October 16 The Apocrypha is Not Scripture

Although the Roman Catholic Church still accepts the much of the Apocrypha in their version of the Bible, Protestants have rejected those books as Scripture for centuries. The main reasons are that Jesus never quoted from any of them, the Jews have never accepted them as Scripture, and they contain historical errors and inconsistencies with the rest of Scripture.

The Apocrypha should be placed in a category of sort of like religious writings today. The writings of today contain historical information about our contemporary culture, thoughts about current religiosity, and other moralisms, all of which might contain error - and depending on the writer, more error than other writings. No conservative theologian would think of putting today's writings alongside Scripture - although some people use today's books or some writers as "gospel" and set the Bible to the side.

Having said all this, the Apocrypha do provide some interesting reading to understand Jewish thinking (realizing some is incorrect) during the time between the Old and New Testaments. Some history is also provided. So, as long as one knows the Apocrypha is not Scripture, its reading might have benefit.

October 15 End of the Old Testament

We must remember that God's revelation of Himself to mankind was progressive - as time went on, man was given more that the successive generation. So, when we teach the Old testament, we must remember what the original readers had in terms of previous revelation. Abraham, Moses, and the prophets did not have the entire Bible - they didn't even all have the amount of the Bible.

Salvation has always been by having faith, but the required content of that faith has changed over time. Adam and Eve needed to have faith in a future unnamed descendant of Eve that would crush the head of Satan, whereas we have to believe in Jesus Christ (who we know a lot about) for died for the forgiveness of our sins.

The new Testament really helps us better understand the Old Testament, so please remember that those living in OT times, did not have the NT. Therefore, their understanding was less complete than ours.

October 14 I Chronicles 4-9 Old Testament Ends

After nearly nine and a half months of daily readings, we have completed the Old Testament. Congratulations. I think that most people never read the OT in its entirety.

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He was not an angry god of wrath in the OT and now a loving God of grace. The OT is filled with His mercy and grace, exhibited by His faithfulness to His unfaithful people Israel.

In the OT, God presented Himself through different genres of literature - narrative, poetry, proverbs, etc.

October 13 I Chronicles 1-3 The Lists

The lists of the Bible serve sacred purposes which are not always evident to us thousands of years later. The Prayer of Jabez, a popular book about 10 years ago arose from one of the historical footnotes in this particular list. I don't have a particular item of devotion today. So, I'll proceed to daily prayer.

October 12 Nehemiah 12-13 The Word is Powerful

Too many times preachers focus on topical sermons - taking a Christian topic and teaching on it, sprinkling the sermon with varying amounts of Scripture to support the teaching. Although topical preaching is required from time to time, I believe that the power to change lives lies with God's Word, not the preacher's eloquence or content.

The focal point of preaching should be the word of God. It is God's word that ultimately changes lives. In Nehemiah 13:1-3, the people were exposed to God's word and became committed. While I wish this were always the case, many times it is.

Find a church that is committed to expository preaching - take a passage of Scripture and teach from that. Choose a church who bases their teaching on God's word, not the preacher's eloquence. The preacher must always be good at his craft, but should recede into the background behind the Word of God.

October 11 Nehemiah 8-10 Repentance and Recommitment

Today, we read about a great day of repentance (sorrow for sins and a wont to not sin anymore). We also get a great summary of the history of Israel - God's great faithfulness and patience and the Israelites great unfaithfulness. So after exile, living under a foreign government in near slavery, and after the hearing of God's word, the people are cut to the heart, understand their situation clearly, and repent.

Today is a great day to reflect on our own life - to see God's faithfulness and to consider how faithful we were in response. Do we need to confess? Do we need to repent? Do we need a re-commitment?

October 10 Nehemiah 7; 11:20-36; 12:1-26 The Lists

Let's be honest - the lists of the Bible serve a holy purpose(s) - but don't always make for edifying reading. Nonetheless, I always find pearls embedded in the lists that cause me to think and reflect.

Nehemiah 7:2 talks about Hananiah and describes him as "a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do." Wouldn't it be nice to just be mentioned in the Bible like this - written about for centuries so that you or I could be known for our integrity and our holy honoring God by fearing Him more than other people.

Well, we don't have the opportunity to be known this way before countless generations. However, those around us can know us this way. Wouldn't it be nice to have person after person come up to the podium at our funeral attesting to our integrity and fear of God.

More importantly, we can be known for these qualities before God - and being recognized for these qualities before God is eternally and infinitely more important.

So, let's do it! Let's live our lives in the fear of God - easy to do if we constantly stop to think about God - if we take the time to get to know Him - if we read His word. If we truly fear God, we will be men and women of integrity - we will be moved by the Holy Spirit to do so.