The picture was taken recently when I was in Revival in Indiana, not far from Indianapolis. We (early Wednesday morning of that week) drove to the Creation Museum, not far from Cincinnati, Ohio. What a learning experience! There, among dozens if not hundreds of subjects, I was captivated by Noah!

Today’s Bible Study Lesson …

In fact, the Lord is leading me to preach a week (somewhere soon perhaps) on the Flood! Which will include the Ark, the fact of sin, and the man whose photo (a life-sized figure, dressed as men of that time would have been) I’ve included above! Yes, the godly man Noah.

We often think of him as a carpenter par excellence, a builder.

But Peter calls him a “preacher of righteousness.” (See Second Peter 2:5 for proof.)

The Flood …

Because of world-wide sin!

Finally God’s patience was exhausted!

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I WILL DESTROY man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7

But …

(Here used as one of the greatest conjunctions in the Bible … but!)

“BUT … Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:8

Grace, what a theme!

It’s Hebrew parent, “chen,” is translated “favour” 26 times in the King James Bible. Then “pleasant” once. And once again “precious!” In God’s eyes!

Wow, apart from that Grace … Noah would have been destroyed like all the rest of humanity! When I was a teenager our Preachers defined Grace as “God’s unmerited favor!”

Undeserved, but given anyway!

Praise the Lord.

I, too, have found GRACE in God’s eyes.

Jesus died for me!

For you as well, dear reader of these lines.

I am a recipient of God’s GRACE and have been saved, washed in the Blood of Jesus! “For by GRACE are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

I have a feeling we shall talk about GRACE for all of eternity!

Oh, how we should thank God for His Grace!

In fact, the Greek word for giving thanks includes the very noun “grace” at its root!

I trusted the Blood of Jesus.

And God, in Grace, saved me!

Just as well say, Mike Bagwell found grace in the eyes of the Lord!

You have too!

As did Noah long ago.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

We were in North Carolina, the City of Lincolnton. Our Revival did not being until the following morning. I had driven into Hickory to get some ink for our printer. On the way back to the motel, I saw this sunset! I pulled into a Church parking area, used my cellphone camera, and this is what I got. Well, I edited it just a bit.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

The sun setting in the Church’s back yard, or so it looks! It’s a parable, this picture. Books have been written in the last few years that predict this very thing. That for old fashioned Bible believing Churches … it’s day’s end!

They’ve run their course, are dwindling in size, in a slow state of dying!

I specifically know the name of one book, one atheistic author, who believes he will live to see “the end of faith” in the United States of America!

Others have said that within 50 years … Churches (for the most part) will no longer exist! Darkness is coming … for Christianity, actually for all religions in their estimation.

But Jesus said that He would build the real Church, His Church!

And that nothing would prevail against it!

The Text for such a belief is Matthew 16:15-18.

“Then He (Jesus) saith unto them (the Disciples), But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock … I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.

What rock?

Surely not Peter!

But … upon the ROCK of the statement Peter had just made to our Lord: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Oh, yes … that’s Who Jesus was! Still is! Always will be!

JESUS IS GOD!

And that’s the Cornerstone (the Rock) on which Salvation is based. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I love those words!

Upon that absolute Truth Christ has built His Church, still is doing so!

And NO … Church life is not languishing.

She is not dying, the Church, that body of Blood-washed believers.

Then … what does her future appear to be?

Sounds secure! “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The verb “prevail” is “katischuo,” a blend of “kata” and “ischuo.” HELL WILL NEVER BE STRONGER THAN THE CHURCH!

SATAN WILL NEVER OUT-POWER, OVERCOME, OR CONQUER THE REDEEMED!

Folks, it isn’t sunset for the people of God, for the local (genuine, truly saved) Churches of earth … not by any stretch of the imagination.

Fact is, FAITH in Jesus will prevail … for all eternity!

Did I tell you yet?

One of the New Testament’s lovely terms for the redeemed (the Church) is “the Bride of Christ!” And (instead of fading into the sunset) we find the Church (the Bride) quite active in the very last chapter of the Bible! Revelation chapter 22 … where she’s still in existence and still inviting men and women to be “saved!”

“And the Spirit and the BRIDE say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:20

Sunset?

Hardly!

Are you saved?

If not, do you want to be?

Is there any interest in your heart?

If so, there are multiple Churches whose vey reason for existence is helping you meet Jesus, through faith in the Death, the Blood, He shed on Calvary!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Text me occasionally if the Lesson is a blessing to you.

My number … 770-844-7628.

 

Driving to and from the Revival Meeting this week has necessitated using US Highway 431, an interesting thoroughfare! The roadway begins in Kentucky (Owensboro) and ends in Alabama (Dothan), having spanned a distance of 556 miles. As you can  tell, it’s general trajectory is north to south.

This route has recently been named one of the “most dangerous” roads in the world! So says the World Heath Organization anyway! And it’s been nicknamed “Highway to Hell” by many!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

I, too, am traveling a “highway.”

Not literally now, spiritually.

But the route I’ve chosen is not the highway to hell.

Isaiah called my road the “highway of holiness!” See Isaiah 35:8 for specifics.

In fact, the road I’m pursuing is a Person! (Yes, Jesus actually said … “I AM THE WAY.” John 14:6)

The journey of which I am speaking is further described by our Lord: “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

By the way, friend, which road are you traveling?

Proverbs 14:12 reminds us: “There is a WAY which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Wow!

Paul a few times even called Christianity “the way.” See Acts 19:9 and 19:23 and 24:22, as examples.

One more bit of good news … the path of which I speak, the road to Heaven, is a “free way!”

God has made salvation a Gift … through the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does anyone today need to “change” roads?

Just tell Jesus!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, one more verse … “The HIGHWAY of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.” Proverbs 16:17

 

 

We often stay at Holiday Inn. Clean rooms, fair price, other reasons too. I made this photo last Saturday in front our motel in Conyers, Georgia. Preaching a sweet Revival in the nearby City of Between, Georgia. Early this morning the name of that motel chain impressed me as never before … in the light of Christmas anyway! Holiday INN, it’s called!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Mary, Joseph too, had traveled over 90 miles, by donkey we presume. From Nazareth to Bethlehem,  a situation requiring more than one overnight stay! Did I mention … Mary was “with child?” Ready to be delivered.

Then Luke tells us, while “out of town” … “She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was NO ROOM for them in the INN.” Luke 2:4, amazing, “no room in the inn!”

But, wait a minute! Was not Joseph’s family from Bethlehem? Is that not why he had to go there to be “taxed,” counted or registered? He was of “the house and lineage of David,” whose “kin” lived in the Bethlehem area, at least based on reading Luke 2:4.

I have a question. If relatives of Joseph resided in Bethlehem, why did he and Mary even need to get a room in an “inn?” (Not the Holiday Inn, either. “Inns” back then were often less than clean … and possibly even dangerous places to lay one’s head!)

I also have a (possible) answer. MAYBE Joseph’s family and Mary’s family did not (yet) believe the couple’s account of what had happened. Of an angel coming! Of God conceiving a baby … in Mary’s body! Perhaps they did not approve of these two running around together NOT yet being married!

Maybe this couple was NOT welcome in any of the relatives’ homes … because there appeared to be a “taint” over their very relationship, over Mary’s pregnancy!

Anyway, “there was NO ROOM for them in the INN.”

But, praise God, THERE IS ROOM in the heart of God, of the Lord Jesus, for sinners!

No room for Him, when He was born!

But lots of room IN HIM, as the Saviour of the world!

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus gave this invitation, Matthew 11:30. Sure sounds like there is room!

Also, “He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Jesus again, John 6:37, what a promise!

Even in the Bible’s last Book, Revelation, there is yet room! “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17

The song writer worded it this way …

There’s room at the cross for you
There’s room at the cross for you
Though millions have come
There’s still room for one
Yes, there’s room at the cross for you.

Praise the Lord!

No room FOR Him, two thousand years ago.

Unlimited room IN Him, even this very minute!

What a Saviour!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I love the way some of you share your thoughts about the Lessons. Or just let me know you study with us from time to time. Text me at 770-844-7627. I always enjoy hearing from our readers, our friends.

 

 

Last week we mailed our monthly Newsletters … from Michigan where I was preaching in Revival. The little city from which I “posted” them was Grant, not far from lake Michigan.

One of the first times a postman is  mentioned in Scripture is Jeremiah 51:31 where God is announcing the doom of the wicked city of Babylon. “One POST shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end.” The Hebrew noun “post” here actually means a “runner!”

But Job (in the Old Testament Book bearing his name) earlier used the same thought, the speed of the mail! Job in his great suffering lamented: “Now my days are swifter than a POST: they flee away, they see no good.” Job 9:25, not long to live, he thought.

One reason I love the monthly mailings we do is that it always includes a new CD Sermon I’ve recently preached. Currently a discussion of over a dozen key Christmas Verses, about the Birth of Jesus. Our “letters” carry a spiritual emphasis, always.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

The post office pictured above really got me to thinking (while still in bed earlier this morning) about the New Testament word “epistle.” Generally defined as a “letter.”

The New Testament is “full” of such letters, you know. Epistles, 21 of them in all. Some are called “Pauline” (named after their author) and the others loosely termed “General Epistles.”

A letter from Paul, how exciting that would have been!

“Epistle” has a Greek etymology, definition. From “epi” (a preposition meaning “to”) and “stello” (a verb meaning “to set in order, to arrange”). Words directed “to” a person (or group) with the goal of “setting them straight” about a matter!

Yes, that’s the true definition of “epistle.”

A letter all right, but an “official” letter. The 21 New Testament letters have the powerful sanction (approval) of Almighty God! In fact, He is the True Author, these little Documents being Holy Spirit inspired! Without error, in other words!

I have an idea.

In the next few days or weeks or even months … study the Epistles!

Survey Paul’s 14 little Jewels! Romans through Hebrews, let’s say.

Or look at the 7 Epistles written by men other than Paul. Namely, John and Peter and James and Jude.

Vast volumes of information have been written to help you study these books collectively, or one by one.

Well, I must close this Monday morning.

Having shared a quick thought inspired by a Post Office!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell