Sermons About Fruit
Matthew 7:15-23
False prophets may resemble sheep, but they are wolves. We can recognize them by their works. We must have a right relationship with God; works can't save us.
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The Benefits of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not just a doctrine, He is a person that lives within us. The Scriptures tell us some very specific benefits that are ours due to the Spirit's indwelling. Therefore, it should be normal for every surrendered Christian to see miraculous manifestations of the work of Spirit in us and through us.
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Preparing the Way for Jesus
In Luke chapter 3, John the Baptist begins his ministry of preparing the way for Jesus' ministry. John's baptisms were for repentance, and he preached a message of "repent or else." He didn't tell people to go through rituals, but he told people that they needed to change to show their repentance. Real repentance produces fruit that comes from a changed heart.
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Lasting Change Begins in the Heart
If we ever hope to experience lasting change in our lives, then we must deal with our problems on the heart level. The heart of our problem is the problem in our heart. Jesus made it very plain that we do the things we do because of what we have stored up in our hearts. People and circumstances are not the cause of our problems, they only provide occasions for our hearts to reveal themselves. Fruit change is a result of root change. The heart must be the target of our personal growth and ministry. God wants to produce a heart change in us and then use us to produce heart change in others.
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Matthew 12:33-37
Character, not environment, drives our conduct. Jesus is concerned with the inside–the heart of man–for He knows that from the heart the mouth speaks.
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Praying for Even More Gospel Fruit
The Christ-Centered Life, part 1: The result of the gospel in a person's life is always fruit and growth. Are you growing?
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Blessed are the Peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a call to repentance. Apart from genuine repentance there is no true knowledge of God and no participation in the Kingdom of God. Repentance and the Kingdom of Heaven go hand in hand (3:2; 4:17; 5:3 “Blessed are … the kingdom of heaven.”) “Blessedness” refers to one who is in a right relationship with God; which in turn produces joy, happiness, contentment. Issue not how to enter the kingdom (repent), but assurance/evidence that one is in fact in the kingdom. The 1st century audience of Jesus, those listening to the sound of His voice, were a people steeped in a religious system that was spiritually bankrupt; it was a religious structure that focused almost entirely upon externals - what they do - as a means of being right with God and bringing down His blessing. Therefore, the beatitudes, would have come as a shocker; because the shoot right past the externals and deal directly with the heart. It is not the proud who are blessed, but the “poor in spirit”; it is not the morally superior, but those who mourn over their sin, are meek, and have a true inner “hunger and thirst for righteousness”; who are merciful, and pure in heart. Here in our verse this morning 5:9, He moves it to the next level: "Blessed are the peacemakers, because they shall be called sons of God."
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