man? It means to live purposefully, that you might have the purpose of glorifying and honor God, living proactively, not passively, but proactively, living Progressively, living purely, living patiently, perseveringly, and helping you understand what it means to act like a man because that's what we need to do: act like men, be strong And lead instead of sitting back and letting someone else take the lead

That's what our responsibility is And so tonight, I want to show you awe-inspiring leadership It only requires two Two elements That's it Just two And if you do these two Okay? You will provide the kind of leadership that's majestic, that's remarkable, that's impressive Because it's what God wants you to do in order to be the leader that you need to be Just two elements That's it Count them One, two We're not going to give you 22 We're going give you two That's all it is

And they're given by David through the inspiration of the Spirit of God to his son Solomon that he might understand exactly what the Lord God requires of him to be the kind of king The nation needs And if you understand those two principles, those two elements, you are well on your way To awe-inspiring leadership Got your Bible? Second Samuel chapter 2. 2 Samuel chapter 23 will help you understand exactly what David says, his last literary masterpiece These are his last words to his son Solomon Therefore, they are lasting words They make a significant impact for this young man to understand

And this is what David says under the inspiration of the Spirit of God to his son Solomon So these are God's rules for leadership Here it is Now, these are the last words of David David, the son of Jesse, declares, the man Who was raised on high? Dec the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalm of Israel So, what he does is he helps his son Solomon understand that he He is where he is because of God He's not where he is because of his remarkable athleticism He's not where he is because he's a handsome-looking man He's not where he is because he's an articulate man

He is where he is because it's God who raised him up on high It's God who lifted him up on high It's God who did this It's God who took him He was the eighth son of Jesse He took him for the backside of Bethlehem, watching sheep, and raised him to the supreme leader and king of Israel It's God who did it And he wants his son to understand that God did it And so he tells him that He says this, the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue So, this is what God says That Solomon needs to do to be an effective leader

He says, The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spoke to me He rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God Here they are You must lead and live righteously, and you must lead and li reverently That's it You must lead and live righteously, and you must lead and live reverently That's what God says He rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, that means reverently Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds

When the tender grass springs out of the earth through sunshine after rain, he says, listen, if you lead righteously, if you lead reverently, you will be Radiant as the sun rises in the morning You will be refreshing as The sun breaks through the clouds after rain and the tender grass begins to sprout up You will be the most radiant, the most refreshing individual that the world has ever seen That's the way you got to be Now, David followed Saul, and David became the bright light of Israel David became the refreshment for Israel

He became exactly what Israel needed to have to lead them out of darkness into light Now, through the inspiration of the scripture, David says, Listen, my son, you must lead a righteous life You must live a righteous life And you must do it in the fear of God You do that You will be the most radiant and the most refreshing individual this nation has ever seen But that's what you got to do That's what needs to happen So, how is it you're going to lead and live righteously? How is it you're going to lead and live reverently in the fear of God? Well, that's what we're going to tell you

Because that means you need to understand what the Bible says concerning leading and living right Great word, right Our God is the God of righteousness Our God is the God of justice The two words are used interchangeably in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament It means that God is straight He is right wise That is, right is the natural outflow of a holy, holy God. A God who is absolutely pure and holy only does that which is right and just And so to live a Righteous life and to lead in a righteous way, then you must have the righteousness of Christ in you

So, in order to do that, this is what needs to happen There needs to be the pract of righteousness The practice of righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:2, you know it? He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him In other words, God declared you and I righteous when we gave our lives to the living God We now are cloth with his righteousness The Bible also says these words In 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 4, that we are partakers of the divine nature of God That is, if God is righteous and just And we are divine partakers of that nature

We by nature are righteous Therefore, we need to m our practice with our position That is, we need to live and lead in a righteous kind of way The Bible says this in 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, verse number 29. I'm sorry, 1 John 2, 29 If you know that he is righteous, that is the Lord God You know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of him How do we know that you're born of God? Because you practice right You live a holy life You live right wisely You live a straight and narrow life You live Christ's life

Over in 1 John chapter 3, verse number 7: Little children, make sure no one deceives you The one who practices righteousness Is right just as he is righteous. I love verse 10 By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious Isn 't that great? Do you know that the children of the devil are obvious and the children of God are obvious? He doesn't say, you know what, I think that this is how you might figure out who the children of God are No The children of God are completely obvious, and the children of the devil are obvious He says this

Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God Nor the one who does not love His brother In other words, the practice of righteousness is essential And as fathers, as leaders of our home, isn't that true? We've already talked about this, a non-compromising life, the life of defiance against sin And as we do that and we demonstrate our faith by living that every day, our children are able to see the righteousness of Christ through our leadership And that brings radiance to the home, brightness to the home Like the sun when it rises in the morning out of the dark sky

Like the sun when it breaks through the clouds, excuse me, when there's been rain And the freshness of that smell is sweet to our nostrils So is your leadership when you practice right The Bible is very clear when it says in Psalm 11, verse number 7: The Lord is right and he loves Righteousness He loves righteousness And those who live uprightly will behold His f Those who live a righteous life behold his face because he loves not just righteousness, but those who live righteously So, David will say to his son, This is what you got to do This is how you're going to make it

You're the king of Israel You must live and lead righteous How do you do that? First of all, you practice righteousness You li Christ's life You live a godly life Not only do you practice righteousness, but number two There needs to be a pursuit of righteousness If you're going to practice it, you must pursue it And the Bible says in Proverbs 15, verse number 9, that the Lord loves those who pursue righteousness Isn't that great? The Lord loves those who pursue righteousness because when you pursue righteousness, you're pursuing Christ You want to be like Christ

God loves those kinds of people who want to be like Him The Bible says this, First Timothy chapter six Paul says But flee from these things, you man of God. I love that Because Timothy is the only guy in the New Testament called a man of God Did you know that? Only guy Paul was a man of God, but he's never called a man of God John was a man of God, never called a man of God Peter, man of God, never called a man of God Only one person in the New Testament is called a man of God That's Timothy But you, oh man of God, you flee these things In other words, Timothy, you need to be a running man

You need to Avoid the love of money In the context, it's the love of money But you need to not only flee the love of money, you need to flee idolatry and flee immorality, as the scriptures say You need to flee sin because a man of God is known more by what he runs from Then, what he runs to That's why it's listened first You need to be a running man, heels and elbows, when it comes to sin That's all they see is heels and elbows because you're gone You are running as fast as you can away from sin And if you're going to lead righteously, And live righteously, you must pursue righteousness

And the way you pursue righteousness is that you run away from sin So he says this, but flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue Pursue is a hunting term, okay? So not only are you a runner, you're a hunter And what do you hunt? Very first thing you hunt, righteousness Righteousness Hunt it down Pursue it That's what the man of God does He avoids everything that's opposed to God and runs toward everything that reflects God And it is about God He pursues righteousness

There's something behind me I want to avoid, and there's something before me I have to attain. I have to move in that direction. I must go that way And the man of God is a running man, and he runs because he's running to hunt down something He's running from something Just not to run away from it, but he's doing it so that he can run in the direction of that which is right The spiritual virtues that are listed And the first one listed is righteousness Righteousness Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness That's the kind of leader that's radiant and refreshing

Wouldn't it be good to know that your children see you running from sin? Always running away from evil, fleeing immorality, idolatry, the love of money All iniquity, so that you can pursue that which is like our Lord, a righteous and holy and pure life That's what the man of God does That's why the Bible says: seek ye first The kingdom of God and his righteousness And all these things shall be added unto you Matthew 6:3 Seek it Seek the rule of God and seek the righteousness of God

Those who seek his rule, because that's what kingdom means, he's the ruler, those who seek his ruler. him as ruler, want to live their ruler's life, and he is a righteous king So seek ye first God's kingdom, God's rulership, and his righteousness be like him Pursue righteousness And so, if we're going to live a righteous life and lead in a righteous way, Not only do we practice righteousness, but we pursue righteousness Psalm 15, verse number 1 Says, O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell in your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and he who work righteous

Who's able to dwell in the presence of the living God? Those who pursue righteousness So, if I'm going to live righteously, if I'm going to lead righteously, I must practice righteousness There must be the pursuit of righteousness And thirdly, there must be a passion For righteousness, a passion for righteousness Why? Matthew 5, verse number 6 Remember the Serm on the Mount? Everybody around Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 is being healed Every blind man can see, every lame man can walk, every deaf man can hear God is healing everybody all around

And so when you come to Matthew chapter 5, there are so many people around him that need to be healing Healed and he's healing them He wants them to understand that if I heal you, you're still going to die You're still going to get Get worse as time goes on. I can make you see, I can make you walk, I can do all those things for you So, therefore, he takes a seat He sits down on this mount, okay? He makes it the mount because he sits there and preaches there, and he begins to give those beatitudes Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, right? But what does he say in Matthew 5, verse number 6? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what? Righteousness For they, context says, they and they only shall be satisfied These are the only people that are ever satisfied Is it not true that all of us have passions? We have passions For possessions And the Bible says a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things in which he possesses But people have a passion for possessions

And then they have a passion for power They love to be in charge They love to be in control In Isaiah 14, Ezekiel chapter 28, Satan, Lucifer, had a passion for power And the Lord God casting out of heaven But we have passions We have passions not just for possessions and for power We have passions for pleasure We love to be pleased And As Christians, we say, well, that's not us We understand what it means We say the song, Give Me Jesus We don't have a passion for pleasure, we don't have a passion for power We have a passion for possessions, but people also have a passion for praise

They want to be recognized They want to be affirmed They want to be seen They want to be heard. A passion for praise We just want someone to notice us And so we govern our whole lives and And configure our entire life around how people can see and hear me, the things that I do The places I go, I just need to have affirmation. I just need someone to praise me for what I've done and who I am We had this passion for praise But our passion should be the pursuit of righteousness Can you imagine if all of our energies that we put into the things of the world? We're put into pursuing righteousness

Can you imagine the kind of people we'd have in the church today? Amazing kinds of people But there needs to be this passion, this hunger, and this thirsting for righteousness The psalmist said in Psalm 17, verse number 15. I will be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness It goes right hand in hand with Matthew 5, verse number 6 These people are the ones who are truly satisfied, the Lord says And all the people on the mount were thinking, well, you know, I can see now Boy, I am so satisfied, I can see Oh, I can walk, I can run, I am so happy now

But the true blessing, the true joy comes in the pursuit of righteousness And Christ makes it very clear: these people are the only ones who will ever be satisfied You ever notice that people who pursue praise can never get enough of it? You ever notice that? They just can't get enough of it Give them a little taste and they just want more People that pursue possessions and power and pleasure, give them a little taste of it and they just want more and more and more Thinking that somehow more possessions will be enough More praise will be enough

More pleasure will be enough, but it never is enough That's why there's that constant pursuit of what Solomon calls in the book of Ecclesiastes emptiness and vain, because there's nothing there It's all soap bubbles It all just disappears Christ, knowing that, on the Serm on the Mount, says, Listen, I know you think you're happy, but if you really want to be blessed, You got a hunger and thirst for righteousness When you do, you will be so satisfied because you will have me, and only I can satisfy the longings of your soul Nothing in the world can Only I can do that

So there must be the pursuit Of right Remember what Paul said 2 Timothy 4:6 when he, I fought the fight, I've run the race, and now there is before me what? A cr of what? Righteousness Which the righteous judge on that day will award to me, and not just to me only, but to all those who love his appearing And why does he receive the crown of righteousness? Because he can't wait for the righteous king to come He loves the appearing of the king, and therefore he's crowned With the crown of righteousness How about you? You know, there are so many subst in our lives

Can you imagine as a father, as a leader of your home, pursuing righteousness, hungering and thirsting with the passion, the righteousness of God? How that rubs off on your ch How they begin David said it It's like the sun that rises in the morning You're radiant You're bright And you're like the sun after the rain You bring such refreshment Remember what Proverbs 29, verse number 2 says? Proverbs 2, verse number 2 Says these words. I'm getting there Proverbs twenty-n Verse number two: When the righteous increase, the people rejoice But when a wicked man rules, the people groan

How many of you have your wives groaning or your children groaning? Because a wicked man rules, not a righteous man When a righteous man rules, people rejoice Why? Because of the radiant refreshment that is brought to their lives That's why all-inspiring leadership, the foundation, has a principle, and that principle. sim talk about how you supp the needs of those round about you in a most significant kind of way because of the righteous life you live So important And you know what? Then you can begin to pray righteously The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availe much

Remember that? James 5 :1 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, not an unrighteous man, but a righteous man Those who practice righteousness, those who pursue righteousness, those who have a passion for righteousness, who Want to be like Christ, their prayers are effective They work We talked about overarching prayer Psal 145, verse number 18 The Lord is near to all those who call upon him, to all those who call upon him in truth Not untruth, but in truth You must call upon him in truth, for he is a God of truth And that's the kind of impact that you make

Remember Psalm 92? Psalm 9 says these words Psalm 9, verse number 12 The righteous man will flourish like a palm tree He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon Two metaphors used to describe, listen, the beauty of a man The palm tree describes beauty The beauty of the righteous man And the cedar of Lebanon, the strength of a righteous man Because they are strong trees What a beautiful metaphor The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree He will grow like the cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord They will flourish in the courts of our God

There's something about the righteous man who loves to be in the presence of God He loves to be in the house of God He loves to be in the courts of God He can't wait to be with God's people He can't w To be in the church of God because in the church and only in the church Do you flourish like a palm tree in the seat of Lebanon? Not outside the church, not outside the courts of God, only in the courts of God That's why the greatest thing you do as a father, lead your family to church The single greatest thing you'll ever do as a father, lead your family to a Bible-believing teaching church

That's it Number one You do that, great things will begin to happen But if you don't do that, you will slowly begin to tear everything down around you Because you want to be able to grow like a palm tree, like the cedars of Lebanon They will still yield fruit in old age They shall be full of sap and very green Why? Because to declare that the Lord is upright He is straight, he is righteous, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him That's what the righteous man does He can't wait to declare the uprightness of his God And that's why, when he's old, oh, he's still going to be green

He's still going to be able to provide refreshment because he's led righteous Number two, he leads reverently in the fear of God He leads reverently in the fear of God Listen to Psalm 112 Psalm 1 Praise the Lord How blessed is the man who fears the L Listen carefully All right? Are you ready for this? If you fear your wife, You will live with strife If you fear the Lord, you will live with reward Can you remember that? If you fear your wife, you will live with strife But if you fear the Lord, you will live with reward Praise the Lord

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments His descendants will be mighty on the earth You live reverently You live in the fear of God And your descendants will be mighty on the earth Why would they be mighty on the earth? Because when they see you, you're like the sun that rises in the morning When they see you, you're like the sun that breaks through the clouds after the rain You bring radiance, you bring refreshment We have so many men who bring dark clouds to their homes They are the rain cloud in their homes

And they're bringing their families down because they don't live righteously nor lead righteously nor live reverently or lead reverently The generation of the upright will be blessed Wealth and riches are in his house Wow Can you imagine that? Who doesn't want that? Wealth and riches We're not talking about money We're talking about character We're talking about attributes We're talking about spiritual blessings We're talking about character qualities We Talking about how God works in people's lives And his righteousness endures forever Light arises in the darkness for the upright

He is gracious and compassionate and righteous Verse 6: He will never be shaken The righteous will be remembered forever He will not fear evil tidings His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord His heart is upheld He will not fear That's the kind of men we need to lead in our homes, in our church, in our nation Men who fear nothing But God Himself Charles Spurgeon writing on this on September fifteenth If you read Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon, he said this about Psalm 112, verse number 7: how the man of God who fears God always will not be afraid of evil tidings

He says this, Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings, because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to They have never proved his faithfulness as you have done And it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear, but you profess to be of another spirit You have been begotten again into a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things

Now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, What is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess? Again, if you should be filled with alarm as others are You would doubtless be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God They murmur and think that God deals hardly with them

Will you fall into the same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do? Moreover, unconverted men often run to the wrong means in order to escape from difficulties And you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to be or to the present pressure Trust in the Lord Wait patiently for him Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea Stand still and see the salvation of God For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty and sustains under adversity

How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's high praises in the fires, but will you're doubting and desponding as if you had none to help you? Magnify the Most High, then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid You know, as men, there should be no fear of anything in our lives except the fear of God Isaiah was told by God in the book of Isaiah, the eighth chapter, these words

He said, It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy, and he shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread This little booklet that we put together for you a number of years ago, 2002 to be exact We tried to give it away on the radio and nobody asked for it We gave it away for free But we're going to give it to you for free this evening if you want it All you have to do is go to our media center and pick one up One per family It's free Why? Because you need to live in the fear of God You must You see, the unbeliever has no fear of God before his eyes

He fears everything else, he fears hurricanes He fears tornadoes He fears being robbed He fears losing his money He fears all kinds of things He fears his boss He fears his wife But the believer, no He doesn't fear evil tidings He doesn't fear anything but God Because he is his dread Isaiah the prophet was told that by the living God The Bible says in Proverbs 28:1 that we are to live in the fear of God all day long All day long The Bible says in Psalm 130, verse number 4: There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared

It doesn't say there is forgiveness with thee that you can go to heaven Doesn say there's forgiveness with thee so he can live a guilt-, better life There's forgiveness with thee so that God Himself will be feared The believer fears God and only God And in this booklet that we wrote, we talked about why you should fear God We talked about what it means to fear God Why do you fear God, and exactly how do you fear God? Because it is so important for the believer to understand this

If we're to live in the fear of God all day long, what does that mean? If I am to lead and live, Righteously and live and lead reverently in the fear of God, well, then how do I do that? And why do I do that? And what are the consequences of doing that? That's why I put this together for you And in it, we tell you why you fear God We tell you it prolongs your days Did you know that? The Bible says in Proverbs 10, verse number 27: The fear of the Lord prolongs life Prolongs life But the years of the wicked, they'll be shortened So you fear God because it prolongs life

You fear God because, guess what? It protects your children Did you know that? When you as a father, when you as a mother fear God, it protects your children Proverbs 14, 26 In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence, and his children will have re When you fear God to protect your children, remember Amram and Jacob? People say, who Am and Jacobed? The mother of Moses, the father of Moses Hebrews 11 How was Moses protected? Was Moses protected because his parents hid him in a basket in the river in between the reeds? No He was protected because his parents did not fear the king's edict

They did not fear what the king was going to do And thus, when Moses was grown, Hebrews 11 says, he too did not fear the king's edict Why not? Like parents, like children, Old Testament Old Testament principle Book of Hosea Like priests, like people As the leader goes, so go the children That's the principle And so therefore, Moses grows up He doesn't fear what the king is going to do because his parents taught him not to fear the king's edict They lived a righteous, holy life

They lived a strong life, and therefore, Moses was able to glean from his parents how not to fear what man can do to me, but only fear the true and living God Fearing God protects your children You want to protect your children? You can put an alarm system on your house if you want to That doesn't protect your children Okay? They want to get in, they're going to get in You can buy a gun if you want to The gun's not going to protect your children You fear God, your children are protected You fear God, you will be what your children need you to be

The radiant sunshine and the refreshment that comes after rain You will be that man The fear of God always preserves our way Psalm 115 You fear the Lord, trust in the Lord He is their help and their shield He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small and great, together God's going to be your shield He provides for all your needs Psalm 3:18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kind, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep the Them alive in famine God keeps you alive in fam Psalm 34:8, O taste and see that the Lord is good

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him? Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for to those who fear him, there is no want The young lions, you lack suffer hunger But they who seek the Lord shall not be in one of any good thing Fearing God pleases him Psalm: He does not delight in the strength of the horse He does not take pleasure in the legs of man The Lord favors and Those who fear him, those who wait for his loving kind That 's what pleases God, those who fear him He produces Spiritual blessings to those who fear him

Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he will make them know his covenant If you want to know God, you must fear God, and he will reveal to you the secrets in the scriptures Says in Psalm 128, How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy And it will be well with you Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house

Is your wife a fruitful vine in your house? Is she? If you fear the Lord, she is What do vines do? They cling and they climb Is your wife crawling all over you? She should be If she's a fruitful vine, she can't get enough of you Why? Because when you lead righteously and you lead reverently, you are that radiant sunshine You are that refreshment that she just can't wait to jump on and hold on to You are her life She is a fruitful vine She clings to you

And as she clings to you, she continually climbs upward to God because you have led a righteous life and a reverent life, and you've modeled to her Christ, so now she can't wait to get to Christ Christ, she clings and she climbs Your children say your children are like all of plants around your table Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord Do you fear the Lord? More than anything else, you live in the fear of God all day long as He your terror and your dread You can have this book You can read this book

You can apply the principles of this book to live in the fear of the Lord So we're going to give it to you. I want you to have it Now, if you're here tonight and you are married to a man who does not live righteously and does not live reverently What do you do? You need to be the kind of person who, number one, has a forgiving spirit Number two, lives a life of prayer, because overarching prayer is foundation number two You need to have an understanding mind as to what God would have you do You cannot compromise in any way, shape, or form your life

And you must demonstrate your faith every single day That's what you do And you pray that God does a great and mighty work in the life Of your husband, that God will transform his life and cause him to follow you And you pray that every day You don't usurp his authority You don't take control You don't seek to be the leader You quietly lead in a way that demonstrates Christ to your husband And ask the Lord to do a great and mighty work If you're here today and you're a man and you haven't led this way, you can begin today Don't wait till tomorrow Start tonight Don't wait

And you go back to your wife, and you have a forgiving spirit, and you ask her forgiveness And as you ask your forgiveness, you pray with her And as you pray with her, you remember that your pursuit is to understand the will of the Lord And as you understand the will of the Lord, you make it your commitment never to compromise Your commitment to her, to the Lord, to his church, and you make a vow to demonstrate your faith every single day To be that awe-inspiring leader, you need to be with your family

Remember what the Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, the third chapter? Sol says, I know that everything that God does will remain forever It's concrete, can't change it There is nothing to add to it, and there's nothing to take from it In other words, Whatever God does, it remains forever It's concrete And not only is it concrete, it is complete Why? Because you can't add to it, you can't take away from it In other words, whatever God does, He does, and whatever you think you can add to it or take from it, will never change it because you can't do that It's set in stone Set in stone

And so, whatever's happened in your family, whatever's happened in your marriage, whatever happened to you personally, it's happened, it's set in stone You can't change it But God did it for one reason And Solomon tells you: for God has so worked that men should fear him God did it, so you will learn to fear Him God wants you to fear Him more than anything else in this life Because when you do, You will live reverently And if you're living reverently, it's because you're living righteously And if you're living that way, you are that radiant refreshment

That your wife and children need to move them closer to the living God. L me pray with you Father, we thank you for our time together this evening We thank you for the Word of God So powerful, so good My prayer is for every man in this room that he recognize his responsibility before the living God That you would do a mighty work in his heart Convict him of his sin Help him to understand that no matter what happened yesterday, no matter what happened today Tonight can be the best night ever Tomorrow can be the best day ever The rest of this week can be the best week ever

But he purposes in his heart to live the way you've designed for him to live And for every woman who is married, we pray for them We give them strength To be that loving support to their husband, they need to be To demonstrate Christ to him, to pray for him Pray fervently for their husband And for those who are single, they're not married, they're on their own Lord, may they be the leaders you want them to be They still need to live. A righteous and holy life They simply live a God-fearing life That they might be to their sphere of influence

The sun that rises in the morning, the sun that breaks through the clouds on a rainy day They can be that person But Lord, most of all, if there one among us who does not know you, help them this night to real that today is the day of salvation We pray in Jesus' name Amen.