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

 

I was preaching in Roanoke, Virginia. The theme for the whole Meeting was “the Blood of Jesus!” The Lord laid Hebrews chapter 9 on my heart, as a Bible Text for my sermons. The picture shows the choir singing about the Blood … just before I spoke.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

First John 1:7 proclaims: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST GOD’S SON CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN.”

This important verse is clearly written to Christians. Actually, only to Christians.

The group to whom John (the author seems to have been John the Disciple, as a much older man) was writing includes himself. “If WE walk in the light ….” Therefore he is addressing fellow saints in the Lord. This is an important distinction. (Unbelievers cannot walk in the light, by the way!)

So … we are about to learn a ministry of the powerful Blood of Jesus that is applicable singularly to the Christian man or woman.

“In the light” is a prepositional phrase meaning “in agreement with.” The pronoun “he” is Jesus, the Son of God. And the noun “fellowship” is “koinonia,” meaning “things in common, things shared with another.”

Looks like we have light only because Jesus IS Light! (Listen to the Psalmist, talking to God … “For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy Light shall we see light.” Psalm 36:9, in God’s LIGHT we have our light!) “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light …”

The “if” (in Greek “ean”) is conditional. Some professing Christians do and others (apparently) don’t … walk in fellowship with Jesus! Not one of us does as he should, too often we “err” from that sweet harmony!

But if we do … “we have fellowship one with another.” What a blessed privilege! There’s a progression here. We love and commune with each other as Christians … only because we have first loved and communed with the Lord Jesus!

Wow!

The expression “one with another” is “meta allelon.” Meaning “in the company of others of like faith!” Not others radically different in essence! Like Paul asked in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness?”

So far, so good … but things now even get better!

The theme of the Conference where I was preaching … “and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” This refers to the LITERAL Blood of Jesus, no doubt. (John loves the term “washed” in the Blood. See both Revelation 1:5 and Revelation 7:14 for examples.)

But when John  speaks of being WASHED in the Blood, both times, he uses a PAST tense verb, “aorist” in Greek, action completed. We were washed the very second we were saved … an act of the Grace of God based on faith in His darling Son.

But here in 1st John 1:7 the verb (surprisingly) is present tense! “and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son CLEANSETH us from all sin.”

Yes, I carefully checked! “Cleanseth” (in Greek the verb “katharizo”) is present tense, for certain!

Now … we are not merely (though gloriously) talking about past forgiveness … but constant, ongoing, durative, habitual, daily (hourly) cleansing!

Being cleansed … moment by moment!

Every second I live as a child of God … walking in His light, loving my brethren in Christ … I am being perpetually cleansed by that Blood, the Blood of Almighty God’s son Jesus!

Wow, what a truth!

My friends, consciously live today in that knowledge, that assurance.

Purified … moment by moment.

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If this Lesson is too long, or not clearly explained, our Text Verse … let me know. On the other hand, if it’s a blessing, let me know that too. Your responses are always so encouraging! Text me at 770-844-7627.

We had stopped to eat a meal, along the Mississippi River, while driving back from a Revival Meeting in Louisiana. The quaint little restaurant actually sat by the riverside, just across the street anyway. As we left, I noticed the scene pictured above. Just a little “tugboat,” but what a message it conveyed to me early this morning!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

Paul actually did mention the spiritual gift of “helps,” when writing the Corinthians. God the Holy Spirit has specially equipped some Believers to serve others!

He says again in Romans 12, still discussing the “gifts” of the Holy Ghost, some have the “gift” of “ministering!”

And in 1st Corinthians 16:15 Paul introduces us to: The house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, who have addicted themselves to the ministry (serving) of the saints.” Wow!

“Helping” other Christians, in any way possible!

(I realize we ALL are to “serve one another. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but BY LOVE SERVE ONE ANOTHER.” Galatians 5:13 says so. But I am additionally saying some among us are gifted to serve, as a motivation for all they do for Jesus!)

So Elisha served Elijah! “Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which POURED WATER ON THE HANDS of Elijah.” 2nd Kings 3:11, menial work indeed, but recorded in the Bible!

Certainly Timothy served Paul.

And Jonathan served David.

Dorcas served her whole church family! With her hands and a needle and thread, a seamstress! “Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the COATS AND GARMENTS which Dorcas made, while she was with them.” Acts 9:39

The point I’m making today … just like that little tugboat in my picture exists “to serve” … pulling and pushing and whatever else is needed … to get his load to port or market or the coast … so we ought to constantly be willing … to place ourselves at the disposal of other brothers and sisters in Christ!

Remember what was said of Mary, Martha’s Sister … “She hath done what she could.” Mark 14:8, when she anointed Jesus’ Body, He said, for burial!

And friend, if you get your delight as a Christian SERVING OTHERS, you might want to consider framing such a picture as this, something that exists to HELP, for inspiration!

I too, want to SERVE the Body of Christ!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

By the way, the Greek word for “deacon,” spelled “diakonos,” means “one who serves!”

If today’s Lesson makes sense, someone let me know. My text number is 770-844-7627. I hear from at least one or two of you every day! And I love it.

 

A missionary once gave us a plaque. It read, “Bloom where you are planted!” I kept that little saying in a corner of my study for years and years! The picture above says that as well, to my mind anyway. Corn, growing in an odd place. At a shopping center!

Last Summer, near a bookstore I often visit (just off Interstate 85 northeast of Atlanta), we saw this unusual sight. I mean corn was growing, as well as squash and other vegetables, in every conceivable place! Making the BEST of wherever it found itself!

Today’s Bible Lesson …

James 5:17 relates an event from the life of Elijah. “And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” The earth, rain, fruit! (To a small degree, that’s what’s happening in the picture from the mall.)

Now, what about you and me?

It is so easy to say, “I shall bear fruit … after we move.”

Or “after I graduate.”

Or “after the baby is born.”

Or “when I finally reach the mission field.”

Or simply … “later!”

But Scripture urges us to be (via the Power of the Holy Spirit) fruit bearers NOW!

WHEREVER we are.

Joseph bore fruit in Potiphar’s house.

Job in the slough of hardship.

Jeremiah in the face of persecution.

Hosea in the face of rejection.

Paul seemingly “in every circumstance.”

And Jesus … the Supreme Fruit Bearer … even from “Calvary!”

What kind of fruit?

Maybe souls won to Jesus.

Maybe godly character in one’s life.

Jesus said the following, in His Sermon on the Mount. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:16

Is someone today living in an awkward situation?

Under adverse circumstances?

Then, with earnestness, I advise you to … “Be not weary in well doing: for in due season you shall reap, if you faint not.” Galatians 6:9, no matter where you are.

This may not be the best Bible meditation I’ve ever written, but it certainly speaks to our hearts in this sense: “Redeem the time!” There is only a short “season” in which to bear fruit, Psalm 1:3! And indeed “the time of the harvest” may be short, Jeremiah 8:20!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Speaking of fruit: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” So said Solomon in Proverbs 11:30. This can be done … no matter where!

 

 

I made this picture a year ago at least. In Little Rock, Arkansas, while in that area preaching a Revival. It’s a shepherdess, obviously sculpted, with part of her flock. This is a metaphor the Bible uses time and times again. Let me show you what I mean.

Today’s Bible Lesson …

For example, Isaiah 40:11 says of our Lord: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” How tender!

And the best known of all the Psalms. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” Psalm 23:1-2

New Testament too. Where Jesus is the Good Shepherd. (“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”) Found in John 10:11, and said by Jesus of Himself!

Where Jesus is also the Great Shepherd. (“The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”) Said by the Holy Spirit, of Jesus, in Hebrews 13:20.

Where Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. (“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”) Preached by Simon Peter, in his first Epistle, a man who certainly knew our Lord as Shepherd!

In Luke 15, the great Parable there, a shepherd finds his lost lamb. (“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”) Luke 15:4-6, also spoken of Jesus undoubtedly! Then I am that once “little lost lamb” … now riding to Heaven, safely resting on the shoulders of the Son of God … my Shepherd!

May I tell you, discouraged reader this Wednesday morning, that Jesus CARES!

That He is WATCHING over your situation!

That He (well, I’ll just go back to the verse with which I started this little meditation), that Jesus will … “feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

What a joy, being in His flock!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Again, text me if this is somehow a special blessing to you. And if you know a distraught Believer, tell him or her about today’s lesson as well. Thanks, 770-844-7627.