Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

It can be difficult to tell whether a plant is dead or alive. It can look great from a distance, but up close it’s barely there. There might be some dead branches clinging on to what is left. People can be the same way; it is hard to tell if they are dead or alive. Join us as Pastor Chris leads us to ask ourselves; are we dead, or alive?

Hello! We are Redemption Church in Plano TX. It is a great day to be alive! My name is Chris Fluitt and I welcome everyone joining us online and everyone joining us in the church sanctuary, today. I am excited to talk to you today about… PLANTS!

Plant Time with Pastor Chris

You may not realize it, but I am rather fond of plants. I find plants therapeutic. Plants aren’t loud. Plants don’t argue with you. You never have to tell your plants to clean up their room, because they never pour out their entire bucket of toys in the middle of the room and just walk off like nothing happened…

When I’m taking care of plants it allows me to clear my head, and often I really feel God reveal things to me about my own life as I am tending these plants. One thing I have learned is that plants want to love.
Plants want to live

Angel Wing – This is an angel wing plant. I really like its spotted leaves. It is a real easy plant to take care of and to propagate. This plant here came from a larger angel wing plant who’s branches where getting a little long. So I cut off some the long branches and placed the cuttings into a vase of water.

When you cut off a branch it will start to die… but plants want to live. The cut off branch will try to live. When you place that cut off branch in a glass of water it will put out roots in order to take in the water and to continue living.

Fig Tree – This little guy is a fig tree. My dad went down to the coast and came back with a cutting of a fig tree. I placed it in this pot that is actually a 2 liter soda bottle cut in half. This Fig Tree is living in 1 liter of soil. This fig tree will actually put out fruit! Every time I see this fig tree I am reminded of the fig tree that Jesus cursed for not producing fruit.

Inside this little fig tree is a desire to live and to be fruitful. This fig tree does not complain about it’s small 1 liter pot… It does not make excuses like… “If I were on a beautiful hillside with more access to sun & soil I would then be able to produce…” No this fig tree makes due with its situation and just lives.

Jade Succulent leaf – I walked through a Walmart and this little leaf of a jade succulent was laying on the cement floor. It looked like there was no hope for this little leaf… but that was not true. There was life in this leaf and it wanted to live.

Succulents need access to water but too much water will kill them. So I took this leaf and put it near water… not actually making contact with the water, just near it.

JADE LEAF ROOT

…And on the bottom of this jade leaf it started to sprout roots to reach out toward to water.
Why? Because it wants to live?
The limited life in this jade… it only has so much energy stored up in the cells of this leaf, and yet it spends perhaps its last bit of cellular energy to put out roots so that it can live. This leaf is literally reaching out for life.
Plants want to live

In February Texas had a deep freeze and it affected many of our plants. Sadly, many of my pretty plants were no longer pretty. Some of them looked like lost causes…

My Oak tree lost every leaf.
My prized Hibiscus turned into just a stump…
My neat bougainvillea looked like a torture victim.

Alex can tell you that we went out and laid hands on that oak and prayed. Over the course of several weeks a few little leaves started to bud… Although it looked dead there was still life in the tree that could not be seen… and there was a desire to live.

I took some loppers to my hibiscus. I cut it down, level with the ground and there I saw the smallest little green dot near the base of the hibiscus.

Hibiscus shoot

It will be a long time before my hibiscus is pretty, but I am patient to see it bloom again.

Plants want to live

This bougainvillea looks like a thorny mess. I was about to just yank it out of the pot when I noticed new growth at the bottom. This plant is going to be beautiful again.

I have seen my plants fight off disease.
I have seen my plants fight off drought from when I forgot to water them.
I have seen my plants overcome my poor decisions.
I have never seen one of my plants give up, become depressed, or blame its condition on circumstance.
I have never had one of my plants commit suicide.
Plants just do one thing… They try to live.
Plants want to live… but what about humans?

We showed you the powerful testimony of Kevin Hines who is one of 19 people to have survived the 200 foot drop from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco California. Kevin had given up on living…
-Why is it that humans give up?

-Why can’t humans reach their roots towards water and their hearts toward the sunlight?
-Why is that we surrender to our circumstance?
-Why instead of striving to be fruitful do we waste our energy on excuses?
-Why is it that we can go through loss and not attempt to put our fresh growth?

There is a real difference between plants & humans. Plants want to live… but we have all seen humans attempt death… and sometimes succeed.
Why is this? God created plants. God created humans. There have been 0 plant suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge, yet around 2000 humans have thrown their life away at the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Word of God tells us why…

Genesis 2:15-17(NIV) 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God told Adam that if he ate of the tree of knowledge he would die. In Chapter 3 Adam & Eve eat the fruit… but did they die?

…But did they die?

Genesis 5:5 says Adam lived 930 years and then he died. Adam seems to not die in the garden from eating the fruit. Adam & Eve are removed from the garden then proceed to live close to a century.
We can’t understand life, if we can’t understand death.
We understand physical death. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. We tend to understand physical death. Yet many are not aware of spiritual death.

Spiritual Death

Spiritual death is more significant than physical death. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.
Adam did not experience immediate physical death, but Adam did experience an immediate spiritual death.

Genesis 3:8(NIV) 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

When Adam & Eve ate of the fruit… when they sinned… they experienced a spiritual death and were separated from God’s presence. When they heard God approaching the only thing that could think to do was to hide themselves from God’s presence.
Paul describes it this way when talking about those that have gone the way of sin…

Ephesians 4:18(NIV) They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

What is another word for “separated from life.” DEATH.
When Adam sinned, he was separated from the life of God.
When we sin we are separated from the life of God.
When Adam sinned, he died spiritually.
When we sin we die spiritually.

Sin kills
Sin is referred to as death in scripture. It says when we were DEAD in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
Sin brings death to everything that is alive. (James 1:15)
Your mind
Your heart/emotions
Your relationships
Your spirit
Your body
Your soul
Plants have an advantage over humans. You want to know why plants only seek to live? Want to know they never give up? …Plants never sinned. Oh to be a plant!
Want to know what is wrong with mankind? Want to know why government and politicians always grow corrupt? Want to know why people give up and curl up inside a bottle or a drug? Why do people do evil? Why is there an increase in suicide at every age… including our children?
The answer is not political. The answer is not social, cultural, or economic. The answer is not racial or gender specific.
The answer is the death brought about by sin.
Romans 5:12 & 14(NIV) 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam…
The Disease of Death Reigns
Like it or not, death reigns in our world. From the time of Adam to this moment… death has reigned.
Death will reign over your mind, your heart, your relationships, your spirit, your body, and even your soul. Death will tell you what to do, just like a king, a president, or any authority.
Romans 5:12 says that SIN entered through one man and DEATH has come to all people. This Sin/Death is worse than any disease you can think of.
We have been quarantining, social distancing, masking, vaccinating from a corona virus for over a year… The disease of death has been reigning since Adam and has spread to all people.
Kevin Hines said this after surviving his own suicide.
“People die from suicide just like they die from any other organ diseased.” – Kevin Hines
Do we have some diseased organs?
Is our heart diseased? Does death reign in your emotions?
Is our mind diseased?
Are our words diseased?
Is our spirit diseased?
Is our soul diseased?
Death comes to us through deception
Satan appeared in the garden and deceived Eve with a lie. This is how sin & death got its foothold. Satan has never changed his game plan. He still deceives us into death.
Kevin Hines said in an interview that there was a voice who kept lying to him. The voice would say…
No one cares. Embrace death.
You are a burden. Embrace death.
It will be better if you kill yourself. Embrace death.

He was completely deceived by this voice.
Kevin picked out the place he would commit suicide.
He marked the calendar date he would kill himself.
He wrote the suicide note.
He thought everyday about how this was best for him.
He said goodbye to his parents.
He rode the bus to the bridge.
He walked that bridge several times weeping his own death.
He flung himself over the side…
“The milli-second my hands left the rail it was an instant regret. No one’s going to know that I didn’t want to die” – Kevin Hines
Satan is a cruel deceiver. He deceived Kevin day after day and moment after moment. Satan had Kevin completely deceived to embrace death… He was so deceived to death that he could not even see the possibility of life.
AND YET… in Satan’s final act of cruelty, the moment Kevin has passed the moment of no return and was now falling helplessly toward his end… it is at this moment that Satan lifts the deception and Kevin felt regret and sees the true reality. It is only then that Satan lifts the lie and Kevin thinks “I don’t want to die.”
Satan has been doing this since Adam & Eve. Satan is good at this.
I believe that He has done this to everyone who has embraced death. I believe in those final moments they all felt what Kevin felt when his body traveled 200 feet in 4 seconds.
I have a question for you today. Are you dead or alive?
musician
Dead or Alive?
Are you diseased by sin in your heart, mind, spirit, and soul?
Are you deceived by Satan? Are you embracing death?
Are you looking for life, peace, joy, and happiness in dead things like materialism, humanism, sin, or religion?
Do you keep going back to sin? Keep going back to the addiction?

Are you Dead or Alive?

Adam ate the fruit… but what God said was true. The moment he partook of sin Adam died.

1 Corinthians 15:20-26(NIV) 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Without Jesus Christ we are all dead. Without Jesus Christ you will fall prey to the deception and embrace death like so many others.
It may seem like a strange comparison, but we really ought to be more like plants.

I brought some of my plants here today. These plants have all been through a lot of struggle. None of these plants will be featured in better homes and gardens. You may wonder what is the point of caring for that ugly plant.

These are some of my favorite plants, because they have never given up. I love to water these plants

They always stretch towards the light and life.
Plants are not deceived by sin.Lord let us be free of the deception f sin.
I look down at a barren pot where a live plant used to flourish and I wonder if there is any life in there still. You know how you find out? Pour some water on it and watch what happens. Watch life spring forth… watch fruit start to come from the vine.
Do you want to live today? Make a move today!
Reject death and embrace Jesus. Live today!