Fruit
We have to know a tree by its fruit.
Matthew 7:15-27 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' (23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (24) "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: (25) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (26) "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: (27) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self control, secret generosity, fasting, praying, poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, peacemaking, persecuted, rejected by the world.
These are the Biblical fruits of true shepherds.
Seeming accuracy of prophetic words, amazing abilities, the ability to help people, or big crowds are not true measures of a man or woman of God. These are not the good fruit Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7. The Bible makes this clear. Not everything supernatural and appealing to our desire for help or entertainment is from the Lord. False and lying spirits will often use spiritual truths about Jesus to deceive!:
Acts 16:16-19 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. (17) This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." (18) And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour. (19) But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
What IS supernaturally from the Lord is the ability to grow in Christ-likeness. A meek or generous man or woman is a real miracle. Someone who forgoes pride in order to be loyal to Jesus is a straight-up miracle. Few will celebrate it, but that is the miraculous the Bible celebrates.
No one will pay you millions of dollars for becoming more like Jesus. Very few will celebrate it, and on the rare occaision when they do, someone like Jesus will put it down immediately (picture Paul refusing to be worshiped on Malta, or Peter refusing to be worshiped by Cornelius). This is part of what it means to have a cross: doing all the obeying and supernatural heart-changing, with almost no celebration from the world.
The cross = rejection from the world for agreeing with its redemption.
Matthew 5:9-12 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. (10) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. (12) Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The end times will see more and more supernatural acts that point to a false Christ and a false value system. We need to be people of the truth.
False prophets are easy to see if you know what to look for. We MUST discern the false from the true and be clear about both.
Matthew 7:15-27 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' (23) And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (24) "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: (25) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. (26) "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: (27) and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self control, secret generosity, fasting, praying, poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, peacemaking, persecuted, rejected by the world.
These are the Biblical fruits of true shepherds.
Seeming accuracy of prophetic words, amazing abilities, the ability to help people, or big crowds are not true measures of a man or woman of God. These are not the good fruit Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7. The Bible makes this clear. Not everything supernatural and appealing to our desire for help or entertainment is from the Lord. False and lying spirits will often use spiritual truths about Jesus to deceive!:
Acts 16:16-19 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. (17) This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." (18) And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour. (19) But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
What IS supernaturally from the Lord is the ability to grow in Christ-likeness. A meek or generous man or woman is a real miracle. Someone who forgoes pride in order to be loyal to Jesus is a straight-up miracle. Few will celebrate it, but that is the miraculous the Bible celebrates.
No one will pay you millions of dollars for becoming more like Jesus. Very few will celebrate it, and on the rare occaision when they do, someone like Jesus will put it down immediately (picture Paul refusing to be worshiped on Malta, or Peter refusing to be worshiped by Cornelius). This is part of what it means to have a cross: doing all the obeying and supernatural heart-changing, with almost no celebration from the world.
The cross = rejection from the world for agreeing with its redemption.
Matthew 5:9-12 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. (10) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. (12) Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The end times will see more and more supernatural acts that point to a false Christ and a false value system. We need to be people of the truth.
False prophets are easy to see if you know what to look for. We MUST discern the false from the true and be clear about both.
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