The Keeper of the Trees

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

The dresser who pleaded for one more year

Williams closes an opening-of-the-year revival at Bossier City — the church that has been "a haven for my house the last few weeks" of the meeting — with Jesus' parable of the fig tree. A certain man planted a fig tree in his vineyard and came three years seeking fruit and found none; in his frustration he told the dresser of the vineyard to cut it down — why should it cumber the ground? The sermon's whole weight falls on the dresser's answer: "Lord, let it alone this year also," till I dig about it and dung it; if it bears fruit, well, and if not, then cut it down. The word "dresser," Williams notes, is also translated "keeper" — hence his subject, "The Keeper of the Trees": before preaching it, he gives thanks for his praying wife, his family and children, and the church's leadership, musicians, and teams who have carried the revival.

Scriptures: Luke 13:6-9

The mathematics of mercy

Psalm 90 grants man threescore years and ten, and by strength fourscore — and Williams does the arithmetic of mercy: eighty years in church twice a week comes to only 8,320 services to get it right. You do not have as many services as you think. The parable became real to him, he says, remembering childhood mornings when he and his siblings were getting ready for school and his parents prayed aloud in the living room — "Lord, keep your hands on my children today" — before the family grabbed hands and prayed together. Asking God to keep your children is not eloquence; it is asking him to go where you cannot go and cover them at four, at fourteen when you can no longer follow them into school, and at forty when they are married with children of their own.

Scriptures: Psalm 90:10

Two trees, and the only difference between them

Against the parable he sets real life: leaving Bethany, Jesus hungered, saw a fig tree in the distance, came to it hoping for fruit — and found none, and cursed it; the next morning Peter saw it withered and said, "Master, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away." God's mercy endures forever, Williams warns, but you do not have forever to decide what to do with it. Both trees had branches, both had leaves, both failed the purpose they were planted for; the only difference between them was that one had an intercessor — a voice that cried, "Don't cut this tree down yet." Families said cut them down; friends said give up; but mercy said, "I'm giving you another chance." Before anyone complains about unanswered prayers, they ought to count what the Keeper has kept them from: accidents, hospital rooms, overdoses, bankrupt marriages, backsliding children still alive because a mama wept and a daddy held on.

Scriptures: Mark 11:21

Keep your own garden

The close turns the word around: Adam was put in a garden and told to keep it — to protect it and put a hedge about it — and let the adversary walk into the middle of it and speak lies that destroyed his family. Williams calls the house to war for its own trees: parents praying over sons in other states, families grabbing hands, somebody getting mad at the devil and kicking out of the house what never belonged there. The upload ends inside that extended altar prayer — the congregation standing, Williams still praying that God would keep their gardens, their minds in perfect peace, and give fruit to trees they had given up on.

Scriptures: (none cited in this section)