God-Fearing (Lesson 4)

Pastor Hilton preaches from Acts 9:31, emphasizing that the early church experienced rest, edification, and multiplication by walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. He teaches that genuine fear of God is the foundation for reverence toward God, His house, His people, His ministers, and His Word. This fear leads believers to hate evil and be taught through the preached Word. Edification, he explains, is the process of building up the body of Christ—like constructing a building or strengthening a physical body through proper nutrition and exercise. It comes through the five-fold ministry and also through believers speaking the truth in love to one another, which forms bonds and strengthens the church. The gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy, are given for the edification of the church, not for personal exaltation. Pastor Hilton then turns to the comfort of the Holy Ghost, citing Isaiah 28 and Acts 3 to show that speaking in tongues brings spiritual rest and refreshing. He illustrates with a story of a bodybuilder who only saw growth after he learned to rest, drawing a parallel to believers who need both the work of edification in church and the rest of the Holy Spirit to be transformed. Without the Spirit’s application, he warns, fear alone produces only superstition. But when fear and the Spirit are balanced, the Word multiplies and revival follows, as seen in Acts when the apostles filled Jerusalem with their doctrine and thousands were added.