The scripture for today, July 6, is Mark 7:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“He [Jesus] replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ ”

It is the trend today to say that all religions ~ even those who teach opposing things ~ are right and all are good. But Jesus did not say this. Well, then, how do we know which religious things we are taught and do today are from God and which from men?

You are smart. Read the sacred writings of all major world religions for yourself. Do they have built-in proofs they are really sacred ~ scientific, archaeological, ancient inscriptions, prophecies fulfilled? Here is a website with nearly 400 proofs the Bible is from God:

www.churchofchrist-cg-az.com/Bible

Then, if you conclude the Bible is true, use a concordance and do a study of everything the Bible says about any topic. That way you will have God’s opinion, not men’s.

Here is a website with an online Bible concordance and it’s easy to use:

http://bibletab.com/

You can find out for your self, you can KNOW, whether what you were told to believe by family, friends, and leaders is what God told you to believe.

The scripture for today, July 5, is 2nd Corinthians 7:5ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

0-BOOK 3-HEARTS AFIRE-COVER“For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn ~ conflicts on the outside, fears within.  But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by thecomfort you had given him.  He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.”

Oh how much we need each other.

Sometimes in life we go into our own Macedonia where we have no rest and are full of fear. Our Macedonia may be religious or political or medical; or it may be at work, out on the street, or at home.

At such times we need a Titus to help us, to encourage us. Our Titus may be a relative, a neighbor, a friend, or even a stranger.

Have you been a Titus to anyone lately? Look around. Be a Titus to someone today. You are so very needed.

The scripture for today, July 4 is Romans 7:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”

This is not talking about just any law. It is talking about the law, a specific law ~ the Law of Moses.

Have you ever tried wading through Leviticus, the third book of the Bible? It’s full of all those laws in the Law of Moses (over 600 of them). Thank God Jesus nailed them to the cross and we are no longer bound by killing animals, stoning people for adultery, tithing, having priests, burning incense, going to the temple 3 times a year, only traveling 1/3 of a mile on the Sabbath, paying for traveling mercies, and on and on.

How did “we” in today’s scripture die to the law? He said in the previous chapter (6:4) “we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death” and in Colossians 2:14 where Christ “having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” and in Hebrews 9:13, 10:1 “By calling this covenant ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear….The law was only a shadow of the good things that are coming.”

God now freely gives us His gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord. How amazing. How blessed.

The scripture for today, July 3 is Acts 7:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Clouds in blue sky“‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.'”

This is part of a speech by Christian Stephen soon after the church began. He was reminding the Jewish leaders how God told their ancestor Abraham to leave his religion, home and family, and move to where God had something special for him ~ to begin the Jewish nation and religion.

But when Stephen got to the part where now God wanted them to leave the Jewish religion and move on to a still better one ~ the Christian religion ~ they got mad. They were not like Abraham; they did not want to change. So, not liking the message, they killed the messenger. These religious leaders stoned Stephen to death.

It is hard to change. It takes a great big “leap of faith.” But when God does the recommending, we can know he has something special in mind for us. So gear up and get ready for that leap!

The scripture for today, July 2, is Proverbs 7:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

New Testament Parchment“Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call understanding your kinsman.”

It seems, everywhere we turn, we are given differing religious opinions. They cannot all be true, but everyone who says them seems to be so good. They all pray and do good deeds, and never lie, cheat or steal. But how can they all be right when they contradict each other? Preachers and creeds and elders and dogmas. When it comes down to it, only God’s opinion counts.

So how do we get God’s opinion? We look up everything in the Bible using the key word we are concerned about. We look it up for ourselves and decide for ourselves. We do not let other people decide for us.

Well, how do we find all those verses? By using a concordance which is like a large dictionary listing all the words in the Bible and what verses carry those words. It is the size of a large-city telephone book. You can also get it on the internet free here:

http://bibletab.com/

So today look up something about Christianity you have always been curious about. Then you’ll have wisdom, understanding, and God’s
opinion.

The scripture for today, July 1, is Leviticus 7:1f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy. The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides.”

Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death. The price was paid over and over with perfect animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. But Jesus nailed the Old Law to the cross (Colossians 2:14), and with his one sacrifice made it so that no more blood sacrifices were necessary (Hebrews 8-9).

In a sense, Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, laid down on the altar of the world where his blood flowed from all sides of the cross to all sides of the earth.

Jesus paid the penalty for our sins in our place. Do you ever thank him?

The scripture for today, June 30, is 1st Kings 6:30 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold.”

About 40 years ago it was figured that Solomon put $3 trillion worth of gold in the temple to line the ceiling, walls and floor. And that figure would probably be around $12 trillion today. Talk about streets of gold in heaven!

There are some people today asking for money to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Even if they accomplished it, what would it do for Christians? The book of Hebrews in the New Testament explains to the Hebrew (Jewish) Christians that they no longer need or want the temple. Why? Hebrews 8:13 says, “By calling this covenant (Testament) ‘new’ he has made the first one [Old Testament] obsolete.”

Let’s look at the temple in a spiritual sense through the eyes of a Christian ~ and of Jesus himself in Hebrews 9:

1Now the FIRST COVENANT [TESTAMENT] had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 7 Only the High Priest entered the inner room [Most Holy Place]…and never without blood.…. 11When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle [temple] that is not man-made. 12. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood [He being the Lamb of God ~ John 1], having obtained eternal redemption. 24. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered HEAVEN ITSELF. For this reason Christ is the mediator of a NEW COVENANT [TESTAMENT].

So, who of us would want an imitation temple and holy of holies made with hands back in Jerusalem again, along with all the animal sacrifices on the altar, and priests who would have to be of the Tribe of Levi, and tithing and all the other over 600 laws of Moses? It makes no sense.

Thank God, we live in a more spiritual age ~ the age of Christ and the temple heaven itself.

The scripture for today, June 29, is John 6:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent.”WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE

Yes, it is true that the gift of salvation is just that ~ a gift, a free gift. And it is true that we cannot be good enough to earn salvation, because we don’t know how to be perfect, and heaven can only accept the perfect.

But at the same time, James 2:18 says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” In other words, there are things we need to do to obtain salvation. We have to believe there is a gift for us somewhere, walk over to it, reach out, and grasp it. Repenting is a work. And Jesus himself said believing (faith) is a work.

And how do we go about obtaining faith? By believing what other people tell us to believe? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing/reading the Word of God ~ the Bible. It is going directly to God’s Words to find out for ourselves. It takes a little bit of work to read through it. But then, we can know that what we believe is really true.


The scripture for today, June 28, is Luke 6:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Cover-Bible Women-Createspace“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

There was a book published several years ago entitled, “Hurt People Hurt People.” There are some people out there who have been hurt and then turn bitter. They lash out at everyone. One method of lashing out is when someone tries to console someone who has lost a loved one in death by saying, “I know how you feel.” Then the hurt person lashes out at the other person and says, “You DON’T know how I feel! How dare you pretend that you do!”

That is a hurt person trying to hurt someone else. It’s as though they are bragging, “My hurt is so amazingly great, any effort on your part to understand is puny and not worthy of the greatness of my hurt.”

How do you react to your pain? Do you run people off? Or do people admire you for your courage? When you feel cursed, do you curse back, or do you bless?

The scripture for today, June 27, is Daniel 6:27 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“He [God] rescues and he saves, he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

This was proclaimed by none other than Darius, Emperor of Persia and Babylon. He normally worshipped idols. What made him respect God? It was Daniel’s example of being true to God no matter what.

Everyone has problems. You can consider them opportunities. People of the world do not see any benefits to Christianity in their everyday life. You can show them the advantage by how you face your own difficulties. They will notice.

A friend of mine was a logger (lumber jack). This big guy got up at 4 AM every day and didn’t get home from work and finish eating dinner until about an hour before bed time. So he began reading his Bible out in the forests during his lunch break. The other men made fun of him.

They had to ride a small bus together to get deep into the forest, and the guys would harass him on the bus. One day they harassed and teased him so bad because of his Christianity (he wouldn’t cuss and swear with or at them) and Bible reading, that he asked the bus driver to stop. He got out and walked ten miles toward his home.

Some time later one of the men who had teased and harassed my friend went to him in private with a problem. He said, “I teased and harassed you with everyone else, but deep down I admired you.” Then he went on to explain his problem to my friend “because you are the only one I know to turn to.”

So today, if you are facing a problem, face it together with God. Face it with courage. Face it with the belief that it is for a reason and that reason may be so you can be an example of godly strength to others. Give it a try. You can do it!