Rooted Pt. 1 :: The Path to Flourishing

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, welcome to the Divine Life Church Podcast. We're in Boulder, Colorado, and we're following Jesus by staying rooted in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission so that hearts are awakened with his awe-inspiring love. In this time of social distancing, we're not currently gathering in person, but we invite you to stream the video from our weekend services online. And if we can help you in any way, reach out to us at VineLife.com. For now, here's a short sermon from last week in Vine Life. Again, thanks for joining us. Well, good morning, friends. Good morning, all those who are tuning in. We're so excited that you're with us in this online space together. We're gonna open up the Bible together and let God speak to us. Um, and so if you have your Bibles or if you have a web page open, you can go to the Bible app and uh and and look up Jeremiah chapter 17. That's where we're gonna go. And while you're turning there, uh I want to introduce myself. My name is Luke. I'm one of the pastors here at Vine Life, and uh we would love to get to know you if you're if you're tuning in for the first time. Um what you can do is on the top left of your screen, you're gonna see a button that says connect with us. If you click on that, you can just fill out a little bit of your information. And listen, we're not gonna bombard you, but we would love to uh we'd love to get to know you and um send you some more information about vine life. Um, and so if you would do that, that would be fantastic. And so to read the scripture today, we're gonna open up to Jeremiah 17. Now let's read this together.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Today's scripture passage is from Jeremiah 17, verses 5 through 8. Thus says the Lord cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh of drink, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a grub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parts and places of the wilderness, and in an uninhabited salt land. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when the heat comes, for its leaves remain green. And is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Well, hey friends, welcome from wherever you're joining us. I am excited to dig into the scripture here together. My name is Luke, and uh I'm just so privileged to share this space with you today. And listen, I I think that so much of walking through the day that we're in is about understanding what God is doing in this season. See, all of us, we can look all the way around, all the way around the world with our natural eyes, and we can come up with our own interpretations of what's going on. I think there's something much bigger that God is doing that He's inviting us into. And so I want to start a conversation uh today that's gonna go for the next several weeks, talking about what it looks like to dig into this moment and develop deep roots in Christ. You see, that the scripture that we just read together, I think is pivotal for the moment we're in. Uh the Lord is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, and he's talking to his people, and he's really exposing two different ways of life. And the first one starts with, cursed is the man, which is strong language, but he says it and he means it, cursed is the man who trusts in man, who trusts in his own flesh. And it says that uh that this man is gonna be like a shrub in the desert, living in a parched place in the wilderness. But then he contrasts that with a different type, a different type of living, a different way of life, right? And he says, Bless is the man, blesses the man who trusts in the Lord, right? Because the the man who trusts in the Lord is like a tree that's planted by a stream of water, and roots go deep into the ground, deep into the stream, so that when the heat comes, it's not phased, right? When the when the hot air comes, um its leaves stay green, and when the rest of the world is getting anxious, it's it's staying the course. And I don't know about you, when you look at these two pictures, would you rather be a shrub in the desert that's parched and withering and trust in your own self? Or would you rather be a tree that is planted by a stream of water, pulling in rich nutrients out of the ground because of learning to trust in God? I think it's probably a no-brainer if you're watching this. All of us want to be a healthy tree, right? We want to flourish. Um, but that's why in this moment, I believe the moment that we're in uh is a great revealing. God is allowing, I believe He's allowing for all of us uh uh to see our root systems for what they are, he's revealing where our trust is. And that's really the question. What is it or who is it that we have been trusting in? And then we ask the question a second time who are we really trusting in? What is it we are really trusting in? Because that's really what a moment like this does. We think we know what we trust in, but then when pressure comes, that is what reveals uh where our hearts are anchored, right? And so maybe that's been your experience over the last few weeks. Um, a revealing has happened, and I know that's been the case for me as well. Um there's there's been some things even over the last several weeks that, gosh, I don't even know uh if I would say I'm proud of. Um, and maybe you're the same way. Have there been attitudes that you've had as your life has been flipped up upside down a little bit? Have there been attitudes that you've had that you wish uh that you wish weren't true? Um has there been any conversations that you've had with your spouse or significant other or kids or people in your life that you wish you could just take that back, it wasn't a good moment. Um, maybe there's been moments of heightened anxiety or fear or just anger, uh, disappointment, and you know, and that's okay to own those things, right? And I think all of us uh have felt a little disoriented from time to time, and maybe we still do. And here's here's the point though, here's the good news. No matter what our root systems are showing us, no matter what has been revealed in our life in this time, the good news is this we can begin today to drill new uh new root systems and dig deep wells into the person of Christ. But in a time of disorientation, what does it even mean to drill deep roots into Christ? You see, I would argue that what worked for us before might not uh carry with us into the future. In fact, I think a lot of things have to shift about how we were cultivating life in Christ in the former season and what we're doing now. I think all of us have to develop new spiritual muscles to flourish in this season. And specifically, here's how I would say it we need to make a critical shift. We need to move from an era of communal conveniences to personal responsibility. And I'll say it again, we need to move from a time where we could rely on the conveniences of gathering in communities of people, to now we are moving into a time where primarily our growth in Christ is going to come from personal responsibility. Here's what I mean by that, okay? For instance, rather than relying on a preacher to tell you where to open up the scripture, I believe God wants to give you a new appetite for his word that you'll read it until it just grips your heart and gets into your bones. Rather than relying on a worship leader to tell you what to sing and when to sing and to sound all pretty and make everything sound, you know, just perfect. Uh, we're in a time where you get to raise your own joyful noise to the Lord, and it might not sound as good, but listen, God has put a song in your heart, and it doesn't matter if it sounds bad or it sounds, you know, like nobody wants to hear it, God has put a new song inside of you, and and and God commands us to, you know, we get to command our soul to rise up and praise to God. What if this is that season for you? For families, rather than relying on a youth pastor or a children's pastor to teach your kids the ways of God, this is a time where you are anointed by God. You are officially the youth pastor and children's pastor of your own home in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you are anointed to lead in new ways and to introduce your kids to life in the Spirit. Now, does that all sound intimidating? Yes, but this is the time and the season that we're in. See, we get to rise up in new levels of ownership of our own root system in Christ. And that's what I love about David. David knew this. He knew how to do this, he took personal responsibility for every emotional state he was in. He'd start in one place and then he would move through and he would come into a new place in God. In fact, we get this picture of him in 1 Samuel chapter 30, of this really vulnerable, raw moment where him and his men came back from one of their exploits, and they came back to Ziklag, and we read that uh the Amalekites had just come through, they burned the city, they kidnapped all of the wives, all of the sons and daughters. And as David and his men came back, it said that they were so distraught that they wept bitterly. They wept until they could weep no more. And in verse 6, it says this it says, David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because of all the people were bitter in soul. They were just mad at him for each of his sons and daughters. But here's what it says about David. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And can I just ask you, do you know how to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God? I think that's the moment we're in. I believe we're in a time where that's the question before us. Do you do each of us have the ability to whatever season or condition our hearts are in, do we have the ability to hide away with God and to strengthen ourselves, to minister to our own souls and spirits until we can connect with God, until we can be strong in spirit. See, this is what David did. I I think it's part of our calling in this season as well. And to be clear, here's what I'm not talking about. I'm not talking about just consuming more books and podcasts. You see, we have we also have a new problem. Not only do we have a global pandemic that has become a problem on our hands, but that ushered in a new problem almost overnight. And it's what some people even call an infodemic. And what is an infodemic? An infodemic is is when we are flooded with new information and opinions from all over the world. Because like you, what happened is as all the social distancing things started all across the world, everybody went online and everybody wants to talk about this, everybody wants to share. And so what's happening is now it's so easy to drown in the information intake and the opinions from all around the world. And I think if we do that and we continue to do that, we're gonna be missing out on the possibilities of the season. You see, what God wants to do is not just have us be drowned out in what everybody else thinks. He wants us to be consumed with his thoughts and his heart. And I think that's the invitation for us today. Not what does everybody else have to say, but what is God speaking to you in the secret place with him. This is a time where God is teaching us how to be hidden with him, to be alone with him in hiddenness. And it's a time for you and I to move from secondhand experiences to firsthand experiences with God. You see, it's really easy to rely on everybody else's stories and experiences and everybody else, what everybody else is learning from scripture, what everybody else is praying about. We can do that. We can consume everybody else's experience with God, meanwhile, our root system is shallow. And that's why I love, even in the book of Job, Job talks about this. You see, he was arguing with God, he was questioning God, he was having this pretty robust conversation with God. And then in Job chapter 42, he has a realization. And here's how he says it in first one. This is the message paraphrase. He says, I admit I once lived by rumors of you, but now I have it all firsthand from my own eyes and ears. I'm sorry, forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise. I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay and on crumbs of rumor. So do you ever feel like that? Do you ever find yourself living off of other people's experiences with God? Meanwhile, your own root system maybe is it's been underdeveloped, it's just been shallow. And that's because we've we've we've learned to rely on other things and trust in other things and trust in other men. But God is saying, I want you to trust in me, I want you to flourish as you're rooted in me. And I believe that's the invitation for us right now in this season, and that's God's invitation for you. He wants to open up your eyes to see him in new ways. But to cultivate this kind of life, it does take some intentionality, it takes that place of personal responsibility where you're not going to have people looking over your shoulder, you know, trying to motivate you all the time. You're not gonna have the crowds of people that you're feeding off their energy. This is about you cultivating a secret hidden place with God that will sustain you not just for this moment, but for the rest of your life. And so that's why over the next several weeks we're gonna be talking about this, living rooted in Christ and the practices that we need to develop, the spiritual muscles we must develop in order to flourish not only in this moment, but for years to come. And so some of this is gonna be uh involve uh uh going deeper into the word and understanding scripture. Some of this is going to be about being present and slowing down enough to be attentive to our own souls. Others, it's gonna be about uh being fervent in prayer and intercession, journaling, speaking in tongues, developing spiritual gifts, rhythms at home, being attentive to the needs of others. There's so many things that go into this in this moment, and we're gonna get very practical with this. But for now, I just want to leave you with this thought, this idea that God, I believe, uh wants each of us to respond to him, to press in in a new way, to develop deep roots into him, and to trust that he wants to grow us up into confident, strong, vibrant trees who can flourish in any season. So as everything has been stripped away, as everything is continuing to change, may you and I, may we be the kind of people who don't get caught up in all of the noise and the activity, but but those who know how to hide away with God and how to develop a heart that burns for Him alone. Listen, in a time where everything has been stripped bare and things have been flipped on end, may you and I be the kind of people who are rooted in Christ, who don't need uh all of the input from all around us, but know how to develop hidden places with God that will sustain us for years to come. Let our hearts burn for Jesus and develop a new hunger and thirst for Him alone. Blessings, guys.