Passage Matthew 12:33-37:
33 “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”
Passage Romans 15:16:
16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.
Passage Galatians 5:19-23:
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
Jesus tells us that we recognize the goodness/badness of a tree by the fruit it produces. He goes on to explain that the words we speak reveal what is really stored up in our hearts. Consider the two types of fruit Paul describes. Consider the the words you speak throughout your typical day.
What do your words reveal about what is stored in your heart?
We often try to deal with our sinful nature by self-effort, missing the fact that the power source for change is not in our effort, but rather in the Holy Spirit. Trying to fix ourselves is like trying to use our computers without plugging them in- it it doesn’t work because the computer is not connected to the power that makes it function as it is inteded to function.
By what power does Paul tell us we are sanctified (made like Christ)?
What steps can we take to draw upon that power moment by moment, day by day?
How does exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit impact our ability to be effective witnesses for Christ?
[written by Kelly Guy]
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One Comment on “2007-10-16 What’s in YOUR heart?”
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I enjoy that computer analogy. Very nice.
I needed to hear this today. Thanks for the blessing!
Posted on October 16, 2007 at 7:41 pm.