Trees and Roots and spiritual Vagabonds..What the Heck

Life group tonight was so awsome! Our lifegroup has been going through a series called the Bait of Satan which is basically a teaching series about the bait of satan. Or to be more clear about the role that taking offense can play by stopping us from living up to our God calling by causing us to be unable to forgive, repent, ect.

Long story short, the guy who is speaking in this series began to talk about trees and gave an amazing picture to think about.

Psalm 92:13 those who are planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

John Bevere - The Bait of Satan

What happens to a fruit tree if you are a planter and you uproot it every couple of months? The root system begins to dwarf and eventually it stops producing fruit. And eventually if you keep transplanting it, it dies. Do you know what trees use to send their roots down? Trees will use adverse weather to send their roots deeper. Adversity causes trees roots to go deeper. But if the farmer were to listen to the tree, if the tree could speak, the tree would say..."Get me out of here! I hate this!" And if the farmer transplanted it, guess what, it would rob the tree of the opportunity to send its roots deeper. Why, because in the drought that tree has to go deeper to find water. I have a friend who lives in an area of the country which went through a severe drought. And all of a sudden their toilets all stopped working. So they called the Roter Rooter man out and the Roter Rooter man said, "Yep, just what I expected. A root from the tree sensed the moisture from inside the PVC pipe and went right through it to get the moisture." What caused that tree to have that kind of tenacity? The adversity! So what happens is people start running from church to church to church, because the first time you leave out of an offense its gonna be easier the next time to leave out of offense. Why? Because your root system is dwarfed.

Psalm 1:2 Blessed is the man...who's delight is the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates both day and night.

Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love the law; and nothing shall offend them.

Nothing shall offend them! Now watch becasue Psalm 1:3 goes on to say...He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in season.

Who is he? He, is who delights in the law, who loves the law of the Lord. Nothing shall offend him. So what is he saying with these two verses? He is saying that one who delights in the law of the Lord is one who is rooted, and grounded. His roots go down deep and even in adversity he will produce fruit.

And do you know what I found amazing, do you know what I found out? In Florida the juice of oranges doesnt get sweet until you have the cold. Till you have adverse weather, then the juice becomes sweet. If we allow the adversity, if we allow the Holy Spirit to work through adversity when it comes, we would become sweeter like the fruit. Now listen becasue this now makes sense. Listen to what Jesus says in Mark 4:16-17 ...And these are they likewise which are sown on stoney ground; who when they have heard the word immediately recieve it with gladness..So were not talking about a sinner here. Sinners do not recieve the word with gladness. Were talking about people on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, people who go "Wow, pastor that is good!" Right? Now watch this...Mark 4:16 ..who immediately recieve the word with gladness...vs 17..And have no roots in themselves, and so endure for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution comes for the words sake they are immediately OFFENDED. Why are they offended? They have not allowed their roots to go down. You want to find shallow trees? Just send in a hurricane through Florida and you will find allow the shallow trees, their gone, their uprooted. But you want to find the strong trees...I remember when i was in Florida I went by this cypress tree that was around when Moses was around. They had a sign on their that said how old it was. It was a 4,000 year old cypress tree. Let me tell you many hurricanes have gone through there but that tree is still there. They didnt do a thing to him. Why? Becasue he is rooted.

Now, listen, when you leave out of an offense, pay attention becasue this is going to explain some things you have seen in others behavior. So were not talking about you this morning are we? All right you ready? When you leave out of an offense your root system dwarfs, so the next time you leave out of an offense its easier, and then the next time its easier again, and then the next time again. Whether its a marraige or a church, or what ever it is it gets easier to leave again, and easier to leave again. Are you seeing this? You see, if you dont deal with the offense, your roots system gets dwarfed. And you know what eventually happens...You become a spiritual vagabond. You know what a vagabond is...a wanderer. You wander from ministry to ministry, from church to church.

Now there is another guy who is a vagabond and his name is Cain. Now I find an amazing thing here. The problem is when ever we think of Cain and Abel we always think of the outcome and how much of a wicked sinner this guy Cain was. No, no, no, no, read carefully, these are two sons of Adam and Eve and both of them are diligently working to bring an offering to God. I got news for you..people out there in the bars are not working diligently to bring offerings to the Lord this morning. We are talking about two guys who are diligently working to bring offering to the Lord. In fact if you really think about it Cain is working harder. Abel is a shepard and works in the morning and in the evening but during the hottest part of the day he is sitting under a tree sipping on a cool one. Meanwhile farming is harder and Cain is working in the hot sun all day. Farming you have to operate through the whole day. So Cain is working harder, yet when Cain brings his offering the Bible says that God rejects Cain and his offering.

Summarizing Now because it is no longer an hour in which it honoring to God the be awake...

Now Adam and Eve were ignorant, Cain and Abel wernt. God specifically showed them what he desired in an offering. Cain and Abel had learned from their Mom and Dad what was acceptable as an offering to God and what was obedience. So when Cain offered his fruit of the ground it represents a disobedient offering, he is serving God his own way. And so when God rejects him, God says to him that he does not respect Cain and his offering and Cain was.................


ECT I gotta Stop..its too late...call me for the details.. it was awsome...i got the dvd..........sorry to leave you hanging......who am i kidding.........i am the only one who ever looks at this blog............Aaron go to bed!!!!!! Am i typing to myself...........where am I????????????Good night.