Making The Tree Good
FOUNDATION STATEMENT: To see change in our
lives we must play our part by changing what we believe. – Matthew 12:33
I. Make the tree good.
(Matthew 12:33).
A. There’s a tree or belief
on the inside of all of us that’s producing fruit or the results in our lives
1. The fruit matches the
tree, the results match the belief
a. You’re not going to have
an apple tree that produces oranges
2. If you want to change the
fruit you’re getting you have to get a new tree
a. If want to change the
results in your life, you have to change what you believe
3. Make the tree good
– Not make it happen
a. If you make the tree
good, the fruit has no choice but to be good
b. God made the system like
this, your circumstances have no choice, but to line up with your belief
B. We need to be focused on
making the tree good
1. Jesus puts his focus on
the tree, not the fruit; he puts his focus on the belief not the results
a. Jesus didn’t say make the
fruit good; He said make the tree good
1) Whatever you make the
tree, the fruit will be
b. He’s revealing to us to
focus on the belief that’s in our hearts
2. Don’t be distracted away
from the process of making the tree good, by what’s not happening in the
natural
a. Don’t be distracted away
from the process by negative reports, bad circumstances, or things not
changing; be consumed with the process; be consumed with making the tree good
b. Don’t be
results-minded, be process-minded. If you mind the process of making the
tree good, the results will be there; If you do this the results will take care
of themselves
c. What’s it matter what the
doctor is saying? If you make the
tree good, the doctor’s report will change and get in line with that tree?
3. We have to stop being so
focused on what’s not happening on the outside and start being focused on what
should be happening inside.
a. What should be happening
on the inside is that my faith tree should be developing and growing
daily. I should be watering that
tree with the Word and giving light to that tree with the Word.
b. Let’s not be focused on
the fruit that we have, but don’t want.
Let’s be focused on the tree because if we change the faith tree, the
fruit will change.
4. Let’s be so consumed and
focused on growing and developing the right tree that we don’t even pay
attention to the outside circumstances in life
a. Let’s be possessed by the
seed-promise and the process that it has to go through
b. Let’s stop focusing on
what’s not changing on the outside and start focusing on what is changing on
the inside fully-knowing that when your faith-tree gets fully developed fruit
and harvest will be the result
II. In the Kingdom of God system if we want change outside in
life, then we must first of all start that process by changing what we believe
in our hearts (Matthew 23:25-26)
A. We’ve made the outside faith,
but inside is unbelief
1. We know the right things
to say and the right faces to make when we are around believers, but what’s
coming out when the pressure is of?
B. We have to acknowledge
that in the Kingdom of God system the process of change works from the inside
out
1. Any area where we are
desiring to see change outside, we must first change our heart-belief inside
a. What the farmer has in
the ground determines what he has out of the ground and if he wants to change
what’s coming out of the ground he needs to change what he’s putting in the
ground (Mark 4:26-30)
C.As believers we’ve been
too flesh-minded in that too often we look to the outside at what’s not
changing and what’s not happening and it distracts away from what should be
happening inside
1. We got to fix our focus
on making the tree good and changing the inside
a. I’m working the system
and the system says if I make the tree good, the fruit will be good
D. The process of change
takes place from the inside out.
The only way to see change in your life is by first of all changing
what’s in your heart. You don’t qualify for change outside if you
aren’t willing to engage the process
of changing what’s inside.
III.
Your battle is not a
physical battle (2 Corinthians 10:3)
A. Our battle is not in the
realm of the flesh
1. You don’t have figure out
how it’s going to happen or do something to make it happen (Mark 4:26-28)
a. The farmer’s battle was
not to figure out how a harvest was going to come or to even make the harvest
come. His battle was to take the
seed out of the bag, put it in the ground, develop it, and if he did that he
would see the harvest.
b. Our battle is not to
figure out how the manifestation is going to come or to make the manifestation
come. Our battle is to take the
word-seed out of the bag, put it into the ground of our hearts, develop it into
faith, and if we do that we’ll see the harvest.
2. The she shall be made
whole will be the result of you fearing not and believing only (Luke 8:49)
B. Our battle is in the
realm of the spirit and it’s to make the tree good
1. David’s battle with
Goliath wasn’t about slingshots, rocks, and swords
a. David’s battle was about
the faith in his heart and he won the battle in his heart
2. You’re not battling
sickness and disease, you’re not battling depression, you’re not battling
financial lack Jesus is Lord over sickness, disease, depression, and financial
lack. He defeated those things and
put them under your feet.
(Ephesians 1:19)
a. Your battle is about what
you believe in your heart.
C.Your fight is the fight
of faith and that fight takes place in the heart (1 Timothy 6:12)
1. Fight the good fight of
the faith tree
a. Fight – Used in
both military and athletic endeavors to describe the concentration, discipline,
and extreme effort needed to win
2. There’s a conflict going
on and there’s somebody out there trying to stop you (Luke 8:12)
a. Satan’s trying to stop
you from making the tree good
1) There’s going to be
opposition to you making the tree good
3. Your fight is to make the
tree good/to make your belief good because if you make the tree good the fruit
will be good
a. What choice does the
fruit have, if the tree is an apple tree?
No choice, the fruit has to be apples.
b. My battle is to develop
that tree of belief in my heart