The Greatest Deficiency Of Our Day | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Thank you, Pastor Carpenter. Could we stand to our feet today? Good to see everyone in the house of the Lord. And didn't the choir just absolutely outdo themselves today? The worship team, the band. Put your hands together. Are you thankful for a church that has music that you can actually worship with? So many of y'all have not been to the churches I've been to. You know, there there comes a price with a good choir. um they could lead you into the the presence and the spirit of worship and then sometimes they can be really distracting too. And when I say distracting, I'm talking about like I found myself, brother Mayo, I was down here and I just found myself my eyes closed and just my hands lifted listening to the choir and just the beauty of the sound and the amazing work that Brother Asa does with the sound. And then it hit me. I thought, "Oh, I'm supposed to be singing, too. I'm supposed to be worshiping, too." But listen, it's a it's an awesome it's an awesome problem to have. Amen. To have a choir uh that is so anointed. And thank you. Thank you to all the people. Many of you may not realize it, but they get here very early on Sunday uh both morning and afternoon in order in order to sing under the anointing and to make sure that when they sing, they know the words. They they they know the lyrics. They know their their parts, their harmonies well enough that when it's time for church, they don't have to be thinking about what part they're singing, but they just get up there and they perfect themselves in practice in order to perfect our praise. Amen. >> One more time, put your hands together. I know you have your Bibles with me. Just bang your Bible together. That's all right. Thank you to our sanctuary choir. I want you to turn your Bible with me to Luke 7:E1 16. Um, and while you're turning there, I'm actually going to read a few uh scriptures that you're not going to have time to get to anyway. So, if you want to find Luke 7:16, and then just draw your attention to the to the screens, uh, you can kind of follow along with me, but I'm going to start off by reading Proverbs 16 and 6, which says, "By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil." Proverbs 19:23 says, "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, >> and he that hath shall abide satisfied." Y'all see that? He shall not be visited with evil. Psalm 31-9, one more before we get to our key scripture. says, "Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, >> which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men." And then our key verse, I'm just going to read one uh one passage from the story and then I might just tell the story. But Luke 7:16 says, "And there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people." My my my title today is simply this, and it'll make sense in a few moments. the greatest deficiency of our day. The greatest deficiency of our day. Would you put your Bibles down and help me pray right now? Father, we love you. Lord God, I lift up my hands in the sanctuary. Lord God, I I thank you for this opportunity to stand before the greatest people, Lord, in the whole wide world, God. They're faithful to your kingdom, Lord. They love you, God. They want to please you, Lord God. They serve you with everything they are. And God, I'm privileged, Lord God, just to stand before such a great people today. God, I pray that what I have been given by you, God, that you will let me to present it to them in a way to communicate, Lord God, your word. Oh my God, I want to communicate it simply, Lord God. I want to communicate it in a way that everybody would understand. Lord God, that this word is for them. This word is for the church today. And Lord, I believe we're going to be better because of it. Lord, I pray for your anointing, your power, and that your Holy Ghost would minister through me. In Jesus' name, I pray. Come on, clap your hands if you'll agree with me. Oh, in Jesus name we pray. Oh, we thank you, Father. In Jesus name, you may be seated in the house. In Luke chapter 7, this uh key verse that we just read, there's a funeral procession that is moving slowly through the narrow streets of Naine. >> The air is very heavy with grief and there's a great sound of mourning. And there's a widow woman who is fouling behind the beer carrying her only son. You got to understand her future was about to be buried with his with her son. But then Jesus stepped in, walked down the dusty road and stepped in and with calm authority he touched the coffin and spoke these words. He said, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise." And this dead boy, this son was raised up. Color flooded into his face. And he began to speak. And there was a holy the Bible says there was a holy fear that swept over the entire crowd. It was it was not a fear as in terror that scattered them in panic, but it was a fear of reverential awe that made every heart tremble with wonder and every knee feel the weight of God's miraculous power and his presence. Have you ever felt that feeling when you've just been in the presence of God and he's done something in such a way where there's a miracle where there's just a calm still voice that spoke to you but you felt the weight of his presence in your life? There there's no better feeling. Listen, I I enjoy dancing and shouting with the choir. I I enjoy at times running aisles and leaping. But there's no greater feeling than to feel the power of God just weigh down on you. And you know that you're in the presence of the creator. We're in the presence of the Savior and this holy reverent awe that was felt this fear of God. And I know in our in our in our terminology today, the word fear is such a negative word and and we're against fears and and we're trying to overcome fears and phobias. But that's not what this is referring to at all. This is the people of God reverencing the presence of God. >> The glorified God, he came into this place and with one voice the people began to speak and say, "God have visited his people. And that single moment captured the fear of the Lord in the truest form. It was deep life-changing reverence that grips the soul and bows the will. In the early 1900s, the Holy Fear powered uh it was a powerful sweeping over our nation with revivals uh from California all the way into Pennsylvania. And it drew sinners to repentance. It was a power that was felt throughout the community. People knew something different is taking place in the church house. It enabled ordinary believers to walk in power that defied any kind of explanation. It brought freshness, joy, and tangible sense of God himself being among the people. >> Yet in our time, something essential has grown dim. And I want you to follow me with this. And I promise you, this is not going to be a negative message. We're going to go somewhere with this. I promise you. But I want us to understand that there is a spirit that is against the spirit of fear of the Lord. And in our time, we're beginning to see this and and and and not so much in this church or even in the apostolic church or movement, but in the American Christian church, I believe as a whole has lost the necessity element element that comes with the fear of God. >> And we as the apostolic church have got to be careful not to follow in their footsteps. It's so easy to see what others are doing and other churches are doing and other organizations are doing and other denominations are doing that you get on board and you start to follow after their systems and their procedures and their structure and their programs when all along the word of God is not meant to be a a program in a church. The spirit of God moving is not a program that you can somehow organize in a church, >> but it's the people of God in reverence fearing the Lord their God. But I want you to think about this because I I witnessed my my wife and I, we we we traveled, this was years and years ago. Matter of fact, we were we were on our our wedding anniversary and we were traveling uh out west and and we had heard of this church and I'm not going to mention the name of the church, but we had heard of this church uh that was growing rapidly, one of the one of the largest churches in America. And we wanted to see uh what are they doing, what's going on in in their house of worship. And so, unbeknownst to ourselves, we said, you know what, we're just going to stop by for a few minutes and just look around. Matter of fact, we were getting ready to build this building. And so we're trying to get ideas, you know, we we I mean, I set off so many church alarms when we were trying to just figure out what we're going to build here. I mean, I remember we would we would shake and rattle doors at churches trying to get inside to see what their sanctuaries look like or see what their Sunday school or or children's church areas look like. And brother Thompson, we set alarms off and man, we're looking over our shoulder getting out of there. Lord, I'm just looking for I'm just looking for an open door here to check this place out. But we we we began to check out this church because we had heard so many things about it, so many impressive things about it. But the fact is they poured energy into many good and well-meaning activities that on the surface it appeared faith was active and alive. But the deep awfilled atmosphere that once made God's presence unmistakable was missing. The greatest deficiency of our day is the lack of the fear of the Lord. >> It's the major fear deficit. And fear is is our whole belief system. It's it's what we have to believe in. It's it's who we are. The very beginning and we're going to read about it in in Proverbs 9 and 10. But the very beginning of everything, whether it's wisdom or Proverbs 1:7 talks about the beginning of knowledge, it all starts with the fear of the Lord. And so we we we visited this this church and uh they had come up with this model, but it was interesting. We we weren't ready for it. We were looking to to to find a sanctuary similar to this one that we could kind of check out and and see how they had it laid out. But instead, they had a campus. And when I say a campus, I'm talking about hundreds of acres of campus. And they had multiple buildings, multiple sanctuaries all over this campus. And we were confused because we we we pulled up and found a parking spot and we didn't know where to go. We started seeing signs. And what they had done is is if you enjoyed worshiping in the worship of a Catholic, they had a building just for you that you could go and I I guess you could perform they would perform mass and you could go worship that way. And if you enjoy southern gospel music, well, there was a sanctuary. There's a building that you would walk into, a sanctuary, and you could enjoy southern gospel music and you could enjoy worshiping the way you want to. Matter of fact, if you enjoy heavy metal rock and roll, they had a blacked out sanctuary. Now, we're talking, this has been 15, 18 years ago. They had a blacked out sanctuary and everybody up there had long hair and guitars and they were rocking out for Jesus. You enjoy rap music? They had a building worship and rap. And then everybody would get on and they'd watch the pastor on a big screen in all in all the different sanctuaries. And we we were we were so confused because we're we're trying to figure out what where do we go? We're just looking to check this place out. But their motto seemed to be very similar to Burger King's motto. >> Have it your way. >> Now listen, I didn't grow up with a television, so I don't know the melody of this song. However, I got the lyrics. Whopper, whopper, whopper, whopper, junior double, triple Whopper. Brother Ferguson, I guarantee you know this song. Flame grilled taste and perfect toppers. I rule this day. Lettuce, mayo, pickle, ketchup. It's okay if I don't want that. Impossible or bacon Whopper. any whopper my way. Don't act like you don't know the song. It goes. You rule. Your season today at BK. Have it your way. >> You rule. It kind of sounds like come as you are, stay as you are. >> Come on, warm up to me. >> I probably We're going to have fun in here. This is just wrong with me because after all, you rule. This you rule church is actually located in the beach community and they let their members know just wear your beach clothes to church. Stop here for 45 minutes and you can head on to the beach when you're done worshiping. I'm talking about this is your life. Have it your way. >> Do it how you want to do it because after all, it's all about the worshipper. Sure. Not about the one being worshiped. >> Come on. I'm I'm going somewhere. I promise. Have it your way. It's the new age of the Christian churches in America. Oh yeah. Worship in a way that makes you feel good. This new age church is not built on wisdom and knowledge of the word of God. It's built on public opinion. In America today, many churches have quietly shifted their focus. Comfort is prized over reverence. The fear of disappointing people can overshadow the joy of pleasing their God. >> Sermons are softened as not to offend the pallet of the weak-minded Christian. Compromise creeps in and it's even unnoticed. But there's no fear of God. To fear God means you love God. And you love him enough to love what he hates. And you love him enough to hate what he hates. >> I'll say that again. I said it wrong. You got to love what he loves. And you got to love him enough to hate what he hates. Just one more time for the worldwide web. You got to love what he loves and you got to hate what he hates. Because if you ever get in the middle and you ever compromise and if you ever >> all these bumper stickers that talk about coexisting, >> you understand what that means, don't you? >> That means you really don't take a stand and you you really can't have an opinion. Everybody's just got to flow with whatever's happening in society. >> You believe what you want to believe. You believe what you want to believe. Uh if you want to abort babies, that's okay. If you want to live with, if you're a male, want to live with a man, that's okay. You do what you want to do. If you're Islamic, >> you can believe what they have every symbol. You see, every little symbol in that coexist bumper sticker because the whole idea is they don't love what God loves. And they sure don't hate what God hates. But to Oh my God, I feel the Holy Ghost. But to have fear of the Lord, to reverence the Lord in the way that he wants to be reverenced and he wants to be loved and he wants to be cherish, we got to love the things he loves and we got to hate the very things >> that he hates. >> >> Proverbs 8:13 says, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth." That word forward almost sounds like you're throwing up. People get in little circles, little phone conversations, and a froward mouth. Jesus or God says, "Do I hate?" And then Psalm 97:10, it says, "Ye love the Lord hate evil." Listen, I know church is not a good place to talk about hate. And surely to preach for preach for it. But listen, if we don't hate the things God hates, those things start to slip into our lives. We begin to tolerate the things that God cannot stand. >> Oh my God. Come on, church family. I don't want to be that kind of church. I don't want to be the the church that's deficient in the fear of God. I don't want to be a place we we never got to never need to allow this place just to become a place where our kids can just jump off the platforms and throw throw footballs in the altar area. People come in here with ball caps on. >> People walk in here with ball cap on. We'll remind them. Sometimes people just forget. I get it. We'll say, "Take off your cap. This is a reverence place. This is a place where the spirit of God is. This is a place where where miracles, signs, and wonders are taking place. Far be it from me not to reverence the God who's want to do a work in your life." >> God have mercy. I love you, Lord. I fear you, Lord. The church of the living God must take a stand for righteousness. >> For the church must be built upon the fear of God. >> Fear may be the the greatest deficiency of the American church, but it's not a deficiency of this church. At least not as a whole. Please don't get me wrong. We love our guests around here. I I don't want to make this sound like we are a church that doesn't love to have visitors and people uh worshiping with us from the outside. We want you here. It means more to us. It means the world to us that you would want to worship with us. >> I see people all the time, I'll shake their hands, I'll say, "Thank you. Thank you so much for coming and worshiping with us." >> They may not understand the same thing we understand. They might not preach or or understand the same doctrine we understand, but thank you for at least coming and worshiping with us. >> Well, we have we have a a first impressions team, a fit team. Their whole job is to make people feel comfortable, make people feel welcome, make people feel when they walk in these doors like we want them here because we do. >> We have a connect team trying to connect them to ministries and trying to get them involved. But please understand everything that happens here, it happens because we are in the presence of God and we want to worship the way that God desires to be worshiped. >> God help us. We're going to reach for the lost. We're going to reach for those in need, but at the same time, we are not going to let down on holiness and righteousness and separation from this world. We're not going to let down on the things that God makes so clear in his word. Can't change our doctrines and our stance of holiness and righteousness in order to retain people. Oh, no. We have no intention of changing what the word of God tells us to preach. We're built on the fear of God. love what God loves and hate what God hates. But now for the remainder of my message, I I want to leave the topic of the church and I want to focus on us as individuals because this building is not going to be caught up to meet the savior. >> The individuals inside of this building are going to be who are caught up. The church, the the building is not, but the church of the living God is going to be caught up. And I want to be a part of that church. Amen. I want to fly one day. But every person in this church has got to have their own personal fear of God. We're going to make the rapture. Oh, I got a fear. So, the big question is, how is this fear of God acquired? Glad you asked because the saints of old discovered the secret. They had allowed themselves to be broken. And this is something Pastor Hammond preached about a couple weeks ago and then our our evangelist last week touched on a little bit. I've been I've been just kind of marinating over it and it won't leave it won't leave my mind or my heart. So I want to preach about it just for a few minutes. But fear is conceived with brokenness. Unbroken people resist God because they are distracted by self. Unbrokenness is produced by self centered living. >> It causes a person to want to coexist with this world. I said it. They're unbroken. They're self-absorbed people. They love the stuff God loves. And they hate some of the stuff uh that God hates. But they will not get in with both feet. uh and secret struggles, lingering habits, uh hidden compromises can persist without conviction. A man can wrestle with impure thoughts of lust during the week, yet come on a Sunday morning and attempt to lift up holy hands. Yeah. A woman might speak careless words of gossip in private yet pray with sincerity uh on a Sunday morning in public. Come on, help me today. These moments reveal the weight of an unbroken life. Uh the spirit feels confined within us. Uh sin loses its sting. >> Come on, think about it. I call it the cycle of sin that people get themselves into. in such a a sad state to live in. It's a state of mind. It's a spiritual decay when people just continue to sin over and over and over again and they go, "God, I'm sorry." But then Monday morning, it happens all over again. Wednesday night, God, I'm sorry. On Thursday morning, it happens all over again. And they continue in this cycle because they're not truly broken. They're not truly broken before the Lord. These moments reveal the weight of an unbroken life. Uh but here's some encouragement. Uh this does not have to be the pattern that we fall into. God is not looking to crush us. Uh he's longing to free us. Uh woo. He uses trials and disappointments not to destroy us. Uh but to release something inside of us. Because until the hard shell of self begins to crack uh oh my God, nothing beautiful can emerge uh until we are willing to get broken before the Lord and allow his spirit to seep out of us uh and to affect the people around us. I want to be broken before the Lord. It's not a bad thing. It's a beautiful thing. Uh it's like the alabaster box. It was broken. Oh, it's a sweet aroma of worship and praise. It's something people see. It's not about talent or ability, but it's about the anointing that flows out of you when you're broken. I don't know about you, but I want to be broken in the presence of God. I want to love him and fear him and honor him and exalt him and extol him and reverence him in the way that he deserves to be reverenced. Oh my God. These trials and disappointments, uh, they're not for our destruction, uh, but they're to break us, uh, to crack us open, to allow the Holy Ghost to come out. >> We talk about it so much, being filled with the Holy Ghost. Some people are full of it, but the Holy Ghost can't get out of you. >> It's stuck inside of you. >> Pastor Hammond, we've been we've been studying. were taking a master's program and we're in the same class together in college and we've been studying. Watchman knee wrote a book that we used as a textbook in one of our classes. It's called the release of the spirit. And the whole book is about allowing that spirit to get out of you. >> Because the point is not just to be filled with it. The point is to do something with it and allow it to affect others through you. But but here let me stop and a little commercial break right here. If you don't have the Holy Ghost inside of you, this would be a great day to get it on the inside because here the alternate is you get broken without the Holy Ghost. And that's where people go into depression and oppression. That's where people give up on life because they got nothing on the inside coming out when they're broken. But oh to the child of God, to the man, the woman who goes through life crisis, to the Hollands who go through life crisis, uh yet you break yet instead of being oh in a state of dismay, oh in a state where you feel like all hope is lost. Uh instead you feel that presence around the Hollands where you could tell they've been through something. They faced a tragedy in their life. Uh they've been broken by circumstance. But the Holy Ghost anointing is now seeping out of them and it's affecting everybody around them. >> It's giving hope to the hopeless. >> Oh my God. We got to allow it. And watch my knee as as he begins to tell all throughout his book. It explains uh the greatest hindrance to God's work is our own unbroken outer self. >> He talks about in his book there there are three layers. the the layer the deepest layer is your spirit. It's the real you. It's the it's it's the part that connects directly with God, your spirit. It's also where the Holy Spirit lives. But then he said there's the next layer, the middle layer is your soul. That that's your mind, your emotions. It's it's your willpower. And then there's the outer part and that's the body. That's what you and I see. It's the physical part. It's what touches the world around us. And if you have all these things things in line, the spirit, the soul, the body, man, we can touch people and and we can help people and we can actually let the Holy Ghost minister through us. >> But the problem is, and this is where he gets into, he says, normally our soul acts like a tough outer shell that covers up and traps the spirit within us. And so God's spirit inside of us, it cannot flow freely. And we might have tried to serve God using our own natural strengths and and our own natural ideas and our own feelings, but it often gets mixed up with pride and stubbornness and our own selfish will. >> I say this all the time. I pray, God, I want to practice the spirit of humility. I don't think I'm alone in this. I believe all of us, God, I want to be humble in your presence. I want to be humble to my family. I want to be humble to the saints of God that I get to go to church with. God, I want to practice humility. What is humility? It's just it's thinking not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less. >> People get so inward in all their thoughts and all their emotions that all they can think about is themselves. They get so consumed and self-absorbed with my issues and my problems and what they did to me, what they said about me and how how they should have reacted the way what I said to them and and you get these these these these mind games playing with you when oh God is trying to break through that selfishness and say stop thinking about yourself and break that so my spirit woo can get through your soul and can affect your body and your body can touch somebody and help somebody. >> Woo! Oh my God. Oh, it's like the grain of wheat. It must fall into the ground and die before it can multiply into a harvest. It was John in John 12 and 24 that says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone, all you are is a colonel, unless you get in the ground and die. And if you will get in the ground and die out, you will, the Bible says, John said, you will bring forth much fruit. >> Brokenness is dying out to self. Brokenness is what brings forth the fruit. Oh my God. Woo. I said it already, but that alabaster box, it has to be broken in order for the fragrance of the ointment to come out, to pour out to fill the room with a scent that's so sweet that God wants to be in the presence of his people. >> Woo! When God breaks our man, the life of the spirit is released. >> 2 Corinthians 4:16, watch this. It says, "For which cause we faint not, but through our outward man, or though our outward man dies and perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Come on. This ought to be our prayer, saints of God. every day whether you go to church here regularly or this is the first time you come to church uh you ought to kneel down at your bed every night or every morning whenever you have devotion and you ought to say God not my will but thy will be done God I'm going to die out to myself uh and to my desires and I want you to plant me so deep in the ground that much fruit comes up much fruit comes up from my life God I want to break open in a way that The very scent that I leave causes people to want to worship. Oh my God. There's no greater compliment to a worship leader. I don't want to hear how good of a singer I am. I love when somebody comes up and says, "Brother Ericson, I felt the anointing when you were leading us in worship. I don't care what you think of my voice, how high I can sing, how low I can sing, what my range is. I only care that the Holy Ghost moves through my worship leading. >> Woo! Come on, clap your hands. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Whatever you do for the Lord, and I knew everybody does something for the Lord, I pray that your greatest prayer is less of me and more of you. Less of me and more of you. Come on. The greatest efficiency of our day is that people will not do this right here. They will not get down in a posture that says, "God, I give you full control." Ah, you may be seated. God's answer has always been the cross. Pastor said already, we're we're celebrating the triumph of entry. Oh, Palm Sunday. We're celebrating. Oh, it was a good day. It was a it was a good time. But we all know that just one week, less than a week later, all of a sudden there's shouts of crucify. But the cross that we bear is not a punishment. The cross that we bear breaks that outward man so the inward spirit can be set free. Take up your cross and follow him. That's not a punishment. That's a breaking of the outward soul. God, I want to break it. I want to see you, Lord God, do great things in my life. And if you're going to do things through me, a lot of people, they think the education is going to get them places. That they think that knowing the right people is going to get them places. Being at the right place at the right time is going to get them places. Oh, no. What's going to get you places is that right there. What's going to get us places is when we're on our knees and simply saying, "God, it's not about my desires and and what I want from my ministry, God, but it's what you want for my ministry, God. What is it, oh God, that I can step into line with your will?" We see we see Jacob in the Old Testament. He's such a great example of brokenness that produces fear. Fear of the Lord. We saw we see how even in his mother's womb, the Bible tells us he's struggling with his brother. He struggled from the beginning. He was a fighter from the very beginning. He was a deceiver from the very beginning. He was against other pe couldn't even be in his mother's womb without fighting. And here he is now, deceitful, tricky, subtle. Yet his life is full of sorrows and grief. has a youth he has to he has to flee from his own home for fear of his brother. For 20 years he's cheated by Laban. Several decades of dealings have resulted in the breaking of Jac Jacob's outward man. And in his old age, his life of brokenness is a picture of beauty. Thank God it didn't end there. Thank God it didn't end with Jacob being a deceiver. But it ended with Jacob wrestling with an angel of the Lord. It ended with Jacob walking oh on on his side and halting upon his hiph. Why? Oh, because he said, "God, I will not let go of you until you break me. >> I may not walk the same. I may not look the same. People might notice there's something different about me. And if you go through a bad enough time of life, people are going to see it. Look at the Atkins today. We lost Bobby. Life has never been the same again. And you can see it on mom and dad. You could you could feel on mom and dad. But one thing about mom and dad, they're here every time the doors are open to the church house. And oh my god, they're so faithful. I know where they sit. They sit in that same seat every single church service. You say, "How can they do it?" Because although it's obvious they've been through things uh and they might wear it on their face sometimes, uh you might see some extra lines in their face because of the of the mourning and the crying that they've been through, but at the same time, you see the strength and the power of the Holy Ghost uh that flows out of them. And you say, "If God can help them through this trial, God can help me through my trial. If God can heal you from cancer, he can heal me from cancer. >> If he can heal one person from sugar diabetes, he can heal you from diabetes. >> But it's all about allowing that inward spirit to flow onto the outside. All throughout the the word of God, we see the same pattern. David uh he cries out after the sin with Basheba offering God and saying God I'm going to have a broken and a contrite spirit and a heart and a Bible says that God did not despise that heart. God loved to see that broken and contrite heart. Paul or Saul was a fierce prosecutor or a persecutor of the early church became a broken vessel through whom God's power flowed mightily the greatest missionary of all times. Peter after denying the Lord three times was restored and used to preach in boldness on the day of Pentecost. I'm almost finished but I just want to get this point across if you haven't picked up on it yet. The greatest deficiency of our day is a lack of brokenness that has dimmed the fear of the Lord in our lives. I don't know about you, but I want to fear God like I've never feared him before. And that's the most beautiful thing that I could say to you this morning. I know it sounds morbid, but I want to fear God like I've never feared God before. I want to fear God like Oh my God. This is an invitation for hope. This message is an invitation for hope. Proverbs 19:23 says, "The fear of the Lord tend to life, and that he that hath shall abide satisfied." >> Woo! I want to abide satisfied when I oh when I reach my final day and I'm laying in that hospital bed and I'm waiting for my last breath to leave my body. I want to be able to lift my feeble arms and say I died satisfied. >> I don't know what that means to you, but I sure don't want to die with any regrets. I want to die satisfied knowing I did everything I could to be broken in a way to allow selfishness to drop off and oh my God I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Somebody needs to hear me. Ecclesiastes 12 and 13 says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man." >> Woo! >> Did you see that? Fear is the beginning, >> right? And fear is the conclusion. >> If we can open in fear and close in fear, that's the walk of that's our walk with God. The beginning is fear. The conclusion is fear. God, give us a fresh outpouring of fear. >> What a crazy thing to say, Pastor Ericson. What are you talking about? Oh my God. I'm talking about if we can get fear in the church today. Every person, every saint of God, every individual, I'm talking about the church. If there could be a fear of the Lord today, oh my God, I just believe we can touch this county, we can touch East Tennessee, we can touch this whole world if we'll allow enough fear to get inside of us to break us. All right. >> I'll allow your will to shine through this whole this whole book is such an awesome book, but it has just one topic. And that whole topic is this. You've got to allow the spirit of God to shine through you >> to break through that outer shell. Whatever it takes to break it, you got to break it. Come on. It's going to take repentance. It's going to take living right. It's gonna it's going to take faithfulness to the house of God. Oh my God. It's gonna Oh, it's going to take us. And here it is right here. And I I felt a little wall every time I say it. But we've got to hate some things. >> And I know I know I know I'm using words in this message. We've taught our kids not to say. We preached so many times. The Lord had given the spirit of fear. I know. And that's not the same fear. We >> tell our kids we don't hate things. Oh, no. Don't use the Don't use that h word. We don't hate. We don't We dislike things. No, sir. Not when it comes to things God hates. >> Oh my God. >> Huh? Come on. If if we could get this in our soul, if we can allow this message just to somehow penetrate that outward shell of a man that we are and say, "God, I refuse to live like I've been living and act like I've been living. I want to please you in every way. Oh, I wish I had I wish I had Corey Porterfield here because Corey Porterfield pastors a church in Walnut, Mississippi, and on the side he breaks horses. And I began I I began to research the breaking of a horse because I'm talking about being broken. And believe it or not, there's a lot of similarities between breaking a horse and breaking that outer man. An unbroken horse is impressive in its freedom, but limited and sometimes dangerous to itself and to others. Come on, think about this. That wild stallion roaming through Wyoming is beautiful, but you get that thing and you couldn't find that thing, it's going to kill somebody. It's going to it's going to attack. You're going to get kicked. A broken one is free to fulfill its purpose in harmony with the rider. You see, because a young horse starts out full of its own ideas, running free, bucking when something scares it, basically doing whatever it wants to do or whatever its instincts tell it to do. It doesn't understand saddles and bits and res on its back. The trainer's job is to gradually teach the horse new rules through constant patient work. And over time, the horse learns to yield, oh, there's a good word right there, to the rider's cues instead of fighting them. It stops bucking against the saddle and it begins to cooperate. I said it before, brother Rickettts. God is not trying to crush us. He's trying to break us. There's a difference. >> He's after yielding spirit that says, "Not my will, but thy will be done. >> Not what I want, Lord, only what you want." >> He's wanting a spirit that says, I lay down my plans. Woo. take my will and shape it into yours. He wants a spirit that says, "I surrender my desires to your perfect purpose, your way over my way. I yield my choices. I release control. Break my stubborn will. I submit fully. My agenda ends right now. Woo! I give you the reigns of my life. Oh, I bow before you. I bow before your throne. Let your purpose override my preferences. Oh my God. Right there. I ought to preach for a minute. Let your purpose override my preferences. You can't call yourself into ministry. You got to allow God to call you into ministry. You can't call yourself somewhere. You got to say, "God, I'm just going to be right here working and waiting for you to break me in a way that causes me to see your will for my life. >> I choose surrender. >> I choose to fear and I choose brokenness. I want you to stand to your feet as the musicians come. The best idea that I could come up with for an altar call is that we would have our very own no kings rally. I uh if you drove downtown Maraveville yesterday news had it all over. No king's rally. I got news for you. I want to have a rally in this altar right now that says, "God, I am not the king." >> That's right. Ah, I am not the king. >> Come on. I'm not I'm not trying to be political. I promise I'm not I'm not I'm not going there. I'm just simply saying people are so worried about what's happening in Washington. They ought to be worried about what's happening right here. >> Let Washington do what Washington does. And God, my desire is just to be broken in your presence. I wonder if this place could just be filled, this altar could be filled with people who just simply say, "God, I will do what you've called me to do. I'll be what you want me to be. I'm not trying to be something else. I'm not trying to have some facade that makes people think that I'm something I'm not. I just want to live a broken uh a contrite uh lifestyle that says, "God, I want to live for you with everything that I am. I want to be broken. I want to live. I want to fear you like I've never feared you before. As for me, in my househ. God, I want you to sit and take residence in my heart. Come on. We need a No King's Rally right here. We need somebody to protest and say, "Chad Ericson, you're no longer the king. Chad Ericson, you're no longer You want to call out your name and say, "You cannot rule. You cannot rule me. I've got a God who's my king. I've got a creator who's my king. I've got a savior who's my king. He delivers. He heals. He restores. And he's in the church today. Brokenness. Brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need. I'm going to sing and I want you to pray. Brokenness, brokenness is what you want for me. Oh, I want to sing that again. Come on, pray this prayer with me. Brokenness. Brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need. Oh, brokenness. Brokenness is what you want for me. So take my heart and mold it. >> Woo! >> Take my >> Come on. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Come on. He's here. Right here. >> Transform it. >> Take my will. Take my conform to yours. Take my heart. Take my heart. Come on. Pray that prayer. Pray that prayer. Take my mind right now. I need you to transform and transform and take the will transform it. Take my heart. I need it to transform me. Oh God, that will that I'm not always proud of. I need you to make up for it. Come on. Right now, what I want you to do, I want you to close your eyes as tight as you can. Come on. I want you right now. Sometimes we just got to have our own little conversation. Uh we say, "God, Lord, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I I'm sick and tired of falling and trying to get back up again. God, sometimes, God, I feel like you just need to break me out of those things. Oh, God. I want Lord something inside of me to well up so strong Lord God that it would just break the Holy Ghost would break me. God I want your Holy Ghost pray that prayer right there. Holy Ghost break me. Holy Ghost conform me. Holy Ghost right now God transform. Come on. I know it's hard. I know it's not easy. I know sometimes it's painful. Come on. I know sometimes uh you're going to lose sleep at night. You might lose some friends. You might lose your job. I don't know. But you got to do whatever it takes to get your will in a conformed place. Come on. Right now, you ought to make a declaration to God right now and say, "God, I will do everything in my power to remain in a broken state. God, I want you, Lord God. I feel free at any time. You can break me, oh God. You can shave off the things, oh God, that don't belong in my life. You can rearrange, oh God, the things, oh God, that don't belong. I just want to be broken in your presence. I want you to throw your hands up as high as you can to heaven. I want you to throw your head back in the air cuz this is where joy comes. Joy comes after brokenness. Peace comes after brokenness. Some of you looking for a healing in your body. And what you need to be looking for is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. That's where joy comes. >> >> You want wisdom. You want knowledge. You want understanding. You ought to be broken before the Lord. You ought to have fear inside of you that says, "Oh my God, speak, oh God, use me, do oh what only you can do." Come on. I just want to take a moment. I don't want to get in a hurry. I'm going to let you go in just a moment, but I don't want to get in a hurry right here. Come on. We're in a no kings rally right here. Come on. We got to show some passion right here. We got to show some passion. I I promise you they didn't have any trouble showing passion yesterday. When they were promoting the things that they believe in, I won't hold back my passion. when it's time to promote the things that I know are true. And that's a God who loves me enough to break me. Who loves me enough to put me in submission. Who loves me enough doesn't want to see my life destroyed and my marriage destroyed and my family destroyed. But I believe there's a God who loves me enough to break me. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Right here. Somebody needs a surrender. Somebody needs their hands as high as they can get them. Somebody needs a surrender in this place. Come on. If you have trouble, if you have trouble making yourself lift your hands, it's probably because you're having some problems with submission in your life. You got a king, but it's not the Lord. You're the king and that's the problem. But in this place today, we lift our hands to the only king, to the king of kings and the lord of lords. The only one who has the right to be on the throne. Come on. The Holy Ghost is moving in here like a wave. Let it move into your life right here. Come on. Let it break you right here. Don't resist. Don't resist. Let it break right here. Holy Ghost, right now we need you to break us. We need you to flow out of us. Oh God. Uh the person standing next to us has a need God. We need that Holy Ghost inside of us to break out into let him minister to my neighbor. Let him minister to my brother. Let him minister to my sister. Oh my God. >> >> just for a minute longer. A minute longer. Come on. I don't want to cheerlead you, but I feel there's somebody here that's really trying to break through. You're really trying to break through. You're trying to break through. Come on. You got to keep on. You got to keep on. Sometimes there has to be an interceding spirit. When you start to cry, when you start to cry out and speak in that heavenly language, you don't know what you're saying, but God knows what you're saying. You're praying in the spirit. It's tongues of angels. You don't know. You don't know. But God is ministering to you right now. God is starting to rearrange things in your life right now. God is starting to make a difference in your life right now. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. My God. You don't have to go far and reach over the next person next to you. Just come on. Take them by the shoulder. Come on, take them by their shoulder. Begin to pray. Let your Holy Ghost minister right now. Let the Holy Ghost is breaking out of you. Minister right here. Hey, let the Holy Ghost is breaking out of you. Let them minister right now. Come on, minister. Come on, church. Minister, saints of God, minister right here. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on. Speak life into your neighbor. Speak life into their situation. You know what they're going through. It might be your wife. It might be your husband. It might be your biological brother or sister nearby you. Come on. Speak life into their situation right here. Speak hope into their situation right here. Oh, brokenness. Brokenness. Brokenness. Give us brokenness in this place. about the hope. Come on. Maybe your neighbor needs the Holy Ghost. Uh maybe the person next to you needs the Holy Ghost. Why don't you pray that God would fill them? Come on. They're a vessel that's empty. They need the Holy Ghost inside of them. They've got a spirit, but they don't have God's spirit. Come on. Minister to them right now. And I pray right now, be ye filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. May it be with another tongue, with stammering lips. May it be a sound that you don't you don't understand. You're going to utter something's going to come out of your mouth you don't even understand, but let that tongue flow. Let the Holy Ghost fill you. Holy Ghost, I feel you so strong. You're ministering right now, God. You're changing and rearranging futures and destinies right now. God, there's people in this place who have no hope. And their brokenness is bringing them hope. Their brokenness is bringing them Oh. It's giving them a future for an expected end. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh. Brokenness. Brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need. Brokenness, brokenness is what you want for me. Lift your hands and sing this with the team one more time. Brokenness say brokenness. Brokenness is what I long for. >> Come on. Do you truly long for it? >> Brokenness is what I need. >> Oh, sing about brokenness.