A Root Awakening

1. Fanny Crosby

I once read a story about a little girl who lived in the late 1800’s. At the age of six, a doctor was treating her inflamed eyes and accidentally blinded her. When she was eight years old, she wrote these words:

“Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see. I am resolved that in this world, contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people do not? To weep and sigh because I am blind, I cannot, and I won’t.”

That same young girl grew up to become influential in the American Church. Fanny Crosby was her name. She must have had great difficulties in her life, but her roots were firmly planted in the truths of God. As a result, we have songs such as “Tell Me the Story of Jesus,” “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine,” and “He Hides My Soul.”

2. How do we survive and thrive? By being rooted in the truths of God.

3. Romans 11:13-24

I. Roots And Branches: The Meanings

A. Depth – some plants are deeply rooted and some are shallow

B. Roots Source of Nutrients for the Branches

1. Branches grow from roots of Olive Tree

2. Graft Branches into Roots – not other branches or trunk

3. Jesus and Nazareth – Matthew 2:23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. Cf. Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

C. Who Are Our Roots?

1. We go all the way back to Abraham (Isaac and Jacob) – Isaiah 51:1-2

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.

Romans 4:11-12; 16 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.// 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

2. Our roots display imperfect people – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were justified by faith

3. By the same kind of faith Jesus attaches (grafts) us into the story of the Bible

II. Roots And Branches: The Method

A. God Tends His Olive Tree (Symbol of Israel)

1. Like the Vinedresser – John 15:1-5

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

2. He makes the decisions that produce growth – “Growing Pains” of being pruned

B. God Removed Some Branches Because of Unbelief –

1. His call

2. Jewish People who should’ve known the Messiah when they saw Him

C. God Grafted in Other Branches Because of Faith

1. His Action to bring in Gentiles (Acts 15)

2. Don’t be arrogant; be reverent; act in fear – can be removed

3. The penitent can be grafted back in

III. Roots And Branches: The Miracle

A. We Know That the Branches Produce the Fruit

1. Wild Branches, Grafted in, Produce Good Fruit

2. “Any branch that is grafted into an olive tree produces olives.” (Israel Guide)

B. As Branches We Produce the Fruit of the Holy Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.