I just read a sermon by an American Preacher named Clarence Macartney. Powerful, to say the least! (One of my heroes suggest that every Preacher read a Sermon a day, for devotional and educational and motivational purposes.)

Well, in that Message the Preacher shared his belief that PRAYER was that word. Prayer that touches the Heart of God! That moves the heart of God! (The God Who promises: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Quoting Jeremiah 33:3.)

Jesus taught two parables (the importunate neighbor and the unjust judge) illustrating that persistence in pleading (unrelenting prayer) gets results! The Jesus enacted one miracle toward that same end. The healing of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. After much persistence on the mother’s part!

The first specific (and detailed) prayer in Scripture involves Abrham praying for the sparing of the City of Sodom and its environs. From 50 all the way down to 10 … he kept asking!

Had that minimum number been found, Sodom might still be on the map yet today!

Prayer, powerful!

Maybe Dr. Macartney was right.

Friends, try this privilege yourself.

Pray … and see if God does not hear and answer.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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A Disciple of Jesus writes … “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to STIR YOU UP by putting you in remembrance.” 2nd Peter 1:14, King James Version.

The word “meet” as used here actually means that which is “righteous, just, proper or appropriate” in God’s Eyes.

And by “this tabernacle” Peter means as long as he is alive, inhabiting an earthly “body.”

And behind “remembrance” stands the idea of “repetition, review, a rehearing” of the great Truths of the Bible!

But now, what does the verb “stir up” imply?

Its Greek root, spelled “egeiro,” means “to arose, to wake up, to cause to rise” … plus here an added prefix, “dia,” a preposition meaning “through, by means of, for the sake of” … further empowering the verb!

“Being stirred up,” in an energetic way. Fervently so!

Peter does not want us to go to sleep, spiritually speaking.

And he planned, as long as he breathed, to repel laziness, slumber, carelessness from all our minds and hearts. Our bodies too, it sounds like!

Reader here today, are you “stirred up” to serve the Lord?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Admittedly, our Lesson title is a bit opinionated! Especially since the Gospels are sitting at the Head of the New Testament! Still, Colossians says some things about Jesus that are vital to our faith.

As I studied late last night, I read from a Book that summarizes Paul’s Presentation of Jesus in Colossians’ four relatively short chapters.

I share with you.

First, Jesus in His Relationship with God the Father!

For example, in Colossians 1:15 Jesus is the very “Image” of the “invisible God!” In ancient Greek culture, that would have been the equivalent of calling Jesus the very “Portrait” of God! (Jesus did say to His Disciple Philip one day … “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9)

Second, Jesus in His Relationship with the world!

Right off, in Colossians chapter 1, Paul declares about Jesus … “By Him were all things created.” He is the Creator of the world! Of “all things!” (More detail … “All things that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him.” Colossians 1:16)

Third, Jesus in His Relationship to any other so-called “means” of salvation!

There simply is no other way to God! There is no other God, in fact! Paul, tell us please … “In Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” ALL of God is in His Son! No “idol” is needed! No other “religion!” No other “Saviour!” See Colossians 2:9, quoted above.

Now dear readers, Bible students, that’s being Jesus-centered! Or, Christo-centric some call it. (And I have here barely scratched the surface!)

But WHY is Paul being so “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” in his writing to the Colossians?

Because certain Jesus denying heretics had tried to infiltrate the Church there in the Lycus Valley (where Colossae and Laodicea and Hierapolis were located. See Colossians 4:13, where these cities are mentioned by name.)

Men who did not believe Jesus was God. Or certainly did not accept Him as God in the flesh, with a human body!

Note … Paul did not choose to attack them negatively, listing all their false tenets or beliefs. HE JUST PRESENTED JESUS IN ALL HIS GLORY AND EXALTED PERSONHOOD!

And that’s the underlying reason why Colossians is so very, very “HIGH” on JESUS! And we, two thousand years later, are still reaping the benefits of Paul’s “High Christology!”

Paul even believes that Jesus is the Reason atoms and solar systems (from microscopically small to telescopically large) “hold together!” Read it, and believe it … “By Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:17, where “consist” literally means “to hold together!” Jesus is the Cohesive Power of the universe!

Wow!

And I know Him personally! You can as well …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I have often (and fairly recently) alluded to this verse of Scripture … “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” It’s located at Psalm 11:4.

The very word “fundamental,” which is dear to the hearts of many of us, hails from the Latin word “fundare,” meaning “to lay a foundation!”

The foundation of any building may well be considered its most important part!

Now, in a slight turn of emphasis, I want to talk about the Bible, God’s Holy Word. Its foundation Book is indisputably Genesis. The Book of creation! (Which I still believe God accomplished in six literal 24-hour days.)

But beware! The devil has the Bible’s very “foundation” Book under attack these days.

Here’s what I mean … the doctrine of creation, God’s miraculous act whereby He brought something out of nothing. That’s a foundation, the Bible’s first two chapters!

And yet … the devil is trying to destroy this very bedrock of Scripture!

So is he mocking the world-wide Flood of Noah’s day!

And even the reality of the Tower of Babel!

Each of which great miracles is (from the Latin, I hope you remember) “fundamental,” or if you prefer … “foundational” to our lives as Christians.

Yes, the foundations of the Bible are being corroded and weakened by that sly old fox Satan. Slowly at first, more rapidly now! 

And if (or when) America (or any other people) allows such to occur … blatant denial of creation, flood or tower … which in turn places all Scripture under suspicion … “destruction” may not be far away!

We need to remain “fundamentalists” in more ways than one!

If one (an enemy of Truth) can destroy credibility in God’s miraculous week of Creation, he will eventually (if not sequentially) destroy the Cross of Calvary! Demolishing its reality among us moderns.

And if that happens, what can anybody do?

Only God Himself will be able to solve that dilemma. Which He will indeed accomplish, by coming back to earth in strict judgment!

Yes, coming again … “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His Power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe …” Quoting here 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Our verse today is found at Romans 11:36. Here it is in our Bible, the King James Version … “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Needless to say, God Himself is the Subject of the verse, the Antecedent of those three pronouns! (The three “him” words.)

Of Him … all things come from God as Source! All good things anyway. (I do not believe God is the Author of sin.)

Through Him … noting touches me as a Believer, a Christian, but it has flowed through the mighty Hands of my God!

To Him … everything and everybody will ultimately bow down and worship the Lord God Almighty! Yes, all existence is flowing back to Him! He is the Goal of it all!

In Greek, “ek” (to Him) then “dia” (through Him) then “eis” (to Him), or as Paul words it in Colossians 1:17, speaking about Jesus as God the Son … “By him all things CONSIST.” All things “hold together!” Jesus is, in reality, the “glue” of the universe!

The Creator and the Culminator … as well as the Redeemer!

What a Saviour!

Dwell on (meditate and ponder and revere) that Great God today!

Glory to Him forever!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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