Category Archives: Philippians

Winning Christ

Posted on December 17, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Philippians 3:1-3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Rejoicing In The Lord, Our Safe Place

Word Study: When Paul begins this section with the word “FINALLY” (Gk. Loipon), it makes us think that this will be the last chapter of this book. It’s not. The word loipon means “now, furthermore, or from this point onward”. Paul has spent the last two chapters telling us the glorious riches we who are Christians have received from Jesus Christ. What do we who are Christians have?

1. We are all “saints of God”, set apart in God the Father’s eyes because of our faith in Jesus (Philippians 1:1).

2. We did not earn this sainthood. We have “grace and peace with God” as a free gift from our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:2)…. Continue reading →

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The Mind Of Christ

Posted on December 3, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Philippians 2:1-5 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

What Is The Church?

I remember when I was pastoring in North Carolina, an older woman was talking about a previous Pastor their church had. She told me, “The Pastor really loved Jesus, but he didn’t love us”. That made no sense to me at the time. How is it possible for a Pastor to love Jesus, but not love the Church? If you love the Lord, you will love the Church. What became evident to me as I pastored this flock that the people of that Church defined “love” as the world defines “love”, a selfish, self serving thing. Many of the “members” there wanted to do whatever they wanted to do, regardless of what the Bible said. Many wanted the Pastor to endorse their desires and man made traditions as if they were Scriptural. That is something Aaron would do. You remember Aaron, the High Priest of Israel? We read about it in Exodus 32.

The people whom God saved out of Egypt came to Aaron and demanded, “Arise, make us ĕlōhîm Who will lead us”. Aaron made them an idol representing the triune god. Aaron did not love the people. He should have pointed them to Christ.

Ĕlōhîm, by the way, is the Triune Name of God, the first use of the word “God” in our Bible. The very first verse of the Scripture says: Continue reading →

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With Fear And Trembling

Posted on December 3, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Philippians 2:12-13 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Why Is This Happening To Me?

One of the most common questions I am asked as a Pastor/ Overseer is “Why is this happening to me?”. The “this” that people are usually referring to is some trial of life. Everyone is tried. Everyone goes through mountains and valleys. The valleys can be quite dark at times. The valley could be disease, loss of income, personal conflict, persecution, the death of a loved one, persistent pain or one’s own impending death. It is not sinful to question why a trial is occurring. As long as we do not “curse God and die” (Job 2:9) as Job’s silly unbelieving wife suggested, questioning the trial is not sinful. The Prophet said:

Joel 3:14 (KJV) Multitudes, multitudes in the VALLEY OF DECISION: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision.

God allows trials into our lives to bring us into the “VALLEY OF DECISION”, to cause us to examine our lives in the light of eternity. The big question in all of eternity is, … Continue reading →

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To Live Is Christ

Posted on November 19, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is CHRIST, and to die is GAIN.

I’d like to take our scripture today, and take out two words: “CHRIST” and the word “GAIN”. The text would read this way:

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is __________, and to die is _____________.

What you put in that first blank will determine what goes in the second blank.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:1, “A good name is BETTER than PRECIOUS OINTMENT; and the day of DEATH than the day of ONE’S BIRTH”.

To have a good name – a good reputation – is better according to God than the most expensive perfumes. I am told that the most expensive perfume in the world – Clive Christian No. 1 Imperial Majesty – is around $12,721.89 per ounce. But a good reputation is better than that. How many people name their children Judas or Adolf? The Bible goes on to say that the day you die is better than the day you were born. Why would it say that?

Beloved, that’s not true for everyone. Going back to our fill in the blanks Scripture, most people – even professing Christians – put the wrong word in that first blank. Most people fill in the blanks like:

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is _for myself_, and to die is _____________.

If you are living for yourself, when you die then it is certainly not gain, but loss. When you die, then it is the ultimate loss of self. When you die, if you have lived your life for YOU, then you will go to a horrid place called HELL where you can be you forever. God is not in hell. Our Lord Jesus did not live… Continue reading →

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Why Are You Here?

Posted on November 11, 2025 by bibleteacherorg

I want to start out this sermon by asking a simple question:

Why are you here today?

Some of you may be thinking, “Because I don’t want to go to that place called HELL”. Well, that’s a good reason. But we don’t come to a Church building in order to win frequent flier miles to Heaven. Salvation is entirely a work of Grace. When you:

Romans 10:9-11 (LSB) CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH Jesus [as] Lord, and BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART that God raised Him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED; 10 for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES UPON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”

The Bible is very clear that salvation is not a man-made work. It is a SUPERNATURAL WORK.

Titus 3:5-7 (LSB) {God} saved us, NOT BY WORKS WHICH WE DID IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that having been justified by His grace, we would become HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.

So if you’re here today because you don’t want to die and go to HELL, that’s a good reason. But the day Jesus saved you, God could have taken you to Heaven right then. So if you’re saved, yes, you should be in Church because you are a part of the Church.

The Christian is not to “go to” Church, but to “be” the Church. Christians are members of Christ’s Body. Continue reading →

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The Joy Of Faith

Posted on October 14, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

We see toward the end of verse 25, “Joy of Faith”. When you live for Jesus, you will often find yourself in bad spots. The Apostle Paul had more than his share of bad spots. Saul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, and heeding His call became Paul the Apostle. When Ananias was told to go to Saul and lay hands on him, Ananias was initially hesitant. After all, the Saul had been terrorizing the Church. But Jesus told Ananias:

Acts 9:15-16 (ESV) “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

As Saul caused others to suffer for Satan’s sake, now Paul himself will suffer “for the sake of {Jesus}”. Oh, how Paul would suffer! Paul told the Church at Corinth:

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (ESV) For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

The brighter and more flamboyant the LIGHT, the greater the DARKNESS will hate it.

Paul said that he was so distressed that “we despaired of life itself”. That is a profound statement. This means that Paul got so discouraged that he and those with him welcomed death. This is a state of advanced depression, where life has lost its savor. Paul was like that poor old Saint Job who cried out:… Continue reading →

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The Cure For Murmuring Hearts

Posted on May 20, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Last week we talked about how the Christian is to have “the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). The “mind of Christ” does not seek to be first, to seek self promotion, to be a “braggart” or self centered. The “mind of Christ” is to do what Jesus did. The Christian – if you are a Christian – is to lower themselves just as Jesus lowered Himself. We are to love others – even our enemies – by doing good to those who do bad to us (Matthew 5:44-46). “That you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven” you are to do good to those who hurt you. The Christian is called to a life of holiness or separateness, wherein we imitate Christ. We read:

Philippians 2:14-15 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; … Continue reading →

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Let’s Live To Please Jesus

Posted on May 14, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Lifeway Research, one of our Southern Baptist Resources, released a mid-pandemic study May 2021 on the state of the Church in the United States. The study noted that prior to the pandemic “In 2019, approximately 3,000 Protestant churches were started in the U.S., but 4,500 Protestant churches closed…” The information did not just come from the Southern Baptist denomination, but analyzed “congregational information from 34 denominations and groups representing 60% of U.S. Protestant churches to arrive at the church plant and closure numbers for 2019”. In 2014 there were more openings than closings of Churches, but in 2019 the trend reversed.

The American Church is experiencing a demise, though we live in a place of amazing freedoms. However the early Church GREW in a hostile Roman and Jewish world.

Christians were not only persecuted by the Roman Empire for the first 300 or so years that the Church started, but the Jewish religious authorities actively sought out and persecuted Christians as members of a cult. The term “Christian” was not a compliment. The Bible says:

Acts 11:26 … the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

An article in Relevant Magazine entitled “Where The ‘Christian’ Name Really Came From” notes:… Continue reading →

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Benediction For The Saints

Posted on October 18, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

There are parts of the Bible that we read quickly, not looking for any depth in them. I know myself when I read through books like Numbers, and read the census lists of Israel:

Numbers 1:5-7 And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur. 6 Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 7 Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

My eyes kind of gloss over, and my mind wanders. We all do this. We miss great Biblical truths because we undervalue every part of this Holy Scripture. The WHOLE Scripture – every word, every phrase, every nuance – is God breathed (theopneustos). The Apostle Paul told Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God (God’s Messenger) may be complete, equipped for every good work.

There are no accidental texts. This Word is God’s breath…. Continue reading →

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Let This Mind Be In You

Posted on December 14, 2020 by bibleteacherorg

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

God wants His people, saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to have the mind of Christ. We are to think like Jesus in a non-Jesus world. In another place the Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 2:16 … we have the mind of Christ

If all that Jesus Christ wanted to do is cover our sins, to save us from the wrath of God, He could have entered humanity as a full grown man. If salvation from sin was the only goal that God had for us, Jesus could have suddenly appeared at the Temple just prior to the crucifixion Passover. He could have surrendered to the Cross, being betrayed and executed on Calvary, all without being born in a manger. The Scripture says: Continue reading →

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