Category Archives: Sermons Preached

Sermons I Have Preached at Riverview Baptist

The State Of The Saint

Posted on October 13, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith He loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

God shows His love for us, His mercy, His great Kindness by offering us a way out of spiritual death. That Way is Christ, faith in the Lord Jesus! God raises us from a state of spiritual death when we receive Jesus as the Christ, our Lord and Savior. I heard a preacher make this statement:

“There is no place in the New Testament where God says we are to REPENT OF OUR SINS.”

That’s a profound statement – and it is true. God calls us to repent. But it doesn’t mean to be sorry for our sins. The word “REPENT” is the Greek metanoeō, which means “to change the mind”. Here’s the thing. IF we are DEAD IN SINS, blinded to our sin, and are born into this world DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS, then how are we to REPENT and feel sorry for our sins? Repent means to LOOK GODWARD, and give your life to Him. It means to look upward and say,

“Lord, I’m broken. My way of life isn’t working. I give myself to You. I will follow You. I am no longer my own god. You and You alone are my God! I love You, Jesus!”

Word Study: God opens our eyes at the point of salvation, and gives us a choice to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Lord. If we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, God responds to this and “quickens us together with Christ”. The word translated “QUICKENS” is the Greek syzōopoieō which means “to make ALIVE TOGETHER WITH”. This word is found twice in the Scripture. Here, and in:

Colossians 2:13 (KJV) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together [syzōopoieō] with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;… Continue reading →

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Running Well

Posted on October 13, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

The children of Israel were mocked by the line of Ishmael, the Arabs, from the time that Isaac was born. The Bible tells us that Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, mocked Isaac while a baby (Genesis 21:9-10). God promised that He would bring Israel – the nation by whom He would send the Messiah to the world – 430 years before the Exodus. The promise was made to Abraham, to Sarah, and through Isaac.
God keeps His promises.

The clock started ticking with the birth of Isaac. The nation of Israel would not actually be fully built until Jacob’s twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. God led Joseph to Egypt, and Israel grew in Egypt from twelve families to twelve tribes. The children of Ishmael persecuted the children of Jacob. Israel suffered as a nation of slaves to Egypt. The Bible says that they suffered until Israel cried out to God:

Exodus 2:23-24 (ESV) … the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God raised up Moses, and did mighty miracles among the Egyptians saying “Let My people go!” But Pharaoh would not let them go, and beat them harder with the whip. Then Moses told them what God said do. … Continue reading →

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Living As Christ Followers

Posted on October 5, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Nearly every translation I looked at of this Bible verse supplies the phrase:

A GOOD name, or
A GOOD reputation

However, the word “GOOD” is not actually in the original language of the Scripture. The King James shows this by italicizing the word“good”. Solomon wrote in another place:

Ecclesiastes 7:1 (KJV) A GOOD NAME {ṭôḇ šēm} [is] better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

It is important that a person have a “GOOD NAME”, or a good reputation among people. It is possible this is what the text means. However, I believe that the Lord left the word good out of the text here for a reason. The next verse reads:

Proverbs 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

God is the Maker of both poor and rich, both famous and obscure. God is the Maker of everyone. I think what verse 1 is declaring – and I’ll put it in the form of a question – “Since God makes EVERYONE, does GOD KNOW YOUR NAME?”

Yes, it’s a great thing to have a good reputation among people. But does God know WHO YOU ARE? He made you. Does He know you? Continue reading →

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Your Life Is A Stewardship From God

Posted on October 1, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Several years ago there was an advertisement that ran in the Atlanta Journal. The ad read:

“SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship. Ethnicity not important. I’m a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. When you get home from work, I’ll be at the front door wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 555-1212 and ask for Daisy.”

1500 men called the number, but didn’t find what they expected. The number was for the Atlanta Humane Society. Daisy was an 8 week old black Labrador Retriever.

The life we live, that we currently have, is a stewardship from God. God gifted us life at birth. “The LORD brings death and GIVES LIFE” (1 Samuel 2:6). “God is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:25). What we have, what God has given us, is a stewardship. It does not belong to us. I often hear the phrase,

“My body, my choice”… Continue reading →

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There Is Death In The Pot

Posted on October 1, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

2 Kings 4:38-40 (KJV) And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and {boil stew} for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of {Stew}: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.

The Bible tells us that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, ESV). So many people look at the Old Testament and compare it to the human appendix – a useless organ that can become infected and we would best be without. But the Old Testament was “written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come”. Our Lord Jesus preached extensively from the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus told those who would listen:

John 5:39-40 (ESV) You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, 40 yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.

John the Baptist was the human Herald of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus, when He became flesh. But the Old Testament is the written Herald of Jesus, the Preincarnate Word of God!

God was reaching out to people through the Lord Jesus Christ, calling people to receive Him and love Him, even in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ was in… Continue reading →

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Living As Disciples Of Christ

Posted on October 1, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Ephesians 1:15-17 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him

Opening: It literally brought tears to my eyes. On Sunday September 21 there was a memorial service for our brother in Christ Charlie Kirk at the State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona. Charlie’s widow Erika Kirk walked out on stage. There were over 200,000 people in attendance. When she got to the podium (which was surrounded by bullet proof glass) Erika could have said anything – it was unscripted. She could have called for conservatives to rise up and strike back at the liberals which have for so long called Bible believers “Facists, homophobes, Islamophobes, misogynists” and so on. Now the CEO of Turning Point, she could have said things that could have brought about riots in the streets of America.
She didn’t.

Her first words were “God bless all of you”. God. Not a curse word. Not hate. Love. She quoted Isaiah 6:8, saying it was Charlie’s favorite verse … Continue reading →

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Stand Fast

Posted on October 1, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

I prayed and sought God’s Spirit to tell me how to explain this section of scripture. I thought about the phrase “STAND FAST”, the Greek stēkō which means to “set your feet on solid ground, to resolutely stand and refuse to move from your assigned place”. Stēkō is a military term, a manly term. Jesus tied Stēkō to prayer. He said:

Mark 11:25-26 (KJV) And when ye STAND {Stēkō} praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

You cannot STAND FAST if you are in disarray. God’s Church is His people, His army. We stand TOGETHER in Him, in His Word. We do what our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, tells us. We follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says:

Romans 14:4 (KJV) Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own Master he STANDETH {Stēkō} or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

The Church STANDS FAST not in it’s opinion, but IN THE LORD. The Apostle tells us:

Philippians 4:1 (KJV) … STAND FAST {Stēkō} in the Lord, [my] dearly beloved.

1 Thessalonians 3:8 (KJV) … STAND FAST {Stēkō} in the Lord.

The Christian loves the Word of God, and is led by the Spirit of God. We walk together with other like minded believers, STANDING FAST for Jesus!… Continue reading →

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Children Of The Promise

Posted on September 15, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Galatians 3:24-26 … bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Before we were saved, we served as slaves false gods. The reason Galatians was written was to warn the Church to not follow the pathway of Israel. They created idols – like golden calves – and then worshiped these things. There are a number of golden calves in the Church today. God tells us:

1 John 4:1 (KJV) Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

We test what we have heard by the Word of God. Before we were saved by faith in Christ, born again, we …

Ephesians 2:2-3 (ESV) … walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

We followed the crowd and the darkness. We were slaves to sin and darkness. The devil wants the Church to be like the world. He creeps into the Church as he crept into the Garden of Eden, and brings a pseudo-truth, a twisted version of what God’s Word has actually said. Have you ever heard … Continue reading →

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In Whom

Posted on September 14, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Four times in this chapter the Apostle uses the phrase “In Whom” (en hos), or “in this Specific Person”. In Jesus Christ and in no other we have “REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD”. This is the first thing mentioned because – though all parts of salvation are important – redemption is key.

The word translated “REDEMPTION” is the Greek apolytrōsis. The word means “to pay a ransom or a fee to liberate a slave or to free a kidnapped victim”. The Blood of Jesus Christ is the purchase price that REDEEMS or BUYS BACK a person from enslavement. You ask the question, “What do you mean by enslavement?” The Scripture explains. When our forefather Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, Adam was the Federal Representative of all mankind. What he did, or did not do, reflected on us all. The Bible says that when Adam heeded his wife and the serpent rather than God, that, Continue reading →

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Two Kingdoms

Posted on September 11, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Though a person is not saved by their works before God:

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (Psalm 3:8). We are all broken at physical birth. We are all sinners. But once God saves a person, He works in the heart of that person. The person who repents and comes to Jesus by faith in Him is “made alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). God Himself “gives you a new heart, and a new Spirit He puts in you. He removes the old heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

The lost person has a different heart, because he has not surrendered that heart to God. The Bible calls this person the “natural man”. Paul contrasted the “natural man” with the “spiritual man” in his letter to the Corinthians. He said:

1 Corinthians 2:11-16 (NKJV) For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is [rightly] judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The “ natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God”. The phrase “NATURAL MAN” is the Greek psychikos (pro. psoo-khee-kos’) which means “the man driven by senses, the fleshly person”. This is the person that Solomon is addressing in the first part of this proverb:… Continue reading →

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