Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When I first moved my family out to our small cabin in the woods, there was a year that I wanted to save our trees rather than cut them down for firewood. A lot of them were old growth, providing us with both scenery and shade for our home. So instead of splitting wood, I decided we’d walk around our property and start picking up sticks that were on the ground. In fact, that’s all we burned for one entire winter in our wood cook stove. Some of them were small but others were up to 4 inches inches in diameter, and because we have so many trees, we had a huge supply of them. Some people might be shocked, but they kept us warm and toasty throughout that cold winter. They were very easy to find underneath the tamarack trees, as we tied them up in bundles and carried them home. These branches that had once served a purpose when they were connected to the tree, eventually had broken away from their source of life. The only thing they were usable for at that point, was to be cast into the fire of our wood stove.
This reminds me of the Christian life.
In order to have a fruitful life, one must continue each day in the teachings of Christ, striving diligently to lovingly serve and obey Him. There will be those who simply won’t abide in God’s will. Although they may claim to be Christian, their disobedient works deny Christ. Like a broken branch they fall away from submission to biblical truth, only to be gathered up and eventually cast into the oven.
John 15:5-6 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
To abide in Christ ultimately comes down to obedience to His purpose. It means to comply and to obey His commands by conforming our lives to His teachings. Those who refuse to come into compliance with biblical truth are not abiding in Christ. It’s incredible to think that someone would refer to themselves as His disciple while they openly reject His Word. If they won’t lovingly submit to the one who died for them on the cross, it doesn’t matter how many times they go to church. It doesn’t matter how many religious things they may do. It doesn’t matter how much they give to the poor. It doesn’t matter if they carry a Bible in their pocket. If their life won’t manifest obedience to the will of God, then they are certainly not followers of Christ. They are followers of the God of this world.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Abiding in Christ is to accept His purpose and act in accordance with His commands. Many people only want to obey what they want to and then reject the rest, but if you did that at a job somewhere your boss would fire you. Open disobedience to the will of God is called rebellion, and is the proof that you don’t truly love Him. It only shows that you don’t care about Him enough to do what He says. To abide in Christ is to keep His commands.
John 14:21, 23-24 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
There will be those, who like a broken branch, break away from the true faith.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
If you truly abide in Christ you will take great heed to walk in the doctrines of Christ.
1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
To keep God’s Word is to obey God’s Word.
John 14:23-24 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Keeping God’s word means to abide in the truth. It means to be a doer of God’s will. Many people quickly claim to believe in Jesus, but to make that claim without obedience is complete vanity. In that state they are not a doer of the faith, they are a denier of the faith. This is why the disciples warned the church repetitively about submission and obedience to the truth. If this doesn’t result in one’s life, then they are only believing a lie. Remaining in that state will result in eternal punishment. This is why there is such a desperate need to convert people to the truth because if they hear you, you will save their souls from multitudes of sin and from the fires of damnation. Make no mistake, Christianity is more than just a confession with your mouth it is a conviction of your heart. True faith results in submitting to God’s purpose, otherwise there’s no faith there at all.
If repentance and obedience to Christ doesn’t happen; if they turn away their ears from the truth, then you know that their end is near.
The unquenchable fire is being kindled, and the time has come, to rise up, take a walk out into the woods, and begin to….
….. Pick Up Sticks
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 