A missionary once gave us a plaque. It read, “Bloom where you are planted!” I kept that little saying in a corner of my study for years and years! The picture above says that as well, to my mind anyway. Corn, growing in an odd place. At a shopping center!

Last Summer, near a bookstore I often visit (just off Interstate 85 northeast of Atlanta), we saw this unusual sight. I mean corn was growing, as well as squash and other vegetables, in every conceivable place! Making the BEST of wherever it found itself!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

James 5:17 relates an event from the life of Elijah. “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” The earth, rain, fruit! (To a small degree, that’s what’s happening in the picture from the mall.)

Now, what about you and me?

It is so easy to say, “I shall bear fruit … after we move.”

Or “after I graduate.”

Or “after the baby is born.”

Or “when I finally reach the mission field.”

Or simply … “later!”

But Scripture urges us to be (via the Power of the Holy Spirit) fruit bearers NOW!

WHEREVER we are.

Joseph bore fruit in Potiphar’s house.

Job in the slough of hardship.

Jeremiah in the face of persecution.

Hosea in the face of rejection.

Paul seemingly “in every circumstance.”

And Jesus … the Supreme Fruit Bearer … even from “Calvary!”

What kind of fruit?

Maybe souls won to Jesus.

Maybe godly character in one’s life.

Jesus said the following, in His Sermon on the Mount. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:16

Is someone today living in an awkward situation?

Under adverse circumstances?

Then, with earnestness, I advise you to … “Be not weary in well doing: for in due season you shall reap, if you faint not.” Galatians 6:9, no matter where you are.

This may not be the best Bible meditation I’ve ever written, but it certainly speaks to our hearts in this sense: “Redeem the time!” There is only a short “season” in which to bear fruit, Psalm 1:3! And indeed “the time of the harvest” may be short, Jeremiah 8:20!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Speaking of fruit: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” So said Solomon in Proverbs 11:30. This can be done … no matter where!

 

 

I made this picture a year ago at least. In Little Rock, Arkansas, while in that area preaching a Revival. It’s a shepherdess, obviously sculpted, with part of her flock. This is a metaphor the Bible uses time and times again. Let me show you what I mean.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

For example, Isaiah 40:11 says of our Lord: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” How tender!

And the best known of all the Psalms. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” Psalm 23:1-2

New Testament too. Where Jesus is the Good Shepherd. (“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”) Found in John 10:11, and said by Jesus of Himself!

Where Jesus is also the Great Shepherd. (“The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”) Said by the Holy Spirit, of Jesus, in Hebrews 13:20.

Where Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. (“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”) Preached by Simon Peter, in his first Epistle, a man who certainly knew our Lord as Shepherd!

In Luke 15, the great Parable there, a shepherd finds his lost lamb. (“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”) Luke 15:4-6, also spoken of Jesus undoubtedly! Then I am that once “little lost lamb” … now riding to Heaven, safely resting on the shoulders of the Son of God … my Shepherd!

May I tell you, discouraged reader this Wednesday morning, that Jesus CARES!

That He is WATCHING over your situation!

That He (well, I’ll just go back to the verse with which I started this little meditation), that Jesus will … “feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

What a joy, being in His flock!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Again, text me if this is somehow a special blessing to you. And if you know a distraught Believer, tell him or her about today’s lesson as well. Thanks, 770-844-7627.

 

 

Recently I preached in Atlanta, near downtown. One day I rode the rapid transit train from my motel to the Church. This route had me walking right in front of the old College campus where I once studied. What memories flooded my soul!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

The Bible has much to say about “teaching.”

It utilizes the verb “teach” 109 times. And “teacheth” 16 more times, even “teachest” 8 times!

And the noun “teacher” (or its plural, “teachers”) 20 times!

These add up quickly.

The first use of this concept in the New Testament is early in Matthew’s Gospel. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching … “ Matthew 4:23, wow!

The School pictured above is Immanuel Baptist College. Long since relocated from that old part of Atlanta, that part of Georgia really. And by now maybe doctrinally different, I just don’t know. But what great “teachers” worked there five decades ago!

God, there, put in my life a man of prayer!

And a man who was a scholar in Bible prophecy!

And a man who loved missions!

And a man who breathed the Greek Language!

And a lady who loved and excelled in Hebrew!

And a man who loved books!

These all (faculty members) dramatically impacted my life, still do in some ways.

Yes, “Jesus came preaching,” so says Mark 1:14.

But He also came “teaching!”

This discussion is now reminding me of the Greatest Teacher of all. John 14:26 tells us of Him. “But the COMFORTER, which is the HOLY GHOST, whom the Father will send in my name, HE SHALL TEACH YOU all things.”

I want to be a learner … all my life!

And I am this morning grateful to everyone who has “taught” me the truths of Scripture, through these seventy years of life. And I am even thrilled with that little place where God brought me to learn!

Oh, by the way, I pray I learn new things today!

As I study God’s Word. Preaching this week in Michigan, in Revival, the Book of Revelation!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

This picture is a year old, if not two. It was made at a Publishing Company’s on-site Bookstore. A plethora of mostly Christian authors, their books, lined the walls. This week, the Lord willing, I’ll get to visit this establishment again. I often say that entering such a place is like stepping into a potential “gold mine.” Now let me try to explain what I mean …

Today’s Bible Lesson …

It’s only a part of the whole verse, Proverbs 13:20, but it’s powerful: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” So said King Solomon many years ago.

Be careful whom you choose as friends, companions!

Now the rest of the verse and you’ll see “why” I caution you. “But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Paul later added to the conversation: “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1st Corinthians 15:33

By now you may be wondering … “What all this has to do with a bookstore?”

These, at a different location, are nearly all paperback and all used. Only a dollar or two each as well!

As I enter such places (bookstores) I hear “voices!”

Most of them long dead, “with the Lord” for many years.

And, via their writings, I can again let them “teach” me.

“Lecture” me, even “encourage, warn, advise,” and “preach” to me … all those verbs apply!

Yes, I can buy a book and (upon reading it) “walk with a wise Christian” for hours and hours!

Even authors still living, though teaching the Bible in some distant location, can become by “tutors.”

Oh, by the way, and maybe BEST OF ALL … I can let Paul the Apostle disciple me … via the Books he left behind, the Epistles of the New Testament!

Next time you enter a bookstore, be a little quieter.

Listen, then quote … “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Proverbs 11:30

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If the Lesson is a blessing in some way, let me know. Text me at 770-844-7627.

 

I was just stopping to use the restroom, really. And I noticed this sign, on the wall at Wendy’s Restaurant. Its founder, Dave Thomas, was a professing Christian. And it is obvious by the photo that he wanted to serve the public a quality product. Here’s a prime example of a leader passing along something (here just a bite of food, but “quality” food nonetheless) to his followers.

Now, today’s Bible Lesson …

Paul instructed young Timothy to do this as well. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same COMMIT THOU to faithful men, who shall be able to TEACH others also.” 2nd Timothy 2:2, presumably promoting truth from generation to generation!

Elijah did this to Elisha.

David to Solomon.

Moses to Joshua, for that matter.

And certainly, Jesus to His Disciples.

Question is, to whom am I passing things, the great spiritual truths of life?

Wow!

But teaching those who follow us is a mainspring in Paul’s Ministry!

“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” 2nd Timothy 1:13

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” 2nd Timothy 3:14

Again and again we hear such from the great Apostle’s lips.

The world today calls this concept “mentoring.”

And it takes TIME to impact an individual’s life like this.

So Dads and Moms, teach those children the Word of God!

Grandfathers and Grandmothers, you do the same, the little ones love to be nurtured!

Pastors and Sunday School teachers as well, take your positions seriously!

Pick someone, prayerfully of course, and try to share with them a nugget of Biblical truth today. Then do so again tomorrow. Then daily for the rest of your life!

(The photo is not an advertisement for Wendy’s, or any other food chain. It is merely an example of a man who, in the world of business, has tried to leave behind a legacy.)

May we do as well … spiritually.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell