I heard this young man preach last night, just prior to my Sermon from James chapter 4. The Text he used was amazing, from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs. By the way, his name, Pastor Josh Williams.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Proverbs 24:10, the Text I just mentioned, announces: “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” Short, but powerful!

Brother Josh of course defined and expounded each word in the Verse. Then he began to give illustrations of NOT fainting through the years.

He thought of Adam and Noah and Abraham … down to New Testament days, Paul the Apostle and of course, Jesus our Saviour!

Those who “did not grow weary in well doing,” quoting Galatians 6:9.

Then he mentioned some things I had forgotten.

Josh is the Grandson of a dear Pastor for whom I have preached many a Revival Meeting. Brother Cecil Williams pastored the Calvary Baptist Church in Tunnel Hill, Georgia for many years. And I suspect I had the honor of preaching for him there fifteen (at least) if not twenty (more than likely) of those years!

Oh, how I want to have a testimony of being “faithful” to my Lord!

My life verse, always the one I use when signing Bibles or writing letters, is 1st Corinthians 15:58. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” What a challenge this verse gives us all!

I noted a minute ago that Brother Josh emphasized the fact that Jesus did not faint …

As in … “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.” Hebrews 3:1-2, Jesus never fainted, never quit!

Again Jesus, as in … “Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Hebrews 12:3-4 sounds like Jesus is our EXAMPLE when it comes to not fainting!

Oh, now I am thinking of what Job moaned: “Though He (the Lord) slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Job never fainted, in that sense.

The “point” of today’s little meditation … let’s ask the Lord to help us stand true, not falter, in these days ahead! Remember, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Yesterday, while in Tennessee in a Revival Meeting, I drove to the little city of Crossville. I was preparing (gathering materials) for research on several new sermons. Dozens of them I hope! As I went into town I saw this river! Named “Obed!” My mind (as would yours too) immediately flashed to the Book of Ruth! And little Obed who was born of Boaz and Ruth and became a progenitor of Christ Jesus our Lord!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Yes, a road “sign” brought 4 chapters of the Word of God to my palate for delicious meditation! I actually have felt for some time that God might be leading me to preach a series of sermons from the Book of Ruth. It is filled with beautiful history … and typology … clearly pointing to Jesus! The whole Narrative there ends with the birth of that baby, little Obed! “And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.” Ruth 4:17 (In Hebrew “Obed” means “serving!”)

Then I recalled a Preacher friend I had years ago. He’s no doubt in Heaven now. (Pastor Roy Mallard by name.) He constantly used little “memory prompts” like the sign I’ve pictured above.

When he bought gasoline at a “Gulf” station, he witnessed to someone there about the “great GULF fixed” between Heaven and Hell!

And back when “Phillips 66” stations existed, Brother Roy always told someone nearby about the Bible, God’s Word, with its “66” Books!

And so forth.

All I’m saying today is that one can condition his or her mind, our very thinking processes, to “associate” everyday events and sights and experiences … with the things of God!

Every sunrise, for example.

The other day we met someone named “Hadassah!” (Esther’s other name in the Bible!)

And a little girl named “Anastasia,” the very Greek noun for “resurrection!”

Such reminders are everywhere!

In Psalm 10:4 the Holy Spirit (through the Psalmist) indicted (blamed) the “wicked” … because “God is not in all his thoughts.” Think of that, even for the unrighteous! God expects to be in ALL one’s thoughts!

Lesson’s over!

I want my eyes peeled today to look for things … spiritually oriented!

Think about it!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Saturday morning in Alabama, after having preached Friday night in a nearby Church, the wind woke me … with a vengeance! It sounded like a storm approaching! But alas, not a drop fell from the sky!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

The area where we live, north Georgia, is dry!

Draught conditions prevail.

Forest fires, parched lawns, reservoirs down, it’s getting dangerous. Daily the news informs us of new water restrictions, with no relief in sight.

And yet our verse for today describes a great God … “Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields.” Job 5:10

Yes, I believe what the satellite images are showing. No clouds or no moisture, whatever. And I’ve heard of weather “fronts,” and high and low pressure areas. But I still believe … God sends the rain!

Granted, we may have discovered the “tools” God uses to control the weather … the meteorological patterns of the planet. Really, we even talk about “space weather” now as well!

BUT IT’S STILL ALMIGHTY GOD WHO IS THE TRUE RAINMAKER!

Driving home Saturday morning a few drops of water finally tried to fall on the car … but nothing measurable. I didn’t  even have to use the windshield wipers!

Recently Churches have begun special prayer meetings (again, where we live) … crying to the Lord for rain. He is certainly the only Source!

And no doubt, I believe, the rain will come … in God’s time. Perhaps in direct answer to prayer. Perhaps because the “dry season” God has allowed will have finally run its course. Perhaps because of another reason, or a dozen other blended reasons!

But today … I am also interested in another kind of draught.

The spiritual dryness that permeates our world.

Christendom has largely become, as prophesied by Jesus, an arid wasteland.

Only a believing remnant keep true faith alive.

Here’s spiritual draught verbalized, again by Jesus. “Thou (to one of the churches of Asia Minor) sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art WRETCHED, and MISERABLE, and POOR, and BLIND, and NAKED.” That’s what happens when there’s no rain! No moistening (or soaking) Presence of the Holy Spirit!

Dry Christianity, the very term should be a paradox really.

Furthermore, when speaking of a great future Revival (probably Millennial in nature), God promises … “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and HE SHALL COME TO US AS THE RAIN, as the LATTER AND FORMER RAIN unto the earth.” Hosea 6:3

Then, the (spiritual) draught will be broken!

Which is worse?

Literal or spiritual parchedness?

Oh Lord, send the rain!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I made this snapshot last week, the day Debbie and I drove to the Gulf Coast (less than an hour from the Revival where I was preaching) for our “anniversary meal.” She just HAD to slide down the chute, laughing all the way!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Solomon taught us, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, that … “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

The adjective “merry” here is the Hebrew word “sameach,” meaning “glad, rejoicing,” almost “glowing within!” And the noun “medicine” is “gehah,” the Hebrew word for “healing,” or “cure.”

Yes, I know the Book of Ecclesiastes (by this same Solomon) says: “There is a time to weep.” But then immediately (same verse in fact) it’s also said … “There is a time to laugh!” See Ecclesiastes 3:4.

So I am back to my lead thought!

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” Proverbs 15:13, see my Wife’s countenance! In fact, she smiles a lot!

Later in Proverbs 15 (verse 15, its second half) Solomon quips: “He (or she) that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” Wow, where the noun “feast” means “banquet!”

I suppose that to some extent, even today, we who are Believers in Jesus … have a choice. We can look at the day with lifeless abandon, even drudgery. Or we can decide, like the Psalmist … “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we WILL REJOICE and BE GLAD in it.” Psalm 118:24, “we will” is a subject-verb unit indicating volition, determination even!

Joyfulness … the logical outcome for one who is “saved” by the Grace of God!

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I enjoyed the “texts” yesterday about the Lesson.

And I’d love to hear from a few of you again today, 770-844-7627.

Be HAPPY in Jesus!

 

This is a retired United States Air Force (really Central Intelligence Agency) “spy-plane,” known as the SR-71. It was used for reconnaissance work for years, “looking in” on the enemies of our nation. Built by the Lockheed Corporation, the thing could fly at Mach 3, around 2,000 miles per hour!

Today’s Lesson …

This photo, made last year in Huntsville, Alabama (as Debbie and I returned from a Revival Meeting) shows the sleek machine in black. It was sort of a forerunner of today’s “stealth” equipment.

All this primed my thoughts about “spies” in the Bible.

And the very idea of espionage. This is a French word for “spying,” that’s all.

If you remember in Numbers chapter 14 Moses dispatched some spies to view the Promised land. But only Joshua and Caleb felt the territory could realistically be conquered, even though God had said otherwise.

Then some years later Joshua sent spies to study the City of Jericho, where Rahab lived. “And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” Joshua 2:1

All the foregoing … spying for military purposes.

But there’s another aspect of spying, called introspection, I’d like to mention today.

Like “self-examination,” for starters.

One does not need a spy-plane for this, just a good conscience!

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 13:5, commands us: “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?” Searching one’s own validity as a Christian!

Paul again, concerning the Lord’s Supper this time: “But let a man EXAMINE himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” 1st Corinthians 11:28, important!

Both the New Testament texts above use verbs that imply “thorough” investigation, looking for any spurious matter within one’s heart. “Peirazo” and “dokimazo” to be specific.

Then again, here’s another type of “spying,” … allowing the Lord Himself to “check” our lives, helping us be more pure and holy. In fact, asking Him to do so!

Psalm 26:2 prays it best: “EXAMINE me, O LORD, and PROVE me; TRY my reins and my heart.” Pretty direct, plain, isn’t it? Still, looking for that which is genuine.

And Psalm 139:23-24 say (pray) essentially the same thing. “SEARCH me, O God, and know my heart: TRY me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Wow!

Just some thoughts this Friday I wanted to share. If you’d like to reciprocate, text me at 770-844-7627. “Living for Jesus,” what a noble goal.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell