Tree's without fruit

Today's lesson is about bad fruit, and trees that can't produce good fruit. If we reject the Word of God, or put man's words above God's Word, then it's end is a spiral death with no hope. I was just with a group of men who do not believe the Word is true, accurate, or that the events like the death and resurrection of Jesus is even true. Before I met with them I was reminded of the scripture when Jesus sent out the disciples two by two, "Shake the dust off your feet..." if they don't receive you. (Matthew 10:14) One of the men I met with even quoted that scripture after our meeting, as if it was a good thing they were doing, rejecting the Word. They forget the verse after: 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city! So I left. The funny thing is, not only did their beliefs not match what the Word says, even their own book of doctrine doesn't! So what is their foundation? Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And it's fall was great...I don't want my friends to fail, get hurt, or leave Christ, or His word, because I know what can happen if they don't repent. I loved them too much not to say something. "Lord, please heal us, save us, deliver us from our own minds, deliver us from satan and his deceptive power. Let us think the thoughts of God, for His thoughts are powerful, right and good. They alone can set the captives free. Your Word oh Lord, Your Word alone. In Jesus name, amen." Study thanks to ICR & their daily "Days of Praise" April 25, 2014 Fruitless Trees “Woe to them! . . . trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” (Jude 1:11-12) Many illustrations in Scripture compare the responsibility of trees to bear fruit and the responsibility of Christians to produce righteousness. The reason for the frequent comparisons is that “a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Luke 6:43). It is easy to tell what kind a tree is because “every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes” (Luke 6:44). Jude is making the point, however, that there are “trees” planted amidst the orchard of God’s Kingdom churches that have withering “fruit” or have already been rooted up as worthless, fruitless, and twice-dead. These trees have absolutely no place among the healthy trees. At best they scar and mar the beauty of the orchard, and at worst they spread their decay and rot throughout it. Another very important point is that trees that have withered or cannot produce good fruit are not salvageable. All of nature demonstrates and reinforces the eternal principle that “every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). Such dead, fruitless trees are to be “hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). The common thread in all of these several pictures by Jude is the damage that can be done by ungodly “tares” among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30), fig trees that should be providing nourishment but do not (Luke 13:6-9), and plants that are choked by “cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches” (Mark 4:19). All of these can spread the “leaven” through the whole “lump” and undermine the work of God (Galatians 5:9). HMM III A few scriptures since this was written: “[They are] raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame.” (Jude 1:13) “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20). Paul warned the Corinthian church about those who dealt with “hidden things of dishonesty,” were “walking in craftiness,” or were “handling the word of God deceitfully.” In vivid contrast, Paul and his co-laborers openly displayed “the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2). Like Jude, Paul forecasts only destruction for these kinds of people. They brag “in their shame” and have their mind set on “earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). “Foaming” at the mouth is frequently connected with demonic oppression in Scripture (Mark 9:17-18; Luke 9:39; etc.). Medically, the symptom is seldom positive. Perhaps Jude is offering a glimpse of the devilish source of such “raging” and raising a further alarm. As I read that last line, written in today's "Daily Praise" for ICR, I was astonished that one of the men who I met with actually did this everytime he got upset. He foamed at the mouth, and would get livid about evolution, and other anti God statements. He was the one that would not allow me to pray for the three men I was meeting with. So glad God has power over the enemy, and it's His wisdom I choose to trust in, in Jesus name, Amen.