STRONG WINGS REQUIRE DEEP ROOTS
Sunday, January 11, 2004 – AM
(This message is partly based on a sermon by Rev. Franklin Jentzen)
Ephesians 3:17-21, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
What kind of church are we this morning? What are the identifying marks that say who we are and what we are? What king of church do we want to be in the future?
I want us to be a church that remembers and lives by its past; that’s our roots, but we must also be a church that is not afraid to look forward into the future to embrace some new things that God may want to do in these last days; that’s our wings. The guiding light to what we can accept in the future must be the light that we have received from the past. We must never forget our roots lest this tree, this church, dies and withers away.
There are lots of churches that have roots of a great heritage in God but who have no vision, and are unwilling to embrace anything newer than the oldest members of that congregation. Those churches are not growing – they are dying away slowly but surely. We must never forget our roots, but we must also look forward to what God wants to do now.
Job 8:11, "Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water?"
That means that we owe everything we are, and everything we shall be, to those who have shed their blood, sweat and tears and fallen into the mire of the past.
A lot of Christians want to bear some Spiritual Fruit, but if they are not connected to a good root there can be no fruit.
(Use artificial plant) Looks good to the eye, perhaps even better in some cases than the real thing. But the difference is that the real is not perfect, is always growing and changing and has the ability to bear fruit. Artificial plants look good but that’s about all they are, is good looking.
Do you know some artificial Christians? They look good, act right, talk right, and have all appearances of being real, but there is no fruit in their lives. A living plant will sooner or later bear fruit or die and the same goes for a Christian.
If we don’t teach our youth, and our children about their roots in God, when they come to church all they will have is an artificial walk with the Lord. We have to teach them about the Holy Ghost, and do our best to instill within them a desire for all that God has for them, including the Baptism in the Holy Ghost.
We must teach them of the anointing power of the Holy Ghost.
We must teach them of the guiding power of the Spirit.
We must teach them to walk in the Spirit, talk in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit and live in the Spirit every moment of their lives.
The only way that you are going to experience the high places in God is to be rooted and grounded in the Love of Jesus.
How can we praise and worship if there are no roots of love and reverence of the Lord?
How can we pray if we have no roots of believing that God answers prayer?
What are our roots? What make us who we are and what we are?
Jesus is the taproot
Our roots are found in Acts chapter two and the Day of Pentecost
Speaking in tongues and the baptism in the Holy Ghost
Prophesying
Messages in tongues and interpretation
Shouting for joy
Praying in the Spirit
If we are going to soar into the future and reach the heights in God’s power and anointing, we must be well rooted and grounded. We must be on a firm foundation and the only foundation is the Word of God; all of it, not just the parts that we like.
Foundation Illustration:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy is going to fall. Scientists travel yearly to measure the building’s slow descent. They report that the 179-foot tower moves about one-twentieth of an inch a year, and is now 17 feet out of plumb. They further estimate that by the year 2007 the 810-year old tower will have leaned too far and will collapse onto the nearby restaurant, where scientists now gather to discuss their findings. Quite significantly, the word "Pisa" means "marshy land," which gives some clue as to why the tower began to lean even before it was completed. Also--its foundation is only 10 feet deep!
We must have a firm foundation. Without a foundation, our church and our lives will fall into ruin just as surely as the man who built his house upon the sand lost it all when the floods came and carried him away. Get ready folks because the floods are coming. Satan will not cease to attack you in every way possible.
If we are going to stand against the flood of sin, then we must be rooted and grounded with that firm foundation. As Pentecostals we have some roots that we must stay connected to or we will lose the blessings of God.
ROOTS OF OUR FAITH
The number one root is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!
He is the taproot from which every other root grows.
He is our anchor in the time of a storm.
His word and His spirit are the lifeblood of the church.
His blood is our salvation.
Without Jesus we nothing more than an artificial, dead, man-made religion with no power, no anointing and no life.
Another one of our roots is worshipping from the heart with lifting of our hands in praise and surrender to God.
When we come to church and lift our voice in praise to God and lift our hands in praise to Him, its because we love him, reverence him, and desire to let Jesus know just how much we appreciate all that he has done and is doing for us. We lift our hands as a sign that we are trying to reach up to one who is higher than we are and it is also a signal that we have surrendered to him.
If we don’t lift our hands, maybe we have quit trying to reach higher and we have begun to sink lower instead.
If we don’t lift our hands, it could be a sign that we haven’t really surrendered our will to His will.
If we can’t sing praises, even when we don’t feel like singing, then maybe it’s a sign that we don’t really love him.
Another root of Pentecostalism is Holiness and that includes holy living.
Holiness people don’t smoke Camels; they ride them.
Holiness people don’t smoke King Edwards.
Holiness people don’t chew tobacco.
Holiness people don’t cuss.
Holiness people don’t drink alcohol, even if it is disguised as a dressed up daiquiri.
Holiness people don’t look at trash on the Internet.
Pentecostals don’t just read the Word of God and question all these things, we believe the Word of God and we obey it to the best of our ability, living it day by day as best we can.
Believing in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and living a holy life are not Pentecostal doctrines, they are Bible doctrines that Pentecostals believe and live by.
When I was a kid:
We didn’t go to many ball games. We didn’t go to school dances. I never once dressed out in anything other than long jeans and a t-shirt for Physical Education at school. Ladies didn’t wear makeup – they were Cover Girls for the Book of Lamentations. Men didn’t wear shorts, not even knee length.
Most people, even Pentecostals call that kind of thing legalism now but in those days it wasn’t legalism that drove many to life a holy life, it was a desire to be more like Jesus. It wasn’t earning righteousness; it was the fruit of already being made righteous by the Blood of Christ.
I’m not trying to put you under condemnation to some dress code or man-made rules of holiness. I’m trying to get you to understand that the more of the Love of God we have in us, and the closer we get to Jesus, the more we will want to be like him. That’s why we desire to live holy lives; not to show how righteous we are and how much more holy we are than the next person.
It’s not a question of “giving up” anything of this life. It’s a desire to gain something far greater in its place. We want to gain being as close to Jesus and as much like Jesus as we can because our love grows for him.
Those who refuse to change to be more like Jesus simply don’t have enough of a relationship with Jesus to want to be more like him and they don’t have enough of the Love of Jesus in their heart.
When Jesus comes in, darkness goes out, and with the darkness goes all the desire to do the deeds of darkness goes with it.
1 John 1:6-7, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Illustration:
A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they just shine. D.L. Moody.
Another one of our roots is that we are known for obeying the Word of God by “laying on of hands” and anointing the sick with oil, and praying for them, believing God for miracles of healing and deliverance.
Another of our roots is that we are a separated people. We aren’t like the world because we a like Jesus. Jesus wasn’t of this world and we can’t be either. Even though we have to live in it; we certainly must not be a part of it. We must set our sights higher and reach for the glories of Heaven.
We can’t scratch around in the dirt and filth of this world. We must mount up on wings of eagles, run and not be weary of well doing, and ever reach for the mark of the high calling in God through our “taproot’, Jesus Christ.
When we choose to stay connected to our Pentecostal heritage and the roots of our faith we will have the identity in Christ that we need, and we will have the power of God and the anointing of God upon our church, but we must realize that we will also become almost socially unacceptable.
You don’t hear of many Pentecostal preachers being asked to open a public gathering with prayer, or being invited to speak at a Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast because people are afraid of what we believe in. We are not a part of the “acceptable mainstream religious” crowd and for that I am so grateful.
There was one time that I can remember a Pentecostal preacher being invited to open a political meeting with prayer. Since that day, I can guarantee that the “politically correct” people have been more leery of invited any more of us to pray before the legislature.
Illustration:
When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but he let his roots of faith show through and this is what they heard:
Heavenly Father,
We come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ’’Woe to those who call evil good,’’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our Spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that;
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism; We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle; We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery; We have neglected the needy and called it self preservation; We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; We have killed our unborn and called it choice; We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable; We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem; We have abused power and called it political savvy; We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition; We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of this state and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state of Kansas. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will. I ask in the name of your Son, The Living Savior, Jesus Christ
That prayer sent a shockwave across the nation! When Truth is spoken under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, it will stir the soul, even the soul that isn’t right with God, but the world won’t like it or accept it and, as we can see in our recent news events, they will attempt to stamp out every mention of the name of Jesus.
When the church emerged from the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost they were accused of being drunk. The world does not understand the “tongues of fire” given by the Holy Ghost, neither does it understand the “power of the anointing” of the Holy Ghost; and whatever the world doesn’t understand, it is afraid of.
We want to reach our community, and the world, for Jesus Christ. We want to win the youth, the children and their parents to Christ. Sometimes it’s a tug of war between holding on to our roots and doing things to grab their attention. We must never leave our roots but we must give them something different to aspire unto and not bring ourselves down to their level.
I thank God for my roots of Pentecostalism. I thank God for the presence and the power of the Holy Ghost in my life that has kept me from getting into drugs and alcohol. I thank God for all those who have been delivered from a life of sin and immorality, but I thank God more because through His power, I’ve never had to experience that kind of life.
It’s better to never experience being bound by Satan than to experience deliverance from his bondage of sin.
Only one thing can bring people to their knees before the Cross of Christ and that thing is not our programs or our entertainment; it is the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost that speaks directly into their heart to convict them of sin and draw them to Jesus.
One more root that I want to mention is the “root of routine”. We must learn once again to be faithful to perform those duties that are a part of our Christian heritage.
There are duties of regular church attendance; regular reading and studying of God’s Word; regular times of prayer; and regular times of fasting. This is the routine of being a faithful servant unto the Lord.
People who aren’t rooted just want to show up, get blessed, draw what they want from the services, leave what they don’t want to hear behind and go home and then tell everyone that they went to church like it’s some great sacrificial price to pay for living for the Lord.
What we must understand is that there will come a time when the Holy Spirit will move in a very real, very powerful way. It will happen in His time, when everything is just as it should be.
How many times must we come to church to go through a routine of praise, worship, hearing the sermons, praying for the sick, receiving the offerings and then go home? How long are we willing to go through the routine before we give up on the moving of the Holy Ghost in our midst?
Illustration:
Israel sat for long periods of time out in the wilderness when they just went about their daily lives as the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night just sat over the tabernacle. They didn’t live under a constant might move of God, or did they? It seems to me that they were in a position where God was ever leading, ever providing, and ever fulfilling his promise to them but they couldn’t always see his hand in action. But all of a sudden, when God’s time was right, that cloud, or that pillar, began to move and then the move was on for the whole camp.
We might go through long periods of time when it seems that God is just watching and waiting and not really doing anything spectacular in our midst, but get ready; when the Holy Spirit decides to move, the flood gates of Heaven will open and those who have been routinely serving God in faithfulness are going to be the only ones to experience that mighty move of God.
How often have people come to church time and again, then get tired and start staying home, and then miss the services where the Holy Spirit is poured out and the anointing falls and people are slain in the Spirit, filled with the Holy Ghost and God’s presence is so real that we just don’t want to leave?
If you want to experience the good times, you must be routinely faithful all the time.
People of God, we must stay connected to our roots if we are going to prosper in our walk with the Lord.
We will never mount up with wings as eagles, we can’t run without growing weary, we can’t walk without getting faint, or tired, and our strength cannot be renewed unless we stay connected to our roots.
Let’s not lose our roots. Let’s not ignore and get ashamed of our heritage. Let’s hold on to Jesus for only He is the source of our life and power.
There may be some here who are not connected to Jesus.
You don’t have a spiritual taproot and there is no peace in your heart. Your heritage has been a heritage of sin, of shame, and of worldly pleasures. Today that can all change. You can get connected to the same roots as the rest of us.
YOU CAN ACCEPT JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR AND SURRENDER YOUR HEART AND LIFE TO HIM.
If you do, then your life will be forever changed. Your old life will pass away and everything will take on a new meaning and a new look. Jesus will wash you from the inside out and he will help you carry your burdens through life. Why don’t you come to Jesus right now and accept the eternal life that he gives?
Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
