Leaves or Fruit - Mark39

<p>Last time, we followed Jesus into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday — hailed as Messiah, fulfilling Daniel's seventy-weeks prophecy to the very day, and riding in on a donkey just as Zechariah foretold. But the same crowds shouting Hosanna would soon cry Crucify Him, and the leafy branches they laid at His feet become the picture for what follows. The next morning, hungry on the road from Bethany, Jesus curses a fig tree full of leaves but bearing no fruit — and it withers from the roots. It's a sobering parable of Israel, and of every professing believer: all show, no substance. Pastor Malcolm presses the point home — God isn't after religion, ritual, or outward display. He's after fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. Christlikeness. Real transformation that comes only from abiding in Him, dying to self, and walking in love. A call to stop only laying leaves at His feet — and start bearing fruit that lasts.</p>