Rooted in the Spirit
Rooted • Message 1
Bryan Jones
March 30, 2025
Prayer Points for Prayer Time:
- Pray for a faith rooted in God's Spirit.
- Pray that God surrounds us with people who encourage us in our faith.
- Pray for a heart for the hurting and lost.
Scripture Reading:
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
A. Introduction
(Psalm 1:1-3. C/R: Matthew 22:37-40)
This is an anchor sermon... If you only hear one!
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Psalms 1:1-3 (NIV)
Good morning, friends. Hope you are well! Now, it’s crazy; I’ve been reflecting on how I have been here for almost two years.
And I shared this, but when I first got here, people kept asking … What’s the vision? Strategy? What’s the next thing? What’s the staff structure going to be? The men’s ministry? … and so on…
I know I told you this, but I will continue to tell you: When we moved here, my son said to my wife… So, is Dad the boss of this whole thing? … She said, No, Jesus is. And with a look of disappointment, he said, Oh, so he’s just a sidekick then… I love this!
I shared what’s been true of Brookwood and what will continue to be true of Brookwood … At the center of this church isn’t a strategy, a vision, a staff plan, a ministry, a pastor, or a brand… Instead, it will be built on one thing: the King of Kings and Lord of Lords…. Jesus has always been and will always be the Center of this church.
Keep Jesus at the Center by loving God and People.
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
(condensed) The other day, I was drinking a healthy green smoothie, and Selah said she wanted some … So, I walk in, and she is drinking a healthy green smoothie and also eating Sour Patch Kids… she is mixing two things that should never ever be mixed. The reason some people are miserable is they are trying to mix things that shouldn’t be mixed… your soul and your spirit are fractured. You can’t serve the flesh and the spirit.
Now, I usually write about two months out so I can think through and prepare, but I want you to know this talk has been stirring in my heart for the last couple of years. Psalm 1 is a picture of what God is stirring and what I believe God is calling our church to become.
I want to show you three pictures of Psalm 1 that I believe God is calling us to become.
B. God is calling us to be…
- ROOTED in the Spirit.
(Psalm 1:2-3a. C/R: Matthew 13:1-23)
But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank…
Psalm 1:2-3a (NLT)
I love how God is drawing so many people to himself in our church… One of the guys who accepted Christ a little while ago, when he was praying … he just starts swearing… this has happened several times… like they will be praying and say, God, I give you all my…. and then they say an s-word, and it’s not the word sin … but the reason I love it is because I can see God changing them… when I see someone changed by God, it fires me up…
But I can also say I have seen the opposite happen. I have seen people say yes to Jesus, and it's real. They make commitments to follow Him, then later completely fall off….
Why is it that two people make a commitment to follow Jesus … both seem to be real, yet they go down two different paths… the answer is this… it all comes down to planting roots…
That's why, in Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the word of God falling on good soil, a rooted heart.
I said this before: there is one thing you have to be a black belt in … one thing … and that is abiding. That is being rooted in the Spirit.
Notice what the verse above says … those who delight in the law of the Lord… day and night… do you know what that means? They are connected; they are rooted… they are like trees planted along the riverbank…
It’s interesting … David, when he wrote this, only had the first five books of the Bible… and he said, Oh, how I delight in it. Now we have 66 books, a goldmine, and we need to be rooted in this…
This is an important part of the reason people don’t bear roots. They don’t understand the invitation to the cross.
- Come to cross- Call to grace
- Climb up on the cross- Call to die
Think about it… one of the greatest fruits around is strawberries…. Now, you might not agree, there are a lot of great fruits out there…. The only fruit that should never be on the top of someone’s list is cantaloupe… Listen, I talked to God, and he told me there is no cantaloupe in heaven…Some people at the church go to Tennessee, and they’ve brought me each year some of the greatest strawberries…. Or another great fruit is a Georgia peach… South Carolina produces more peaches.
But for those trees to grow… Do you know what has to happen? … This thing has to be buried…
Unless this thing is buried, it's never going to be anything else…. but when this gets buried, these roots start to shoot off… and once those roots keep going down… the life starts to push out of the surface… doesn't that just sound like the Christian life?
It is a call to die… but you also find happiness and joy overflowing…
We will joyfully reorient our lives around that which we love.
There was a guy who spent 24 hours at a Waffle House because he lost in fantasy football … they had a deal that for every waffle he ate, he could shave off an hour... so he ate nine waffles and stayed there 13 hours… that is disgusting and beautiful all at the same time…
Let me say it again … people will gladly and joyfully reorient their life around that which they love.
When my son was born, some friends called to hang out. When they called, I said, Sorry, I can’t do it. Sweet T (which is what we call Tristan) was born. I couldn’t do what I did before, but it didn’t matter because Sweet T was here.
This little child commandeers your whole life … your sleep … your sanity … your wallet. But we gladly and willingly do it because we willingly reorient our whole life around that which we love.
God challenged me last year. I would say I loved God, but my whole life was not oriented around God. My schedule and life were still largely about my pleasures and joys… and there is nothing wrong with that or evil, but you won't go deeper with God…
- GROWING stronger together.
(Psalm 1:1)
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
Psalm 1:1 (NIV)
The word blessed means happy … So, the one who is happy, or the translation is… Oh, how happy is the one who does not walk with the wicked…
Remember, the Constitution says, We have the right to life, liberty, and what? The pursuit of happiness.
Meaning not everyone finds it… in fact, the one who aims at happiness rarely finds it… but the one who is rooted in the Spirit, the one who walks with the right people… guess what… they are happy…
Think about it… if you aren’t happy right now… two questions to ask.
Am I rooted or connected to the Spirit daily? Right now?
Am I walking with Godly people?
If you can't say yes to those, then guess what? You aren’t going to be happy.
Go back to Psalm 1.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
Psalm 1:1 (NIV)
Look at this progression - people cause you to stall out in your faith or move towards God.
Let me show you a picture from years ago… a very dark season… I lost my job and was really hurting with the church… and these people showed up and helped us pack up. (I showed this picture to a buddy of mine recently, and he said you look so skinny; it looks like you ate the other Bryan.). But this picture brings up so many thoughts…
This was one of the hardest seasons we walked through, but these folks showed up… two lived out of state, and they dropped everything to help us… they helped us pack, cook, and clean and sat with us in our pain….
But because of people like them… we didn’t stay sitting. We started to stand, and then we started to work through things, and they walked with us, and we brought others in…
You have heard me say this before, but if you show me your friends, I will show you your future… Why do I say that…
Influence of Others (your community will either stall out, sideline your faith or cause your faith to grow and flourish)
UNGODLY Community (if you walk with the wrong people, it will start to affect the way you love God and others, it starts to dilute your faith, and then, after a while, it causes you to become sidelined in your faith)
Walk- stand- sit
Godly Community (godly people find people in difficult seasons where they are on the sidelines, and they help them heal up, they help them hear from God)
Sit-stand- walk
- REACHING the hurting and lost.
(Psalm 1:3. C/R: Jeremiah 17:7-8)
What does it mean to love people? Part of it is that we run towards or go after the hurting and lost…
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
Psalm 1:3 (NIV)
Notice … a tree bears what? …Fruit… and who does the fruit benefit? … Others… a tree doesn’t eat its own fruit… its fruit is for others to enjoy… the word prosper is the idea of something full grown!
Notice which bears fruit … The one who is planted by streams of water… What is Jesus referred to as? Living water…
So, the order of this matters… you can’t bear fruit until you grow roots…
So, when you grow roots, you will always bear fruit.
Too many people try to serve, share their faith, or follow Jesus… but they have no roots or only shallow roots, so they don’t grow into mighty forces…
But once you grow roots, you’ve got to be intentional to share that with others… because you will die spiritually if you don’t have roots, but you will also die spiritually if you aren’t loving and serving others…
Did you know there are two bodies of water in Israel that you often visit during Holy Land tours… I have had the joy and privilege of going… the first is the Sea of Galilee. There is life there …
The other is the Dead Sea. Do you know why they call it the Dead Sea? It's dead… There is no life there except for some microbes that grow there.
Part of the reason is that the Sea of Galilee has an inlet and an outlet where things can flow out…
The Dead Sea only has an inlet… nothing goes out… so it is called the Dead Sea…
You have to make sure that you don’t become a consumer where it’s all about you … getting knowledge or taking this and getting that…. but once the love of God gets in you… it’s also designed to get out to others.
Jesus's model is so clear…. Get with God, bear roots, then pour out and give fruit. This is Jesus's way.
See, the church can almost fraction off into two segments…
Love God Love others
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Being Doing
----------------------------------------the way of Jesus ------------------------------------------
I I
I I
I I
Love God Love others
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Being Doing
We will be a church that chooses to love God and People … you are called to love God and People… So, I'm actually going to really unpack these three points.
I'm going to spend the next eight weeks helping us understand what it means to be rooted, connected, and in the Spirit…
Let me remind you as we close: Get these devos or something like them and start walking with God!
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)
Jeremiah 17… a tree planted by streams of water… Gan HaShlosha … it was fed by springs in the middle of the desert in Israel…. The rabbis believed this was the Garden of Eden… the point is that the place is a picture of life. I want this to be a picture of your life.
This is my prayer for you… that this is what your faith would look like. This is what I want life to be for you: in a culture of spiritual dryness and wasteland … that your faith would flourish … that you would have an inner source of life.