It’s possible to look like a Christian, talk like a Christian, attend church like a Christian and still be far from Jesus in your heart.
Jesus didn’t come to give us a better religious appearance. He came to transform us from the inside out.
In this 4-part message series we will discover what it means to move beyond surface-level Christianity into a genuine, surrendered, Spirit-filled relationship with Jesus!
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” — Matthew 15:8
Part 2: Roots Before Fruits
You Can’t Fake Depth
[Parable of Sower…#4] “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Matthew 13:20-21
1. It’s possible to grow quickly without growing deeply.
“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ.” Colossians 2:6-8
“Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
2. Pressure reveals our root system.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream, and does not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
“He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4
3. Fruit that remains comes as we abide in Jesus.
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing... My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.” John 15:4-5,8
“The one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:10
* All scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted
