Rooted In The Unseen | Pr Yvonne Chong

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today, you know, I'm going to be talking about being

rooted in the unseen. You know, how many of you.

Here love gardening? Planting trees?

Yeah, I know we have expert botanists here. I don't

know what you want to, you know, and, you know, today,

you know, the message itself is.

Very, very much about plant. Plants. Not so much about

plants as well.

It's about the root of the plant because that's where

the source of life is.

Yeah.

And that's the most that is the unseen that is happening.

And the unseen itself will affect whatever that happens above

the ground, right?

So, and, you know.

I have these two next pictures. You could go to it.

I'm not too sure whether you all remember what is this.

I think it happened not too long ago. It's a

huge old tree which has fallen in KL City itself.

I think it's near where Shangri-La Hotel is opposite. So

it's huge. It's a rainforest kind of size of tree.

Fell on a train track in front. And I think

mortuaries were injured and I think someone passed away. So Okay,

and the next picture, I decided when I was like

searching for the best photo to show you guys on

the big tree, I stumbled upon this picture which they

took a closer picture of the root of the tree.

And when I was looking at it, initially I thought,

you know, the tree was just, you know, it looked

like it just got chopped down, right?

But it actually really did get uprooted. And I was wondering, where?

Where are the roots? What happened to the roots? And

it got me thinking. It got me a bit.

We were researching a little bit more. Then I remembered

my science. I think it was in primary school. I

think it was in primary school. We learned about the

different kinds of roots. So let's go to the next slide.

And I.

You know, notice there.

Are two kinds of roots mainly.

One of it is the roots will just grow wide

and one will actually grow wide a bit but very

deep okay and you can determine that by the lines

that you see on a.

Leaf okay.

So this is how the roots look like and today

I'll be sharing about the root that will grow deep

which is on this on this right side because I

realized that big tree that fell maybe maybe I can't

100% say it is maybe the roots were wide but

it's not deep enough to be able to to hold

the weight because if you see you know the branches

and everything was just spread wide apart but if a

tree has a deep root it will be harder to

uproot it actually okay So that's where I want to

bring us to in today's message, okay? So have you

ever noticed, you know, about our, I don't know, like now,

in this day and age, right, how people are.

Just so taken up.

Sometimes, you know, the word is obsessed with hustles, the

hustlings of life.

We get just so caught up. in the hustle and

bustle of life.

Right?

You know, from studies, then to starting a career. And

then when you're in your career, then, you know, you'll

be like, okay, promotion. Right? the influence, you know, what

kind of influence you're making in your marketplace. You know,

you're talking about stepping ladders and platforms to, you know.

To climb up the corporate ladder.

And sometimes you're like, okay, you know, how do I

look like, you know, on social media?

Aesthetically.

Why I say aesthetically because sometimes social media can be

a bit dressed up.

And we just, all those are really good.

But that shows about just what happens above the ground

of a person. The outward part of a person. And

a lot of times as just human beings, we are

in a way result-oriented people. And results-oriented, I would liken

it to just like we look at the fruits. When

a person plants a durian tree, you only see that

this tree is profitable to you when it starts bearing

good quality.

Good grade fruits. That's the ROI. Natural. Okay, natural.

All of us want an ROI and the ROI is

in the form of the fruit. literally and figuratively as well. But,

you know, before we can go to the place of,

you know, being marketplace leaders, you know, or, you know,

some of us or most of us actually have that

internal desire like, okay, I desire to lead someone in

the future. But, Or, you know, I desire to be

an influencer, not just on social media, but what God

has placed us at, you know, we desire to do that.

Or we desire in the house of God as well

to be influencers, to be role models, more church terms,

to be role models.

To lead someone.

But before all of those can happen, we need to

lead ourselves first.

Right?

And The first person that we need to lead is us, alright?

And one of the key non-negotiables in the area of

our life when it comes to leading ourselves is leading

ourselves in the area of our quiet time with the Lord, alright?

Sometimes we measure, you know, how well we are doing

based on the growth.

Like I told you, right?

Results-oriented, you know, based on, like, hey, you know, I'm

not feeling enough happiness in life. Which happiness is just

a form of emotion, right? You know, my career feels empty,

you know, there's no promotion coming along my way. You know,

I feel there's a certain amount of stagnancy, you know,

why am I losing my patience these days? Maybe, maybe because,

you know, our quiet time.

Not maybe. I am pretty sure it's because our quiet

time is not in check. It's not in place. And

our quiet time is a source of our success.

As believers, because that is our powerhouse. That's our dynamo.

That's our generator. And can I go back to the

picture with that two types of root just now? One

thing I want to point out, you can see, right,

there is such thing as a water table under a

few layers of ground. That's where, in the olden days,

when they bore holes, right, that's where your well water

comes from. So there's such thing as a water table

and a root of a tree that is able to

go way down into the water table, gets natural drawing

of the water. So they don't get affected by any

droughts at any season. And I thought that this is

really powerful because our quiet time is like a water table, right?

The Holy Spirit is likened to the living water. and

a living water that, you know, you won't grow thirsty

when you consume it. You know, our tap water, yeah,

it's not entirely satisfying. So the Holy Spirit satisfies us

and to come to that place of being constantly satisfied

by Him is that deep root that has to grow

deep and receiving the natural source of life. Without that,

there would not be a sustainable growth of the height

of the tree. At one point in time, it would

definitely fall. That tree that we saw just now, really beautiful, canopy,

you know, provided in KL City where the concrete jungle is.

Very beautiful, but it has to fall one day because

it may not be fully sustainable because of the road.

A movement of God always, you know, how God moves

in our lives is always very dependable on what happens

in our private life behind closed doors.

All right?

So that is my introduction. I'm going to go to

point one right now. Okay. First point, the principle of

the seed. Okay.

Think about a really healthy tree and a tree grows,

a healthy tree definitely need to grow in two directions.

Okay.

One is you have to grow downwards healthily and grow

upwards healthily as well. But before a tree happens, it

starts with.

A tiny little seed. All right.

And.

The seed breaks, germination happens.

And when the seed breaks, the first thing that comes

out is the root.

And when it breaks, the root will have to grow

downwards first.

The last thing that you see is that tiny little

shoot that will come out above the ground.

Okay.

And this, you know, although it's something in the natural,

it shows something in the supernatural as well.

The trend of God's will for our life. All right.

He's always wanting us to go deeper than only higher. Right.

Let's be honest, you know, growing downwards, not many people

like it because it's not fun.

It's not comfortable. It's dirty.

You've got a lot of insects, worms, stones. Yeah, as

you go deeper as well, or sometimes, you know, there

are big stones, pebbles. The soil can be really hard.

And as you go deeper and deeper, it's darker and darker.

And it's just.

And then as you go deeper somehow, it's going to

be damp and soggy. One of the things that I

don't like is damp ground. I feel very icky fight.

Anything that's soggy and slimy and damp, it's.

Really uncomfortable for me. Maybe for some people, okay.

For me, if you ask me, barefoot in waterfalls when

you have the moss and it's damp ground, I just

cannot stand it. Okay, so it's uncomfortable. And maybe God

wants to bring us to that place. Sometimes we always

think like, okay, God, bring me deeper. Then you think

of all the unicorns and rainbows in your life. Reality is,

it can be very uncomfortable when God brings us deeper.

But know that the deeper that we go, because God

wants us to reach even wider. So some of us

may be going through a season of pain at this

current time. Season of discomfort or season of just waiting.

And sometimes you feel like, God, I've been waiting for

so long. Why is this breakthrough not happening yet? You know, God,

why am I still struggling here? God, why do I

feel so isolated? Understand that in that waiting, God is

actually doing something in our life. But you cannot just

wait and just sit there and do nothing, all right? Because,

you know, in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, can we

Hebrews 12:1

turn to that verse and let's read it? We cannot be,

the other word, you know, sometimes people use brainlessly waiting, right?

Because in this verse, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, if

Hebrews 12:1

you're there, you can say yes. Yeah, almost there. All right.

Thank you, Linus. Okay, let's read it together in one,

two and three.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great

a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight

and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let

us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

All right. So, um, The word seen.

Here in Hebrew is actually Hamashia, which actually literally means

missing the mark.

God loves us so much that.

He doesn't want to see us miss the mark of

our calling, okay? Let me just explain it a little

bit more. Often we, you know, as believers, we.

See sin.

Only as part of actions that we do, right? If

you murder someone, I'm just going to give the extreme.

Murder someone, sin.

Lie, sin. Still sin. What else?

Adultery, sin, okay? Lazy, sin, okay?

So it's all external.

You know, we see it as we equate sin to

an active word, okay? You have to do something. But,

you know, Hamashia here, right? The word sin here actually

is missing the mark. And being stagnant, waiting, not You know,

in your waiting, you can actually, it's the best time

because you're not preoccupied with anything. Best time, you know,

to have good, solid, quiet time. But sometimes in the waiting,

we choose to be stagnant. And stagnancy itself, right, means

there is no growth, right? What's the opposite word of stagnant?

Growth lah.

Okay.

So if God's target, okay, it's God's purpose, you know,

it's God's mark for our lives, it's for continuous growth.

It's so that his son and his daughter, all of

us here, continue to grow in our spiritual work with him.

to continue to see our roots, our spiritual roots deepen

to be more like Jesus, than standing still itself or,

you know, choosing not to do anything. Because sometimes you're like, okay,

I don't want to ruffle any feathers. I don't want

to stir up the water. Later it becomes murky or muddy.

Then you're just like, okay, it's better to sit on

the fence. It's better to be stagnant. And you know,

sitting on the fence is not the best place for

your bum-bum.

It's not comfortable at all. Although, you know.

Ideally, it may look comfortable, but being stagnant itself, you know,

the Word of God also says that it is missing

the mark. You don't have to deviate And just now

we talked about, you know, the external actions of, you know,

visible sin that we can see. You just do not

have to deviate to that. All you just have to

do is to stop moving.

Stop allowing God to bring you deeper. Stop, you know, stop,

stop stopping.

Stop, like, God, don't do anything more in my life.

You know, God, I'm not interested.

Leave me alone.

That itself is missing a mark. And one of the things,

neglecting our quiet time. You just choose not to do

it or like, you know, you don't see the urgency

to do it. That is also missing a mark because

you're like, God, busy lah, tired. It's okay lah, my

quiet time can be stagnant. My, you know, private dating

time with you, you know, you're going to use this

modern day, you know, so private dating time with you, Lord,

it's okay lah. You understand, I've been speaking to you

throughout the whole of the day already. It's not, you know,

because spiritual stagnation will actually cause the roots to pause,

to stop growing. And it will make you, and anything

that stops growing, It's because there's no longer any life there.

Sometimes to the extent the root will start rotting as well.

Those who are botanists here. When the root starts rotting,

then you say, why suddenly the leaf changed colour and

it starts wilting. Then you put more water. It's actually

not because sometimes not enough water. It's just underneath, it's

already rotting, right?

Stagnation. Stagnation. Sorry, stagnation. Stagnation.

Stagnation does that to us. It makes us fall short

of an abundant growth that we can have in the

Lord and the abundant growth that God has intended for us.

Okay?

I'm going to bring us back to the second portion

of this scripture. Hebrews 12, 1, right? The other word,

so it says here, and the scene which so easily

ensnares us. So there is Hamasiah, Missing the mark. And

then there's this word and snares.

Okay.

So it just gives a very clear picture of being

tangled up. And snares in original words means being tangled up.

Like a runner running through, I don't know, like.

Running through wood, running through the jungle.

Your feet get caught in the vine.

Sin tangles up. Tangles us up, okay?

And when you get tangled up, when you trip over,

you stop moving.

Forward, right?

Your forward, you know, your momentum when you run, there's

a certain momentum. When you break your running, you break

the momentum.

Restarting it is difficult.

So that's what stagnation.

Can do to us. It will make a trip.

It will break our forward momentum. And sometimes it gets

us tangled and trip over the calling that God has

for our life as well and cause us to be

stuck in one place, cause us injury sometimes, you sprain

your ankle or so.

Alright?

So that is sin. And the other thing about sin, like.

The sin.

that I want to bring our attention to so we

know one is the sin that we commit but there's

this another sin that sometimes we're not aware of it's

the sin of omission alright James chapter 4 verse 17

James 4:17

it says therefore to him who knows to do good

and does not do it to him it is sin.

Wow.

Those of us who know that we need to do

good but do not do it, the Bible says, it

is sin.

All right.

So Hamashiah here as well is the good things that

we fail to do as a believer. We have already

committed sin. the good thing about spending quiet time that

we need to do but we fail to do it,

instead of, you know, doing our quiet time, we choose

to scroll social media, choose to occupy that time in

Netflix because you're like, God, I'm so stressed already today.

Give me my me time. I need to de-stress, de-compress.

You know, I will do everything else to help manage that.

That will cause us to miss the mark.

All right?

Outward growth is always really easy. Okay, to grow high

and tall is easy. Why? Because, you know, everybody will

be able to see the visible result of it.

And they'll cheer and clap and cheer you on. Say,

good job.

Wow, another promotion. Another, you know, 40% increase of your salary.

Amazing. You know, you get 4.01.

No, it's just 4.01 for your GPA.

The world celebrates the outward.

Manifestation of life. But in the dark hours, nobody sees

that and celebrates that. So a lot of times, we

pay a lot of attention to the fruit, but the

bottom is always neglected. So, you know, as a church

as well, let's continue to.

Cheer each other on.

Even in their darkest moment, darkest time, growth is still happening,

you know, encourage them. Okay, what we can ask ourselves today,

you know, are we just a fruit believer or are

we a root believer? You know, let's not, you know,

come to a place to complain like, God, there is

a lack of fruit in my life.

God, why the.

Promotion is still not on the way? God, why are

my results still like that? Maybe because you never study hard.

Or maybe, you know, in a workplace, in a workplace,

you know, you're not putting in, you know, being a

good employee, then maybe, you know, sometimes the natural, you

have to check yourself. Don't just complain. But sometimes, you know,

to know the fruit, you have to check the root, okay?

Before God wants to produce anything external, He will always

dictate deeper into our lives, okay? Second point, what are

the three functions of root? Simple science class, but not

science really as well. But why are roots so important

to us?

Why?

First, the root feeds us, okay?

If you do not have your own good rooting system,

you become entirely dependent on other people to feed you.

If you want to continuously be sorry Sister Shirley, but

you will continuously be a plant in the pot, then

you'll always depend on Sister Shirley to feed you. Or

everyone else that comes to help, you know, water the plant.

But when you choose to be rooted into the firm ground,

that's where you don't have to depend on other people, right?

Your root will grow into the water table and then

that's where.

You'll be alive and well, okay?

As believers, sometimes we survive from one online podcast to another.

Reading one daily bread devotion. Do you all know what

daily bread is? Okay. Okay, you guys still know. Okay, good, good, good.

We rarely see it these days.

It's like a devotional book, but sometimes we just depend

on that. Or, you know, we depend on the energy of,

I don't want to use this word energy, but sometimes,

you know, the energy and the electrifying atmosphere of praise

and worship, when we gather on Sundays only, we depend

on that. We depend on other people praying for us.

You know, the prayer support team, for example. Those are

all feeding that we are getting from the external. But

when we are planted in our quiet time, when we

are planted in the word of the Lord, that's where

our permanent feeding comes from. It's the true source of

life that comes from, okay? So instead of reading your

daily bread, read the real daily bread here. I'm not

calling that a fake, but you get what I mean.

That is supplementary for your devotion. This is the main thing, okay?

Second point of the function of the root. Root stabilizes us,

all right? Um, A lot, these days and age, we

hear a lot about work-life balance. But honestly, most of

the time, work-life balance is just addressing a lot of

external symptoms. And if our lives, right, sometimes people are like, okay,

I want to achieve the work-life balance. But true to

be told, a lot of times, it will be out

of balance one. because there's just too many external factors,

variables around us that is not within our control. And

what life balance always speaks about, you know, being able

to be in control.

Of a situation, some sort or another. But then, you know,

when the.

Variables becomes real, reality hits, we'll go spiralling down. And,

you know, when exams come up, when you have an

assignment to rush and submit your thesis, your viva, or,

you know, you have deadlines to meet in your workplace

and sometimes.

It's tough.

It's going to be tough to achieve that balance because

it's just all external. But, when our roots is tip,

no matter what happens on the external, we will not

tip over. The tree will still stand still and be balanced.

It will not tip over. It won't be blown away

by corporate pressure. Won't be blown away. Sometimes, you know,

our lives still depend about external valuation. Social media itself

Sometimes when it blows up, you know, everyone comment, I

don't like you, why you this? And you get so

taken up by it. So, external wind pressure will tip

us over. But with a stable root, we will have

the balance.

Okay? Okay.

The root withstands, the root is resilient, okay? Leaves and branches,

those of you who have been or know of different

countries with fall season, right? Leaves and branches go through seasons, okay?

During autumn, that's where, you know, and winter, leaves turn

brown and some trees will just go bald, totally no leaves, right? And, and, and,

not just leaves, fruits also don't get produced in autumn

and winter as well. And sometimes like in our own lives,

we go crying when we're like, oh no, my life,

everything is just turning brown. Everything is dead. Oh no,

the leaves are all falling. There's months and months of

no fruit in my life. Do you think God has

actually abandoned us. You know, I've been through that as well,

you know, growing up.

I was.

So for both my diploma and my degree, degree, I

did try the different degrees, but ended up in accounting

and finance, which I'm not practicing it totally right now.

But there was this two similar papers, which is in finance,

that I failed.

Not once, not twice, five times.

All the other subjects were okay. But I don't know why,

my diploma the same, degree the same. I'm like, God,

have you abandoned me? Because both of the courses, because

of that re-seat, you actually have to defer quite long,

about a year and a half, you know. So all

my batch mates all graduate a year and a half later,

only I graduate. But at that point of time, I'm like, God,

It feels like everything's not going anywhere. Should I just

quit studies and forfeit the other 20 subjects that I've

already done? I can't remember how many. But, you know,

and things could have, you know, felt really, really dark

for me. Because I thought like, God, I'm your child.

I love you so much. Everything should be successful for me.

Why five times? And the worst thing is, if I

fail the sixth time, means I have to forfeit the

whole course. Meaning, last chance to receive already. So imagine

the immense pressure and stress I go through. And I'm like, God,

what are you doing? What are you doing? And a

lot of times, you know, season.

We see.

People will always commonly use this expression. Oh, my season

is over. I'm going to move to another new church.

My season here is done.

Uh....

Do you think that tree that is going through autumn

and winter when it feels like, okay, it's season now

of no fruitfulness. Let me just outroot myself and go

to Malaysia because it's rainforest every year.

I mean, it's all green and rainy and healthy. No, right?

The tree stays no matter what the season the tree

is going through. It may seem like my season of

being a good testimony campus student is like, God, I

think I'm not a good testimony anymore. Do I just

uproot myself? A lot of times, I did feel like

giving up both. I was like, God, history is repeating itself. Diploma,

maybe I should just uproot and go back Penang. But

God asked me to stay because He was working something

deeper in my life.

Then, okay. So, when seasons change, stay still.

Don't make decisions when your season, your whole tree is

bought up. When you're bought, the whole tree is bought,

don't make decisions then.

Commit it to the Lord. Pray.

Because under the ground, it's not seasonal, right? Everything is

still almost quite constant there. Temperatures change a bit. But

most of the time, everything is constant there. The roots

may slow down in the growth, but it will never

shut down.

Okay. So, above the ground, it will be.

Definitely fully affected by seasons, affected by thunderstorms, A lot

of trees get striked down because of lightnings as well.

But the roots still remain, right? You can cut the

whole tree, bolt up, right? Cut off the branches. But

a few weeks later, you start to see new shoots

coming out from the trunks or the branches or so.

So because actively under the ground, there's still life happening.

Matthew 13 20-21.

Let's read it together so you can turn to your Bible.

If you're there, you can say yes. Okay, in my

count of three, let's read it together. One, two and three.

But he who received the seed on stony places, this

is he who hears the word and immediately receives it

with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but

endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution

arises because of the word, immediately he tumbles. Alright? The

phrase here, no root in himself. The word root here

is reza. And it doesn't just mean a physical plant root.

It actually means cause, the origin, and the deeply established

source of life. So a fruit, a fruiting tree cannot

be sustained without a reza, right? Without a deeply established

source of life. We need the source of life to

continue to grow in our spiritual walk with the Lord.

Point three. God is the God of the in. What

does that mean? I will bring us through it.

God is inherently interested in the internal. What we put

in our lives daily determines our output. I know of

a campus student last time. When she was still a

campus student now, amazing psychologist now. When she was a

campus student, she was part of Ex Nilai. And for her,

every time I bring her out to eat, after that,

I realised that She would tell me after rice. After that,

she would tell me her stomach pain. Always a lot

of discomfort. I'm like, am I bringing her to a

place that causes bloated food that causes bloatedness or not clean.

You know, you have food poisoning and all. Then after

I asked further, she was saying, actually, whenever she eats

out with me, it depends on the value of the food.

So the more expensive the food, the longer she'll keep

her bowels in. Because she said, it'll be a waste.

If I eat four hours later, digestion, then I just

have output, right? Then I'm like, although, okay, it makes

a little bit of sense, but I'm like, I know

you treasure, you know, the value of the food, you know,

you try to keep it in. Now it's like, no

wonder you're always getting stomach pain. Then she's like, oh yeah.

I'm like, Logically, okay, logic. What we put in determines

our output. So, and then after that, okay, I understood

her more after knowing her more. I mean, financially, her

family does not give her a lot of money. She

was a full JPA scholarship student. So, relying on government

funding and all. So, the next thing, I realized that

because a few years like months of knowing her. Then

she's like, oh no, Pastor Yvonne, I think I need

to go to see the doctor. I was like, oh no,

what happened now? And like keeping in everything.

Until it's not coming out. Then she's like, no, no, no.

Now I choose to release.

However blessed I am, I choose to release when it

needs to be released.

I'm like, okay, good job. Then what happened now?

Because then after that, she's like, oh, actually the past

one week, I've been eating Maggi mee, instant noodles, lunch, dinner, lunch, dinner, lunch, dinner.

So she started, sorry, a bit disgusting. She started putting

greenish to white colour poop. Then I'm like, goodness God.

And you know, sometimes... When we don't.

Take care of what we feed our body naturally, the

output will tell.

The output will tell.

And sometimes we take care of it too well, no

output also will tell because for her, she can't get

everything in and then it's congested in there, okay?

It's worse than a Climb Valley traffic jam.

So, we need to know that what we input into

our lives determines our output.

Some, okay? Psalm chapter 1, verse 1 to 3.

Psalms 1:1–3

And this will help us see the input, the further

importance of our input. Blessed is the man who walks

not in the counsel of the ungodly, but his delight

is in the law of the Lord, and in his

law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a.

Tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth

its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither.

And whatever he does, shall prosper.

Alright?

The focus here, the input that is really important is meditate. Alright?

In Islam, he meditates day and night.

And the Hebrew word here is Hagar.

Okay?

So, meditate does not mean you sit there with your

cross leg in silent emptiness. But Hagar here means to murmur,

to mutter, To ponder actively. It's like a growling lion

over its prey. It means, you know, the root word

here means, you know, we are taking God's word actively,

chewing on it throughout the day. So that's why, you know,

we always encourage, you know, quiet time. When you spend

your quiet time, don't just spend praying. Reading His word

so that you can chew His word. throughout the whole

of the day. And that will help build our rooting

system as well. So when we do this, you know,

it shifts our attention, our trust from the natural to

the supernatural. Trust in ourselves, in our own capabilities to

a supernatural living God. and trusting in Him for who

He is, no matter what the situation is.

Because sometimes, for example, people.

Who are not well, and then a lot of times

the focus is always, okay, the ultimate focus is on

the healing. But when we trust in God, we trust

in His promise and His nature, that God heals. And

God can heal in many forms. Because our human mind

is always very limited, right? We have a great, big,

creative and imaginative God, but we are limited. And a

lot of times, we limit God like, okay, God, if

Healing means, you know, totally delivered, you know, 100% in

my medical report, you know, that is healing for me.

But when we trust in Him, we are saying, God,

I trust in You that this is Your nature, this

is Your character, and You have said that You are

my Jehovah Rapha, the Lord, my healer. And trusting in

Him is chasing after Him. continue to be dependent on Him,

not chasing after the miracle and the results.

Of just, you know, being healed, okay?

So let's look at Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 7 to 8.

Jeremiah 17:7–8

Shall we read it together? Okay, in 1, 2 and 3.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and

whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be

like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out

its root by the river, and will not fear when

heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will

not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will

cease from yielding fruit. Now, in this Old Testament, the

root word trust here is batak. It means to be

fully confident, to feel safe, to be bold. When we

trust in the Lord, when we batak in the Lord, batak, batak, hopefully, yeah,

you can search out for the right pronunciation, okay? Your

roots are wrapped around the river of the Holy Spirit.

You will not be anxious. You know, just like I

talk about leaves falling in autumn or winter, no leaves

at all, no fruit at all. Although the seasons come,

but because we are planted around the river of the

Holy Spirit, the river of life, anxiousness will not engulf us,

although it's going to be a year of drought in

our lives, or it's going to be years of drought.

One and a half years for me, we're sitting there

five papers long, I think it was really drug season

because it affected my health.

I was so stressed. And I'm looking back, I was like, haiya,

why so dumb? So stressed over nothing.

Okay, it's not nothing.

Okay, it was important.

But stressed until I can't really see it well and

health all affected, hair all falling off.

Worth it or not?

No.

Okay. And our job can be different for us here. Inflation.

Sometimes you look at the world economy. Sometimes you look

at the political climate of this country. It may feel

a drought. Economical climate of the world can be a drought.

Relationship breakouts, breakups can be a drought. Career setbacks can

be a drought as well. Heat will come, okay? The

word of God says heat will come. But, you know,

you will not cease to, you know, continue to have

green leaves and yield fruits in our life, all right?

So I'll close with this and I'm going to invite

Xtreme up right now. The world around us, being natural

human world, carnal world, will continue to require us constantly

to bear fruit, to keep asking for fruits out of

our life. Employer will continue to ask for your KPI

to be at, I don't know, the highest scoring that

it can be. Your professors want you to continue to

churn out more and more journals for him.

I don't know.

But God would ask us, not for our fruit, but

He would ask us, how is our root today?

Okay. Are we willing, alright?

Are we willing as believers here to continue to allow

us to take us into... the damn dirty, uncomfortable dirt

in our quiet time. A lot of discomfort because setting

aside one hour or half an hour in the morning,

you're like, God, I can do, we better rest with

that extra half an hour. That can be sometimes uncomfortable

for us already. The depth of our private discipline will

determine the height of our public impact. You want to

make greater impact into your society, then your private discipline

has to be in check.

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

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

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

is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.