Wednesday, June 24
Read: Luke 3
In Jesus’ day when a King would travel someone would go before him and clear out the paths of stones, trees and even fill in holes to make his trip a bit smoother.
This was John the Baptist’s role. He was the one who would go before Christ to smooth out the roads full of obstacles preparing the way for the Lord. This, obviously is not a literal sense, but spiritually.
In verse 8 John states, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance and do not even begin to say ‘we have Abraham as our father’.
Many people at this time believed that just because they were descendants of Abraham granted them a free ride into Heaven. This is often the case with people today, thinking that because they were born into the church, attend church or even pray gets them into Heaven. John’s message to the people was to repent, turn from their wicked ways and prepare their hearts to receive the Messiah when he came. They needed to have a right relationship with God and live a life of repentance if they wanted to live life enternally with God. John’s message was harsh, offending many, but it was also a foreshadowing of what Jesus would come teach as well.
What does that mean to us? Jesus cannot come and do his work in us if there are things blocking his way. We all have sin in our lives. We are born into it and the world encourages us to give into it. Can any of you say they are without sin? Anyone? Just as John preaches repentance Jesus requires it of us. If we seriously want Jesus to work through our lives then it is required that we turn from our sin and walk towards Jesus. Of course Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins and we need his help to not commit them, but it is a choice only we can make. It is only once we’ve confessed and turned towards Jesus that He can really work in our hearts. First we have to want Jesus to change us, then we have to prepare our hearts for that change.
Repentance requires confession. Sometimes repentance requires a confession to our peers or a mentor. The bible says that confession brings healing. Some sins just are too big to keep to ourselves, even once we’ve confessed them to God, or sometimes it helps to talk with someone first and then confess to God.
You guys are going to be living together for a whole month. Sin may occur, repentance, hopefully, will follow. If at anytime over the next couple months you feel you need to confess sins or just talk to someone about anything there are plenty of leaders here that would be more than happy to talk to. Chances are they may have experienced the same thing. It is good to talk about our struggles.
Process:
-Is there anything in your life you have not fully walked away from? Are you still grasping for the things of this world forgetting what Jesus taught? Pray about these things. Ask God to give you a heart that cares nothing for the things of this world but for a heart that desires to know him more.
-If you feel you need to confess a sin right now with your cell group let your leader know. Otherwise take a couple minutes in solo prayer repenting for any sins you need to repent for. If you would like to talk to one of your leaders pull them aside.