David, the “sweet Psalmist of Israel,” lamented at the death of his best friend Jonathan, “Thy love to me was wonderful.” (Here I have alluded to 2 Samuel 23:1 and quoted a Line from 2 Samuel 1:26.)

No, I do not believe that these two (David and Jonathan, King Saul’s son) were ever “lovers,” as some perverted commentaries teach! (Sometimes men “read into” a Text what already lies in their dark hearts. True, the next clause in 2 Samuel 1:26 says: “Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” But that does not imply anything contrary to God’s explicit Law!)

All that aside, this morning … I’d still like to concentrate on love. Love and its quality, its purity, its beauty. Love as a gift to us from Almighty God! I mean God showering HIS LOVE upon us!

No Bible believer can doubt such a fact. “For God SO LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

What love!

Jeremiah adds, directly quoting the Lord again: “Yea, I have loved thee with an EVERLASTING love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3, an everlasting Love!\

And Paul the Apostle, under the direct Influence/Inspiration of God the Holy Spirit prays that we can fathom: “The breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the LOVE OF CHRIST, which passeth knowledge.” Ephesians 3:18-19, “passeth knowledge!”

On and on the Biblical descriptors go … focusing on the LOVE OF GOD! How blessed we are, Christian friends, to enjoy such secure Love!

But now I am wondering … how should that ineffable, divine Love somehow impact me?

I got the answer, straight from Scripture! “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, IF God so loved us, (THEN) we ought also to LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” 1 John 4:9-11

Are you today a living example (though granted, in miniature) of the Love of God? Radiating to those around you?

Are you truly loving those whom God has placed in you life?

Think about it …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

One more thought, taken from the “High Priestly” Prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17 … “Father, that the LOVE wherewith thou hast loved ME may be IN them.” The Father’s Love “in” us? The very Love with which He loved/loves His Darling Son!

Truly unfathomable!

I close (the second time) with 1 John 3:1 … “Behold, what MANNER of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that WE should be called the sons of God.” Where that word “manner” can literally mean “from another country!”

Wow!

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A New Lesson will be written and posted Monday Morning, the Lord willing. But if you’d like, visit our “Standing with the Bagwells” Page here on the Website and see a few new pictures (made the past couple of days) while traveling between Revivals. (From Faith Bible Baptist Church in Century, Florida to Bell Baptist Church in Bell, Florida) Pray for these upcoming services, please …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it?

If one is a true disciple, surely that’s a lifetime commitment.

In fact, I suspect it really is, the key word being “TRUE!”

But John 6:66 says of our dear Lord, Who deserved better … “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”

That particular day Jesus had delivered some HARD teaching, Words that required a discerning mind and heart. Like: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:54

Words like: “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” John 6:56-57

Wow!

Even some of Jesus’ true Disciples … “When they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” John 6:60

There are some still on-the-surface disciples turning away from Jesus! When they encounter certain “hard things!”

Determine in your heart today, that by the Grace of God, you will NOT be one of the deserters!

Jesus even asked the Twelve that day: “Will ye also go away?” The verb “go away” used here is “hupago,” literally meaning “go under!”

Be like Peter, who this time sparkles with faith when he responds: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6:67

Jesus puts it this way, revealing the divine expectation of genuine discipleship … “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2:10

It is serious business, serving the Lord. “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62, not going back, just “looking” back!

In Acts 20:24 a younger Paul determined to “finish his course with joy.” Decades later, he did … “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Wow!

Listen to Jesus too, foremostly … “It is finished!” And He proclaimed that from the Cross of Calvary!

Will YOU be faithful?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I am aware that John the Baptist preached it, REPENTANCE … in Matthew 3:1-2, for example.

And Jesus Himself certainly did … Luke 13:3 (“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye REPENT, ye shall all likewise perish.”)

Come to think of it, the Old Testament is replete with it too, the doctrine (mandate) to repent!

The Prophet Ezekiel (14:6) comes to mind: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; REPENT, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”

Even when the exact verb is not used, the idea is present: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and TURN FROM their wicked ways ….” 2 Chronicles 7:14

But my thought today is that even the Apostle Paul preaches repentance. And not just for sinners, for the Christian as well!

That’s a surprise for many!

“For godly sorrow worketh REPENTANCE to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Yes Paul, in 2 Corinthians 7:10 … written to Christians who had sinned.

Repentance in a Believer leads to … “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” This is 2 Corinthians 7:11 now.

This almost sounds like anger at sin, holy anger!

The deeper realization of what sin really costs, what our sin has done to the heart of God … the closer will be the harmony and communion with the Almighty!

And Jesus, as late in the New Testament as the Book of Revelation, is still preaching repentance … to the various Churches of Asia Minor! (Six times in fact!)

And that Greek word for repentance?

“Meta + noeo,” meaning “to change one’s mind. To alter one’s thinking! But with this caveat … to change one’s thought processes … with the resultant change in one’s behavior!

Really it is true … “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

We all, very likely, look way too favorably at sin!

“God touch our hearts, we pray!”

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The divinely inspired Line (the Text for today’s Lesson) is found in Galatians 2:21. Where Paul the Apostle wonderfully testified “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” Thereby teaching us another great Principle for navigating the Christian life!

That verb (“frustrate”) is powerful, “atheteo.” Blending the Greek alpha privative “a” with the root verb “tithemi.” Literally meaning “to place aside.” To render ineffective, irrelevant,” almost “non-existent!”

In the (King James) New Testament “atheteo” is translated as “despise” 8 times, “reject” 4 times, “bring to nothing” 1 time, “disannul” 1 time and “cast off” 1 more time.

A related verb, “apotithemi” (with “apo” being a preposition meaning “off, away from”) is used by Paul in Romans 12:13 … “Let us therefore CAST OFF the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Interesting!

Now, how in the world can a Christian “frustrate” God’s Grace?

Based on the above date, on how the Holy Ghost utilizes the word in Scripture, one can frustrate God’s Grace by …

In this Galatian context especially … adding “works” to Grace as a means of salvation!

Adding “proud human effort” to anything God is trying to do in our lives! (This is different than obeying the Promptings of the Holy Spirit as He guides us!) Paul once asked the Galatians … “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 2:21

I’d say any kind of pride “attacks” God’s Grace in some way! James 4:6, for example: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” A Fact with which Peter agrees: “Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

I am not going to try building an exhaustive list this morning … of ways to frustrate the Grace of God!

The “Spirit of Grace” (the indwelling Holy Ghost) can guide you to areas where such “despite” is done or can be done!

Folks, I just found two precise places where the Holy Spirit is so designated, “Spirit of Grace!” Zechariah 12:10 and Hebrews 10:29, check both these to go further into this morning’s thought.

Then I am surmising, likely “grieving” or “quenching” the Spirit are two more ways to “frustrate” God’s Grace! God’s Spirit of Grace!

This is amazing!

I have today “hit” upon a thought that will occupy me for days!

Maybe its best to turn this verse into a prayer. “Lord, teach me how to NOT frustrate Thy indescribable Grace!”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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