THE FEAR OF THE LORD (2)

THE FRUIT OF THE FEAR OF THE LORDWhat happens when a person lives in the fear of the Lord? First, they begin to gain knowledge.“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction” Proverbs 1:7.Not just any knowledge – spiritual knowledge. The knowledge of who God is, who you are, and how the world works under His governance.Second, they gain understanding.“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” Proverbs 9:10.Understanding is the ability to apply knowledge to life. It connects what you know and what you do. You can know that God is sovereign and still panic. Understanding means you actually live as if He is sovereign.Third, they gain wisdom. Wisdom is the skill of applying knowledge and understanding at the right time, in an appropriate manner. It is knowing what to do when the Bible does not give you a verse that says, "In this specific situation, do exactly this." Wisdom is the ability to navigate grey areas, complex relationships, and difficult decisions in a way that honours God.Fear of the Lord → Knowledge → Understanding → WisdomYou cannot skip the first step. You cannot start with wisdom and hope to have the fear of the Lord later. You don't get the fear of the Lord by trying harder. It is a gift of grace. The Holy Spirit produces it in the heart of the believer. When you see the cross, see the hands of God in different times and aspects of your life; reverence is the natural response. When you see God's holiness and love converging at Calvary, fear and affection merge into worship.Imagine a young man who wants to become a master carpenter. He walks into the workshop of a renowned craftsman. He is full of enthusiasm. He has watched videos online. He has read books. He thinks he knows what he is doing.The master carpenter looks at him and says, "Before you touch a single tool, you must understand something. This workshop has rules. These tools are dangerous. This wood is precious. You are here to learn, not to show off. If you will submit to my instruction – if you will listen, watch, and obey – then I will teach you to make things of beauty. But if you come in here with arrogance, you will cut off your own finger."That is the fear of the Lord. It is the recognition that God's workshop has rules, that His ways are higher, and that submission to His instruction is the path to skilful living.The path to wisdom begins with an attitude. It begins with humility. It begins with saying, "God, You are God, and I am not. Your Word is true, and my opinion is subject to it. I bow before You. I submit to You. I fear You."The One who perfectly feared the Lord lived the life you failed to live. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked in perfect reverence, perfect obedience, and perfect wisdom. He did what you could not do. And He died the death you deserved to die – the death of the fool who despised God. But He rose again, and He offers you His righteousness.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

THE FEAR OF THE LORD (1)

INTRODUCTIONThere is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. Understanding is knowing how to apply the facts. Wisdom is knowing how to apply the facts at the right time, in the right place, and for the right people. You can have knowledge without wisdom.Where does wisdom come from? Solomon's answer is shocking in its simplicity and depth."The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” Proverbs 1:7.And Proverbs 9:10 reads:"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."The fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins.THE DEFINITION OF THE FEAR OF THE LORDWhat is the fear of the Lord? It is not terror. It is not cowering before an angry deity, waiting for the lightning bolt to strike. If you are in Christ, you are not under wrath. Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." The cross has removed the terror of punishment.The fear of the Lord is “reverent submission” to the living Heavenly Father. It is the posture of a child before a Father who is infinitely wise, infinitely good, and infinitely powerful.Moses puts it this way in Deuteronomy 10:12–13:"And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?"Moses defines the fear of the Lord not as an emotion but as a way of life: walking in His ways, loving Him, serving Him, keeping His commandments. The fear of the Lord is a lifestyle.It is the opposite of complete independence from God, saying, "I am the captain of my soul. I will decide what is right and wrong. I will determine my own path." The fear of the Lord says, "God is God, and I am not. His ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I will seek His truth."As children of the Heavenly Father, we should be like filial children. Filial fear of the Father is the reverent awe of a child before a Father whom he loves, respects, and obeys. Under the New Covenant, made possible by the blood of Jesus, we relate to God primarily through filial fear.The fear of the Lord is the trembling awareness that you are in the presence of an infinite Almighty God – and that He loves you. It is the combination of awe and affection. It is the recognition that God is terrifying in His greatness and tender in His grace. And that combination produces humility.THE FUNCTION OF THE FEAR OF THE LORDSolomon says the fear of the Lord is the “beginning” of knowledge and wisdom. The Hebrew word for "beginning" is “reshith”. It can mean "starting point," but it can also mean "chief part" or "foundation." The fear of the Lord is both the starting line and the structural foundation of wisdom.Think of it like this: wisdom is a house. The fear of the Lord is the foundation. You can build a house without a foundation, but it will not stand when the storm comes. You can pursue knowledge without the fear of the Lord, but it will not produce wisdom. It will produce cleverness, perhaps. It will produce expertise, maybe. But it will not acquire God’s wisdom for living.That is why medieval universities were built on theology. They understood that all knowledge must be rooted in the knowledge of God, or it becomes dangerous. When science is divorced from the fear of God, it produces atomic bombs and biological weapons. When economics is divorced from the fear of God, it produces exploitation and greed. When psychology is divorced from the fear of God, it produces self-obsession and identity confusion.The fear of the Lord is the moral compass that orients all other knowledge. Without it, knowledge is directionless. Without it, intelligence is a weapon without a conscience.And notice the second half of Proverbs 1:7: "But fools despise wisdom and instruction." The contrast is intentional. The wise person fears the Lord. The fool despises instruction. The two are opposites. You cannot fear God and despise His Word. You cannot revere His name and reject His commands.The fear of the Lord functions as a filter. It filters out the foolishness that masquerades as wisdom in our culture. It filters out voices that tell you to follow your heart, live your truth, and do what feels right.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

FOUR KEYS TO LONG LIFE (3)

#3 MAINTAIN JOYProverbs 17:22 (NKJV)22 A merry heart does good, like medicineBut a broken spirit dries the bones.Joy is medicine. The Hebrew literally says, “A joyful heart makes good therapy.” It promotes healing. It strengthens immunity against discouragement. It shields the soul.Many people confuse it with happiness. Happiness depends on happenings. If the happening is good, you are happy. If the happening is bad, you are sad. Happiness is circumstantial. It is external. It is fragile.Joy depends on Christ. Joy is the deep confidence that God remains faithful regardless of the circumstances. Joy is confessional, not circumstantial. It is a choice, not a reaction. It is a settled state of the soul, not a fleeting emotion.Joy is not denial. A joyful person does not pretend sickness does not exist. A joyful person does not pretend grief is not real. A joyful person does not pretend the diagnosis is not serious. A joyful person says, “Sickness exists. But God is bigger. Grief is real. But God is closer. The diagnosis is serious. But God is my Healer. And He is with me.”Joy is not the absence of sorrow. It is the presence of hope amid sorrow.#4 GUARD YOUR MOUTHProverbs 18:21 (NKJV)21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,And those who love it will eat its fruit.Proverbs 13:3 (NKJV)3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life,But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.Your words are not neutral. They are creative or destructive. They build, or they tear down. They heal or they poison. The mouth can become either a fountain of life or a fountain of death. And the choice is yours, every single day, with every single sentence.Consider the power of your speech:- Complaining weakens faith. Every complaint is a vote of no confidence in God’s sovereignty. It is saying, “God, You are not doing this right. I know better than You.” Complaining is spiritual poison. It spreads. It infects. It kills hope in everyone who hears it.- Thanksgiving strengthens hope. Every act of gratitude affirms that God is good, faithful, and at work. Thanksgiving is spiritual medicine. It heals. It restores. It builds.- Blessing builds life. Every word of encouragement is a deposit in someone’s soul. It may be the only kind word they hear all week. It may be the word that keeps them from giving up.- Cursing destroys life. Every word of gossip, slander, criticism, or venom withdraws from someone’s emotional bank account. It wounds. It divides. It destroys.The Bible says the tongue is a small member that boasts great things. It is like the rudder of a ship. Small, but it determines the direction. It is like a spark that sets a forest on fire. Tiny, but it can destroy everything.CONCLUSIONIllness is not always the result of personal sin.In John 9, Jesus’ disciples saw a man born blind and asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” And Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, … the works of God should be revealed in him.”The Bible consistently teaches that while not all illness is caused by sin, ungodly living promotes decay. Modern medical research confirms what Scripture has said for millennia. Prolonged bitterness raises cortisol levels and weakens the immune system. Uncontrolled anger damages the cardiovascular system and increases the risk of stroke. Chronic anxiety floods the body with stress hormones that break down tissue over time; destructive habits - substance abuse, gluttony, sloth-destroy organs, relationships, and minds.Sin never remains spiritual only. It eventually affects your thoughts, emotions, relationships, sleep, stress levels, and body. It is not that God is zapping you with sickness as punishment. Sin is inherently destructive, and your body was not designed to carry the weight of it.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

FOUR KEYS TO LONG LIFE (2)

#2 SEEK DIVINE WISDOMProverbs 3:13–18 (NLT)13 Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,the one who gains understanding.14 For wisdom is more profitable than silver,and her wages are better than gold.15 Wisdom is more precious than rubies;nothing you desire can compare with her.16 She offers you long life in her right hand,and riches and honour in her left.17 She will guide you down delightful paths;all her ways are satisfying.18 Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;happy are those who hold her tightly.Solomon presents wisdom almost like a physician holding a tray of medicine. Look at what wisdom carries in her hands:- Length of days - long life- Riches and honour - provision and respect- Pleasant ways - joy in the journey- Peace - shalom again- A tree of life - access to life itself- Happiness - genuine, deep, abiding joyWisdom is more than intelligence. Some of the most intelligent people have made the most foolish decisions. Education gives information. Experience gives knowledge. Christ gives wisdom.The New Testament identifies Jesus Himself as “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Therefore, seeking divine wisdom is ultimately seeking Christ – His mind, His ways, His perspective, His guidance. The wisest people are not always the most educated. They are the most yielded.WISDOM IS A TREE OF LIFEGenesis begins with the Tree of Life in Eden. Adam and Eve had access to it. They could eat and live forever. But when they chose disobedience, they lost access. They were banished from the garden, and an angel with a flaming sword guarded the way to the Tree of Life.Revelation ends with the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem. The angel is gone. The sword is gone. The Tree of Life stands in the centre of the city, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.In Proverbs, wisdom is called a Tree of Life. What is the connection?In Eden, humanity lost access to the Tree of Life through disobedience. In Christ, the Tree of Life is restored. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is the wisdom of God, and in Him we draw life itself. Not just eternal life someday. Life today. Vitality. Purpose. Energy. Hope.Those who embrace Him continually draw life from Him. They are like trees planted by streams of water. Their leaves do not wither. Whatever they do prospers. Not because they are perfect, but because they are connected to the source of life.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

FOUR KEYS TO LONG LIFE (1)

Proverbs 3:7-8“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”Fear (Revere) the Lord. Depart from evil. Seek wisdom. This is the Divine Prescription for Long Life. You cannot have one without the other. Reverence without wisdom becomes superstition. Wisdom without reverence becomes arrogance. Together, they produce what the Bible calls health to your flesh and strength to your bones.#1 FEAR THE LORD AND DEPART FROM EVILDo not be wise in your own eyes.This is the demolition of self-sufficiency. This tears down the idol that says, “I know what is best for me.” So much of our stress, our poor decisions, and our physical decline begins right here-with the arrogant assumption that we see clearly, that we understand fully, that our perspective is sufficient.The Bible calls this pride. And pride is not just a spiritual problem. Pride is a health problem. The person who is “wise in his own eyes” stops listening to counsel. He ignores warning signs. He overworks his body because he thinks he is indispensable. He rationalises his addictions because he thinks he can handle it. He destroys his own life with the best of intentions, because he has convinced himself that he knows better than God, better than the people who love him, better than the warnings that have been flashing in front of his face for months.Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” It does not say pride goes before a minor inconvenience. It says pride goes before destruction. The fall is not a stumble. The fall is a collapse. And it begins with the simple, subtle, almost invisible conviction that I know what I am doing.Fear the Lord.Now, when we hear the word “fear,” we immediately think of terror. We think of being afraid that God will strike us. We think of a child trembling before an angry parent. But that is not what the Bible means by the fear of the Lord.The fear of God is not terror. It is reverence. It is awe. It is living every day with the awareness that God sees everything – not in a creepy, surveillance–state kind of way, but in a loving, fatherly, all-knowing kind of way. It is the conviction that His opinion matters more than any other opinion. It is the settled belief that His wisdom is higher than my wisdom, His ways are better than my ways, and His plan is wiser than my plan.People who fear God make different decisions when nobody is watching. They treat their bodies differently because they know their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. They speak differently because they know that every word is heard by the One who will judge the living and the dead. They rest differently because they know that God does not need their exhaustion to accomplish His purposes.The fear of the Lord is a foundation for the wise. It is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, and the beginning of a life that actually works.Depart from evil.This is active, not passive. It is not merely avoiding evil, as if evil were a puddle you step around on the sidewalk. It is fleeing from evil. It is turning your back on it and running the other direction. The word “depart” implies motion. You cannot flirt with sin and expect health. You cannot entertain temptation and expect peace. You cannot keep one foot in the darkness and expect to walk in the light.Health to your flesh. Strength to your bones.The result is physical. Health to your flesh – the Hebrew word here suggests healing, refreshment, vitality, and nourishment. Strength to your bones – the very structure of your body is fortified, strengthened, made resilient. This is not a prosperity formula. This is not a guarantee that if you fear God, you will never get sick. This is a principle: godly living promotes well-being. It aligns you with the way God designed life to work.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less

KEEP GOD'S COMMANDMENTS (5)

THE HOLY SPIRIT ENABLES OBEDIENCEOne of the glorious truths of the New Covenant is that God never commands us without also empowering us. Under the Old Covenant, people often knew God's commands but lacked the inward power to fulfil them consistently. Under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit dwells within every believer.Ezekiel prophesied, "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27).Notice the phrase, "I will cause you.” The Holy Spirit works within us, producing both the desire and the ability to obey.Paul echoes this in Philippians 2:13: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."Obedience is therefore not self-effort. It is Spirit-enabled cooperation.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSHow do we keep God's commandments in daily life?1. Read God's Word Daily: You cannot obey what you do not know. Daily exposure to Scripture renews the mind.2. Meditate on His Word: Move beyond reading.- Reflect- Pray- MemorizeAllow the Word to shape your thinking.3. Obey Promptly: Delayed obedience often becomes disobedience. Immediate obedience strengthens spiritual sensitivity.4. Practice Small Acts of Faithfulness: Great obedience is built upon countless small decisions.- Speak kindly- Forgive quickly- Pray consistently- Serve joyfully- Honour commitmentsFaithfulness in little prepares us for greater responsibilities.5. Depend Upon the Holy Spirit: Never attempt obedience apart from God's grace. Begin every day by praying,“Give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation from you, and strengthen me with might by the Holy Spirit in my inner man. Thank you, Father, in Jesus’ name."An Illustration from AviationCommercial pilots rely upon detailed checklists before every flight. Even highly experienced captains never say, "I've flown for thirty years. I don't need the checklist.” Why? Because discipline preserves life. The checklist protects both the pilot and every passenger. Likewise, God's commandments are Heaven's checklist for life. They are not given because He distrusts us. They are given because He loves us.LIVING TO FINISH WELLThe goal of obedience is not merely avoiding judgment. It is finishing our race.Paul could confidently declare, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."Notice the connection. He kept the faith. Therefore, he finished the race. A lifetime of faithful obedience prepared him to complete his assignment. That should be every believer's desire.- Not simply to begin well- Not merely to survive- But to finish faithfullyCONCLUSIONKeep God's commandments. His commandments are not chains that imprison us. They are pathways that preserve us. They protect our hearts, guard our relationships, shape our character, and position us to enjoy the fullness of His covenant blessings.As we walk in loving obedience, we discover that God's commands never diminish life – they enrich it. They lead us into the peace, wisdom, and fruitfulness that characterise a life lived in fellowship with Christ.Rev. Cheong Yew KwongFaith Church SingaporePlease visit our website at faithchurch.sg#goodtoread ... See MoreSee Less