“Fear God!”

by Teaching Pastor Hurmon Hamilton

“Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ”—Job 1:8 (NIV) 

When most of us think about the term “fear God,” we think of punishment. We imagine ourselves standing before a Holy God, our sins exposed—we are stripped of all pretenses—left naked, ashamed, and trembling before Him! That’s not a bad picture to keep. But often when Scripture talks about the “fear of God,” it’s larger than fearing punishment! It suggests a picture of standing in the presence of God— and being so awe-struck with how awesome God is—that the reverence and respect engendered causes us to tremble. For the Christian, Jesus is both the face and the heart of that Almighty God.

My grand auntie (i.e. mother in every sense of the word) raised me in a small Louisiana town! Unfortunately, I was a difficult child who got into all kinds of trouble. On one occasion, I went down town and did some crazy stuff. When I returned home my mother said, “Boy! Come in here.” After entering the room where she was seated, she calmly told me what I had done. She then said, “Come over here.” I moved toward her with fear-filled steps, because my mother had a reputation for painful and immediate punishments. She said, “I have done all I know to do!” She went on to say, “I have spanked you, I have grounded you, and I have removed privileges! But rather than you getting better you, are getting far worst. I just don’t know what to do!” And that very moment, the lady who I thought was made of steel and iron—the one who I had never seen shed a tear in 16 years—that moment, she broke and began to cry. My heart just melted. I could not take it! I had walked into that room fearing that my mother would break me. I walked out of the room fearing that I would break her—especially her heart! That very moment, my life began to change into the life I now live!

This is the story of Jesus Christ. He shows us both the face and the heart of God.  At the end of the day, it is not the fear of punishment that actually produces lasting change in us, it is the fear of breaking the heart of an awesome God who has done everything He knows to save us. Once we know the amazing love that God has for us. Once that love has fully overtaken our consciousness, than breaking God’s heart—desecrating the blood Jesus shed for us, belittling the cross He bore for us, mocking the death He died for us by being disobedient—gives way to a deep fear of spitting in His face and breaking His heart.

• For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosever, will believe on him will not parish…will not be destroyed…but will have everlasting life—the face and heart of God!—John 3:16
• For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved—the face and heart of God!—John 3:17
• You see at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly—the face and heart of God!—Romans 5:6

This “fear of God”—the fear of spitting in Jesus’ face and breaking his heart—is the only fear that will enable us to be people who walk upright with integrity before the Lord and who shun evil.

Pray this week that God will help you to remember what Jesus has done for you, not just on the cross 2,000 years ago, but during the different seasons of your life.  Even when you didn’t know or honor Him, Jesus was helping you! Do you remember?

Perhaps you mother was about to abort you, but Jesus stepped in and said, “I know the plans I have for you—plans to prosper you and to give you a future,” and you are here!

• Somebody was arrogant and abusive—you should have been dropped—but the Lord turned you around.
• Somebody was down—He picked you up.
• Somebody was sick—He healed you.
• Somebody should have been killed in a car accident, or by a gunshot—but He saved you.
• Somebody was homeless—but He housed you.
• Somebody was hopeless—but He raised you.
• Somebody was imprisoned in a jail cell or inside of a destructive addiction— but He delivered you.

May we pray for the fear of God to overtake us this week. That is how we will live a life of real integrity, knowing the love of Jesus Christ, and fearing spitting in the face of that love and breaking His heart. That is how we live out a daily agenda that shuns evil.

“Lord Jesus, plant within my heart a healthy ‘fear of the Lord!’ that I may walk daily with integrity and have an agenda that shuns evil. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!”

This devotional is based on the sermon, “Lessons And Insights From Life’s Tumultuous Storms, Part 2,” that was preached by Pastor Hurmon at ALCF on January 29, 2012. To view, click here.

Why Do You Serve God?

by Teaching Pastor Hurmon Hamilton

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. (Job 1:9 NIV)

Why do you serve God? Is it for the blessings of a healthy family, financial success, great reputation, and personal health? Job’s life was enormously blessed with all of these. And, in the face of these blessings, he was “blameless and upright, he feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:8)

But after Job loses these blessings, he says, “what I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25) Was Satan’s subtle allegation right? Did Job simply serve God because God was blessing him? Was human suffering that thing which Job “feared” and “dreaded?”

It appears so! Perhaps Job hoped that by being wonderfully faithful to God he would be guaranteed no major suffering. Since Job viewed his relationship with God through the lens of God’s blessings, he was unable to recognize God when the blessings disappeared. This is immature faith! Mature faith knows that it is impossible for the faithful to avoid human suffering in a broken world. The dreaded “Ds”—disease, divorce, devastation, disaster, and death—impact the lives of Christians just like they do everyone else. The difference is that these dreaded “Ds” will not have the last word in a Christian’s life!  The last word will always be with our Savior—Jesus Christ.

Immature faith pursues a relationship with God for God’s blessings. To do this exclusively is to cripple ourselves spiritually—by growing within us a faith that is only “blessing deep!” “Blessing deep,” suggests that our knowledge of God and our faithfulness to God is only as great as God’s blessings are abundant in our lives. Remove the blessings, as Satan suggests in chapter one of Job, and we are unable to recognize God, amid life’s storms, because we do not know God’s Character. Blessings are tied to God’s purposes in our lives, not to God’s Character!

God is good (character)—regardless of our blessings. God is merciful (character)—regardless of our circumstances. God is faithful (character)—regardless of our most recent experiences in a broken world. The guarantee that we have is attached to God’s character not to God’s blessings. Moreover, Christians possess a view of God that Job did not know— Jesus Christ. Jesus (God wrapped in humanity) dies for our sins, conquers death for our future—and as the resurrected Savior—says in our present, “Come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!” Jesus reveals a God who is good, merciful, faithful, loving, forgiving, trustworthy, and dependable! Jesus is God, worthy to be praised, no matter the abundance of blessings or lack thereof! Jesus Christ is God’s Character revealed.

The questions remain: “Do you serve God for nothing?” and “Do you only know God’s blessings or do you know God’s Character?”

Prayer: “Lord, let me know your Character so well that I can recognize you, praise you, and trust you—even amidst life’s worst storms! Amen.” 

This devotional is based on the sermon, “Lessons and Insights From Life’s Tumultuous Storms, Part 1,” that was preached by Pastor Hurmon at ALCF on January 22, 2012. To view, click here.

“We Are All Here!”

by Teaching Pastor Hurmon Hamilton

But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.”—Acts 16:28 (KJV)

One of the dangers of pain, is that it seduces us into isolation. Pain can lure one into believing that he or she is alone in his or her unique experiences. Too often, believers are convinced that silence and secrets are the only responses they can trust when they hurt.

Within the isolated jail cells of pain and silence, we run the risk of doing ourselves harm. Like the jailer, who was about to take his own life—fully convinced that his prisoners had escaped when, in fact, they remained—we are tempted to believe what is not true and act in destructive ways when we remain in our pain.

But the “we and us” sections of Acts 15 and 16 teaches a different truth:

• It was in the company of other believers that Lydia discovered the truth about Jesus Christ’s love, thus, the baptism and transformation of her entire family. (Acts 16:13–15)
• It was in the company of Paul and Silas that the slave girl found deliverance from both an evil spirit and evil men. (Acts 16:16–21)
• Ringing from a Philippi jail—amongst prisoners who did not know each other but who held in common the pain of brutality and imprisonment—are the words “do thyself no harm, for we are all here!” (Acts 16:22–28)

God calls us, especially when we are hurting, to move from the isolated rooms of  “I” and “me”  to the grand ballroom of  “we” and “us!” O Lord, let us hear the word that comes from ALCF’s pastors, elders, counselors, Growth Groups, prayer intercessors, and so many more: “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here!”

So let us prepare to dance, heal, serve, and celebrate as the people of God bound together by the blood of Jesus Christ and the love-filled fellowship of our ALCF community.

This devotional is based on the sermon, “It’s A New Season,” that was preached by Pastor Hurmon at ALCF on January 15, 2012. To view, click here.