Be Planted

Intro:

Many times in life church we build faith and courage in things that our tangible. The scriptures teach us that every human is given a measure of faith. We have constructs that we have faith in. We have images that we have faith in. We have idealogical normalcies that we have faith in. Let me give you a simple country example since I am from the country. Each of you as you walked in and fellowshipped I notice that almost every person simply just sat down in your seat. You didn’t check the seat. You didn’t look under the seat. You didn’t see if the seat could hold you. You simply sat down because you had faith the seat would support you and hold you up. What get’s me is that the church although God has brought us through the Red Sea, Through the mountains, and the desert places in our lives we struggle with our faith. He saved us, sanctified us, and filled us with the Holy Ghost and that with fire, but when trouble comes we seemingly shake just like those who don’t know HIM! Since we are still dealing with Covid-19 I would say tell your neighbor but can you at least text your neighbor and ask are you rooted?!?!?!?

Text Work:

In the text that we are examining this morning we have a dilemma. Jeremiah the weeping prophet is delivering a word of promise and perish. Jeremiah is proclaiming the word of the Lord and I know so in my theological examination because in verse 5 he said Thus says the Lord. Church I must explain that prophets in that day and time where a little different than some of the so called prophets of today. When the Man of God stood in from of the assembly and said Thus says the Lord it was a serious thing church. The reason the prophet would state this was to make certain that the people understood who was talking. So when Jeremiah said, Thus says the Lord the entire assembly would get quiet, because it was important to hear what God was saying to the people of God. Verse 5-6 goes on to literate that the God of the Mishnah or writings not only blesses, but also curses. He goes on to say, “Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his [b]strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.

Illustrating that if you trust in self you will only let self down. Arar or To be cursed meant to have Devine harm or Evil invoked upon you. How so because when you place your trust in the wrong things it will leave you open to harm and evil. Stay with me I am going somewhere. Church Judah had gotten so pompous that they thought they were untouchable. By all means they were the blessed tribe of King David in which the promise or the messiah was to come. So they thought they were impermeable. Sound like America Don’t it? I’ll digress. In this state of being Jeremiah describes it as a shrub in the desert who can’t see the good coming, and cause you to live in a state of saltiness. I used to always wonder why some folks where always salty. But when your pride is bruised and your situation is dry then you become salty. Now I didn’t plant you there. I didn’t recommend that neighbor hood to you I didn’t introduce them to you, but because things aren’t plush in your life don’t get salty with me. Maybe they are salty because they are shrubs, because shrubs don’t have deep roots. Don’t get too upset with me but mostly shallow people are the saltiest folks, because they only thrive on surface items. If the money look good, if they buy certain things, if they do certain things everything is great, but when you get into deep stuff they get salty. I would tell you to ask your neighbor are you salty, but I don’t want to start anything.

The Word commentary states that Jeremiah may have been speaking to the king of Judah, because he saw his strong military, strong economy, and strong men of valor as all they needed to defeat their enemies when they forgot that every battle they won was because God was with them. Church don’t allow your money, your title, your luxury car, your nice home, and your status cause you to be cursed because you forgot where your blessings came from! Don’t let your degrees, political alignments, physical prowess, and bank account cause you to miss the God who gave you all of that. You have to understand church that some shrubs look good, sound good, smell good, and talk good, but they are not built for the dry season! You need to remember what Job taught us the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away! Shrubs won’t make in the taketh away season just ask Job about his wife and his friends. I don’t hear anybody in this church! Just look at the season we are in. We have these nuclear bombs, tanks, weaponry, and economy, but a tiny virus whipping us like we stole something. Is there anyone here?!?!?!

Then the text shifts. I don’t know about you, but when I am parched I need a shift. When things look dry I need a shift. Can somebody help me say shift! Jeremiah shifts from cursed to blessed. He says, 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. Depicting in the text that favor will fall on those who trust in the Lord. Favor is undeserved grace. Which means that you don’t deserve it, but God will do it anyway. If you trust God and place your hope in Him you will be blessed. Trust is the Hebrew word Batach which means to have confidence, to rely on, or have security in something. The Hebrew word for Hope Mibtach which means my refuge. Which depicts a place of safety. There is something about trusting God that even though you are in danger you feel or know that you are safe! God is our refuge and a very present help in the time of trouble. Thank God for the shift!

Close:

Then the prophet says the blessed man whose trust and hope is in the Lord, “For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not [c]fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. The word plant in this context is actually the Hebrew word Shathal which means to transplant which means that God has the ability to move you to a place in which you will be sustained, fed, and blessed. The problem is people try to plant or transplant themselves and end up like the cursed example in a dry place because you cannot even see what’s good, but when you allow God to Shathal or transplant you then He knows where you need to be what you should be doing, I don’t hear anyone! God won’t plant you where there is no water, because you have to understand that water in text means life and life means breath and breath mean ruach which means spirit! So where God sends you his spirit is already there ready to sustain and grow you. I am not done church let me help about 4 more folks in here. Not only did God change your place, but he changed your anatomical make up. Notice in the texted when you were cursed you was a scrub I’m sorry I meant shrub, but now you are a tree! The major difference between a tree and a shrub is that in it’s day a shrub looks good, smells good, and sounds good, but it cannot produce any fruit. A tree however can not only produce fruit which can feed others as well as sustain itself, but can also provide shade and protection. In your transformation in your shift you have to understand your transition. No longer will you look to others for sustainment, but now you will have to get used to others looking to you for help! I don’t hear anyone. The shift requires more than a shout is calls for a transition in your position that’s why God has to transplant you.

And as I head to my seat Grace Church! I want to encourage you to be planted. Because when you are planted the text says by the rivers or by the spirit that your roots go deep. The deeper you are planted the more you can withstand. When the tree is planted by the river and its roots are deep it doesn’t matter what external conditions bring. The tree is not dependent upon the season, but it is dependent upon its root system. The a story about a farmer who had a tree in his yard. The farmer worked his farm and his crops gave a yield and so did the tree. The tree was always green and always yielded fruit in its season. The funny thing about the old tree is that it was planted in what seemed to be a bad place. Although in a seemingly bad place it still yielded fruit. One day one of the old farmers friends came over and said old farmer I have been looking for years trying to figure out how that tree is still any good. There came a drought and the crop didn’t yield but the tree was still fruitful. Come to find out there was an underground stream that flowed under the farmers property unbeknownst to him, but the trees roots got deep enough that it tapped into the stream. When the drought came it still yielded fruit. during hot season it stayed green. during the winter is was still sustained all because it was planted! I want to encourage someone here today to be planted. Don’t drift like a dry shrub in the desert. Don’t hop and jump every time things don’t go your way be planted. Because when you are planted you will always flourish. When the text says your leaves shall be green what he is really saying is that everything around you will be lavish! Your marriage, your career, your education, your relationships, your finances, your church talk to me shall be blessed. When you understand what blessed really means in the Hebrew it means to kneel which says that every time God blesses me instead of getting higher I should go lower or do like the roots and be planted deeper. Be planted Be Planted Be planted and Be Blessed!