The Fear of God - Part one - Introduction

An analysis on the fear of God must agree with at least two biblical presuppositions. First that, such a study, must establish the Sovereignty of God (God as King).

Secondly, the fear of God as a concept must bring about, or make available a relationship with God.

1. The Sovereignty of God

I'll leave this concept to Isaiah...

Isaiah 40:12-28   "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?  Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

   All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.  He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.  Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;  who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.  To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.  Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?   Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable."

2. Accruing a relationship with God

The fear of God, as a concept, must bring about, or make available, a relationship with God. If the idea of the fear of God causes one to flee from Him, then the fear of God is a blasphemous and biblically incongruous concept. (Phil. 3:10)

Grass is green; as a plant, and as an idea. If grass grows up, pink in color, it cannot be grass any longer, as a plant, or as an idea. If grass changes from green to pink then it has been tainted or perverted by an outside force. If grass turns brown, it has died.

God is love. God cannot be for you, and also against you (1John 4:8; Romans 8:31; James 4:4). God cannot be just, and at the same time be Law-Less. There are many, many things that we have learned, and that we can learn about God's Character, and other different attributes from His word. When we come across ideas and philosophies in this study we must first look through the biblical grid of who we already know God to be. Let's get started...

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Bicycling directions to Sacromento Convention center
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1313 Held Dr
Modesto, CA 95355

1. Head north on Held Dr toward E Orangeburg Ave


85 ft

2. Turn left onto E Orangeburg Ave


2.9 mi

3. Turn right onto Rose Ave


1.0 mi

4. Turn left onto Floyd Ave


0.2 mi

5. Turn right onto Keller St


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6. Turn left onto Sylvan Ave


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7. Slight right to stay on Sylvan Ave


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8. Turn right onto Northampton Ln


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9. Turn left onto E Union Ave


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10. Turn right onto Towery Ave


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11. Turn left onto Coralwood Rd


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12. Turn right onto CA-108 E/McHenry Ave


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13. Turn left onto Pelandale Ave


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14. Slight right to stay on Pelandale Ave


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15. Turn right onto Sisk Rd


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16. Turn left onto Kiernan Ave


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17. Turn right onto Kiernan Ct


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18. Continue onto Pirrone Ct



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19. Turn left onto Pirrone Rd


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20. Make a U-turn


72 ft

21. Turn right toward S Parallel Ave


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22. Continue straight onto S Parallel Ave


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23. Turn left onto E Main St


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24. Continue onto Frontage Rd


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25. Slight right onto Key Ave


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26. Slight right onto N Acacia Ave


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27. Turn left onto Boesch Dr


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28. Turn right onto Fulton Ave


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29. Keep right at the fork


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30. At the traffic circle, take the 5th exit onto Colony Rd


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31. Keep right at the fork


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32. Continue straight to stay on Colony Rd


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33. Turn right onto Hoff Dr


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34. Turn left onto Santos Ave


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35. Slight right onto 99 Frontage Rd


2.2 mi

36. Turn left onto Austin Rd


0.3 mi

37. Turn right onto Moffat Blvd


1.4 mi

38. Turn left onto Industrial Park Dr


39 ft

39. Turn right onto Manteca Tidewater Bikeway


1.3 mi

40. Slight left onto Pierce Ave/Poplar Ave
Continue to follow Poplar Ave


203 ft

41. Slight left onto Manteca Tidewater Bikeway


0.2 mi

42. Slight left onto Manteca Tidewater Bikeway/Tidewater Bikeway
Continue to follow Manteca Tidewater Bikeway


1.5 mi

43. Turn left onto Northgate Dr


1.2 mi

44. Turn right onto Bolton Ln


0.2 mi

45. Turn left onto Hastings Dr


295 ft

46. Turn right onto Landreth Ln


0.1 mi

47. Turn left onto Passages St


256 ft

48. Turn right onto Pasado Ave


0.1 mi

49. Turn left onto Lathrop Rd


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50. Turn right onto S Airport Way


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51. Slight left to stay on S Airport Way


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52. Slight right to stay on S Airport Way


5.9 mi

53. Turn right onto E Market St


384 ft

54. Turn left onto S Sierra Nevada St


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55. Turn left onto E University Ave


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56. Turn right onto West Ln


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57. Slight right to stay on West Ln


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58. Turn left onto E Hammer Ln


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59. Turn right onto N Lower Sacramento Rd


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60. Turn left onto Bear Creek


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61. Turn left onto Whistler Way


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62. Turn right onto Thornton Rd


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63. Turn right onto Devries Rd


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64. Turn left onto W Woodbridge Rd


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65. Turn right onto N Ray Rd


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66. Turn left onto Kile Rd


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67. Turn right onto N Norwell Rd


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68. Turn left onto N New Hope Rd


0.5 mi

69. Turn right onto N Thornton Rd


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70. Continue onto Co Rd J8/Franklin Blvd


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71. Turn right onto Bilby Rd


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72. Turn left onto Willard Pkwy


1.0 mi

73. Continue onto Co Rd J8/Franklin Blvd


0.7 mi

74. Slight right to stay on Co Rd J8/Franklin Blvd
Continue to follow Franklin Blvd


5.0 mi

75. Keep right at the fork


213 ft

76. Slight right to stay on Co Rd J8/Franklin Blvd
Continue to follow Franklin Blvd


5.4 mi

77. Turn left onto Marshall Way


200 ft

78. Turn right onto 27th St Franklin Blvd Alley


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79. Turn left onto 4th Ave Marshall Way Alley



0.1 mi

80. Turn right onto 27th St


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81. Turn left onto 2nd Ave


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82. Turn right onto 21st St


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83. Turn left onto L St


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84. Turn right onto 13th St


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85. Slight left to stay on 13th St


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86. Turn right onto J St


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Sacromento Convention center
1400 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

It was just a thought...

Hugging the Cactus...

Oct 15 2011 11:11 AM ET

Robert Downey Jr. asks Hollywood to forgive Mel Gibson at American Cinematheque Awards
by Grady Smith
Tags: Awards Shows, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., News

Last night at the 25th Annual American Cinematheque Award Ceremony, which was honoring Robert Downey Jr., the Iron Man actor asked Hollywood to forgive Mel Gibson.

Gibson was invited onstage to present Downey Jr. with the prestigious award, since, in the words of Garry Shandling, “The Cinematheque was concerned a bit about Robert’s checkered past, so they chose someone to present the award who could help balance that out and the choice was so obvious, Mel Gibson.”

Gibson spoke kindly of the star, who he famously helped to make a comeback by paying Downey Jr.’s insurance bond so he could star in 2003′s The Singing Detective. “You are my friend,” Gibson said. “When I saw you all those years ago and got all those warnings, I just thought, ‘There’s nothing so much wrong with him.’” Gibson explained, “You’re a good dude with a good heart.”

During Downey Jr.’s acceptance speech, he had even kinder words for Gibson. “I asked Mel to present this award for me for a reason,” he said. “When I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encouraged me to find my faith. It didn’t have to be his or anyone else’s as long as it was rooted in forgiveness. And I couldn’t get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. He kept a roof over my head and food on the table and most importantly he said if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and embraced that part of my soul that was ugly – hugging the cactus he calls it — he said that if I hugged the cactus long enough, I’d become a man.”

He continued, “I did and it worked. All he asked in return was that someday I help the next guy in some small way. It’s reasonable to assume at the time he didn’t imagine the next guy would be him or that someday was tonight. So anyway on this special occasion and in light of the recent holidays including Columbus Day, I would ask that you join me, unless you are completely without sin in which case you picked the wrong [...] industry, in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame. He’s hugged the cactus long enough.”

Life in Christ...

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)
 Why?
Because: "...You have died to the Law through the body of Christ..." (Romans 7:4)
..."   Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:24-25)
I can't do it on my own! That's reality!
"For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."  (Romans 8:2-4)

"The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us..." (vs. 4)
What does that mean?
Let me give you this illustration: Internet law, if you will, requires a server. You want a web site, you need a server. In order for a website to be their at all times, the server must remain on at all times. However, I can post on my google blog (as I'm doing right now), turn my computer off, and walk away; and yet my post will remain online for others to view at their leisure even though my computer is off, and I'm in deepest darkest Africa. That is because the requirement of internet law (a server) was fulfilled by someone else (Google). I published my blog post on their server. In essence the requirement of internet law was fulfilled in me, since the post has my name on it, even though Google did the law fulfilling.
See, what happens is that God through Christ fills up what the law requires in us, as we walk by the Spirit.

Ever swing a splitting maul, and hit a dry oak log right in the center? As the log splits in two, you feel that sensation: " Yes! One hit K-O Baby!"
Last night I had the priveledge of sharing a few words of my testimony with a co-worker. When I finished talking I felt that ax-swinging sensation, that I had said exactly what God wanted me to say, and it had hit exactly where He wanted it to. I found out later that my co-worker spent the next three hours thinking about what I had said, and told me that He wanted me to teach him (in essence) how to have a relationship with God. Wow!

Love - just thinking out loud and on paper.

I watched a couple go by today, as I went on a late morning walk along Copper-Creek. They stayed in close proximity to one another, yet neither said a word during my observation. They were not bothered with one another, they were just enjoying a quiet intimacy of being together. In our lives words are not always necessary; but words mingled with love can be very beneficial. According to 1 Cor. 13:1 I am guilty of making a lot of annoying sounds. The couple I mentioned were two of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen. They were Wood Ducks.

Faith

I was cleaning up around the cardboard bailor at work when Randy came and started inserting his cardboard. I said hey Randy! how's it going? he said: good, but I'm surprised because we had two trucks today instead of one, I was expecting it to be a really difficult day. I was like see, that's what everyone says, oh it's gonna be hard or difficult or whatever, but you can't go by that. Yeah you should expect that it might be difficult, or challenging, but don't expect a bad day; expect your co-workers to step up at the right time, and expect to get a lot done in a short amount of time. That's faith, if you're driving a race car around a turn at 120 mph, you have to have faith in yourself that you can make the turn at that speed or you will crash. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must beleive that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)