Tag Archives: salvation

Ephesians 6:15 The Gospel of Peace

Posted on March 10, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

When the Roman soldier went into battle, he went with the Belt, the Breastplate, and the Boots. The Belt was a wide swath of leather tightly bound around your lower stomach, and though not a part of the armor, it was what all the armor attached to. The Breastplate was a bronze or iron piece that covered your upper torso, protecting your heart, lungs, and bowels from damage by sword, spear, or arrow. The Boots that the soldier wore were called CALIGAE. The sole of the Caliga (single boot) had multiple layers of leather, built up to ¾ to 1 inch thick. Iron studs were driven through the outsole, so that the boot was cleated for stability. The inner sole was from a single piece of leather that protected the foot from the studs, and it extended upward into long straps that made a lattice that surrounded the calf of the leg. The Caliga, when laced up, fit snug to the leg and foot, preventing the soldier from forming blisters on long marches. The open lattice of the Caliga meant that water and sand easily drained away from the feet, and gave good ventilation.

One of the earliest defensive weapons employed against soldiers was sharpened sticks, hidden in the grass or in sand. The sticks were poisoned, and if a soldier stepped on them it would drive into the foot, crippling and maybe killing. The Caligae were so thick they could not be penetrated, making the Roman Army nearly invincible.

As the Apostle compares the weaponry that we as Christians are to employ against our enemy the devil, he ties the:

Roman BELT = The Biblical TRUTH
Roman BREASTPLATE = Imputed RIGHTEOUSNESS from Christ
Roman BOOT = PREPARATION of the GOSPEL

The Boot Is The PREPARATION Of The Gospel Continue reading →

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Titus 1:5-6 To Set In Order

Posted on March 8, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

When the Apostle Paul went to Crete with Timothy, the largest Island in Greece, he preached the Gospel of salvation and many were “saved through faith in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We don’t know how many were saved, but we do know that the Apostle did not have time to set up Churches in Crete. God was calling Paul to Nicopolis, a Roman city in Northwestern Greece. So God the Holy Spirit – through Paul – gave an instruction book to Titus to help finish the work. What was the first thing Titus was supposed to do?

ORDAIN ELDERS IN EVERY CITY

Titus was to ordain elders “IN EVERY CITY”. The Roman Historian Pliny the Elder said that Crete had about 100 cities. There were a lot of Christians in Crete because of the abundant Grace of God. But there was something lacking.

Elders {presbyteros = “Those who are of age, Elders”}

Word Study: Elders are the Spiritual Leaders in the Church. The word “Elders {presbyteros}” is imported into Christianity from Judaism (Matthew 16:21; 21:23; Luke 7:3; Acts 4:8). The Elders among the Jews sat on the Sanhedrin, the Ruling Council of Israel, and also acted as the Spiritual Leaders in the Synagogues. We are told in … Continue reading →

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We Need Godly Leadership

Posted on March 8, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

What stalks the “wicked”, those who do that which is against God’s directive, is the “conscience”. God created each one of us with something called a conscience. The conscience (also called “the heart” because it is located in the “heart” of the soul) can be hardened through repeated and unrepentant sin. The conscience is NOT the indwelling Spirit of God – though the Spirit of God can effect our conscience. But every person, whether saved or not, has a conscience. The Bible tells us that:

Romans 2:14-15 (NKJV) for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their CONSCIENCE {syneidēsis} also bearing witness, and between themselves [their] thoughts accusing or else excusing [them])

Word Study: The Gentiles were never given the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. God gave these Commandments to Israel to share with the world. But the Gentiles – those who did not receive the Law through Moses – had the Ten Commandments built into them. That’s the conscience. The conscience is “THE WORK OF THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART”. In all but the most hardened societies people know that MURDER, RAPE, ADULTERY, THEFT are wrong. The syneidēsis {pro. soon-i’-day-sis} is that part of the soul that distinguishes between morally good or bad acts.

When the conscience of a large people group becomes hardened, it is not long before that nation destroys itself.

Jesus often used the conscience of His listeners to drive home Biblical truths. Continue reading →

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Business Meetings are To Glorify God

Posted on March 8, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

Acts 1:4-8 And, being assembled together with them, {Jesus} commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but WAIT FOR THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but YE SHALL BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY GHOST NOT MANY DAYS HENCE. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES OR THE SEASONS, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT THE HOLY GHOST IS COME UPON YOU: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Jesus’ instructions were very clear. The disciples were to WAIT. He did not ask Peter to go about replacing Judas. He did not ask Peter to do anything but WAIT, to PRAY, and to trust that God would do what He promised to do. The Power of the Church had not come.

God would not send the Holy Spirit to the Church until the Day of Pentecost (Jewish Shavuot [pronounced shah-VOO-oht]). God chose that day because Shavuot was when God gave Israel the Law at Sinai (Exodus 19-20), establishing her as God’s Covenant Nation. The Church would be empowered that very day.

Shavuot or the Feast of weeks was 50 days after Passover (Leviticus 23:15-21). During Shavuot Jews from all over the world would come to celebrate the founding of Israel at Sinai. God had a plan, and Peter as well as the other disciples were to wait on that plan. But Peter didn’t. Continue reading →

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Breastplate of Righteousness: Ephesians 6:12-14

Posted on March 3, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

Minnesota Representative (R) Walter Hudson is first and foremost a Bible Based Christian. He has a podcast called “Closing Argument”. On a recent episode he spoke of “Hallmark Theology”, which is what many Churches have defaulted to today. Hallmark Theology portrays Christianity – as – Walter states:

“a mandate to project positivity, approval, and good wishes regardless of circumstances, actions or consequences. That’s not Christianity. That’s Hallmark Theology. The Bible does not teach us to shine the light of affirmation. It teaches us to shine the light of truth. Truth is not always comforting. Truth exposes. It divides. It demands repentance. And truth carries consequences. If your version of Christianity never makes anyone uncomfortable, never challenges wrongdoing, never calls sin what it is, never demands accountability, then you’re not practicing Christianity, you’re practicing emotional validation with Bible verses taped on to it. … Hell exists because precisely because light is just not pleasant, light reveals reality, and sometimes reality can be unbearable. Light is not vibes. Light is not niceness. Light is not emotional soothing. Light is revelation, and revelation is often painful.”

You may disagree with that statement, but every bit of it is Biblically true. Jesus flipped over the moneychangers tables. Jesus shamed the Pharisees and Chief Priests. John the Baptist called the self righteous “a brood of vipers” (Matthew 3:7), and our Lord Jesus publicly called them the same (Matthew 12:34; 23:33). Jesus lashed out at the self righteous Sadducees,… Continue reading →

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Suiting Up For Battle

Posted on February 25, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

Ephesians 6:12 For we WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Our enemy is an ancient foe, one who manifested himself in the Garden of Eden as a crafty beast of the field, a serpent. Again, our battle is not against flesh and blood. The serpent was not a serpent, though it looked like a serpent to Adam and Eve. The serpent was a possessed creature, possessed of an angelic being named Lucifer, Satan, the Devil (Revelation 12:9). In the end God will imprison that old serpent (Revelation 20:2), and will ultimately cast it into hell. Our Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 25:41 (LSB) {God} will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS

There will come a day when Satan and the fallen angels will be cast into a Lake of Fire forever, a day when God will re-create the earth without sin and sinners. But until that day, Satan “our Adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We have no ability within ourselves to do battle with a spiritual being like a fallen angel. We cannot, within our own abilities, wrestle with satanic forces and win. It is impossible. But our Lord Jesus said: Continue reading →

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The Worst Employer

Posted on February 25, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

I get most of my news off of the Internet, not the legacy media. The legacy media (NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, FOX) long ago stopped reporting just the news, and began reporting opinion and trying to push it off on the public as news. There is a reason for this, and it has nothing to do with flesh and blood. It has to do with Satan. As we’ve studied before, the Bible tells the children of God:

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) we WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, but against PRINCIPALITIES, against POWERS, against the RULERS OF THE DARKNESS of this world, against SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS in high places.

We are in the middle of an angelic conflict, and what is fantastic is that most people who profess to be Christian have no idea this is going on. I heard a comedian joking to an audience that “when I was a kid, they taught critical thinking”. Thankfully they don’t do that anymore.

And they don’t. The devil and the fallen angels of this world work with “philosophy and vain or empty deceit, following man made tradition and not Christ” (Colossians 2:8). Our enemy is NOT flesh and blood. When Lucifer led a rebellion of a third of the angels from Heaven against God (Revelation 12:4), and he was cast out of Heaven to this earth, he has made it his priority to do everything he can to destroy humanity. It was this same Lucifer who, as “that Old Serpent” appeared in the Garden of Eden to tempt Adam and Eve (Revelation 12:9). When the Messiah came into the world through a virgin and the Holy Spirit, it was Lucifer who led Herod to kill that Christ Child (Revelation 12:4, 6; Matthew 2:3, 14-16). When Herod could not find Jesus (for Joseph was led to carry his family to Egypt), he… Continue reading →

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The “L” Word

Posted on February 25, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

I saw a young lady the other day “deconstructing” her faith on Youtube. This is a new and popular thing to do among so called “young ex-Christians”, some Christian music artists who’ve made millions singing about Jesus. This young lady was saying “I thought I was a Christian. I made myself a Christian, but now I’ve changed my mind.”. She said:

“I got saved (mocking voice on saved) when in a very vulnerable position. I was struggling with alcohol, drugs, you know. That’s how I got in. When I came to the faith, I was like, the prime Christian. I was the Christian on fire. My whole congregation, I lit a flame up under their —es. They loved to see me coming. I can’t tell you how many times I went up in front of the Church, because you had to do that if you were found out in sin. … I would show up on my pastor’s porch and tell him I had sex with somebody. Then I would stand in front of the congregation, and confess my sin.”

The girl was never saved. Her testimony was all about I. In one short statement about her faith, she never spoke about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, but about I. This young lady was never born again. She was a repeat fornicator. How can I say with assurance that she was never saved? Because Jesus spoke of such people.

Mechanics of Salvation: Jesus explained the mechanics of salvation in His parable of the Sower, also called the Parable of the Soils. It’s found in three Gospels:

Matthew 13:3-23
Mark 4:1-20
Luke 8:4-15

In this parable Jesus talks about the Sower sowing the seed of the Gospel. As the Sower sowed, some seed fell on the packed down path (Matthew 13:4). Other seed fell on rocky ground (Matthew 13:5-6). Yet other seed fell among thorns (Matthew 13:7). But the seed that fell on good soil, it PRODUCED fruit (Matthew 13:8).

Jesus was careful to explain the parable to His disciples, but NOT TO THE CROWD. Only those who were in a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP with Him heard the explanation. Why? Why did Jesus speak in parables? I’ve heard preachers mistakenly say “to make it easier to understand”. But Jesus explained this:… Continue reading →

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Right Place, Right Time

Posted on February 13, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

Proverbs 27:8 As a bird that WANDERETH {nāḏaḏ} from her nest, so is a man that WANDERETH {nāḏaḏ} from his place.

Word Study: The word translated “WANDERETH” is the Greek nāḏaḏ, which means to “stray, retreat from the safety of, to be chased from”. The safest place for a bird to be is in its nest. It is when the bird leaves its nest to seek food or freedom that it is subject to being attacked by a bird of prey. God even gave a special provision in the Law:

Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (LSB) If A BIRD’S NEST happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you SHALL NOT TAKE THE MOTHER WITH THE YOUNG; 7 you shall surely LET THE MOTHER GO, and TAKE THE YOUNG FOR YOURSELF, that it may be well with you and that YOU MAY PROLONG YOUR DAYS.

If you came upon a bird sitting on her eggs, it was acceptable to take the eggs for food – but not to kill the mother. The nest was a place of safety. How does this relate to the man? In the Bible, there are times when the relationship we have with our God is poetically expressed, as if God is a Mother Bird and we are the chicks. This is particularly found in the Psalms: Continue reading →

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You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Building

Posted on February 10, 2026 by bibleteacherorg

In the 1950s Solomon Asch (pronounced ash) conducted a series of social psychology studies to determine how people conform to group peer pressure. Asch had a PhD in psychology, and taught at Swarthmore College and Harvard University. Dr Asch wanted to see how peer pressure would cause someone to conform to the majority opinion even when that opinion was obviously wrong. Dr Asch asked an individual to take part in a vision test. The test subject was placed in a group of 7-9 people, but here’s the rub:

Only one person was being tested.

The other participants were actors that Dr Asch employed, and they were supposed to purposely agree to give a wrong answer. The participants were shown cards with one standard line, and three comparison lines labeled “A”, “B”, and “C”. The participants were asked to specify which of the comparison lines looked like the standard line. Very simple. Dr Asch would ask the participants which line matched, one at a time, and would always ask the test subject last. When the first few cards were shown, both the actors and the participant (who didn’t know the others were actors) all answered correctly. Then the actors intentionally began to give the same wrong answer. At first, the test subject stood against the group, and answered correctly. But after the first or second disagreement, the test subject – about 75% of the time – would conform to what the actors said. Only about 25% of those tested refused to give a wrong answer in order to please the group. This only mattered in open discussion in the group. When secret ballots were taken, conformity to the group dropped.

Recently Senator Josh Hawley questioned Dr. Nisha Verma, a board certified OB/GYN, asking her simply (and about 10 times) “Can men get pregnant?”. She refused to answer the question. The Senator asked her:

“It’s not complex. I’m trying to get to an answer, and I’m trying to test, frankly, your veracity as a medical professional and as a scientist, can men get pregnant?”

She refused to answer, but verbally danced around the question. Why?

Because we live in a dark, sin addled world. Jesus said, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). He said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believes in Me will not abide in darkness” (John 12:46).

When someone comes to Jesus and gives their life to Him, He “sets them free from slavery to sin” (Romans 6:17-18, 20; Titus 3:3). Believers do not become sinless, but to us sin is abnormal, not normal. Jesus knew that when He sent us into the world that the believer would be at odds with the unbeliever. Jesus told us:

Matthew 10:34-36 (ESV) Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And A PERSON’S ENEMIES WILL BE THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD. Continue reading →

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