If someone has an apple tree and they cut a branch off and throw it onto the ground, how will it produce apples? Trees get their moisture and nutrients through the roots, and it carries through the entire tree, so if you separate a branch from the main trunk, it is separated from everything that sustains it and makes it grow. Cut off from nutrients and moisture, the branch will die.

It’s like if you covered a solar panel from the sun. A solar panel uses the sun to produce power, so cut it off from the sun and the panels don’t produce anything. They are “fruitless” so to speak, because they don’t produce any power.

Likewise, If we are separated from the Son, we cannot bear fruit. We need to abide in Him to bear fruit.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 

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.” John 15:1-5

If something is fruitful, it produces seeds that hopefully will grow up and someday bear fruit themselves as well. So when we as Christians abide in Christ, we can bear fruit by sowing those seeds of faith into people’s hearts. 

When a mature fruit falls off of a tree, it contains seeds that can be planted to produce even more fruit. There are a bunch of apple trees in town near where we live, and we were told that many of them are there because when people would eat the apples off of that one tree, they would throw the apple cores into the woods. Some over here, some over there. Years later, there are apple trees scattered throughout town. If those branches that bore those apples had been cut off, we wouldn’t have all of those other fruitful trees today.

We need to abide in Christ so that we can bear fruit for Him. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. For us to bear fruit, we have to continue to grow with Jesus day by day. Our purpose and goal as a Christian is to spread those seeds of faith.

Trees are probably a more common sight than vines, so let’s picture it like this. In a tree, what is the main, central part? The trunk. As you go farther up the tree, the tree starts to spread out into separate branches, and those have branches, and those have branches. On and on the branches split off, but they are all connected to the same main tree trunk.

2000 years ago, Jesus started that tree. Then he had his Apostles. His disciples went out and preached to other people and they became believers and a part of that tree. Paul preached to Timothy and Apollos, for example, and they went out and taught the gospel to others. For over 2000 years now those branches have grown as more and more people become a part of the tree of Christ. Look at all the fruit that Paul has. Look at the fruit Peter has. This all happened because they continued in the vine which is Christ. 

We are a part of that tree, or vine. We are “Christ-ians,” we are of Christ. Let’s bear some fruit for Him!

In Christ,

Andrew

“But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” 2 Timothy 2:23

If something is “foolish” it means that it is “having or showing a lack of good sense, judgment, or discretion; unwise, stupid, ill-considered.”

So for the first word, foolish, a foolish question is basically a question that shouldn’t have been asked in the first place. That is the easiest way to put it. It is an unwise, ill-considered question, that shouldn’t be asked because they have no purpose, thus – foolish.

Many times the Pharisees asked Jesus questions, not because they wanted to learn from Him, but just to try to find something that they could accuse Him for. They asked Him about paying tribute (taxes) to Caesar, not because they really wanted to hear what He had to say, and learn, but because they wanted to find fault with Jesus. 

Some people who aren’t Christians will try to say that the Bible contradicts itself, and they will ask you, “If it is truly the word of God, then why does it say one thing in this book, and this in another.” Not because they want to learn, but because they are contentious, and fight against the Word. The Bible does not contradict itself. It is the perfect Spirit-inspired word of God. 

Another example would be in regards to the Sabbath day. Some people believe that as God rested on the seventh day from His work of creating the world, that the Sabbath is Saturday, while some people celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, and they will argue on each side that they are correct while the other is wrong. What if someone had no ability to keep track of the days, and didn’t know what day it was? What if they chose to have a day of rest on a Wednesday? Would they be sinning because they didn’t know? Jesus teaches us that the Sabbath day was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). So whether or not the Sabbath day is Saturday or Sunday, it is not something to fight over. There are far more important things that we can be learning about, like how to love each other better, and how to help others. 

Now the second word, unlearned. If someone is “unlearned” about something, they are not educated about a subject. Or they are ignorant of it. 

Imagine if someone went to college to learn something, but after years of studying, they found out that all that they had learned was completely false and incorrect. Suppose that someone needed to learn an advanced math course to apply for a certain job, and when they had finished with their schooling, and tried to do their job, their math calculations were all wrong, because someone had taught them wrong. That would extremely upset most people. Their teacher or professor “taught” them about something, but they really didn’t know what they were talking about.

If you try to answer a question that you don’t really know anything about, you will come off really foolish to someone who does understand. 

There is nothing wrong with saying that you don’t know the answer to a question when you really don’t have knowledge about it. Some people just want to act like they know everything to impress others because they are filled with pride, and when someone asks them a question, they will say whatever to appear smart. 

I have no problem admitting that I don’t understand all of the Book of Revelation, and because of that, I do not write much about it. I do not want to write something and find out later that it was completely incorrect. 

That is something that I ask the Lord for, is to understand His scriptures more and more, so I can deepen my knowledge of Him. I will continue to study those things, and try to understand them, but until that knowledge has been revealed to me, any questions that I don’t have a full understanding of, I will avoid. 

Avoid foolish questions because they have no purpose. Avoid unlearned questions so you don’t appear filled with pride and teach something that is incorrect.

In Christ,

Andrew

just a note…..

Andrew willfully lied to me on more than one occasion, and then purposely betrayed me a short while later. Although some of his writings are beneficial, he has nothing to do with this ministry any longer. I never could imagine doing something to him what he has done to me, but it only proves that he never really cared about me at all. Betrayal will normally come from those who you care about the most, and his actions are the proof of his betrayal of the Christian Life. Deceit such as this does not happen from somebody who claims to be in Christ, because they are the works of the devil.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

“Treasure” is wealth or riches stored or accumulated. You could say that someone who has a bunch money stored away in the bank, that their money is their treasure. In the well-known Christmas story of “Scrooge,” he had an abundace of money, gold, and possessions. That is all that Scrooge cared about, his money and possessions, and how he could acquire more. Scrooge was a money lender, and when the time for the loan to be paid, he didn’t care about the people who owed him money, all he wanted was to continually store up more and more treasure for himself.

For some people, their treasure could be a rare, expensive cars. I have heard about and seen pictures of some people who have hundreds of old, expensive collector cars. Their cars are their most prized, treasured possessions that they own.

But like all “treasures,” there is always going to be someone who wants something more than another person, and will try to steal it for themselves. Like everything on the earth, everything eventually gets old, ruined, wrecked, or broken. Clothes rip and tear, no matter how expensive they are. Metal rusts, paper tears, glass breaks. 

Instead of storing up treasures on the earth can be stolen or broken, Jesus teaches us that we should lay up treasure in Heaven. In Heaven, there will not be people trying to steal from you. Things won’t get corrupted, like silver or gold that tarnishes on the earth. 

If you stop to really think about it, what is the purpose of amassing treasures and possessions on the earth when we only live a short while here? Some people will spend a large portion of their life trying to attain their “dream” life, with cars, boats, houses, gold, etc, and die a short while later. How is all of that treasure going to benefit them now? You cannot take the things you acquire while on the earth with you after you die. 

Instead of spending years of their life working to attain treasures on the earth, they would be far, far better off if they would have spent all that time in the service of Christ. Because just as you receive payment for your work or services from an employer, Jesus rewards those who labor for Him. But unlike an earthly employer, the reward that Jesus gives lasts for eternity. It never goes bad, or gets old. 

Give a cold cup of water to someone in the name of Jesus or a disciple, reward. Help others to grow in God’s word, reward. 

So you see, all of the treasures that you could ever store up on the earth will someday be gone, but if you store up your treasures in Heaven, they will last forever.

In Luke 12, we read about the parable Jesus told about the man who had a great year with his crops. He received so much more that year than he ever had in the past that he decided to store it all up for himself, and take it easy. But what that man didn’t know was that he wouldn’t be around to use all of the things he had stored up for himself, because he would die that night.

“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16-21

You can spend your whole life trying to attain more and more riches and wealth for yourself, but you cannot take it with you when you die. If you want true riches that last forever, you need to start storing them up in Heaven. Treasures on the earth last only for a short time, but in the Kingdom of God they will last forever. Start storing up your treasures in Heaven!

In Christ,

Andrew

Good morning and welcome in today today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Romans chapter 8.

Heb 8:12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Someone who is merciful is willing to be kind and forgive people who are in their power. It’s having or exercising mercy; compassionate; tender; disposed to pity offenders and to forgive their offenses; unwilling to punish for injuries.

Mercy is greater than judgment because Mercy is what covers sins.

James 2:13 – For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Luke 6:36 – Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Matthew 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 9:13 – But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

There’s times in the church that we need some grace and we can come boldly to get it. This is why Jesus died on the cross.

Hebrews 4:16 – Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

God wants to forgive us and cleanse our hearts and minds of iniquity.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here’s a wonderful psalm about the mercy of our God.

Ps 103:8-17 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

⁹ He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

¹⁰ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

¹⁶ For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

¹⁷ But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

Forgiveness is the central theme of the entire Christian faith. The Lord Jesus is so very forgiving and merciful He explains to Peter just how forgiving to be with others.

Matt 8:21-35

²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

²³ Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

²⁴ And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

²⁵ But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

²⁶ The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

²⁷ Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

²⁸ But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

²⁹ And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

³⁰ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

³¹ So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

³² Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

³³ Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

³⁴ And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

³⁵ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

The world’s concept of forgiveness and the Forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ are two greatly different things. Alot of people call it forgiveness, but it’s not.

True forgiveness is to forget the past. That’s what God does for us and He expects us to do the same to each other. If you cease to remember the past, reconciliation immediately follows. There was immediate reconcilliation between the prodigal son and his dad.

Can you imagine God saying that He forgives us but He doesn’t want us to be in heaven with him? Can you imagine The Prodigal Son apologizing to his dad, and his dad says I forgive you, but I can’t have you stay here anymore and I dont want to be around you. That’s not forgiveness at all. Its hypocrisy. Millions and millions of people believe the same way that I do. Forgiving means to forget what the offending party has done. Real forgiveness is what holds the church together.

Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Let’s think about that for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. till then bye-bye everybody♥️

tlkjbc.wordpress.com

The word separate is defined in the dictionary as “to set or keep apart; disconnect; sever.”

Have you ever tried to mix oil and water together? Sometimes after a good rainstorm you will have a bunch of puddles on the street and you will be able to see oil from cars floating on top of the puddles. It just doesn’t mix.

Or possibly you may have seen something called a “lava lamp.” I used to have one of these as a child. It was shaped kind of like a cone, and it had some kind of liquid contained inside glass. There was also another kind of colored liquid inside of the glass, and it didn’t mix into the other liquid. In fact, when you plugged in the light and turned it on, that colored liquid would start to float around in colored globs. It would float up to the top, and then fall back down to the bottom, and repeat continuously. But the two liquids never mixed together. They were separate.

Here is another example. In the summertime I would sometimes go and pick some raspberries so we could make some homemade jam. After picking a small bucket full of berries, we would take them home and pick out all of the bad berries that had fallen into the bucket while we were picking them. Sometimes we would find some berries that had a little bit of mold on them, or just looked gross, and we would separate them from the good berries and throw them away.

And that is what is going to happen at Judgement Day. On that day, the entire world will be judged for how they lived their lives. The people who did what was good and right according to the word of God, and believed in His Son Jesus, those people God will grant access into the Kingdom of Heaven. But those who rejected Jesus while on the earth, and lived an unrepentant life filled with wickedness and sin, will be cast into Hell. 

Jesus describes this in one part of scripture as someone casting a net into the sea, and separating the good fish from the bad.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 

Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:47-50

Which brings me to the next part I want to talk about. If you saw someone in the process of robbing a bank, would you join them? Would you help them? Or would you stay away? If you saw someone doing something sinful, would you join up with them and do the same things? 

In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote that we shouldn’t be yoked up together with unbelievers, but to be separate.

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-17

Now, we need to preach the gospel to unbelievers so that they can be saved, and we obviously need to try to win them to Christ, but if they are doing something that is wrong according to the scriptures, we cannot be a part of that. 

Paul really wrote it well when he said “what communion hath light with darkness.” When you turn a lightbulb on, it is “bright” not “dark.” The “light” representing Jesus and Christianity, and “darkness” being sin. Paul wrote in another book that we “are all the children of the light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (1 Thess 5:5) 

Christians don’t “mix” with the darkness of sin that goes on in the world. We keep ourselves separate. If the world is going to live that way, that is their decision, but we need to keep ourselves separate from sin.

So in closing, we learned that God is going to separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats; those who walked in the light of Christ from those who rejected Him. We need to keep ourselves separate from the sin of the world.

In Christ,

Andrew

Have you ever been to the dentist? Maybe you needed to have a cavity filled or a bad tooth pulled out. Then the dentist likely put some kind of pain killer in your gums before the procedure. That is so that you don’t feel any pain or discomfort when you are being operated on. Your nerves have been “deadened” in a sense. 

In a similar way, when someone has an operation at a hospital, the patient will receive anesthesia to block them from feeling pain while they are being cut open with a scalpel.

One personal story I have also has to deal with teeth. I was nearly 7 years old before I lost my first tooth, which is rather late for most children. I had waited and waited to finally lost my first tooth, and I can still remember the day I noticed my first one. I was so excited! It was finally happening! I would finally have my adult teeth. 

I wiggled and pushed them with my tongue, trying to get them looser and looser so they would fall out. But as I continued wiggling them each day, while they were getting looser, they were also starting to hurt more as the nerves started to get separated from my teeth. To make the story shorter, after I lost my first two or three teeth, I no longer was excited to get another loose tooth. I didn’t like the pain that came with that. Well, I eventually had my two front teeth loose at the same time, and because I wasn’t trying to wiggle them loose very much, my adult teeth were coming in behind them. Those baby teeth HAD to come out, or I could end up with some pain as my new teeth moved in.

Because I wasn’t wiggling my teeth because of the pain, I was given a pain reliever to rub on the gums around the loose tooth. This liquid would block the nerves signals from registering in my brain, and I could really start working on getting those teeth out.

Paul wrote that there would be people whose conscience would be “seared,” meaning that they wouldn’t feel any remorse or sorrow for any sins that they commit. 

What should be the normal reaction someone should feel if they slam the door on someone’s fingers? They should feel apologetic and sorry for what they did. What if when a person slammed a door on their friend’s hand, and instead of apologizing when confronted, they just stared and walked away? The other person would probably be a bit upset that they didn’t even say “Sorry.” 

And that is what Paul was writing would happen.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” 1 Timothy 4:1-2

When these people sin against God, they won’t feel sorrow. They won’t be sad or ask for forgiveness, because their conscience is seared. They won’t say they are sorry for the sins they have commited. They have what I call a “who cares attitude.” Trying to get them to feel sorrow about their sins would be like trying to squeeze water out of a stone. They are just hard-hearted and impenitent.

Like numbed tooth, they will not feel any sadness or pain when they sin against God. They won’t care when they sin against their neighbors. They won’t have any feeling at all. 

It takes sorrow in a person to come ask to be forgiven. But that is why many people will be turned away when they go up to judgment before the Father. Because they are hard-hearted, unrepentant, un-loving, they will not enter into eternal paradise. 

Don’t be one of these people. When you hurt someone, apologize. When you sin, ask for forgiveness and don’t do it again. What you need to do is treat others as you would want to be treated. Imagine someone sinned against you, what would you expect from that person? A sincere apology. Then do the same to God. Don’t be seared!

In Christ,

Andrew