WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.760 Real life presents the Jack Kibs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim 2 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:10.440 truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Hey you guys, we're gonna be 3 00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:17.160 talking about the fear of God. What is it? What is it not? And why you should know. 4 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.400 You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to Jack Kibs.com slash podcast. 5 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:31.720 Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled 6 00:00:31.720 --> 00:00:36.600 life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, 7 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:42.120 that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. 8 00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:48.520 Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Kibs. 9 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:52.160 We're here. Welcome to the podcast and we are going to be talking today some 10 00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:58.000 about something that is often misunderstood. I think I have to confess. I've 11 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.400 been a Christian for a long time and I am happily the product of a very, very, 12 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:11.720 very healthy sound teaching church in those days. I grew up under a 13 00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:17.280 ministry that was very firm in the word and dissected every word in verse and 14 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:22.240 it was fantastic because the foundation laid makes all the difference in the 15 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:28.840 world. Having said that, of course, I must build upon what I have stood upon 16 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.320 because that's the way we all function. Did you know that? Whatever your 17 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:36.560 foundation is in life, you stand on it. And the thing is you want to make sure 18 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:41.040 that your foundation is the right one. And of course, as believers, in fact, 19 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:47.200 Paul told the believers in Corinth, Greece, he said, had to be amazing. 20 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:54.920 Because I've been to Corinth, Greece and the biblical sites, just getting 21 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:59.560 from the tour bus or to the biblical site, you've got to pass through the Agura, 22 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:06.760 the marketplace, the Bazaar, and it is Bazaar because they have incredibly 23 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:12.240 grotesque ancient idols that the Corinthians worshiped and you can buy them. 24 00:02:12.640 --> 00:02:18.600 And I mean to tell you, it's just beyond bad. And so the Corinthians were 25 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:25.680 mixing in with their worship, ignorantly, the things of the world. And so if 26 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.880 you read first and second Corinthians, Paul is not only often rebuking them, 27 00:02:30.880 --> 00:02:36.880 he's exhorting them, but the part that is so big of him, which we need to take 28 00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:42.560 away from always, is Paul opens up to the Corinthians by saying to them in 29 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:47.560 both letters first and second Corinthians, he greets them as his beloved 30 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:53.840 brothers and sisters at Corinth. He calls them saints. Corinth was the last 31 00:02:53.840 --> 00:03:00.800 church I would ever tell you to go to if we lived back then. But God's people 32 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:05.160 were there and they're in the Bible. And you read first and second Corinthians 33 00:03:05.200 --> 00:03:11.200 is like, really? What a crazy place. But part of their foundations growing up 34 00:03:11.200 --> 00:03:15.320 from the very beginning, from birth, was the fact that we worship all these 35 00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:23.120 gods. And so for Corinthians to decide to worship one God was what the first 36 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:30.080 century culture called us, they called the Christians atheists. Is that 37 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.960 interesting? Because they were so polytheistic in all of these various 38 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:40.000 gods and goddesses that they worshiped in demigods, that when the Christian 39 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.840 came along and said, we worship one God, they called us a theist. And that 40 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:53.400 term meant to them, they deny all the gods, they say there's only one. And so we 41 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:57.960 call them atheists. Today we use the term atheist differently, although I do 42 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:07.960 believe an atheist believes in a God. Having said that, the whole concept of 43 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:22.280 the gods was based upon your offering to flirt with, get their attention to 44 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:29.200 appease them to somehow do something. And usually it was crazy stuff, but always 45 00:04:29.200 --> 00:04:35.800 appealed to the flesh, to get the attention of the gods so that you can get an 46 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:42.400 answer to your need or to your request. So for those of you who have watched, for 47 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:48.240 example, old movies or even somewhat recently, but not, is the gladiator with 48 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:55.560 Russell Crowe, you reminded that the Romans would make offerings to gods before 49 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:00.080 they would go to war so that they would have the favor of the gods. And the 50 00:05:00.080 --> 00:05:06.200 people were extremely terrified of the gods. And when something happened to you 51 00:05:06.200 --> 00:05:12.280 that was bad, everybody believed that you fell out of displeasure among the 52 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:17.720 gods. And whatever you got, you deserved it. And so you were outcast. You were 53 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:24.440 looked down upon, hmm, why is he sick? Oh, he upset the gods. Why did his mom die 54 00:05:24.440 --> 00:05:29.480 or why did his wife die? Why did their child die? Oh, he must have displeased the 55 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:35.640 gods. You better go down to the temple. And of Diana are Artemis or Athena or 56 00:05:35.640 --> 00:05:40.280 Atlas or Titan. And you better make an offering because you feel out of 57 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:45.120 pleasure. And so and the people were terrified. So then we come along in the 58 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.320 Bible. And we read the Bible, both old and New Testament. And we hear the word 59 00:05:49.320 --> 00:05:56.320 fear. And we seize up because we still have some of the ancient belief systems 60 00:05:56.320 --> 00:06:01.840 maybe in our verbiage. And certainly in our dictionary that's in our head. The 61 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:07.840 Bible says, for example, fear God and depart from evil. And then people will say 62 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:10.920 who don't know what it means. They'll say, oh my goodness, I didn't know that 63 00:06:10.960 --> 00:06:15.840 we're supposed to be afraid of God. That's not what the fear of God means. Well, 64 00:06:15.840 --> 00:06:19.840 you just said the fear of the the gods in Greece and in Rome and all that 65 00:06:19.840 --> 00:06:26.560 stuff. No, no, no, no. That kind of fear is terrorizing. That kind of fear is 66 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:32.480 debilitating. It causes you to be sick to your stomach. It causes you to every 67 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.480 moment of the day, your karma is getting tanked, right? Because oh my gosh, 68 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.880 what God did I offend today? Hey, it hasn't rain. You should have rain by 69 00:06:40.880 --> 00:06:45.560 now. We must have upset the God of rain. Get out there and do a dance. You know 70 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.280 that kind of stuff. That's not what we're talking about when we talk about the 71 00:06:49.280 --> 00:06:52.920 fear of God. The fear of God, I want to read it to you by the way. It's pretty 72 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:59.440 much summed up in Deuteronomy six, which is awesome. Verse one, now this is the 73 00:06:59.440 --> 00:07:04.400 commandment. And these are the statutes and judgments, which the Lord your God 74 00:07:04.400 --> 00:07:10.000 has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are 75 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:17.400 crossing over to possess. Stop right there. Does not God want his kids to 76 00:07:17.400 --> 00:07:24.720 cross out of the world over the Jordan, which is a symbol of death into a new 77 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:30.120 life in the Promised Land in Israel? Yes. Didn't God say I'm going to take you 78 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:34.360 to the Promised Land? Yes. Listen, you already know that God wants what's good 79 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:40.080 for his people. You know that. No problem there. It's all good. Verse two, that you 80 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:47.620 may fear the Lord. What? That you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his 81 00:07:47.620 --> 00:07:52.320 statutes and his commandments, which I command you and you and your son and your 82 00:07:52.320 --> 00:07:58.280 grandson all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged. God says, 83 00:07:58.280 --> 00:08:05.840 I want you to live a long, blessed, happy, joyous, prosperous life, not only for 84 00:08:05.840 --> 00:08:12.600 you, but for your sons, your daughters, your grandsons, your granddaughters, your 85 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:18.360 descendants after you, and may all of you live a long, blessed life. Isn't that 86 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:25.240 cool? Based on what? The fear of God. The fear of God, tragically in the English, 87 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:30.880 has spelled the same way as the fear of an earthquake. The fear of God, but it 88 00:08:30.880 --> 00:08:43.440 means this, A-W-E, the awe of God. Be an awe of God. It means, listen, that God is 89 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:51.840 who he says he is. He's awesome. He is not human. He is beyond us. He is all 90 00:08:51.840 --> 00:09:00.040 powerful. He is the creator. He is the sustainer. He is all that is good. And he is the 91 00:09:00.040 --> 00:09:05.440 final judge of all that there has ever been or ever will be. And he is the one 92 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.400 eternal. He is the great I am. So listen, I know this sounds cookie at first, but 93 00:09:11.400 --> 00:09:18.120 check it out. Just before coming here outside, I saw, which is normal for where we 94 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:26.000 live here, they're everywhere, is the remarkable monarch butterfly. The monarch, there's beautiful 95 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:33.840 butterflies all over the world, but there's none as amazing as the monarch butterfly. Why? 96 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:40.200 Because they migrate over 3,000 miles. For example, those monarchs that are in southern 97 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:46.160 Canada, when winter comes, they fly to Mexico. The only smart monarchs are the ones in 98 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:50.440 southern California. They actually don't go anywhere. They stay in southern California 99 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:54.040 in the summer and the winter. I don't know if you know they're not. You probably don't, 100 00:09:54.040 --> 00:10:02.000 that's TMI. But here's the thing. God made them. And when I look at them and our family, 101 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:08.200 we've studied them and we've set up a monarch habitat in our backyard. So we're pretty 102 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.720 familiar with them. We can tell actually the boy monarch, monarchs from the girl monarchs 103 00:10:12.800 --> 00:10:19.160 and pretty cool and all this kind of stuff. The more we learn about that, the more we 104 00:10:19.160 --> 00:10:26.600 are in awe of God. We're not afraid of God. We actually are blown away by God. In fact, 105 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:31.880 I want to talk to God about it. Are you with me? Are you tracking? That's the awe of God. 106 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:39.040 When you stand, listen, we just had a storm come by here in southern California. Kind 107 00:10:39.040 --> 00:10:44.920 of no big deal, but it kicked up some big waves down at the wedge in Newport Beach. So 108 00:10:44.920 --> 00:10:50.960 everybody went down there to watch to look at waves that were supposed to be 15 to 25 feet 109 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:56.720 high. They do get that big there at times. But when they hit the ground, you get this 20 110 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:02.920 foot wave breaking in three feet of water. The ground rumbles. The sand shakes and you 111 00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:13.520 can hear it in its awe inspiring. Now what? As I think of that and the grandeur of God, and 112 00:11:13.520 --> 00:11:18.800 I read it this morning in our daily Bible reading, that God told Job on the one that fills 113 00:11:18.800 --> 00:11:25.840 up a cloud with water and floats it to the place where I want the water to fall. Think 114 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:32.840 of that. How does God move water? He floats it. How do you move water? You got to use buckets 115 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:38.760 or a water truck. God floats water. Is he awesome? That should cause you to be an awe 116 00:11:38.760 --> 00:11:46.040 of him. And when God says, follow me because what I have to tell you is really good for you. 117 00:11:46.040 --> 00:11:51.160 Things like this, you shouldn't have any other gods, but me. Why? Because I don't wind up 118 00:11:51.160 --> 00:11:57.040 killing you. A divided heart leads to a divided faith, which leads to confusion, which leads 119 00:11:57.040 --> 00:12:03.360 to a life of disorder, which leads to eventually a life meaningless and without purpose and 120 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:07.120 without convictions. And when you don't have any convictions, then you have no moral 121 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.800 rudder. And then you wind up allowing anything in your life to happen. Why? Because you 122 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:18.120 were not an awe of God. Okay, when you're an awe of God, listen, nobody's got to tell 123 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:24.160 me, Jack, be a good boy today. No one tells you that, do they? Because you love the Lord, 124 00:12:24.160 --> 00:12:30.400 you want to be a good boy today. You want to be a good girl today. And what's the basis? 125 00:12:30.400 --> 00:12:36.760 His word, David said, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against 126 00:12:36.760 --> 00:12:43.960 you, O God. And so when we're an awe of God, I love the fact that he, I don't know how 127 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:51.240 to explain this, but when he, you know, when you know, when you're alone and you're reading 128 00:12:51.240 --> 00:13:05.360 the word yourself, and almost always unsuspectingly, there's a verse that just boom. That's the 129 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:11.680 answer. Oh my gosh, Lord, that's the answer to the issue that either I'm going through 130 00:13:11.680 --> 00:13:16.720 or the meeting I've got to go to tomorrow. This is, this is how I'm going to open up 131 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:25.520 the meeting. That's the answer. You're amazing. I'm in awe of you. Translation, I fear you, 132 00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:34.960 O God. You're so amazing. Okay. So I can find him like that. And I can find him in what 133 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:42.120 has been referred to as his second Bible. The first Bible is the Bible. The second Bible 134 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:46.920 is his creation. You can find him in creation according to Romans one. So when you look at 135 00:13:46.920 --> 00:13:54.080 the monarch, you should stand in awe of God. When you look at a documentary, I just saw 136 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:03.560 the other day about, I think it was titled America's America's Builder or America's Contractor. 137 00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:09.800 Do you know what it is about? I was shocked. Who is America's Contractor? Who is America's 138 00:14:09.800 --> 00:14:18.520 Builder? Do you know who it is? It's not a who. It's a what? It's a beaver. Did you 139 00:14:18.520 --> 00:14:27.800 know that the Department of Interior in the United States, they're capturing, transporting 140 00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:36.920 male and female beavers to areas where there's droughts, but there's a creek bed and they 141 00:14:36.920 --> 00:14:42.680 set up a habitat and they turn them loose. And they showed the complete transformation of a 142 00:14:42.680 --> 00:14:50.120 wasteland by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver having more little beavers build in a little pond and trees 143 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:56.920 begin to grow and somehow frogs begin to get introduced and birds begin to show up. And I think 144 00:14:56.920 --> 00:15:04.760 the test point was in Nevada. Somewhere in Nevada, America's Builder, the gopher. Oh my gosh, 145 00:15:04.760 --> 00:15:11.000 not the gopher. The beaver, excuse me, made this oasis. Incredible. What does that cause the 146 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:19.800 believer to do? God, you are amazing, right? I fear you, God, or I'm an awe of you. 147 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:29.400 So Christian, remember that, do not nor does God want you to be afraid of him because if you're 148 00:15:29.400 --> 00:15:35.560 afraid of him, then you don't want to be near him. If you're afraid of him, you're terrorized by 149 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:45.720 him. And even when God shakes the earth as the psalmist writes or as Job spoke of, you stand and you 150 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:54.360 feel very small. That's always a good thing when you feel very small about yourself in the presence 151 00:15:55.320 --> 00:16:00.440 of God. That is to fear him. And by the way, when you see him in that grandeur that keeps you 152 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:07.320 from sinning. Now don't get me wrong. Every one of us are sinners. Okay, when none of us are 153 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:13.720 going to be perfect, but the more you fear God, the less you're going to sin. Okay, I don't have 154 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:21.000 posted in my bedroom or on my mirror. When I shave in the morning, Jack, don't do drugs today. 155 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:27.480 I don't have to worry about that. Jack, don't don't call a prostitute. I don't have to worry about 156 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:35.640 that. Jack, don't get in fights. I don't have to worry about. Are you with me? Maybe for you, 157 00:16:35.640 --> 00:16:40.760 it's something else, but you love God. And that that something else that used to be a factor in 158 00:16:40.760 --> 00:16:48.120 your life. It's not an issue anymore. Why? You fear the Lord. It's very awesome. By the way, 159 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:51.960 here's a little side note in the closing moments that we have. Are any of you single out there 160 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:56.360 and you're wanting to be married? Here's a little bit of fatherly advice for you. 161 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:06.520 Don't marry anybody who doesn't fear the Lord. And please don't talk back to me right now and say, 162 00:17:07.320 --> 00:17:13.720 but I'm going to make him fear the Lord. I'm going to pray and I'm going to get him to love God. 163 00:17:13.800 --> 00:17:21.160 No, you're not. No, you're not. Because if you can get him to love God by your actions, 164 00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:27.240 then somebody else can get him to not love God by their actions. Okay, let me tell you, 165 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:34.280 if you listen, when I just said a moment ago, spare you a lot of grief. Only, only become one 166 00:17:34.280 --> 00:17:42.680 with someone who is an awe of God. Why? Because after you get married and he or she is called away 167 00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:49.400 to a business convention in Chicago for a week, you won't have to worry about them being unfaithful. 168 00:17:50.360 --> 00:17:59.800 Because if somebody approaches them and says, hey, they'll say, you know what? Not a chance. 169 00:18:00.600 --> 00:18:06.600 I love God. I'm a Christian. Oh, come on. Come on, man. Come on. No, I love God. I fear God. 170 00:18:07.560 --> 00:18:12.200 See you later. Are you married? Are you married? Doesn't matter from married or not. 171 00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:22.520 I fear God. Now I'm walking away. See ya. That's when you employ your feet to run from all youthful lusts. 172 00:18:22.520 --> 00:18:29.160 How does that happen? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. That's what wisdom looks like. 173 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:33.720 So listen, you guys. Hit the subscribe button to stay up to date. We'd love for you to do that. 174 00:18:34.360 --> 00:18:39.320 And as always, if you're ever blessed by these podcasts, can you share with other people and let 175 00:18:39.320 --> 00:18:44.040 them know? Because it's important to us. We got to get feedback. We need feedback. We don't look. 176 00:18:44.040 --> 00:18:49.400 We're not asking for your money. We're not selling stuff. Nobody's saying, hey, Jack, will you sell 177 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:55.000 our water? Will you sell our microphones? No one's ever approached us and we're not in this for 178 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:02.280 the money. We don't get any money. Okay. The best way that you can encourage us is to share this 179 00:19:02.280 --> 00:19:07.480 and other content with those that you know. That is such an encouragement to us because it kind 180 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:13.320 of feels like sometimes I'm speaking into a black hole if we don't get a response. So you could 181 00:19:13.320 --> 00:19:20.520 really help us out by sharing it and telling other people to subscribe as well. And also, as always, 182 00:19:20.520 --> 00:19:27.240 remember, it's time for you to live out what it is that you believe in. It's time for real life. 183 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:32.920 And that's what the world is waiting for. Authenticity from you. Until next time, you guys go to 184 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.560 JackHibbs.com. You can find out so much more. 185 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:46.120 This JackHibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. 186 00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:53.320 Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more 187 00:19:53.320 --> 00:19:55.880 and stay connected.