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Family Bible


A.1 for Good News of God!

LUKE "talks."

Prompts and commentary as you read right through the Gospel of Luke.




"Good News Compage" L.80,
based on

Luke's Gospel chapter 13, verses 18-21.

(PLEASE READ THESE VERSES IN THE BIBLE, and the following comments.)

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Bringing to you God's wonderful message as found in the Holy Bible.

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Christianity attracts "birds"!

Do you find it a problem when people with different religions all call themselves "Christians", and claim to be God's people? Surely they can't all be right as they believe different things! When you listen to Jesus' teachings this problem becomes easy to understand and answer.

Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like?".. It is like a mustard seed, which a man ..planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree." 1*. The mustard seed had died, but its life and nature had been transferred into the new plant.

When God wanted people who would grow to please and serve Him He first had to give up a very precious Seed and let it die. That "Seed" was God's own son! 2*. Jesus was willing to come and to die - to die for our sins 3*. to make it possible for sinners to be forgiven by Him and to grow in His likeness. 4*.

Just as the gardener can know how to recognise the new plant by its leaves and fruit you and I can know how to recognise the person who really belongs to God. Jesus said, "By their fruit you will know them." 5*. We are to look for a real likeness to Jesus Christ in what they say and do. A good tree does not produce bad fruit! 6*.

If YOU have to admit today that much in your life would not be acceptable to a Holy God, then it wouldn't make sense to want to call yourself a "Christian"!

Jesus had more to teach us from the mustard tree. "The birds of the air perched in its branches," He said. Although many different birds would feed among the branches they would never belong to the mustard tree, or become part of it! They were free to fly off and do whatever they pleased and to return again to perch and feed on the branches.

Christianity attracts "birds" too! Various religions use the name "Christianity" and people are attracted to fly to these religions and even to "feed" on their sacraments. But it is very clear that this doesn't make them Christians! They will go out to live their own lives, which are clearly not Christ-like, yet they "fly" back and forth to church.

A bird perching in a tree, and feeding on it, will never become that kind of tree! And a person does not become a Christian by joining a church that calls itself "Christian", or by receiving sacraments in a church!

True Christians are those who have trusted in Jesus to forgive their sins, wanting Him to change their lives to become like Jesus. 7*. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 8*.

Jesus asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." 9*. Have YOU asked Jesus to forgive your sins and to put His love and power into your life? If you have it will work all through your life and change you into someone pleasing and acceptable to God?

Read about these illustrations Jesus used in His teaching in Luke chapter 13, verses 18-21.


Bye for now,

John Nixon, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland. P31HD98.        Contact:  jnixonj@gmail.com


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Bible quotations from N.I.V.

1 Luke 13:18-19.
2 John 3:16. Galatians 3:16.
3 2nd Corinthians 5:21.
4 Romans 8:29-30.
5 Matthew 7:16, 20.
6 Matthew 7:15-27. 12:33.
7 Acts 5:31. 20:21.
8 2nd Corinthians 5:17.
9 Luke 13:21.





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