You can't produce fruit if you're disconnected from Christ. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 64 Q. But doesn’t this teaching (that our works do not contribute to our salvation) make people indifferent and wicked? A. No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude. Summary There are two words the Bible uses to describe how to live a fruitful life. The word used most often to describe successful Christians is the word Jesus uses in the example of a grape plant which bears fruit. This word has a passive feel to it. Jesus explains that as long as a branch remains connected to the vine, it will bear fruit. In other words, the fruit is going to come as long as the connection is maintained, just like a grape branch, when given the proper inputs, can't help but bear fruit. Sadly this isn't the case for every branch. Some grow off as long, wild shoots with lots of stem but no leaves or flowers. Others bury themselves under other branches, hidden from the sunlight. Still others seem to be in just the right condition, getting plenty of water, nutrients and sunlight, but for whatever reason nothing comes out of them. In each of these cases the unfruitful branches are cut of and thrown into the burn pile. In the second half of this passage, Jesus puts 'flesh' on this metaphor so to speak. He is the vine, and you and I are the branches. As long as we remain connected to Him - that is, as long as His Word and Spirit are flowing into our lives - He assures us that we will bear fruit. But some people are not content with this relationship, and shoot off on their own. Many bury themselves in the busyness of life, and although connected to the nutrients, do not absorb them. Apart from me, Jesus says, these people can do nothing, and their unfruitful lives will be cut off and thrown away. Dig Deeper Our instinct is to prefer the other word the Bible uses in regards to fruitfulness. We want to be people who produce fruit in our lives. Produce is a much more active word, and conjures up images of hard work, resourcefulness, and downright determination. Those are all good things, but most of the time the Bible uses the word produce, it does so in a negative way. Pharisees are quite often the people the Bible speaks of in connection with trying to produce fruit. They work super hard to impress their neighbors and appease their own consciences, but their reliance is totally on themselves, disconnected from the nutrients of the the true vine. The result is often like a Red Delicious apple: it looks really good and shiny on the outside, but not very appealing when the skin is peeled back. You've been created to be fruitful - to do and make things that reflect and glorify the image of God that you've been created in. Most of this world, separated from the vine by sin, is either desperately expending energy trying to produce fruit on their own, or they've given up trying and consequentially have very little meaning in their lives. So stay connected to the Vine - Jesus Christ. As you immerse yourself in the nutrients that flow from His Word, your life will naturally bear fruit. NOTE: The English Bible translations often use 'bear' and 'produce' interchangeably (even the Catechism uses the word produce). The contrast is much more noticeable in the Greek. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the gardner, who cuts away unfruitful branches; ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you remain connected to the vine so that your life bears the fruit it was designed for. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Philippians 2

Matthew 28:16-18 (NIV) 16  Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus Summary Certainly the final few verses of Matthew 28, often referred to as Jesus' "Great Commission,

Hebrews 9:24–28 (NIV) 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 It's apocryphal passages like this one that the Roman Catholic Church bases its doctrine of purgatory

"I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" - verse 26 Ezekiel 36:24-28   And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28

As we've read in Romans 8:28, "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been Today: Romans 1

Is the Roman Catholic Eucharist really a "condemnable idolatry?" How does the Lord’s Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass? A. Dig Deeper For all the differences between the Roman Catholic Church and Reformed churches (or protestant Many modern Roman Catholic theologians would say it's too harsh, and that the Heidelberg doesn't fairly Many of you used to be, and maybe still are, members of the Roman Catholic Church, so these words likely

5:12-14 - Mis-Markmanship Deuteronomy 28:15-20 - Not A Tame Lion Genesis 2:15-17 - Or Else Luke 15:11 Article 6: God’s Eternal Decree Isaiah 45:21-25 - Irrevocable Ezekiel 36:24-27 - A Whole New Reality Romans A Single Decree of Election Romans 4:1-8 - One and the Same Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg? Romans 4:18-25 - Faithfully Face the Facts Hebrews 11:39-40 - Promises Kept Psalm 33 - God's Control, 8:28), your present problems begin to seem much smaller.

It's easy to accept just the blessings you like, but that's not the way it works. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 20 Q. Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam? A. No. Only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his blessings. Summary In this text from Luke we hear Jesus requesting to go to the other side of the lake. The text says the other side, because that was the side of the Gentiles. That was the side that the Jews didn’t go. Standing on the shores of life we can either appreciate the waves that God brings as beautiful or breaking. Yet it is never the water that changes. This was certainly the case with the disciples in the gospel of Luke. They had been on the sea of Galilee all of their life. They knew this water. It had been their source of livelihood for generations. Yet, when Jesus requested to go to the other side, They knew they were going to the edge of their comfort zone... Because decent Jews didn’t go to the other side. The other side was the gentile side. It was unclean. It was uncouth. To go there was to invite judgment on yourself. At least that is what they had been told. And sure enough as they crossed out of familiar waters and got close to the other side, it seemed that God’s judgment was coming on them. As the waves began to rise and enter their boat these seasoned sailors thought they were going down. Stumbling to reach Jesus in the stern of the boat they woke him and said, “Master, Master, we are going to drown!" Jesus stood up, rebuked the wind and the raging waves and the storm subsided. Where is your faith? He asked his disciples. Jesus asks you this same question: Where is your faith? Is it in your blood from Adam that brought the curse of sin, or is it in the Son of God who brings you life? If your faith is in Christ then blessing will abound in your life; but some blessings will seem better than others. Dig Deeper In our teaching lesson from the Catechism we see the word all repeated three times. “Are all saved”, “are all lost” and “grafted into Christ we accept all his blessings.” We like to speak using all because we want to be inclusive. We want all to go to heaven, so we say... except maybe the most wicked tyrant or ungodly neighbor. So if we want to carve out some, it's not so difficult to see why God would want to select as well; to chose or carve out his chosen from the the unrepentant. It quickly becomes clear that it's not feasible to have all in heaven. What is the deciding factor then? It certainly can’t just be a particular people or language. It has to be something outside of who you are. As the Catechism says, salvation comes from being grafted into Christ, who reveals that you are chosen and who feeds you with his Word and Spirit so that you would accept and live in His blessings. Even when those blessings bring about unexpected struggle. What blessing from God do you struggle to accept the most? Silence? Reflection? Wealth? Often the blessing that you struggle the most to accept is the very blessing that God giving you the most often. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Triune God, who commands the winds and the water, and they obey Him. ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Open my heart and hands by your Holy Spirit to accept your gifts, as the seashore accepts the waves. ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 15

Genesis 1:26–28 (ESV) 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28

Proverbs 28:13-14 (NIV) 13  Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and