LOVE WORTH FINDING 1ST FEBRUARY 2025 SATURDAY DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE BY ADRIAN ROGERS
TOPIC: The Root Determines the Fruit
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” – Matthew 7:15-20
Ponder This
Jesus starts this passage by calling false prophets “ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Then He explains we can know who the wolves are by their fruit. In verse 16, Jesus no longer speaks of these false prophets as animals but as trees. He’s saying that the devil’s work cannot continue to be covered by deception because the fruit is there. The root determines the fruit. Simply put, the devil can’t produce good fruit.
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If you had a fruit tree that wasn’t bearing the right kind of fruit, what could you do to get the right kind of fruit on it? You could transplant it. That’s what some people do when they move their membership. You might also try to cultivate it. Many people go off to church growth conferences today, but some of the material they read was telling them how to fertilize weeds. Growth is not everything. If the root is not right, it doesn’t matter how big the tree is; the right fruit will not come from a bad tree. You could also decorate the bad tree. You could pull off the bad fruit and tie on some healthy fruit to make it look right.
But no matter what you do on the outside, it is the root that determines the fruit. The fruit of the heart can only be changed when Jesus changes the heart. We can try to make all these quick fixes, but we won’t fool God. He is after the heart change, and He wants to develop and grow the fruit.
- How has God changed your heart? What are some ways you tried to fix your sin problems on your own before that happened?
- How can you determine if the teachers you listen to produce good or bad fruit?
Practice This
Pray for discernment to see the fruit of faith Jesus talks about. Ask God to change your heart so that you will bear His fruit.
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