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12+1 Core Values: Growth Resulting | Eld Terence Atkinson

Acts Ampang

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from X Church.

  2. We hope this message will light up your day.

  3. Let's see what God has in store for us. You

  4. know that we've been doing the co-values, right? We have

  5. been doing co-values of X Church, but actually it's like

  6. the co-values of the book of X, the church in

  7. the book of X. That's where we get our name

  8. from and that's where we want to follow and want

  9. to live by those teachings. So today we're going to

  10. be doing co-value, I think it's number 12. Number 12,

  11. growth resulting, growth resulting. And you see in Acts 2.47,

  12. it says this, and the Lord added to the church

  13. daily those who were being saved. Hey guys, growth is natural.

  14. Isn't it? What's your daughter's name? Ira. Lira. Am I right? Lira. Okay.

  15. She's such a sweet girl. I mean, she was waving

  16. at me from across the road. Serious. We sort of

  17. came together and she was waving at me across the road.

  18. And I was thinking, oh yeah, and she's waving now. Hi.

  19. What a beautiful girl. She looks so cute, right? So wonderful.

  20. So lovely. And she's one and a half or one year,

  21. five months, something like that, right? Now imagine her as

  22. a 30-year-old sitting on her dad's lap with that thing

  23. around her neck and eating. Would you think she was

  24. that cute? But to everybody else, not so cute, right?

  25. So what is it about that is that growth is natural.

  26. And growth is actually biblical. And we want to be

  27. a church that is growth resulting. Now, first we'll talk

  28. about the church and then I'll move it down to us. Okay?

  29. Because you can't separate one from the other. If you're

  30. not growing, the church won't be growing. And if the

  31. church is not growing, I don't know how you're being fed.

  32. All right? So they are symbiotic. All right? Let's see

  33. what the word has to say. Now, healthy things grow.

  34. You would agree, right? You know, I'm five feet, five inches. Man,

  35. I should have taken more protein when I was growing up.

  36. And I think I should have taken a lot more vegetables.

  37. And maybe those nutrients would have helped me grow a

  38. little taller. You know? So the thing is this. It's

  39. how life works. A plant that is growing needs... nutrients.

  40. If it is not growing, if a plant is not growing,

  41. what would you do to the plant? You'd probably remove

  42. it and grow something else, right? Okay, so in front

  43. of my house, in front of my house, between my

  44. house and my neighbor's house, there was this horrible tree.

  45. Why I say it was a horrible tree is because

  46. it never really grew. It was sort of stagnant. in

  47. between growth and no growth. You know, its bark was horrible.

  48. And it's strange because every nine houses or ten houses,

  49. they would plant the same tree in some other house,

  50. you know, some other area. And those trees grew well.

  51. But the one in front of my house was quite wretched. So,

  52. you know what I did? I removed it. That's before

  53. the other neighbour came in, you know. So, That horrible

  54. tree was gone. And then what he did was he

  55. planted another tree. And this tree grew a little bit more,

  56. but it was the most irritating tree because it was

  57. like a thousand leaves would blow every day. And the

  58. thing is, the leaves would only come into my house.

  59. Go into the neighbor's house. Why do you need to

  60. come into my house? But it seemed as if the

  61. leaves always came into my house. But praise the Lord, Okay,

  62. I know you are thinking, oh, praising the Lord, the

  63. tree is not growing. Well, I praise the Lord that

  64. one day the neighbor thought to himself, this tree don't

  65. look so good and he cut it down. And we

  66. were so happy because now our house didn't have those

  67. horrible leaves to work with. And lo and behold, a

  68. couple of weeks back, he plants another tree. This tree

  69. looks a little bit more beautiful, but you know what's happening?

  70. It's not growing. You see, anything that doesn't grow means

  71. fundamentally there is a problem. There is a problem. The

  72. early church had no marketing. But we have marketing. We've

  73. got Facebook. We have TikTok. What a name, TikTok. We

  74. have IG. What else do we have? YouTube, their tube,

  75. everybody's tube, we have all these things. Okay, but the

  76. Lord still added to the church even though there was

  77. no marketing. What was the difference? The difference was the

  78. power of God. The difference was the word. The difference

  79. was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So guys, first

  80. thing we're going to realize is that growth is God's work.

  81. Growth is God's work. In 1 Corinthians 3, 6, it says,

  82. God is the, it says, I planted, this is Paul,

  83. Paul was saying, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave

  84. the increase. God is the primary reason for growth. Guys,

  85. when we and I look at our lives, when we

  86. are considering growth, Our progress. Is there growth? Look, growth

  87. is measured in many ways. There is the physical growth

  88. that I longed for so much but did not get.

  89. I got a different type of growth. I got horizontal growth.

  90. They say a fat man is blessed, right? I qualify.

  91. Then you have the tall ones. Oh, I love height.

  92. Every time I look at somebody tall, I just imagine

  93. myself with that height holding a tennis racket. I would

  94. be unbeatable. But try playing tennis at five feet, five inches.

  95. You can do it, but you don't go very far.

  96. So I look forward to that kind of height. There

  97. is another type of growth. There is the growth of

  98. of your health. There's the growth of your knowledge. So

  99. there's so many things that we can look for and

  100. see grow. But what do we do when growth stops?

  101. Have we examined ourselves? Are we growing? Are we progressing?

  102. You look at your family, are we more joyful? Those

  103. of you who just got married don't answer this question.

  104. Are you happier? Is your mental state more settled than

  105. it was before you got married? If all of you

  106. say that it's fine right throughout, I find that a

  107. little hard to believe. Because the natural state of marriage

  108. is the honeymoon where everything is hunky-dory and then you

  109. get down to life. And when you get down to life,

  110. Before you go on the high, there is the pruning

  111. work to take place. There is the getting together. There

  112. is the times that you need to change one another,

  113. rock and rock rubbing to produce that diamond. Correct or not?

  114. It's not easy because, come on, you were not born married, okay?

  115. You were born what? Single. You suddenly realize, hey, I

  116. have to ask my partner permission how I spend my money.

  117. Right or not? I want to change my car. No, no, no, no, no, no.

  118. You don't change the car. It is a group discussion. Right?

  119. And if there's no group discussion, guess what? You will

  120. end up murdering one another. Okay? I'm not saying in

  121. a really bad sense, but it'll be tough. It'll be tough. Okay? So...

  122. If we are not growing, we need to examine. And

  123. this is where we get to it. We really have

  124. to go back to basics, our core values. What is

  125. it that made it work in the first place? You know,

  126. everybody is looking for something new, correct or not? A

  127. new way of doing things, a new way of, I

  128. don't know, running, a new way of walking, a new

  129. way of dressing. What was so wrong with the old ways?

  130. Sometimes when we are living our life, we forget the

  131. things that made us successful, that made us progress. You know,

  132. one of the worst things is that progress makes you complacent.

  133. Progress makes you comfortable. You know, there are many progressive

  134. organizations that became so comfortable that they became obsolete. How

  135. many of you remember Nokia? How many of you had

  136. a Nokia phone before? How many of you have a

  137. Nokia phone now? Okay, I want you all to see this.

  138. How many of you have had a Nokia phone before?

  139. Hands straight up. How many of you have a Nokia

  140. phone now? You know what was the reason they grew

  141. They thought we have arrived. There is nobody to challenge us.

  142. There is no one to take away from the fact

  143. that we are the best phone on the market. And

  144. trust me, at the time, they were the best phone

  145. on the market. But where are they today? No, Kia.

  146. No more. How many of you remember? Okay, this one

  147. is really going backwards, okay? How many of you remember Technics? Music, techniques,

  148. stereo systems. Okay, those of you who remember techniques, stereo,

  149. put up your hands. How many of you know what

  150. techniques is now? Hey, that was a really wonderful, I

  151. used to love that system, okay? You've got this cassette player,

  152. and many of you don't even know what a cassette

  153. player is. Cassette player, amplifier, equalizer, tuner, And to top

  154. it all off, record player. You don't even know what

  155. a record player is. Vinyl, maybe some of you now know.

  156. And then you had two speakers or four speakers, hi-fi stereo.

  157. And you put it on. Wow. Now what do you have?

  158. Earphones and not even iPod. Not even iPod. Now you

  159. got earphones and your phone Spotify. It's not pronounced Spotify.

  160. It's pronounced Spotify. That's what... There was something on the

  161. mat that teaches us how to pronounce these words. Right?

  162. So the thing is, stagnation. Okay? That's what happens when

  163. we sit back and we allow ourselves to stagnate. We

  164. allow ourselves to grow comfortable. You know, hungry people, hungry

  165. people never grow comfortable. You know, stagnation is just an indicator.

  166. That means when you're not growing, you've got to take

  167. notice because that is the thing that is warning you. Beforehand,

  168. get with the program, get back to work or else

  169. you will disappear. Your success will vanish. All right? Okay,

  170. let's move on. So, what to do when growth stops?

  171. We go back to basics. Now, in Colossians 2, 7,

  172. it says this. Rooted and built up in him and

  173. established in the faith as you have been thought. Abounding

  174. in it with thanksgiving. Rooted and built up in him.

  175. You know, my words mean nothing. Whose words mean everything?

  176. Rooted in whom? Rooted in him. Do you know that

  177. when you're rooted in Jesus, you've got a lot of,

  178. I'm going to share with you some great things that

  179. are going to happen. Let your roots grow down into him.

  180. This is, now, New King James Version was rooted and

  181. built up in him and established in the faith as

  182. you have been thought abounding in it with thanksgiving. But

  183. I like the New Living Translation version which says this,

  184. Let your roots grow down into him and let your

  185. lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow

  186. strong and the truth you were taught and you will

  187. overflow with thankfulness. Guys, when you talk about growth, you

  188. also have to talk about, you know, there's two kinds

  189. of growth. The one that you can see It's the

  190. one above ground and the ones that you cannot see,

  191. the growth that goes deep. You see, a lot of

  192. shallow people think that it is only important to grow

  193. in the way that people can see you. But if

  194. you don't concentrate on growing down as well, chances are

  195. you're going to be having a lot of issues. There's

  196. a picture, I think the next one that's coming. Okay,

  197. this is called the General Sherman Tree. It's a sequoia.

  198. And now this is not by far the tallest tree

  199. in the world. This is the second, I think. This

  200. one's height is 274 feet. I think that's as tall

  201. as where we are now. What floor are we on?

  202. 11 floor times two. 22-story building, this tree. All right?

  203. Its circumference, its girth, is 109 feet. This room is probably...

  204. It's probably one and a half of this room. That

  205. is how thick it is. All right? Okay, all the

  206. other things. It weighs about 2 million pounds. 2 million pounds.

  207. This is one huge tree. Can you imagine a tree

  208. this size? What makes a tree this size able to

  209. grow so tall? As a church, we need to grow

  210. where people can see us. That's true. Because the Bible

  211. says that when we lift up the name of Jesus,

  212. he draws all men unto him. So there is a

  213. place for growing up. Tall. Strong. Now you know why

  214. I love people with height. They are so nice. Okay?

  215. Don't worry, I love people also got no height. There

  216. are other types of trees. Okay, so don't worry. We

  217. sort of love everybody. Everybody has a place. Don't worry.

  218. Don't worry. So this tree is really nice and lovely.

  219. But I want to concentrate on this. It's roots. The

  220. root only grows 14 feet. What? A tree that grows

  221. 270 feet, the roots only grow 14 feet. But they

  222. spread out, man. They spread out. over a land of

  223. one acre. They spread out over 43,560 square feet. So

  224. that means this whole building stretching into the next building

  225. all over, the roots spread out. One tree. You know

  226. that we are meant to grow and spread out to

  227. lift up the name of Jesus, we shouldn't be stuck

  228. only to one place. Which is why we have many plants.

  229. We reach out, we reach out, we reach out. What

  230. are we doing? You know, we are establishing the base,

  231. the root, whereby the tree of the knowledge of Jesus

  232. can grow really tall and strong. You know, it's not

  233. good just to remain among ourselves. The other day I

  234. went for a conference. It was on Tuesday. I went

  235. for a conference. This was a conference on apologetics. Apologetics

  236. is not saying sorry, but apologetics is about telling about

  237. how the word of God is true and explaining it

  238. to other faiths. You know, that kind of, that's what

  239. apologetics is. So I went for this conference. It was

  240. in D-U-M-C-P-J. Damansara Utama Medical Methodist Church. Not Medical Church,

  241. Methodist Church. So the pastor was there and I went

  242. up to the pastor and I said, Pastor, thank you

  243. so much for having us here. There were about 600

  244. people from all over, all different churches. Thank you so much.

  245. It's so wonderful. He says, you're so welcome. It's so

  246. good to have you here. So I just told him,

  247. you know what I love about churches these days? I

  248. grew up, in the 70s, late 70s. Okay? When I

  249. became a Christian, in the late 70s, churches were different.

  250. Churches were, I am me, myself, don't bother us. Very

  251. rarely you found churches working together. And every time a

  252. church worked together, they thought you're going to take away

  253. their people. So they wanted to be alone. And I

  254. told him, it is so nice to see Jesus' prayer

  255. coming to fruition. What was Jesus' prayer? Father, I pray

  256. that there will be one even as you and I are. One.

  257. Jesus' prayer for unity after 2,000 years is coming to pass. See,

  258. nothing that Jesus says returns to him void. And what

  259. happens as a result of that? Because the church is unified,

  260. the tree grows taller. Jesus has lifted up more. Jesus

  261. has lifted up amazingly. That's what happens when the roots

  262. grow out, when you reach out. So this is one analogy,

  263. that for the tree to grow tall, we need to

  264. spread out. I want to talk about the elephant in

  265. the room. What's the elephant in the room? What happened

  266. in Nepal? Do you know what happened in Nepal? When

  267. I saw those videos, I couldn't believe it. A water

  268. of sludge and stone and mud taller than five stories

  269. come down and wipe out everything. You ask yourself, how

  270. can A merciful God allows such a tragedy to happen.

  271. Did any of you ask yourself this question? Did anyone?

  272. I did. This morning when I was praying for your,

  273. when I was praying for the word this morning at

  274. 5 a.m. when I was doing my morning walks and

  275. I talked to the Lord about it and he gave

  276. an answer. The reason why I talk to the Lord

  277. about it is unfortunately one of the videos that I

  278. saw was two men holding and taking somebody else out

  279. and I won't describe it to you because it was

  280. so heartbreaking. Five to ten pastors are missing. A congregation

  281. total of about A hundred believers are also missing. All

  282. these are presumed, demised. How many churches involved? Ten churches.

  283. So your question and mine is, how can God allow

  284. this to happen to his very own people? And you

  285. have to ask yourself this question. God, how does growth

  286. happen when things like this happen? People ask me this

  287. question and I tell them, you're a merciful God and

  288. this thing happens. And what do I say? How do

  289. I answer this question? I ask God, tell me. And

  290. the Lord says, drew me to the book of Job.

  291. Do you know that Job was going about his business

  292. loving the Lord? Job was going about his business praising

  293. the Lord and living his life and enjoying the blessings

  294. of the Lord. And calamity came upon his family And

  295. he lost 10 children, all his children in one go.

  296. In one go, you and I, we lost 100 brothers

  297. and sisters. We lost them. They went, I'm sorry, I

  298. have to address this. So Job was quite upset about it.

  299. As you and I would be. Lord, how can this

  300. happen to our brethren? Yeah, we don't know them. Yeah,

  301. they're in a different... But this should not be taking place.

  302. I want you to know that living life as a

  303. Christian doesn't mean calamities will not take place. It doesn't

  304. mean that hardship will not take place. It doesn't mean

  305. that bad stuff won't take place. But I want you

  306. to know something. What does the Bible say? For me

  307. to live is Christ and to die is gain. So

  308. let's start off by saying that 100 plus brethren, where

  309. are they? They are with the Lord. They are in

  310. his loving arms. Then you ask, what kind of a

  311. testimony is this? Well, you could ask the same thing

  312. about Job. What kind of a testimony? Look at what

  313. Job said, all right? Job said, Job opened his mouth

  314. in chapter 3 and cursed the day of his birth.

  315. And Job spoke and said, May the day perish on

  316. which I was born. It got to him just like

  317. it got to me. I want to tell you, those believers,

  318. they are with the Lord. There's another thing called the

  319. law of nature. What is the law of nature? The

  320. law of nature is God has set certain laws in place.

  321. What is up comes down. Gravity. If you mess with

  322. the law of nature, you are messing with the law

  323. that God has set in place. So what happened? Those

  324. people over the years built their homes in very dangerous territory.

  325. Why dangerous? Because it put them in the path of

  326. fighting against nature. Because what did nature say? That stuff

  327. that's heavy on the top is going to come down.

  328. Is it a safe place to be? No. How many

  329. of you would go and build your house on tin

  330. mining land before the water has been removed? Would you

  331. do that? You're asking for trouble. That's not the issue though.

  332. The issue is this. The enemy goes before the Lord

  333. and he says, sure, your children in this church, they

  334. are praising your name. They are worshipping you because you

  335. haven't touched them. And God is proud of all his

  336. children in Nepal and here. And he says, you can

  337. do it. They will still praise my name. They will

  338. still praise my name. You say, ah, it didn't really

  339. touch us, didn't it? Because now you have to fight

  340. with the fact that a loving God allowed something to

  341. take place. And you and I, you know why we sit?

  342. We sit like how Job sits. Lord, what's happening? How

  343. can this be taking place? How can you allow this

  344. to take place? And you know what? Job's friends will

  345. soon come around. You know what? The three of Job's

  346. friends will come around. And they will say, what kind

  347. of God do you have? You talk so much. Hey,

  348. a hundred of your people left. You're going to face it.

  349. If you don't face it now, you will face it

  350. in the future. What do you say? I want you

  351. to know what God said. In Job 38, it says this.

  352. And then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind

  353. and said this. And you got to, I want to

  354. read it like how I would imagine it's coming to

  355. me from the word of God. Who is this whose

  356. darkness darkened councils by the word without knowledge? What do

  357. you know? You know what God is saying? Who are

  358. you to question anything that I have said in place?

  359. What do you know? It's what it says. It says here.

  360. What do you know? Now prepare yourself like a man.

  361. I will question you and you will answer me. God said,

  362. you want to talk like you know? Now I'm going

  363. to question and I want you to answer. It says,

  364. where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

  365. When I set the laws in place for this world

  366. to operate, where were you? Tell me if you have understanding.

  367. Who determines its measurements? Surely you know. You seem to

  368. know what's good and what's bad. Ah-hee! stretched the line

  369. upon it? To what was its foundations fastened? Or who

  370. laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together and

  371. all the sons of God shouted for joy. What I

  372. want you to know is this. God knows what he's doing,

  373. even when we don't. And what we are supposed to do,

  374. we are those roots that have grown out. If you

  375. imagine the whole church of God is one tall tree.

  376. What does the roots do? They help those people in

  377. the poor. They comfort those that have lost understanding and

  378. lost faith and don't understand the word. That's what you

  379. and I are supposed to do. We are supposed to

  380. stand on behalf of God and explain it from His

  381. point of view. You think it's easy? You think it's easy?

  382. It's much easier to have gone in one swift act

  383. like that than to be around and explain it for years.

  384. But you and I have got to understand that God

  385. is true. Will Nepal rise again? I'm sure it will.

  386. Because you know what is the end of the story

  387. of Job? He got all children back. Not the same ones,

  388. not new children. He got everything back. All this from

  389. a tree that spreads the roots. You and I have

  390. got to understand. We have got to stretch out. We've

  391. got to reach out, not with our eyes closed, not

  392. with some hunky-dory tale that people don't understand. Because people

  393. will ask you this question, what about? What about? And

  394. you tell them, the world, and the other thing is this,

  395. when God is minimized in any place, there's big trouble.

  396. There's always big trouble. That's why we need to spread

  397. out and lift up the name of Jesus. so that

  398. the anointing of the Lord can protect. Can protect. I

  399. want to move on. The next tree, there's another tree

  400. coming up. I don't know why I'm talking in trees now.

  401. This is a shepherd's tree. A shepherd's tree. It's called

  402. a shepherd's tree. It's kind of like an olive tree,

  403. I think, right now. It's a beautiful tree. Can you

  404. see the person underneath? So this tree only grows to

  405. about 30 feet. Okay? And although the tree grows to

  406. 30 feet, I want to tell you its roots grow

  407. to between 300 and 400 feet down. Small tree, but

  408. its roots are at a length that go up 30,

  409. 40 stories. Wow, isn't that amazing? Why would it be

  410. so important for a tree to grow such deep roots? Why? Well,

  411. let's look what Scripture says. Scripture says in Matthew 13

    Matthew 13:5–6

  412. verses 5 to 6, Under the seeds fell on shallow

  413. soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the

  414. soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the

  415. hot sun since they did not have deep roots and

  416. they died. This is the danger of shallow roots. You see,

  417. we need to spread out in order to grow tall.

  418. It's a good sign of growth, but we also need

  419. to grow deep in the word of God and faith

  420. in order to survive hardships. You see, Where the tall

  421. tree grows with the roots spread out is at a

  422. place where it doesn't have those many natural calamities. It

  423. doesn't have the kind of strong winds. Oh, sorry, it

  424. has strong winds, but it has enough of water. It

  425. has enough of feeding, just like us, right? We have

  426. a lot of God's feeding us the word. We come

  427. to church every Sunday. We are fed the word. We

  428. can find the word on the internet. We can find

  429. the word on many Bibles. I think in our context,

  430. every house has got about 10 Bibles. All the different versions,

  431. all the gifts that people have given us, correct or not?

  432. But in Nepal, not so much. But I want you

  433. to know that the tree, the roots grew deep. Why

  434. is that? It grew deep in a place where water

  435. was not available. It needs to get nourishment. And how

  436. do you get nourishment? You have to go deep. Guys,

  437. you and I want to be able to handle Hardship,

  438. we have to grow deep in the word. You see,

  439. it's a growth. It's a growth. Remember what we started

  440. off with? In order for the church to grow, it's

  441. not just grow tall. It's grow deep. One is grow tall.

  442. Why do we grow tall? To spread so that people

  443. can see the name of Jesus. Why do we grow wide?

  444. So that we can help one another. Why do we

  445. grow deep? Because we need to understand the word of God. God.

  446. We need to grow deep in his word and only

  447. then can we survive. Hey, I got to tell you something.

  448. I know what I'm talking about. Because at this moment,

  449. I'm also going through some issues. This is with my dad.

  450. My father is already about to expire at any time.

  451. It could be minutes. It could be days. But I'm

  452. here not broken up. Not because I don't love him.

  453. I do. Not because I don't appreciate what he's going through.

  454. I do. But I want you to know one month

  455. ago he gave his life to Jesus. He gave his

  456. life to Jesus. And he confessed Jesus with his own lips.

  457. And he found peace in his heart. And when I

  458. saw his peace, I am at peace. Just a few

  459. days ago, when I saw him, he says, Terrence, come

  460. and sit by me. So I sat by the side

  461. of his bed and I asked him this question, Dad,

  462. how are you feeling? How are you? And with a

  463. smile on his face, he looks at me and he says,

  464. I'm okay if I look okay to you. So I

  465. had a laugh. It's just like my dad. But you see,

  466. he is fighting for his life. But God has given

  467. him peace. And I'm not distraught. You know why? Because

  468. my roots have grown deep in the Lord. I know

  469. whom I believed and am persuaded that he is able

  470. to keep that which I've committed to him until that day. See,

  471. when we know Jesus, we don't have to be distraught.

  472. We don't have to be broken up. There's no regret

  473. in my life. Why would there be? He's going to

  474. see Jesus. Depth. In Jeremiah 17, 7 to 8 it says,

  475. but blessed are those who trust in the Lord and

  476. have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are

  477. like what? Trees planted along the river bank whose roots

  478. reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered

  479. by the heat or worried by the long months of drought.

  480. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit.

  481. So what does it mean to grow? Is it just height?

  482. Hey guys, we are not meant to grow just so

  483. people can see, alright? Because the part that is not

  484. seen is what is most important. Because that's what will

  485. preserve us. So how do we do this? With constant

  486. and consistent nourishment of the Lord. And it says here again,

  487. in Isaiah 37, 31, it says, and the remnant who

  488. have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take

  489. root downward and bear fruit upward. Oh, isn't that lovely?

  490. Growth is upward and downward. True visible success, the fruit

  491. is entirely dependent on what happens beneath the surface. How

  492. many of you know that you plant a fruit tree

  493. and the tree does not fruit, the trouble is probably underground?

  494. You know that? That's why wine, you know wine? Grapes. Grapes.

  495. Grapes in different areas are more valuable than grapes in

  496. other areas. Why? What's happening under the surface, the soil,

  497. the quality? Let's move on. Are you getting something about

  498. growth resulting? We have to show growth, but how does

  499. that happen? It happens these ways that we've been discussing. Okay,

  500. let's move on. Efficiency 17. Okay, we're going to come

  501. to an end soon. Ephesians 3, 17. That Christ, Jesus Christ,

  502. may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you being

  503. rooted and grounded in love. You see, it's not just

  504. the word. The word has got to produce love in us.

  505. Why do we feel what we feel about a disaster

  506. that happens somewhere else? Let me give you an answer.

  507. It's love. If you are a person that does not love,

  508. you won't be bothered one way or the other what

  509. happens somewhere else as long as it doesn't happen to you. Correct?

  510. Would that be truthful to say? Empathy is a form

  511. of love. Care is a form of love. Concern is

  512. a form of love. If we don't have these things,

  513. the capacity to love is not there. That was the

  514. NKG version. And I love what... So Christ will make... NLT, yeah?

  515. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that

  516. you being rooted and grounded in love. Listen to what

  517. the New Living Translation says. That Christ... Will make his home.

  518. In your heart. As you trust him. Your roots will

  519. grow down. Into God's love. And keep you strong. The

  520. love of God. Will keep you strong. Guys. Guys. Today

  521. is a little bit tough, I know. Because, you know,

  522. it sort of took the tone of my prayer this morning.

  523. But God wants us to grow in His love. Because

  524. when we grow in the love of God, our strength grows.

  525. And when we are strong, we can do great things

  526. for the Lord. And nothing of what happens is for

  527. us just to reap the benefits ourselves. It is for

  528. the church. It is for the people. God loves, serves

  529. as the ultimate soil that keeps a believer stable, secure,

  530. and resilient against life's storms. You know, Many of us

  531. will go through some tough stuff. Many of us will

  532. go through hardship. And then we say, what's going wrong? Well,

  533. first thing is check your life. Go through the core

  534. values and see whether anything is missing. Address those. When

  535. you've addressed those, you say, hey, what's happening? Why is

  536. it still happening? Sometimes, like I said, tough stuff happens

  537. to prove you, to prove the Lord's trust in you. See,

  538. God trusts you. God trusted Job. God was boasting about Job,

  539. in fact. Give God an opportunity to boast about you.

  540. It may seem like, you know, somebody else is suffering. No, no, no, no.

  541. God takes care of them. God takes care of them.

  542. So when you know how much God loves people, you know,

  543. God is... His heart goes out. But don't get so

  544. caught up with the things that you see on the

  545. internet about Nepal. Don't. In fact, if I were you,

  546. it's not necessary. You see, what is more important is

  547. for your love to grow where they are concerned. And

  548. how do you do that? You pray for that church, man.

  549. You spend time praying for the church. God's love will

  550. carry it through. Do not have a bad confession. How

  551. can God allow this to happen? That is like the

  552. counsel of Job's friends, which God rebuked. And God told

  553. of Job, you know nothing. You weren't here when I

  554. created the earth. You know nothing. So how about trusting me?

  555. Let's not let God rebuke us that way. But let's

  556. continue to trust God. Alright, so God's love serves the

  557. ultimate soil that keeps a believer stable, secure and resilient.

  558. Growth resulting. How are you and I going to grow?

  559. How are you and I going to progress? It's so important, right?

  560. Some of you got nice children. You need to keep

  561. yourself growing. You need to keep yourself growing in the Lord. Why?

  562. Because they must see how you grow. You're not going

  563. to be around to protect them all the time. So

  564. they need to see how you handle issues so that

  565. when it comes time for them to handle issues, it's

  566. going to be okay. Right now. Yes. That's it. That's it. So,

  567. simple word. I think it's short today. Today my word

  568. is very short. Now y'all are smiling and happy, yeah?

  569. Just now. The word only needs to be as long

  570. as it gets true to you. So, how do we grow?

  571. How do we grow? Tall. Wide. Deep. In what? the

  572. word and the love of God. We'll be able to

  573. take whatever comes our way.

  574. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

  575. information on our church, please visit axechurch.org. We are also

  576. active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week

  577. is going to be a good week ahead for you.

  578. God bless.