Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

May 15th, 2011 The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl – Special Sunday Edition

Today’s Reading: 1Chronicles 23-25; John 21; and Proverbs 14

Today’s Passage: Proverbs 14:26-27

Good morning. Did you ever see a decal on a car driving by that said No Fear? I never understood that term, so I decided to look it up on the internet. No Fear turns out to be a clothing line and an energy drink. To others it’s a cry of being overly optomistic. To a Christian, he may think:, “No God, Know Fear; Know God, No Fear.” There are many in this world who do not fear anything, including God. If anyone should have No Fear of anything, it should be a Christian. Our only fear should be the LORD and pleasing Him. We get that from the Lord. In Proverbs chapter 14, and verses 26 and 27, the Bible tells us that the fear of the LORD is strong confidence and also a fountain of life. The Bible also tells us that the fear of the LORD is also the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Proverbs also tells us what the fear of the LORD is and does…

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (1:7).

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil (8:13).

The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom (15:33).

The fear of the LORD prolongeth days (10:27).

The fear of the LORD tendeth to life (19:23).

Life. What would life be like without the fear of the LORD? Wisdom cries out, “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” (Proverbs 1:22-32)

Can you see how much of a mess the world around you is in? Public schools teach evolution: that you evolved from some goo that was floating around in the oceans. They are not taught that we are created in God’s image. Their mindset is that you are closer to goo than me: I have evolved more, and therefore superior. If I kill you I will probably be doing the world a favor. That’s what evolution teaches. Evolution does not make you better, it degrades you: turns you into an animal. The blood of Abel cried out to God from the ground. How many voices cry out to the Lord from the ground today?Victims of those who did not choose the fear of the Lord. But the fear of the LORD tendeth to life. I think Solomon summed it all up perfectly in Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Peace. (1Peter 3:8-11)