GET PLANTED

Ps.1:3 – He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Get planted! That was the message Bob Forester preached at Festival of the Son in California back in the seventies. His voice echoed through the mountains in that outdoor festival. Get planted, so that you can be like a tree planted by the waters, The urgency of the message was something I still remember today. I was so happy and blessed to be planted in a Christian community in that season. I am blessed to be in His community still today. In those days there were many supposed Christians who were wandering around following the new and latest trend. Big Bob (that’s what we loved to call our pastor) saw the necessity of being entrenched or planted in a community of believers. Without that life source we easily become a castaway.
Over the last two years we have seen again the importance of Christian community. During the Covid pandemic many began to stay away from their local church family. It started with mandates and live streaming church services and just being safe. What began as a temporary emergency response to mandates became a replacement for far too many. “Oh I’m just going to watch at home”. How many times have we heard that? Nothing can replace the interaction with the body of Christ in live services. Also public worship is where we often meet with God in amazing ways. And the preaching, it’s never the same over a screen. Just give me an old fashioned worship time, old fashioned preaching, old fashioned altar calls. I will even throw in a pulpit and a cross. Some things just never should be replaced.
If you take today’s passage and join it with what David said in Ps.46:4 –
“There is a river whose streams make the city of God happy,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High”, you will see again the importance of the local church. Where does the river flow? It flows through the city of God. The city of God, Zion, is the local church. We are planted by the River only when we are planted deep in a local church, this is the place where the River flows. So I want to join my voice with the echo of the giant voice of Big Bob bouncing through the canyon near Monterey, “GET PLANTED”. When you do, you will become like a tree planted by the streams of water and you will live a life that continually bears fruit.