Good morning Church,

Happy Family Day!!!

The opening chapter of Genesis contains this command: "Be fruitful and multiply" (1:28). In today's reading Jesus talks about bearing fruit. A fruit can only be as good or bad as the tree it is growing on. We use an expression to refer to kids, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", meaning a child usually has the same character as the parents from which it came. "A tree is recognized by its own fruit" (Luke 6:44).

There is a law in the kingdom of God - "everything will produce fruit after its own kind" - eg. you can't get apples from an orange tree, or as Jesus says, "you can't get grapes from bramble bushes". 

Jesus makes direct application to an individual with this example: the fruit that comes from someone's heart is seen in the way that person speaks (Luke 6:45). In other words, one can tell what is going on in someone's life, by the words that come out of his/her mouth. Then in verse 46, Jesus indicates that a mouth can lie - calling Jesus Lord, and not doing what He says - the mouth doesn't match the actions. If we confess Jesus as Lord, then we need to do what He says...or we are liars, which shows what is really going on in our heart.

Here is a good illustration of a heart for Jesus - the fruit will be a house (person) that remains standing during the storms of life. In other words, if you obey the words of Jesus, you will persevere through the hard times in life (Luke 6:46-49) The moral of the story is: make sure the soil of the heart is good for producing good fruit, and make sure the soil of the heart is good for laying a foundation to anything we build. 

I encourage you to read this week's reading in different translations, meditate upon the word, and examine the condition of your heart. Is it good for producing good fruit?

This week read: Luke 6:43-49; Matthew 7:16- 27; John 15:1-11

Luke 6:43-49The Message (MSG)

Work the Words into Your Life

43-45 “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

46-47 “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

48-49 “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”