“Fear of The Lord, a Friend, not an Enemy”, with Ray Comfort (Ep. 184)

Aug 22, 2022 | A Word in Season Show Notes

“Fear of The Lord, a Friend, not an Enemy”, with Ray Comfort (Episode 184)

Our Guest: Ray Comfort

Ray Comfort is the founder and CEO of Living Waters and a bestselling author who has written over 100 books, including How to Know God Exists and The Evidence Bible. He co-hosts, with actor Kirk Cameron, the award-winning television program, “The Way of the Master,” airing in every country in the world. He is an executive producer of “180,” “Evolution vs. God,” “Audacity,” and other films. He is married to Sue, has three grown children, and hasn’t left the house without Gospel tracts for decades!

Scriptures and Key Points:

  • As Christians, we are called to speak the truth in love seasoned with grace, but we must speak the truth nonetheless.
  • God can use moments of attacks to open up future ministry opportunities that wouldn’t have been accessible otherwise. 

1 Corinthians 1:27 NKJV But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

  • Christians often take kindness for granted, but it’s a bright light in the dark for those in the world.

“God uses nobodies from nowhere with nothing but a love for Him.” – Ray Comfort

  • Serve God with your whole heart.
  • If you give God everything, He will do the same for you.
  • The key to Christianity is to get on His track for you.

Matthew 11:29 NKJV Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Romans 12:1 NKJV I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

  • Your gifting can take you so far, but only the character of Christ in you can take you further.

“What will you do when the Law comes in terror? When the trumpet of the Archangel shall tear you from your grave? When the eyes of God shall burn their way into your guilty soul? When the books shall be opened and all your sin and shame shall be punished? Can you stand against an angry law on that day?” – Charles Spurgeon, The Soulwinner

  • The model of the law brings a knowledge of sin.

Galatians 3:24 KJV Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Romans 7:7 NKJV What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law…

Romans 7:13 NKJV Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

  • You’ll never convince anyone to take a cure, unless you first convince them they have the disease.

Acts 16:30 NKJV And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

  • When a sinner has been filled with the fear of the Lord, they have an appreciation for the cure of the Gospel.
  • Antinomianism is the belief that, under dispensation of grace, the moral law is of no use and thus rejects a socially established morality.

Hebrews 10:26-29 NIV …Trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

  • Amazing Grace taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.

Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’…If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you…

  • The law put salt on my tongue and made me thirst for righteousness.

Matthew 5:6 NKJV Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Luke 15:11-32 NIV The Parable of the Lost Son

Romans 2:12 NKJV For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.

James 1:25 NKJV But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

  • “Don’t call me ‘Lord’ anymore unless you’re willing to live for Me.”

James 2:19 NKJV You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

Proverbs 2:20 NKJV So you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.

  • Grace isn’t an excuse to sin, but a way to overcome sin.

Proverbs 1:7 DRA The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…

  • “If you die without Christ, you will justly end up in hell and that breaks my heart.”

Romans 6:23 NKJV For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • Fear is your friend, not your enemy.
  • There is something greater than happiness and that’s righteousness.

Proverbs 11:4 NKJV Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 16:6 NKJV …And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.

  • We don’t talk about the fear of God with a smile on our face, but with a tear in our eyes. We preach it because we’re motivated by love for the lost.
  • It should be evident in our tone that we’re speaking the truth in love.

Acts 24:25 NKJV Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

“Faith is believing those things you can’t see will come to pass, but fear is believing those things you can’t see will come to pass. One is the Kingdom of God; and one is the kingdom of darkness.” – Dr. Edwin Louis Cole

“A lot of people want to share the message of repentance and holiness. Many of them do it because it moves people. Rather it’s the place of weeping between the porch and the altar. Before you get up and share a message, you’d better be on your knees weeping for them between the porch and the altar. There’s something different about when the people have been wept for before the altar of God.” –  David Wilkerson

Joel 2:17 NKJV Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ 

1 John 4:18 NKJV There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

  • Just like a firefighter ignores his fears for the sake of saving lives, we also should put aside our fears for the sake of saving souls.
  • “Do you think there’s an afterlife?”

Genesis 1:27 NKJV So God created man in His own image…

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Hebrews 2:14-15 AMP … [that He] might free all those who through [the haunting] fear of death were held in slavery throughout their lives.

Ray’s Two Keys:

  1. All humans have a will to live.
  2. Every man has a conscience.

Romans 2:15 NKJV Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them).

  • Going for someone’s conscience brings the playing field down to level ground.

“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned?” — Leonard Ravenhill

“When God finds someone with courage to pray, preach, and live a life before Him of holiness and compassion, He can literally change the face of a nation.” – Winkey Pratney, Revival

“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply.” – A.W. Tozer

Hebrews 12:3-11 NKJV …For whom the Lord loves He chastens…afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Romans 8:28 NKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

James 1:2-4 NKJV My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…

“When you ask for the fire of God, remember you can’t negotiate with the flames.” – Dr. Michael Brown

“Revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat.” – Charles Finney

  • Revival will come by choice or by circumstance.
  • Two Things for the Church To Do:
    • Get rid of the fluff and preach the fear of the Lord. 
      • When we catch a glimpse of the holiness of God, we catch a glimpse of the exceeding simpleness of sin and hell being our just desert.
      • The Cross then becomes a light in the darkness.
    • Lead the Flock of God
      • People imitate their pastors and leaders, in actions and priorities.
      • We are shaped by the things we hear and see.
      • Luke 15 NKJV The Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son
      • Matthew 18:11 NKJV For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
  • “Depraved Indifference” is when you have the means and opportunity to save a life and allow them to die.
  • Hypocrite – the stage actor, the performer
  • The Church has “performed” rather than invite the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

  • Where there is pride, there will be resistance. Where there is humility, there will be an open door.

Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV Believers Are Salt and Light

Ezekiel 36:26 NKJV I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

  • Our agenda is to hold up the Cross and the love of righteousness.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

  • You read the Bible because it’s a priority.

Psalm 1:2-3 NKJV But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

  • You should have a desire to share your faith.
  • Like learning to walk and ride a bike, just get started with evangelism, as you go you’ll learn the balance and motivation to keep going.
  • “I want to use my life to glorify God and reach the lost.” – Ray Comfort

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Micah 4:2 NKJV …For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“Revival is neither more nor less than the impact of the personality of Jesus Christ upon a church or a community.” – Duncan Campbell

Acts 4:20 NKJV For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

2 Timothy 1:10 NKJV But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

  • When sharing something with a non-believer, tell them “Let me hear your thoughts on this,” instead of “You need to listen to/read this.”

“How can we settle into complacency while multitudes of lives are in the balance of eternity? How can we be so hardened of heart as to sit back on the beach of comfort and apathy while so many are shipwrecked in the sea of despair and destruction?” – Doug Stringer

John 8:32 NKJV And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Colossians 4:6 NKJV Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Micah 6:8 NKJV He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

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