Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon captured Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim and king of Judah, his officers, and all the craftsmen and metalworkers of Judah. He took them away from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. It was then that the Lord showed me two baskets of figs arranged in front of the Temple of theLord. 2 One of the baskets had very good figs in it, like figs that ripen early in the season. But the other basket had figs too rotten to eat.
3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I answered, “I see figs. The good figs are very good, but the rotten figs are too rotten to eat.”
4 Then the Lord spoke his word to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I sent the people of Judah out of their country to live in the country of Babylon. I think of those people as good, like these good figs. 6 I will look after them and bring them back to the land of Judah. I will not tear them down, but I will build them up. I will not pull them up, but I will plant them so they can grow. 7 I will make them want to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with their whole hearts.
8 “‘But the bad figs are too rotten to eat.’ So this is what the Lord says: ‘Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and all the people from Jerusalem who are left alive, even those who live in Egypt, will be like those rotten figs. 9 I will make those people hated as an evil people by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will make fun of them and tell jokes about them and point fingers at them and curse them everywhere I scatter them. 10 I will send war, hunger, and disease against them. I will attack them until they have all been killed. Then they will no longer be in the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’” Jeremiah 24
Steve and four of the members of the elder board had a Bible study at a local restaurant.
“At our last Bible study I assigned you to read Jeremiah 24 I hope you had a chance to read it?” said as Pastor Steve drank a cup of coffee.
Pastor tilted his head up and cleared his throat, “Before we go any further this Bible study is not to be meant as a rebuke. You men as well as myself are in charge of the spiritual condition of the church. I want to encourage you to live Godly lives.”
Pastor looked around the table. “Jeremiah 24 talks about the good figs and the bad figs. A fig is a tree that produces fruit. When I look at the good figs and the bad figs I think of people’s walk with the Lord,” Pastor paused for a second.
Pastor looked down at his Bible for a second. “When I look at the first part of that chapter, at the people who were like the good figs, They resemble people living Godly lives. They are living for the Lord.”
“There are people who are out there who call themselves Christians, but they are not living the life of a Christian. They may cuss and swear, they may lie, they gossip. You can look at there lives and you don’t see any difference between them and a non-Christian. To me they are producing bad figs.”
Pastor looked at each man with a serious face, “Are you men living a Godly life? What sins do you commit on a daily basis? Do you cuss? Do you have an anger problem? What is your fatal flaw?”
Pastor could see by the look in there eyes that this hit home with the men of the elder board.
As the men got up and left, Wayne, one of the elders asked, “Pastor Steve, I would like to set up and appointment with you.”
“Sure, when?” asked Steve.
“Do you have time on Sunday afternoon before the evening service?” asked Wayne.
Looking at his date book pastor Steve said, “How does 5 o’clock sound?”
“That is fine,” said Wayne.
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Wayne was a president of a company and knew that he had to deal with this problem. He walked by the receptionist desk and saw that the Pastors door was open and the light was on, “Hey pastor, are you ready?”
The pastor, who was at his desk, looked up and smiled at Wayne, “Sure Wayne, come in and have a seat.”
Wayne sat down.
Pastor Steve had a feeling what Wayne was there for, “Is there something that I said that you need to deal with?”
Wayne, who felt nervous all of a sudden, felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, because he did not know how to get started.
“Well Pastor, I have had this problem with anger. I seem to loose my temper with my wife and my employees. I am tired of the way I act. What you said about the good figs and the bad figs convicted me. I want to be a Godly person.”
Pastor sighed and smiled, “Jesus loves you and you don’t need to be a person with a bad temper. I can offer a few suggestions. First, you need to pray first and ask the Lord to show you what to do. Second, you may want to go to counseling. Although you got to remember that counseling is a good place to start, it does not solve the problem. Only the Lord can solve the problem. I would recommend looking in a Christian business directory to find a counselor.”
Wayne was intently looked at pastor and said, “OK.”
When you pray again, ask the Lord what you need to do to solve the problem. You need to pray with out ceasing. Ask the Lord for help with everything. The most important thing you can do is to stay in the word”
“Are you in the word? asked Pastor.
Wayne looked down at pastors desk and felt ashamed, “ah… ah… No I am not.”
“You need to do a Bible reading schedule.”
Wayne looked down as if he got caught and sent to the principal’s office, “OK.”
With a firm voice Pastor said, “There are Bible reading schedules at the information table. Pick up one and promise to me that you are going to read it.”
Wayne slowly looked up at pastor and said, “OK, I will do that.”
“Let’s pray right now about this. Father, I know that there is nothing to difficult for you. I pray that you could show my brother Wayne what he needs to so to solve his problem with his temper. I pray that he would have patients with his wife and co-workers. I pray they would overcome this problem and be the man of God that you have called him to be and to be a Godly example. I Pray for these things and Jesus name Amen.”Both men looked up and Wayne’s eyes looked peaceful, “Thanks pastor.””You look allot better now than when you came in,” As pastor smiled.Wayne got up and shook pastor’s hand, “I will see you next Sunday.””Good,” said pastor.
Wayne left his office and went home.
Do you produce fruit want to talk about it? Click on email me. If that doesn’t work my email address is kenswalkthewalk@gmail.com