Uproot | Sara Vargas

Lord, we thank you. We praise you. We honor you. You guys may be seated. Well, good morning. It is a great day to celebrate all the women in our lives. And, you know, I do want to acknowledge that for a lot of people, this is painful. This is a painful day. A lot of people don't even like to come to church on Mother's Day because it's so painful. Broken relationships. Moms that have passed away already. I've been missing my mom for 13 years now, and I just can't believe how time flies. I just, I still love her so much. I miss her so much. But I'm just so thankful that I have the joy of the Lord in me who sustains me. And that is my prayer for you today. If you find yourself with a little bit of heartbreak today, for whatever reason, that the Lord just wrap his arms around you and comfort you in the best way that he knows how. Well, we here at Union Houston, we exist to connect people to God with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless of your past, your struggles, your doubts, Jesus loves you right where you are. But you know what? He loves you way too much to leave you where you are. Even those right now that are watching us online or watching us on the Pando app, I pray that this message reaches you. We've been in Rooted, and it is a sermon series that takes us on a journey to becoming established in Jesus Christ. You know, we're all here seeking the same thing, a relationship with Jesus, but a relationship that transforms us into his likeness. It's been a great, amazing month of learning how to be rooted. Bloom, where we seek God, how to garden, what God has given us. And last week, Pastor Andre challenged us about being planted and making sure that we actually bear fruit. If you've missed any of these messages, please go back to our YouTube channel and watch them and get caught up. They're just life changing. Well, we've been addressing all these surface level things that we need to deal with to be rooted. But today, I want to talk about the deep roots that don't belong in our lives, because total transformation cannot happen until we lay axe to those roots. You know, maybe you've been doing all the right things, but you find yourself in a stuck place, in a negative or repetitive cycle, never able to get ahead in life, or something is always happening to you. You know, we carry things in our lives that were never meant to take root. Habits, attitudes, fears, and even relationships that hinder our growth and keep us from moving forward. So today, I want to talk to you about the things we need to uproot that are holding us back from living the life that God wants for us. So if you'll stand with me today, let's stand for the reading of the gospel today.

We are in Matthew 15, 1 through 12. So some Pharisees and teachers of the religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. And they asked him, why do your disciples disobey your age old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand-washing before they eat. And Jesus replied, and why do you, by your traditions, violate direct commandments from God? Because God says, honor your mother and father, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of your father and mother must be put to death. But you say, it's all right for people to say to their parents, sorry, I can't help you. That is the word today. In this way, you say you don't need to honor your parents. And so you cancel out the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites, Jesus says. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about this. you for he wrote these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me their worship is a farce they teach man-made ideas as commands from God then Jesus called the crowd to come and listen and he says try to understand it's not what goes in your mouth that defiles you but you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth then the deep disciples they came to and they said Jesus do you realize that you offended the Pharisees by what you just said and then Jesus makes this profound statement that we're gonna be at for much of this message he says every plant not planted by my heavenly father will be uprooted so Lord we thank you today God we thank you God that that you are about to convict some hearts today God Lord that your word goes forth and it is truth Lord we thank you God that that you're you want to change hearts today father God you want to soften hearts today God you want to uproot the things that don't belong in our lives today God so God help us to surrender to your will help us to be willing vessels today father God and I ask right now that you you comb any distraction that's going on in their minds right now and you open ears you open eyes and you open hearts to receive your word and it is Jesus mighty name that we pray amen and amen you may be seated so let's talk about this passage because Jesus is responding to the Pharisees who are religious and

offended that his disciples did not follow the ceremonial rules of traditional hand-washing in fact you know the Pharisees they were always on a mission to scrutinize and catch Jesus doing something that they disapproved of this is a religious response that needs to be rooted out because Jesus he doesn't focus on human traditions he points to the deeper spiritual truth the foundation of our lives must be rooted in God's will not merely customs traditions or man-made ideas or preferences what God has not planted will be uprooted anything built on deception on selfish ambition on corrupt leadership will eventually be dealt with new Jesus warns us here that every plant not planted by God will be pulled up by the roots so we are responsible for doing the work to examine what needs to be uprooted from our hearts and minds you know there is danger in tradition without truth the Pharisees were fanatics about their traditions but their hearts they were far from God we have to continually ask ourselves do we have some Pharisee in us because there are some modern day Pharisee things that we do like believing that showing up to church every Sunday makes you right with God guys this is a ritual and rituals that look good on the outside don't necessarily mean inner transformation of the hearts so don't be deceived that attendance equals spiritual maturity justifying your sin rather than being humble and repentant don't get so focused on what you believe to be right that you overstep what the Bible says you see the Pharisees were calling out the disciples so Jesus had to step in and point out that they were not even following one of the commandments some of you guys read your Bible to win an argument rather than to actually be transformed. Don't honor Jesus with your lips when your heart is far from God. Because scripture should be used to develop our character and not used as a weapon against others. Here's another one.

If someone tries to correct you and you get angry and offended. You know, many times we confuse convictions by God with offense, because our flesh doesn't like it. You know, Jesus was speaking truth to the Pharisees and they were deeply offended rather than looking inward to what they needed to change in their lives. Prioritizing rules and traditions over loving others. This is exactly what Jesus was addressing. When we say yes to following Jesus, God only cares about what is going on deep down in our hearts. We are called to love one another and to be ambassadors of Jesus. So the question is, what inside of you today needs to be rooted out? As we've been learning this past month, Jesus often uses the metaphor of plants and roots to describe people and teachings. Just as a healthy plant must have good roots, our spiritual lives must be rooted in God or eventually it will be uprooted. God knows what will produce healthy growth and what needs to be uprooted. And sometimes God must pull up what doesn't belong and that includes bad habits, attitudes, or beliefs that will hinder our spiritual growth. Uprooting, it's necessary. Uprooting is not a fun or easy process,

but it is necessary to make room for new growth that will bear fruits. You know, all of us, we have dreams, we have callings, we have things we wanna achieve in life and we have purposes that God has specifically given us. But sometimes we feel stuck, we feel overwhelmed, we feel unable to move forward. These are deep rooted unhealthy habits, fears, unforgiveness, and relationships that keep us from growing. Hebrews 12, one says, strip off every unnecessary weight and the sin so that so easily and cleverly it entangles us. Unhealthy roots, they can entangle us. They become twisted and they become snarled and it makes it difficult for us to escape a situation. It's why you can start seeing some fruit in your life. You're taking healthy steps forward and suddenly you find yourself backsliding again. It's because you find yourself in these unhealthy patterns and cycles that you've been entangled in. We need to recognize these roots so that we can uproot them. What are the recurring habits, patterns, and thoughts that are growing roots and causing the weight of sin in your life? You know, it's easy to just make temporary changes without addressing the roots. If you don't address the roots, a temporary cuts will grow back. You see this deep work, this inner transformation work is surrender,

not just of our actions, but also of our hearts and our minds. A few weeks ago, I spent the week watching my granddaughter and you know, that includes watching their mini farm. And I'm not a country girl. I do listen to some country music, but I can, you know, about five days in the country, that's my limit, but it is peaceful. And it can be really quiet except, you know, for the dogs barking, the roosters crowing, and the dairy cows next door mooing. But I like my home in the city where I can actually walk to get coffee. I can walk to get groceries. I can walk. to grab something to eat. I just liked the convenience of everything I need bearing down the street, instead of having to drive at least 30 minutes somewhere. While I was having my morning coffee out on the back porch, I was just praying to the Lord and God gave me such a beautiful visual for this message. You see, I saw on the property, there's an existing vegetable garden that the previous owners had. It even has an irrigation system. You can tell at one time that the owners spent a lot of time and attention in this garden, but now what remains is dead, overgrown,

and hasn't been cared for in a really long time. It needs life to be breathed back into it. And maybe this is how you're feeling today. Your life feels like chaos. It feels unorganized. It feels dry. It feels choked out by the weeds. Deep down, you can't see them, but there is a web of entangled roots causing complicated situations. But you know what? Here's the good news. This may look like a mess and seem like an impossible amount of work, but when I look at it, I see potential. I see what a harvest looks like with time and being intentional with growing a garden. You see, we uproot with God's help. We cannot uproot by our own strength alone. The Holy Spirit empowers us through prayer, confession of our sins, accountability from others, and sometimes even counseling. God helps us dig up those roots. Psalms 139, 23, 24, one of my favorite scriptures says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Point out anything in me that offends you, God, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. You know, this scripture has such a deep meaning because it asks God to root out the things

that don't belong in our lives. And then he leads us on the right path. It should be something that we ask God to do daily in our lives because so many of us don't want to look inward and say, God, what is offensive in me? What is the sin that I need to deal with? You see an order here in this scripture. God leads us on the path of everlasting only after our hearts have been rooted out. You see, God, he is like a master tiller who works the soil of the human heart and prepares it for growth and fruitfulness. A tiller, I have one shown in this picture, has a primary function to break up hard, compacted soil and uproot weeds and root systems to prevent regrowth. You see, we all want the benefits of being fruitful and a higher purpose and calling, but rarely are we willing to endure the pain of the tilling process. We also have to allow time for the tilling process. You know, too many of us try to jump right into a harvest season when God has barely scratched the surface of what needs to be uprooted. Yeah. Life experiences can harden our hearts and tilling breaks up hard ground and uproots pain, pride, wrong beliefs and control. God will use trials and disappointments and a rock bottom place to break up the areas

in our lives that have become hardened to his word. Because tilling removes what doesn't belong. It's uprooting mental and emotional weeds that keep you stuck. You know, some uprooting that needs to happen in our. Emotional, our emotional garden, if you will, is things like uprooting, limiting beliefs. Because many of us hold on to beliefs about ourselves or our future that are just not true. They are lies from the enemy. Thoughts like, I'm not good enough. I'll never change. I can't succeed. I'm always gonna be this way. These thoughts were not planted by God. And when we allow these beliefs to take root, they stunt your potential and choke out new opportunities before they can grow and bloom. These self-imposed beliefs kill your confidence, kill your self-worth, and kill your identity. And the enemy lives in these wrong thinking and beliefs. Next is we need to uproot unhealthy relationships. We often keep people rooted in our lives out of obligation and history with them. Even if they're draining the life out of us, certain relationships can pull us away for God's best in our life. It may be difficult, but there are times we need to set boundaries or distance ourselves

from influences that lead us astray, cause harm, or keep us entangled. I just had a thought on this, on relationships. Too many of you guys are entertaining relationships out of loneliness. Hmm. Could it be that God is preparing the right person for your life or has prepared the right person for your life, but you have the wrong person in place and you're missing out? I know it hurts. Some of you guys have been in these relationships with people for years. That's what I mean by history. History, but you need to allow your history to be his story when you let go of them. We have to uproot our comfort zones. Spiritual growth rarely happens in a controlled, comfortable environment. To see what you're really capable of, to allow God to take you higher and give you new growth, you have got to uproot your safe routines. What do I mean by that? Some of you guys love to say that you're not a people person. People irritate you. I deal with people all day long at work. I'm an introvert. This is the one I love too. I don't need any more new friends or family members.

Yes, you do, because you got the wrong ones. I know this point doesn't seem that great, but it really does, because the devil lives in your comfort. The devil likes to say, you're good right where you're at. Keep sitting in those seats. Keep sitting on that sideline. And God does not have the opportunity to raise you up because you're sitting in your comfort zone. So my suggestion to you is join a team to serve on. Sign up for our next connect group. We're on a few weeks of a break, but we're gonna have signups opening. And every person in the church, including our kids, including our youth, are going through seeds together. Okay? So you don't have the excuse of, which group do I need to pick? And I don't know which one I wanna do. We're all doing the same thing. No excuses. It's the perfect time to try something new, to meet new people, and realize, you know what? This small group thing, I actually really like it. I'm seeing life change here. I'm actually meeting people that are on the same journey as me. It's amazing what a connect group will do. We've got to uproot negative patterns, old habits or destructive behaviors. They linger beneath the surface, quietly influencing our actions and attitudes. It could be resentment. It could be jealousy. It could be self-doubt or tendency to compare yourself to others. These patterns do not bear good fruit. Instead, they drain our energy and distract us from God's purpose for our life.

This is a big one. We need to uproot generational roots. We call them generational curses. If it's new to you, this includes patterns of failure, of delay, of poverty, of addiction that seems to repeat over and over again. You've got to go through the process of uprooting and identifying and stopping the negative patterns that continue in your family line. Because they're there. If you track back, if you're able to look back at your family history, your mother's line, your dad's line, you're going to find something there. Because our history is long, generations after generations. And sometimes, you know, God has to reveal what's there because you just don't know. Because a lot of times our family members aren't honest. You know, they've covered up the things that your aunt and uncle did. You know, they lied about their history of adultery. There's always these family secrets. And sometimes you never get to the root of what's really going on. So spending time with the Lord and saying, Lord, reveal to me what needs to be uprooted so I can repent on behalf of my family and be free. Here's one that you guys don't think of a lot. I've had to spend much time repenting in my family line for mental illness. Bad mental illness. Not just depression, but schizophrenia. And I have cut that at the root. I have said no more. From me and my children are healed and will not suffer from the same generational curses. And you can do the same thing. We've got to uproot fear and worry. Fear and worry grow like weeds and they choke out joy and peace. And God calls us to trust Him and let go of any anxious thoughts. When we surrender our fears to God. When we cast our cares to the Lord. That was my mom's favorite scripture. She said, I'm casting, not throwing. I'm casting. I'm casting like a line that's gonna go far. I'm casting my cares to the Lord.

When we do that, we make room for faith and hope that the weeds have choked out. We make room. And God flourishes hope and joy in us. As we allow God to till our hearts and they become softened and open to His will for our lives. Allow the Holy Spirit to highlight the habits, the attitudes, and the relationships that are hindering your growth. This ongoing process, and I say ongoing because it's forever, is sanctification. Because we continually uproot what does not belong in our lives. To see true transformation happen, you must surrender and invite God to garden your heart. and not resist his telling process. Uprooting, he makes way for the harvest. After the uprooting, we must plant what is good. Replace limiting beliefs with God's truth for our lives. Negative patterns with forgiveness and acceptance and fear with worry, replace it with faith. Ephesians 4, 22 through 24 encourages us to put off your old self and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, holiness. Every time we remove what holds us back, we must fill that space with God's word, his truth, and his love. We call this the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And then you'll begin to see the evidence of transformation with fruit. Once the soil is ready and the seed is planted and in God's perfect timing, a harvest comes. You see, God plants his purposes and his promises in our hearts. And as we cooperate with his work, we begin to see the fruit of our lives,

spiritual fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. You know, the harvest, it's not always immediate, but it is certain for those who allow God to till their lives. Isn't this a beautiful image of what God wants for our lives, the picture of the garden? You know, I'm also planning a little garden in my own backyard, you know, a little city garden. And, but I had this thought, you know, before I go to all the trouble of having Pastor Rod build planter boxes and, you know, buying materials and tilling the land, it's a lot of work. Is this something that I can really commit my time and attention to? You know, so what I did was I actually bought two plants. I bought a tomato plant and I bought a cucumber plant to test myself. Could I be trusted with little before I was given a greater harvest? And I think that's where some of you are today. You want the whole garden right now, but you're not ready for the responsibility of tending a whole garden. Yeah. Luke 16, 10 says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much. This is a word for someone today. I feel it in my spirit as I'm stepping away from my notes. Some of you are like, why hasn't God elevated me? Why hasn't God put me in a higher place?

Why hasn't God given me an opportunity? It's a simple answer, because you're not ready. Because the tilling is not completed. Because there's things in your life that need to be rooted out. And sometimes I'm gonna say it, you like the entanglement. You like the dysfunction, but the reality is that's a lie of the enemy. You just don't know what it's like to be healthy. So I'm gonna challenge you today. If that is you today, I want you to ask God to test you with little. Can you be faithful with little? If it is something as simple as God is saying, read my word every day for 30 days, let's see what happens. If it's something as simple as be faithful to a connect group, let's see what happens. If it's something. simple as I am going to commit to serving my church every month. Let's see what happens because we get this inflated self of ourselves that we deserve something and the Lord is trying to say I'm trying to tell something out of you and you're running away from it. We've had people leave this church because they feel like they've been owed something but the reality is they weren't ready and they didn't want the chilling process because it hurt but then we have faithful servants that have been with us for 10 plus years and the Lord has elevated them in the natural order of things. You see you have to go through the entire maturing process and I feel like God is saying to some of you just start somewhere. In fact he may have told you to do something and you haven't done it yet. Just start somewhere. The band can come on up. You know I know a person who had a dead garden overgrown with deeply rooted weeds. Who was entangled with rejection and unforgiveness. Who lost her voice and purpose and was entangled in rooting and rotting roots. Who thought that she could till her own garden. Who thought that keeping things buried would solve her problems. Who was living in the victimization of her husband's addiction and her

father's abandonment. Who was just checking off the boxes of Christianity with no real transformation. Who mistook conviction for offense. Who could point out other people's faults but not her own. Who was overcome by generational curses. Who thought that by controlling loved ones and situations she felt better about herself. Whose identity was wrapped up in the world and worldly things. Who didn't know who she was or what God's purpose for her life was. But one day that person said to God search my heart and uproot whatever offends you Lord. And she began the long process of tilling soil. It was hard and sometimes she wanted to give up. But she kept going and she kept uprooting and uprooting and uprooting some more. And then she was healed enough to start planting and just a few seeds. They began to grow and then she planted more and more. And then she tended and took care of the garden faithfully every day for years. And her garden grew. And it bloomed. And there was a harvest. And you know what she is me. And it can be you too. What once looked dead can come alive if you fully surrender to Jesus. Uprooting it's not easy. I'm not going to lie to you. It takes honesty. It takes humility. And it takes help from God and others. You can't do it alone. But the reward is freedom, growth and a life that bears fruit for God's glory. God will bring forth new life in us. Some of you can't see it. But I feel like he wants to tell you today, if you could see what I have for you son or daughter, if you could just see the fruit that I want to bear in your life, you would catch on to that and allow me to do the hard tilling of the soil. What God plants will last forever and ever and generation and generation and legacy and legacy. Will you stand with me today? There's anything that was spoken here today that struck a chord with you. Let's just actually take a moment. I just want the Lord to speak to you today on things that need to be uprooted in your life. So, Holy Spirit, take over right now. Speak to your people, God. Convict their hearts right now. Show them the things that they need to repent of today, God. Thank you, God. God, we give you permission today. We give you permission today to uproot what needs to be uprooted. God, the addictions, the bad attitudes, God, the lies that we constantly tell ourselves uproot in the name of Jesus. God, we give you permission to uproot right now the generational curses, Father God, that's followed our family for far too long. God, we give you permission to uproot what does not belong. Lord, we give you permission to uproot what's been holding us back for years. God, uproot right now in the name of Jesus. God, we thank you for your healing power.

We thank you for your uprooting power. We thank you, God. We give you permission to till our hearts and make them soft, God. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. If there's anyone here today that felt that tug of conviction, that felt that sensation in their stomach, that irritation on their shoulders, the thought in their mind, the altar's full of people that want to be healed.