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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PREPARE FOR WHAT'S COMING

Have you ever had anything happen to you that you were totally unprepared for? Have you ever seen or heard of something happening to someone else and thought it could happen to you. Unfortunately, many people see something happening to someone else and think it could never happen to them. Well, not me. My grandmother was always thinking about what could happen if you do this and what could happen if you do that and I guess she passed that on down to me. Some people call it worrying but I call it being prepared. I think it’s reckless and irresponsible to begin anything without considering the possible negative outcome. We should never just jump into anything without thinking it out first. We always need to be safety-minded.

Remember my little blue Geo Metro? Well, I have another tale to tell you about it. One day I was going to check all the fluids as I always did once a week. That’s the life of your vehicle. When I pulled the hood release, I felt the cable break and the hood did not unlatch. I finally got it open but it wouldn’t latch back. The safety latch was working but I didn’t trust that enough to drive down the road. I had heard of several people having wrecks from car hoods fly up while going down the road so I put a bungee cord on it to keep the wind from blowing up under the hood.

I thought about what I would do if the hood were to blow up and block my view while driving down the road. I actually pictured it in my mind and planned out a strategy in case it ever happened to me. My plan was to put my head out the window and calmly apply the brakes and slowly and safely get the car off the road without having a wreck.

Then one morning, I was on my way to work, minding my own business, when my windshield suddenly turned blue and shattered. There was no warning like I thought there would be. I didn’t even have time to think about it. It was just there. I immediately put my well-thought-out plan into action. I put my head out the window so I could see the road and began applying the breaks and soon I was safely off the road. Thank God I had thought about what COULD happen before it did. Thank God I was prepared. If not, who knows what might have happened?

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and his disciples warn us to be prepared for him to return. If we are not prepared when he comes back, we will not see heaven. It’s very important to have a plan. Thankfully, God has a plan for us already. He sent his son to live a sinless life and then die in our place so we could live forever. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again in order to get into heaven (John 3:1-7). This is something beyond scientific explanation. It’s supernatural. In this process, our sins are washed away, we become a new person with a clean slate, and the Holy Spirit comes to live in our minds and guides us in making the right decisions every day.

Jesus is coming back soon and we need to be prepared. If you can’t say without a doubt that you’re ready, then please talk to God right now and make sure you don’t miss out on heaven. The only alternative is hell, and I’m sure nobody wants that. So be prepared and I’ll see you there.

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THE 12 DISCIPLES AND THE 12 APOSTLES

The twelve disciples are mentioned four times in the gospels. Matthew referred to them in the first verse of chapter 10 and again in the first verse of chapter 11. Mark wrote about them in verse 17 of chapter 20, while Luke mentioned them in Luke 9:1. Did Jesus have only twelve disciples? Some people think that’s the case, but Bible students understand this is not the case at all?

Jesus chose twelve men to be with him daily, to be close to him, to learn from him, and to help him in his ministry. These twelve are referred to as disciples but they were also called Apostles by Jesus (Luke 6:13). They were the twelve pillars of the new testament church, Jesus being the foundation. They are called Apostles in fifty-nine verses of the new testament, but four of those verses refer to them specifically as the twelve Apostles. According to Strong’s Concordance, an Apostle is an Ambassador, or a Delegate, a Special Messenger.

Although the Bible does refer to the twelve Apostles as the twelve disciples a few times, they were not the only disciples of Jesus. In the word of God, all of Christ’s followers were called disciples, not just twelve of them. He had thousands of disciples when he was here on earth and millions more since he went back to heaven. If you’ve been born again, then you’re his disciple, as well.

We often say the word disciple means follower, but it actually has a deeper meaning than what we think of today when we hear the word. In the Greek language, it means learner or student. The true disciples of Jesus will spend time with him every day and learn from him through prayer and Bible study. Then they will practice what they learn and become more like Jesus every day. At least, that’s how should be.

James, the Lord’s brother, tells us to be doers of God’s word and not hearers only (James 1:22). He said we will be blessed if we follow God’s instructions. If we want to truly follow Jesus we must be doers and not just hearers. So let’s be students of Jesus. Let’s listen, and learn from him. Let’s read, study, and obey his word, and claim the blessings that come from being a disciple of the One who created the universe and everything in it.

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WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE

I believe I was four, or five years old at the time. My sister was sixteen months younger than me. We were playing outside by a tree in the sideyard of our humble little home in the small town of Theo. The same place we lived when my sister rode The Horse That Almost Reached The Sky. All of a sudden we heard a faint noise coming from somewhere up the road. It sounded a bit like a helicopter, but not exactly. It sounded somewhat like the wings of a thousand hummingbirds, but we knew that wasn’t what it was. All we could do was wondered what could it be.

As the noise came closer, we ran to the front porch where our grandmother was sitting with our aunt. Soon we found out what was making that awful noise. It was a gang of bikers on their motorcycles. There must have been a hundred, or more. As they came closer, the noise got louder, and soon all we could see was dust on the road. We lived on a gravel road, and our house was pretty close to it. We only had a small front yard. Thinking about it now, those motorcycles remind me of a cattle stampede.

After what seemed like forever, the noise started to fade, and soon the dust began to settle. In a few minutes, we began to be able to see the road again. Wow! It was kind of exciting, but scary at the same time. Kind of like watching a wild animal in the open woods. You want to keep watching to see what it does, but at the same time, you want to run for your life.

After a while, we went back to whatever we were playing out in the yard by the tree. We had forgotten about the motorcycles. We were engrossed in our childhood fun, when our aunt called out to us, and said, “Y’all come back to the porch, I hear them cranking up. They’re coming back.”

With that, we ran back to the porch. It wasn’t long until we saw the bikers coming around the curve bringing a cloud of dust with them. It was basically the same scene all over again as far as we could tell. We couldn’t see much farther than the edge of our porch. We couldn’t see the road at all. Then all of a sudden, out of the cloud of dust we saw a scary sight. A lone motorcycle wheel sped past the porch and smacked right into the very tree where we had been playing only a few minutes earlier.

I don’t remember if the guy whose motorcycle lost the wheel was hurt or not, but I do remember telling my kids that story when teaching them about obeying their parents. My grandmother raised us, so she was our parent. God tells us to obey our parents (Ephesians 6:1, Colossians 3:20, Exodus 20:12). Our aunt, our grandmother’s sister, helped her in our raising as well. Plus, we were taught back then to respect our elders.

If we had not listened and gotten away from that tree, we might have gotten hurt. Maybe pretty bad. That was a big wheel, and it smacked that tree pretty hard. I miss being a kid. I miss living in that little house, and I miss my grandmother. I’m looking forward to that day when Jesus comes to restore everything back to the perfect condition he created it in, In The Beginning. My anticipation grows stronger every day.

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© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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GOD SO LOVED

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. (John 3:16)

This has always been one of my favorite bible verses. Here, Jesus tells us how much God truly loves us. GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD. When he says “WORLD” here, he’s referring to the people in the world. He loved us SO. This word SO here means so much. He Loved us so much that HE GAVE… HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. He had a plan to save us, so he GAVE his SON to be our substitute, to come to earth, suffer, and die for our sins.

When Adam sinned, by disobeying God, he died spiritually. He passed that spiritually dead condition down to his children, and to all his descendants. Every person who has ever been born on earth is spiritually dead. This is the first death; Spiritual death. (1 Corinthians 15:22, Ephesians 2:5) 

We are all sinners and sinners sin. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is Death. Wages are what we earn. It’s our payment. It’s what we deserve. We deserve to die because we are sinners. Since we’re already spiritually dead when we're born, because of Adams's sin, this death we earn by continually sinning is a literal death. Eternal death. For more information on that, read FIRST AND SECOND DEATH, FIRST AND SECOND RESURRECTION.

God doesn’t want us to die. He doesn’t want to give us what we deserve and destroy us. He loves us, and he wants us to live with him for eternity, so he GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON to take our punishment for us. It should have been us on that cross, but instead, Jesus suffered and died in our place. To claim this substitution, all we have to do is accept it and we won’t have to suffer the second death.

God GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON… The Bible teaches that Jesus is God(John 1:1-3). He has always existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2, Genesis 11:4,7). All three of them were there in the beginning, and Jesus is called the Son twice in the old testament (Proverbs 30:4, Psalm 2:12). He was not created, as some believe. He was begotten as a human by God when he was placed in the womb of a virgin named Mary, about two thousand years ago (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:30-35 — John 1:1-2,14, Hebrews 10:5, Psalm 2:7) For more information on that, read ONE GOD.  

He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT (So that) WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM… Whoever means anyone. No one is left out. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM… To believe in Jesus takes action. James, the Lord’s brother, said, the devils also believe, and tremble (James 2:19). Just believing he exists is not enough, though. Jesus says you have to believe IN him or ON him. It’s the same thing. That means to trust him. We must allow him to be the Lord and Master of our lives. If you want a mechanic to work on your car, you have to give him the key. Believing involves trust. It also involves obedience. It requires action. It’s simple really. Rom 10:9 says, “if you will confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH… Perish means just that, Perish. To die or be killed. To disappear or be destroyed: to cease to exist. (Webster’s Dictionary)

In the Strong’s Concordance, the definition of the Greek word which was translated into the English word PERISH is “to destroy completely.” That’s what will happen to everyone who refuses to accept the free gift of salvation God offers us. Not because he is evil, or vindictive, but because he must destroy sin. Everyone who chooses to hang on to sin will be destroyed along with it. (*)The wages of sin is death, and he loves us so much that he died in our place. He took our punishment so we wouldn’t have to. There was no other way. He has done all he can. Now it’s up to each individual to accept his substitute or reject it.

BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. In this verse, Everlasting means just what it sounds like. Everlasting; lasting forever. The same Greek word translated into the English word “Everlasting” in this verse, is the same word translated into the English word “Eternal” in verse 15. This is an example of the dictionary, built into the King James Bible, which I mentioned in the post called UNDERSTANDING BIBLE TRUTH. 

The Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son from heaven, down to this earth to suffer and die in our place so every one of us could have the opportunity to live with him for eternity. Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to do it. That’s love. It’s a love that humans can’t fully grasp, but knowing that he has that kind of love for us should make us love him back. In fact, in 1 John 4:9, John says that is why we love him. “Because he loved us first.”  That’s so amazing and life is so short. We must live one day at a time, but we need to prepare for the future as well. Not just our immediate future, but our eternal future. Our destination is in our hands. No one can choose for anyone else. The choice is ours alone. If you haven’t made it yet, I encourage you to do it today. Don’t put it off. Tomorrow may be too late.

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© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT EXPLAINED

Matthew 12:1-37

What is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? I’ve heard several explanations and theories on this subject. Some say the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rejecting him over and over or grieving the Spirit, or rejecting Jesus as Lord. The best way to understand the Bible is to let the Bible explain itself. By searching the Bible, and comparing scriptures, we can find the answers to help us understand any subject. But, in this case, the answer is found in the same chapter as the subject.

First, there is a misconception concerning grieving the Holy Spirit. That term is only found once in the Bible, in Ephesians 4:30. It says,

Ephesians 4:30

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Some people ADD the word AWAY when quoting this verse and subtly change the meaning. They say “Grieving AWAY the Holy Spirit is rejecting him over and over again, and that is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”

In this verse, the word grieve means to cause grief or sorrow or to make sad. Sure, blaspheming the Holy Spirit would make him sad, but the surrounding verses explain what Paul is saying here, and he is not saying that grieving the Holy Spirit is rejecting him, and he is not saying that grieving the Holy Spirit is blasphemy. He’s giving the Ephesians instruction on how to be “truly holy.” (verse 24)

Grieving the Holy Spirit, and Blaspheming the Holy Spirit are not the same thing. You won’t find that anywhere in the Bible, and there is no passage that says anything about Grieving “AWAY” the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, let’s see what the Bible does say.

In the book of Matthew, chapter twelve, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees because his disciples ate without washing their hands, then again for healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, and again for casting a demon out of a man on the Sabbath. Here’s what the Pharisees said then…

Matthew 12:24-37

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This fellow casts out demons, only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.”

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand:

26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out? So they will be your judges.

28 But if I CAST OUT DEMONS BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

29 Or else how can one enter a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, unless he binds the strong man first, and then spoils his house?

30 He that is not with me is AGAINST me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.

31 So I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven unto men.

32 And whosoever SPEAKS a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him, but whosoever SPEAKS against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come.

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, SPEAK good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth SPEAKS.

35 A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, brings forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil things.

36 But I say to you, That every idle WORD that men SPEAK, they will give an account of in the day of judgment.

37 For by your WORDS, you will be justified, and by your WORDS, you will be condemned.

There you have it. Blaspheming AGAINST the Holy Spirit is done by SPEAKING WORDS against him. Nothing else. In the case of the Pharisees, they attributed the Work of the Holy Spirit to Satan.

Mark shares this same story in his gospel, and at the end, he tells us exactly why Jesus said all this.

Mark 3:30

30 Because they SAID, He has an unclean spirit.

On a different occasion, Jesus was talking to his disciples; not the Pharisees. Look what he said about this to his disciples.

Luke 12:10

10 And whosoever SPEAKS a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him: but to him that BLASPHEMES against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

Jesus said to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to SPEAK against Him. According to Strong’s Concordance, the meaning of blasphemy in both the old, and new Testaments is “TO CURSE, VILIFY, or SPEAK EVIL OF.”

Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is not just an act that only the Pharisees could commit, as some have suggested. Remember, Jesus was not just talking to the Pharisees in the book of Matthew. He said MEN, and that word means MANKIND, or PEOPLE. Then, there in Luke chapter 12, he was talking to his disciples. Don’t miss that.

For most Christians, it’s hard to imagine any situation where we would blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but we have example after example of people throughout the Bible who were following God, but slipped, fell, and even turned away from God. Adam and Eve, King David, Lucifer, King Saul, and Judas, just to name a few. By the way, the last three on that list turned away from God, and as far as we know, they are all lost.

Hebrews 3:12

12 So examine yourselves, brothers and sisters, in case any evil thoughts of unbelief develop in you to cause you to walk away from the living God.

13 But encourage each other every day, while it is called “Today,” so that none of you become stubborn through the delusions of sin.

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© 2014 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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