Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

27 April, 2007   comments: (0) Audio Clips   Lost and Found: The Fear of The Lord When was the last time you heard a sermon on the fear of God at your church? If yours is like most contemporary churches - that entire concept has been lost. Either that or it's been redefined into something more user friendly. But those who want to know God will resist the buffet style selection of His attributes, and will instead allow the bible to define Him the way He really is. For many today, that means the fear of the Lord will need to be found. Last week somebody sent me a video link of a church service where the audience voted on which secular song that they wanted to hear at the start of the service. The song that won was performed by a cowboy-hat clad band and a singer (for hire - I assume). The lyrics included: "I've got friends in low places where the whiskey drowns and beer chases the blues away. ... I'll be as high as that ivory tower...". Well, that's one way to deal with your problems I suppose. But that megachurch has entirely lost a right concept of the fear of the Lord, and it shows up in their worship services. They've traded it away for fun and entertainment. Similarly, you might remember my analysis of Rick Warren's 13 minute evangelism message a couple of weeks ago in which I addressed (among other things) his watered-down notion of fear. A recent comment on that page by "Dean" took me to task for being unfair in my assessments, being that it was only a 13 minute message. But on this topic of fear, Saddleback is deficient in all of their literature that I've read. Here's a webpage on their site entitled What does it mean to fear the Lord? with a Q&A that goes like this: Question: What does the Bible mean when it talks about "the fear of the Lord"? I thought that love was supposed to cast out fear. Is the word "fear" being translated in the wrong way in these Old Testament passages? Pastor's Answer: You hit the nail on the head when you said that perfect love casts out fear. We can't have a loving relationship with God if we are terrified or afraid of him. ... They too, have lost the full meaning of the fear of the Lord. So with today's seeker-sensitivity all but eliminating biblical fear, where can the fear of God be found? One of the best places is Puritan books, many of which I've purchased off of half.com through their wishlist email-alerts. One of the best deals that I have ever landed there was a hard cover copy of John Bunyan's The Fear of God which cost me a dollar (plus shipping). In this short excerpt, Bunyan addresses something missing entirely in the modern church: I call [the fear of God] the highest duty, because it is, as I may call it, not only a duty in itself, but, as it were, the salt that seasoneth every duty. For there is no duty performed by us that can by any means be accepted of God, if it be not seasoned with godly fear. Wherefore the apostle saith, "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." I'm very blessed to be able to say that another place where the fear of the Lord can be found is my Milwaukee church. Here's a 10 minute audio clip on this very topic from Tom Chantry's sermon yesterday. Some may fight against this message, not knowing that it is genuinely biblical. Others may wrongfully say that it's counterproductive to both evangelism and the love of God. What ought to matter to Christians however, is whether it is true. CLICK HERE TO PLAY NOW . . . or to download this MP3 file for later: right click the link and then "save target as"   More Old Truth Audio Files: 04/25/08 - The False Peace of Truth-Compromised 03/20/08 - The Arrogance of Abandoning Church History 02/25/08 - Judging Fruit By Biblical Standards 01/30/08 - The History of Praise Songs: Simple from Semple 11/06/07 - Audio Archive: How God Converts The Human Soul 07/19/07 - Theology Q&A's: Does Prayer Change God's Mind? 06/03/07 - Addressing Our Culture w/Reformed Christianity 05/28/07 - Don't Make The Church Mars Hill, Go There Instead 05/07/07 - Old Truths versus The Quest For 'Something New' 03/13/07 - Goofy Eschatology That Sproul Wants Left Behind Detailed Listing of All Audio Files   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/.id.2.pid.660   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism