Here's the thing about fruit

Road Trip

Matthew 7:13–14 HCSB

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

Want to figure out who a person really is? one word..or is it two…ROAD TRIP

*macinkak Island trip

Jesus wants people to be sure they understand things clearly. It’s easy to live a life that is meaningless when looked at through they eyes of purpose and eternity.

Countless people have come to an understanding that when Jesus is talking about this he means hell and heaven, that this set of verses is all about eternity, and while that is a part of it, Jesus is not only looking into some distant future. He is making sure people understand that this is a living breathing happening now issue.

The problem with Yes Men

Matthew 7:15 HCSB

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

We all know people that will say anything to get what they want, worse yet is a person that will say anything to keep the peace, and more dangerous still is the leader who wants so badly to prosper that he or she will do anything, say anything, and teach anything to make that thing happen. The real problem with yes men is that people want them to be their leader, especially in the church.

2 Timothy 4:3 HCSB

For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.

When you put people who want to be validated and affirmed as opposed to loved and equipped for service with a leader who is more concerned about the way things look and how people see them. You have a bunch of sheep, who hire the wolf to keep them safe. The problem with that is the wolf is only out for one thing, and the sheep are too willing to just go along as long as they are not individually the one that is getting eaten.

(Don’t change that it’s my thing just change that it’s theirs)

The old bait and switch

So we ask this question. How can I tell if a person who claims to be a follower of Christ, how can I tell if I who claim to be a follower of christ know that I’m legit?

The answer is pretty simple and summed up in this verse.

Matthew 7:16 HCSB

You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Look at the person who has said I’m a christian and see if when you get closer there are a lot of thistles or thorns. Jesus was very likely referncing two very specific things. The bucthorn has little black berries growing on it that from a distance would likey have looked like grapes, and there are some thistle that flower much in the same way as a fig blossom would look, however when you get closer, when you actually explore you find the truth. This is how it is with people who claim to be followers of Christ. There is always the truth waiting sometimes just beneath the surface the issue is are we willing to do what it takes to find out or are we content to just nod and smile.

The answer is pretty simple and summed up in this verse.

This or that

We have talked about choice a lot. There is a reason. Choice is at the very heart of our faith.

Matthew 7:17–18 HCSB

In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Matthew

Good fruit and bad fruit. (Gordon Ramsey and the Tomato Flower)

We

We choose to dig deeper, we choose to want more, we choose the kind of fruit we tolerate and the kind of fruit we produce. With God it’s a this or that proposition there is no way that it can be both good and bad.

Looks like this is the end

Matthew 7:19 HCSB

Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew

The final answer

Matthew 7:20 HCSB

So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.

And that fruit is

Galatians 5:22–23 HCSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This Week’s Challenge

Check your ears. Are they itching, do you look for people that will tell you what you want to hear? Do you base your life and your life decisions around what you like and what affirms your choices, or do you base it on what God says in the His word?