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- [00:00]
A
Hey, Social fam. Just before we get into the message, today, we want to share something exciting. We are currently standing outside the former look theater, a building that we believe God is calling us to make the permanent home for Social Dallas. This is more than a building, y'all. It's a place where lives will be changed and Jesus will be lifted up. If Social has been a blessing to you, would you consider partnering with us? You can visit socialdallas.com give or you can text the word. Look to 833-300-5264 to learn more. Thanks for being a part of what God is doing through Social Dallas. Now let's jump into the message. Any planted people in the house? This is your year. I believe this thing. This is your year to flourish. And you don't gotta be frustrated about flourishing. All you gotta do is stay planted. And as you stay planted, the byproduct of staying planted is flourishing, flourishing, flourishing. So if you're new to social, we declared our word for the entire year. It's planted. And that word is connected to the word of God. Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. We're gonna read it every single Sunday of 20, 25. How many already got it memorized? What's wrong with you? Come on, get it together. I'm plan. You got time. You got time. Come on. Let's declare it together as one big family. You ready? One, two, three. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. To declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Can you say amen? Amen. And then our text that we'll be teaching from today is found in the book of Jeremiah, chapter number 17. And I want to illuminate for our understanding verses five through eight. Jeremiah 17. Starting at verse number five, we'll land at verse number eight. If you need some time to find Jeremiah, say, hold up. I hear you. Look at what it says. Thus says the Lord. Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good. Come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness and in an uninhabited salt land. How many know? If Jeremiah stopped right there, we would be depressed and need some help. But thank God for verse number seven. Blessed. That means there's another option. Blessed is the man or the woman who trusts in The Lord whose trust is the Lord? He or she is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes. Look at your neighbor. Say, don't be scared. Does not fear when he comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Y'all, it's all good. But it's that second clause of verse eight for me. It says, if I'm planted, somebody say, planted by water. Look at the ramifications of being planted. I ain't gotta be scared when the heat comes, my leaves are gonna stay green. And here it is. I don't have to be anxious in the year of drought. Oh, if you got a paper Bible, you could almost put. You don't have to. It's your prerogative. But you could almost put over drought 2025, as your declaration this year that as I'm planted, I will not be anxious in the year 2025. Matter of fact, 2026, 27, 28, it is possible to live your life without being in a state of anxiety and worry. Ooh. I'm telling you, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. I wanna preach for about four hours. I gotta be careful. At 12:30, turn up. You already had brunch. You're like, go ahead, we already ate. I want to preach from this thought right here. Planted, not panicked. Planted, not panicked. Look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best, and just say, neighbor, this is your year to be planted, not panicked. Look at your other neighbor, say, neighbor. Look me in my face.
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B
I ain't got no worries.
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A
Give God some praise if you know he's gonna speak it. Father, have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
- [05:20]
C
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over and I've seen promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.
- [06:03]
B
So I'm happy tonight.
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C
I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
- [06:19]
A
That is powerful. This Monday, we as a nation will pause to celebrate the life and the legacy, the service and the sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And one of the ways that I personally celebrate his legacy every year is to do what I just made all y'all do. I listen to his speeches. I listen to his sermons. I listen to the words that came out of the mouth of this master orator. Please don't get it twisted. Dr. King was not just a preacher. He was not just a communicator. He was an orator. You do know there's a difference between a communicator and an orator? Every orator is a great communicator, but not every communicator is a great orator. When you are an orator, you are not just saying choice words to. To a selective audience. When you are an orator, you are saying things that will transcend time. You know you're an orator when you leave a pulpit or a podium. And when you leave, your words don't just reverberate in the room, they reverberate throughout history. Dr. King was an orator. Who else but King could stand behind a podium and say, free at last, free at last.
- [07:36]
B
Thank God Almighty, we are free at.
- [07:38]
A
Last, and then walk away and leave the room in suspense? And we're still listening to it today. He was bad to the ball. He was an orator. But the speech that you just heard, his famous I've been to the mountaintop speech is distinctly different from his famous I have a dream speech. The reason is the timing of the speech. You understand? The speech you just heard was the last speech that Dr. King ever gave. April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ. He spoke those words not knowing that in less than 24 hours he was going to be assassinated. Then again, I wonder, did he know? Because who else but Dr. King, prophetically in that moment, spoke to his morality and mortality rather, and said, I may not get there with you, but we will get to the promised land and listen to the last words of his last speech. He says, I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Oh, social fam. I find it hard to comprehend the words he's saying because they seem to be so incongruent with what was happening in his life at the time. Hold on, Dr. King. You're not worried about anything. You're not fearing any man? Dr. King, for the last 10 years, you have been invasively surveyed by the FBI and you ain't worried about anything? Dr. King, your house has been bombed. You have been stabbed at book signings, you are getting 40 to 50 threats a day and you ain't fearing any man. It must mean that you understood the power of being planted but not panicked.
- [09:40]
B
It must mean that you were drawing source from a strength that other people.
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Couldn'T see and you could still stand.
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Up for justice and for truth and equality in spite of the lingering fear of somebody taking your life. And you still stand 10 toes down talking about, I'm not fearing any man. I have no worries.
- [10:00]
A
Why? Because he was planted but not panicked. How many know? Dr. King is not the only one that talks about this tension of living a life free of worries, even though everything externally will give you a right to worry. Jesus spoke to it too. Read it when you get to the crib. Matthew chapter 6. Jesus famous sermon on the Mount. This is where Jesus does like a 20 part series in one day. He's just preaching about everything. And I find it intriguing. Of all the things that Jesus feels like he needs to talk about, he talks about worry, he talks about anxiety, as if he knew that there would be a generation that would be wrestling with the weight of anxiety. And look at the red letters in your Bible. Matthew chapter 6 Starting at verse 25, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is today alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you, of a little feast? Therefore, therefore do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that.
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You need them all.
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Here it is. But seek first the kingdom of God.
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And his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
- [12:03]
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Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious. For if you super saved and you went to Sunday school, you shout about that verse I felt you. Oh, seek first the kingdom, and everything else will be added. But how many know that verse is easier to shout about than it is to live out? How do I really live this life without being anxious, without being worried? Have you looked at the news lately? Have you seen the economy lately? Are you for real, Jesus? You mean to tell me I just got to stop being anxious? You mean to tell me that what's going to cure my anxiety is bird.
- [12:39]
B
Watching and looking at flowers?
- [12:42]
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And yet Jesus says that it is possible, implausible, to live a life anxious, free.
- [12:48]
B
Ooh.
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Not just Jesus. Look at the Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul in Philippians, chapter four has the nerve and audacity to say this. Don't be anxious about anything, not even.
- [12:59]
B
A wasp flying while you trying to preach. Really, Paul, I'm out here preaching the gospel, and I got bugs that come back every single Sunday threatening to stab me in the throat while I'm preaching. And I'm not supposed to be anxious, Paul, really? Have you seen the world we live in, Paul? It's as if Paul is saying, hakuna matata. No worries. It's all right. But how many know Paul, Jesus? And Dr. King wouldn't have declared it if it wasn't possible. I came to tell somebody that when you are planted in Christ, there is.
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A level where you won't be.
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Will be free of worry and anxiety. Hear me. It doesn't mean that the worry and anxiety isn't going to come. It doesn't mean I don't have to be driven by it. I don't have to live in a state of it.
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A
Oh, even Jesus, when he says that by being anxious, you can't add a single day in your life. Invert that.
- [13:54]
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He's in essence saying that when you are anxious, when you are driven by worry, you are eating away your time. You are taken away from your purpose.
- [14:03]
A
And God is looking for some believers this year to be planted and not panicked. Are y'all recording this? I'm gonna watch it later. It's blessing me. Interesting, because our word is planted, right? And I'd been pondering on planted, and I've been thinking on planted, and I missed this revelation. I should have told you last week, but have you noticed that no plant ever plants itself to be planted actually suggests that somebody else planted you. No tree has ever been planted and.
- [14:34]
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Said, actually, I want to be to the right a little bit.
- [14:37]
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No, to actually be planted means somebody that was not a plant planted you. Oh, think about that. Plants don't get to pick where they're planted. Just like you didn't get to pick what family you would be born into. Nobody got to pick that.
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B
Nobody sat in the boardroom of heaven.
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And said, father, son, Spirit. Yes. Hi, Trinity. I want to be born in the 70s. Yes. I think that'd be the best time period. Nobody said that.
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Nobody said, oh, when I come to.
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The earth, I want to be Caucasian. No, I want to be mixed. No, you didn't get to pick that.
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Nobody in heaven got to have a.
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Meeting with Jesus and said, you know what? I think it would be beneficial to my growth if I actually had two parents in the home.
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B
Can you make.
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No.
- [15:16]
B
You just were planted where you were planted. And some of y'all are depressed about it because you grew up in a crazy family. But you ought to be excited about it because that means that your life is not here by accident. God planted you on purpose, that you were planted with the foresight of what God wanted to do in you and through you. Come here, Jeremiah. Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you. I ordained you. You're not here by accident. You're here by the divine providence of God. And every once in a while, you need to stop and thank God that he planted you. I know I didn't get to pick my family, but God, I'm thanking that I'm still here. Because if I got a pulse, that means you ain't through with me yet. God, I thank you for making me be born in this time, in this space, with this hair, with this nose. I'm grateful because I'm wonderfully and fearfully made. You see why some of y'all just sitting there because you've been so beat up by insecurity, you don't know how to praise God for the way he made you. But I'm gonna give you a chance. Since I got time after 12:30, would you take a praise break and thank God for planting you here? I praise to myself, thank you, Jesus. The fact that I'm planted means that my life is not an accident. The fact that I'm planted means that.
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There has to be a purpose.
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Nobody has ever planted a tree and.
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Just said, no, we just put that there for no reason. No, you put it there for a purpose. And God says, I planted you for a purpose, on purpose. You didn't plant yourself, but you know what does plant itself? Weeds.
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B
Have you noticed?
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Go plant a garden. Tomorrow I will prophetically speak to your garden and tell you weeds are coming. Weeds are a part of gardens. They Are inevitable. And I look at worry like weeds. They're going to come to live anxious free and be planted, not panic. Does not mean everything is perfect in my life and I'm not going to be hit with anything. Please believe weeds are inevitable. And some of you would actually lose your anxiety if you just got that revelation. Change your expectation about life. Life is going to life on you. Some of you are anxious just because.
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B
You, an adult, can't believe. Like they want the mortgage payment, everybody every month. They want rent every month. Exactly. I can't believe my spouse, like actually wants me to communicate. Exactly. Welcome to marriage, Boo boo. I just have so much pressure.
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A
That is like life has worries, kids.
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Oh, God help me.
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It's the third service. I better be careful.
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B
It comes with it.
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It comes with it. Some of you just need to change your expectations, expectation that you're gonna have a weed free garden. Weeds are a part of the process. They will pop up. The question is, what do you do when they pop up? How do you deal with it? My dad has a landscaping business and every time we go, it was my job to pull the weeds from the flower bed. And I do it real fast. And he knew by how fast I did it. It wasn't done right. My Nigerian daddy said, grow back and pull it again. I said, I just did. No, you did not. You did not pull the weeds. You put the leaves of the weed. If you don't pull this thing from the root, it's going to keep coming.
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B
Back and back and back again. And I came to speak like a Nigerian daddy to some of y'all. If you don't pull that thing from the root, if you don't pull them daddy issues from the root, you gonna keep changing, man, every single month. If you don't deal with, oh, y'all gotta be careful at 12:30. If you don't get it from the root and deal with that trauma, you're going to keep seeing the same episode.
- [19:09]
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Over and over again.
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Get it from the root.
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Sometimes you need prayer to get it.
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From the root and the word of God to get it from the root. And you need community to get it from the root. Shout out, connect, group. Some of you are messed up because you only listen to you. You need another voice outside of you to say that is not right. That that is bad thinking.
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Get you a counselor that can pull that thing from the root. Cause some weeds have long roots.
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You see them like they go this long. Oh, Lord.
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That's what a counselor helped you do.
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Amen. A therapist yeah.
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Oh, Lord, this goes all the way.
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Back to your great, great, great grandfather.
- [19:48]
A
But weeds worries are a part of the process of being planted. And so in my text today. Woo. Jeremiah continues this conversation that we hear from Dr. King, from Jesus, and from the apostle Paul. Jeremiah says it is possible and plausible to be planted and not panicked. And so can we look at my text today in Jeremiah 17? Can we look at my text today in Jeremiah 17? Okay. I want to teach a little bit today if we can. I want to teach. They're going to bring my whiteboard out here because I told you the word is planted, which is plant ed. So we got to get some edumication. So welcome to Plant Ed 101. And I told him, bring my whiteboard because I want to teach a little bit today. You know, the difference between somebody preaching and teaching is when you preach, you yell it. When you teach, you tell it. So can I tell it just a little bit? So I love what Jeremiah does because he immediately hits us with a compare contrast in chapter number 17, and he compares two groups of people, or two lives, if you will. There's the life of the person that is blessed, and there's the life of the person that is cursed. Some of you are like, are you sure? Let's look at it one more again. Jeremiah 17, verses 5 and verse number 7. Look at what he says. Thus says the Lord. Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose trust is the Lord. So right at the onset, we have two words, two categories of people, if you will. Blessed, cursed. Now, if you like me, maybe you are, as soon as you read, thus says the Lord, cursed. Maybe you got a little bit triggered and said, hold up. How in the world can a good God curse somebody? Some of y'all, especially if you knew the faith, you'd be like, oh, no, I'm out of this, fam. I don't want a God who puts curses on people. God and curse shouldn't even go together. Well, before you have a heart attack, learn something about Hebrew. That word cursed in Hebrew actually has three different words. Three different words for cursed in Hebrew, this word. Ooh, come on. 12:30. I'll give it to you. Is a R U R. I don't know how you say that. I don't know how you say that word, but that's what I'm gonna give it a shot at. Aru. This word.
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Watch.
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A
This does not require the special Activity of a person to bring the curse. So it is not as if God is imputing the curse on you. The meaning behind this word curse speaks to the idea of a person who has willfully removed themselves from the protection and the care of a person. And by doing that, they themselves have walked. Walked into a curse. It's indicative of the prodigal son who had everything he needed in the father's house. But he said, hey, I'm sick of this. I want to go to Vegas, Amen and do my own thing.
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I'm leaving your blessing.
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And by leaving the father's house, how many you know, he ends up eating from the pig pen. Why? Because of his willful disobey, the father.
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Didn'T kick him out.
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He took his two legs and said, I am out of here. And by doing that, he walked away from blessing into a curse. So I don't want you leaving here today saying, pastor Robert said that God put curses on people. No, fam, this is the willful. The willful walking away from the blessing because of where you chose to put your trust. Let me give it another illustration just to make sure it sits in. We could make this modern day. And let's say this. Blessed is the person who puts on their seatbelt when they get in the car. And cursed is the person who hears.
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The ding, ding, ding, ding. You know who you are ding, ding, ding and does not want to put on their seat. But actually you're annoyed by the ding.
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I'm trying to post a video. Be quiet.
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Your car is alerting you about the risk risk that you are taking. Your car is trying to help you, saying, look, this is not wisdom to be moving in a vehicle this fast and not be strapped into something. So by ignoring the ding, ding, ding and saying, I'm good, you are putting yourself under the curse. And when you get into a crash and your body comes flying through the windshield like you Peter Pan, when you hit the ground, please do not say.
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That seatbelt put a curse on me.
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No, fam, you chose to be out there. You chose to ignore the ding, ding, ding, the warning that the car gave you.
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I'm being strategic with my illustration.
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How many know the blessed person that put on their seatbelt? That person does not mean they won't go into get into a car wreck. How many in here blessed before in here. But you've been in a car wreck. But watch this. The blessed person, after they go through the car wreck will look back at that car and say, I'm so glad that I had this seatbelt on, because when I look at that car and look at my life, there's no way I should be alive. I'm so thankful that I was strapped into something that was holding me. This is what it is to be under the blessing of God. It doesn't mean I won't go through anything. So away with this prosperity gospel. That means if you're really blessed, you're supposed to be a millionaire and everything's going to be perfect. Now, the blessing is not always in what you get. Sometimes the blessing is the thing you walked away from that could have killed you, that could have destroyed you. But if it had not been for his grace and mercy strapping me in. I'm glad I responded to the ding, ding, ding.
- [26:07]
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Whoo. Lord, I'm about to preach myself happy.
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Anybody can look back over your life and thank God that you listen to some of the dings, Dings, dings, dings. Some of y'all know what it's like.
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God will give you a ding on the first date.
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Ding, ding. Oh, no.
- [26:24]
A
I don't even need the entree. We good. I just got a ding. Put my seatbelt on and go home. So blessed and cursed by trusting in the fallibility of man, I walk into a curse because it is inevitable for flesh and for man to let you down if that's where you're putting your trust. And if Jeremiah would have just gave us these words, we would have been good. How many know there's meat just in these words? If I had time, I'd even just preach on blessed. I'd preach and let you know that. It's almost like Jeremiah is retweeting Psalms chapter one that says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and that law does he meditate day and night. The writer of Psalms is saying, sometimes the blessing is in who you choose not to roll with.
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Blessed in the man that walketh not.
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A
In the council, there is a blessing by choosing not to roll with certain people and listen to their counsel. And so we could be good with just these words. But look at, look at, look at Prophet Jeremiah. Prophet Jeremiah says, I'm gonna take it further because I realize some of you are visual learners. So he gives us a picture of what a blessed life looks like and what the cursed life looks like. So allow your pastor to play Pictionary on this Sunday and Draw out the picture that Jeremiah gives us. Y'all about to get some great a Pictionary drawing here today. Look at what he says. Let me just take my time. It's gonna make sense in a minute. Look at this. Uh huh. Listen. What Jeremiah. It's in the text. And this too. Uh huh. Right there. A little bit more. Some of y'all mad you don't have fun on your job. I'm gonna have fun on my job. Okay. Gotta preach this three times. Okay. Watch this right there. Look at this, look at this. Okay. Uh huh. Right there. What else I wanna do with this? Here? I got blue. May as well use it. Yep, right here, Right here. It's gonna make sense in a minute. There's that there. What else? What else? I got orange. Better use that too. Let me put it by my. There it is, right there. Okay. This is the picture that Jeremiah the prophet gives us. If you are blessed, your life should look like this. If you are cursed, God didn't do the cursing. You willfully chose to trust in your flesh. This is what your life looks like. I love it. Because he so clearly outlines the picture of two different people. Here's what he says. It's in the text. That the blessed person is like a tree planted by the water. The cursed person is like a bush in the wilderness or in the desert. Do you get what Jeremiah is saying? In this room, there are two groups of people. Trees and shrubs. One version says bush, one version says shrub. In this room, you are either a tree or a shrub. We can divide this room in two. Not between Democrat and Republican. Rich, Poor, cute, ugly.
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B
Nah.
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A
There are trees and there are shrubs. That's what Jeremiah said.
- [30:11]
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It's that simple.
- [30:12]
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All my trees make some noise.
- [30:18]
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All my shrubs holla at your boy. Boy.
- [30:24]
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Somebody is very honest or is not paying attention.
- [30:29]
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Shrubs. There are trees and there are shrubs. You are one of these two.
- [30:36]
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A tree or a shrub. You better be glad it's 2025 and not 1999. If it was 1999, this sermon would have a different title. It would be I don't want no shrubs. Hey, a shrub is a guy that.
- [30:49]
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Can'T get no love hanging out of. Hey, I don't want no shrubs. Shrub is a guy.
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Okay, stop, y'all.
- [31:00]
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Stop. 12:30.
- [31:00]
A
Y'all do this to me every time. Gotta hurry. You're a tree or you are a shrub. This is how he divides it. He shows the distinctives of each tree, their life. One tree is in a parched place, an uninhibited land speaks to isolation. You know you're a shrub when you're in isolation. It speaks to a tree that's planted by the waters. Oh, my goodness. The ramifications of being planted by the water. My leaf is always green, no matter the heat. I'm not afraid. I'm bearing fruit. What an awesome thing. So there's differences between these two trees, but that's not what got my attention in the text. What got my attention is the similarity of the two trees. Did you catch it in the text? He lets us know that these trees, although they are different and their lives look different, they do have one thing in common. Come on. It's plant. Ed, let me see if you can catch it. Put verse 5 and 7 up. I want you to look. What word reoccurs in the life of both trees? Of both the tree and the shrub? Which word? Huh?
- [32:16]
B
Huh?
- [32:18]
A
Oh.
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B
You mean to tell me that both.
- [32:21]
A
The tree and the shrub operate with trust? Both of these plants are trusting plants. The shrub and the tree both trust. That might not seem like it's profound, but it is because he is low key, giving you a master's class on humanity. He's saying that the human heart was wired for trust. Every single person in the world. If you are living, you are trusting in something.
- [32:55]
B
Trusting is not optional.
- [32:57]
A
You have placed your trust in something. Faith is not optional.
- [33:01]
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You have put your faith. Faith in something. Belief is not optional. You put your belief in something.
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A
Oh, somebody watching this on YouTube right now? I don't believe in nothing. I just believe. All religions are the same. They pretty much saying the same thing. Homie, that's your trust. That's a theological statement.
- [33:23]
B
To say there is no God or everything's all the same is something that you are betting.
- [33:28]
A
Watch this. Eternity on.
- [33:31]
B
You still took a theological position. You are putting your trust in something. Hear me today. You do not have to teach your heart how to trust. The question is not, are you trusting? The question is always, what have you put your trust in? What have you put your trust in? Really?
- [33:51]
A
Yeah, that's the question. I had to put it in all caps because I wanted to ask you, what have you put your trust in? Really? What is your trust in right now? Really? Some of you are annoyed that I asked the question. You're like pr. How dare you ask that question? I mean, my goodness. My trust is in God. I mean, I'm here today, aren't I? My trust is in God. You've heard me worship. I trust him. Isn't it obvious? Somebody Kept saying, go on in before you answer it so quickly, my trust is in God. Don't miss something that Jeremiah feels the need to say in this same frame of thought. I put it in the message translation. But look at Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10. That's why I say, hold up before you answer. He says, the heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be. God says, you can fool other people standing like a tree, but God says, I know where your roots really are. That's what your trust is. Your trust is your roots. It's the thing that you can't see. And you might be lifting up your hands, worshiping, but the reality is, I can't really see your roots. I don't know where your trust is. Think about the root of a tree. What does the root do? It's what grounds it. It's what it is anchored in. It's also where it draws its nourishment from. So let me ask again. Where is your trust really? Or where do you find your security? Where do you get your nourishment from? Because some of us are singing, I trust in God, but, ooh, God says, if I look at your roots, it ain't me you trust in. You really? Singing I trust my job, my savior.
- [36:03]
B
The one that I always answer, it's.
- [36:07]
A
Called.
- [36:11]
B
What do you really trust in? Every election season blows my mind. I had to get off Instagram because I watch people who are Christians who are showing me where your trust is. Because you're going crazy off on another brother or sister in Christ.
- [36:25]
A
Because your roots are in your party. What are you trusting in really? And before you make this robust claim of faith, Jeremiah says, your heart has the ability to trick you into thinking that your roots are in one place when they're actually somewhere else. So you've got to come to God and say, lord, search me, since you're the only one that really knows where my roots are. This is so good. Is this helping anybody today? How many want? How many want some questions you could ask yourself that might help you find out where your roots really are? Can you handle the truth? Where's your trust? Trust is the roots. Put trust back up there. Trust. I was staring at that word. Trust. Trust. Look at what's in the middle. Us. Because that's what a lot of us Trust in our intellect, our reasoning, the way we think it should go. That's why many of us, we'll do our own way first. And then when it goes bad, it's like, oh, God, I need you. Rather than seeking God first, we're like, let me try it out. And then if it goes bad, oh, Lord, I need. That's how some of y'all date. Ooh, they fine. And then you get in it. You're like, oh, God, let me go on a fast and make sure that because we trust in us, cursed is the man who trusts in flesh. But look at trust. If you want a question to ask yourself, I'll stare in that trust. And you know another word? Let's play Scrabble. You know another word you can spell with trust? Same letters. Strut. Strut. If you want to know where your trust is, what do you strut in? You know what I mean by strut? Like, certain animals that strut. It's the difference between a walk and a strut. Strut speaks to your confidence. What do you strut? What makes you strut, y'all? I spent a significant amount of my study time watching peacocks yesterday, because peacocks, they strut. You ever seen a peacock? Google it on YouTube when you get home.
- [38:32]
B
I watched it for about five minutes yesterday.
- [38:35]
A
This is a bird that has a long feathers, almost looks like a little robe. And they just walk around with it like this, and they're just chilling until the right bird comes around or another bird comes around. And then all of a sudden, these peacocks, they shake.
- [38:59]
B
You see them, and all of a sudden, they strut and let you see what they're working with. That long thing that was a dragon. They let you see and you laughing.
- [39:09]
A
But I've learned that humanity does this.
- [39:12]
B
We struggle. We always flex, especially when we get in environments where we feel like somebody's questioning our value.
- [39:19]
A
They're like, oh, they don't know who I am.
- [39:20]
B
Hold on.
- [39:23]
A
Let you see who I really am.
- [39:25]
B
Oh, we do it with different things. Some of you do it with your career. I mean, you can't even tell your.
- [39:30]
A
Name till you tell your.
- [39:31]
B
I'm the CEO of my own company.
- [39:35]
A
We always are strutting.
- [39:37]
B
Some of you do it with your car. You see this Tesla?
- [39:40]
A
Don't play with me strutting. Because it's where you find your value. Ooh, don't get me started. I have a lot of friends that are preachers. Don't get a group of preachers together. You want to see some peacocks?
- [39:52]
B
Preachers. I have to fight on the inside of me to not play the game because there's something.
- [39:57]
A
How many are you running? Oh, 3000. Oh, that's it. Oh, yeah. We had that in one service. I'm running about 10,000. Yeah. How many campuses you got? Oh, two. Wow. I have two in a couple of states.
- [40:09]
B
Yes.
- [40:10]
A
One in the Metaverse.
- [40:11]
B
You didn't know.
- [40:15]
A
Is that where you find your strength? Is that where you're gonna get your nourishment? What makes you strut, some of you, is your following on social media. You were strutting real good with your TikTok, weren't you?
- [40:31]
B
Now you're losing feathers, so you're panicking. Cause you can't strut. No, can't. I'm sorry. I know. I'm sorry. She can't strut no more. The Supreme Court jacked up your. Jacked up your strut.
- [40:51]
A
All of us do it. What do you strut in? Here's another question. What do you worry about? What do you worry about the most? I found that worry often speaks to the things that I'm putting my roots in. What do you worry about? I'm talking to some parent who. You worry about your child. And it's not a healthy worry. It's a worry that is rooted in an identity that has to be known as a great parent. Because your parent wasn't there for you. And you're gonna be there for your kids, and they are gonna behave and they're gonna get straight A's and they're gonna go to a school, Ivy League. And so now that they dropped out and they on drugs, you're not just heartbroken over that. You're heartbroken because your child was where you were getting your nourishment from. And so now your identity of being a great parent is crushed with a child that is not meeting up to your dreams. Where are you putting your roots? In the opinions of other people. Constantly obsessed with what other people think about you. No wonder you show up to help everybody. It's not out of a heart of compassion. You need to be needed because you've put your roots in. I can count on her. They'll always show up for me. Oh, really? And they're. Your roots are just getting nourishment. Yeah. And you're about to lose your mind, not taking care of you, trying to show up for everybody else because you find your identity in being the hero. Who am I talking to? We can do this all day. All of us have things we're putting Your roots in. And they will not sustain us. Can I tell on me since you can't tell on you? I'm not even on social media right now. But the team, I guess, posted the celebration last week of the confetti. Remember. Remember that we hit 1.9 million? Remember that 1.8 was the goal? Come on, y'all. Miracle. Miracle. And I guess the team posted the confetti, and I didn't know because I ain't on social media. Hallelujah. I'm fasting, and all of a sudden my phone is blowing up. People all over the world texted me. Congrats. Congrats, man. Y'all did it. Let's go. Amazing. And can I be honest? Every single text, I got anxiety and worry because I was like, oh, God, a whole lot of people that we hit the goal and it's a miracle, but we got 12.4 million to go, and we only hit 1.9. And so all of a sudden, I feel this anxiety from the congratulations of other people because this gnawing voice came and said, what if you don't hit the other 12.4? You're gonna be the pastor that bought the movie theater that you never moved into. Cause you didn't rest. Where does that come from? I had to search the root of the worry. And if I'm not careful, I will put my roots in being viewed as a competent, capable leader. And how many know not moving into a building and putting a down payment on it screams incompetence, failed leader. And if I put my roots and being viewed as a great leader, y'all, I am going to shrivel up and die. My trust cannot be in the fact that we move into an amazing building and people come in. My trust and roots cannot go into y'all. Loving the sermon. If that's true, I'm gonna live and.
- [44:52]
B
Die by your praise or your criticism. My roots have to be in the fact that Jesus loves Robert Madu, that he died on the cross for him, that I am his child and I am his son, and I have to put my roots in that and relish in it, whether y'all come or leave, whether we get a building or not. My identity is in the fact that I am a child of the most high God who thought I was valuable enough to die on a cross for. That's where I got to put my roots. Because that moving, that ain't changing.
- [45:29]
A
And I wonder if some of your stress and anxiety is simply a faulty root system. You put your roots, you've put your Roots in something that will not sustain you. What do you strut in? What do you worry about? Where do you draw your nourishment from? And Jeremiah warns us that if you are putting your roots in flesh and human reasoning, there's only a matter of time for you shrivel up and die. Can the worship team come out? I want to land the plane because I want you to see something. Both of these trees are trusting trees. Both of these trees have roots. But y'all didn't even see the miracle of what I drew. You ever wonder how in the world can a shrub. Where my shrubs at? How does a shrub show up in the desert? In the desert, you didn't even see the miracle of what I drew. How is there greenery in a dry place? Well, the imagery that Jeremiah has given us is letting us know that the way shrubs pop up in the desert is that deserts actually get rain. Not a lot, but they get enough. Enough that shrubs pop up. And because they get just a little bit of rain, these shrubs pop up, but their roots are shallow. So as quick as they sprung up, they can go away because they didn't go deep, because they're only relying on an external circumstance to nourish them. The beauty of the tree is the tree. Watch this. Gets water, too, from the rain. And so the tree gets excited when it rains, just like the shrubs get excited. The only difference is when the drought comes, when the spouse leaves, when the job is lost, when the influence is gone, when the podcast shuts down, when the skin wrinkles, when all of the things you are drawing your nourishment from fade away, all of a sudden you find yourself shriveling up because you put your roots in the wrong place.
- [48:19]
B
But Jeremiah says there is another option, because the tree, although it relishes in the rain. I'm not saying that the tree doesn't get excited when it gets a promotion ocean. I'm not saying that the tree doesn't get excited when blessing comes its way. The power of the tree is when the rain is gone because its roots are connected to the source of living water. This tree can say, let the job go away. Let the person leave out of my life. Let me not have the influence. My roots weren't in that. I'm thankful for it, but I'm putting my root in the living water. My root is in a secret place. My root is in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So when the rain comes, I'll praise them. But when there's no rain, I'll make Sure that my roots are connected to the source of living water. You want to see your life flourish.
- [49:15]
A
You want to see your life free? Watch this. Not from worries and anxiety, but being trapped by it, living in the state of it. Let your roots go deep to the source of living water. I cannot get my nourishment just from my external circumstance, because life will life on me. My roots have got to go down deep to a deeper place and be found in Him. The only thing I'm most shake and strut about is that I'm a child of God, bought with a price. Watch this, watch this. I'm done. One more little nugget because this messed me up. Can you put verse seven back up there? Yeah. Jeremiah says, blessed the man or woman who trusts in the Lord. Then he says, whose trust is the Lord? I'm like, yo, Jeremiah, why you waste parchment, Adam? Whose trust is the Lord?
- [50:28]
B
Why not just say, blessed is the.
- [50:29]
A
Man who trusts in the Lord and leave it at that? Why do we need an addendum? Whose trust is the Lord? Then I realized some people have roots going to the source. You trust in the Lord, but you're trusting in him for something. So I'm trusting in him because my marriage is falling apart. And, God, I need you to fix this marriage. I'm trusting in him for the job because, Lord, you know I need this race. So I'm trusting in you for that.
- [51:00]
B
I'm trusting in him because I need.
- [51:02]
A
My child to come back or I.
- [51:04]
B
Need healing in my body.
- [51:05]
A
And don't get it twisted.
- [51:06]
B
You need to trust in the Lord for that. There's nobody else that you should trust in for that.
- [51:12]
A
But watch this.
- [51:13]
B
If you're only trusting in him for that, and he doesn't answer the prayer the way you want him to answer the prayer, and then you walk away and say, forget this. I knew it didn't work anyway. That just proves that your trust wasn't in him. It was in what he could do for you. You. So Jeremiah says, don't just trust in the Lord, but if you don't get your prayer answered the way you want it answered, make sure that you know that the Lord is your trust, which means God. Even if I don't have my prayer answered the way I'm believing God for it, I still have you. And you are the treasure. You are the prize. So my trust is you. Because Jesus plus nothing equals absolutely everything. So I can have faith to believe for it.
- [51:54]
A
But even if he doesn't answer it, I still have him. We've got to be careful with a gospel that says, God, you're my genie and my trust is in you. If you perform the way you want, I want you to perform. And if you don't, I'm uprooting and walking away. I'm begging somebody, stay planted. I know you put your faith in an outcome, and maybe you didn't get the outcome. But if you'll cling to him, watch this. You'll see how to bear fruit. Even in a painful season, you can bear fruit. You can bear fruit going through chemotherapy and ministering to somebody else while you're going through chemo. You can bear fruit. And a child that's walked away, that still hasn't come home. But now you have a different empathy for parents who have a child that walked away. And you can believe in faith and pray with another parent and feel their pain. Because when you have him, when your trust is the Lord, you can be planted and not panicked. I'm gonna ask every person that can. Would you stand to your feet today? I'm going to ask every. Head be bowed and eyes be closed. This is not a message that has a quick fix answer that happens overnight. All of us in here for honest. We have areas in our life that are shrubs and are trees. That's why the old folks used to sing oh for grace, to trust him more. Some of us have roots that haven't gone down deep enough. So my prayer for you today is what the Apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians chapter 3 for the church at Ephesus. Coincidentally, he did not pray for their external circumstances to change, but he prayed that they would be strengthened in their inner being. He prayed that they would be rooted and established in God's love. That's a good thing to be planted in and the thing that it will spend all of eternity trying to grasp the width, the depth, the height and the breadth of his love for you. That's a good place to put your roots. Maybe you're here today and this message was an eye opener. And the Holy Spirit's speaking to you even now of places that are shrubs in your life. And God is calling you out of that desert place and saying, let your roots go down deep in me and watch the worries and the anxiety begin to dissipate because you're drawing your strength from him. In the midst of things that threaten your life. You can stand like a Dr. King say, I'm happy today. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Why? Because my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord who is my source. Here's a bowed, eyes are closed. If you're here today, you'd be so honest, say, hey, PR, I've not taken the first step, which is to plant my life in Christ. Maybe your hope life has been a shrub, trying to get nourishment from something that you're realizing even now it's not fulfilling. And God's calling you home today. If that's you, would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I could see it today, saying, lord, I need to give you my life today. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah, I see your hand. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Anybody else just lift it up and put it right back down. Thank you, God. Heads are still bowed, eyes are still closed. How many of you would be so honest to say, you know what? I've. I've put my faith in Jesus, but there are areas in my life that I'm trying to draw nourishment, trying to draw my value from, and I just. I need to put my roots in him. Only he can do that. You've got to come to him like Jeremiah came to him in this Texas. Lord, heal me and I will be healed. Save me and I will be saved. Only you know where I'm really putting my trust, Lord. Show it to me and give me the strength to put those roots in you. If there's an area of your life and you know what it is, and you're saying, God, I've been putting my roots in that area and I need to put it in you that you. Would you lift up your hand just as a sign to say, God, I acknowledge it today. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I want to lead us in this prayer. We're all going to respond, especially those of you who lift up your hand the first time, saying, I need to have my life planted in Christ, would you pray this prayer? Let's all say it as a family. Say, jesus, I need you, Lord. Thank you so much for loving me enough to pay the price for my sin. Jesus, I believe you lived the life that I was supposed to live. You died. The death that I was supposed to die took my place. So, Jesus, today I repent of putting my roots in other things and other people and other places that I thought could satisfy. Today, I acknowledge you as the living water. You are my source. I want to be planted by you so I can be planted and not panicked. In Jesus name. Come on. Amen. Amen. Amen. Give God some praise.
- [58:20]
B
Oh, come on.
- [58:21]
A
You could do better than that. Would you give Jesus some praise today?