“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

John the Baptist came preaching a word of repentance of the kingdom of God in the wilderness. People from all over Judea and the countryside came to hear and be baptized by John.

As John was baptizing the crowds, the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to him to be baptized. This is when John the Baptist declared to all who were being baptized, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

John was declaring, “Don’t just go through the motions of religion. Don’t just react based on your emotions. If you are going to be baptized, if you are going to repent, if you want to live a new life, live in a way that demonstrate you have repented of your sins and turned to God.”

It’s not just about saying the right things. It’s not even about going through certain rituals. What counts is our genuine repentance and genuine change.

What would be the point of going through the motions of getting married and even saying all the right things but living as if you were single? Could such a marriage survive where your partner said all the right things but lived as though he were still single? Where his life, priorities, and habits hadn’t changed? What would it be like if he only said all the right things but was still dating and seeing other people?

John was telling the people, including the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were coming to be baptized, “If you are going to be baptized, prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and are now turning to God.”

What John the Baptist told the people in the wilderness still preaches today.

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20).

Wisdom has little to do with titles, degrees, or status.

Get around people who make you a better man, a better woman.

I do not remember where I saw this but I want to share with you some wisdom from a very wise man.

I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.

When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing’s for sure, those troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again.”

“Funny thing is,”he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick ’em up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

We all need a Tree!

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Gospel writers tell us repeatedly that Jesus took time to pray.

There are so many things Jesus could have done instead. There were sick people who needed healing. There were people who needed to hear his teaching. There was ministry to be done.

Even though the pressures of ministry were great, Jesus regularly took time to pray.

Think about that. The second person of the holy Trinity regularly made time to pray.

Why?

Jesus prayed to get on the same page with God. Jesus prayed to be reminded of why he came to earth. It wasn’t just to heal and teach. Jesus came to save sinners from God’s wrath. It was when Jesus was praying that Jesus would remember the purpose for which he came.

Notice, when Jesus remembered and recalibrated his mindset, it was he who was changed. God’s will and purpose doesn’t change. But as Jesus remembered and recalled God’s kingdom purposes, Jesus was changed.

The disciples noticed a change in Jesus whenever he spent time with God in prayer. It’s because they saw this change in Jesus that the disciples approach Jesus to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Here is a vital truth about prayer. Effective prayer does not come naturally. Effective prayer is something that needs to be taught, something that needs to be learned, and something that needs to be practiced. The more we pray, the better we get at it.

Jesus took time to pray. Jesus made time to pray. Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

So, will you make time to pray?

We meet in the sanctuary every Wednesday at 6:15 to pray. See you Wednesday.