Roots Run Deep | Chris Nelson

So many amazing things are happening. People are giving their life to Christ. God is changing and doing a transformative work in the lives of these guys. And that is just so amazing that we get to be a part of that. And I love the fact that we're almost like behind the scenes and then we come back and we hear great stories about, hey, this many people got baptized and this many people gave their life to Christ and we get to be a part of what God is doing. And that is so cool that whenever God wants to do the miraculous here on earth, he chooses to do it through vessels like you and me. Amen. Amen. So we have a message that is planned for you guys. I truly believe that God has laid this message on my heart. It is one of my shorter messages. I know I always say that and then I always go over. My youth team, they know that. Our youth that are here, they know that. Long adults, they know that, but promise that it will not be too long. But before we get started with that, can we just give it up for our lead pastors, Pastor Ryan and Andrea, they are so amazing in their leadership. And everything that we see doesn't get driven without them. And so we want to give honor where honor is due. And so today I want to talk to you guys about a topic that I believe that we all go through. Whether we realize it or not. And it is something that is prevalent in the church. And the reason why it is prevalent in the church is because it is common among people. And the church is comprised of people. And so whenever you have people, you will have this idea. And today I want to talk to you guys about roots. And the title of my message this morning is roots run deep. Roots run deep. Can we say that? Say roots run deep. And so it's true that our roots run deep.

There are some things that have been instilled in you since you were a child that you still do to this day. Things that you saw your grandparents do and your parents do. And now without even trying it, without even doing it intentionally, you are doing yourself. Why? Because those roots run deep. And I believe that not only has this worked its way into our own laws, but it has begun to work its way into the church. Because a lot of times we take our preferences and our opinions and our feelings and the way we grew up, our culture. And that then begins to creep its way into the church. To be truly honest with ourselves, that becomes our standard for what we believe in. Our feelings, our emotions, our preferences, that becomes our theology. That becomes what we base our lives on, what we are rooted in. But I want to be here today to tell you transformation church that the only standard that we should be rooted in is the Word of God. And if there is anything besides that, then we will begin to see that the fruit that we produce is different from what God wants us to produce in our lives. So we are going to talk about that, but I wanted to see if we live the same lives. If our childhood was the same, and maybe if you are an parent in this room, I am sorry, but I am going to come for you a little bit. It is that my parents say, we were with the youth team, and we were just hanging out, and a lot of our youth leaders, we said this phrase, and I don't remember how the conversation came about, but we said this phrase, we said, you get what you get, and you don't get upset. And they're like, that's not how we say it here. We throw a little southern twang on it, and they said, hey, you get what you get, and you don't fuss a fit. And I was like, that's just the southern twang, it's basically the same thing. But it was kind of like, hey, we almost lived the same childhood, our parents said the same thing. So this is a list of things that my parents said that I believed when I was younger, and they were rooted in me since my childhood. And so here's the first one, this one isn't really saying, it was really like an action that I did, and this was a reaction to the action. They said this, if you leave the light song in the car, you're going to get pulled over. Has anybody's parents ever told on that? They're like, I just found out recently that that's not true. I was living a lie my entire life. while we're driving, a cop is just going to appear out of thin air and pull us over, right? That's not true, so bam, myth busters, that myth is busted, but all parents knew to say that. I don't know why, maybe they got irritated that the lights were on in the back

and they didn't want anybody doing anything back there so they're like hey listen, turn the lights off or else we're gonna get pulled over. Here's another one, I think that this one's so funny 'cause it's kind of ironic. If you don't stop crying, I'm going to give you something to cry about. Listen, I thought that this one was so funny because I'm like, wait a minute, I'm literally crying right now. Like I don't need a reason to cry. I'm actively crying right now. But guess what, when they said that, I stopped crying. It worked, it worked, right? And that's kind of what happens, all parents came together, right? They had a parent committee amongst all of the United States and said hey listen, this is what we're gonna say to get them to stop crying, right? This one is fun, this is usually when you do an activity and you are guilty by association, they say this, they say hey, if so and so jumped off of a bridge, would you jump off of a bridge? Listen, I knew how to break this one early. All you have to do is say yeah, I probably would. And then it just defeats that purpose. I have two more for you guys. Or no, one more, one more for you guys. This is something, I think we all know this. Again, I think that all the parents got together

collectively and said hey, this will be how we get our children to stop saying certain things. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all, right? And you see how we all knew that? It was rooted in us since we were younger that this was going to be what we went through. So it's almost like we all lived the same childhood, right? Regardless how old or how young we are in this room, you've either said it or you had it said to you. And so these were engraved in our minds when we were younger and they are part of our core beliefs rooted in us since a young age. But I have a question for you. What has been deeply rooted in you when it comes to your walk with Christ? What are some things that you believe when it comes to your walk with Christ? What are some behaviors that you attribute to being holier than or not holier than? What are some things that you have believed in things that have been rooted in you when it comes to church, when it comes to your walk with Christ? Because again, like I said, a lot of times our preferences, our opinions, how we feel about certain things, that has become our rule of thumb. That has become our standard. So we say things like, hey, listen,

this is how worship should be. This is how the message should be delivered. This is how people should treat me when I come to church. And a lot of times we get to this mindset in this frame of where we are becoming a place of spiritual consumption. Over time, church has unintentionally become a place of spiritual consumption rather than a place of spiritual development. Right, the purpose of the church, the purpose of people that are coming together, one is yes, you are supposed to be in community, right? That's why I love that we are collectively here, we are together, right? We are meant to be in community. We are meant to do life together. But the purpose of the church is to equip the saints for the kingdom. So everyone is to have a job and a responsibility where they come and they don't just come to church and say, hey, what does the church have for me? What can I get from the church? But we have this mentality to say, hey, what can I do for my neighbor? What can I do for people that are in my workplace? What can I do for my friends? What can I do for strangers? What can I do for enemies? How can I impact somebody's life? Not because it's about me,

but it's because it is about Jesus Christ. That's the place that we need to be in. That's where we need to be rooted. And so we need to move from this consumer culture to where we are being developed and we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that leads us to want to change the lives of other people. And here's the thing, subconsciously, when you come to church, you ask yourself, coming to church right because you are always the star in your movie think about it whenever you have a dream you don't dream about somebody else being the star you're the star you're in front of the stage singing the thousands of people you are the one that is winning that has the last-minute shot and you may have never played a sport ever in your life but guess what when you're dreaming it you definitely have you are the MVP you are the star in your own movie and so again that has made its way into the church so you ask yourself this hey what do I gain from attending church what what does the church what can the church do for me and you have these amazing things right community you have a place to heal maybe you want moral alignment you know that without Jesus I would not be here right without Jesus I would not be here and so maybe it's a place of moral alignment maybe you're looking for a place to serve right to get more involved you're using a place that you can operate in your giftings and the talents that God has given you maybe you want spiritual discipleship these are all great reasons right none of these reasons are bad these are reasons why you should belong to a church but the problem begins where the church is your only place of spiritual development here's point number one your faith should never be subjected to a Sunday morning your faith should never be subjected to a Sunday morning right a lot of us again this is a place that we can check off the box right we this is how we determine if we're saved or not did I go to church right but that is not the standard that God looks at it and that is not

the standard that we should be looking at it God has intended for you to build and develop godly character that comes by remaining in him everybody say this word abide we are meant to abide in Christ right and we talked about this for a bond means that you live there right that is where you are constantly at and so we can't say that that our the church cannot be our only place of spiritual development because at best you are only in church two times a week right for for the youth of the YA you guys are here during the midweek and then you come on a Sunday for everybody else maybe you're here for a small group or something that happens so you're only at church two times a week and so if church is the only place that we're you get spiritually fed if you only ate two times during the week don't you think you'd be hungry right but we would never go we would never go throughout the entire week and not and only eat twice but we do it spiritually all of the time John 15 four through five says this it says remain in me and I will remain in you for a branch cannot produce fruit everybody say fruit if it is severed from the vine you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me right and then it says this as well it says yes I am the vine you are the branches Jesus lets you know right away who he is right he says I am the vine you are not the source he is the source our job is to be connected to the source a lot of times we get that mixed up we want to live our independent Christian life I am the source of everything good happening in my life realizing that but without Christ we can do nothing that's exactly what the Scripture says it says those who remain in me and I am them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing so that's where we need to begin to be church that's where we need to begin to live understanding that when we are rooted if we need to be rooted in that I need to remain in Christ I need to abide in who he has called me to be we need to build and develop character by reflecting Jesus this means that we live the word here's the here's the thing we can read the word and not live the word right we can we can live the word or we can read the word and not live the word what does this look like this looks like it's like okay when you have a gym membership they are banking that you will

not go to that gym right they're like and that's why It's like the worst thing ever. You're like, you don't want to go to a gym anymore or like you need to cancel it. You have to go into the gym. Then explain to them why you don't want the membership anymore. And then they're going to have with you on why you need to keep that membership, right? But here's the reality. This is what it looks like. It looks like you can walk into the gym and never work out. You need to make the conscious decision, hey, if I'm going to be fit, I am going to choose to walk in, but not just walk in. I'm going to choose to live this out. I'm going to choose to work out. And so what it looks like is it looks like you come to church on a Sunday, but you don't practically apply what you wear it on a Sunday and learned on a Sunday throughout Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, right? That's what it looks like. It looks like we're reading and we're doing all of the things that we are supposed to do. 'Cause here's the thing, I'm not saying that we shouldn't do those things. But it would mean absolutely nothing

if we read the word, but we don't live it, right? If we read about forgiveness, but then we still have unforgiveness in our heart. If we read about loving people, but we allow for people to pass by us all the time, if we read about being an example for who Christ has called us to be, but every time we get surrounded by our friends or by our workplace or a place where we feel comfortable, we compromise what the word says because we want to fit in. It says this in James 122 through 25. And I love James, you're gonna hear me quote James a lot 'cause it's so simple, such a simple book. It tells you do this, this will happen. Don't do this, this will happen. But it says this, it says do not merely listen to the word and so you deceive yourselves, right? That is what it looks like. Again, going back to that gym analogy, if I were to walk into a gym, leave the gym and said, I'm going to be better because of that, guess what? I am deceiving myself. And so if you walk into a church, you go out, you don't live out the word that you just learned about and read about, guess what? You are deceiving yourself. And so the Bible says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself, do what it says.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and then after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. We talked about this before. Do not allow the version of you on a Sunday to be unrecognizable to the version of you Monday through Saturday. That can't happen. We need to understand that, hey, who I am trying to be, this is not a front, this is not fake, I'm going to be real and authentic at church because guess what? I know I'm going to be real and authentic when it comes through Monday through Saturday. I need to allow for God to change my life, transform my life so that I can start doing what he has called me to do. Don't forget what you look like, right? This version of you is great, right? For a lot of you, this is the only version of you I get to see, I love this version of you, right? This version of you is awesome. But we need to understand that this needs to be who we are all of the time. We need to begin to practically do things that say, hey God, I want a relationship with you that goes beyond my Sunday morning experience. You see a lot of us, what ends up happening is we treat the church like it's a door dash

or a new breed, right? I love DoorDash, I have DoorDash, like the upgraded, the premium version. That's so crazy, that's like the big back in me, I'll have like a DoorDash premium, that's kind of wild. But hey, listen, you save a lot of money on it if you DoorDash some things. It's for the church, I'll be doing it for the kids guys, come on, nah jah. Oh, so, they're like, no you don't, that's crazy. All right, so, but we treat it like a DoorDash or Uber eats, someone else does all of the work and then we get to eat. We get to benefit from it, right? I tell the youth students, I tell the young adults like, hey, when you guys come and you guys listen to a word, that's awesome, we love that. But you're coming and you're seeing what I had to eat, right? And now I'm giving it to you. And that's what we do, but we need to be living out the word. That's how we take what we have and we begin to share it with the world, right? We hope that we get spiritually fed enough to last us throughout the week, but that's not what God wants for you. Don't underestimate the calling that God has for your life. Don't think that this has to happen because you think that only a pastor or a deacon or somebody that serves on the worship team or someone that is, you think that is more spiritually mature

than you can go out and do the work, right? That's not what the Bible teaches. When people got transformed by Jesus, they went right away to tell everybody, right? Think about the woman at the well. As soon as Jesus transformed her life, she went right back into the place where she wanted to be hidden and she told everybody about what Jesus did for her. So then by the time Jesus came back to that place, everyone knew about who he was. My question to you is when people go into the places that you have been, do they know who Jesus is? When people go to the places that you've been and you were like, listen, they used to know me as this, but guess what? God has transformed my life. A lot of us are not sharing the transformative power. We're keeping that to ourselves. I like to look at it like this 'cause I used to be stuck in that. I used to really be in this place of where I'm like, I don't want people to know how transformed I truly am because then they might look at me different. They may start acting different around me. And I used to think that that was a bad thing, but it's not. Imagine people saying, because you walked into the room, I want to live more holy. Because I know not because of who you are,

but because of the power of the Holy Spirit that's working in you, right? And so I used to think this and I'm hiding the transformative power that Jesus had done in my life. And this is what it's like. You are committing treason against the kingdom of God. God did something for you and now you're refusing and you're holding back what he can do in somebody else's life, right? And so we need to move to a place where we say, "Hey, this is not what roots me. "This is not who I am," right? Because here's the next point. Your character is a reflection of your roots. Who you are, what makes you, you, is a reflection of your roots, right? Whatever you are based in, whatever is your standard, that is a reflection of who you are going to be. It says this in Jeremiah 17, verses seven through eight. It says, "But bless are those who trust in the Lord "and have made their hope and confidence. "They are like trees planted along the riverbank "with roots that reach deep into the water. "Such trees are not bothered by the heat "or worried by long months of drought. "Their leaves stay green and they never, "somebody say never, stop producing fruit." These trees are rooted, the Bible says that they're rooted in the ground so much so

that when storms come, they are unbothered. If we're being honest with ourselves, a lot of us in church, we get bothered. We get bothered, and because we are bothered by the outside circumstances and all the things that are happening around us, instead of being rooted, we begin to be uprooted, but we need to understand this, that storms do not dictate the health of the tree the roots do. What is happening on the outside? On the different circumstances in your life, what is happening around you has nothing to do with how you should be reacting. But a lot of us, what we try to do is based off of what happens to us, that is what comes out. Right, and you're like, "Hey, listen, Chris, "hey, you don't know what they did to me. "Hey, you don't know the situation "that I'm going through right now. "You don't know the hardship and the trauma "and all of the things that I have to deal with, "and I'm not trying to dismiss that." But I want us to understand what the standard and what the baseline is. 'Cause here's the thing, what if our Lord and Savior, what if Jesus reacted based off of what happened to Him? Right, it will be one thing if He deserved the beating that He got. It will be one thing if He deserved the torment and the torture that He received.

But imagine being undeserving of those things because you came to earth, live a perfect life. There is nothing that you are going through in life that Jesus didn't have to go through. But the way that He reacts to us, and i don't know who needs to hear this not even in my notes he is there on a cross he's already been beaten beyond recognition he's already at the point of where they spit on him and they mocked him and keep in mind jesus yes he was fully man but he was fully god this is his literal creation that's doing this to him and while other people would have decided hey those 12 legions sound real good right now to come down on earth and to wipe all of this clean jesus looks at them and says father forgive them for they do not know what they do that should be our standard church listen i know that we can get offended in church i know that church heard is real i know that there are things again that has because of what has happened to us and because of the situations that we have dealt with they have been rooted in who we are but it does not have to say that way because when god transforms you he unroots the things that are not supposed to be there and the things that he then gives to you then gets deeply rooted and then you're not bothered by what other people say about you you're not bothered by the circumstances that are happening around you you're not bothered by the way that they mistreated you because you can say listen i don't care about what any other anybody else has to say i understand that i am about my father's business and if god told me to do this i'm gonna do this if he told me to go here i'm gonna go here i'm not unbothered by the storm because my roots run deep and so we need to begin to root ourselves in the word of god and this is why you root yourselves in the word of god because the word of god never changes the word of god is constant it talks about it in john one in the beginning was the was the word and that has never changed and so if you want to be rooted to the place of where you can grow because here's the thing you cannot grow in a place where you are not planted if you are constantly changing the soil in which you are in you will never be able to grow and so you need to be able to grow in a place in which you are planted and many of us have uprooted ourselves because we are in convenience and then we complain that we

cannot grow you need to be rooted in the word of god because that is how you are able to grow because the word of god is never going to change so guess what when when things are happening around you when things are happening in the world when things are happening in politics when things are happening in situations that you don't agree or you do agree you can say i am grounded in the word of god that is my baseline that is what i will base everything on and you will begin to see your life change because here's the thing when you are in when you are rooted in the things of the world you respond in a worldly manner because that is your roots that is what makes you who you are right let me give you some examples someone mistreats you so guess what you mistreat that right it's like that old lion king saying um what was that little uh little creature in lion king um i don't know but this is a famous quote that he had when the world turns his back on you you turn your back yeah i knew that way too quick i'm gonna go i'm gonna go on this side because those people they to be best lived over there but when the world turns his back on you you turn your back on the world right that's what happens when you're rooted in a worldly manner you say hey listen you didn't be wrong guess what i'm gonna do you wrong and most times i'm gonna try to do you one better than you didn't mean when faced with confrontation instead of reconciliation you isolate this one's big right someone someone comes to you and and they they confront you on something and you say you know what i'm just gonna remove myself and i'm not saying there's not a time and place to remove yourself but our our initial reaction should be you know what how can i reconcile what's going on right This one was, I didn't wanna write this one 'cause sometimes this is me, God forgive me. God's working on my heart, y'all. When someone criticizes you, you wait for the opportunity to criticize them. You've ever been thinking in your head, like someone said something against you, and then they mess up and you're like, "Hmm, you pop up at the right time." Hey, remember that time when you said, right, and you're waiting.

That's your whole thought process. Hey, I'm just waiting for the moment. I'm waiting for the moment. They say this so I can come back and I can get back at them. That's what happens when you're rooted in the world, but look at what happens when you're rooted in the word, because when you're rooted in the word, you begin to produce fruit, right? You begin to produce the fruit of the spirit. And so you respond because if the fruit of the spirit is the only thing that you are concentrating on, then that's the way that you are going to respond, amen? And so when someone mistreats you, you respond in love, right? You say it is so hard to be mad at somebody who loves you. Especially when they are somebody that you mistreated and they respond in love, right? It is one of the craziest things that you could ever encounter. When you mistreat someone and they say, "Instead of them coming back at you, "you've already put your guard up because you knew, "hey, this person might be coming back at me." And they say, "You know what? "I forgive you." Why? Because I'm choosing to love you over mistreating you. Right, it's so hard to be angry at someone like that. And then here's the thing, because a lot of times

what happens is they allow for God to deal with the situation. And trust me, it is much scarier when people allow for God to deal with the situation than it is for you to deal with the situation, right? If I'm ever in a confrontation or an argument with someone and they say, "You know what? "I'm just gonna God handle it." Listen, I'm getting right with you right there, right? 'Cause I don't want God to deal with me on this matter. Right, I'd rather deal with it between me and you before big G-O-D has to deal with me, amen? And so that's the way that we need to respond. Hey, when Facebook confrontation, you respond with truth and Scripture. Hey, this is what the Bible says. And so if I'm out of line in this, then we're gonna allow the Bible to correct me, right? And just in the way of I'm going to allow for you to come in this situation and say, "Hey, this is what the Word says about this." And when being criticized, you've refocused yourself to the calling that God has for you. Understand this, how you respond in public has a lot to do with what goes on in private. How you respond in public has a lot to do with how you respond in public. And we're about to close here, but it says, in Matthew 6-4, it says, "Give your gifts in private and your Father who sees everything will award you."

Understanding your character, the things that you are rooted in, not everyone has to see. Not everyone needs to see exactly the things that God is working and dealing with you in your life. When you are diligent in your walk with Christ behind closed doors and you feel as if no one sees or no one recognizes, understand this, God does. God sees you being faithful. A lot of times we want other people to see our faithfulness. We want other people to see how we've been forgiven. We want other people to see how we've been doing all of these things, but God sees it and he rewards it. Because when other people see it, guess what? There's your reward. The Bible says it, "You have received your reward when other people can see what you have done and you make it a point for other people to see." But when God is the one that sees it and God is the one that recognizes it. - Tom, there we go. - Can you guys give it up for our sound and production team? This has full battery, so that may have been me. I don't know what that was, but you guys do a great job. Thank you. But that's why it's important to be real and authentic in your faith and in your wealth with Christ. Because hardship will come. Hard times will be there. Right, the Bible talks about it. You will go through trials.

You will go through tribulations. You will go through hard times. But we know that we have ordered, Am I going to be rooted in the things of the world? Or am I going to allow for God to put me through a certain series of tests? I know that my character grows. This is the last point your character grows when your faith is tested. That's how you grow your character. That's how character is built when your faith is tested. You see, there's often a phrase that is used when it comes to hardships that we have to endure in the hard times that we face. When they say this, they say that it builds character. My parents, they were very different. My mom would always, like a mother would, she always wanted to nurture, always wanted to be there. Everything I ever went through, my mom was like, "I was in college, I lived four hours away." She'd be like, "I'll drive there, I'll get there, I'll make sure that he's okay and what not." My dad was like, "No, it's okay, it's going to build character." That's how he always was like, "Hey, it's going to build character." I remember, I used to not like having them come to my sports games because they would be like two opposites of what it would look like. I remember I was playing football and I ran and I turned around and I got blindsided and I got hit. It was a clean shot. It got hit me right in the ribs. It was good. It tackled me. I felt like I got hit by a truck. It was a big hit. I remember, I thought that I was dying. It was the worst pain that I've gone through. At that time, I was younger and whatnot. I really just got the wind knocked out of me, but it felt like I got knocked out of that. I remember getting my air back and when you get the wind knocked out of you, you have to slowly regain it so you get a big breath. Then it comes back, you're finally revived or whatever. I remember my mom, she is flipping out. She's trying to come down the stands and see if I'm okay. I could hear her yelling and my dad is like, "Are you good, son?" It builds character, right? That's just how they were, but understanding this, hard times in life, we're not meant for us to have a difficult, unbearable life that we cannot handle. It seems as if we can't handle it and that's the point. Let me tell you why, because they serve as an opportunity to lean on God. God wants to put situations in our life that when we see them, guess what?

We're like, "Yeah, I don't know how I'm going to handle it." Then God looks at us and he says, "That's exactly where I want you to be." Can anybody testify to that this morning? That when we look at the situations in our life and it seems as if it is too much for us to handle, too much to bear, God looks back and says, "That's exactly where I want you to be because now you have to depend on me." And when you do that, you will begin to see that God will turn things around for good. James 1, 2 through 4, this is the last scripture we're going to read and then we're going to close. It says this, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many con, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." Everybody say perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Everything you need, your father already has it covered. But we need to stop relying on ourselves in our own strength because that is never enough. We need to understand that our character grows when our faith is tested. Church is a great place for this to happen, but it shouldn't be the only place. Church is necessary and it should be utilized to aid and help with your spiritual development, but the church should not be the sole factor of your faith. The Bible talks about it, it says that troubling times will come, but these troubling times are not meant for us to live a life that is unbearable and unmanageable. These troubling times are meant for us to live a life where we say, "God, I need you." God may be there. I need you to uproot them so you can begin to plant a new seed in my life. - Thank you so much for tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, make sure you subscribe. Also, if something spoke to you in a special way, share it with a friend because you never know how it could transform someone's life. If you're interested in checking out our service times,

make sure you go to our website at transformtlh.com. And we hope to see you at TC on a Sunday. Thanks so much and have a great day. [BLANK_AUDIO]