BEWARE OF FALSE FRUIT

Here is a recap of Sunday’s message from Pastor Steve: “The Power of Obedience — Part 1: Beware of False Fruit”

We continued our journey through the final movements of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus’ challenge in Matthew 7:15–20 hit with clarity and conviction. Jesus ended His masterpiece sermon by anchoring His people in the importance of obedience, because obedience is where revelation becomes transformation. In this section, Jesus exposes a world full of facades, religion without repentance, charisma without character, giftedness without godliness. He calls His followers to discern fruit, not appearance.

Pastor showed how the biblical idea of obedience (Hebrew: shama - “to hear and respond”) is far deeper than compliance. In Scripture, hearing without obeying was considered never hearing at all. Obedience, Pastor taught, is not behavior modification—it’s relational surrender. It is the evidence of authentic faith, the root system that determines the fruit of our lives.

We broke down Jesus’ teaching into three movements:
(1) Watch the fruit, not the façade. Character over charisma.
(2) Good roots naturally lead to good fruit. Obedience as a byproduct of connection.
(3) Bad fruit exposes broken roots. The harvest always tells the truth.

We examined how Jesus’ warning about false prophets also invites us to examine our own lives: Does my character match my confession? Our fruit, our words, our reactions, our attitudes, all reveals whether we are authentically walking with Jesus or simply managing an image. Even the most gifted can’t fake fruit forever; fruit always exposes the root.

Practical takeaways:
• Discern fruit, not appearance. Charisma can deceive; character reveals truth.
• Your habits show your root system. Whatever you’re connected to will eventually surface.
• Stay rooted in the Word and prayer. Fruit isn’t forced, it flows from intimacy.
• Bad fruit requires root work, not branch trimming. Let Jesus heal the hidden parts.
• Obedience is not perfection, it’s connection. Real transformation comes through abiding in Christ.
• Be honest about your fruit. What’s growing from your life reveals who is Lord in your life.

Images that stuck:
• A field of trees. Some alive and fruitful, others hollow and barren, reminding us that what’s underground determines what grows above ground.
• The idea that you can “photoshop” your social media image, but you cannot photoshop holiness. Fruit doesn’t lie.
• A salty spring trying to produce fresh water. Impossible without a transformed source.
• The picture of roots either drawing from Living Water or drying out from neglect.

Below are the verses that were read during the message:

Matthew 7:15–20 (CEV)
15 Watch out for false prophets! They dress up like sheep, but inside they are wolves
who have come to attack you.
16 You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from
thornbushes.
17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.
19 Every tree producing bad fruit will be chopped down and burned.
20 You can tell who the false prophets are by their deeds.

1 Samuel 16:7 (CEV)
“But the Lord told him, ‘Samuel, don’t think Eliab is the one just because he’s tall and handsome. He isn’t the one I’ve chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.’”

Matthew 12:33 (CEV)
“A tree and its fruit are known by the kind of fruit it bears. You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces.”

John 15:4–5 (CEV)
“Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must stay connected to the vine. You cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.”

Psalm 1:2–3 (CEV)
“They love the Lord’s teachings and think about them day and night. They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves. Those people succeed in everything they do.”

James 3:12 (CEV)
“My friends, can a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t get fresh water out of a salty spring.”

Luke 6:45 (CEV)
“Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart.”

A closing encouragement from the service: Jesus stands among the trees of our lives, not to condemn but to cultivate. He isn’t looking for the perfect branches, He’s looking for surrendered roots. If you feel the Holy Spirit pruning you, calling you to lay down the image and pick up intimacy, this is your moment. Come let God replant you in His presence. Stop trying to fake fruit and let Him form it in you. The world doesn’t need more Christians who look the part. It needs believers rooted deeply enough in Jesus to bear fruit that lasts.