A Tree is Known by its Fruit
Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount
Speaker: Lead Pastor Dustin Aguilar
Scripture: Matthew 12:33-37, Matthew 7, Matthew 15:11, Galatians 5:22-23, Galatians 5:19-20a, Deuteronmy 13, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
Introduction:
A man in Kenya asked Dustin during a mission trip: Does God give special Grace to some teachers who do unbiblical things, so they do not lose their anointing for the spiritual gifts?”
The reference was to a minister from Tulsa who has been known to dress in women’s clothing, plagiarize sermons, and push boundaries to make his points understood.
Dustin says the answer is the spiritual gifts are given from God’s Grace: They are not earned to begin with, so they are not taken away because they were not earned.
He said if a person shows you who he or she is, then believe them. A tree will produce the fruit they are known for: an apple tree does not produce figs.
Jesus said: A tree is known by its fruit. Matt. 12:33. The Pharisees were saying that Jesus was working and doing signs for evil. Dustin first preached about this in May 2024.
If this is true, the question is: What is the fruit of the teachers?
What is Fruit?
Talent/Giftedness
Talent is the ability to do something specific that others may not be able to do. Some people have skills that make them more dynamic speakers, and other things.
Giftedness is given and is supernatural in nature.
They both enable the person to get something done.
Referring to the tree: these are not an internal part of the tree as the character of the tree: these are decorations placed on the outside of the tree.
People are enamored with the decorations and their appearance.
Real Fruit
Real Fruit is character: Galatians 5:22-23
1 Corinthians 13: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
This fruit is unspectacular
Leaders with this fruit are typically not invited to conferences. The leaders who get invited to conferences demonstrate power, gifts, and talents.
Beware of False Teaching
Deuteronomy 13 says that false prophets do signs and wonders
1 Corinthians 13:1 & 2 If I speak in the tongues of... and do not have love...I am as noisy as a gong. I am prophetic and do not have love, it is nothing.. (paraphrased)
Love is number one on the fruit of the spirit list; everything else is under it. Love is most important.
To show love, you must have a humility to the spirit.
The fruit is from inside, it is character. Bad characters still can have spiritual gifts due to them being given by grace.
We have a patient God: you may have power, but not the fruit.
Problem with the Church
People are enamoured by power, so it interferes with the discernment of the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians: 5:19-20a: Shows the opposing side of the fruit. The fruit of the flesh.
The power of God and the manifestations of the Spirit are gifts.
Fruit is the outward by-product of what is on the inside of the person, if it is the holy spirit; it begins with love.
Matt. 12:33-34: Jesus speaks to the religious leaders in response to them accusing him of not being from God and says,” Brood of vipers. How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Jesus called them out publicly because they caused harm by leading the people astray with their false teaching. Their speech had venom and was poisonous.
How to spot “cover-up culture". When someone calls out the truth as Jesus did with the religious leaders, the cover-up culture will claim that the one with the truth was mean and said in a mean way. The truth is not what matters with them; it is the way it is said that matters. It is a deception.
People are hurt by the abuse of religious leaders who use their power and gifts without love. It takes a long time for these hurt people to heal.
What comes from the mouth is what is actually in the heart. Words spoken harshly hurt others, even if it is a joke or someone is just kidding. Do you use your words to shame, to deceive, or to hurt?
People justify their words, but we will show an account for everything we say. Anecdote about Words.
Matthew 12:36-37 “On the day of judgment, people will give an account of every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Dustin said that he had a chilling moment when he could actually see himself standing and giving an account for every mean word he had spoken. He was being asked, “Why did you say.../” He would have to answer because I was... I said... instead of showing love... He felt the dread of the judgment, even though he knew that Jesus died for him and he was saved. This caused him to feel deeply and cry out for the blood of Jesus.
Conviction is good; it helps us know the love of Jesus and what he has done for us.
There are different types of convictions, but the emotional conviction moves us most.
Emotional Conviction of sin is when you taste and see that the Lord is Good and receive His Grace.
Doorway to everything we want from God.
Cry out for Mercy... He answers, and we truly feel saved from something.
Revival
Revival at all costs sounds great, but it is marred.
It sometimes means the cost of righteousness
It sometimes includes new age practices
It sometimes includes progressive unbiblical thought
It sometimes does not include the real fruit
It often includes gifts and power.
The Right Revival
Should be at all costs to our flesh (the fruit of the flesh).
Must pursue the Kingdom of Heaven.
Historical revivals included the fruit of the spirit, the gifts from God and they point people to the Gospel.
For Revival, we must pursue the fruit of the Spirit first before the gifts.
Gifts and power may make a ministry hype; Fruit is what makes a ministry good.
How to obey
If you perceive that you are producing bad fruit, ask for God's forgiveness and seek to produce good fruit - by the help and power of God.
How to walk intimately with God
When I see myself produce bad fruit, I ask for forgiveness. I can sometimes change my context (remove the thing that made me produce bad fruit - i.e., the thing that "made" me angry). Ask the Holy Spirit to produce in me good fruit and seek His perspective/approach when I cannot change my context.