Tag Archives: Love One Another

Let’s Lose The Wrong Mind!

Posted on September 18, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

As Christians (Christ followers), we are to be “of one mind”. As humans, we are always happy to be “of one mind” as long as it is our mind. But the “one mind” that we are called to have is “the mind of Christ”. This is what the Bible says:

1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Preach: We have the Word of God, the Bible (Proverbs 30:5). “Every Word of God is pure: He is a Shield unto them that put their trust in Him”. We have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. “Even the Spirit of Truth; Whom the world cannot receive” (John 14:17). The Christian – born again of the Spirit – is given access to the mind of Christ.

The devil will do all he can to get us to rely on OUR mind or on the mind of THE WORLD. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

We as believers are to “with one mind and one mouth glorify God” (Romans 15:6). The Church must share the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ cannot be achieved without this key: “It is written”. We must head toward the Scriptures. This is where Jesus went in His teachings.

Jesus did not come to this earth and develop a new doctrine,
but to establish a New Covenant. … Continue reading →

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Finding And Living In Kingdom Love

Posted on August 28, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Christians are members of the Family of God, citizens of the Kingdom of God, and as God is Light we are to be Light (1 John 1:5). Those not in the Kingdom of God live without regard to the Light of God and His glory. We live as children seeking to honor and glorify our Lord. We do this by loving others as Christ has loved us.

Christians are in a battle, and will remain in battle while we are in this world. Christianity and non-Christianity are locked in a battle that will not end until Christ comes. Those who are born once do not understand the things of God. The Bible says of the lost that “though they know God, they glorify Him not as God. They are vain in their imagination, and their foolish hearts are darkened” (Romans 1:21). The Bible says “their understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the blindness of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:18). Those who are born once know that there is a God in Heaven. If they did not know, they would not curse His name so. They know, but refuse to follow. … Continue reading →

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God’s Telephone Directory

Posted on August 18, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Before Sherry and I got old and gray, we used to go hiking down various nature trails. One of the nicest areas we found was around Tennessee’s Reelfoot Lake. There are some beautiful hiking trails there. We’d take our walking sticks, and make a day of it.

Down one trail we followed, we found something I still can’t figure out – even years later. We were about a mile in – very far from the road – when we found a washing machine. There’s something freaky about finding a washing machine – one about 20 years old – down a narrow path that no vehicle could follow.

As I was reading and studying Nehemiah, I got to chapter 7 and said to myself, “Oh great. A washing machine!” The bulk of this chapter is nothing but names – many difficult to pronounce – and numbers. The summary of these figures is in

Nehemiah 7:66-67 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, 67 Beside their manservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women…. Continue reading →

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Keeping The Water Out Of The Boat

Posted on August 5, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

The nobles were to forgive the debt that the poorer people incurred, whereas the poorer people were to forgive the indignity that the nobles placed on them. The power of God’s Kingdom is in the presence of God – and God will only be present when we are in one accord. Jesus told us:

Matthew 18:15-20 (ESV) If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Oh that God’s Kingdom would grow! Lord, I pray, use us for Your glory. Use us to spread Christ’s Gospel and to build Your Kingdom. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen and Amen!… 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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A Difficult Text For Wednesday Night

Posted on February 9, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Turn with me in your Bibles to Galatians Chapter Six. Galatians is a book written by the Apostle Paul to the Church at Galatia. The Church was largely composed of Gentile Believers, but had recently been visited by Christians with a Jewish background. These Jewish believers told the Galatians that they were not fully saved because they did not keep the festivals and the rituals (like circumcision) that they themselves did. The Apostle – himself a Jew – wrote to correct the error that the Christ following Jews were introducing.

When the Apostle Peter wrote of Paul’s writings, he said:

2 Peter 3:15-16 (ESV) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures…. Continue reading →

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Loving Hands, Loving Lord

Posted on February 6, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit had not come on the Church at Samaria as of yet. You who are Bible Scholars know that the Holy Spirit comes on every believer at the moment of salvation. Jesus told Nicodemus:

John 3:3-7 … Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The Holy Spirit gives life to the believer. The Holy Spirit also indwells the believer. The Apostle told Timothy:

2 Timothy 1:13-14 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy {Spirit} which dwelleth in us.

And told the Church at Rome:

Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The Holy Spirit baptizes every believer at the moment of new birth. The Apostle wrote in:… Continue reading →

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What Does Love Demand?

Posted on January 11, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

I’m sure you’ve all been in a room with someone on a telephone. Nearly everyone carries cell phones nowadays. It’s common today to be speaking with someone, their phone rings, and they put you on hold while they talk to the person on the other side of the phone line. That’s the best way to describe this chapter. The Apostle was visited by three men from Corinth, Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (Acts 16:17). These men were some of the first Gentiles saved as the Gospel was preached in the Roman Province of Achaia (Acts 16:15). Professor Daniel Balge (Martin Luther College) notes:

“We don’t know whether the(se) three Corinthians walked to Ephesus, a journey of about 900 miles, or spent a week or more crossing the Aegean Sea by ship. … But this we know: Out of love for Jesus they served God and people well in a humble, but vital, task. They reliably carried two letters and linked a pastor to his people. Thus in his letter Paul could speak timely words to urgent problems and timeless truth (in Corinth).”… Continue reading →

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What’s Your Power Source, Part 3

Posted on January 9, 2022 by bibleteacherorg

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter four.

I have a workshop outside my home, one that I love to go and tinker in. I love woodworking. I love taking raw wood, and turning it into attractive and useful things. There’s a pleasure in working with your hands and your mind. Anyway, I have three basic types of tools in my shop.

• I have tools that require no external power source, things like chisels, hammers, screwdrivers, hand crank drills, hand saws, etc. These tools are ME powered. It takes MY energy to drive them, and they stop working when I myself get tired.
• I have tools that are battery operated. I love these things, because they have no power cord to get in my way. They run off of lithium batteries, which store a charge for a long time, and are able to deliver a lot of power to my tools. When the battery dies, that is, runs out of charge, it stops quickly. When this happens I have to put in another battery that is charged, or let this battery charge before I can continue my work.
• I have tools that are power cord operated. Though the cord limits my freedom of movement, the tool will keep on running as long as I have it plugged into the wall AND pay my electric bill.

What does any of this have to do with the Christian way of life? Our God has given us resources to enable us to live in this world, but empowered by His Kingdom. Sometimes we want to live out our lives in our own power. We use our strength, just as I use hand tools in my shop. Sometimes this is effective – but after a while we just run out of energy. The Lord said:… Continue reading →

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Laborers Together With God

Posted on December 6, 2021 by bibleteacherorg

Matthew 18:2-4 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

No one enters the Kingdom of God full grown.

We humble ourselves as little children, and run into the arms of Jesus. We obediently follow Jesus, knowing that in His footsteps is where safety is. “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 ESV). We are to stay close to Jesus, as a child might stay close to it’s mother while out in the harsh world. The Christian has a purpose greater than “going to Heaven”. Christians are to grow in their faith, becoming more like Jesus every day…. Continue reading →

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