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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 us 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. My word for you this year is we have received an unshakable kingdom. 2024 will be the year of shaking. Shaking. God is speaking. He's trying to make you unshakable. Last year our church expanded. We increased to 11,778 social global views per week. We also had an average of 3,000 people attend every Sunday. We are unshakeable. The Pando app which allows our services to be viewed by those in the prison system. We've had 336 inmates give their lives to Jesus. We are unshakable. Did you know we have an average of 200 social kids each Sunday? We're unshakable. We're unshakable. 2024 was a year that marked us forever. 608 people took the next step of faith and got baptized. Over 3,133 people accepted Jesus into their hearts receiving his salvation. We are unshakable. Look what could be this year we have found our future home. The former Look Theater on Technology Boulevard in northwest Dallas. Together we will transform that area. God is sending you there to save a city. And so we've been declaring God loves Dallas. And now we're moving and God has taken us to a place to declare to transform an area for his name. There's someone there that is waiting on us to come. Hope is on the way. We are coming as an army of the Lord. Social Dallas is on the way. Do you see what we see? How thankful we must be? Not on a thankful but riven with worship deeply Reverend before God For God is not only pleading power and keep on waiting until it all. I might be shocked but I won't be shaken. I might be knocked down but I won't be shaken. I might be surprised but I won't be shaken. Everything else in the world and in systems and in culture will Be shaken, but I've got an unshakable kingdom. Somebody that's excited about 2025 ought to get on your feet and give God the best praise that you got. You can sit down if you want to, but you ought to shout if you know. This is my year to be planted. Come on, somebody. The secret is out. I was unshakable last year, but this year, 10 toes on the ground, I'm gonna be. The winds may come, the waves may hit my life, but I'm gonna be all the planted people in this room. In the watch party room. Social Global. Would you give Jesus the best praise that you got? I'm planted. I'm rooted. I'm established. Well, the secret's out. Our word for 2025 is planted. Plant. Planted. Planted. Planted. Normally, I would have you look at your neighbor, but it's between you, so don't look at anybody. Would you just make this declaration, say, lord, this year I will stay planted. I'm excited about my future because I choose to remain planted. Give God some praise like you mean it. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited. Well, you know, we don't just have a word for the year. Our word comes from the word. How many ready for that watch party? I hope y'all ready that they tell me right now that the watch party is almost all the way full. So come on, let's make some noise for that watch party. Give God some praise. This is the reason. There they go. This is the reason why we added the 1230 service coming up. And can I just be honest? If it was me, I'd come to that 12:30. Yeah. If I was just an attender of social, I would sleep in. Get me some brunch in Jesus name. Pull up at that 12:30 for sure. But either service. I'm just so glad that you're here. We're going to be planted this year. Our scripture from the year that we're going to declare today. But watch this. By the end of 2025, you're going to have this memorized. It comes from Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. I'm going to read it first, and then we're going to read it together for the first time of the year. And we'll read it every single Sunday after. Listen. First it says, 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. Somebody give God some praise. Good stuff you're gonna have memorized. But come on, let's read it together for the first time as a family today. 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. Amen. Amen. Amen, then. I was just curious. When is the first time we see the word planted in the Bible? Surprisingly, it's not in the New Testament or the Book of Revelation. Right in Genesis, chapter two, verse number eight says, now the Lord God had. Look at her. He planted a garden in the east. He's not just a good, good father, he's a good, good gardener. And there he put the man he had formed, planted a garden, and then planted a man in that garden. I want to preach as we begin to unpack this word of the year, just from this simple subject. Stay planted. Stay planted. Now look at your neighbor. Say neighbor. Y'all are scared to talk to your neighbor. Come on. This is a friendly church. Come on, say neighbor. Whatever you do, stay planted. Come on, find another neighbor. Say other neighbor. I hope I see you here next month. I'm telling you now, stay planted. If you believe God's gonna speak, give him some praise. Lord, have your way. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Stay planted. Social family. Sometimes when I am creating and crafting a sermon, there are illustrations that come to my mind, but never make it into my message. And you should thank God for that. You should really thank God for that, because your pastor is absolutely crazy. And I will do anything to illustrate a point. I will do absolutely anything possible to make sure that the message sticks. Hear me? Most of my cognitive energy is spent on trying to make you get the message. I don't just want you to hear a sermon. I want you to feel the sermon. I want you to smell the sermon. I want it to become tangible. I'll do anything to illustrate a point. And so, as a consequence, sometimes I come up with crazy illustrations. And my team and my bride, Hallelujah. Be like, hey, you can't do that. So I had one today that was gonna make the message, but I cut it. You should be glad I cut it. Let me tell you what it was. I was. I was going to start the message today by removing every single chair in Gillies. I was ready for it. I wanted y'all to walk in just looking like, did somebody forget something today? I was gonna take all the chairs out of the room. We were gonna have worship. And then after I read the verse of the year, I was gonna say something that I've never seen said in the history of any sermon. I was going to say, remain standing for the entirety of the message. I almost did it because I wanted your feet to feel what it's like to be planted, to be established. Look at some of yalls faces. Some of y'all are offended just at the thought that I was going to do it. I see you, you know I see you, right? Some of you, like, I wish you would have. No, pastor don't play. Okay, My right bunion hurts, and I got bad knees. Come here for those games. You do know it's possible to stand during an entire message, right? Don't ask me how I know. Anyway, so I decided not to do it. I decided to cut it. Coincidentally, last Sunday. Last Sunday, this place was so packed. We actually ran out of chairs last Sunday. Did y'all know that? We literally ran out of chairs. There was over 5,000 people in church last Sunday. We ran out of chairs, y'all. We didn't know. We didn't know that January in church is like January at Planet Fitness. We're looking around like, you go here. Yeah, it was packed. It was packed. And so as a consequence, we actually had to go to social kids. I'm not making this up. We had to go to social kids. And in the middle, this is how desperate we were. We went in the middle of social kids as they were worshiping, and we said, hey, kids, how many want to give up your chairs for the adults to worship? I'm not making this up. Every single one of the kids went, yay. And we took all the chairs and carried them into the watch party room. That's how desperate we were. And it was the hooray of the children. It was that youthful exuberance coupled with the necessity of having to get extra chairs that reminded me of this reality. It is so easy to stay planted when something starts. Have you noticed this? It is so easy to stay planted at the genesis of something. How many? You know, it does not take a lot of resolve, resilience, tenacity, and stick to itiveness to stay planted in something when it just starts. When it just starts, you are already moved by the energy of the beginning that you don't need any tenacity to stay planted. It doesn't take tenacity to they planted at the beginning of a marriage. Hello. Come on. Rare are the couples who get married go on their honeymoon, and then in the middle of the honeymoon, look at each other and say, you know what? This. This ain't working out. You're just not meeting my emotional needs. No couple says that. You know why? It just started. And plus, you in Jamaica, of course, it works out same way with believers. Nobody starts off 20, 25 as a believer and says, you know what? I want to read my Bible less this year. You know, I want. I want to be in church less this year. I want to be less generous this year. You know, I'm thinking of just, like, not being as intimate with the Lord this year. Nobody says that. You know why? It's January. It just got started. But I'm beginning to wonder if January for many of us is just like Jamaica, because for us, commitment is a place that we like to visit occasionally rather than a place where we stay planted continually. And all throughout this year and especially today, we're going to unpack it over the next several months, trying to get this understanding that the power of what God wants to do in you and through you will only happen when you stay. When you stay, Stay planted. But can we keep it 100? It is hard to stay planted, y'all. I got the microphone. I pray and speak in tongues, but it is hard to stay planted. It is hard to stay planted in what God has put you at. It's hard to stay planted, especially in this culture of quitting. I didn't even know this holiday. You know, they got new holidays all the time. Did you know what January 10th was on Friday? It was National Quitters Day. I didn't know we had this day. There is a national day of quitting. And here's how this day got started. Statistically, most of people's New Year's resolutions, they quit them by January 10th. So rather than do something about it. This is so American. Let's make a holiday and just celebrate it. Where are my quitters at? There is a National Quitters Day. I did my research. There is no national stay planned today. There is no National Don't Quit Day. There is no National Stay With It Day. But there's a National Just Quit Day. The challenge for many of us is not to get planted, but to stay planted. That is what's hard. Actually, let me take that back. It's not really just hard to stay planted. I think it's hard to stay planted in the places that matter See, the question is not whether you can stay planted because you have the capacity within you to stay planted. The question is, can you stay planted in a place that actually matters? Let's look at our verse again. We got all year to memorize it, but let's just look at verse 13 of Psalms 92. Look what it says. Those who are planted shall flourish in the courts of our God. Is that what it says? That what? It says, those who are planted shall flourish in the courts of our God. Nope, that's not what it says. It says, those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. The psalmist is saying, it's not so much that you need to be planted. You gotta be planted in the right place. And he said, the place that you have to be planted in, the place that will actually cause you to flourish, is the house of the Lord. The place where you're planted is what matters. You gotta get in the right place. Elbow the person. Next you say, get in the right place. Get in the right place. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can be planted, but you've got to be planted in the right place. It's only in the house of the Lord that I'll flourish. Now, we're going to unpack this throughout the year. But when it's talking about the house of the Lord. Yes, it's talking about the church. Yes, it's talking about the temple in that day and the communion of the saints. But more than that, it is talking about the presence of God, the manifest presence of God. Think about that. Your place of flourishing is in God's presence. For the place that you want to thrive, and not just survive, you've got to get in the presence of God, the place where his glory dwells. That's where you were created to flourish. Not outside his presence. But when you get in his presence, watch how your life will begin to flourish. I love this principle because God, the great gardener, shows us this in Genesis. Have you noticed that every single living entity, every created creature, has a place for it to flourish? Everything that was created had a place for it to flourish. And God is so committed to your flourishing that he created the place before he created the entity. This is how much God wants you to flourish. God did not create the fish. And go, man, I need water. My bad. Hold on. Calm down. Let there be H2O. Now get in there. No, he creates. Created the place first. Because every single living entity has to have a place where it flourishes. This ought to make you shout to Know how much God is committed to you flourishing, that he made sure that you would have access to his presence? Oh, I feel like preaching. If you take a fish out of its place, out of the water, it's going to malfunction and die because the fish needs the water to flourish. If you take a star out of the the sky, it's going to become a meteorite and it's going to die because the star needs the sky to flourish. If you take a tree and you pull it out of the soil, watch how that tree withers and dies because the tree needs the soil to flourish. And if you take humanity out of the presence of God, watch how you lose your mind, Watch how you lose your joy, Watch how you lose your peace because you need to be in his presence. I wish there was somebody in there that could testify that. You can take my house, you can take my job, you can take my car, you can take my Instagram followers. Oh, but don't take the presence of God away from me. I need his presence. It's in his presence where my soul comes alive. Somebody that's thankful for his presence. Would you just give God the best praise that you got if you know that I gotta be planted not anywhere, but in His. In his presence. His presence. His presence is the place where you will flourish. His presence is the place not where you will just survive. It's the place where you will thrive. You need his presence. I gotta be planted in the right place. And hear me, one of the consequences of the fall of humanity is we actually end up resisting the very place that God created us to flourish in. Ain't that crazy that you would resist an atmosphere that God set up for you to flourish in? Have you noticed this about yourself? How sometimes my place of flourishing can often be the place that I go to the least. It can often be the place that is such a fight for me to get into the place where I flourish. And the enemy deceives me and makes me think that there's gotta be another place where I can really flourish. I mean, is God's presence enough? I need something else. I mean, his presence is good, but I need Terrence. I don't know who that was for, because that wasn't in my nose. But, I mean, his presence. His presence is good, but, man, I need a raise. That would really make me thrive. It's what I call. I call it the aerial syndrome. Ariel Disney. Humanity has the Ariel syndrome because here, sister girl can breathe underwater. This beautiful world that Sebastian is trying to get her to See, is good. But we gotta waste 90 minutes of this movie watching this girl's spirit of discontentment because she thinks her place of flourishing is not here. It's somewhere out there. Wish I could be part of that world. You sing the same song because the enemy has you convinced that if I just. If I just moved in that neighborhood. If I just. If I just got in that car. Oh, that. That. That's the place. And I wish. I wish. Wish Disney would start doing real sequels. I wish they would do a sequel like 10 Years in the marriage when you got your legs. And now he gets on your last nerves so much. So you're like, you know what? Forget you. I ain't supposed to be up here anyway. My daddy told me not to come up here. I'm going back under the. This is why sometimes the people that get it all end up losing their mind because they can't understand how come everything around me should say I'm flourishing, but I'm not. And I'm still unhappy and I'm still unfulfilled. And I thought this world would bring flourishing, and it's not. I saw this quote this week. I thought it was profound. Don Herold said, this unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it. Unhappiness is not knowing what I want, but killing myself to get it. And here, the creator of the universe has always, since creation, been saying, I have curated and created a place for you to flourish. This is why I love that Adam did not stumble on the Garden of Eden. He did not put in his gps, where is God's presence? No God said, there you go. I planted a garden. Now I'm going to plant you. And don't let anything or anyone move you from the place I've planted you. Stay planted. Is this helping anybody in here today? Stay planted. I'm still stuck on my no chair. Illustration. I'm gonna do it one Sunday. I really am. Because it reminded me that when we first. When we first moved in here to Gillies, when we first were looking at this venue, I'll never forget it. Because when we talked to him on the phone, they said that this room, this place that you are sitting in, can hold 4, 000 people. I was like, what? And I'll never forget walking in here, there was no chairs. It's the first time we moved in here. I was like, hold on, fam. Ain't no way 4000 people can fit in here. And I'll never forget the lady that was helping Us. She said, oh, my bad. I forgot y'all need chairs. She said, we're so used to hosting concerts in this place, and that capacity is with no chairs. We don't have any chairs. And with no chairs, you can sit 4,000 people. Which got me thinking. 4,000 people at these concerts are cool. Staying planted for a long time. I started thinking about how long it would take you to park your car, stand in line for the concert, get in the concert, go to concessions and get your Diet Coke. You know, the Diet Coke line is always long. And then sit there and listen to your favorite art, firmly planted for at least three hours, and you don't complain. Matter of fact, when your favorite song comes on, you turn up. Isn't that interesting? Y'all, I have been to comedy shows. I've been to comedy shows. I study. I study communicators. I've been to comedy shows, and I saw something at a few comedy shows that blew my mind. I cannot believe this. I might try this one, too. But if I tried this one, y'all would shoot me. I saw something. Thousands of people watch this walk into a venue to listen to a communicator with a microphone on stage. And before they went in, because the communicator did not want their content to be released before it hit Netflix, they took people's phones. I saw thousands of people tweaking, but yet willingly gave up their phone, gave them the offering, by the way, before they got there, had no problem sowing a seed, gave an offering and let people take their phone, put it in a pouch and lock it up, and will lead into a communicator for hours. What are you saying? Pr hear me clearly. Don't miss the message. I'm not advocating that we take chairs out of churches and we lock up people's phones, although I would love to try it, at least for one Sunday. I'm not saying we do that, but I am trying to get you to see. Do you see how easy it is for you to stay planted in places that are fleeting? Do you see how easy it is for you to stay planted in things that feed your flesh? And how difficult it is to stay planted to things that will actually grow your spirit? And I don't know about you, but I believe that this is the year where I'm tired of wasting time being firmly planted in things that are nice but have no eternal, eternal value. I got to be planted in something that's gonna grow my spirit. I gotta be planted in something that's gonna affect generations. I Gotta be implanted on something that when I need a breakthrough, I can call on the name of Jesus. Yes, I got a prayer team, but I can open up my mouth and cast out a devil by myself. Because I've been planted in something that was growing my spirit and not just feeding my flesh. I gotta be planted in the stuff that matters. Have you noticed I don't need faith to stay planted on Taco Tuesday, y'all. I can stay planted on a Taco Tuesday. I'm telling you, I can eat tacos every single day. I don't need God's help for that. But I still need help in this fast to stay planted. I need help to stay planted and show up to Tuesday night prayer that we have, because I've learned that we write the future with our prayers. I'm not saying you can't have tacos, but I'm telling you got to pick between Tuesday night tacos and Tuesday night prayer. I would pick prayer because something powerful happens when we lift up our voice and cry out to God. You don't believe me? I looked at the record. I noticed that since our church was planted every single year, matter of fact, every single Tuesday night, we were praying. It was always on the list of prayers. God, open up a building. God, would you just open up a building? God, we know you have a place for us. Would you open up a building? Matter of fact, somebody said, you ain't got to pray for a building every single Tuesday night. And shout out to my Nigerian father, Pastor Senior, who said, yes, we do need to pray for each every single night. And can I just testify? Guess what wasn't on the prayer request this year. We ain't praying for the building. We already got it. Don't tell me that prayers don't matter. When you open up your mouth and pray and stay planted, whether I see it or not, you will reap a harvest. High five. Somebody next to you say, stay planted. Stay planted. Stay planted. That's what you need the strength for, to stay planted in the things that matter. And some of you ought to at least be smart enough, at least at this age and stage of your life to understand if the enemy is fighting me so hard to stay planted in this, and it's so easy to stay planted in that. I wonder where the harvest is. How. How can I scroll for hours on TikTok and never get bored? But as soon as I open up the word of God, now I'm sleepy. Now I'm tired. The enemy must know that when TikTok gets in Me, All I'm gonna get is more depression, comparing my life to your life. But if that word can't get on the inside of somebody, say, stay planted. Stay planted. I'm not. I'm not coming to get you. I'm right there with you. I'm trying to figure out how in the world can I stay planted to a Netflix series. Don't let it be a good storyline. Your boy will be 10 episodes in planted. You know, there's a frustrated actor inside of me. I'll be locked in 10 episodes straight. I will binge the whole thing. Let me. Let me be honest. Actually, when I say 10 episodes straight, I mean, I watched three fall asleep during episode four. Come on, wake up during episode nine to the quiet and appalled screen with the most shaming, guilt evoking, passive aggressive message from Netflix. Have you seen this? Netflix will just hit you with that thing. It'll just hit you with that. It'll hit you with this message. Come on, we did it in one service. Hallelujah. Are you still watching? You ever got that message? Are you still there? Are you still watching? Watch this. Netflix triggers that message when it detects a lack of interaction over a certain period of time. It's a message. Watch this. Not just to see if you are still in the room. It's to see are you still engaged? Because you can be in the room and not be planted. You can be in the room and not be leaned in. Who's gonna make some of y'all up? You can have perfect church attendance, have the Bible memorized and still not be growing. And if Netflix deems it necessary in the middle of a series to pause the program and go, hey, are you still watching? Because there should be some interaction, I want to pause at the beginning of this year and ask you a question. Oh, I hope Netflix don't sue me. Here goes. Are you still planted? Are you still planted? Because if. If you were planted, there should be some interaction. If you were planted, we should see evidence that you were planted. But can you prove it in the text show? Can. Can you put it back up there? 9. 92, verse 13. Psalm 92, verse 13. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord, watch this. Shall flourish. You know, I pick the word of the year, then I pick scripture of the year, but then I pick the version we read it in. Like last year. Some of y'all who just are really super saved were mad that it was the message translation. Welcome to 2025. This new king Jimmy and I want a new King James. Because they put that shall on it. Those who are planted in the house of Lord shall flourish. It does not say those who are planting Lord will have a 50 chance of flourishing. It guarantees that if you are planted in the house of the Lord, oh, God, I feel this thing. You shall flourish. So don't tell me about being planted if I don't see evidence of flourishing. Let's look at the word flourish. Flourish. That's a good word. That should have been the word of the year, huh? That word flourish in the Hebrew is parak. It means to bud or to bud, or to sprout or to bloom, or watch it to grow. How many want to grow this year? How many want to flourish this year? How many wish flourish was the word. I purposely made sure we didn't pick flourish because that's people's problem. We focus on flourishing. You ever see people, it's like bragging rights to say, you're doing the most today. What you out here, man? You know, I'm saying I got the LLC for this business, then I got another one for this business. I'm probably gonna flip that house, then flip another house. And then after that, I'm probably gonna be an entrepreneur over here. And after that, I'm probably gonna go to school and get my seminary degree too, because I want to preach too. And then I'm probably gonna go open up a daycare and I'm probably gonna do some counseling too. And you know, I'm a self help coach too. And then also I'm probably gonna get my physical training license too, this year. Yeah, fam, I'm flourished. How you doing? The most. We have a culture that is so fixated and focused on flourishing, man, I'm out here, I'm flourishing. Coincidentally, you don't flourish by focus on flourishing. To focus on flourishing actually is what causes you to live a rushed life. Oh, God's talking to me while I'm talking to you. I found it interesting that this Psalms 92, where we get our verse of the year, is actually a psalm. Watch this. Of the Sabbath. This is the psalm they quoted on the day of rest. You know, you're really flourishing when you are not striving to flourish. Flourish is not about more effort. Flourishing is not about focusing on flourishing. Flourishing, hear me, is a byproduct of being planted. So rather than give you the word flourish, I gave you the word planted. Because if you focus on being planted, flourishing will naturally come. One of my favorite things. One of my favorite things to do is to go buy a fruit Tree. You should try it. It. Go buy a fruit tree that has a lot of fruit on it. Just go buy it and put your ear up to the trunk. Have you ever heard that? Oh, it's powerful. You should do it. Put your ear up to the trunk. Guess what? You hear? Nothing. It's so peaceful. You would think, especially if it's got a lot of fruit, you would think it would be going apple. No, it just has stayed planted. And by staying planted, it's flourishing. Oh, Lord, I wish I had time. Now, when I say flourishing, many of you went financial. And you think flourishing is about more money. You think flourishing is about a better economic status or climbing up the socioeconomic ladder. Hear me. Don't miss the message that is not flourishing. Later in the verse, it says that the righteous are like a palm tree. The power of palm trees is that they are so firmly in the ground. Have you ever seen a hurricane when everybody's moving out of the city and there's that palm tree in the ground, but just going like this. I'm talking about Category 5 storm, and there's that palm tree. It's bending, but it ain't breaking. So if you want to look for a life that's flourishing, don't always look for the people that got it all together. Look for the people that's been through hell, but they still standing. Look at the people that's been through a storm, but they haven't broken yet. I wish there was somebody to give God some praise, because you know that the fact that you're a flourisher is that you still here in 2025. I had some stuff that could have killed me last year, but flourishing, because I'm still standing. Well, you lean a little bit. I know, but I'm still standing. Flourishing is not just about financial gain. Flourishing is about staying planted. And this is where most preachers mess up, because Netflix says, what? Are you still. I'm asking you, are you still. And if you're still planted, I should see some. Hello. Some. Some flourishing or some growing. I should see some movement. And so this is where, you know, preachers. We're good preachers. We're horrible farmers. And so we. We don't understand that most of your Bible has metaphors that are agricultural. And yet we live in a world of technology. We're gonna have to do our work this year with this word. Matter of fact, let's back that thing up Biblically. Let's start with all our words of the year. Some of y'all new to social fam. Welcome. 2021, what was the word? No cap. Can you tell? I was 37 and we just started the church trying to be relevant. No cap hitting 41 this year. I don't care, okay? I don't know what the latest terms are, but that word was significant because we just started said, there's no cap. There's no limit to what God can do. Our verse was Ephesians 3:20. God is able to do it exceedingly, abundantly. Above all you can ask, think or imagine. And we needed to realize there was no cap. There was no limit. Which was hard to believe then cuz it was only a couple hundred people. It did not look like this. 2022, what was the year? Stretch out. Our scripture was about enlarging our tents to stretch out. God wants to do more and we stretch so much we could have started a Pilates class. Then we went to 2023. Go deeper. Because we learned if you stretch beyond the capacity of your depth, it's only a matter of time before it falls apart. So watch out when you're stretching out but you're not going deep. Be careful of the church that stretches out but doesn't go deep. It's only a matter of time before it falls apart. You've got to go deeper in the Lord. 2023 was a year. Oh, talk about going deep. Nobody told me that going deeper will require some departures in your life. And the departure is a sign that you're going deeper. You ever done it? Just go deeper and watch people depart from your life. Just go with your friends that you up in the club with popping bottles and just hit them with something deep. It's like, y'all, are we. We still doing this at this age? I watch them be like, man, shut up. And then what was the next year? Unshakable. Unshakable. A shaky world needed an unshakable church. And this year is planted. Look at the kindness of God that he would give us a building during the year we're planted. That in February we're going to close on a property that will be transformed into a sanctuary that will sit there for a year after year after year. Planted. Put it up there one more time for the people in the back. But the challenge, challenge of the building is our challenge with our word this year. Because I love the way God speaks. You know what the address to our planted building is? 10110 Technology Boulevard. And that's the challenge is we live in a world of technology and God has always been speaking through agriculture. So I'm just saying that to say we got to do our work this year to really understand what does it mean to be planted? Because some of you have heard preachers say, well, if you planted, I should see some growth. I'll take it further. If you planted, I should see some fruit in your life. And so you take a seed. Did he just pull a seed out of his pocket? Absolutely. That is the fragility and the potentiality of a seed. This little bitty seed that was hidden in my pocket, it's fragile because I could break it. I could throw it on the ground, but in the wrong spot, I could eat it. It's a sunflower, see? Or I could plant it. And after I plant it. Anybody got some water? Oh, good job. Appreciate you, Addison. Just a little bit. Yeah. And I planted, and I should see some growth. If you plant it, ought to see something move. If you plant it, ought to see some fruit in your life. If you plant it, some ought to be growing. So we plant and we check. If you plant it, something ought to be moving. Man, ain't nothing moving. Is it planted? And then watch this. If you keep watering it, all of a sudden you see just a little bing come up. Don't miss it. When you finally see something sprout up, is that when it started growing? That is not when the seeds started growing. It started growing. Watch this. Down first. So if you were waiting for something to pop up to prove to you that it's actually flourishing, which means to break forth, you're going to miss the power of what a seed can do. Because before it ever starts growing up, it starts growing down first. Trees have been given the task of growing in two directions at the exact same time. They have to be growing up and they have to be growing down. To preach the word, Robert. Trees are this fancy word, this fancy term. They are phototrophic and gravitropic. Gravitrophic means it has to grow towards gravity, away from the light. Phototropic means it has to grow away from gravity, towards the light. And people start shouting whenever things start growing up, whenever they start growing. Photo tropically. Because that's when everybody can take a picture, and that's when everybody can shout, and that's when everybody posts when everything is popping off. But I wonder if there's anybody in here that says, I know what it's like to grow down first. When you grow down first, that's means you've been forgotten. When you grow down first, that means people walked away from you. When you grow down first, that means you had some dark seasons when nobody saw your value. But they didn't know that your root system was forming long before your fruit system was forming. So I want to give God some praise, that he will always grow you down before he grows you somebody who's got a good root system. And it's gonna stay planted this year. Would you give God the best praise that you got? I'm growing. Not just up, I'm growing. It's about to grow. Grows down, and then it grows up. And if I will watch that seed. Yeah, y'all perfect, Tommy. If I watch that seed, look at what happens. It begins to grow. Cause it stayed planted. It breaks through the darkness, breaks through the rejection. Breaks through being un undervalued and not seen. Some of you are in a dark place and you don't even know you're crowing. If he does not establish your root system, how can you ever have a fruit system? Don't despise something small because you don't see it. And all of a sudden, now I see branches, there's no fruit, but I see sprouting. May as well give you this verse. I might preach the whole thing during this series. Genesis 8. 22. It says, as long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. And I used to read that verse. And I used to shout, especially off the first line, sita boom, harvest. I plan to see. It's seed time. Seed time. All right, come on, harvest. You ever done that? All right, Lord, I gave. Now you know. Rent is due. Seed time. Come on, harvest. Holy Spirit starts speaking, said, no, slow it down. Seed time, harvest. Seed time, harvest. See, we take these agricultural metaphors and we don't understand the power of them because we aren't farmers. How many like apples? I did my research. Apples. From seed to fruit, six to 10 years. How many like peaches? Pears? Yeah. Six to 10 peaches. From fruit. Seed to fruit, three to five. Oranges and lemons. From seed to fruit, six to 15 years. Cherries. From seed to fruit, seven to 10 years. Plums. From seed to fruit, four years. Figs. See the fruit, three to five. Something like, I'm getting a figure. Avocados. From seed to chipotle use. 10 to 15 years. Seed. And if I was the enemy, I would launch the same attack that he launched on Adam and Eve in the garden. Get you uprooted so you won't be planted. This was his goal. Notice he doesn't show up until they got in community. He does not show up to attack Adam. He shows up when Eve shows up because God knows the power is in unity. I'm telling you, the church is not perfect, but she's still his. That's why the enemy doesn't want you in the house of the Lord. He will tell you every lie because he's trying to uproot you. And how many people have. Have you watched who have uprooted their life? They got in church, they got in community. They hadn't even had fruit yet. And yet the enemy convinced them. Then wait a minute. That church, man, I'm telling you, they offended you there. I cannot believe they would have the nerve to ask you to tie. They would have the nerve to tell you you had a bad attitude. They just can't handle your personality and your leadership skills. You need to go to another church. And so you uproot and you go to another church. And now you're in that church and you're having a good time there. But here's the problem. At least I had a position at that other church. They're not giving me a position at this church. I need another pot. I need to uproot and go to this church over here. And so now you uproot and you go there and you're in that church. You're like, man, I'm still not flourishing. I know what it is. I need a better relationship. See, the person I'm with right now, they don't really see my gifting. They don't see my value. So maybe if I got a relationship that was different then, if I uprooted here, then my life would change. Let me come here and get me a new wife or a new husband. And now you're with him, and you've been with them a few years, and now you're like, oh, wait a minute. I've seen this before. They're not the one for me. I gotta find me somebody else. And now you're in another relationship, and you get in that relationship and you're there for a while and you go according to plan. But now it's not. That's not working out. I know what it is. I need a new career. I need a better career. That's the thing. I've been stuck in this job, and that's why I'm not passionate and I'm here. And how many people have you seen leave a trail of mess? Going from pot to pot to pot. And you wonder why you're not flourishing in your life. It's because you never stayed planted. But God told me to tell you this is your year to stay planned planted. If you stay planted, you will flourish. I don't know if it's gonna happen year one, I don't know if it'll happen year two, it may not happen year three, but if you'll stay. If you'll stay planted, you will flourish. I don't know about y'all. This can't be my story. Some of y'all have so jumped from place to place and now you're deconstructing and there's something wrong with the pot. Maybe the reason there is no fruit is because you keep getting upset and uprooting your life. But if you can stay planted. Look at this one right here. It stayed planted. It's growing. Watch this. It's gonna outgrow this pot. But I ain't gonna put another pot. I'm gonna put it in the ground and let it stay planted. This is your year. Say, Lord, come storm, come wind or rain, help me to stay planted. Would you stand to your feet in this room? In the watch party room? I'm going to ask every. Head be bowed, eyes be closed. Father, thank you today for our word. God. It is not random because your word is seed. Lord, I pray today this first sermon that I preach of this new year. Lord, let the seed fall on good soil. Don't let the enemy squash or squander the seed that was planted today. Father, help us to stay planted. Lord, we fix our eyes on you. We're not focused on the fruit or the flourishing focused on you. We will be planted in your house. We'll be planted in you. And thank you. That flourishing will be the byproduct. Heads about eyes are closed in this place today. But if you be so honest, say, hey, P.R. this is. This is for me. I need to stay planted. I want to talk to those of you who are not rooted and established in Christ. Please don't get it twisted. You need to be in community. You need to be around believers. You cannot grow in isolation. If social Dallas is not the church for you. This is how passionate I am about it. Find a church. Find a community. You cannot grow in isolation. You need. The church is messy. It's not perfect. And if you find a perfect church, don't join it. You'll mess it up. We are all broken. We are all flawed. But yet there is a power in community where we are shaped and formed into the image of Christ. But before our church, you have to be rooted in him. So with heads bowed and eyes closed. If you've not surrendered your life to Jesus, I want to give you that opportunity today. With heads bowed and eyes closed, lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see you today. Even in the watch party room. Somebody watching online, watching this on the Pando app. If you need to give him your life to today. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I'm planted in him. Thank you, Jesus. Those of you lifted up your hand, would you repeat this prayer after me? I'm going to give you the words. Will you say it from your heart? Let's all say it as a family. Say, jesus, I need you, Lord. Thank you for loving me enough to pay the price for my sin, Lord. You were planted in the womb of Mary, Lord. You lived the life that I was supposed to live. You died the death that I was supposed to die. You took my place. So my response is to give you everything. Give me strength to stay planted in you in your house. And Lord, I thank you that I will flourish in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you meant what you prayed, would you give God praise today? Oh, come on. Y'all could do better than that. Can we give Jesus some praise today?