Category Archives: Sermons Preached

Sermons I Have Preached at Riverview Baptist

We Keep His Commandments

Posted on February 19, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

1 John 2:3-6 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Opening: Yet another Church falls from the light of God. Last week the Church of England (Anglicans) decided it would bless “civil marriages and partnerships of same sex couples”. As with many other mainline denominations, compromise with the error of our age will not bless but divide the Church. The Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America noted:

“the Church of England is moving a step at a time to fully accept the practice of homosexuality as part of the life and practice of the English Church. … We have lived through this with other Western Anglican Provinces that continually wavered on the ‘faith once delivered’ (Jude 3) and now outright deny the doctrine of biblical anthropology regarding gender identity and moral behavior. Those in the secular press and culture will argue that these are matters of justice, but God’s justice can never contradict God’s righteousness, and we know these changes attack the very core of biblical authority. Have the Scriptures been clear on human sexuality through the centuries? Yes, they have. The majority of Anglicans around the world have concluded the same. And yet, now, the Church of England has authorized the blessing of sin and declared that sin is no longer sin.”

When sin is normalized, no one wins. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 John, Sermons Preached | Tagged be the Light, do good, fake salvation, Following Christ, Kingdom of God, obedience, salvation, true faith | Leave a comment

What Are You Looking For?

Posted on February 17, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Bible talks a lot about the glory of God. John saw the glory of God. The glory of God is the love of God. God loves us so much, that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. God became Man – Perfect Man – so He could save us from our sins.

Kids Illustration: You might wonder what “sin” is. Sin is something that our God says NOT to do. Sin is an act that shows you don’t love God and don’t love others. Blow up a red balloon & draw a smiley face on it. Jesus came to this earth to teach us that sin is bad, and that God doesn’t want us to sin because it is bad. Sin hurts us. It pushes us away from God. Sin hurts our families. Pull a pin from the Cross, & pop a balloon. Sin is like this pin. It’s never good. But Jesus came to show us what God thinks about sin, and about us.

When Did We First See “The Word Become Flesh?”

When John the Baptist – the Herald of Jesus (we studied him last week) first announced Jesus to the world, what did he say and where did he say it? Read with me:… Continue reading →

Posted in John, Sermons Preached | Tagged Following Jesus, genuine faith, going to heaven, salvation, true salvation | Leave a comment

From Gilgal To Bochim

Posted on February 13, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

An “angel of the Lord” came to Israel with a message direct from God. The Angel spoke from God just as our Bible speaks from God. What caused the Angel to come? Because Israel had gone “from Gilgal to Bochim”. You read this as a Gentile and think, “so what?”. You have to look at the places, and see what happened in the contexts. The Angel came “from Gilgal”. The Bible tells us that ..

Gilgal (also called Bethel) is the place where the second generation of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land.

It was at Gilgal that God had Israel cross into the Promised Land. The Priests were to go first, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, a holy box that contained manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Ten Commandments on stone (Hebrews 9:4). As the Priests stepped into the Jordan, the Bible says:

Joshua 3:13 … when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.

God replicated what He did at the Red Sea with the first generation of Israel. While Moses (a Priest) held his rod over the water, the Red Sea parted and the people went through on dry land. As the second generation of Israel crossed the swollen Jordan River, the Priests step in carrying the Ark of the Covenant. As they step in the water, the water retreats, and stands up on both sides like it did with Moses 40 years before. Israel obeyed God, and started rolling forward.

Gilgal (the transliterated Hebrew word Gilgāl) means:
“a ROLLING WHEEL”.

Israel was on the move. Following God, they would be a juggernaut that nothing could stop! To help Israel remember this time, Joshua had every tribe pick set up a memorial stone at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19-20). When you follow God, you can do the impossible. The Scripture says:… Continue reading →

Posted in Judges, Sermons Preached | Tagged Faith, Following Christ, God Is Faithful, Israel, love God, obedience | Leave a comment

IF You Sin

Posted on February 12, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The Devil Is A Deceiver

It wasn’t very long from the time that Jesus raised up from the grave that the devil began his attacks against the Church. Satan started with lying and open persecution, the exact same thing that he did with Jesus. Satan encouraged the religious establishment – the Chief Priests of Israel – to band together on a lie. The guard that was at the Tomb of Jesus …

Matthew 28:11-15 (ESV) … went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Based on this lie, the Priests of Judaism began to present Christianity as a harmful and treasonous cult. When the Apostles went out preaching the Gospel, “{the Pharisees} beat them and {commanded} them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go” (Acts 5:40, ESV). The Leader of the Church in Jerusalem, the Apostle James, was killed by Herod the King (Acts 12:2). The Evangelist and Deacon Stephen was stoned to death with rocks, a brutal death! (Acts 7:59, 8:2). A Pharisee called Saul of Tarsus was hired to systemically seek out and kill Christians (Acts 9:1). This continued throughout much of the early Church years.

The problem with martyring a person is that it has a boomerang effect. When you kill someone for their faith, you can make them a hero. The last know gladiator fight was on January 1, 404 AD. A Christian simply called Telemachus (from Asia, the area of modern day Turkey) felt led of the Lord to visit the Coliseum in Rome…. Continue reading →

Posted in 1 John, Sermons Preached | Tagged born again, Following Christ, God Is Faithful, Jesus Christ, Jesus is Lord, love God, overcoming sin, salvation, sin not my master | Leave a comment

The King of Kings Becomes The Son Of Man

Posted on February 9, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

No one made God, but God made everyone. That’s why He’s God.

The Book of Psalms (90:2 – TLB) “Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, you are God without beginning or end.”

People make up or imagine gods that is not the God of our Bible. King David said,

Psalm 121:2 (TLB) “Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too!”

God became a perfect Human in Jesus because He wanted to do this to save us. But God is not made, but He is the Maker. We are told in:

Hebrews 3:4 … many people can build houses, but only God made everything.

God made us to share some of His qualities – this is why the Bible says that “we are made in God’s image and after His likeness” (Genesis 1:26). We share some of God’s characteristics. God builds, and we build. God makes things, and we make things. But God never gets tired, nor hungry, and God never needs anything. If we don’t drink food and water we will perish – but God never gets thirsty. God is always satisfied. He never wants anything like clothing or cars. We live inside of time. We base everything we do on a clock and a calendar. I am 64 years old, which means I have lived 23,360 days or 560,640 hours. If I live until I’m 80, I will have lived 42,048,000 minutes. I will also be very tired and old! But God does not have a clock or a calendar. God created time, as time is a product of our sun. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 40:28 Don’t you yet understand? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of his understanding.

God does not need us – but we need God. God is independent of the world, but we are very dependent on Him. Sadly the Bible says that when God chose to become Perfect Man and walked among us:… Continue reading →

Posted in John, Sermons Preached | Tagged Baptism, Christ, creation, following God, Messiah, salvation, water Baptism, who made God? | Leave a comment

Lord, Give Me A Blessing

Posted on February 7, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

I thought we’d start our new study in the Book of Judges. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, JUDGES. Most people look at the Old Testament as old news and unimportant to our faith. That’s not true. The Bible tells us that:

2 Timothy 3:16 ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable …

God gave us the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. There are some cults that ignore the Old Testament – but that’s what makes them cults. God gave us the WHOLE Bible. He gave us the Old Testament to show us that God is always faithful to His promises, and always does what He says. God also gave us the Old Testament to show us examples that we are to follow – and examples we are to avoid. We are told by the Apostle Paul, who was a highly regarded Rabbi before finding Christ as Savior:

1 Corinthians 10:6-11 (ESV) Now these things {recorded in the Old Testament} took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction

Why study the Book of Judges? Judges is very applicable to America today. When our nation followed some semblance of God’s Laws (the Ten Commandments), we prospered and were blessed to become one of the most powerful nations in the world. But when we wandered from God (and we have REALLY WANDERED), it was long before that nation started to cripple itself…. Continue reading →

Posted in Judges, Sermons Preached | Tagged blessing, blessings, Faith, God Is Faithful, love God, obeying God, prayer, the saved obey God | Leave a comment

You DON’T Do You

Posted on February 5, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

The Apostle John wrote more of the New Testament – by word count – than any other Apostle. Last Wednesday we started looking at the Gospel of John (chapter 1 verses 1-14) where John spoke of the Incarnation of Jesus. The word “Incarnation” means to “come from a higher state where you are God into a lower state where you are perfect Man”. Only Jesus is in this unique state. We found out in

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is “the WORD that was WITH GOD, and the WORD Who WAS God”. Jesus Christ was with the Godhead from the beginning. We saw that Jesus Christ is also CREATOR God. “All things were made by him”. John said this in two different ways so that we can understand that Jesus is not just ASSOCIATE Creator, He is THE Creator of all things.

This Creator, this God Who made all things in six days, Who made all things “very good”, this God came to earth. He interjected Himself into the Creation proper. Why would God the Son become incarnate, lower Himself to be part of His creation?… Continue reading →

Posted in 1 John, Sermons Preached | Tagged Following Christ, God Is Faithful, gospel, love, love God, salvation | Leave a comment

Why Follow Jesus?

Posted on February 3, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

When we come to John chapter 1, the Apostle John wants to tell us why its so important to follow Jesus. As an “Apostle” John walked with Jesus. This is what the Apostles did. Apostles were hand chosen by Jesus to walk with Him as He walked on this earth. The Bible says:

Ephesians 2:20 (TLB) What a FOUNDATION you stand on now: the APOSTLES and the Prophets; and the cornerstone of the building is Jesus Christ Himself!

Christians love the Bible, and trust the Bible because it was written by APOSTLES like John who walked with Jesus, touched Jesus, and listened to Jesus teach. John was not only called “The Apostle John”, but he had other names he was called. … Continue reading →

Posted in John, Sermons Preached | Tagged Christ, Following Christ, God Is Faithful, gospel, Jesus Christ, love, prayer, salvation | Leave a comment

Blessed And Prosperous

Posted on January 31, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

The “wicked” find their blessings in the things of this world. This is the Hebrew rāšāʿ {pronounced raw-shaw’} which means “the ungodly, the one guilty of sin, the morally wrong (as judged by God)”. Righteous Abraham called the Sodomites “rāšāʿ” (Genesis 18:23). Those who disrespect life and murder others are “rāšāʿ” (Numbers 35:31). We are told in:

Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked {rāšāʿ} shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

To be “wicked” is not to be just immoral, but to approach
life without God in view!

We are told in Solomon’s writings:

Proverbs 21:4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked {rāšāʿ}, is sin.

When I think of WICKEDNESS, or UNGODLINESS, I do not think about tilling your garden. But God says that very act of tilling the garden for the godless is sinful. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 10:4 the wicked {rāšāʿ}, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

To violate the Ten Commandments is wicked. But to live your life without a thought to God is also wicked. Our Lord Jesus spoke the parable of the wealthy farmer in:… Continue reading →

Posted in Psalms, Sermons Preached | Tagged Christ, Faith, Following Christ, love God, prayer, salvation | Leave a comment

Following Christ

Posted on January 31, 2023 by bibleteacherorg

Will you follow Jesus when the world hates you?
Will you stand with Jesus, and declare the Scripture true?
When they call you”homophobic” or “demon possessed”, will you walk with Him?
Or will you sleep soundly in Gethsemane?
Or hide in the crowd while He’s being nailed to the Cross?

Jesus gave up EVERYTHING in order to save us and to bring us to God.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: … 17 … if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Before you can be saved, you must be lost. If you come to Jesus lost… Continue reading →