I found this interesting Line of Scripture earlier this morning. And the Lord used it to preach me a little Sermon. Particularly about this Nation, the so-called United States of America.

“Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD?” Proverbs 30:9 is actually part of a prayer. “Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches.” So asked this wise Dad trying to teaching his son godly wisdom.

Can you feel the apprehension here?

He (Solomon in his good days) knows that one can have “too much” in this life. So much that he feels no longer “needy” in any area!

Think of the Laodicean Church … “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” (Revelation 3:17) And apparently that rather lukewarm “nothing” included the Lord Jesus Christ!

I wonder sometimes if our Country has been so blessed with abundance … so “full” … that we have denied the Lord!

That we now wonder “Who is the Lord?” He is surely less known that He once was in our Land.

Of course God can remedy that situation. He can take away our plentitude, can’t He?

Then maybe we would again “seek His Face.”

Or is it too late even for that?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17

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This Phrase is taken from today’s Proverbs chapter, that being Proverbs 28:2 to be exact.

“FOR THE TRANSGRESSION OF A LAND!”

The transgression (“pesha” in Hebrew meaning “rebellion”) of a land?

But everyone knows … land cannot sin! At least not the dirt, the rocks that constitute it physically!

But, and here is the real meaning of this String of Words, the inhabitants of the land can sin, can transgress!

The people can sin!

If this is so, and it is, America is in trouble!

Sexual perversion.

Aborting babies by the millions.

And not just ignoring God any more, but actively rebelling against Him and His Word!

Our Land too (I mean right now) is a Country (proudly it seems) transgressing against God.

And God will hold our Land (our people, us) accountable!

Lord we pray … “In Thy wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk 3:2

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Jesus spoke these very words from the old rugged Cross two thousand years ago. In John 19:28, King James Version … “I THIRST!”

He had been hanging there for six hours, dehydrating every minute no doubt. He WAS thirsty!

Jesus was also fulfilling Bible Prophecy!

Two Psalms specifically come to mind …

“My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” Psalm 22:15, the Psalm of the Crucifixion!

Also Psalm 69:21 … “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Also Messianic!

This kind of Thirst can be torturous, if acute. Deadly, if unsatisfied. And Jesus was dying as He uttered that thirsty Cry!

The story is told (I first read it in a little devotional booklet named “Baptist Bread”) of a dying confederate soldier on a Civil War battlefield. He lay between the two opposing armies, the North and the South, right in the middle of that brutal conflict!

As he was expiring he kept crying out in obvious agony, Water! Water! Water!” Please someone … “Water, Water, Water!”

A brave union officer said to his troops (with the battle raging) “I am talking that dying man some water!”

His comrades said, “You will be killed if you leave this trench. Shot upon sight! There’s a war going on around you!”

But up he jumped, canteen in hand, heading for the dying boy. As soon as he was seen … I suspect holding that canteen high and clearly visible … all shooting ceased!

The conflict quieted long enough for the captain to reach the thirst soldier and give him all he could drink. He slaked that gnawing thirst! Then turned, and went back to his men! (Thirsty no more!)

That’s right, miraculously (or mercifully), not a shot was fired until he reached safety!

The power of THIRST!

Wow!

Now back to JESUS! Who is of course a much greater hero! Who is our Saviour!

He thirsted too, dying. But He was raised from the grave … and offers to us that very thing He so needed on the Cross … WATER!

The water of Life!

An inexhaustibvle supply!

“Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17

Also … “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38, Jesus talking!

Again, Jesus to a woman at a well … “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14

The once THIRSTY Jesus is now the Supplier of water to all who come! And I do mean “all.”

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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As most of you know, I only write the Morning Bible Study every other day now. That’s because on alternating nights I also post a video Bible Lesson.

This afternoon around 4:00 we begin to look at the 12th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Where?

On our YouTube channel but also shared to Facebook. Any search engine will locate these for you. (“YouTube Dr. Mike Bagwell Hebrews,” are key words to find us. Or you can just go to the YouTube Channel and “subscribe.”

And YOU are invited to Class!

Tonight’s “Text,” Hebrews 12:1-2 …

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

It’s mainly about JESUS, obviously!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Yes, the Bible is so personal that it even advises us on diet, concerning the food we consume!

“My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul.” Proverbs 24:13-14

I suspect that in reality Solomon is teaching us here that just as honey is sweet to our physical senses … so should the taste of Wisdom (godly Wisdom gleaned from Scripture) be sweet to our souls.

But still, “diet” is in focus one way or another.

Our Lord Jesus too one day said: “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” John 4:32

There are chapters in the Old Testament (Leviticus 11, for example) given solely to legislating what the Jews could eat!

The Apostle Paul even told us some people with whom we are NOT to eat! “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no NOT TO EAT.” 1 Corinthians 5:11

Yet too this food prohibition is given … “Hast thou found honey? Eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” Proverbs 25:15, tomorrow’s chapter!

Just think about it.

Eve got us all in trouble in the Garden of Eden by EATING the wrong thing!

Esau sold his very birthright/blessing partially because of his taste buds! That bowl of “pottage of lentiles.” Genesis 25:31, boiled beans! (In Hebrews 12:16 Paul called it “one morsel of meat!”

Isaac was nearly willing to bless the wrong son because he so loved the “venison” (deer meat) that boy killed! Genesis 25:28, what a tragedy that would have been!

The first temptation the devil threw at Jesus was to turn some stones into “bread!” Matthew 4:3, another issue with food! Of course Jesus defeated the devil that day, and every other day as well!

Furthermore … our Lord even taught us about “fasting” when He was on earth. And He did not say IF you fast but WHEN you fast! “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.” Matthew 6:16, going voluntarily without food for a time!

Wow!

Maybe this is enough Bible evidence to conclude that we all (I am including myself) should evaluate our eating habits. Or at least balance our physical nourishment with our spiritual needs!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Being “under Grace” instead of “under Law” does not mean we can become gluttons!

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