(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. So there in John chapter 15, I want to begin reading in verse 16 where he says, He have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you. So we see here in this verse that God's desire for our lives is that we bloom, basically. He wants us to be fruitful. He wants us to have fruit and fruit that remains. And the title of the sermon this morning is Bloom Where You're Planted. Bloom where you're planted. Now, we talked about that. That's a common saying you might have heard, bloom where you're planted. And really that concept or that idea of blooming is likened unto the Bible as in being fruitful. You think the fruit of a flower would be its bloom, right? It would blossom, right? Well, in the Bible, we should bloom in the same way, except in the sense that we should be fruitful. We should be reproducing as far as having not only physical children, but also spiritual children. We should be out preaching the gospel and being fruitful in every good work. And God here is showing us Jesus is saying that that is God's desire for our life, that we wouldn't just live kind of wishy-washy, half in, half out, just kind of making it by, just kind of white-knuckle Christianity where we're just getting by the skin of our teeth. But He actually wants us to be fruitful. He actually wants us to excel in the Christian life. And the reason why that is is because when we do that, when we are fruitful, when we bloom, when we're planted, it brings glory to God. It says in John 15, look at verse 8, Jesus said, Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so ye shall be my disciples. When we bring forth fruit in our life, that brings glory to God. And the reason why that is is because of the fact that it requires God's Spirit to be fruitful. You know, we could talk about being fruitful in a lot of different areas of life, and one area in particular that we could mention is the area of soul winning, where we go out and we bear other spiritual fruit, where other people, we preach them the Gospel, they get saved. You know, that is a spiritual child that we have helped be born unto God. And that requires the Spirit of God. And when that happens, God is glorified through that. And not only that, but God is glorified when we're fruitful in any area of our life, because we're doing it through his Spirit and to his glory. Look there in verse 4 of John chapter 15, he said, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. You know, you're not going to live a fruitful Christian life outside of Christ. If you're not walking in his commandments, if you're not living for him, you know, you're not going to bear the fruit that God desires for you to bear. You're not going to bloom where you're planted. So in order to bloom where we planted, we have to abide in the vine. And, you know, this abiding in the vine, that kind of speaks to that, you know, the idea of being planted or being rooted. You know, bloom where you're planted, abide in the vine. So we have to abide in the vine, we have to be rooted, we have to be established if we're going to be fruitful as God's children. Now, if you would, turn to Psalms chapter 1, Psalms chapter 1. I'll begin reading in Psalm chapter 1, we're probably all familiar with this chapter. Psalm chapter 1 and verse 1, the Bible reads, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now we're going to see here, and we have already that, you know, this idea of blooming where you planted is something that's kind of expressed in scripture. You know, he likens it unto us being a tree here, a tree planted by the rivers of water. And what is it that plants us there? Well, if you look at verse 2, our delight is in the law of the Lord. In his law he doth meditate day and night. That's what's going to make you like a tree planted by the rivers of water. It's the same concept of you abiding in the vine, you dwelling on the things of Christ, letting the words of Christ dwell in you richly. That's how you're going to live a fruitful life, is when you're going to be abiding in the vine, when you're meditating day and night. Then you're going to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And that's how you're going to bloom where you're planted. That's how you're going to live that fruitful life. That's how you're going to grow a strong healthy root system spiritually. And the deeper our roots go, obviously, the greater our ability to weather the storms of life. You say, why is it so important to bloom where I planted? Why is it so important to be, to abide in the vine? Why is it so important that we be like this tree? Why should we meditate day and night? Why should we dwell on the things of God? Because of the fact that life is going to, you know, it has storms that come. Life has trials and tribulations and difficulties. That's just the nature of life itself. Now add on to that the fact that you have a spiritual enemy, the devil, you have an enemy in the world, that you have the enemy in your own flesh that's trying to counteract everything that Christ is doing in your life. You have resistance. You have a storm that's brewing. You know, now you can begin to see why it's important that we as Christians have a root system that goes down deep. That we're not just these shallow Christians who are just easily blown over every time there's any kind of a difficulty or struggle or circumstance in our life that we just blow over. The devil can just tip us over. And we, you know, if you've ever done any, spent any time in the woods, you know, you learn to identify those types of plants or those types of trees when you're a kid. You look at, you know, or you get, even as adults, okay, let's admit it. You get a little older, you say, man, I bet I could pull that little tree over. You see those ones, you know, and you go and you can just, because they're dead and they're rotting, you could tell, and it's, there's something fun about knocking trees over, right? That's fun, you know, when we go out hiking, but we don't want to live a life like that. We don't want the devil to go walking through the woods of the world and see us, these, you know, weak, shallow Christians that he can go, I bet I can knock that tree over. I bet if I start to rock it a little bit, it won't be long before it just tips right over. We don't want to be that. We're going to see what kind of tree we want to be like. Well, we want to be this tree that's planted by the rivers of water that's going, has its roots going down deep. And people, you know, Christians, we fail to do this sometimes. People will live their whole Christian life, in fact, and they'll never establish a deep root system spiritually. They'll never go down deep in the word of God. They'll never stay in there and get a strong root system. And that happens when they are distracted. That's because the world can distract us. We get distracted with the things of life and making plans. And really, that's probably one of the bigger distractions that people make, is they let other priorities come in and take precedence in their life. You know, we get distracted by the future, right? We get distracted, but we're always making plans about, we're going to go here, we're going to do this, one day I'll do that. And you know, whether it's in terms of where we're going to live or what our job's going to be or how, what we're going to do for fun or what are some hobby, there's all these things that will keep our minds distracted from the present. And what happens is we don't get a deep root system. And if you would turn over to James chapter four, James chapter four. People fail to grow deep roots spiritually when they are always being distracted by the world, always thinking about the future, always thinking about when they're going to this city or that city and do this or do that, they're never taking the time to consider where they are right now and what they need to do today in order to develop as a Christian. He says there in James four, look at verse 13, he said, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow, we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what you'll be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings and all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. You know, sometimes it's not necessarily the things that we are doing that are sinful. It's the things that we're not doing. And when we get distracted and we start thinking about all the things that we're going to do in the future, you know, and those things begin to take pride in our life, you know, we don't develop spiritually. We are sitting because we're not putting the priority in our life where it needs to be. And one of those areas we're going to talk about, obviously, you know, there's several of them, but you know, one area is church attendance. That's a major part of the Christian life. And I want to get too ahead of myself here, but that is an element of it. People can say, well, I'm going to go here. I'm going to go there. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And they get so distracted in everything else that's going on in life that they fail to even cover the basics of the Christian life, their Bible reading, their church attendance, their soul winning, these simple things. Go ahead and turn over to Matthew chapter six. Actually, you know what, go to, go to, go to Mark, Mark 10, Mark 10. You know, Jesus warned us and the Bible warns us elsewhere that we should not get so, you know, forward in our thinking that we fail to recognize where we're at and to grow where we're at and to develop where we're at. He says in Proverbs 27, boast not thyself of the tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Why should we develop a strong Christian life? Why should we have a spiritual root system? Why should we bloom where we're planted and dig in deep and get in there is because of the fact we don't know what's going to come tomorrow. You never know when that storm's going to come. And that's why you need to not be so distracted about, you know, what you're going to do down the road and just worry about today. Jesus said, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. You know, there's enough to worry about today, enough things that we need to deal with today in our lives that we, you know, we don't need to sit there and worry about what's going to happen down the road. We don't have to sit here and wonder about if things could be better somewhere else. And because there's a thing people start to think, well, the grass is always greener on the other side. And this can be a mentality that people get into. Like, well, it could always be better here. You know, they could always be better this way or that way. But here's the thing. Have you ever turned grass over? It's not green. It's brown, right? And you think it's green over on the other side. When you get there, it's not. It's the same grass. You know, and maybe it's green for the wrong reasons. You know, as Pastor Perry famously said, it could be because it's grown over a septic tank. You know, that's why it's so green. But we always get this mentality that it's always better somewhere else. We always think that things are better in somebody else's marriage or some other church or in some other town or some other job. And we think it's greener over there. And we get so distracted by what's out there that we don't even take time to account for the present. And we don't take time to account for the fact that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. We're not content with the things that we have. And we have to take account of this. We have to understand that we need to bloom where we're planted. That where we are is where we need to be. And we need to dig in and get our roots and get established in life and in our Christian walk. And, you know, because it affects all our areas of life. Now, what are some areas of life that we must be rooted in in order to succeed? You know, there's some areas that we have to establish these roots. Well, one, I would say a big one is probably marriage. And is that not one that we see people are always trading up spouses and saying, oh, it's, you know, this spouse will be better. This isn't working out the way I want it. And they're just uprooting their life. They're not digging in deep, you know, and they need to be rooted in your marriage today. You know, your marriage is going to succeed when you determine that, you know, till death do you part. You know, when you put that stipulation on it, it's amazing how quickly people start to make things work. You know, and if we've made the mistake of getting divorced and, you know, then let's not, you know, let's not compound sin upon sin, you know, and I'm not here to beat you up. But here's the thing. There's people in this room that haven't made this mistake, you know, and I don't want them to make that mistake. I want them to have marriages that succeed. You know, that's what I want for myself. It's what I want for my children. And that's why we have to understand that the Bible teaches that we are not to put away our spouses. Are you there in Mark 10? Did I have you turn there? Look at verse 11. He saith unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, commit adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committed adultery. I mean, the Bible couldn't be more crystal clear about it. You know, this is this. That's what the Bible says that if you get divorced and remarried, you've committed adultery in the eyes of God. Now, if you've done that, you know, I'm not that, you know, confess it, forsake it and move on with your life. And, you know, get rooted in the marriage that you're in right now and determine not to make that mistake again. But if you know, for anybody that's married or anybody that's contemplating marriage, you know, which is probably the vast majority of everybody in this room at some point in their life, is that you need to go into marriage understanding that you're going to be rooted in that marriage, that you're going to put roots down in that marriage, that you're going to establish that marriage, that it's going to be strong. That you're not going to just let the devil come and blow that marriage over and destroy it. And again, when people, when you go into it with that mentality, you'll find a way to make it work. Because that's the problem with a lot of marriages is they go into it saying, well, if this doesn't work out, I'll just, we'll just try it with somebody else. Well, how much incentive do you have to make it work at that point? That's not, that's not very much of incentive at all. So that's one area that people need to go into and establish strong roots is in their marriages. And you, you know, it's probably one of the saddest things you'll hear about, you know, divorce at any time, of course, is unfortunate. It's sad. It's a sin. It's not what we desire for our lives. But what about you find people that have been married for decades, and then they get a divorce? I've never, I've always just, you know, scratched my head about that. I can't understand how people could live together for, you know, decades going, you know, for years and years and years, and then they get a divorce. You know, one, you're, you know, you're not any younger, right? And the pool of candidates is probably, you know, considerably less when you're, when you get up in years, you know, but people do this all the time. And, you know, were they growing roots in their Christian or in their marriage? No, they weren't. They were probably just counting down until the kids left. Just saying, well, once the kids are out of the house, then, then, then you know what, we can split up as if it's not going to have any, you know, detriment effects at that point either. But, you know, instead of spending that time just counting down the days until, you know, you can get, you can feel less guilty about getting married, why not actually just try to make that thing work? Why not actually try to grow some roots in that marriage and make it withstand the storms of life that are going to come at it? You know, another area that people need to get established in and have roots is this area of child rearing. You know, we need to, we need to get in the Bible and figure out what the Bible says about raising children and do it and, and, and be established in that. We need to, to bloom in this area. You know, we shouldn't just wing it, you know, like in child rearing. It's not something you just want to give it a try. And so let's see if this works. You know, the Bible, and again, every one of these topics is a whole sermon in and of itself, you know, and, and you know, there probably will be one coming down the pike at some point, but you know, the Bible has a prescription for child rearing. Raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You know, chase a nice son while there is yet hope. The Bible gives very specific clear instructions on how to raise children. And of course, there's always areas where we have to kind of use discernment and things like that, but what we don't want to do in our child rearing is just wing it and just say, well, I'm going to try this, you know, and see if it works. Do you really want to roll the dice on your kids like that? Do you really want to see if that's going to turn out a good godly people or, you know, even worse perhaps would be doing what's trendy, you know, doing what all the other trendy parents are doing with, you know, the time outs and the, you know, whatever else they do or the, the, you know, just tell them that you love them, you know, when they're, when they're being obnoxious, spoiled brats. I love you. You know, I've heard that. I've heard that out of parents' mouths. The kid is just, you know, going off on mom and dad and they're just, well, you know, I love you. As if that, you know, they're going to win them over to behave. You know, kids, kids, you know, like all of us are sinners. We're selfish. We're self-centered and get bad attitudes that need to be corrected. So, you know, this is another area. You could see why there's so many, you know, there's so many areas in life that we need to be established and understand what the Bible says about these things, about marriage, about divorce, or about divorce, yes, and about child rearing. What's another area that we need to learn how to be established where the only way you're going to be fruitful, the only way you're going to bloom is if you're planted there, if you are established in it. How about in employment? You know, we as men, you know, who are out working and providing for a family, we need to, we need to pick a trade and stick with it, you know, and that's, that's how you're going to get better at it. If we're a person that's always just hopping from this trade to this trade, trust me, I'm speaking from experience. When people start to talk to me and they're like, man, you've done a little bit of everything. Yeah, and I don't know that I got real good at any of them, you know, except for maybe locksmithing, you know, but we need to pick a trade and stick with it. That's how you're going to get good at what you do. And that's how you're going to make more money down the road by saying, this is what I'm going to do and understand something that that's not, that your job does not define you as an, as a person. Yes, men get, that's a big sense of their identity, but as a Christian, you know, that's just a means to an end. That's now, our life is not all about just making money, but we all do need to decide to pick a trade, to stick with it, to get established in it, to get rooted in it, to bloom where we're planted when it comes to this area of employment. You know, learning the trade and getting good at it and being more valuable because, you know, a lot of trades, you know, these skills are developed over time. This isn't something you're just going to, you know, go to job one day and, and wake up the next and be a master at it and have it all figured out. You're going to have to, you know, probably apprentice with somebody. You're going to have to be taught these things. Then you're going to have to go out and try and do it on your own. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to have to, you know, learn how to do it the right way. And, and it's a process that we go through. And here's, you know, if you really want to succeed in your employment, in your employment, in your job, you need to, you need to get rooted. You need to get established. You need to bloom where you're planted because, you know, companies, they invest in loyal employees. They're not going to invest in the guy whom they're not sure about. You know, he may, he might stick around. He might not. And I understand that sometimes we need to change employers, that sometimes we need to find a better job. But, you know, a lot of, you know, when we do that, we should probably be staying within the same trade. You know, when you're younger, you have a little bit more liberty with this. You know, when you're in your 20s, you can try this, you can try that. You get in your 30s, you should probably have a little bit better idea what it is that you want to do. You know, and then as you, especially as your family begins to grow and stuff like that, you know, you can't be switching up your entire career, you know, every, you know, every decade of your life trying something new. Because when you do that, you always got to start out the bottom rung and work your way up. So if we have to move to another job, you know, we should probably try and stay in the same job because companies are going to invest in loyal employees. They're going to be, they're going to see the guy that's rooted, the guy that's established, the guy that's there, the guy that's loyal. And they're going to say, well, let's invest in him. Let's make him a better employee. Let's teach him, let's teach him the skills of the trade more so that he can be even more valuable. So there's all these areas in life where we have to be rooted. There's all these areas in life where we have to be established in order to bloom, that we have to get our roots down deep and dug in so that we can begin to be fruitful. And you know, one area is church. You know, I kind of alluded to earlier, but church is a big area in the Christian life where we need to get established in church. And what I, you know, not just, you know, that's twofold. One, get in a good church, right? You know, find a good church to go to. Whether it's this church or another church, you know, people need to make, that's a big decision in your life, in your Christian life. You know, it's, it's quite frankly, it's like baby step number one or two in the Christian life, going to church. And it's probably one of the easiest things in the Christian life is just to go to church. I mean, I'm looking out there right now. I don't see anyone breaking any sweats. No one's breathing heavy. You know, no one's, you know, keeled over in pain because this is so difficult. You know, maybe a little bit of yawning, but that's understandable, right? We didn't make the coffee. Okay. I understand some sermons aren't always the most entertaining of sermons, but it's all good. It's all important if it's the word of God. And you know, just going to church is probably the easiest thing in the Christian life there is. You got to get up and get ready and go to church. And it's not that hard to do. But here's the thing, if you don't do it, if you don't get established in church, if you don't get regular in church, you're not going to bloom. You're not going to blossom spiritually because you're not going to be there to learn the things of God. You're not going to be there to be taught and instructed of the word of God. You're not going to learn what it is you ought to be doing in the other areas of your life because you're just not there. Look at there and go to Psalm chapter 92, Psalm chapter 92. You know, and this would even involve, you know, there's several families here, self included, that have even gone to the great lengths of moving across the country or from another state to be in a good church. It's that important. Some people understand it's that important. Everything in your Christian life is hinging on that, whether or not you're in church. You want to say how important is it? Oh, I don't know, Christ died for the church? Seems pretty important to me. If Jesus came and shed his blood for the local church, I'd say it's pretty important. You know, he left heaven and came down here and lived amongst man and lived a perfect life in a body like you and I. He was tempted in all points like as we are, without sin. He did all that and then, you know, suffered and died so that we could be saved and have a local assembly, so that we could have a church. You know, and then, you know, so when we consider that, then we have to ask ourselves, is it really that big of a deal for us to go to church? You know, we have a hard time going across town to go to church. Well, he left heaven. You know, oh, I don't know if I could move to go to be in a good church. Well, you know, Jesus left heaven. I don't know what else to tell you. You know, he's the one who left heaven, came down here and did all that. And for you to just have to pick up and move to another area, that's not that big of a deal. Look there in Psalm 92, verse 12. The Bible says, the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. So again, he's likening them to a plant, like a tree, like being rooted, right? These things have roots. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. Now most of us are already, well, not most of us, some of us, I should say, are already kind of resembling that latter half, right? But here's the thing, you know, he's likening us unto trees. He's likening us unto, you know, things that are planted, things that are rooted, things that are established. He says, those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. And he says there, they shall be like a palm tree. Now, I don't think God just decided to pick out any old tree just for, you know, drew the name out of a hat and said, yeah, that'll do. I believe he, you know, he picks these things because there's a lot of symbolism in it. And there's a lot of, we can get meaning out of it. I mean, you think about palm trees. I think one way he's talking about is the fact that there's going to be a lot of them. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. You know, palm trees are a tree that you can plant a lot of. You can have a lot of them grow up in one place, you know, but more than that, I think we as individuals could be likened under these trees. Now what's, what's one thing, some characteristics about a palm tree that makes it worthy of being mentioned in this verse? Well, the fact that it can, it's able to withstand high winds. You ever see these palm trees and these hurricanes that are just bent right over? You know, they're just 90 degree angle. Practically the winds are a hundred plus miles an hour and those trees are just sitting there in it. They don't even lose the palms. They hang on. That's impressive that there's a tree like that. You know, I, I grew up in Northern Michigan and tell you, there's some trees I couldn't do that. You know, every time there was a windstorm up there, you know, there would be trees just blown over. Big, huge trees. You'd look at them and think, man, these trees are going to stand for forever. They're never going to get blown over. And they just get blown over in these high winds and you know, pine trees and things like that. They're not like the palm tree. The palm tree is something that can withstand resistance. And that's how we have to be in a Christian life. You know, we're going to come against that resistance. We're going to have the storms of life come work. You know, the devil's going to come and huff and puff and try to blow your house down, you know, and it's, it's going to be some high gusts coming at you in the Christian life. And if you're like this palm tree, you're going to be able to withstand the high winds. You're going to be able to, instead of, instead of breaking and falling over, you're going to be able to bend and withstand that storm. But that's only going to happen if you're planted in the house of the Lord. It's not going to happen if you're not, if church is just something you do every once in a while. You know, here's the thing, you know, being in church once a week is not a big ask. And I think it's something that, and here's the thing, you say, well, you're just saying that because you're the deacon, because you're the preacher and you need somebody to preach to you. It's not it. That's not it at all. You need to be in the house of God for you. This church is here for you to benefit from it. You know, I'll preach to one person just as much as I'll preach to a hundred. And I'll, you know, some of you already know this to be true. Some of you have been here on a Thursday night when it's been three or four people and said, are we still going to have church? Yes. You know, I, I've preached to one person, you know, I've led the singing when nobody was in there and have one guy come in halfway through a song and give me a weird look because it did look weird in there singing by yourself, but he sat down and you know what, and you got to preach to now he didn't come back, but Hey, you know, I don't think that was my fault. So here's the thing, you know, we need to be established in the house of Lord for our own sakes, you know, and I, and this is something, you know, I practiced this long before I'm getting up and preaching it. I, you know, I've been doing that for, you know, the vast majority of my Christian life, which is over 17 years, you know, that they've been in church, you know, three times a week. Now here's the thing, if you're not in church three times a week, are you in sin? No, I don't think that's, you know, and some people will say, yes, you are, you know, you need to be there every time the church doors open. Now I would encourage that, you know, I'm not trying to discourage people from coming to church, but you know, coming out to church once a week is a good start, you know, and you think about the early church in the book of Acts, what did they do? They met daily in the temple, you know, they were, they were gathering together daily and, you know, Bible says that we should be gathered so much the more so as we see the day approaching. We should not be those that have the manner of forsaking the assembly as the Bible says. So you know, we want to be like the palm tree. We want to be established. We want to be rooted. We want to be able to withstand the storms in life, but are you putting your roots down? Are you being established in the local church? Because that's where you're going to get built up. That's where you're going to get the nourishment that you need. That's where you're going to get the, you know, the, this is kind of a bad way to put it, but the spiritual fertilizer maybe I could say, you know, that he's going to come and put it around the tree and help it grow, give it the nutrients that it needs out of the word of God. That's where we're going to get these things. Now, you know, we're like the palm tree because we're able to withstand the high winds, right? That's one attribute that we would love to have in our Christian life. But also think about this, a palm tree can grow in multiple climates. You'll find palm trees in tropical areas. You'll find them in the, you know, in the, in the deserts. They can grow in all kinds of different areas, you know, and that's the way it should be in our Christian life as well. You know, whether we're, wherever we find ourselves in life, we should be able to get rooted and get established, whether it's, you know, here in this church or it's in another church. And that's what people, you know, a lot of online listeners, you know, cause we have a big online following and we get emails from them all the time saying, hey, should I go to this church? Because, you know, I'm not sure because they don't believe exactly like you guys. I say, yeah, you should go to that church. You know, you should go to the best church you can find and get established, you know, and maybe they're not right on every doctrine, but you know, as long as it's not a deal breaker, you know, if they're King James only, if they preach grace, salvation by grace through faith, you know, you got, you got something going a lot of people don't have, and that shouldn't be taken for granted and people should go in there and at any kind of the best church they can find and get established, they should be able to like that palm tree and grow in any climate because as long as there's somewhere where the word of God is being preached, they're going to get the nourishment that they need. They're going to get the established, established, like they need to be established. And then they're going to be able to be fruitful and bloom where they're planted. Now he says there in verse 13, those that be planted, excuse me, verse 12, they shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. So there's two different types of trees that he's saying the righteous shall be like. Now a cedar and a palm tree, you could tell those two apart fairly easy. You know, even, even those of us that are not arborists, we could figure that out pretty quick. What a palm tree is and what a cedar tree is. I mean, one has that skinny trunk and no branches and just some palms at the top, right? And then you have the cedar tree, which is a very robust tree. It's very big. It's very round, has many branches. There's a lot more mass to it. And you know, he's likening us under these trees for a reason. He's likening people that are planted in the house of God that are righteous on these trees because it symbolizes something. We saw the palm tree, but what about the, what about the cedar tree? Well, you think about it, a cedar tree is hard to bring down. I mean, it might be, you might, you know, you get it in a big enough windstorm and if its roots aren't deep enough, yeah, it might blow over. But if, you know, if you're going to, if you're going to chop down a cedar tree, that's going to take some work. I mean, you think, I mean, even with the advent of the chainsaw and all these other devices that man has made, it's still a lot of work and it's very dangerous to go out and, and, and hew down these giant cedar trees. And, you know, we're, we should be like that in our Christian life. And here's the thing, you know, the devil's got an ax and he's swinging and he wants to bring some people down. He's looking for a harvest. And, you know, if we're just this skinny little sapling in our Christian life, if we don't have any roots going down, if we're not established, it's going to be real easy. He might not even need the ax. He could just snap some of us and bring us down real quick. Unless we're like this cedar tree, you know, it would take a lot of swinging. You know, he might get through the bark. We might have some, some scars here and there, but he never was able to bring us down. Why? Because we were established because we were flourishing in the, in the house and the courts of our God. And not only that, but think about this, a cedar tree is also very useful. You know, no one, no one mills the palm tree for its wood. You know, you'll never find, you know, a fine palm furniture anywhere. At least I don't think so. I've never seen any, you know, you're not going to, no one's going to walk, walk into someone's house and have tongue and groove in their ceiling and say, it's, it's palm tree. You know, it's usually oak, you know, that you make the nice, the furniture out of. You had the cedar tiling and stuff like that. And in fact, in the Bible, when they built the temple, you recall that they used the cedars of Lebanon, that that's what the house of God was built out of. So cedar is also very useful. You know, that's how we should be in our Christian life. We should be useful to the house of God. We should be able to go to a church and be, get rooted, get established and help build that church, spiritually speaking, and be, you know, be a pillar in the church, be one of those big beams in the church that they're going to offer support, you know, be, be, you know, be a, you know, the, the sheathing on the roof spiritually, it's going to help block out the weather. You know, maybe you could be the, the part of the church that was the door, you know, maybe we could, you're that cedar tree and you know, we, you got, got saved and God, you know, fashioned you and put you like the door in the temple. You know, you're there and you can welcome people in, you can say hello, you can get to know folks, you know, there's all these different areas in the church that we need people to fulfill certain roles. And that's how we should desire to be in our Christian life. Be like that cedar tree, be something that's useful. We can make something out of it. You know, it's not just something to look at, but it's actually something that could be put to use in the service of God. So we see how we want to be like these trees. We want to be rooted. We want to be established. You want to be like the palm tree. You want, you know, you want to be able to establish yourself and be able to withstand those high winds. You want to be able to grow and to blossom, no matter what climate that you're in. You want to be like that cedar tree. You want to be hard to bring down. You know, you want to be useful in the house of God, but none of that's going to happen if you're not planted in church. Okay. That's what he says there. They, that those that be planted in the house of the Lord, you know, established, you think of something being planted. That's like a permanent thing. That's not something you're just going to come by and just yank out of the ground and walk away with. Now that thing's planted. It's like it's there permanently. We need to be planted in the church in order to flourish in the church. I mean, that only makes sense, right? Because I used to read that and think he's talking about two different places. You know, there's the house of our God, and then there's the course of our God. When I was reading it again, I thought, you know, I think he's talking about the same place because of the fact that, you know, it only makes sense that in order to flourish, you have to be planted. In order to bloom, you have to be planted. You know, you can't, you can't go buy a packet of seeds for some flower and just take the packet and set it on the kitchen counter and expect, you know, whatever flower to grow out of it. You got to take it out. You got to put it in the soil. You got to water it. You got to put it in the sun. You got to help it grow. And it's the same way with us. If we want to be like these trees, if we want to be established, if we want these attributes, we have to be planted in the house of our God. If we want to flourish in the courts of our God, we have to be established in his house. Because it only makes sense you can't flourish where you aren't planted. And that's a big admonition to get in church and to be regular in church. And he says there, you know, they shall, verse 14, they shall bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. And what I love about that verse is it shows us that you can't outgrow being used by God. You know, you're never going to get to a point in your life where God just says, I'm too old. I can't use you. There's always going to be something for you to do for God. There's always going to be people that you can reach with the gospel. There's always, you know, he's not here this morning. I think of, you know, and I hope I'm not coming across as picking on him. And I probably should have asked him beforehand, but brother Eddie, everyone who knows brother Eddie, he's not an old man, but he's not exactly a young man either. Is he? But you know what? That guy's here on Thursday to go out and do what he can, soul winning. And you know what? Just having him along, being that encouragement, being a blessing, being somebody who has a burden to see others saved, you know, that's him being used in his old age. He hasn't outgrown that. And that goes for every single one of us. We should never get to this point in our life where, well, you know, I'm over the hill and God's done with me. You know, the Christian life is a young man's game. It's not true friend. That's what it says right here. They shall bring forth fruit in old age. You know, even as a, as an older person, you can still go out and preach the gospel to somebody, you know, whether in your personal life or coming out with us and learning how to do it, you know, and it shows us that church is for all ages, that everybody has something to contribute in the house of God that we could all be established. So the Bible addresses all these areas that we need to be established in, right? We looked at, you know, we just touched on them and there's many more that we could talk about. There's many more other areas of life that we need to establish some things that we need to be rooted about some things that we need to have nailed down in our lives. And the Bible addresses all these areas, but here's the thing. Church is where we learn about it. Church is where we're going to learn about those things. Now, could you learn those things on your own? Yes, you could, but what's the likelihood if you can't even get out to church? Are you really going to be disciplined enough to read your Bible like you should and study it like you should? Because if you did, if you did read your Bible and you did study like you should, it wouldn't be long when you found out you're supposed to be in church, right? So the Bible addresses all these areas and church is where we learn about it. Go ahead and turn over to Proverbs chapter four, Proverbs chapter four. He says in verse 20, my son, attend unto my words, incline thine ears unto my sayings, let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart for they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips but far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight ahead. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. So he's showing us here that, you know, we need to attend unto his words. You know, we need to be in the Bible. We need to be in church. We need to incline our ears unto the sayings and the teachings of scripture and not to let our eyes, not to let them depart from our eyes. And that when we do that, you know, we should ponder the path of our feet. You know, we should be more concerned about, you know, that next step than we are some distant goal, some, you know, pipe dream that we have for our life. You know, well, what about the next step that you're about to take in your life? Have you considered that, you know, where the path you're on is leading you to? Is it actually leading to where you need to be? If you would turn to one more place and we'll close here. Turn to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. Psalm 119. So the topic tonight or this morning is to bloom where you're planted. You know, and God wants us to be fruitful. God wants us to excel spiritually. And in order to do that, in order to bloom, you have to be established. You have to be rooted. You have to get some things nailed down in your life. And the thing that prevents people from doing that is when they don't, they stop looking here and they're looking way down the road. You know, God doesn't show us way down the road. You know, He does in some instances. We know about heaven, some things about heaven. We know about, you know, about the future events. But in our life, God doesn't always doesn't paint some picture and show us, here, this is where I want you. Look at Psalm 119 verse 105. Verse 105. He says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. He didn't say thy word is a spotlight which illuminates the entire path before me. You know, thy word is a row of street lights that guides me along the way. You know, thy word is the track lighting that's going to keep me from wandering off. He says thy word is a lamp unto my feet. You know where God lights the lamp? It's right here in front of your foot. He lets you see this far in your Christian life. And He says a light unto my path. He doesn't illuminate the whole thing at once. And if we're going to bloom, if we're going to be established, if we're going to end up where God wants us to be, we have to start paying attention more to where we're at right now and what our next step is, and not worry so much about what could be or what might be and down the road. Because when we start to do that, that's when we're going to start to wander. We're going to get distracted. We're not going to be where we need to be. We're not going to be found in the courts of our God and being established here. And then if we don't do that, we're not going to flourish. So, you know, it's kind of a shorter sermon this morning, but it's one I've been wanting to preach and I just felt like this was the time to do it. To encourage us to not get so distracted about what's down the road, but consider where we're at right now and take inventory of our lives where we're at right now spiritually and ask ourselves, are we headed down the right path? Are we establishing our roots? Are we allowing ourselves, our roots to go down deep? Are we putting ourselves in the position to where we can be established in the Christian life? Well, we're not just going to be Christians that blow over one day, but we're actually going to be able to be in this thing for years to come. You know, the Christian life is measured in decades. It's not measured in a year or two. It's not measured in months. And here's the thing, we can get real excited about a new church when it starts, you know, and we should be. But after a year or two, you know, and then it starts to get, well, now it's just going to church, we can forget, it can get a little lackluster if we're not careful. We can lose our first love, we can lose that zeal that we once had, that excitement, and we can start to, you know, just take it for granted. You know, and I don't, again, I don't think that's happening, but you know, sermons like this are meant to prevent that type of thing from happening. So let's be in the house of God, let's get established in these areas, and all of these areas of our life, we'll learn about these areas as we continue to come and learn and grow and we will bloom where we're planted. Let's go ahead and pray.