A Tree Planted by the Water

well i'm going to switch gears here and i've got a question for the congregation are there any tree enthusiasts in the building any tree enthusiasts okay yeah brian yeah all right now i know that we have some bird watchers bird watchers i know that we have some grass enthusiasts brian was just showing me on his phone his green grass that he had jared was showing me the the perfect stripes that he had going in his yard i like trees talk about trees now i know my mom and brother everett wilford go down try to down to southeast missouri during the fall time and look at the colors that the trees changing and the leaves changing colors and i love the fall when the trees change colors at our previous home in peevley missouri we had a lot of trees i don't remember how many trees we had all together didn't count every one but i know that we had 17 of them removed out of the front yard and i think we still had another 17 or so in the front yard and we removed those to get some grass to grow and that grass how many likes cutting grass all right so people that like to work here when i was a teenager i mowed lawns with my dad and even before i was a teenager and i i really didn't suffer with allergies when i did that but after moving into this house in peebly and taking on this new chore of yard work i began to suffer with allergies and severe sinus infections it got so bad that kelly convinced me to go to an allergist how many has ever done that oh man there's a lot of people that's done that i was going to say oh me because i didn't think very many people had done that got to the allergist and going to find out what i was allergic to and they took all those needles i mean i don't know how many needles stuck those in your back and and they said all this isn't going to be that painful it was painful to me talk to some of you afterwards to see if it was painful to you and to see what what we were allergic to and uh the doctor came in the room and and are the allergists and and showed me uh that basically i was allergic to being outside i was allergic the top on the list was i was allergic to dogs which i knew that i was allergic to grass and i was allergic to oak trees to trees but oak trees in particular and this was the worst news ever to an avid deer hunter who likes to hunt over those oak trees that are dropping acorns and the deer are eating those right and so slowly i made some changes to improve the quality of my health and i started hiring somebody to mow the lawn and that did make a huge difference but there is one thing i refuse to give up do you know the best tree to hang a deer stand in probably one of those big giant oak trees so yes i will suffer through the allergies i will take zyrtec and advil cold and sinus and i will still climb into that tree stand in that oak tree if it means getting me close to a deer

so now you're asking me why in the world is this guy talking about trees well that brings me to my subject tonight a tree planted by the water a tree planted by the water and tonight i want to read from the book of jeremiah if you have your bibles you can stay seated jeremiah was a prophet in the old testament that had a deep relationship with god in the book of jeremiah chapter 17 god is speaking to jeremiah the prophet and this is what he has to say in verse 5 of chapter 17. this is what the lord says cursed is the one who trusts in man say trust in man who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the lord that person will be like a bush in the wastelands they will not see prosperity when it comes they will dwell in the parched places of the desert and assault land where no one lives verse 7 but blessed is the one who trusts in the lord say trust in the lord blessed is the one who trusts in the lord whose confidence or hope 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 it its leaves are always green it has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit

in academic circles one of the types of questions used at an exam or asked in an exam or essay starts with the words compare and contrast and the task is to discuss the difference and similarities between two different ideas or situations to show where they are the same and where they are different here in jeremiah chapter 17. two there are two different types of people considered they are seen in stark contrast there is the person who puts his trust in man and then there is the person who puts his trust in god the person who trusts the man is the person who puts his trust in the systems or the ways of the world the security that comes from their finances or their families or their jobs or their success or their intellect and their own abilities but the person who trusts in god understands that the lord gives and the lord takes away but blessed be the name of the lord the person who trusts in the lord realizes that that god is all-knowing no matter what the circumstances are that come my way god is all-knowing and he is jehovah jireh and he is my provider and he is the king of kings and he is the lord of lords and he is the almighty god therefore i will trust in him it is a stark contrast and it is a choice that each person here makes every single day every day we make the choice where to put our trust will we stay planted by the waters to let our roots grow deep or will we be like a a bush planted in the wasteland that is starved of the refreshing water that we need to grow will we trust him with all of our heart and lean not unto our own understanding as proverbs says or will we put our trust in government or in our resources or in our abilities or in our own strength you see the choice daily belongs to us god was clear in explaining the choices and the results to jeremiah so choice number one i'm going to talk about tonight is trust in men god said cursed is the one who trusts in man who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the lord that person shall be like a bush in the wastelands they will not see prosperity when it comes they will dwell in the parched places of the desert in a salt land where no one lives when we read this scripture it is easy to agree that yes the person who trusts and himself is cursed they don't have the protection or favor of god on their life they are starving for living water and they don't even really realize that they are thirsty the human race has been shown time and time again both corporately and individually to be both feeble and sinful we are flesh and bone made from the dust relying on the breath of god to sustain our very lives but for the unbeliever even with the breath of god and their very lungs and brother peter talked about that on sunday even with the breath of god in their very lungs they don't acknowledge his help or his love or his support and their life they work hard relying on their own abilities and talents and strengths to bring them success and happiness and fulfillment and while it may seem like those things that come because of those situations because of success or fulfillment they will be surface level and they will always be wanting for more i think we could all agree that we are overwhelmed at points in this life the believer and the unbeliever amen there are times in our lives that we just feel overwhelmed usually we are overwhelmed by forces that are outside or circumstances that are outside of our control things in life that just happen situations that seem to come out of nowhere and i don't know about you but there's nothing more frustrating to deal with than something that i cannot fix i'm a fixer i like to solve problems immediately not down the road kelly kelly sometimes will say mike i want to talk to you but i don't need you to fix it because you can't i just want you to listen any husbands in the house all right i'll have to admit i'm working on that still i'm still working on that but even though she's talking i'm still trying to figure out how i'm going to fix that situation sometimes i say it sometimes i don't you see this is where a very important choice comes into play when we're going through things that we can't fix on our own will we choose to trust ourselves to figure it out and fix it or will we choose to trust in god god said the man who puts his trust and flesh is cursed he's compared in this verse in jeremiah to bush in the desert a a piece of of shrub these plants are small and skinny and undernourished they are dry and they are parched and withered they produce no fruit there is no gardener tending the bush in the desert they live on salty barren uninhabited land where where even if they did grow in beauty nobody would see them or enjoy them it lacks the ability to grow and thrive and to live in abundance because it's in the middle of the desert this type of person relies solely on their own resources and they have become adapted to just relying on themselves all of the time putting our trust in human resources puts us in a state of survival mode and when we go into survival mode we get this mentality where we take care of number one first you see when we start going through uh things circumstances or situations that come up in our life and we're just automatically in survival mode we automatically are trying to fix it and we're trying to fix it no matter the cost because we're worried about us we're worried about failure we don't want to fail and so it doesn't matter who or what else gets in the way we are going to make sure that we don't fail putting our trust in human resources puts us in a state of survival but this is in direct contrast to how we are supposed to live and the kingdom of god the kingdom of god puts others first in philippians chapter 2 and verse 3 do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather in humility value others above yourselves there's that word others value others above yourselves and not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of others you see when we trust god to take care of us that trust gives us the ability to pour out our resources and to others i'll say that again when we trust god to take care of us that opens up our resources to be able to be spread out and to help others around us it's what we do here every single week we gather here for service and and several people are pouring into others every week here at this church just here just a few minutes ago we had this this praise team and our musicians that were leading us in worship and pouring in to us we we have our our youth team back there that are pouring in to the kids to the teenagers the young adults we we have our our workers in the children's department right now teaching and praying with our kids and and pouring into them you see we can't afford to be a bush in the des in the desert in survival mode focusing on our own selves all of the time we must be planted by the water where our roots are so deep that we have enough resources for ourselves and for those around us if we trust in man rather than god we will starve the community the very community that we were meant to live in if we trust in man and ourselves and our resources rather than god we will be deficient and not be able to live in the abundance that god has promised for us and that he has promised for others choice number one is to trust in man and then god speaks about this other trust and jeremiah 17 and that is choice number two trust in god this is the choice that most of us make daily or at least we strive to god said in verse 7 but blessed is the one who trusts in the lord whose confidence or hope 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 and a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit in contrast to imperfect humans god is the unfailing one amen he is the one who's never been known to fail or let anyone down he's the one who always keeps his promises he always keeps his word and he always delivers exactly what he says he will amen trusting god turns our lives from a curse to a blessing and the sense of scripture here is that the tree was planted deliberately and carefully in a place where it would be bound to flourish in abundance it's right there by the waters the channels of water keep flowing all times of the year in all weathers even in times of drought they float on watering and saturating the soil around them a a tree planted beside them would be able to spread out its roots along the banks and grow tall and strong this tree would not need to put forth its effort and to finding water therefore it would be able to give fruit and to be of use those trees and the desert they spend all of their energy trying to get whatever little bit of moisture they have so all of their energy and all of their resources are depleted because they have one thing in mind and that is saving themselves and they have to use everything they have to try to get to that water and try to get a hold of that water but this tree that's planted by the water they're not using all of their resources because water is right there and water is flowing and therefore they can use their resources for the work and for the kingdom of god such a tree does not rely just on itself for survival but also on the people who tended and ensure that the waters continue to flow to be a tree planted by the water is to be a christian who puts their trust fully in god god provides an endless source of blessing and strength flowing all the time no matter what happens in life is there a testimony here that no matter what you go through it seems that that god is always with us and that the waters are always flowing by us no matter what we go through he is with us he never leaves us and and he never forsakes us you know thinking about um somebody that i put my trust in or several people that that i trust to do certain things brian would be one of those guys if he's in a bobcat i don't care what the situation looks like it might not make sense to me but i know he's got it under control mechanic at work he's working on the car and i don't understand all of that that's going on and he tells me some things and i'm thinking i don't think that's it but he's the professional and i i let him work on the car because because he knows what he's doing and yet we have god who gives life god who gives life and sometimes because things aren't working out when we think it should and how we think it should we're going to question him the giver of life no we've got to reel that back in that's why this trust when you think about trust it's almost seems like i repented of my sins i was baptized in jesus name i was filled with the power of the holy ghost i'm a christian and i'm living for god and i trust in god i want to shake that a little bit and i think that every single day we have to have this renewed trust in god that no matter what happens no wonder no matter what's going on around me i'm going to choose today to trust him because i know that he's got it under control we were not created to be self-sufficient we were created to be god sufficient we were not created to be self-sufficient and do everything on our own and figure out everything on our own but we were created to be god sufficient to let him step in and let him lead us let him guide us let him direct us we worry sometimes i'm in this boat i'm right here we worry sometimes about life and about the things that are going on in life and i think sometimes we need to just step back i'll let my mechanic work on the car because he knows what he's doing and it might take a little longer than how long i think it should take but i trust him because he's the mechanic and i'm not i think sometimes we need to step back and when life throws us some situations and some curveballs and it's not going exactly how we think it should and how fast we think it should we ought to just step back and say you know what god you're the giver of life you have all things in control you hold the world and your hand and i'm going to trust you i'm going to trust you matthew 6 and 25 therefore i tell you do not worry about your life what you will eat or or drink or about your body what you will wear is not life more than food and the body more than clothes look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not much more valuable than they can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life verse 28 and why do you worry about clothes see the flowers of the field grow they do not labor or spin yet i tell you that not even solomon and all his splendor were dressed like one of these if that is how god clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire will he not much more clothe you so don't do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you notice he says seek ye first seek god first seek his kingdom first seek his righteousness first instead of trying everything that we know how to try and instead of worrying and and having fear about the situation and instead of just putting god last why don't we put him first why don't we seek him first he said for the pagans run after all these things the world the unbelievers they search for all of these things they worry about all of those things jesus was saying you don't have to worry i've got it i'll take care of you you don't worry you seek me first and i'll take care of you philippians 4 19 says but my god shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by christ jesus we don't have to worry about the cares of this life god supplies all of our needs according to his riches and when we lean into this promise it spills over to everyone around us when we begin to lean into the promises of god and his word being a flourishing tree planted by the waters is not just growing for its own benefit it does it grows tall and it grows strong but the tree offers shelter and food and rest when we grow like this tree people who are suffering from the difficulties of this life can can come to us and find relief they can be nourished from being with us and strengthened and blessed and brought close to the one true god who is the source of all joy and and my mind goes back to 9 11 and when 9 11 happened and all the fear and the anxiousness that that was going around and people were worried and and people were wondering what in the world was going to happen and what was going on they said that that church has filled up like they've never filled before and i do think that there were people there that just came into the church but i can guarantee you there were people that were like that were believers that were going after these people bringing them in and they felt safe and they felt that safety and that rest and that peace every day we must make the choice to keep our roots growing deep into the waters to put our trust in god and not in ourselves not in man the reality is some seasons of life and some storms of life feel so out of control that we think that we might be uprooted our focus gets lost and we can be distracted by the pain and the frustration of the storm when we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and when the skies are dark and when we have no answers and we have no solutions and we can't fix it we sometimes look at to our resources for help and try to find a path that will provide safety or relief but there is no choice i'm being real with you and transparent tonight there is no choice that shields us from this life the person who trusts in man and the person who trusts in god will still face trials and hardships because we live in a broken and a sinful world but the difference is the person who trusts in god lives with peace in their lives it is a peace that the world cannot understand philippians chapter 4 and verse 4 says rejoice in the lord always i will say it again rejoice as i was reading this portion of scripture the holy ghost came upon me i began to speak with tongues and and revelation came and god showed me something i'm hoping uh that that you will see this and that he will reveal this to you says rejoice in the lord always i'll say it again rejoice in every situation and when the skies are dark and when we have no solutions and no answers he says rejoice that's what job did right everything was taken from him everything was destroyed his family his livestock uh his livelihood everything was gone but he bowed down and he said blessed be the name of the lord verse 6 says do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to god now watch this and the peace of god which transcends or surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus so during the trial and the storm when when we can't fix it he says bring it to the god of peace he says bring your petitions bring your needs to the god of peace and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding he says will guard or one version says or shall keep your heart and mind through christ jesus the word here shall keep is a military term and means that the mind and heart would be guarded as a camp or as a castle it would be preserved from the intrusion of anxious fear and alarms so when you bring your petitions to god when you bring your needs to god he is going to guard your heart and he's going to guard your mind the enemy will not prevail discouragement will not prevail when you're bringing those things to god can you imagine a castle fortified there and the soldiers in the army are standing and nothing is coming inside that castle now think of yourself as you're bringing your needs and your petitions before god and and he's standing in front of you and he is guarding you and he's guarding your heart and your mind depression is not going to overtake you discouragement is not going to overtake you the enemy is not going to overtake you because he's guarding your heart and mind and he will supply peace that passes and surpasses all human understanding have you ever experienced that you've gone through some things maybe it's a loss of a loved one maybe it's just a horrible thing that that's happened in your life and you can feel you've brought it to god and you begin talking to god about it and all of a sudden there was a peace that you can't explain that nobody else can explain it's peace that surpasses all understanding and it's given to us by the prince of peace and the god of priests verse 8 finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about those things whatever you've learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put into practice and the god of peace will be with you rather than letting your mind come to assumptions or go astray thinking about all the bad that can happen or all the frustrations that are going to happen down the road he says why don't you think on good things the god of peace says why don't you think on good things why don't you think about the miracles that he's done in your life why don't you think about the deliverance that he's caused to happen why don't you think about the healing that he's done in your life why don't you think about the provisions that he's done in your life when you start thinking about the good things and the true things of god the bible says that the god of peace will be with you can you imagine as you're walking in the fiery furnace that there is somebody standing right there with you the god of peace is walking with you every step of the way get your mind on jesus and on right things and true things and lovely things isaiah 26 and 3 says you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast watch this because they trust in you you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you you see as we begin to put our trust in god there is a peace that comes with that as we begin to put our trust in god we take our situations our circumstances if you will and we hand those over to him we take him and we just hand them over to him and we say god it's in your control now i'm trusting you with it and i promise you that if you'll do that today there will be peace that surpasses all understanding you'll have peace like never before because you understand he's taken it and he is in control when our faith is tested and when we feel weary this is when we have to refocus and be deliberate and we have to be intentional on how we think and how we act and how we respond this is also the time that we should be drawing near to god and him drawing near to us during those times of difficulty those times of difficulty were not meant for god to be way over there and you to be way over here those times of difficulty that's not god pushing you further and further away that is god trying to draw you closer and nearer to him you see it's easy to be negative and lose focus and pull away from god during hardships but rather than pulling away we must draw near james chapter 4 and 8 says draw nigh to god i feel the holy ghost here right now draw nigh to god no matter the situation and no matter the circumstance draw nigh to god and his word says that he will draw near to you in those uncertain times we must trust god fully proverbs 3 and 5 trust in the lord with all thine heart he said with all with your innermost being with everything that you are trust in the lord and lean not to thine own understanding because when we go through things we're we're trying to understand it and we're trying to process it we're trying to figure it out and and there's some things that we can't process mr amber there's some things that we can't understand there's there's some things that we go through that we have got to just trust god fully then he says in all thy ways not in some of them but in all thy ways and times of blessing and times of pain and all of your ways acknowledge him and when you do that when you trust him and when you acknowledge him you're not going to have to say well did god leave me no he is going to direct you he's going to direct your path he's going to guide you

would you stand with me psalm chapter 20 and verse 7 some trust in chariots and summon horses but we will trust in the name of the lord our god jeremiah 17 my text but blessed is the one who trusts in the lord whose hope and 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 because we've got this total trust in god i'm not going to fear when the heat comes i'm going to flourish because my trust is in him and i'm by the waters it says it its leaves are always green they're always flourishing because it's by those waters has no worries and a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit because trust in god and confidence is in him i want to be one of those whose hope and whose trust is in the lord and i don't know exactly what everybody is going through in this congregation here tonight but i do know this that it's daily that we have to be intentional about bringing our focus back to him it's easy to focus on this and on that but be intentional about bringing our focus back to him and trusting in him and if that's your desire tonight i wonder would you lift your hands and would you just uh express your trust in him and and why don't you make a commitment to him that you're going to trust him every day no matter what you're going through

god we thank you tonight because we know that you have all things in control and we understand that our thoughts are not your thoughts and our ways are not your ways and your ways are much higher and your thoughts are much higher so we don't understand everything that's going on around us but one thing that we have today and tonight is your word and your word says that we must trust in you god i want to trust in you i want to trust in

we've got just a couple minutes i feel this and the holy ghost if you need strength tonight if is this okay if you need strength tonight would you come down here to the altar or maybe step out in the aisle are are you brave enough or trust god enough to say god i need some help i need i need some help today i want you to work in my life and in this situation in this circumstance i can't do it on my own but today i'm making a firm commitment to trusting you i'm making a firm commitment to honor you and to follow you hallelujah jesus jesus jesus oh for grace to trust him more jesus no jesus christ trust him more jesus jesus how i trust him how i approved jesus oh for grace to trust him more jesus jesus jesus brush us jesus for grace to trust him more jesus jesus jesus christ jesus

that's your desire and your prayer as we're closing here tonight when we lift our hands again we just sing this to him jesus jesus christ let's just tell him that now lord we trust you lord we trust you and we thank you we stand upon your word and your word says that we trust you and if we trust you you will take care of us thank you jesus thank you jesus