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 out in the woods about 25 years ago, our family happened to take one of our very first walks down to the lake. On the way, we found an interesting tree that I had never seen before in my life. I broke a small branch off of the tree and looked closely at all of the needles. They were very soft and pliable, and when you squeezed them together in the palm of your hand, it was just like holding onto a koosh ball. Perhaps some of you might remember this toy, which was created back in 1986 by Scott Stillinger. It had around 2,000 soft rubber strands that were all connected in the middle to make a ball. Anyway, because I didn’t know what the tree was called, I nicknamed it the Koosh Ball Tree. Eventually a few years later, I finally learned that it was a Tamarack tree, which grow abundantly on our property. Because I had been raised in close proximity to balsam and red pine, I was shocked when all of the trees turned color and lost their needles before winter. I didn’t know what was going on, so I read a little bit more about them. This tree is a part of the larch family, and will completely change color in the fall before it drops all of its needles.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
I will never forget how shocked I was when I saw such such a huge change in all of our trees that year, but that is the same thing that can happen to a lot of us when we finally accept the Truth that is in Christ Jesus. Through the riches of His grace, God wants each of us to change, by shedding all of our dead needles of sinful works, so that we can begin to produce the brand new growth of goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Ephesians 5:8-10 (KJB) For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Every one of us has a past, and we have done wrong things even since our birth, but now as a Christian we are supposed to repent from sinful things and become a new creature in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners, but his life completely changed when he became a faithful and obedient follower of Christ Jesus. Scriptures teach us that we must prove what is acceptable unto the Lord, and when you prove something, you show by your actions that you are capable of completing the things that you have been commanded to do
For example, consider being at a job somewhere and your employer gives you a list of items to get finished during the day. You prove that you are a faithful employee by completing all of the tasks that he gave you to do. Because of your faithfulness, it can result in a wage increase and even elevation in the company. This is just common sense that if you are faithful and obedient, you are going to get rewarded. God likewise is a rewarder of people who serve and obey Him. His rewards are endless and He can fulfill all the desires of your heart.
Look at what he did in the life of Solomon who desired the wisdom of God more than anything in the world. Because of that attitude God rewarded him with Honor and riches beyond compare. So you see, God even rewards people financially, (for those who reject the notion of financial prosperity granted by God). Those who do the will of God from the heart are going to be blessed by God, but before any blessings happen in your life, repentance must happen first. Repentance is so important in the Christian faith that without it, everything else won’t really matter. What I mean by that is people can be filled up with all kinds of good works and deeds but if they never truly repent of iniquity, they are never going to inherit eternal life. Jesus taught that in the following passage.
Matthew 7:21-23 (KJB) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Like I said, I grew up near a lot of balsam trees when I was young, but balsam trees never change, because they are always green and keep their needles in the winter. This is the same way that many people are deep down inside of their hearts. They never really go through the transformation that is required in order to get to heaven. John the Baptist rebuked many of the religious leaders of his day because of their impenitent hearts, but the same people are sitting in false churches today. Because of their refusal to repent from dead works and humbly submit themselves to the will of God, they will remain in the congregation of the dead
Proverbs 21:16 (KJB) The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.
One of the greatest things that you can understand in the Christian Life is that you need to repent of your sins, because if people don’t understand that, they are certainly going to perish.
Luke 13:2-5 (KJB) And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?.I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?.I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
The life of the Apostle Paul is an example to all of us of repentance from dead works, because all of the things that he did after he became a Christian sprang forth from a sincere, penitent and contrite heart. He was no longer living the way that he used to in the past but had undergone a complete change. I was shocked to see my tamarack trees change color, but the Apostle Paul shocked a lot of people too when they saw what happened in his life when he had faith in Christ Jesus. He did a complete 180 in his life, by turning away from the works of darkness in order to walk in the light.
Because of what he went through, he understood what needed to happen in people’s lives in order to be saved eternally, and he preached that men must repent and bring good fruit unto God.
Acts 26:19-20 (KJB) Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Each of us must get rid of all of the the dead needles of sin in our lives, and the person that we once were must fade away and come to an end. Don’t be deceived, because in order to get to heaven, all of us are going to have to change, by shedding all of our dead works, just like,…..
…….The Koosh Ball Tree
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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