Connected? Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Connected? ------------------------------------- Date: 10/8/2002 Keywords: "fruit" "repentance" "salvation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Luke 3:1-8* 1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2. in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4. as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 5. 'Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough roads smooth; 6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" 7. He therefore began saying to the multitudes who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. "Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." Questions 1. Why do you suppose John refers to his audience as a "brood of vipers"?   2. What are "fruits in keeping with repentance"? How do we produce them?   Practical help If you're gonna catch a break, you're gonna need a connection somewhere. It's easy to look at someone's success and deduce that they must be connected. After all, how else could they be so successful? Random, unconnected success just doesn't happen that often. In today's passage, John the Baptist let's loose with a "shake it up" kind of message. Notice how his opening remark endears him to his audience. "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" He wanted to knock their shaky standard right out from under their feet. So you're sons of Abraham. That connection makes you about as able to truly repent as that dumb rock sitting next to you. Are you finding it too tough to repent of (that is, turn and run away from) a porn habit? Could be that your attempts at repentance are connected to the wrong thing. Connection to a church won't do it. Connection to a support group won't do it. Connection to a close friend won't do it. John quotes the prophet Isaiah when he says "all flesh" (that covers you and me, I think) "shall see the salvation of God." That is we're all getting the opportunity to make the only connection that counts — the one from which true repentance can spring — and that's our connection to God Almighty through the gift of His only son, Jesus Christ. (If you don't know if you're connected, click here.) Are other connections insignificant? Not as long as they, like true repentance, spring forth from your main connection — Jesus. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." -