"In the Kingdom, there is a good seed and a bad seed. Both are sown, and both reap a harvest."
Bad Roots:
1. Gossip
Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT) “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with malice.”
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV) “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
“Don’t take your gossip and mask it as a prayer request.”
“What brings strength to the Body and anger to the devil is unity.”
2. Bitterness
Hebrews 12:15 (ESV) “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.”
“Your fruit always reveals your roots.”
3. Un-forgiveness/Offense
John 13: 12-15 (ESV) “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
Ephesians 4:32 (ESV) “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Colossians 3:13 (NLT) “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
Uprooting 1. Expose the roots
Ephesians 5:13-14 (NIV) “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.”
2. Root fire
3. Tending to the weeds
Psalm 51:10 (ESV) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me”
Your fruit, while rooted in Jesus
Isaiah 61:3 (NLT) “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”
1. Will last
Psalm 1:3 (NLT) “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. lIn all that he does, he prospers.”
2. Will bear the fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
3. Will be plentiful John 15:5 (NLT) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
