January 31st - Hucksters Who Peddle the Word of God

“For we are not as the majority, who are peddling the word of God...”
(2 Corinthians 2:17)

Here is Strong’s definition of the word "peddling" used above:

2585 kapēleúō – properly, to act as an unscrupulous merchant, i.e. "a huckster" who profits by "peddling the Word of God" for personal gain. 2585 /kapēleúō ("peddler") is only used in 2 Cor 2:17 – of people "marketing the ministry" (the Word of God) for fast gain.

"There are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain" (Titus 1:10-11)

We should help those who have no family that can help them, only IF we have excess over what is needed to take care of our own family and those dependent on us!

"Now if anyone is not providing for his own, and especially for his family, he has disowned the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever."  (1 Timothy 5:8)

"For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you may be wanting, you can always do well to them..." (Mark 14:7)

Hucksters want you to think that giving to their various ministries is giving to God, and promise those gifts to them will come back "squeezed down and shaken together, and running over". However, it is my observation that giving to them simply makes them rich, and those who depend on you poorer. 

The Bible tells me that if you give to hucksters when your family has unmet needs, you have "disowned the faith".

January 30th - Religion, what is it?

"...they had certain questions concerning their own RELIGION..." (Acts 25:19)

"Now Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus, averred, Men, Athenians! On all sides am I beholding how unusually RELIGIOUS you are. For passing through and contemplating the objects of your veneration, I found a pedestal also, on which had been inscribed, To an Unknowable God. To Whom you are ignorantly devout, This One am I announcing to you." (Acts 17:22-23)

The Greek word for "religion" is the noun "deisidaimonias" and means "superstition". The Greek word for its adjective, "religious", is "deisidaimonesterous" which means "very fearful of god". The word is actually two words together meaning "dread" and "teach".  The Greek noun and its adjective are used only two times in Scripture. 

Religion is superstition, and the fear of a god or gods who then become "objects" of  "veneration".

Paul, at the Areopagus in Athens some 1,950 years ago, told religious people about the true God of Scripture to whom they were "ignorantly devout". Such is needed among religious institutions today.

"The God Who makes the world and all that is in it, He, the Lord inherent of heaven and earth, is not dwelling in temples made by hands, neither is He attended by human hands, as if requiring anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all. Besides, He makes every nation of humanity dwelling on all the surface of the earth, specifying the setting of the seasons and the bounds of their dwelling, for them to be seeking God, if, consequently, they may surely grope for Him and may be finding Him, though to be sure, not far from each one of us is He inherent, for in Him we are living and moving and are, as some poets of yours also have declared, 'For of that race also are we." (Acts 17:24-28)

God the Father is spirit and is all around us. It is He who gives life and breath. The nations of humanity are part of one single "race" and "inherently of God".

"The race, then, is inherently of God; we ought not to be inferring that the Divine is like gold, or silver, or stone, a sculpture of art and human sentiment. Indeed, then, condoning the times of ignorance, God is now charging humanity that all everywhere are to repent, forasmuch as He assigns a day in which He is about to be judging the inhabited earth in righteousness by the Man Whom He specifies, tendering faith to all, raising Him from among the dead." (Acts 17:29-31)

Paul told the Athenians that the real God is not like the gods of religion who are the "objects of your veneration". The real God judges "humanity" "in righteousness" by the "Man" whom he raised "from among the dead". And on that judgment day God will be "tendering faith to all".

Those who follow the God of Scripture know that the true God does NOT give us a "spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and a sound mind".

“God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) 

Christ Jesus pronounced His "righteous" judgment on sinful humanity from the cross as He was dying for their sakes...

"...Father, forgive them, for they are not aware what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

"...Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture..." (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Humanity should "repent" from the "veneration" of the false gods of religion and turn to the real God. 

So, if you fear a god who might eternally torment you in hell, then repent and turn to the true God.

January 29th - Those Who Seek God will Find Him - and be Rewarded

"The ration of Sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is everlasting life, in Christ Jesus, our Lord."  (Romans 6:23)

"For in GRACE, through faith, are you SAVED, and this is not out of you; it is God's gift, nor of works, lest anyone should be boasting." (Ephesians 2:8)

Being "SAVED" refers to what happens to people after they die. Jesus, the immortal Son of God, became a mortal man to SAVE the world. Jesus died as the "wages" for our sins (since he had none of his own) and was buried. Yet three days and nights later God raised him to life. This salvation from death was a "gift from God" His Father. That life was His Father's righteous reward for one sinless life sacrificed to save "all" humanity, not just a few.

"Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest...yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and lack the glory of God. Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-25)

The Greek word for "JUSTIFIED" is "dikaioo" and means "I regard as righteous". By the Grace of God, sinners are regarded as righteous by God as a result of "the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus". 

Salvation from death is freely granted to sinners as a "gratuitous gift". It is by the "GRACE" of God and "Jesus Christ's faith". We all deserve to perish (stay dead), but God is going to save us anyway. This is the gospel, the good news we are to trust and proclaim.

"Christ has been roused from among the dead, the Firstfruit of those who are reposing.  For since, in fact, through a man came death, through a Man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead.  For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be made alive...that God may be All in all." (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 28)

The cross of Christ is sufficient. Those who require sinners to become righteous in order to be saved are "enemies of the cross".

"...for many are walking, of whom I often told you, yet now am lamenting also as I tell it, who are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose consummation is destruction, whose god is their bowels, and whose glory is in their shame, who to the terrestrial are disposed." (Philippians 3:18-19)

Those "enemies" think the cross was insufficient, teaching that sinners must DO something themselves to become righteous, therefor denying the sufficiency of the cross.

“Yet take heed not to be doing your righteousness in front of men, in order to be gazed at by them, otherwise surely you have no wages with your Father Who is in the heavens...And whenever you may be praying, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they are fond of standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the squares to be praying, so that they may appear to men.  Verily, I am saying to you, they are collecting their wages! Now you, whenever you be praying, enter into your storeroom, and, locking your door, pray to your Father." (Matthew 6:1-6)

In seeking God with all our heart we find "the righteousness of God" in "Jesus Christ's faith".  We find what the sinless Jesus did for sinners according to the will of God - He made peace with God for them.

"...God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them...For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)

God has a plan for sinful humans, all of us. Our only "hope" is HIS plan, not the plans conceived by political or religious institutions.

"For I know the plans that I have for you declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart..." (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

All will one day joyfully confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory to God our Father.

"God highly exalts Him, and graces Him with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee shall be bow, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue shall acclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11).

January 28th - Kindness Leads to Repentance

"Yet are you reckoning on this, O man, everyone who is judging those committing such things, and art doing the same, that you will be escaping the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:3)

Paul is talking to everyone, both believers and unbelievers. So, what judgment is he talking about that they will not escape? The answer is death because the scripture says that the judgment of God on sinners is death. 

"For the wages of Sin is death..." (Romans 6:23)

The only reason we are not dead yet is His kindness and tolerance.

"Or are you despising the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, being ignorant that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

It is the "kindness of God" that leads us to repentance rather than the fear of what God might do to us. 

"Repentance" is a word that means to stop and think about what you believe and where you are heading, and then turn around IF you find you are heading in the wrong direction. 

"Repent, then and turn about for the erasure of your sins, so that seasons of refreshing should be coming from the face of the Lord..." (Acts 3:19)

We all need to think about what we believe about God from time to time - and be willing to turn around and head back toward the truth that God sacrificed His Son as the final sacrifice for the salvation of all humanity.

"...these things am I writing to you that you may not be sinning.  And if anyone should be sinning, we have an Entreater with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just. And He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, yet not only ours, but the sins of the whole world also." (1 John 2:1-2)

In Old Testament times, God laid all the sin of Israel upon a sacrificial animal once a year on the day of atonement which cleansed the people of their sins that year. But that is no longer necessary because the blood of Jesus has "taken away the sin of the world". And His blood has redeemed and washed every sinner clean, both Jew and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, "for all time". 

"Lo!, the lamb of God Which is taking away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

"…not through the blood of he-goats and of calves, but through His own blood, He entered once for all time into the holy places, finding everlasting redemption." (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:12-26)

God is not the angry god of man made religions. Rather, He is a loving Father whose "kindness and tolerance and patience...leads you to repentance". 

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting." (Psalm 136:1)

When people realize "the kindness of God" they repent and turn from worshiping a false god - and embrace look forward to the free gift of eternal life.

"...the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:26)