WORLD-VIEW

I’ve always been amazed that so many Christians can read the same Bible and have many different beliefs. This is why there are so many different denominations. I’m also amazed when several scientists view the same archaeological evidence, and come to very different conclusions, especially concerning the age of the earth, dinosaurs, and other fossils.

It’s the same with politics. Democrats and Republicans are now so far apart in beliefs and ideas that it seems there’s not even a few issues we can agree on. It all comes down to our worldview. Our worldview, or how we look at the world, determines everything else we believe, as well as how we act, and how we treat others in our everyday lives.

That’s why it’s very important to have a “Biblical Worldview.” In other words, we need to see the world through the lens of God’s holy word, the Bible. You may ask, What good is a biblical worldview when there are so many different opinions, and interpretations of God’s word? That’s a good question. The answer is simple. The Bible says spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:13-14). Jesus said, Everyone must be born again (John 3: 1-7).

There are many people who claim to be Christians, but do not bear the fruits of a Christian. Jesus said his Born Again followers will be known by their fruits, which are the works or deeds that they do (Matthew 7:16). Nobody knows everything, no matter how close we are to God, but if a person is not born again, with the Holy Spirit living inside, they cannot understand the Bible correctly.

Unfortunately, there are many people who have not been born again, but claim to be Christians simply because they believe God exists. They don’t believe IN God, they just believe there IS a God, and they think that makes them a Christian. When Jesus returns, those people will be in the group that Jesus tells to depart from him because he never knew them. They never knew him, nor had a relationship with him.

The Bible is an awesome book. It’s God’s instructions to every human on how to be saved, and what to do after we’re saved. We need the Holy Spirit to help us understand the word of God, and to help us carry out his instructions.

If you haven’t been born again and become a new creature with the Holy Spirit living in your mind, then you’re not saved. Just believing that God exists does not save us. The Bible says the demons believe, but they’re certainly not saved (James 2:9). We must be born again for the blood of Jesus to wash away our sins, and to inherit eternal life.

Jesus loves you so much that he suffered and died to save you. He wants you to live with him forever, so don’t wait another minute. Trust in Jesus right now. Repent and be born again, and receive eternal life (Romans 6:23; John 3:16).

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THE BAD WIRE IN THE WALL SOCKET

When I was a kid, I found an electrical wire at my dad’s house that was cut off from some electronic item. The ends of the two wires had been stripped about an inch or so, evidently to reuse later.

As I looked at the two naked wires, the wheels and cogs in my inquisitive brain started turning. For some reason, I started to wonder what would happen if I tied those two naked ends together, and then plugged the wire into a wall socket. As I thought about it, I concluded that the only way to answer that question was to go ahead and conduct the experiment. So that’s what I did.

This was an experiment I did not want my parents to be part of or to even know what I was doing, so I went into the living room by myself and proceeded to plug the wire into the outlet.

When I plugged it in, fire shot from the end of the wire, and the electricity went off. I knew what had happened, so I jerked the wire out of the socket immediately and threw it behind the couch.

I heard my mom and dad talking in the kitchen. They were wondering what had happened, and why the power went off. Back then we didn’t have breakers. They were fuses. That’s where the term fuse box comes from. I still hear people today calling a breaker box a fuse box. Well, my little experiment had blown at least one of the fuses, maybe more for all the electricity to go off. Daddy did whatever he did with the fuses and soon had the electricity working again.

I did not dare tell them what I had done. In fact, I never told my dad but a few years before my mother died I told her and she just chuckled and said, “Well son! What did you do that for?”

I needed to know what would happen. I was always curious. I always wanted to know how things worked. Growing up I would take things apart to see how they worked, and many times I couldn’t get them back together correctly. Several things I took apart never worked again including an expensive base Walkie-talkie my dad bought me for my birthday. But when I could get things back together and working right, and understand how they worked, that was an amazing feeling.

That reminds me of studying the Bible. When I study a certain topic, I look up everything the Bible says about it and compare scriptures with scriptures to get a picture of what God’s word says about that subject.

It’s an amazing feeling when you understand what God has revealed to us about a certain thing. Reading and studying God’s word is the best way to understand what God wants us to know. It’s amazing when you can explain what the Bible says to others, and no matter what someone else says, they can’t take that understanding away from you.

2nd Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself acceptable to God; a worker that is not ashamed, correctly dissecting the word of truth,” which, according to Jesus, is the word of God, the Bible (John 17:17).

In 1st Peter 3:15, Peter says, “Always be ready to answer anyone who asks you about the hope that is in you.” That involves Bible study, and prayer. That’s also what it takes to have a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That’s the most important relationship we can have, and we have to develop it and maintain it every day. Spending time reading and studying the Bible must be an important part of our daily routine. It has to be.

We have to put on the whole armor of God to grow as a Christian and to be protected from the devil, and his evil angels as explained in Ephesians chapter 6. So pray, read, and study God’s word, the Holy Bible, every day of your life here on Earth so you can live with God for the rest of eternity. God bless you and protect you. Amen.

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DID MOSES WRITE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ON THE 2ND SET OF STONE TABLETS?

Did Moses write the Ten Commandments on the second set of stone tablets, or did God? Some Bible disputers point out what they say are two contradictory scriptures. They claim that one account says God wrote the Commandments on the second set of tablets, and another says Moses did. There are also some Christians who believe and teach this. Let’s examine these claims and see if they’re correct.

In Exodus chapter 20, the LORD spoke the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel (Exodus 20:1-17). In Exodus chapter 24, the LORD told Moses to come up to the mountain and he would give him some tablets of stone with the words of the Ten Commandments which he had spoken to the children of Israel.

Exodus 24:12
12 And the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain, and be there: and I will give you tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them.

So Moses went up the mountain to meet with God.

Exodus 31:18
18 And he (God) gave to Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him on Mount Sinai, two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 32:15-16
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand: the tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

These verses tell us that God gave Moses two tablets of stone made by God, and written by God.

Moses was on the Mountain for more than 40 days. While he was gone, the people got tired of waiting, and they wondered if he was even coming back, so they pressured Aaron into making a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw the golden calf, and the people worshiping it, he threw the tablets down and broke them.

Later, God told Moses to cut two tablets out of stone like the first ones and to bring them up to him on the mountain. The LORD told Moses that He, (the LORD) would write the same words that He (the LORD) had written on the first set of tablets.

Exodus 34:1
1 And the LORD said to Moses, Cut two tablets of stone like the first: and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Exodus 34:4
4 And he (Moses) cut two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

Now, read the next two verses carefully.

Exodus 34:27-28
27 And the LORD said to Moses, Write these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Ok. There’s the seeming contradiction. In verse 27, God told Moses to write these words. Then verse 28 says, He wrote on the tablets. This seems to say that Moses wrote the Ten Commandments on the second set of tablets, but is that what it says? The simple answer is No. Moses explains all the details to the Israelites later in Deuteronomy 10:1-4. Compare these verses with Exodus 34:1-4.

Deuteronomy 10:1-4
1 At that time the LORD said to me, Cut two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood.
2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.
3 And I made an ark of shittim wood and cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and went up into the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand.
4 And he (the LORD) wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spoke to you from the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them to me.
5 And I turned around and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the LORD commanded me.

Both of these accounts are pretty much the same. They tell us that God wrote the commandments on the first set of stone tablets, and the second set as well. So, what did God tell Moses to write? Let’s look at it a little closer.

Exodus 34:27
27 And the LORD said to Moses, Write these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

Now look back at the verses before these. Namely verses 11-26 of chapter 34.

The LORD gave Moses some instructions for the time after they would come into the promised land. These are the words he told Moses to write (Exodus 34:1-26).

Then the Bible says Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights and HE (the LORD) wrote the words of the covenant on the second set of tablets. No contradiction.

Many seeming contradictions can be cleared up with just a little Bible study. We shouldn’t be so quick to doubt or accept the criticisms of non-believers. The Bible was written a long time ago, in a different culture, and in a different language. Much has changed since then with the culture as well as grammar, and it’s not always easy to understand at first glance. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to truly understand his word. The more we read, and study the Bible, the more we will understand. So pray, read, and study God’s word every day. God will be with you as you do.

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My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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PELEG AND THE DIVIDED EARTH

Genesis chapter 10 briefly mentions a man named Peleg and says the earth was divided in his days. The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Peleg, but we can uncover more than we see at first glance by looking at the scriptures surrounding the introduction of this man. For one, we know that he lived after the great worldwide flood because he was a descendant of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. He was actually Shem’s great, great, grandson.

Genesis 10:22
22 The children of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram….
24 Arphaxad had Salah;
and Salah had Eber.
25 Eber had two sons: the name of one was Peleg; because the earth was divided in his days, and his brother’s name was Joktan.

This is the genealogy of Noah’s descendants after the flood. The genealogy record in 1 Chronicles 1:19 says the same thing about Peleg that Genesis does; “the Earth was divided in his days.” What does that mean?

Well, some Christians believe this verse may confirm the evolutionary theory about Pangaea, where a great land mass or supercontinent broke up and formed the continents we now have. The Bible does say that God made one great land mass when he separated the water from the dry land on the third day of creation week, but the waters of the global flood drastically changed the surface of the earth while it rained for forty days, and during the time it covered the earth, and as the water receded.

Peleg was born almost 200 years after the flood. As I always say, we need to look to the Bible to develop our beliefs, not to the secular world that rejects God and teaches evolution. Let’s look at verses 1 and 5 of Genesis chapter 10.

Genesis 10:1
1 These are the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; sons were born to them after the flood.

Genesis 10:5
5 By these men, the lands of the Gentiles were divided on the earth by languages, families, and nations.

How does that verse say the earth was divided?
By men. Mere humans. Specifically, the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah (Genesis 10:1).

What kind of division was it?
The land (Earth) was divided by languages, families, and nations.

One of Noah’s great-grandsons was Nimrod. Genesis 10:10 says the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and three other cities. Genesis 11:1-9 tells us about the Tower of Babel and says everyone on earth spoke the same language at that time; there was only one. Then the sons of men started building the tower to reach high into the sky to make a name for themselves, and to be honored by the people (Genesis 11:1-9).

God saw what they were doing, so he came down and confused their languages so they couldn’t continue building the tower, and he scattered them across the Earth (Genesis 11:5-9). Look at these next verses closely.

Genesis 10:31-32
31 These were the sons of Shem, by their families, and their languages, in their lands, and their nations.
32 These were the descendants of the sons of Noah, in their generations, in their nations: and by them, the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

Genesis 10:5
5 By these men, the lands of the Gentiles were divided on the earth by languages, families, and nations.

So clearly, the earth was divided in Peleg’s day by Families, Languages, and Nations. This is a good example of how to study the Bible. Search the scriptures, and compare scriptures to understand all the Bible says about any subject. God bless you in your study of his holy word.

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THE ARCHANGEL AND HIS TRUMPET

I’ve always loved music. As far back as I can remember, music has been a big part of my life. I wrote my first song when I was only 3 years old, with my grandmother, and sister. Growing up, I slept with the radio on all night long. I’ve enjoyed listening to all types of music over the years, but I listen mostly to Christian music these days, and I have to say, there’s a lot of false doctrine in Christian music. If you’ve read any of my books or my blog, you know that I truly believe the Bible is the Holy Word of God, and that it’s true from cover to cover. I believe it’s very important to understand the truth of God’s word and to make people aware of false doctrines that they may believe.

Bible doctrine is like a chain. Each subject is like a link in that chain, and they all fit together perfectly if they’re understood correctly. But, if even one of those doctrines is misunderstood, then the chain is broken. I believe that’s one reason there are so many false doctrines because if one doctrine is misunderstood then the other doctrines don’t fit, so people misinterpret, and even twist the next link in the chain to fit with the previous link because it is misunderstood.

With that said, I want to talk about a false teaching that I’ve heard all my life, and continue to hear in Christian music, and preaching. Going back to the subject of my love for music, which I listen to every day on my way home from work, and sometimes in the morning on the way to work, if I’m not listening to talk radio.

I frequently hear songs that say something about Gabriel blowing his horn or trumpet. I’ve also heard and read that he’s an archangel.

Gabriel is only mentioned four times in the Bible, (Dan 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19; 26) and neither of these references says he’s an archangel. Michael is the only one ever called an archangel in God’s book (Jude 1:9), and he’s called THE Archangel. There’s only one Archangel mentioned in the Bible, and there’s a reason for that.

According to the Strong’ Concordance of the Bible, the word Archangel means Chief, Leader, or Ruler of the angels. So the Archangel is the leader of the angels or the chief or ruler of the angels, and as I said, the Bible only mentions one. Michael is THE Archangel; not Gabriel.

Now let’s talk about Gabriel’s trumpet. A simple Bible search finds no reference to Gabriel blowing a horn or trumpet at any time. As I said, Gabriel is only mentioned four times in the Bible.

(1) In Daniel 8:16, and (2) Daniel 9:21, Gabriel is sent to Daniel to help him understand the vision that God had shown him earlier.
(3) In Luke 1:19, Gabriel appears to Zachariah to tell him that God had heard and would answer his prayer to have a son, even though he and his wife were both old.
(4) In Luke 1:26, Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary to tell her she would have a baby who would be the Son of God, and she was to name him Jesus.

None of these verses, that talk about Gabriel, ever mention him blowing a horn or a trumpet. So let’s look at the verses in the Bible that do mention the trumpet. We’ll start with Matthew 24:30-31.

Matthew 24:30-31
30 Then, the sign of the Son of man will appear in the sky, and then all the people of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory.
31 Then, he will send his angels with the loud sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his saints from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
51 Look, I will show you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet: because the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised immortal, and we will be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16
16 Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and those who are dead in Jesus will rise first.

Those three New Testament verses talk about the last trumpet blowing at the resurrection when Jesus returns. Let’s compare three Old Testament verses with these and see what’s revealed.

Psalm 47:5
5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD went up with the sound of a trumpet.

Zechariah 9:14
14 And the LORD will be seen over them, and his arrow will go out as the lightning: and the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

Jeremiah 25:30
30 So prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, The LORD will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will roar mightily upon his habitation; he will give a shout, as those who stomp the grapes, against all those who live on the earth.

These Old Testament verses show the Lord blowing the trumpet, and shouting. Is 1 Thessalonians 4:16 saying that the Lord is the Archangel, as some Christians believe? Let’s read it again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16
16 Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, (He Shouts) with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and those who are dead in Jesus will rise first.

So, the Lord Jesus himself will come down from heaven and shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and he will blow the trumpet of God.

The Lord Jesus himself is the Archangel. That doesn’t mean he’s an angel, with wings. He’s NOT a created being. He’s God, the Son. Remember, the term Archangel means Chief, or Leader, or Ruler. It’s Jesus, NOT Gabriel, who will shout with the voice of the Archangel, and blow the last trumpet, as he leads all the angels of heaven to the earth at the end of this world.

Again, Jesus is not a created being. He has always existed. That’s not easy for the human mind to comprehend, but that’s what the Bible teaches. He was there at creation (John 1:1-14), he was there in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), he wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 32:24-30; 35:10-13; Hosea 12:2-5), and he was in the furnace of fire with the three Hebrews (Daniel 3:8-30). He led the Israelites out of Egypt, and through the wilderness for forty years, and into the promised land (Numbers 20:16; Exodus 14:19; 1 Corinthians 10:4).

Let’s clear up one more subject of controversy as we unpack this even further, and dig a little deeper. Numbers 20:16, and Exodus 14:19 say that God sent an angel and brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says that “angel” was Jesus. Again, Jesus is not a created being. The word “angel” simply means messenger. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)

Malachi 3:1 says he’s the “Messenger” of the Covenant.
John 12:49 shows us that he’s the “Messenger” of God.

So, Jesus is the “Messenger of God” and the “Ruler of the angels.” He’s also called the “Angel of God” and the “Angel of the Lord” throughout the Bible. He’s referred to by many names and titles in the Bible, but he was not called Jesus until he was born as a baby to the virgin Mary. Before that, he was called Michael. Yes, the Bible teaches that Jesus is Michael, the Archangel. The “Messenger of God,” and the “Ruler of the angels.”

Let’s compare a few scriptures.

Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Michael is called the Chief Prince, and the Great Prince. (Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 12:1)

Jesus will return with his angels. (Matthew 24:30-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. (Revelation 12:7)

Jesus’s voice will raise the dead at the 2nd coming. (John 5:25-29)
Michael’s voice will raise the dead at the 2nd coming. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; Jude 1:9)

Jesus Cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, Come Out!” (John 11:43-44)
Then Lazarus was brought back to life.

Michael means “Who Is Like God”
Jesus is “Like God” (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3)
God says, “Who is like Me?” (Isaiah 44:6-8)
“Who is a God like You?” (Micah 7:18-19)

The Bible says, “No one has ever seen the Father at any time” (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46). So all appearances of God in the Bible was Jesus before he was born into a human body. Many times he was called “the angel of the Lord.”

The Bible says God is a Spirit (John 4:24).
It also says God is invisible (1 Timothy 1:17).
So he needs a representative. Jesus is God’s representative.
The Word was God, and he was there at the beginning and created everything (John 1:1).
Then he became flesh and lived with us here on earth (John 1:14).
God created a human body for him to live in then placed him in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:26-35). That’s what the Father was referring to when he said, “This day, I have begotten you (Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 10:5; Micah 5:2).

1 Timothy 2:5 says, There’s only one mediator between God and mankind, and that’s Jesus who was called Michael before he was incarnated into a human body to be sacrificed for our sins.

Jesus, Michael, The Angel of God, and The Angel of The Lord, all refer to the Son of God.

In Exodus 3:1-2, 14, the “Angel of the Lord” appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and told him he was the “I AM.” When Jesus was here on earth, he said, “Before Moses was, I AM” (John 8:58-59). It was Jesus in the Burning Bush before he was called Jesus. He told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground where he was standing was holy. In Joshua 5:13-15 the Captain of the Lord’s host appeared to Joshua and told him the same thing. The ground wasn’t holy in itself, the presence of God is what made it holy. So this was also Michael/Jesus.

In Genesis 16:7, 11, the “Angel of the LORD” told Hagar that he would increase her seed. Angels don’t have that power. It was God/Michael/Jesus.

In Genesis 22:11-18, the “Angel of the LORD,” speaking of himself, said he would bless Abraham because he had not withheld his son from him. It was God/Michael/Jesus.

In Exodus 23:20-23, the “Angel of the Lord” was sent to guard Israel. God said, “Obey him and do not be rebellious toward him because he will not pardon your transgressions since my name is in him.

The Angel of the LORD camps around those who fear him, and rescues them (Psalm 34:7). We are to fear only God, not angels. The Angel of the LORD is God/Michael/Jesus.

So, there you have it. The Bible shows that Jesus is God, and he created everything. It shows that he has always existed, and has been interacting with humans since he created us. He is called Michael, the angel of the Lord, the Captain of the Lord’s army, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, the Son of man, and many other names in the Old Testament. 

He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and he will return soon to take his children home. I hope you’re one of his children. If you’re not, then please repent of your sins, and ask him to save you. Then prepare to meet him face-to-face when he returns. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you then.

*For more about Jesus before he was born on earth, read the article One God.

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© 2022 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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DO YOU KNOW SO-AND-SO?

When I was young, there was a little country store in a place called Hatchie Bottom, in Goose Pond, Mississippi. It was just down the road from Union Center. The owner’s name was Early Crum, and his wife’s name was Short. No lie. No joke. That was actually their names. They were old even when I was young. They had retired and sold the store by the time I was a teenager. My cousin Tim and I did some work for Early one year while we were out of school for the summer.

Soon summer was over and we were back in school. I had a friend named Lisa Crum. Since she had the same name as Early and his wife, I wondered if she was related to them. So one evening on the school bus, as we were going home, I asked her a simple question. Do you know Short and Early? She said, “No, but I know long and late.” We both laughed until tears came to our eyes. I’ve been telling that story now for over 30 years, and it always gets a laugh.

Many times when I meet someone who has the same last name as another person I know, I’ll often ask them if they know So-and-So. It’s a good conversation starter, and the conversation can go on for a while if they actually do know the person.

When I was a young Christian, our church youth leaders taught us to start a conversation directly to the point by saying, “Do you know Jesus?” Well over the years, I’ve discovered that most people’s answer is yes, even though their lifestyle says the opposite, so I realized that many of them were saying they know Jesus because they know of him or about him. To truly assess the situation, a better question would be “Have you been born again?" 

We don't hear many people talking about being born again, but Jesus told Nicodemus that a person can't go the heaven otherwise (John 3:3). Because Adam sinned in the garden, we are born sinners, so we have to be born again. 

However we want to start our conversations with others, the point is, we do need to start a conversation. We need to be telling people about Jesus in some form or another. If we truly know Jesus, we should be spreading the good news about his love and sacrifice for all mankind.

When Andrew met Jesus, he went and told his brother, Peter, and the Bible says, “he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41-42). When Philip met Jesus, he found Nathanael, and told him about Jesus, then brought him to Jesus (John 1:43-46). When the Samaritan woman at the well met Jesus, she went back to her city and told the people about Jesus and invited them to “come and see” him (John 4:28-29). That’s the biblical model. That’s what every born-again believer should be doing. When we know Jesus, we should want to tell others about him and bring them to him.

Some Christians are not as outspoken as others, and some have a hard time starting a conversation. It takes practice, but you have to start somewhere. There are many ways to witness to others, and there are many tools to help you start. You can begin by giving them a tract, a book, or a DVD or you can share a link with them to a video or a meme that has blessed you. The key is to share Jesus with others like the people in the Bible did. The more you do it the easier it will become, and you will be blessed by it as well, and many who might otherwise be lost forever may spend eternity in the kingdom of heaven because of you. That would be awesome.

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A LESSON FROM TRASH

When I was a young man, I worked for a company that employed about 300 people. They had a cost reduction program where they encouraged each employee to find ways to save the company money, and each employee whose cost reduction was implemented would receive a bonus at the end of the year.

One year, one of my friends turned in a cost reduction concerning trash collection for the building. One of the trash disposal companies in the area had a trash compactor there. It had been there for several years. They charged $50.00 each time they emptied it, which was usually about once a week. This cost the company an average of $200.00 each month, or about $2,400.00 a year.

My friend found another company that would bring their trash compactor to our building, and only charge us $35.00 each time they dumped it. This would save our company $15.00 each week. So it would only cost $140.00 a month, which would only be $1,680.00 a year. That would be a savings of about $720.00 a year.

His cost reduction was accepted and implemented. The old trash company removed its compactor and the new company brought theirs in. That’s when we realized that the new one was smaller than the old one so it had to be emptied more often. This piece of information was not incorporated into the equation for reducing the cost of trash removal. Now, instead of paying $200.00 a month for four dumps, the company was paying $210.00 for 6 dumps a month. More than before with more hassle with having to call when it filled up and having to wait for them to come and pick it up, and waiting for them to bring it back before we could remove any trash from the building. The fact that the new container was smaller was a very important factor that was left out of the equation because my friend did not have all the information he needed in order to make an informed decision.

I’ve always taught my children that you have to have all the information to make an informed decision. So you have to be sure to ask all the right questions, and when telling someone else something, you need to make sure you give them every ounce of information you possibly can so they can make an informed decision.

I’m afraid this is what is happening in our churches today when people ignore part of the Bible. Many don’t think you need the Old testament. Many have been taught that the Old Testament is not relevant for Christians today. This is the book that God gave to his people. This is the word of God. The complete book; the Old and New Testaments.

There are many things in the Old Testament that build the foundation for the New Testament, and without all that information, you cannot understand the New Testament correctly.

Jesus, and the other New Testament writers quoted from the Old Testament many, many times. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning both the first and second coming of Jesus. The Old Covenant is there, which is the foundation of the New Covenant in the New Testament. For more on that subject, read my study called “The Old And New Covenant.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, ALL scripture is inspired by God, and is helpful for teaching, for evidence, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: So that the followers of God may grow to maturity, and be fully equipped for all good works.

ALL SCRIPTURE includes the Old Testament. Here are a few more examples:

1 Corinthians 10:11 says the things that happened in the old days were examples for us in the end times and were written down as warnings to us.

Jude 1:7, and 2 Peter 2:6 tell us that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them were recorded in the Old Testament as an example of eternal fire and what will happen to those who live ungodly lives.

Romans 15:1 says the things written in the Old Testament were written for our instruction, so that, through patience, and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.

So, I encourage you to read the Old Testament. It is a great work on the creation of the world and mankind. It contains the history of God’s people and his dealings with them over a few thousand years. It tells us the history of the ancestors of our Lord, Jesus. We must realize that the Old Testament is part of this complete book that God has preserved for his people for thousands of years. He didn’t preserve it for no reason. He preserved it for us to study, and to understand his purpose for us, and his great love for us. It’s all God’s word from beginning to end, and all of it is important.

My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2022 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6