3 Ways the Fear of Man Traps Us | What Do You See? Week 2

Let's go to Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah chapter one, we started here last week and I told you that verses four through 12, we're just going to camp here during this whole message season and we'll just pluck verse by verse. We're just going to pull verses out and teach on them every single week. Today's is one that might be a little different than a sermon you've heard before, but I'm excited to bring this word today. So let's just read the passage again. In Jeremiah one, I'm reading out of the NLT verses four through 12. It says, the Lord gave me this message. I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations. Oh, sovereign Lord, I said, I can't speak for you. I'm too young. And the Lord replied, don't say, come on, say that with me and say, don't say. Remember your homework from last week? Don't say I'm too young, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And this is what we talked about last week. Last week, week one, we asked the question, what do you see when you look at yourself? What do you see when you look at yourself? What insecurities do you have?

What identity do you have? And we talked about how the Lord knew us before he formed us in your mother's womb. He knew you then. And we were like, I wanna get to know that guy. I know this guy. But if the Bible says the Lord knew me before he formed me, I don't know that guy. I wanna get to know that guy. We talked about that last week. We talked about don't say, the power of our words. Let's keep going. Verse eight says, and don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken. Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, look, I have put words in your mouth. And today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down and destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant. Then the Lord said to me, look, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I replied, I see a branch from an almond tree. And the Lord said, that's right. It means that I'm watching. I love this. And I will certainly carry out all my plans. I wanna preach that, but that's a different week. I love that passage.

Today we're gonna look at verse eight. Verse eight says something that's really important to believers, and we have to lean into this and understand what it's saying. Verse eight says, don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and I will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken. Don't be afraid of the people. So week one, we looked at what do you see when you look at yourself? Today we're gonna talk about what do you see when you look at people? What do you see when you look at other people? There's this old story. Many of you have heard it. It's called The Emperor's New Clothes. It was written by a guy named Hans Christian Anderson in 1837. You may know it better as The Emperor Has No Clothes. You've heard this phrase before. The story goes that the emperor was very fashionable and loved to dress up, loved everything about his appearance and clothing. And one day these two conmen came into the city gates and started touting and claiming that they had a magical cloth, this magical cloth. And the way they articulated the magical cloth is it's invisible to anyone who's foolish and unfit. But those who are competent and wise can see the cloth. So only wise people, only competent people can see it.

Everyone else can't see it. And the emperor, being as he was, he was like, I gotta have some of these clothes. So he ordered them and these two conmen went to work working on making these clothes that didn't even exist. And so the day came that they clothed him, or at least they pretended to clothe him in this cloth and in this gown. And then they were gonna have this, basically like a runway show, you know? And he was gonna come out in front of all the officials, in front of all of the royalty in the kingdom. And so he comes out from around the corner in his birthday suit. And everyone's like, oh my gosh, I love that outfit. It looks so good on you, it's beautiful. Why? Because only people who are competent and wise could see it. And anyone who was foolish. couldn't see the clothing and as the story goes even the Emperor looks down and he's thinking in his head he's like I don't have any clothes on but when he looks up he has to pretend as though he does because he too doesn't want to be seen as foolish he wants to be seen as a wise Emperor and it wasn't until they take it to the next step and everyone has to go along with it because I can't speak up I can't tell the Emperor that he has no clothes so they take it to the next step and he goes out into the streets of the city and he's walking down the streets of the city and everyone is like oh my gosh he looks so amazing and it's not until some young child some young young young child in the crowd go he doesn't have any clothes on and and this is as the story goes that the Emperor wasn't naked because nobody knew the truth the Emperor was

naked because everyone was too afraid to tell him the truth they were too afraid and Jeremiah we see the same fear in him and and the Lord is trying to pluck it out of him before he sends him out into his destiny and one of the things he says in verse 8 is do not be afraid of the people and we know that Jeremiah was afraid of the people because he said I'm too young so the reason he said I'm too young is he was afraid how the people would receive him as a prophet and the Lord was digging and drilling down into this fear because at the core of Jeremiah's fear is he he had a fear of what I would call and you've heard it called this before to fear of man fear of man and so so God came to to acknowledge it and to deal with it and God came to correct it and God wasn't correcting his age talked about that last week he wasn't trying to be like no it's fine you're not too young he said don't say that you're too young it was all about his words but even in the in the in at the core at the root of Jeremiah he had a fear of what people would think of him and you actually see this all through the scriptures we're gonna dig into some of them but we're in good company you know remember when Moses with the burning bush and God told him that he was gonna go deliver the people Moses had all kinds of problems with it he asked questions like well who do I tell them sent me he was afraid of how the Israelites would receive him as their deliverer he had he had fear of man and fear of man has it's like one coin that has two sides and it appears in two different ways usually not to oversimplify it but fear of man will appear on two different sides of the same coin one side of the coin is an oversized craving for the approval of man like we want to be approved we want to be accepted I want to be a part of the click I want to be a part of the group I want to be a part of the water-cooler conversation at work we want to be included right it's that's one side of it the other side of the coin is an oversized fear of people's rejection and that you can kind of see how they're with the same coin one side I want to be approved but on the other side I have a massive fear of being rejected and the fear of man happens when people's opinions about you matters

more than God's truth about you if you really want to boil it down is we're more afraid of what people think about us than we are what God thinks about us and that's why the fear of man is such a problem is because it can easily become a question of how do I say it of who you worship more if we if we believe if we truly believe that if we live like I don't think we believe it but if we truly live as though man's opinion matters more than God's opinion that is a form of idolatry we are idolizing man over over the Lord it's a it's a it's an issue of worship Proverbs 29 25 says this it says a the fear of man brings a snare but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted this word snare in the Hebrew word yakhash it means to lure to set a trap to be caught by bait and I just want to expose this subject today I don't know that I've really ever heard a sermon dedicated to the fear of man and I kind of want to expose it because I think it's one of the enemy's greatest weapons it's a sneak attack if we're if we're afraid of what man does we will never be have a right relationship and a proper fear of the Lord and none of us Walk around I don't think anybody walks around and you're talking to your circle or your accountability group going You know, I just really struggle with fear of man Like no one would ever articulate it that way But yet at this and that's why it's such a great sneak attack by the enemy because it goes under our radar We don't realize that we have it. But at the same time we all Think thoughts that would reveal our fear of man we think thoughts like what what will they think and And maybe they don't understand what I was trying to say Will they approve of me will they will they be disappointed How do I look in the mirror because I want to make sure that everyone has a proper view of me It comes across in a lot of different ways and we'll dig into some of those But I have found in my life that most of my fears most of my fears If I will peel the layer of that onion back far enough At at the core of the fear is a fear of man

Fear of what other people might think about me and even like money if you're afraid of losing your job. I Mean, I'm sure you're afraid that you won't be able to pay your bills But there's also this under undertone undercurrent of what will people think of me? That I'm unemployed. What will people think of me that I was fired? What will people think of me that I can't pay my mortgage? What will people think of me when I have to file for bankruptcy at the core of a lot of our fears is this fear of man Fear of what other people might think about us It's it's it's I don't have the hard conversations with people because I don't want I don't want them to think negatively about me I don't want to be that guy It affects leadership. I did a leadership podcast on this several weeks ago as I was kind of digging into this idea of fear of Man, I just wanted to kind of dabble in it from the leadership side and a lot of leaders are paralyzed because we have a fear of Man, we have a fear of what will happen if I step up With authority and truth and say what I believe needs to happen for this organization or work or with the Lord's voice So most fear can be traced back to this If I have a fear of man One of the ways that will manifest is I will want to over explain myself Like if I if I think something if I do something if I make a decision about something I'll be tempted to over explain it because I want you to accept me in the midst of this In the midst of this decision, it'll make me act a certain way dress a certain way talk a certain way Have you ever gotten together with some of your old buddies from high school? or hung out with a certain group of people or maybe you're in high school or college now and you act a certain way around a Certain group in a different way around a different group and if you're really honest with yourself, you know, you do it That's fear of man At the core of it. It's a fear of man Fear of man makes me want you to really like my sermons Because if you don't like my sermons you may leave the church right and

If I'm not careful fear of man will keep me from preaching what I know I should preach And so I'd be tempted to water down what this says because I want you to approve of me that's fear of man It's fear of man and it's everywhere. If you if we pay close enough attention, it's everywhere And this is what God's trying to dig out of Jeremiah in verse 8 Because we know that he goes on to speak it to speak it to confront Kings and priests and like the most powerful people on The planet and the Lord's saying I've got some really powerful things that I need you to do But you will never be able to accomplish what I'm calling you to do if you're afraid of the very people that I'm calling you to go challenge So he eradicates and he tries to uproot this thing because why is it so important? Why are we talking about fear of man? It's it's it's important because it doesn't just change Fear of man doesn't just change you. It doesn't just change what you say. It changes what you're willing to do and The closer and closer we get To the return of the Lord it's going to become harder and harder To not have fear of man And the way that our culture in this nation is going it's going to become harder and harder to not cater and waffle, so to speak to man So I want to talk to you about that for just a little while and the title of the message I believe that it kind of manifests itself in three ways in our life and that's what we're going to talk about So the title is three ways fear of man traps us If Proverbs describes the fear of man as a snare That the enemy every single day lays out a trap for you and It's in the form of a fear of man And it's a snare that is just waiting to catch you and trap you in then we should look at this and know what the enemy's schemes are and know what he's up to. So I'm gonna give you all three of them up front, just in case you fall asleep, you'll still have them. So I'm gonna give you all three of them just real quick,

we're gonna rapid fire them, and then we're gonna unpack them one at a time. So when you see people, what do you see when you see people? If you are led by the fear of man, when you see other people, you're going to see them in these three ways. If you operate out of fear of man, when you look at other people, you're gonna see them, number one, as giants. And what giants say are they're bigger than we are. They're bigger than we are. And when people become giants, you'll never fully obey the Lord, if you see them as bigger than you. Okay, we'll unpack that in a minute. So fear of man manifests as you see people as giants. Number two, you see them as judges. Freedom. What you say when you identify someone as a judge is they get to evaluate me. I'm giving them permission to evaluate me, the way I dress, the way I look, what brand of clothing I wear, I am giving them permission to evaluate me and to be judge, jury, and executioner. And when people become judges, you'll never be free. You will always be under their bondage of what they think about you. And that's prison. That's prison, that's not freedom.

So you'll see them as a giant, as a judge, or last but not least, as a master. Masters get to control you. And you will actually end up operating your life like a slave instead of a son or a daughter of the Most High King. And when people are masters, you'll never truly fulfill your calling. So let's look at these real quick in these different ways. The only antidote, there's only one antidote to the fear of man. All right, let's just start there. Let's just lay a foundation. How many of you would say, all of our campuses, Gravevine, Edmonds, show of hands, raise your hands if you have a fear of spiders. Raise your hands if you don't like spiders, fear of spiders. Now, put your hands down if you are the chief spider killer in your household, raise your hand. That's me, I'm the chief spider killer. There's ever a spider that appears in our house, there's a shrill scream somewhere in the house, and then two words, either honey or dad. Dad, get in here, or honey, get in here, you know? I'm the chief spider killer. I can promise you, if you wanna get over your fear of spiders, the only thing that will help you get over a fear of spiders is a greater fear, okay? So let me just paint a picture for you.

You hate spiders, you're deathly afraid of spiders, and there's a bathtub full of spiders. I can see some faces in the room. All right, bathtub full of spiders, and you have to jump in the bathtub full of spiders. You would be like, there's no way on the planet I'm doing that. Okay, let me paint a different picture. You're in a burning building, and there's only one exit, and there's fire all around you, and the only way out is to go through the bathtub of spiders. I bet you'd get in that bathtub. The only thing that helped you overcome your fear of spiders was a greater fear of dying. There's only one antidote to the fear of man, the fear of God. The fear of God has to be greater and stronger and bigger than fear of man. Proverbs 1.7 says, the fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge. One translation says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So if you wanna be wise, you wanna know how you start? Fear the Lord. That's how you become wise. You start by having a respect, not a terrified that he's going to harm you. It is a reverence of holy fear to the things of the Lord. Matthew 10.28, these are Jesus's words. Jesus said, don't be afraid of those

who want to kill your body. They cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both the soul and body in hell. Isaiah 8.11 says, the Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. This is Isaiah speaking. He says, don't call everything a conspiracy like they do. Don't be afraid of conspiracies and don't live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of heaven's armies holy in your life. He is the only one you should fear. He is the only one who should make you. you tremble. So we're going to overcome our fear of man by having a greater reverence and fear of the Lord. So, let's look at all these real quick and let's unpack them and then we'll be done, alright? So let's look at the giant one, okay? So number one, fear of man sees people as giants. Now, let me try to explain what I mean by that. When I say giants, I'm saying anything that's bigger. In fact, let's say it a different way. Anything that ends with er. Anybody in your life that you believe is smarter or wiser or richer, right? Bigger, more influential-er, that's not a word, but you know what I mean. Anybody in your life that you in some way, shape, or form have put on a pedestal, and this starts at a very young age. This starts when you're in kindergarten and first grade and second grade and all of these friendships and cliques start happening and anybody that you look at, you're like, I wish I could be more like them. When we live a life where we categorize people as giants and people that we want to attain to become, you have laid the groundwork, you have planted the soil for the seeds of the fear of man to cultivate in. And this happens to the Israelites. The Israelites were sent in, the spies were sent in to check out the promised land, the land that God gave them, set it aside for them. And in Numbers 13.33, let me show it to you, let me read it from the scripture itself. Numbers 13.33, it says this, this is their report when they came back. We even saw giants there, the descendants

of Anak. Next to them, we felt like, do you hear those two words? Felt like, felt like our feelings, we were all up in our fields and we felt like grasshoppers. And that's what they thought too. And I'm like, hold up, did you talk to them? What do you mean they thought that too? How do you know that? You know for a fact that they thought you were grasshoppers. And you can see this happening. They, they came back from the promised land and they were like, they're too big. Fear of man, fear of man. They were afraid to take the very territory that God created for them and told them, this is yours. They went and checked it out and came back and said, we can't. Their fear of man was greater than the fear of the Lord. Um, and notice the spies didn't say they were giants and that we were grasshoppers. They said, we felt like it. We felt like grasshoppers and they seemed like giants. So the fear of man, the fear of man doesn't make them giants. Okay? The fear of man doesn't make them faster, stronger, richer, better. It actually just makes you smaller when you fear man, it makes you smaller. So I think that's part of the enemy's plan. If the fear of man is one of the enemy's greatest weapons, then perhaps one of the enemy's greatest weapons is to make you feel small, to make you feel small, to make you feel lesser, smaller, to keep you from stepping into the fullness of what God wants you to become. So when people get too big, God gets small. And I want you to think about it that way. When we elevate people and put them on pedestals and we have a fear of them and whatever they say we do or whatever they live, we want to be like them and we'll dress a certain way to fit in with them and we'll talk a certain way to fit in with them and we'll, we'll, we'll compromise our values, we'll compromise what we believe the scriptures tell us to be true and we will actually become more like them. We're actually making God small when we do that. We're making God small. And so let's, let's, let's reverse it. So if fear of man sees man as giants, then what does the fear of God does? Fear of God sees people as humans. Humans. There's humans. Um, my mom, she's, she's here today. I have memories of her. She still says it to this day. She says weird words like britches. And do you guys use the word britches for pants? Okay. And my mom will say, they put their pants on, they put They're britches on the same way as you, one leg at a time. What she's saying is this, they're human. They're human, they're just humans.

Anybody that you think is rich or fast or strong or better or bigger, they're no different than you. No different than you. So why are we so wrapped up in what they think about us? They're just humans. Isaiah 51, 12 says, yes, I, yes, I, yes, I am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans who wither like the grass and disappear? So God's argument is fascinating. He's not saying people don't matter. That's not what the Lord's saying. He's not saying people don't matter. He's just saying they're merely humans. They're just humans. So why would be, let me ask you a question. Why would we be obsessed with what other people think about us if they're just humans? There's my favorite dad joke in all the Bible and I've said it many times and I'll probably say it a thousand more times before I'm done being a pastor. There's this pastor, as the joke goes in Psalm 103, and this pastor eloquent in speech gets up and is reading out of the King James Version and he reads this passage out of Psalm 103 and it says, he himself knows our frame and the Lord is mindful that we are butt dust. And this little, y'all see, y'all already know my joke. It's not cool anymore.

And this little boy looks over at his mom and he says, mom, what's butt dust? Look at your neighbor and say, you're butt dust. Why would you care what butt dust thinks about you, okay? All right, let's keep going. Number two, so one, we have fear of man sees people as giants. Number two, fear of man sees people as judges. Judges. And when we appoint people, not officially, but when you care too much about what man thinks about you, you have now appointed them as judge over you. And what that says, fear of man says, they get to evaluate me. You're giving them permission to evaluate you. Let me show you this passage in Galatians. Galatians three, I'm sorry, Galatians two, verse 11. This is Paul. He says, but when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers who were not circumcised. But after, when some friends of James came, some Jews, Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of the criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. And as a result, fear of man always has a result. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter's hypocrisy,

and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. So he's saying, Peter was afraid of the Jewish believers. Because they believed that circumcision was necessary. So much so that Peter, when the Jews weren't around, he would chill and hang out with the Gentiles. But then when the Jews showed up, he pushed away from the table and was like, I don't know you guys anymore. It's fear of man. It's fear of man. He was allowing the Jewish believers to be judged and to evaluate him. And it changed the way he lived his life. Peter, again, later on, would do the same thing whenever he denied Jesus three times. Fear of man made Peter deny Jesus three times. He was afraid of what the people thought. And so he lied about Jesus being his rabbi because he was afraid of the people. Nicodemus, remember the story when Nicodemus comes and meets with Jesus? The Bible says that Nicodemus came at nighttime as to avoid being seen by the other Sadducees and Pharisees. Because he was afraid of the people. Fear of man always has an impact on us. Pontius Pilate was afraid of the people. Remember this? He said, I find no fault in him. He himself, his convictions, his convictions in and of himself

did not believe that Jesus should have been crucified. But because he had a fear of the people, Jesus was crucified. Listen, if you wanna know how powerful the fear of man is, Jesus was crucified as a result of Pontius Pilate having a fear of man. So, and you see this everywhere. You see this in politics. You see this in the church. You see this in the workplace. You see it in corporate America. Action taken because fear of man being the judge. And this. This, my friends, is where the woke movement started. The woke movement is a fear of man, fear of man. This is where the cancel culture cultivates. Can't say that, or these people will cancel you. It's fear of man. Paul had a couple of answers to this. Galatians 1.10, Paul said this. He said, obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. Let me read that part again. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. So could it be said that in order to be Christ's servant, I cannot have a fear of man? He said this too in 1 Corinthians 4.3.

He said, as for me, it matters very little, how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. What kind of authority? Human, mere humans. The last sentence cracks me up. I love Paul. I don't even trust my own judgment at this point. He's like, what he's saying is I only trust the Lord. I don't even trust myself. I trust what the Lord says, and I will not let fear of man control me. Paul isn't being arrogant. He's just refusing to let anyone become his judge. So fear of man sees people as judges. Fear of God, real simple, fear of God sees people as neighbors. You're just my neighbor. You're my neighbor. Jesus said in Mark 12, 31, he said, the second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. So everybody around you, you don't give them permission to be your judge in your heart, okay? In your heart. You're gonna live the way God's called you to live. You're gonna live according to not what you think, according to what this says, and if that involves hurting people's opinion of you, then so be it.

We're not gonna be arrogant. We're not gonna be mean by any stretch of the imagination. We're gonna be humble. So what I'm saying is we don't surrender our identity or our calling to someone's opinion of us. Okay, last one is this, number three. Fear of man sees people as masters, and no one would ever say this. Even you right now, you're like, oh, well, no one's my master. No one's my master. When we have masters, what we're saying is they get to control us. Really, in essence, what you're saying is masters have control, okay? Their approval controls me. Their disappointments in me controls me. Their reactions control me. Their opinions motivate me. So although you and I would never admit to anyone that fear of man or that people are our masters, I wanna just slightly push back slightly to let you know that in some ways you are allowing the fear of man to be your master. And this is the step in this where we finally surrender action. This is where action steps begin to happen. Okay, just pull your toes back. I'm just gonna walk down your aisle and stomp on feet, but if your toes are back, you won't feel it, okay?

If we go into debt to buy something of a certain brand to fit into some certain group, that is your master. That's your master. If I act two different ways, if when I'm with a certain group of people and I'm kind and courteous and polite, when I'm with people that follow the Lord, and then when I go over and I'm with another group of people and they start talking bad about somebody and they're all chiming in and so I just jump in too and I start talking to fit in with the group. I don't wanna be the oddball out, so I just kind of join in and join the group and what they're talking about. They are my master. They are controlling my behavior. They are controlling the what I say and my actions. If the size of my house is making me house poor to where I can't even afford to pay my bills, I am now a slave to that master. I'm a slave to that master. Dave Ramsey says, we buy things we don't need with money we don't have. to impress people we don't like I just think I know I see this in my own life listen I'm a I don't think that there's an I'm not I'm not coming against you I'm a brand snob y'all sneakers clothes everything I want brand names all right but then at the same time I'm like why why do I have to hit pro v1s on the golf course why is that why do I have to have brand-name golf clubs why is that so important to me and I'm not against it y'all I'm not against I'm not gonna stop buying them bringing off clubs okay but it does make me question why who am I

trying to impress I'm not trying to impress am I allowing the fear of what other people think about me to control me who's the master here and you see this in Scripture remember when Aaron Moses goes up to Mount Sinai and leaves Aaron in charge Aaron is in charge he is the master okay and just a couple of days later the people are like we need a God we need something to worship we need something to follow and before you know it Aaron has taken all their gold and created a golden calf for them to worship now who's the master he was left in charge but the people the fear of man his fear of people now all of a sudden they are now the master and he is the slave it's it's that simple it happens that quickly it happened to Saul Saul was afraid of the people I get the passage I'll read its first Samuel 15 24 it said Saul admitted to Samuel yes I have sinned I have disobeyed your instruction and the Lord's command now he just lays it out I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded you're the king you are the king of Israel now who's the master now who's the master he did what they demanded it's that easy to fall into and that's why it's like a ninja weapon for the enemy because we don't see it coming we don't see it coming we justify it we get around it but at the core if you will be honest enough with yourself and peel that onion back far enough what you will find at the core of yourself is a fear of man fear of man so if fear of man sees people as masters what is the fear of the Lord see people how does the fear of the Lord see people they're very people that we try to impress that we have made our Giants and our judges and our masters the fear of the Lord sees those same people as mission mission so the fear of God sees people as mission and if you think about it you see that in Jeremiah God is telling Jeremiah the people that I need you to go see that's your mission I need you to go and prophesy to Kings and prophesy to the high priest and prophesy to the most powerful people on the planet but if you're not careful if you carry fear of people into your calling they will dictate your calling instead of you seeing them as your mission and that's why the Lord had to eradicate the fear of man from Jeremiah before he sent him on his calling so a couple questions I

just want to I like to preach messages where I just give you something to meditate on and to think about all week okay so close your eyes for a second I want you to not have any distraction as you think about this I just want to give you a question to ponder and listen no you don't have to confess this to anybody you're just being try being honest with yourself at least start there at least at least we should be able to be honest with ourselves there's an old saying that says you're the hardest person you'll ever lead because you can talk yourself into anything so let's just at least be honest with ourselves and invite the Holy Spirit into a very important question in our in our own lives and here's the question all right who is the person in your life whose opinion has too much power in your life who in your life do you see as bigger stronger richer better smarter wiser you're Giants who are those people that you attain and try to want to become someday who are the people that you're afraid of how they judge you you're afraid of what how they look at you you're afraid that they're looking at how you dress and looking at how you talk and looking at all those things who are those people in your life? And who are the people that you have appointed as your master? God never promised, this is, listen, the fear of God has to become bigger than the fear of man. That's the key, remember? And God did not tell Jeremiah that people would agree with him. He didn't say that. He said, you're going to go and you're going to say what I tell you to say. He didn't say, and they're going to love you, it's going to be awesome. All he said was, you're going to say what I tell you to say and do what I tell you to do. He didn't tell him that people would like him. He didn't even tell him that people would listen to him. All he said, let's look at it again. I want to read it for you. You can open your eyes. I'll read it again for you. Verse eight, don't be afraid of the people. Here's why, for I will be with you and I will protect you. I will be with you and I will protect you. What more do you need? What more do you need? If the Lord promises to be with you and protect you, what else is there? Father, I thank you so much for this moment. I thank you that your word is so clear. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts, cuts.

Father, I pray that you would begin to reveal to us by the power of the Holy Spirit in the days and weeks to come, anytime, anytime in our lives that we are bowing down to the fear of man. We invite the Holy Spirit to bring this back to our remembrance and to let our reverence and holy fear of the Lord outweigh and outmatch the fear of man. In Jesus name. We're so grateful that you joined us today. At Victory, we pray big prayers to a big God and we expect big results. If you would like to receive prayer, you can submit a prayer request by visiting victory.church.pray. If this message or any of our messages have impacted your life and you would like to partner with us through giving, you can do so at victory.church.give. Thank you again for joining us. At Victory Church, we live life to the full.