Hello. Good morning.
Good morning.
They're like Ant and Deck, aren't they?
They're brilliant. The Christian, the holy version
of Ant and Deck. Hello.
Good morning. What a joy it is to be up here
with you guys. Such a privilege.
Yeah. Let me catch my breath.
Bear with Yeah, No, it's such a joy to be here.
Thank you for having me. I mean, I'm here every week, but
thanks for having me up here and for listening to me.
Yeah. So I'm doing Part 2 of this
series that we started a week and a half ago, started by
Claire. Do you know what's funny?
I just have to praise God because for a couple of weeks,
building up to this talk, I've had two dreams of sleeping in
until like 10:00. And then I wake up because Mark
from Australia is calling me and he's like, Yasmin, what you
doing? He's supposed to be up there and
I'm like, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm getting there.
And then I have to like, I just preach for the 11:30 service and
you know, whatever. Who knows what happens at the
9:30, but God got me here on time.
So praise God. He's always coming through for
us. He's always coming through.
But let's get down to business. I'm very excited.
Let's pray and then we can kick it off.
Yes, thank you, Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, Lord, we
thank you for this precious time.
We thank you for the lovely sound effects of the rain as
well. Actually, we just thank you for
every heart that is in here today.
And we just pray that you will loosen our hearts and open us up
to what you have to say to us. And I just ask that you'll speak
through me. Anything is of me, Lord, Just
let it fall back onto the page. Lord, in your precious name, we
just ask you to move. Amen.
So today two of the Rooted
series. So two weeks ago, Claire walked
us through Colossians 1, chapter one, verse 1 to 8, and we
established that this is a letter from Paul to the church
in Colossae. And he begins by thanking God
for them, encouraging them in their love of the Spirit and
also how he heard about them through a man named Epaphras,
and also how much he's been covering them in prayer.
And we came to the conclusion, or Claire brought us through to
the conclusion, that being rooted in Christ, one, gives us
a new identity, 2, changes us from the inside out, and three,
enables us to be faithful followers.
So we're going to kind of go off track a little bit.
If you know me, Geo, go for it. You know, I love swamps.
You know, I love the outdoors trees, but particularly I love
swamps. Look at that.
Absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, my point being, these
trees, the biology, the way they look, the animals, all that
stuff, it's stunning. It's amazing.
It's a perfect example of like, God is real, you know?
And in places like this, like in the Everglades, these trees are
called bald Cypress trees. We can call them baldies for
short. And they grow in swampy,
unstable ground where it's salty and there's a lack of oxygen and
it's right in the hurricane territory.
And we all know that wind and trees are not a good
combination. However, because of their roots,
they can stand and grow to be hundreds of years old.
And these roots, you can kind of see them already.
They grow above ground. This is in the season when the
water's high up, but the roots are so they're massive, they're
huge, and animals live in them. They're so tangled and they are
so deeply rooted. But not only are they deeply
rooted, they are rooted together.
So each of these trees hold each other down.
So throughout the hurricane seasons, bearing in mind they
withstand years and years and years of hurricanes, only the
top canopy of these trees are shaved off.
So the top branches might stamp off, but the trees themselves
will continue to thrive and grow through whatever storm comes.
Why? Because they are rooted and
because they are rooted together.
So not only we are basically, we are like these trees, OK, The
reason, my point being these trees are rooted and they're
rooted together. And we can take a lot of a lot
of not advice from the trees 'cause they don't talk.
But like a lot of you know, we can take some lessons.
Thank you. Take some lessons from these
trees because one, it is so important to be rooted in
Christ, but it is also so important to be rooted with one
another. If you're a Christian on your
own, my thoughts and prayers are with you 'cause it's not easy.
And it's, that's why it's so important to be rooted together.
This is why the church is so important, and This is why being
rooted is so important. And also, if we are not rooted
in Him, then what are we rooted in?
Because whether we're rooted in Jesus or not, we will take root
in something. And whatever we are rooted in
will determine what kind of fruit we bear.
And you know, whether that fruit is good or whether it is bad,
because we will bear fruit regardless of what we do.
And it says in Proverbs 12, verse 3, no one can be
established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be
uprooted. So once we're rooted in Jesus,
we can't be uprooted. That's like a just just gotta go
for it. It's a safe bet, you know.
But yeah, so we're going to look at Colossians one, verse 9 to 14
today, and we're going to look at what else we can take from
being rooted and what else being rooted gives us.
So if you want to grab your Bibles or your apps, whatever
you've got, pull them out and we're going to read together
should be also on the screen as well.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not
stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill
you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and
understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a
life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way.
Bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge
of God, being strengthened with all power according to His
glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and
patience. And giving joyful thanks to the
Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His
holy people in the Kingdom of light.
For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought
us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have
redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
Amen. So what does a rooted life look
like? Well, reading this from verses 9
and 10 where it says, for this reason, since the day we have
heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.
What really stuck out to me was how He it's just straight onto
them. It's not like, hi, here's some
stuff about me anyway, how are you?
His heart is fully for them. And I was thinking of like a
cool story to attach to this And I have a little brother.
He's very funny, very handsome, Blessing 14, very sporty, quite
sarcastic, makes us all look silly in the house.
But he's brilliant. And when he was born, his heart
was basically wired the wrong way.
The, I think it was the, the ventricles or something.
I'm looking at my mum for confirmation.
But the heart was wired the wrong way.
Tiny heart, this big, tiny chest, huge operation.
And praise God, like I said, he's, he's still here, he's 14
years old, praise God and he's thriving.
He's going for it, but without that surgery and all the
prayers, he wouldn't be here today.
And that's not an exaggeration. And I was thinking in a way, all
of us are born like that. All of us are born with a heart
that isn't fully functioning the way it is supposed to function
because of the world that we live in and because we are
flesh, we kind of grow up in this culture where we are
consumed by ourselves and we're kind of bent inwards.
And it is, you know, put yourself first.
What is this person giving me? All of that kind of stuff.
It's very self-serving and it's really easy to slip into that
mindset of self. I'm not saying we're all like
that, but it's very easy. We're kind of encouraged to
think this way and to always just think of #1 which is
ourselves. And when it comes to our
relationship with ourselves, it is very much the flesh wears the
trousers. And there's also this thing of
cutting people off when they don't serve you.
If they can't show up for you this one time, it's like call
blocked, see you later. That's it.
There's no kind of forgiveness. We run from discomfort.
But all of this makes this kind of love impossible.
But if we say yes to Jesus, who is pretty much like the heart
surgeon with a 100% success rate, he will give us that new
heart and he will, He will wire it up.
He will sort it out for us. We don't have to worry about
anything. And that's what we have to do.
Say yes to him, be rooted in him.
And that's what he will do. Give us a new heart.
And we see that with Paul here when he's praying for the Church
of Colossae. And these are people that he
likely hasn't actually met and he's drenching them in prayer.
And it's not the polite, you know, thoughts and prayers are
with you. Kind of we'll do it when I get
home or at the end of the day. He's he's going for it and he's
praying for them. And he's also writing this from
a prison cell. And if I personally was in a
prison cell, I wouldn't be writing letters to people
showering love on them. I would be waiting to receive
the love and the pity. And I would be asking for
favours and, you know, protesting my innocence.
But he's there and he's loving these people and ferociously
praying for them, which is amazing.
He really cares. And why?
Because the love of Christ has rewired his heart.
And if you're new to Christianity, you might not be
familiar with Paul, but this man, he's got a quite a
colourful history and he began as a violent persecutor of
Christians. So he wasn't this holy, you
know, Sandals guy being friendly all the time.
He was pretty much a religious extremist and he was determined
to eradicate Christianity until he had this radical encounter
with Jesus on his road to exactly well done so.
And then from that encounter, he then became one of the boldest
preachers of the gospel. It was like crazy
transformation. This guy persecuted Christians.
It was his goal to remove Christians and then he not only
became one, but he became one who was then going out setting
fire to the rest of the world and spreading the gospel.
That is huge and that is not done by human strength.
Talk about a glow up. And even when he corrects,
thanks. Even when he corrects the Church
of Colossae, the letter is a correction because some people
call this the Colossian heresy where it's, you know, the
current climate of Colossae. There's a lot of, you know, they
like to kind of remix the face. That's the kind of stage they're
in. As Claire was saying a few weeks
ago, there's Jesus. But sometimes things were coming
in and they were adding things. This letter is not a letter of
condemnation. It's full of love and
encouragement. So it shows us how to correct
each other as well. And we are called to this kind
of Kingdom love. It's not a worldly love.
There is a big difference. And what is Kingdom love?
It's sacrificial, it's supportive, and also it is
sharpening. So sometimes it may not, we may
not like this Kingdom love, but actually it is for our own good.
And it is. It's the pure love.
It doesn't keep score and it's not transactional, but it does
correct and call us higher. And in a world where we are
calling people out, we should be calling people up.
We should be calling each other up.
Kingdom love sounds so ideal and it's very on brand for us
Christians and it's very easy to preach about up here, but it's
actually not that easy to do. And I'm going to be completely
honest, this kind of love for me can be exhausting as a pastor,
as a human, it can be exhausting.
You know, it's, it's fun and games when the person you love
is doing everything you want them to do and saying everything
you want them to say. But when they, you know, when
they ruffle your feathers a little bit, suddenly it's really
hard. It's loving the people that get
on your nerves. It's loving the people that
smell. It's loving people when they
don't change. It's loving people when they
don't change overnight. Because a lot of us, we don't
change overnight because things take time.
And so I'm so grateful for this next point.
Because if we all, all we had was a new heart and no strength
behind it, we would burn out. So being rooted in Christ
doesn't just show us how to love, but it also keeps us on
track to sustain it. Which brings me to point #2 can
I have a sip of my coffee? Great being rooted in Christ
keeps us on track. So in verse 11 it says being
strengthened with all power according to his glorious might,
so that you may have great endurance and patience.
The word Paul uses for strengthened here is dunamayo,
which is similar to the word dunamis and it means to be
infused with strength. It doesn't mean you originated
with that strength. It means you are infused with
that strength. God confirms that strength in
you. And this kind of strength can't
be built with self-discipline. You know, YouTube talks, protein
shakes, chest days at the gym. It can't.
This strength doesn't come from us, and we can't manifest it.
It's our Father, the Creator, the King, the protector, our
best friend, who confirms our strength and who puts that
strength in US. And what are we strengthened
with? We are strengthened with the
power beyond our human ability. Again, beyond our ability.
And what is this power for? As it goes on to say, great
endurance and patience. The Greek word for endurance is
who? Pomene meaning uncompromising
steadfastness and it's described in Sayers lexicon as the
characteristic of not being swerved from your deliberate
purpose and loyalty to faith by even the greatest trials and
sufferings. So it's not a passive word.
It's not a passive endurance where we just sit and let things
happen. It's a clinging on to God
through everything we go through, regardless of how hard
the times are. And it's also the same word
hoopominate, used in Hebrews 12 verses one to two, where it
says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on
Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So you'll see it. It uses the word, but it also
says the race run, the race marked out for us.
So once again, it's not a passive action.
We are running. There's nothing passive about
running. It's hard takes it, you lose.
Yeah, running's not my favorite thing to do.
You see me at the gym, I will avoid the treadmill like the
plague, but it does come with benefits and that's what running
with endurance and perseverance is with Jesus.
Now I have a very, very hard story to share about suffering.
So it's Monday morning this week just gone, and it's day like 302
of no sunlight and I wake up. I wake up, I get dressed or I
don't get dressed. Actually shower, you know, you
lay out your outfit on your bed and you're like, cool, this is
what's going to happen. You know, I've lived this day
100 times and I put on my trousers and we get to about
here and they're not, they're not going up.
They're not doing up. And you know, I think we can
all, there's only one reason for it.
And it's like, I've had too many doughnuts on a Sunday.
So we have that to blame. So my trousers aren't going up.
So, you know, I'm very offended, very hurt, limping, you know,
fighting back the tears. And I go downstairs very
offended, very fragile. And I go to make my healthy
morning smoothie. I've started to have this
healthy green smoothie of gunk that is supposed to make me
healthier. And it's like my one small
attempt at slowly, gradually being able to fit back into
those jeans. So I get there, I get my
smoothie, and I can't. You know what?
I can't, because do we have any Caribbean people in here?
Yeah. Nice.
Yeah. So you will know.
You'll know about, like, jerk chicken.
Yeah, we all know about jerk chicken.
It's delicious. And that, that, that jerk, that
sauce, it's delicious, but it's incredibly spicy.
If you smell it, it makes your eyes water.
It's a very strong flavour. And you know why I couldn't make
my smoothie that morning is because my lovely father, whom I
love, he, he used my blender to make this jerk sauce over the
weekend. And I said to him, I said, Dad,
no, please don't because it's going to make the blender smell
and taste of jerk. And I'd use it for my smoothie.
And he was like, don't worry, Princess, I'm going to clean it.
And I'll I was like, OK, anyway, he did clean it.
He cleaned it. But go downstairs Monday morning
tried to make my smoothie and I gave it a sniff and I was like,
I may as well be having jerk chicken because it not only did
the source marinate the chicken, it marinated the smoothie
blender. So that was it was the last
straw for me. You know, my trousers didn't
fit. I was upset.
I was emotionally undone, much like my trousers and, and I just
started crying and I went in to the living room and I just, I
was, I just can't do it. I can't do it.
I've been awake for a couple of hours and this suffering is
enough. I couldn't endure it anymore.
I was done. I think it was 8, wasn't even 8.
It was 7:40 in the morning. And I just said I was like this
Lord, this life is not for me. It's I can't do it.
And I was ready to call it a day.
I was ready to cancel everything.
I was going to message Claire, my manager and be like, hey, I'm
sorry, I can't make it in the office today because, you know,
trousers and smoothie, I can't endure.
But this, you know, this is not actually that kind of endurance
and that kind of suffering. This is not hoop Pulmane.
This is a minor inconvenience, however traumatic it was for me.
This is not hoop Pulmane. My endurance left the building
over a tiny inconvenience. But I know that some of you.
Maybe a lot of you are really walking through that right now.
You are walking through real suffering and you are really
having to persevere. And so I was trying to think of
a serious story, you know, to use for endurance and faith.
And my grandparents came up. I've just pressed the wrong
button there with my grandparents came up and bless
them, they came over here in the 60s on a boat.
Does anyone have any relatives who came over as part of the
wind rush generation, anyone? Yeah, love that.
So they came over on this boat, you know, fifties, 60s, and they
had to leave everything they've ever known.
They had to leave their community, their family, their
culture, everything. They had to come to this cold
rainy place you know completely unknown and what they walked
into it was not comfort at all and they walked into hostility,
racism, rejection, struggle, just constant struggle, constant
hardship. They were trying to build a life
and earn a living in a country that didn't always want them
there. Also raising what came to be 7
kids and also Co founding a church from the ground up and my
nanny was constantly praying like Paul for her family and for
her community and for her grandchildren.
That is what I call who promenade that was that is
endurance that is clinging to Jesus.
Some of the stories she shared and I'm sure some of you know
maybe first hand or from your relatives.
It's horrible and there's plenty of other people that have been
through something similar or you are now.
And it really takes that strength.
It really takes the supernatural strength of Jesus to carry you
through and to keep your hands clinging onto him.
And my nanny had actually said before, she said she would not
be here without Jesus. He was their strength.
He was their endurance, and she was rooted in him and he gave
her the strength. And it's through that endurance
that there's been so much fruit from us as a family.
And that just goes to show that how you cling to Jesus will not
just affect you, but it will affect generations to come.
So this who pominae this endurance, it gives us the
strength to serve when we feel unseen, to keep praying when we
feel like God is silent, and to keep loving someone when they
are the most annoying person in the world.
And to also stay pure when compromising yourself would seem
easier and more gratifying in the moment.
The same God who strengthened my nanny and granddad is the same
God who rescued them. Because endurance alone isn't
the gospel. The rescue is the gospel.
And that's what Paul shows here in our Third Point.
One SEC. Hydration.
Being rooted in Christ makes the impossible possible.
Woo. Amen.
So verse 12 to 14 and giving joyful thanks to the Father who
has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy
people in the Kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son
he loves, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness
of sins. So if you see here, it doesn't
say we qualified off our own merit.
The Father has qualified us. There was no test that we
passed. We didn't buy our qualification.
We didn't earn it by inviting a certain amount of people to
church. He just qualified us.
And not only did he qualify us, but he rescued us.
And the Greek word used in here, sorry, there's a lot of Greek
words. I found it very interesting.
The Greek word here for rescue is mazista me.
And it means to move, not just a slight shift or a little shake.
It's a dramatic, you know, stood here, now I'm stood there, or
what? More dramatic than that, and it
can be geographically or it can be socially in any circumstance.
And in the ancient world, when a king conquered a territory, he
would sometimes move the people out of their homeland, the place
that he had conquered, and move them into a new land as a
political move. And the goal was to ensure
loyalty to the new king and to distance the people from their
old homeland. And this is very similar to what
God did when he took the Israelites out of Egypt, moved
them to the promised land, even though it took a while, and also
what Jesus did by conquering the darkness and the sin and death,
transferring us from this Kingdom of darkness to his
Kingdom. And then in verse 14, the word
redemption, the word used here means released by payment, like
paying a ransom. And in the 1st century, slaves
could technically buy their freedom if they raised enough
money and then, yeah, pay their owners.
But I mean, the system's rigged. I'm.
I'm sure that was highly, highly impossible.
Yeah, it's impossible. And just like us, we can never
buy our own freedom. That's a fact.
We can't buy our freedom, and it's not in our strength.
And that is the way the human condition is.
Sin isn't just bad habits, it is captivity and you can't
subscribe your way into holiness, you can't manifest
your way out of darkness, and you can't self help your way
into freedom. It's purely Jesus.
It's only Jesus, always Jesus. And he paid what we could never
pay and did what we could never do, and he made the impossible
possible. So zooming out, rooted in Christ
means loving like you're loved because you are, regardless of
how you feel, enduring like you've strength like you're
strengthened through Him because you are, and living like you've
been rescued by Him because you have been.
Being rooted in Christ doesn't necessarily mean that life will
get better overnight, but it does mean that we are anchored.
And some of us are tired because we've been trying to produce the
Kingdom fruit without the Kingdom roots.
Some of us are discouraged because we're measuring
ourselves against the dead, rotten branches of the world,
which we're never going to measure up to because we're not
called to that, we're called higher.
And some of us are realising, maybe for the first time, that
we've been rooted in approval, in bitterness, inconvenience, in
control, and we're wondering why the storms keep knocking us out.
But just as Paul communicates in Colossians, Jesus doesn't shame
us for shallow roots, but he beckons us to go deeper with him
and in him. So staying planted, surrendered,
and connected to the life giver. And the question isn't, can I do
this? Can I be rooted?
The question is, what am I rooted in?
Because whatever you're rooted in will decide what fruit you
bear on a daily basis and how you stand when the storms come,
because they will come. Amen.