Beginning a Revival, on January 1st?

That’s exactly what the Pastor has done where I’m preaching this week. So Debbie and I gladly drove on New Year’s Eve … from our home in north Georgia to central North Carolina, arriving around 10:00 pm I guess!

We are in Burlington, at the New Hope Baptist Church which is led by Pastor Randy Hobbs. His Wife is named Lisa. Here’s a picture of them, made last night after the Service. Brother Randy is willing to “push the envelope” sometimes, in Christian service. And I mean that as a compliment. I’ve had Pastors tell me there would be “no way” they’d ever try to have a Revival Meeting on a holiday!

And they’ve even used the Choir, every Service so far! Faithfully lifting their combined voices to the Glory of God! Singing songs that match the “theme” of my Text this week, too! I am impressed. This photo was made Sunday, New Year’s Day, folks!

And I’ve had sweet liberty preaching, too! So far three nearly sixty minutes Sermons, verse by verse expositions of Scripture … expounding the Bible “line upon line.” The picture I snapped with my phone after the Service Sunday night. That sanctuary was full both Services Lord’s Day past. Nearly “packed!”

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Why all this “news” today?

Because of the Bible Principle it illustrates.

A Church starting a New Year … with a concentrated emphasis on the Word of God, with a time of seeking God for genuine Revival!

Paul believed in giving God the “firstfruits” of one’s labor. Read with me his instructions to the Corinthians about when to give their offerings, finances, to the Lord. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 1st Corinthians 16:2

See that?

The “first” day of the week!

In the Old Testament God always wanted Israel to give Him  the “first” of their crops, too!

In Exodus 23:19 God clearly commands: “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.” Wow!

Maybe having a Revival at Church the first week of the year, or at least near that time, is not such a bad idea! In fact doing such may be building on a deeply embedded Bible Truth!

We’ve already given God our trust.

And our talent.

And our tithes.

Maybe now, give him our time, including the first week of every year.

Starting right, in prayer and Bible study and faithful attendance and praise, all to the honor of the One Who saved our lost souls from Hell!

Just an idea.

Do or say or give something “special” to/for your Saviour today, tomorrow, all week, perhaps all month.

They (the sociologists) believe that if you do something often enough (21 times I’ve heard) it will become a habit! Then for sure … start the New Year right, for Jesus’ Sake!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

The Door(s) to an ancient heathen temple, like the Parthenon in Greece!

The Door to the Ark, built by Noah and an avenue of Hope!

Last week, while preaching a Revival in Kentucky, I made the two pictures featured here. Both focus on doors! And they remind me of a number of Bible Verses, perhaps John 10:9 being the most powerful.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Folks, the door on the top is so ornate, expensive, attractive to the physical senses! It even had a plaque hung nearby describing its features. And as far as I could tell, it was size specific! BUT IT WAS A DOOR THAT LED TO DEATH! IDOL WORSHIP!

The door underneath lacked all the “fancy” attributes. It was plan and simple. In fact, it was the ONLY door on the Ark, a vessel 450 feet long! No Fire Marshall would have ever approved such a design! BUT IT WAS A DOOR THAT LED TO LIFE, REPRESENTING FAITH AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD ALMIGHTY!

Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words!

The Book of Proverbs says this … twice: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25, both references being essentially identical!

The Temple of Athena … DEATH!  (An exact replica of the Parthenon has been built in the City of Nashville, Tennessee.)

The Door of the Ark, a Picture of Jesus … LIFE!  (An exact replica of the Ark which God commanded Noah to build has been erected in Williamstown, Kentucky.)

In fact, Jesus actually said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9

Get that?

“I AM THE DOOR!”

Today I have a question.

Which way are you walking?

Through which of the two doors have you entered?

The door to Life?

Or the door to death?

Listen to Jesus again, on this subject: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13-14, from the Sermon on the Mount.

By the way, when God invited lost mankind to enter the Ark, via that door … He specifically said: “Thou shalt COME into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” Genesis 6:18

God did not say “GO into the Ark!” Rather, “COME into the Ark!”

Point being … GOD WAS ALREADY IN THE BOAT!

We go “through” Jesus, theologically “into” Jesus … the Door … to be saved!!!

Question today?

Are you IN?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

One more Verse: “Therefore if any man be IN Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” See that word “IN?”

I am so thankful someone pointed me to the right Door!

 

If these daily Lessons are helpful, text me occasionally and let me know. Phone number, 770-844-7627. I enjoy hearing from you our readers.

 

 

I saw this book “tree” earlier this week in Nashville, Tennessee, at a used book outlet. It brought to my mind an idea I’ve suggested to many through the years. It may or may not be practical to you …

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Paul long ago wrote to young Timothy: “The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, BRING with thee, and THE BOOKS, but especially the parchments.” Some of the last words the venerable old man of God ever wrote, far as we know. 2 Timothy 4:13, “BRING THE BOOKS!”

He loved books, Paul did.

He used them throughout his life, being a man of letters. His own words of testimony, Acts 22:3. “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city AT THE FEET OF GAMALIEL, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God.” To “sit at someone’s feet” in Paul’s day meant to study under their tutelage. Such an education would have demanded, necessitated books.

For some reason Paul (in our Text Verse) needed to do some reading, studying … books from his “library!”

I have often hoped Timothy arrived with them “in time,” while Paul was still alive.

My suggestion today …

Since nearly every Preacher “needs” books, “uses” books in his study of the Word of God, regularly and diligently … and since we are at the first of a new year, a time for “resolutions” … someone could help your Church begin a “book fund” for the Pastor!

Allow a set amount each month ($25.00 or $50.00 or up) to be used exclusively to purchase new study material for the man who weekly “feeds” you the Truth of Scripture. Make it part of the Church budget!

And let the books be HIS, not merely part of a Church library.

What a delightful way to tell a Preacher, “We love you and appreciate your ministry.”

And if it’s not feasible for the Church to help every month (budgetary reasons, political reasons, whatever) consider doing it yourself … for the Pastor. The amount might have to be less … maybe a book a month … but still you would be adding to his repertoire of resource information.

Just an idea.

Any Preacher could give you a list of books on his “need to buy” list.

And guess who the ultimate beneficiary will be, due to your generosity?

Yes, the man of God will grow … but yes, you will too!

Psalm 119 (all 176 verses) is dedicated to the Word of God. Teaching us the innumerable benefits of studying that precious Volume. Anything that helps do this … likely will be blessed of the Lord!

I pray someone follows my suggestion!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I was traveling from Chattanooga to Indianapolis last Fall, flying. United Airlines has begun a new non-stop route between our City and Chicago, enabling an easy connection back down to Indianapolis.

However, weather played a role in those well-laid plans! Instead of landing in Chicago, avoiding thunderstorms can apparently make a plane run low on fuel, we were diverted to Dayton, Ohio. To fill those tanks again!

You know, the Dayton that was home to two Brothers, the Wrights. Wilbur and Orville, by name. And LOOK at the name of the company with whom United has a fuel contract in Dayton … “Wright Brothers Aero!”

Today’s Lesson …

I may be strange, but my belief system works in several different ways. Maybe even negatively, sometimes. I KNOW there is a God because of the presence of evil, of the devil, in this world. If the Bible is right about Satan … it is right about God as well.

That kind of strange!

What’s all this got to do with a fuel truck, the Wright Brothers, and flying?

The very fact that those boys “discovered” (not invented) the aeronautical ideas of “lift” and “drag” and “propulsion” and wing shapes and rudder controls (all of which they learned by watching “birds” fly in the air) … proves TO ME that there is a God Who built such “laws” into His world!

Yes, every time I board a plane and am lifted into the air … I worship the God Who “created the heaven and the earth!”

Genesis 1:20 ministered to my soul just this morning. “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and FOWL THAT MAY FLY above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”

Wow!

Yesterday as I drove home from a Revival in Kentucky I listened (for a while) to the Air Traffic Controllers in Nashville. As they directed dozens of flights approaching their airport. Man having discovered God’s intelligent design!

By the way, if that line of reasoning works for you … it’s possible to worship the Lord during a thunderstorm!

Or when seeing a falling star, a meteor!

Or drinking water; one hydrogen atom and two oxygen atoms, two explosive gases quenching my thirst! Extinguishing fires, too! Only God can do such!

And I’ll not take the time to tell you how I feel when I see the Ocean, or visit the Mountains!

God’s WORKS testify to God’s Existence, Power and Glory!

Amen.

All this from seeing a fuel truck out a little airplane window.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Now YOU go and look for God today in your life. His Footprints and Fingerprints are everywhere. We just need a little practice observing them.

 

 

This week, Tuesday, I drove from my motel in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to a little city called Williamsport, still in Kentucky. Where there has been accurately built a replica of the Ark, Noah’s Ark of the Book of Genesis. I was overwhelmed in several ways. The sheer size of the Boat being one of them.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Remembering that a “cubit” in Scripture is about 18 inches in length, read with me Genesis 6:15, God’s specifications to Noah regarding the dimensions of the Ark. “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.”

Wow!

Three hundred cubits long (300) translates into 450 feet! A football field is only 300 feet long, folks. This is a floating giant!

Fifty cubits wide (50) equals 75 feet!

And a height of thirty cubits, which calculates as 45 feet … 8 stories tall we might say. The picture above might help put this into some perspective.

A BIG ship!

A world-wide Flood!

Therefore I am today proclaiming a … BIG GOD!

A God big enough to destroy a wicked earth, death to all its inhabitants but 8 people.

A God big enough to offer Grace to those 8 people, Genesis 6:8. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Obviously he had reared his family to follow the Lord as well.

A God big enough to re-people the earth via Noah’s 3 sons; Ham and Shem and Japheth.

What I’m really trying to say today is this …

A GOD BIG ENOUGHT (THEN) TO HANDLE ALL OUR PROBLEMS!

To meet our every need!

To answer our prayers!

To be able to promise and fulfill: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3, where “great and might” mean BIG!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Here’s my text number, 770-844-7627. Someone evaluate the Lesson today!