{"id":98994,"date":"2020-09-14T04:37:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T09:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=98994"},"modified":"2020-09-10T10:31:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T15:31:38","slug":"14-v","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/14\/14-v\/","title":{"rendered":"14.v. “They have hearts trained in greed. \u00a0Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

John 2:13\u00a0 <\/span>The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, \u201cTake these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.\u201d His disciples remembered that it was written, \u201cZeal for your house will consume me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 7:11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 56:10-11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0All you beasts of the field, come to devour\u2014 all you beasts in the forest.\u00a0\u00a0His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.\u00a0\u00a0The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.<\/p>\n

1 Timothy 6:5<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.<\/p>\n

2 Peter 2:3<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And in their greed they will exploit you with false words<\/p>\n

2 Peter 2:14-15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!\u00a0\u00a0Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jews came to the Temple from all over Israel, indeed from all over the known world. Most of the time, they couldn’t bring animals with them to sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Passover was the time that people paid the annual temple tax (Matthew 17:24-27; Exodus 30:13, 26). In Jesus’ day, many kinds of coinage were circulating. The \u00a0Romans, of course, had their own coins, but so did many kings and city-states across the empire. The various Herodian kings issued coins, as did the Phoenicians, Aegeans, Corinthians, and Persians. If these were voluntary offerings, perhaps, coins from these various countries and kingdoms might have been accepted. But this was a tax, not an offering. So, probably because of its exact weight and good alloy, Tyrian coinage (from Tyre) is specified in the Mishnah as the only coinage acceptable for the temple tax. Of course, there was a fee to exchange one’s coins for the Tyrian coins. The chief priest controlled the entire enterprise of money-changing and sale of sacrificial animals — and got his percentage of the gross. The sacrificial animals and money-changing tables were located in the Court of the Gentiles within the temple grounds. So the place designated for believing Gentiles to pray and worship was cluttered with the clink of coins, the braying of animals, and the sounds of commerce — hardly a place of peace wherein to seek the Lord. Jesus was offended, not that pilgrims needed to purchase sacrificial animals — cattle, sheep, goats, doves\/pigeons, etc. — but that God’s house had become perverted from its main function as a house of prayer, and turned into something resembling a market, at which everyone brought their products, set up stalls, and crowds came to do their shopping.<\/p>\n

Psalm 69: “I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons; for\u00a0zeal for your house consumes me<\/b>, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”<\/p>\n

I recently asked my Pastor about something that had been on my mind for a while and I could not wrap it up to understand it.\u00a0 <\/span>I love to listen to godly expositional preaching on the radio when I am driving.\u00a0 <\/span>There are some who seem to bring the Word of God alive.\u00a0 <\/span>The problem I had was at the end of their message there were 3-5 minutes of requesting money, need for money, and promise of blessing for sending in money.\u00a0 <\/span>To add to this problem I routinely would visit their web sites and read their sermon.\u00a0 <\/span>During visits to their web-site, I would be required to give my email address.\u00a0 <\/span>During my visit to their web site, there were pop-up ads for donations.\u00a0 <\/span>After they had my email address I would at least once or more per day get offers of deeper meaning to enhance my walk, through books, tapes, pod-casts., and other teachings for either a minimum donation or a flat fee.\u00a0 <\/span>This was the problem for me, there were more promotions and marketing for selling and making money than there was for proclaiming God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 <\/span>The second concern I had was for what I was hearing on certain Christian radio stations.\u00a0 <\/span>They were offering a chance to win something.\u00a0 <\/span>If you call in and donate today we will enter you into a \u201cchance to win\u201d this once in a life time experience.\u00a0 <\/span>They all seem to be exchanging the humble sacrificial giving of a servant of Jesus Christ for a personal book that will bring you closer to God or a game of chance.\u00a0 <\/span>In either case, they are robbing that person of giving the honor and glory to Jesus alone.\u00a0 <\/span>I have no problem with being made aware of a need for a ministry.\u00a0 <\/span>It is when a ministry converts to using worldly marketing and cultural enticements to obtain donations or sell merchandise that I think it is wrong.\u00a0 <\/span>My Pastor said this \u201cGod\u2019s will, God\u2019s bill\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>God will provide, empower, and supply for those who do and follow His will.\u00a0 <\/span>When we go about commercializing His Word\u00a0 <\/span>He is not being honored or glorified or worshiped.\u00a0 <\/span>God\u2019s Word is given to us by our loving heavenly Father and its application in our lives is through the Holy Spirit\u2019s leading, and the blessings that come from and through His Word are rewards directly from and through Jesus Christ. God\u2019s Word and its application into our lives is not something that can be bought and sold.<\/p>\n

Some scripture is difficult for me to understand and I go searching for help.\u00a0 <\/span>I came across \u201cThe Enduring Word\u201d website by David Guzik and his commentaries on the bible.\u00a0 <\/span>I have used it often and especially when studying the Old Testament.\u00a0 <\/span>I notice early this week that other than personal use permission must be given.\u00a0 <\/span>I had been using this commentary for over a year.\u00a0 <\/span>I sent David an email confessing my use and how I used it.\u00a0 <\/span>This was his response \u201cPlease, don\u2019t worry at all about citing or using my online commentary in the preparation of your devotional writings. I make my material freely available; my main concern is that they would not be sold in some form without my permission. I\u2019m happy to hear the online resources have been of some use to you.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To me, this is a humble heart wanting to honor and glorify and proclaim Jesus Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>We do well to seek God\u2019s discernment in applying His Word without contaminating the honor and glory Jesus Christ deserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 2:13\u00a0 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And … Continue reading “14.v. “They have hearts trained in greed. \u00a0Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray.””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[378,10953,14301,14299,3161,4750,2621,223,14297,14304,8301,14307,14308,3845,14302,6202,165,5111,14303,14296,9265,1261,9267,5350,5389,14295,14300,120,4446,14298,14306,14305,3820,8533,6492,5691,5048],"class_list":["post-98994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-blind","tag-called-by-my-name","tag-constant-friction","tag-consume-me","tag-declares","tag-den-of-robbers","tag-devour","tag-disciples","tag-drove","tag-exploit-you-with-false-words","tag-fathers-house","tag-forsaking-the-right-way","tag-gone-astray","tag-greed","tag-greeed","tag-jerusalem","tag-jesus","tag-jews","tag-means-of-gain","tag-money-changers","tag-never-have-enough","tag-no-understanding","tag-own-gain","tag-own-way","tag-passover","tag-selling","tag-silent-dogs","tag-sin","tag-temple","tag-trade","tag-trained-in-greed","tag-unsteady-souls","tag-watchmen","tag-whip","tag-without-knowledge","tag-wrongdoing","tag-zeal"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98994"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99078,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98994\/revisions\/99078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}