All right, hey everybody, welcome to Valley Creek. Come on, whatever campus you're at today, Denton, Flower Mound, Gainesville, Lewisville, The Venue, Online, let's just welcome each other together. We are so glad you are here with us. We are one church that meets in multiple campuses, carries the hope of Jesus to thousands of locations. Hope is here, everyone is welcome, and Jesus changes everything.

And so, welcome to Valley Creek and welcome to back to school season. Some of us are really excited about that. Some of us are dreading that. But let me go ahead and just give you a word of encouragement for a moment. Parents, can I just encourage you? Parent. If you're a parent, the word of encourage I have for you this season is: parent. Parent your kids, love them, lead them, shape them, form them, mold them into the image and likeness of Jesus. Train your children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it. Do not abdicate this. Do not delegate it. Do not withdraw from the conflict or the challenge. They are the greatest disciples in your life and you have the ability to disciple them the way no one else has. And so lean into that space, shape them, and the greatest thing you can do for them is turn your heart to Jesus.

And I just want to encourage you, don't measure them against an irrelevant standard. The world and its ways is an irrelevant standard, so don't measure them against an irrelevant standard. Measure them according to who God has created and called them to be. You got this, you can do it. Parent. Okay? And then students, what I want to say to you is, remember who you are. Because when you know who you are, nobody can tell you who you're not. You're not who the world says you are. You're not who school says you are. You're not who the bullies say you are. You're who God says that you are. You have nothing to prove this semester. Nothing to achieve, nothing to earn. You have everything to receive, discover and explore. And you don't have to waste the whole semester getting the world to say what the Father already has. That you are loved. And in Jesus, He's well pleased with you. Okay?

So you guys got this. Parents, you got this. Students, you got this. Because Jesus is with us and we are in a series called It's Time. And we said that there's a prophetic sense for our church for this time and season that it's time. You say it's time for what? I have no idea. I believe that God is speaking to you as we go through this series. What is it time for in your life that glorifies God? Maybe it's time to deal with that addiction, or find some freedom, or forgive that person, or work on your marriage, or parent your kid, or remember who you are, or start engaging Scriptures, or just come back next week. I don't know, but God knows. And I believe that He's speaking to us as we go through this series. Ecclesiastes says, "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven." Our job is to discover the divine purpose, the divine time, and season that God is doing and then align our lives with it.

We need to figure out what the divine purpose is behind every activity we're a part of, and then choose to align with what God is already doing. You see, in the Bible, there's two main words for the word "time," the word "chronos" and the word "kairos." Chronos, think clocks and calendars, chronological, days, weeks, months, years, how we measure our life. That's kind of like the finite time if you will. But then there's kairos. And kairos time talks about divine time, divine season, God's purpose behind the activity, what God is actually doing. And we spend so much time asking the question, what time is it? But really, we should be asking, what is this time for? But "what time is it" is about business, and where am I supposed to be and what am I supposed to do in the hurry and the hustle and the bustle? But what is this time for? Is a very different question, because it's asking, what is God doing and how can I align my life with it?

And if we're honest, as fall kicks back off and back to school and all the things we can get so overwhelmed in chronos, clocks and calendars, and this and that, and the business, and the activities, and all the things. Can I just encourage you? Don't spend so much time complaining about chronos that you miss kairos. Don't spend so much time getting lost in the stress of clocks and calendars that you miss the divine purpose of this season and what God is trying to do. In fact, the reason we get overwhelmed is because we fill chronos with things that aren't kairos. There is always grace for kairos. There is not a grace to fill your chronos with all the things of this world. So if you find yourself overwhelmed and stressed and back to school and spinning, stop and ask yourself, am I filling my chronos, my clock and calendar, with things that aren't kairos, God's divine purpose for my life?

In fact, this is why Moses tells us, "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom." In other words, help us understand both chronos and kairos that we may know how to live, clocks and calendars and divine purpose, and align our life with it. And so that's what we're talking about in this series. I believe God is going to be speaking to you about some things that it's time for in your life. But then each week, we're talking about one thing that I believe is it is time for in our church family as a whole. And last week, we said it's time to move. It's time to move with God, towards God, when God, because God. And this week, I want to declare over us that it's time to get planted. Now you're like, I'm not sure I like this one. I know.

But it's time to get planted, to get rooted, to get established, to get committed to God's people. Check out this promise. Psalm 92 says, "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 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 will be fresh and flourishing." That's an epic promise. Those who are planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish. If we will get planted, established, committed, devoted, rooted in the very people of God, there is a promise over our life that we will flourish. Think shalom, comprehensive flourishing, peace, prosperity, wholeness, completeness in every area of our life. In fact, look what he says. He says, you become like a palm tree. Think of palm trees. Those beautiful trees that you see, they're incredibly flexible and they can withstand life storms.

And then he says you'll be like a cedar in Lebanon. The Cedars of Lebanon were these trees of purpose, they were these trees of nobility. They were tall, they were long, they were straight, and they were used for things like building ships and building palaces and building temples. They were disease resistant and rot resistant. They had a nobility and a purpose to them. And then he goes on to say that if you'll be planted, you will still bear fruit in old age. You will become a fruitful person regardless of what is happening in your life. That is an epic promise. Now for those of you that were here last week, you're sitting here saying like, wait, hang on a second. Last week, you said it's time to move and this week you say it's time to get planted. So which is it? Is it time to move or is it time to get planted? Yes. You say, well, how does that work? Well, the Bible is full of Kingdom paradoxes, things that don't seem to make sense logically to us and actually can even feel like contradictions, but they're not.

They require us to have a spirit of discernment to understand them. Like, think about it. Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me, and that we are already seated with him in heavenly places. Which is it? Yes. Jesus goes on to tell us that the Father already knows what you need before you ask Him in prayer, but that we should ask, seek and knock. So which is it? Yes. Jesus says if you want to be great, you got to be a servant. And if you're a servant, you'll become great. He says if you want to live, you got to die. And if you die, you're going to live. Proverbs says, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly." Very next verse, "Answer a fool according to his folly." So which is it? The answer is yes. The answer is Kingdom paradox that require us to have a level of discernment. So is it time to move or time to be planted? The answer is yes. Why?

Because if I want to move, I've got to be planted, and if I'm going to be planted, I got to keep moving. If I'm really going to move forward with Jesus, I got to be planted. I got to have a foundation. I got to be deep. I got to have other people encouraging me, strengthening me, shaping me, forming me, helping pick me up when I fall down. And if I'm actually going to stay planted, I got to keep moving forward with Jesus, because to stay planted, you got to keep growing in grace and forgiveness and servanthood and humility. Are you catching that? See, the people I know that are really moving forward with God, they are the most deeply planted. And the people I know that are the most deeply planted are the ones who keep moving forward with God because it's impossible to really do one without the other. They are intricately connected to each other, and the people I know that really are disciples of Jesus, they're moving forward with God and they are planted deeply in God's people. They work together.

So which is it time for? Yes. You see, a question I want to ask you is, why does a tree get planted in the first place? Do you ever think about this? Like an acorn, it gets planted in the ground. Like why does it get planted in the first place? This is not a trick question. I actually want you to think about the answer to this. Like, why does a tree get planted? You say, well, it's got to get some nutrients so that it can begin to grow. It's a good answer, but it's not the main reason. You might say, well, it needs to get planted so it can survive the storms that come against it. Again, that's another great answer. But that's not the primary reason. You might say it needs to get planted so it can ultimately grow into the fullness of its potential. Great answer, but that's not the primary reason. You see, the primary reason a tree gets planted in the first place is so that it can ultimately bear fruit for others to enjoy.

The entire purpose of a tree is to get deeply rooted, that it may bear fruit that other people can enjoy. And as they enjoy it, the seeds of life get inside of them and life reproduces in others. The entire point is not about what they get, it is about what they give. And the same is true with us, the entire reason we are to get planted in the people of God is so that we will bear fruit for other people to enjoy. This is a total Kingdom paradox, total Kingdom flip, that I'm just asking the Holy Spirit to give you revelation on today. You see, for years, when we preach this verse, we talk about get planted in the House of the Lord, get connected to the church, be deeply involved here, and we always present it in a way of what you're going to get out of it. We always talk about the sense of, you'll be a part of something bigger than yourself. You'll be a part of a movement of hope.

You are made for community. The best friends you will ever have are people in this place that you have yet to meet yet. Other people are going to invest in your kids. They'll be there to pick you up when you fall down. One can put 1,000 to flight, but two can put 10,000 to flight. Awesome. But it's not enough. It's not enough to help you push through hard and deal with the fertilizer, the manure of other people's lives so that you can keep growing. It's ultimately not about what you can get, it's about who you become. And if you don't catch that the entire purpose of being rooted is so that you can bear fruit for other people to enjoy, then like a tree, you will eventually stop pushing through hard and the fertilizer of other people's life, that's designed to help you grow, eventually you'll be like, I'm good. But when you get that your entire purpose is to die to yourself, that the people around you might taste and see that God is good through your life, it completely changes your paradox of what all of this is about.

Are you with me on this? Let me show you. Look at what Jesus says, "I'll tell you the truth," as if Jesus lies sometimes, "Unless a kernel of wheat, a seed falls to the ground and dies, is buried, deeply planted and rooted, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces many seeds, fruit. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus says it right there. He says the whole point of a seed is to die unto itself, that it might bear fruit for others to enjoy. It's not only what Jesus did, that's what he has called us to do. In fact, the very first thing that God says to humanity is be fruitful. Very first thing God says to you. Be fruitful. Deep roots lead to abundant fruit. How are you going to bear fruit if you don't have any roots?

And if my whole purpose is to be fruitful, then when I understand that I can push through the hard and I can deal with the fertilizer of your life. In fact, look what Jesus says, "I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit." Interesting, Jesus says if we remain planted, rooted, established in him, we will bear much fruit, and we read that and we individualize it. We think so long as me and Jesus are good, I'll be a super fruitful person in life. That's a part of the equation. But when Jesus says, "Remain in me," you have to understand, he's not just talking about him somewhere in heaven, he's talking about his body. How are you going to remain in Jesus if you don't remain in what he calls his body, the church, the people of God? You got to remain, be planted, established in his body so that you will bear much fruit.

Or how about when it says, "So then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him." There it is again. You got to be rooted, planted not just in Jesus himself, but what he calls his body. Deep roots lead to abundant fruit. And the sole purpose is so that you can give it away to others. So here's the question for you. Are you bearing any fruit for other people to enjoy? You say, what is fruit? It's the character of Jesus. It's the life of the Kingdom. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. The fruit of the Spirit. 

Dads, are you bearing any fruit for your kids to enjoy? Wives, are you bearing any fruit for your husband to enjoy? Students, are you bearing any fruit for your parents to enjoy? People of Valley Creek, are you bearing any fruit that the people sitting next to you get to take from, eat and enjoy and taste and see that God is good through your life? This is not about what you get, it's about who you become, and giving your life away. This is a supernatural environment of grace, designed to help you become like Jesus. And how do we become like Jesus? By dying to ourselves and giving our life away. Some of you are like, I like last week's message better. But if you want to move, you got to be planted. And if you're going to be planted, you got to keep moving. Come on, look at this. Jesus says, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

So Jesus came from Heaven, planted his life in this world, died unto himself, moved into our neighborhood with grace and truth for one reason, to serve us and give his life away, to bear fruit that we might enjoy. So isn't it ironic that we often come to the very thing that he calls his body not to serve, but to be served? You catch the irony in that? That we often gather together as the people not for offering fruit to others, but we come to enjoy the fruit other people have grown. We come with this sense of demanding and expecting to eat of the fruit of others to satisfy something inside of us, as opposed to coming and growing and giving away the fruit of our own lives. And while it's great to enjoy the fruit of others, there is nothing like watching other people enjoy the fruit that God has grown in your life.

We are supposed to bear fruit that other people might taste and see that God is good. Are you with me on this? I mean, think about this flip. If you understood that the whole reason of being planted here was to bear fruit for other people to enjoy, then if you come to honor others, you will never be upset about being dishonored. If you come here to serve other people to give fruit away, you will never be upset if you are not served. If you come to be an encourager of other people, you'll never be discouraged by what other people do or don't do. If you come to celebrate other people, you'll never be upset if you're not validated. If you come to give, you will never be upset if people come and take and take and take from you. If you come to grow, you'll never be upset about being coached or corrected or challenged on your journey with Jesus. Are you catching this?

Do you see how this is perfectly designed to actually help you become like Jesus? Because it means you have to die to yourself and push through hard and deal with the fertilizer of others so that you can ultimately grow and become who God has called you to be. I mean, I've been thinking about this all week and I don't know that I've ever had this revelation, this flip on it like this. I've just been thinking like, if my whole thought process was, I want to grow the fruit of grace in my life, then when I'm around you, it will be almost impossible for me to be offended by you. Because I'm almost already assuming you're not giving anything to me, I'm coming to offer you the grace that God is releasing through my life. If my whole purpose is to grow the fruit of patience, then I will probably not be frustrated by your failures or your struggles or what you did or what you said. Why? Because I have already come to give you that fruit. If I grow the fruit of self-control, I will probably never emotionally react to when you do something dumb. Right?

But if I come demanding fruit out of your life, then the moment you don't produce it exactly as I want it, we got a problem. You didn't give me my Jamba Juice smoothie exactly as I ordered it. Right? But you got to remember, that's not the point. I would submit to you that the main reason we withdraw from the people of God is because we demand fruit from them instead of offering the fruit of our lives to them. And when it doesn't measure up and it doesn't align, forget it. Forget it. I mean catch this. A servant is not offended by serving.

A servant is not offended by serving. A tree is not offended if you eat its fruit. It's its entire purpose. And this is how you know if you're planted, you stop demanding fruit from others and you start showing up to offer them the fruit of your lives. Come on, look at this next verse, if you want an assignment, you want a challenge for this week, take this verse and just meditate on just this verse this week, "Though he, Jesus, was God's son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity…" So Jesus, through what he suffered, learned to trust and obey God and ultimately became mature. Fruitful. That means that through what we suffer we learn to trust and obey and ultimately become mature.

Ready for this? I have grown more through what I have suffered here than any message that's been preached, any worship experience that I've had, any Serve the City, Epic thing that we've done. It's been through the life on life suffering. It's been through my pride being exposed, and my sin coming to the surface, and my brokenness, and my rights, and pride, and opinions, and preferences being challenged. It's through being hurt and disappointed by other people, through having conflict with one another. It's been through the suffering, the hardship, the manure of people's lives upon my life, my manure being put on their lives that it creates a trust and obedience, and a maturity in Jesus' name. This is how trees grow. Trees grow through storms and droughts and floods, which means every church challenge you've ever had in your entire life was designed to help you learn to trust and obey and become more mature, offering more fruit to the world around you.

Come on, you with me on this? It's a flip, isn't it? It's a different way of thinking about it. Because our whole thing is, what am I going to get out of it? That's how you're welcome to approach the things of the world. You can't approach the things of the Kingdom that way. We approach the things of the Kingdom of, what is God inviting me to give? How is He inviting me to die to self that I might live? It's time to be planted in a way that glorifies God. Come on, look at what Jesus says, "I will build my church." Right. I will build my church. Church, let's be real honest, that word has not become real friendly in this last however many years in the world around us. And for a lot of good, valid reasons, for a lot of invalid reasons, it doesn't matter. Here's the reality after COVID, if we're honest, church, in and of itself, can feel incredibly irrelevant.

You're like, did you say that? I mean, I think that, but I can't believe you just said that. Right, let's just be real honest. You look at church from a worldly perspective, it's incredibly irrelevant. What are you talking about? We're getting in a room to sing songs together with people we don't know. To listen to one person talk, to then open up an ancient text and read from it. And then we're going to give our time and our money to people we don't know. Yeah, pretty irrelevant, right? If you look at it from a world perspective. But the foolishness of man is the wisdom of God. What's foolish to this world is God's wisdom. You look at it from a supernatural standpoint, it's completely different. It is a supernatural environment of grace designed to help us become like Jesus. When Jesus says, "I will build my church," this is the first time in the Bible the word "church" is used.

It comes out of Jesus's mouth. Which means, it's Jesus's idea, it's Jesus's dream. It's the thing Jesus is building, it's the thing he bought and paid for with his life. And here's the deal, you get to decide whether or not you follow Jesus, you don't get to decide what it looks like. You get to decide, am I going to follow Jesus or not? Your choice, 100%. Every week, we try to offer that to you and invite you to follow him, totally your choice. But you don't get to decide, I'm going to follow Jesus and I get to decide what that looks like. Why? Because you're following yourself, not Jesus, at that point. And Jesus calls us unto himself and into his community. Think of the disciples. He didn't just call Peter, "Hey, Pete, let's you and me be buds." "Hey Peter, come to me and I'm going to put you in this community." And these 12 little men showed us what the church was supposed to be like, what it was going to be like, and think of the manure that they had to deal with. Peter's obnoxiousness. Dear Lord, no wonder John became such an amazing guy.

Thomas's doubt, Judas's betrayal. They argued over who is going to be the greatest, who is going to get to sit on the right hand of Jesus, the constant obnoxiousness. And Jesus never like, looked at the whole thing and was like, "Ah, Peter, this isn't working. Let's get out of here, you and me." He was like, "Nope. Figure out how to deal with it, push through the hard. Let the manure help you grow, because you're not here to get something from them, you are here to give your life away." "This is what I'm teaching you. This is what I'm showing you," Jesus says to his disciples. And over these last two years, let's be honest, it was a season of uprooting, transition, change. Things got unsorted and out of place, all of the different kinds of stuff. And it doesn't even matter at this point. What matters is this, is it's time to get planted in Jesus' name. Maybe you're here and you're like, I am planted.

Well, I bet a whole lot of trees around you got uprooted in these last two years. And so you can decide to pull your roots in and just say, been there, done that, which is going to fill this with dirt. Nope. You're supposed to fully root in again with new people that you've never met before, because you're supposed to give the fruit of your life away. Maybe you're here and you've came from another state, another church, another season, whatever it is, today is the day to say, okay, I'm a little nervous about this, but I need to get rooted, because it's not about what I can get at Valley Creek, it's about who I become, and I'm here to offer the fruit of my life to others. Maybe you live on the fringe and you constantly revolve on the outer skirts of, what we do, COVID and all the different things, and you kind of, show up for back to school, and Christmas, and Easter. That's all fine, whatever. But at some point in time in your life, you just got to take responsibility to say, it's time, in Jesus' name, to get rooted so I can bear fruit for other people to enjoy. And I get it. I get it. Some of you are like, yeah, but like I've been hurt and church things and wounds and all this stuff.

Listen to me, you have probably not had a worse thought about the church than I've had. Like I literally am the chief pooper scooper. My entire job is basically making sure every tree has some manure, but not too much that it dies. So, whatever bad thought you've had about the church, let me just tell you, I've had that and then some, okay? So, I, I get it. And we say things like this like, "But I was, I was hurt at the church." Can I just stop you? You weren't hurt by the church. You were hurt by a broken and sinful person. Be real careful on what you define that you are hurt by, because you are also a broken sinful person who probably hurt other people. You weren't hurt by the church. You were hurt by a person. And then you sit there and you say things like, not you, but the people will say things like this like, well, the church is just so judging. Didn't you just judge it by calling it judging?

Or we say things like this, like, well, I'm just really offended by some things that happened. Right, but doesn't Jesus tell us to forgive others the way he has forgiven us? And we say, well, they are sinful and they're hypocrites. Right, doesn't Jesus ask us to give grace to those that are struggling the way he's given it to us? You say, well, I don't like some decisions that were made, and some things that were happening, some things that were said. Right, but doesn't Jesus say, go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you? Are you catching what I'm trying to say here? Do you see how this whole thing is designed to help you get to the end of yourself and become like Jesus, to push through the hard and allow the manure to help us begin to grow for the sole purpose of bearing fruit that glorifies God and offers his goodness to those around us? So the question is, are you planted? And when I say planted, don't misunderstand, I'm not talking about a church service.

I'm not talking about a building. I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about the people of God who are following Jesus together. And if your answer is no, that's okay, just submit that answer to Jesus and say, Jesus, does this align with your heart? I mean, are you with me on this? Come on, I know I'm pushing a little bit today but you got pushed through the heart so the manure can help you grow. See, we've got to break this "me and Jesus" thing. That is a lie from darkness, just me and Jesus, we're good. Listen, it's not just you and Jesus. It never has been, it never will be. It is you and Jesus into a community of faith. In fact, check this verse out. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home."

Interesting. So if it's just you and Jesus, maybe you're the sheep that's wandered away. If it's just you and Jesus, when I read what Jesus says, you might be the one that's lost and wandering. And he's looking for you because when he finds you he picks you up and goes back home. Back to the flock. Back to the people. Back to the community that was his idea that he bought and paid for. That is the foolishness of this world, but boy, it is the wisdom of God. And the problem for a lot of us is, we want to live right on the border of the field of the world and the pasture of the Kingdom. Get as close to that line as we can. The only problem with that is the further you go out into the field of the world, the longer you stay before you come back to the pasture of the Kingdom. And every time you go a little farther and it takes you a little longer until eventually you get so far that you don't come back.

You got to change your mind. In fact, this is why Jesus says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." The safest place to be is right with the Shepherd, right in the center of the flock, giving your life away to others. And catch the irony in this, if you don't want to be around the people of God now, what makes you think you're going to enjoy Heaven? Meditate on that one this week. Come on. Be devoted to one another. Devoted, continue to do with intense effort despite difficulty. Wouldn't say devoted if it wasn't hard. But just like a husband and a wife have to be devoted to each other to raise a family, and a team has to be devoted to each other to win a championship and a platoon has to be devoted to each other and the flag that they're serving under so that they can stay alive, the Church of Jesus has to learn to be devoted to one another because a scattered church is a struggling church, a divided church is a defeated church, but a planted church is a powerful church and it requires devotion.

Here's the paradox in this whole thing. Do you understand in the Bible, the greatest form of discipline in both the Old Testament and the New Testament is removal from the people of God? The greatest form of discipline in the Old Testament was God would scatter the people. He would scatter them away from each other. In the New Testament, the greatest form of discipline is de-fellowshipping someone, removing them from the body of Christ, the family of God, both designed to bring people to the end of themselves so they repent and turn back to God. But the paradox is, we place the highest form of discipline upon ourselves because that's what our flesh wants. Comfort and convenience.

And I don't know that I want to sit in your manure or push through the hard or offer you anything of my life. I demand fruit from you instead of trying to figure out, how do I grow fruit in Jesus and offer it to you. And if you're a Gen-Z or a Millennial, hear me, here's what's amazing about your generation, you really believe you can move with God. You believe there are no boundaries, no borders, no limitations, technology, globalization. Your generation is designed, it's set up to be able to go to the ends of the earth, and you really think that you can do all things, change your world, social justice, all that stuff. It's awesome. Just hear me. You got to be as devoted to being planted as you are to moving. Because if you don't get devoted to being planted, then when you move to go change the world, you'll show up and you won't have any fruit to offer anyone. You'll just be a nomad moving around for the good of yourself in the disguise of the name of Jesus.

Because if it really is for Jesus, then I got to move and I got to be planted and I got to be planted so that I got to move. Come on. And I don't know about you, but I need people to be devoted to me too. Because I got pride, and sin, and brokenness, and junk that comes up in my life. And I need them to be just as devoted to me as I am to them. In fact, it's harder for people to be devoted to you than it is for you to be devoted to them. If you can actually catch that, you'll get the whole thing. Because that's what humility understands. Humility doesn't think, "I'm so great, look at all this fruit in my life. You all need me." No, no. Humility acknowledges that I'm trying to push through hard and deal with the things of life and grow through. I need you to be devoted to me, and hold me up, so I keep moving with Jesus more than, "I think I'm offering you all these great things."

Come on. Are you with me on this? What are you planted in? Because whatever you're planted in is the center of your life and flows out everywhere else, and there's no promise in the Bible that says there is a reward for being planted in work, planted in school, planted in sports. The only promise is, planted in the people of God, you will flourish and bear fruit for everyone around you to taste and see that God is good. So to pull it all together, you say, okay, well, how do I know? What does it look like? This is really fast. You got to be devoted to meaningful relationships, meaningful ministry and meaningful mission. If you want to know, am I devoted, am I rooted, am I planted, it's this. Meaningful relationships. Can I ask you, do you have any meaningful relationships in this church? Do you know and are known? Can you confess and repent? Are you vulnerable? Are you able to ask for prayer? Is anyone else coming and eating of the fruit of your life regularly, and are you eating of their fruit?

And I'm not asking -- for those of you that have been around a long time, here's the challenge for you, because you could check out of this whole message and say, I hope new people get this, no, no. If you've been here like, 20 years, I'm not asking you, did you have meaningful relationships 10 years ago. I'm asking you, who is the meaningful relationship today? And at some point in time, if you're new or old, you got to take responsibility and say, I got to go pursue that because it's not on anyone else to make that happen but you. Do you have meaningful ministry? Are you using the gifts that God has given you, which the Bible says are for building the body of Christ, in any way? Serving, blessing, giving, building. Like, I heard a story last week of a person who is emotionally broken because they were greeted at the door by a greeter. And they felt the presence of God through someone welcoming them into this building, and had an incredibly powerful encounter with the living Jesus because someone was engaged in meaningful ministry.

You say, greeting someone at the door is meaningful ministry? Have you been in the world lately? Are you using anything that God has given you in a meaningful way? You say, no one's asked me. Jesus has asked you. You don't need to wait for us to ask you to do something with the gifts of your life. You can raise your hand and say, help me navigate and figure it out and we'll show you the way. But you got to take responsibility. And then, meaningful mission. Are you a part of the movement of hope? Or you have that "me and Jesus are on mission in our way, and I don't want to be associated with church and I can't put it on my social media and I don't want to invite anybody because, you know, church these days can't --" No, no. Are you in meaningful mission, meaningful as a people, the body of Christ, Jesus sends them out two by two and then they come back to the community. It is not the sense of it's not my mission, it's his mission. And he's defined how it goes.

Any meaningful relationship, ministry, or mission? And this is why we push so hard and say then get in a Circle. Get on a serve team. Go to Serve the City. Go to Join the Movement. All those things are divine to just create this in your life so that you can move forward with God. And this is the last step on your toes for the day, I promise, is simply this. This is really hard to do if you come into the building late and then leave early without talking to anyone. This is really hard to do if you jump online and fast forward to the parts you like and then jump out when you're done. Why? Because to be planted requires dying to self, patience, stability, same place for a long time. All the epic trees you will ever see, do you understand how much change they have weathered around them?

But they never moved because they knew their calling was to bear fruit for others to enjoy. This is it. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 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 will be fresh and flourishing in Jesus' name. It's time to get planted, because God wants to bear fruit in your life. God wants to bear fruit in your life, and when you get planted for the sole purpose of giving fruit away to others, in the end you will discover you always receive so much more than you will ever give. So close your eyes with me. Come on, what's the Holy Spirit saying to you today?

What's He whispering? What's He stirring? What's He inviting? I get it. There's a million reasons why not to. But there is one reason that supersedes all of those because He says so. Because you say so, Jesus, we want to be planted in a supernatural environment of grace that causes us to deal with our own brokenness, and sin, and pride, and offenses, so that we might be shaped and molded into the image and likeness of Jesus. And so that your fruit, your character, your life may grow on us that the people around us may taste and see that you are good.

So I just prophetically speak over our church today that today is a day of being planted in the House of the Lord. Today is a day where your roots just grew a little bit deeper. Today is the day where that seed just sprouted and began to grow. Today is the day where meaningful relationships begin to start. Today is the day where meaningful ministry begins to happen. Today is the day that meaningful mission begins to flow out of our lives. Today is the day that we start learning to die to ourselves that the life of Jesus may flow through us. So thank you, Lord, for your church. Thank you for your people. Thank you for what this time is for and you are rallying your people around the globe to get deeply rooted that we might move forward with you as fruitful people in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.