This is a retired United States Air Force (really Central Intelligence Agency) “spy-plane,” known as the SR-71. It was used for reconnaissance work for years, “looking in” on the enemies of our nation. Built by the Lockheed Corporation, the thing could fly at Mach 3, around 2,000 miles per hour!

Today’s Lesson …

This photo, made last year in Huntsville, Alabama (as Debbie and I returned from a Revival Meeting) shows the sleek machine in black. It was sort of a forerunner of today’s “stealth” equipment.

All this primed my thoughts about “spies” in the Bible.

And the very idea of espionage. This is a French word for “spying,” that’s all.

If you remember in Numbers chapter 14 Moses dispatched some spies to view the Promised land. But only Joshua and Caleb felt the territory could realistically be conquered, even though God had said otherwise.

Then some years later Joshua sent spies to study the City of Jericho, where Rahab lived. “And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” Joshua 2:1

All the foregoing … spying for military purposes.

But there’s another aspect of spying, called introspection, I’d like to mention today.

Like “self-examination,” for starters.

One does not need a spy-plane for this, just a good conscience!

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 13:5, commands us: “EXAMINE yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; PROVE your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Searching one’s own validity as a Christian!

Paul again, concerning the Lord’s Supper this time: “But let a man EXAMINE himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” 1st Corinthians 11:28, important!

Both the New Testament texts above use verbs that imply “thorough” investigation, looking for any spurious matter within one’s heart. “Peirazo” and “dokimazo” to be specific.

Then again, here’s another type of “spying,” … allowing the Lord Himself to “check” our lives, helping us be more pure and holy. In fact, asking Him to do so!

Psalm 26:2 prays it best: “EXAMINE me, O LORD, and PROVE me; TRY my reins and my heart.” Pretty direct, plain, isn’t it? Still, looking for that which is genuine.

And Psalm 139:23-24 say (pray) essentially the same thing. “SEARCH me, O God, and know my heart: TRY me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Wow!

Just some thoughts this Friday I wanted to share. If you’d like to reciprocate, text me at 770-844-7627. “Living for Jesus,” what a noble goal.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

One week from today is Thanksgiving. I saw this “horn of plenty” yesterday as Debbie and I returned from lunch. I have been preaching a Revival in Lucedale, Mississippi.

Today’s Lesson …

The actual word is “cornucopia,” Latin for “horn of abundance.” And it has become a symbol of an overflow of blessings.

Did you know the term “showers of blessing” is Biblical? Ezekiel the Prophet uses it, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God promises of repentant Israel that some day: “I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be SHOWERS OF BLESSING.” Ezekiel 34:26

Also Malachi uses a similar (“horn of plenty”) clause (word picture) when He quotes God as saying … “I will open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Wow, Malachi 3:10, overflow!

I am just saying today that … GOD IS GOOD!

The very word used for “Grace” in the New Testament, “charis” in Greek, is defined by one lexicon as: “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness.”

This is, as John Newton wrote long ago, “AMAZING!”

Has God been good to you?

If so, thank Him today. Mentally “fill” your horn of plenty, counting your blessings one by one!

Paul did teach us (really it’s a command) … “In every thing give thanks.” 1st Thessalonians 5:18, where the verb “give thanks” is “eucharisteo,” grammatically referring to God’s “good grace.”

Brimming with the blessings of God.

By the way … should one’s “cornucopia” be quite empty, God is still good.

Anyone agree?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

You can always comment on the Lesson, the easiest (quickest) way being by text. The number is 770-844-7627.

 

Debbie and I had taken a day of rest, actually two days … earlier this year, the week of July 4th actually. It was there, in the mountains of Tennessee, we saw this young potter.

Today’s Lesson …

Isaiah uses the metaphor, “God the Potter.”

So did Jeremiah.

Zechariah the Prophet as well.

And certainly Paul!

Furthermore, we must include the Book of Revelation, John on the Isle of Patmos.

Then the Psalmist who gave us Psalm 2 clearly knew about the potter.

In fact, when God created Adam out of “the dust of the ground,” He may have been illustrating the splendid art of the potter! See Genesis 2:7.

Then, we Christians are surely “in His Hands!”

Now, more specifically …

Isaiah 41:25 uses the “potter treading the clay” as a symbol of coming judgment!

Later, in Isaiah 64:8, the emphasis is on prayer! “But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Jeremiah 18:4 highlights the “quality” of the clay. “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” (Oh, to be soft, manageable “clay” in our Lord’s Hands!)

According to Jeremiah 18:6 the Potter OWNS the clay! “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” We New Testament Believers too have been “bought with a price,” the Blood of Jesus.

And Lamentations 4:2 has “gold” becoming “dirt, clay” because of the devastating wages of sin! “The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” Sad indeed!

Paul, in Romans 9:21, has God the Potter making different kinds of clay vessels! God’s omnipotence and omniscience being the focus. “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”

And Revelation 2:27, loosely quoting Psalm 2:9, pictures judgment again as a motif for the potter. “And he (our Lord Jesus) shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.” Rebellion will be vanquished, some day!

It’s amazing the (Bible) lessons conveyed by the simple image of a potter, busily engaged in various aspects of His Work!

Today, my friends, are we all “yielding” to Jesus’ Control, to His Touch?

If so, He could make us (quoting Paul again) into “vessels of honor,” for HIS ULTIMATE GLORY!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Recently I preached here, a little Church set in a beautiful mountainous location. Let me say that again, I had the honor of preaching here.

But Brother Bagwell, some might say, there’s nobody there!

To whom I would reply, “Count them please. Are there at least two or three?”

Yes, Jesus promised in Matthew 28:20 … “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.” Dr. Scofield (I grew up with his reference Bible under my arm!) calls this verse “the simplest expression of the New Testament Church in all the New Testament.” Two or three!

By the way, another 5 or 6 people did come to the Service I photographed above. And God blessed wonderfully as I preached verse by verse, 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.

What’s my point today?

God can be in small places, as well as large.

And many congregations, especially rural, are not huge in number.

And those little groups NEED someone to preach (and teach) them the precious Word of God. A Pastor, an occasional evangelist, a missionary keeping them abreast of God’s work around the world.

And God being my helper … I never want to be the kind of preacher who refuses the little places, only willing to go to the so-called more prestigious places.

It is likely that the majority of Paul’s Churches were small. Maybe 30 or 40 people! They met in “houses,” remember. And be aware that the Church in America well might end the age (dispensation) smaller rather than larger. We’re headed that way now, in fact.

When I preach, I want to do my best, pour my heart into the work … intensely … whether speaking to ten people, or two hundred ten people!

And yes, the Pastor (shown above, front row, wearing the coat and tie) has asked if I would come preach to his people again next year. And I have said, the Lord willing, YES!

Gladly!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

This piercing question, first posed in Zechariah 4:10, needs to be asked again these days. “Who hath despised the day of small things?”

 

This picture was made last year while we were in South Carolina, while I was preaching a Revival there. Wheat fields, ready for harvest! Do notice the wheat that is the fullest, the most ripe for harvest, is “drooping,” heads heavy with beneficial grain!

They tell me when the wheat is not as fruitful, those heads are still “high in the air!”

Today’s Bible Lesson …

When our children were young, I occasionally read to them from a little Book, a series of Books really, about some colorful make-believe animal characters. One of them was named “lowly” the worm! He was the most humble of the lot, hence his name!

Now here is our Bible verse for this Monday in November … “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the LOWLY: but the PROUD he knoweth afar off.” Psalm 138:6

See if the following verse represents a meek people, or vainly proud. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Revelation 3:17, the Church at Laodicea, unbroken for sure!

Psalm 9:12 promises of the Lord: “He forgetteth not the cry of the HUMBLE.”

And do remember … “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

Jesus, the Greatest Fruit-Bearer to ever grace planet earth, preached one day … “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am MEEK and LOWLY in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Lessons from nature!

From creation!

From a wheat field!

For the Fruit of the Spirit is … “Meekness!”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell