Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Soul Roots | Woman's Conference 2025
What does a truly thriving spiritual life look like? Drawing from Psalm 1 and Isaiah 61, we discover God's vision for us as "trees of righteousness"—firmly planted, deeply rooted, and continually bearing fruit regardless of surrounding circumstances. This message explores the fascinating parallel between mature trees in a windstorm and believers facing life's challenges. Just as the sturdiest trees may sway slightly at their highest branches while remaining unshaken at their core, our spiritual lives can demonstrate remarkable stability when properly rooted in God's presence and truth.
We're going to start this morning in Psalm, chapter 1, if you want to turn there. And, father, I thank you again, lord, just for your presence in this place and for our hearts being knitted together not just on a horizontal level, but on a vertical level. Father, with you, with the Holy Spirit, with the Word of God just imparted to our hearts and Holy Spirit, we're always so grateful, because you're really the true teacher. Open the eyes of our understanding that we may see things today that we've not seen before. Thank you for pulling out what doesn't need to be there, putting in what does need to be there. We thank you, Father, for fresh revelation and impartation by your spirit today, in Jesus name, amen, amen. Well, y'all are the real champions getting up on a Saturday morning and coming to church. Amen, on a holiday weekend, is it a holiday weekend? It kind of is right, so all right. Well, psalm, chapter one.
Speaker 1:I'm going to read verse one through three, but I'm going to read it. I don't know what happened my iPad started to die. I want to read it in the passion translation because it pulls out something that I want to highlight, but it says what delight comes to the one who follows God's ways. And I made it. I made it in the female. Okay, is that all right with y'all? We're going to make it in the female this morning. So she won't walk in step with the wicked, nor share the sinner's way, nor be found sitting in the scorner seat. Her passion is to remain true to the word of I am meditating day and night on the true revelation of light. She will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God's design, deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. She is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous. Amen. Don't you love that translation, it's so good.
Speaker 1:The Amplified says her delight and desire in the law of the Lord and on his law, the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God. She habitually meditates, ponders and studies by day and night. The message says she thrills at God's word. I like that. Chewing on scripture day and night, I like that too. And then again, passion. Her passion is to remain true to the word of I am meditating day and night on the true revelation of light. And all of those point to verse three, which reminds us that she will be standing firm. She is like a flourishing tree. She is planted by God's design. Amen, amen. So I want everybody to say this, say I am thriving. I am thriving and I really do pray that that becomes a daily declaration in your life.
Speaker 1:We read last night in Romans, chapter 11, verse 16, that if the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches. Well, that's why this tree is flourishing, because she found her place in the. I am in the word of God, in the spirit of God, amen. And you won't believe this. But the next verse I have to go to is Isaiah 61. So let's turn to Isaiah 61 this morning, because I want to read this to you and I love Isaiah 61.
Speaker 1:Pastor Claire was speaking to us from Luke, chapter 14, which is Jesus speaking from Isaiah. But you know, really, this portion of scripture is the basis for all Christianity. It really is His mantle, is our mantle, as she said Amen. So we're going to read verse one through three. But it says the spirit of the Lord, god is on me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of our God's vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees planted by the Lord to glorify him, amen. So all of that was to get to that portion. I love it.
Speaker 1:The new King James and I was reading from the Christian standard Bible. But the New King James says trees of righteousness, trees of righteousness. The Amplified says they'll be called oaks of righteousness, lofty, strong and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right, standing with God. The planting of the Lord that he may be glorified, that's what we want, amen. And then again, the passion is so poetic. I like the passion because it pulls out poetic. I'm really a new King James and now, this last year, the Christian standard has become a favorite. But but I love this. It says they will be known as mighty oaks of righteousness planted by Yahweh as a living display of his glory. Isn't that what we want? To be? A living display of his glory. That's the goal of heaven. That should be our goal. Want To be a living display of his glory. That's the goal of heaven, that should be our goal. Amen To be a living display of his glory.
Speaker 1:But now let's get to the nitty gritty and be honest. We don't always look like we're thriving Is that right? Like there's just seasons of growth and seasons of challenge, sometimes seasons of disappointment. Even that will test us. And so this past year my best friend of 46 years passed away, and I only mentioned that to tell you this one part.
Speaker 1:But we would have lunch. She was a principal at a school and so we would try to find lunch breaks. You know where she could break away from the school and we would get together. And so I looked forward to it every week, because her life was as busy as a principal as mine was in the ministry. And so I went to her house one day and I was parked in front of her house. It was a super windy day.
Speaker 1:I don't know how things are in Houston, but West Texas is so windy it's ridiculous, and we don't have the trees, so it just. Have you ever heard of a haboob? A haboob is a real thing. Y'all. Look it up. I could show you pictures on my phone, but it's a wall of dirt and you just it. I mean, it's like 20 stories high and you can see it coming and it's just coming and you don't want to get caught in it, but there's just nothing to stop it, and so it's just this wind.
Speaker 1:And so we were having an almost haboob type day and uh and I was waiting out in front of her house and I and I knew it was windy you could feel it when I was driving over there but I was parked in front of her house and uh and I was looking down the street and and she, we don't have a lot of trees in West Texas, or not in my area, unless they've been planted there by someone right. And so she lived on a on a street that was very mature, had all these mature trees, and I was looking to the left or the right and I I was like it doesn't even look windy outside, doesn't look it. And so I looked a little higher up at the tops of the trees, and they're all doing this. I was like there's the wind. But you know what is that a picture of? That is a picture of something really rooted, something really grounded, and even though there were storms and things going on. This is what it looked like. And I said, lord, that's what I want to look like when the storms come. I am calm, I am rooted in you. You might see a little of this, but I am solid in you. That's the goal, amen. That is the solid. I want to be like that and Jesus wants us to be like that, amen.
Speaker 1:So we're going to look at a couple of stories this morning that he told a couple of parables. I'm going to start in Luke, chapter 13. And I want to read the parable of the fig tree in Luke, chapter 13, verse six through nine. I'm going to read the new living. Jesus told the story. He said a man planted a fig tree in his garden and came back again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener I've waited three years and there hasn't been a single fig. Cut it down, it's just taken up space in the garden. But the gardener answered sir, give it one more chance, leave it another year and I'll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. And if we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.
Speaker 1:So I already said this, but can we admit it, we're not always thriving. Sometimes we look like this tree right and sadly cancel culture, which can show up in the church too, will say cut it down, they're not producing, write them off, right. That's what the world says and it creeps into the church. But if the world's not saying it, sometimes our own mirror says it, the enemy whispers. Those kinds of things you're doing no good. But we just read in Isaiah we're trees of righteousness, we're not trees of the law. Can I be very clear on that? We're trees of righteousness, not trees of the law. And so what was the law? We know the law? Uh, it was about performance, about performing the law. And so the law would say they're not performing, they have flaws, cut them off.
Speaker 1:But love, where does love come from? Our heavenly father, right? So love says no, no, no, give, give me a chance. I do my best work from the inside out, don't you love that? That's what love says. He looks at you and I. He says whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on just a second, I can't. I can't continue without telling you this real quick.
Speaker 1:But we've had a daycare since my daughter was two. We opened a parent's day out and then it has now evolved into a five-day daycare for littles up to five. We have a preschool and stuff and there were years where it was not thriving and the church was supporting it and it was just challenging and my husband would be like close it down, close it down, we've put too much money into it. And it was just challenging and my husband would be like close it down, close it down, we've put too much money into it. And I would be like the gardener, one more year, just one more year, like I just believe in this so much. We need it in our community. And we have now, for like the last 10 years, been the best daycare in Gaines County and I'm so grateful. We have like 140 kids and and and it's just been a need in the community.
Speaker 1:But sometimes you've got to defend things, you know, and I say that because sometimes you're going to have to stand in front of your mirror and defend yourself with the word of God. You're going to have to remind yourself of what he is saying over you Amen. And so love will always say give me a chance, give me a chance. And in John, chapter 15, verse one, jesus said I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. I like that. My father is the gardener. So what did the gardener, what did the keeper of the vineyard do in this parable? He said I'll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer, right? So we're going to come back and look at that in a moment.
Speaker 1:But I want to take a little rabbit trail around, because this is a parable and an illustration of how things work in the kingdom of God. And Jesus used many parables, right? But there's one, if you're familiar with this. There is one that he said if you understand this parable, you'll understand all the parables. So we're going to detour for just a moment and go look at that one so that we can come back and look at this one again, because I don't know about you, but I want to understand the words in the heart of Jesus. Right, that's what we want, and so I want to hear him when he speaks. I want to embrace kingdom principles, because that's how we're going to thrive. When we embrace what he has said, when we embrace how he says it, how things operate, then we're going to thrive, amen. And so let's turn over to Mark, chapter four, and because it's worth the time, I'm going to read verse 2 through 20. Let's just take a minute and read all of this. And so, starting in verse 2, it says he taught them many things in parables. And in His teaching he said to them Listen, consider the sower who went out to sow.
Speaker 1:As he sowed, some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn't have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn't deep. When the sun came up it was scorched and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn't produce fruit. Still, other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit. That increased 30, 60 and 100 times. And then Jesus said let anyone who has ears to hear listen. Verse 10,.
Speaker 1:When he was alone, those around him, with the 12, asked him about the parables, and he answered them the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside everything comes in parables, so that they may indeed look and yet not perceive. They may indeed listen and yet not understand, otherwise they might turn back and be forgiven. Then he said to them don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. Some are like the word sown on the path when they hear immediately, satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. And others are like seed sown on rocky ground when they hear the word immediately, they receive it with joy, but they have no root. They are short lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. Others are like seed sown among thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. And those like seeds sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it and produce fruit 30, 60 and a hundred times what was sown. So he said, if we understand this parable, we'll understand all the parables. And so the emphasis is the seed, and the seed is the word of God.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to stretch this for a minute because of how we started last night, and I want us to think about a growing seed, maybe even a small tree that's growing. I want you to picture that as we go through this. He said if you do, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? So let's just line this out. The parable of the sower is going to help us understand the parable of the barren tree. Okay, is that right? And so let's think about the barren tree. What was possibly keeping the barren tree from thriving? Well, according to the parable of the sower, it was the birds, it was the stones and it was the weeds. Is that right? He said we could apply that to that parable. So, in order to thrive, number one, you're going to have to protect what's growing. You're going to have to protect what's growing.
Speaker 1:Everybody say shoo the birds. Come on, we got to shoo the birds. Brother Hagin, he used to say this negative thoughts are like birds. You can't keep them from flying around your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. Right, you can do that. So, in other words, we've got to quit entertaining thoughts of doubt. We've got to quit entertaining thoughts of doubt. The devil doesn't want us to grow in our faith, so he's going to throw things at us. He looks for ways to trample our faith, trample the seed, because why? The word causes growth? The word always causes growth. The devil loves to steal it. He loves to kill it Anything he can to keep the word from producing in our lives. So we're going to have to everybody say shoo the birds.
Speaker 1:And I'll use this phrase we're going to shoo the doubts, anything that comes. Well, I don't know if God's going to show up this time. I don't know if he could. Really that seems impossible. You're gonna have to shoo that away, amen. And so you're gonna have to decide.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that I believe it. That settles it. I have that written in the front of all my Bibles. Because why it doesn't I don't have written. The Bible says that I understand it all. But that's what Paul prayed in Ephesians, chapter one, that I could pray for the eyes of my understanding to be enlightened. But I cannot just decide to not believe it and then expect results. So I'm going to have to shoo the bird, shoo the doubts, and then decide I'm going to believe God's word, no matter what, amen.
Speaker 1:So, number one we're going to shoo the birds. Number two you need to know the obstacles. So everybody say move the stones. Say it better. I know it's morning, move the stones, all right. So listen. The only difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is what you're doing with it. Right, you could step over it, you could step on around it or you could stumble across it, okay. So, in other words, when you stumble and we do sometimes but when you encounter an obstacle, we need to learn from it and, according to this parable, we need to fix the soil. We need to fix the soil. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I tried to look it up to see if this is a real thing, but Daphne has Daphne's given this a term the law of displacement. The law of displacement. I don't know if that's a real thing. I'm going to call it a thing, okay, but what am I saying? Two things cannot hold the same place at the same time. Right, that's what I'm talking about. Two things cannot hold the same place at the same time.
Speaker 1:And so when we look at this, uh, this scripture, it said that that, uh, that it had no this, this, this soil had no depth of earth, had no depth of earth. One translation said didn't have much soil. And then Jesus explained it. He said there was no root and so it was short lived. Okay, so why?
Speaker 1:I asked the question, why didn't it have much soil? And the answer is because there were rocks there, the law of displacement. You're not going to have a lot of soil if you got a lot of rocks, all right. So how does this translate to you? And I don't bury your problems. We can't be burying our problems. We're going to have to deal with them as they arise, as things as we realize, because when we bury our problems, we're actually diminishing our soil, okay, and so we don't want to do that. And listen, I'll just say this this morning I can't see everything that's going on in your heart, but you know what causes you to stumble. You know, I know what causes me to stumble. I know my triggers. Anybody else know your triggers? Yeah, we know our triggers, right? So what do we do when the Lord reveals it? We need to do something about it.
Speaker 1:Years ago we had a semi-open concept living room in this house we were at and it seemed like there was only one way to arrange the furniture. You know, it was kind of stuck that way and I just got on a whim and thought I want to move it around. I don't know how to move it around, but I played with it one afternoon and I kind of drug furniture. Y'all do that. I don't wait for my husband, I just drag the furniture, let's try something else. So anyway, they all came in and they're like what'd you do? And so, anyway, they half liked it.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but I had teenagers in the home and it was like for the next three days everybody kept stubbing their toe on the side table that I had moved, Because they were so used to it not being in that path, and they just complained, anyway. But I finally was like move, they were telling me to move it and I was like you need to move around it. But guess who won? They won Because I it. But guess who won? They won because I was like, forget it, forget it, I don't want to hear the complaints anymore and I put it all back. You know, because when you reveal a problem, you have to deal with it. Right, you have to deal with it.
Speaker 1:And so and I want to add this too, don't fight the tears. Good or bad, because it said that this soil lacked moisture, and moisture is good for the soul, good for the soil. We could almost use our Texas accent there our soul, our soil. Right, but seriously, I feel like sometimes we just can it all up when the Lord's like let me help you. And tears are really God's safety valve. Sometimes, when the tears flow, that's just releasing moisture to our soil, it's helping us release things and that's okay. That doesn't mean we're weak, that means God's just working in our heart. Amen.
Speaker 1:We're releasing some things, so we're going to shoo the birds. Everybody say shoo the birds. We're going to move the stones, thank you. And lastly, we have to remove the lies. Everybody say pull the weeds. We're going to pull the weeds, okay, listen, you know what a lie is. This is so good. A lie is a doubt that wasn't dealt with. A lie is a doubt that wasn't dealt. What happened? A bird built a nest. We let it build a nest. Now we got to deal with it, okay. So, in other words, what are you allowing? What are you allowing?
Speaker 1:Jesus said some things aren't thriving because of what has been allowed to grow around you, okay. So you know, when you were kids, we run, you know, to a field and we gather up little flowers and we take it to mom. Y'all have had that little yellow flowers. And as a mama, you go oh, that's so sweet, and you love them and you kiss on them and then you throw them away. Because why? It was a dandelion? And dandelions aren't really flowers, they're what they're weeds, so they're fake. It just looks like a flower.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus said the thorns grew up and choked the seed. It choked the seed. He said this is one who heard the word, but it became unfruitful. So they actually heard the word. He said the one with the thorny ground had the start of fruit, but it never matured. What a shame. The start of fruit but it never matured. Why? The only way to know the lies is to know the word of God. And he said the reason it started to have fruit and didn't mature is because other things were robbing the soil, other things were choking it. It wasn't able to really produce.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter one, verse one, in the Christian standard, it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. We know that. Later in that chapter, verse 14, it says the word became flesh and dwelt among us. But verse four and five it says in him was life and that life was the light of men, and that light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. I like this. Some translation says the darkness did not comprehend it.
Speaker 1:So you just almost have to picture the devil just scratching his head like I don't understand what's happening here. I don't understand why they're not stumbling. I don't understand why they're producing right. Well, the light of God's word will reveal the lies of the enemy, and so when we stay in the light of God's word, then he doesn't have room to operate Like. I'm moving the stones, I'm shooing the birds, I'm fixing my path right, I'm pulling the weeds.
Speaker 1:And Jesus said this in the parable. He said the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, the desire for other things, they're all lies. They're all lies. None of that is fulfilling. You're not going to thrive on those things. And you could look out at the world and it could look like people are thriving because of those things. But you get closer to them and they're not. Their children are falling apart. We talked last night about just broken families. How does a child get put in their mama's arm and then end up being this grumpy old man? What happened? What happened? Right? Something happened, and it wasn't God.
Speaker 1:And so when you see a weed, you need to pull it root and all. And so when you see a weed you need to pull it, root and all root and all OK. And I learned this early on. You know, I think in Face in the Mirror, if you've read that, I tell the story about how my dad was a plumber, I think he wanted to be a farmer we live seven miles out in the country and he tried to raise crops and other things, and so he would send me and my brother out to pull the weeds of the garden and we wanted to play, we he would send me and my brother out to pull the weeds of the garden and we wanted to play. We didn't want to pull weeds, we didn't like that chore very much. So we're out there, just quick, quick, quick, quick pull it. Yeah, we did it. You know we're running on.
Speaker 1:And then two days later he's like no, you didn't why? Because we didn't get the root. The root was still there. And you know what he did. He made me say it again because I didn't get the root. I said it, I was obedient, I was trying to receive what he was trying to give to me. But if I had just walked out so quickly from that moment, then what would have happened? That root was still there and he was like no, I want you to say it again. And here came a flood of more tears and more healing in my heart because I embraced what he was saying.
Speaker 1:And I feel like sometimes, when we have a ministry prayer time, people get up too quickly, they leave the altar too quickly. Sometimes, you know, in our quiet time at home, we're thinking about where we got to go. We don't give God a chance to like, really uproot some things or really plant some things or water some things, and so later, you know, I realized that the Lord had given me a principle. Actually, before this mirror story, I had been struggling with anxiety. I was telling Pastor Selena yesterday that I was hit by a car in the second grade and I, just I was being disobedient and my mom was dropping me at the bus stop. She was a school teacher and so she saw that I had a toy tucked in under my shirt, you know, and was trying to sneak it to school and she's like no, no, no, you can leave that in the car. So I was mad at her. So I got my library book, like this, and I just walked in front of her car and I didn't even look. I just crossed the street and this poor little 19 year old girl was driving by and she probably wasn't going that fast on a residential street, but fast enough that it hit me, threw me, broke my ankle at the growth plate, busted my teeth. I have fake teeth now. It was a big deal. It was a big deal but I survived. Right, I survived. That was second grade. That was many, many, many moons ago.
Speaker 1:But what happened was when Benjamin was born, my first child, I suddenly started having panic attacks. I realized how easy it was for me to just walk out in front of a street, and so he was still in a car seat, he could be strapped in right behind me and I would just have these open visions of him getting hit by a car and I just have a panic attack. And so I was dreaming about this. I was thinking about this. It was overwhelming me, and my brother was going to Rhema at the time and he had come home for a visit and I and I kind of I told him about it.
Speaker 1:He was like well, daphne, that's not your thought. I was like what do you mean? That's not my thought. He's like the devil's giving you that thought. I was like, how's the devil get in my head? I was such a baby Christian. I was like what, what do you mean? That's not my thought. And if he can plant something there and get you to entertain that and pull it down and think on it, now he's got you. Like that, you took that. He said so.
Speaker 1:When you see those things and they don't line up with the word of God, he said you're going to have to say that's not my thought, I don't receive it. And so I started doing that and I'll be honest with you the first time, like the, here came the anxiety, here came the panic, uh, and I remembered what he said. So I kind of whispered it. And you feel silly. You feel kind of silly saying stuff like that. You're like who am I even talking to right now, you know? But I was so desperate Sometimes we get desperate right, we need change and so I just said it again, and and uh, and then all of a sudden I was like the panic's gone, the anxiety's gone, wow. But how many of you know? The devil will test you. He's going to see if you really believe that word or not. And so here he comes, sneaking around again throwing something at you and I was like that's not my thought, I don't receive it.
Speaker 1:Then one day, it was like every 20 minutes I was just having, you know, this battle with him. Here came the thought, here came me saying it there and it left. Then it came again and I just found out and this is what the Holy Spirit told me. He says you can wear him down or he can wear you down. I decided that day I was wearing him down. I was wearing him down. You know, there's six years between my boys and when Christopher came along and he was in a car seat, I remembered all of that and I thought I can't. I don't even know the last time I had a panic attack, like it just was gone, like the Lord is just faithful, amen, amen. And so you're going to have to do something when God reveals it, you're going to have to speak your faith. You're going to have to do something. That that's not truth. This is the truth.
Speaker 1:And I want to add one more thing to help you real quick, because somebody asked me one time well, how do you know what is what is of God and what's not of God? Sometimes it can be a little clouded and I said by the Spirit. I said I really feel like the fruit of the Spirit is a great measuring stick. Is that thought of love? Is that thought of peace? Is that thought of joy? Because that's God's character and if it doesn't line up with those things, I'm rejecting it, I'm getting it out of here, I'm not receiving that thought and if God's trying to tell me something that he can tell me with joy, he can tell me in love, he can tell me with peace, amen, he can get something to me, but otherwise I'm rejecting those things. So again, jesus said if you understand this parable, we'll understand all parables. So let's go back and look at Luke, chapter 13, again one more time. But I'm going to read it this time, verse six through nine in the Amplified.
Speaker 1:Jesus said a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the vine dresser see here, for these three years I've come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it continue also to use up the ground to deplete the soil, intercept the sun and take up room? But the gardener replied to him Leave it alone, sir. Just this one more year till I dig around it and put manure on the soil, then perhaps it will bear fruit after this, but if not, you can cut it down Now.
Speaker 1:Religion I already said this, but religion and the world aren't always kind. Chop it down, chop it down and I was meditating on that, because you know, we could add, the blood would say leave it alone. The world says chop it down, the blood says leave it alone. But I got to meditating on this portion of scripture and I thought I wonder if there's a deeper. Do y'all do this? I like to dig into the scripture. I'm like I wonder if there's a deeper meaning to this chop it down? And there is. This phrase chop it down is affiliated with the word crucify, with the word. Isn't that interesting? Because it's a picture of Christ's body broken on the cross, and so we know Christ, christ, love was crucified. He already, he already did that for us. Love says I already took their place right, we don't need to chop them down. I can, I can do a work here because I did, I already took what. What is hindering them? I can do a work here Cause I did. I already took what. What is hindering them. I can do a work here, so we don't need we don't need to be chopping anybody down.
Speaker 1:You know, in in our town, we have a small town, as you know, and um, and so it's kind of hard to to not run into somebody in our town. You know if you've had an offense or something and honestly, you need to be real careful about all your conversations because you might be talking to the cousin of so-and-so and so-and-so, it's just like that in our little town. And so I just really learned early on that we needed to believe the best of every person. And the Holy Spirit said it to me this way. He said you don't know if they had an encounter with me last night. And I thought that's so good, because nobody's sitting in my chair in my living room or my car or my bathroom when I'm having an encounter with God. Nobody's seeing that, when I'm repenting, nobody's seeing that when I'm getting things right, nobody sees that I just show up the next day, hopefully with a better heart, better attitude, right, and you have to assume, you know, that maybe, maybe God's working in my life. But that's what. What is love? Say, believes the best of every person, okay, and so maybe that'll help us. But love was already crucified. Love always says I took their place. We don't have to cut them down, amen.
Speaker 1:The new King James says sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. Fertilize it. So, fertilize means to feed, it means to make fruitful, it means to enrich. I like this word. I'm going to come back to it. Impregnate, impregnate, that's interesting, isn't it? Because impregnate means to birth something. It's the beginning of life. But the Amplified said leave it alone till I dig around it and put manure on the soil. That's a pretty word, isn't it? Manure, manure, if you really want to see a pretty word. The King James says dung it until I dung it. So, um, so, uh.
Speaker 1:Pastor Tony McKenna is a instructor at Rhema uh Bible training college and it was so funny. I was meditating on these and um, and I happened to sit in a service he was doing at winter Bible seminar a couple of years ago when I'd been meditating on these passages and I couldn't believe it. He started talking about manure and I was like, oh my, were you there? It was so good. And I was like, oh my gosh, and uh, but. But he used to be a rancher and so he, uh, he had horses and cows and chickens, and so this is what he said. I loved it so much. He said, and you have to picture this slow Southern draw, uh, pastor Tony.
Speaker 1:But he said manure is a slow solution to the problem. A slow, yes, a slow solution to the problem. In other words, to fertilize isn't instantaneous. It isn't instantaneous, it isn't a one-time fix, it's actually a lifestyle, a lifestyle. Listen to this.
Speaker 1:Hurry has caused many problems. Hurry created Ishmael. Isn't that right? What is Ishmael? Something that looked like God but wasn't. Something that looked like it was of God and it wasn't. We don't want to be creating Ishmael, right? We don't want to get in a hurry. Maneur is mercy. I know that's not a great picture, but it really is.
Speaker 1:Psalm 103, verse eight, says the Lord is compassionate and gracious. Slow, slow, everybody say slow. He is slow to anger, he is, he is abounding in faithful love and mercy, amen. And so I like how pastor Tony said it. We're all neck deep in manure, we're all neck deep in mercy, amen. Would you agree? In mercy, god's been fertilizing our lives for a long time, a long time, amen. But in Luke 13, eight, he said, sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. So to dig or trench around it is creating space for moisture, and that's what we want. We want to create space, amen.
Speaker 1:And so I'm going to turn over to Mark 14, verse three. You'll be familiar with this, this verse. But in Mark 14, it says while Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head. Poured it on his head. And so that's what we mean when we're talking about digging or trenching or creating space. We're talking about pouring something on, and God wants to pour his love on us. We see this I'm going to read over in Titus I don't know why I didn't top these out, but we're good, let's turn to them.
Speaker 1:But Titus, chapter three I really love this verse versus Titus three, verse four. But when the kindness of God, our savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy. You're never going to see that word the same again, according to the fertilizer, right Through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life. So I love that he poured out. He poured out his spirit on us abundantly. I don't think we have to hurry through some of these things. He poured it out on us abundantly, amen. The gardener said leave it alone until I dig around it, trench around it, till I fortify it, till I saturate them in love and the truth of who I am. That's what he's doing in our lives, amen.
Speaker 1:The passion translation of these verses in Titus says when the extraordinary compassion of God, our Savior, and his overpowering love suddenly appeared in person as the brightness of a dawning day, he came to save us, not because of any virtuous deed that we had done, but only because of his extravagant mercy. He saved us, resurrecting us through the washing of rebirth. We are made completely new by the Holy Spirit whom he splashed over us richly, by Jesus, the Messiah, our life giver. And so I said I'd come back to this word impregnate. Because now we can take this phrase, dig around it and fertilize, and we have this picture of impregnate and really what we know as females. We understand what it means to impregnate. But let's talk about the soil. It's the same principle. That's why we can use that word. You take a seed and you put it into the ground and what do we do? We've prepared the soil. Now we're going to water it. What's happened? It's prepared for growth. We've impregnated that seed. We prepared it, amen. And another use of this word impregnate means to soak, it means to saturate.
Speaker 1:There's a song by Upper Room called Pour my Love On you. I don't know if y'all are familiar with that or not, but listen to this little phrase. It says like oil on your feet, like wine for you to drink, like water from my heart, I pour my love on you, so beautiful. But I was meditating on this and I thought to thrive, we need saturation and we need fertilization, saturation and fertilization. And then I realized, you know, this song really works both directions. It really works this song.
Speaker 1:I think, when they're singing it and when they, you know, are leading us in worship, I think it's meant for us to go. I'm pouring my love out on you, jesus. But let's read it the other way. What if it's Jesus singing it to us Like oil on your feet, like wine for you to drink, like water from my heart? I pour my love on you. That's what worship is. Is that time of saturation and that time of fertilization where the gardener is just working on you, he's just watering the soil around you, he's just reaching the roots of your tree, your family tree, your personal tree, amen. And so that's the real picture of a tree when God tends to the roots and the branches reach up to thank him. Right, isn't that beautiful? That's all we're doing.
Speaker 1:I remember when I first started going to a spirit-filled church and my friend Tori again, was the first one to take me and everybody's lifting their hands and I thought it was so beautiful that she lifted her hands, and so I remember trying and it feels like they weigh 50 pounds. But now I tease and I say you can't get me to raise them high enough, because you get so free and the roots are free and the growth is free and the love is so big when you receive it. You just want to thank him, you know. And so now I'm still like that tree that was out in front of her yard, you know, but I'm just up here. Thank you, jesus. No matter what storms are going on, I still have something to thank you for. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Uh, I don't know why this weekend I have so many song illustrations. But one more song for you. There's a song called Holy and Anointed One. I don't know who wrote it. I have the version that's by Catch the Fire, but I love this phrase. Your name is like honey on my lips, your spirit like water to my soul, your word is a lamp unto my feet. Jesus, I love you. I love you, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:In October of 2003, I was at a conference and Pastor Paulette Kaywood was ministering the word, and I was sitting on the front row with some other pastor's wives and she was ministering. I don't remember the topic she was ministering on, but it was unrelated to what she stopped and said to me. But she just stopped right in front of me and she turned and she said this. She said you will grow like a tree and many will come and find refuge under your branches. And I wrote that down cause you had, I had, dreams.
Speaker 1:My, my first book came out in um that month, uh. And so I had dreams, and so I thought, lord, I would love that. I would love that, and I've meditated on it many times, but I don't think that's a word for me. Only I realized that, although it's been a great encouragement to me over all these years Jesus said it first. We already read it in Isaiah they will be known as trees of righteousness planted by Yahweh as a living display of his glory. That's what the Lord would say to all of us. Amen that you are a tree and many can find refuge under your branches. Amen.