One of our favorite verses on “child rearing,” for us Christians, is found in Proverbs 22:6. We’ve all quoted it from time to time, when reassuring parents about a wayward son or daughter.

BUT … what does the verse really say?

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

These words clearly constitute a Bible Promise, but how so?

First of all the initial verb, “train up,” is unique. In Hebrew it is “chanak,” meaning (four times in the King James Version) “to dedicate!” And only once (yes just a single time) meaning “to train up!”

Dedicate yourself to training that child! Enter into that endeavor with all your heart and soul! (In the verb’s first two occurrences in Scripture, Deuteronomy 20:5, a house is being “dedicated” to the Lord!)

In Proverbs 22:6 the noun “child” also (specifically) refers to a lad, or a little girl. We must get at this child-rearing business early in their lives! NOT after they have learned too much about rebellion or disobedience!

But next comes what may be the most significant part of the verse. “In the WAY he should go.”

The noun for “way” is “derek” in Hebrew. It’s “root” meaning is “to bend!” In our King James Bibles the root word is translated either “to bend” or “bent” a total of 15 times!

Wow!

We are here being taught that every little child has certain God-ordained, God given “bends” in his or her life. God has “slanted” him or her in a given direction! Divinely bestowed gifts, interests, abilities!

Here’s what I mean. Some children are musically inclined, from birth! Others mathematically inclined. Arithmetic is easy for them. Still others great at words, speaking or expressing themselves.

Point being … learn you child! Observe him. Carefully listen to her. Is she a singer? Is he a ball-player? Does he read well? Or is she an outdoor person? Thousands of possibilities are insinuated here!

If YOU as a parent will cooperate with God’s “bending” in the lives of the children He has given you … encouraging them to pursue their “natural” (meaning “God-given”) abilities … likely “when he is old,” or “when she becomes a parent” … they will stay true to their upbringing!

By the way, include Jesus at every turn of their lives. “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Paul’s well-known command from Ephesians 6:4.

As I said earlier, “just a though.”

But a Bible thought as well.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

As a lad (just thirteen years old) my Mom and Dad had already “spotted” a tendency in their oldest son. (That would be me!) I had been born with a love for books, hence a love of reading. And a love of reading that was gently guided (by wise parents) toward the Word of God! That Christmas (when I was 13) they presented me with a set of Bible Commentaries! By old Dr. Harry A. Ironside! And they built me a bookshelf where I could store (display) them.

That did it!

The first one I read was Philippians! And that (along with the talent or aptitude or whatever you call it) God had given me … I was “off!” Off to a lifetime of studying the Bible, largely via the writings of great men of the past.

They, my Mom and Dad … “Trained me up in the way I should go.” And now that I am old … by the Grace of God … I am still “at it,” studying the precious Word of God!

What a Book, the Scripture!

Indeed, the HOLY BIBLE.

Proverbs 22:6, it works, just like God promised!

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“There is a difference,” I have always heard, “between the way a Christian dies and the way a sinner dies.”

And even in this day of modern medicine, this maxim holds largely true. That’s because Christianity brings with it a “new” philosophy, a “new” theology of death!

Even death existentially!

Because of Jesus … the “grim reaper” is no longer an accident or a stroke of bad luck or mere fate … rather death is a God-ordained “appointment!” Hebrews 9:27 clearly proves my point: “It is APPOINTED unto men once to die.” Appointed by our loving Lord!

In fact, there is Bible evidence that God already knows exactly how long a person will live. (Of course God is omniscient, knowing everything, isn’t He?) Psalm 139:16, describing us when we were still in the womb … “Thine eyes (God’s Eyes) did see my substance, yet being unperfect (still developing, growing); and in thy book all my members were written, WHICH IN CONTINUANCE WERE FASHIONED, when as yet there was none of them.” The noun “continuance” is “yom” in Hebrew. It means “days!” God has “fashioned” the number of days we are going to live!

Plus this, if a person is saved (washed in the Blood of Jesus) … death is not a leap into the dark. But rather a step into the future, going to be with Jesus Who loved us so, loves us so! Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:8 … “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be ABSENT from the body, and to be PRESENT with the Lord.”

Wow!

Death, because of Calvary, is not something I have to fear! Jesus conquered death, He being a RESURRECTED Saviour! “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

And even though death is the result of sin entering the earth a long time ago, in the Garden of Eden when Eve and Adam first sinned, God views it (for the Believer) in a unique way! “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:5

Wow again!

The great Evangelist Dwight L. Moody is reported to have said: “If you wake up one morning and read my obituary, do not believe a word of it! I will not really be dead, but more alive than ever!” He had that much confidence that Heaven would be his eternal Home!

Going to be with Jesus!

Now, can that be so bad?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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What makes my belief in JESUS so special, so credible?

Questions like this have been asked countless times over the past two thousand years. Since Jesus walked the earth.

Well, here’s my answer, but it is threefold.

Remember that we are told as Believers in Jesus … “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a REASON of the hope (hope in Jesus) that is in you.” 1 Peter 3:15

Read on, please …

First of all … the empty Tomb! I do realize this Fact is disputed today by many (even some so-called Bible scholars.) For example, Mark 12:18 mentions “the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection.”

I accept (and believe) without question Scriptures such as: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:6, an angel to a group of women seeking Jesus, having come to His tomb. A by-then empty tomb!

Second of which … not only the empty Tomb, but the fact that the eyewitnesses of that empty Tomb were (and did) willingly die for that Truth, that Fact!

Yes, every single Disciple (except possibly John) was killed (martyred) for his belief in the “once dead but now alive” JESUS! Had any one of them simple denied that Jesus was alive, was the Messiah, was God .,.. he would have been spared, allowed to live! (I do not believe these men would have died for a lie, something they knew to be a farce!) “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.” Acts 12:1-2, written by Luke the historian.

Now, reason number three … this Jesus of Whom I speak (the Crucified, Buried but now Resurrected Son of God) … lives in my heart! I know Him personally! I truly believe I talk with him daily! I am positive that he is (alive) in Heaven today, sitting at the Right Hand of His Father there … praying for me as I try to live a Biblical lifestyle day after day.

Wow!

I concur with Paul the Apostle concerning the living Jesus: “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.” 2 Timothy 1:12

In review …

Reason one … because the Tomb (even to this day, over 2,000 years later) is empty!

Reason two … because the Disciples who KNEW Jesus to be a resurrected Saviour were all willing to die for that faith! And cruel, painful deaths at that.

Reason three … because Jesus lives in my heart this morning! I fellowship with Him consistently. He is a “Hands-on” Lord!

Oh, this too … “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36

Heaven, not Hell awaits me!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

In closing … how can a man or woman (or young person) be saved?

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10

Praise the Lord!

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I saw the book (a hardback) while browsing in a local bookstore. Yes indeed, Books-a-Million has come to Dalton, Georgia!

It focused on the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

But we have been so busy, Revival after Revival, studying for each new Series of Sermons … that I have not read the first word in that little volume, not yet anyway.

But still, during the night, my heart was stirred with the very thought of Jesus and the Spirit being in symbiotic Relationship. (As is the Godhead, the Trinity, of course!)

I thought of 1 Timothy 3:16 where, among other things, we are told that Jesus lived His Whole Life … “justified in the Spirit!” Meaning that the Holy Spirit watched and approved all that Jesus did, disallowing absolutely nothing!

Wow!

I thought of Luke 4:14, when Jesus returned from His 40 Day Temptation in the barren wilderness. A return characterized by the Evangelist as being “in the power of the Spirit.” Just as well read it, in the Dynamite (Greek “dunamis”) Power of the Holy Spirit!

Wow again!

Then I remembered that Jesus’ Very (Virgin) Birth was orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35, Gabriel to Mary … “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

And that Jesus on the Cross … “through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God!” Hebrews 9:14, the Holy Spirt and Jesus, again!

From our Saviour’s miraculous Birth to His vicarious Death … the Holy Spirit and Jesus!

Even Jesus’ Resurrection was inaugurated by the Spirit! According to Romans 8:11, where the Apostle Paul speaks of … “the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead.”

Wow!

But the Verse that “caps” our whole discussion today is John 3:34. Where we are taught that God the Father bestowed upon Jesus the Holy Spirit “not by measure!” In the King James Version: “For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” The unlimited resources of the Holy Spirit!

No wonder then, when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, Mark 1:10-11 reminds us: “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Here note … the Trinity! Jesus (God the Son) is baptized. A Voice (God the Father) speaks from Heaven, authenticating (again) Jesus His Son. And a Dove (God the Holy Spirit) descends upon our Lord.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit … and I am quite sure we have only begun to investigate this Union!

All that to say this … today’s Lesson … we too are commanded (expected) to be “filled” with the Holy Spirit of God! See Ephesians 5:18 for a good proof Text.

Not “filled” to the Capacity of Jesus, of course, Who was (and remains) sinless. But to the utmost of our individual capacities!

Paul went so far as to say we should “walk” in the Spirit, every day of our lives! Galatians 5:25 … “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, since this Lesson is being written July 4, 2019 … “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

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I was driving to a Revival Meeting, listening to Christian radio. The program featured an interview with an author who is also a Pastor in Florida.

And this young man’s “burden” was the hordes of people who have (somehow) infiltrated (joined) our Churches who in reality do NOT know Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour!

He called them “nominal” Christians. Yes, “in name only” … professing followers of our Lord.

Or the even greater number of (in the Nation’s so called “mainline” Churches) souls who “grew up” in Church … never considering themselves anything but “good, moral people” … individuals who have all their lives basically espoused “Biblical” values.

Or now these days, people who are “religious” but have been misled into accepting all kinds of (once considered) “perversions” as rather “normal” for the “born-again” Christian. In other words, people who have never experienced Holy Ghost conviction!

The Book I’ve mentioned is subtitled (I think) … “Reaching Cultural Christianity” with the Gospel. Get that turn of words? “Cultural Christianity?” NOT truly Blood-Washed Children of God!

I see the author’s concern, though I may not agree with everything he has written. I really do. Even considering Jesus’ well known “Parable of the Sower,” which I preached only yesterday … up to 75% of the “seed” of God’s Word falls on unfruitful soil, falls into unfavorable hearts!

My purpose in writing today is NOT to plant doubt in any genuine Christian’s heart. My purpose in writing today IS to challenge each of us to be sure that we have been saved!

Paul to the Corinthians, discussing this very subject … “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?” 2 Corinthians 13:5, powerful!

Jesus too warned: “NOT EVERY ONE that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

Matthew further quotes our Lord as saying: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.” Matthew 15:8

Then 2 Corinthians 5:17 … “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Has this sort of change occurred in your life?

Just a thought I had, today’s Lesson … earlier this morning.

“Unsaved” Christians. A misnomer indeed, but also an accurate assessment of “Church life” in many places.

Jesus again, still in a Parable … taught us that the enemy (the Devil) has sown “tares” in God’s “wheat” field!

My point today … Are YOU saved?

And … “Do you KNOW it?”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

John 5:24 … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” The authentic “Plan of Salvation” from the Lips of Jesus Himself.

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