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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #FearingGod
we are blessed with electrical power but
you don’t take a screwdriver and stick
it in an outlet that same power that
gave you good things can make you feel
real bad so you you enjoy electricity
but you handle it carefully because you
know this power is not to be played with
to fear God means to take god seriously
his thoughts his views his perspectives
he says in verse 9 of second Corinthians
5 therefore we also have as our ambition
whether at home or absent to be pleasing
to him
we have as our ambition and ambition is
a goal
is is something you’re striving toward
he says
in light of this judgment that that is
to come
I have
made it my ambition I have made it my
goal to be pleasing to him
so the first thing we must do in
preparation for that day
is to begin
today
to ask by the end of the day
did I please God
with my day
to start your day and to say Lord
my goal today ambition is to please you
in word and deed in talk and walk in
life and lip in mouth and movement
I want to please you today so that when
I lay my head on the pillow tonight I
can look back and say you were well
pleased today
and then you repeat the same thing
tomorrow and the day after that and you
make it a daily Enterprise to be
pleasing unto him now we are not perfect
God knows that we are not perfect
but at the very same time he wants it to
be clear that we are pursuing his
pleasure
and if we are pursuing his pleasure you
will find more and more days that you in
the day satisfied then dissatisfied
because pleasing him has become a
practice
it has become the way you’re thinking
and operating and and oriented
and so he says you are to have as your
ambition your goal in life measured on a
daily basis to please him to to make him
happy to ask the question is God going
to be happy if I do this or do that go
here go there say this say that is that
going to make him smile
he says that’s my ambition
so the first thing is to make it an
orientation
to pursue his pleasure
second thing he says
in verse
11 therefore
knowing the fear of the Lord
knowing the fear of the Lord
the word fear
means to take god seriously
okay
the Apostle Paul
is the most spiritual person in the New
Testament
he’s the greatest Christian probably
that’s ever lived
and he says I operate in the fear of God
knowing the fear of God
the Bible has a whole lot to say about
the fear of God
to fear God doesn’t mean to walk around
trembling like this to fear God is to
take him seriously as opposed to taking
him casually
it means that
you don’t just throw out the name God
and leave it empty
that name has substance to it
knowing the fear of the Lord because
he’s just said in the previous verse
verse 10 I’m going to have to stand
before the Lord knowing the fear of the
Lord that I’ve got to take god seriously
I mean I mean
how many times have you as parents said
to your children I ain’t playing with
you
I’m playing with you
how many times have you said didn’t you
hear me
how many times do you say who you think
you’re talking to
in other words
you wanted
them to know your position
do you wanted them to understand that he
is that you ought to be taken seriously
and not played with
we have a society today that’s playing
with God
well they’ll throw out his name
they’ll use his name
one of the best illustrations uh
what it means to fear God is
is how we fear electricity
electricity is a blessing
we are blessed
with electrical power
the lights come on
the appliances work
you know on and on we
the thought of life without electricity
is beyond our imagination because
virtually everything that benefits us
indirectly or directly gets tied to a
power called electricity
so we are blessed by the power
but you don’t take a screwdriver and
stick it in an outlet
because that same power that blessed you
will hurt you
that same power that that that that that
gave you good things
can make you feel real bad so you
you enjoy electricity but you handle it
carefully
because you know this power is not to be
played with
toyed with
to fear God means to take god seriously
not just using his name for invocations
and benedictions
but his thoughts his views his
perspectives
but today we’ve gotten so used to the
casual
relating to God that
we throw his name out and we could care
less what he feels about it
you’ll have
comedians on award shows thanking God
for their Awards and then dive into all
kind of profanity
dive into all kind of misogyny dive into
all kind of of of evil
but they’ll thank God for giving me the
ability to get this award
that’s taking God’s name
casually that’s in vain
no he says I Fear God I take God’s name
seriously
I enjoy the benefits and praise God for
the benefits of of God that
is available to all of us
but he is to be taken seriously and so
he wanted to please God but he took god
seriously and then it says in verse 11
therefore having the fear of the Lord we
persuade men
in other words
you should be influencing somebody else
to fear God
parents you should be training your
children to fear God
we have a culture
where
people say well I don’t want you in my
business you you better get somebody to
help you
for this day
that’s why I see people don’t want
accountability and I’m not talking about
accountability on preferences that’s
different we’re talking about clear
principles accountability where God
clearly had said A and B
because they have to deal with people
God says a and they will have the
audacity to say but I think B
well once you do that
you’ve insulted God that’s like a child
telling the parent parent says this and
say but I know I know mama daddy I ain’t
doing that
God says no oh no
so we are to persuade men that’s why you
ought to be part of a church not so you
can sit soaking sour but so that
somebody close enough to you to persuade
you
to call you back when you’ve moved too
far right or too far left to pull you
back because if you’ve forgotten it they
haven’t forgotten it that you gonna face
this day
so that’s why the church exists so that
Believers can love one another correct
one another serve one another help one
another
and all the one another’s of scripture
to be connected to persuade men
who are you persuading
that they’re going to face this day
they’re going to be here this day
and they must show up
our job as a church
it’s not just to preach but to persuade
to challenge you
and me and us
because we all need it because we all
facing this day
where every knee will bow
and every man’s work will be examined
good and bad