we need to do this to people we love and care about

We should all be baptised as Christians! It is the outward sign of inward reality!

-Let us pray none of us turn out this way, REPENT!!!!!! or be dooooooooomed forever.

5Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
6And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ ”

When i read this i got hope. It encouraged me to keep pushing through, no matter how hard life gets, God will always make things turn out for the good. It doesnt mean that things wont be hard, because they most definately will, it just means that it will all work out, and that is so encouraging. Verse six really gave me motivation to keep on evangilizeng, because God will not come back until everyone has heard God’s salvation, and i don’t know about you, but i am so excited to spend eternity with my heavenly father! MARANATHA.

9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

This verse is one of my favorites. It really convicted me, becuase i need to be producing fruit everyday allday. people need to see on the outside that i am a Christian. My actions need to reflect that, and if they arent…i will be cut down! that is intense. I definately want to make sure that i am producing good fruit for everyone to see.

10″What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

And lastly, this verse i completely agree with what emiily said! We need to be asking ourselves this question daily, so we can purify ourselves, and become more like our Savior.

(:

I love this verse and I loved what katie said, we can’t just say because we go to church or read the bible then we are christians. It is so true. We need to actually live as a christian and act and be the best person that we can be for God.

I also love what emily said! I totally agree :)

The Bible doesn’t give us detailed explanations on what choices to make in every specific situation that life throws our way. Rather the Bible gives us a set of principles to live by no matter what type of situation we find ourselves in good or bad. James 1:2 and Micah 6:8 are the two verses that come to mind.

I think this is a question we should be asking ourselves and God constantly so we can strive to make ourselves more and more perfect before our holy Savior..

:)

This is it……..out there and said, repentance and faith is the only way to heaven! We should be preaching that to eveyone.

This is what Jesus is coming back to do. He is going to get rid of all the fruitless by throwing them into hell.

This verse makes me think of all the people who tell me “I’m okay because my parents are Christians.” If the Jews couldn’t fall back on Abraham being their Father it’s pretty clear that no one is just inheriting salvation through their family line. The only way to become a Christian is to repent and live that reality out.

People, then, really didnt know who christ was and didnt have anyone to look up to and just kind of went along with life. they didnt know who exactly Christ was so they just guessed and believed fully in their hearts that John was truely Christ. i love this verse because it shows us, as humans and believers, how much we have learned over the past 100s of years. i mean we are still learning about him and he is helping us through are journy of life.

its hard for me to believe that people didnt know who Christ was and…i dont know just the fact that he is just then coming into their lives. i have grown up with church and having him there for me all the time and i look up to him every single day and want to be just like him. i dont know what i would do if i didnt have someone like him there for me ALL the time!
-Summer loves you!!<3

And to all the other True North SOTD faithfuls–Great job! What a priviledge it is to worship God alongside such awesome young people on fire for Christ and responding to the great commission with such passion!!

9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

This verse is very convicting. When I am working in the garden and there is a branch that is a bit shriveled, or even a bit weak or limp, I cut it off. Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches and if we are ‘weak’ or simply not producing fruit in keeping with repentance then we are not useful to Him. I love the Lord and I definitly want to be the tree that is producing good fruit for Him.

This is a very upfront verse. it is plain and simple In this verse we are the trees and if we do not produce good fruit in response to our repentance we will be cut down. This is an encouragment to always be looking for ways that we can have fruit in our lives.
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this verse, it talks all about John the baptist, not John Porter haha LOVE YOU TYLER!

But seriously, when we look at how John ‘prepared the way for the Lord’ he talked about repentance, what an amazing thing how God used this rather interesting man to prepare.

That is so great to know that all of mankind…those who are poor, those who are rich, the beautiful, the ugly, the white, the black, the men, and the women all can see God’s salvation! Not one person is better than the other and we all can have eternal life because our God is a just God who does not show favoritism. (Ephesians 6:9)

I completely agree with Hunter and Bethany’s comments on this verse! :)

I love this verse because it just proves that we can’t just say becuase we go to church or read the bible then we are christians. When we repent and turn 180 degress around from sin and our lives also produce fruit then that is proof we are a child of God.

8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

We talked about this at church tonight. Pastor Mike told us that the difference between justification and sanctification. He told us that you are actually saved by justification, but sanctification (living a holy life) is proof that you have ben saved.

38the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

I just thought this was intereting…

Like everyone else said, this verse is pretty scary. I remember this verse from Bobby’s message. God does’t need us to follow him but he wants us to! If we don’t repent and produce any good fruit our punishment is going to hell. We should be evangelizing and telling all our friends the gospel!!

S.
C.

That doesn’t sound fun to me. It’s good to know what God has saved us from. That knowledge should be a motivator for us to preach the good news to everyone. It’s sad to think of the people that you know being tormented forever, but it is where a lot of people are headed. Remember that the next time you feel “too uncomfortable” to tell others about Jesus. It will be a lot more painful for them in the end if they don’t repent than it is for you to get out of your comfort zone.

I agree with everyone else! This is definatly a scary passage, if we are not proving our repentance by the fruit in our lives then we will be cut down. This should motivate us to tell all our non-christian friends about the consequences they will face if the do no turn to God and repent!!

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

Echoing Haley and Jacobs comment i totally agree. A lot of “Christians” think that they are saved becuase they are associated with Christianity. For example, christian school, christian parents, or just knowledge about the Bible in general. This is something that we should look out for and be on the guard for ourselves.

this is a good verse, every time we sin we should be repenting and turning away from that sin!! we should always be bearing good fruits

We should always clear paths and make the way to heaven by evangelizing and being riht with god. the coming day is coming and we need to be ready and be prepared for the judgement.

This is a very powerful verse. This verse really makes you want to make sure you are not one of the trees that is going to be cut down. I definately need to be spreading the word of God more and bear as much fruit as possible!

When ever we sin, we should feel guilty. That guilt should then turn to repentance, and make us have a 180 degree turn away from that sin.

This verse is a scary one but its one of my favorites. I find this verse very helpful when evangilizing to people who say for example “Oh what religeon am i? Im a christian, i prayed a prayer when i was six so ya you could say im a christian.” The ones who way they are a christian but arent bearing any ‘fruit’.

Verse 8 Starts out with produce fruit in keeping with repentance but John carefully reminds them that just because they came from Abrahams seed does not automatically mean that they will spend eternity with God. They too must repent.

Verse 31 is also cool as it reminds us of old testament prophecy that the Christ would caome from the family of David.

What a great passage filled with wonderfullll verses….So many people now a days are very greedy, one is never good enough to some(including me at times). THis verse reminds me that everything i have is a gift provided from God and when i have extra i should be giving it to others just as God freely gave it to me.

6And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ ”

Every morning we get to wake up to God’s beautiful creation and usually we forget to take a second look and end up taking things for granted. We talked a little bit about that in small groups….taking time to really appreciate what is around us can help strengthen our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.
How great is our God???!!!!!

Day 3 down:D

I cant even begin to imagine how awesome its going to feel on Judgement Day when God says, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” We were NOT put on this earth to live for ourselves and do what we please. We were put on this earth to glorify God and to make disciples all over the world! Like Bobby said in his sermon a couple weeks ago, Judgement Day is coming whether we want it to or not and we need to be spreading God’s Word every chance we get…

9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Our life needs to show that we are Christians by the fruit we produce.. not just our skin (outer appearance).

this is what Jesus will say to us if we are the kind of people who lead “fake christian lives”. Live life for God! its not enough to go to church and just listen to his word, and then have those same words come out the other ear AFTER church is over! it is not enough to serve if you do not really adore him. we should come forth, and make disciples of Christ, as it is our duty as Christians.

This is so true in that not only is the time almost up for people to repent, but also our time on earth is almost up as well. This means that we have only so much time to glorify God with our time on Earth, so we need to make use of it by producing fruit for God’s glory and evangelizing while we still can. And another thing I just though of is that we only have so much time to endure persecution, which is good in that we won’t have to suffer much longer. But when we are presented with it, we need to make sure that we don’t back down, because when we endure persecution we are glorifying God, and its also a blessing because it shows that we are doing things right.

I agree with Nachooooooooooooo. If we are not producing fruit, then we really need to examine our life and see if we are truly saved and have really repented.

We need to be living our Christianity. If we are not producing fruit, we need to take a look at our heart and see if we have truly repented.
And we cannot think that just because our family is saved, and we go to church and/or a christian school, we are ok. That is not what saves you. It is a personal choice of repentance and faith.

21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Is this the moment that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus? As God, wouldn’t He already be filled with the Spirit? I know Jesus is not the Holy Spirit, but this is confusing to me. I have also had someone ask me this same question and I am stumped…I would greatly appreciate your help!

8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

If we truely have repented of our sin and put our faith in Christ, then we will keep on doing good works for Christ. I hear a lot of people today that just say oh my parents are Christian, so that makes me a Christian. Yeah but just because your parents are a Christian doesn’t mean you are going to be saved and makes you a Christian, because the people that say that haven’t repented and put their faith in him.

This is so true – if your repentance is honest, and you have truly received the Holy Spirit into your life, it will show. An honest turnaround is evident in the way you change your lifestyle… but if we say we have repented and keep producing bad fruit and living in sin without guilt, then it is evident we were never saved in the first place.

Great comments everyone! Verse nine stood out to me because americanized “christianity” really goes against this verse. People will call themselves christians but they haven’t produced fruit or started to live for Christ, more or less even have repented. A lot of teens will say, “Ohh my parents are christians….. i go to church every sunday……i pray every night.” They rely on these things to get their salvation! What they need to understand is it is only thru Christ’s work on the cross, and them responding in repentance and faith, that will truly save them! As we evangelize and bring people to church, we must emphasize the necessity of repentance and the fruit that will follow, we need to make it clear that it is a radical change of life, its turning and trusting!

17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This picture of Jesus is not the picture of a loving Jesus accepting the children to come unto him. This is a wrathful Jesus who is coming to judge. When Jesus lived the people thought that he was going to free them from the Romans but this was not the reason Jesus came. He came to provide a way for man to be reconciled to God. Right now is the time to repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ because we don’t know when the second coming is and it is at the second coming that he will “burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire!”

John tells us that we are not saved just because someone in our family is saved, but rather we are saved by repenting of our sins and producing spiritual fruit through Jesus Christ.

9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John describes to us how ready God is to kill off all non-Christians and send them to hell. The end times are coming, Jesus will return like a thief in the night. We need to evangelize all non-Christians before it is too late.

Wow, Jesus’s genealogy is amazing! It dates all the way from His earthly father to His heavenly Father! What a perfect example to show how Jesus is God! He is completely perfect and holy and at the same time, He is related to sinners. That’s incredible!

8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

I love how John mentions this very common misunderstanding- how a lot of people think they are saved because of their genealogy or maybe because they go to church and try to be a good person. When we went evangalizing on the Missions Trip this year, my eyes were opened to just how many people thought these things. Soooo many.
The Bible is so clear that we are not saved by being a good person, or going to church, or even because of our genealogy. The only way of salvation is through repentance and faith, by surrendering our lives to Christ and stop living for our sinful selves. This is a message that so many people need to hear! We need to boldly share this with people, and plead with them to repent from their wicked ways and turn to Jesus. He is the only way of salvation!

John is so bold for Christ, like many of the apostles that we read about in Acts. He is put in jail because Herod doesnt like what he is doing, which is preaching repentance. again, we need to be like this. not trying to get in jail, but if we are speaking for the Lord we will face persecution and be mocked, and it would be cool to be thrown in jail for evangelizing. but we need to fear God’s judgement more than anything else, because He can destroy the body and soul in hell forever. and if we are being persecuted, it is a good sign, because we are doing something right!!!

Jesus will come like a theif in the night, and in this verse it describes how ready God is to judge and send people to hell. He is like an axe waiting at the roots of a tree, waiting for Christ’s signal (His return) and will cut down any and all bad trees. This is why we have to evangelize. No one wants to see friends or family go to hell, we want them to be in heaven with us.
PS- I loved the geneology of Christ. I found David, Boaz, Noah, Methuselah, Enoch, and Adam. I think it is so cool that they put that in there because it only adds more credibility to the book.

That is awesome! As Christians, we want to please Christ and live for him! How amazing would it be on Judgement Day for Jesus to say that he is pleased with us? I think that would be great. We are here on earth to be telling more people about Christ and that they need to repent of their sins! We are required to do so, and it is commanded of us.

Everyone will see Jesus someday, that is what this verse says, but it is how they see Jesus that will affect them for eternity. On judgement day we will see the Lord as our Savior, God who became man and died for us. On the other hand, those wo have not repented of their sin and put their faith in Christ will see Jesus as the punisher of sin, an angry God full of wrath ready to banish their souls to hell. We need to expose those that are unsaved to Jesus as soon as possible so that when He comes back “like a thief in the night” they will either be saved, or have no excuse for their sin. If we don’t procliam the goodness of God than even the rocks will cry out! Praise be to His holy name!

These are a lot of “Christians” today who seem to live lives that are no different from the world. They want to be associated with Jesus and get eternal life, but without having to do anything in return. But this verse makes it clear: if you do not have the evidence of your salvation in the form of good works, then mot likely your heart was never changed and you never really repented. And if that is the case, then this verse says that you are heading for the fire. Works do not save us, but like Bobby said, the fact that we serve Christ should be evident in the way that we live.

John the Baptist’s sermon in this chapter goes along with our repentance series. It should be a turning to Christ that people can see from the way that we live.