Spiritual Fruit

While Bible studying with a few amazing girls tonight, I came across a concern that I wanted to dig at more with them.  We are going through Matthew, and tonight we were on Matthew 7.  Let me highlight the section we were digging deeper into:

Verses 15-20
"Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."  (my emphasis added)

By their fruit...what does good fruit look like?  How is bad fruit different?  What should we be looking for in a true teacher or prophet in our day today? 

Galatians 5:22 Lists the fruits of the Spirit. 

If you see the following as a result of some sort (or a nourishment to produce more fruit) then you can be pretty safe that you are following a fellow Follower:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Also, John 15 says that Jesus is the true vine.  He needs to be our source in order to make fruit.  Instead of going to the thorn bushes for grapes, we have the True Vine to provide the nourishment and energy we need to make fruit.

Some of you may be out of home already, some of you reading this may still be living at home and getting ready to start life away from home.  I encourage you right now to ask God for discernment.  Ask Him to show you what false teachers are around you.  Who is producing bad fruit?  How can you produce good fruit?   Chances are, you have resources living around you.  Use them now while you have them.  When you live on your own, you may find yourself stumped because you didn't build a foundation strong enough for you to make your faith your own.  It's harder to build your foundation outside of your trusted resources.  Build it now.

I would love to share personal examples with anyone if they want that to better understand what good fruit can look like, but I won't take up the space to put that here unless God really places it hard on my heart.  Right now I want to speak His words.  My life is pretty much an open book, ask me whatever you want and I would love to share it with you. 

Know your fruits of the Spirit, and be on your guard against ferocious wolves trying to lead you astray.