Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I want to greet everyone this beautiful Sabbath morning.
You might say. What's beautiful about it? It's raining out there.
It's still beautiful.
Because every Sabbath is beautiful, whether it's raining or snowing, whatever it is God's holy day.
We are very happy to have with us a man that I esteem and I love him very much.
And we are very, very close. And that's Brother Elder Pastor OT Whitten is here with us.
Also Brother Chipper Hines.
Is that your nickname? Chipper? They call him Chipper Hines. We're glad to have him here and his daughter. I believe we have many others too. We're very happy to have.
We want to welcome you to our services.
If you will see your bulletin that the sermon for today is how deep are your roots?
Remember last week that I concluded my sermon that was entitled or is entitled how tall is your tree?
How tall is your tree? And now this sermon is how deep are your roots?
I ended up by saying that almost 2,000 years ago, a tree was cut by. We don't know who. A man that cut it perhaps didn't realize what was going to occur. What's going to happen with that tree.
But he cut it. He made it into perhaps lumber. Somehow. You know, they made it. You know, the Bible calls it a tree, calls it a stake, and he calls it a cross. And on that tree they crucified Jesus.
And I was mentioning also about how tall is your tree?
And I said that of all the trees that are upon the face of this earth, and there are all kinds of trees, the tallest tree was the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was hanging on that cross, being crucified for our sins, he was so tall that he reached the throne of God.
The Bible tells us that for three hours there was darkness upon the face of the earth.
It reached the. The heart of God.
That God brought darkness upon the face of the earth.
And probably he couldn't see or didn't want to see the suffering of his son.
That was the tallest tree and the highest tree that has ever, ever lived or we've ever had upon this earth. There will never be another tree like it.
How deep are your roots?
[00:03:12] Speaker B: This is very important.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Let's turn to the book of Colossians chapter 2 for our scripture reading.
Colossians chapter 2, verses 21 through verse 23, we're going to have responsive reading.
Colossians 2, verses 1 through 23.
I'll read one verse, you read the next. And as we read the scripture reading, I want you to notice that Paul mentions here some of the afflictions that he went through, and
[00:04:01] Speaker B: the troubles
[00:04:03] Speaker A: also
[00:04:04] Speaker B: that he incurred and also he mentions
[00:04:08] Speaker A: about enticing words and philosophy of men,
[00:04:13] Speaker B: how you can be deceived, and the
[00:04:14] Speaker A: troubles that will come upon your life.
I'll begin with verse one.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: For I would that ye knew what
[00:04:21] Speaker A: great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might
[00:04:31] Speaker C: be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
[00:05:07] Speaker C: As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him
[00:05:13] Speaker A: rooted, and build up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
[00:05:46] Speaker A: power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism,
[00:06:01] Speaker C: wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened together with him, his having forgiven you all trespasses, brought out the
[00:06:22] Speaker C: handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it
[00:06:30] Speaker A: to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days,
[00:06:49] Speaker A: which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed out
[00:07:05] Speaker A: by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are
[00:07:26] Speaker A: ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to
[00:07:33] Speaker C: perish with the using after the commandments
[00:07:36] Speaker A: and doctrines of men altogether.
Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will, worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Shall we pray.
Eternal and merciful God, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Savior, who was willing to give his life for us.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: We are commanded Father, to be rooted
[00:08:06] Speaker A: in him, because in him we have completeness. Father, of our salvation.
He is the head of the body.
And Lord, we thank you for the supreme sacrifice he made on the cross for us.
Help us, Father, to live a life that is pleasing to you and that our roots will be so deep, Heavenly Father, that nothing will move us from our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
In verse seven of our Scripture reading, I want you to notice Colossians 2, 7 rooted and build it up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: The question again is, how deep are your roots?
Our roots have to go very, very deep.
The Bible tells us that we must be righteous.
And the Bible tells us that there
[00:09:16] Speaker A: is something special about the righteous people.
The righteous people are compared to a fruitful tree.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: But this tree has to have something
[00:09:29] Speaker A: special to keep the tree green and flourishing.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: And so the first part that I
[00:09:36] Speaker A: would like to give you is how you become righteous and what is expected of the righteous people. Let's turn to Psalms 92, Psalms 92.
And beginning in verse 12, I want you to notice Psalms 92. Beginning at verse 12, we read through verse 14.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Now notice verse 12.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: That the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Verse 13 tells you why the palm tree flourishes. It tells you why the cedar in Lebanon, how it grows and how big it is. In verse 13 says, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall. Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in all age.
They shall be fat and flourishing.
To show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Did you notice that?
That if we are planted in the house of the Lord, that we will
[00:11:13] Speaker A: also flourish and that we will be
[00:11:17] Speaker B: fruitful like the palm tree.
And here mentions the cedar in Lebanon, that if we are planted. And then in verse 14, I like this because some people think that when we're young and we're perhaps young adult, and when we have a lot of life in us, so to speak, like a man 25 to 35 and up to 30 or 40, perhaps, that that is the time that you can really do things for the Lord. Then when you become 50, over the hill bunch as perhaps I'm included there, that you might say, well, it is time to slow down. It is time that we do not think too much about producing fruit. But in verse 14, notice what it says. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: They shall be fat and flourishing.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: The word fat there doesn't mean that when you get old, you get big this way.
Not talking about that kind of fatness, you know, many times that's exactly what happens, isn't it? When we get up to about 40, 50 years old, instead of growing this way, we grow the other way.
And so we get fat. But in the Lord, we get fat
[00:12:34] Speaker A: in his Word and in the Holy Spirit of God.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: Now, first of all, it all starts by planting a seed.
This is how it all starts.
And let's talk for just a moment here about the seed and how it has to do with our life. Also, let's turn to First Peter, chapter one.
First Peter, chapter one.
And we read verse 23, First Peter, chapter one. And verse 23, it says, being born again.
Notice what the Word says here.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and, and abideth forever.
Now notice that we are born again
[00:13:40] Speaker A: by the Word of God.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: This is how we are born again. In other words, the seed is planted in us.
And like I mentioned about the wild olive tree and the tree that doesn't produce any fruit.
Also in John 15 mentions the vine.
Jesus says, I am the true vine, you are the branches. He said, every branch in me that beareth not fruit is cut off. In other words, you are pruned off because. Or cut off completely because you and I do not produce fruit.
And so here we find that if we are born again by the word of God, and some people have said, well, you're not born again.
Now, this idea about being born again does not occur until the first resurrection. Yet we find that the apostle Peter knew a fact, because he felt that he was born again. And he also was inspired to Write in verse 23. And on down he says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Verse 24 and 25 it says, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is a flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord. The word is the sea. Notice. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
So this is how it all starts. We start with a seed that is being planted in us.
Then we begin to grow from there.
In Matthew 13, you don't have to turn there.
Matthew 13:3,9, we find that the Bible tells us that a sower went out to sow seed.
And some of the seed fell on stony ground, and some of the seed fell among thistles and thorns and so on, and it fell upon four different kinds of ground.
And then the Bible tells us there that some of the seed fell on good ground and it produced fruit.
So this is how it all starts. It starts by the word of God.
Brethren, let me tell you that when the Word of God is in our life, which this is the main thing about your roots, the Word of God has to be in our life. We have to be governed. We have to abide by the word of God. We have the whole life that we live has to be by the word of God.
Now we're not living by our conscience. We are not living because a pastor said so. We're not living because of the tradition of the church or because of some doctrinal beliefs that we might have. Brethren, the main thing is that we are born again and that we live because of the word of God that has been planted in our lives.
And when we have that, then our roots begin to grow like this seed that is planted.
I've talked other times about the seed, and I mentioned one time that even the Lord Jesus Christ himself was compared to a seed. And the seed was planted by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary.
And that seed grew and it became
[00:17:27] Speaker A: the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Now we find that to have growth in us, and what I'm talking about is the beginning of this tree and then the growth that we must have.
And then I'll come down to explain to you about the roots.
The Holy Spirit of God plays an important part in our lives also.
In other words, what does the germinating.
What is the thing that causes us to grow in the Lord?
And for us to be spiritual people and for us to do the will of God, it takes the Holy Spirit without that Spirit, which is the life, believe me, the Holy Spirit is the life that God has given us.
Just like a tree, a tree that is alive. You cut a branch out of the tree and you'll find that there is life, there is water in that tree.
And so it is with us too. We must have the Holy Spirit in us to have any kind of spiritual growth.
First Corinthians, chapter two. The apostle Paul says these words, First Corinthians, chapter two, beginning, beginning at verse six.
We read verses six through eight.
First Corinthians. Let me change that, please.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: First Corinthians, chapter three,
[00:19:15] Speaker B: First Corinthians, chapter
[00:19:16] Speaker A: three
[00:19:19] Speaker B: beginning at verse six.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: And we read through verse eight.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: I have planted Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now, he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
So notice, it all depends how much
[00:19:55] Speaker A: you want to grow.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: I mentioned this before, and I'll say it again, perhaps I'll say it many times again, that a lot of people are spiritual midgets.
In other words, they never grow.
And the reason they never grow is because they don't have the proper watering.
They don't have their roots down in the water where they should be.
And also because of many things that come to us in our lives.
So we just don't grow. And some people think, well, Jesus promised
[00:20:32] Speaker A: a rocking chair religion.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Jesus said, if you believe in me and my words will abide in you, you are not going to have any troubles, you are not going to be sick, you are not going to have any trials.
And the Lord said, you will not have any enemies.
Why, everything will be so fine with you that all you have to do is just command fire to come from heaven and devour all these people.
Is that the gospel of Christ?
Is that what he said when he said, if any man will follow me,
[00:21:10] Speaker A: take up his cross and follow me.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: To follow Jesus with a cross is that to have a rocking chair religion?
And the reason why a lot of
[00:21:22] Speaker A: people don't grow is because perhaps the
[00:21:25] Speaker B: planting, the planting of that seed wasn't planted right.
This is why we have a lot of confusion in the world today. I'm talking about the religious confusion that they are not planting the right seed. Also the watering, the proper watering. And I believe that this watering here that gives the increase is the Holy Spirit of God.
And let me show you from John chapter 16 and verse 13 and then another scripture from John, John chapter 16 and verse 13.
Let me show you what the Holy Spirit of God will do.
John 16:13.
Here the Lord said, howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come.
So then the Holy Spirit of God is needed for growth, for watering, and also to lead in the truths of God.
So then some people are planting and some are watering. But that watering is not really the life.
The Holy Spirit of God. Because according to the Bible, Jesus said howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.
I mentioned a while back in one of my sermons that I was preaching on, show me the way.
And I said, if you do not
[00:23:15] Speaker A: want to learn God's way, if you're
[00:23:19] Speaker B: not sincere about learning God's ways, if you really don't want to know the truth, then please don't ask.
And especially if you're not sincere about it. Because when you ask God to lead you into the truth and you call upon the Holy Spirit to lead you into God's truth, it's going to do just that.
But when the truth come to you, let me say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that you better follow the truth.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Because if you don't, it had been better that you had never learned the truth.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Now let's turn to John chapter 6 and verse 63.
John chapter 6
[00:24:05] Speaker A: and verse 63.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: And here the Lord Jesus says again, it is the Spirit that quickeneth.
In other words, the word here, quickeneth,
[00:24:22] Speaker A: it means make alive.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: It is the Spirit that makes alive or makes you alive.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are alive.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: He said.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: So then we realize then that the Spirit of God is the one that quickeneth makes you alive.
So then we need the Holy Spirit. We need that.
And then in Second Peter, you don't have to turn there. It's a scripture that you know very well. Second Peter, chapter three and verse 18, second Peter three, 18. If you're writing these scriptures down, it says, but grow in grace and what else?
And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
You see, when you first accept Christ, you're like a little baby.
Just like a little baby.
But the Bible says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, why that after we have accepted Christ, he becomes our Savior? Why should we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
Because some people, brethren, believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is only to accept Jesus as our personal Savior, accept him, and then from there, do as we please.
In other words, the whole gospel is just Jesus Christ. And yet the Bible says to grow in grace and in the knowledge.
[00:26:07] Speaker A: The Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: I believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is everything that he said right
[00:26:15] Speaker A: here in the New Testament.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: I believe that's the gospel.
When Jesus said in Matthew 28, in the last two verses, Go ye into all the world and make disciples, or to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And what else did he say?
What else did he say? Is that just the gospel he said, teaching them, in other words, those that will hear you, teaching them to observe or to do all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
So you see, to believe in Christ and to grow in grace is to believe all the things that he had commanded us.
And that includes repentance, conversion, baptism, and
[00:27:17] Speaker A: to follow the life of Jesus Christ.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: This morning during Sabbath school, I didn't talk too much, which I try to refrain from doing that because I do a lot of talking.
But we were talking about walking with God.
We mentioned there. It was mentioned in the Sabbath school lesson about Noah walked with God.
Then it was mentioned there about Enoch that walked with God.
Then also we talked about others. But I believe that First Peter, Chapter two, that it. It plainly says there that we must follow the steps of Jesus Christ. In other words, we are to walk with Christ.
This is why the apostle Paul said in First Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1 in the Spanish translation. You might have another translation with you there.
In First Corinthians 11, one in the Spanish it says, be imitators of me, says Paul, be imitators of me even as I imitate Christ.
The King James Version says, which is the one that I use.
He says, be ye followers of me, says Paul, be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.
So if a person is really following Jesus Christ and teaching the truth, then you follow those Steps.
But if that person is teaching lies and deceiving you.
And I was hearing last night one
[00:28:54] Speaker A: of the tapes of the Bible about
[00:29:01] Speaker B: a prophet.
This is Deuteronomy chapter 13.
In fact, I think we should read that just for the sake. Let's see if we can find it in Deuteronomy chapter 13.
As I was listening to it last night, this stuck to my mind in Deuteronomy 13 and verse one and on down, notice what it says.
If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonderful. Now notice what this prophet is going to do. Or the dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder.
And the sign or the wonder come to pass.
Now a lot of these people predict a lot of things and Jesus said they would.
And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and and let us serve them.
Thou shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet or the dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God proveth you notice what he's going to do.
God will prove you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: But what's going to happen to the false prophet?
[00:30:38] Speaker B: What's going to happen really? This prophet here told the truth in a way, part of the truth. What he said about the dream and about the signs, whatever he he prophesied, it came to pass. And because the people said, look what this man has done, he said something and it came to pass.
Follow this man. So then the prophet begins to say, let's go and worship other gods.
Let's do something else other than what the Lord has said. Let's go off, away, deviate from the
[00:31:09] Speaker A: word of God, in other words.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: And so this prophet begins to pull out people in his ways, which we do have a lot of those today.
Notice what's to happen to that prophet in verse 5, verse 5 it says, and that prophet or the dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeem you out of the house of bondage to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commandeth thee to walk in.
So shalt thou put the evil away
[00:31:48] Speaker A: from the midst of thee.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: So here, even if a man is to predict something, prophesy something, and it will come to pass, and you begin to say, my, he is a prophet of God.
The Lord says here, be careful with
[00:32:03] Speaker A: that man, because the Lord has proven you to see how much you love him.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: Now I just want to tell you
[00:32:13] Speaker A: for just a few minutes.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: And that is about the roots.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: How deep are your roots?
[00:32:25] Speaker B: How deep should they be?
[00:32:29] Speaker A: Let's go to Psalms 1 again,
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Psalms
[00:32:35] Speaker A: 1, or the first Psalm.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: And beginning at verse 1, we're going
[00:32:43] Speaker A: to read the entire Psalm.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: It's just a very short psalm.
And here it says in Psalms 1, beginning in verse 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by what?
By the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
And the reason for this, brethren, is because that tree is planted by the rivers of water.
This is why the true the tree becomes fruitful.
This is why it will flourish.
This is why the tree will produce the proper fruit.
But notice then in verse four, the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Let's turn now to Jeremiah, chapter 17, which I quoted last week. I'm going to quote it again now for the simple reason that last week I quoted from Jeremiah, but I quoted only part of it, and I did it for a purpose. About how tall is your tree?
And here we begin to find that the tree grows, becomes green and prosperous, because he has his roots in the waters, the living waters, the waters of life.
And you know that the water has life even for us today.
How long could you live without the literal natural water?
[00:34:52] Speaker A: Not too long.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: And how long can you live a Christian life without the Holy Spirit?
[00:34:58] Speaker A: If you and the water of life.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: How long do you suppose you can be a Christian by staying home Sabbath after Sabbath and not hear the word of God? How long do you suppose you can be a Christian that way?
Unless you are sick, handicapped, you cannot go Out, I say, well, the Lord knows that, and you might be able to maintain your salvation.
But if a person will deliberately stay at home Sabbath after Sabbath, Sabbath after Sabbath, they don't care about getting involved, they don't care about the church, and they begin to kind of despise the church or the Lord or God in some way, or even the pastor or the deacons or the elders.
That person will not stay a Christian too long. Believe me, brethren. Brother Whitten knows this when he met me the first time, way back in 1954 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And right after that, I started preaching. So I've been preaching for about 30 years or more.
And I have seen a lot of people that have come and go.
They have come into the church of God and now they're back in the world.
It wasn't my fault. It wasn't the people around. It was their fault.
Jeremiah, chapter 17. Let's go there very quickly, beginning in verse five and notice what it says. Jeremiah, chapter 17, beginning in verse five. The Bible says, thus says the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: Notice verse 6.
[00:36:41] Speaker B: For he shall be like the heath.
H E A T H For he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness and a salt land, and not inhabit it.
Before we go on, what is a heath?
Did you ever look in the dictionary to see what is a heath?
Let me tell you just in short. One other definition is a short, very short shrub that lives out in the desert.
And most of the time it doesn't
[00:37:21] Speaker A: produce any kind of fruit whatsoever.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: Just a short and a low kind of shrub doesn't amount to too much.
That's the way a lot of people are. I said that people are spiritual midgets. And the reason why, brethren, because they don't drink enough of the water.
Now, notice as we go on verses seven and we read on through verses seven and eight. It says, blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river.
And shall not see when heat cometh. But. But her leaves shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought. Neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Now then, here we have the comparison.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: We have one that is in the
[00:38:22] Speaker B: desert, the parched ground, dry land, doesn't grow too much, doesn't produce any fruit.
And that's the way a lot of Christians, this is comparing.
This is talking about people. It's not talking just about literal trees. And in fact, God uses the literal, the trees and the shrubs and whatever. He uses that to compare people.
And now if we don't learn this comparison, then the Bible doesn't mean anything to us. If we don't learn the spiritual things of God and what God is trying to tell us, brethren, then it's all for nothing. You come to church just for nothing.
Brethren, I believe that every sermon that is preached, that every word that comes out of the mouth of God, that we should take it to heart and that we should examine ourselves and say, how am I with God? How is my life? How is my relationship with the Lord?
We talk a lot about the church is falling away. There's a lot of troubles in the church.
This man left and the other man left, and so on and so on. I can tell you a lot of things, but the trouble is about the church. But brothers and sisters, if your tree, if you are rooted and grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter how many people will leave the church, you will still remain with the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love what Brother Whitten said a while back, and I have mentioned it to you, and I didn't quote his name, but he said, my relationship with the Lord will never be broken. I don't care whatever comes.
And that's the way it should be, brethren.
Your roots should be by the living waters.
Your roots should be on the Lord Jesus Christ. On him, ground it and build it on him. Not on Brother Padilla, not on Brother Whitten, not on any particular pastor or upon a building.
But you are rooted in the living
[00:40:22] Speaker A: waters, and your life will remain fruitful all the days of your life.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: As we read a while ago, even
[00:40:29] Speaker A: in old age,
[00:40:33] Speaker B: one of The Beatitudes, Matthew 5, 6, you know what it says?
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after what?
After righteousness. And what's going to happen?
[00:40:54] Speaker A: For they shall be filled.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: This is what Jesus said.
Now, in closing, I just want to just tell you I'm not going to read the two parts in Matthew 7, verses 24 through 27.
And the Lord tells us here about a house that was builded a bad foundation, and another house that was built on a good foundation.
In Luke chapter 6, verses 46 through 49, the same thing, the same parable is told.
You might call that a metaphor.
But in Luke chapter 6, beginning in verse 46 through 49 I like what it says there because the builder when he started to build, he says he digged deep.
And brethren, that's the way our lives should be.
That when we dig deep no matter what the storms will be. And let me tell you, at 4:30 this morning the storm came terribly.
We heard it. I heard it.
My wife probably did too.
I didn't ask her, I didn't want to wake her up. But I could feel the wind blowing and the house just almost shaking. The windows and the shingles from the house were just flying away. Believe me, they're flying away.
But you know our house, no matter what the storms are alive. And believe me brethren, we are going to have many perils.
We are going to have many things that will come to our the rain and the trials, the temptations, the problems, the troubles that will come to our life.
Sometimes the problems don't come from the outside.
Many times they come from the inside.
And let me tell you that the devil works harder in the church.
He works harder right in among so called Christian people than any other place
[00:43:10] Speaker A: because those outside, those are his already.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: But when we belong to God, the devil is trying to get us.
So he works harder in the church. So it is here in the church that we're going to have a lot
[00:43:24] Speaker A: of problems, a lot of trials.
[00:43:27] Speaker B: And then the Lord tells us that we're going to be tried, tempted, we're going to go through storms in our life. This is what the Bible says about the builder that built his house on good foundation.
And brothers and sisters, let me say that if your house is building and your roots are on that solid foundation, no matter what the storm will be according to Jesus says it's going to stand forever.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: I was telling my wife as we
[00:43:56] Speaker B: were talking about this, I said in my 30 some years in the church
[00:44:01] Speaker A: of God
[00:44:04] Speaker B: I've had, we've had my wife and I, but for some reason,
[00:44:08] Speaker A: myself included, I've gone through a lot of heartaches, a lot of trials, a
[00:44:17] Speaker B: lot of troubles, a lot of problems.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: And it all has been in the Church of God.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: You might say, well why didn't you get out?
[00:44:28] Speaker A: Because I am not a coward to start running away.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: I don't run away brother, neither should you.
I believe that you should stay right there and that you should fight a good fight like the Apostle Paul said he did.
He finished his course and many of us are going to have problems. Oh yes, a lot of people are
[00:44:49] Speaker A: going to leave
[00:44:51] Speaker B: but the church of God will remain.
Let's say that. Well Some of the main leaders are going to leave. Let them leave.
One thing for sure, that Jesus is
[00:45:03] Speaker A: going to have a church when he comes back.
Amen.
Jesus is going to have a church.
