0:01 [Music] Hopefully, it was on short notice, but hopefully you guys caught on to the theme for our week. It's right on the front of the booklet. What is it? Rooted in Christ and fruitful in your 0:20 single years. What does it mean to be rooted? Uh the parable of the sewer. You guys know the parable of the sewer, right? uh read a little bit from that from Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4 um it talks about seed that's planted in different 0:36 places and there's a particular type of seed that was planted in a certain type of soil and it said that the people here Mark 4:16 was a little bit rocky ground. You can't see what's the difference between rocky 0:54 ground and uh good soil. I honestly don't know the difference because when I you I'm not a farmer. When I look at it, it looks the same, right? And uh not nobody but God can tell the condition of the soil in your heart. We can have fellowship with each 1:12 other. We look exactly the same. And here's the scary part about it. Mark 4:16, it says they heard the word. So you can be here this weekend and you can hear the word and re immediately receive it with joy. It's a really good thing, 1:27 right? Receive the word with joy. And brothers and sisters, don't let the fact that you're receiving the word here this weekend in joy fool you about the state of the soil in your heart. And it's only the Lord can be the judge of 1:45 whether you are truly rooted in him, rooted in Christ. And it says the ones who are here receive it with joy. That's not a match. That's not a measure of spirituality. Receiving the word here, enjoy does not mean you are a spiritual 2:00 person. And it says in verse 17, they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary. And when is the when are they tested? How do we know the difference between regular soil and rocky ground is when some sort of trial comes in their life? 2:16 an affliction, persecution arises and then their grounding is somewhere else. We see similar story of the ones who are um who are planted by thorns and weeds. It says in verse 19, the worries of the 2:35 world, deceitful riches and desires for other things. You can be one that receives the word of with joy here today, but yet let's be on guard to see are we really rooted in Christ. One of the marks that we're rooted in Christ is this 2:52 deceitfulness of riches, the worries and anxieties of the world, the desires for these other things. That's what it says. Desires for other things could be anything. How you use your time, desires for any other thing besides it's 3:05 anything in moderation is fine. but they start becoming idols in your life. These are the things that will choke the word and will test you on whether you're really rooted in Christ. So I want to share a little bit today about I would 3:21 call it the anatomy of a tree since we're talking about this picture parable of a of a seed that becomes a tree. We're examining how it's rooted, what's its branches are, what fruit it's bearing. So we'll just talk I don't just 3:34 about those three parts. I'm not going to get into a big biology lesson about a tree, but the verse on which we based this theme was Jeremiah chapter 17 or at least one of the verses was from Jeremiah 17 5-8. And you can turn there and we'll 3:50 just study this verse for a little bit, this passage for a little bit. Jeremiah 17 5 and 8 5-8 says, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind." And the message translation says curses is the strong man who relies on his strength 4:05 who makes his flesh his strength. That means he depends what is our flesh. In the Old Testament it was talking about physical strength. In the New Testament we know the flesh to be our desires, our lusts but also could be our intellect, our 4:23 feelings. These are all things that we can put our strength in. Right? where we say, "Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm going to pursue what feels good to me or I'm going to pursue what intellectually makes sense to me or uh a pursuit of 4:39 where this world." And it says, "We're cursed if we make that our our strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord, for he will be like a bush in the desert. He will not see when prosperity comes." Imagine you can be prosperous in this life, but not 4:56 be able to see when true prosperity comes. I want to talk a little bit about what true prosperity means. How we define prosperity. And he will live in stony waste in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant. And verse 7 says, "Blessed is a man who 5:14 trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord." I was curious to not understood. I still don't have revelation uh maybe partial revelation why that word comes twice. Whose trust is the Lord? whose trusts the Lord and whose trust in the Lord. What does it 5:29 mean to trust in the Lord but also have my trust being the Lord? One thing that just occurred to me is uh yesterday I was meditating on this on the plane right over here. There's this concept of in the world, you know, when you're getting on to pass 5:46 on your estate, there's this concept of a living trust. You you guys know what a living trust is? You put your entire estate into a living trust. And the purpose of it is in the case that you become incapacitated 6:02 like you're sick uh and you're about to die or you get into an accident the trustee who's named in the trust becomes the sole manager of your assets. And that helped me understand this perhaps a little bit better. I can say I 6:21 trust in Lord. Yes Lord I trust in you. But can I say that my living trust is the Lord? He is my trustee. Which means that Lord today I'm incapacitated. I have no strength on my own to do it. 6:38 You can be the sole controller of my assets, my strength. Everything that I can do is only through you. You are the trustee of my living trust. Now help me understand what it means to 6:56 say my trust is in the Lord. My living trust is the Lord. I'm giving up surrendering like we heard everything to him and saying I want you to control everything about my life. I'm crucified. You are the one that lives through me. 7:09 Apart from apart from you I can do nothing. He will be like a tree planted by the water which will extend its roots by a stream. Verse eight, and will not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green, and it will not be 7:23 anxious in a year of dry drought, nor cease to yield fruit. Amazing verse which says you're planted by water, but yet when heat comes, we'll talk a little bit about that. What does it mean when heat comes or when a year of drought 7:35 comes, when a season of drought comes, are you still producing fruit? Not fruit as the world as the world defines fruit, but world as the Lord defines fruit. There's another similar passage. We don't need to turn there. In Psalms 1:2 7:47 and 3 which says the righteous man delights in the word of God and in his in his word he meditates day and night and he will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and its leaf does not wither and in 8:03 everything he does he prospers. That phrase which says that yields its fruit in season. What is the season to yield fruit? Is there a good season to yield fruit? Is there a season when you're not yielding fruit? In the new covenant, 8:17 perhaps the author of that psalm didn't know the new covenant, but in the new covenant, the season is always the season of drought, the season of sunshine, the season of rainfall. All of that is the season in which we expected 8:31 food. And and it says whatever he does, he prospers. I want to ask you, young brothers, how do you define prosperity? when it says all if I'm rooted in Christ all that I do will prosper. You know there was a 8:51 uh popular teaching in Christianity called the prosperity gospel which taught that you know if you give to God then he will prosper you in wealth. Many many religions actually preach a prosperity religion which is that if I 9:05 honor God I'll do this if you do that. You know Jacob prayed that prayer. Lord, if you will be my God, then if I then I will if if you if you give me all of these things, if you take care of my family and you grant me this and you 9:18 grant me that, then you will be my God. That's an old covenant Christianity. Prayer of Jes. If you I will expand my territory. Prosperity, we we know that in the new covenant life, it's much more than that than just physical blessing. In fact, it may not. 9:36 Paul says in Philippians 4:12 that I've learned to get along with humble means or with great means. The Lord might bless you financially or he may not bless you financially, but in all things I I can do all things through Christ who 9:47 strengthens me. That's what the next verse is. Philippians 4:13. And so that must be our testimony. It's not the fact that we're pursuing the Lord will make sure that we're never begging for bread, that we have um clothing. He will 10:01 provide a good job in his time even if we don't have a job right now. But the answer here of prosperity we know as new covenant Christians is not financial prosperity. But there is a danger in new covenant churches for a different 10:14 type of prosperity to creep in which is a prosperity of um the intellect. I want to be I want to be in Bible studies. I want to take notes. I want to take detailed notes. I want to be able to cross reference. I want to be able to speak the word. And I 10:29 want to be I want it to make intellectual sense to me. And that's a prosperity that again will come in the way of the prosperity that the Lord has for you, which is being rooted in Christ. Because that's one that again is of the flesh. 10:46 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "We're taking every lofty thought of ours captive to the knowledge of Christ." Being filled with the Holy Spirit means that I have a life. I have a I'm living in a life of liberty and not in a life 11:05 of uh stimulating the intellect. The other type of prosperity is the prosperity of feelings. I want things that feel good that make me feel good all the time. Hebrews 4:12 is a powerful words to say the living word of God is meant to 11:24 separate the sooulish from the spiritual. The Holy Spirit, this the the word of God, God spoken through the Bible and through this Holy Spirit to us is meant to separate the solish from the spiritual. What does that mean? That's a 11:38 violent weapon, right? A double-edged sword, which means that it may not feel good all the time, but my trust, but I'm going to take a violent sword to those feelings and say, Lord, I'm rooted in you. I may not have the fruit of feelings. I may not have 11:58 the fruit of intellect, but I will have the fruit of your Holy Spirit. I will have joy in your presence because I'm rooted in you. And so the true prosperity that we're looking for, brothers and sisters, is the prosperity 12:14 that is the the life of Christ in us, the fruit of the spirit that comes from being rooted in Christ. Now we know in the Old Testament we have these verses like Psalms 1 and Jeremiah 17 which say you know we will be like trees 12:31 planted by the water rooted in Christ. I believe in the new covenant we're actually not called to be trees because in the old covenant there was individual prophets, individual men of God like David real. I mean they had glimpses of 12:45 the new covenant life. People like Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, and you can see that in the Psalms, Moses, and they may have themselves been living out these words, individual trees that were rooted in God. In the new covenant, 13:01 it's a dangerous thing if we're just saying we're a tree that's rooted in Christ. Because the Bible says that we're Jesus says in John chapter 15, John 15:5, I am the vine. You are the branches, which means I'm not a tree anymore. I'm 13:19 just a branch. And who is the who's the first person who's called a branch? I don't know if you we won't turn there, but there's passages in Zechariah chapter 3 and Zechariah chapter 6 that actually talk use the word branch. Zechariah 38. You 13:36 can write it down if you want to look it up later which call refers to Jesus as God's servant the branch with a capital B. And that's the first branch that comes out from this. You think about us being rooted in God, rooted in the in our 13:54 heavenly father's love for us. The first branch that comes out is Jesus Christ. And he lives an example for us as a branch. And and then through him, you can think of I mean, if you look at a vine, a vine is actually like a long 14:11 branch of a creeper from which other subbranches come out and actually bear the fruit. That's how I like to picture my role as a branch is I'm sort of branching off of the main branch of Christ who himself is rooted in the 14:25 heavenly father. But what does that mean practically? It means to me that I can follow Jesus's example because he too lived the life of a branch. What is a life of a branch? A life of a branch is not independent. It's not uh just a tree by itself. It's 14:42 connected to other branches, right? It's connected to Jesus. It's connected to other branches branches, a picture of other brothers and sisters. It's bearing fruit together with other branches. A tree may have a name. You can say, 14:56 "Hey, that's an apple tree. That's an orange tree." It may have a name associated with it. A branch has no names. You can't say like, "Hey, that's the Sunil branch over there, and that's the Jeremy branch over there, and that's 15:07 the Santos branch over there." No, there's no names. The tree is the church of God, the bride of Christ. It's the It's God's tree. That's it. It doesn't even have RLCF or NCCF. You can't even call it NCF. It's the church 15:22 of Christ. It's the bride of Christ. The moment we put a name to it, we're in danger of drawing attention to something that is not God. We are the branches. And the beautiful thing about a branch is it's nameless. It's absolutely nameless. And Jesus 15:38 came. It's amazing that this prophecy of God in the Old Testament, it could have easily said, "Oh, I'm going to send this person named Jesus. I'm going to send this person named Jesus Christ." Never mentions his name. Even Jesus was a 15:51 nameless one. All that could be said about him was capital B branch. That's it. You see the nameless one in the example of Jesus. And how do we know that Jesus lived a life of this helpless dependence of being rooted 16:08 in his heavenly father? It says that he says that in we heard the verse John 3:30 which says I must decrease and he must increase. That was that's the words of John the Baptist. A couple chapters later the same verse John 5:30 Jesus 16:22 says I can do nothing on my own initiative. I can do zero. Not only have I decreased, I've decreased all the way to zero. I can do nothing on my own initiative. And he says that multiple times. I judge only as the father tells me. 16:38 Isaiah 11, the prophecy of Jesus says he will not judge by what is I see or what is ears here. But as his father speaks, there's a passage in one Peter 2 at the end of one Peter 2, I forget the exact verse which says that 16:56 when Jesus was reviled, he kept entrusting himself to his father. Kept entrusting himself to his father and was able to keep quiet when he was reviled. And in the next chapter, it's we're called to follow that same example. Even 17:11 though it's spoken to wives over there, it's spoken to wives and to husbands. He says, "Likewise, you following the same example, have a meek and a quiet spirit so that you might win your husband without a without even uttering a word." 1 Peter uh 3:1. 17:26 And then further on, it talks about husbands. So, it's not just a message for wives or for young sisters. It's a message for both brothers and sisters to say, "How do I know that?" Because the example is Jesus. It's not an example of 17:37 a godly wife. The example is Jesus. All of us can follow the example of Jesus who had who kept entrusting himself to the to his father and did not utter a word. And it says what a powerful word to say that we can win other souls. Do 17:51 you know that you can impact another brother or sister here this weekend without a word by them seeing your chasteed behavior? That's what those first few verses in 1 Peter 3 say. That was the example of Jesus. I believe when people saw Jesus 18:08 not reviling in return the I mean the thief on the cross says like this surely must be the man of God. How did he see that? He saw people cursing him and he saw this man not reviling in return. Do you know that your best witness for Christ can be 18:22 without even a single word because they see you grooted and trusting yourself in your father not having to even speak a word to them but they see your your behavior. You're meek and your quiet spirit. It's a dangerous thing to one of the 18:44 dangerous things of being being in a group like this but not really being rooted in Christ is we can fool ourselves because we're around other branches which are connected to Jesus the branch and which are connected to the root and we can say 18:59 we are hey yeah we're connected yeah I enjoy I'm receiving the word with joy like that seed There's a parable in uh Matthew chapter 13 of the of a different kind of tree which is actually a picture of the 19:19 church. Matthew Matthew 13 and verse 22 it says oh no sorry verse 32 uh verse 31 and 32 he presented the parable of the mustard seed he says 19:37 the kingdom of heaven which is the church of Christ is like a mustard seed which a man took and swed in his field smaller than all seeds when it is full grown it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree That's the 19:49 picture of us rooted in God having these branches that are connected to the capital B branch following his example of helpless dependence on our heavenly father. And then the last part says the birds of the air came and made a nest in its 20:05 branches. We know the birds of the air from other parables like the parable of the sword is a picture of the enemy. It's not it's not a good thing when birds of the air put branches who have a nest in a tree like the church. 20:20 And the analogy I want to use here is of these branches of these nests is you can be sitting here and if you're not careful you can think you're part of the tree but actually you're just a nest in the tree. And the dangerous thing, you know 20:39 what a nest is made out of? A nest is made up of branches, but it's dead branches. It's branches that are not connected to the vine. They're not connected to the root, but they're hanging out with the other branches. They're sitting there 20:55 and hanging out with the other branches. They're just kind of in in there. The birds have come and put in some branches and all that. And from a distance, even if I come to you, I may be like, "Hey, that's a good-looking branch. looks like 21:06 a branch to me. But God sees that you're not receiving the sap that's flowing. You're not be willing to receive a word of conviction or the word of you're not living your life rooted in him. Not willing to take a word of discipline 21:23 when the worries of this world come in. when the anxieties of this world come in, when a day of heat comes in, when a year of drought comes in shaken away because you you don't have that root. And so it's important to don't take comfort that you're here this 21:39 weekend along with the select few that were selected to come here. There is no uh only God is the one who appraises. We're not uh here to appraise just because you got an invitation over here. Only the Lord can examine. Are you 21:55 rooted in God? Are you rooted through that branch of Christ in our heavenly father? Or are you just hanging out as a branch? Let's turn to John 15 and I'll talk about the proof that we're rooted and we're 22:13 connect to the branch. John 15 I shared from this earlier. John 15 verse 5 say uh John chapter 15 um John 15:5 says I am the vine you are the branches here's the example of what we said God Jesus being that capital B branch who's also connected he who 22:32 abides in me we're abiding in Jesus and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing Jesus said apart from that he could do nothing on his own initi initiative outside of the father we are saying Jesus Jesus is saying to us we must also 22:48 be like that in that we can do nothing outside of being abiding in Jesus. I mentioned that verse earlier 1 Peter 4 10- 11 which says we speak when we speak we are to speak the utterance of God. When we serve we are to serve with the 23:05 strength God supplies. So everything you do here team Simeon team Anna serving ask God to give you the strength to supply it to to do that. Every word you speak to a brother or sister, take it as a solemn utterance of God. 23:21 And then the last part of that 1 Peter 4:11 says, "So that in all things God may be glorified so that God may be in all and through all." Which means that every word you speak that you're not treating as an utterance of God. That 23:32 you're not seeking the strength of the Lord. Every service that you do where you're not depending on the Lord and saying, "Lord, I want this to be your words. I want this to be your strength that helps me serve." Is not bringing 23:43 glory to God. There's a lot of great social work that's going on in many religions, right? Helping out where there's in wartorrone regions. Are they glorifying God? They're doing good work. Are they glorifying God? If they're not 23:56 serving with the strength God supplies, they're not glorifying God. And if we we could be just like that as well. And that's why this this message of helpless dependence and abiding in the vine and being rooted in God continues to come forth. And what is 24:12 the proof of that? The proof of that will be in John 15:2. It says, "Every branch in me that does not bear the proof of the what's the difference again between a nest that's hanging out there and a branch?" The nest the branch will 24:28 eventually bear fruit. A branch that is connected to the vine and to the root will eventually bear fruit. The nest can never bear fruit. 15 John 15:2 says every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch so we don't want to be 24:45 in that category where we're taken away we don't want to be nests that are taken away because we don't bear fruit but here's a beautiful word which says every branch that bears fruit what is the reward for bearing fruit 24:58 well done good and faithful servant of course the Lord's going to say well done good and faithful servant to us who have been growing in the life of Jesus but have you seen this reward reward for bearing fruit. Every branch that bears 25:09 fruit gets the reward of being pruned so that it may bear more fruit. Pruning is a picture of the Lord's conviction, the Lord's discipline in our life. So the reward for bearing fruit. When the Lord disciplines you, when the Lord 25:27 speaks a word of conviction to you, either directly through the Holy Spirit or through an elder or through a sermon that you hear, that is your reward for bearing fruit. You're bearing fruit and he wants you to bear more fruit. So, he's going to prune 25:41 you. And if you've stopped hearing that word, then you're in danger. The day you stop hearing a word that convicts you or that draws you to repentance or a word that is pruning you, you're in real danger. You're in real danger of being living a 25:58 comfortable life that you might think is a life of rest, but it's actually a life of ease that the Lord is going to burn up. And the best thing that the Lord will use are trials in our life. When we think about this verse in Jeremiah that 26:13 we read, right, from Jeremiah chapter 17, it said there will come a time where you will have heat. Today we're having a 100 degree day. So you can get a feel like it's going to be really uncomfortable. We were doing a hike in this day. It'll 26:26 be really uncomfortable out in out in the heat. We're quite comfortable over here. Now think of that. It talks when the heat comes, will you will will you have fear? That could be like a situation where somebody um provokes you 26:40 in the workplace or provokes you with something to do or something even in the church or maybe a family member provokes you or some short-term trial that comes and disturbs your peace and takes your mind off the stock market goes down and 26:52 your your overall whatever your your boss is unhappy with you. And then there's a further trial in Jeremiah in the passage we read which says the year of drought. We're having a day of heat or a couple days of heat. Imagine a year 27:08 of drought, a year of 100 degree weather. That's a season where nothing is going, right? Right. We heard from Martin, you know, how do we respond when things are not going the way we're expecting them to go? The year of drought. You some of 27:24 you may be going through a year of drought. What does that mean? You might be you may have lost your job and you're waiting on the Lord for a new job or you might be in a difficult job. might have been in a difficult relationship with 27:36 parents, with relatives. You could be waiting on the Lord for something that he's promised, but it hasn't happened yet. You could be um a single person growing in age and saying, "Lord, you promised that you'll bring a spouse for 27:51 me. What's going on? Where's your where's your promise? You're of drought of not having the spouse that you expected to have by now." many things, relationships, all kinds of things. And the Lord is saying, "I've got a purpose for that 28:08 trial. I've got a purpose for that day of heat and for that year of drought. And I have a purpose to bear fruit in you." Like it says in Jeremiah 17, because you if you will stay rooted in me and not be not be tempted by the deceitfulness of 28:26 riches or the worries of this world that will take you away. And I'll say one thing quickly about the ones who are in that season. The Lord's promise, I was sharing this with a a couple of brothers earlier at breakfast. I believe the 28:39 Lord's promise, it's good to cling on to the Lord's promise if he's given you that promise or if he has it in his word. But the Lord's will for your life is not just his promise. The Lord's will for your life is a combination of his 28:50 promise and his timing. And the clear example of that is Abraham. Abraham went through a period of drought. Abraham and Sarah not being able to have kids. The Lord had promised them. Lord said, "Hey, you're going to have not only you going 29:01 to have a kid, you're going to have descendants as vast as the sands on the seashore, as vast as the stars in the sky." And Abraham's like, "Where's this at? Where's this at? You promised it. You promised it." And then he goes and 29:13 sabotages it by saying, "Let me help God out with this promise." And he creates an Ishmael. He creates Ishmael. And 4,000 years later, we see the descendants of Ishmael still waring with the descendants of I mean, a lot of the trouble in the Middle 29:27 East is essentially the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac. And you see there God's promise being sabotaged because we took control. And God's timing, the reason God had a timing for it for Isaac. And the the 29:40 reason God's timing was perfect because he wanted Abraham to come to an end of himself. He wanted that trial, that drought to bring about a complete dependence on God. And that's what the Lord has for us in our trials. So let's turn to a different chapter in 29:56 Jeremiah chapter uh in Jeremiah chapter 29. Let me just share a little bit about the season of drought that the Lord might have. And it's completely okay. There's nothing wrong with praying a prayer that says, "Lord, take this cup for me or uh 30:13 uh you know, deliver me from this trial." But there is a far more important prayer like Jesus himself prayed in John chapter 12. He says, "Glorify your name in this season even if you don't let this cup pass." And that's what I want to show you in 30:25 Jeremiah chapter 29. This again is a often misqued verse by those who will preach a message of a different kind of prosperity. Prosperity of uh financial prosperity, prosperity of feelings, prosperity of intellect, prosperity in 30:40 the world. Jeremiah 29:11. Many of you have heard this verse many times. Many of you have memorized this verse. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a 30:51 hope. Right? Sounds great. You hear this as a person who's going through a season of drought. And you say, "Great. The Lord has a plan of welfare for me. He's going to deliver me from this trial, this difficult trial I'm going to he's 31:06 going to deliver for you. That's the plan of welfare. Well, that's actually not the plan of welfare. How do I know that? Because earlier in the chap earlier, a few verses earlier, the answer is given. And that's why we got to read these things 31:19 in in context. How is welfare defined? Few verses earlier. Verse 7. Seek this is this is Jeremiah speaking to the people who are in exile in Babylon. Think of it like Daniel and his friends, young people in their 20s, right? Like you guys in going through a 31:38 drought, being exiled in Babylon Babylon. And he tells Daniel and his friends and the people there, he say, "Seek the welfare of the city which I've sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you 31:49 will find welfare." So what's the Lord saying? The Lord is saying, "Pray for the that that person who's causing the trial that you're going through right now, your difficult boss. or your relative, that relationship, that person who's provoking you, pray 32:05 for them. And in their welfare, you will find welfare. In the trial that you're going through, you will find welfare. In the city, the Lord has one of the drought you could be is like, "Hey, I want to be closer to a CFC church. I'm the Lord has me in this 32:18 city for whatever reason. I want to move. I want to be able to be much more closer with this this fellowship here." The Lord's saying, "I've got you here for a season. Seek the welfare of the city in which you're in. Seek the 32:30 welfare of the trial in which you're in. Seek the welfare of the circumstance in which you're in, the people around you, and in it you will find welfare. And then verse 10 says, the verse before 11, people quote 11 without the context. Verse 10 says, 32:46 "When 70 years have passed in Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you and I'll bring you back to this place." Is that the welfare? If I'm 20-year-old Daniel or Shadrach, Mishack, and Abednego, I'm like, dude, I'm gonna be 33:01 dead 70 years from now. Wait, hold on. That's the like, wait, hold on. What's going on? I'm going to be 90 and then you're going to deliver me from this, but and so it's clear that the Lord's saying, okay, that's not the plan for 33:15 welfare I have for you. Yes, I will deliver this in the next generation, 70 years from now. The plan I have for you is welfare in this situation. That's the plan for it is for you to bear fruit in this trial. For you to be grounded for me in this 33:30 trial. For you to be grounded in me. To be abiding in me. That's the plan of welfare I have for you and not for calamity. That's the future and I hope I have for you. And that's what Daniel and his friends grabbed hold of. That's what 33:44 Daniel grabbed hold of, saying, "Lord, my welfare is right here in this trial. you will fulfill something amazing in this trial. And that's the word for us today as well is the Lord is trying to teach us welfare in the midst of the wilderness 34:01 to be fruitful in the midst of of the wild wilderness as we look up to him. And that's we can have different things that will distract us. If you turn with me to Luke 21, I just talk about this uh uh briefly as well. There's a lot of 34:15 things going on in the world today that will distract us, maybe bring fear, fear in our hearts as we see signs of the end times. There's wars going on. What must be our response? Luke 21 talks about the end times which says very 34:31 prophetically, similar to what's going on right now. Luke 21:10 says, "Nation will rise up." Jesus is telling them nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, right? And it says Jerusalem later later on in this passage says Jerusalem will 34:45 be surrounded by army. So we look at these things that are going on like in the Middle East wars around the world you know natural disasters fires earthquakes things like that and we say the Lord's coming is is close. What must be our response? We may be 35:01 going through trials. Here's what's clearly written about what our response must be. verse show show you two things that the Lord's saying that that we must be in terms of preparedness for this time. It says be on guard verse 34 be on guard so that 35:18 your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and the worries of life again that same word the worries of life that will choke out the seed so that the day will not come on you suddenly like a trap dissipation. What does dissipation 35:30 mean? Anticipation means a squandering. Could be a squandering in in the olden times a squandering with drink. But for us it' be squandering with social media. Scroll scroll scroll. Squandering binge watching some show. 35:47 S squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squ squandering on social on uh video games. Squandering on things that are not necessarily sinful things that are okay 35:54 in moderation but they're taking control. That's the dissipation that the Lord is saying be on guard on. uh squandering on Bible study that stimulates your intellect but does not bring life. And then verse 28 says, I love this. 36:08 When these things take place, when you see these things taking place, should you take a side you should you take the side of getting into debate about the Holy Land or about the Lord's coming and speculating when the Lord's coming. What 36:19 is our response as Christians, as disciples when we see these things? Straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near. And I love that passage which says when I go through when I see these difficult 36:30 times, times of calamity or things that the Lord might be showing me or even seasons in my own life, I want to be looking up. I don't want to be looking to the left or the right. Let me show you a quick example of somebody who probably was facing the 36:46 ultimate trial of his life and yet chose to look up. Acts chapter 7, we know the story of Steven. It says he was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. I love that. It says he was a man filled with the Holy The It says the disciples 37:01 were looking for people who are filled with the Holy Spirit so that for what purpose to serve food. Do you know that the Lord is looking for people who are filled with the Holy Spirit to not preach great sermons? The disciples were dedicating themselves to 37:17 prayer and to the teaching of the word, but they were looking for seven men who are filled with the Holy Spirit to do what? To serve food. It's a small ministry the Lord might have for you, but he requires you to be filled with 37:28 the Holy Spirit to cry out to him. And then he might, if you're faithful to that, now he may give you an opportunity like Steven to be counted faithful for him in trial and to preach a word for him. And it says in verse uh in in it 37:41 says Stephen was looking up um uh verse 54 acts 54 he says after Steven had spoken to them these people coming this is the worst tri they're coming at him to stone him and to kill him and 55 Steven still full of the Holy Spirit 38:00 what is the mark of being full of the Holy Spirit he gazes intently into heaven and he sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of And he says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up." Verse 56, "And the son of 38:11 man standing at the right hand of God." What is your testimony in the difficult in that season of drought or the season in the day of heat that the Lord is, can you say, obviously you're not facing something like Steven where you're about 38:25 to die. Can you say you can claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit? You can say, "Yes, I have that. I I'm filled with the Holy Spirit." The proof that you're filled with the Holy Spirit is you'll be able to look up and 38:38 see God. You'll be able to see Jesus. You'll have to see the heavens opened up like Steven did. You'll be able to see Jesus in the midst of your difficult trial. That's a proof that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. So, if 38:49 you're not having that experience, then seek the Lord. He's he's one that is eager to give you, but he wants you to come to an end of yourself. He wants you to come to a point of helpless dependence on him to say so that you can 39:00 say in your most difficult situation Lord you I can see you in my most difficult trial. We don't have to turn there, but you guys know the Jesus quoted this verse, right? Um, man shall not live by bread alone. 39:18 Anybody you know where is that's from? Deuteronomy chapter 8, right? You know what that whole verse says? Now, that whole passage Deuteronomy vers 8:3 says, he he took you into the desert. He humbled you. He let you be hungry and 39:36 fed you with mana which you did not know and your fathers did not know so that he might make you understand that man does not live. And easy for us to quote that verse. Yes Lord I want to live by everything that you say. I I don't want 39:47 to live by bread alone. But do we see the context of that verse? The context of that verse is to people who are in the wilderness who the Lord is using the wilderness to teach them humility to humble them. The Lord has a purpose. If if you're 40:04 going through a period of drought right now, if you're going through a a physical period, not a spiritual drought, I mean a physical situation where the Lord's not answering your prayer, your physical prayer about something, 40:15 I can say with a 100% certainty that the Lord is trying to teach you humility. He is trying to teach you humility. Jesus said, Matthew 11 28 and 29, right? Come to me those who are weary and heavy laden. Learn from me humility and 40:30 gentleness. I've almost I've said this often to our young people at our church. There's one course that Jesus offers. HG101, humility and gentleness. That's the one course he says, that's the only time I think Jesus says, "Learn from me 40:44 something. Learn humility for me. Learn how I what is humility? Learn how I lived a life of complete dependence on the father, not in my own strength." And so if the Lord is taking you through that wilderness like he took the 40:59 Israelites so that you can come to a point where you can say I will only depend on every word that the Lord says. It's so that he can humble you. I'll share one last thing that is a fruit of 41:18 being rooted in Christ and a fruit that we can showcase in our trial. Turn turn with me to Psalm 149. I believe the proof that we are fruitful 41:38 in difficult times and that we are connected to the root is that we we won't just pray for deliverance in difficult times but we will be able to praise God in difficult times and not just fake praise not just manufactured praise but 41:54 genuinely you know we know those verses James 1 uh and 1 Peter 1 which talks about consider it all joy or we will have inexpressable joy when we go through those trials. Can that be true? Imagine having joy in your trial that 42:08 you can't even express it. It's so bubbling over. That's a different level of joy. Not only am I not gritting my teeth and say, "Yes, the Lord will deliver me. The Lord will deliver me." Not only do I have a peace that the Lord 42:18 will deliver me, I now have this inexpressable joy because I'm in his in his presence. That's what we're called to have. I'm not there yet. I want that to be true in my life where I can have that joy in expression. Well, Psalm 149 42:33 verse 4. Remember this always, brothers and sisters. The Lord takes pleasure in you. The Lord takes pleasure in his people. Why does he allow afflictions and trials and years of drought in your life? I love this passage. Claim this passage 42:49 over your life. He will beautify you. He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. The Lord intends. Don't define beauty by your outward appearance or how good you look or how well you dress. The true beauty that the Lord is 43:02 trying to beautify his bride with his disciples with is a beauty beauty that comes only through affliction only through drought only through those seasons of trial. He will beautify the ones who are going through afflicted 43:16 with a salvation. Not a deliverance from the trial but a salvation of bearing fruit in that trial. And here's the proof of that. Here's a proof of that that fruitfulness. Verse 5, let the godly ones exalt in glory. Let them sing 43:30 for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their mouth. That two-edged sword, this two-edged sword is doesn't come often in the Bible, but I love that it talks about double-edged 43:42 sword here because it takes me back to what I said at the beginning. Hebrews 4:12, the double-edged sword, the reason I'm able to pray, praise God in the midst of my trial is because like it says in Hebrews 4:12, I'm taking the 43:58 living word of God, which is a double-edged sword and saying, "Feelings, you are not going to control me. You are under my control. You were created by God, but you were created to be controlled by me. Intellect, I'm not going to let you 44:12 control me. You were given to me by God but to be controlled by me. The living word of God, the Holy Spirit, the one that I'm surrendered to, the one in whom I have given my living trust, my trustee is the one who is going to control me. 44:28 And that's the reason I can take this double-edged sword in my hand and say, I can exalt in the middle of my affliction. I can praise in the middle of my trial. So as you're going, the next time you go through a day of heat 44:41 or a year of drought, even if you're going through this, don't just say, "Lord, give me the grace to get through this trial, say,"Lord, give me the praise to get through this trial." That's the Lord's desire for us. And the 44:53 Lord, it says in Hebrews 2, that he perfected Jesus through these through sufferings. And his desire for us is to perfect us through those same sufferings as well. And so may that be true in our lives that we 45:11 are truly we're not just comfortable receiving good words from this retreat in joy. We're not just comfortable being around other branches, but we are we welcome the invitation of the Lord to come up higher. We welcome the 45:28 discipline of the Lord and the pruning of the Lord to bear more fruit because that's a sign that we have been fruitful that he's continuing to discipline us. We welcome the complete surrender of our own strength which we know as it say in 45:43 Jeremiah 17 will be cursed and we want to be completely abiding in the vine and truly not just saying it with our words but living it out in our actions that apart from him we can do nothing and with that we can grow in humility. You can bear 45:58 the fruit of praise and the Lord will allow that fruit to be shared by others as well and they can also have that same life. May we all be connected to the branch. May we all be ones that are 46:15 nameless branches connected to the root that is God. Amen. [Music]
