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Producing Fruit

In Genesis 3 we see the account of Adam and Eve being tempted and eventually sin. The serpent asked Eve, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”of all the ways he could have tempted them, he did it with fruit. I think that’s because fruit is the result of hidden things. Fruit is the harvest of previous work. Fruit is the outward representation of inner work. The Bible is full of verses about fruit. Good fruit comes from obedience, spending time with Jesus and the soil we are planted in. Fruit is where your faith becomes visible. We must make sure we are producing good fruit and that we aren’t tempted to think that it’s the result of anything other than God’s faithfulness and goodness.

Here are some Bible verses on fruit we should produce:

1. 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.

Matthew 12:33 NLT

2. You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you!

John 15:16 TPT

3. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.

John 15:5 GNT

4. But other people are like seeds sown in good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred.

Mark 4:20 GNT

5. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV

Photo by ekrem osmanoglu on Unsplash

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Remain In Christ

I was helping my son study for his science test this week. They’re studying flowers, plants and tree systems right now. He had to know about photosynthesis, chlorophyll, and all the parts of the plant. As I’m quizzing him, I kept thinking, “Why does an 11 year old need to know this? Why do any of us need to know this?” However, I kept asking him the questions. What do roots do? They supply water and nutrients to the plant. What is the process by which plants receive pollen so they can produce fruit? Pollination. Somewhere in the questioning, I began to see us as the plants with our need for deep roots and being pollinated by other believers.

In John 15, Jesus was giving His final instructions to the disciples before He was arrested. He had just told them that He was going away to prepare a place for us. Then He promised to send the Holy Spirit. He followed that up by telling them that He is the vine, we are the branches and God is the gardener. In verse 4 He said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me” (NLT). The vine is the main channel those roots give the nutrients to and unless the branches are attached to it, they can’t receive their nutrients, produce fruit or live.

God expects you and I to remain attached to Christ. He expects fruit from our lives. We can’t allow ourselves to become detached from our source. Colossians 2:7 reminds us to let our roots grow deep in Christ. We need to get our nutrients from Him and our water from His Word. We need to be around other believers in Life Groups breaking down Scriptures so we understand them better and produce fruit in our lives. If you’re not producing fruit right now, take a look at your roots. Make sure you’re grounded in Him and feeding your soul the proper nutrients. In His final sermon before His death, Jesus wanted us to know that trouble will come, distractions will arise, but we must remain in Him no matter what.

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

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The Olive Tree


One of the cool things we got to see on our trip to Israel was the Garden of Gethsemane. It was at the foot of the Mount of Olives just outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. In the garden were several olive trees. The picture you see is one that I took of them. They were huge and were centuries old. These trees have survived droughts, earthquakes, and people taking parts of them because of care takers. They still produce olives to this day.

In Psalm 52:8, David said, “But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love” (NLT). David understood that if he planted himself in God’s house, watered himself with God’s Word, and allowed himself to be cared for by God, he would thrive and produce fruit all the days of his life. He would be able to survive what life threw at him.

We all go through spiritual droughts, have our world shaken, and even have people pick us apart. The question is, “Where are you planted?” Are you planted in the fertile soil of God’s Word? If we want to thrive, even in the toughest times, we must plant ourselves, like David, in God’s house and trust in Him. He will care for you and cause you to keep producing long after everyone else thinks you’re done. 

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