The Fear of Man is a Trap - Part 1 | Pastor Carline Lorenzo

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You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You [ Pause ] >> Let's see, ooh, okay. Let's see if you guys know what I'm about to ask. Coming together, coming closer, be a family. Come on, get closer. We are family, come on Pierre, sing it. I got my, come on, my brothers and sisters with me. >> We, we, we, we.

>> Come on, let's sing it together. Come on, hey. >> Hey. >> Family. Okay, okay, okay. I got my, is it me? Okay, okay. >> And you think, is it me? >> I forgot the lyrics. >> Can they hear me on SOR? >> Yes. >> Oh, hello, welcome, SOR. Family, how are you guys doing? We are over here jamming to the We Are Family song. So, if you want to sing with us, you can too. All right, hallelujah. Come on, stand up. Let's shake it off. My goodness. Come on, sing it again. Come on, Emily, sing it. Up. Give, give her a good hug. >> I got my, oh, okay, okay. >> Come on, Emily, come on, Emily. We are family. What, what, what? I got all my sisters with me. Hey, hey, hey, hey, we are family. Hey, hey, I got all my brothers with me.

Hey, hey, we are family. Hey, hey, my brothers and my sisters with me. Hallelujah, say hallelujah. Hallelujah. >> All right, welcome to Tuesday's discipleship. For those of you that are new on SOR, every Tuesday I teach from four to five. Last week, Tuesday, we finished our Agree in the Heart series. And I had been praying and asking the Lord what He wanted me to start teaching, what series He wanted me to go into. And I just felt the leading of the Holy Spirit for three days to get into the fear of man. And why the fear of man is a trap, okay? So this is going to be really, really good. This is something that the Holy Spirit has been ministering to me about for the past season. And I just want to share everything that He's shared with me, with you all. And I know that it's going to bless all of you who will just keep following this series. So let's just pray to begin. So Father, in the name of Jesus, we welcome you Holy Spirit. We know that you're already here, but we just welcome your presence. We thank you for every single thing you're going to teach through me, to your children here in this building and on SOR. Let it be all of you and none of me in Jesus' name. And we all say together, amen, hallelujah. So the fear of man is not a feeling to manage. It is a trap you get caught in, okay? The fear of man is not a feeling that you feel

that you're trying to manage to take it out, right? Like if you feel sad, you have to be like, okay, you got to kind of like talk yourself out of feeling sad and be okay. But the fear of man, it's literally something that you get trapped in. You get caught in. It's a trap that you get caught in. I always use this analogy. Think about a mouse and think about a mouse trap. And if you ever seen a mouse and a mouse trap What usually happens, show a hand, somebody answer a peer, give them the mic. What usually happens if they do not get let go of the trap? Two things will happen. - So the mouse, doesn't it die, 'cause it gets trapped, it can't go nowhere? - It dies slowly. - Slowly, yeah. - Yeah. - And then it gets stuck. - It's trapped, can't move. It keeps trying to move until it gets tired and dies slowly. - That's crazy. - Yeah. So, think about the mouse being you, I'm not saying all of you, I'm just giving you an analogy, and the mouse trap is the fear of man, okay? Keep that picture. We're gonna go to Proverbs chapter 29, verse 25. It says, "The fear of man brings a snare, "but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe."

What do you guys think that means? One person answer, please. The fear of man brings a snare, and if anybody from SOR wants to answer that question, you can raise your hand as well. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. - Can we give somebody another chance, you listen? - Brave guy, somebody else? I love that you wanna participate though. Please, everybody, be like, "You listen, participate," or I will call on you. - Reyna's like, "I might as well just speak then." - Okay, and then we got Brittany. Brittany will answer next on SOR. Go ahead, Emily. - Okay, so when you fear men, it actually, it controls you. You kind of feel trapped, like you can't really do anything because you're afraid what men are gonna think about you, but when you fear the Lord, it kind of releases you because then you don't really care. All you wanna do is serve the Lord, and you're free from that. - Come on, amen, I love that. Brittany from SOR, what do you think it means when the Proverbs says the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe? - You five will bring me.

- Can't hear her. - Let me go. - Okay, there it goes. Sorry. - No worries. - Could you say the verse one more time? I'm sorry. - Yes. Proverbs, chapter 29, verse 25 says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." - Yeah, I would just say like, when we are in fear of man, whatever type of fear that may be like, for example, like fear of man rejecting us, then it's going to cause us, like having that fear, it's going to cause us to have the desire to go partake in worldly things, whether it's leaning on another human, for acceptance or leaning on a substance, or just going somewhere else other than God. And if we just break all that fear and completely trust Jesus, then that limit and I would say eventually takes away all of our desires to want to be involved in the world. - Yes, absolutely. So all these things that Emily and Brittany is talking about is different types of traps that the fear of man gets you stuck in, right? For Emily, when you fear men, you feel stuck and you feel like you're basically trapped into something

and you don't feel free, and with Brittany, she gave the example of if you are fearing men to reject you, it can cause you to go out into the world and get into something that you're not supposed to get into so you don't feel rejected, right? It's a trap. So Solomon, who wrote Proverbs, does not call the fear of man a weakness or a personality trait. He calls it a snare. A trap sets a catch prey. That is a hunting word. A snare is hidden. It is baited. And it is designed so the animal walks, it is designed so the animal walks into it without ever realizing it is being caught and so it is already held, right? So think about a mouse trap. The mouse is crawling, you ever seen a mouse, like, I don't know, maybe in movies, but you see a mouse looking at a mouse trap and they're like, oh, there's a mouse trap. Let me go around. Or do they run right into it when they get caught? They're like, oh, shoot, I'm caught, right? So picture that. That's what Solomon is saying. Solomon is saying it's a snare. A snare is something that catches you off guard.

Like, oh, because when you're fearing men, You don't even realize that the actions or the responses or what you do is because you fear man, right? You don't realize it and so you get caught into it and you feel like you can't breathe now. You feel like you have to act a certain way now, right? Has anyone ever felt like that before? Okay, that is exactly how the fear of man works. You do not feel yourself being trapped. You just feel like you are keeping the peace being liked and avoiding conflict, but you don't have peace. You probably don't even like yourself and you have conflict within your own self. So you're trapped, you're not even free. And by the time you notice you are already bound, unable to obey God freely because you're managing what people think. You can't be a disciple of the Lord and also be a bond servant to a person. You can't do both. You can't please God and man. You can only please God, right? Or you can only please man, but if you only please man, then you're not a bond servant of Jesus Christ. There's a scripture that talks about that. The verse gives the only way out in the same breath. Trust in the Lord. The snare of man is broken by the trust of God.

The Hebrew word for snare is mokesh. M-O-Q-E-S-H. It means a snare, a trap. The bait stick of a followers trap. The bait stick of a followers trap, literally. A followers trap is the thing that catches the mouse. It's the bait stick. It's the literal thing that holds the bait 'cause that's where they go after. That little stick, have you guys ever seen a mouse trap? Like there's like a stick, you can put cheese or whatever. It's like it lures them in and they go after it and it's like that bait stick. That's literally what the fear of man is. It's like something you walk right into it and you don't even realize you're about to get trapped, right? The fear of man is the bait. The approval, I'm sorry. It is the mechanism that springs shut on a bird, the instant it's such as the bait. The fear of man is that bait. The approval of people is the lure and captivity is what actually closes around you. So I want you guys to think about this disciple question. I'm not going to have you guys answered due to time, but where in your life are you calling something, keeping the peace or being nice? That is actually the fear of man quietly closing around you. Avoiding, the Holy Spirit, let me give you a perfect example. The Holy Spirit highlights something

that a brother or a sister in Christ in the church is doing wrong and you can prove it by scripture and you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to tell them to correct them because that's what love is because scripture talks about that that is true love, right? So then you don't do it because you're saying, well, I just don't like conflict. Well, I just wanna make sure that they like me. Well, I just don't like going back and forth. Then they're gonna think of me the wrong way. That's the bait, now you're trapped. Now the Holy Spirit, you can't even trust in the Lord. The Lord, you don't have that relationship that Emily was talking about. You don't have that freedom for you to just live free. Now you're just walking like this and then you know what that brings? That brings you walking as if people are looking at you like you're wrong and you think that people are looking at you like that and it's not true. It's just because you're walking with the fear of man 'cause you're worried about what other people think about you because you couldn't tell somebody else what the Holy Spirit convicted you about them. So a backfire is on you, keeps you trapped. Now you can't be yourself. Now you're looking sideways. Now when somebody says something, your mind thinks they said your name. Now all of a sudden you could read lips

and you know for a fact they said something because you read their lips and you read that they said your name. And all of it is a lie. It's a complete lie. Now all of a sudden they don't like me. And God's like you trapped yourself because you were so interested in the fact that they liked you or not. I told you I want you to go to your brother and sister in love and tell them something, you didn't do it because you're worried about it. They like you and now you're worried about if everybody likes you or not and you're not free, right? The fear of man will make you disobey God to obey people. First Samuel chapter 15 verse 24 says, "Then Saul said to Samuel, 'I have sinned for I have transgressed "because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. "Is it not in the Word of God? "Is this just coming from me, or is this in the Word of God? "Do you guys believe in the Word of God?" Okay, I'm gonna read it again. First Samuel, S.O.R., chapter 15, verse 24, then Saul said to Samuel, who was Saul, somebody? Can you, who was Saul? 'Cause we need to be specific. He was the king, but he was the war. Huh? Yeah, he'd go to the corrupt first. He was the first king of Israel.

The first king of Israel. Saul was the first king of Israel. And who was Samuel? Just any prophet? The anointed prophet? The anointed prophet of the Lord, right? And Samuel, what Saul had to go to Samuel before Saul would do anything, has to wait for Samuel to give him the word. And Saul did not listen when against Samuel. And this is what Saul told Samuel, "I have sinned." So when you listen, and you, when you fear people, and you listen to the voice of people, what have you just did? You sinned. When you don't listen to the voice of God, because you fear what people are gonna think, you just sinned. But we don't think about it like that. We're worried about how they think about us, how they feel about us, how they portray us. And God's up there like, "You're sinning against me "when you do that." Right? "I have sinned, for I have transgressed "the commandment of the Lord and your words, "because I feared the people." Why did he sin? Because he what? And obey their voice.

So when you fear people, you obey their voice and you don't obey God's voice, right? The Hebrew word is yarei. It means to fear, to be afraid, to stand and dread of. It is the same verb used for the fear of the Lord, which is the whole point. Your fear will land on either God or man. And wherever it lands is who you will ultimately obey. You cannot fear both at once. So the same Hebrew word used for fear of man is the same Hebrew word used for the fear of the Lord. The word fear is yarei. But it's basically telling you you can either fear man that leaves you to a snare, a trap and no life, or you can fear the Lord that gives you life abundantly. Right? Let's keep going. Here is the same fully sprung. Saul the king, the one with all the authority, confesses the real reason he disobeyed God. He feared the people and obeyed their voice. Read those two phrases together because they always traveled together. Whoever you fear is whoever you will obey. Saul had God's clear command in one ear in the crowd's pressure in the other. And the fear decided which voice won. This is what the trap does. It does not just make you anxious. It transfers your obedience from God to people.

The fear of man quietly crowns whoever you are afraid of as the real Lord of your decisions. So if you're worried about how people think of you or sees you and that's what dictates who you are, they're the ones that's Lord in your decisions. They're the ones Lord in your life and it's not God. God can't get through you if you're so focused on how people's looking at you. Because in your focus on the person that your focus, it's like let me articulate my words the right way so you can understand. Let's say God's right here and another person's right here who's not God. If I'm focused on how this person is looking at me and that's the person I'm fearing, how can I receive from God? I'm not even looking at him. I'm not even focused on what he has. And he could be having so many of the blessings that I'm asking for that I'm praying for, but my back is turned towards him because I'm so focused on Gabriel to notice me, to like me. So focus on pleasing Gabriel and I'm not focused on pleasing God that I can't receive nothing from God. And we're walking trying to figure out why we can't receive because we're not fearing the Lord. It's not a demonic fear, it's a reverence, a reverence, like it's a fear that gets reverence to who he is. Reverence for his name.

that he's done. I mean, God has a resume that everything, it's so long. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament. His resume that never stops. All the things that he's done and never stops. Why would you want the approval of someone that you don't even know their resume, but you know God's resume? Right? Why should I be concerned about what you feel? You didn't part to see. You didn't set the capital street. You didn't heal the sick. The blind didn't, even if they were the ones that laid hands, they still didn't do it. God did it, do them. But if you get caught up and they did it, they did it, like caught up in who they are, then you're losing sight of who God is. Right? Here's a question. Whose voice have you been obeying lately over gods? And what does that reveal about who you are actually fearing? Because I've been in a position where, I know some people, they think that they, their husbands or their wives can't be the person that they're obeying or the person that they're fearing. I've been in that position. Where I had to go to the Lord and honesty and say, "Lord, I do not like this at all."

Like the Lord had to reveal it to me and I had to be like, "God, this is not it. I do not want this." I do not want to fear you, I wanna fear you. I do not wanna fear my husband, I wanna fear God. Right? Give me one second. I wanna fear the Lord. I don't wanna fear a man. I'm not put on this earth to please men. Because once you start doing that, you don't even recognize who you are for real. Because you're one person with Gabe, you're another person with Anna, you're another person with Lucy, you're another person with Gabe. Like you're another person with so many different people 'cause you're trying to please so many different people. But if there's only one God, you could be the same person every single time. I could be the same person every single time. I don't have to switch the way I talk, switch the way I walk, switch the way I do things. Like I could be one person every single time, whether I'm in front of 500 people or in front of one person. Because there's only one person that I fear and it's the Lord. Right? She has a question. (muffled speaking) - I was just gonna answer your question. - Oh, oh, I wasn't gonna have anybody answer it.

Yes, yes, 'cause I wanna keep going 'cause of the time. But I'll let you guys know when I want you guys to answer the question. But I want you guys to meditate on these questions as I write them, as I say them out loud, I want you to write them down and really go into the secret place and meditate on this because honestly, I believe that getting free from the fear of man answers so many questions. I mean, I've been meditating on this with the Lord in the secret place and I've just been getting set free from so many different avenues. Like just the name one, when I do transition into heaven, I'm gonna be with the Lord. So why am I tripping down here about if you like me or not? I don't even like, why do I care about that? Why should I care about that? I'm gonna be the way that I am, regardless if you like me or not. Jesus was the same way. If you think about him, we think, I was having a conversation with one of my friends doing Zoom about this and I was like, man, the Lord never really cared about himself and she had to correct me and she was like, I don't agree. The Lord cared about himself.

He didn't care about what people thought about himself, though. He cared about himself but he didn't care about what people thought. If you think about people in his hometown, think about him being raised with people in his hometown, a shepherd boy, right? The carpenter's son, all of a sudden, is telling the people in his hometown and his friends and his family that he's the Messiah. The ones they've been waiting for all these years. You don't think they were looking at him crazy, like what are you talking about? It even says it in the word of God. What, the carpenter's son? What good ever comes out of Nazareth? Like, huh? Ain't you know what he told him? I'm anointed. I'm anointed to set the captives free, to heal the state, to do all these things and that just is what it is. And they were about to throw him off the balcony but he threw him off the cliff but he knew his identity so much so and did not care about what he thought, about what they thought that he walked right out and said, that's who I am and that's it. Walked right out. (laughs)

He didn't care. Oh my gosh, please believe me. Oh, forget it. I'm not that anymore. I want you guys to like me. No, God said, this is who I am, and that's it. And I'm not gonna die today. So, gotta go. I'm gonna walk off, and he walked off. I wanna be like that. I wanna be so sure of who I am because I trust in God. He trusts in the Father so much that he said it like it was, and that's it. When he spoke to people, we think when we read as clinician points, that he was screaming, when he said, oh, you have little faith, and why are you feeling, we read it like that. But who said that he said it like that? He could've just been like, oh, you have little faith. Why do you doubt? And we think he's saying, why do you doubt? We read it in a way like, ugh. And he's like, I never, what makes you think I said it like that? I could've just said it plainly, because I'm so sure of myself, why do you doubt? You don't have to doubt. Why you gotta, why you don't, why? On wash tunes, you faithless generation. He could've just said it like that,

because he's so sure of himself, he doesn't care what people think about him, because he knows the truth and he trusts us in the Father. Amen? The very first thing fear ever did was make a person hide. Genesis chapter three, verse 10 says, so he said, I heard your voice in the garden, who's he? I'm sorry, who answered? Adam, do you guys know the story? When he said, so he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. So he was afraid and then he hid himself. So the very first emotion after Adam sinned was fear. So sin and fear goes hand in hand. Does it not? According to the word of God. And then what happens when you fear, sin, fear, what happens after that? You hide. Which is why if somebody is sinning, they hide. Which is why God is saying like all darkness will come to light. Which is why God said, Jesus said, you can't put a lamp underneath the table, you need to put it up high to expose everything, to shed light on every darkness. Which is why he is the light. Which is why when it was dark, when darkness was in the void and God said, let there be light, it was chaos and darkness. So everything in darkness and in sin and all of it

is chaos and it's all entangled with fear. And then you hide yourself. The first appearance of fear in the whole Bible is right here. And look at what it immediately produces, hiding. Adam was afraid, so he hid. Fear and hiding are married from the very beginning. This is what the fear of man does to a soul. It makes you hide your true self, hide your real convictions, hide what God actually put in you because you are afraid of being seen and rejected. And God's like, I got all these gifts from the spirit that I want you to walk boldly in, but because you're so afraid that you're gonna be rejected, you can't even hold what's inside of you and it's hidden. Right? People pleasing is just sophisticated hiding. So when you people please, you're just hiding but very sophisticatedly. You present the version of yourself you think will be accepted and you bury the rest. And a person in hiding can never walk in the fullness of God of who God made them because the real them is in the bushes afraid to come out. We're like, God, I'm here, use me. I wanna do great things for your glory. And he's like, you're hiding. How can I use you? I mean, I've already anointed you. I gave you my spirit. I gave you the gifts, gave you everything,

but you're so focused on people liking you that you're not being your true self that I can't really see yourself, Loris. Why are you so focused on what people think about you? Right? Adam realized he was naked. He got ashamed, hid, 'cause he was afraid. But God wants us to be vulnerable. Isn't nakedness vulnerability? But the moment he sinned, he was no longer vulnerable. And what happened? He got thrown out of the garden and Adam, before he was thrown out of the garden, he was a prophet. How was he a prophet? Because he was the one that spoke for God, he named all the animals. He was a king because he had authority over all the fishes in the water and all the birds in the sky and all the animals walking on land. Was he not a king? Was he not a prophet? Did he speak for God? Did he not lose both of those things? A king and a priest? Did he not lose that? So what do you think the enemy wants to do with us? The same things. But then the second Adam comes and tells you, you're a king and a priest.

Come on, the second Adam comes and does the shows, we stories the very thing that the first Adam lost in the garden because he decided he didn't want to be vulnerable no more and eat of the fruit. But then we're so stuck in what people think about us that we just don't even realize what's really in front of us or what God just actually did. 'Cause we're so stuck on looking at what people feel, what people think, what people perceive, what gifts do I need to have for people to like me? Maybe if I was a prophet, they would like me. Maybe if I was a mighty evangelist, they would like me. Maybe if I had 500,000 following, they would know my name. There's one who knows your name already. You don't need 500,000 followers to know who you are. You have the maker and the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who restored you back to the Father knows you by name. Isn't that what that says in the Word of God? Why is that not enough? Because it's a generational pattern that the enemy is trying to put on us and we're not even paying attention to it. We're being blindsided by it, right? And we keep falling into sin because we keep wanting to be liked. But it's gonna stop, amen? The Hebrew word is shabbat. It means to hide, to withdraw, to conceal oneself. It is the reflex of shame and fear together.

The fear of man drives you into shabbat, hiding the God giving self behind an acceptable mask. That doesn't want his people to be like that. He created you in his image and if that wasn't enough, he gave you his spirit. Why would you want to hide that? You have the spirit of the living God, living inside of you and you're made in his image. The way he created you is the way he saw you and he saw that it was good. Why do you think it's not good? Why are you hiding it, right? Here's for discipleship. What part of who God made you have you been hiding out of fear of how people would respond to the real you? I want you guys to just meditate on these questions. You don't have to answer these questions. I'll open up for Q&A at the end. But what part of who God made you? Have you been hiding out of fear of how people would respond to the real you? In section four, you were never designed to carry the fear of man. So it always feels like bondage. Romans chapter eight, verse 15 says, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, "but you received the spirit of adoption "by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." I'll say it again. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear.

So that means that this was already worded in the word of God once and if you didn't catch it, let me say it again. That bondage and fear go hand in hand. So if I fear God, I'm in bondage to God. But God is good, he's holy, he's everything. So I'm not really in bondage. I'm free, I'm literally free. I'm a bond servant of Jesus Christ. A bond servant means a willing full slave. A slave who wants to be a slave. I want to be a slave to Jesus Christ. I do. I do not want to be a slave to the world. I used to be before God came and set me free. So if God already came and set me free, Why would I want to do that? Right? What's the purpose of me doing that? You just sent me free, Jesus. You just sat on the cross for me, gave me your spirit, delivered me, baptized me, filled me with, healed me, everything, and then all of a sudden, now I want to be liked so much, so I'm putting myself back in the same bondage that I was in already. I don't want to do that, and I'm sure you guys don't want to do that, because you didn't receive a spirit of bondage and fear, you received the spirit of adoption. They do not receive the spirit of adoption.

And what does that spirit of adoption cry out? Abba Father, my daddy God, I'm not rejected. Yes, I might have been rejected by my physical earthly father, but now I've received the spirit of adoption that cries out Abba Father. That means I have a father, he's in heaven. He accepts me, he loves me, he knows me, he sees me, he's out Roy. Why do I have to do things for a man to like me, because my physical father, the first man in my life, was supposed to love me, but he didn't. No, I don't have that spirit no more. I have the spirit of the living God, right? We have to decree it. Paul directly links fear to bondage and calls it a spirit, a spirit of slavery. He is telling us that living and fear is not your true state as a child of God, it is a return to a slave's mindset you are already delivered from. The fear of man is bondage because it puts you back under a master God never assigned you. God never assigned you to the master of the world. You can't serve two masters, right? You can only serve one and hate the other. Right? God never assigned you to be under the master of the world. He assigned you to be under him. But we keep placing ourselves under that master. And then we're like trying to figure out what the issue is, what the problem is, and this is the answer.

God today is telling us, stop fearing man and start fearing God so you can live abundantly. No more fear of man, no more caring about what people think. It's not to say for you to go out and start being rude. That's why I gave you the example about Jesus. He didn't fear man, but he respected them. He didn't disrespect them, but he told them the truth. He didn't tell them, look, you know, you guys just don't really believe. You faithless generation. He was honest, but he was kind about it. Why do you doubt? Right? You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. Isn't that kind? If he said you honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me, then you'd be like, oh, that wasn't kind. But sometimes we read it like that because that's how we perceive other people. That's like, who told you I spoke like that? I never spoke like that. You're adding that in there. I'm kind, I'm loving, I'm gentle. So how can you be gentle and lonely at heart and still fear God? We think it's one way or the other. And God's like, you could be like me, trust me. I gave you my spirit, you can do it. You can fear God with my spirit and still not fear man and be gentle and lowly, be humble, but be honest. Right?

We're good? You guys are looking at me like this. But the antidote he gives us is stunning, not a spirit of fear, but a spirit of adoption that cries out, Abba Father. The cure for fearing man is not becoming fearless in your own strength. It is becoming so secure as a child of God that the approval of people loses its grip. Sons and daughters do not live in the snare of what the crowd thinks. Cause you have a crowd in heaven, there's a crowd in heaven rooting for you. There's a crowd in heaven that knows Paola Delgado. There's a crowd in heaven that knows Tavia. Tavia Barnes. There's a crowd in heaven with the master of heaven. and you're stuck down here on earth trying to get the approval of Gabriel. Sad, sad story. Yes, I mean, I think like that and I'm like dang, like I've been really deceived. I have a whole crowd in heaven, angels. I'm talking about angels, warrior angels, healing angels, all types of angels. The whole heaven is like literally cheering my name every single day. Okay, there goes Carly and she's about to spark revival today at the RLC. She's gonna minister to somebody that's gonna get set free. Come on, let's cheer for her. And I'm over here stuck trying to wonder who's looking at me here in the RLC. What the heck is wrong with me? Like be so for real, like come on, snap out of it.

Like please, okay, look up because set your mind on things above and not on things below for real. Why am I setting my mind in my heart and things below because those things are gonna rust and die out? If I'm looking forward to a hand clap and a shout and a hooray here on earth, that's all I'm gonna get. A hand clap and a shout and a hooray. If I'm looking forward to somebody telling me that worship was really good. That's all I'm gonna get. That worship was really good. Then all of a sudden I don't get nothing else. Heaven isn't rejoicing that. But if I'm focused on Lord, what pleases you? Because I fear you. I trust you, I love you. I'm all for you. I don't live here for people. I live here for you, whatever you want. Guess what, Heaven is rejoicing. And even though I may not see it right now, when I get to Heaven, those treasures that I've been storing here on earth as I was living here on earth, but I was setting my mind on things above. When I get to Heaven, my crown honey bunny is gonna have a lot of jewels, beautiful ones. I talk about it with God all the time. Lord, I want beautiful jewels.

I don't even wanna walk in Heaven. You guys laugh when I'm being so for real. I've walked too many times on earth. Do not let me walk in Heaven, Lord. Please carry me. I don't wanna walk. I don't wanna walk, I'm being so for real. You can talk to God about these things. There's an afterlife, a beautiful afterlife, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to what happens here. It just so happens that here, that these beautiful things happen, glory be to God, but the number one beautiful, the most beautiful thing that's ever happened to me was when I met that beautiful man named Jesus. That is the most beautiful thing that's ever happened to me in my whole life. And I'm married, I have children, I'm healthy, the Lord healed me from cancer, and I'm appreciative of all these things, but Lord, I can have all those things. If I don't have you, I don't got nothing, not a thing. Right? The Greek word here is, dole, dole, dole, dole, dole. I don't know, D-O-U-L-E-I-A. It means slavery, bondage. It is the condition of a slave owned by a master. Paul says, fear returns you to dole, but adoption pulls you out.

You cannot be a fearful slave and a secure child at the same time. That's why you feel so tired and exhausted because you're being pulled by two different masters. Do I fear men, do I fear God, do I do what you say, do I do what you say, now you have no peace, there's no life, there's no abundant life. You're being pulled to and fro. Like tug of war, you feel like ugh, like you're getting rept, just don't fear men, just fear God, it's so simple. Scripture says the fear of the Lord is the first step to what? How many people in here has been praying for wisdom? So you need to fear God. God, I want wisdom, fear me. It's the first step to wisdom. You miss the first step. You miss the first step, you want to be wise, but you miss the first step, which is to fear him. How can you miss the first step, but still wanna have one wisdom. You're not gonna have wisdom if you've got to go to the first step, which is fear God. How do you see or God, you ask? Just be so tentative to what he wants and deny what you want because you wanna be liked. You wanna be appreciated. that's what you want, deny what you want, and go to what God wants. That's how you fear God.

And then you'll have wisdom. And what does the Bible say about a wise man? How you gonna win souls if you fear a man? You might focus about winning souls if you fear a man. You're focusing about your soul being liked, being seen, being loved, right? Is this good? Is this convicting? Is it a good conviction? It's good, it's the word of God. We're getting fed, we're changing. The word of God renews our mind. And then we start bearing fruit. Inside changes before the outside reveals what's changing in the inside. So receive it like honey, like man, she's right. It's the word of God, she backed it up. I wanna change, I wanna win souls. I don't wanna fear a man. I wanna have wisdom. I wanna fear God, amen? So I'm gonna open up for Q and A, two people from SOR and two people from here. Keep it short, don't go on another topic. If you go on another topic, I might stop you. Amen? All right, two people from SOR raise your hand. Two people from here, if you have any questions, we will talk it out together. Anyone?

Okay, Yalissa. Can I just say like a comment? Yeah, you can say a comment. Okay, so I'll be vulnerable. So this is actually something that the Lord He has been showing me. Like since I haven't been saved all my life, when it comes to like my brothers in Christ, you know, this is my first time having brothers in Christ after being, you know, seductive in the world and like just a bellic. So now since I'm a new creation in Christ, He's been showing me like you're fearing man, like, 'cause I'll say hi to some of my brothers and then some of them, I'll just walk past and I'll feel like that nudge on my heart with the Lord. It's like, you're not a slave to perversion anymore. Like you're not a slave to lust anymore because in the world, you know, like things happen with my guy friends or like they raped me or did things to me. And now he's like, you're not a slave anymore. Like, and now I can actually enjoy their company and see them rightly as my brothers in Christ. Like we have the same father, we got the same blood. Come on. Yeah, and he was showing me like Hebrews 12 like that running freely part where he says like, we can run freely. He's like, you can run freely.

And like, I got healing in the secret place because I was just crying and crying. He was like, you're not a slave to that perversion anymore. That's not who you are. Come on, 'cause you got the spirit of God that cries out about father. So you can walk within knowing your identity, knowing that the enemy is not going to try to make you feel that demonic fear for you to sin and hide. Come on, that's so good. Go ahead, Jose. - And I was good how you were talking about that 'cause I've been meditating a lot on atmospheres, right? How atmospheres can detect how you act for spirit. So like before, when I would go to the gym, there'd be like a lot of women there and I'd be like, oh, I gotta look away. But then I took it from a different perspective. Like, you gotta look with the Holy Spirit like bonus, like who am I gonna evangelize to? 'Cause you don't fear men anymore. You're thinking about God. So now I switched my perspective on how I see it now. Now I'm like, who am I gonna evangelize to? Who needs it? You know what I'm saying? - Yeah. - And how you were saying like that, atmosphere overtakes you that like a snares a trap in the traps you.

- Like that spirit, that demonic spirit, yup. - But then when you, with the Holy Spirit, you overpower it. - Yes. - 'Cause, yeah. - But you got this, literally it goes back to having a the spirit of adoption because the spirit of adoption that you receive, it means that you receive the Holy Spirit through adoption because now you're born again, right? You're adopted into the body of Christ. That's what that means, right? And so you receive the spirit of adoption and that spirit that cries out, "Abba Father, "Abba Father is gonna give you everything that you need." So the boldness, the courage that you're an overcomer, you're an overachiever, you're an evangelist, right? Like you are a king and a priest, you have authority, no weapon formed against a child, prosper. I mean, there's so many things in the word of God that when you cry out, "Abba Father," he gives it to you when you need it, right? So that's amazing. And also using wisdom and like you said, asking the Lord, okay, do I minister to this person or do I not? Amen, 'cause you're not supposed to minister. Okay, so I have a question. So when I was in the world, I really didn't care what people think about me. And if you had a pin, I'm not going to lie, I used to say line up. We're going to fight. Simple as that. Okay, but that's not anymore, right? That's not you no more.

So I have like challenges in the workplace, whereas I'm at the point where I don't care how people see me. Like you said, like God brought it to my attention. Like when I was in the world, I really didn't care. But now it's just like, okay, I do care because like if someone says that I hurt their feelings, right? So now I'm like, let me in the world, I didn't take that into consideration. I'm like, what you want to do about it, you know? But now I'm just like, okay, this is someone that God sees and like, let me love them, right? But now it's getting to a point at work, whereas I feel like they're kind of having like a dictate on like how I am towards them. They'd be like, that was still offended. And now I got to a point where it's like, you know what? I don't care what you think, but I'm not telling them that like on the inside, I'm just like, okay, well, I'm so sorry if it came off that way, but I didn't mean it that way. And it was like, but then you did. And I was like, no, I really did. And so it was just like, okay, I'm trying to stand on my identity and also who's in me as well. And so then like, I like let it go, but then it comes back. And this is like way that I get stuck in my head. So it's just like, how do I go about that? Yeah, that's a great question. It goes back to the example that I gave about Jesus, how he did not fear man, right? He didn't care about what people think, but he was also kind. So in the world, you weren't kind, right? You didn't care about people, but you missed the kind part, right? You could not care about people, but still you could not care about what people thought about you, but you still care about people. Did you catch that? So you don't care what people think about you, but you still care about people, that you still care about their well-being, but you don't care about what they think about you. So it's a different type of care, right? And so when you're kind to someone, you care about the person, but when they think somewhere about you, it doesn't matter, it doesn't shift you, but you still care about the person. So that's what Jesus did, right? He didn't care about what people thought about him, but he was so loving, so kind. He healed the very people that didn't think that he was who he said that he was, because he cared about them. So he was still walking in kindness and walking in love, walking and caring about them, but he didn't care about what they thought about him. You know what I'm saying? So in prayer, just say, Holy Spirit, I want to be like the person. I want to not care about people which I already got that top down, because I've never been the type of person that fears man, but I fear you so much God that I want to

be like your son. I fear you so much that I want to care about people the way your son cared about people. Give me the grace to be there, to get there, because there's a different type of grace to get there. There's grace for everything that you want. Does that help you answer your question? So then leading up to that, like you said, to be more like Jesus. Talk a little louder. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So you said, okay, to be more like Jesus, right, to be loving, right? So as much, I feel like I get to a point where as I really can't explain myself to that person, but like let God fight my battle and like just pray for that person. But if that person is in the workplace saying that I'm like mean and like I don't care about people, but you know that you're not mean. You know you do care about people, but if the way that you're responding is because the Holy Spirit will convict you because I trust you got the Holy Spirit because you do. So the Holy Spirit will tell you Dominique that was kind, right? So then you say amen. I probably didn't say it in a kind way, but my heart is not to make you feel that way. So is it men please and when you constantly try to like have a conversation with this person? No, well yeah. If you're constantly trying to have a conversation to prove your point because you care about what they feel about you then that is the fear of man. It's not that. It's the, you know, I just want to go to work clock in. You know what I'm saying? Like in this leave. So do that. Be so sure about yourself. You know that you weren't being rude. You just have to switch the way that you talk not because you're pleasing them, but because you fear God. Amen. And that's it. Be so sure about what you know in your heart. What you and God knows. I know what I said and that's that. It's for example, if I give somebody a wise console and they don't agree, I say, "Okay." Amen. That's true. Oh, problem.

I believe what I believe. You don't believe. You don't agree. Okay. They'll love you. Amen. But I'm not going to be like, "Well, you don't agree, but I know what I'm talking about." And then that's not being kind. It was, it's never that. No, no, no. I'm just giving you an example for me. Okay, okay. I mean, I think that you do that. Yeah. But like an example for me, that's, that's where I'm at right now. Like, "Oh, somebody will come to me and ask me for a wise console, or I'll give them a wise console and something." I say, "Okay." And I know they're expecting me to elaborate, and I'm like, "I'm not gonna elaborate." I already said what I felt. Does that make sense? - It does. - Amen, thank you. All right, so I'm gonna get one more. I think there was a hand in the back, right? Oh, right here, look. What's your name? Tell me your name. Cindy, okay. - So a few weeks ago, right? - Mm-hmm. - We were at the park with our son, and a man found a wallet, and I thought that it was mine, and it wasn't. So he ended up just leaving me with a wallet, and I'm like, "Okay, well now we just have this wallet, "let's try to get it back to the person."

And we open up, and we open the wallet up, and we see the address, so we're like, "Cool, let's drop it off. "It's 15 minutes away." When we go, it was put in my heart to talk to this person, to talk to this woman about God, but I had never done it before, so I was scared. And when we got to the door, I'm like, that's it, when she opens the door, I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna ask her if she knows about God, and it's gonna go good, but she opened up the door, and then her husband came, and I was stuck, and I was just, man, these people are gonna think I'm weird, like, and I just got saved recently, so I have never done it before, and I was just like, man, they're gonna think that I'm that weird person that I used to think about other people when I was in the world, and I didn't end up doing it, 'cause they opened the door, and they just looked at me, and we was just looking at each other, and it was awkward, and I was like, I'm not doing this. When we go into the car, Felix was like, "You gotta repent, bro." Like, I already know you didn't do it, 'cause you came back to the car too fast. You're like speed walking to the car, like, I know you didn't do it. - Oh, yeah, that was speed walk. - I was like, yeah, I didn't do it.

They opened up the door, and they was just looking at me, like, okay, you gave us the wallet, like, what, so. I later on, I got on my knees, and I was like, I'm sorry, Lord, that I was more worried about what they thought about me than obeying your word, and I saw it that week after that, that I should have obeyed. But, basically, yeah, I needed deliverance from that. - Yeah. - That just reminded me of you saying, like, a wise man wins souls. - Yeah, yeah. - And if I pray about wisdom, then I should be able to fear the Lord, like, with reverence, like, obey Him, and not care so much about what people think about me. - Yeah, yeah. I used to be like that. I used to be like that. When my husband, before we had a church, God set on fire for Jesus. He's always been an evangelist. Like, he's always gone out and reached the loss, and I used to not know how to do it, and I used to be in the car at the gas station, or, like, when we're having dinner at a restaurant, he's talking to these people, and I used to be like, you're embarrassing me, stop. Like, I used to say these things, yeah. Like, and I used to be, like, honking the horn. Like, we gotta go! Like, 'cause, like, I used to think, like, they're gonna think we're, like, weird.

Can you please stop? Like, this was the very beginning, right, of our walk. And then, like, I felt so convicted, because the Holy Spirit convicted me, and I was like, Lord, I know. So I stopped doing that, right? So then I just let Him do what He does. But I still wouldn't do it. And then, once a one day, the Lord was like, do you love me? And I was like, yeah, I love you. He's like, why? I'm like, Lord, you did so much for me. You delivered me. You sent me free. You took me out of slavery, literally. You took me out of witchcraft, all these things that He goes, so why don't you tell people about who you love? And I was like, dang. You love your husband. You tell people about your husband. Do you love him more than me? And I'm like, no, I love you more than I love you. But he never died for me. You died for me. So tell people about me, Carleen. And that set me free. - Yeah, like, even now. - From the fear of man. Even now, he'd be telling me like,

I catch myself sometimes doing it too, even when it has nothing to do with God. Like, I don't be wanting to go in order. Like, 'cause I don't wanna talk to people. - Yeah, it's because you get that feeling in your stomach and you start getting hot and then you get choked up, but you gotta muscle through that. Because you got the spirit of the living, God living inside of you. So you gotta, it's literally like the enemy that's trying to like cause you to choke up. 'Cause he doesn't want you to preach the gospel because the good news is gonna save somebody. Like, the same position that you were in, they're in that position and they need to know. Like, think about you, like, what, maybe this can help you. Look at them as if they were you. Look at them and be like, oh, you just me before I knew Jesus, you need to know. And if you looking at yourself, you ain't gonna care if yourself likes yourself. You love yourself. - And in the world, I used to, it's like, I like heard him say like, why are you embarrassed of me? - Yeah. - 'Cause I used to, in the world, I used to be showing up to paces and I was proud that I had smoked,

just smoked me. - Yeah, exactly. - And I came up into the atmosphere like straight boof and like smelling really strong. And I didn't care. I was like. - I don't think you're embarrassed of Jesus. are going to think about you. You're not embarrassed of Jesus because you're here. Like you're not embarrassed of Jesus. Like I feel really convicted like I shouldn't be moving like I'm embarrassed of talking about him. Yeah, well conviction is good and you're not going to move like that anymore. And I want you to declare that over yourself. You don't necessarily have to have hands laid on you for the fear of man to leave because it's not an emotion like I just said. It's a snare, it's a trap that you need to get out of. You just say, I can't snap you out of it. We can't snap you out of it. You have to be the one to say, I'm no longer going to be a slave to this snare. Like I have the spirit of God and I can preach the gospel. I want you to say that right now. I want you to stand up and declare it. We're boldness. I'm going to preach the word

and I won't be afraid of man. I declare it in the name of Jesus that I am not a slave to what people think about. Yes, amen. I'm not a slave. I'm not a slave to the fear of man. I am not a slave to the fear of man. As a matter of fact, everybody stand up. We're going to say that together, SOR repeated after me together. Say, Father God, you have given me your spirit by adoption and that spirit cries out Abba Father. Now put your hands in the air and say, Abba Father, I am not, I do not have the fear of man. I fear you. I live for you. My life is yours. I do not belong to the world. I do not live to please man. And I have wisdom. The Word of God says, a wise man wins souls and that is exactly what I'm going to do. That is exactly what I'm going to do. Come on, say it a little louder because heaven is coming into agreement with you. Say, that is exactly what I'm going to do. In the name of Jesus, come on, not give God some glory for his word. (speaks in foreign language) Keep going, it's praying the spirit.

(speaks in foreign language) Give him glory, give him glory for this word. In Jesus name, amen. Next week we're going to talk about how the snare closes around you. (speaks in foreign language) So that you don't let it close around you. You just free yourself before it close around you. Amen? All right, see you guys soon. SOR, thank you for joining us and we'll see each other next week, four to five o'clock as we continue on the series of the snare, the trap of the fear of man. God bless you guys. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]