Knowing People Part 1
Scripture Reading - Matthew 7:16-20 KJV
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Today we will speak on “Knowing People” by examining their fruit. This sounds fairly simple but it is not as easy as it may seem unless you understand how God thinks. Our Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is very plain in His speech toward man. It is His desire that every Christian have an advantage in this world because the Lord and our Heavenly Father knows that we have an adversary in this world that is intent on causing us problems. Therefore, the Lord Jesus told us a crucial secret on how to identify corrupt people and also how we can “Know People” by being a good fruit inspector. The key is knowing God’s Will and His Nature in accordance with His Word. We know God by believing that He Was, and He Is and He shall ever be exactly who He said He Was, Is and shall be. The only place you can get a consistent understanding and all three tenses (past, present and future) in one manuscript (man’s scripting) is in the Holy Bible. Remember God did not write the Holy Bible alone but rather He inspired holy men of God to write His thoughts (His Will), purposes (intentions), plans (designs), His passions (His desires) and His Nature (His Character) with the help of His Holy Spirit.-Refer to 2 Peter 1:16-21 Knowing God is the equivalent of knowing good and once you intimately know good you develop a strong distaste for bad, the devil and his ways. This is why the Word of God states in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 that there is no communion with light and darkness, nor is there any agreement between believers and unbelievers. It is always hard to fellowship with those who oppose God, so they must be identified early and accurately. The primary way you “know people” is by their fruit but the fruits you are looking for are threefold. One fold is the fruit of their words which is basically answering the question, “Are they speaking like God or do they speak like the world system or even worst are they speaking pure evil (like the devil)? The second fold is their praise which means do they praise men, the works of their hands, the world system of fame and fortune or do they give glory, honor and praise to the Creator of the Universe, our awesome God. The third fold is what is the fruit of their spirit? Are they loving others or degrading people? Is there some joy about them or are they a disgruntle complainer? Do they display any of the fruit of spirit or are they full of the fruit of the flesh. Dear Saint, if you don’t know the differences between the Lord, the world system and the devil that we (ihlcc) just described it is time for you to study God’s Word to distinguish the differences. This concept ties back to the previous statement, “that you cannot “know people” without knowing God”! The Light of God’s Love also shows people in a different way which allows us to get a better understanding of who people really are and why they need God’s Help (Salvation, Mercy and Healing). A broken heart is typically a broken soul that only the healing (mending) mercy and love and grace of God can heal. So don’t wonder about what type of personality a person has because you should “know that person” by their fruit. Good people produce God’s fruit and bad people produce ungodly fruit consistently. To keep this teaching simple if they’ are not showing forth God’s fruit they do not have God’s Personality and that is the big (huge) change they need to make in this life by God’s design before it’s too late. Amen!