This secular attitude of loving money, power and fame is so
unlike that of Moses, of whom we are told in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, that he was willing to forsake it all in order
to serve the Eternal God, as we see here:

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he
had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he
endured, as seeing him who is invisible."
Hebrews 11:24-27, KJV

Moses could have remained in Egypt and continued living the
royal life. Perhaps Elijah could have earned his millions by
stopping the rain for the enemies of Israel. Jesus could no
doubt have been a billionaire in His day, had He charged for
His healing services and other miracles. Perhaps the Apostle
Paul could have continued to enjoy life as a self-righteous,
law-abiding, affluent Pharisee, instead of becoming number
one on the Jews' "Most Wanted" list. But that is not what
any of these men did, because they all had their eyes on
something far greater which transcends this temporal human
existence. As Paul so eloquently stated in his Epistle to
the brethren at Philippi:

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
Philippians 3:8, KJV

As legendary folk singer Bob Dylan proclaimed more than two
decades ago in one of his powerful Christian-oriented songs,
"Now it may be the Devil, and it may be the Lord, but you
gotta serve somebody!" As was to be expected, Dylan suffered
some degree of persecution after writing such a hard-hitting
song which was so contrary to his Jewish roots. Sadly, it
seems that Bob Dylan was like the seed that was sown on the
stony ground in the Lord's Parable of the Sower, found in
Matthew 13:3-23; and after putting out a few Christian CD's,
he returned to his earlier musical roots. As Jesus stated in
that Parable:

"Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness
of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and
because they had no root, they withered away . . . But he
that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet
hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for
when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,
by and by he is offended."
Matthew 13:5, 6, 20, 21, KJV

But to reiterate an important point that I made earlier, when
a person preaches the Word of God, such as through a public
street ministry, singing, passing out tracts, sharing God's
Word online, etc., they are fulfilling the actual meaning of
the Biblical word "publish", because they are freely sharing
the truth of the Scriptures with anyone who is willing to
receive it, and not with just a select few who can afford to
pay for it. As I explain in a number of my articles, Jesus
has already paid the full price for our Salvation by way of
His Sacrifice on the Cross; and now we must return the favor
by glorifying Him, by allowing Him to use both our bodies and
spirits as His vessels to share the Gospel of Salvation with
the world. As the Apostle Paul tells us in several of his
Epistles, as well as in the Book of Acts:

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1 Corinthians 6:20, KJV

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine."
2 Timothy 4:2, KJV

"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from
house to house,"
Acts 20:20, KJV

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation."
Romans 10:9-10, KJV

As far as I am concerned, when the Lord reveals something to
one of His servants, it is that person's responsibility to
freely share it with as many people as he can without giving
any thought to what he might gain in return. Isn't that what
the Bible teaches us? The Apostles of the First Century had
some very clear things to say regarding those who preached
the Gospel for personal gain -- or "filthy lucre" -- as we
see by the following verses:

"Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;
but patient, not a brawler, not covetous . . . Likewise
must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to
much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;"
1 Timothy 3:3, 8, KJV

"For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not
selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker,
not given to filthy lucre . . . Whose mouths must be
stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which
they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake."
Titus 1:7, 11, KJV

"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;"
1 Peter 5:2, KJV

As some of my long-time readers know, over the years, I have
devoted a lot of time and energy to this writing ministry. I
have likewise invested quite a large sum of money in it as
well. However, I really don't care if I never earn any money
from it, because I am not trying to. I am not motivated by
personal financial gain -- or filthy lucre -- and profit. My
primary interest is simply to share what I believe may be the
truth concerning the Scriptures. My primary task is to remain
faithful to the Lord's command found in Mark 16:15. As I have
said before, I believe that we each possess different pieces
of the puzzle. No one possesses the entire puzzle or knows it
all; not me, not you, not any of us. If anyone believes they
do, then they are just deceiving themselves, and are lifted
up in their own pride and vanity, and are seriously lacking
in Christian humility. As the Apostle Paul also tells us,
knowledge can puff us up, or make us proud, and that can be
dangerous:

"Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we
all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
edifieth."
1 Corinthians 8:1, KJV

The Book of Proverbs also offers us a stiff warning regarding
those who become puffed up in their own pride, as we see by
this verse:

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18, KJV

So again, regardless of how much the Lord may reveal to us
in His Word, we all need to maintain a level of humility in
our preaching. This is not always easy. After all, we're all
just humans who are born with a sinful nature, and that old
pride just loves to pop up whenever it can, just like one of
those stubborn jack-in-the-boxes. As the Apostle James said:

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall
lift you up."
James 4:10, KJV

Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, I've visited certain websites
where the author will boastfully exclaim, "Oh, I've got the
truth! I've received a special, unique revelation from God!
Everyone else is wrong except me! I guarantee that you will
not find this kind of information on any other website! I'm
unique! I am the one and only! I am God's Prophet!"

That is nonsense! In addition to the many self-proclaimed
"prophets" who have established themselves on the Internet,
some of those Christian mega-sites are affiliated with some
affluent church or religious organization which has piles of
money to throw around, and they are simply promoting their
particular doctrines. The point is, if they claim, "Everyone
else is wrong and we are right", you better be careful; and
please don't send them your hard-earned money. It is only in
coming together and sharing what we have that we can all get
a clearer understanding of God's whole picture. While we may
not always see eye to eye on every single point -- because
we're all different and our backgrounds and life experiences
will affect how we understand the Scriptures -- at least we
are talking, and discussing, and making our ideas available
for each other's consideration, instead of merely hoarding
what we have learned, or worse yet, selling it for a profit.

Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.


Written by the WordWeaver

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