Luke 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

 
 
Throngs of religious Jews were responding to the ministry of John the Baptist. Many were coming for baptism. You would think John would be excited that his ministry was growing in leaps and bounds. But he wasn’t at all. He even addressed his prospective members as “a brood of vipers (snakes)”! Why?
 
John’s mission wasn’t a popularity contest. It wasn’t a game of numbers. This erstwhile prophet wasn’t interested in building a so-called “mega church” at any cost. He didn’t want people who banked on their spiritual heredity. He didn’t want members who would be sitting on the fence. He had no room for those who boasted of their rich religious background, as children of Abraham. He certainly had no room for pretenders. All he cared for was to have a group of genuinely repentant believers around him.
 
So should today’s church be. The lifestyles of born again people must demonstrate that reality. Saved people must produce matching fruit. It’s pointless to fill our churches with sinners dressed up as saints. One of the most damaging things to a church’s evangelism and growth is to be full of members who are not truly born again. A hypocritical church cannot change the world.
 
Do you know that a “mini-church” consisting of a handful of truly converted believers is better than a “megachurch” of nominal Christians? I believe in these last days this is the will of God for His church. Will you join me in praying and believing God that our church be full of truly repentant believers? Will you personally resolve to be truly converted and to produce fruit worthy of repentance?
 
Pastor Josh