MATTHEW 7:15-20
• We are encouraged by God to be discerning. Here is a good start on learning to discern.
• It matters who you are connected too. Anointing’s travel… (There are Godly and ungodly anointing”s)
I. FRUIT NEEDS A SEED
A. Apples don’t come from grape seeds…
1. Unholy people do not produce Holy lives
B. The Seed is the Word of God
1. Our lives are a reflection of the Word that we have in our lives
II. FRUIT NEEDS SOIL - MARK 4:1-9
A. Good soil produces good harvest and bad soil bad.
B. Different Soils
1. Wayside - to hard for seed to penetrate (Birds ate the seed)
2. Stony - shallow depth… Seed can’t take strong root (strange doctrine)
3. Thorny - bushes that shield the seed from the sun. (Seeds need to reach for the sun)
4. Good Ground - deep, fertile, right amount of sun (produces harvest some 30, 60 & 100 fold)
III. FRUIT NEEDS WATER
A. Holy Spirit is necessary to produce Spiritual Fruit
B. Don’t be ashamed to be a Spirit-filled Christian
IV. FRUIT NEEDS THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE.
A. You won’t find Orange Trees in the forest around Traverse City Michigan. It’s too cold!
1. You can’t produce the miraculous in a faithless atmosphere!
B. Three things that set the atmosphere in our lives.
1. Worship
2. The Word
3. Our Faith
C. Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude - Dr. John Maxwell
1. Stay in love (that’s how your faith works)
V. FRUIT NEEDS SOMEONE TO PLANT THE SEED! THE SEED WON’T PLANT ITSELF!
A. Read & Expound Romans 10:11-15
B. It’s a lot better when we work together to spread the Word - Better Together
VI. A PLANT/TREE/VINE DOESN’T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THE FRUIT.
A. Don’t be upset or worried if it looks like your harvest is a vine... give it some time and remain faithful.
B. THE PROOF IS IN THE FRUIT! (The vine is not the fruit... Remain Faithful)
1. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
VII. QUESTIONS:
A. What kind of fruit is my life producing? - Galatians 5:22-23
B. Do I need to change the seeds I’m planting?
C. Am I in a “faith-filled” environment?
D. What do I need to change… like RIGHT NOW?
Closing: Men plant seeds in the ground... God plants His seeds in men.
