{"id":11748,"date":"2020-10-02T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T03:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_12_49-59-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-10-02T21:34:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T04:34:08","slug":"luke_13_1-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_13_1-9\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Patient But He Won\u2019t Wait Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 13:1-9\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 13:1-9.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them–do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0\u00a0There are a number of powerful lessons we can learn from this passage. I look forward to sharing them with you at a THRIVE service today.\u00a0\u00a0See you there!<\/p>\n

Luke 13:6-9 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-9:\u00a0\u00a0Jesus has just been talking to the crowd about the need to repent from sin or otherwise \u201cperish\u201d (v3, v5), that is, be separated from God forever (see John 3:16).\u00a0\u00a0So what is Jesus\u2019 point in sharing this parable (or short story) about the barren fig tree that was given one more chance to bear fruit?\u00a0\u00a0I believe Jesus\u2019 message here can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God has every right to cut us down and wipe us out because of our sin, but instead, in His love and mercy, God patiently waits for us to repent and turn back to Him.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Notice that the focus of verse 8 is on what the caretaker will do for the fig tree (digging around it and fertilizing it), not on what the fig tree needs to do.\u00a0Similarly, it\u2019s not about the work we need to do to reach God, but rather it is about us responding to the work that our caretaker Jesus has done for us.\u00a0\u00a0What work did Jesus do for us?\u00a0\u00a0Jesus lived the life that only God in the flesh could live, a life that fulfilled all of God\u2019s requirements.\u00a0\u00a0Then Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that the debt that owed God and could never repay would be canceled.\u00a0\u00a0Even more Jesus rose from the grave, defeating sin, death and Satan on our behalf and has ascended to heaven where He intercedes on our behalf as our great high priest.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God that it\u2019s not about what we need to do, but about responding in faith to what Jesus has done for us.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Though God is patient, God will not wait forever.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We need to humbly respond to God before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your patience with me, how You had every right to cut me off and cut me down, but instead You waited for me to turn back to You.\u00a0I pray that the people in my city who have yet to turn to You would turn to You without delay and do so before it\u2019s too late.\u00a0\u00a0May we not take Your patience for granted but respond while there is still time.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 13:1-9.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them–do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?\u00a0
\n5\u00a0\u00a0I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0\u00a0There are a number of powerful lessons we can learn from this passage. I look forward to sharing them with you at a THRIVE service today.\u00a0\u00a0See you there!<\/p>\n

Luke 13:6-9 (NIV)\u00a0
\n6\u00a0\u00a0Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.
\n7\u00a0\u00a0So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11748","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\/11748","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=11748"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11749,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11748\/revisions\/11749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}