Our lesson comes from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he commanded them to, “31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, [a]clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

How then do we fulfill this command? Paul says to the church, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4), and Peter said, “all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be [a]courteous;” (1 Pet. 3:8).

Clearly, being Kind to one another incorporates having interest in each other, love and compassion. Without a doubt—it really helps to be of one mind…through the Spirit of truth—the word of God.

The first thing that Paul commands is that we put away 5 things from ourselves: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or quarreling and evil speaking. These individually – promote division. Separating us from one another—destroying what God wants for us. The first thing that Paul commands we put away is Bitterness. Shakespeare says: If each man gets his deserts, ‘who of us shall scape whipping?’ (Shakespeare)
Bitterness is a result of our inability to forget the “bad” things that happened in the past. . .

The question we must all ask ourselves—are there things that someone said, or did that we just cannot forget—that have cause bitterness in our hearts?

John said…

“1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 [a]And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white [b]robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.” (Revelation 4:1-4).

In Revelation chapters 4 and 5 John is privileged to see, and witness something wonderful. John records for us a description of a scene around the throne in heaven in which the Lord is receiving the praise which He alone deserves. In the vision John emphasized three reasons why the Lord was worthy of the praise He was receiving.

We begin with He was Praised because of Creation…

In our last Sunday evening message titled, “Put Them In Remembrance”. If you heard it you would have heard how Peter himself knew the need to provide constant reminders for the saints (2 Peter 1:9-15).
In this lesson we are going to follow Paul’s advice to Timothy where Paul says, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed” (1 Tim. 4:6).
Most importantly, we must always be reminded that the preacher’s commission is not to find “new things” to preach on, rather he is to, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). There is good reason, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ” (v.3).
There are three points I will bring to your attention, they are:
(1) The Spirit’s Warning,
(2) Our Conscience Can Be Seared, and
(3) that Everything from God is Good.

As important today as in the first century. Paul said, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,” (1 Tim. 4:1).

We all know the day will come when we die and then face judgement (Heb. 9:27), and knowing that truth we also know that we must prepare for that day.

As Amos said, “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12).
For some that day will be, “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,” ( 90:10), and for others it will be…
As the psalmist wrote, “Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor” (39:5)
And of course, James said, “you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14)

What would you want others to know if you knew next week, in two days, or even tomorrow was your last day to live? Peter, nearing his final day had something he needed others to REMEMBER certain things, thus this message is titled, Putting Them in Remembrance…

When reading Acts chapter 8 the first thing I noticed was Saul making “havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (v.3) and then Christians were scattered going everywhere preaching the word (v.4). 

I find that remarkable that saints went–but they took the word of God with them and shared that with everyone along the way. One such case was that of Philip who went into Samaria and “…preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,” (v.12). 

From this we can learn the same things that the Samaritans learned, including one man named Simon. 

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall [a]direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own yes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7)

Trust in the Lord… These words written by the wise man to his son contain important reminders for all of us who strive to live in this old sinful world. Trusting in the Lord is a “must” for us all. It is too easy to feel as though we “have to do it all on our own strength”. Then it is too likely that we will try to carry burdens – we can’t. Not trusting in the Lord will leave us feeling lost—abandoned—estranged—and alone. None of this is necessary – If we would only learn and put into practice 7 simple steps…

Elijah sitting under a broom tree prayed to the Lord, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 18:4).  No, he was not committing suicide. Yes, he was tired and worn, and feeling alone. God showed Elijah that he was never alone, and that he still had a few things to do. 

I once preached a funeral service for a woman who was just one month shy or 103. A few days before her passing, her and I sat in the hospital together testing our Bible knowledge. She won! The first time I met her, I came up onto her front porch and peeking through the window–saw her sitting at her kitchen table reading her bible through a large magnifying glass. When I sat down with her she told me that she read the New Testament once every month of her adult life. That would have been some 80 years or more. 

She told me that she was hoping for the day to come when she would, “put off this tent”, and go home to meet the Lord. She, like Elijah, had committed an entire life in service to the Lord Jesus and His church, and was tired and ready. The wonderful thing in this is that she did the work she was called to do for so many years, teaching and providing necessities for the needs of the saints, and others. 

The important question we must all ask of ourselves is simply when I do die, and I will die. Will it be a time to weep, or a time to laugh; A time to mourn, or a time to dance? Will it be a time to rejoice or a time of the greatest sorry?

Try as hard as you can, with all your strength, with all your knowledge and you’ll always end up on the wrong path when it comes to the salvation of your soul. Sadly, and overwhelmingly that is exactly what people try to do. 

You can recognize the signs simply by asking a “religious” person questions about salvation, about the church or about doctrine. When you hear things like, “We’ll let me tell you what I believe”, or “I think”, or “my church teaches”. Add to that the old, where is it written questions, and answers like, “I don’t know, but I know it is in the Bible”.  These are strong indicators that the person does not know their Bible. 

Listen in as we investigate this subject. . . 

The only way to be like-minded is to believe the same things — the word of God provides the things we must believe. Nothing added, nothing removed, and nothing changed. Just God’s inspired word. 

Yes, being like-minded is easy when it comes to faith is easy as 1, 2, 3, when we let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom (Col. 3:16). Falling short of that will always cause division.