{"id":10336,"date":"2020-07-19T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T03:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=10336"},"modified":"2020-07-19T23:13:38","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T06:13:38","slug":"ezekiel-15_1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ezekiel-15_1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerusalem as a Useless Vine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ezekiel 15:1-8\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 15:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 15:1-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to me:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest?
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on?
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything?
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Therefore this is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the\u00a0LORD.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign\u00a0LORD.”<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 Here Ezekiel senses the Lord give him the first of three parables concerning the unfaithfulness of the people living in Jerusalem.\u00a0 In this parable, the Lord compares the people living in Jerusalem to a fruitless vine whose wood is unusable (v2-3) especially after having been burned in a fire (v4-5).\u00a0 The people living in Jerusalem had already \u201ccome out of the fire\u201d of one Babylonian attack in 597 B.C. (v7).\u00a0 However, the Lord warns that a similar \u201cfire will yet consume them\u201d again (v7), meaning that they would be subject to another Babylonian attack.\u00a0 As history would show, this \u201cfire\u201d would take place in 586 B.C. due to the Israelites\u2019 unfaithfulness to God (v8).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 These verses remind me of what Jesus says about the disciple who does not bear fruit.\u00a0\u00a0God made us to bear fruit for Him.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0As Jesus says, \u201cThis is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples\u2026You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last.\u201d (John 15:8, 16a)<\/p>\n

What kind of fruit does God make us to bear?\u00a0 There\u2019s the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control, which collectively are known as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).\u00a0 There\u2019s the fruit of giving God passionate worship, the fruit of growing more like Jesus in our character, the fruit of serving God with our talents, the fruit of leading others to Jesus, and the fruit of loving our church family.\u00a0 There\u2019s the fruit of persevering in the things God has called you to do.<\/p>\n

When we don\u2019t bear such fruit for Jesus and live merely for ourselves, we miss our purpose for living.\u00a0 Were we persist in living this way, eventually there might be nothing left of us for Jesus to use, such that, as His Word says, He might as well throw out and burn whatever\u2019s left.\u00a0 Jesus says that a disciple who does not bear fruit for God \u201cis like a branch that is thrown away and withers\u2026picked up, thrown into the fire and burned\u201d (John 15:6).\u00a0 When we throw away God\u2019s purpose for our lives, it\u2019s like we\u2019re asking God to throw our lives away.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for choosing me and appointing me to bear fruit for You.\u00a0 May I not miss my purpose for living, but may I bear much and lasting fruit for You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 15:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 Here Ezekiel senses the Lord give him the first of three parables concerning the unfaithfulness of the people living in Jerusalem.\u00a0 In this parable, the Lord compares the people living in Jerusalem to a fruitless vine whose wood is unusable (v2-3) especially after having been burned in a fire (v4-5).\u00a0 The people living in Jerusalem had already \u201ccome out of the fire\u201d of one Babylonian attack in 597 B.C. (v7).\u00a0 However, the Lord warns that a similar \u201cfire will yet consume them\u201d again (v7), meaning that they would be subject to another Babylonian attack.\u00a0 As history would show, this \u201cfire\u201d would take place in 586 B.C. due to the Israelites\u2019 unfaithfulness to God (v8).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 These verses remind me of what Jesus says about the disciple who does not bear fruit.\u00a0\u00a0God made us to bear fruit for Him.\u00a0 \u00a0As Jesus says, \u201cThis is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples\u2026You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last.\u201d (John 15:8, 16a)<\/p>\n

What kind of fruit does God make us to bear?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10336"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10339,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10336\/revisions\/10339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}