WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.439 Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center Podcast. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.080 Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.679 For more information on KCC and how to connect, visit us at KCC.net. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.160 How are we all doing this morning? 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:21.120 Was that an amazing time in the presence of the Lord this morning? 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:26.559 And after last week's video, you're just watching to see if I'm doing one of these as I walk. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:35.359 Yeah, y'all laugh like it's you know, I have this character carefully cultivated image that was completely dismantled by my own children. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:37.679 Spectacular time that morning. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:42.079 I'm glad you all find it uh really uh as funny as I did. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:43.920 Right? 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.560 I mean, I just love being in the presence of God. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.960 And this morning, uh I just want to say thanks to Pastor Brody. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:01:08.159 Uh we're the songs that we were singing this morning all talked about the foundation, firm foundations, being together, worshiping the Lord, being rooted in the love of Christ, which turns out that's this one I'm I'm speaking on this morning, is being rooted in the love of Christ and being rooted in a community. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:16.959 And part of the mentorship that you get that I've been getting from Pastor Brody really helps me plant my roots in a place of actual growth. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:25.920 And so we have a fantastic lead pastor, and the fact that he just loves and he cares for us and he's just pushing us forward to be the best that God's called us to be. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:33.840 And so this morning, like I said, I just want to talk um just a little bit about planting roots and in the church, but also being rooted in the love of Christ. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:40.959 And just as a recap, it's been interesting that Pastor Brody has been talking about the being unordinary. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.000 And this is the series on us being unordinary. 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.879 Being believers is a bit unordinary. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.400 And what and who we are and what we believe is is unordinary. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:58.400 So Pastor Brody's been saying let's be unordinary in our perspective, unordinary in our priorities, and unordinary in our patterns. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:09.439 And so this morning I want to talk about the pattern of being rooted in a community, in a church, in who Christ is, and how that's actually unordinary compared to what the culture of the world is telling us. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:14.080 And so, uh, how many of you have actually planted a garden? 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:16.479 Okay, so there's a lot of you. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:22.879 How many of you have successfully had the garden last longer than a few weeks? 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:28.560 Okay, I feel like I'm the worst at gardening right now. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:33.039 But when I was in Prince George, we actually had this community garden. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:45.680 And in this community garden, with there's rows upon rows of actual old garbage cans filled with really good soil, and people from all over the community could come and actually plant flowers, and we had beets and cucumbers and zucchini. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.439 Zucchini is like a weed, it grows and grows and never dies. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:50.960 And there's so much of it all the time. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:52.639 Who how do you actually like zucchini? 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:53.599 Yeah. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:55.199 John was like, no. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:56.800 I'm with John on that. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:06.479 But we used to have this community garden, and my responsibility for the company I was working for in landscaping was to actually try and make and help this community garden grow and water it and do all these things. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:11.120 And I actually had my own little plot of flowers that I needed to actually keep alive. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.000 What are you all laughing for already? 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:14.879 I didn't even see it. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:17.599 It was the hardest thing for me to remember to water my own flowers. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:18.879 I watered everyone else's. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:23.360 I ended up with a shriveled base of nothing in this dirt all the time. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:31.919 And the all the older ladies that would come into the garden, they'd be sitting in their little plot laughing at me as I'm trying to get life into my flowers and try and make them come back. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.879 Have you ever watched a flower garden itself? 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.319 The roots go down only about this far, they're not very deep. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:45.039 But the moment that you actually water it, you can actually see life and color come back into the different colors of flowers. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:51.280 It's really amazing that what nurturing and what watering and what planting properly will actually do to that flower. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:56.879 Like within seconds, you can actually watch the flower just blossom up and change colors. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.879 And I have a uh plant upstairs that I took from Jake. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:02.560 He's our custodian here at the church. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:10.240 I took from the office, moved it into my room, and then promptly forgot in my office that it was there, and it continued to die. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:14.639 And so he has to come in my office constantly and take off all the dead and water it again. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:16.959 Just I'm just the worst at being a green thumb. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:19.839 But the scripture I there's two scriptures I want to start with this morning. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.639 And the first one is in Colossians chapter 2. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.560 And it says, uh, be rooted up and built up in him. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.360 Strengthened in the faith as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.720 And then the second verse is Mark chapter 4, verses 26 to 29. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:46.399 It says, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by day night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.160 He himself does not know how. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:54.319 For the earthly crops yield crops, sorry, by itself, first the blade, then the head. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:00.480 After the full grain in the head, and when the grain ripens, immediately he puts it in the sickle because the harvests have come. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:04.399 God has called us to be on at unordinary in planting our roots. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:08.160 And something that we do as believers is we need to plant roots. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:13.680 One of the best parts of the Christian experience is actually planting roots and getting to know other people. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:22.399 I said, one of the things about the value of planting these deep roots is that you're unlimited in your growth if you plant those roots. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:34.480 You're unlimited in your growth if you can plant deep roots and have people around you that aren't toxic, that aren't gonna feed you negativity and all that stuff. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.839 But if you have deep roots around you, you can withstand a storm that people that aren't rooted can't. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:45.680 And the the interesting thing is we live in this digital age now. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:50.160 Like I'm an Exenial, which means I grew up analog and now I'm digital. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:54.560 And I love Facebook and I love Instagram, and that's the only two I really use. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.759 There's more out there. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:00.959 But the thing is that these digital connections actually give you the illusion of roots. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:13.519 They give you the illusion that you actually have something planted in your life because of the digital connection, the ability for you to be able to look at your phone and be like, oh man, that person texted me or messaged me, or I have a connection, I like that picture. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:19.120 You get the little shot of happiness whenever you get the little Instagram heart that pops up, woo, someone likes my picture. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.120 Like I love Instagram, I like showing off my kids because they're kind of awesome. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:32.560 But we get wrapped up into this, and there's people that actually have never left their house because they're so connected on Facebook that have no actual real life friends. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:39.120 I tell my kids all the time when they play on PlayStation, I'm like, those guys that you have on your friends list really aren't your friends. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:41.519 Because what happens when you have a struggle in life? 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:45.839 They're not gonna drive in from the States for a kid that they've never seen and actually be friends with you. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:46.399 Right? 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.920 They're not gonna come and support you and be there and pray for you a hand on hand. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.639 They don't know you, they know you as your video game player. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:07:02.800 Just like when we're playing on on Facebook and Instagram, it's not actual deep roots that we have, it's just a short-term connection. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:14.160 Recently, there was a story uh about a young lady, like really recently, probably only two or three weeks, she uh has an Instagram account over the last few years. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:17.839 She made like five or six hundred thousand dollars being an influencer on Instagram. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.639 One day she was editing all of her videos, went to post it on online, and realized that her whole thing had been cut off. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:26.399 Her Instagram account had been cut off. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.639 There's a long list of reasons, Ryan, I don't really want to get into those, but there's a she got cut off. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:41.120 Well, a few hours later, she made an impassioned plea onto Facebook saying she didn't know how to connect with people, she didn't know how to get a real job, she didn't know what to do. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.639 She's like$500,000 over two years isn't a lot of money. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:49.040 And however that works, but it said wasn't it isn't a lot of money, right? 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.000 For us, you know,$500,000 seems legit, right? 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:56.879 But she she didn't know how to function without the digital connection of her life. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:05.519 Like she actually shut down and she was like bibbling on Facebook because she couldn't figure out what to do with herself because she wasn't connected. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.879 That's just a digital connection, not a deep root. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:13.279 We need to be rooted in friendships and relationships. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.680 What would happen right now if you lost your phone? 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:19.519 How many of you could remember an actual phone number? 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:23.759 Yeah, see, we should look around and see. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:25.040 I cannot. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:27.680 I'm that exenial now that's all digital. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:31.519 If I have to remember a phone number, it's never I'm never gonna be able to do it. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:32.399 It's gone. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:34.240 I remember the first part, 250. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:35.919 Whew! I'm a star. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:37.120 Right? 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.679 If you lost your phone, would you know who you are? 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:42.320 Right? 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.519 If you lost the something, would you know who you are? 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:49.200 Like people right now are trying to find some kind of connection in life. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.799 They're moving from job to job, from identity to identity. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:01.200 Like Pastor Brody was telling me in an article that he read that people are actually leaving the town that they're in, going to another town and changing their name and identity to start fresh. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.960 They're changing gender to gender, job to job, place to place, it doesn't matter. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:16.960 People are changing, all trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment in something, going from experience to experience because they aren't rooted deeply in the love of God, like we saying this morning. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:22.399 They're not rooted deeply in the community that we actually have around us right now. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:24.639 They're not rooted deeply. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:29.759 Uh, one of the they're looking for the moment, but they're never looking for the future. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.480 They're looking to have this life, but they're not looking to build life. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:45.200 I read an article recently about um the generation that's uh coming up that says uh by the time I get married at 30, if I'm divorced, that's okay. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.759 That's my throwaway marriage, because who I am is gonna be who I want to be at 30. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:58.399 They're they're investing time and effort into something that they know isn't gonna give them satisfaction. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:07.360 What's the what's the we all know what the damage of divorce can be, what the damage of broken relationships can be, right? 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:13.679 So Pastor Brody, or Pastor Dave actually spoke about uh the honeymoon phase that people are always in. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:22.559 We've talked about it actually a few times in this art of the unordinary, is that we live in this phase where it's this new, new, new, always wanting to just get into what's the new, the freshest thing. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:27.919 And then as soon as you you look like someone might actually know you, you run away. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.039 And you break roots and you you take off. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:33.039 And so no one actually gets to know who you are. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.480 No one actually gets to get to know the inner part of you and get to work with you and know you even a little bit deeper. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:54.639 Uh Psalms chapter 92, verse 13 to 15 says, They are planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of God, they still bear fruit in old age, they are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.840 The definition of flourish I thought was really interesting. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:05.600 Grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as a result of a particularly favorable environment. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:13.039 How many of you have ever heard of the uh the tumbleweed invasion of Victoriaville? 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.879 It's just in California off the Mojave Desert. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:28.000 It happened one night, they had just a massive windstorm and it blew in tons, there's the tons of tumbleweeds. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:38.240 And because they were actually had thorns and they were pokey, they actually had to bring in guys with pitchforks and high heavy-duty gloves to pull out these tumbleweeds. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:48.000 But it blew into this town, and it's actually happened in Australia, it's happened in a few places in the States where tumbleweeds are you know they're varying in size. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:51.120 You've all seen a tumbleweed, and it's always accompanied with music in your head. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.200 It's like a winter, as soon as you hear it, it's like a western sound that you hear in your head. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:56.320 But you see the tumbleweed. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:03.919 Tumbleweeds are dry, they have no water in them, they die really quickly, and they are only rooted with just a couple roots. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.759 They have they have nothing that actually holds to them to the ground to anything. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.440 And sometimes we live our life like a tumbleweed Christian. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:21.840 We live our life in a way that is not rooted, there's no depth to our spiritual relationship with God. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:29.519 Like I like we have this no relationship with God, we have no relationship with people because it's too hard. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:30.720 Or I just don't like that. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:32.399 I don't people aren't gonna like me. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:38.559 On the other side of this, have you ever heard the Chinese bamboo tree? 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.799 This tree is spectacular. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:49.519 This tree, uh Chinese bamboo farmer, so we want to call it, we'll actually plant this tree and put it into the ground. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:53.759 And it's completely in contrast, completely in contrast to the tumbleweed. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.000 It has no roots, it's easily blown back and forth. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.360 It has the illusion of freedom, but it's not rooted in anything. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:00.559 And what does the Bible say? 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:02.559 Don't be tossed to and fro like the wind. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:04.639 I don't want to be a tumbleweed Christian. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:15.039 I want to be a believer in Jesus that's so rooted that no matter the situation, I am never ever gonna be blown over because of the love of Christ and this and how steady he is in my life. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:15.840 Amen. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.639 The bamboo tree is the exact opposite of the tumbleweed. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:22.799 This is it's it's a really weird tree. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.240 You know how when you you plant a bush in your garden, you want to see things right away. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.799 Well, the bamboo tree, you'll plant it, and the first year you see nothing. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:34.480 Second year, you see nothing. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.000 The third year, you see nothing. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.000 The fourth year, you see nothing. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:47.919 By that time you're mad, and you're gonna get out to your little two, and you're gonna go dig that thing up and see if anything's actually happening. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:54.000 This is a small root bulb that you're seeing there of an actual bamboo tree on something about this big. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:01.039 So on the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree in six weeks will grow 80 feet. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.039 It's nuts. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:09.440 I actually tried to I actually tried to find like a time-lapse video, but I could I it's just like just to show like two minutes of this thing growing, but I couldn't have. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.120 But they actually have bamboo video like showing of these videos where the bamboo is actually growing. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:21.759 The Chinese bamboo tree on the fifth year will grow 80 feet in six weeks. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:36.000 What would have happened if in that year one that he was planted, second year, third year, fourth year, the farmer went in and just ripped it up and got rid of all the roots and said, I don't like it here, I'm gonna move it to this spot. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:37.120 Start fresh over here. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:43.600 There's not like you, a number two, you get to start again, or it's start from two on again, you ripped it out in year three, so it's three. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:47.279 It you it what would have happened had the farmer gone in and just torn it out? 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:48.960 What if I had to start fresh? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:55.279 You know, on the fourth year, I really think my patients would have been severely tested. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.399 It would have been one of those, okay, Lord, what are you doing here? 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.200 Uh how many a lot of you have children? 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:26.639 How many of you know that you put investment, time, effort, care, words of love, words of discipline, sometimes words of wrath, into your children, and you teach them all the do's and don'ts, the pleas and thank yous, and you better be polite when you go with Auntie, because if not, there's gonna and then you send them off and you're just praying, Lord, let there be a good report of their behavior when they come back. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:36.320 And then they actually you get a report from the whoever you sent it with, like, man, your kid's the most polite child, and they in fact know how to pick up after themselves. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.320 And you're like, whose kid are you? 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:44.000 You're checking your own kids to make sure they're all like a standing, like you just don't think that happens. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:16:01.440 But what it is is the investment and the time and effort that you put into them actually has produced good fruit because you as parents rooted your children into what you know and teaching them properly and moving them forward in what you think is right. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:07.919 It's interesting. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:22.080 The the the Chinese bamboo tree, it was actually Pastor Brody's idea that when it actually grows like this, it's really an indication of of who we are and how we actually are rooted and where we can be rooted and what God's called us to do. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:36.559 Said if you don't have a strong foundation, and and and this is true for like when I was uh early married, I've I've told this before, when I was early married, I didn't have a strong foundation, and so our marriage didn't thrive. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:38.559 My relationships didn't thrive. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:48.159 If you don't have a strong foundation in who Christ is in your own life, and who Christ is in your own life, relationships will suffer. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:17:03.200 Your marriage may suffer, your job may suffer, you'll never be happy with the amount of money you're making, or or any you may not be content because you're not you're trying to find your your your growth and your maturity in something else. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:19.519 Something that I've learned over the years is that the health of your spiritual life or my spiritual life or your spiritual life is directly related to the kind of soil that you are rooted in. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.599 And we come back to the digital connection again. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:28.079 Are you rooted in Facebook? 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.680 Are you rooted in Instagram? 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.640 Are you rooted in 24-hour news cycles? 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.759 Watching CNN all day will rot your brain. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:40.079 Are you rooted in in where do you what are you rooted in? 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.559 Are you is your unhealthy relationship something that you're rooted in? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:48.720 That's what you know is your unhealthy relationship. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:54.160 Are you rooted in TV, Game of Thrones, or Walking Dead or whatever show you're gonna watch? 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:56.400 Is that where you're getting your truth from? 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:05.599 We have to constantly, as believers, make sure and nurture and water what God's called us to water. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:11.519 We can't grow if we're not actually feeding what God's called us to feed. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:20.720 So if we're gonna have a strong relationship in with Him, that means we have to learn how to push distractions out of the way and be like, Lord, what is considered a distraction? 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:27.440 What is unhealthy soil right now in my life that's causing me to look away from you and look to the lie that the enemy is feeding me? 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.039 Because the enemy can only lie. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:48.559 That's his best thing, is he can lie, and it's always in contrast to what the word of God says, it's always in contrast to what the word of God says, and so we can grow, but we have to figure out how we're gonna remove our distractions. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:53.599 And I love this because God views us as unordinary. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.920 He has a plan for us, he has a direction for us, he wants to move us in a certain direction and go to a certain place. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:06.079 But if we're not willing to actually plant our roots, dig down into what he has for us. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:20.640 And this is uh the the scripture that came to me this morning was in, I believe it's in Matthew where it talks about we want to be in to me, I don't think it's in Matthew, but hearers of the word, but also be doers. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.799 Here's the thing is that you've heard the word. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:29.119 You've heard the word. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:31.039 You come to church on Sundays, you've heard the word. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:32.480 You've read your Bible, you've heard the word. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.960 You talk to someone in church, you've heard the word. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.640 You talk to Pastor Brody out there, and he gives you something from his heart to yours, you've heard the word of God. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:41.759 You've heard it. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.599 But are you acting on it? 00:19:47.759 --> 00:20:01.920 So we can preach circles all the time, but unless we're actually willing to allow God to take those parts that are in my life and move them out and be like, this is bad soil. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.480 This is Brian, this is where I want you to go. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:11.759 If we're unwilling to do that, if we just hear it but never act on it, we're never gonna have any growth in our own life. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:15.039 Never gonna have any growth. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:25.440 And this is the the real true thing is that we actually, uh, how many of you on your third or fourth year of watching your bamboo tree grow would have just been like, I'm so frustrated and just torn it out of the ground? 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.480 I'm the least patient person you'll ever meet in your entire life. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.920 And I have three children that are challenging me to be more patient. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:32.799 Right? 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:43.200 It's one of those, it's I'm the least patient and I really want to be more patient, but it's one of those things that God's teaching me how to do, right? 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:57.599 But if if I every time God puts in my life something and I can see and I okay, I heard the word, I heard the word, just like the Bible says, I heard it, then I acted on it, doesn't necessarily mean that the growth is gonna happen right then. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:05.519 What it means though is that God is working on your behalf, regardless of whether or not you see the growth. 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:16.559 And so instead of getting upset and be like, oh Lord, this is not, I I don't like this, this is not happening the way I wanted it to, I'm gonna quit my job. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:17.839 I'm gonna give up. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.599 How many of you have have run a business or have a business right now? 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:22.000 Right? 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.680 There's a few of you in our our church. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:30.319 We love you guys because they're a perfect example of you talk to these guys, they will tell you that it wasn't the first year that they made money. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:32.559 It wasn't necessarily the second year they made money. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:39.200 Maybe they failed in business three or four times before they finally got to the place where they were, but they never quit. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.759 They never tore the roots out and said, I'm gonna move on to something else. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:45.599 They kept on going. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:49.359 And it's like that in our own walk with God. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:56.720 Imagine what would have happened if David would have gotten like let his fear override the fact that he's about to face a giant with a sling and some rocks. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.440 Right? 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:16.880 We have the option to plant our roots and see where God's gonna take us into the next place that He has for us because we're willing to drive forward and move into where He's called us to go. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.759 Sometimes we would rather enslave ourselves in something that is predictable. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:26.960 We like what's comfortable. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:38.000 We like what's good, we like what's gonna be easy, we don't want to have a tough relationship, we don't want to be uncomfortable no matter what. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.720 The Lord says, witness to that guy, you're like, oh, I don't need to. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.839 The Lord says, and this is the this is the the thing. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:51.119 One of my points, uh I'm gonna actually, one of the points I have today is we'll get there. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.559 If I do it now, it just ruins the whole thing. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:23:03.680 But if we allow our our emotions and our feelings to dictate what God's doing for us, we will never do anything. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:12.240 Because oftentimes in the kingdom of God, in my life anyway, knowing who God is has never been super comfortable for me. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:26.240 When I get to learn a little bit more myself because the Lord's trying to do something and he's taking sin out of my life, and he's moving my sin out, and I'm cutting it out, and I'm taking that route and I'm moving it because it's just like that what the Lord's doing to me, it's not comfortable. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:36.880 Waiting for five years to see any kind of growth and just having to fight for it and work towards it and water it and be patient and nurture it is never comfortable. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:45.839 And sometimes the process is painful and it hurts and we don't like it. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:50.480 And so instead of just asking the Lord, how do I do this? 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.160 We give up and we move. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:05.759 One of our messages or sermons last year, actually, or last month, sorry, was God wants, we we as people want to be known, fully known and fully loved. 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:29.680 The way you're gonna be fully known by Jesus Christ and the relationship you have with him is if you plant your roots in him and are willing to move step by step, minute by minute, water plant, water by water, nurturing everything as you're moving forward, and God will call you to something that is for you. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:39.039 And the easiest way sometimes that we we can kind of take our sight off of what God has for us is if we compare ourselves to someone else. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:44.480 Because if we look at someone else and be like, hey, I want Pastor Brody's anointing. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:46.720 It's not my job. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:48.079 It's not my job. 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.240 God's got something for Brian. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:52.720 God's got something for Trish. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:54.480 Oh no, I want what Trish wants. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:59.279 The easiest way for you to take lose sight of what God has for you is by comparing yourself to someone else. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:01.920 Right? 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:10.000 We want to do what God has called us to do and plant the roots in the direction he needs us to go, not who other people are, what they're doing. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.240 Man, I come on board with the vision of this church. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:18.880 I'm moving as Pastor Brody wants, but his mentorship to me means he's gonna take the best in me and make it better. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:28.880 That's the responsibility of Pastor Brody as my pastor, is to make me better than I am right now in mentorship and dealing with who I am. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:30.799 Sometimes I'm difficult. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:32.559 Don't ask him. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:34.880 Don't ask him. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:44.240 And the thing about Christianity is it really is experienced best as a community. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:47.599 What's that saying? 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.079 Is that no person or no man is an island? 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.440 I don't want to be the tumbleweed believer. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:06.880 That's not planted, that's blown to and fro, that's hopping from place to place, church to church, worship service to worship service, whatever is going on job to job, I want to be that tumbleweed Christian that's dug in. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:10.640 Like bamboo. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:12.240 Thank you. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:18.240 I want to be the bamboo Christian that's plugged in and moving in the way God's called us. 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:27.200 And there's strength in all of us digging our heels in and saying, God, what do you want us to do now? 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:36.400 There's strength in who we all are as individuals as we come together as a church and say what God's gonna do for us next. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:47.920 And it's amazing some of the benefits that come with being a believer and being rooted in Jesus and being rooted in community. 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:51.759 One of the biggest things is if you're rooted, you will be noticed. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:01.920 Sometimes in church it's really easy for us to be the last one in, the first one out, and not be noticed by someone. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:11.680 Once you actually plant your roots into a church and you plant your roots into community, and you plant your roots and who Christ is, and you're actually looking for people to surround you, it is so much harder to not be noticed. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:26.240 We want to be noticed and what God's called us to do and to dig our heels into being in community and loving God and loving others. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.880 So being planted gives you an extended family. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:32.720 I lived in Prince George and I had an amazing family group up there. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.599 My brother ended up moving up there and my sister after I left. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:42.640 I don't know if that's convenient, but I didn't have my current my mom and my other sister and my brother-in-law, I didn't have them here. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.799 But what I did have was friends that I actually built relationships and became my family. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:58.000 Being rooted in a church and being rooted in Christ and finding people that are like-minded that are gonna love you and care for you as you move on in your life actually means you have a family away from a family. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:00.079 That means when you need prayer, you get prayer. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:01.680 When you need support, you get support. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:03.920 When you need to be loved on, you get loved on. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.799 When they need to, when they hear a word from God for you, they're gonna speak that word to you. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:15.920 Because they're they're there on your behalf to do on with you, to live life with you. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.920 That's the benefit of move of being planted in church. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:26.720 Being planted also gives you an opportunity to build relationships with people that you can actually ask questions about. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:44.480 Like, Lord, when you're in a connect group, like we have a marriage connect group that we meet uh every well twice a month, and it's been phenomenal to see people build relationships, see how God can move them forward through prayer and relationships with other people and people that love and care for them. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:50.000 Watch marriages change because other people are willing to invest time and effort into them. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.119 How many of you remember the story of uh Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:13.359 Y'all know they they were high up in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, and they were three men that had done and had decided never to give up and always stood tall and did it together as believers. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.599 They were three, in the Bible it describes them as three Hebrew men that were righteous. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:25.440 And so Nebuchadnezzar made a uh decree that everyone has to bow down to the God, and they decided not to. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:30.319 And so he got mad and threw all three of them into a fiery pit. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.920 And he said, You gotta stoke it hotter. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.519 So we all know the story, fiery pit. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.200 He goes in there, it was so hot, it was killing guards as they were throwing in there. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:41.759 Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were never actually hurt by the fire. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:46.640 The only thing that came off of them was the vines that were on their hands. 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:54.559 But they stood tall together, and then there is reports in the Bible it says there's a fourth man in the in there with them. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:00.079 There's a fourth person in there with them, and they didn't know who it was. 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:15.599 And then when they came out and the king saw that they were not burned, their clothes weren't burned, the only thing that came off of the four, and then he recognized that there is Jesus, what was Jesus in there with them, or maybe sent an angel, but there was a fourth person in there with him. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:25.440 Those three men knew who they were, what they wanted to accomplish, and they were unwilling to back down and let an obstacle or something stand in their way. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:26.160 You know what? 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:29.279 I'm a firm believer that God can restore marriages. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:35.680 And one of the ways you're gonna restore your marriages is if you actually are in gro in connection with other people. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.400 People that are gonna invest into your marriage. 00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:40.640 People can you can have better relationships. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:45.119 Life can completely change once you root yourself in a community of people that love you. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:48.799 And that was it, uh Proverbs says iron sharpens iron. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:55.359 I'm better because I surround with my people, I surround myself with people that are gonna make me better. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:00.799 We're better as a church when we work with each other and not against each other. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.799 Fear is always at work in these situations. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:08.240 Fear will tell you you're incapable of planting roots. 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.160 Now you people don't want to get to know you. 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:12.799 The Bible says you're more than a conqueror. 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:17.119 You can go through anything if you just trust in Jesus. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:22.559 Our songs this morning fit perfectly into the message that God wanted me to share this morning. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:25.200 This fit perfectly, is that we're a firm foundation. 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:26.720 We put our trust in Jesus. 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:29.920 I will not be shaken because of who he is in my life. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:36.000 And my strength and my faith is strengthened when I invest and people invest into me. 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:39.200 Christ tells us you're more than a conqueror. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:41.759 His timing is perfect in every situation. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.240 And progress is better than perfection. 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:45.519 You don't need to be perfect. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:48.720 You just need to open up yourself and say, hey, you know what? 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:49.519 I'm broken. 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:51.119 Lord, I need help. 00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:53.440 And he's gonna answer. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:58.000 I just want to read this part here in Mark. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.519 Mark chapter 4, we read it already. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:07.279 So the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.200 He himself does not know how. 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.279 He spread the seed, but he didn't know how it was gonna grow. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:16.960 I don't know how a combustion engine really works on the inside. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:18.799 I don't know where wind comes from. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:24.559 I don't know, but I still place my trust in Jesus that he's gonna work inside my life and I'm gonna plant the roots. 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:26.880 I just because I don't know how doesn't mean it's not gonna happen. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:33.279 And if you don't know how, the simple thing is to ask and be like, Lord, I don't know how you're gonna do this, but Lord, do it, help me. 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:34.400 Help me with this. 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:37.599 And there's always an order to how we do these things. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:44.160 When we come into worship this morning, the order is we praise and worship, we lift our hands, we give God glory, and then we go into worship. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:45.920 There's an order to what we're doing. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:50.799 And same thing with our giving. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:54.000 Something I've always done with our giving is we always give first. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:04.559 I get paycheck, and I want to give to God first before I go on to Amazon and buy more backpacks or bows and arrows or whatever it is. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:11.680 I give to God first because that's a value in my life, and it's something that's been built into me from the people that I'm surrounded with. 00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:12.240 Right? 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:22.799 We've I just wanted to like we have an opportunity in our our the last few weeks, our giving as a church has been above and beyond, much above and beyond what we usually have. 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:32.079 We're standing in faith that God's taking this church to a different place, and your faith has been activated and challenged in moving us forward. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:38.079 We just wanted to say thank you as a team, thank you for your listening to hearing what God's doing, hearing what God's saying. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:40.079 We have a testimony of a family in this church. 00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:42.799 They uh they've been challenged by by giving. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:50.000 They actually, on Sunday uh a few weeks ago, was like, we actually felt the Lord telling us to give more. 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:54.240 They felt the Lord saying, Hey, I want you to give more than you usually do. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:55.200 So they did. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:59.920 And they were blessed a hundred times full because of obedience to what God's saying. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:06.480 Now, that's not saying that's what's gonna happen every single time, but this is a blessing on them because they were obedient to what God's saying. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:13.840 So thank you for the giving that you've given to us because we can't plant this and move this church forward without those resources. 00:34:14.159 --> 00:34:17.519 And we can't plant and see other people come in to know who Christ is. 00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:19.840 Amen. 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:30.239 So here's here's a question: what would your life look like if you were rooted a little bit differently? 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:40.400 What if your perspective was unordinary in the fact that you're gonna move into something different that God's called you to do and build a relationship differently? 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:46.639 And this is what I said at the very beginning is that God or Jesus is unordinary. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:48.880 He died on the cross for our sins, that's not ordinary. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:51.280 I am free because of him. 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:53.119 That's not ordinary. 00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:58.320 This is Jesus did all of these things for us. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:02.639 The uncle unconditional love he gives for us is unordinary. 00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:06.000 The forgiveness he offers me is unordinary. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:08.960 The freedom he offers is unordinary. 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:17.039 What if we gave up the idea that we have to be in control of every single thing, that we have to be in control of the direction of the root? 00:35:17.280 --> 00:35:20.480 That we have to be in control of the growth and how we're gonna move it forward? 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:27.519 What if we gave up the idea that we had to be in control and let God be the one that makes and plants us and nurtures us and moves us forward? 00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:32.559 Do we want to be a tumbleweed believer or do you want to be a bamboo believer? 00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:34.960 It's a weird way to say that. 00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:43.920 Much of the New Testament contains letters written to churches instructing them how to live their life and how to stay strong in their faith. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.079 And I just want to read some scriptures to you this morning, and then I'm gonna sum it all up. 00:35:48.800 --> 00:36:00.239 So that I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say, and that there are no divisions among you, but that you are perfectly united in mind and thought. 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:05.679 Finally, all of you be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:07.679 1 Peter 5, 7. 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:11.599 Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:24.639