Tag Archives: friendship with God

Witnesses Unto Me

Posted on February 17, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Is it just to tell others how to be saved, to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Certainly, we must tell others about Jesus. But being a “witness” for Jesus means to stand out and stand up for what our Lord taught. Jesus Himself is known as:

Revelation 1:5 … the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood

Word Study: Our Lord Jesus is “the faithful witness”. The word translated “witness” in Revelation 1:5 and in our opening text in Acts “witnesses” is the Greek μάρτυς mártys, {pronounced mar’-toos}. Mártys originally meant “a witness, one who can bear record to a truth”. When the word was first used, mártys is not yet associated with anything dark.

When Jesus came to this earth, our Lord “the faithful witness” was hounded, hated, and ultimately HUNG on a Cross for our sins.

Being a faithful witness means that, like Jesus, there is a degree of suffering and shame that goes with it. Jesus is the “Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5), and His followers are to be the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). And yet, the world walks in darkness. The testimony of Christ is that:

John 3:19 … Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil…. Continue reading →

Posted in Acts, Sermons Preached | Tagged friendship with God, Suffering, witness, Witnessing | Leave a comment

There Are friends And There Are Friends

Posted on February 12, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

Humans were designed by Gods to be relational, to care for someone besides ourselves. When God created Adam it was never with the intent that Adam be alone. God declared his intention, however, before He did it. The Lord said:

Genesis 2:18 … It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Though God said this, He did not immediately create a companion for Adam. God wanted man to know that singular solitude was not what we are created for. Our God “formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). God did not do this because He Himself couldn’t think up names for His creation. Our God,

Psalm 147:4 … telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names

God brought the animals to Adam so that Adam would see every creature had a counterpart, a mate. After Adam named all the creatures the Bible says “for Adam there was not found an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:20). Adam had to recognize he needed a companion, someone to relate to. It was then that God formed Eve out of Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:21-22). The Bible says that:… Continue reading →

Posted in Proverbs, Sermons Preached | Tagged friends, friendship with God | 1 Comment

The Thing Greatly Feared (Life of Job #3)

Posted on June 15, 2020 by bibleteacherorg

Let me chase rabbits for a minute. I got back to my house yesterday after being at Church all day. I live in a neighborhood of mixed race. My next door neighbor is a black woman, and my neighbor to the left is a liberal. I have two members of the Church of Christ that live behind me, and several houses on my street are occupied by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hispanics, and whites. I live in a good neighborhood. People cut their grass, and keep their lawns neat. A Jewish neighbor flies an American and an Israeli flag, and a Mexican neighbor flies the flag of … you guessed it, Mexico. As I got ready to turn into my drive a young black man – NOT one of my neighbors – roars through the neighborhood at twice the speed limit. He needs a ticket before he kills himself or someone else. If he gets a ticket, he brought that trial on himself. It was his choice to speed. If he kills a child going 50 mph in a 25 mph neighborhood, he brought trials to that child’s family. Color has nothing to do with it. Trials come, many times, at our invitation. I pray the young man learn this while he can. … Continue reading →