How much was one mite worth?
Mark 12:42
The poor widow gave God all that she had left – one mite. The mite she gave to God was worth 1/64th of a day’s wages.
Subscribe FREE to my SUBSTACK WEBSITE to get a chapter a day FREE from one of my 70 books HERE.
The Samaritan woman at the well had lived with five men not her husband and the current one was not. And she was an outcast since she went to the well at noon (Jewish time) or 5:00 PM (Roman time) and everyone always got their day’s supply of water in the morning.
John 4:15-18 – John 4:39-42
No! This woman had gone through the agony of being widowed five times! Could you? True, her sixth was not her husband, but she had been married to the others and lost them probably in tragedies of diseases and accidents and maybe even war.
She was respected in the city. When she told them about Jesus, she influenced the whole city to stop what they were doing, go down to Jesus and hear him.
Subscribe FREE to my SUBSTACK WEBSITE to get a chapter a day FREE from one of my 70 books HERE.
How could Nathaniel possibly know instantly that Jesus was the Son of God?
John 1:48-50
Jesus had seen Nathaniel “long distance”.
Whatever the unexpected reason that Nathaniel was in that orchard, Jesus saw him there when he thought he was alone.
The day before, Jesus had spent the day explaining things to Andrew and Philip over in Bethany where John was baptizing. Jesus had seen Nathaniel long distance. Only God can do that.
Subscribe FREE to my SUBSTACK WEBSITE to get a chapter a day FREE from one of my 70 books HERE.
The Jews were required to give a tithe to the temple every year.
Deuteronomy 14:22-28
Deuteronomy 26:12 – Leviticus 1-5 – Leviticus 27:2 – Numbers 21:2 – I Samul 1:11 – II Samuel 15:7-8 – Psalm 22:11, 25 – Psalm 66:13 – Psalm 76:11 – Psalm 116:8,14,18-19 – Job 22:27 – Jonah 1:7-9
Yes and No! It was much more. A good Jew gave about one third of his income, not just one tenth. (1) The Jews had to give an extra tithe every three years for their welfare program. (2) They had to pay for their vows, which in many cases were really special prayer requests. (3) They had to buy animals for sacrifices for intentional sins, unintentional sins and sins requiring restitution. (4) If they wanted to thank God for anything special, they had to buy grain for a sacrifice (5) If they didn’t have mney to buy the animals or grain, they had to take them out of their own supply, thus depleting their own “pay check.” (6) And every time one of their flocks or herds had a first-born “first-fruits”, they had to sacrifice it ~ another depleting of the “pay check.”
Still want to follow the Law of Moses to get people to give more?
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD HERE FREE
In the Aaronic Blessing – “The Lord bless you and keep you,” – it means “may God provide you with many blessings and keep you by his side.”
Numbers 6:24
No! The word “bless” in Hebrew is not to provide things for someone. It means to bow down or kneel down.
So, this blessing is saying, “MAY THE LORD KNEEL DOWN TO YOU!” You may object that we kneel down to God, he does not kneel down to us. But think again. Our loving Father in heaven sometimes kneels down to be eye level with his child – as any good parent would do- and promises to protect that child. That child is us!
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD BIBLE HERE FREE
God is good. And I never did anything really, really bad. So he’ll forgive me for everything I ever did and let me into heaven.
Proverbs 1:18 – Proverbs 1:27-33 – Proverbs 3:20-34 – Proverbs 8:36 – Matthew 7:2 – and many more
No! Don’t forget the boomerang effect. What we do to others backfires on us. It’s throughout the Bible.
….and many more.
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD BIBLE HERE FREE
A WARNING TO FIVE GENERATIONS IN ONE PSALM
Psalm 78
This is a warning that our inheritance could be taken away. So, stand fast. God had freed the Jewish slaves from Egypt, but…
1 – They kept the mentality of complaining slaves until, over 40 years wandering in the wilderness as nomads, they all died. (Generation 1)
2- They kept the mentality of children of slaves until, after God gave them a land to settle in, they complained again and the generation of the slave children all died. (Generation 2-3)
3- – Therefore, God takes away the throne of Jacob’s oldest son by his favorite wife – Joseph & Ephriam — and gives it to Judah, the oldest responsible son of Jacob’s hated wife. (Generation 4-5)
Hmmmm.
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD BIBLE HERE FREE
Jesus was made a little lower than angels.
Psalm 8:4-6 – Malachi 3:1 – Hebrews 2:6
No. The original Hebrew of the Old Testament and original Greek of the New Testament both say “messenger,” often translated into English as angel.
But there are other kinds of messengers besides angels. Malachi predicted there were going to be two messengers – (1) a first messenger to introduce the second messenger, and (2) the second messenger.
Psalm 8:6 says this second messenger created the world, and all things were put under his feet. Angels do not create and will never have all things under their feet. The translation should be that God made him a little lower than God.
Malachi was prophecying about John the Baptist and Jesus.
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD BIBLE HERE FREE
God doesn’t mind if I miss worshiping on Sunday. After all, a person has to live. I had unexpected company last Sunday, and well yeah, I will be missing the day of the big game. But God understands. We are tight! He’s my buddy.
Exodus 20:8-11 – Exodus 32:1-35 – Hebrews 10:24-31
No! People who are more interested in doing other things than worship would be miserable in heaven where they worship all the time. Then, they would make heaven miserable. This cannot be!
It is one of the most serious crimes in the Bible. People today who “skip worship” on Sundays to do other things [desecrate] are similar to the Jews who “skipped the Sabbath Day” in Bible times to do other things [desecrate]. It is serious. What will happen to them?
During the days of the Old Testament and when the Law of Moses was kept, this was the command: “You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it [does other things that day] is to be put to death.”
And in the New Testament, Hebrews says in part, “…25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD HERE FREE
When I complain to God in prayer about all the bad things happening to me, he will hear my pain and solve my problems.
Numbers 14:26
I Corinthians 10:10 – I Corinthians 13:5c – Ephesias 4:30-31 – James 1:2 – Jude 1:16
No! Complaining is akin to bitterness and harboring grudges. When we complain, we are telling God we do not want to be where he wants us to be or to experience what he wants us to experience. Instead of complaining, we are to rejoice that things are bad for us. Huh? Look it up.
When you are tired and feel helpless, live in the moment. Bloom where you are planted. The world will notice.
YOU’RE SMART. READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF
DOWNLOAD HERE FREE
